Hard Beginning, Happy Ending

Hello friends and family! It's another week with another email :)

This week was a little hard for me. There were many good days but there were also times during those days that I felt down and not motivated. Sister Davidson and I were really optimistic about this week and all the good that would come from it but there were some things that happened this week that, in a way, tested my faith.

To start off the week, on Tuesday the 19th, we had a lesson with this lady we met a couple weeks ago, Donna Denver. We were all excited to go teach her because she's super nice and she seemed very interested! Well, when we got to her house, the front door was opened and we could hear them talking inside. Sadly we could tell by their conversation after we rang the doorbell, that she was going to cancel with us. She finally came to the door and said that she wouldn't be able to meet that day. She then told us that she wanted to write down questions first that her son has about things that he's heard from friends at school and stuff and that she didn't have those done. So she said that she would call us when she was ready. It was really sad because we were really looking forward to meeting with her that day. But it seems like she still wants to meet with us and ask us questions. So that's good because we can answer those questions when she's ready and hopefully we will bring her family more understanding of what we as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe and that she will want to learn more!

Then on Wednesday the 20th, Sister Davidson and I had an appointment with Yenida Scott. We called her on Tuesday to remind her but she never answered. We left her a message but she didn't call us back. So we went to the church that morning and got all ready to have a lesson. Well, 10am rolled around and she didn't come :( So we decided to wait a few minutes but she still never came. It was so sad! We really felt good about the lesson we had for her and it didn't happen. But we weren't able to go to her house because we had to go to service at City Hall and by the time we were done with that, we didn't feel good about going to see her. So instead we parked the car and walked for three hours! And that's another reason why it was kind of a hard day. We didn't get to meet with Yenida and then we walked and walked. It was a rough day for us but I guess we all have days like that.

Then on Thursday the 21st, we met with Rose Alva! When we got there to meet with her, she told us that she's been reading from the Book of Mormon almost daily now! We were so excited! She is really doing well and coming so close to baptism! So we talked with her for about 45 minutes and had some good conversation. We are so happy for Rose!

Then Friday and Saturday were pretty normalish days. Not a whole ton happened. But on Saturday night, we had a big ward party called Picnic on the Green. They have this party every year, they even have a live band! haha It was a lot of fun! Rose came and there were so many people that came up to her and said hi. She has been coming to the ward for about six years now, off and on, but it was still nice to know that people care about her and want her to feel welcome. Rose and I were talking during the picnic and she said how weird it is for her to be at a BBQ thing without beer and smoking. But she said that she actually liked it! That was so good to hear from her! She's been alcohol free for almost a year now and it's very exciting for her.

Then on Sunday the 24th, that was a BIG day! Rose came to church like she has been doing for the last three or four weeks straight, and after sacrament meeting, President Gutierrez came to talk with us and Rose and to give Rose a blessing. We talked for almost two hours! It was very good. It was something that she needed! And her blessing was even more amazing! There were things that President Gutierrez said that Rose really needed to hear, it was very cool! Well, to end our meeting, President Gutierrez said that we need to start planning Rose's baptism! And that we can have it next Sunday the 1st!! How dang exciting! We know that this is what Rose needs to help her in life, especially with her son who has some major health problems. So we are planning her baptism very quickly and we're very excited! One thing that President said though, was that this week, Rose needs to not smoke. So he told her to give Sister Davidson and I her smoke pack and that we would throw it away and that she could not buy anymore. So that's what we did! After we were done, we went to her car and took her pack and her lighters and threw them away! We talked to her later that night and she said that she had had some cravings but that she didn't go out and buy any! We are so proud of her! So we are looking forward to her baptism this next Sunday and we will be working really hard with her all week!

Also on Sunday, we were in ward council and we had talked to the Bishop Hancock about getting the ward to do a 40-day fast. So during ward council he mentioned it and asked if everyone thought it was a good idea. Sister Davidson and I were so excited to see that everyone supported us in that! The 40-day fast will include one family fasting each day and we will break the fast with them at dinner that night and to start and end it, we will do as a ward with a pot luck or something to end the fast! We are very excited and we know that this is what the ward needs to help them, and us as missionaries, in our missionary efforts! We have to plan this out really well and in two weeks when we go back to ward council, we will make it official and announce it in sacrament meeting that day! The Carbon Canyon ward is a wonderful ward! I really feel at home here but I know that this will help them in their missionary efforts. And I know that Sister Davidson and I will be blessed as missionaries with work to do as long as we work our hardest!

Well, this week started off rocky but it ended very well! Not a ton happened but that's ok! I'm so happy right now! As much as I love being at home, hanging out with my friends and family, and going to concerts, I know that on my mission is where I need to be at this time in my life. There are hard times and there are happy times, but I know that if I do all I can, Heavenly Father will be proud of me and the work that I do. And I'm so thankful for that!

Gotta run! Time to go play some soccer! :) Thanks for all your love, support, and prayers! I hope things are going well with each on of you!

Love always,

Sister Wheatley

Mission President Say What????

First of all, transfer calls were on Saturday night and both Sister Davidson and I are staying in the Carbon Canyon ward! Thank goodness! I was really nervous that I was going to leave and I was NOT ready. But when 10pm came around and the Assistants still hadn't called, we knew we were safe! I have really just loved working in this area. I didn't want to leave. We have so much that I feel we can still do here as a companionship. So I'm glad that we are both staying!

