One Transfer Down

Hey, Hey!

So I survived my first transfer! :) Nothing has been switched up,
except for the fact that we no longer have a Relief Society
President....(Our district only had three sets of missionaries, and
since our DL was over just sisters, he was our RSP)  But we are
getting another set of Elders in Monroe, so he is really happy about
that. In our hearts he will forever be our RSP. :)

A lot has happened this week! Some weeks nothing happens...and then
bam! Everything happens at once. But we are having Roberto's baptism
this Saturday! He is prepared and for sure ready.  We are excited for
that! I just hope that it will not be as stressful as Deb's baptism
was.

We also had an interesting experience this week. So we were knocking
apartments and we knocked on one door, (in all fairness, we did knock
rather loud) an she opened the door and got rather mad us and slammed
the door. We went back a few days later to apologize and when she
opened the door... And said, "I want to get baptized!" Uhhh... Go
figure... It turns out that she had been taking the lessons before and
much like Roberto the time just hadn't been right.

And then this past Sunday we had the chance  to listen to a fireside
pretend by Al Fox Caraway! That, was amazing! And really packed... It
was a tri stake event so it was packed to the brim, and they had to
broadcast it to the Tabernacle but the really funny thing is that we
went really early to do Coordination with our Ward Mission Leaders so
we claimed the last pew for ourselves but we forget how many people
were going to be attending and when we parked, we parked like
missionaries. There were probably at least a few people who didn't
like us that much last night. :) But we realized this towards the
ending of the fireside, and we just booked it out there to see if we
could get away without people noticing and we practically ran Al Fox
over..... Oops.

But yeah. That was my week for the most part. There were some other
interesting things that happened, but there is not time for
everything... (though I am including a video of our fearless ward
mission leaders... Watch, someone gets smacked in the head. :) ) and
they all had a story behind them, so... I guess the will just have to
wait. Also, just because I love you guys, a picture of us waiting for
food today at Wingers. :)


I love you all!
-Sister Waite(-a-second)

Time Flies

Hey, hey!

Wow. Time flies when you are on a mission. Well, the weeks go by
really quick (the days not so much). It seems like I just got here to
Richfield, but I honestly doubt that any of us four sisters here will
be transferred because we are all training or being trained.

We had an amazing call this week. We were sitting around doing numbers
Sunday night and we get a call from a former investigator, Roberto,
and he called us an said "I am ready to be baptized...when is the
soonest I can do it?" He said he could hear us flipping out over the
phone. But he has the most amazing story. Roberto has had a really
rough life, but he is doing so well. After he decided to be
baptized,he said that his life turned upside down but the really cool
thing is that he recognized that it was Satan doing it and he said
that it has done nothing more than convinced him of the truth. So we
are excited about that.

Nothing else really big has happened this week. We did have an
interested experience when we went to go track an apartment complex.
The second door we knocked on, the parents were for show not
interested, but their two little girls were so excited to see us. The
actually dragged us around their neighborhood, telling us who was
home, who they were etc. They knocked on all the doors before we got
there. It was so funny. It was a bit of challenge when people did open
the door because the girls didn't want to stand there and talk and
kept dragging us away, literally dragging us. They did it again the
next day we when we went back, only they had two more friends this
time.  It was interesting. :)

The other Sisters had an interesting experience this week. Someone,
don't know who, managed to find a way into their home and had a huge
role of Saran Wrap. It was hilarious.

Anyway, that has pretty much been my week. The days really blend
because we are doing the same thing every single day, but it as all
good. We talked a lot this week about how much Heavenly Father and
Jesus Christ loves each and everything single one of us. One scripture
that I did not know existed before my mission but that I really love I
Romans 8: 35-39. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. :)

I love you all!!
-Sister Waite(-a-second)

St. George and Back

Hey, hey!

This past week has been busy. Sister Malphrus is an Sister Training
Leader  so that means once a month we have to make a trip down to St.
George to go to a leadership meeting. So we did that this Tuesday.
That was interesting... I  really didn't like being the only person
there who was not a Zone Leader or an STL, never mind a Greenie. But
we did get special permission to go shopping while we were down
there,so that was nice. It was reaaaly hot. I am *so* thankful I am
not serving there and in all likely hood will not! All the Visitor
Center sisters serve in St. George and us full time proselyting
sisters (which are a rare and dying breed... Currently there are seven
of us) almost always stay out. Oh, by the way, Mom, that means I have a
very high chance of serving in Kanab.

And then on Friday we  had zone meeting, which again took up most of
the day so our numbers were not the best. We lost two days, but we got
a baptism!! Friday night(after a  very stressful day for both us and
Deb) Deb got baptized. :)   It was amazing. She was just smiling and
when we talked to her on Sunday she told us that she hasn't been able
to stop smiling for the past few days. It is amazing the changes that
she has made in her life and what the gospel has done for her. This
message that we have to share changes lives for the better every day!

