November 17, 2014- Stitches!!

Hello!

So much to tell about this week!  Well the first part of the week went so great!  We met this older lady who needed help cleaning out her shed.  She was a really tough negotiator and wanted to pay us for it.  We told her no she couldn't pay us but she finally settled on just cooking us lunch. (We can't turn that down)  After we helped her and ate lunch we were able to teach her and her daughter the restoration.  It was so awesome!  They are really excited to read the Book of Mormon.  That was a testimony builder for me on something I heard one of my Zone Leaders say a while back, Service Softens Stony Souls.  Service can turn a no into a yes!  It can help someone who wasn't interested in hearing our message before become more open.  

Well some other crazy things happened this week too.  On Thursday I fell right on the floor in our hallway and ended up getting a big cut on my head. (leave it up to me to do something like that right?)  Anyways that completely threw off our day.  I realized that I would probably need stitches.  Spending 4 hours in the ER waiting to get stitched up wasn't really what we had planned that day.  I'm doing good though!  I was out working like normal again after lunch!  

Well we also found a solid new investigator!  His name is Chris and he had been taught by missionaries not too long ago.  He had a baptismal date and everything but ended up backing out.  Well when we taught him this week he told us he wanted to finish the lessons.  We invited him to get baptized on December 6th and he said he would.  Man I am so pumped for him!  He is a really cool kid.  

Also Elder Flores is doing amazing!  He speaks Spanish and the other night he taught a lesson all in Spanish and did so great!  I didn't really understand what was going on but I could tell he had the spirit and that is all you need!  

Well thank you all for everything!  Love yall!

Elder Whetten

November 10, 2014- Hump Daaaay!

Dear Family and Friends,

Whats up?!  This week has been a good one!  There are a lot of exciting things going on in Hamilton right now.  First of all, I feel like I finally know how to get around town!  Even without the help of my trusty GPS.  I know that's pretty sad right since It's a super small town and I have been here for 2 months.  Oh well.  

So our investigators are so awesome!  Most of our progressing investigators are doing so well they just haven't accepted a baptism date yet.  One of them (James) has come to church the past 3 weeks and loves it!  Yesterday there was a member of the branch who asked him if he was there from the Stake.  It was so funny/cool. He has a testimony of the Book of Mormon and hopefully as we continue to meet with him he will take that next step to baptism!  

Donovan is another awesome guy we are teaching.  He was taught by missionaries here before but lost contact with them.  Well while we were emailing one week we started talking to this girl about the Book of Mormon and as we were talking he came up and started talking to us too!  He remembered a lot about the Book of Mormon and started to explain to this girl what it was.  It was really cool.  He wants to come to church really bad but works like every Sunday.  He is excited to come to the scripture class we have on Tuesday nights though.  

Those are the highlights of my week!  Oh and thank you for all of the "hump day" reminders....I guess. Haha time is going by too fast.  Where did the year go?  Anyways, I love you all!  Have a great week

November 3, 2014- New Companion & A Baptism!

Hey everyone!

How is everything going?  Things here are awesome.  We have had a pretty busy week with transfers and everything.  The beginning of the week was super sad with Mayfield and the sisters leaving but we had a ton of fun!  There are just so many awesome things going on in the area right now.  Like Elder Flores! He is my new companion and he is a champ! He is from Spanish Fork Utah.  He is excited to be out here and we have already been doing good work.  He really seems cool with trying anything whether it's street contacting, tracting, or whatever.  

I hope this week wasn't too overwhelming for him because we had a lot going on.  We had Brother Gann's baptism coming up but he wasn't feeling well at all so he couldn't meet with us until the day before.  It was stressing us out a little bit but on Sunday he was ready!  Although so much went wrong before the baptism (like the plug in the font not working right...bah!)  Everything worked out and Brother Gann was baptized!  I am so excited for him.  The Branch President is going to see about him getting the priesthood soon!  

So..Ya!  Pretty awesome week!  Love you all!

Elder Whetten

Pictures!!

These were pictures that my mom found floating around Facebook!

October 27, 2014- Training A Newbie!

Hey everybody!

Well it looks like the vacation is over.  We got some crazy news on our transfer calls Saturday night.  Elder Mayfield will be leaving, I will be staying and training a new missionary!  Plus we found out they are pulling the sisters out of our area.  It will be a challenge but I am so excited to meet this new missionary.  We will have a fun transfer especially because I'm still "directionaly challenged" (if that's even a word?) and still find it hard to find places here.  

I'm glad to still be serving here in Hamilton and I am super thankful that I served with such awesome missionaries here. (Seriously, Elder Mayfield is the man!)  This new missionary is coming to a great area because of the hard work others have put in to it.  

We are all set for Brother Ganns baptism this week.  He is pumped about it!  We just need to schedule an interview and he will be set.  We also have some golden people we are working with here.  We are teaching a guy named James and he is so solid!  He came to church yesterday and when we drove up to see if he was ready he was already outside waiting for us with his scriptures and a nice suit.  We were worried the Branch was going to think he was visiting from the high council or something haha.  

Well I hope yall have a great week!  I'm excited to get back to you on all the awesome stuff that will happen this week.

Elder Whetten

October 20, 2014- Miracles Happen When You Show Up Late!

Hello!

Best week ever!  Elder Mayfield and I have just been working hard and having fun here in Hamilton.  The coolest things happened this week.  Wednesday before District Meeting we were waiting for our Zone Leader and another Elder to show up so we could start.  We decided to mess with them a little bit for being late.  We all drove a little ways from the church in different directions so there would be no one there when they got there.  While we were waiting around the corner from the church the STLs wanted to do a little competition to see who could get a new investigator  before the other Elders show up.  We split up and ran to the nearest houses.  Nobody was home because this is like 12 30 on a Wednesday.  Well the other missionaries called us and said to come back to the church but we decided to knock on one more door.  Well someone finally answered!  A girl who was taking a sick day.  We were as bold and forward as we could be and shared a scripture with her from the Book of Mormon, then taught her about the Book of Mormon.  She agreed to pray with us and we set up a return appointment.  It was bomb!  The STLs even found a new investigator too, so the moral of the story is: When we show up late to District Meeting miracles happen!  Ha!  (Sarcasm)  Really though if we use all of the Lord's time doing his work he is going to bless us.