Well, to start off, last Monday the 11th, Sister Davidson and I went and visited Cheryl Thompson. She moved into the ward about an month and a half ago but hasn't been able to come to church because she works and takes classes on Sundays :( So we go visit her and we just have such a good time. When we got there, I wasn't really sure if we should go. I was a little nervous. But when she answered the door, she looked so sad. Turns out her mother has cancer and she was having a bad day. And then the rest of the night that we were with her, she just kept telling us how much she appreciated that we came over. And I'm glad we were able to be there for her. We just love Cheryl and we're so glad that we have gotten to know her. So we spent time with her and neither Sister Davidson or I had eaten dinner because we had been running late so she took us out to a burger joint in town called the Habit (which it's good but not nearly as good as Sammy's Cafe.) So that we nice that we were able to spend time with her when she needed it the most.

Then on Tuesday the 12th, we had interviews with President Becerra. I was excited because every time I've gotten to talk to him I just feel a whole ton more motivated to work harder. And this time was no different! I was really inspired. BUT the scariest part about the interview was when he said that "this mission is getting older and we need more people to train. So I need you to prepare to train. Not right away but soon." Mission president say what??!!!?? I about freaked out! haha I really don't feel like I'm ready to train. I don't know when this will be but I feel like I need to start over again and make a new resolution on my mission to do better. I don't want to train a future sister missionary wrong. So I'm glad that we have a new six weeks that I can learn again and be an even better missionary.

Then on Wednesday the 13th, we went out to lunch with Sister Lancaster. She's actually not in our ward but we met her a couple weeks ago at City Hall where we volunteer. She wanted to take us out and get to know us because well, I'm not really sure why but she did! So we went to the California Pizza Kitchen. Did you know that CPK invented the BBQ Chicken pizza? I didn't! haha But it was a lot of fun to go to lunch with her. She's so nice and it's fun to be able meet new people. I thought that was going to be scary but I'm actually kind of enjoying it. Oh, and speaking of volunteering at City Hall, when we walked in to start working on Wednesday we stood around for about 15 minutes talking to a couple of the employees about missionary work and what we do as missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. So that was really cool!

Then that night we went to the Relief Society activity where we made Love Bears for the House of Ruth here in California. It was a lot of fun! And the best part about it, while there I was in my first earthquake!!! LOL Ok, that wasn't really the best part about it but it was pretty cool and scary at the same time. My heart was racing for about 15 minutes after it happened. But we were all ok and we didn't hear about anyone in CA getting hurt by it so that's good! But I have officially survived my first (and hopefully my last LOL) earthquake!

Then on Thursday the 14th we had our last District Meeting for the transfer. It was once again very spirit filled! The thing that I love about my District is that we feel like we are one big happy family! We can laugh so hard and joke with each other but when it gets down to it, we can be serious and have a wonderful spirit filled meeting! And right before it was over, Elder Martinez who is our District Leader got up and said something about how he wanted one of us to come up and all the other missionaries were going to say something nice about that missionary. Well, I thought it was going to be one of the Elders but all of a sudden Elder Martinez told me to come up to the front. He said he didn't know why it was me but he felt like maybe it was a prayer I said or just that Heavenly Father wanted me up there, so I went. It really meant a lot to me! I did need it. I hadn't necessarily been praying for anything in particular but at the same time it was something that I needed. And it was nice just to get that extra boost of confidence that will help me in my missionary work, especially as I try harder to be a better missionary so I can be a good trainer in the future. So I'm thankful for that! Then after that we went out to lunch as a District and had a good time! (No one in our district ended up getting transferred so that's nice!)

Well, on Saturday evening we had a BBQ at a home of members in the Rolling Ridge ward. Brother and Sister Norris are the couple that come around and do housing checks and they wanted to have a Zone dinner before transfers. It was a lot of fun! We had hamburgers and what she called "Suicide double chocolate cake!" Sister Davidson and I decided to share a piece of cake but it was so good! And the dinner was just a lot of fun! Being together before transfers is always fun!

Well, yesterday was a good day! Church was amazing as always! Then we were lucky enough to have a very nice dinner at the Matthew's home! We had steak and it was SOOOOO delicious! It was very salty and juicy! And yes, I don't eat steak usually but I've had it about three times since I got out here and now I love it! It was so good! Then after the Matthew's, we went to the Brock's home! Brother Brock is such a funny guy! He was kind of scary the first time we met him but we have grown to love him and joke around! He told us that we could come over "after 1700 hours" if we wanted to have some Father's Day brownies! So we did! haha While we were there, we decided to share a message about Fathers. After we were all done bearing our testimonies and telling how much our father's mean to each of us, he grabbed a pen and paper and had Sister Davidson and I write down our fathers names and numbers, so we did. We thought he was going to wait to call until after we left but he didn't, he called right then and there! It was so cool to hear the one side of a conversation that he had with both of our dads. I wanted to get up and grab the phone but I know that wouldn't have been good. I wish I could have talked to my dad but I'm glad that I was there to hear Brother Brock talk to my dad!

Well, that's about all for this week! I'm so glad that I have at least until the end of July to be in the Carbon Canyon ward/area! I just know that it's going to be good and that good things are about to happen here! I can feel it!

Sorry this is a short letter. Not a whole ton happened this week but it was good! Happy Birthday this week to Maddie Dudley on the 21st, Kris Livovich on the 22nd, Uncle Dan Fleck on the 23rd, Mat Wheatley on the 20th, Jaclynn Wheatley on the 22nd and Lyndsay Myers on the 24th! Hope everyone has a great day!

