Goodbye Chino Hills, Hello Glendora

As you can tell from my title, I have been transferred. It has been a very bitter sweet weekend for me. I was happy because I'm moving on to bigger and better things but I was sad because that means I am leaving what I have come to love as my home. When Elder Dixon, one of the Assistants, called on Saturday at 10 pm, I  almost didn't answer the phone. I have felt for a while that I was going to be transferred but I didn't want to be. I have grown to love the Carbon Canyon ward. They have been so wonderful to me these last seven months. I have felt like they are my home ward. And it was hard. But, on Sunday when I thought that I would be a mess at church, I was totally dry, not one tear. It was crazy! Especially because if you know me, I cry over the smallest of things :) But it was good! I love the Carbon Canyon ward but I know that Heavenly Father has something bigger and better for me. I can learn from my new area, companion, and ward. So I'm excited for my new adventure. I will write more next week about today but my new companion is Sister Butler. She is from American Fork and I have been on exchanges with her a couple times. So I'm happy that we are companions!

Sisters Wheatley and Carrell at the Pumpkin Patch

Well, to start off, Monday the 15th was a very good day! We got up at 4:45 am and had to leave our house by 6 am to make it to Arcadia by 8 am. No, Arcadia is not two hours away but with California traffic you never know if you are going to get stuck or not. The reason we had to get up so early and be in Arcadia is because we had a mission tour with Elder Laurence Corbridge of the 70. It was a very good conference! We learned so much from him. But at the same time, he is so deep it was kind of hard for me to follow him the whole time. But that's ok! I took lots of notes and hopefully I can go back and learn at my own pace with them. I will admit though, my favorite part was after lunch when Elder Corbridge was gone and President Becerra spoke and we just had good conversations with him about the things we learned that day. I really love the insights that President Becerra has. And from the other missionaries in the mission! That, to be honest, was the best part of the day.

Then that night when we got back to Chino Hills, we met up with Rose and took her to dinner. I had wanted to take her to dinner for a long time and this time around we hadn't eaten yet after getting back from Arcadia so we all met up at Panda Express and had a nice dinner together!

The Elders at the Pumpkin Patch
 

Then on Tuesday the 16th, we had a big double zone Pday! It was so much fun! The Chino zone got together with the Hacienda Heights zone and we had a big game of dodgeball. The Chino zone is very small so we ended up having some of the HH zone come over to our side and help us out. But the fun part is that we got to wear our zone tshirts! Heck yes! :) I did have to laugh though because whenever an Elder would throw a ball at me and get me out, all the other Elders would boo the Elder that got me out. Then if I got hit really hard, they'd come up to me and see if I was ok. Yes! I'm not a baby LOL I have brothers! haha It was just funny! I loved it though. I had so much fun! (I was the only Sister playing dodgeball most of  the time...)

Then on Wednesday the 17th we did service at the Let It Be foundation. We made angels again for their angel tree breakfast next month. It was so much fun! I am sad that I will not be able to volunteer there anymore. We had only been in twice and we have grown to love the people that work there. I will miss them but I'm glad I got to work with them while I could.

And then we had lunch with Sister Lancaster again! I love Sister Lancaster! We have gone to lunch with her a few times and she is just amazing! I was sad because I had a feeling it would be my last lunch with her so that was hard. But come to find out this morning that she actually lives in the next town over from Glendora so she said that when she has days off, she will still take us out to lunch! I'm so happy! She is amazing!

My Pumpkin

Then that night we went to visit converts from the Carbon Canyon ward that moved to the Los Serranos ward. When she and her kids moved, they became inactive. I was sad to hear that because everyone we talk to in the ward says how amazing she and her kids are. And they say that they ate the gospel up while learning. Well, the reason we went to see her is because our investigators, Mae and Eric, speak Chinese and Sister Lin speaks Chinese so we thought she would be a good translator. So we spent about an hour over there talking to her and her two kids and really enjoyed our time there. They have such a spirit about them. They still know that the church is true but they are struggling. The biggest thing is that Sister Lin doesn't know for sure that Heavenly Father really does love her. So we focused on that a lot with her  that night. By the time we left, we felt good about going over there. I'm happy that Sister Carrell and Sister Lehman (her new comp...) will be able to go see them and help them come back to church. I know that Sister Lin knows the church is true. I just hope that she realizes also that Heavenly Father really does love her! Because He does! He loves each and everyone of us and it makes me sad to know that there are people in this world that don't know that. So I'm happy that I'm out here on my mission to help people realize that!