Also we have a baptism coming up!  Another guy named Gary haha.  He had a baptism date before but I guess right before I got to Hamilton he called and told Mayfield that he couldn't give up coffee and tea.  Yesterday at church he told us he had quit and he wanted to schedule his baptism.  I am so excited about life right now. Everything is going awesome!  Well I hope yall have a great week!  Thank you all for everything!

Elder Whetten

October 13, 2014- Grow A Polite Spine

Hey Everybody!

How are yall doing?  This was another one of those crazy weeks over here.  What even happened to this week anyway?  It went by too fast!  This week we started to count baptism invites on our key indicators.  Because of that our district leader trained on inviting or at least bringing up baptism at the first lesson.  Something I'm not the best at.  I'm super excited about this though because it will help me improve.  Right after District Meeting I went on an exchange with Elder Vance (he is the man!) and we really focused on inviting people to be baptized.  Well our first appointment was with a lady named April and when I asked her before the lesson what she hoped to gain from meeting with us she told us, "I am set in my ways and I'm never going to change but I love hearing anything about The Lord."  Not the best start haha.  The whole lesson didn't go at all like we hoped it would but by the end we finally invited her to baptism.  Well....she didn't accept but still wants us to come back and bring a Book of Mormon.  This taught me a lot.  It taught me that we don't have to be in that ideal situation in order to be bold.  All we can do as missionaries is try and make the most spiritual setting as we can but that doesn't always mean it will be spiritual.  It also gave me more confidence to just be bold all the time!  Or to "Grow a polite spine" as President Hanks says it.  

Another awesome thing this week was Stake Conference.  We drove to Tupelo Mississippi (birthplace of Elvis! hehe)  on Saturday night and it was an awesome session of Stake Conference! 

Those were some of the highlights of the week over here!  I hope yall had a great week!

Elder Whetten

October 6, 2014- College Kids & Conference

Hey!

This has been the best week!  Last week we started emailing at a new place because it is awesome!  It's a campus for a community college.  Well right after emailing last week we taught 3 kids here who had questions for us.  They were kind of trying to argue with us but I think it really ended on a spiritual note and they are going to read the Book of Mormon.  Because of that we got a text from someone that night telling us to meet him at a restaurant in town cause he had some questions for us.  I guess that sounds a little sketchy cause we had no idea who this guy was but it turned out alright.  We were able to answer a lot of questions he had about the church and although he didn't want to be taught, I'm still glad we were able to clear up some misconceptions he had. 

We also had exchanges this week.  That was super fun.  I stayed in Hamilton with Elder Johnson.  He is super cool and we had fun.  Especially since I still don't know the area as well as I would hope. (yall know how bad I am with directions haha) 

Conference was absolutely the best part of the week!  I love conference as a missionary!  All of it was so amazing but I loved Elder Bednars talk.  As I have just been trying to get as much from conference as I can these last 2 conferences I have gained a stronger testimony of this church!  I know it is true and I know that the leaders of the church are truly inspired of God.  I am so thankful for the Prophets and Apostles and for the truth that they share.  I love conference and I love all of you! haha Thank yall for everything and I hope you have a fantastic week! 

Elder Whetten

September 22, 2014- Hello Hamilton!

Hello! 

So this has been the craziest week ever!  I said goodbye to everyone in Fort Payne which kinds sucked haha.  We had the best lesson with a lady named Debra.  When we first found her she was a little bit skeptical but the spirit just worked on her like crazy as we continued to teach her.  We gave her a Book of Mormon and invited her to read and pray.  Well we went over there Monday night so I could say goodbye and to ask how her reading went.  She told us she had been reading every night.  We asked if she would pray to know if it's true and she said, "well I've been doing that and I already know it's true so where do I go from there?"  Ah man!  It was so great.  It made it a little harder to leave Fort Payne but that's alright I'm excited to be in my new area.  I am in Hamilton Alabama!  My new companion is Elder Mayfield and he is the man!  We are going to have so much fun together!  We both came out at the same time so that's pretty cool.  I'm stoked to be in Hamilton too.  It's the smallest branch I have ever seen but the people here are just super awesome!  We have a lot of investigators here too and a lot of them are so golden!  It is going to be a great transfer.  I love you all and hope you have an amazing week!

Elder Whetten

September 15, 2014- Keep Your Arrows Out!

What's up?!

What can I say about this week?  It was great!  Kind of bittersweet though.  But first let me talk about Zone conferences.  It was so awesome having Elder Zwick in the mission.  I really felt the spirit during that meeting.  Not only from Elder Zwicks training but from the trainings given by President and Sister Hanks too.  They all talked a lot about progress.  Missionary work all has to do with progress.  The progress of others.  President Hanks always says we need to keep our arrows out!  Meaning we need to focus on others all the time instead of focusing in on ourselves.  We will be much happier that way and we will find that as we focus on others progression we will progress more than we ever thought we could.  Those were just some of the highlights for me of Zone conference.  Later that night Elder Zwick had a fireside with all of the ward council members in the stake.  It was all about finding and preparing people (friends, family, co workers...) to be taught.  It was an awesome fireside and since then we have been getting a lot of referrals!  It's great.  

So the bittersweet news... After 6 months in Fort Payne I guess it's time for me to get going!  I really feel like I learned so much from this area.  I know that an area is what you make it, depending on your attitude and the work you put in to it.  It's going to be sad saying goodbye to everyone.  I'll miss it.  I will let yall know where I end up later this week and who my new companion is.  I love yall and hope you have a fantastic week!

September 8, 2014- Questions? Read the Book of Mormon!

Hey Everybody!

So this was such a cool week!  One of the coolest experiences we had this week was a lesson with Estella.  We went over there with the Young Womens president and her husband and before we even go into the lesson she brings out her Book of Mormon and tells us she had been reading from it a lot lately.  She totally loves it!  She was like, "you were right! It is answering a lot of questions I had from the Bible!"  It is just awesome to see that her testimony of the Book of Mormon is slowly growing because she finally read it with a humble heart.  Now on to the next challenge... We need to get her to church.  

