I've been serving a year! wow!

Familia!

Yeah it´s crazy 1 year on Thursday! It´s hard to believe! It doesn´t feel like it´s been that long. I´m gonna try and do something awesome for that day! :)

Overall, this week was alright. We had our multi-zona on Wednesday. It went good and there were a lot of training meetings. I learned a lot throughout those meetings and will apply them in my mission. Presidente shared a video with us about Easter. On LDS.ORG it´s called Gracas a Ele. It was a great video. If you have time, watch it! I cried a little bit ha-ha! :) It was great to see Sister Loefke! She looks really good! Her Portuguese is really good! We talked a lot throughout the meeting. WE gave each other a huge hug when she saw me! Saturday, we had a lesson with a 15 year old guy named Ramon. He´s pretty cool! He loved the lesson we gave him and already accepted to be baptized! Yesterday, we taught him the 2nd lesson and agreed with everything we said. We set the date for 3rd of May for his baptism. I´m super excited!

For Easter, we got a ton of chocolate! I felt sick after eating a bunch of chocolate throughout the day. Our lunch was good. We had pretty much the regular food we would have in a lunch meal. Nothing too special, but it was still yummy. Thank you for the pics of Bryan! He looked cute with Emma! I´m glad he had a good time! I´m glad you guys had a great week too! I sure missed your baked corn this year!! Did you make it? I gotta go here in a bit! LOVE YOU LOTS! Have a great week!

-Sister Whitnah

 

This week was rewarding :)

Família!

 

I can´t believe Easter is this coming Sunday! Everyone here is preparing for Easter. There´s a bunch of chocolate sales and stuffed bunnies. Also the World Cup is coming soon. I´ve been seeing a lot of Brasil decorations. The World Cup doesn´t start until the beginning of June. Oh just a heads up! Mother´s Day is coming up in a few weeks. I´m SUPER excited! :) We´re getting our transfer call in about a week and a half, and i´m not sure if i´ll leave Conchal. So whatever happens, i´ll let you know and it will be easier to plan things for Mother´s Day. Btw Mom, I planned a surprise for you! :) I´m hoping that Skype won´t be a pain in the butt.

 

GOOD NEWS! I found out that Sister Loefke is in my zona! Sister Howell is training her! She´s really lucky to have her. I didn´t get the chance to see her but our leaders told us who the new missionaries were. We´re having our multi-zona on Wednesday and i´ll get to see her then! :)

 

This week was really good! First off, Sister Ware is one of the sister training leaders and she came to my area to do splits. Sister Ware is training a newbie and I got a taste of what training is like. I went out with her comp and Ware went with Neves. By the end of the day, I was sweating, my legs were hurting, and I felt really tired. I can see what it´s going to be like to train. You get to teach a new missionary literally everything. From planning appointments, talking with people, doing contacts , and so on. It was fun but I was tired...in a good way.

 

Sister Neves and I focused a lot about how we could help our investigators to come to church. We shared a message about the importance of church and gave them the invitation to go. We felt like it was more important that we invited them to church before giving them the 1st lesson. And I agree with that 100%. They need to know why church is important and how it can make a difference in our week. In the 1st lesson commitments in our planner, it says to invite your investigator to church. I thought a lot about why that´s in that lesson. I learned that if we just give a lesson to people and invite them to church, they probably won´t come after the 1st lesson. But if they come to church first, they will understand a little bit better about the 1st lesson. So, this week we invited literally everyone we could possibly think of to come to church. We planned with 13 people. 8 out of the 13 came. I was happy! Our Sunday was a bit more noisy than usual. :) it was a good feeling! My fast really paid off, but I know Heavenly Father was the one helping out with most.

 

I learned in my personal study this week about how I can strengthen my testimony. One thing that popped into my brain was what I know to be true and how I can recognize the Spirit more effectively. I learned what it really means to be fully converted to the Gospel and how that can bless my life. I know his role and that he can only tell us what is true. That was a comfort to me. He can never lie, only tell the truth.Every time I prayed and asked, I got an answer of you already know it´s true.

I felt like Heavenly Father was helping me realize that all I need to do is strengthen my knowledge of it and my faith. I do know those things are true, but at times we doubt our testimonies. I know the more we ask with real intent, God will answer our prayers and will help our faith to know it´s true and He will help us to grow. 

 

This week was rewarding! I learned a lot! I´m grateful for this Gospel in my life and how it´s blessed me. And I know this Gospel can only bless us if we let it and if we live it. I love you so much! I hope you have a wonderful week! TE AMO FAMILIA! :) beijinhos! 

