The One Where I Lost What Are The Odds

Hello, Again!

The scouts fed the missionaries as their service,
which was really cool...

So Sister Whitesell is starting to learn what every other missionary experiences at some point on their mission, and that is the laziness and lack of desire to 'write a weekly.' I kinda slacked off a bit on timing and cut myself short this week. But it was still a great week!

what we do in our free time after 9 p.m.

EXTRA PROTEIN. OK--this is probably one of the biggest Sister Whitesell moments I've had so far! We (the zone) had the opportunity this week to do a service at the home of a 'non-member,' (someone not part of our congregation). We helped her with tons of gardening and yardwork, which was really satisfying, to get my hands dirty. Side note: the majority of service we do in Rocklin is working at old people homes, so I was pumped to do physical labor again!

Christian was my helper and
we had a blast!

Anyway, as we gardened, one of the Elders found a worm. (If you connected my email title with that last sentence, you probably know where this is going...) Since I was talking to him exactly when he found it, he asked me What Are The Odds, that I ate the worm. (Mom side note as her stomach turns: "What Are The Odds" is a 'dare game,' I don't know the exact rules.)

This is Sister Johnson. Sister Andersen's will
be next week, don't worry!

I wasn't planning on doing it, until another elder said "you won't," so of course I had to prove him wrong. So we played, and as soon as we said our numbers I knew I'd made a mistake. We both said 12...so I got to really become one with the gardening as the zone watched me swallow the worm that the Elder dropped in my mouth. (Missionaries still do dumb things. We're still sorta normal people sometimes.)

GOOD CONVERSATIONS. On a better note! We did so much this week! Monday night we had 'exchanges,' and it was another time (only second time ever) where I was the "oldest" -- the one on my mission the longest -- in a trio, and that was fun. After a long day of trying to contact people and many unhappy responses, we knocked on the door of Kayla and she was super cool, cause as soon as she opened the door, she started talking to us, and we got to show her the Light the World video. We'll be able to stop by again this week, and see how everything's going! Miracles!

Daniel and I made a fortress because
houses are too mainstream

FHE Tuesday was creating ginger bread
houses then destroying them

Friday we also did a 'zone blitz' in Granite Bay. A zone blitz is when everyone in the zone gets together and then just goes all out in one area. So we're in Granite Bay, and literally every door we're knocking on is a negative response, but at least they answered. Then we get to the last door, and this 16-year-old and her friend (Makenna and Julia) open the door, and they were so excited to be talking to missionaries and watch a video about Christmas! We talked for a bit, and then they said we should come by tomorrow afternoon when their parents are home. Makenna even said that she'd make sure they stayed home, so they'd be there when we came back. It was so cool! Diligence and hard work pays off, even when it's little things or even just friendly faces.

awkward family Christmas pics

HIGHLIGHT. Okay, honestly I'll just skip to the best part of the week: Sunday! Background: in the YSA (Young Single Adult) congregation, it's really hard to pick up investigators, because you cover a huge area, and end up giving other investigators to the other congregations. (To be in the YSA ward/congregation, you have to be 18-24, so anyone we talk to who is interested who isn't that age, we 'refer' to other missionaries, who support a family congregation.) Our investigators are never the right age for us to 'keep.'

I got as close to the peacock as I could
before it hopped/flapped away

Well, at our service day at one of the senior centers, we started talking to this worker named David, he's super cool from Ukraine, and was looking for a church in English so he could keep practicing. We gave him our number because none of us could remember the address of the building (don't do that, guys), and then he actually texted us later! THEN, this was an even bigger miracle, HE CAME TO CHURCH, and sat all by himself and just stayed for the whole meeting! So we talked to him afterwards, and were able to set up a time for a Bible study class on Thursday. I am pumped!

Sister Andersen lost her toothpaste for about
4 days...then as she was preparing her talk
she found it! Being prepared brings miracles!

SUNDAY MIRACLE #2. There is a girl who goes to church and has been going for months, Cece, she's not a member but we've been told not to say anything really, or pressure her, because her fiance is the church member and he's working with her slowly. Well, Sunday she came up to Sister Anderson and said, "I want to take the lessons so I can get baptized. Also I'm to Mosiah in the Book of Mormon, but I'm only like halfway done..." It was SO COOL! So yeah, miracles happen every day!

We found a bull, so obviously
had to get a picture while tracting

zone: service awkward family photo,
post-eating-of-worm 

To finish, I just wanted to express my gratitude for the amazing companions I've had that are willing to work hard, and we can see that the efforts we put in do pay off. Sometimes in ways we don't expect or even recognize, but when you're faithful and diligent, people notice. If you do your best to improve every day then you're doing exactly what we came to this earth to do.

Miss everyone! Good luck with all the various things going on this week! Keep killing it!

Sister Whitesell

teresa.whitesell@myldsmail.net

8583 Watt Ave.
Antelope, CA 95843

Still using the mission office address until we know what's happening next transfer (we find out Sunday!)