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