This is it!

Wow...I can't believe its all ending! What a journey!!

Thankfully, I was able to keep motivated my last week and it was a good week :) I could tell Satan was trying hard to get to me with some different things that happened, but that didn't get me down! I tried to do my best to help the people I could while I'm here.

This past week the members from our branch had an excursion to the temple and in church on Sunday a lot of them shared their testimonies about the experience. It was so amazing hearing the experiences that they all had in the temple! I gained a strong testimony of the temple before leaving on my mission, and I know it will keep growing! For the members here, it is really hard going to the temple because it is expensive. But a lot of them make sacrifices because they know how important it is! I really liked something that one member said, that when we exercise our faith and take a step, God helps us to take 10 more. So true!

I am so grateful for the experience that I have had to be a missionary in Honduras! It has definitely been the hardest thing I have ever done, but its also been the best thing I've ever done. I have learned soooo much and I have changed even more. Its weird...I feel like I'm myself, but a much better version of myself. And I know that I will keep growing and changing my whole life! Because that is the purpose of this life...to become like our Father in Heaven. 

I know that this gospel is true. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer, and that He knows exactly how to help us and comfort us. I know that God has a plan for each of us that helps us to become the best we can be! I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that it helps us to become closer to our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that he helped restore the true church that Jesus Christ established when He was here! I know that we are all children of God and that He loves us soooo much :)

Thank you all for your support these 18 months! I love you all and I can't wait to see you! Nos vemos!!! :)

Hermana Whittle

Keep on keeping on!

Getting ready for their water fight today for some p-day fun!

Hi everyone!!

So it was another rough week this week...I think every week will be rough from here out! But we just keep on keeping on :) I am super grateful for my companion and the other missionaries here because they help keep me happy and motivated to work.

SOOO the highlight of this week was that we got to have a conference with an APOSTLE!!!! It was sooooo good :) Elder Neil. L Andersen, Pres. Maynes, and Bishop Davies(70s) all spoke to us and it was great. I loved seeing that really they are all normal people....but when they teach they do it powerfully. Elder Andersen talked to us about the importance of the Atonement and why it is important for us as missionaries and for our investigators. He was struggling a bit with speaking spanish because he also speaks french and portuguese(cool right?) so he confused words sometimes. But his message was still powerful and the testimony that he bore was really simple, but so true, and I could tell he knew with all his heart the things he was saying. It was sooo awesome!

We found a HUGE less active part member family this week...I was a little intimidated teaching them all haha. But we will see how that goes with them. Even though this area is hard, we still find things to do and people to teach and we do the best we can...thats all we can do right? :)

I love you all! Have a great week!

Hermana Whittle

Hermana Whittle with her comp and district today on p-day having a water fight. :)

Hi Everyone!

Well this week has been difficult to say the least...to keep a long story short 3 of our investigators that had baptismal dates told us that they didnt want us to visit them anymore. It was really hard because we had felt the spirit really strongly with them and they were really progressing and my companion and I were trying so hard to have faith and put goals and work hard...but after all this happened I realized that I couldn't just stop now. That was just a trial of my faith and I have to keep moving forward and working hard or I will never get anywhere...

So that is my message for all of you this week :) No matter how many times you think you have failed, you have to keep going or you will never get anywhere...its true that we have to have faith to see miracles, but we have to keep strong even when it seems our faith has been in vain :)

Have a great week!

Hermana Whittle

A cold and windy day in Santa Rosa de Copan!

Happy March!!

Hi everyone!

I can't believe that its already march...it makes me so sad!! I am enjoying being here sooo much and I don't want it to end...

This week was good! On Thursday we had a Multizone conference with Elder Ochoa of the 70 and it was soooo good! He talked a lot about faith. He told us about how our purpose as missionaries is to help people to have faith in Christ unto repentance, baptism and that they can endure to the end...and he talked a lot about the authority we have to do it. It was really inspiring and it motivated us to work harder with our investigators and how we can know which ones are the ones we should be working with. The next day my comp and I were super motivated to put everything that he taught us in practice, and it has been going well :)

This weekend two twins that we have been teaching FINALLY got baptized! They are 8 so its not our baptism, but we have been preparing them and it was sooo great watching them get baptized :) They remind me of Sam(which is hard sometimes) and I love them so much!

