Heat, Scorpions and Baptismal Goals!

Hermana Whittle and her previous companion, Hermana Marroquin,
 with a member family in Puerto Cortes.

Hi everyone! Wow...I can't believe another week has already passed.

This week has been good! I am finally getting used to Hna. Cardona...she is awesome and we get along really well :) But this week has been exhausting! We had two days in a row where we walked A TON and it has been soooo hot...I have been exhausted. We had to stay in again on Friday for a game Honduras had and although I was bummed because we had to cancel our appointments, I didn't complain...I needed a nap haha. 

Our bishop this week decided to put a goal of 20 baptisms in the month of July between us and the two pairs of elders in our ward...WOW. We have a ton of work to do...but I know its possible with the Lord's help!

I have been a little frustrated lately because of the members. Yesterday we met a lot of less active familys who are SO AWESOME, but have stopped going to church because of problems with members. I don't understand why people have to say things and act like they are better than others...we are a family!! We should be helping each other out like Alma teaches in Mosiah 18. I'm just frustrated and I don't know what I can do to help the less actives return to church and help the members to have love....

Thats about all. We found a huge scorpion in our house the other day...that was fun. I will say that that is one thing I miss about the states...houses without cockroaches and ants and spiders. But I love Honduras and I am so happy to be here :)

Love you all! I hope you have an awesome week!

Hermana Whittle

Hermana Marroquin, Hermana Whittle and Elder Paredes

HOLA EVERYONE!

Hola everyone!!!

This week has been SO LONG. I feel like its been an eternity. It had its ups and downs...but such is the mission!

So Hna. Marroquin and I had cambios :( That was super hard for me because she has grown to become one of my best friends. But I know the Lord needs her somewhere else! So I'm still here in Puerto Cortes and my new companion is called Hermana Cardona. She is also from Guatemala...I think this is going to be a thing. But she is great. She is super sweet and we get along well :)

Things are going well here in the area! Our church attendance jumped from 114 to 160 yesterday...we were so excited! We still have a ton of work to do with menos activos....but it's going! I love this area so much and I want to do all I can to do the Lord´s work here :) 

Its a bit crazy here right now since the world cup just started...EVERYONE is watching. We had to stay in our house for a couple hours when Honduras was playing...I hope we don't have to anymore.

Love you all! Have a great week!

Hna. Whittle

Outside of Hermana Whittle's home after they received A LOT of rain! :)

June 9, 2014

Hey everyone!

Honestly, we didn't do much this week because my companion and I both got sick. I just had a cold, but she was having problems breathing so we couldn't go out for a couple days. I HATE staying in the house...I was happy to leave again! But I kept myself busy studying and updating the area book(something that nobody wants to do haha) and so it wasnt too bad. 

Things have been going well with teaching the less actives this week! One day when we were teaching Hna. Marroquin had the great idea to help all of the less actives feel important and that we really need them in church...because we do! They are so important to us and we want them to feel that! So that has been our goal :) 

We had an awesome experience with one less active this week. We weren't planning on visiting her, but our appointments fell through so we decided to go over there. I know it was inspired. Her name is Alexandra and she is 16. Her mom doesn't go to church because she works, and she has an older brother but he doesn't go much either. Well we talked to her and she has been discouraged lately because she doesnt like going to church alone and her mom doesnt want to go anymore. Well my comp whipped out an awesome scripture that helped her a lot...we could feel the spirit so strong! I know the Lord loves all of his children and knows their needs :)

I also had another awesome experience yesterday in church. So I wasn't too excited to go to church yesterday because I didn't think we were going to have anyone there. But it was the opposite...there were a ton of new faces! There were a lot of less actives and investigators. I know a lot of them were from the elders...but I just felt so happy and blessed that I wanted to cry! I know the Lord is helping us out in this work!

Have a good week!

Hna. Whittle

A cute note from Hermana Marroquin. Hermana Whittle has already been out 8 months! Time is flying by!

Hermana Marroquin having some fun! :)

Hey everyone!!!

This week was a little long and suuper tiring. We had divisions with the hermana leaders on Tuesday. Normally in divisions one of us goes to their area and one of them comes to our area for a day. But since we live a little far, they both came and all four of us worked in our area that day, one of them with me and one with Hna. Marroquin. Actually, I got to be with Hna. Marley, my trainer, so that was fun to be her companion again :) But we had to share beds so that they didnt have to sleep on the floor...it was sooooo uncomfortable. My companion is tiny, but our beds are tiny too haha so I didn't get any sleep and I have been tired since.

I feel like the Lord is blessing us a ton, even if our investigators don't want to come to church :) We have one investigator named Gustavo who is doing super well! He is super receptive and he told us this week that before he had problems with smoking. But the day after our first visit, he quit smoking completely and hasn't done it since. WHAT.

Also, in our area we are mainly working with less actives. And we have been visiting one named Nancy and we have been teaching her two daughters because they haven't been baptized. And they finally came to church on Sunday! We were sooo happy because Nancy hasn't wanted to come. Things are going well here!

I hope you all have a good week!

Hermana Whittle

May 26, 2014

Hi everyone!

