It's Not That Cold Yet

Hey guess what, it's a missionary's favorite day of the week, and your LEAST favorite, again! This week was a huge hodgepodge of things, all scrambled together and put in a blender. Basically just all over the place. Thinking about it though, that's really every week of a mission.

Caught a few frogs at the Hallmark Home

Lots of fun things to play with
out there :D

SERVICE AT THE RANCH. For example, we went to the very border of our area for some service at our Hallmark movie barn again, which was really fun. I drove a tractor! And we painted more, during which I successfully avoided covering myself in white paint. Then we also got to drive to Grass Valley (30 minutes another direction) to help with a zone service and clear out all the debris and overgrown jungle of a member's backyard. So, lots of service opportunities this week, which was awesome as usual!

More toys!

Plus we had the Ward (congregation) Trunk-or-Treat where we "dressed up" as Jehovah's Witnesses and really, just went as ourselves, because we get mistaken for Jehovah's Witnesses all the time anyway.

They even let me drive!

BIRDS AMONG US. Fun Fact: there are wild Peacocks in northern California! I don't know how they got there, or where they originate from, cause I don't know everything about all animals, believe it or not. But I'd heard about them from friends who have served in other areas. When we did exchanges, I was at an apartment that supposedly usually has them wandering around, but it was too cold for them so I didn't fully believe it. But driving to the Hallmark Barn, I spotted some! They were just happy to be there, doing bird things, but it was so weird to just see these fancy birds out in the middle of a field.

Service Selfie after a
good while of painting

BRRRR FOR SOME. We're also getting to a time of the year where the mornings are a bit more brisk, and my companions are always cold. Mom, they must have the same cold blood as you. But I still sleep with my thin blanket, and they've got their 4 each, and still get cold. There are a few times, though, that I've walked outside and my arm hair raises up a bit. SO LAME, that my body has adjusted to 115 degrees and thinks 50 is cold! I'll adjust back to normal soon though, no worries.

How weekly planning feels, for someone who's
been out for over 18 months now 

I AM LOVED. Oh, also! I've had my first profession of love. (I should go pick a sunflower, and pull off the petals...kidding!) At dinner last night, there was a little 6-year-old boy who was just infatuated with us three sister missionaries. He had a box of crayons, and was drawing little hearts all over! He was adorable, and multiple times he told me, "I'm in love in you," and "I'm in love in you three." So there you have it, my little mission man. And as we walked out to the car, he poked his head out the door and shouted, "Goodbye missionary girls!" Kids say the cutest things. They tell you to lock your heart on your mission, but sometimes you have to let a few little ones in :)

We have a truck, and Foresthill, and blankets,
so of course we had to do some stargazing in the
bed at some point before the time change!

NEW FRIENDS. Remember how I mentioned awhile ago how crazy amazing this ward is (and also 4 sentences ago)? Well, they did it again: we have a new investigator from a member referral! We went to her house yesterday, with the two members who found her, and just had a Bible discussion on the atonement, and evidence of the Godhead being 3 separate beings. It was just really cool!

Black Bear Diner for the 18-month
lunch celebration

Plus I've never done a discussion like that before, especially with someone who knows the Bible so well. She was just pulling scriptures out, from Romans and other sections like it was nothing. I was impressed. And next time we'll get to talk a little more about what we believe. She wanted to talk about what happens after death, so we're pretty excited. And the members found her because they were walking down the street, saw her squash growing on the sidewalk, and asked if they could take one!

more stargazing selfies

Don't ask me how they somehow related that to the Book of Mormon and a scripture study class...I'm not that advanced yet in my missionary-ing.

service in Grass Valley...some people had left,
but we got a good chunk of who was there

Have I told you about Bradon? He's a sophomore in high school, and we teach him via facebook messenger and call. We got to have our first lesson over a phone call this week, and it was so cool to hear how much he just absorbed, and he was even taking notes! You could hear him repeating things to himself, as he typed out what he was learning. Definitely more studious about religion than I was back then (over 4 years ago...I'd say "I feel old" but I know I'm still a child).

some of the cool views around here!
Have to say I'm pretty lucky

Anyway, he's very receptive and asks lots of questions. Now I can say I can 'check off' that 'first' -- of teaching a lesson over the phone. And it was a full 45 minutes, too, so it's a good thing we charge the phone every day! Something I failed to do in Chico, more often than I should admit.

LIFT WHERE YOU STAND. Final bit for this week. We went to a Religious Freedom Broadcast for (I think) northern California on Saturday. I'll be honest, a lot of the big fancy words and government aspects of it went over my head, as much as I tried to focus, but you know how hard that stuff is for me.