Everything is going super well here and I am happy!!

Have a great week!

Hermana Whittle

How "sweet" is the Restoration! :)

Hi everyone!

This week has been super crazy, but thats how it always is at the end of a transfer :) But we have been finding a lot of new people to teach...we havent even had time to visit them all. But hopefully some of them will have the desire to learn more about the gospel!

On Saturday we made cookies with the elders and some members and we gave them away in front of the church with pamphlets and we wrote down their directions...it was super fun! And it was great because the members were able to help us contact and talk about the church.

This morning I was reading an article from the Liahona from this month that talks about praying to God every day to receive our "daily bread"...we need to pray every day for our needs that we have that day. And sometimes, we just have to focus on each day and take life one day at a time...and God will always help us. I think the article is called Look to God Each Day...you should all read it if you haven't already :)

Thats all! Have a great week!

Hermana Whittle

Hey everyone!

Its been a good week here in Santa Rosa :) It was starting to get warm, but the past few days its been super cold. But besides having to bathe with cold water, I don't mind Its SO much better than the heat of San Pedro...

All went well with Karen getting baptized! Her dad, who just got baptized almost a year ago, was able to baptize her so that was really special.

We talked to our mission president about Antonio and he told us that he has to finish his parol before he can be baptized...so he has to wait until July. We were kinda bummed but I know that he will be super prepared and have a strong testimony of the gospel. We told him and he was okay with it too :) He is going to help so many people!

We have an investigator named Hilda who is super awesome and has a great desire to learn and go to church, but she can't because of her husband. He doesn't let her go to church(or leave the house for that matter) and he trests her super bad and doesn't respect her at all. She went with us to a little activity that we had with the Relief Society president and she was super happy and loved it, but when she got home he got super mad at her. It is so sad...we have been praying for her a ton and are hoping that things will get better, but we will see. Please pray for her...

Thats all! I hope you all have a great week!

Hermana Whittle

Hermana Whittle's zone in Campana, her last transfer.

Hermana Whittle and Hermana Luna  with a recient convert named Lisseth for her birthday. She is the sister of Karen, who just got baptized on Saturday.

Lisseth's baby, Christopher. 

Hi everyone!

Things are going well here in Santa Rosa...Im enjoying the cool weather and trying to get to know the area and the people more. For the first time in my mission on Wednesday another elder and I gave an english class...it was super fun. We also started doing an activity every Saturday to help teach the members how to be missionaries and share the gospel...so far its been going well.

Antonio is doing super great...he was going to get baptized this past week but when we were reviewing the baptismal questions we realized he needed an interview with our mission president...so we are just waiting to see when he can come and interview him. Antonio was a little bummed at first but he has been doing great and reading a ton in the book of mormon and the liahona.

We also have an investigator named Karen that is going to get baptized this Saturday. Her dad got baptized almost a year ago and her sister about a month ago, so we are just working through the family :) At first she wasnt so sure if she wanted to get baptized but we asked her to pray about it and the next time we went she told us she wanted to get baptized :) Hopefully all will go well!

Really I love this area a ton...I only have two weeks here but I feel like in these two weeks I have grown and changed a ton...I cant wait to see what else is in store for me!

Have a great week!

I am in COPAN!

Hermana Whittle and her companion went hiking with the elders last week .

Overlook of Campana, the area Hermana Whittle just left.

Hermana Whittle with Hermana Alma who always fed them lunch.

Hermana Whittle with Carlos, Rosa, and Rosa's little baby.  Hermana Whittle taught Rosa, who was baptized a few months ago.  Her father, Carlos, has a baptismal date. I am sure it was hard to say goodbye to them.

Hermana Whittle with the bishop of the ward she where she served in
Campana, along with his family.

