Mission Life

Hi family Sept. 26, 2011

How are things going in the good ole land of Utah? That is how some of the pirates down here would talk. Yeah, they are funny. This past week we went on an exchange with the AP's and I went with Elder Whitehead and he thought it was really funny how people talked down here. It was a really good exchange. I forgot how funny he is and how good at finding he is. He has been out six months longer than me.

Things in the land of good ole Plymouth are going good. I wish they were going better. I won’t lie. It seems like everyone we find are flipping “waiters” and they just aren’t golden. It is really frustrating and gets on my nerves. As of right now we have one baptismal date and that is Charlottes's dad however he isn’t as solid as I would like him to be. He is set to be baptized on the 22 of Oct.

As far as James and Autumn. The reason why she isn’t baptized is cuz when she was a kid her dad wouldn’t let her but as she grew up and the mom and dad separated; she stopped going to church in her teens. The others however did not. They were baptized and she was not. Hopefully we can fix that. They have a long ways to go I won’t lie. Her husband is open minded right now. They are on vacation for the next few days but their schedules are crazy so please pray that they will have time to meet with us. They are really great. For them it’s not a matter of if, but when they get baptized, and I would like to be here when that when happens. But I know very well they can’t be pushed. Ever since I got here we have slowly been working with them and they are now just starting to open up.

God has helped us a lot recently find people, which has been nice, but we are not having success as far as the follow ups. We get the info and stuff and then... nothing. It is lame. Any advice on that one family? From the brothers? Dad? Mom? That would be nice. It is just difficult cuz normally we have someone who is really good that we are teaching and as of right now we don’t have anyone who is golden that we are teaching and it is really frustrating.

Last night I gave some of my recent converts a call. Jo is doing well. When we go up to London for Zone Leader Council I think we are going to stop by and have FHE with her and the family. Nelly just gave a talk in sacrament meeting, and went to the temple for baptisms. They are doing great. Emiliano is doing well. He is just always busy.

It is just tough to see RC's go less active but I know God will give them another opportunity. If there is something I have gained a huge testimony over here in Plymouth it is about less actives and the gift of the Holy Ghost they still have. So she will come back I think. I can totally relate to Alma as he is wishing he was an angel and everyone would want to be good, but then he says he is sinning in his wish... yeah.

This past week we have knocked into a whole tribe of Nigerian girls who are here for university. University is just starting up and it is really kind of gross on the weekends. Satan has a strong hold on all of these students hearts. They are very nice to talk to though. These African girls are from London but their parents are from Nigeria. They are really cool, and we have only taught them once so hopefully they will progress. I guess only time will tell.

As far as rebakahs mum, the lady who went to church cuz of running, she is still just kind of in the same position. She enjoyed church just not willing to do anything. She is one that is hard to discern and know what she is thinking. Her daughter Rebekah (rc) is awesome, and is doing great.

This past week we have been meeting with the stake president quite often. He is so amazing. He is in our ward and they have us over for dinner all the time. We got talking about what needs to be done in the stake. It was a really good talk. I hope you can meet this guy some day. When you hear about a true disciple of Christ this is one of them. Well, got to go.

Love you all.

Elmer White

Great Week!!

Hi everyone,

We haven't made this blog private yet but we will soon, we are still trying to work it all out. If you haven't yet send us your email and we will put it on his private blog so you can read it when we make it private. Until then we will keep you posted here.

The White Family

Hi All,

Transfers were last week, and as you can see I did not move. Elder H-kiss and I are together for another six weeks; which is good. We only had two moves in the whole zone, so that was nice.

I don’t have much time. Our baptism did go through. I feel very blessed to have seen another baptism. God truly has out stretched His arms. It was a great baptism. She (charlotte) wanted me to baptize her. It was a great privilege. While I was baptizing her I forgot to tell her to plug her nose... yeah no bueno. She was like almost drowning and her feet started to come up. I thought there is no way I am going to re-baptize her so I rocketed her further downward enough so that she didn’t have to get re-baptised.

President Shamo and Sister Shamo came down and we had a wonderful fireside where they spoke on missionary work. It was really good! Everyone loved it. Both the fireside and the baptism were GREAT. The AP's are coming down tomorrow to do an exchange/work over. We are really excited to have them come.

As far as investigators go right now we are working with a young couple named Autumn and James. They are great. Autumn's whole family is members of the church. The only reason she hasn’t been baptized was cuz her dad wouldn’t let her till she was 18. Now she is married. Her whole family is active etc. Anyway. So we are working with them to get them baptized. We don’t want to put any pressure on them, we feel that is not the way to help them see the truth. But as we teach them and help them feel the spirit we believe they will slide into place.

