I can't believe I've been serving 7 months!

Mamãe! :)

 

It´s crazy to think that 7 months have gone by. At times it feels like it has gone by slow and fast at the same time. I had a great 7th month anniversary! On Sunday, we had the primary program. Sister Howell and I sang batismo or baptism in English. It turned out pretty well. The whole program was so good. I felt the Spirit so strongly. I had the chills and goose bumps! My favorite song that the primary children sang was If the Savior Stood Beside Me. Talk about POWERFUL. I´ve never felt so much love while listening to that song. That song bore witness to me that I do have a loving Heavenly Father and a Savior who love me so much. 

 

I have some AWESOME news that I´ve been waiting to share you with! On Dezembro 17th, our mission is going to the temple for an endowment session!! Everybody from our mission is going! I´m so freakin excited!! :) I´ve missed the temple a lot since I was in Idaho. I´m excited for this opportunity to get to go again. Especially in Brasil! I heard there´s a new film for the endowment. Some people have told us that it´s a lot better than the other film. I´m looking forward to seeing it.

 

For p-day, we had all of the sisters from our mission join together for a Sisters Conference in Campinas. The sister training leaders and Sister Perrotti spoke. They showed Mormon messages of President Uchtdorf´s talk about The Ugly Duckling. I can´t remember what it is in English. But the video was about how we look at ourselves in the mirror. How we are daughters of our Heavenly Father and how we have so much potential and divinity. Towards the end of the conference, we watched a video about Emma Smith. How she was a women of great worth. It was so good! I cried while watching the Emma Smith video ha-ha. I got to see some of the sisters that i´ve become good friends with and the new sisters too. 

 

Like every week in Barao Geraldo, this week was good but tough. There was a stake activity for all of the relief society sisters on Friday. We took our investigator Fernanda to it. She loved it! They had the stake president speak and had different people speak about their experiences while reading the Book of Mormon. That was one thing Fernanda has been struggling with. Reading the Book of Mormon everyday and praying. I´m hoping that it helped her to see other people´s testimonies about the Book of Mormon besides mine and Sister Howell´s. After the talks, we had a huge dinner. It was a great night! We tried this week to see Kelly and her sister. Kelly is about 28 years old and her one sister is 15. They didn´t come to church yesterday because of work. We have a huge list of less actives that we are searching. Meaning, we go to find their address and see if they still live there and invite them to com back to church. Most of these people live about 30 minutes away. Our ward mission leader is AWESOME! He helps us with anything we need. He has some great ideas to help us and the ward to be more active and excited about missionary work. It´s great! :)

 

Honestly, I don´t know what´s going on with me not being able to send pictures. They show up on my camera, but when I try to send them they don´t show up on the computer. Maybe it´s my card reader or even my memory card. I´m sorry that I haven´t been able to send some in a while. I´m trying my best!

 

Sister Howell and I bought a mini Christmas tree for our house! It´s really cute! :) We put lights and mini ornaments all around it! We call it our alvore bebezinho ha-ha. The more we decorate our house with Christmas decorations, the more I´m excited for Christmas! I´m guessing Christmas in Brasil will be really hot and humid. Yay....ha-ha. But i´m sure it will be good!

 

Well I hope you have a good week! I´m really excited to Skype with you in 4 weeks! WOO! I love you and i´m praying for you everyday! Love ya! :)

 

-Sister Whitnah

 

 

These are photos from the Sisters Missionary Conference that was held today. 

I have a new companion, Sister Howell, also from Arizona!

Mom,

 

It´s crazy to think that it´s been a year since I got my call. It seemed like it went fast and slow at the same time. I didn´t realize it until you mentioned it. This week went pretty good! But before I start off, there were some changes in this transfer. The elders told us that Sister Menden and I would be staying in Barao Geraldo together. During our comp study on Tuesday, we get a call from the elders asking why Sister Menden wasn´t at the transfer site. Sister Menden was suppose to be transferred all along. She had almost 2 hours to pack up all of her stuff and head to the bus station. It was pretty crazy! And apparently this wasn´t the only time this has happened to Sister Menden. It happened to her about 2-3 transfers ago. She was kind of upset with the elders but, she said that she´ll get over it. She´s still in Campinas, but not serving in my zone.

 

My new comp is Sister Howell. She´s from Gilbert, Arizona too! I found out that her and Sister Menden are from the same stake but, never knew each other! I think it´s pretty funny! She´s been out for 11 months. I really like working with her. She has a fun personality and is a hard worker! We get along pretty well! We have a lot of great goals for this transfer since it´s gonna be 7 weeks.

 

During the week, we did a lot of knocking on doors and talking to as many people as we could. We have about 5 people that we are going to see this week to give the 1st lesson. I´m pretty excited! We have an investigator named Kelly. She has a 1 year old named Bionca. She also has 2 younger sisters and one of them came to church yesterday. She told us that she really liked coming to church. We are going to visit Kelly this week to see if we can get her to come this next Sunday. This next Sunday, our ward is having a primary program! Sister Howell and I are going to be singing a song. I think in English it´s called Baptism? In Portuguese it´s Batismo. 

