THE LAST ONE!!

                        

Kelsie returns home from her mission on July 21st.

She will be speaking in church on Sunday July 24th. She would love to have "y'all" join us at church to hear from her and then come visit and have lunch with her at 12:00 that afternoon.
Lunch will be at the Whipple's house. Hope to see y'all there!

Dear Family and Friends,

Well! this is it!!! I really CAN'T believe it! I am excited and nervous! I have truly been super grateful for the opportunity to serve the lord. It was a small sacrifice in my life, but it has made all the difference! 

It has been a pleasure to serve in the Tallahassee Florida Mission ! I can't thank everyone enough for all the love and support that they gave me! Y'alls love and prayers carried me through and really helped me though it all!  I know I was suppose to serve here. I am so grateful! I will never forget the impact it made on my life!  I have stretched and grown. I always thought I was kind of a humble person before my mission. I think Heavenly Father really just want to beat the pride out of me until I was sufficiently humbled! I am thankful for the opportunity that I had to work and create patterns in my life to help me truly become like my savior. I know that the Book of Mormon is simply the word of god! My life has changed as I have let the words sink so deeply into my mind and heart that I CANNOT doubt it! I love the gospel. I know that Joseph Smith was indeed called as a prophet of god! I know that my savior lives! The gospel is so real and truly transforms us! I LOVE it! I know the power it has had in my life and I have felt the power of it in others lives! I am so grateful for the atonement in my life! I truly know that the atonement does make up for all my inadequacies but only AFTER I have done all I can do!

I could carry on for pages, but I know the gospel is basic and a few simple words clearly stated will go a lot further. I have a simple testimony, but I know it is the foundation upon which I will build the rest of my life!

Thank you for everything! I LOVE YOU!!!

HOORAH FOR ISRAEL!!!

Sister Whipple

PS: CAN'T wait to see y'all! Thursday!!!

Happy 4th

Y'all only have a few more of these to enjoy so soak them up!!!!

I hope everyone had a great fourth of July!!! It was a good week! I have done some serious reflecting this week I just came to a lot of conclusions and worked through some stuff! Our Bishop asked us to go get in as many member homes as we could this week to teach short power lessons. we are getting our ward moving with missionary work, we are really working to liven them up!! I think our hard work will pay off in the next week or so. as we went around everyone for the most part was really trying to work with there neighbors! It was super encouraging! It will take some work, but I feel this ward is going to be a power house in just a short little bit! They need some love and encouragement and they will see miracles! 

 I am feeling a lot of new life this week. I have received the focus and direction I need to just give it all I got! My time is really short and precious and I am really feeling it... which I really hate! It is good though! Also, we just got off the phone with President Jensen! He told us that two sisters are coming in tomorrow from the temple square mission to do their 3 months in the field here, so that is fun! Sister R and I will be getting one and we are not sure about the other. It is exciting and Sister R, the Aps, and I are picking them up from the airport cause President and Sister Jensen are on the other side of the mission. Really pretty exciting stuff! I am really looking forward to this week! We are really working with M a lot, but can't seem to really get things going. I really strong impressions that M would be baptized, I am still really hopeful! We have a really great lesson planned for today at a members house so I really pray it will get her back on track! We will see!

Pretty much that is about it! It was a good fourth of July! Nothing too exciting, just watch a few small fireworks and hang out with some members and some missionaries. It was good though! We got big plans for this week and are super excited! I really love being a missionary! I will miss it, so we are just going to keep liven it up!

Love ya,

Sister Whipple

This is at Zone Conference

 It is officially summer! The heat is way up! You can count on rain pretty much everyday at about 4pm! It will down pour, lightening, and thunder for about 30 minutes and then be left with horrible humidity, but not as hot! We had a storm yesterday while church was going on! We have sacrament meeting at the last of the block. We had a boy speaking who returned from his mission in Colorado.  As he was talking we could hardly hear him over the thunder! The lightening was literally right on top of us! Right at the end of his talk there was a huge POP/CRACK! Everyone jumped and the lady behind me screamed so loud!!! Then everyone just busted up laughing!! The microphone had blown!!! He finished his talk and we could barely hear him! It was an exciting meeting though!!

Our lesson with M was awesome! We had a great lesson but then we couldn't get a hold of her the rest of the week... not sure what's going on there! We got a call from her this morning and she still really wants to meet with us. We meet with her tomorrow which will be really good.

We have been doing a lot of less active work which has been really good. We are still struggling to find people to teach. The area has been tracted over, over and over, so we really need our members to help us out and support two sets of missionaries. It is just really slow. also, we just need to get stuff going with our ward mission leader. It will get better though! We will just do what we can and pray the lord directs us in what we should do!

Other then that, it was a rather slow week!...The summer seem to drag on! I can't believe July is practically here! It has slipped away! I can feel my mission wrapping up and really don't enjoy it... it is sad. I had some really sad realizations this week. I will really miss being a missionary! I will enjoy the sweet amount of time I have left!

LOVE ya'll,

Sister Whipple

This week in Tally

HEY!!!!

Well, I don't have too much to report on... We had some lessons with M this week that were really pretty good. I have the strong impression to invite Martha to work towards baptism on July on 9th! Sister Jensen is going to come to the lesson with us tonight because she hasn't had the chance to come out with the sisters before and has wanted to. I am really excited for tonight!

