Faith and Fear

Hey all! :) 

So let's see... this week was certainly interesting. And it definitely did that "missionary time" thing where it feels sooo long, but looking back on it... it was so quick! 

Bucee's...the biggest gas station I've ever seen...the candy 'aisle' is insane.

I wish I could just tell you everything that happened this week... Maybe I'll start photocopying my journal... Just know that I was clawed by a cat, was asked if I was Amish, met a dog named Cosmo that looked exactly like my dog named Cosmo, decided that Texans really like to drive Mustangs and Camaros, visited the biggest gas station to ever be built (it was literally insane... Oh Texas), made blankets for cats because apparently that's a thing, almost froze to death in my apartment because apparently Texas can get cold, found out that black licorice jelly beans make my tongue go numb, and ate dinner at Ty Detmer's house. 

Yes, Mom. Ty Detmer. ;) I wasn't going to say anything, but I guess I will... just for you. :) 

Sister Felix! My Sister Training Leader! She was with me at the Detmer's! :)

For those of you who don't know, Ty Detmer was a quarterback at BYU who won the Heisman and then went on to play in the NFL. I guess he was pretty good or something. ;) Every time I'd go to a BYU football game this fall, my mom would casually mention that Ty Detmer was the quarterback when she was a freshman, and she was so proud of it. So when I just happened to be on exchanges on the exact day that the Detmer family signed up to feed the missionaries in their area... Yeah. I'm not going to go into my reaction. Haha! But it was really cool. He puts his cornbread in his chili, just like me (which means it's totally normal and not something that people should think is weird... :) ). They even fed us pie. It was really neat to listen to his conversion story. He just always had good examples in his life. It really makes me appreciate the great examples I've grown up with in my life. :) (I may also mention that he recognized me later in the week at a stake youth missionary activity. So I guess you could say I'm sort of a big deal. ;) )

My battle wounds from the cat attack... you should see the cat! ;) (no cats were harmed, I promise...)

I'm so excited for Saturday. Why?! Because Alana and Jadon are getting baptized! I love them so much. Alana is a sweet young mother with her 8 year-old son (Jadon) and a 4 month old baby named... Abby! Yep! That's right! She's the cutest thing, but no surprises there. ...Because she's 4 months old... not the name. ;) Jadon is super awesome. He has so many great questions. They're both so great and I can tell they're both so excited! It's so wonderful to watch people take this step closer to Christ and "enter the gate"-so to speak- on their way to eternal life. :) 

Texas...:)

This week I learned more and more that the promises of God will always be fulfilled. Especially the one found in D&C 33:10  "...open your mouths and they shall be filled..." I've definitely come to know that. I used to be silent because I didn't know what to say, but I'm finding more and more that if I'll but open my mouth to speak, even if I don't know what I'm going to say... It comes. And it's amazing. (D&C 84:85)

I was also studying about fear and faith. The relationship is best summed up in Matthew 14 (22-31). Yes, the walking on the water story. When the disciples first see Christ walking on the sea, they get scared and cry out in fear. He "straightway" tells them to "be not afraid". Peter takes that to heart and says "...bid me come unto thee on the water." This amount of faith is rewarded: he gets out of the boat and walks on the water. I like to think that as he is walking, he's keeping his eyes fixed on the Lord. He's demonstrating his faith and walking on water to meet his Master. But then he gets distracted. Peter notices the "boisterous" wind and was afraid. As soon as he is afraid, his faith --which was enabling him to walk on water-- disappears. He begins to sink and cries out for help. Jesus IMMEDIATELY reaches out, but says "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?"

In this story we see illustrated the simple fact that fear and faith cannot coexist. Where there is any fear, there can be no faith, and where there is any faith, there cannot be fear. Letting fears and doubts become our main focus chases away any faith that we think we may have. Peter had enough faith to walk on water, but as soon as he feared and doubted, he couldn't do it anymore. Let's make sure to not fear. Let faith lead and guide your life. You'll be immensely blessed for it. I know because I've experienced it. Cast any fears, doubts, or burdens you have on the Lord and have full faith in His plan for you. He is always there and He will always help you. Have faith! 

