¡Feliz Nuevo Año!

Hermana Whittle and Hermana Bahr at the home of the Gonzales family.  They feed them every Wednesday! 

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a great Christmas because I did! The only thing that stunk was that we had to be back in our apartment by 6 both the 24th and the 25th, so we couldn't really have dinner with the members. But we still got a LOT of food. On Christmas Eve, the member that we were going to eat with for dinner gave us lunch

Hermana Bahr and Hermana Whittle at their Christmas Eve feast.

instead and holy cow, we basically had a feast. We had a ton of food only for the two of us. It was great and it was almost like being in the states :) But yeah, we got a LOT of food. And also, here Christmas is considered to be on the 24th because everyone celebrates the night before Christmas. People were setting off fireworks all day( just like in the streets) and at midnight, everyone and their dog was setting off fireworks and they didn't stop for an hour or so. Hermana Bahr and I felt like we were in WWll. And then Christmas morning, we opened packages, made tortillas and watched a movie, and then we got to talk with our families which was great!! We just spent both days helping people getting ready for Christmas. 

We also took a couple days this week to get to know the members in our ward and talk about missionary work. Seriously, without the members we have nothing here...members are key! In Stake Conference a couple weeks ago, someone said that missionary work is the job of the members; we are only here to help. But yesterday the bishop gave a lesson about missionary work and so I really hope that we can get the members more involved and find the people here in Fesitranh that are ready for the gospel :)

As for investigators...we have like no one that is actually progressing except for Marcario. He has definitely been prepared by the Lord! He has so much faith and wants to do all he can to do to follow the Savior. We talked with him about the priesthood and how he will eventually be able to receive it, and he told us he was going to work to be ready. He is so awesome! I really hope that he comes to church again this Sunday so that we can still have his baptism next week :)

Hermana Bahr and Hermana Whittle at the end of a wonderful day in Honduras!

Anyways, I hope you all have a fantastic new year! I can't believe it is almost 2014...I
will be spending the entire year in Honduras!

Love you guys!

Hna. Whittle

Their "healthy" Christmas breakfast---tortillas, nutella and peanut butter!  Yum! 

¡Feliz Navidad!

Merry Christmas everyone!! Honestly, I am super excited to spend Christmas here...I love the area and I love my companion, so I think I'll be okay :) The only thing that stinks is that on the 24th and 25th we have to be in our apartment at 6 for safety...I have no idea what we are going to do, but we'll find out! Apparently here in Honduras, the real celebration of Christmas is the night of Christmas Eve. And everyone here makes tamales and torrejas for Christmas...I have a feeling I will be eating a lot of those in the next couple days. 

Well to be honest, this past week was not so great as far as the week! Seriously, we had multiple days where ALL of our appointments fell through (including dinner). And one of those days it was raining all day and our umbrellas are broken so we were wet and cold...but we still managed to be happy. Thats the great thing about being a missionary :)

And as for investigators...One of our investigators that was doing great told us that she didn't want the lessons anymore, so that was a bummer. But we have others that are doing awesome! For example, on Monday, both of our appointments fell through and we weren't feeling very happy. And then when we were walking home, someone called out to us and asked if we were mormons. Apparently, she had had the lessons with missionaries before, but she was living with her boyfriend and they didn't want to get married. And now they are separated and seriously, she is so ready. We went to go teach her and her aunt about the Restoration and seriously, she helped us teach the lesson. The Lord is always preparing people and it is amazing!!

Anyways, I hope you all have a great Christmas!! 

Feliz Navidad, prospero año y felizidad :)

Hna. Whittle

Hermana Whittle, her companion Hermana Bahr, the elders in her district and the daughters of a member all stuffed in the back of his car.

Hermana Whittle and Hermana Bahr with their bishop's wife. Their ward was having a "Night in Bethlehem" party. 

SURVIVED MY FIRST TRANSFER! :)

Hey everyone! Wow...I can't believe I already have one transfer in Honduras. It was only four weeks because of Christmas but still! So we had transfers last week and my companion got transferred. It was crazy....we weren't expecting it since I am still in training. And I was SO scared because I only have a month here and I barely know the area and the people...it was really hard to have faith and trust that this was what the Lord wanted. But I know that the Lord knows me better than I do, because I am so glad that we had transfers! My new companion, Hermana Bahr, is awesome! She is also from Arizona and only has 4 months in the mission, but she is part Mexican so she is basically already fluent in Spanish. I am super excited...I am going to learn so much in the next two months! Really, I'm excited. 