Hmmm What else is going on here in Fort Payne?  We are having Zone Conferences again tomorrow because Elder Zwick of the 70 is coming to our mission.  I am super pumped about that!  It is going to be sweet!  Rumor has it he is coming to our Zone and might be visiting apartments and stuff.  Who knows it may just be the Zone Leaders making sure all of our apartments are super clean haha.  It should be such a great week though and I am just loving life right now.  I love you all and I hope yall have awesome weeks!

Elder Whetten

September 2, 2014- Perspective

Heyy!  The library was closed yesterday.  Sorry this is late.  How are all y'all doing?  This week was a really awesome week here in Fort Payne!  We have just been finding so many awesome people!  One guy we talked to was so prepared.  He told us he was looking for a church to go to and wants us to come back and teach him and his wife.  Not only that but a couple of days later we walked past his apartment again, he stopped us and asked if he could have some more restoration pamphlets to give to his friends.  So cool! 

So yesterday we went on a Zone hike. We hiked up a mountain (big hill haha) in Huntsville.   It was super awesome and when we got to the top the view was amazing.  We studied for a while up there and then had kind of a testimony meeting.  It was really spiritual.  One sister in the zone talked about the perspective we had on top of the hill, where we could just see for miles, compared to the perspective we had while we were hiking through the trees.  Then she compared it to the perspectives we have in missionary work.  That got me thinking a lot too.  One thing President Hanks talks a lot about is remembering the spiritual experiences we have on the mission.  That they can help us through hard times we have.  Yesterday on that mountain I got a better understanding of that.  When we have awesome spiritual experiences our perspective changes.  It's like we are on top of a mountain.  As we remember those spiritual experiences it will help us through hard times in life.  When we are hiking through crazy Alabama trees and we can't see 20 feet ahead haha.  Anyways I have no idea if that makes any sense but it does to me.  It was a pretty cool experience! 

I love you all and I hope yall have a great week!

Today!- Don't Freak Out (Keep Reading)

Hello!  This was such an awesome week!  It wasn't as busy as last week which is actually good because we had more time this week to find!  Monday night was awesome!  We went to one of our new investigators house to kind of drop by and when we got to his door we could see through his window (we weren't being creepy haha) anyways we noticed that he was reading the Book of Mormon.  It was so awesome! We gave it to him last week and he is already in Mosiah.  Heck yeah.

On Tuesday we did a lot of service so that was pretty fun!  Nothing super cool happened though...

Wednesday we went to Huntsville for zone conference and that was so awesome!  President Hanks gave such a great training.  It scared us a little bit though.  He told the APs to shut the doors and then told us there were some really difficult things he had to tell us and that things were going to get harder for us.  He had a slide on the power point that had some of the things he needed to say.  He told us that one of the apostles had denied the truth and that another one of the general authorities had been caught in adultery and possibly murder. Also that there were mass resignations at church headquarters.  He said because of this a lot of things were going to change and that things were going to get crazy!  You can imagine how it felt in that room haha.  Well of course it wasn't true (at least in our day).  He then said the apostle he was referring to was Peter, when he denied Christ 3 times.  The other general authority was David, when he messed up with Bathsheba.  He did say that something like this can and probably will happen.  Things probably will get harder and if and when they do are we going to be ready for it.  It was a great training on how our testimonies have to be strong.  They can't built on others testimonies.  Even the apostles.  I am thankful for the testimony that I have of the Gospel.  Anyways, zone training was just super awesome!  I love hearing President Hanks train! 

Thursday night we got a solid new investigator named Leeann.  She is the neighbor of a less active woman we have been working with and she wanted us to come and give her a priesthood blessing.  After we gave the blessing we taught the restoration.  It went so well and it was awesome to see Sister Morehead (less active member) fellowship Leeann. 

Well those were the highlights of my week!  It is so awesome just being here serving in Alabama.  I hope yall have a great week!  Love yall!

Elder Whetten

 

August 18th, 2014- Busy, Busy, Busy

Craziest week of my life!  It was so busy I love it!  We were able to have so much success.  On Monday we picked up a new investigator named Johnny.  He is a really cool guy.  Super talkative but he has been reading the pamphlet we gave him and is really excited to read the Book of Mormon.  On Tuesday we hardly had time to do everything we had planned.  We went to the other Johnny's house to do some service for him and right after that we rushed to CASA (a food bank place) to fit in some service there.  We couldn't stay there long because we had to rush home to meet a member who was going with us on a teamup.  That went really well.  Wednesday we went to District Meeting in Guntersville and then went on an exchange.  I stayed in Guntersville with Elder Dietrich and Elder Nielson went back to Fort Payne.  Him and Elder Turley did so awesome here!  They were able to find there way around the area (I was worried about that)  and they set a baptism date for Curtis!  I was so pumped! On Thursday I got back to Fort Payne in time to go on another regular teamup we have on Thursday mornings. After that teamup we went into town to see Estella.  She still hasn't read the Book of Mormon lately... but it will happen.  Then she will come to church and get baptized! haha We have had a lot of spiritual lessons with her.  After Estella we ran to help the Nelsons pack up because they moved to Collinsville.  Then got back to the apartment as fast as we could to get picked up for yet another teamup.  We went to see Brother Laney a less active.  He is a really cool guy he is just really hesitant to talk about the church.  We are making progress though because that night we were actually able to share a scripture with him and talk about that.  Friday was the only day we had to try and see some other investigators like Debra and then see some potential investigators.  It ended up going really well.  Saturday morning we helped the Nelsons move and then went to a Branch party.  This branch has the coolest parties ever.  They had it right next to a lake and had boats and jet skis and stuff.  It was so tempting but don't worry, I was obedient. I stayed on the shore and ate a lot of food haha. Sunday was crazy because we found out in sacrament meeting that one of us was going to have to teach Gospel principles.  Someone also asked me to go into their Sunday School class and talk about the importance of keeping journals.  So while I did that Elder Nielson was teaching Gospel Principles.  He is a stud.  After church we went on another team up with the Branch President.  That guy is funny.  He was super bold with the members we saw too.  It went good.  That night we went back to the church for a Stake priesthood broadcast because some of our other appointments fell through.  Then right after that meeting we drove to Guntersville to stay the night there because we were supposed to wake up early this morning and drive to Huntsville with the Gville Elders for another "Zone Activity" (a hike).  Well this morning we woke up early but got a text from the Zone Leaders saying because of some thunderstorms the hike was cancelled.  So we just got back from Guntersville a little while ago.  That ends the busiest week of my life!!  It was awesome.  I hope yall had a great week.  I love you all

Elder Whetten

August 11th, 2014- Flat Tire= New Investigators!