And I've been meaning to put thank yous to people who write me in my email but I keep forgetting so thanks mom for reminding me last week. There are a lot of people who write me but these are ones that I haven't been able to write back yet... Celeste Hernandez, Bekkah for the package!, the Wheatley family a couple weeks ago at TaLisha's homecoming, Renata Skousen, TaLisha (PS- I hear congratulations are in order!!!!! I need pictures por favor!) and Natalia Hernandez! And Sister King, my mom said that you have written me a few times but I haven't gotten them, but thank you for writing me! Thanks everyone for the letters! I love getting them!

Hope everyone has a great week! Love you all!

Sister Rachel Wheatley

PS- the pictures in here of me and the Elders in our district, I'm giving each of them an award! Sister Davidson and I came up with the thought of giving them each an award that had to do with something they did this transfer so yeah, that's what we did! haha It was a lot of fun!

MIRACLES ALL AROUND!

Once again this week has gone by so quickly! I really don't know where the time goes. But things are going good here! We had a very big miracle happen yesterday which I will write about later!

On Tuesday the 5th, I went with Sister Lehman and Sister Filimoehala again while Sister Davidson was at her Zone Council. It was such a fun day! I just love those Sisters! But it went really fast. It was sad because all their appointments ended up canceling all at last minute so that was hard. But we were able to get other things done in their area! When we went to pick up Sister Davidson though, she was super sick! She was sitting in Sister Becerra's car and when she walked not even two feet from her car to our car, she about passed out. So we went inside to get President Becerra to give her a blessing. He came out and talked to her for a few minutes and then he had us come over to his house to get her something to eat. We had snacks in the car but she wouldn't eat those and President had some medicine at his house. While we were there, this is the funny part, there was a picture out of all the missionaries from last December and Sister Davidson was looking at it. All of a sudden she said, "Oh, there's that attractive Elder." And we started to laugh. President Becerra asked which one and then said, "Well, I'll make note of that so you don't ever get put in his area..." It was really funny. She was so sick, which is sad, but everything she said was kinda funny because she couldn't really think. But after getting something to eat and taking some iron supplements, she was feeling better. It was just sad to see her not feeling well. Turns out she has felt like this before. A couple Zone Conferences ago she had the same thing happen to her so President was joking around saying that she probably shouldn't be a Sister Trainer and shouldn't come to conferences and things because he is just too spiritual and all the knowledge and spirituality is what makes her not feel well, it was funny. We ended up going to Glendale on Friday to see Dr. Lew, who is a member of the Mission Presidency, and she got some blood tests done. There were about 10 things they are testing her for so hopefully they will find something wrong. It's one of those things where you don't want something to be wrong but at the same time, you hope something's wrong so that you can figure out why she keeps having, what Sister Davidson calls, weak spells.

On Thursday the 7th, Sister Davidson and I went and did a lot of tracting. As we were in this one area, Sister D felt strongly that we should go to this one home. Turns out that the lady who lives there, her mom's family are all members of the church! She also told us that she's friends with Stacey Campbell, who is like one of the sweetest ladies in the ward, we love her! So that was cool that she knew so many members. And Sister Campbell told us later that Lori would have let us in but she didn't know the rules. So we went back yesterday but she wasn't available so we talked to her husband for a minute instead. Hopefully we can go back sometime and see her! She was super nice!

Speaking of knowing members, in that same neighborhood there was a house that we had been eyeing for a couple weeks and we decided to go see them. This family is good friends with the Mautz and Howe families in our ward. Sister Davidson and I have really come to find out that the best missionary work is through the members and their examples. We have known that all along but these experiences have just made such a difference to how we look to members! So things are looking up for our area. Most people we meet know members so that's incredible!

Well, on a more sad note, Saturday the 9th, we went to a funeral for a man in the Carbon Canyon ward, Brett Barnard. I wrote about him about a month or so ago and how we went to visit his family and he was living with cancer. Well, he passed away this week. It was sad to hear but at the same time, everyone knew it was coming and it's also a happy time because he doesn't have to suffer anymore. On Thursday we got a phone call from Sister Barnards sister who asked us if we would mind standing next to a table with a lot of information about thechurch being displayed. One big request that Brother Barnard had was that everyone at his funeral know what he believes. He had a big box of The Family: A Proclamation to the World pamphlets and many other church pamphlets. So we were able to be there in case anyone there had questions. It was really slow before the funeral and not many people took things but once Sister Barnard said something about it during the service, tons of people came and got things. There weren't many questions asked but at least we were there just in case. And the funeral service was beautiful! Each of "his girls" as he called them (he has four daughters plus his wife) got up and had written letters to him and shared those with us. It was very touching. I couldn't stop crying throughout the whole thing. It was amazing to see the love his family had for him. And also all the people showed up, it was incredible. They ended up having to add a couple extra rows of chairs because so many people showed up! He was an attorney so he knew a lot of people but not all of these people were from work, they were just associations he has had throughout his life. And so many of them were not members of the church. He was a great missionary throughout his life, you could tell. The funeral was such an uplifting experience. There were so many tears but at the same time there was so much laughter! We were talking to members of our ward after about how different LDS funerals are from other religions and I'm so thankful for the knowledge of eternal families and life after death. I can't thank my Heavenly Father enough for that knowledge in my life!

