GENCON 2013

WOW!!! Loved Conference SOOOO much! I feel like since I've been on my mission, I have enjoyed it even more than I normally do. I just hope that I can keep that when I get home. I think the difference is that we still have to get up and dressed and watch it at the church so it's not as easy to fall asleep as if I was at home in my comfy PJ's haha So maybe I'll start dressing up next GenCon haha

Getting our last Juice It Up together

So... I have to hurry because once again, the Elders are here waiting for computers. But this time it's our ZL's and they aren't as loud as the other Elders a couple weeks ago haha Not much happened on Monday April 1st. It was April Fool's Day but nobody got fooled by anyone (that I know of...) In some ways I was thinking that the AP's would call and be like "Oh, we April Fooled you all a couple days early. Transfers really aren't happening..." but that didn't happen :( LOL So we took Sister Amataga to the office in Arcadia and we said our goodbyes and then Sister George and I were on our way to spend a the next 24 hours together. And it was SO FUN!!! I sadly have not served around Sister George and so I was excited to get to know her a little and work together. That night we went over to the Hartwig's and had dinner with them and the Hill's. Oh my heck!! We were in stitches all night. We've had dinner with both families together before and it's just always so much fun! But we then had a really good spiritual thought about Christ and His resurrection since the day before was Easter. Brother Hartwig gave some really good insights, especially because he had watched that series they had on TV about Christ's life. So it was really cool to have that thought with them. I just love this ward so much! I have loved serving in the areas I have served in because I just some to love each one of the members so much.

Then Tuesday the 2nd was good too! We did the booth at Citrus College and had some really good contacts there. We did the booth with the Elders and it was funny because the Elders who are now in the singles ward, one of them just got transferred in and while we were at the booth, their phone rang and it was the AP's. Before Elder Taylor answered, he said, "I'm being transferred..." He answers the phone and sure enough, one of the Elders coming in that day didn't show up at the airport so there was a big emergency transfer going on and Elder Taylor was one of them being moved. He was not happy! He served here a while ago and he was excited to come back to his "old turf" and serve. But sadly he got moved out to Rowland Heights. It was just funny that he totally called it!



My "mission aunt" Sister George and I

Then 3:30 pm came around and Sister George and I were in Arcadia getting ready to meet our trainees. It was funny because we were having a really good time together and we got off the exit in Arcadia and all of a sudden I was like, "Wow, I really have to use the bathroom. I'm so nervous." And Sister George laughed and said she had just been thinking the same thing. We were doing totally fine, we were super excited actually, and then getting off at the exit just made us super nervous. So we got some training done by President and the AP's and then we went into the High Council room and met our trainees. It was very exciting! But at the same time, so scary! We were in charge of these newbies. If we messed up their training, we might mess up their whole mission. I was scared! haha But it was all good! I was even more excited when Elder Nielson, one of the AP's who I served with in Chino Hills, when he called out my name, it said it all funny because Elder Lindsey started saying my name with a funny accent and so now everyone in the mission says my name that way. Anyway, I just started to laugh and it made me super happy!!



My "Baby" Sister (Trainee), Sister Staker -- love her!

So, my trainee... Her name is Sister Staker. Her dad was in the Army so they moved around a lot (I never knew Army people moved a lot because we just stayed in one place haha) But most recently they are living in Erda, Utah. Where you ask?? Yeah, that's what I asked too haha It's a super small farming community in Tooele County. So yeah... That's cool! Sister Staker is a fireball when it comes to sharing the gospel. She's not afraid to talk to anyone and "get in their face" of sorts. It's awesome! haha I wish I had been like that when I was being trained (Sorry Davo...) She's super cute and on fire! Oh, and she's only 19 YEARS OLD!!! I feel so old compared to her LOL  But it's all good! So we went home that night, went to dinner at the Butler's and then we went home, she unpacked (she only brought ONE SUITCASE!!!!!) and then President told us to have them all go to sleep early and no daily planning that night. So Sister Staker went to bed but I stayed up writing in my journal. It was nice (although I didn't get much written because Sister Carrell called to tell me about someone we met her first day in Chino Hills who murdered someone last week... SCARY!!) So yeah, it was a good day that ended very early but it was good! haha

Then the next morning, Wednesday the 3rd, we woke up and I realized WE GET THREE HOURS OF STUDY TIME!!!! I was so happy! I miss those days. I love studying! So I wasn't too sad about that :) Not much happened on Wednesday. After our studies, lunch, and daily planning, we had to go to the Powell's to get an updated ward list and then I had a dr. appointment in West Covina to *cross my fingers* get my dang warts off my finger. Then we just did a lot of contacting. Sister Staker was so excited to go door knocking so we walked for a few hours until it was time for dinner. And then that night we had a coordination meeting with the new Elders in the YSA ward.