When members have phones, there's
a chance we might borrow them for
a bit of Snapchat. Not my fault!

Behind the scenes from a post you might have
seen on facebook. Obviously the dog's
the center of attention!

I was able to get a few key points out of it though, the most important being: do what you can from where you stand. There will always be crazy, and sometimes more exciting things in other places, but it's very important that we do what we can from where we are currently. This doesn't mean we all have to immediately become master scholars or work in the senate...we just need to hold down our own forts, and help those around us.

This goes not only for religious freedom, but just in our lives, too. We can't help everyone, just like we can't please everyone. So focus on those around you, and keeping your family stable amidst the chaos of the world.

I was showing them how with Samsungs,
you can take a selfie by holding your
hand up, palm facing the camera;
it was a pretty good picture!

Branching out to the community is good too, but don't try to cover too much with your small unbrella! You'll be left running around in a very wet circle. I know we all have a desire to serve others, so let's do that one family, one community at a time. No matter how insignificant you feel your impact is, you're always a hero to someone if you're trying.

It's A MINI SNAKE!! It was so cool!
The member just pointed it out as we
were walking to the car and I got to
hold it! They're a red something and
that's as big as they get :) Certainly
made Tuesday evening a lot better!

Good luck this week! I always love hearing from you, and thank you for the support you've given me.

Sister Whitesell
teresa.whitesell@myldsmail.net

765 Mikkelsen Dr.
Foothills Terrace Apt. 8
Auburn, CA 95603

Goddess Painting 2.0

I was gonna start this out with "Howdy, y'all!" to better fit with the service we got to help with this week. But I couldn't bring myself to do it! So I guess

"Hey Guys, it's your not-so-local missionary again" will suffice.

painting the stables

This week, we didn't get set on fire, thankfully! No "baptism by water OR fire" for me, thank goodness (that's the missionary term for getting evacuated because of flooding or fire.). But we did get to do plenty of other crazy things.

perfect horse/dog/walking in the sun
picture of course!

SERVICE IN THE STABLES. For starters, and to explain the title, I found my new project house! There's a newishlywed couple (3 years but they're still in the honeymoon phase), and they ended up with an amazing house out in the fields of Auburn, with a huge property. The big thing is, they have a stable house and indoor arena for horses: I think it fits 27 horses! There's an outdoor arena, and a pond, and a pasture for the horses, and a second, smaller set of stables.

weekly planning is just so exciting every Friday
(look at that schedule though, I'm pretty proud of that!)

So, imagine the perfect movie barn in all those horse movies that are fancy schmancy, and THAT's in their backyard! It's rundown, because the previous owner couldn't take care of it anymore, so now the missionaries get to help :) :)

Linda, from my last area, always used to call our little construction crew: "Goddess Construction, Painting, Etc." Now I've got a great crew and project out here, too! Tender mercies. This time we got to paint stalls, and help feed and bring in the horses! Also for horse lovers: she's got a 36-year-old horse. Explain THAT one!

Zone Conference

IMAGINE THE TIARA. Sorry I didn't do anything overly clumsy this week. But my mom did send a package, and had 3 little tiaras with a scripture in it (plus other fun things). Sister Swensen put it on my head, and she and Sister Kikel just started laughing at me! The sight of a mini tiara on ME, was just too much. Feel free to enjoy that mental image.

Sneak peek of the stables: I told you
it's literally a movie set,
minus the terrible quality of the photo

TEACHING TEENS. Some cool things this week: Wednesday morning we got up ten minutes earlier than we normally do, and drove over to the church building at 6:50 a.m. to help teach a bit of seminary! I enjoyed it. I'm more of a morning person than I thought, especially compared to my companions, and was shocked to see 16 students at early morning seminary. I was used to the 5 students we had during high school. It was cool to help teach them about being missionaries in the last days. Very cool.

Zone Hike last P-day

Exchanges (Sister Bice is the
top middle)

Wednesday was also exchanges, which was fun. I went out to Lincoln for the day and pretended to be a Spanish missionary! No one was really home, so I ended up getting to listen to a few sentences in Spanish from people on doorsteps in the area. I did my best to pray in Spanish all day, and see what I could understand from others--that was pretty fun. And Sister Bice is amazing: she's my "mission godmother" (first sister training leader on your mission), AND my first exchange. So, getting to do another exchange with her was perfect!

still hiking

LEARNING FAST. Huge Miracle. Kyle, the guy I mentioned last week I think, who just kind of appeared at church after we texted him last minute. But he's come the past 3 weeks, and we've had one lesson with us 3 missionaries, and him. Yesterday he started asking a church member questions about baptism.

hiking

That would normally feel like we're a little slow on the uptake as missionaries, but there hasn't even been a chance to talk to him about it yet. We're just really excited to keep working with him! He even started trying to quit coffee, and his occasional beer, before he came to church the first time. No one's like that! But yeah, he's super cool and I'm excited to see what happens with him.

