Miracletown

Well folks! I made it! I survived doubling out of Zilker! Amidst the explosion and stress, we pulled it off! 

Leaving the capital. I miss seeing that everyday!

It was definitely odd to leave my first area. I loved Zilker Park, but Merrilltown and Heritage Trail are certainly right up there with it! Change is inevitable, and I'm so glad that I've grown so much and I was able to adjust quickly to leaving people and places that I love! But the growth that I've noticed in myself isn't even close to the growth that I've seen in others! I was able to watch Geoff change in ways that I can't even really describe, including him letting himself become more loving to those around him. I watched Dianna allow the gospel to make her happier than she has been in a long time, and allow it to stay that way and stop trying to push it away. I watched light grow in Cesario's eyes as he learned more and more about the plan Heavenly Father has for him. I made friendships that will last forever! I watched so many people change and grow, all thanks to the Spirit of the God! This gospel is a gospel of change and happiness and it's amazing to see people let it into their lives! 

Dianna's Book of Mormon! I love it!

I like to call this new area "Miracletown". We're double covering the Merrilltown and Heritage Trail wards, and that name applies to both! I'm still working on getting to know the area and the people, but from what I do know... WOW! So many miracles! People are just falling into our path! We've taught many people about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and it's been interesting to continue learning how the Spirit works through me. We've got so much work to do here! I'm excited for this transfer!

The awesome puzzle that I got to help Sister Montclair put together!

I definitely miss Sister Montclair, just as I missed Sister Gagon before her. But Heavenly Father is good and continues to bless me with wonderful companions! Sister Risenmay is wonderful! We've already found so much that we have in common and I love her to pieces! Her cheerfulness and enthusiasm for the work is contagious! She's also a sister training leader, which means I get to share her a little bit more than I've shared companions in the past. Which is great! I get to work with so many people this transfer! It's exciting! 

Geoff and the Babcock Family. Geoff is behind me on the left.

I'm not going to lie, leaving my first area was tough! It had truly become home and I'm excited to visit it again! But in His infinite mercy and love, Heavenly Father led me to the perfect scripture to comfort me: 

"And it came to pass that the Lord did visit them with his Spirit, and said unto them: Be comforted. And they were comforted (Alma 12:10)."

Isn't amazing how direct and comforting the scripture can be? It wasn't only this verse that helped, but the story in the entire chapter. The sons of Mosiah are preparing to leave for their missions, and the entire chapter is incredible! My favorite verse is 13: 

"...they separated themselves and departed one from another, trusting in the Lord that they should meet again at the close of their harvest; for they supposed that great was the work which they had undertaken."

I trust that I will meet those who I worked with in Zilker again. How great is the work that I have undertaken? Then Ammon speaks the best words of all: 

"...be of good cheer and let us go in search of the flocks..." 

Let us all be of good cheer and go in search of the flocks! You don't have to wear a tag to be a missionary! Find comfort in the scriptures! Apply them to your life! I promise that Heavenly Father will speak to you just as he has spoken to me! 

I love you all! 

Sister Waite

P.S. In all the craziness last week, I forgot to mention that I got to work with Sister Harrision, one of my MTC companions, for a day last week! It was so incredible! We've both grown so much and I just love her to death! :) 

Goodbye Zilker

Dear all, 

We had another wonderful week, just as I hope all of you did! Miracles continue to happen in Zilker, and I'm excited to spend most of this next week here before transfer meeting! 

And of course, that means that I am being transferred... And so is Sister Montclair! We're being doubled out... I guess we're both needed elsewhere! I'm sure the next missionaries will love this area and take great care of this portion of the Lord's vineyard! 

Our Last email session together in Zilker Park!

So in other news... 

Geoff is going to cut his hair! This has been a long-fought battle (very peacefully, though!) and it's finally happening! (I just realized that I won't be here to see it... sad day!) I'll be sure to get pictures before I leave so that you can see what a miracle this is! Haha! He's still doing well! I have an inkling that he'll be baptized soon! Which is super exciting! This is something he's wanted for the entire time that I have been privileged to know him! 

