7:17

Heya!

Ferns for my mom, cause she kinda likes them :)

I just want to start out with a Mom appreciation paragraph, because I have the greatest mom out there. Last week I had my whole weekly blog typed out, and then when I sent it (at 5:58)...the pictures didn't attach. So I sent another email again, WITH the pictures while the initial email was sending, and guess what, my whole weekly deleted itself.

So Mom did the amazing mom thing and
created a weekly for me, by modge-podging some of what I sent her at home, and adding a few touches herself! And of course she had to come up with all the picture captions herself too. I'd say she did a stellar job :)

*My one addition, for the stars on the ceiling: I don't think you understand how excited I was to have those! Mama Curtis coming in clutch and getting us those :) :)

a dove nesting at a member's house;
Sister Curtis not amused

THINGS WE FOUND. We found a long-lost member who wants to start coming back to church. We found a lady who's interested in the church, and we were able to refer her to missionaries where she's from...three guesses? Anyone? Try JAMAICA! She's so cool! And she was only going to be in the USA for another day and was headed home! The address was real too, we looked it up so that was awesome! We met a roller-blading figure skater, a professional dog walker, threw back to 2004 for some LDS music (EFY 2004 album) and fuse beads. Practiced our nonchalant speedwalking to talk to a lady we felt we needed to (she's a new investigator), and last Monday we made Starburst Sculptures.

we had to get creative with our names,
can you tell who wrote it?

We just had a ton of crazy miracles and fun interactions! Perks of being on a bike, honestly. Sister Curtis is amazing, at just stopping what she's doing and whether it's planning or biking, to turn around and go talk to someone. It leads to some pretty cool stories!

Not a sketchy bathroom at 7/11

Plus, I got to use two approaches that I've wanted to my entire mission, but just haven't fit in until now...

CLOTHING CHOICES. One of them was telling someone we just met that the only reason I'm in a skirt for 18 months is because the message we share has brought me enough joy and peace to step out of my comfort zone of sweats and netflix, to go around and talk to strangers.

weekly planning, this week may or may not have
exhausted me a bit!

The other was telling someone that the message we share is about how we can be with our families for eternity, and we have answers to questions like "Where did we come from? Why are we here? and Where are we going after this life?" And BOTH times we got a new investigator!

Updating our schedule in
the best place possible

"Nice front lawn," Sister Dawson

(side note:) this week Sister Curtis and I dropped everything to reach for our high goal of new investigators. We talked to everyone we felt prompted to, and had not one, not two, but SEVEN new investigators! I'm so excited to see how we keep growing in this area!

BEING SPECIFIC. Biggest miracle of the week. Friday is weekly planning day. That means we spend a few hours planning out what we're going to be doing each hour for the next week. It's kind of tedious sometimes, plus we had lessons in there. But that morning we had set a goal of finding a new investigator and we felt good about it, but after planning we saw that we'd only have less than 30 minutes to go out and find someone.

Sister Curtis, Me

Well, we prayed, and told Heavenly Father that we really wanted to find a new investigator, and we'd do whatever He wanted us to, but our time was really tight for us to fit everything in. We prayed about specific people to visit, and it narrowed down to one potential investigator. Then we prayed again about what time we should visit him, or if we should even visit him that day.

The answer we got was around 7:30, and that's too generic of a number, because sometimes we think it's lame to fit everything into 15 minute increments when it comes to scheduling. Instead, we changed our time to 7:17. We told Heavenly Father we'd leave when he prompted us to, and stop our planning for that short time to go over. Well, 7 rolls around, and Sister Curtis stops writing and says "should we go?" and we left.

We drive over and park by his house, and I look at the clock and it says 7:15. We walk to the door and knock, and at 7:17, Whitney Lyle opens the door and we talk for a bit, share a short message and schedule a time to meet with him again. (THAT means, he is a new investigator!!) It was amazing to see that Heavenly Father will be specific when we ask. To have the timing down to the minute strengthened my testimony so much of just how important his work is!

Fuse Beads!

TAKING THINGS PERSONALLY. There were so many miracles this week, and they all stemmed from Sister Curtis and Dawson. We went on exchanges Thursday and found 3 new investigators :) We talked to so many people, and I was able to be bold in lots of new ways, it was fun! There is so much power and importance in the message President Nelson gave, pleading with us to learn how to recognize personal revelation. How does the spirit work with you? He's always trying to reach out, all we have to do is reach back. I know you're all doing amazing, keep holding down the fort!

Sister Whitesell
teresa.whitesell@myldsmail.net

5 Marcia Way Apt 131
Roseville, CA 95747

Dogs barking, Cats calling, and Lizards doing pushups

Hello from the northwest!

