Personal restorations

June 30:

Sister Evans & I have really fun roommates! Sister Inagaki loves the color yellow and Sister Niska has a hilarious fake laugh.

I got to help Sister Niska and Sister Inagaki reply to a gospel packet that was given to and filled out by an inmate. We found a gem of a quote the senior missionary had written in the packet: "Jon Huntsman said, 'Difficulty is one excuse history has never accepted.' You already know it is 'difficult' to be in jail; it is 'difficult' to disappoint your loved ones. Why not start doing 'difficult' things that are positive?"

I've been going out with members and our Sister Inagaki & Sister Niska because Sister Evans is sick. Please keep her in your prayers!

Something I've been pondering upon is how just like we can have personal apostasies, we can have personal restorations. Do we say we have done enough or that we have work to do? Do we say all is well in Zion or do we continually serve our brethren? (2 Ne 28)
30 For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have.
31 Cursed is he that putteth his trust in man, or maketh flesh his arm, or shall hearken unto the precepts of men, save their precepts shall be given by the power of the Holy Ghost.
32 Wo be unto the Gentiles, saith the Lord God of Hosts! For notwithstanding I shall lengthen out mine arm unto them from day to day, they will deny me; nevertheless, I will be merciful unto them, saith the Lord God, if they will repent and come unto me; for mine arm is lengthened out all the day long, saith the Lord God of Hosts. (2 Nephi 28:30-32)

I love you all!

Transfers again!

June 23:

I cannot believe so much has happened since the last time I emailed y'all!

Sadly I just realized I don't have any normal pictures of my new companion, Sister Evans. She is super fun! We have laughed so much together.

This week I met a bunch of people that confirmed to me that this is where I'm supposed to be. Which is really nice because leaving my last area was not very fun

The first picture is with Heather, she was my splits buddy I would go out with just about every week, we had a ton of fun! YSA is the best!

Our ward mission leader has 2 huge racks of hats, so on my last night we took a bunch of pictures with hats! And the pictures in the car are very descriptive of our companionship. Goofy and laughing all the time. I was very blessed to be their companion :)

2 Nephi 29:8. Replace nation with person or missionary :)

Charity brings clarity

Random fact: In Arizona it's illegal to refuse someone water if they ask for it.

We had Zone conference this week. It was incredible. I have greater desires to repent, change, become--to prepare to return to the presence of God. Considering why I am where I am made me remember my purpose. Taking personal time to reflect has helped me keep perspective and my priorities straighter. Becoming more forgiving and caring.

If you want to become more, remember who you are! "Remember who you are, you are more than you've become". You are a precious child of God. He loves you. All love emanates from God.

"What is it about true love that touches every heart? Why does the simple phrase “I love you” evoke such universal joy?

Men give various reasons, but the real reason is that every person who comes to earth is a spirit son or daughter of God. Since all love emanates from God, we are born with the capacity and the desire to love and to be loved. One of the strongest connections we have with our premortal life is how much our Father and Jesus loved us and how much we loved Them. Even though a veil was drawn over our memory, whenever we sense true love, it awakens a longing that cannot be denied.

Responding to true love is part of our very being. We innately desire to reconnect here with the love we felt there. Only as we feel God’s love and fill our hearts with His love can we be truly happy."
(The Power of God’s Love: John H. Groberg)

I type to you as a witness of the redeeming power of God's love. It changes hearts, it's changing mine. I know he loves you, no matter what. I pray that we may all let his love into our hearts each day, and rejoice in the glad tidings that our Savior lives!

Make good choices,
Return with honor,
Remember who you are,
Sister Rachel White

We are going on exchanges twice a week, it's been really fantastic learning from and working with other companions! We get to see miracles every time! One of my favorite miracles this week sprang from Sister Snyder's sacrifice--while she was serving with another companion in their family ward,  they came across a potential for our YSA-ward (which covers that area)! I know we are blessed as we serve others.

Sister Snyder and I got to teach an investigator's mom while he was getting interviewed for his baptism--it was incredible. This church building is brand new and has amazing paintings in it, so we walked around and looked at them. As we testified of the Savior, her heart was touched by the testimonies of each painting. After the interview, President Jenkins told her that it was no coincidence that so many of her children have become Mormon, and told her that there are probably ancestors tugging from the other side at her family. He told us to look at the paintings of faithful women in the R.S. room. He left because he had to be somewhere. Then after a few minutes, he came back, and burst into the room with tears, and hugged her, and told her he was impressed to come back and tell her it was her time to listen to what we have to say, and to join her family. It was incredible. After we finished looking at all the paintings, she gratefully accepted a Book of Mormon! Later on in the week we went to the Easter Pageant with them, and she loved it! She's also very excited about reading the Book of Mormon, and cannot wait to go back to the temple grounds!!