My recent convert Rebekah (who is a star), we have been slowly working with her mum and dad and the other night her mom sat in on one of our teaches and it was really a good one and she felt the spirit and said "Elders if you come to my running club then I will go to your church with you." We were floored; of course we said sure. We found out when her running club was and we went to it and we were thinking OK, this is just a mile or so max. We got there and saw that there are all of these old people! Holy cow, they were old and we thought that’s good, they won’t run too far. Then one of the head blokes says "Should we run 8 tonight?" I was floored! Eight!!! Eight miles!!!!! Holy cow what the heck! But they decide to run only six. Only six!!!!! So we got running and all I can say is that I am sooooooo dang fat and I was literally praying to keep going. Literally. So we did this running thing with her and her club and now I hurt so dang bad. So bad. Since we ran she had to come to church with us. So she did, and she loved it. Now we are teaching her the lessons. I hope she will open up to the spirit.

Sorry, this is so short again, love you all!!!

Love

Elmer wight (WHO?)

Making Michael's blog private

Hi all,
This is Elder White's family. We have had such fun putting Michael's blog together these last ten months. We have loved having others share in his mission experiences with us; he has had some good ones. But,because of issues we have been made aware of that have gone on with other missionary blogs in other missions, and at the request of various Mission Presidents, we have decided to make his mission blog private. We would love to have you continue to be able to read his blog. But for you to continue to get access to his blog we will need you to please email us at cewhite2@comcast.net give us your email address and we will add you to the list of people that will have access to his private blog. Sorry, for the inconvenience, but as with many things one person can mess things up for the rest of us. Email us soon. We plan on making this change next week.
Thanks
The White family

Why I am so happy!!!

What a week! No, the work has not progressed much. In fact... this was the worst numbers I have had on my mission! Never the less it was still a great week :)

We did not have a baptism. Charlotte was scheduled to be baptized and is totally golden but her family is not supportive. We need to get them activated first if we are to baptize her... they live in a tough environments. She is still set for baptism, but probably not for while.

I mentioned last week a family named Co--- and Je--- (forgot names, Welsh family). He just had surgery but they are still progressing and have some really great potential. Also I can’t remember if I told you but when I was with Elder Muller we met a lady while door knocking and she busted into tears while talking to us saying that her father was really ill. We never did get a return apt with her or any info but a few weeks ago the spirit prompts me to go and see her. So we did... she loved the visit once again broke into tears and once again didn’t get any apt or anything. Yesterday I felt the same impression. We went by. We learned that her father had passed away a few days previous. She broke into tears again, and said she wants to meet with us after the funeral which is in a week. She has a family of four and we are excited about them. We really felt her pain cuz she just was soso sad. Hopefully the plan of happiness will cheer her up. We will go by a week after the funeral. Other than that we really don’t have many new investigators that we are working with. I have no idea what or why it is; one of the weirdest things I have seen while I have been on my mission cuz I have never had a problem with finding, but I guess god is requiring us to go through this trial. This area down here too is an interesting area as well.

You may be wondering, if I had such a rubbish week, why am so happy? I will tell you why I am happy.

First, I am a missionary doing God’s work and I am is working hard.

Second, I passed my driving theory test!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The one I failed a few months ago. I retook it and passed! Now I will need to take driving lessons and learn all of the maneuvers for the actual test... ugh. Driving lessons are expensive too. So I am planning on taking my test in a month or two time.

Third, Elder Bednar came to our mission. Holy cow what a crazy experience. We had a mission conference up in Reading and we had to drive four hours to get to it (our zone is in the boonies). Elder Bednar did a question and answer session. One of the questions I had on my mind was why we aren’t having greater success? Someone asks a question along those lines. His answer was basically, "Well who cares? If God requires you to go through a tough time on your mission for your learning and growing then go through it." I thought....yeah! Yeah, he’s right! He also got into some deep stuff on priesthood keys, which was really neat. He talked about how too often we treat people as objects and not agents. He said we can only bring the gospel "unto, not into" their hearts. I found that really interesting. He said that if God blessed you perfectly according to your obedience and love for the work then every single person that Pres. Monsoon talked to would be baptized. I found that really great as well. Bring the gospel “unto no into” and treat them as “agents not objects.” Agents to act not objects to be acted upon. his testimony was also sooo strong!!! It was crazy. I had a front row seat. I was in the mission choir and he pointed me out as a joke and said "Elder White, what is the baptismal covenant?" Yeah, I about died! Then he said "I’m just joking!" He then went on to say that he won’t point anyone out, cuz anyone like Elder White, when called upon by an Apostle of God would do what I just did and forget what it was, and freak out. Ha it was funny.

It was a really good conference. Really boosted my spirits. This transfer has been a tough one. But we will just keep working hard. God will provide.

We are doing a member missionary fireside down here which President Shamo will speak at which is really neat cuz pres. is so far away (I love that man). We are also doing member missionary plans that we are trying to get kicked off here.

We are working with the members big time. One can only find for so long a day. I can normally only take four hours of tracting, and then I go crazy. After so many doors slammed in your face or people telling you God doesn’t exist, or others saying you belong to a cult... yeah members are the true key.

I love you all and thanks for all of the prayers. Please pray for the people of Plymouth to soften their hearts so that when we bring the word “unto” them they will take it “into” their hearts.