Dianna is still super great! A few weeks ago, we had her listen to President Uchtdorf's talk "Forget Me Not" and she loved it! Then she surprised us with forget me nots! She actually went out and bought us forget me nots! She loved it that much! She's so great! They're the tiniest flower with the biggest meaning for her! And so pretty! :) 

The forget-me-nots from Dianna

We also found this awesome new investigator! Keisha is so great! We were planning one night, and Sister Montclair realized that there was a referral from a street contact that we had never actually talked to. So the next day, we knocked on the door, and Keisha happened to be visiting her godmother (the referral)! And she wanted us to come by her home! It's so great! I had felt really bad about not remembering the referral (these are PEOPLE WHO NEED THE GOSPEL!!!) but if we hadn't tried to contact the referral when we did, we wouldn't have ever found Keisha! She's the greatest! She's been taking notes while we've taught her, and she loves the Book of Mormon! We even set her with a date! July 25th! The new missionaries are going to love that! :) 

Cesario is still on fire! (Not literally, though... That would be interesting, though...) He's even going to the temple on Friday! I'm really disappointed that I won't be able to go with him... But I'm so excited for him! He's so great! :) 

The craziest thing happened this week! We were sitting in our car finishing a phone call, and it took a little bit longer than we expected. Suddenly, there were two police officers tapping on our windows! We thought we were in so much trouble! But they just wanted to know what church we were from! So of course, always being missionary minded, we spent 20 minutes telling them about it! One had LDS neighbors and wanted to ask us questions, and the other told us that he had learned a lot! We even gave them some cards! It was really great! :) 

For the first time ever, I was disappointed in the view from my apartment... trees got in the way of the fireworks! Oh well... we'll try again next year! Haha! :) 

I want to leave you this week with some of my favorite words that President Uchtdorf has ever spoken (it's a tough choice, really):

"Whether you are 8 or 108, there is one thing that I hope you truly understand and know:

You are loved.

You are dear to your heavenly parents.

The infinite and eternal Creator of light and life knows you! He is mindful of you.

Yes, God loves you this very day and always.

He is not waiting to love you until you have overcome your weaknesses and bad habits. He loves you today with a full understanding of your struggles. He is aware that you reach up to Him in heartfelt and hopeful prayer. He knows of the times you have held onto the fading light and believed—even in the midst of growing darkness. He knows of your sufferings. He knows of your remorse for the times you have fallen short or failed. And still He loves you.

And God knows of your successes; though they may seem small to you, He acknowledges and cherishes each one of them. He loves you for extending yourself to others. He loves you for reaching out and helping others bear their heavy burdens—even when you are struggling with your own.

He knows everything about you. He sees you clearly—He knows you as you really are. And He loves you—today and always!"

May we always remember and find comfort in the eternal truth that our Heavenly Father loves us! 

Love, 

Sister Waite

Miracle of Miracles!

Hey all! 

So this week flew by and I really want to know where it went! There's no way it's already June 28! 

I can't even begin to list all the things that we did this week... But I'll try! 

We taught Cesario about patriarchal blessings and he LOVED it. It's so amazing to watch him just drink up the gospel! He even said "Hey! That's sort of like what I'm reading about in 2 Nephi!" Yeah, that's right. 2 Nephi. He understood it and connected it to patriarchal blessings. Ah! We're so proud of him! :) 

Michael and Matthew are still so great! Michael remembers so much and even helps us teach Matthew when he's having a little bit of a hard time remembering or understanding things. And they both have the best testimonies ever! :) 

Geoff is still doing so great. I was thinking about March Geoff versus June Geoff and it's such a big difference! He's changed so much! We taught him about charity for the second time the other day. March Geoff told us that he already knew all about charity and that he was charitable and all that, and didn't really get much out of what we were telling him. June Geoff, however, realized that charity means so much more when used in the context of the gospel! And I know that it's not the teachers! It's definitely him allowing the Spirit to change and teach him! :) 

Dianna and Brandon are doing so great! (I got to hold one of Brandon's geckos the other day. It was so cool! :) ... I loved it!) They both came to church and Brandon even stayed for the 2nd hour! We're working on him, slowly but surely! I can tell he loves it, he's just being a teenager! Haha! Dianna continues to see signs and answers to her prayers, particularly this week about President Monson. We worked all week with her, trying to build her faith of a living prophet, and she told us last night that she knows that Thomas Spencer Monson is a man truly called of God to be the Prophet on the earth today! It was so great! I almost cried! I love watching her testimony grow! Dianna and Brandon are even doing missionary work of their own, and had one of Brandon's friends, Stefan, over to listen to our message. And he loved it, too! 

The work is just rolling forward here in Zilker! 