Then yesterday after church, we had a lesson with Rose Alva. I've talked about her before but she's been investigating the church for about 6 years now. Well, turns out that the time we were going to teach her, there was also a baptism for another ward. So we decided to take Rose. I guess she has been to a baptism before but the spirit is always so strong there that we decided to go anyway. After the baptism, Sister Davidson rushed out and we followed and she said she just had this strong feeling to go up and see President Gutierrez, who is also a member of the mission presidency. Sister Davidson asked him a question about what he would say to someone who knows the church is true but is having a hard time accepting it (or something like that.) Then he asked who it was for and we said Rose and from there, we let President Gutierrez just talk. We ended up walking a few feet away because we had a phone call and other people were talking to us but we would look over and at one point we saw Rose wipe tears from her eyes. Then about five minutes later, she came over to us and said the President Gutierrez said that she needed to pick a baptismal date and work towards it because without a date, nothing would ever happen. So she then told us that her date would be September 20th, her birthday! That is a long ways off but he said to pick one of importance, not just to pick, so that's what she did! It was such a happy time! She smokes so that's one reason she chose to do that date because she wants to be completely clean. So we're going to help her as much as possible to quit smoking! It's a very incredible miracle that she is getting baptized! It is such a blessing as well! I really firmly believe in miracles! And I'm so thankful to President Gutierrez for all that he said! I wish I had been in the conversation but I know that it just needed to be Rose, President, and the Holy Ghost!

Well, that's about all for now! It was a good week! I'm so thankful for this chance that I have to be on my mission. It was not something I wanted to do, as many of you know, but I know that I'm supposed to be here. I have already grown so much and I've only been in California for two and a half months! It's incredible! The gospel of Jesus Christ is true! It has been restored again on this earth! If I didn't know this, I wouldn't be here right now! I wish that everyone would know this! And that's why I'm on my mission, to help all those searching for the truth!

Love always, Sister Wheatley

PS - Happy Birthday to Aunt Liz and Whity J! I hope you both have wonderful birthdays! And to anyone else with a birthday, anniversary, and any other kind of celebration this week :)

PPS - Transfer calls will be this coming Saturday. I'm a little nervous! Things are just starting to look up in the Carbon Canyon area, I'm not ready to leave yet haha But when the Lord calls me somewhere else, I'll go and do! :)

LESSONS LEARNED

Good afternoon family and friends!!

Well, once again, not a whole lot happened this week. It's surprising how fast this week went. Sister Davidson and I were talking about it and we don't feel like we got anything accomplished this week. We looked back and it just went so fast! Which we're sad about because we try to work really hard but by the time Sunday comes around and we have to send in our numbers, we realize how little we feel like we did. But I guess as long as we are trying our hardest, at least that's good!

So, on Wednesday, we were doing our service at City Hall with Bonnie Michaels (a less-active in the ward) and all of a sudden, this lady from a different department comes up to us and is so surprised to see us there! She doesn't usually come over to where we were working but she needed to shred something. Well, this lady ended up being a member of the church in another ward. She had no clue that there were missionaries doing service there. So we talked to her for about 15 minutes and during that time, Bonnie came over and started talking to us. Come to find out, this lady, Sister Lancaster, didn't know that Bonnie is a member of the church. So it was funny because Sister Lancaster said "Missionary moment right here" wanting us to help bring Bonnie back to church. Well, to be honest, that's one of the reasons we're doing this service. We have to do four hours of service each week but it's a bonus when we get to do it with someone who is a less active member of the church! So anyway, we're going to go out to lunch sometime with Sister Lancaster. She is such an amazing person, I can already tell! It's fun to meet so many new people!

Then on Thursday we were tracting and we went to this house that Sister Davidson has wanted to go to for a long time. When we got there, the guy was not interested at all but we got to talking and I asked him "If God had a message for you, what do you think it would be?" And that got him thinking and it got us to be able to stay and talk to him longer. Sadly he's going through a divorce right now and he's already a church going guy so he doesn't feel like he needs more. It was just nice to be able to talk to him.

Also that night, we went over to Cheryl Thompson's house. She just moved into the ward about a month ago and she's less active. We have enjoyed going to her house and getting to know her. She's 60-years old and she's a big work out queen! We go to talking to her about how we wish we could work out longer each day and she ended up giving us a work out book that she put together and we're learning moves from those to do each morning. It's actually a lot of fun! I like working out now! So each week we go over and switch out equipment to use. It's fun! And we just love Cheryl!

Then on Friday night to Saturday afternoonish, we had exchanges. I stayed in Chino Hills while Sister Davidson went to Monrovia. Sister Harker came and spent that time with me. We just went tracting most of the time but it was fun! There was this one family that we went to go see that Sister Davidson and I met a few weeks ago but they weren't home. While we were at their house, there was this old man standing outside and so we went to go see him. His name is Nash. He's in his 70's or 80's and lives with his wife. We asked him if we could take them on a church tour but he said he had other responsibilities. So we just got to talking to him and then we saw his wife in the window and he told us that she has Alzheimers (did I spell that right?...) So she came out and asked us who were were and she was just so cute! She shook Sister Harkers hand and then grabbed my arms and gave me a kiss on the cheek. It was the sweetest thing. Then she was trying to talk to her husband and we just sat there and listened. Then we started to leave and she said bye and she gave us kisses and then she grabbed my face and said, "I love you!" I almost bawled! It was the sweetest thing ever!!! And from that, I learned so much! I learned from Nash that no matter what, you never stop loving someone. I learned from Carmen, that you love everyone, no matter who they are. And I learned even more! It's weird how those small things can teach you so much! As a missionary I thought I was going to be teaching people things. But I've come to realize that I'm going to learn a lot from the people that I meet. And at the same time, I hope to teach them as well!