FRIENDLY FACES. There are so many more lizards coming out again, which I love! One even came out of hiding while I was doing service and hung around for a bit, running around to make sure I still knew he was there :)

COPING WITH NEEDLES. This morning I had my fillings redone, and Brother Pettey is amazing! I don't do well with needles and all that, which is a lame fear that I developed in my early teens. But today I was so determined to NOT freak out because there's nothing scary about it, and I'm really comfortable with Dr. Pettey anyway.

Yep, just had to buy these

Well, I got in the chair and he asked if I was ready, and then he put the needle in my mouth and I forced myself to stay relaxed and just breathe deeper, and he finished...then magic! I was totally fine!  For like 3 minutes. Then I felt the light-headedness kick in a little. But I was still calm, and in control, and just asked him to lower the chair a bit, and it was so good! Leaps and bounds! I'll get over the fear someday. But he did a good job, and now I have 4 fillings done by him. We'll see if anything else comes up, but I think that's part of the reason I stayed south this transfer.

One more visit to my favorite dentist

LEARNING THROUGH PRAYER. Okay, final amazing miracle. I've been practicing in my nightly prayer to be guided by the spirit. Always of course praying until I recognize the spirit, but then taking it further and following the "spirit trail" (one prompting/thought leads to another, then another). Well, Friday night I felt like I should pray that we'd be led to someone willing to hear the gospel, and I'd follow every prompting.

my new friend says hello

Saturday at one point I felt like we needed to knock a certain door, no one answered so we continued on. BUT, then Sister Curtis followed a prompting to visit a potential (someone who had expressed interest before), and SHE said she'd like to continue lessons after finals were over! So that was amazing, to see that prayer answered!

I knew I could find some of these...
now our room looks like
the night sky

Then Saturday night, the spirit was pretty strong because it had been a good day, and I had the image come to mind of someone random coming to church. Someone who we had NOT prepared or asked to come, walking in the door and being there. That is unheard of, since you know people don't just "do" that. Plus, we had run out of time to really invite some of the people we usually invite, to church, so I was kind of unsure.

Can't NOT take
a shoulders photo
with my new companion :)

But I prayed for it and dwelled on it some, and ended the prayer and wrote in my journal. I was a little nervous the next day and didn't want to get my hopes up, if the prayer wasn't going to be answered in the way I expected. I couldn't even gather the courage to tell Sister Curtis about it because it is so uncommon that that happens.

Bikes! Yes, riding them as often as possible

Well before church started, a recent convert and her boyfriend walked in with a man in a nicer polo shirt and jeans, her dad (I would learn later). Guess what, he's not a member and it was his 2nd time to church ever, and he came to Sunday School too and even participated...it was SO amazing to see that prayer answered! A nonmember who we didn't even know and had been prepared to come to church! They left after 2nd hour so we couldn't talk to them, but it was such a cool miracle. Definitely strengthened my testimony of prayer.

Another tree-climbing
missionary pic

Anyway, amazing week, lots of spiritual uplift, and I'm so excited to see what next week brings! I love the area and the people, and we're adjusting to the work to focus more on members, and having them do the missionary work, which is how it's supposed to be in the first place :)

GOOD THINGS AHEAD. Here in Roseville, we really have to start using the members. It's gonna be super cool to have them help us, and get involved in everything! There are some very missionary-minded families, and some that aren't as much, but we're figuring out a family mission plan to present so that each family can do work in a way that best fits their strengths so I'm excited!

Missionary work takes a lot of effort and is hard sometimes but I'm so happy! Sister Curtis has been such a miracle and a blessing to me, and I've been able to grow so much, spiritually, with her. I'm just excited to see what we can do next, and it's lame that we're already halfway through the transfer because she's amazing!


Stay strong and keep killin' it--
Sister Whitesell

teresa.whitesell@myldsmail.net
5 Marcia Way Apt 131
Roseville, CA 95747

When Mother's Day is as big of a holiday as Christmas

yellow

Shalom! Guess what, it's been a whole week. Yeah, I know, crazy. This was simultaneously super long and super short, it was weird. But I'm still adjusting to the crazy Roseville life, and continue to be happily surprised as more people have pit bulls than they do small dogs. I'm content!

2-week old puppies!

The Young Women gave us a
ridiculously large basket of amazing
candy called "bucket of sunshine"
cause everything is yellow!

why not

MINI TRAVELS. I guess I can start by saying I took a field trip to Gridley this past Tuesday and Wednesday! Yup, a 2-day exchange, believe it or not. Well it was indeed, and I had to be trained for a few new responsibilities I have. But Sister Mawby and I had a blast and a half as we did work in a weird but productive way. By weird I mean we did a lot more "studies" than we normally do because I had to learn the ropes some, so we got a ton done but it wasn't necessarily in the form of talking to a bajillion people like I'm used to. But it was really cool and I'm excited to implement what I've learned! Sister Mawby is amazing and hilarious, and we just had fun while we did the work.

just one of many pets

we made all the Samoan food!

