Be the Ostrich

Hello, Everybody--

Sometimes, when Sister Wright goes
to the bathroom or showers, I try
and think of the most ridiculous
thing she can come out to...
yesterday's was a hammock
in the kitchen :D

Guess what, it's Monday again, and my 3rd transfer is almost over! One more week and then we'll know if I stay in Chico or if I get shipped off to some new area where I know no one, and get to basically restart my mission except with a better understanding of how to do missionary things. Should be interesting.

We're trying to help a
"less active" member quit smoking,
and Sister Wright came up with
this amazing box and cigarettes!
I found the scriptures, but it's
so cool--There's a "lighter" and
everything! Hope she
appreciates it!

"Spirit-Sticks" and scriptures :)

Anyways, the week was full of lots of great things as well as some funny stuff. No new spider friends that I know of, but I did meet a lizard/salamander thing (I know I should know animals, but this guy stumped me; it's probably just some different species of lizard) and a chicken! I have pictures of both, no worries.

Geoffrey the lizard

Service at Linda's

DUSTY ASSIGNMENT. Linda's service time was more random construction with drywall and painting, and we actually got to tear up carpet, which was really cool! Aside from the fact that there was enough dust in those things to recreate a small desert. I'm not sick from it yet, though, so fingers crossed! It was one of the grossest things I've done so far with Linda, though, I will admit. The few times I let my mind stray to exactly WHAT made up all that dust...I almost gagged. (You're welcome, for that dusty image.)

I found a chicken at a member's house--
it was a great day

DOORSTEP ADVENTURES. To explain the title, we have this week's Adventure Tracting! Well sort of tracting. We were knocking on a door because it was the (old) address to a member that we weren't sure lived there anymore, so they sent the missionaries to check. Well, the lady that opened the door kindly told us that the other person had moved over a year ago.

Birthday party for Tony! He's a
member that the Spanish sisters visit

So of course we went on to say, "Well, as the sister missionaries, we..." she interrupted us, her demeanor changed completely and she started speaking to us very sternly about how we religious people don't know about any of the government problems or consider the important things going on in the world. All we do is go around with our heads stuck in the sand, praying to God. "I wish you would do something constructive with your time!"

World's Fattest Cat!

(You have a fanTAStic day, ma'am...) Sometimes my smile at doors is fake, sometimes it's real, sometimes it's only there because I think you're being ridiculous, but hey, everyone is allowed their own opinions! Sometimes people share opinions when we don't ask for them, but usually it leads to an entertaining story later.

another service shot at Linda's

Weekly Planning and Hammocking in Paradise!

Area book is useful!

HAWAII CONNECTION. On to bigger and better things (but you have to admit, that's a pretty good one to put in the mission box). We actually got a referral from the Hawaii Visitor's Center Mission! For those of you who know Anna Blake (friend from back home in MA), she's serving in that mission. The two missionaries that texted us the referral know her, so that was a cool little connection. And that referral gave us a new investigator, so we're pretty excited.

We've been in twice that temperature!
Praise cooler temps!

Here's one of the most exciting things! I don't know if you remember James. (We were knocking on a less active member's door, he was checking mail outside, we talked, he actually invited us back.) We've been teaching him and his wife for the past few weeks! They're the most amazing investigators Sister Wright and I have ever met!

Hammocks!

QUESTIONS. We got through the first half of the restoration with them the first time, and when we went back they both had a ton of questions, about things that often some MEMBERS don't even know about! Then the same thing happened with the Plan of Salvation (God's plan for us to be able to return to Him). We got through the first 2 points out of 7 with them in the first half, because they had so many questions from the pamphlet and what we were teaching. Things like,

just look at the name on the shelf...
plus it's super-fun to play with the
cans and watch them roll :)

"If someone did this, which kingdom would they go to?"
"Did Christ know exactly what he was getting into, or did he get his memory wiped clean (passing through the veil from the pre-earth life into earth life) like the rest of us?"
"Can we visit family members if we're not all in the same place after judgement?" We've never had questions even CLOSE to theirs.

So, it's been amazing working with them, and we're so excited to keep teaching. Coolest thing ever is to listen to investigator prayers, because of how genuine they are. The best was James -- he goes off on crazy tangents sometimes, so we aren't always sure he's super into it. But during his prayer he said Thank you for sending the sisters, they've answered questions I've had for a long time. It was SO COOL!!