I hope you all have a wonderful week! :) 

Love, 

Sister Waite

Howdy Y'all!

(Mom's note: this should have been posted last Monday February 16, 2015)

I've officially been in the field for half a transfer! Texas certainly has been treating me well! And I don't know how y'all will feel about this... but y'all is definitely a thing I say now. Hopefully that's as far as the accent thing goes, though! Haha! :) 

It's always fun for me when people ask how long I've been on a mission. I guess it's mostly the guesses. As soon as I say three weeks, though... No one seems to believe me. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing! Haha! :) 

Sister Gagon and me in our matching Texas t-shirts

Sister Gagon and I got to do some plumbing! She dropped her necklace down the sink and I expertly helped her get it out of the pipes. It was quite the adventure! Don't worry, though. No pipes were harmed and nothing flooded. :) 

Me with our Valentine's Day Candy Stash... :)

I love my area, but we're in downtown Austin, so the stars are few and far between. I loved being able to see the stars on the exchange! Kind of reminded me of home. :) 

We've had a lot of finding opportunities this week, which has been a real learning experience for me. Talking to people has never been my forte (if you don't believe me, ask my mom). But I find that the Lord's promise is true! As we open our mouths to share the gospel, they'll be filled! We'll know what to say and it won't be as hard as we make ourselves believe it will be. 

Sister Best and me on exchanges

We also got to do some teaching! We got to teach Moby outside, because we didn't have another sister with us, but the other set of sister missionaries in our district showed up halfway through the lesson and decided to sneak some pictures. We were teaching Moby about the restoration and just like before, my testimony of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon was strengthened. :) I've actually gotten really comfortable teaching! 

Teaching Moby

I got to give a talk in sacrament meeting yesterday! I'll never get tired of speaking about how important family history work is. There is missionary work going on on both sides of the veil, and we need to do our part to help the work move along on both sides! Who better to help an ancestor take a step closer to Christ than you? 

I've continued in my Book of Mormon study this week, and I'm still loving it! Something I really love about Nephi (because that's where I'm studying) is his commitment to keep the commandments. We know the familiar "I will go and do" verse, but his love for the commandments is even deeper than that. He himself keeps the commandments (because he knows how important they are) and then pleads with his brethren to do the same. However, when they don't, he keeps doing it. We need to follow that example. Keep the commandments and ALWAYS keep them, no matter who else is not. Nephi says "...if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them... (1 Nephi 17:3)" That promise is true! Keeping the commandments of God will bring blessings into our lives. So many that we won't know what to do with them! 

I hope y'all have a great week! :) 

Love, 

Sister Waite

A Day In The Life

Dad told me that waking up at 6:30 would be hard, but he didn't realize that I've been waking up at 6:30 for an 8 o'clock class for the last four months! Haha! We get up, we exercise (or sit and stretch, depending on the morning), we get ready, we eat... All in about an hour! 

Study time is literally my favorite part of the day. A whole hour to study the gospel and learn and grow! I've been taking some time to read the conference talks from October, and I feel like they're totally brand new! I love studying the words of the living prophets. And then from the Book of Mormon! I don't know what it is about being out here, but I feel like I'm reading a brand new book and it's amazing! 

(my study area)

After studies, we go out and serve. It depends on the areas we'll be in and what we've got scheduled, but we're usually pretty busy teaching lessons and helping out less active members. Building the kingdom, as President Slaughter would say. :) 

This week wasn't the most exciting week ever, but it was definitely really great! I really didn't know what I was going to write about today, but then I got a list of questions from my mom... so that's definitely happening. Moms are great, right? :) 

I love my companion! She's so great! I'm really learning a lot from her. I was scared that I'd get a companion that I didn't really have a lot in common with, but the similarities keep popping up in random places! It would take forever to list them all, but she's been really good for me. We agree on how we need to spend our time... mostly because I'm still training! Haha! But I do get some input and it's been a great learning experience! :) 

