My last week of the Mission: A bitter sweet feeling

Familia!!

 

ONLY 6 MORE DAYS! AHHH! :) I´m soo excited!  It is a bittersweet feeling though.  I have grown so much on my mission and will miss many here in Brasil but I am also excited to come home.   This week was good! I had my last interview with Presidente and it was great. He gave me a lot of advice to take home after the mission. It was good to talk to him about everything that I felt on the mission and how much I´ve grown since I got to Brasil. I had my last multi-zona yesterday. It was really good. I gave my testimony along with Sister Loefke and Ware. There´s about 11 missionaries leaving the mission. 8 of us are Americans. I won´t lie, i´m counting down the days but i´m MAKING every moment count!

 

Conference was really good! i loved it! My favorite part was hearing Carlos Godoy speak in Portuguese!! :) It was so cool! I took a bunch of notes and i´m going to apply those things that i learned.  This week all the missionaries that are going home get to attend the Campinas Temple one last time.  I am looking forward to that.  It is a pretty place.   I´m sorry this email is short and i don´t have much time. But i´ll write you again next week! :) Thank you for everything and I love you so much!! :)

 

-Sister Whitnah

a baptism! It was wonderful!

Familia,

 

Thaynara was baptized on Friday along with another girl that the other sisters in my ward are teaching. There´s 4 sisters in our ward now. All 4 of us sang the famous primary song called ``I like to look for rainbows``. The Spirit was so strong at that baptismal meeting. Thaynara looked so happy and had a glow in her face. We watched the young women´s general conference last night with Thaynara and Leila. They loved it! Dieter Uchtdorf spoke and i loved everything he said.

 

I´m so glad Bryan is doing a lot better! That´s great how he´s getting back into things. I´m happy for Robbie and Tessa getting that house. I bet they´re excited about that. My plans for p-day are gonna be a little crazy. Today, all of the missionaries in my mission have to get a bus pass. Starting tomorrow, the buses won´t except money anymore, only the cards. So my comp and I will need to get one. I already have one. 

 

Thank you for your prayers. We found a lady this week that looks really awesome! We taught her the 1st lesson and she accepted baptism. We´re gonna teach her again on Tuesday and mark a date with her. Leila (thaynara´s mom) is doing really well. She´s super stoked about her baptism in November and she loved going to Thaynara´s baptism. I think this baptism was a spiritual one for Leila. 

 

That pretty much sums up this week! I love you and hope you have a great week! TE AMO MUITO!

 

-Sister Whitnah

Obedience is the Price

Mom,

 

I´ll definitely keep Bryan in my prayers. I´m glad that he´s doing good and nothing bad showed up on the tests. That´s scary that he´s having seizures. I´m glad that everything is going okay for him now. We finally had some rain for the past 3 weeks. It was great! We´ve been lacking about a year and a half worth of water here and it finally rained! :)

This week was good. I´m gonna have a baptism this Friday! Thayanara will be baptized! I´m so excited for her! We see her pretty much everyday and she loves my comp and I! She loves reading the Book of Mormon and praying with us. We had Stake Conference this weekend and she went to it. She told us how she´s more excited about getting baptized and that she knows it´s the right thing for her. I feel like she was my miracle for this transfer, well their whole family. They´re all just amazing! I love them! Teaching Fátima was a little hard this week. She received an answer to be baptized but hasn´t decided a date yet. She´s been having problems with her boyfriend and he doesn´t want her to get baptized. We´re trying to help her focus on the answer that she received. We´re going to see her tonight and help her more to recognize the promptings of the Spirit. In my area is hard to find new people to teach. We´ve been struggling with that for a couple weeks now. I´m praying a lot that we´ll be able to find some new investigators. 

There´s a quote that I found this week! ``Obedience is the price, faith is the power, love is the motive, the Spirit is the key, and Christ is the reason.`` I thought this was the perfect quote for a missionaries´ purpose. I found that this quote is so true in missionary work. Everything has a purpose and it´s all centered on Christ. 

I´m glad everything is going good, especially that Bryan is getting better. Thank you for the many prayers and for your love every week. I love you so much and i´m happy that you´re so supporting. Know that i´m doing good and that i´m fulfilling my part at not having any regrets after my time is up. I love my mission and I really don´t want to leave. I´m not liking the fact that i´m leaving here soon. I would like to stay longer but oh well. Have a great week and talk to you soon! TE AMO MUITO! :)

-Sister Whitnah




Dad,

I´m glad Bryan is doing better and that Heavenly Father is taking good care of him. I felt that a lot throughout my time here. I pray for you guys every night with the safety and that everything will be okay. I know that my blessing told me that the Lord would protect my family. Know that i´m doing really well and i´m HAPPY. :) i´ve truly learned what it means to be happy. It´s a choice that we make constantly. The attitude to choose to be happy when our circumstances go bad. I´ve chosen to be happy when things go wrong or fall through. 