Hi everyone!

So I had transfers this past week! I finally left San Pedro and I am in Copan!

Im in a city called Santa Rosa de Copan...it is sooooo beautiful here! All the streets are cobblestone streets and are super narrow with narrow sidewalks and a ton of shops and there are a ton of inclines...im going to build some nice leg muscles here :) And the best part is that is actually cold here!!! I really do love it. My companion is Hermana Luna. She is from Bolivia and she also came to Honduras with me and was in my same zone before so I already knew her.

Things are going well! I am still trying to get to know everything and learn the area but Im getting there! We are in a branch here so there arent a ton of members but we are working on that!

We have a couple of investigators that are doing awesome. One is named Antonio. He is an older man whose sister is a member. He has been having some problems with quitting drinking coffee but he told us that one morning this week he woke up and had coffee and he was sick the whole day afterwards...so now he doesnt have the desire to drink it :) Miracles happen!

On Saturday we had interviews with President and it went well! He gave me the advice to look for ways every day to bless the lives of others...whether it be the members or my companion or investigators. I hope we can all think about and look for ways to serve and bless the lives of others everyday....that way we will be able to see God work through us and we will be happier :)

Oh, I also learned how to grind corn with a stone and make tortillas this week...it was sweet.

I hope you are all doing well! Have a great week!

Hermana Whittle

Feliz Año Nuevo!!!!

Hermana Whittle and her zone visiting the hospital on Christmas day.

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a great Christmas!!! I sure did :) We ate a TON....here in Honduras for Christmas they make a ton of tamales and chicken sandwiches...we ate soooo much and our fridge was full of tamales that people had given us. And now for New Years we are going to eat even more yaaaayy!

Here what everyone does is on Christmas eve everyone stays up super late and then they set off fireworks at 12. We had to enter our house at 7 but we stayed up until 12 playing games and having fun :) It was good!

Christmas morning our zone went to the area hospital here and we visited and sang to the people :) It was sad to see people there miserable on Christmas but I could feel the spirit so strong as we would sing to them...it was an awesome experience! Then I got to talk to my family and then I helped another family in our ward talk to their daughter who is in the mission...it was awesome to see them so happy :)

We were able to visit Carlos this week and we talked to him again about his baptismal date...we had to move it to the 10th of January but he agreed to it! I hope everything works out!

This week has been a little hard because our investigators all left and no one has wanted to listened to us so we have done a loooooot of walking...but such is missionary life.

I found a quote this week that helped me a ton. It says: Worrying does not empty tomorrow of its troubles, it empties today of its strength. I love that because its so true...if we spent too much time worrying about the future and what will happen, we can't enjoy and life in the present. So enjoy every day that you have because you won't be able to go back :)

I love you all! I hope you have a great New Years and that you can set good goals and do everything possible to achieve them :) Elder Cook gave an awesome talk about that in this past conference...you should all read it :)

ADIOS!!!

Hermana Whittle

Hermana Whittle with her companion, Hermana Joaquin, and the baby of a new member.  

Hermana Whittle loves this little guy! 

Add caption

Hermana Joaquin, Hermana Whittle with President and Sister Dester for their Christmas zone meeting.

Hermana Whittle with her zone.

Hermana Whittle with her district.

Happy Thanksgiving!

November 24, 2014

Hey everyone! So transfers are this week...I'm nervous but excited! I am pretty sure either my companion or I will have transfers, most likely my companion, but we aren't going to know until tonight. So I will let you know next week!

I really can't believe that this transfer has already ended...this transfer has honestly been one of the hardest of my mission for many reasons. Heavenly Father has been trying me a lot, but I have felt His love and His help as well...I have no doubt that He knows what he's doing and that everything happens for a reason!

This week we found a family of 5...the parents are less active members but the kids aren't baptized(and they are all 8 or older). The mom and 2 of the kids went to church yesterday and they LOVED it :) This family has a ton of problems...but I am super excited to work with them and to help them come back to the church :)

I almost forgot that this week is Thanksgiving...Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all remember that there is so much to be grateful for, like Josh Groban says :) I don't know how I will be spending thanksgiving since its the day after transfers, but I hope you all enjoy thanksgiving dinner for me.