(It was super cold in our apartment... so we put on extra socks)

Our members are really great. We don't get a meal every day, but it works out, because then we can just eat a quick dinner and have some extra study time! (... Sometimes we take naps... but only sometimes! It's hard work! Haha!) They're really great at coming to lessons with us. Some of them are even working on getting their neighbors ready for missionary visits! :) 

A lot of our referrals are from people requesting copies of the Book of Mormon online. We get a text with their address and then get to go find them and deliver their book! It's really fun. Sometimes you can tell that a friend requested it for them, but people are usually really nice and take it. We've been planting some serious seeds here! :) 

We just got a brand new mission leader, but he's going to be great! I can already tell! He's from Bomont (Where's Bomont? ;) ) We only cover one ward, but it's a pretty big ward. Lots of work to do! :) 

There's a building that does this (a longhorn) with their windows every night...

 it's actually pretty cool! :) 

This week I got to re-read President Uchtdorf's talk entitled "Living the Gospel Joyful" from last October. And I loved it. The commandments are a blessing. They're not for our Heavenly Father, they're for us. To help guide us back to Him. Our Heavenly Father loves you. And that will never change. Always remember that! 

If you haven't read it, give it a read! Living the Gospel Joyful

The gospel is true! What else can I say? 

Have a great week! :) 

Sister Waite

PS I forgot to mention that Sister Gagon and I and two other sisters helped a family of potential investigators move into their apartment this week. We were only able to get a few men from our ward to help, and they had to leave before we got most of the heavy stuff up the stairs to their second story apartment. So the sisters and I got to carry a couch and other heavy things up the stairs. But we're super tough, so it was nothing. ;) We're hoping to be able to go back and begin teaching them soon! :) 

Testimony

In an effort to write a more organized email and know exactly what I wanted to say and all that, I wrote a list of bullet points to share. Of course, being who I am, I seem to have left the list at home... Haha! Well, maybe I'll remember next week! :)

This week has been pretty great. We went and played chair soccer with our zone last P-day, and may I just say... I totally won. It's a little complicated to explain, but just picture me totally dominating and that's all you need to know. Haha! (It was actually an accident.) I also got my first package from home filled with green goodies and it was literally my favorite thing. Now I have a "greenie" shelf in the pantry! :)

This week was filled with more and more testimony building experiences. I get to testify daily that Joseph Smith is a Prophet of God and through him we have the restored gospel. I get to feel the Spirit so strongly every day and I just know it's true. We had a lesson turn sour on us one night. The man kept asking "How do you know? How do you know it wasn't made up?" He wouldn't relent. We taught him everything we could to help him understand how to know for himself. Pretty soon it was obvious that he just wanted to argue with us. So I did the only thing I knew how to do. I testified. With all my heart. (I may have even teared up a little, but that's a secret.) I don't know how much I was able to help his faith grow that day, but I do know that mine grew 10x stronger. The First Vision is something that has always been very close to my heart, and hearing myself teach that truth to people every day is something I wouldn't trade for the world. 

And then something super special happened! :D Elder Russell M. Nelson came and spoke to all the missionaries in our mission! All 254 of us! We got to drive down to San Antonio and listen to an Apostle of the Lord give us counsel and it was one of my favorite experiences ever. Growing up I would watch General Conference and think that if I could just shake hands with an Apostle I would know for sure that they are called of God. It was always something I really wanted to do. So when President Slaughter walked in early and told everyone that Elder Nelson had asked for time to shake every missionary's hand, I almost died. I had thought he would be in a hurry! All I could think about as I moved up the line was that I was finally going to have that one testimony-clinching experience, but as I got to the front... I looked into Elder Nelson's eyes... And shook his hand. That was it. There wasn't a choir. There wasn't a light from above, and I certainly wasn't struck by lightning. But I realized something as he said "Well hello, Sister Waite. Thank you for what you're doing.": Testimony isn't a one time thing. I had been building my testimony my entire life. I already knew that Elder Nelson and the other members of the Quorum, as well as the First Presidency, are men of God. While meeting and greeting an Apostle is certainly something that I'll never forget, I think what I'll remember even more is that a testimony isn't built all at once. Even when Joseph Smith experienced the First Vision, he wasn't just waiting for something miraculous to happen and answer his question. No. He was studying and seeking and went into the grove knowing that he would get an answer from God. I'm sure he certainly didn't expect the answer he got, but he knew he'd receive one. He already had that testimony. And that's what I had, too. 

