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