November 27, 2017

Hey Everyone!

This week was pretty great! It was good to get back into contact with everyone, I mean most people were busy with the holidays but they scraped out sometime to talk with us. 

The highlight of the week was talking with Rula. She has had some hard things happen to her these past few weeks, and she has to go back home for a month to face some things,  but  we know that God will help her. She says the most amazing things, though. We were talking about how we can ask God for help in the small details of our lives and she told us that, “God likes to be acknowledged when we ask for small, unimportant details because we can not do them ourselves. Even if it doesn’t work out how we want it too, God likes to be acknowledged.” I think that it true! We can be humble and turn to God for both and the big and the small things in life. 

We have also talked about about being thankful this week, only in part because it was Thanksgiving.There is so much to be thankful for in our lives, even the bad things that go wrong in our lives we can be grateful for. The scriptures teach us over and over again to be thankful in all things and as we strive to do that then even or trials can become a  little bit more bright. Our Thanksgiving was good though. We got to spend part of our with our newly called live at home senior couple, the  Corry's, we are excited to get to work with them. 

Thanks for everything! 

-Sister Waite

Cedar City Temple Open House You never know who you'll see

It was a cool experience to get to get to see Great Grandma! And she came at the perfect time, we had a few minutes to chat before everyone else showed up! It it would have happened on a Saturday we would have filled up the tent in a few minutes, showed the video, then sent them one their way. But it was good to get to see her.

Here is what Great Grandma had to say:
"
A tender mercy...Kathleen and I were the first people sent to the last tent..who did we find there...Sister Waite!"

11/20/2017

Hey Everyone! 

This past few weeks have been an adventure to say the least! 

The Cedar City Temple Open House was an experience to say the least.  It was harder than we thought it would be and what most people expected it to be but good came out of it as well.  I think one of the things I learned from though was that God knows us personally. It was amazing how people that the sisters knew would come to the right tent to see that Sister. It happened multiple  to everyone, not just me. But those where the moments that made it all worth it. To see people that I knew and loved, like my Great Grandma and people I had worked with in Kanab and Richfield made all the difference. The talk that Elder Rasband have this last conference comes to mind. There is no chance in life, and it was done by Divine Design.  

Another touching story from the temple open house happened to a woman who is not a member. The story begins with a Presbyterian church in Queens NY that was built over a hundred years ago. This church was demolished fairly recently but there were at least 4 stained glass panels that an art dealer saved. Knowing that the church would take good care of these beautiful pieces of art they were donated. The church restored them to their former glory (as they were in quite bad condition) and then placed them in temples. One is in the Provo City Center Temple, another in Star Valley Wyoming Temple and then two here in the Cedar City temple. This woman walked inside the temple and just started to cry because there, hanging above a recommend desk, was the same stained glass panels from the church that she had grown up going to. The Lord knew her so well that he knew she would be at this open house at that time And that those painting would mean a great deal to her. She was having a rough day and that is exactly what she needed! She isn’t making any plans to join anytime soon, but what a fond experience she must have to remember the temple by.  

That was a big moment in her life but I know we all have small moments that we can look for where we can see the hand of God in our lives. Look for it and I know that you can find it! God truly does love each and every single one of us! 

Also, last week transfers happened. I am staying here in Cedar West for another 6 weeks! Sister White, however, went back down to St. George and Sister Barnett came up. She is from Washington state, about an hour north of Seattle. We look forward to finding lots of people and teaching once more! 

I love you all! 

-Sister Waite 

A picture of Sister Waite and her companion from a member

It is so wonderful to get emails with pictures of Sister Waite. Doesn't she look happy? 

10/23/2017

Hey Everyone! 

This week has been pretty great. The highlight of the week was clearly getting to go on a tour through the Cedar City Temple. It was astounding! It was so beautiful and wow. I can’t wait to go through again (which is all honesty might be when it is dedicated) but wow, guys. It is a work of art.  

We also started working the temple open house last Saturday. That night they also did a special open house for investigators which was so fun. I got to see People from Kanab which made my life. Let me tell you, it was hard not to break the don’t get to excited when you see people you know rule. 