Have a great week!

Hermana Whittle

Hermana Whittle with an investigator-- her son, who is  a member,  is currently serving a mission. 

Hermana Whittle with a less active family they are working with. 

Hermana Whittle with a member from her ward, who just left on her mission to Mexico! Hermana Whittle is going to miss her! 

Making baleadas.

Hi Everyone!

Hi everyone!

This week was pretty normal...not many changes here. We haven't been having much success in our area but we have been searching for ways that we can find more people and work better here...this is the last week before transfers so hopefully we can do that!

Rosa and her dad Carlos decided this week that they want to go to the temple! Next week our ward is going to have a trip and they have been working this week to raise money to go! I am so excited for them and I hope they have an awesome experience! I was also super happy that Rosa received a calling yesterday as the young womens secretary! I think she was a little overwhelmed with that and her two kids but she is happy!

So on Sundays we eat with a member in our ward who is older and spends a lot of time alone since his wife works. I love being there with him because he is super funny and nice...but sometimes he cooks super weird things. Last week we ate cow tongue...it wasnt that bad but I would prefer not to eat it again haha. And guess what he gave us yesterday....cow udder. Yeah....it was super weird. Gotta love other countries...

Just one last thing...this morning I was reading in D&C 136 and I found a verse that I loved:

 31 My people must be tried in all things, that they may be prepared to receive the glory that I have for them, even the glory of Zion; and he that will not bear chastisement is not worthy of my kingdom.

We all have to pass through trials and hard times...but because of those things we grow and learn and we are constantly preparing ourselves to live with God again. If we can't endure, we aren't worthy of the glory and blessings that God has for us. So always remember that whatever happens, it is for a reason!

Have a great week!

Hermana Whittle

Eating with some members. 

Hi everyone!!

Well this week was pretty normal...I don't really have much to say! We had divisions with the sister training leaders this week and it went well! The hermana that was with me has been in my zone and we had already done divisions...she is awesome :) So it was good.

Rosa is doing super awesome...she is always happy and excited to go to church and activities and she really wants to go to the temple. Yesterday in church we had a lesson about missionary work and she told us that she wanted to serve a mission when her kids were older :) We also had an awesome lesson with her and her dad...her dad always goes to church and he likes it. We taught about the gospel of christ and the spirit was super strong...we were able to put a baptismal date with him for december! Hopefully everything works out well with that :)

We also had a mission activity this week in the church, but it didn't turn out so well haha...we were going to have an open house and all of the organizations were going to talk about what they do so that people could get an idea about the church....BUT nobody came haha. Only two of our investigators...we were a little bugged that nobody invited anyone, but it was still fun.

Well thats about all Ive got...I hope you are all doing well and that you have a good week!

Hermana Whittle

Happy Halloween!

Hi guys!

This week was a little weird because almost the whole week it was rainy and overcast and I was actually a little cold...it was awesome :) But despite the weather it was still a good week!

On Tuesday our mission president came to visit us in our district meeting and he talked to us about love and kindness. He asked us how the people would know that we are true disciples of Christ...like it says in the primary song ¨By this shall men know ye are my disciples if ye have love one to another¨. He just encouraged us to think about how Christ would treat people and how we should follow his example. It was good.

On Thursday we had a ward activity about family history and it was super great! They talked about what it was and then they had decorated three different rooms like the three kingdoms of glory and we got to go in and learn about and experience each one. Our recent convert Rosa went and she loved it...now she is super excited to go to the temple :)

So nobody here celebrates Halloween so we didn't do anything...but my comp and I wore orange and black. We were hoping someone would give us candy but no haha...

Well I just want to testify to you all real quick of the power of the Book of Mormon...I know that it is true and that it has the power to change lives! We taught about the BoM a lot last week and every time I could feel that it was true...I hope the people did too! But I know that if we read even just a little bit every day it can help us so much. So I hope you are all doing that!