Hello!  This has been such a crazy awesome week!  It started off kind of sad with it being Elder Lundeens last few days.  He worked super hard though until it was over.  I'm really glad I got to serve with him I learned a lot!

My new companion is Elder Nielsen from Twin Falls Idaho.  He is the nicest guy I'm excited to serve with him.  We have already seen so many blessings come.  One of the coolest things happened on Friday.  We started biking from our apartment when Elder Nielsen got a flat tire.  Because of that we decided to walk.  Well while walking we were able to talk to a lot more people.  The coolest thing is some people stopped us to talk to us.  We weren't walking too long when this lady and her husband ran up to us, asked us if we were Mormons, and wanted a Book of Mormon.  She told us she was a member that hadn't been to church in a while.  She had just got to Fort Payne the night before so we gave her the address to the church and got her number.  Her husband isn't a member so hopefully we can start teaching them!  

Not even 2 hours later we were walking downtown when a guy comes out of his store and tells us to come in and have some water.  It was like a family business so we started talking to him, his brother, his sister and his bro in law.  They were asking us a lot of good questions so we asked if they wanted a pamphlet.  He was like, "Yeah that's what I wanted to get form yall!"  We invited him to be taught and are going to call him and set up a time soon!  

That is only a couple of the miracles we saw this week.  We also had an awesome lesson with Estella.  She knows she needs to be baptized and wants it so bad!  She just has some concerns.  We are trying to help her come to church and hopefully when she comes it will get rid of a lot of the concerns she has.  She seems so ready!  She knows the Gospel will bless her life.  

It has just been a great week!  The Lord is preparing people everywhere it's so awesome!  I'm so thankful to be out here!

I love you all have a great week!

Elder Whetten

August 4th, 2014- Groundver? Beavhog?

Hello! 

This week has been a really good one! Monday night we dropped in on this guy who had met missionaries before and even went to church before but didn't come back because he thought church was super boring haha.  Really cool guy though!  He had the craziest animal ever in his garage.  He must have just found it and it was injured or something.  None of us knew if it was like a groundhog or a beaver or what....  Tuesday and Wednesday were super fun!  I went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders and went with Elder Zundel to Scottsboro.  I went with him to teach this kid in their area who is getting baptized so that's pretty sweet.  After that Elder Zundel and I headed to Guntersville and played basketball there with the Guntersville Elders and ward members.  Doesn't sound like the most effective thing but there were a bunch of nonmembers and less actives there too so it was awesome!  That night we stayed the night in Guntersville and exchanged back there at district meeting.  Thursday night was great because we saw a less active member who usually does not want to have a gospel discussion.  That night he actually brought up gospel topics.  Friday night we saw a family we have been working with for a while. A grandmother and her grandson.  They are both members but the grandson hasn't been super active.  He is a Deacon but didn't really want/care much to come to church.  Well that night he asked us to give him a blessing since he was nervous about school starting.  He is starting to understand the importance of the priesthood. 

Sunday was so good too!  Another less active we have been working with made it to church and even bore her testimony.  She is super cool and I think she will be a big strength to the branch!  Then Sunday night we were tracting and met the coolest guy!  He is Baptist but told us how much respect he has for Mormons and how he wishes Baptist churches would be more like us.  We don't meet too many people like that haha.  Anyways we are going to start teaching him!!  The Lord really blessed us this week!  Well I hope yalls week was awesome!  I love yall!

Elder Whetten

July 28th, 2014- The Curse of the Flat Tires

Eyyy everyone!  So this was a challenging week but a fun one.  I'm sure a lot of you know this but it sucks to be randomly dropped by a progressing investigator!  At least she was super nice about it.  She will probably be more prepared later so future missionaries better try to contact her again.  Also I am convinced that I am cursed haha.  Still more bad luck with flat tires this week but this time It was my companion.  It was just one of those things where it was so bad we just had to laugh about it.  Good news is we saw a less active member who is ready to come back to church!  He usually had to work on Sundays but his schedule has finally changed.  I'm excited to see him come this week!

Not much else has been going on.  Elder Lundeen has been getting ready to go back to Phoenix.  It's about that time again, transfers are coming up.  We have spent some time this week trying to pawn his bike off and he finally got it sold this morning.  So that has been fun.  Sorry it's a little short this week.  I don't have a whole lot of time.  I love you all and hope you have an awesome week.

July 21st, 2014- Soccer, Solid Members, & a GUITAR!!

What is up everybody?  This has been a good week!  On Monday we drove to Scottsboro to have a little Zone activity thing!  It was pretty fun we played some soccer and some ultimate frisbee.  It was also super hot though!!

Tuesday night we went and met with Brad (This guy we have kind of been teaching who actually got baptized in Atlanta this week)  He is such a solid member!  He used to have a giant collection of movies....so many movies haha!  When we walked in his house that night I noticed they were all gone.  He told us since they weren't really the best movies (most of them were R rated)  He pawned them all off.  So he is doing really great! 

Wednesday we met with Curtis and talked to him for a while.  I even got to play his guitar for a little bit.  It has been way too long!  Anyways we taught him the Restoration and it went awesome!

Thursday was the best!  That night we met with Beverly for the first time in a couple of weeks.  It was so good because she is actually progressing!  She read and studied the Restoration pamphlet we left her which usually never happens haha.  Then read the Book of Mormon introduction with her.  She knows that it can really bless her family and we are working on getting her to church!

