Knock Knock, Who's There?

Hello, All

Looks like it's that time of week again! I hope everyone is doing fine and dandy as it continues to get warmer...LOVE IT. Seriously, I can only sweat so much, it's getting rough sometimes but I think I'm adjusting a bit, which is nice. At least it's not humid!

Aloe, how are you? I'm good, thanks

GREAT ONE-LINERS. Provided by some Florida representatives (grandparents):
1) The will of God will not take you to where the Grace of God will not protect you.
(This one's just funny :D)
2) He who is good at making excuses is seldom good for anything else.

I'll start with the more entertaining stories. No, I didn't do too many dumb things this week. It was more of a busy week, so we didn't have time for me doing dumb things unfortunately. I did continue to get covered in dog hair though, since who can resist all the animals when you teach someone? No "chased-by-dog" stories yet. Give it time; everyone in CA has a dog. It's bound to happen.

the most American handicap pkg spot
I've ever seen (from Mom: not exactly sure
what she means but it's huge, and you
can't really see the painted handicap
sign very well...)

LISTEN CLOSELY. Aah, this was a good one. They have a group of Relief Society women called "Nighttimers" here, where the sisters in the ward (congregation) get together. We only went because we had to talk to our ward mission leader and give him an update, but of course we had to socialize after.

Yes this was staged, but we were
actually doing it before, kind of
exhausted after church!

The sisters were all in the middle of their dessert break with pies and cakes, but Sister Hood and I had 2 super-heavy meals that day, because members tend to feed us well. We were in no way feeling up to eating PIE, after having a huge meal and ginormous desserts from a member family!

I was explaining this to the women at one table, talking about the previous dinner's dessert, describing the size and type and everything. After a sentence or two, the whole group of four tables went silent to listen in.

Of course I got slightly uncomfortable, and in the middle of my explaining, said, "and now everyone went quiet, and is listening to me."

A particularly sassy sister decided to pitch in after that with "That's because everyone wants to listen to your monotone voice!" We all cracked up at that.

This was the dessert
that broke us

I did get to use both mowers...doesn't mean
I don't still struggle!

So that was the "Poking Fun at Sister Whitesell" moment of the evening. The sister that gave her two cents worth is a grandma, maybe 5 feet tall. Smaller Size to Sass ratio, so it comes out in stronger doses. Gotta Love It!

KIND OF SLOW. Anyways, this week started off a little rough, because I just felt like I was plugging along, stuck as to how I could progress as a missionary with recognizing promptings and such. (The next part may sound kinda crazy, to any people reading who did not serve a mission. Maybe humor me :) ) Often times, when missionaries get "stuck," the answer is "I don't know" for awhile, until something clicks. It's kind of frustrating in the moment, honestly. But after many "how can I change, what can I do to improve" and "I don't know" answers, I got a terrible idea. (It was good; I just thought it was terrifying at the time, hence terrible.)

Welcome to Chico
(California State University, Chico:
mascot Willie the Wildcat!)

PRETEND WEEK ELEVEN. I thought that I should start week 11, in training, early. It's barely week 8 for me, just so you know. And when I voiced my idea, Sister Hood said she'd been thinking the same thing. Companion Unity! ha. It also felt like a clear prompting from the Holy Ghost, since we both had the same idea.

To explain, missionaries have a 12-week training "program," once they get out into the mission they've been assigned to. It helps them practice different teaching techniques, and learn specific things from different church books and other sources, to better learn and teach what we need to. Each week has assignments, like: "New missionary takes lead in teaching such-and-such lesson," or "New missionary invites investigator to do this."

Pam and Thelma -- she
got her temple recommend!

Week 11 is when the new missionary takes the lead with all the planning and teaching situations. So basically we were being told that for me to progress as I'm supposed to as a missionary, I need to be dumped into the work! Isn't that just so comforting! ha. I wasn't terrified at all, I'm fine. It's fine. But really, it's exactly what I needed, and the miracles and progression I've seen in just these past few days has been astonishing.

This sprinkler was just
so sad looking

The day we started week eleven I felt the pressure. Sister Hood described it that her spiritual dial had been turned down, so that mine could be cranked up and allow me to learn and grow and recognize promptings. I knew an important lesson was coming up, so during personal study I tried hard to find the right scripture for the investigator, and I actually got one! I was able to teach in the lesson with that scripture. My initial invitation was asking her to pray with a question in mind that night, and see if she felt the spirit after. But I was prompted to specify, and ask her to pray for forgiveness. It was really cool to have that direct thought come to mind; with the way she reacted, she needed that! And that wasn't the only time I had some clearer inspirations as I taught, or was trying to find people during "week 11." It's like I flipped a switch mentally, and it's been amazing to see the changes.

Always something new
on doorsteps

UNLOCKED DOORS. To explain the title, I want to preface this with "This Is Not Normal." We don't do this, EVER. So, we went to a "less active's" apartment (someone who hasn't been to church in awhile). Both Hood and I had been "poked" (the feeling/prompting from the Holy Ghost) that we should go there. Well, we knocked on her door and she didn't answer, knocked again, no answer. And when one companion gets inspiration it usually means something, so if BOTH of us felt like we needed to, then why wasn't she home? Then the most absurd image came to mind, of me opening the door.

Welcome to Durham

What?! That was crazy...it confused me so much, I kind of stood there for a sec as Hood was walking down the stairs. But she turned around (about to mention that she felt we still needed to see her), and saw me just standing there. I slowly said that I felt we should open the door. She was shocked for like .2 seconds, until she recognized the prompting. So we got to open a door! Surprise, it was unlocked. I slowly cracked it open and kept pushing it open, revealing a darkly lit living room, blinds shut, smell of cigarette smoke, and the creepiest feeling overwhelmed me. Hood and I felt like we were going to find a murder scene or something. But then finally the door opened enough to see Rebecca and she was surprised, but more seemed to be hiding something than questioning why we were there.

Scripture study with Jesse (101, left) and
Ivon (96, right)! They're great!

I've never felt a dark presence like that in a home, so obviously we were supposed to be there, to at least bring some good spirit with us. She said she was busy so we stopped by later with some Elders, since I'm not about that creepy dark feeling, scares the heck out of me. She didn't answer, so we'll have to try her again later and figure out what's going on. No, we didn't open the door again because that's weird, but we'll keep trying to reach her. So yeah, that was a blast and a half! Hood said it made top 3 boldest things she's seen on her mission, haha! I doubt I'll have another experience like that!

We got tired of getting yelled at by Tiwald
(he's featured in the upper left corner), so
Sister Hood got creative

HOLY GHOST ANALOGY. To end, I'll share an analogy of the spirit that I learned yesterday, that I really liked. The Holy Ghost is part of the Godhead, the only one without a physical body. One of his missions is to be a messenger for us, so we can receive answers from God. Basically, our Heavenly Father writes us little notes and gives them to the spirit (Holy Ghost), and the spirit rushes to us and passes them along, always happy to give us a message! Without the spirit, we can't know of a surety when things we teach or learn are true, so I'm very grateful he's there to act as a guide and a messenger!

It's been surprising to see progress in my capabilities of recognizing when I receive those messages. I encourage all of you to try and learn to recognize the messages too :)

As always, I love hearing from everyone -- you're basically my only link to the outside world, ha!

Keep it Real,
Sister Whitesell

teresa.whitesell@myldsmail.net

244 B West 20th St.
Chico, CA 95928