So on Saturday night we had another finding activity with the district. We went to The Shoppes (a shopping center) here in town and just talked to people. As Sister Davidson and I were walking around trying to find people, she looked over and saw the Mayor of Chino Hills. We had met him once before at an Eagle Court of Honor in our ward and we had talked to him for a while there. So when Sister Davidson saw him, we walked over and talked to him again. He recongized us and introduced us to his wife, their son and his girlfriend. Then we talked to them for about 10 minutes and that was cool! Then we went around and talked to another couple shopping and the guy wasn't interested but she was, and  that was cool. We gave them a pass along card with the SLC temple on it and she just kept staring at it. Then Sister Davidson felt promted to give them a Book of Mormon. He didn't want it but she was very excited for it! Sadly we didn't get any information from them but hopefully somewhere down the line, she will meet more missionaries and she will want to learn more about the gospel!

One more thing, there's a lady we have taught a couple times, her name is Yendia, and we were supposed to teach her on Thursday but she never showed up :( And we had a member from our ward there to fellowship her. Well, yesterday at church, Sister Navas came up to us and told her that she met Yenida! We were so confussed! Turns out, their kids are in the same class and they had a field trip on Friday and both Yenida and Sister Navas were chaperones! How random is that?!?! So Sister Navas got talking to Yenida and all this stuff and Yenida felt really bad that she missed our appointment but said she would call us this week sometime. But we'll go to her house tomorrow and see how she is and set up another time to come talk to her. I just find that so random but God really does put people in our lives for so many reasons and I know that it wasn't just a coincidence that both Sister Navas and Yenida went on that field trip with their children!

Well, that's all for now! The pictures that I'm putting in here are of Sister Davidson and I last night, Sister Butler, Sister Davidson, Sister Harker and I at our exchange backs, Sister Harker and I, me with Larry and Lorrie Williams (they are in our ward and we had dinner with them last night. We just LOVE them!), and also Sister Davidson and I with Sister Williams!

Hope everyone is having a good week so far! Happy Birthday to Uncle Scott and Simone this week. And if I missed anyone else for birthdays, anniversaries, anything. Love you all!

Love, Sister Wheatley

Day Late Due to Memorial Day....

Sorry this is a late email. Sister Davidson and I didn't realize til Sunday night that Memorial Day was yesterday and the library was closed :( We actually had a family in the ward, the Peterson's, invite us over for a BBQ yesterday afternoon and they set up two computers for us to use to write you but I didn't have my notes so I just read the emails you sent me. But we decided today that we would come to the library and write.

Ok, so we got a new Zone Leader this week. Well... he's a former ZL in this area that got transfered four weeks ago but there was another Emergency Transfer with Elder Thorstead so Elder McKee is back here.

Then on Wednesday the 23rd, we had service at City Hall again. It's actually kind of fun stuff. This week we did a lot of stuffing envelopes for a community thing called National Night Out. It's a national thing but the city does their own little thing for it. It has something to do with keeping the city safe and drug free and a lot of other things. And then we did some shredding of old documents. It maybe wasn't the funnest thing I've ever done but it all reminded me of being at home and helping mom out with some of her work stuff. I actually enjoyed it though. And it's been good to do service there because the lady incharge of the Emergency Preparedness department is a member of the church. Sadly she's been inactive for many years though :( But we met her about a month ago and it's been fun getting to work with her and hopefully will in the end help her in coming back to church..

Then on Thursday the 24th, we had District Meeting. This was the most spiritual District Meeting I've had so far. Elder Martinez told us before it started that we were going to make this DM about Elder McKee since he was back in the area. So he had each of us stand up and give an example of a time that we have felt the spirit the most or when we have felt the Atonement working in our lives. I think it was such an inspired meeting because the spirit was so strong the whole time. And then E. McKee got up and we each had to tell him what we loved about him and since some of us don't know him that well, we had to rely a lot on the Holy Ghost. There is this one Elder, Elder Bucholz, who met E. McKee five minutes earlier for the first time and everything he said really was from the Holy Ghost. It was just a very cool experience.

I think one of the best parts of the meeting was when Elder Durfey asked Elder Martinez if he could get a blessing and then E. Martinez asked if anyone else wanted a blessing. It was cool because Sister Davidson and I felt like we both needed blessings but we didn't want to ask for one everytime we're having troubles. But when E. Martinez asked us that, we said we needed them. And both of our blessing were what we needed. There was so much said that we needed to hear. It's just amazing how the Holy Ghost works.

Having been able to get that blessing really made me think of how lucky I am to have so many worthy priesthood holders around me for the next 16 months. And that got me to thinking even more about how lucky I have been my whole life to have a father and brothers who have been worthy of the priesthood. It's such an important thing to have in each of our lives. I don't know what I would do if I couldn't rely on someone to help me when I needed it. So I just wanted to say thank you to Dad, Durrell, Daniel and Sam for being worthy of such a great thing!

During the week while we were tracting, we met a lady who didn't want to talk to us but we said hi and asked if she needed help with anything. Then she said, "I'm blessed with heavens best and no stress." I really liked that little saying. I really am blessed with heavens best at this time in my life, and all the time! I just feel so lucky to be apart of the true church of Jesus Christ restored back on the earth again.