 

Last night I watched a movie called Fireproof. Have you heard of it? It´s about this couple that has problems with their marriage and the Dad helps the son with this journal that his mother made for him. ``How To Save Your Marriage in 40 Days``. It talks about having the gospel in your life and relying on the Savior. The couple almost get a divorce, but they end up saving their marriage. It´s a really good movie! I cried towards the end ha-ha. I think you should get it and watch it. 

 

For p-day, we´re meeting with another zone to go to this park in Campinas. From what the elders told us it´s huge and has a tons of activities you can do. Like play basketball, play set, and a bunch of other things. I´m pretty stoked! We had 8 new sisters come in this transfer! 3 of them are Americans and the others are from different countries that speak Spanish. There wasn´t anybody from Brasil. I was really shocked.

 

Tell Sister Menden´s mom thank you for having her husband bring my Christmas package! That´s so nice of her to do that! My area is in Campinas so that makes it a lot easier for her husband to get it to me! Btw, I haven´t received any of your letters. I wonder if they got lost or something? Maybe they might come in this week. I will check to find out.

 

Hey I want to let you know that i´m doing great! I love being in my area even though it´s a difficult area, but I love my companion! Our goal is to get the most out of this transfer. To help baptize as many people as we can! Thank you for all of your love and support every week! I love you so much and hope you have a fantastic week! LOVE YOU! :)

 

-Sister Whitnah

 

P.S That´s so cool about Leya leaving for her mission this week! I´m so excited for her!  

Dad,

 

I like this activity that you´re putting on! Sounds pretty fun! I can answer the questions for you.

 

One of the things that I have learned as a missionary is to rely on the Spirit. The Spirit is so important when you are teaching. It also helps you to know what you should do personally. I´ve learned to love others that I come in contact with. To get to know them better.

 

There are so many things that we do! We visit less active members, talk to strangers about the Gospel. We always share our testimony. For me, I have to talk to people in a different language.

 

Being a missionary is not for the people who have the black name tag. Everyone is a missionary. Everyone has a significant role in being a missionary. You never know who´s life you may be touching. Always be an example. 

 

Brazil is pretty awesome! They have AMAZING fruit! The food is probably my 2nd favorite and the people are my first. The people here are so nice and are very friendly. The name Campinas in translation means field of mountains or of some sort. 

 

Love you, Sister Whitnah

 

I'm staying in Barao Geraldo with Sister Menden!! YAY!

Hello Familia!

 

So, are you ready to find out if i´m staying in Barao Geraldo?! I´m staying in Barao Geraldo with Sister Menden!! :) I´m so happy! She´s an awesome sister and i´m so glad to be with her another 7 weeks. This coming transfer with be 7 weeks. I found out that Sister Ware is being transferred :( i´m hoping that she stays in my zone at least. 

 

On Friday, we had a multi-zona conference with Presidente Perrotti. It was great! He shared a video about the Atonement of Jesus Cristo. I saw the same video while I was in Idaho. But this one was in Portuguese. He also talked about how we can help our investigators to progress towards baptism and helping them to get to that point and desire.

 

The lady that Sister Menden´s mom mentioned, she is really sweet. Her name is Nadir. From what Sister Menden told me is that Nadir knows the Book of Mormon is true, but wouldn´t keep her commitments. Like go to church, pray, and so on. This past week, Nadir moved to a different area. We promised her that whenever she wants to return back to church, she can. There will always be missionaries to help her. I only knew her for a short time, but I could feel that she wanted to change. Just now wasn´t the right time.

 

I have some sad news about Vinicius. We went to his house on Wednesday to give him the 3rd lesson. Just before we were going to start, he said that he needed to tell us something. He said that he doesn´t want us to meet with him anymore. Everything we have taught him, he doesn´t believe. I was in shock. We talked more and more and come to find out, he has a couple of friends that don´t like the church. We´re thinking that his friends said something to him. We could also tell that he has fear to receive an answer to know if the Book of Mormon is true. He said that he´s afraid to know what the answer might be. We ended up telling him, he´s always welcomed to come to church and to do the things we promised him to do. At the end, I could tell that this would be the last time that I would see him. We left the house feeling so sad. I thought things were going so well, but he has fear of receiving an answer. I´ve learned that an investigator must know that the Book of Mormon is true. Because once they know the Book of Mormon is true, everything that Joseph Smith testified is true, and that this church is true also.

 

It was really hard to let Vinicius go, but I hope that one day he will return. That he will have faith to ask Heavenly Father about the Book of Mormon and about everything we´ve taught him. One thing he did say was, he loved the members. How everyone was like family to him. 