Friday and Saturday weren't my favorites.... I had the worst luck.  In those two days I probably had 3 flat tires so that was terrible. 

Overall it was an awesome week!  I'm loving being a missionary and I love you all!

Elder Whetten

 

July 14th, 2014- Coincidence? I Think Not

How's it going everybody?  It has been going awesome here in Fort Payne!  Not a whole lot of news about any of our investigators.  We finally got to see Daniel!  It is so hard to contact him because he can only call or text people who have verizon and our phone is sprint.... Dumb!  We saw him yesterday for just a little bit.  He is really struggling with this new job he has.  I hope he can find something else because this new job is really holding him back from coming to church. So that is pretty lame...

But!  We have been finding so many people to teach!  This whole time we have really been focusing on tracking down Former Investigators.  There was one kid named Curtis we tried last month but when we found his address we could tell no one lived there anymore.  Well this week we were tracting and knocked on his Mom's door!  Turns out they had moved a few months ago so it is really awesome that we were able to find them!  We are going to start teaching Curtis, his Mom Angie, and her fiance Jeff.  They are very open so I am pumped!  Plus Curtis is a guitar player in his band so that's pretty sweet.  

Other than that not much else happened this week.  Except for running into a bunch of crazy baptists who were concerned for our souls.  We meet a bunch of people out here who want to save us haha

The Lord has really blessed us!  I am so thankful I am out here serving him and that I am a part of his work!  I love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Whetten

July 7th, 2014- Fourth of July Fireworks & FOOD!

Hey everybody!  How was everyone's week?  My week was pretty awesome.  Earlier in the week we had a great lesson with a new investigator named Beverly.  We taught her the restoration and she seems very prepared.  But of course there is always opposition... She told us a couple of days ago that she was having some shoulder problems and on top of that she has shingles.  No fun...  So we aren't sure when we are going to be able to meet with her again.

We saw Daniel on Saturday!  He is still very interested and actually was off work on Saturday night so we asked if he wanted to come to church!  Well his wife got baptized in another church yesterday and he wanted to be there to support her.  We talked with him about baptism and gave him the invitation.  He understands that it is a big commitment and is going to really ponder and pray about it.  Which is awesome! That's what we want!  

We picked up another investigator a couple of weeks ago named Brad.  Super cool guy.  He was introduced to the church by a friend in Atlanta.  He went to church in Atlanta with him and the missionaries there started teaching him.  He is going to be baptized on the 13th in Atlanta.  I guess he should be baptized here but he already has all the fellowship and friends in Atlanta.  I'm so excited for him but we are trying to transition him into the Fort Payne branch since he lives in our boundaries.  He was supposed to come to church here yesterday but texted us before it started and said he wasn't going to make it.  He said he had been praying and there was something he needed to do, and that he would explain more the next time we meet with him.  I'm not sure if that's good or not haha.  I can't wait to meet with him next week and find out what the heck happened!

That's about how my week went!  Other than a fun 4th of July!  We were able to go some fireworks Thursday night that Fort Payne put on and the next night we went to see a part member family who were actually having a cook-out.  They invited us to stay and have some food so that was pretty sweet!  These people know how to grill out! haha we really lucked out that night.  We even had a pretty good gospel discussion with Jeff (the nonmember) and we cleared up a lot of misconceptions he had heard about us so it was great!  

Well I love yall!  Hope that you have a great week!

Elder Whetten

 

June 30th, 2014- Questions & Good Old Fashioned Service

What's up everyone?

I'm doing great here in Fort Payne!  This week was a bit of a challenging one...but there were also lots of blessings!  Challenging because our investigators all seem to have hit some kind of trial.  We met with Daniel this week and answered a lot of questions he had after coming to church.  He had a lot of questions about things that mostly had to do with the temple. (yikes!)  He asked us about Genealogy, baptisms for the dead, and why not just everybody can enter into temples.  We answered all of his questions and he seems to be cool and accepting about all of it!  So cool he is a solid investigator. Only problem is he just got a job that is going to make it harder for him to come to church because he will usually have to work until 4 Sunday morning.  We are going to keep stressing how important the restored gospel is and why coming to church is so important. 

Yesterday we finally were able to meet with Estella.  She told us she had started going to another church that she really liked.  She still would love us to come by but she is all about the Bible and says she doesn't like how all we ever talk about is the Book of Mormon.  So we aren't really sure where to go from there.  

Like I said we did see a lot of blessings this week though.  On Friday we helped build a ramp for a family in the branch.  It was a lot of fun and just some good old fashioned service.  I love that.  Then on Sunday in Branch council we brought up a couple of our investigators and it was awesome to hear all the ideas they were coming up with to help and fellowship our investigators.  I think the spirit of missionary work is starting to grow in the branch.  Sweet! 

Well I hope all yall have a great week! 

Love, Elder Whetten

June 23rd, 2014- Three Different States & Three New Investigators!

Awesome week!  I have now hit up 3 of the 4 states in my mission thanks to our branch mission leader!  Because he lives in Georgia we have spent time there and also just this week he was moving a bunch of stuff into a storage unit in Tenessee and he asked us to come help him with that.  It was a lot of fun!  So Bam!  All I need now is to find my way to Mississippi somehow haha. 

Even the past few days have been amazing!  We had an investigator (Daniel) come to church and he is so solid!  He participated in Sunday School and in the Priesthood lesson and seemed like he really liked it.  He even brought a notebook and wrote down questions he had for us or something he liked that the speakers said.  I'm excited to meet with him again. 

We also got 3 new investigators at church!  They are a family who were taking Geneology classes and decided to visit the branch this week.  We are going to start teaching them this week too!    It made for a pretty busy Sunday because while I was showing this family to Gospel Principles and getting to know them a little Elder Lundeen was giving Daniel a quick tour of the church. That's a good type of busy though haha I loved it! The Lord has really blessed us this week!

I hope you all have a great week!  Love y'all!

Elder Whetten

 

June 16, 2014- Free Cake & Lamanite DNA

What's up everybody!