 

-Sister Whitnah


Bethany's message to her Dad follows:


Dad,

That´s really cute how Bryan asked Emma to prom! The photos are great! I can´t believe he´s that old enough to go to prom. I remember getting ready for the LDS Prom was my favorite dance. I mostly spent it was Alina, but I remembered it was always a blast. I hope they have a good time!

What were some of your favorite conference talks? I didn´t get the chance to hear all of Elder Holland´s talk, because the internet connection at the church was really bad. So i´m going to print it off and read it that way. I always love hearing from Presidente Uchtdorf. The way he words things and how he explains doctrine is easy to understand and it´s simple. But most of all I like hearing his German accent ha-ha. :) he´s a great speaker! 

In a couple of weeks, i´m excited to talk with you and Mom. My Portuguese has gotten a lot better. I´ve been practicing my English for when I talk to you ha-ha. It might sound funny, but when I speak English it´s hard to remember some words. Writing in English isn´t a problem but speaking is a whole other story. I´m almost a Brasilian at heart now. :)

Thank you for emailing me. It was great to hear from you and how things are going. I want to let you know how much I love you and appreciate you. I´m really thankful for you and I pray about you everyday. I hope you have a great week at work and at home. LOVE YOU LOTS PAPPAI! :)

Love, Sister Whitnah

Conference was Great!

Família!

 

This week was pretty good! I was so excited for General Conference! I watched it in Portuguese for the first time. It was pretty cool! The only parts I heard in English were when they announced who would be the next speaker and when the choir would sing. I really wanted to hear it in English but hearing it in Portuguese was awesome.

 

I remembered this week was April Fools. The day before April Fools Day, Sister Neves told me to not believe what anyone would say the next day. We had our zone meeting on April Fools Day. Our meeting was about 30 minutes away and we needed to take a bus. On the way there, our bus broke down. We called our leaders to tell them what was going on. They didn´t believe us that our bus broke down ha-ha. They thought it was a joke. We showed up about an hour later explaining that our bus really did break down and that it wasn´t a joke.

 

Later that day, a member from our branch told us that our mission president would come to Conchal to see our English class and to see if our house was clean. Sister Neves started freaking out. I thought it was funny because I knew it was a lie! I told her to calm down and reminded her that it was April Fools Day. The look on her face was priceless when she told me president was coming to our area ha-ha.

 

I had a lot of talks that I really liked throughout General Conference. My favorite was by Dieter F. Uchtdorf, how he talked about the spirit of gratitude. I also liked M. Russell Ballard´s talk too about missionary work.

 

In the breaks between the sessions, my comp and I went on splits with the youth to find new investigators. We found a bunch of people that look very promising! :) about 5 want us to come back and teach them! We have one appointment tonight that i´m really excited about! I´m hoping there will be a few baptisms here coming soon! :)

 

I learned a lot about the atonement during Conference and made me realize how much Jesus Christ loves us. I´m so grateful for the atonement in my life and how I can use it to become closer to my Savior. I´m so grateful for this time to serve in Brasil, and how it´s blessing my life everyday. I love you so much and I hope all is well! Have a great week! Tchau! TE AMO!

 

-Sister Whitnah

she added a short 2nd message to this one:

I would really like to come back to Brasil if i have the chance, you know. Brasil is so different than the US but the culture is cool. it´s funny, i thought eating beans and rice everyday would get annoying or i would get sick of it. but since i´ve been here, i can´t imagine not eating beans and rice everyday. i love it! i´m soaking in the culture and my mission. i won´t get another opportunity like this again. i´ve thought a lot about how hard it´s going to be when i come home from my mission. i´ve grown to love Brasil and have made so many friendships here. i know it will be a HUGE adjustment, but Heavenly Father will help me to get back in the swing of things. 

 

i´ve thought about when i´ll get to train. at times I’m  really super ready and other times I have doubts that my Portuguese isn´t good enough. but i´ve learned that it doesn´t matter if i´m fluent or not, the Lord will help me with the language no matter what. i´m hoping to train here soon. maybe the next transfer coming up.

 

i love you so much and i´m grateful for your testimony. i know that the church is true and the we have a loving Heavenly Father that knows us personally. My mission had blessed me in so many ways and has taught me so many lessons that i know that i couldn´t have learned anywhere else. Brasil was the place i needed to be to learn the things i know now. i´m so grateful for my call and the opportunity to know my Savior more. once again, LOVE YOU so much and hope your week will be great! :)

 

Love your Brasilian chicka! :)