Beautiful on the Mountains are the Feet of Them Who Publish His Peace

per request of my mom, here are birthday cards!
(thanks for the glitter bomb, Dad)

Another week come and gone. Guess what? I only have to write one more of these. It'll be interesting to be able to talk to anyone I want to, whenever I want to soon! Too much power though, let's be real; I can't handle that. And, I had to use that scripture as a title for this area for one of my weeklies. Thank you, Isaiah, for the inspiring doctrine!

just a sample of what
our days look like
sometimes
(*DOUBLE CLICK
to make it bigger)

BACK TO BUSINESS. I hope everyone's doing well; Mt. Shasta is still the promised land, no worries! There continue to be so many miracles. I think Heavenly Father knows I'm leaving soon, and need all the blessings I can get! I love this area though. And I think we talked to everyone and their mothers this week, literally. We found out a little while ago that the son of one of the families we go over and read the Book of Mormon with is married to the mother of one of the people we teach in McCloud. Go figure. The mom said she'll come to church if her daughter does!

LEARNING TO BE A DUST BAG. I got more covered in sawdust than I ever have in my life. I sanded counters for two different service projects this week. The picture I have was for the less dusty one since the sander had a bag to catch the dust in. For the other one, my shirt was the bag for the dust. But, my CTR ring spins better than ever now! And I can say I've helped build a few more houses on my mission!

Mount Shasta peeking over
Black Butte's shoulder

Miracles come from talking to people. Christy is someone we're helping out with her fixer-upper house, and we love it! That started from us walking by one day in our dresses, and asking if we could come the next week. She was more than a little surprised when we actually came! She's feeding us on Wednesday--I'm very excited :)

"I just died in your arms tonight..."
jk she stabbed me

Speaking of miracles, sometimes you have to use an unconventional route to help those who are struggling a bit in the gospel. There's a family in the ward that hasn't come to church since about last Christmas, but they're super friendly and the congregation loves them. Missionaries have tried in the past, but this family is one to avoid pressure and they are crazy busy with sports. It's hard for us to come by since, the mom said herself, "any missionaries we see always tell us to come back to church."

Welcome to Dunsmuir!

VOLLEYBALL TO THE RESCUE. Well, we learned from the congregation members that they love volleyball and they're Polynesian. Thank goodness we're in a companionship of 1.5 volleyball players (I'm the 1/2 cause I haven't played in so long) and a Polynesian! Who happens to actually be related to them by marriage. The Bishop told us that they play at an open gym night every Monday, and that might be the key for them.

Well, we scheduled in time last week and went to the gym and there was the whole family playing, including their dad who we'd never met before! We told them we were only there to play, and they invited us to join. Sister Wright and I got to work the rust off our volleyball skills, well, I had to at least.

Sister Wright got 3 boxes of Samoan snacks;
our pantry looks more like the store shelf now!

Sister Wright literally started things off with running onto the court and making a perfect hit--it was amazing. We didn't talk about church, we just got to know them and the others who played there (almost every one of them had a friend they knew who served a mission). Then, the miracle happened. Sunday we got to church and about 5 minutes later, in walk all of the boys! Sometimes you have to do things a little differently to let people know you care. I'm excited to keep working with them, and they're actually feeding us dinner tonight too!

There was sawdust everywhere...

JOSEPH SMITH STORY. Another miracle: Noelle is someone else we have taught 2 lessons to. She fed us dinner Wednesday night which was so fun; it's not often that someone you teach feeds you! But we had another lesson yesterday and taught the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The spirit was so strong as we testified to and taught her. She's very receptive to the spirit and told us about times when she recognized the pull of something telling her to move to Mt. Shasta, and then the miracles that came after our specific prayer with her last week.

GUESS WHO CAME UP FROM CORNING!
you're right, it was Sister Curtis

One of the best parts for me was having the opportunity to tell the story of Joseph Smith and recite to her the First Vision. The spirit testified so strongly, and I could almost feel the light that comes from the truth of his account. She and her daughter were listening so closely, and you could tell they both felt something.

Is she praying or sleeping?

With our upcoming week, I'm not sure I'll have the chance to have a sit down restoration recitation like that again as a set-apart missionary. If that's the last time I have the opportunity to do that in the mission field, I'm so happy to end with that! Afterwards, Noelle told us her personal Joseph Smith story, explaining that she's been searching for truth for a long time. She would get invested in a faith, and then something would come up that cast a shadow on the light she saw, and she didn't like that.

"So maybe this is what I'm looking for; I'm excited to at least study and learn more!" She had tears in her eyes as she bore her testimony of her story and her desire to find the full truth. She also knows I'm leaving next week, and wants to come home a day early from her trip, so she can come to church before I go or at least have a final lesson with me here. If all goes well, I'm hoping she can come to Steven's baptism if she's back in time!

I'll do my normal comp pic soon,
don't you worry

STEVEN'S GETTING BAPTIZED ON SUNDAY!! Talk about going out with a bang. I'm so excited! He was interviewed yesterday and I'm so glad to get to be here as he takes that step!

Ah, man, I love missionary work. It's so cool and funny how He gives 18 to 21-year-olds the chance to be the ones to help His children progress and see the miracles for themselves. Kinda doesn't make sense, does it? He sends out people who don't even fully know who they are, to teach others, many of whom have more doctrinal background than the missionaries do; they watch His hand work wonders in bringing others back to His fold because of the meager, imperfect efforts of those late teens. It's so cool!

A FEW OTHER THINGS from this week include:
*picking up Christy's son with her from elementary school and being jealous of how amazing his classroom is

*eating the world's best bagel sandwiches

Noelle's daughter has a snake so
of course I had to see it

*being amazed that a 9-year-old has such a strong desire to be baptized and is doing a lot better than I was at her age (let's be honest)

*ran into a 17-year-old whose dad is dying of cancer and was happy and grateful to have a Book of Mormon

*learned how to make taco soup at Sister Kirby's house

Bishop Andrus, what a
ridiculous guy

*helped a 73-year-old member prepare her presentation for class the next day (she's a student, not the teacher!)

*discussed doctrine with a lady who was dead for 8 minutes and in a coma for 30 days

*walked into a lady with a tragic backstory but was willing to feel the spirit again and wants us to come back and talk to her after being inactive for years

*found Cale after he'd been MIA and crazy sick for a few weeks

Brad Munson: we love the people we
meet as missionaries!

*got "killed" by Sister Wright (finishing your mission = "death")

*talked to a young teen about Fallen Angels

*had dinner with a lady who has over 130 great-grandkids and she's only 86

*tried to discuss missionary work but ended up doing family history work instead

Rose and Ross: they leave
for a trip today! Thank
goodness we got to stop by
one more time last week!

*cleaned floors with a machine that isn't sold anymore, and

*learned a bit more about the Free Masons.

Life is as interesting as you make it! And Mt. Shasta makes it pretty easy. Anyway, good luck this week!

we can't take a normal picture

I'll probably have something a lot shorter next week, but I've learned so much in the past 18 months that has changed me into someone I never thought I could be. And the best part?

Despite all the trials, the long days that dragged on, the difficulties that had me questioning why I was here in the first place, all of that is outweighed by the eternal perspective I've gained and the infinite joy and peace I've felt since I came to Northern California. Never underestimate yourself, and never assume he doesn't have something greater planned for you! Til next week!

Sister Ingraham made
spinach puffs! Like from
Emporers New Groove,
and they were amazing
despite Sister Wright's face

Sister Whitesell

teresa.whitesell@myldsmail.net

311 Old McCloud Rd. Apt B
Mount Shasta, CA 96067