ADDITIONAL SISTER. Also, she accidentally stole one of the Elder's volleyballs. Instead of ransoming it, we took Paula (the Volleyball) on a bunch of adventures with us! Pictures will be included :) Paula Pinkston got to go horseback riding while we supervised, took a short trip down a lazy river, and even got to ride shotgun as we drove around. Honestly, you just have to find all sorts of ridiculous ways to have fun on your mission, 'cause life is about finding joy in the little things, right? If you don't believe that, go find some lemons or something and make lemonade, because you need some joy!

trusting the missionaries
in the kitchen

Side Note: in Gridley they have glow-in-the-dark stars on their ceiling, and I'm determined to find some for our apartment. I forgot how much I love those!

Roseville sunset

The rest of the week was normal with Sister Curtis (who's that? my actual companion, remember, the one I was supposed to spend this transfer with but apparently will just continue to ditch to go to other areas...) I'm not kidding, the first 8 days I was here, I spent over half of them with someone other than Sister Curtis. But it was nice to just spend the rest of the week doing missionary work together, and not have to worry about running around everywhere.

finding my Happy Place with
Joey the Mastiff :)

NEW VALUABLE SKILLS. Hey guess what! I also learned how to make some Samoan food! One of the part-member families had us come over and make authentic chopped sui, and lu-pelu and it was so good! I don't think I'd eaten that much since Thanksgiving honestly. And yes, I did actually make most of the lu-pelu, believe it or not! Sister Rios gave me the ingredients and I cooked it :) Somehow Sister Curtis got carrot on the floor from her dish even though it was a HUGE pot, but it's okay because the dogs got to taste test our dinner for us.

go Sister Curtis!

MOTHER'S DAY. The highlight of the week was Sunday for me, for a few reasons. First and foremost, I GOT TO SKYPE THE FAM!! It was kinda surreal cause I haven't seen them since Christmas, and I haven't seen them in person for over a year now (I guess I'm "old" in the mission at this point?). But it was amazing to talk to them and just catch up, tell some stories about the cockroaches we have, and some of the ridiculous things I've gotten to do over the past little while.

But it was just amazing to see them, and good to know that they're all still alive and well, despite the fact that they had to get up way before the sun for seminary the past school year.

exchanges at 8:30 p.m. at a closed Mexican
restaurant...in the "nice" part of town?! oops

Another good part of Sunday was church itself. Phil came! And I got to give a talk (it's fine, I'm fine). It actually went pretty well, from the feedback I heard. Then we also got to teach the Young Women's class! (girls 12-18). It was fun to answer question they had about missions, and just talk to them about how much of an influence they have, and how to strengthen their testimonies and faith.

exchanges with Sister Mawby
and Paula the volleyball

GOOD REMINDER. Something that came up over and over again this week for me was the importance of prayer. I cannot emphasize enough just how important prayer is, because that relationship with Heavenly Father is crucial to the peace and joy we can't find any other way! When we pray, He knows that we are focused and ready for direction and answers.

more exchanges pics

I've been at a loss on what to do at times this week, and I've been given the answer that my first companion (shoutout to the best mission mom ever, Sister Hood @S.Hood) gave me always, which was "pray about it." As simple as it sounds, that's all it takes! It's the small and simple things that bring us closer to Him, and I could not be doing what I am without His help.

Paula was a natural rider

The only way to grow is to change, so if you feel like you're stuck, change something. Adjust your pace, and maybe even stop walking and start running. You're all amazing and I'm sure the world is still spinning even though time sometimes stands still in the little missionary bubble.

can't beat the Mother's Day call :) :) :)

Keep it real!
Sister Whitesell

teresa.whitesell@myldsmail.net
5 Marcia Way #131
Roseville, CA 95747

If it fits in a microwave it should

blurry post-meeting lunch

Holy Smokes so much happened this week! Honestly I don't even know where to start because it's all been crazy.

FOND FAREWELL. To start off, it was so hard to say Bye to everyone in Rocklin. There are just so many amazing families there, and the YSA ward has been my home for 5 months now. Missions do this thing to you, where you make a home somewhere and then have to leave and move on every couple of months. It kinda stinks but it also brings so many miracles and exciting stories! Plus, I know Sister Nield is killing it and is keeping everything up to par out there. A whole 20 minutes away. Actually she's still in my zone, so I'll see her a couple of times this transfer!

