1.9.12

Dear world (the small amount of people who may read this letter), I HAVE A NEW COUSIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yeah baby!!! Get it?! Yeah baby!! Anyway I'm so happy for Tommy and Holly! I can't wait to meet him.DRUM ROLL PLEASE..................................................... THIS SATURDAY, JANUARY 14th ALL THE MISSIONARIES IN THE WASHINGTON SPOKANE MISSION ARE GATHERING IN SPOKANE TO HEAR FROM A SPECIAL GUEST...................... ELDER JEFFREY R. HOLLAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh man we are so excited!!!! We got that text and we were going nuts! The lion is here to ROAR! His enthusiasm and boldness for missionary work will fire up this mission more than anything! And I get to shake his hand!Man the mission is the best thing in the world. I never want to leave. I'm dying that one and a half months have already gone by... I want to stay here for the rest of my life. I'll have you know that I got chased off someone's property for the first time yesterday. We knocked on a door and it took about 5 minutes of us hearing little kids on the other side of the door saying "Listen I think I know who it is..." and another little boy said "I KNOW!!! IT'S SANTA!!!!!" we were laughing so hard. Finally we realized that no one was coming to the door and we walked toward the street and about 5 feet in front of us there was a man in the dark with his hands on his hips just waiting for us. (He snuck out side through the back door and around to the front instead of answering the door) He said "WHAT are you doing on my property?" "Get out!" and i kindly and boldly said "We're sorry sir, before we go, Is there anyone you know that may be having a hard time that we could help or any one who needs a visit?" He said "Get off my property NOW! THERE'S THE STREET! (as he pointed off his property. So we left. He yelled "I told the last ones the same, DON'T COME BACK!" Funny thing was is Elder Chambers said hey let's knock on this door, I've always wanted to. haha good times.So we have another person on date for BAPTISM!!!!!!!!!!!! She is so excited!!!! She is getting baptized on January 28th!!! She is amazing! She already wants to do visiting teaching even though she's not a member yet. Oh man we're so happy for her. Not because she's just getting baptized but because she will receive the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost!!!Man everything is going perfectly!!! I kind of think it's unfair because Heavenly Father is just blessing and blessing and blessing us every second. All we see is miracles and blessings all over the place. Lately everyone we meet is really excited to see us. All of our appointments have held strong. All of the people we are teaching are progressing and we are gaining so much trust and friendship from the members. Everyone is sending us to see their friends and family to teach because they trust us. I've really been striving to get to know the members. I gave a talk in the Young Single Adult Branch and that went great. It was so funny because after I shared the story in my talk: "When I was 3 years old I took my Book of Mormon and put it in the back of my tricycle and said "Bye Mom I'm going on a mission!" The Branch President stood up and said "Elder Whiting has been on his mission since he was 3 years old. We're lucky to have him." What made me feel so good is that while I was giving my talk I could see a few of the students in the branch taking notes."For the past two weeks I've asked Bishop of the Lewiston 2nd ward to let me give a talk so that the members can get to know me better. He promised me I could sometime this month!I loved the letter you sent me about having Dallin H. Oaks and Kristen for dinner!!!! They are so awesome! I really hope they come to Spokane so I get to see them! I'm going to tell Elder Holland to tell Elder Oaks I said hi! It sounds like you have had the craziest week. The Oaks over for dinner, Jake's wisdom teeth, Holly's baby, Snowboarding, man what else?! Last night we went over to a less active families house. They come to church very frequently but not all three hours. For a while they were preparing to go to the temple but then they stopped. We gave them a lesson on temples and the spirit was so strong. It was the most peaceful and powerful lesson we have ever given. I showed a picture of Laurisa and Grafton in front of the Temple in her Wedding dress and our family picture and talked about each one of you and how important my family is to me and that I know that because of the temple I will live with my family forever. As I talked about the feeling in the celestial room I shared the story of Uncle Jeff (Nana's Brother): When Jeff turned around his life he joined the church and he went through the temple. When he went into the celestial room he said "I feel like I've been here before." As soon as I said that I started crying. I couldn't hold it in because I know that the celestial room is the closest thing to heaven. It's home. (I'm tearing up while I'm just typing this, gosh!)Family, I love you with ALL of my heart. I am so thankful that I have eternity with you. I just can't imagine how happy we will all be when we are in Heaven together and we all know that we passed the test of Earth Life together. And then we have Eternity together! I can't put in words the feeling that brings my heart. I want everyone to be able to go through the temple and be sealed to their families forever. So that's why I'm out here on my mission. To invite others to come unto Christ so that they can make it home, to the closest thing to Heaven, then home to their Heavenly Father. Families are Forever.
Love,
Elder Whiting