Hola Familia y Amigos!
Well, this week has been a bit of an up and down week with lots of different emotions. As the title hints, I found out this past Friday that instead of staying in "Clovertucky" and dying here, I get to go to Clearlake, CA to spend my last 7 weeks as a missionary. That's most of what the mixed feelings are about. Although I know that the Lord has a reason and a plan for having me go there to Clearlake, I can't help but kind of feel jipped on my time here in Cloverdale. I didn't have any expectations other than to stay here until the end and I was excited for that because I've really grown to enjoy the ward here in Cloverdale, interesting and unique as it is, with all of its interesting, unique, and loving people. I'm going to miss it, but like I said, I guess the Lord just has something else in store for me.
As far as this week has gone, we've had a pretty good week although Elder Hansen got pretty sick on Wed. and Thurs. He got the flu pretty bad and mostly just had to stay in and sleep most of the time. But he's better now. And we had some pretty good lessons as well with 2 of our investigators who are 16-19 year old teenagers who's families we're teaching, one is named David and the other Alex. Alex is new this week, but he is really great. He read most of the pamphlet and really seemed to understand what we were teaching and what it really meant. Also David is someone we've been teaching for a bit, and he's doing great. He still is having trouble starting the habits of reading the scriptures and praying everyday, but considering that he's never done either of those before he really shows the desire and the effort to start doing it. We're even going to meet with him in the library on Tuesdays. We also taught the Martinez on Monday and they have been doing pretty well, although they didn't come to Church this Sunday :( But otherwise this week's been good!
Also I wanted to share a small piece of advice with all the soon to be missionaries in the ward: It's often said that "if you're not having fun on your mission, you're not doing it right". I whole-heartedly agree with that. Missionary work, while hard, is fun. But many, many missionaries look for that fun in ways that conflict with the work and the way the Lord wants things done. That leads me to add my own phrase, "if you're breaking rules to have fun on your mission, you're also not doing it right". I know that the rules and direction we receive from our mission presidents and from the First Presidency are truly from the Lord and are for our protection and benefit. Follow them to the best of your ability at all times and the Lord will bless you for it.
Have a great week! I love y'all and Merry Christmas!!!
-Elder Whitaker
Well, this week has been a bit of an up and down week with lots of different emotions. As the title hints, I found out this past Friday that instead of staying in "Clovertucky" and dying here, I get to go to Clearlake, CA to spend my last 7 weeks as a missionary. That's most of what the mixed feelings are about. Although I know that the Lord has a reason and a plan for having me go there to Clearlake, I can't help but kind of feel jipped on my time here in Cloverdale. I didn't have any expectations other than to stay here until the end and I was excited for that because I've really grown to enjoy the ward here in Cloverdale, interesting and unique as it is, with all of its interesting, unique, and loving people. I'm going to miss it, but like I said, I guess the Lord just has something else in store for me.
As far as this week has gone, we've had a pretty good week although Elder Hansen got pretty sick on Wed. and Thurs. He got the flu pretty bad and mostly just had to stay in and sleep most of the time. But he's better now. And we had some pretty good lessons as well with 2 of our investigators who are 16-19 year old teenagers who's families we're teaching, one is named David and the other Alex. Alex is new this week, but he is really great. He read most of the pamphlet and really seemed to understand what we were teaching and what it really meant. Also David is someone we've been teaching for a bit, and he's doing great. He still is having trouble starting the habits of reading the scriptures and praying everyday, but considering that he's never done either of those before he really shows the desire and the effort to start doing it. We're even going to meet with him in the library on Tuesdays. We also taught the Martinez on Monday and they have been doing pretty well, although they didn't come to Church this Sunday :( But otherwise this week's been good!
Also I wanted to share a small piece of advice with all the soon to be missionaries in the ward: It's often said that "if you're not having fun on your mission, you're not doing it right". I whole-heartedly agree with that. Missionary work, while hard, is fun. But many, many missionaries look for that fun in ways that conflict with the work and the way the Lord wants things done. That leads me to add my own phrase, "if you're breaking rules to have fun on your mission, you're also not doing it right". I know that the rules and direction we receive from our mission presidents and from the First Presidency are truly from the Lord and are for our protection and benefit. Follow them to the best of your ability at all times and the Lord will bless you for it.
Have a great week! I love y'all and Merry Christmas!!!
-Elder Whitaker