On Saturday the 26th, Sister Davidson and I "hosted" a finding activity for all of our district. Elder Martinez had told us a couple weeks ago that he wanted us to start in the finding activity and we needed to find something that eight missionaries could do to help the work in our area. Sister Davidson and I had been thinking and praying so hard to know what we could do but everything that we came up with just wasn't working. So on Tuesday night we were going to give up and tell E. Martinez that we couldn't do it. But right before Sister Davidson sent off the text message, I came out and told her to wait until the next morning at 10am. I have no clue why I told her to do that because we had been trying so hard to come up with something for several days. But that night as I was laying in bed the idea came to me to have each companionship take three Books of Mormon each and write our testimonies in them and then we would go to four of the main streets in our area and just give them out to whoever we saw and felt like we should give them to. Well during the week we had come in contact with a guy named John and he told us that he wanted his children (ages 4, 3 and 2) to choose which church they wanted to go to. Well, Sister Davidson felt realy strongly like we should go back to their home and give them a Book of Mormon, so we did. As we pulled up to their home, they were leaving and we almost turned around to leave but we got out of the car and walked toward them. The mom, Julia, got out of the van and so we were able to talk to her. She was very appreciative of the Book of Mormon and we bore our testimonies to her and she took the Book of Mormon. We haven't checked back on them yet but plan on going this week! I don't know what will come of it but we just have to pray and trust in God that He will help them to know that the Book of Mormon is true. And hope that we can get them to come on a tour of the church this week as well.

On Sunday the 27th, my two months!!! (Can you believe it?!?!) Anyway, on Sunday we gave a tour to a 17 year old, Gordon, who we met last month. He was very willing to come on the tour which was cool. We haven't been able  to get together with him for about 3 weeks so it was good to have him free and come to the tour. We had a young man in the ward come and be his fellowshipper, along with the Young Men's president and his wife, and it was pretty good. It didn't go as planned because there ended up being a lot of distractions that kept coming our way but I think it went pretty good. We just pray that we can get him to come to church this coming Sunday and have another lesson this week.

Well, not a lot happened this week so I'm almost done but I have been reading out of the May 2008 Ensign that talks all about Jesus Christ and His Atonement. It's been very good to read out of because I have gained a greater testimony of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and everything He has done for me. I have enjoyed also reading the testimonies of members around the world that are in the Ensign. I have just loved learning each and every day about my Savior. I have learned so much just in the last two months that I have been out here. It's just so wonderful!

That's about all that happened this week. So Happy Birthday to Jonathan Wheatley on the 31st! And also congratulations on his graduation, right??? And to anyone else I'm missing on birthdays and graduation.

Until next week,

Sister Rachel Wheatley

DISTRACTIONS

I can't believe another week has gone by. Time seems to be going by so slow but at the same time, so fast!! There once again isn't a lot to tell this week but some things that happened have been really good for me and Sister Davidson but also very hard. We had some big realizations this week about things that have been distracting us and we have decided to make a change and start anew and be better! It's been hard though. We were at District Meeting when we both realized we needed to change things. Our DL, Elder Martinez, was talking to us about something small...can't remember what it was...but whatever it was, really made Sister Davidson and I think about things are reevaluate our lives as missionaries. I won't say what those distractions were but they are things that really mean a lot to the both of us. But after what E. Martinez said, especially when he went around and basically told each person that we need to focus, we realized that these things are holding us back from having any success in our area. The thing that he said to me really hit me hard. I felt like crying because I knew that it was my biggest distraction but I didn't want to let it go. At that moment I had this overwhelming feeling that everything would be ok and that if I let it go, we would have much success. So after the District Meeting, Sister Davidson and I talked about it and wrote our distractions down and then we wrote down things that we could do when they are coming back to us. It was really hard for me to do this. But I knew that if I did, the Holy Ghost would be able to speak to us better and help us have success. Turns out, it has helped us since then. And I'm thankful that I've come to realize this so early in my mission.

Well, I had to laugh because last Monday (the 14th) we went to the soccer field across from the stake center and played soccer. It was a lot of fun and I was enjoying myself. About 15 minutes into the game, one of the Elders kicked it and it hit me smack in the face! I laughed so hard! I couldn't believe that two weeks in a row I got hit in the face! I was lucky though because I was wearing my glasses and I was worried that they had broken. Luckily they didn't. But it was so funny! And it was funny to see everyone so worried that I wasn't ok. I just couldn't stop laughing :)

On Tuesday we had a 12-week program meeting for all the missionaries that came in when I came. It was a good meeting. We basically just talked about our first 6-weeks and things that we liked, things we're learning, and things that we haven't very much liked so far. It was just good. My favorite part was when the four of us missionaries got to talk to President Becerra by ourselves while our trainers went off with the assistants and talked. I feel so lucky to have a mission president like President Becerra. He really loves what he is doing and loves the gospel! The one thing we focused on while we were with him was what to say when we are contacting people. We don't just want to say the same rote thing so he really helped us with that. He gave us a challenge of coming up with 10 contacting questions for when we meet people. Things that might be of relevance to them and their lives at that moment. It's been fun writing those down because I know that they will help when we talk to different people!

