Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Short on Time!

Hello family,

Once again another crazy week. Let me fill you in on a few details. So last you heard I was on a temporary exchange with Sister Nudd. We thought that was supposed to last just a few days. Well we didn't exchange back until Saturday night. So a ten day exchange. I was back in Burien with Sister Dobbins for Sunday and most of Monday and then... SURPRISE! Another temporary exchange with Sister Nudd in the Myers Way Tongan ward. 

And guess what? It's another indefinite exchange. Would I expect any less? Sister Nudd and I have been together a third of this transfer so far. I love Sister Nudd. So much. We are good friends. But I'm not going to lie, these have been really hard. It's just hard to not be in my area and to not be with Sister Dobbins and have no idea when I will be in my area. Plus we have other sisters who we still are trying to serve but it's just extra hard to try and help them with the problems they're facing while dealing with this huge problem. But all is well. I really am grateful for this. It is so hard. This has been probably some of the hardest and longest six weeks of my life. I am so tired. But it's also been filled with a lot of happiness and spiritual growth. My testimony has been strengthened so much. I love this gospel with all of my heart. And I'm getting really good at living out of a suit case and plastic bags!

We had the opportunity to go to the temple today. I was very grateful to be in the house of the Lord. The Spirit was so strong and it really is a holy place for us to go and receive revelation. Please attend the temple as often as you can! It is so peaceful and it's so beautiful to know that you're serving Heavenly Father. I had the opportunity to bear my testimony at the beginning of the devotional. I just love this gospel! 

I've been singing "I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go" a lot this week. haha. But I love it. I know that Heavenly Father loves us all so much. He is aware of us and He asks us to trust in Him. I don't always understand why I'm asked to do all the things that I am but I guess that's where faith comes in. Jesus Christ is our Savior. I love Him. I love all of you. Please keep me in your prayers. Have a beautiful week!

Love,
Sister Veronica White

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Oh! Mission Life

Hello family! 

Well this has been quite the interesting transfer. Nothing really ever goes according to plan. At the beginning of this week Sister Dobbins was sick for the day so we had to stay inside. Poor Sister Dobbins. I was able to catch up on my journal and get a lot of cleaning done but I was happy to get out and work the next day. Too much staying inside. But it was really funny. There was this knock on our door and there was this tiny little Hispanic man yelling "Tamales! Caliente!" I looked through the peep hole and couldn't see anything. So then I looked down and saw the top of his head. He was selling tamales door to door from his blue cooler. Oh, Burien.

We had a special zone conference with Elder Hansen that was good. And then President and Sister Choi asked us to go on exchanges with the Myers Way sisters. (Sister Nudd and Sister Smalley) It was supposed to be just through the weekend, but alas, we are still on exchanges. I've never been on so many temporary, indefinite exchanges. This time I'm with Sister Nudd in the Myers Way Tongan ward. So I'm sick off Poly food again. I thought I was done with that. I've eaten so much the last five days, it's gross. But Sister Nudd and I figured out that we've been together ten days of this transfer. Like I said, this has been an interesting transfer. It's a little bit hard just because we still have two other sets of sisters that we're supposed to go on exchanges with that keep being postponed because of other things that pop up. But oh well. All is well. Sister Nudd and I have seen a lot of miracles together in the last five days. They're running out of miles so we've been doing a lot of walking which has been fun. We've walked approximately fifteen miles in the last few days in the pouring rain. But we've been able to talk to people. I've gotten a lot more bold lately. And I love it! It's finally clicking in my brain that this is people's eternal life and I just want to share with them what I know to be true and what I know will bring them so much joy. I just love this gospel so much. I'm a little bit sad because I've been missing out on my area. I missed Hector's lesson and the other people that we are working with. But I know that President Choi receives revelation from God. So I don't have to understand everything. I just have to be obedient. But keep Hector in your prayers. He's talked to his boss and he's trying to work something out where he could get a crew together and they could do night shifts and that way he'd be able to come to church.

This week I've really learned how important it is who you associate with. The people you spend your time with affect who you are and who you become. 