But one of the greatest miracles this week happened yesterday morning! Missionaries in Zilker haven't been invited to Ward Council in at least a year, probably longer. That really throws a wrench in the works and makes it harder to coordinate our efforts with the ward. But we're lucky enough to have a GREAT ward mission leader who really makes sure we know everything we should know from Ward Council. It's just how we've been doing missionary work here for as long as I've been here, and we make it work! But this week our district leader asked us to find out why we weren't invited. So, we planned on asking Brother Webb about it in ward coordination Sunday afternoon. But Sunday morning... we showed up to give Brother Webb our progress record and update him on some really important things, just like we have been for the last six months... and we were invited to actually go to ward council! And we're going to be invited forever! I don't know if I can express to you how much of a miracle that is! I don't know what changed, but I'm sure glad it did! Months of working to earn the trust of the ward has finally paid off! :) 

I've started the Book of Mormon yet again, and I'm loving it! Something I read in 2 Nephi 2 today really caught my attention. 

Wherefore, thy soul shall be blessed, and thou shalt dwell safely with thy brother, Nephi; and thy days shall be spent in the service of thy God. Wherefore, I know that thou art redeemed, because of the righteousness of thy Redeemer; for thou hast beheld that in the fulness of time he cometh to bring salvation unto men. (2 Nephi 2:3)

Lehi tells his son, Jacob, that he knows that Jacob will spend all of this days in the service of God. You would think in so doing that Jacob would do a lot of righteous things, or works. But Lehi then says that it is "because of the righteousness of thy Redeemer" that Jacob will be saved. We aren't saved because of own righteousness. It's Christ's! Oh, how grateful I am that He is so righteous! :) 

I love you all! I hope y'all remember Christ and His righteousness in all that you do! 

Love, 

Sister Waite

A.S.K.

Hey all! 

I'm so blessed to be a missionary! I can't even describe how happy it makes me to be able to see the gospel change people's lives! So even though I've been fed bananas on multiple occasions, been so tired I could hardly roll out of bed in the morning, and my poor little watch decided it just couldn't tell time anymore... These past 5 1/2 months have been the greatest of my life! :) 

Not much new has happened this week, just continuing to do the work and love it! Planting seeds in people's hearts is probably one of my favorite things to do! Because you just never know! :) 

Geoff is doing great! He's so happy and continues to allow the Savior to change his life. 

Dianna and her son Brandon came to church yesterday and loved it! I love seeing their hearts grow softer and softer every day! They're the greatest and I love them so much! 

Cesario received the Aaronic priesthood yesterday... and it was amazing! Watching him take steps on the right path has just been wonderful! :) 

The Zilker Park Ward has been amazing to me! The members are great, and the area is amazing! I would be okay working here for the full 18 months! ;) 

I've been thinking a lot about receiving answers to our questions... and of course the answer is in the scriptures:

"Ask, and it shall be given unto you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. (3 Nephi 14:7)" 

Christ gives us three things to do: ask, seek, and knock.

First, we have to ask.

"Do ye not remember the things which the Lord hath said?--If ye will not harden your hearts, and ask me in faith, believing that ye shall receive, with diligence in keeping my commandments, surely these things shall be made known unto you. (1 Nephi 15:11)"

Nephi teaches us that as we ask in faith, believing that we will receive and continuing the keep the commandments, we can receive an answer!

Second, we have to seek.

"Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do. (2 Nephi 32:3)"

It is little wonder that we are asked to search (or feast upon) the words of Christ. They will tell us all things which we should do!

The third thing is to knock. This is best illustrated by this parable:

5 And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;

6 For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?

7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.

8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. (Luke 11)

The man asks for bread and then is "importune", or persistent, and finally receives that which he is asking for. So will we, especially because we are asking our Heavenly Father for answers, and He is so eager to bless us!

We have to ask, seek, and then knock! Keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking. The answers will come! It's a promise! 

(And it's little wonder that ask, seek, and knock spell ASK!)

Love y'all! 

Sister Waite

Small Miracles

Miracles continue to happen here in the Zilker Park ward... And I love it! It's amazing what you notice when you open your eyes and look! 

We successfully navigated UT campus on Friday. Didn't get lost once! Definitely a miracle, considering the directions that we got! Haha! I have to say, though, I miss my beautiful BYU campus with the mountains and "Come, Come Ye Saints" every hour! 

The biggest miracle this week came in the form of Dianna. I can't even begin to describe how much her attitude toward church has changed since we first met her a couple weeks ago. She stayed for the entire block yesterday and told us afterward that it just felt like home. I'm so excited for her! And about her... I just love her so much! 

St. Johns!