On Wednesday night (the 16th), we got a phone call from the mission office and they said that there were two Elders there from the San Bernardino mission and they needed to talk to us. Totally random... Well, turns out, they met a young women who had met Sister Davidson and Sister Arbogast about 3 weeks ago when we went on exchanges. These Elders said that they were eating dinner at some place when this girl, Vanessa, came up to them and told them about meeting S. Davidson. Well, Vanessa then said that she thinks she needs to get a Book of Mormon now since she has seen two sets of missionaries come across her path in the last month. So the Elders called us to tell us that we really needed to go to her home and contact her again. We've gone by three or four times but she hasn't been home :( We hope that the Elders see her again because she works next to the restaurant they were eating at. They didn't get her number or anything so hopefully when they see her again, they can get her number so we can call her and set up a time to see her since she's never home when we go. I think that is so cool though and totally random! But it's no coincidence that she's met two sets of missionaries in the last month, it's God's plan!

On Saturday the 19th, we were really not feeling like doing anything. We had no motivation to go see anyone but we knew that we needed to do something. So, we parked our car and went knocking on doors. There weren't too many people at home, it was Saturday night, I don' t blame them for not being at home ;) Anyway, we knocked on this one door and the lady answered it and we started talking. Well, she told us that she was Catholic and we've heard that a lot from so many people so we decided to ask her what being Catholic means to her. She told us that it means everything. It's her way of life, she knows who Jesus Christ is and she said that He means a lot to her. Well, we don't like to tell people they are wrong, because obviously they aren't, but at that point we told her what being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints means to us. It was nice to just have a nice, civil conversation with someone! We asked if she had a family and she said that she has an 8 year old son. We talked about him for a minute and then we asked if she would like a tour of the church. She said yes but she works almost every day. So we'll just have to keep checking back with her and talking to her. She was super nice and like I said, it was just nice to have a civil conversation with someone :)

Well yesterday (Sunday the 20th), Sister Davidson and I spoke in church. I was SO nervous! I really don't like speaking in front of large crowds. But I made it through... My talk was a little different then most talks because no matter how hard I tried to make different topics work, I never could get them developed the way I wanted them. So I just felt like the thing I needed to do was bear my testimony and tell why I'm on my mission. It was really cool because I wrote it down but by the time I got up there, I changed so much of it. The Spirit is an incredible gift that we have. No matter how much we plan for something, it changes if the Spirit tells us to. And that's what happened yesterday.

Also in church yesterday, I was sitting next to a lady in the ward, Stacie Bingham, and she was flipping through her scriptures and all of a sudden she found a $20 bill hidden in there. She took it out and said, "The scriptures are just full of gifts." And I thought how cool it was that she found that 20 bucks and I wish it had been me ;) but then I thought "How true is that? The scriptures really are full of gifts." I'm so thankful for the many wonderful gifts that the scriptures give to me, and everyone who reads them. I love having the chance to be on my mission and to read from the scriptures each day. Not just the Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price, but also modern day scriptures like the Ensign, talks given from the Apostles and so much more. We are truly blessed!

Well, that's about it for this week. Gotta run and write President Becerra before my time is up! And Happy Birthday to Carrol LaNae this week and anyone else who's birthday it may be.

Lots of love from California to everyone!

Love, Sister Rachel Wheatley

BURNT TOAST

Ok, before I tell the story of the burnt toast from the subject line, I have a couple other things I gotta write first.

First of all, it was so nice to talk to everyone last night! It was a little hard but it was still good! I miss everyone so much but I'm so glad that I can write every week and call home twice a year. If you look at it this way, I only have two more phone calls and then I'm home! haha But since those phone calls are so spread out, emails each week will have to do for now! And sorry it was such bad connection, we have horrible service where we live. Luckily at Christmas time we can Skype! Yay!! :)

Ok, so last Monday (the 7th) after I emailed, we went to the church and had a Zone activity! We played Volleyball! It was such a blast! The funniest part was when I caught the ball with my face! I laughed so hard! I'm just glad it didn't hurt and then I didn't get a nose bleed, that would not have been fun! I was kinda sad when we had to leave to go grocery shopping. I didn't want to because it was fun! I'm not very good at Volleyball but that's ok, it was just a good time!

Then that night, we had a FHE lesson at the Wilson's home like we have been doing for the last few weeks. But this time their grandson and his girlfriend were there! (They aren't members...) So we had a lesson that really focused on them and helping them come to know if the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ which is just the basics of what we believe. Faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, Repentance, Baptism, Recieving the gift of the Holy Ghost and Enduring to the End. It was such an amazing lesson! I bore my testimony right at the beginning and of course I cried and from there on it was just a very spirit-filled lesson. I'm hoping that when we go back again tonight, they will be there again and we can teach them about the Restoration of the Gospel. We also bore our testimonies at the end and gave a soft commitment to be baptized, meaning we said "when you come to find out that these things are true, will you be baptized?" And they said yes! So we have to keep working with them! Sister Wilson is someone who has such big faith that her grandchildren will be baptized, it's amazing to see her faith! The only problem though, is that they don't live in our area so we don't know how that will work if we keep teaching them and if they choose to be baptized. I guess we will come to that when it happens... But it was just such a good lesson! They are great people and they are looking for something more in their lives! Oh, and we didn't even get finished with the lesson we had planned because the spirit was so strong that we felt like we needed to talk about eternal families! And that was just really cool. It's amazing how much the spirit helps in lessons!

On Tuesday we went to City Hall to ask about volunteer opportunities. We met a less active member a couple weeks ago and she works in the Emergency Preparedness area of the city and I told them how at home mom is really into that kind of stuff and I'm starting to get into it too so that's something that we would really like to help her with (and not to mention, hopefully help in bringing her back to church...) So when we got there, we started filling out paper and she heard us there so she came up and talked to us and was so excited! She said she already has projects for us to do! So this week we are going over to help and I'm so excited! It will be a lot of fun!