Hermana Whittle with her new companion, Hermana Bahr, who is also from AZ!

In other news, the work here has been rough. We don't have very many investigators and the ones we do have are having problems...no one ever wants to come to church! We had a baptismal date with our investigator Ligia, but now not so much. She is super busy and still hasn't come to church yet, and the last lesson we had with her wasn't so great. We read 2 Nephi 29 with her(We have a bible and we don't need anything else!) with her and even after that, she still has her doubts about the Book of Mormon. But she doesn't even read it, which is a problem....yeah its frustrating. But on the bright side, we found a couple that is interested in the gospel! Our dinner appointment fell through so we ate at a little restaurant here and when we were leaving they started talking to us and actually asked us to give them a two minute summary of our religion. YEAH! So we will see how things go with them.

Thats about all I got for this week...just remember to always trust in the Lord and accept His will as your own, even if it isn't what you want at the moment, because I promise it will be the best thing in the end :) Have a good week!

MOO-ve over cows! Here come the missionaries! :)

McKenzie has been practicing her tortilla making skills!

ALMOST 3 WEEKS IN HONDURAS!

Hola everyone! A crazy thing happened this week...the sun went away! It was actually kind of funny. We were traveling to a chapel for our district meeting this week and it started raining super hard! And guess who forgot their umbrella...yeah, me. It was crazy! Over there where we went the roads are all dirt and they were literally like rivers...it was a serious adventure to get to the church! And I was soaked. But since then the whole rest of the week has been a lot cooler. During the day it is just over cast and a little drizzly  but in the night it is a little chilly, which I never thought I would experience here! One of the people here said that the weather is like this during December and January and then it goes back to being hot again...but who knows!

Church yesterday was kind of crazy too...there was a guy who got his mission call and he opened it and read it in sacrament meeting, which was weird. And we got a new bishop! I didn´t really know the other one super well, but it was still crazy! It will be interesting to see how things are now with the missionaries and the ward, because before they weren´t so great. So we will see! I also had my first experience yesterday with having hopes for lots of investigators to show up and not a single one coming...come on people! Maybe this week...we´ll see! 

We had a huge problem with people being gone this week...we had a full schedule and back up schedule of people and only end up teaching a couple of them because everyone else isn´t home...but such is life! We also did a lot of searching for less actives this week...we didn´t find many, but we did a lot of contacting from asking where casas were at! So thats basically how things are going here. We still don´t have many investigators...but we found this one family that seemed really interested so hopefully things will go well with them! Also, funny story. We were visiting this family for the first time and her step son was here visiting and he asked us where we were from and then he started speaking English...with a Southern accent. Apparently he is from Texas and is just visiting. But never in my life did I think I would hear that here! It was super weird!

Thats all I´ve got this week...keep a positive attitude always! It makes life much better :) Adios!

Hna. Whittle

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Hola everyone! Man, time is going fast. I can't believe Thanksgiving is this week and that Christmas is in a month.  You sure wouldn't know it living here..... it is so dang hot!

Once every transfer we get to do divisiones ( or splits) with the sister training leaders here for one day.  And so that is what I did on Thursday! I was with a latina, which was a little different for me since I couldn't speak any English!  And we were in her area, so I didn't know anyone all over again.   But it was interesting to be with a different companion and see how they do things!  It was a good learning experience :) And she told me my Spanish was good, which I don't believe, but hey, thats gotta mean something coming from a native spanish speaker, right? Then the next day we had our multi zone conference with the mission president.  It was super awesome! Him, his wife, the APs and the ZLs and our stake president all spoke and it was great.  The people here are so awesome!

As for investigators, I really don't have much to tell you there.  We don't have very many investigators because before, all of my companion's investigators were in a different area where we have elders now.  So we are working on that one!  It is super  hard because everyone either doesn't answer their door or they only want to talk to us because we are gringas.  Yep!  We have one investigator that we found named Ligia and she is super awesome.  She is really receptive and I think she really has the desire to learn more but she is so busy... always!  We went by three times last week and she never could talk to us.  So hopefully tonight she will be able to!  We also have an investigator that is getting baptized in December, but technically she isn't our investigator since she is in the elders' area. But we still visit her because Hna. Marley knows her and taught her for a long time.  Other than these two, we really don't have any solid investigators.  We have been working a lot with less active members though, and hopefully that will go somewhere.  We talked to a less active member a few days ago and she knows that she needs to go back to church and she has a goal to go to the temple.  So hopefully she is actually willing to make that change!