This week we had a multi zone conference with my old zone, zona Fesitranh. It was so weird to be in my old area again but it was awesome to see some of my friends from my other zone! And the conference was awesome! President Dester is awesome. He talked to us about having a vision in the mission and here in honduras. There is a possibility of a temple in San Pedro in a few years, but there is a lot of work to be done to achieve that goal.

He also talked to us about Joseph Smith...it was really cool to learn more about him. For example, did you guys know that he would talk with his family every night about the people from book of mormon times? He knew everything...the animals they used, their clothes and food, and he would tell stories to his family every night. How cool is that. And we learned about how he had frequent visits from the angel Moroni and prophets and apostles of old. They were basically his friends. That really touched me because I realized that Joseph Smith wasn't alone...he had a ton of help do to the work that needed to be done. And the same goes for me! He was also always happy and laughing...just like president monson :) And we should always be happy too...we have the restored gospel and so many blessings from our Heavenly Father :)

We have been able to find more less actives this week. We found on on saturday and she told us she wanted to come back to church...and she came! Really, the Lord is blessing us a ton and we are starting to have more success :)

I hope you all have a good week!

Hna. Whittle

"Keep moving forward" or like Dory says "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming!"

Hi everyone!!!

So to be honest...this week was ROUGH. Half of the week it was pouring and a little cold and we had problems the whole week with having appointments. All of our appointments have been falling through and we are left with nothing to do. And we are supposed to be working with less actives but there are soo many and we don't know where they all live and the members haven't been able to go with us. My companion and I have just been a little discouraged because we haven't been having success. But we talked with our favorite family in the ward yesterday and they helped us a lot....the members here are so awesome!

We did find a less active this week who is super great! Her name is Jessi and she told us that she has noticed a difference in her life without the church and she wants to go back. So we are working with her and her boyfriend(who isn't a member) and hopefully they will want to go to church!

We also found another less active this week...but things didn't go as well with him to say the least haha. He has a ton of doubts and doesn't believe in the book of mormon...we were trying to talk to him but he wasn't really listening to us. And then as we were walking away, he said to us,"I only have one sin. I look at women and I have bad thoughts." Uuummmmmmm ADIOS. We will not be going back there!

I hope things are going well for you all! Don't forget to read the Book of Mormon everyday...it is soooo awesome! All I want to do is read it! And I promise the more you read it the better it will get, and it can help you so much in your life! Adios!

Hermana Whittle

Gotta love the heat! :)

Hermana Whittle and her District visited the San Fernando Fort in Omoa, a town just west of Puerto Cortes.  The fort was built in the late 1700's by the Spanish. 

Hermana Grondel and Hermana Whittle are in the same district again! They served in the same district in Fesitranh.

The "crazy" elders in Hermana Whittle's area.

Hermana Whittle's lunch--- she said she was a little intimidated of the fish at first. :)

On Sunday, a little girl brought Hermana Whittle and her companion a piece of her birthday cake, because she loves them so much! 

Hi Everyone!

Hermana Whittle eating a watermelon that an investigator gave them.  She is getting quite the tan!

Hermana Whittle and Hermana Marroquin with an investigator from Castanos.

A sweet little boy gave this flower to Hermana Whittle and made her day! 

It's official! They have a cell phone! :)

Hermana Marroquin and Hermana Whittle working on a bracelet.

Hermana Whittle's new home in Puerto Cortes.  They live in an apartment behind the house. 

After eating dinner with a member family, their daughter asked Hermana Whittle to braid her hair for her.
She is good at that! :)

When Hermana Whittle and Hermana Marroquin arrived in Puerto Cortes they moved into the apartment that the elders had been living in.  They cleaned it really well for them, then left little signs all over! The top one say "Welcome Hermanas" and the scripture in Phillipians 3:2 says "Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision".  The second sign tells them not to be trunky! They went to a lot of trouble to help them feel welcome! So cute! :)

Hermana Whittle and Hermana Marroquin get to cross the laguna on this bridge. 

May 5, 2014

So this last week has been CRAZY!  On Wednesday, we had transfers and both me and my companion left our area.  Long story short, the mission nurse needed an area to train the new nurse.  But in the transfer meeting, my companion and I found out that we were going to be opening an area together!  We were so excited to be together another change!  So our new area is called Centro 3, and it is part of Puerto Cortes.  The beach is 5 minutes from our house so I am in heaven.  We share the area with 4 other elders, but the ward has been asking for hermanas for a very long time, so they were very excited when we came!  Opening an area is super hard, and even more so for us since we have absolutely noting in our area book.  No investigators, no phone numbers, no map.  It has been rough leavng the house everyday and having no idea what we are going to do.  But the members have been helping us so much!  This ward is so supportive and I love it!  I don't know why, but since my first day here I have felt a love for this area and the people here.  I have a feeling it is going to be my favorite area.  Whatever it be (the fact that we are near the coast, that I have more time, that the ward loves us) I am excited to work in this area! I love being a missionary!

I love you all and I hope you have a good week!
Hna. Whittle

These are some of the people who took care of Hermana Whittle and Hermana Marroquin in their last area of Castanos.  They fed them, fixed the broken zippers in their skirts, let them use their bathroom.  What a blessing that these sweet people are taking care of our daughter and her companion! :)