Sisters Wheatley and Carrell at the Pumpkin Patch

Then on Friday the 19th, our zone went to the college, Cal Poly Pomona, to help out at their Pumpkin Festival. The lady in charge of the festival lives in the Los Serranos ward and she asks the missionaries to help out every year. And it was so fun! Once again, Sister Carrell and I got the easy work haha I wasn't like super sad about that but at the same time, I have come to love working hard. So finally we found the Elders moving hay bails so we went over and helped them! It was so much fun!

Sister Wheatley and The Pumpkin Patch
 

Then on Saturday the 20th, we went back to Cal Poly and help them all day with the opening day of the Pumpkin Festival! It was so much dang fun! All of us missionaries spent most of our day in the corn maze looking for lost little kids haha But it was fun! It was a little chilly and it started to rain a little bit but it was good! We had so much fun! I'm excited to come back after my mission when it's going on and actually get to go around and have fun there! They do so much! It's awesome! The only downfall is that the corn maze doesn't have any cool design like the one at Cornbelly's has. BTW, what was their design this year?? haha

Then that night we got transfer calls. After getting home from meeting with Rose, I just sat on the floor in the front room in silence waiting for the AP's to call. I still had a little hope that I would stay but at the same time I knew I had reached my limited time in Chino Hills. So when the phone finally rang at 10:05 pm and Elder Dixon was on the other line and he asked me how I was doing, I almost said, "Well, I was doing good until the phone rang! I almost didn't answer it." But I decided that wasn't nice of me haha So I finally got my very first transfer call. I hung up the phone and started to cry. I didn't know if I was crying because I was sad or because I was happy. All I know is that as I was crying, I felt peace in my heart. The one thing I asked my Father in Heaven was that if I was being transferred, was to give me peace in my heart. And He answered my prayer very quickly after my call from the AP's. And that I am very thankful for!

Sister Wheatley, Kellie and Brother and Sister Jones
 

Then on Sunday the 21st, like I said earlier, I was surprised that I couldn't cry. I was sad to leave but no tears would come. I guess that's because whoever I talked to and told them I was going to Glendora, said that it's a very nice area and that I would love it! And that's all I needed to know. I don't want to be picky about where Heavenly Father sends me but as we were driving through Pomona the other day, I got this not-so-good feeling being there. I was just scared there. But everyone said that Glendora is nice so I'm happy about that! And not only that, Sister Mautz in the Carbon Canyon ward, her parents are in the Glendora 5th ward that I'm serving in! So that made me happy! At least I have some connection still! :)

Sister Wheatley, Sister Carrell and Rose
 

I think that hardest goodbye though was Sabrina. I did not want to say goodbye. I have grown to love that girl! She wasn't able to come to church yesterday so we stopped by her house yesterday to say goodbye. She was not very happy though. She was sad especially because first it was Sister Davidson and now it was me. But I told her that she needs to stay strong and that it's about the church, not the missionaries. But at the same time, I didn't want to leave because I want to be able to teach her more. But she loves the gospel and she knows it's true so I'm not too worried about her. It was nice though because we also got to say goodbye to her parents and we took pictures and we talked forever and it was just nice. But not going to lie, it was really hard for me to say goodbye to her.

Well, that's about all that happened this week. I don't feel like this gives you as much detail as past weeks but that's about all that happened. But before I end I want to say good luck to Bubba on Wednesday! I'm so proud of you for going on this new adventure. Just like everyone says, it will be the hardest thing you've ever done but at the same time, it really is the best thing ever! You are going to love your mission! And I'm so happy to be on a mission at the same time as you! I guess when we were younger and you said you wanted us to serve at the same time and I kept saying I wasn't going on a mission, I guess you knew somewhere in the back of your mind the whole time that we really would be serving missions together! I love you Bubba! Good luck and remember, no Bible bashing with the people you meet :)

Gotta run! Love you all! Hope things are going well for everyone!

Love always, Sister Wheatley