Love you lots Daddy! :) I hope your week goes good and that jury duty will be fun! :) again, love you!

-Sister Whitnah

Família!                                                                      September 15, 2014

Hey! This week went really well. I went to the temple on Tuesday and that was great! The session was in Portuguese and that was cool. I understood a lot more this time. I went to the temple again on Wednesday. We took our investigator Fátima to have a lesson there. It was so cool! I´ve never had a lesson at the temple before. The spirit was so strong throughout the lesson. It was neat! :)

About a week ago, we found this family. Leila (mom), Taiyana and Neilton are her kids. They have been progressing a lot since we´ve been teaching them. Taiyana will be baptized on September 26th! She´s so excited! She can´t stop talking about it. It´s so cute, she loves to read the Book of Mormon and when she prays she tells Heavenly Father that she knows it´s true. She has grown a ton in this short week. She´s only 12 years old and she loves going to Young Womens. Leila isn´t legally married, so we´re planning her wedding for October.

I got my airplane info today. It was really weird but exciting! :) Hoping everything is going great! This was my week and i´ll send some pics! Have a great week! TE AMO MUITO! :)

-Sister Whitnah

I'm dying In Campinas!! YAY!!

Familia!!

 

So big news, I got transferred and i´m in Campinas! I´m serving in Presidente´s ward Iguatemi. I was a little nervous about that but not anymore ha-ha. I´ve a good companion and her name is Sister Remund. She´s been out a year and she´s from Missouri. We get along pretty well. So far, I like my area and the people that i´m teaching. My area has a couple of huge hills and my legs want to break most of the time. But it will be good! I´m living in an apartment that´s the most beautiful apartment that i´ve ever lived in while being on the mission! I took some pics! :)

 

P-day, I didn´t write yesterday because my zona was going to the TEMPLE today! :) it was awesome! I took a bunch of pics! It was good to go to the temple and be spiritually uplifted! Now this 5 weeks will be a little bit more easier to deal with than stressing it. Oh tomorrow, i´m going to the temple again because we´re taking an investigator there. Her name is Fátima and she´s so awesome! I think she´s going to be my next baptism here in a few weeks! :) she has accepted baptism and we´re planning her date for October 4th! A week before I go home.

 

That´s so cool that we´re going to Utah for Thanksgiving!! You just got me all excited! :) But don´t worry, i´ll try not to loose my focus! :) Today has been a great day with going to the temple and everything! I´m really happy and excited for these last 5 weeks. It´s going by so fast. I hope everyone is doing great and all! Have a great week, TE AMO MUITO!! :)

 

-Sister Whitnah 

One Transfer to go!

HEY FAMILIA!

 

So, are you ready to hear the news?! I got transferred for the last time. My guess is that i´ll be going to Campinas.  I won’t know till tomorrow where I will be going, but I am guessing Campinas. 

I heard sister Loefke´s comp got transferred and I could have that chance of being her comp again! :) I hope so!

 

I was kind of bummed to be leaving Sister Aquino. I can´t believe  I´ve  got 6 weeks, holy cow! It´s gonna go by really fast! I´m excited and yet nervous. I love Brasil so much that I don´t want to leave but I´m ready to go too. It´s a bittersweet feeling.  Today is going to be super crazy because i´m going to pack my stuff. I´m gonna go to lunch after I’m done emailing.  Thanks for the pictures you sent.  Little Duke is so cute! 

 

 

I got sick with a really bad migraine headache. The weather here is super hot and dry now. I found out that whenever I´m in a temperature that´s super hot, I get headaches really fast. I can´t have chocolate, or milk when I´m in this hot weather. I´m trying to stay away from chocolate anyways because it´s starting to bother my stomach. But other than that my week was good! We marked a couple baptismal dates and some are in 2 weeks.

 

I gave a talk yesterday in sacrament meeting about missionary work. Towards the end of my talk I bore my testimony how missionary work is important and out of no where i started to cry. I was a little surprised, but I knew it was the spirit. :) Well, i´m sorry this email is short, but i´ll have more to talk about next week! LOVE YOU and have a great week! TE AMO! :) btw, enjoy the pics Mom!

 

-Sister Whitnah

A week fo Miracles!

Familia!