Since this is long enough (a ton happened this week; it was a good week!), I'll end with some great insights from Women's Conference. There were plenty of amazing things in each inspirational talk. Lots about our self-worth, and how WE are the deciding factor on how we feel, not others. Sister Jones talked about our worth. Sometimes we put ourselves down when we compare ourselves with others. But our worth was decided long before we came to earth. Knowing that we're each a child of our Heavenly Father can and should give us confidence! You're an amazing person, and no one can make you feel inferior without your consent. Pretty cool how that works!

District Meeting creeper shot...because I wanted
to show everyone what it looks like

Good luck this week with everything, and let's hope we don't have anymore hurricanes for a little while.

Sister Whitesell

perfect Snickers, (Mom enlarged the
candy bar so you can read it easier)

teresa.whitesell@myldsmail.net

(since I don't know if I'll be leaving Chico or not, it's safer to send stuff to this address for a little while.)
8583 Watt Ave.
Antelope, CA 95843

Family Reunion

Service day

Hey guess what, Everybody: it's that time of week again!

CHANGE CLOTHES. Mondays are just such good days now. Not that every other day as a missionary isn't, there's just a special feeling about P-days because I don't have to wear a dress all day. Anyways, this week was kind of a blur, which is foreign because that doesn't happen often. But I know we did things this week.

SERVING AND HEART FAILURE. Service with Linda was a blast and a half as always. I swear we're just extra blessed as missionaries, because half the stuff we do with her should result in many more injuries that could have occurred. I did get to mow this week, which was so satisfying. AND, I haven't been that sweaty for awhile...

OR come closer to screaming before on my mission.

More Service

And all of you know I am not one to scream; I just have a startled yell. Okay in all seriousness, I didn't almost scream...just a nice, loud "Oh man, K, that was rude and uncalled for!!!" followed by mumbling to myself over the fact that I almost walked into a spider at face level while mowing. He had the body the size of a quarter, and its legs were much longer. Ugly Thing.

Hike from last P-day

So really, that was a good heart-stopping moment because even though I love nature, the idea of eating a spider that large isn't first on my list of Fun Things. I wish I had gotten a picture, but I didn't plan ahead. Sorry!

Aside from my big, friendly spider experience, I continue to enjoy all the ridiculous excursions with Sister Wright as well. We've both gotten into the habit of saying "Wrightsell" and it'll occasionally slip out but we're working on it!

Cool waterfall on our hike!

WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE. Speaking of things slipping out, sometimes I forget that Mormons have different slang words and phrases. I was texting an investigator to read a specific chapter of the Book of Mormon, and I shortened it to "BoM."

I immediately got a text back asking "What is BoM?" (Don't ask me, I just work here.) I'm clearly still human despite my being set apart as a missionary.

GOT TO SEE MY MUM :) :)

FAMILY REUNION. To explain the title of this post, we had Zone Conference! And guess what, we combined with the two zones north of us, Redding and Anderson. Sister Hood is in Redding, so I GOT TO SEE MY MISSION MOM! I didn't realize how excited I would be to see her until I called her the day before, to ask about names of people in Chico that I still don't know. Just hearing the familiarity of her voice over the phone got me pumped!

Only photo evidence, ever, of me in
floral...not my dress...I don't do
floral but it was a "Zone Thing"

Quick trainer appreciation: Sister Hood helped me a TON and was an amazing companion, especially since she had the huge responsibility of introducing me to the mission world. She did an exceptional job. You really do meet some of your best friends on your mission. Hopefully some of you will get to meet her eventually! Probably at my wedding, when all of my different lives (MA, UT, CA) collide.

Look at this WOOD! So cool!

BLESSINGS FROM OBEDIENCE. On top of the amazing time I had with Sister Hood, zone conference was also really good! This one was a lot on obedience and listening to the Spirit. Missionaries have a ton of rules, some of which we don't always see the purpose of, but when we follow those rules, especially the ones we don't understand, we see so many more miracles! Plus, there are plenty of ways to follow the rules and still have a really fun mission. It's been cool to see a lot of the blessings of obedience, and I've grown a lot, even in the short amount of time I've been out.

