Mission Marksman from Massachusetts

New Address:
Sister Teresa Whitesell
244 B West 20th St
Chico, CA  95928

Hey Everyone!

Elder Yates became the
Ultimate Missionary!

So to explain the title, within 24 hours of getting out to Cali, THREE people asked me if I was the Sister missionary marxman! Apparently someone saw that I put down "National Rifle Association, certified member" on my mission application papers, and it blew up and everyone thought I had awards for my shooting and stuff like that.

It was a funny rumor, to attempt to shut down. Don't remember why I even put that on the application, but hey! It led to some fun conversations. As for the Massachusetts part, I have been asked multiple times, "What part of Utah are you from?" It is cool to see everyone's reaction when I say I am not from that particular state. That also leads to some fun conversations.

MTC District pic with Elder White (center),
our amazing and all-knowing teacher

Car life!

orchards everywhere

took a wrong turn and kind of ended up
out here...

It's been a little while, and I'm a bit stir crazy so I'm looking forward to my P-Day! ("Preparation Day," when we catch up on errands, do laundry, etc. once a week.)

my room

Backtracking, I was in the MTC (training center) until Tuesday, May 30 at 3:50 a.m. I was able to finish learning things, and say some super sad goodbyes to people who had become family away from home. But we're all doing amazing things now!

beds (and a/c unit and fan, as the
heat of summer sets in)

And yes, you read that right, I said "3:50 a.m." Because that's how early you have to get to the airport for an 8:50 flight. Not salty at the crack of dawn wakeup or anything...but I survived!

It was really cool to meet the mission president, he's amazing. He's the sweetest guy, and he knows everything. He's leaving the end of this month, though. (The mission presidents have their assignments for 3 years. His 3 years are up soon.)

study space

Anyway, the 4 of us new missionaries had training until 4 p.m. California time, so we were up for a very long time with only 4 hours of sleep the night before. I tried so hard to keep my eyes open, but around 2 p.m. (12 hours of travel and stress and being on my best behavior for the mission presidency), I was having to stand up to stay awake, and focus really hard.

Luckily I wasn't the only one, and a member of the mission presidency was really nice and begged the mission president's wife to let us take a quick power nap in the chapel. I've never fallen asleep so fast! But it got me through until the end of meetings, and then we were sent off to a hotel. Most missions don't do this, but we were allowed to go to bed as early as we wanted. Sister King and I were out by 6! So first night here in the mission and we got more than 12 hours of sleep. It was amazing.

kitchen

Day 2 was more training, and getting a new companion. My "mom" (trainer) is Sister Hood, and we clicked immediately. I am learning so much from her! We work well together, and she's teaching me a lot through example, and by actually teaching me too. I learned that I know nothing, despite my MTC experience, but that's okay. Since Wednesday, we have been teaching lessons and finding people to teach. It's definitely hard work, but I'm also finding a lot of joy in what I do. It's cool to see how we can help people and bring them closer to Christ, while also bringing them some of the joy that we have.

our street, and Sister Hood backing out the car

Testimony Builder of the week: Understanding the Spirit (Holy Ghost). The Holy Ghost works in mysterious ways, and it's been really cool and a little daunting to see just how often Sister Hood can recognize and feel the spirit. She'll just out of the blue say, "The Spirit told me to do such and such," or "that was just the spirit," and she recognizes it so easily! I'm a bit jealous but I'll get there. It's second nature for her at this point.

But, I know that I've also been able to recognize promptings of the Holy Ghost too. Yesterday was fast and testimony meeting at church, where members of the congregation get to stand and talk about their testimonies of Jesus Christ and the gospel. I'm the new missionary, so I thought it would be a good time to introduce myself. Before I went up, I knew I needed some testimony topic to share, and I felt strongly that I should talk about gratitude.

I didn't think much of why it came to mind, since I'd been talking about it yesterday with some members over dinner. So I went up to the pulpit in the meeting, then shared and sat down. Later, during Relief Society (women's meeting 3rd hour of church), one of the sisters actually pointed out my testimony as she was talking, and told me that she really needed to hear about gratitude today. She said that I had touched her, even though we don't really know each other, and that was so cool!

a nearby vista: there are so many trees here!
It's almost like home but with palm trees :)

So I know that when something comes to mind, we should say it, because the Holy Ghost will speak through us, to people we don't even realize we're affecting.

I hope everyone is doing well, and that the real world hasn't gotten too crazy! I love any updates that people have, and can't wait to see what this upcoming week has in store!

Sister Whitesell

our district here in Chico