Have a great week!

Hermana Whittle

Hermana Whittle with the son of one of their investigators and the stuffed animal they gave him for his birthday. 

Hermana Whittle and her companion went to help a less active member who just had a baby.  How sweet is that? 

Hermana Whittle, Hermana Rodriguez, their DL and his new  companion. 

Hey everyone!!!

So for starters, it has been SO hot here lately. There was one night where I couldn't even sleep because it was so hot...oh Honduras...

I hope you all enjoyed conference as much as I did! I LOVED that they had people speak in their native languages...it was awesome to hear the speaker themself speak spanish and not the translator :) I hope they keep doing that!

I feel like I learned so much this conference and that the speakers were super inspired. I love how we can go to conference with a few questions and always find the answers...that is what I was able to do and I was able to receive the answers I needed :) I hope you all felt the same!

Its super weird having more than a year in the mission...on Thursday when I completed a year my district surprised me and sang to me and my DL made us lunch. It was fun :)

I also feel like the Lord has been helping us out a lot lately. This week we were able to receive a lot of references and find some less actives that we didn't know about. I am excited to see how things go with them!

I am super excited for this week because one of our investigators that we have been working with is going to get married and baptized and two more are going to get baptized as well. Please pray that everything goes well for them!

I love you all! Have a great week :)

Hna. Whittle

Hermana Whittle, Hermana Rodriguez, two other sister missionaries and a member. 

Una semana llena de adventura.....

August 18, 2014

Hey everyone!

SO this week was a little crazy. Last Monday night I was in my bed writing in my journal and I saw something leave our room into the kitchen so I got up to see what it was....it was a rat. Yeah, we totes had rats in our house. We knew that there were some living above us in the roof because we always heard them but this week was the first time they entered the house. So that night when I was trying to sleep I heard another one that knocked something over and then I saw it leave the bedroom...and I couldn't sleep. And then a few nights later my companion woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and she saw one crawling down the wall...and after that we couldn't sleep at all. And so we started sleeping with the lights on to keep them from entering. Needless to say I did not sleep all week. But the fumegator finally came on Saturday and put rat poison in our house and got rid of the ones that we had trapped under the sink...it was the worst. I couldn't stop thinking about the movie ratatouille all week....but everything is good now :)

Also this week was the fair here in Puerto Cortes! They did mini fairs in all the different communities. It was cool to see the street in front of our house full of little kiosks and stages and stuff. It also rained a TON this week and I think a lot of the activities were ruined because of it. But it was fun to have something different going on here.

So our investigator Maribel isn't going to be getting baptized soon :( She didn't go to church last Sunday because her husband didn't want her to. It makes me so sad when someone has the desire to accept the gospel and change and other people keep them from doing it...I know she will get baptized someday.

But on the other hand la familia Moncada is doing AWESOME! And we talked to them about their baptism and they wanted to change it to the 27th so that more of their family can come. They are so excited and so are we! Please pray that everything goes well with their baptism!!

Anyways, things are awesome here :) I love being a missionary here in Puerto Cortes, Honduras!! It is the best! I hope you are all doing well and that you have a great week!

Hermana Whittle

August 11, 2014

Hey everyone!

This week was good :) We were able to challenge some of our investigators to baptism, and now we have 3 that have a date this month! My companion and I are so excited!

Maribel is doing awesome. She is having so many problems with her family(dang Satan) but she knows that she wants to be a member of the church and she is staying strong! However, she didn't come to church yesterday and we don't know why...we will find out tomorrow.

We had our first appointment with the familia Moncada(the husband is a member but his wife and daughter aren't) and it went really well! And we challenged them to be baptized the 30th of this month and they accepted :) WHOOOOOOOO!

As far as investigators, we had to drop a ton this week, but we will keep searching. And we are still working a ton with less actives.

I'm just happy to be here :) This area has been really rough, but I was thinking about it the other day and even though its been hard(and way too hot), I love it so much here in Puerto Cortes and I don't want to leave!