Rebecca! She's amazing! Finally
got to see her again,
it's been awhile

Speaking of miracles, there are always plenty! But a cool one that I'm just starting and excited to continue to watch unravel is about one of our investigators. Sierra is very open to learning about the gospel and what we have to share, but she's the first person I've taught who doesn't know Jesus Christ!

So this past lesson we taught, we officially started the Restoration of the gospel but ended up setting a foundation of Christ. It was so cool to see her learn new things, and have all these little realizations and clicks as to how Christ helps us every day and is our Savior. I'm so excited to keep teaching her, and building on the knowledge she has!

Wood Cutting Service

Final little note: one really cool point that has stuck with me was brought up at zone conference, during our breakout session. (Each zone has a meeting with just the zone, instead of everyone in the chapel. Smaller groups.) We were talking about the blessings of following rules that sometimes seem ridiculous, and a missionary posed the question, "What if Jesus Christ hadn't been obedient to the will of Heavenly Father? What blessings would we miss out on?" I'll let you guys ponder that.

CONFERENCE IS COMING. For the women, get excited for the Women's session of General Conference Saturday! I'm so excited for my first General Conference on the mission! (**Every 6 months, we hear from the church leaders in Salt Lake City. It is broadcast all over the world, 2 days of inspirational talks and words from the prophet. The next one is coming up! :) ) Funny how on a mission, I get super excited about so many things I never would have thought too much of, back home.

Anyway, hope everyone has a good week that isn't too flooded, or wind-blown, or disastrous in any other natural way.

Zone Conference photo...
because the serious picture is BORING!

You guys are awesome, and thanks for keeping me updated! Keep it real!

Sister Whitesell
teresa.whitesell@myldsmail.net

244 B West 20th St.
Chico, CA 95928

Light at the End of the Tunnel

legitimately broke my bed
by sitting on it...

Hello, Everybody--

Welcome back to the missionary meltdown. Here in the valleys of Northern Cal, we've got some good news of hopefully cooler temperatures coming around the corner! Guys there was actually a day in the 80's this week! Of course today is supposed to be over a hundred, but then it will drop again, at least for a little bit.

This statue has been there forever, but we
finally stopped by it

LEAF TIME. Something else dropping are the leaves on the trees out here too. There are not half as many trees as back home, but there are still enough to get a layer of leaves down in some areas. It reminds me of all the leaf raking I don't have to do! Ha. But then again, watch--I just said that, so all my service this week will be leaf raking. I wouldn't complain though! Side note: one of my favorite small things out here is crunchy leaves. CA has some of the best leaves to step on, because it's so dry. They're super crunchy 95% of the time.

Just a really cool picture where the
Book of Mormon was facing in
exactly the right direction

Another cool mural

POLICE CHECK. I'm a missionary...that means I'm exempt from the occasional DUI check, right? Apparently not; I got to experience that recently! Ok, ok, it was just a normal check, so they were stopping all the cars on the road we were on, but it was still funny to pretend I got checked. The officer did ask about my license, though. Massachusetts drivers are not common in these areas, believe it or not.

closeup of the cool mural

I told him I was a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the usual bit), so of course he asked if I had any alcohol on me (jokingly). I wish I'd had the guts to say, "Yeah, we've got a trunk FULL of it," because they would have opened it to a bunch of church pamphlets and copies of the Book of Mormon. Ha! But, I figured joking like that with an officer at that particular time wouldn't be my brightest idea, so I kept my mouth shut. Next time, though!

hammock planning!

UNEXPECTED SERVICE. Final funny bit: the epitome of Wrightsell service. Yesterday we were doing our weekly reading with Jessie and Yvonne (101 and 96), but Yvonne forgot her scriptures so we went back to her room to get them for her. Naturally, her roommate was sitting in her wheelchair with her pants down around her ankles. She called us over for help. She's not super coherent, but she did understand enough to know that she needed help getting her pants up. So guess what Wrightsell did: we walked out of there.

I exploded a can by dropping a toy on it,
don't ask I really have no idea

Kidding! We just did something we never expected to do on a mission, and that's helping an old lady pull her pants up! Unexpected. But necessary and appreciated.

NEW FRIENDS. So, aside from the ridiculous times, we did also have amazing spiritual experiences this week too as we always do. One huge thing Sister Wright and I are stoked about is two new investigators from last week. We've taught them twice now (James, I think I mentioned him?) and the other is the guy we ran into on the street and his wife. He's a bit more skeptical about the religious discussions, but she's way into it!

toes everywhere
(from Mom: I can only imagine
from this angle they're all supposed to
look like toes...?!)