 

Almoço is lunch in Portuguese. I´ve decided that all of the fruit in Brasil is amazing! The mangos are probably my favorite. :) It was fun celebrating the Bishop´s birthday! I took a couple of pictures of the lunch.

 

Overall, this week was bitter/sweet. But i´m not going to let the bad things over ride the good things. I´m excited to stay in Barao Geraldo with Sister Menden. I´m also excited to know and see what´s coming in our path as far as finding new investigators. It´s been hard for us to find new people to teach. But I hope we will have someone who wants to hear about the Gospel. We have Zumba once a week and i´m excited to see if some of the members will bring their friends to Zumba on Wednesday! 

 

I wrote Dad a letter this week. I´m hoping that you´ll get mine sometime this week. I will try my best to send some pictures this week. I love you so very much!! I hope all is well with you! Have an awesome week!

 

Love, Sister Whitnah

I've Become Attached to Brasil

Mom,

 

Hey how are things going? I´m sorry that I haven´t sent any pictures in a long time. I have a lot that I want to send, but somehow  I can´t. :( the computers here are ridiculous. But, this week was kind of hard. We had a lot of plans for the week and most of them got cancelled or nobody showed up for our appointments. It was really sad. As far as this week, we have A LOT to do! I´m excited for it! Next Sunday we get our transfer calls. This transfer was only 5 weeks. I´ve heard next transfer might be 5 or 7 weeks because Christmas is involved in the next transfer. I kind of want to stay in Barao Geraldo with Sister Menden.

 

Vinicius moved into a new house this past week. Last Sunday, we planned to help him move. When we got to his old house nobody was there. We went to his new house and nobody was there also. We waited for at least a hour and called him and he didn´t pick up. It was really strange. The whole week we didn´t hear from him. I was beginning to worry about him. It was really weird how when we would call him, he wouldn´t pick up the phone.

 

  Yesterday, (Sunday) we went to church and we saw Vinicius! I was so happy to see him. We found out that he got a new phone number and was really busy with school and work. Plus he didn´t have our number in his new phone. We were so happy that this whole week we didn´t have any contact with him, but he still came to church. We talked with him a little bit before Sacrament Meeting, and he still wants to know ``everything`` before he gets baptized. During Sunday School, our ward missionary leader gave a lesson about baptism. This is perfect because, the next lesson we are going to share with Vinicius is the 3rd lesson. Which includes BAPTISM! :) 

 

 Vinicius is one of my miracles. We had a hard week trying to communicate with him this week. We were hoping that he would come to church. When we saw him, we were so happy. It goes to show how he has a desire to go to church. Even when we couldn´t communicate with him at all. He still came. He is a huge example to me, of being steadfast. I swear, he is GOLDEN. I´m so grateful that I get to teach him the gospel. He has blessed my life and more. I can´t wait for the day when he gets baptized. 

 

Our ward had a ``break the fast`` potluck. There was a bunch of fruit, salads, chicken and casseroles. One member brought in fresh cut mangos. OH...it was so GOOOD! It was also the bishop´s birthday. We sang happy birthday and had cake and ice cream. It was probably one of the best almoços I´ve had here!

 

This week we did a lot of knocking on doors and visiting with members Every Thursday night, the relief society puts on a zumba night. A couple members bring some of their non-member friends.

 

I really like the advice that Robbie gave me. Sister Menden and I always have companionship study. Everyday we always have personal study, comp study, and then language study. It really does help a lot when we study together. We both understand what and how we need to teach for that day. All of our lessons are in Portuguese. We never talk in English. I think that´s what helps me the most. The more I speak in Portuguese, the more I learn the language faster. It´s difficult to speak a lot of English and then try to talk in Portuguese later.

 

On Halloween, Sister Menden and I bought some American candy! In Brasil they have snickers, kit kats, m&m´s and Hershey's. We also had hot dogs for dinner. The way Brasilians make their hot dogs is very interesting. They put corn, ketchup, the hot dog, and mashed potatoes on top. It might sound really weird, but it´s good! I´ve grown  accustomed to the food here! After my district meeting, we went to a Japanese resturante. I wasn´t too thrilled to have sushi. I told myself that if I didn´t like it, I would get something else afterwards. I put some teriyaki sauce on the sushi and ate it. Surprisingly, it wasn´t that bad. I kind of liked it.

 

That´s so cool how Bryan is being such a good example. I really like that example of how Heavenly Father smiles when we do what is right. 

 

I mailed you a letter last week. I wrote more detail about the mission conference and what I learned. I really liked the quote you shared with me. I think it´s so true. I´ve become attached to Brasil. To the people I serve with to the food I eat. I love it here. At times it is hard, but it´s a good type of hard. The type that´s going to help me grow. I hope you have a wonderful week! I love you SO MUCH! Talk to you later.

 

-Sister Whitnah    



 Sisters Menden and Whitnah, Halloween day!

 Pizza with other missionary sisters!

 Mansion of Stake President where Sister Whitnah was at last week with her companion  and other missionaries