I hope you all had a great week! Keep building your testimony! Remember it's a process! 

-Sister Waite

I'm All In!

I'm not going to lie to you, the transition from the MTC to the mission field is super tough. Aw man! I miss that place! With the food and the "study" time and my district. I'm pretty sure the hardest thing was being away from the other missionaries. Especially my MTC district. Who said they could leave me?! Geez. Where did the time go?! I honestly felt sorry for myself for a couple days. But then I realized that I'm not here for me! Not at all! I'm here to help other people! And that realization really helped. When we're out doing and teaching and helping, I really can't think of any place I'd rather be! 

When we first arrived in Texas, we were taken to the Alamo and told to go out and hand out Books of Mormon. Oh dear. That was just great! Sister Harrison and I were feeling pretty good about the 3 that we got! It's super hard to talk to people, but I'm learning! 

The next morning I found out that I'm actually serving in Austin for this transfer! I'm not going to admit to how long it took me to realize that this is Longhorn territory... It's actually literally in our area. And it took me a while to realize why there were so many Longhorn symbols everywhere! Haha! :) 

That night I met my new companion, Sister Gagon, and got right to work. We even taught a first lesson and it was really great. When I was telling about the First Vision, I really felt the Spirit and it was amazing. I'm not going to forget that. 

I didn't think I'd get too much interesting food here, but I totally ate some kalimari the other day. And that was an adventure. I actually liked it. And then they gave us these huge bowls of soup and it was all I could to to eat all of it. For real! Haha! :) 

We have two little families that we're teaching and helping prepare for baptism in a couple weeks. I haven't actually contacted anyone yet, but I'm working on it! Sister Gagon is really good and hasn't made me stand there awkwardly, which is something I'm really grateful for. I promise I'm working on it, though! :) 

One scripture that has really helped me in this transition is D&C 50:41. "Fear not, Abbie, for you are mine..." is what I feel when I read it and it has really helped. On the plane after I didn't get to call my family, walking the streets at the Alamo, trying to make it through 4 hours of nothing but planning... It just helps with it all. I'm just so grateful to be out here and experience this and help people! 

I love you all! 

Sister Waite

Hailey Overson, Abbie, and Dayton Waite - yay for St. Johns' kids! (at the MTC)

MTC district

MTC district

MTC district at the Provo Temple with their Branch President, David Boone.

Sister Waite with her two companions in the MTC at the Provo temple. 

Sister Rachel Harrison, Abbie, and Sister Maria Budke.

A Welcome Email From President Slaughter

Dear Parents:

We are so excited to have met your missionaries at the airport just a few hours ago.  We immediately took them to the beautiful San Antonio Temple, to help them "begin with the end in mind." 

After a quick and light meal, we put them in the car and took them to the Alamo, where they are at this very moment. They are doing two things:  First, they are learning a little about Texas and why Texans love Texas.  Second, they are talking to people on the street, sharing the gospel and giving out a Book of Mormon.

They will soon return to the mission home for a wonderful and traditional Texas BBQ.  After dinner we will have a little orientation and interviews. Yes, they may be a little tired this evening. 

Tomorrow they will find out where, and to whom, they will be assigned.  We will let you know more later, but just wanted you to know they are here and safe.

Thank you for sending us such wonderful missionaries,

Sincerely,

James E.  Slaughter
President, Texas San Antonio Mission

Greetings From The MTC!