I hope you are all doing great!  It was a great week this week.  On Tuesday we had about an hour that we had no idea what we could do.  We decided to start walking to a ladys house who said we 'might' be able to come by and do some service.  (it's so hard around here to get people to let us serve them!) But anyways on our way to her house this guy walked out of his apartment to talk to us. (That rarely happens so I was pumped)  He thanked us for the work we were doing, told us it was his birthday, and invited us inside to have some of his birthday cake.  You could call that kind of sketchy...I call it free cake haha.  We had a good conversation with him and set an appointment to teach him on Thursday. It was awesome!  Even if he was a little drunk....

I wasn't able to come back to teach him on Thursday but I hear it went great!

Thursday I was on an exchange in Guntersville with our district leader Elder Hunt.  It's cool because He was my Zone Leader when I first got to Alabama and was one of the first missionaries I met.  Glad I get to serve with him again.  Even though he is really good at reminding me how fast the time is going by.  Seriously he was like, "This transfers about over, so you have pretty much been out 7 and a half months. Plus your time in the MTC makes it 8 months...You have been out so long!"  I was just like, "What the crap?! Where is the time going?"    So it was a fun exchange!  I really like Guntersville it is so pretty because all of it is just surrounded by a lake.

On Friday we went to the temple.  Probably my favorite part of the week!  I felt the spirit super strong this time and just felt really happy afterwards.  Best feeling ever. I love the temple. 

On Saturday we got a few new investigators who I'm really excited about.  We met this lady Juanita and had a cool experience with her.  To make a long story short she was telling us that she was part Cherokee indian. Some of her friends told her she should get a DNA test or something because she had heard some things about some Indians being traced all the way back to a Jewish bloodline.  She was wondering how that could be and we were just like, "Whaaattt!? The Book of Mormon has the answer to that!"  She told us that sparked her interest and she really wanted to read it.  I'm excited to see her again. 

Anyways I sort of threw a lot of random things in this email but it was a really good week!  I hope that yall have an awesome week this week Love ya!

Elder Whetten

June 9th, 2014- Service, Nervous, and... Pit Bull Attack?

Hey!

It was such a great week!  So a few weeks ago we were out tracting and we knocked on a mans door who has a lot of trouble speaking and is confined to a wheel chair because of a stroke he had a long time ago.  When we found him I guess he was in the process of trying to do some rearranging in his house.  His house was just a mess and we offered to help him in any way we could.  So the past few weeks we have been going to his house and helping him clean and rearrange.  I don't know why this is coming to my mind right now but I just wanted to let yall know how great it is giving service!  It is seriously the best!  We are buddies with this guy now and it is amazing to see how grateful he is for our help each week.

Well we have also been focusing a lot on visiting less active members in the branch.  Hopefully we can start seeing these members more regularly cause they are great.  It's just hard because they are so spread out and most of them live really far from Fort Payne.  One of the highlights of the week was church yesterday.  President Hanks came to speak in our sacrament meeting so that was awesome!  Even though he decided to stay for our Gospel Principles class and it just happened to be a week I was teaching the class.  You could say I was a little nervous.  I think it went well though haha.  

Anyways, other than all that (and also a close call with a ferocious, attacking pit bull) this week has been pretty normal!  I hope that you all have a great week!  I love you!

Elder Whetten

June 2nd, 2014- Fireflies and Fishin'

I cannot believe it is already June!  Where is the time going?  I hope that all of you had an awesome week!  Mine was sure good!  I have been staying busy, hot, and wet from all this humidity.  Dodging rainstorms and roadkill while biking (a lot).  Then at night I have been getting super distracted by all these random glowing lights in the air.  I have come to learn that these are fireflies (never seen one before this week so that is kind of exciting)!  Then to top it all off we spent some time fishing in Georgia.  All this has made me realize that Summer in the South is where it's at!!

Yesterday had to have been the best as far as investigators go.  We went to a former investigators home (her name is Estella) and ended up teaching her family about the Book of Mormon.  She got really pumped and asked if we could come back maybe 2 or 3 times a week and have Bible/Book of Mormon study with her and her daughters.  After that we had a really great lesson with a recent convert less active couple.  She really opened up to us that she was struggling with her testimony because she never reads the BOM.  She finds it hard to understand since the Bible is what she was used to her whole life.  We are going to start reading with her and help her to understand it better.  

I can really see the blessings that are coming.  I know that the Lord is preparing people we just need to find them.  I am so excited to be a part of this work.  I love you all and hope y'all have a great week!

Elder Whetten

 

Slacking In My Duties...

I apologize for not posting any of Elder Whetten's emails for a while. He is doing great in Fort Payne! Stay tuned, as I will be posting all the emails I've missed throughout the day :)
Thanks for reading!

Sent May 26th, 2014

Hey everybody! Sorry I am so late emailing today. It's Memorial Day so the library is closed. I'm a little short on time too so ill apologize in advance for how short this is.  Things are going so great in Fort payne! We are really expanding our teaching pool and I feel like the branch is really being strengthened.  There is still a lot of work to be done (there always is haha) and I have really seen improvement.  Something that is going to help is the branch finally got a mission leader.  He is so cool too.  I'm excited to work with him.  Fort payne is just getting ready to blow up I can feel it. We found some new investigators. Some are just your typical crazy people ( love teaching crazy people by the way. Makes things even more fun.) but we really have some promising people we are teaching. They seem really prepared and I think they would be solid members.  Again sorry this is so short but remember that I love you all! Thank you for all the emails I love seeing how y'all are doing.  Hope everybody has an amazing week!

Love, 

Elder Whetten

Finally! A New Email!

Hello Everyone!

This week has been an awesome week!  The week feels like it has flown by but at the same time it feels like it has been so long.  I still don't understand that. Transfer meeting was on Wednesday It was the craziest day and was kind of sad.  Tons of great missionaries went home. Elder Harris got transfered too. I'm going to miss him but I am really pumped to be serving with my new companion.  My new comp is Elder Lundeen and he is from Phoenix!  This is probably going to be his last area since he only has 2 transfers to go.  I don't know why they keep sending me all these "trunky" guys! (for those of you who know what that means)  Just kidding he is still working hard and we have really seen the work pick up here in Fort Payne. I have noticed that Elder Lundeen is just so good at talking to people and striking up conversations that lead to invitations to hear our message. That's something I have seen with some of my last companions like Christensen and Del Francia and it is something I have really tried to emulate. I think I am getting the hang of it more and more each day.  Hopefully I will be a pro before too long.    

