July 19, 2010

Hey family and friends,

I forgot to email this to you last week.

(my letter to president last week below):

It has been a whirlwind of emotions this week. It broke my heart to say goodbye to all the recent converts and investigators. Then, to be transferred some place new and all the stuff that comes with that. It has really been a crazy week. It was kind of exhausting. We have some good things are happening with the work in this area. we are in a desperate state of finding people. We have a boy named B, who is 20 years old, and amazing. Sister Alston and Sister Hernandez tracked into him a week or two ago. He already has a desire to be baptized. He believes everything he is taught. He came to church on Sunday and loved it. The gospel principles teacher is a 19 year old boy who is getting ready to leave on his mission in like two months. He was talking a little about it and B ask if he would be allowed to go on a mission. He is so solid. it's almost unreal. he is the key for his family and he knows that. He really is something else.

much love,
Sister Whipple

President wrote me a letter back. He doesn't write individual email, we usually only get a mass emails. It was really nice, so I thought I would share it with you. It is below:

Thank you for your email. I look to you as a leader among the sisters and I have complete confidence in you. I feel that I can trust you and know that you are a team player. Also, you are so compassionate and kind and CONSISTENT! God bless you for who you have become.

Keep up the good work. Sounds like many good things are happening.

With love and admiration,

Pres Jensen

I thought it was really interesting, because dad told me the same thing as president. I think I got it. The goal for the week show more charity! I will work to be nice and find ways to serve.

Well, on to this week, It was an OK week. We didn't have the car this week, so it was really pretty slow. We are kind of handicapped without a car, so we are still trying to figure out something that works. we relied a lot on members to give us rides which is a good thing that the members are willing. We can't ride our bike much cause we have no where to ride them. We have only two options for roads to go down to get anywhere. We have Old Bain Bridge, which is two lane road, it has no sidewalk or bike lane. It is a canopy rode which means you have trees that arch over the road. Cars just don't see you and you are pretty much going to get hit by a car. The other rode we have is Monroe which is a 4 lane super busy street. It has tiny bike lanes. Also, a biker got killed on that road recently so members won't let us bike on it. Basically, we don't have very many options. Our area is massive, because we cover the outside edge of Tally. Our area is basically impossible to cover on foot or bike. What that means is that our week with the car things are jam packed with visits, appointments, visiting members and less actives. The week we don't have the car is lots of tracking and drags on, because its hard to get anywhere. Also, Sister Hernandez has only been here for one transfer so she still doesn't really know everyone, so it's hard to find a ride. It was a super slow week with out the car. Also, things were just a little out of whack trying to work in a third person.

The lord is definitely blessing me and helping me. I am doing fine. it's just rocky right now and will be for a few weeks. We are struggling with a routine (3 people getting ready takes some work to perfect), the area is unfamiliar, the people are new, and all of that just takes time to figure out. I am doing good, though, and really love Tally.

A really fun lesson that we had this week was with M, who is less active. She is an older lady probably about late fifties early 60's. I loved it. She believes that everyone is out to get her and everyone is raciest against her cause she is black. We aren't just sweetly talking to her, but we weren't contentious either. We were all just going back and forth yelling and speaking with so much boldness. We were just speaking with the power of god! You could feel the sternness, but love. She was going off on the priesthood, everyone hates me, baptism, and a ton of other things. It was such a cool lesson. We had one of our ward missionaries, Mama Hollett (that's what we call her), with us. She is pretty amazing. If every ward had about 50 Mama Holletts we would never have less actives. She was saying all the right things and testifying like crazy. I just wish you could have been there to feel the power in the discussion. We had to speak with that kind of boldness if she was going to feel anything. I felt like after that lesson, she had no other choice, but to come to church. Her heart will take a VERY long time to soften,. It was a really powerful experience for me. I felt the spirit and I was definitely edified.

Missionary work wise it was really good. We got several new investigators, so we'll see how that goes. We have a almost nonexistent teaching pool, so we are working really hard to get things going.

Love YOU!!!

Sister Whipple