She asked questions that were pretty good, our first visit, and then yesterday she had a whole list of things, and was accepting of all of the answers! She's having foot surgery Thursday, and when James suggested we meet in 2 weeks, she just got this concerned look on her face and said 2 weeks was too long. So we're meeting with them again next Sunday in spite of the surgery :) She's amazing and she's really interested--it's cool to be teaching a young family!

exchanges! Lighter rain before the downpour

WATER FROM THE SKY. Hey, guess what: IT RAINED THIS WEEK! And brought a miracle with it! I've learned that there are no coincidences on a mission. We got to do exchanges (where you switch companions for a day, to have the experience of working with someone different). I got to go to the Spanish area and pretend to do Spanish stuff for the day. Kidding, everything we did was in English. But we were knocking on some doors when we heard thunder! And the clouds looked just about ready to dump some water on us, then of course as we were talking to a lady it started to rain.

We have some new cards to hand out if we feel
so inclined, and I just want everyone to see the
little boy's face in the back left :)

We finished our short conversation, then immediately ran to the parking lot and started dancing in the rain because it's been so long! At the end of our dance party a guy pulled in to his parking spot with a severely flat tire. After he got out, we started a conversation with him. Mike, an awesome guy. We ended up talking to him for 30 minutes, and he wanted to go to church! Also, during our whole conversation it started downpouring, and there was lightning, and it was a short rain, but still rain! It was so cool, especially because I was on exchanges. Had it not started raining when it did, we would have missed Mike, who had just gotten home from his 3-hour drive. We were there at the right place and time to see him! It was just a great exchange all around, so cool to see people prepared to hear the message.

service!

IT TAKES ALL KINDS TO MAKE A WORLD. A big lesson I had confirmed to me this week was being yourself on your mission. Believe it or not, I'm kind of sarcastic or sassy sometimes (whaaat?), and that's a bit different from how most of the sister missionaries are, and I know that. But I was never planning on coming on a mission to change my personality to fit the sister missionary mold. It's been wonderful to be able to bond with people at church a little differently than other sisters or missionaries do. I get to see a side that doesn't come out as often, and it's cool to see people just act more real or sometimes goofy around me.

shoutout to the best mom
for labeling the package like this!

For example, a church member gave Sister Wright a hug after talking to her and as she was hugging her, she stuck her tongue out at me. This was a lady in maybe her 50's, mind you! It's been cool to have people act comfortable around me, where members don't think they have to act more formal around me, just because I'm a sister missionary. I'm still me, I just have to wear skirts a bit more often than I did at home! And I've never tried to fit the mold. It just stood out to me a little more this week.

Good luck this week with everything!
Keep me updated on the world so I don't get too stuck in the mission bubble.
Keep it real!

Sister Whitesell
teresa.whitesell@myldsmail.net
244 W. 20th St. Apr. B
Chico, CA 95928

We are Sister Wrightsell

Hello, All--

Service at the hospital with the Hmong Elders:
they found the perfect parking spot!

Welcome back to Monday, the least liked day of the week unless you're a missionary, where Mondays are your favorite day of the week. Never thought that would happen! I hope this week's update finds most of you in good health and comfortable temperatures. We actually got up to 115 this week, and that's a new record for me!

Had some fun in the slightly
sketchy stairwell

Also, the combined name "Wrightsell" is I think the greatest thing I ever came up with! (If you're not as entertained as I am, then you probably live a much more interesting life than I do...)

Service with Linda!

WEATHER SURPRISES. Another fun thing is hearing about the polar opposites happening in the country right now. Hurricane Harvey is something that we have been able to get updates on, despite the "missionary bubble" (we don't watch the news much). We're definitely sending prayers over there.

Okay it's nature...I couldn't just not

Here in Northern California we've got plenty of wildfires that are making people move around, and that firefighters are working hard on to be contained. There is a ton of smoke moving through Chico, and if I go home with smoker's cough, you'll know why. (Thankfully I have a "How to Quit Smoking in 7 Days" program available to me...something tells me I'll be continuing smoking for awhile. Just not at a good place in my life to drop it quite yet.)

