Week 72 - Palouse and Pasco

This honestly feels like the first time we have actually sat down all week! That tells you what kind of week it has been. We have seen SO MANY huge miracles it is incredible. 

We were able to find a new investigator this week! Her name is Carole. She has been taught by missionaries before but had somehow fallen off the radar with all of her traveling. She was all excited to tell us that she just bought herself a large print book of mormon so she could continue to study with the sisters. She is so sweet and we are excited to continue to meet with her.

On Friday we had a lesson with Mercedes and Jeff on tithing. We knew going in that this would be a rough one for her as it is for most other people. Money is a hard thing to work with and 10 percent often makes a huge difference. We decided to approach the subject simply and very straight forward. The spirit was so strong when Sister Maxwell and I bore our testimonies of tithing and how it has specifically blessed our families. The next day we went over again to talk more about her baptism coming up on Saturday and when we asked again about tithing she answered with confidence that she would live and obey that commandment. It has been amazing to see her faith grow in such a small amount of time. We love her and her family and could not be happier for them. 

Saturday I had the opportunity to go to the baptism of Ramona in Hermiston. Sister Gomez and I found and started teaching her in May and we were able to go back and see her be baptized. She has changed so much since we first started teaching her. After the baptism she got up to bare her testimony and she said she finally felt like she belonged. She testified of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. She had such a light about her and everyone was feeling of her sweet spirit. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have had to witness some of my brothers and sisters prepare and participate in this sacred ordinance. I wouldn't trade this for the world :) 

Today we had the chance to go to the ONE cool spot left in our mission! Its called Palouse falls and it is located right in the middle of nowhere just past Connell Washington on your way to Spokane. We decided to road trip it up there today and it was so beautiful. I am so grateful for this chance that I have had to be here. I truly love it and treasure the time that I have. Thank you for all of your love and prayers! They are working miracles in Pasco Washington! ❤

Love, 

Sister Madeline Whetten 

Week 71 - It's Raining, it's Pouring, My Comp is Sick of Me Snoring

Hello! We had so many cool miracles this week and I will do my very best to sum them up! 

We had an amazing lesson with Charity that left us excited and exhausted. She is so amazing and humble. We were teaching her about the plan of salvation and how it is the plan for her and her family. She loves her family and literally does everything for them so we knew it would make her happy to learn about. At the end of the lesson we testified of what we had just taught and she just looks at us with big eyes and said "I completely believe you" It so hard not to freak out when you hear something like that. We love her and her family so much and we are excited to see where things go. We may even get to throw a wedding in the upcoming weeks for her and Jaime! Stay tuned haha. 

Yesterday we had the best surprise waiting for us a church. Jess McCowin ( our 81 year old investigator that was in the hospital for the past month and a half) was just sitting there waiting for us when we walked into the chapel. He is so sweet and really just wants to be baptized so he can be sealed to his wife. We are really hoping his health permits him to take that step. 

We had a great lesson with Mercedes and Jeff last night about the commandments. We truly love them and it has been so amazing to see her grow in the gospel. Commandments can be a very hard thing when it is not a lifestyle that you are used to living. We are amazed at her faith to live them anyway and move forward toward her baptism date of October 22!!! She says she doesn't want anyone there so its going to be a bit of a shock when the entire ward shows up because they are so excited. 

We also had the fun experience of tracting in the cold rain last night. We definitely were unprepared and looked like drowned rats. Its ok though! it was worth the incredulous look we got from a lady as she proceeded to say "its wet outside." Well that's all I have for this week but I hope you all have a great one! keep Mercedes and Jess in your prayers. Thank you for all that you do! 

Love, 
Sister Madeline Whetten

Week 70 - Too Much Birthday Cake and Not Enough Conference!

Hello! We had a great week! Its starting to turn into fall which is actually very pretty here in the Tri-Cities. They have just enough trees to make it fun. It was Sister Maxwell's birthday this week so we celebrated with tons of cake and great members and investigators. Mercedes and Jeff made her a cake and everything. We love them and are so grateful to have met them. We had a neat experience with them this week. We went over to have a lesson and Mercedes' Mother was there from out of town. She was asking a lot of questions about her daughter being baptized so we were able to teach her about what we do and what we share. The next day we went back and taught her again and invited her to watch conference with us on Sunday.  She did and the spirit was very strong. We could tell that there were certain things that really stood out to her. 