But this week should be good! We are at the temple from about 9-8 every day this week so not much is going on. 

We weren’t able to meet with either Jessica or Corey this week. All of our schedules kept getting in the way but hopefully next Sunday we can meet with them because that is really our only day off. Speaking of which, we might email on Sunday so if you get an email from me then, don’t freak out. We aren’t sure how this is all working yet but Sunday is pretty much our P-day now, expect for shopping. We are also teaching on Sunday so I don’t know how it will all work but it will. 

I am so grateful for the temple. It truly does provide ways that we can be closer together as a family and to God. 

I love you all! Thanks for all you do!

-Sister Waite 

10/16/2017

Hey everyone! 

Wow, I feel like so much has happened this week! We had a meeting in St. George that finally explained a little bit more about what is going on with the Temple Open House. This is going to be a slightly crazy 4 weeks!  Starting this Saturday we will be at the temple till about 9 at night each day except Sunday and Mondays. Sunday’s we get off to work in our area, which I am super excited about and then Mondays are a half day at the temple. Thus, we get P-day from 6-9 at night so don’t worry if you don’t hear from me  until then next week. :) 

We also had zone Conference this week. They gave us more instruction about Facebook and all that lovely stuff and also released what is basically a new chapter of Preach My Gospel. It basically replaces chapter 8 of it but it is really good. We are excited to get to use it!

We had an AWESOME experience last night. We have been going through the part-Member family list for the last month or so and there was this family on the list that we were super confused about. The list said that they lived in an apartment that was clearly college housing but we thought, why not? If they are still there then we contacted them, if they are YSA and interested we will pass them on.  So we proceeded to try and knock their door but never caught them at home, until last night. She opened the door and it was clear that she was YSA but she invited us in and after talking to her for minute we learned that she had gone to church for the first time that morning, and that she wanted to know a little bit more about Jesus Christ. She had taken the lessons before but she said that she wasn’t as open then but she wants to know more now! So we gave her information to the Elders and she promised us that she would listen to what they had to say. 

Another fun thing that happened to us this week was seeing Rula. She is the sweetest woman. But we were talking with her about the Restoration a little bit more this week. And she told us about how she believes one of the big differences between us and her own religion is that we believe the Bible. She told us about how her family doesn’t believe in the Bible at all because of all the changes that have been made to it. Aren’t we glad that we have the Bible? Aren’t we glad that we have those records of those people and of Christ himself? Yes, parts of it aren’t fully correct but the Bible is still the word of God and I am very grateful for it and for important lessons that we can read and learn from there. The Bible and the Book of Mormon work together hand in hand. 

Thanks for all you do! 

I love you all! 

-Sister Waite 

10/9/2017

Hello Everyone! 

This week was incredible! We found a lot of people to teach this week. Some of them are more ready than others but that is alright. :) 

However, we did have a lesson with Corey Hill that was like it was right out of a movie. We went over to teach him and after we had said the prayer and such and just turned to us and said “I know you probably have something prepared, but I was wondering if we could talk about baptism.” So we talked about baptism and he wanted to know what he needed to do to get baptized and if he could do it around his sons birthday (which scared us because what is if his birthday was in March, but no, turns out it in the middle of November). And then he kept his commitment to come to church this Sunday even though there was a family event going on. He has been prepared by the Lord over years worth of missionaries. I just wish the missionaries who had taught him before could know. I think it will be a wonderful thing up in Heaven to get to see the people we meet in our lives and how their lives turned out.  

We also had the chance to meet with Jessica again this week. She is such a sweet woman who really does want to know more. She just wants her family to be together forever and that is such a sweet thing to want. Temples are where it is at! Speaking of temples we are finally going to be receive some training for it this Saturday, for real this time. 

Besides that our week has been pretty normal. I may or may not have already introduced myself as Sister White twice. My mouth speaks faster than my brain sometimes... a lot of times. But it was been really great. 

Thanks for all you do!

I love you all!

-Sister Waite