Hola Familia y Amigos Cercanos y Lejanos!
Well, this week is transfer week! And..... I'm staying in Napa!! I will be getting a new companion, Elder Merrell! I don't really know much about him, but I'm super excited for the next transfer. It's going to be a great one!
As far as the area this week, it's doing well. We were able to have 11 lessons with 9 of them being with investigators. That may be the most investigator lessons that I've ever had in my mission, but I know that it's just the start. From when I first came here to Napa I've seen a LOT of potential here and I know that there is soo much more potential. And in the past week we've been able to begin seeing progress with the struggle of meeting with people consistently. I don't think there's been much that we've done to affect this, but I believe it's a large part been a blessing from God as an answer to a true desire of our hearts, and all the prayers I know you've sent our way. We currently have 12 appointments already for the coming week and half of them are with investigators! And we'll be able to make more as we see old people, and find new ones! I feel like this is the turning point for this area. We have had a long road bringing this area to where it's at, and I'm really excited for where it is. And I'm really excited for the new transfer, and the opportunity to get this area shooting like a rocket next transfer with Elder Merrel! I know that doing so will require a lot from me and from us, a lot of changes and a lot of determination and diligence.
I'd like to share as well a thought that has been on my mind quite a bit lately. I meant to share it last week, but forgot, so I'll share it now. It comes from a talk that was given in Stake Conference by, well... some Stake Leader... :) (I was too busy assisting with translating stuff and all of that to pay attention to who exactly it was...) He talked about bicycles and applied it to the Gospel and it impacted me pretty well, probably becuase, unlike some in the congregation, I ride a bike everyday and knew exactly what he was talking about and have experienced it personally quite often. The principle is this, that when you're riding a bicycle it's really easy, comparatively, to increase your speed. The speaker talked about "cadence" one of those fancy, super specific words of the kind that I would probably use :) It refers to the rhythm, or speed, that you pedal at. When riding a bike it's really, really easy to get in a comfortable cadence, going a comfortable speed, and not realize how easy it is to go faster. It takes a little bit of effort to increase your cadence, but once it is increased sometimes it's almost imperceptible the difference in difficulty from the previous, slower speed. The speaker applied this to us, in the Gospel. In our lives we often get "comfortable" with where we're at. As a missionary it's true as well, you sometimes get "comfortable". You know you might be able to "go faster", or you know there's things you should be doing, but you aren't just becuase you're comfortable where you're at. But all it takes is a little bit of effort at the beginning to increase your spiritual "cadence" and then to your surprise you find that keeping that higher "cadence" isn't really all that much harder than before. And on top of that, when we increase our spiritual "cadence" Heavenly Father blesses us! That's just a few thoughts that have been on my mind that I figured I would share with you. I hope it helps someone in some way. :)
I love y'all and think of y'all often, but not too much :) While I sometimes wonder how y'all are, I know the Lord is watching out for y'all and protecting y'all. Take care and until next week!
-Elder Whitaker
Well, this week is transfer week! And..... I'm staying in Napa!! I will be getting a new companion, Elder Merrell! I don't really know much about him, but I'm super excited for the next transfer. It's going to be a great one!
As far as the area this week, it's doing well. We were able to have 11 lessons with 9 of them being with investigators. That may be the most investigator lessons that I've ever had in my mission, but I know that it's just the start. From when I first came here to Napa I've seen a LOT of potential here and I know that there is soo much more potential. And in the past week we've been able to begin seeing progress with the struggle of meeting with people consistently. I don't think there's been much that we've done to affect this, but I believe it's a large part been a blessing from God as an answer to a true desire of our hearts, and all the prayers I know you've sent our way. We currently have 12 appointments already for the coming week and half of them are with investigators! And we'll be able to make more as we see old people, and find new ones! I feel like this is the turning point for this area. We have had a long road bringing this area to where it's at, and I'm really excited for where it is. And I'm really excited for the new transfer, and the opportunity to get this area shooting like a rocket next transfer with Elder Merrel! I know that doing so will require a lot from me and from us, a lot of changes and a lot of determination and diligence.
I'd like to share as well a thought that has been on my mind quite a bit lately. I meant to share it last week, but forgot, so I'll share it now. It comes from a talk that was given in Stake Conference by, well... some Stake Leader... :) (I was too busy assisting with translating stuff and all of that to pay attention to who exactly it was...) He talked about bicycles and applied it to the Gospel and it impacted me pretty well, probably becuase, unlike some in the congregation, I ride a bike everyday and knew exactly what he was talking about and have experienced it personally quite often. The principle is this, that when you're riding a bicycle it's really easy, comparatively, to increase your speed. The speaker talked about "cadence" one of those fancy, super specific words of the kind that I would probably use :) It refers to the rhythm, or speed, that you pedal at. When riding a bike it's really, really easy to get in a comfortable cadence, going a comfortable speed, and not realize how easy it is to go faster. It takes a little bit of effort to increase your cadence, but once it is increased sometimes it's almost imperceptible the difference in difficulty from the previous, slower speed. The speaker applied this to us, in the Gospel. In our lives we often get "comfortable" with where we're at. As a missionary it's true as well, you sometimes get "comfortable". You know you might be able to "go faster", or you know there's things you should be doing, but you aren't just becuase you're comfortable where you're at. But all it takes is a little bit of effort at the beginning to increase your spiritual "cadence" and then to your surprise you find that keeping that higher "cadence" isn't really all that much harder than before. And on top of that, when we increase our spiritual "cadence" Heavenly Father blesses us! That's just a few thoughts that have been on my mind that I figured I would share with you. I hope it helps someone in some way. :)
I love y'all and think of y'all often, but not too much :) While I sometimes wonder how y'all are, I know the Lord is watching out for y'all and protecting y'all. Take care and until next week!
-Elder Whitaker