Also, I had the opportunity to hand wash my clothes for the first time...let me tell you, it is not fun!! It takes forever!! So those of you with washing machines, be grateful that you don't have to hand wash your clothes every week because it stinks! I better get used to it...I have 16 more months of doing it!

Anyways, I hope you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving and take time to thank our Heavenly Father for all your blessings, because we really are so blessed!  In the words of Josh Groban, "There's so much to be thankful for"  :). Have a great week!

Hermana Whittle

I AM IN HONDURAS!!!

McKenzie and the other missionaries that flew from the Mexico MTC with her to her mission with their Mission President and his wife, President and Sister Dexter.



I seriously can`t believe I am here...and still alive! Holy cow, these first few days have been rough. But it will get better! Honduras is seriously great...it is super green, super hot, and the people here are awesome. The first night here, me and the other two American hermanas got to stay at the mission home...they live in an apartment and it is seriously so nice. It would be nice in America. And guess what...I have a gringa companion! I really thought I would have a latina, but nope! Her name is Hna. Marley, and she is great :) In the mission we have a trainer for 12 weeks, and she actually just finished her training so she is still pretty new. But I love her! And thank goodness that she can speak Spanish because I sure can`t! I can`t even understand most of the time. Hondurans like to not pronounce their s`s, so it is hard to understand them. It is pretty rough. But I have gotten pretty good at saying prayers in Spanish since I can`t do much else! Its okay....I will learn! And I am SO exhausted because we walk everywhere and it is so hot outside. But you will all be pleased to know that I am actually in a pretty secure part of Honduras. My area is called Fesitranh 2 and we live in a little kind of gated community called Santa Monica. There are lots of guards and the people here have money, so their houses are nice. So I definitely got lucky to be here for the beginning of my time in Honduras, because I am positive that all of the areas aren`t this nice. But it is great!

As far as the food goes, it is pretty much what I expected: lots of beans, rice, chicken and tortillas. And fried plantains. But it is pretty good! I haven`t had anything I haven`t liked, but I think my stomach is still adjusting to the change because it didn`t feel so good yesterday. They also have something here called baleadas, which is like the signature food of Honduras. It is this really good, thick tortilla with beans, some kind of cheese, and montequilla inside. Its pretty good! And also, my cousin`s husband went to El Salvador for his mission and he said they had banana soda down here that was really good...yep, I had it my first day. And they really need to have it in the US because it is great. 

Well let me just tell you guys, being a missionary is rough. I am so tired, and it is so hard not being able to understand or communicate with anyone, and also to not know who anyone is here. I have been struggling. But I know that I am here for a reason and that things will get better. In the Book of Mormon, even Ammon and his brothers had a time when they wanted to go home. But through patience and faith, the Lord helped them work miracles. And I know the Lord will help me too! Someday I will learn Spanish and get more comfortable with the people here, and then I won`t want to go home :) So I`m just going to keep praying and working and I know the Lord will help me! I hope you are all doing well and that you have a great week!

Hna. Whittle

McKenzie and her companion, Hermana Marley, along with 2 other sisters in her mission.

After asking McKenzie a few questions, this is what she responded:

We have taught people, or rather my companion teaches them :) I bear my testimony sometimes and I have given out a few pamphlets and explained them and I pray all the time but that is about it. Its just hard because I don`t know what to say because I can`t understand what they say...usually I only understand from what my companion says. I can understand her just fine. She is from Idaho and she is 21. She is great :) We actually don`t have that many investigators, but we found a really great lady a few days ago! She has definitely been prepared by the Lord :) And it doesn`t rain everyday, but a lot of times it rains at night and then we get to walk in gross streets the next day.

LAST WEEK AT THE CCM!

Hola everyone!
 Holy cow, time flies by. I cannot believe that the next time I email you, I will be in Honduras :) Only a few more days!! I am so excited, but also super scared too. And it didn´t help that the elders in our district were talking about all the fun diseases and worms and stuff we may have to deal with...thanks a lot! Oh well, it will all be good :)

Well last week right after Halloween was Day of the Dead here in Mexico...they were partying it up! Both nights we got to fall asleep to sweet Mexican tunes...it was great! My branch president is pretty much the best guy ever. Him and his 8 year old son came to the CCM and gave us little goodie bags for the day of the dead...it was so nice. Oh, and yesterday, I got letters from my companion´s little cousins! It was so dang cute :)

This last week here has been flying by...I got sick on Monday though and I am still feeling it...its not fun! It is just a cold though so its all good...as long as it decides to go away before I leave :) I am not exactly sure what day I leave yet because we don´t get our flight stuff until tomorrow but I´m pretty sure I´ll leave Monday or Tuesday. Only a few more days!