One thing that I have learned is that Utah treats their missionaries
very well. WE HAVE SO MUCH FOOD! Yesterday, Rylee's dad gave us A TON
of Elk meat. We gave almost all of it to the Chappell's because there
was no way we were going to be able to eat all that. But yeah, people
are so nice to us here. We get free food at Wingers on P-day, but for
the last two weeks people have paid for us.

But yeah. That has been our week in a nutshell. We have been doing a
lot of door contacting. We are trying to get through our Part Member
Family list.  I am getting better at knocking on doors and talking
to...people. ANYhoo...

I love you all!!!
-Sister Waite(a-second)

August 29th email

Hey, Hey, Hey!

This past week has been long, but good. Yesterday we had the chance to
speak in the fifteenth ward (by the way, I keep forgetting to mention.
We do not cover one ward, we cover 10. We cover a whole Stake.
....Utah) so that was good. Sis. Malphrus is signing us up to talk in
all ten before too long, and she keeps telling them that we can fill
up the whole time by ourselves...

We also did not one, but two, exchanges this past week. I went with
SisterBrown Wednesday/Thursday and then they thought it would be
humorous too put two newbies together, so Sis. Kirby and I once again
become companions for 24 hours and got lost  a lot. But it was great.
It was so much fun to be with her again and we didn't blow anything
up, so I think it worked out alright. :)

We have also been doing a lot of service (which is exciting, because
it means we got to wearPANTS!!!) . We helped a recent convert move in,
and their family is amazing. We hope to be seeing a lot of them. We
pulled some weeds. We helped a nonprofit organization unpack after
moving and I wish I could have gotten a picture for you, Matthew! We
found a box of wooden clips... Sis. Malphrus is really good at
clipping people. :)  She got me first, I had about five clips hanging
off my shirt, but then the three of us (Sis. Malphrus, Sis. Kirby and
I) ganged up one the unaware Sister Brown.... She had about thirty
clips hanging off her jacket by the end. It was hilarious!! but non of
us had our iPads so we couldn't take a picture... Sad face.

We ended up not actually having Rylee's baptism on Saturday. We
decided that she wasn't quite ready for that big of a step, but we are
still working with her and she truly is the most amazing person. :)
Deb's date also got changed, but her baptism is still going to happen
this Friday, so we are supper excited about that!!!  We are also
working with a couple of families that have unbaptized children, so
that is exciting. It really is amazing the love that I can feel for
these people. They each have amazing qualities that make them unique
and special. Just like everyone single on of us.

Anyway, I love you all!! I am including pictures for the first time in
forever... :) There is one of Sis. Malphrus and I and one of Sis.Kirby and I.
-Sister Waite(a-second)

Sister Malphrus and Sister Waite

Sister Kirby and Sister Waite

One down, seventeen more to go

Hey, everyone!

This past week has flown by! Time really does blend on a mission. It
doesn't feel like I have only been here a almost two weeks, it feels
like I have been here for three months. :) Oh! I hit my one month mark
on Saturday! One down, seventeen more to go!

I forgot to tell you a little bit more about Sister Malphrus. :) She
is from South Carolina. She goes home in January, so she has been out
a year. She loves to tease, but she is really patient with me. I have
learned so much from her!

We have been keeping busy, teaching a lot of lessons. We have three
investigators on date (cross your fingers...) as long as they keep
doing what they are supposed to.

Rylee is 15 and adorable! As long as we get her parent’s permission,
then we can go forward with the27th. Then there is Deb, who is goaling
for the 30th and Tasha who is so ready, and we are planning hers for
the 24th of September. All of these people are amazing, and have gone
through some really hard things. It is just amazing how the gospel has
blessed there lives!

Kellie is working on coming back to church as well and I love her so
much! She also is an amazing person!

On Wednesday we (and the other Sisters) run a Family Home Evening, and
it is great fun. We played the human version of Hungry, Hungry Hippos
and was it hilarious. :)

Anyway, I just want to let you know that this church is true! That is
something that I have really come to know. Joseph Smith is a prophet. The Spirit truly works in our lives for the better, and leads us and
guides us. :)

I love you all!!!
-Sister Waite-a-second

Here is a picture of Sister Waite and Sister Malphrus at a dinner appointment

Hello from Richfield!

Hey everyone!

Wow, it has been a busy week and a little bit. :)

I had to say good-bye to all the wonderful people from the MTC this
week and that was hard. I really grew to love these people (especially those in my district) and it was very bitter-sweet to say goodbye.However, I am luckily enough to be able to serve close to my dear companion Sis. Kirby. In fact were are serving in the same town, Richfield. My new companion is Sister Malphrus and I love her already. But yeah, we actually just switched companions. Sister Brown is now serving with Sis. Kirby. I hope that that made sense. :)

The wonderful thing about Utah, I have learned, is that missionaries
get free food. It is so nice! But yeah. During certain day, some
restaurants allow us to eat for free so go Utah!