Another miracle is our newest investigator, Ashleigh. She was basically handed to us by a church member! The ward missionaries had us over for dinner Friday (with Kyle too), and invited Ashleigh. We taught Kyle a bit on faith and Ashleigh didn't say much. But at the end she asked us where she'd go to learn more about the gospel, aside from church. ("Why?" "To learn more--I'm interested in this and don't know anything, but want to learn.")

A little bit of the indoor arena

*Cue: missionary internally freaking out...* "That's what we're here for! We spend almost all our time just sharing what we know with others, and teaching." So we invited her to church Sunday, and she came yesterday! It was the Primary program (the little children sing and give talks for the whole program, one time a year). I'm excited to keep teaching her. She's really sweet, has a 5-year-old boy and is a horse performer. She's out practicing with our member friends quite often. It's super rare just to be introduced to people by members!

You guys don't actually get to see
the mini tiara on my head, sorry

SURPASSING EXPECTATIONS. Final thing. We have goals each week to help motivate us, but we always put a name behind the numbers. Like for people on date (a baptismal date), we figure out who we could ask that week, and have a goal based on where our investigators are at in their learning. This week we had a goal of 4 investigators to come to Sacrament Meeting. And just letting you know, usually people are a bit less dependable on whether or not they'll be at church. BUT, this week was the primary program which helped, and we had FIVE come to Sacrament Meeting! A new guy, who we didn't even contact before, came! So Auburn is just full of miracles and tender mercies right now, and I'm excited to see what happens this coming week!

The sign literally says Auburn 3 and Forresthill
which is the area I cover now, so I couldn't resist

I hope everyone's weeks go well, and Halloween prep is well under way. Carving all the pumpkins that'll be moldy much faster than we want them to be.

I love hearing from you guys! Remember who you are, don't let it get you down ;) (Thank you Sister Wright), I'll check in next week.

Sister Whitesell
teresawhitesell@myldsmail.net

Sister Teresa Whitesell

Two of the nice HUGE statues we get the
privilege to drive by daily

765 Mikkelsen Dr.
Foothills Terrace Apt. 8
Auburn, CA 95603

First Snow in Auburn

Hello, All!

Pumpkin Party!

GREY SNOW. P-day seems to roll around quickly, but also slowly a lot. Time is just weird on a mission. We all know I get so hyped about snow! But unfortunately, this time "snow" really means "ash," so this week I got to experience ash falling from the sky. It reminded me of Elementary School days, in more Southern California, when we had a few big fires. One school day we couldn't have recess, because ash was falling.

The picture doesn't show it as thick as it was,
but that's to get an idea of the smoke this past week.
Had some 'sick hours' for the companions
because of it, but I've been doing fine with it

But, all the missionaries out here are safe. Some got evacuated to other areas temporarily, but the fires did destroy a lot of homes. We'll see what we can do to help in the upcoming weeks. There weren't any fires super close to Auburn, but Chico did have some pretty close (it was after I left so you can't blame me for it). Everyone I know out there is safe though.

The 3 Jehovah's Witnesses comin' at ya
(okay kidding, not really)

DANCIN' WITH THE STARS. On a slightly better note, Mondays out here we do Zumba! Shoutout to Concessa, my seminary teacher who also teaches Zumba :) It's a group of the church ladies (plus some others) who have Zumba Mondays and Thursdays in the church gym. We go, because there are non-member women who also participate. For those of you trying to picture me dancing and failing, don't worry: whatever mess you thought of, IS about what it looks like when I'm trying. Basically I do it for entertainment purposes.

Look at the puppy!!

Somehow, a few times Sister Kikel has ended up in between Sister Swenson and I, so when we look around we see someone who has actually danced before, just having a blast! We've got work to do, to catch up to her skills...

Proof I don't sit backseat always

Fun thing: my mission got facebook, if you couldn't tell by some of the posts that have been shared, and changes to my profile. I'll let everyone know what the official rules are, when I know Thursday after our Zone Conference. I look forward to having another way to share the gospel with even more people. Plus, over facebook messenger, you don't have half as many awkward encounters, because you don't have to see people's reactions. I have enough awkward in my life as is, so I'm glad we have a tool to remove at least a little bit of it!