One of our focuses in Fort Payne right now is to strengthen the branch.  It has been going great and we have really been trying to bless the lives of the members here.  We have also found some success from trying to work with former investigators.  I feel like the Lord is starting to prepare more people here and I feel blessed to be a part of this work.  I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

Elder Whetten

Weather Report!

Dear Family and Friends,

Ahhh man!  What a crazy week!  I am so sorry that I haven't been able to email until now!  I know you guys at home might be a little worried.  Just wanted to let you know I am completely safe!  Those of you who may not know... a lot of our mission kind of got hammered by tornadoes Monday night.  It was an exciting night!  We spent the whole night huddled up in a laundry room listening to our weather radio.  There was a tornado pretty close to Fort Payne but it missed where we were staying.  I'm still not sure how many tornadoes touched down or where, Or even how bad the storm was in Fort Payne.  It's pretty hard to tell from a tiny enclosed room.  But anyways,  we made it!  Tuesday another round of the storm was supposed to hit later in the afternoon so we were told to stay inside pretty much all day.  Although other than some rain Tuesday night was really calm in FP  That's pretty much the highlight of the week!  I am very grateful for the Lord's blessings these past couple of days.  I'm glad we were able to stay safe and that no harm came to any missionaries in the mission.  He is definitely watching over us.  I'll be praying for all of those who were affected by the storm.  Hopefully now we will be able to get out and serve those who need us!  I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Elder Whetten

New Area, Hotter Weather, Testimony Builders, etc...

Dear Family and Friends,

 

Hey!  Sorry I haven't done a group email in a while! I am doing great here in Fort Payne! I can't believe how green it is here already!  It is getting pretty hot too.  I probably shouldn't be saying that yet since this is nothing compared to how hot it will be in the summer.  I sure can feel the humidity now though!  It looks so awesome here in the spring time!

 

I'll admit I was pretty discouraged last week because we had no one to teach and Elder Harris said that there isn't much member support here.  This week changed all of that.  Monday night we found 2 new investigators and then throughout the week we were able to find 5 more!  We also got a few names from the Relief Society pres. of less active people to visit.  Turns out one of the less actives has two 11 year old grandaughters who are thinking about getting baptized!  We just need to get them to church!  This week has been a testimony builder for me that the Lord truly answers prayers and wants us to have success so bad.  All we need to do is put in our part and work hard!

Elder Whetten

 

 

7 Minute Method, Baptisms, and Such

This is LAST week's email- 3/17/14

 

Hey everyone!  How have your weeks been?  This week was pretty awesome!  Saturday was the best!  Because of the baptism of course but also because we had a really spiritual experience.  So during Zone Training they introduced a new teaching method that President Hanks wants us to use.  It allows us to teach the restoration in only 7 minutes using pictures in the pamphlet.  I honestly didn't know how I felt about it because it feels like you are just skimming through everything and I didn't think that teaching like that would bring the spirit in as much.  Well we went to visit Gary on Saturday and we ended up talking to his neighbor (whose name is also Gary).  I felt a prompting that this would be a great chance to use the new method so I asked him if we could share a really quick message with him.  After we flew through the first lesson he was crying and we all felt the spirit really strong.  He was so happy because he said he hadn't felt the spirit is months and thought he had done something wrong.  It was amazing.  We set up an appointment with him for tomorrow and maybe we can invite him to baptism!

Well Saturday night was the baptism!  It was a little stressful because the Staffords were an hour late, but we finally got them baptized!  Their sister who was baptized with her husband in 2010 gave a talk and told us the story of how their family was reunited and how happy she was that Tessa and Marissa made this decision.  I'm really thankful that I was able to be a part of blessing their family.  

.....They did show up really late to sacrament meeting though so they are going to have to be confirmed next week.  I'm pretty sad about that.  We are going to visit them a lot this week though and make sure they get to church ON TIME!!  

Well that was my week!  Love you all!

Elder Whetten 

Cool Story Bro

 

Hey everybody!  How was everybodys week? Things here in Alabama are going great!  The weather was so nice the past few days but I guess it's back to being cold...

So cool story:  A little over a month ago, actually the day Gary got baptized, we got a text from someone asking us to go to the hospital and give her mom a blessing.  So we did!  The mothers name was Jennifer and she told us she was a member from Utah.  We went back to see her a little while later but I guess she wasn't in the hospital anymore.  Well just last week we got a call from Jennifer and she wanted us to come by and meet her family.  So we went to see how she was doing and got to know her and her two daughters a little bit.  Well we came to find out that Jennifer had not been to church in over a year and her 2 daughters have not been baptized.  They were really excited we came because they wanted to go back to church and the 2 girls really want to get baptized.  We set a baptism date with them for March 15th and were able to get them a ride to church and they came yesterday.  So crazy! That was exciting.  They are also going to be having family home evening at the ward mission leaders house tonight and that will be really good!  The Lord has really blessed us this week by giving us the chance to help and teach this family. 

Well that was my news!  I hope yall have a great week! 

Elder Whetten

Goodbye Elder Del Francia, Hello Elder Thurston! And PICS!!

Well it was a pretty crazy week!  Transfers were on Wednesday.  It was so sad to say goodbye to Elder Del Francia.  He taught me a whole lot but it was time for him to go home and enjoy California.  My new companion is Elder Thurston.  He is also from California and he's a really cool guy!  I'm excited for this transfer.  He has this rule that we have to sing a hymn to the people we teach after every lesson....not sure if I like it (you know how I am)  but other than that he is awesome!   

Oh... and we now have a car!  That is going to be so sweet because a lot of the people in our area live like 30 miles out and it's hard to go visit them.  It's really good timing too because just yesterday Bro Jones (in the bishopric) held a meeting after church with us and some of the other ward leaders.  They are really getting serious about going through the ward list and visiting all of the less active and part member families. It is great that they want us involved in that. 

