Even When There's Not Success, There's Success

Pumpkin Carving of course

What else do you do on Halloween?
The Elders left the Iron Man mask,
and it actually opens and makes
noise! We were more than
entertained

Hello, All--

(We'll have lots of Foresthill pics this time, since this is Sister Kikel's last week here...)

How's life in the normal world? Sometimes it's nice to NOT have to worry about its downward spiral, but hey that's just me and my bubble. California hasn't burned to the ground yet, so honestly it's pretty good out here, nothing to complain about!

Halloween disguises

I donated the tiara to the truck;
it's still there

"It's like real sifting: the gold stays
in the pan and the dirt falls out!"
--thank you Sister Swensen :)

We had a rainy day in foresthill, and the clouds
just played in the mountains!

Aw shucks, I don't know if I can do that...

This has been the longest and shortest week ever. I honestly can't remember a ton of what we did, and yet none of us can believe that Halloween was this past week...because WOW, that was an eon ago!

words to live by

CHALLENGES WITH STATIONARY OBJECTS. However as usual, I have to inform you of the amazing clutz that I am. No complete wipeouts this week, just near misses. I was walking in downtown Auburn, and walked across an area that was covered in loose stones, because they like to be fancy out here. Well no one told me that someone put one of those huge circle anchors in the ground, so of course the toe of my shoe catches in it. Obviously it doesn't budge, so I get to catch myself from completely eating it, all to the entertainment of Sisters Swensen and Kikel, watching the entirety of my personal catastrophe. But it's fine, I'm fine really! Didn't have any dignity left to lose anyway.

Look at that crazy week we have planned!

PROGRESS IN STAGES. I guess it's fair to say that I jinxed Natalie's baptism by talking about it too early on in my email. I can't remember if I mentioned it before, but she will be pushing it back--she's still wanting to get baptized, though! Heavenly Father's got my back, and knew that a baptism on the big 2 0 for Sister Whitesell would be a birthday to be celebrated for the eternities. (My birthday is Saturday, fyi).

Old Town Auburn

We had dinner with the Pierces this week, and
they're the cutest family. I'd never taught a group
like that before, so I had to get a pic...and then
of course all chaos ensued when I
went for the selfie

We're teaching Kyle, the most golden of investigators, and it's been very fast-paced with him. We're teaching him all the lessons, in a 2-week period! It's been a roller coaster with him, a little slower in the beginning. One contact, then nothing for 3 weeks, then he shows up to church, we have a lesson the next Sunday, then the lesson after that he picks a date for baptism, for 2.5 weeks later! It's picked up speed, and now we have 3 lessons with him this week to solidify things, and he gets baptized this Saturday!

their "sassy" faces are apparently just ducks

It hasn't been easy for him, but I've never seen someone so prepared and determined to get it done, and get it done right! So hopefully, we'll have a nice update for you next week on how he's doing. We love him, he's awesome, told us he was trying to quit coffee in our get-to-know-you lesson, without us even saying anything about that. He's practically perfect! Any prayers would be helpful, since temptations always come a lot stronger the week of the baptism!

in a trio you get two "backers," and
Sister Kikel still almost hit a car...
kidding she's an awesome driver!

We taught Primary about missionary work on
Sunday, which was more entertaining than
expected. Probably because I don't do it
every week!

BLESSINGS FOR ALL. Well, the reason for the title is that there's ALWAYS something to be grateful for! This week had its slower moments, because a lot of appointments fell through, and not tons of people were home when we checked. And yet every day, there were miracles. The biggest one, is that our companion unity is where it needs to be :) I haven't said much about it, but being in a trio is hard to mesh together...because getting to know TWO people, and talk about things with TWO, is much harder than one. Especially when those 2 people have been together a transfer already, and know each other pretty well.

Bear Stumps are pretty
common out here

No filter: the sky was on fire
when we drove home!

The sign exactly fits the place!

Photoshoot in the Foresthill Forest

Umbrella pics

But after prompted questions, Sister Swenson opened up, then Sister Kikel did, and I was able to too, so now we're all on the same page, and there's none of that unspoken tension! You all know what I'm talking about. But I love learning what I can from them, and seeing the different ways to do missionary work. You meet the coolest people on a mission, believe it or not.

I was concentrating so hard on
getting the umbrella in
the right place, I forgot
to make a nice face, oops!
(Mom thinks this one is
straight out of a bad
horror flick...
nightmares, anyone?)

Under my umbrella-ella-ella
eh-eh-eh-eh (Rihanna okay...)

LOOKING FOR MIRACLES. I just wanted to end with my testimony of miracles. The key to finding them is looking with faith. So many things happen daily that we miss, because we're too lost in our own heads to take a moment and appreciate everything God has given us. I love looking for the small things, and that's definitely how I find joys in life. We aren't usually going to be given a flash of lightning sign that tells us what to do. He works in ways that we'll individually be receptive to, and often times He's so good at what He does that we think the ideas and small miracles are our own doing. Everything good is from Him! Let Him know you want to recognize the work done in your life, and I promise you you'll start to see just how much He does for us. Let Him help!

Run, Sister Kikel!
It's just a wee bit wet in the rain...

For once, I was the only one making
a normal-smile picture face!

I love hearing from each of you, and wish everyone the best of luck through their trials. There's always a silver lining to every cloud, just don't forget to look for it :) Let me know how things are going, and remember who you are, don't let it get you down!

Sister Whitesell

CA's highest bridge: we drive
over it a couple of times a week!

teresa.whitesell@myldsmail.net

(transfers are next week so it's probably best to wait to send a snail mail letter, in case my address changes...)

Half-zone service of cleaning up the
Auburn Food Bank