Week 21 - "Went down to the River to Pray..."

HELLO FROM PASCO!

How are you all doing? We have had the craziest week and I am so excited to tell you all about it.

Our area is so beautiful. We cover a bunch of farmland with lovely houses right next to the Colombia river. GORGEOUS! Especially, when the sun rises and sets! Oh man, it is incredible! I already love the people so much and we are excited to see the growth that will take place in the Pasco 8th ward.

My companion is Sister Camplese! She is the sweetest most loving/hilarious person and we are the tall, blonde (fake blonde) dream team! We are so excited to work together and really get the work moving here.

Sister Camplese and I were doubled in, so there wasn't a whole lot to go off of when we got here! AH! its ok. It has really taught us about patience and faith. We know that it may take some time to get things started but we have absolute confidence in the work of the Lord and the miracles it brings.

Ok, I am running out of time, but we had the best experience...

We were talking to people in our apartment complex and we saw a man moving some heavy mattresses into his apartment. We offered our help and we awkwardly carried this giant memory foam mattress up the stairs. We were able to meet him and his wife and they are interested in meeting with us! It was so incredible to see how loving and willing people are to learn!

I love serving here in Pasco and I am so grateful for all of your prayers and support!

have the best week!

Love, 

Sister Madeline Whetten

Week 20 - Viva El Pasco

Hello everyone! It was such a wonderful week and I am so excited to tell you all about it! 

We will start off with transfer calls that came Saturday night!

 BIG CHANGES. I am getting doubled out of Duportail (Sister Hansen leaves today *sniffle*) and ELDERS are coming in! I get to be doubled in to Pasco 8th ward with Sister Campleese! She seems so sweet and I am very excited! So lots of changes! The women in the ward were sad to see the sisters leave again but I know its how the Lord needs to further the work here in Richland! I am going to miss it here though. SO many people that I love and cherish are here and I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have had to be here. The love that I have for the Lord and His gospel has only increased as He has allowed me to serve some of his precious people. 

We have a new investigator! His name is Ben and he is incredible. We had the most powerful lesson with him the other day and he is on track to be baptized in the beginning of November! We are so excited for him. I love the light that is able to enter into their lives as they receive the message of Christ's restored gospel. I was reading In Ether 6 and I came across a scripture that perfectly describes what the light of Christ means to us. 

  "And thus the Lord caused stones to shine in darkness, to give light unto men, women and children, that they might not cross the great waters in darkness."

He has not left us alone to wander through life. He has given us light, His light to guide us and give us hope. 

We had the coolest experience on Saturday! We were walking home from dinner and we walked right up to a lady crossing the parking lot. She immediately asked us if we were the ones with little black tags. It turns out she had just been having an upsetting conversation with someone over the phone and had been comforted by a member of the church. He looked up our number, gave her the address to the church and left. As soon as she got up to go home we came walking up, not even realizing we had been placed in her path as an answer to prayers. 

The Lord is always there to comfort and guide us with his light. I love this gospel and I LOVE WASHINGTON. Adventure awaits in PASCO! WAHOO!

Love you all! 

Sister Madeline Whetten

Week 19 - Beastie at the baptism!

WOW! It has been quite the week!

 We had our mission tour and had the opportunity to be visited by  Elder Daniel L Johnson and his wife Leanne. It was such a tender mercy because I knew them when I was little and they are close with my parents and grandparents! Of course I was crying! It is so nice to see a familiar face even if it is a blast from the past. Elder Johnson was so inspired as he talked to us about Heavenly Father and our relationship to Him. He really opened our eyes to the importance of teaching that God is our Loving Heavenly Father, He is really there for us, He truly has a body of flesh and bone, we are His children, He knows us and He loves us perfectly. If there is anything He wants you to know above all other things- He wants you to know him. He then challenged us to pray and humbly ask these questions to our Heavenly Father so we can testify with conviction of their truth. WOW. I can testify that Heavenly Father is there for us. He loves us and he knows us. I know I am His daughter and that he cares for ALL of His children. That is why I am here. People need to know this wonderful relationship we have with our Almighty God. It's truly incredible. I challenge you all to do the same thing in your prayers. I promise you will strengthen your testimony and receive an answer :)

Other than being SO spiritually fed at Zone Conference we had some awesome things happen this week. Well, awesome on top of being sick.. ha,ha. Sister Hansen caught the bug after not being sick her ENTIRE mission! Oops! It allowed for some sick comp bonding time while we were quarantined in our apartment. 

We were able to meet a couple new investigators this week! One is a lady named Sarah. We met her and her husband outside late last week and we stopped in again on Wednesday! Her husband is less active and she has been curious about the church for a while. We had a lesson with her and she is just incredible. SO prepared! It is so great to get to know these people and feel such a love for them and a desire for them to come unto Christ and receive the blessing of an Eternal Family.

OK Story time.

Taking Beastie to the baptism

So there was a baptismal service being held on Saturday and we thought it would be a good idea for Rebecca to come and see what her baptism (hopefully in December) is going to be like! Everything is all good to go and then we get a frantic call from her saying she has to watch this puppy and she can't leave him home alone. Naturally, Sister Hansen and I book it over to her house (running in a pencil skirt is awful) and cart her and the dog (named Beastie) to the church just in time for Rebecca to see the service and for us to wait outside with a teething puppy. So Beastie went to a baptism! SO FUNNY 

I love Washington, I love the Lord and I love His Gospel! 

I hope you all have the best week! 

Love, 

Sister Madeline Whetten 

At the doctors...again

Me and Sister Satele (from New Zealand) carving her first pumpkin. She is so hilarious!

Week 18 - "Night Fever Night Fevveeer"

HELLO family and friends!

WOW
It was a busy busy week full of ups and downs as usual! But mostly ups of course.

General Conference was this week! We are so loved by our Heavenly Father that he calls prophets and apostles to lead and guide us today! It's wonderful and this weekend was so inspired and uplifting. Each talk was unique and powerful and directly from our Heavenly Father. I LOVED IT. But, the best part is is that the incredible people that we teach loved it as well.

Oh yeah, I had some fevers this week but no biggie, the Lord blessed me with strength and it made for a fun title. 

We had some great lessons this week that were so powerful! It is such a privilege to see people grow in the gospel. We are all working together and lifting each other up. Obviously I just want to talk about how great conference was and that was probably the most exciting part of the week!

One talk in particular that stood out to me was by Elder Montoya. He stressed 4 main ways that we can be happy and strive to be better followers of Christ 

1. Attend the temple regularly

2. SMILE 

3. Express feelings of compassion to others

4.meditate on the atonement and take the sacrament 

I know that as we help each other out and truly serve out of love for the Savior and others we can experience the full blessings of the atonement and lift one another up along the way.

 The work is steadily growing and it is so exciting to be a part of it! Our investigators are doing great and we feel your love and support here in Washington! Sorry for the short update :)

Have the most wonderful week! 

Love, 

Sister Madeline Whetten

 

Some random lady gave us purple flowers and a hug while we were walking down the street. Such a tender mercy from our Heavenly Father :)