Yesterday a member brought a friend with him to church, and she is excited to learn more about our church, her whole family has been looking for a new church to go to!!! It was amazing.

Thank you all so much for your prayers. I know that as we pray continually, many mighty miracles will happen because of faith. I was studying patience and thought about how sometimes we cast others or ourselves "out" because of exceeding poverty--not only monetarily, but when poor in spirit, emotionally, physically, mentally. See Alma 34:40-41:

40 And now my beloved brethren, I would exhort you to have patience, and that ye bear with all manner of afflictions; that ye do not revile against those who do cast you out because of your  exceeding poverty, lest ye become sinners like unto them;

41 But that ye have patience, and bear with those afflictions,with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions.

Sister Snyder & I got to see a banana tree!

Antonio got baptized!!! We are so happy for him!

P.S.  this movie is really really good: http://easter.mormon.org/?cid=HPTU041514694

Our loving Father in heaven

I love you all, thank you for being awesome! Keep up the hard work!

I know that we are all blessed as we serve The Lord first. Sometimes it may not be obvious right away, but learning patience is one of the blessings. But he helps us along.

"He treats us with great love and respect, even when we make mistakes. He reminds us of our potential (see Moses 1:39) and our great worth (see D&C 18:10), which are based on our identity as His sons and daughters. He gives us laws so we know what He expects (see D&C 107:84), allows us to make choices (see 2 Nephi 2:15-16), and honors our choices (see D&C 130:20). He allows for learning and instruction to correct mistakes (see D&C 1:25-26) and for repentance and restitution to correct sin (see D&C 1:27-28)." (Raising Resilient Children)

Temples are a "sanctuary of serenity"

Stay strong, stay true,
Sister White

Fabulous February!

Our mission is planned to have a record shattering amount of baptisms this month! Our mission president said it is "Fantastic, fabulous, faithful February!" Baptisms that follow the directions in PMG are so incredibly uplifting. Powerful. Sister Sallstrom & I got to bear our testimonies & sing last minute at G's baptism (the interlude people couldn't come or something). There was an overwhelming amount of love we could feel there. Especially as we saw a sweet family we are
teaching crying in the back.

I have learned that I need to keep a better record of the Lord fulfilling His promises (3 Nephi 23:7-14). We expect and facilitate daily miracles, and those miracles are a result of the Lord fulfilling
His promises as we act in faith.

Life is a growing period--filled with stretching and opportunities to grow--hard. I am learning so much. A member said, "broken roads help us walk by faith. Trials are meant to help us cleave unto Him, not turn us away." but to turn our burdens to Him, to return to His presence. I pray that we will be strong, and that outward influences don't hurt us, because of Christ's atonement. Everything (our joys & long sufferings) are worth it if they help us come closer to our Savior.

Miracles are happening like crazy here!! The parking lot was FULL on Sunday, people had to park on the street! There was a wonderful spirit during the testimony meetings :)

Love you all!!!!

Puppies, lunch

I went picture crazy this week since I forgot to do it last week.

A less active member has puppies, and she let us take pictures with
them, aren't they adorable? (she has 11, and I think they are all sold already, wow!)

I had so much fun making breakfast for Sister Sallstrom, and she
wanted a picture of it :)

Sister Sallstrom lost her contact container, so I told her what I would 

do when I forgot mine--use teaspoons, haha.

Oh, and that last picture? Especially for Hannah :)

We got to go to the Gilbert temple open house!! It was so incredible!

I hope you all are having a wonderful week!

The work is going well, everyone is getting sick though! Geneva, (I think I sent pictures of her earlier with the gingerbread houses) is getting baptized on Saturday :)

I love you all.

I know that our Father in Heaven loves each of you very much, I hope the Spirit impresses that upon your hearts as you remember all the good things in your life (Moroni 10:6).

Remember Who You Are,
Sister White

Merry Christmas!

Wonderful things are happening! Mesa is amazing! Christmas is a wonderful time to be on a mission!!

How will we make room for Christ this Christmas?

"If you serve you will learn to love. If you love you will serve. Therefore love=serve

We are called to serve=We are called to love

Mosaih 2:17; Matthew 22:37-38; John 14:15"

One of our investigators got an answer to his prayers! He learned that God answers prayers 3 ways, sometimes he says yes, and gives us what we want, sometimes he says no, and gives us something better, and sometimes he says wait and gives us the best.