Thursday the 4th we had a good District Meeting. We have a new DL, Elder Carpenter. He made DM super short but then we had a really good discussion about some things and then we did role plays :/ Not my most favorite thing to do... And after lunch we were supposed to have a lesson with our YSA investigator Claudia but she had a meeting with her school counselor and after it, she never showed up. So we were totally bummed! Sister Staker especially because she was looking so forward to teaching a lesson. Sad day!

Then Friday the 5th was a very LONG day! We had training in Arcadia for the new trainers/trainees. It was so good though! I really enjoyed every second of it. Except for the part where we split off and the trainers went with President Becerra and Elder Garcia and pretty much every other companionship who is training, they had all these super cool experiences with their newbies and we had a lesson bail on us. That was hard to hear... But that's ok because miracles are going to happen for us and they are going to be amazing! It's just going to take time. I believe in miracles and I'm not giving up on giving my trainee a super awesome experience! During some of the training though, I was just super down but by the end of the day, I was super happy and felt better than ever!

Me with Sisters Ackley and George

So just a little something about my trainee and what happened Friday night. Well, my trainee is pretty awesome. She reminds me a little of me but at the same time she's not like me. She's quiet in some respects but when it comes to sharing the gospel, she is all up in peoples faces haha We'll knock on a door and she just shoves herself super close to them. It kinda scares me because I don't want them to hate us but it's good too. We went "knocking with a name" on Friday night and when we knocked on this one house, the lady said she doesn't really believe in God (her husband has pretty much brainwashed her) and then Sister Staker just gets super close and reads John 3:5 to her and we had a really good talk with her. She's Korean and spoke very little English but we had a very good conversation with her. So it was cool to see her so happy and enthusiastic that night while tracting.

Well, I forgot my notes for General Conference :( But like I said at the beginning of my email, I LOVED it!!! I went into Conference with a question in mind and prayed that I would get it answered. And sure enough, I did! And it for sure was not in the way I thought it would be. But at the same time, the way it was answered was totally obvious! I was like "well duh... Why wouldn't  it have been that answer?" So I was very happy about that! The two talks that stood out to me though were of course Elder Holland's (Love that man!) and Elder Eyring's. (I'm going to be embarrassed if I got that one wrong but didn't he talk about missionary stuff) I just loved that they talked a lot about missionary work. I loved it! And it really needed to happen. It's always so wonderful when the ward members involve us with their friends and stuff to get to teach them. Sadly there isn't a whole ton of that going on though. So I'm hoping that with the talks on missionary work, it will get all the members of the church to do more. I know it's a scary thing, but it's easy. People always say they don't know non-members. I could maybe believe that living in Utah but out here in California, I have a hard time believing that... I don't want to be mean by any means but yeah... There are so many non-members out here, it's crazy! So I just hope that we can better help the ward members with their missionary work.

Sister Lehman took my rooster when I left it at Cheryl's

Oh! The one thing that just made me laugh so hard was during the broadcast, at the bottom of the screen before it started, there was a Twitter hashtag, #LDSConf haha I just laughed so hard inside! It was awesome! :)

Then after conference we had a super good less-active thought with Brother Paul. We go see him every week or so and it was just a good conversation. We talked a lot about centering our lives around Christ and things we can do to do that. It was hard though because he has a wall up that is hard to break down. He feels like some things have happened to people in his life that shouldn't have happened because "they were good people." Anyway, long story short, we asked if we could say a prayer at the end, and he always says yes but here's what got me... He said Amen at the end. He has NEVER said Amen before. I was so shocked!!! But it was so cool! We just hope that we can help him to come back and to answer some of the questions he has.

Well, that's pretty much everything that happened this week. It was a good week! I wish we had had more success with it being Sister Staker's first week but that's ok. It will come eventually!

Love you all so much and I will talk to you next week!

Love always,
Sister Rachel Wheatley :)