We have mostly been just knockin doors and tracking down less actives this week! It was a fast week! Sister R and I got to be the youth speakers in sacrament meeting. Yep! I did just blah about how great my dad was to a congregation of strangers! It was great! I talked about how he always gave me pep talks at half time during my soccer games. I quoted elder oaks talk on desire, "When we have a vision of what we can become, our desire and our power to act increase enormously." I talked about how my dad could see more of my potential of what I could do and become! I then talked about Lehi and what an incredible father he was and shared in 2 Nephi 2:1-4ish when he is counseling Jacob and telling him the blessing that are in store for him. Lehi saw the vision of what Jacob could become! it was fun to talk about my dad on father's day! I loved!

It was a pretty good week! We are hoping to make some miracles happen this week!

I LOVE YOU!!!

Sister Whipple

Things are always changing!

I knew it was too good to be true that Sister Richan and Sister Tua'one would be who I finished my mission with! We found out yesterday that Sister Tua'one is being transferred back to the apartment we just moved from! President just said that he didn't think it was a good idea to have all the strong sisters together. Sister T is being transfers to the 4th ward in Tally! We will go on splits and trade offs and such together, but it won't be the same. I am kind of bummed but it will be fine. She is serving with two greenies ( they have only been out 6 weeks) and white washing an area. I have really really really LOVED serving with sister Tua'one! She has been such an incredible example! Also, it was like being with your best friend all day! It was just hard work and fun! At least we will still be able to hang out every now and then. I will say I am grateful not to be in a trio. I feel like you overwhelm people with 3 missionaries coming at you. I am grateful that I still will have a solid comp to finish the mish with! Tender mercy!!!!

Overall it was a pretty good week! It was a lot of packing and moving and getting situated. We weren't able to do as much work as we hoped. We had a really cool experience this week that really reminded me why I LOVE being a missionary. We got a call from one of our ward missionaries on Monday night. She had met a lady at Goodwill and was helping her move a table she had bought to her house for her. She asked us if we could come over and help unload it. We were just around the corner so we hustled over. When the member in our ward had helped her at Goodwill, some how the topic of religion came up. the member had told her it was The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. M, the investigator, was just blown away! She had lost her home in New Orlando in Hurricane Katrina. She told us about her story and how she ended up in Tally after it. She was living at Latter-Day Saints church building around the corner (its the building we meet in), because during that time the building served as a shelter. She lived there for 2 or 3 months. She told us how she just did everything she could to help those who were there, Because it helped her to forget about all she lost (she was well off). She told us about a guy(the stake president at the time) who was there and how he helped her get a job that she was under qualified for, but he manage to create a job for her and she has worked there for 6 years now. She simply said that is where I got my start with tears in her eyes! It was really powerful! She is doing incredible! Just a year ago she got one of the habitat for humanity homes! She really has come so far. she wanted to come to church so we exchanged info with her and set up an appointment! We met with her on Saturday and had a really powerful first lesson on the restoration. She was really excited about The Book of Mormon. She almost didn't come to church on Sunday, but felt guilty and came to relief society. She participated in the lesson and really felt the spirit! it was solid! we have an appointment to teach her tonight! We are really excited! she seems very prepared and hungry for the gospel! it was a pretty incredible week!

LOVE YOU!!!

Sister Whipple

New address

We are moving tomorrow, check out our new address:

Sister Kelsie Whipple

Florida Tallahassee Mission

1535 Killearn Center Blvd Ste. C-3

Tallahassee, FL 32309

IT'S OFFICIAL, MY LAST TRANSFER!

I can't believe that I am on my last transfer! it doesn't feel real! I have some great new though! I will be be serving my last transfer with Sister Richan and Sister Tuaone!!! WOOT!! WOOT!!! I will be killed off by my daughter so that is fun! It should be just a really solid transfer! We have a few things in the works here in Tally 2nd. We have a part member family that we have an appointment to teach this week. The husband and daughter both aren't members and the wife has in the last couple of months lost her mother and had a baby girl. We really think that the family is prepared, but we will really be able to get a good read this week. I am excited for that! I don't really have anything too exciting for the week. We have just mostly been knocking doors and tractin down people. It has been record breaking heat this week. We had a couple of record highs in the 100s and it seemed to be the days were all we had to do was tracted. needless to say we had some rather miserable days this week! I have to say that our Bishop is one of the most incredible I have served around! He is really working to make some miracles in our ward! They have called all the young men and young women in the ward to be ward missionaries! they have put them in companionships and then assigned adults to be there shadows. we are shadowing a companionship. Basically, they gave them a few names, have the youth pray over their names, and then act! They are teaching the youth how to feed the lords sheep, act on revelation, and and to rely on the spirit. They all got mission calls for the summer and I think it will will help get the work of the lord moving in this ward. It will be really incredible. They have some solid and incredible youth, so I feel it will light up the rest of the ward! Well, we are moving apartments tomorrow, so just in case anyone would like to send some love (aka a package, letter, postcard, or whatever) my way just send it to the mission office. I will be living literally a half mile a way! I am really tight with the senior couples in the office and they will be my new neighbors and will just drop our mail off at our place for us! pretty sweet deal! I am excited for this transfer! it will be a really solid one! I really love our ward! its a tough area, but really a sweet ward! Plus, they are over the moon about having sisters, so it is way good!

I LOVE YOU!!

Sister Whipple