Guess what else...last night at TRC my companion and I had to teach an investigator...thats right. A legit non-member from Mexico City. It was so scary! And it was hard because we only had 20 minutes and she knew nothing about religion. She didn´t even know what prayer was. So that was definitely an experience! 

Well thats about all I´ve got for today...I hope you are all doing well! Remember that God loves each and every one of you and He wants to talk to you. We had a speaker come on Tuesday for devotional and He told us that one of the most important things we need to do when we teach is teach about the true nature of God, because most people don´t have the same perspective as we do. So he challenged us to pray to God and ask Him if He really exists and if He knows us and loves us. So I challenge you do to the same, and I know He will answer your prayer :) Until next time!

Hermana Whittle

Some elders from Mexico kept asking these lovely ladies if they could get their pictures taken with them! :)

McKenzie's district having a little volleyball fun on P-day! 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM MEXICO!

Hola everyone!! Even if you don´t read this on Halloween, Happy Halloween :) Today has been the best P day ever. My district hermanas and I all are wearing halloween colors and we switched nametags, and we decorated halloween cookies that my companion got in a package from her mom. We also played volleyball with our Elders this morning and it was super fun :) It has just been a great day!!

Well lets be real here...I am so ready to be in Honduras. Not Spanish wise, because my Spanish is terrible, but I am just so ready! I love the CCM but Honduras is where its at :) Things have been good though. Nothing really exciting has happened. My companion and I are getting along soo much better now. I love her :) Its really funny...we are pretty much exactly the same person except for some of the things she says. I feel really bad for her though. She is really struggling with patience because she should be in a higher level class, and so everything we learn she already knows. But its all good...God puts us where we are supposed to be!

I seriously feel like I have a million scriptures I want to share with you guys...but one will suffice. I was studying about God´s love for us and healing and I came across Romans 8:39. Go read it, its great. Seriously, the scriptures are so awesome. Personal study time is my very favorite. I also had a really awesome experience this past week. I have been really struggling with faith because I am such a worrier. Mostly just faith that when I´m in a lesson, the Spirit will help me know what to say. But anyways I was studying faith and writing my feelings down and I said a prayer and immediately I had a thought pop into my head that I know was from my Heavenly Father. I know He loves each of us so much and that He wants to help us. Let Him into your lives!

Have an awesome week!

 

Hermana Whittle

Name tag switching! :)

Orange, purple and black for Halloween!

All of the Hermanas in McKenzie's district.

Week 3 in the CCM!

Hola everyone! I hope you all are doing well, because I am!  It is very hard and I am so tired but it is so amazing! I love it here. It has been getting cold, which stinks because I didn´t really bring any cold weather clothing but its all good! It has been raining a lot too, which I like because I love the rain :)

Well I don´t know that I have anything too exciting to share. Every week everyone has to prepare a talk (in Spanish) and then they randomly call on people to give them. And guess who got to give one this week? Yep, me. I felt it coming though, so it wasn´t too bad. My poor branch president didn´t know how to say my name though, so I didn´t even know he was calling on me at first. He is so nice though. He lives here in Mexico City and he only speaks some English. Also, we have a devotional every Sunday and Tuesday and usually they either show an old one from the Provo MTC or they broadcast it live from Provo. But on Tuesday we actually had someone come! I think his name was Elder Johnson, and he is in one of the quorums of the 70 and he lives somewhere in Mexico. It was really good though! The devotionals are always good :)

So in all honesty, I can´t imagine how the sisters felt when they were 21 and all the elders were 19, because I get a kick out of the elders now. You can totally tell that they are straight out of high school. Sometimes their immaturity is kind of annoying, but they are really funny. And they get better every week, so it is all good.

So my tender mercy of the week was in TRC last night. There were a ton of missionaries and not enough people to teach, so our district taught another district. And guess who I got to teach...Elder Davis (Spencer Davis) and his companion, who is my friend from high school. Seriously, seeing a familiar face is the best thing ever in the CCM. Also, we went to the temple for the second time this morning and it was seriously one of the best experiences I have had in a temple. Just the peace and comfort and love I felt in answer to my prayers was amazing. I know with all my feart that God loves us so much and He knows us much better than we know ourselves. He sees us as what we can become, and I got a glimpse of that today. Temples are such a blessing and they are my favorite places in the world! Go to the temple as much as you can! I love you all and I will talk to you next week!