LEFT BEHIND. Hey--throwback to the days of when your mom accidentally left you in the store as a little kid because there were too many groceries and no cell phones to text and remind them to pick you up, or just forgot about you somewhere.

We've seen plenty of these guys up at Foresthill

To all the moms out there: we'll always hold it against you, but really it wasn't as traumatizing as we made it out to be. (**Side note from Mom: btw, lest someone assumes she is drawing from past experience...we actually NEVER left Teresa in the grocery store. Ever.)

I only mention this because I'm in a trio. Which means someone gets to sit in the backseat and usually we switch off between me and Sister Swensen. This time, it so happened to be my turn to "back" (stand outside of the car and make sure the driver doesn't hit anything when they're backing up) and it was dark after dinner, and we were in Foresthill so it was very woodsy.

I love how "stereotypical
missionary" some of the
Elders can look

But I get out, and am prepped to "back" the truck, and the members whose house it is yell out that Sister Kikel can just make a loop around a tree and then she doesn't have to back up...it will make things easier. Well, I didn't hear all that, and Sister Kikel is very used to being in a companionship of 2. So she started to pull forwards, much to my confusion, and gets a good ways ahead before I see brake lights, and the car slams to a stop. She pokes her head out the window and yells back to me, "You can get in the car! I didn't realize you were still outside!" So that's the story of how I almost got forgotten in Foresthill :) Had to happen sometime!

IMPORTANT DATES. Some miracles this week. First, we put an investigator "on date!" (set a date for her to get baptized) I've met with her twice so far, and the other two have met with her a few times more than that. She was hesitant at first, because she didn't want to have the pressure of a date. But after the prayer, the thought came to my mind of how to tie in baptism to the lesson, and I was able to be the one to extend the invitation again, and have her on date! Currently it's for November 11th (that would be the best birthday gift of my life), but I know it's a big thing and she might push it back. That is really a normal thing to do if you don't feel comfortable by that date. But I'm excited for her!

Found a tree,
did the next logical thing

In Chico, I don't know if I mentioned that I didn't have a Ward Mission Leader, aka someone to help plan things with, check in on investigators, hype up the ward, someone who really is key to missionary work and helps out a lot. During my entire first 4 1/2 months serving, we didn't have one called in that ward/congregation. (One was called/assigned two weeks before I left and he's amazing!)

THE HELP. But, Auburn has an amazing Ward Mission Leader, and a fleet of amazing Ward Missionaries (people in the congregation called/asked to be member missionaries and help out the full-time missionaries) to couple it! Yesterday I had my first meeting with everyone there (they've been meeting every other week for awhile), and just sat back as they discussed all kinds of things. How to involve members, activities to invite nonmembers to, and assign who would be in charge of inviting who, how to hype up the ward, what new missionary callings involved. And then, to top it all off, they went back and forth and discussed people they had each been working with or talking to about the church!

All the selfies

And the people they've mentioned have real potential, and this Friday we're having dinner at one of the Ward Missionary's houses, and they're inviting a few of their nonmember friends. It's amazing!!! This ward is crazy, and so into the work, and I hope you can each find something that will hype you up too, so you want to share the joys you have with others!

THE VERY REAL DEAL. I know that this gospel is true, and I never thought I'd be doing half of the crazy stuff I am now doing as a missionary. Yesterday we greeted people coming in to church. As I was talking to ward members, I realized that I wasn't faking a smile or forcing myself to talk to people. I love doing what I do, and missionary work has brought a greater joy into my life, that I didn't realize I could have. Yes, there are times when it's hard, and we have plenty of negative interactions too, but at the end of the day, I'm happy with what I'm doing, and know that this is what I'm supposed to be doing.

So: go out this week and find a way to serve someone else! As my Mission President says, "You'll learn to love people you don't even like." As always, I love hearing the updates, and keep it real out there!

Mission hasn't made me suddenly capable
of taking normal cute pictures

(Disclaimer: none of the filters were put on by me...I just work here (@hood) )

Sister Whitesell
teresa.whitesell@myldsmail.net

Sister Whitesell
765 Mikkelsen Dr.
Foothills Terrace Apt. 8
Auburn, CA 95603

And Then There Were 3

I know it's a small truck but it's coveted around
the mission! Better than a malibu

We got road blocked by cows

Foresthill views!

Hello, All!

Had to be stereotypical missionary
for a bit, because
"when in Auburn..."

Sometimes weeks are just weird as missionaries. Sometimes we get into a schedule despite how different each day is, and then a transfer throws everything up into the air. So much has happened this week!