The most exciting thing happened to me on Wednesday! I got my death call ha-ha! I go home on October 13th and i´ll leave Brasil at 9 at night, and be in Oregon at 11:40am on October 14! I´m excited! :) I can´t believe it´s going by so fast. Luckily I wasn´t really trunky after the call. I just pretended like it didn´t happen and I kept on working.

This week was an awesome week! We have been working with 2 families, Mariana e Marcelo and Nice e Erlando. Mariana and their son Gabriel went to church yesterday. He liked it a lot! We had FHE with them and a bunch of the members. Afterwards, he told us that he wants to get baptized! :)

We´re gonna mark his batismo this week! Friday we taught the commandments to Nice and Erlando. Erlando has been kinda soft ever since we´ve met him. He wouldn´t really participate in the lessons or anything. But this time we brought a member and I think it did the trick! They went to church!

  Erlando came up to Sister Aquino and I and thanked us for teaching his family and that he wants us to come more often to teach them more! I felt like it was a miracle this Sunday! :)  I felt that this week was my favorite week.

  I could see Heavenly Father guiding me and my comp.  Our friendship has gotten a lot better.    I’ll get my transfer call on Sunday night, transfers are on September 2nd.  I think I’ll get transferred.  Normally Presidente sends all the missionaries that are going home closer to Campinas.  So I think  I’ll go to Campinas.

That´s so awesome about Prem getting his mission call! How is he feeling about going to India? I´ll get to see him before he leaves! I´m excited for him.

 

I realize that my time is going by so fast. I feel that I´m excited to go home but at the same time I don´t want to leave. I´ve learned so much in so little time. I´m grateful for the chance to serve in Brasil. It was hard, really hard at first but I could see why Heavenly Father sent me here.

To learn and grow a ton. My mission has taught me so many lessons that I will never forget. Lessons that will stick with me for the rest of my life.

 I´ve almost 6 weeks left, and I want to make these 6 weeks the best I could have. Heavenly Father has helped me to not be so trunky. I´m more focused on my time here in Brasil than thinking about going home.

I keep reminding myself everyday, ``don´t just count the days, but make the days count!`` This is my motto for the rest of my mission. Make everyday count and to live up to the very end. 

I´ve learned a lot about the atonement, and how to use it in my life better. to never think that it is  impossible to do something without the help of Heavenly Father. 

Thank you for all of your support and love! I appreciate it everyday and for everything you´ve done for me. I hope you have a great week and i´m sending all my love to you guys! TE AMO FAMILIA! :)

-Sister Whitnah

It's beginning to get hot in Brasil once again

Only 9 weeks and she will be home...her time is flying.  Grace

 

 

Familia!

 

Hello! The weather in Brasil is going back to being hot...yay. Luckily I won´t be here too much longer until it gets super hot. That´s a blessing. ha-ha. Some random news, I got a call from the mission office about what airport i´ll be flying into I´m guessing they´re buying my plane ticket. I´m excited but trying not to focus on it too much. :)

 

Mariana is doing really good. She´s been having problems with cousins going to the hospital and some problems with café. We´re helping her and seeing her a lot. She went to church on Sunday and she looked pretty relaxed. Most of the times she´s super stressed out. I´ve planned to see her 2 times this week and to help her stop drinking café. I think her example of going to church, reading the scriptures and praying has helped her 2 kids. Her boyfriend Marcelo doesn´t look interested anymore. He hasn´t given us the okay to get married, but Mariana really wants to get married. The reverence thing has gotten a little better. We had someone from the stake presidency show up and everyone was quiet! It was a miracle! :) plus I know bishop had talked to the parents and their kids. It´s slowly getting better in this ward.

 

I felt like this week my comp and I are becoming a lot closer. In the beginning it was hard, but getting out our feelings and working hard together, we can see why we both need to be in tune with the spirit. Also with my interview with Presidente, he helped me to know how to help my comp out. So, everything is going good and i´m happy! :)

 

My interview with Presidente went good.  It was better than I expected.  I knew you would say something about me putting my all in my mission and focusing.  I want you to know that I’m trying my best everyday.  Especially to live up my last days as a missionary.  I also want you to know that I would never let anything get in my way on my mission.  Don’t worry, I’m not one of those missionaries that wastes their mission for nothing.  I know why I’m here on the mission and I want to be here. 

 

I loved the photos of camp and the beach! They´re awesome! :) i´ll send some photos here. I love you and hope you have a great week! TE AMO FAMILIA!

 

 

I love so much Mom!  TE AMO!

 

Sister Whitnah