Also, I just love The Book of Mormon so much! I'm reading Alma right now and I just can't stop myself. I am so sad personal study is only an hour. I love The Book of Mormon. Make sure and read it everyday!
I love you all and pray for you! 

Love,
Sister Veronica White

Monday, June 9, 2014

Miracles!

Hello family! 

First off, let me just thank you from the very bottom of my heart for the CDs that you sent me. I love Mormon Tabernacle Choir and those songs are all Hymns and Sister Dobbins and I are just in heaven having new music to listen to. So thank you so very much. Plus one of the CDs has Adam-Ondi-Ahman which is one of my very favorite songs ever. 

So this week was so busy. We had a lot of exchanges. I had the opportunity to be with Sister Batton (my MTC companion) in the Highline Samoan ward. It was really fun to be together and back in Samoa for the day. We worked so hard and sang to absolutely everyone we saw that would let us. We met an incredible man named Anthony who is so prepared for the gospel. We were talking to everyone that we saw and we were leaving a complex and he was in a moving van with the window rolled down. He left Detroit a few months ago and is working and changing his life. His kids are going to come from Detroit to be with him in a few months and he was just so prepared. We taught him the Restoration and he wants to be baptized. Sadly for us he lives in Federal Way so he's out of our mission. But he will make some missionaries over there really happy. Best referral ever. Also, I don't remember if I told you with all the crazy things happening the last few weeks but Sister Salabao (my former comp) is in the Highline ward too. I have STL serving every single one of my past companions. I'm grateful for it, though, because I love them all so much.

I also had the opportunity to go on exchanges with Hermana Boley in the Seahurst branch. So I got a day of Spanish which was fun. It made me so tired though because I was concentrating so much. But I actually understood a lot more than I thought I would. We also saw a lot of miracles. We were driving down this road and there was this green house that I had tracted before when I was in the Samoan ward. I told Hermana Boley that they had been Hispanic so we decided to try it. We met a man named Luis who really needs the gospel. He works on the boat as a fisherman and he had just gotten back that morning and was asking himself what he was doing with his life. What his purpose was. We sang I Am a Child of God (we do that a lot as missionaries. It's so powerful, I love it!) and we taught him a little bit and he wants to be baptized too. Wahoo! Hermana Boley and I were just so grateful after as we recognized how good God really is. He has prepared Luis to accept the gospel and he knew that six months ago or so when I was tracting that street looking for Samoans that he was preparing me for the future to remember that house. God's plan and timing of things just amazes me. I love him so much. 

We had a great Zone Meeting this week. Sister Dobbins and I gave training about repentance. I'm so grateful for repentance. We are so lame and make so many mistakes but if we repent daily we can be forgiven and move forward and progress. All because of our Savior, Jesus Christ and what He's done for us. It's incredible. We had interviews with President and Sister Choi which is great. Mine are always so short. They've always been shorter than any of my comps. But it was cute. At the end of my two minute interview President just said: You are happy, yeah? I told him I was so happy. And he said: Good, when you are happy I am happy. It was just really sweet. I love President and Sister Choi so much.

This month our mission has a goal of 100 baptisms as a mission. It's been incredible the miracles we've seen as we've all gone out and worked harder than ever before. I am literally talking to everyone and singing and teaching and it just feels so good. I love it. Sometimes it is hard, but lately I've been really pondering about how I am a representative of Jesus Christ. That means that I am supposed to be doing what he would do. I realized that I have so much to work on. I've been trying to have the attitude lately of what would I do if the Savior were my missionary companion. And I've been seeing so many miracles.
I want to tell you about two really fast. Sorry this letter this week is so long. But first let me tell you about Connor. So on Wednesday night we were dropping off our member fellowship and it was about 8:55--almost curfew. There was this guy who was on the phone but I gave him a card and told him to check out the Because of Him video and he said he would and then walked away. We walked our member up to her door and then as we were turning the corner Sister Dobbins and I saw that the guy was off his phone. He was about two blocks away. She looked at me and hesitated and I was just like: Yeah! So I hurried and grabbed my stuff from the car and we started walking very briskly towards him. He turned around and we waved and started running to him. Most people would have started running away. But guess what? He turned around and started walking towards us and then started running too. It was the most ridiculous scene ever. I was laughing so hard. Here are two missionaries in the streets of Burien, WA running to this random guy and he's running back. I still laugh. I wish someone could have recorded it. Anyway, we sang to him and told him about how there's one path back to God. We didn't have a lot of time but we put him on date for baptism and set up a church tour for the next day. 