The talk by Elder Dale G. Renlund on repentance really stood out to her as it did for all of us. It always amazes me when we talk about the Atonement bearing no scars. I love that visual. Thinking about my actual physical scars on my knees that show what I have been through it is wonderful to know that my emotional ones can be taken away as well. I know the Lord loves us and He wants us to come to him. With everything. Repentance and healing come ONLY through the Atonement of our Savior. I know that to be true and to see that knowledge touch the heart of someone seeking was a wonderful experience. 

We were also able to make contact with Charity and her family this week! WE had a great talk with her husband Jaime and we are hoping and praying to be able to get him and the kids involved with her teaching. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week! thank you for all that you do! I hope you LOVED conference as much as we did! 

Love, 
Sister Madeline Whetten

Week 69 - Baby Squirrels and Women's Conference

Hello! It has been a great week. It seems like it has just flown by, but we definitely got a ton accomplished. Well, we didn't.... The Lord did. He has some amazing plans for this area. Sister Maxwell and I just found out that we are staying together another transfer in Pasco 10th ward and WE ARE SO EXCITED!  Literally bouncing off the walls. 

This week we had some amazing lessons and even found a new investigator! Her name is Stephanie and we were able to teach her, on Tuesday, a little bit about the Restoration. She was excited and we are going to go back this next Tuesday, which will be great. 

We met with Mercedes a few times this week and we tackled the Word of Wisdom lesson. It had the potential to go either way, but with lots of prayers and definitely divine intervention it went awesome. She accepted to live it (which means some significant life changes) and is still pushing toward her October 18th baptismal date. We are so excited for her and have absolutely loved every second getting to know and teach her. She came with us to the Women's Conference on Saturday and you could tell it really touched her heart. Especially President Uchtdorf's talk on faith. Faith has been a new concept for her and he definitely said what she needed to hear. What we all needed to hear! Hearing how we can obtain and grow our faith motivates us to act. 

Speaking of acting...We had members of our ward out with us EVERY NIGHT this week! We couldn't believe it. It was awesome. Each time we had them we had a great experience. I know that the Lord truly blesses us as we step outside of our comfort zones and reach out to help our other brothers and sisters. 

The Squirrel: One of the members in our ward found a baby squirrel at a park and took it home to nurse it back to health. When we asked if there was anything we could help her with she asked if we'd like to help her feed this infant squirrel. His name is "nutsy" according to her kids. We couldn't stop laughing about it. So on Saturday, Sister Maxwell and I got to feed Nutsy, the squirrel. It was hilarious. Definitely something to remember. 

We have truly been blessed to be serving at this time. The Lord's work is moving and we get to be a part of it. Learning how to live and share the Atonement of Jesus Christ has turned my world around. I really do love it and I appreciate all of the support and love that I feel from you! I hope you have the best week! 

Love, 

Sister Madeline Whetten

Nutsy the squirrel

Our large and in charge district. They always make the sisters squat in front...... Ridiculous!

Week 68 - Zone Conference Reunion

Hello! It has been a busy, eventful week. Which we are so grateful for because with sister Maxwell's healing foot we aren't able to get out as much as we'd like. But, the Lord is still placing prepared people in our paths and helping us make the most out of every situation. 

We had zone conference this week which was SO FUN. I got to see two past companions and a ton of friends. You really meet the most wonderful people out here who bless your life so much. It was crazy to look around and see all of the missionaries I didn't know!! You dont realize you're old in the mission until you dont know any of the missionaries anymore. That's what happens when you get stuck in the Hermiston boonies for 6 months... haha. We received a great training on acting on revelation and answers from Heavenly Father. It was really about just being able to realize when you are having prayers answered. I think we are sometimes so focused on receiving these great audible answers that we miss the still small impressions that the Holy Ghost leaves in our minds and hearts.

