CONFERENCE!!

Hey, hey, hey! 

This week has been....interesting. We blame our released relief society president. Last week we canceled our district meeting because Elder Ludwig was sick...guess who was sick this week. Not me, I can tell you. Sister Kirby was sick Tuesday to Wednesday. Sister Brown was sick Thursday to Friday and Sister Malphrus was sick Wednesday to Saturday. So they got to stay inside all day... 

It was stressful to say the least because we were juggling two stakes at once, trying to cover all the lessons. The most interesting day was when my split canceled at the last second. That, was stressful because  we had a lesson...that we missed because I couldn't find anyone in time. But it was all good. I did a lot of growing. :) 

General Conference was a blessed relief though!! It was amazing! We tried to watch it with as many of our investigators as possible, but two of the three we had planned fell through. So we just watched in in our basement... in our in home theatre. It was nice. 

We did get to watch it with Jack, though. He is in a part member family. His wife is super active and he goes to church with her very week, he just has some issues with the church. But, he says that conference is his favorite weekend because his wife makes cinnamon rolls. So we went over and had cinnamon rolls with them. 

We were slightly upset that Elder Holland spoke in Priesthood. Haha, it was slightly funny because we were by the stake center so we made quick run there to use the bathroom, forgetting that priesthood was  happening, and we walked through the doors and Elder Holland was speaking. ..... So while we were in the bathroom we turned on the sound and listens to Elder Holland preach about home teaching. Hopefully people listened because home/visiting teachers really are key!  We need them, because they really do make difference to people out there. We had one inactive that we are teaching telling us that he cried through that talk because if he had only had good home teachers... it is important! 

But yeah. That was my week in a nut shell. Stressful, but good. I do not ever want to have to handle two stakes like that again. But I will take more general Conference. :) 

I love you all!  

-Sister Waite(a-second)

October 4-10th

Hey, hey!!

This week has been pretty uninteresting, which is perfectly fine by me. Except for the fact that we could use more investigators. That kind of interesting would be nice. :) 

We did do exchanges this week. Sis. Malphrus is no longer an Sister Training Leader so I got to go all the way do to Ceder annnnd...the YSA stake. Hopefully I have never have to work a YSA,I much prefer the family wards, thank you very much. 

It was fun though. We went and did service for three hours washing dishes at a senior center. That was a lot of fun, actually. They had a fun little group there. Oh, parents, you will be proud. An older man there was asking me about my name and he asked as if it was Waite like Ralph Waite and I was just like "Yup, I understood that reference" and he liked kind of surprised that I knew it. 

Not much else has happened this week. We have been doing a lot of door knocking lately so we have been getting to know a lot of members. :)  We ran into one lady the other day who refused to call us "Sister..." and forced us to use our first names. It was so weird to be called Julia again. I think for the moment I defiantly prefer Sis. Waite at least when I am being talked to.  :) 

But yeah. That pretty much sums up my week. :)

I love you all!!!

-Sister Waite(a-second)

Baptism!

Hey, everyone!!

Nothing much has happened this week... but we did have a baptism!!! :) Roberto was baptized on Saturday and it was fabulous. It was at the same time as the Women's broadcast, so we missed out on that, but we did hear traces of President Uchtdorf voices, so that made me happy. I am so excited to go listen to his talk when, *if*, I find the time. 

We have done a lot of finding this week. A lot. Sadly, we do not have much to show for our efforts but that is alright. This week! We will find people! But we did have some good lessons with those that we are teaching. Rylee is doing well, she came to Roberto's baptism and enjoyed it. We have had a hard time meeting with Kellie and Blake, as well as the Christensens and Krystal. But we had a really good lesson with Lee who also managed to make it to the baptism and had an absolutely amazing time and really felt the Spirit, so yea!! 

That is just about our teaching pool at the moment. We did pick up one woman. Her name is Tawsha and she is so sweet. We are really excited that the Lord blessed her to lose her job so that we can meet with her. No, we are sad that she lost her job, but sometimes things like that can be a blessing in disguise. She is so eager to learn and we are so excited to begin teaching her again!  

But yeah. Not much else has happened this week. We do the same thing everyday so it all kind of bleeeends. :) 

Thank you for all you guys are doing!!

I love you!!

-Sister Waite(a-second)

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