But really. Go cheesy or go home, right? ;) 

Oh my gosh. I can't believe it's been a week since I got here! It's seriously weird. I heard a sister say that the days are long, but the weeks are short... that is so true. It's been so slow, but so fast. But it's great! 

I got to celebrate my birthday in the best way possible: being set apart as a missionary! This is seriously the best gift I've ever been given. Even if it IS super stressful and crazy! 

I can't even decide what all I want to share with you! There have been so many wonderful experiences and things I've learned here. I really should have just taken pictures of my journal and sent those! ;) 

 

We actually got to teach the first night, but it wasn't a normal lesson. They put about 60 new missionaries in the same room with an investigator, and then pretty much let us loose. I don't know what they were thinking. ;) That was probably the moment I really realized that I love missionary work. We were teaching a man named Carlo who had lost his wife and an infant son, Flavio. He kept saying how he had heard about the Church through hearing about President Eyring's address in Rome and that he wanted to sign up for the "Happy Plan", but he thought he had broken it. We asked him why and he told us about Flavio. My mind immediately jumped to Moroni 8, where it talks about how all little children are alive in Christ, but I figured some other missionary would know what to do and it would work out and I would be able to just sit back and watch. But as time went on... no one did it. I was so frustrated! So I finally spoke up. And the look on Carlo's face when he read that his son is just fine and he didn't break the "Happy Plan" really solidified in my mind why I'm here. He was so happy. I cried. I did. I'll admit it. Haha! 

We have also been able to teach an investigator in the TRC. Her name was Yesol and I wish I had time to tell you about all the miracles we experienced with her... but we ended up committing her to baptism in the second lesson. Because we're just that cool. ;) But really. It was another time that I really felt that I'm supposed to be here, because I'm not going to lie... it's not always so clear. But I just felt the Spirit so strongly with Yesol and she agreed to say the closing prayer in the first lesson and it was the most beautiful prayer I've ever heard. My companion and I both cried. Because we're cry babies. 

My companion! Her name was Sister Aagard and she was seriously amazing, but she was having some health issues... so she had to go home this morning to work it out. Which was really hard. But now I'm in a trio with the other two sisters in my district, Sister Budke and Sister Harrison. They're seriously amazing, too. My district is definitely the best district in the entire world. We have us four sisters and then four elders: Elder Webb, Elder Cochran, Elder Lund, and Elder Orton. I may have had my doubts the first day, but they've become some of the best friends I've ever had very quickly. It may be the 8-10 hours we spend together in a day, but that's just a guess. ;) We always have so much fun! And also feel the Spirit! I've learned so much from them! 

I was also called to be the Sister Training Leader for my zone, so I get to help take care of all the sisters in my district, and the 3 that we're getting today! It's been really stressful, just because it's a big responsibility, but the Lord called me to it, so I will go and do! :) 

So, I had a list of questions that my mom sent for me to answer... but I totally left it in my residence hall because that's a thing that I do. And this computer hates me and won't let me attach pictures... Which is lame. 

Obviously today is my P-day, so it's also Temple Day! Yay! :D I promise to try to get the pictures sent at some point. We fly out next Wednesday, which means this is my first and only P-day here at the MTC! Ahhhh! But it's so exciting and I love the work! :) 

Love, 

Sister Waite

Just some cool bullet points: 

• We watched Music and the Spoken Word on Sunday, and the choir sang a song that we sang for regional choir! So it's been stuck in my head since then! Haha! 
• We were moved to the front row for the Sunday devotional. That was super cool. 
• EVERYONE sings here and the power of that is just amazing. 1200 missionaries singing "Hope of Israel" is really powerful. 
• I ran into Trent Patterson! Jacob Patterson's little brother! He's going to serve in Idaho! 
• Speaking of running into people: Randall Raban. I kid you not. That was actually a funny story. :) 
• I also saw Elder Waite quite a bit before he left yesterday. That was really cool. 
• I could swear that Sister Overson is following me around. For real though. We see each other everywhere. It's really the best. :)