Geoff continues to be great! He was in the hospital last week, and when we visited him he was close to tears because he had missed church. He really loves it. And I love hearing about how he's already sharing the gospel!

Other than that, we spent a lot of time this week planting seeds! It gets easier to preach by the way every day! 

Serving a mission was the best decision I've ever made! I've learned so much, and I'm excited to continue learning. :) 

With Father's Day next week, I've been doing some study about Fathers. Fathers are so great. 

There are so many great fathers in the scriptures: 

Lehi, who taught his son the importance of obedience:

"I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father..." (1 Nephi 1:1)

The Flowers are so Pretty!

Alma, who prayed that his son would be brought to a knowledge of the truth:

"And again, the angel said: Behold, the Lord hath heard the prayers of his people, and also the prayers of his servant, Alma, who is thy father; for he has prayed with much faith concerning thee that thou mightest be brought to the knowledge of the truth; therefore, for this purpose have I come to convince thee of the power and authority of God, that the prayers of his servants might be answered according to their faith."(Mosiah 27:14)

The father of Abish, who had a 'remarkable vision' that converted his daughter (who was then able to aid in the conversion of her people):

"And it came to pass that they did call on the name of the Lord, in their might, even until they had all fallen to the earth, save it were one of the Lamanitish women, whose name was Abish, she having been converted unto the Lord for many years, on account of a remarkable vision of her father--" (Alma 19:16)

One of my favorite examples of fatherhood in the Book of Mormon is found in Alma 56. These men had covenanted with Heavenly Father to never take up the sword again, but saw their brethren in the midst of war and desired to help. Not wanting to let their fathers break their covenant, the valiant sons of these men took up arms instead. And their fathers did all that they could to support them, bringing provisions and other things (Alma 56:27). I love that cycle. The sons supported their fathers in their righteous actions, and the fathers in turn supported their sons.

That is something that I hope to be able to do: support my father in his righteous actions, just as he has always supported me. I love my dad so much and I've always been grateful for his testimony and love. 

I hope you all have a blessed week! :)

Love,

Sister Waite

Remember Christ

Are y'all ready for the Cesario story that I promised?! I'm so excited to tell it! It's literally one of my favorites! 

A few months back, we got a text that gave us Cesario's address and told us that he'd requested a copy of the Book of Mormon, along with a note that said he would be baptized if he knew it was true. Sister Gagon and I got excited (as any missionary would) and stopped by a few times, but no one answered. We were in the area a while later and decided to try again, and his little sister answered! We asked for Cesario, but she told us that he wasn't there. We left the book with her, along with a #BecauseHeLives card with our phone number written on it. She told us that he enjoyed reading stuff like that and he'd probably give us a call. We waited, but the call didn't come. Which sort of made us sad... 

Cesario got baptized! :D

Skip forward a few weeks... And it came! We were sitting outside waiting to start a lesson, and he called us! Sister Montclair had only heard me mention his name a few times when we would pass the house on our way to another appointment, so when he said "Yeah, this is Cesario," she didn't get nearly as excited as I did. I grabbed the phone and scheduled an appointment with him for the next day and it was all I could do to sound normal and not totally crazy. I asked him how his reading had been going, and he told me that he had been making connections with the Bible and was already in chapter 4! And it's just gotten better from there! He's been reading every day since then, and even quotes it in lessons sometimes. We never had to ask him to liken the scriptures to himself... He just did it! And the other day, we committed him to serve a full-time mission! However, I think my favorite Cesario moment of all-time was his reaction to the First Vision: "That was moving." He's so super great (and mellow... very mellow.) We're working on getting his family to listen, but as of right now, they aren't interested. But he prays for them every time we hear him pray... It's just the greatest and I'm really excited about him. 

Sister Montclair wanted to 'hug' him... I just laughed!

His baptism was amazing! He said he was a little nervous, but he loved it. We had another investigator, Jerry, there, and he said that he "felt something"... !!! :) 

I'm also really excited about Dianna this week. When we first met her, she didn't want to come to church, and she certainly didn't want to even discuss baptism. But we left her a Book of Mormon, and she's been reading it... she's already mostly done with 1 Nephi! She asked us about coming to church, and then did it! We just love her so much! 

One of my goals this transfer is to read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and study how the Savior taught. As I've been doing that, I've noticed so many things that I hadn't really ever noticed before. One of my favorites can be found in Mark 8:14-21. The disciples are hungry, even though they have just witnessed Christ feeding four thousand people with 7 loaves of bread. Christ notices: 

"17 And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened?