 

PS- Things with my companion are much better :) We talked about it and its all good!

McKenzie and the other Hermanas in her district at the temple.

Pictures from Mexico City!!!

Hermana Whittle and Hermana Brugman on the flight to Mexico City.  They both flew out from Phoenix along with another Elder. What a blessing!

All the sister missionaries that flew from Dallas to the Mexico City MTC!

Hermana Whittle and her companion at the CCM sign.

This "B" on the hill behind the CCM is from the High School that used to be in the CCM.

The companions with the matching skirts in different colors! :)

Hermana Whittle and her district getting ready to watch General Conference.

Hermana Whittle and the Hermanas in her district on their first trip to the Mexico City Temple.

Hermana Whittle and her district at the Mexico City Temple

So happy to be at the temple!

Hermana Whittle in an earthquake circle-- not sure if that is supposed to be a safe place if there is an
 earthquake or not.  :)

All the Hermanas in McKenzie's district up bright and early on p-day to email their families! 

First letter from Mexico City MTC!

Hola everyone! Holy cow, I cannot believe I have already been here a week. It was awesome yesterday to see all the newbies getting here and know that I'm not one anymore :)

So I guess I will just talk about my first week here in Mexico City! The first day was really weird...once we got to the CCM(MTC in Spanish) everything was just really weird and I felt so disoriented. Nothing was really very organized...we had to find our companions and our casas(houses) on our own. Then we basically went and ate dinner and did nothing but unpack the rest of the night. On Friday we had to teach our first investigator...in Spanish. Oh my goodness, it was soo scary! We have taught them three times now(and we are teaching them again tonight) and I still think it is scary. The first two times, my companion and I just kinda read stuff out of the pamphelet. But yesterday, we decided to not do that and to try to say as much as we could without reading anything. Let me tell you, yesterday was the hardest day I have had so far. I love my companion though! Her name is Hermana Gissemen and she is from Virginia. We actually have a lot in common! We both have the same exact birthday and we got our calls on the same day to the same place, and we both don't like talking in class. But what I really like is that she really pushes me. She is like a pro at Spanish(at least in our district) and so she was really putting me out of my comfort zone yesterday. She made me say everything for our lesson without looking at anything, which was SO HARD. Seriously, learning a language is the hardest thing I have ever done. It is really frustrating not to be able to express yourself. But no worries, someday I will know Spanish! I also really love my district! We have two sets of elders, a trio of Hermanas and my companion and I, and seriously it was a blast. There was a girl who flew to the CCM with me from Arizona and she is in my district! It is so fun :) Four of us are going to Honduras San Pedro Sula West, one to another mission in Honduras, one to El Salvador, and the rest are going back to the states.

Lets see what else can I write about...the food here is definitely not what I expected...it is straight up Mexican food. Not like tacos and burritos, but legit Mexican food. Every meal I try something new and honestly I never really know what I am eating. But it is still pretty good! They always have fruit and weird juices and usually they have beans, some type of rice, and some type of jello or pudding. You pretty much have a 50/50 shot at liking things, so I just go for it and try everything. Might as well get used to it not before I get to Honduras!

The campus here is really spread out and soo beautiful! There are small streets and lots of buildings. We have the cafeteria, the buildings with the classrooms, and lots of other random buildings for different things. And from the campus you can see this huge hiil that has a "B" on it for the school that used to be here.  And then we have the casas, which is where most people live. Each casa has like four rooms with four beds and a bathroom in each. They also have a ton of tables and chairs, a little living room with couches, and a laundry room. They really are like little houses. So Hermana Gissemen and I live with all natives....we are the only two Americans in our casa. And it stinks because they stay up soooo late! We always get in our beds right at 10:30 and they stay up past 11...lights on and all. We have been really tired because we are so sleep deprived. Oh well, I think they are leaving in a few days...so hopefully we will get some sleep soon!

One more thing I want to say...I just want you all to know that God answers prayers. I know he does. Before I came here, I was really worried that I would have to fly here all by myself. But I asked God to give me comfort and there were two other missionaries that came from Arizona with me. And while I was here, I was having a hard time with my district. A few of the people in there were really getting on my nerves. But I prayed to Heavenly Father to have charity, and I seriously love my district now. All the bad feelings I had went away. So don't ever hesitate to pray to our Father, because He loves you all so much and I know He will answer your prayers!

Alright, thats all I've got for now. I hope you are all doing great and that you have a great week! Adios!

Hermana Whittle