"What pose should we do?" "Chins!"
Sisters are weird it's great

NEW FRIEND. Tuesday was chaos. We transferred, and I got to do a whole lot of moving, and believe it or not I only left ONE thing in Rocklin so I was impressed. Plus, I got to officially meet my new companion, Sister Curtis! We'd made contact a few times before, completely unsuspecting that we'd be companions later.

That time we figured we'd physically look
as similar as our brains think

I saw Sister Johnson 4 days in a row
this week! My heart hasn't been that
happy in a long time :)

She's amazing though, and we clicked right off the bat! It's going to be a fast companionship. We have almost identical thought processes with so many things, which will definitely help how we work and the amount we get done, so I'm really excited. I love her so much already, and we're excited to see the miracles that come! She's from Idaho, 5th of 6 kids, and I've never seen anyone so perfectly exemplify charity before. She loves everyone in a way I've been trying to my whole mission, so I'm definitely going to learn a lot from her.

the one and only Sista Smith! (And if you look
close enough you can see Sister Storms because
we're still in denial that she's not here right now)

LEARNING FAST. Tuesday dinner, a few nonmembers were there, so my very first night in Roseville we picked up a new investigator! Phil is one of the coolest humans out there. He's had a hard life, but turned over a new leaf a few months ago, and is 100% prepared to learn the gospel! When we asked if he wanted to learn more about the gospel of Jesus Christ, he said yes!

Community service project of
painting a playground...

He wanted to meet Friday, so we had a lesson with him and went so in depth that we got through a whole "single point," and he accepted an invitation to baptism after the first lesson. Then he said that a week was too long between lessons, so we have another lesson set up for Tuesday! He's just amazing, and I'm so excited to keep up with him.

However, he's not the only investigator here; there's a handful of people that Sister Kemp and Sister Curtis found here, that I'll have the opportunity to keep teaching. I'm still working on names but I'm picking things up quickly. And of course, now that I'm the new missionary again, I get to practice saying, "I'm from Massachusetts" multiple times daily.

IN THE MICROWAVE. Regarding the title: It's my Sister Whitesell moment of the week. Don't worry, I had about 7, each of which left me mumbling to myself as Sister Curtis laughed "with" me. This was at a dinner last night.

R.I.P. Sister Johnson and I at the old
apartment. Now it's the other sisters
there, but the mailbox will eternally
have our names inside

First off, it was with a new family to the ward. The mom happens to be the daughter of the Watts, who I knew in Chico close to a year ago! Brother Dimmit (dad) is a bit of a joker, which brought out a slightly more sassy side of me as we bantered back and forth. (I'll give Brother Pettey credit for my quicker wit now...) We ended up talking about sizes of dogs in certain areas.

And out of my mouth came "It seems everyone in Roseville and Rocklin just have tiny little dogs that belong in microwaves" (tangent: my dad's theory on small dogs is "if it fits in a microwave it should"). As soon as I said it, I remembered hearing the sound of small dogs barking when we knocked before coming in.

Ritchie!! One of the hardest investigators
I've had to leave. And he literally gave
me a painting he made, because I said
it was cool once, forever ago :)

Brother Dimmit just looks over at the glass door and we see a little dog head staring at me from the other side. Yup, I only insulted their dogs it's fine, that's how I make friends. But really though, they just cracked up and we had a ton of fun at dinner, and I th
ink they still like me so it's fine!

Every day we've had amazing things happen here (plus I got to bike for a bit too!), and I'm so excited to see what happens in the Roseville 6th Ward area! I've turned into one of those missionaries who just expresses love about every area they go to, but I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't happy and loving each day of my mission. The strength of the gospel that we teach brings a joy that lasts so much longer than regular happiness does. It's a light that can help overcome even the hardest trials.

...and shoveling all the sand from the playground
and refilling it with mulch.
Yes I was sore, Yes I loved every minute of it!

PERSISTENCE. This week, despite everything seeming to be almost perfect, I did still struggle with some feelings of inadequacy. When you don't know much of anything about an area, it's hard to watch your companion take the blame for missing a small thing here or there that you couldn't know about. I didn't know what else I could be doing, and just wanted so badly to fulfill the potential I know Heavenly Father can see that I have. Sunday as I was sitting in church, I was still struggling with that concept, and 4 words clearly came to mind: You Are Doing Enough.

too many choices...

I know that often times you struggle with not knowing if you're doing what you should, that there's always something you're missing and can't get to in the short 24 hours of the day. Just know that if you can feel and recognize God's love as feelings of peace and comfort, You're Doing Enough.

Good Luck this week, and keep holding down the fort! You're doing better than you think you are.

Sister Whitesell
teresa.whitesell@myldsmail.net

NEW ADDRESS:
5 Marcia Way Apt. 131
Roseville, CA 95747