Other than that this week has been pretty normal.  Weather is great!  (not for long I hear)  And we have just been talking with everyone we can trying to find people to teach.  Love you all and hope that yall have a great week!

Elder Whetten

 

 Elders Whetten & Del Francia

Bearded Elders Whetten & Del Francia

 

Gary Got Baptized!!

Hmmm.... What do I say about this week?  It was so awesome!!  Best thing about the week?  Gary got baptized!!  It was so amazing.  We went over to their home earlier this week and told Gary and Barry to go around the house and find every tobacco product they had and make a pile in their living room.  Anything that even reminded them of smoking like ashtrays and things like that.  After they had piled everything up we looked at it for a while and then told them that we were going to take it all and throw it away.  It surprised me how willing they were haha.  They were all for it and they started putting everything in a bag for us to take far away. Which we did.  After that I noticed a change in Gary and I knew that this time he was going to make it.  He was baptized Saturday night!  I'll send pictures. 

That's pretty much the most exciting thing about the week!  I hope that your weeks were great!  Love ya!

Elder Whetten

 

 

(Gary is in the middle and the beanied one is Butch)

 

New Investigators, Electronic Cigarettes, And Such...

Hi!  Sorry I didn't email yesterday.  The library was closed so we just went to a members house to send a quick email to our mission president.  How is your week going?  Last week was pretty awesome for me.  We have been finding so many people to teach!  We talked to a guy at a gas station named Urial.  We asked him if we could come by his house sometime to share a message and he said yes.  Well a couple of nights later we went to his house and he wasn't there, but his brother told us we could come in and we ended up teaching him!  I was so amazed at how prepared he is to receive the gospel!  We had talked to him for maybe 10 minutes before we brought up baptism.  He told us he was looking for a denomination to join and we asked him if he would come to church and also.... be baptized in the first week of February.  He said that if he came to know The Book of Mormon was true he would be baptized.  So awesome!!  Well he didn't come to church the next day but we are going to see him tonight to see how he is doing. 

Our investigator Jason is doing great too!  We are teaching him and his wife as much as we can and he also invited his friend (who he claims is crazier than he is) to come over and talk to us too!  He is so close but so far from being baptized!  He knows he needs to be baptized but he also is still convinced that he needs to be baptized in a river by a certain person who he saw in a vision.  He is such a cool guy though! He loves just hanging out with us and talking about the scriptures. 

Gary committed again yesterday to quit smoking.  I really think he is going to do it this time too!  We talked to him and his roommate Barry and they both are going to quit.  It is going to be so good for Gary to have that support from his friend.  Barry even commited to come to church this week. Especially if Gary gets baptized.  Elder Del Francia bough them both electronic cigarettes so that they can use that to ease off their addiction.  Gary is pretty confident that it is going to work.  To top that all off we made a commitment to go and see them everyday until Gary gets baptized.  It's going to happen. 

Everything else is going great too!  My companion is awesome!  One of his old investigators in Birmingham got baptized so we got permission from president Hanks to go.  It was really cool!  We stayed the night in Hoover with the assistants and had a ton of fun! 

The work here is really going great!  I am so thankful for the chance I have to serve at this time.

Elder Whetten

Rooting For Gary, A Baptism Commitment, And Whatnot...

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has been a crazy one!  Wednesday was transfers and I got a new companion.  His name is Elder Del Francia.  He was just released as an assistant and will be serving his last transfer with me here in Cullman.  I am so excited to serve with him. I have already learned so much from him and I know I'll learn even more throughout the transfer.  We work really well together as we try to teach everybody we come in contact with.  We have met so many awesome people the past few days and now have a lot of new investigators. 

The people here are doing so good!  We are still working with Gary.  He is so close!  I know that it has to be really hard for him to quit smoking but I know that he can do it!  He really has the desire and he knows that it will be worth it to be baptized!  Also another investigator we have has committed to be baptized on January 25th! As long as he received a confirmation from the spirit that that is what he should do.  He told us he had a dream or a vision that confirmed he needed to be baptized but... that he needed to be baptized in a river of flowing water.  At least he knows that he needs to be baptized! 

So we have already had some pretty crazy experiences this transfer.  I am excited about what the rest of these 6 weeks is going to be like.  I hope that y'all have an amazing week! Love ya!

Elder Whetten

Last Week's

There was no mass email last week, but my mom shared the email she received.

Hey Mom!  I don't have a lot of time this week so I probably won't send a mass email.  Here are the big things that happened this week: We had a powerful lesson with our investigator Gary who made a New Years resolution to quit smoking.  He didn't make it.  I feel like he is super close though!

I went on an exchange with the zone leaders on Saturday so I spent that whole day in Madison and Huntsville.  It was a really cool experience!  We handed out a few copies of The Book of Mormon but didn't get many chances to teach anyone.  That night I got back to Cullman and we got transfer calls.  I will be staying in Cullman but Elder Christensen will be going to a new area.  I'm going to miss him but it's good because he has been in Cullman for 6 months.  

Anyways that's what is happening with me!  Sounds like you had a crazy New Years!  We didn't.  We pretty much just followed the normal schedule.  Hope you have a great week! Love you!!

Elder Whetten

Busy Holiday Weekend!

Well this week has been a pretty awesome one!  Christmas was great and I loved talking to my family.  I miss you guys!  Kaitlyn and Jordan I missed you on Christmas!  I hope you guys had an awesome time on your cruise!  Well most of the awesome stuff this week happened on the weekend.  The sisters investigator Mario got baptized on Saturday!  It was so awesome to see.  My companion baptized him and to make it even better for Mario my companion baptized him in Spanish.  Pretty cool.  We had a few of our investigators come.  I hope it was a spiritual experience for them to see a baptism. On Sunday there was a big 5th Sunday meeting and it was all about reactivating members in our ward.  I love how much this ward is getting into missionary work.  Sunday night we had a fireside at the ward mission leaders house for anyone that us or the sisters have been meeting with.  It was great to have all of the recent converts and investigators there.  It has been a pretty good weekend.  I hope y'all had a great Christmas and that your New Year is awesome! Elder Whetten