A freshly combed/picked orchard!
Never seen them this neat before!

it wasn't me

WHO LIVES HERE? This week has been another amazingly long week, but always full of good things. I was more than a little entertained by the irony of Saturday's tracting experience. We actually knocked on the door of some Jehovah's Witnesses. They politely declined wanting to hear a message, it was just funny to me to have those tables turned where instead of them knocking on our doors, we get to knock on theirs! (Also it was over 100 again at that point, and it was maybe 11 a.m...perfect.)

balancing ourselves...before
we fell...

We got to go to a farmer's market that morning! In search of one of our "less actives" (haven't been to church in awhile). We don't usually spend our time at markets, don't worry! But one thing you get a lot on the mission is people not answering their phones, or just not being there when you set up an appointment. So it was a fun goose chase around this chaotic gathering (the farmer's market), which ended up being unsuccessful. But really, some of the unsuccessful stories are the best ones :) :)

balancing attempts...again

I have continued to grow and learn, from working with Sister Wright. She's well known around the mission for being an amazing missionary, and I'm glad to be able to tell you that she really is!

Different stages of
balancing ourselves...
we never were all looking
at the same camera

This week, through OYM (Opening Your Mouth), we actually got two new investigators, both of which seem promising! It's been so cool to see a different style of missionary work (through Sister Wright), and it's helped me grow so much already.

DOING THE RIGHT THING. With one of the investigators, we were actually trying to find Pam. She's been sick these past few weeks, so it had been awhile since we saw her. We always drop by on Saturdays at 3, so when she didn't answer for the 2nd week in a row, I was determined to catch her. We did some missionary stuff (like filling up the car with gas), and then went back around 4 to find her daughter walking inside the apartment instead of Pam. Turns out Pam was at a friend's place in the complex, so we were able to follow her daughter and get to know her a bit more.

We found a cobweb
mistletoe: Christmas
in September?

Pam's friend has had a death in the family recently, and was open to learning more about where her family member was, and was very prepared to hear about the gospel! So we have a new friend, Sherry, that Pam will help us teach next week. Sometimes when you work hard, Heavenly Father sends a few obvious tender mercies your way, just to let you know you're doing the right thing :)

Look at the nice, puffy clouds!

CHANGE IN PERSPECTIVE. Another amazing thing is meeting regularly with another investigator, Robbie. He used to be a member but his records were lost which, understandably, frustrated him a lot. He left the church for a bit, but over the years has basically become a member again, and even works with the scouts every week. But he's been very difficult to get hold of, and get to know, so Sister Hood and I were kind of stuck when we actually had a lesson with him.

He's such a chill guy, we didn't know if he had the drive or motivation to quit smoking so he could get baptized. Plus, we've been playing phone-tag and trying to talk to him for months, so we just didn't know what else to do.

I was hot and hungry, okay?

Then the transfer came, and I saw the miracle of a new perspective. Sister Wright exemplifies the phrase "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." It's been so cool to see how she gets to know the people we talk to and meet with. And Robbie, once we just got to know him a little better, opened up a ton! We're doing a lot better with helping him, and he's working hard to quit the bad habits. All it takes is a little time to show you genuinely care about people! (Common sense I know, but it took me awhile okay!)

More sketchy stairwells

we stopped to sort of take nice pictures
in the orchard...

NO GRUDGES. My final little bit for this week is about my spiritual "lightbulb" that went on, about forgiveness. We're all so used to knowing we should forgive others when they do something that maybe you were not happy with. But a huge part of forgiveness is being in a mental place where you can accept it when someone forgives you. Sometimes we beat ourselves up about things we've done, far longer than it took for us to be forgiven of whatever it was that we did.

Try to see it from Christ's perspective: He doesn't want us to be unhappy, or beat ourselves up for something we've already fixed and changed. He just wants us to be our happiest, best selves. So when you're forgiven, remember that you don't have to worry about it anymore. Heavenly Father has already forgotten it. As long as you've had that change of heart, you can let the guilt go.

...but neither one of us is really good at that...

Super bright outside on the way
back from District Meeting
in Paradise

Good luck with your weeks! Keep doing what you're doing, as long as you're doing it well :)
As always, I love hearing from you guys--
"Remember Who You Are!" and
"Don't Let It Get You Down!"

Sister Whitesell
teresa.whitesell@myldsmail.net
244 B West 20th St.
Chico, CA 95928