I hope everyone is doing well! Have a great week!

Hermana Whittle

August 4, 2014

Hi everyone!

So I don't know if you have noticed, but for the past few weeks my companion and I have been a little discouraged in our area because our investigators have been having problems and we have felt a lot of pressure from the ward(and without any help from them). But this week has been great! We had a multi zone conference with other missionaries and President and it was super good :) And President took the time to talk to my companion and I because of the problems we were having. I love talking to him...he always encourages me and is so positive. So after talking to him we felt a lot better :) I am so lucky to have a mission president that is so awesome and Christlike!

My companion and I decided to fast for our area this week and to be able to have baptisms this month, and we have already been able to see the results! One of our investigators, Maribel, has been progressing SO much and she told us that she wanted to stay in this church and be baptized!!! We were SO happy! And despite having family members that are giving her problems, she feels strongly about the church and knows she wants to stay there :) We also have a less active and is wife, who isn't a member, who have been coming to church for about a month. Before she wasn't sure about taking the lessons and she wanted to talk to her husband about it. But yesterday we talked to them and we have an appointment with them this week to start teaching! My testimony of fasting has definitely grown this week!

One thing that was sad this week is that we went to go visit Carol, who is our investigator that was progressing a TON. But she told us that she didn't want us to visit her anymore and that she wants to stay in her church....I was so bummed. It hurts when someone is so close to accepting the gospel and others influence them and the reject it...

I hope you are all doing well! Remember that when we are discouraged, it weakens our faith. So always have faith in the Lord and don't be discouraged! I love you all!

Hermana Whittle

HONDURAS IS AWESOME!

Hey everyone!

Well my companion and I didn't have transfers! I am happy to have 6 more weeks here in Puerto Cortes :)

This week has been a little crazy. We went to go visit Maribel, one of our investigators that is doing awesome. We were teaching her about the Book of mormon and reading the introduction with her when all of a sudden her brother came running to the door and told her that their sister had overdosed on some pills and was in really bad condition so she took off with him and totes left us with her 3 year old daugher and 9 month old baby...it was a little crazy haha. The baby was tired so he was crying a ton so my companion was trying to sing and do crazy things to help him stop crying...he finally just fell asleep. She was only gone for about 20 minutes though and her sister is doing okay so thats good. Gotta love awkward experiences. But she is doing awesome! She came to church this Sunday and she has even been talking to her family members about the church :)

We went to go visit a less active family for the first time and they live sooooo far....we had to walk a TON. But it was awesome because we got to know a part of our area that we didnt know existed and it is super pretty there. Honduras is awesome!

I hope you all have a good week!

Hermana Whittle

Another week in Paradise!

Hi everyone!!!

Elder West, Hermana Whittle's DL, photo bombing the picture.
He is the only other gringo in their district.

The first counselor in the Stake Presidency lives in the ward Hermana Whittle
 is currently serving in.  He took all the missionaries serving in her district
to lunch at this beautiful restaurant in Omoa.

Hi everyone, 

This week has had its ups and downs, just like every week in the mission :) Things have been really difficult here....our investigators are having problems and aren't progressing much. And the members frustrate us sometimes. But we had a super awesome experience on Sunday. One of our investigators told us she could come to church with us and so we were super excited and we went to her house Sunday morning to bring her with us and she had left with her mom. I was SO bummed. But yet somehow, we were able to have 4 investigators in church and meet the mission goal, all from non members that had come with less actives. I felt so happy and so blessed! I know that the Lord loves us...He just wants to try our patience and faith a little :)

This Sunday we also had a super awesome sacrament meeting that we put together about missionary work. One of the elders put together a choir of missionaries, future missionaries and returned missionaries and some of us spoke(myself included). It went super well and everyone loved the choir.

There are transfers this week, but I think I am going to stay here in Puerto for another transfer. I hope so at least. It is super hard here, but I love it! I will find out tonight.

I hope you are all doing well and that you have an awesome week!

Hermana Whittle