"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! :)

Hey Everyone!

Hey everyone! I hope all is going well where you are and that you had a good week!

I will be honest...this past week was a rough one. My companion and I were having problems with our health and basically all of our appointments fell through. And we are also struggling with our investigators. They haven't really been home this week and they don't want to come to church. It is super frustrating, but we will keep working with them. This area is rough...rough to have investigators, and there are a ton of less actives because the ward isn't very good at fellowshipping the recent converts. But we are trying to do our best!

Sorry this email is not very exciting! Have a great week!

Hna. Whittle

HI EVERYONE!

April 7, 2014

Hermana Whittle wearing a jersey that her companion's Mom sent from Guatemala. :)

A member from their ward went to Guatemala and brought back a package for Hermana Marroquin from her Mom filled with goodies! :) 

Hi everyone! 

I hope you all enjoyed conference this past weekend and that you were able to learn a lot and have your questions answered! I didn't get a ton out of it because I watched all the sessions in Spanish and the speakers weren`t very good so I didn't understand a lot(even my companion was having a hard time understanding and she's latina) but I was still able to learn and recieve answers to my questions, even if it wasn't in ways I expected. And, one of the young women in our ward brought her friend to conference with her. She presented him to us a week or so ago but we haven't been able to have a lesson with him yet...but he is AWESOME! He is so receptive and we are super excited to teach him...I know he is going to get baptized! The Lord is blessing us!

I have been having a rough time with having patience this past week. It is hard to be patient when appointments fall and you don't meet your goals and you feel like no one is progressing. But on Thursday I talked to Hna. Marroquin about it and that helped a lot. And we had interviews with our mission president and that helped too. And since then, I have been doing well with being patient despite my circumstances. I know that the Lord is helping me out a lot!

We have an investigator that we have been working with a lot lately, and I feel like she has a lot of potential. She's only 19 and she has two kids and lives with her boyfriend(like everyone else here...no one is married). But she has been having a lot of problems with him and with finances lately. We are trying to do all we can to help her. We taught her about the Plan of Salvation this week. When she was younger, her brother was killed and she was asking us if we thought he would be saved. We testified to her that he would have the chance to hear the gospel, and that she could live with him and with her kids again someday thanks to this gospel. I know she felt the spirit, because I did! I don't think that she is going to get baptized anytime soon, but I know that she will in her own due time and I hope I will be here to help her do that!

I hope you all have a great week and look for the ways that the Lord is blessing you in your lives :) I loved what President Uchtdorf said about being grateful...we shouldn't just be grateful FOR things, but learn to be grateful no matter what our circumstances are, and having faith that the Lord will always help us :) Adios!

Hna. Whittle

6 MONTHS BABY!!!! :D

March 31, 2014

Hola!! I can't believe I am going to hit a third of my mission on Wednesday...time is starting to fly by!

This week wasn't the best. We are really struggling with investigators. Some of them are never home(supposedly), others we are having a hard time putting an appointment with them, and others don't want to come to church. Its frustrating, but I know I just need to be patient. 

My companion and I decided that we want to take the time to get to know all of the members and have a lesson with them. So we started this past week by going to a part of our area that we have never been to before and trying to find a members house...big mistake. We were walking around for almost two hours trying to find the house. And then when we found it, they were leaving so they couldn't have a lesson with us. We were not very happy...but we will keep trying.

I am super excited for conference this weekend and I hope you all are too! I hope that you can all have your questions answered and learn a lot from this conference! I never realized how important it was until the last conference we had. We have a prophet in our day, just like Moses or Noah or any other prophet of old, and he is going to tell us exactly what God wants us to hear. What God is telling us. It just amazes me! So please enjoy it and always study the messages after because it is revelation specifically for our day!

I LOVE YOU ALL!

Hna. Whittle

GOODBYE FESITRANH!

March 24, 2014

Hermana Whittle and her new companion, Hermana Marquillos, from Guatemala. She makes McKenzie look tall! 

Hermana Whittle and her large load of laundry to do before transfers.

Hermana Whittle with the Yanez family, who were really
involved in missionary work in Fesitranh.

Hermana Bahr, Hermana Whittle and Elder Eulogio from Peru--- at transfers.

Hi everyone!

So this past week has been SO crazy for me. I had changes and I had to leave my first area. It was SUPER hard for me to do...I had a rough time the first couple days because my last companion was(is) my best friend and I had to leave her and go to a completely new place with a ton of people I don't know. But things are getting better. I actually only moved over one area, which was a surprise for me. I am a little more in the city now. My area is called Los Castaños...it was weird at first because I had driven through this area a lot before. My new companion is Hermana Marroquin. She is from Guatemala and she is tiny! But I really like her and we get along well :) She is super funny. So that has been hard but things are getting better! 

We don't have a ton of super awesome investigators but we are working! We do have a family that has a lot of potential...and they are married. That is a big deal here. So we are hoping that things will go well with them. They came to church yesterday for the first time...we will keep working with them.

I hope things are going well for you all! Don't ever let your fear impede your faith! :)

Hna. Whittle

Hermana Whittle with Elder and Hermana John- a senior couple who were serving in Honduras.  They helped the missionaries a lot.
Hermana Whittle was sad to see them go home.

Hermana Bahr and Hermana Whittle celebrating their last night as companions.  They really grew to love each other and developed a great friendship! 

HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY!

March 17, 2014

Hermana Bahr and Hermana Whittle

"One of the 'joys' of missionary work" :)
Great tan lines!

Some p-day fun! 

I do not understand how time goes so slow yet so fast at the same time...

Nothing too exciting happened this week...it was just weird, since it was the last week of this change. We had stake conference this weekend. On Saturday night everyone talked about missionary work...my companion was one of the speakers. I just really  hope that it helped the members realize how important missionary work is...because we need help and right now we aren't getting it. Then on Sunday we watched a broadcast from Salt Lake for all of the stakes in Central America. It was great! Elder Scott and Elder Oaks both spake, along with a couple other people. And Elder Scott gave his talk in spanish, which was SUPER weird at first. It was a really good conference though!

Hermana Bahr, Hermana Whittle and Elder Dawson after Stake Conference.

Hermana Whittle and her District after Stake Conference

My companion and I recieved a tender mercy from the Lord this week. So, in the mission sometimes we have to do divisions where we are with a different missionary for a whole day. And my companion and I hate them, mostly because we get along so well and don't want to be separated. So on Tuesday we had to do divisions with the other hermanas in our district. But then we found out that we were going to have to do them again on Friday with the sister training leaders. We were not very happy because it was our last week together and we already had to do them once. And on thursday, I actually got a little sick and I was hoping that somehow I would be able to get out of doing them. But then Thursday night, they called us to cancel divisions. They said they had prayed about it and they didn't feel like they should do them...WHAT. We were so happy :)

Being a missionary is really tough. This is definitely the hardest thing I have ever done. But watching people change and come unto Christ is one of the best feelings ever! There is an inactive man here who told us that he couldn't ever come back to church and he didn't really want to talk to us. But we went to visit him last week and we met his 11 year old daughter who really wants to come to church...and now he wants to learn and come back. I LOVE IT!

Have a great week!

Hermana Whittle

Hermana Bahr and Hermana Whittle making tortillas
 at the home of a less active member.