The next day we have an amazing church tour and the Spirit was so strong. After the church tour we were eating the dinner we had packed really fast because we didn't have time to go home and eat. All of a sudden we see this guy's face through the kitchen window. He opened the door and he said, "I'm looking for Jesus. I'm looking for a church home. God led me here." Then he stopped and looked at us for a sec and was like, "Wait, I've met you before." We had met him at the bus stop a month earlier and said a prayer with him but he was not interested at the time. Anyway, what happened next was one of the most spiritual, powerful church tours I've ever had. His name was Zezzlet (yes, that was his name) and he was so ready to change and it was just incredible. He said the prayer at the end in the chapel and I know without a doubt that he knew this was right. We had a lesson scheduled with him for the next day. About ten minutes after it was supposed to start he called us and told us he's not coming. He said he's had a change of heart. We didn't even understand. He said that he had been doing some research and he didn't want to be a part of the Mormon church. It was really sad. He came across some anti stuff. He told us to never contact him again. It's really sad that he's using his agency in that way. But I know that he felt the Spirit and I hope that he can remember that eventually. It made me think about how heartbroken Heavenly Father must feel. And that it made me think about how many times I must break Heavenly Father's heart when I do something I know I shouldn't do or when I'm really rude to myself, etc. I don't ever want to break Heavenly Father's heart. I love him so much. I am so grateful for Him and the plan that He has for each one of us. I love this gospel with all of my heart. The month of June is going to be a beautiful month. Jesus Christ is our Savior and He lives. I am so happy! I'm sorry this is so long and probably boring. I'm not a very good story teller. But just know that I love you all and pray for you everyday. Read the Book of Mormon and CTR! 

Love,
Sister Veronica White

Monday, June 2, 2014

It's June!

District from last transfer.
 My ghetto hair cut. Sister Dobbins took a pair of scissors one night and cut the bottom layer of my hair and some of the dead ends into a box. haha. 

Hello Family,

How are you? Thanks for the pictures and emails and letters this week. I'm so grateful for your support. I really love you. 

So Sister Dobbins and I are back together now. It's been a busy week... I think I was more tired this week than I have ever felt on my mission. But I'm grateful to be back with Sister Dobbins and share the responsibility of six companionships again. I feel as though I have aged five years in the last week. haha. Maybe now when I go home people will actually think I'm my age and not a fourteen year old girl. 

We're having to drop a lot of our gators right now. They're either not willing to progress or are just kind of creepy and we don't feel comfortable around them. But we are trying to find the elect--those who are prepared and willing to repent and progress so we just have to keep working hard and finding them. Please pray for our area. Thanks!
We are still working with Hector. He, for real, is one of my very favorite people I've ever met. He still can't get Sundays off though. Ugh. But he works so much and still reads and puts God first. He's in 2 Nephi right now. He says it's really long. Oh Isaiah chapters. He came to a fireside last night, though, put on by the mission. New converts bore their testimonies and shared their experiences and then President Choi spoke. He had already worked a really long shift and he was so tired but he really wanted to come. He loved it. It's so funny... whenever he feels the Spirit he just kind of shakes his head and body like he's got the chills and says he feels "weird." It's hilarious. 

President Choi is incredible. I'm so grateful for him. I love him so much. I'm grateful for this opportunity that I have to be a STL. I'm so grateful to be a missionary. I love it so much. Heavenly Father loves us. Read your scriptures. 
Love you! 
Love,
Sister Veronica White