Also on Tuesday we went to the home of a former potential investigator to see if we could talk to her and hopefully teach her. She let us in and we talked for an hour and it was just so great! She never was really able to talk to the Elders in the past because they would always come when her husband wasn't home so they just stood at the door and talked. But it was nice since we are Sisters that we were able to go in! We asked her if she would like to go on a tour of the church and she said yes! So on Thursday morning we had a tour! It was my first one and I was so nervous, but it was good.  The spirit was definitely there! At the end of the tour, we give a quick first lesson about the Restoration and that turned out really good, minus the fact that I drew a complete blank right in the middle of a sentence and then from there I just didn't know what to do. Luckily Sister Davidson was there and she picked up and the lesson turned our well! We both bore our testimonies at the end and she said that she really liked the story of Joseph Smith and the First Vision. We invited her to church on Sunday, especially with it being Mother's Day, but she didn't come :( So we're going to go back this week and talk to her some more and hopefully get more lessons in! Keeping my fingers crossed and prayers are being said constantly for her! I know that this gospel will help her in her life and with her family and hopefully she realizes it too.

On Wednesday the 9th, Sister Davidson had a meeting with all the Zone Leaders since she's the new Sister Trainer and so I was able to spend the day with my MTC companion, Sister Lehman, and her companion, Sister Filimoehala (Sister Fili...) It was such a good day! They had a lesson set up with a 19 year old girl who has friends who are members of the church and she's been an on and off investigator for about a year or so now. It was such an amazing lesson! Before we got to the institute building at Mt. SAC where we taught her, Sister Fili said that if any of us feel like we should commit her, just do it, no hesitations. So I didn't say much until about 20 minutes into the lesson but then I shared a scripture here and there and shared some thoughts and that was it. Well, after I read one of the scriptures (I can't remember now which one it was) I felt the spirit so strongly that I commited her to baptism. She sat there for a minute and said that that's one thing that she's been thinking of for a long time! She's worried that if she joins the church, her family will disown her. Well, we talked about it for about 15 minutes and then we had her pray to ask Heavenly Father if baptism is what He wanted her to do. Her prayer was AMAZING!!! The only other time I heard a more amazing prayer was in my last class of institute before my mission given by a student with down syndrome, that was the best prayer I've ever heard! Anyway, we sat there in silence for about 10 minutes and then Sister Fili started to talk and said how they had prayed about a baptismal date for her and that is June 3rd. We talked for a few more minutes and Julia said yes to that date! It was just the most amazing feeling ever to be in that lesson! There were so many tears it was crazy! But that's because the spirit was so strong and we knew that baptism is Julia's next step. We understand that it will be hard for her to go against what her family wants but she knows that she needs to do it. I don't know why I was so lucky to have been apart of that lesson but I'm glad I was! It has helped me to know where I want to get with my future investigators. I've knewn that's where we want to get all along but to actually see and be apart of that was amazing!

Ok, so on Thursday morning I was getting ready and I smelt some horrible smell out in the kitchen. I ignored it for just a couple minutes cause I was in the bathroom and Sister Davidson was in our room so I figured she had smelt it to and was looking for it. Well, I went back to our room and she was still in there so I went to the kitchen and there was smoke EVERYWHERE!!! In the kitchen, the front room, and in the tv room! It was so scary! Sister Davidson had put in some toast and the setting on the toaster was off somehow and it was burning the toast! I ran to the toaster and there were small flames in it, so I yelled for her and said there was a fire! I turned off the toaster and unplugged it and didn't know what to do from there. I froze! luckily the fire wasn't big so we just let it dwindle out in the toaster but the smoke was so nasty! We opened up windows and doors and even the garage door to hopefully get it out. Well, it's been four days and the smell is finally all gone! It was so scary!! I'm just very beyond thankful to my Heavenly Father for keeping the flames small and keeping us safe! I don't know what we would have done if something worse than that had happened! It ended up being a little funny because that day was Sister Davidson's half way mark and we had been trying to figure out what she could burn. Well, there we go, burnt toast for Sister Davidson't half way celebration! :)

Also that morning, after the church tour, we had District Meeting. We have a new District Leader after and Emergency Transfer (don't know why there was an ET but it keeps me wondering LOL It doesn't matter why but it is kinda interesting...) Well, our new DL, Elder Martinez is so amazing! He is so intune with the Spirit! It was the best DM we've had since I got here! Then that night we asked him to help us in our finding new investigators and he told us that he prayed about it and he wanted us to read our Patriarchal Blessings and our answers would come from the talents mentioned in our blessings! It was so cool to go read mine and see what the Spirit was able to come up with and teach me. It was just so amazing! I'm so thankful for Elder Martinez and his willingness and love of the gospel to be so intune with the Spirit!

Well, I'm running out of time and that's about all I have to write for this week but just wanted to wish Happy Birthdays to Jane Orton tomorrow, Micah Palm on the 17th and Jason McNeece on the 18th! Hope you guys all have wonderful birthdays! Love you!

And also, WELCOME HOME to Sister Wheatley the 1st :) I'm so happy to hear that you're coming home today and that I was able to share a month and a half of our missions together even though we were in different states! :) Love you tons!

Love you all so much! Until next week :)

-Sister Wheatley the 3rd :)