So much has happened, I do not have time to write it all! We got to
here Elder Anderson speak on Tuesday, which was also his birthday so we sang happy birthday to him. That was amazing to hear him speak. I got to spend most of Wednesday hanging out in the visitor Center and that was really cool. The St. George temple is AMAZING! Sis. Malphrus and I got to dish the ice cream for ice cream eating contest at the fair, so that was funny. I am half convinced that all of Richfield is actually members pretending to give me practice because Sis.Malphrus has lined up members to pretend and be investigators to give me practice and they usually end up with doors getting slammed in my face. :) I know that there are still at least two more out there....

Our senior couple did it to me and Elder Johnson just started
screaming CULT! In my face as soon as I mentioned the church. That was actually really funny because he looked the part. :) But it has been great! I am doing well and Sis. Malphrus has bee really patient with me. We will see how next week turns out...

I am staying in a members home (the Chappells) and they have a
reaaaally nice house. We have an in-home theater that we cannot use. :)

We have been teaching several people. I love them and if I had more
time I would tell you more about them. They are wonderful people. We did have to drop Max... He thinks we are a cult. That is kind of funny story, but we have no time... :(

OH! I remembered what I wanted to say. It is so true that Utah and
Wyoming/Montana just trade missionaries because I have meet several people who have sons/daughters serving in the Billings, MT mission so yeah. That has been fun.

Anyway, I am out of time... But I love you all and miss you all!!
-Sister Waite
Or as the other wonderful Sister Waite thought of:

Sister Waite-a-second

Time Flies

Hey, everyone! 

It seems like so much has happened this past week, I don't have enough time to say everything! 

By the way, when I first got here, people kept telling us to make it to Sunday and then time would fly and I thought they were joking...No. It was true. Every. Single. Word. This is my last few days here at the MTC before I head off to St. George and that is just the weirdest feeling because I just got here. But no, it is actually happening.  I leave about 4:30 AM Wednesday to fly down there. (I can see why they don't want to drive us. Being stuck in a car with 12 missionaries would not be a fun experience for anybody involved). 

We had in-Field Orientation yesterday which was really, really good but also really long. 9 hours long. But as we were moving around, role playing with different people I ran into Elder Oakely. He is serving in the Billings, MT mission and I may have freaked out. Look out for him, I told him that my parents would feed him well if he ever got to go to Powell. But that honestly made my day. (Another thing that was awesome was when I ran into Elder Shakespeare and Elder Batman. I am not joking, these are their actually names.)

Also, during in-Field, they had some really good thoughts about how lowering your expectation lower our efficiency. We have to believe that we will baptize people and that the Lord as prepared people in every single area that we are going to go to. We have the Lord on our side, we shouldn't be doubting that we can't get baptisms. Yes, there won't always be a lot of baptisms and that is alright, but we shouldn't go in there with that mind set. The Lord is already preparing people and we need to forget that stereotype that people don't want to listen to our message. I really loved that part, which was in the morning. If I am being honest, I was so done with it the last few hours. :) 

Oh, I do have to mention though that one of our instructors served his mission Boston and he talked about driving through downtown Boston after getting picked up from the airport in a fifteen passenger van and how he thought he was going to die...  I could relate to that. No, thank you Dad for getting us through that safely. ;) 

Sister Keeney (our old STL) is also going to ST. George as well. She ships out with us next Wednesday! I love Sister Keeney, she is amazing. Because she is a Visitor Center Sister, she has to do any extra week of training but her companion, Sister Beals, and the rest of her district left on Wednesday, so we have adopted her. :) I don't think we will ever give her back either. . She is actually a solo missionaries, so she doesn't have to have a companion, but she did move rooms so she is now in our room. It has been so fun to have another Sister hanging out with the four or us! We all love her. 

There is so much I want to say and so little time! Oh, before I forget. If you can find it, go watch Bubba's Mormon Message. I don't know exactly what it is called, but it is about how he changed from being a Gang member to being a Mormon and he is kind of one of the 'celebrities' if you want to use that word, around here. He is a TRC (he role plays being an investigator) and he is *known* for making missionaries cry.... I have gotten the chance to meet him, sort of, a few times and he is actually really nice and sweet outside of the classroom. I think the fact that he did the Mormon message is one of the worst keep secrets here because we aren't actually suppose to know that he is a member, but oh well.  He is really cool, watch his message if you can find it. :)

Anyway, I love you all!!! 

-Sister Waite

P.S. Oh, I keep forgetting to answer those who have asked. We do get to go the Provo City temple every P-day. :) I am super stoked to be going back this afternoon though also slightly heart broken because this will be out last time to go through together as a district.