18 Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?

19 When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve.

20 And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? And they said, Seven.

21 And he said unto them, How is it that ye do not understand?"

I love that. I feel like sometimes miracles happen right before our eyes and we are amazed then, but in a short time we forget. How is it that we do not understand? Miracles happen around us every day! We just need to remember them! Especially when times seem hard. Christ is able to do all things. Remember that! 

I love you all and hope things are going great! 

Love, 

Sister Waite 

Becoming a Missionary

Onto Transfer #2 with Sister Montclair!

Hey, all!

I have a lot of great things to share about this week, but first I wanted to express my love of Elder Perry. It seems like just yesterday (but really almost a year ago) that I was sipping a smoothie at BYU and saw him walking around the Wilk with his wife! I was sad to hear of his passing, but also excited that he was able to move on and continue his labors there. I loved how President put it: "I love Elder L. Tom Perry–Prophet, Seer and Revelator! At the time of his transfer, he was the oldest living apostle in the church and third in seniority. In his new assignment, he will continue his labors “in the preaching of the gospel” (D&C 138:57)." 

Our Tribute to Elder Perry

It's been raining a lot the past couple of weeks, which is a little unfamiliar to me, but really great! However, there's been lots of serious flooding. Not to worry, though! Our area hasn't been really affected by it. There was one road that flooded last Monday during one of the worst storms, but we were able to turn around and be safe! I wouldn't worry about us! But keep those who were affected in your prayers!

One really great thing that happened this week (before I get to the really great people we taught this week!): Sister Montclair has some family who live a couple minutes north of our area, and we got permission to visit them and teach them a lesson before referring them to the sisters in that area. One catch: they only speak Spanish. Yeah. That was pretty terrifying. I knew that with the limited Spanish that I had learned over the last transfer wouldn't really help me teach, but I just prayed that I would be able to understand what was being said, and I totally understood! The whole time! If someone had asked me right after we left what they talked about, I wouldn't have been able to tell them a single word that was said, but in the moment I understood! It was so wonderful!

The Book of Mormon and Bible illustrations we made for a lesson with Michael and Matthew tonight! 

An addition to the ever continuing saga of Geoff (the super awesome investigator that we just love to death!): He's doing super great! At church yesterday, someone asked him if he was investigating the church, and he looked at her and said "You know, Sister, I think I'm way past investigating. I have my two feet firmly planted in the concrete of the gospel!" Aw man, I just love that guy. He's still reading and tells us every time we see him that he would like to have words with Laman and Lemuel. Haha! He's super great!  

Cesario's baptism is this Saturday! I don't remember how much I've actually said about Cesario, but I'll probably give y'all the whole story again next week, so I'll wait on that. He's so super great! And he accepts everything so quickly! He's already in 2 Nephi and is always telling us ways that he's applying the Book of Mormon into his own life. Which is super great, because that's what the scriptures are for! 

Jerry came to church yesterday! He's the roommate of a member, and decided to sit in on one of our meetings a couple months ago. We caught him again a few weeks ago and he said he'd like to continue learning! We were super excited that he came to church! :) 

We started teaching a mother and son this past week and they're so amazing! Diana and Brandon love learning from us and ask the most amazing questions. It's been so great! And only a week and I already love them! (And their cat seems to really love us... so that's a plus! ;) )

We Heart Attacked Brother and Sister Webb. It was super great! They loved it!

Sister Montclair gets to take a Spanish test every transfer, so we had the opportunity to attend transfer meeting even though we're both staying in Zilker. Transfer meetings are the best! Everyone who bore their testimony talked a lot of BECOMING a missionary and not just serving a mission. As a missionary, you change who you are. Completely. I know that I've already grown so much, and it's only been about 5 months. Sitting in that meeting, I realized how much my entire vision of my life has lifted. And it's all dependent on me truly becoming a missionary, and not just serving a mission. A former TSAMer was at the meeting, and President had him bear his testimony. Before he was able to sit down, President stopped him, made him look left and right, and then said "Do you see that? Elder Thorn truly became a missionary. You've heard his words, you see his haircut, you see his suit, all he's missing is a name tag." So Elder Thorn opened up his jacket and his name tag was right there in an inside pocket, which really drove the point home. That was when I decided that I am going to truly become a missionary. As I am here in Texas helping the Lord change lives, I'm going to let him change mine as well. And I'm so excited! 

I hope everything is great in your neck of the woods! Have an amazing week! 

Love, 

Sister Waite