OH MY. So we have been working with Mercedes right? The past couple of weeks President White had given us a challenge to invite at least one more person to be baptized and set a date before zone conference. Sister Maxwell and I took the challenge and prayerfully considered which one of our investigators we could invite again. After lots of fasting and prayer we decided to invite Mercedes to be baptized again. On Wednesday before zone conference we had a lesson with her and it was so powerful. Everything that we had studied for that morning was talked about and when It came time to invite her to consider a date it felt so right. We brought it up by talking about eternal families and about how her and Jeff could be sealed for time and all eternity. It was a special moment and we know that is what she truly wants. We were able to set a date for October 18 and she is determined to do anything and everything to make it. We love her family and we are so grateful for the opportunity we have to meet and work with them. They have truly been a blessing in our lives. Sister Maxwell and I have had the sweet confirmation that we are here for them. I know that Lord truly does care about each one of us individually and he just wants us to be happy. 

Thank you so much for all of your love and support! I hope you have the best week! 

Love, 

Sister Madeline Whetten 

Week 67 - This week is on FIRE!

Hello! This week has been great, although there is not much to report on. We did have a couple of amazing lessons though! Also, there were a ton of fires in the area...BUT don't worry!!! We were all safe and sound. Also we got to make s'mores with a member last night, so Sister Maxwell and I are giving off the lovely smokey vibe today.

We are still working with Mercedes and she is really doing awesome. She has little to no knowledge about the Gospel, so we have really been taking it step by step. It is so fun to see her learn though. She is like a sponge and just soaks it all up. We have been making prayer and communication with her Heavenly Father a big focus. She says she loves all that she learns and has been making a conscious effort to build a knowledge for herself. We showed her the video of Al Fox Carraway and it was perfect for her. She is a little self conscious about her tattoos but we have been constantly reassuring her that it is OK. So the video was awesome and it talked all about prayer which was perfect.

I know that it is so important to share that time with our Father in heaven. He wants to communicate with us and he loves when we reach out. I know that as we earnestly strive to reach out to him through prayer, He will always answer and reassure us. 

We also were able to go into primary this week and talk about missionary work. It was so cute to see their little faces light up when we talked about how Heavenly Father blesses us as missionaries. When we asked if they were all going to serve missions their little hands shot up so fast we thought they were going to fall out of their chairs. We can all learn from their humble sweet examples of how to be ready and willing to serve the Lord in any way. 

I hope you all had a great week!! Thank you for everything!!! 

Love you all! 

Love, 

Sister Madeline Whetten

Week 66 - Finding, Teaching, Baptism, and Temple!

Hello! 

It has been the CRAZIEST week. My investigator Linda from Hermiston was finally able to be baptized this week! It was the most amazing thing. She didn't know I would get to come so when Sister Gomez and I showed up there were many tears. I had the opportunity to speak at the baptism. It was so wonderful to see her there just so full of joy as she was making this covenant with our Heavenly Father. Everyone there was just overwhelmed with emotion because of what she has gone through to get to this point. She is so strong and I am overjoyed for her.

We also had the opportunity to go through the temple with the Berry family from Hermiston. We had helped them prepare and got to go and experience that special moment with them. I again was overwhelmed with love and joy for them as they made more sacred promises in the temple. Its not very often that you get so many of those experiences in a week.

Back to good ol' Pasco. Things are actually going great here. Our investigator Mercedes is doing great. She is applying what the spirit is teaching her and really trying to make the necessary changes in her life to come closer to Jesus Christ. She also fed us amazing dinner this week with her husband Jeff and we had a great time getting to know them better. Sister Maxwell and I have really loved getting to know and serve their family. We know they are loved by our Father in Heaven and that he wants to see them progress.

We also found a new investigator this week! Her name is Charity. Her mother is an inactive member but her grandmother was very active when she was alive. She feels naturally drawn to the church and we had such a wonderful spirit-filled lesson with her last night. She is full of desire to change and she recognizes the hole that needs to be filled. We love her already and we are excited to see what the time brings.

 I love you all so much and I hope you have the best week! Thank you for all that you do.

Love, 

Sister Madeline Whetten