How it feels going to a new area
(kidding Mom that was a joke)

I'll start out with "Auburn is amazing!" As is Foresthill, which we double-cover (sort of). Foresthill is part-time, since it's a branch instead of a ward. It is smaller, numbers-wise. The area is HUGE!

CELEBRITY LIFE. When I got here, I could just tell that this is where I'm supposed to be, for the next little bit of my mission. And, it's in the foothills, so it's an amazing mountainy town with tons of amazing people, and even more work for sisters, especially! We have other wards "stealing us," because they need us over there for people they find.

Our ward mission leader
makes and races his own cars

Also, the area is basically a 3D version of Massachusetts...tons of trees, but there are actual mountains. Foresthill is just driving through mountains, with tons of pines, so there won't be as much color as MA, but still -- mountains!

We're almost like celebrities out here. We were eating lunch in a small store with a deli, and a lady walks up to us, introduces herself from another ward, and gives us chocolate covered oreos! They love the sisters because they haven't had them in this area for so long; it's kinda funny. *flips hair* Guess I'll just have to adjust to being famous. Kidding, but the people out here are so nice, and the ward does so much work to help the missionaries. It's amazing.

first companionship pic at the
ward mission leader's house

A few funny things. My first night, I didn't have a mattress, because they were still trying to get everything situated (the trio was a big surprise, but they had all the pieces I needed besides a mattress). I couldn't sleep on the couch, because the rules are to be in the same room at night...so I pulled the couch cushions into the room and slept on the floor. First World mission problems I know.

more Foresthill

Foresthill again--it's really an amazing area!

MEETING THE DUCK. Second thing. I go to a lesson Wednesday, to meet an investigator Haley, and she hasn't responded to the text confirming our visit so we drop by anyways. We get to the house and there's a blonde lady in her 40s or 50, standing in a canal that leads to a small pond, cradling a big white duck! I liked her straight off the bat! :)

Exchanges! 5 sisters in a car is a rarity
on missions. We were going to do some
service in Gridley

HIT THE GROUND RUNNING. Anyways, Day One here I got dropped off, and thrown straight into a lesson with a new investigator doing the church's ARP so I'm excited to do that with her! (Addiction Recovery Program.) I got to practice being confident despite knowing no one, and bore my testimony, helped teach a bit, all that good stuff. It was actually really nice to be thrown into the new companionship and have a lesson first thing. I'll be honest: I was nervous about a trio, especially with two sisters who had already been companions for a transfer. But it's been amazing so far! We teach well together, we get along, they've done what they can to explain everything to me, so it's been really good.

bedroom

Haley! She's amazing and has a few
dogs, goats, and a duck :)

A big lesson you learn when you transfer is that you almost restart mission life, but you kinda know how to do some stuff. Everything's different though. I came here confident in my capabilities in being a Chico missionary and now I get to refresh and be an Auburn missionary. For example, tracting (knocking on doors) isn't really used here, while in Chico it was relatively successful.

still have to get the hammock
up somewhere!

SPEAK NOW. So I don't really know how all that works yet, but I do know we OYM (Open Your Mouth) downtown sometimes--mind you, I've never done this before. But we went to downtown Auburn Friday night, since everyone's out, and we went into a picture gallery. Many of you know I'm not the biggest art fan, but they were displaying pictures from a trip a youth group from the local high school took to southern Utah, northern AZ and Nevada. They hit a ton of national parks and hikes! And I just started talking to people.

view from the balcony

my "stuff" room

This time was practice starting conversations, and next time I'll work on working the gospel more into the conversations. But it was so cool to see that after the initial stage fright of OYMing for the first time, you can just start a conversation with anyone, if you show that you're interested in them! So I gave out a few pass along cards, and got to hear some cool stories. Huge credit to Sister Wright, for giving me tons of ideas for questions to ask people. She's amazing at starting and continuing conversations while I struggled a lot more with that, before being companions with her. I learned a lot from her!

take a wild guess

my bed, Night One

GOALS TO GROW ON. Considering I've written an essay, I'll end on a final note with my testimony of service. As we serve others, we learn to love them in a Christ-like way, that we may not even realize we are capable of. My goal in Auburn is to be better at forgetting myself and going to work, as President Hinckley has said before. I'm excited to see how I grow as I fully focus on the people I'm with, and called to serve! During times of natural disasters and when service is needed in what seem like much bigger projects, we can't forget to serve those right around us.

kitchen

Good luck with everything this week! I always love the updates.

Sister Whitesell

teresa.whitesell@myldsmail.net

Sister Whitesell

765 Mikkelsen Dr.

our desks fit quite nicely, so I was surprised

Foothills Terrace Apt. 8

Auburn, CA 95603