There are members here that let us come over every pday and it's like going home once a week! We are blessed with so much love :)

One of our investigators is a Jehovah's Witness and when I got here, she always said she didn't celebrate Christmas when a member talked about it. She used to argue with the missionaries. Well, Saturday, she said she wants to be Mormon!!! And when we were leaving, she told us Merry Christmas!!!!!!! It is incredible to see what individual prayer and reading the Book of Mormon can do--she has been reading them :)

Ofa'atu

Sister White

Miraculous Mesa :)

My cup surely runneth over. Your prayers are making a huge difference for this little missionary :)

On January 11, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland will be meeting with all of the missionaries who serve in the Mesa, Gilbert, and Scottsdale missions!!!!

I can skype y'all for Christmas!!

This week so many wonderful things have happened! An Elder resides in our area and does indexing, he's about 20 and suffers from a disease that makes him need caretakers to help his mother take care of him. We found out in correlation that he probably won't be on this earth much longer. He has been such a missionary in the hospital throughout his trials and pains! One of his care takers is going through a really hard time, many members of her family have passed away recently, and he and his mother gave her a Book of Mormon. We are so blessed to be the missionaries here! The Elder's mother set up an appointment. with this beautiful Hispanic woman to have us come and teach the plan of salvation. During the lesson the spirit was tangible, we were in the presence of angels. The Elder bore his testimony on the plan of salvation when we finished. Oh, and we got to sing his favorite hymn, half at the beginning of the lesson, and half at the end--If You Could Hie to Kolob. This is the most spiritual experience I have ever had. The comfort and hope that came into her eyes was the most wonderful thing I have ever seen.

I love being a missionary! The people in our area are wonderful! Many incredible investigators got to come to church this Sunday. One of the boys exclaimed, "I cannot stop smiling!" We are blessed to be in a ward that helps them feel Heavenly Father's love for them by the way they treat others. I wish I could tell you about all the wonderful people we are teaching, we are teaching about 20... with 4 hours less of proselyting time, prioritizing is something I'm learning very quickly. Sister Sallstrom and I are blessed to have the best problems :)

I love you. Something that is powerful: if you are confused about anything/don't understand, 1 Nephi 15:8

So, something that clicked for me this morning during studies: Christ's "laws [are] not inscribed upon stone, but upon human hearts" (Thomas S. Monson). Christ's laws are universal, our hearts drive us to keep them, as we act on the Light of Christ within each of us, we are given, we are able to receive more light. Each time we act, we are opening the "windows to heaven" (Mal 3:10) even more! I imagine a huge curtain that opens little by little. Life gets so much brighter!! There is more hope, more faith, more joy, etc :) The opposite is true as well though--each time we don't act on the feelings to do good, we close off the window of our soul, and life gets darker--less hope, less faith, less joy... Let us cheerfully do those Christlike actions so we may be a light on a hill, & give light to all (3 Ne 12:16). Let us go "about doing good" (Acts 10:38) Cheerfully doing all in our power (D&C 123:17)


Sister Rachel White

Serving at the Christmas lights at the Mesa Temple!

The other night, Sister Sallstrom & I got to take the baby Jesus out
of the manger at the Christmas lights, it was really amazing :)

Thank you soooooooooooooooooooooooo much for your prayers and letters!!

P.S.
Power quotes, the whole mission is reading a General Conference talk everyday :) "The companionship of the Holy Ghost is not just a pleasant convenience---it is essential to your spiritual survival. If you will not treasure up the words of Christ and listen closely to the promptings of the Spirit, you will be deceived" (Elder Adrian Ochoa). "But here is the point---rather than solve the problem Himself, the Lord wants us to develp the faith that will help us rely upon Him in solving our problems and trust Him" (Elder Terence M. Vinson)

Time is incredibly short!

Life is wonderful, the gospel is true. Never forget, you can rely on the Lord to help you with anything you need. I am so grateful that I can call on the Lord all the time, and have help so much!!

My testimony is stronger than ever, the gospel is true! I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (and so can you!) Phillipians 4:13 & 1 Nephi 17:3

D&C 127:3, glorying in tribulation/growing Ether 12:27. Yay weaknesses and improving daily!

I love you all very very very very very very much!

I'd like to invite y'all to take 5-10 min and study about cheer, look it up in the Book of Mormon index and send me what you learn. That's what I did and it has helped me to help those around me with love and encouragement.

Merry almost Christmas! Stay strong in the faith!!

Sister Rachel White