Golden!

Hey Everyone!

This week was another great one to be a missionary! We had another great lesson with our investigator family of three. We taught them the law of tithing and they were all for it! And that's not even the best part! Last week, we taught them the Word of Wisdom. And last week they said that they had already known a little bit about it so they gave up coffee a couple weeks before. I know! Who does that, right!? They are so awesome! But wait! There's more! He said that the next day after we taught them the word of wisdom him and his wife went back and read D and C Section 89 together and after they were done with that, he decided he was quitting everything. He said he had been chewing tobacco since he was 11 years old and 37 years later he just threw it all away. He is going on a week and a half now without chewing. He also threw out the 2 beers he had in his house. The part I like best is that when he said that he threw out his chew he went up to the mountains to "heal" for a day. I love that because I know what he means! The mountains are so amazing. I love them so much, because there is no where on earth that I feel closer to my Heavenly Father than in the mountains. And I know that he can feel that as well when he is in the mountains. Anyway, this family is so GOLDEN!! It's so awesome to be working with them. 

Other than that nothing else exciting really happened here in Idaho! It rained quite a bit. Although when it rains here it just sprinkles all day unlike Arizona were it just pours for 10-15 minutes and its done. Haha, I can't figure out which way I like more! Probably Arizona. 

Anyway, I hope you all have a great week! I love you all!

-Elder Waite 

Sita and her family at her baptism last Saturday

my bike!

Cooking Lunch!

A recipe I made up - breaded chicken, N'Orleans cajun spice, cholula sauce, and cheese in a tortilla.

At Texas Roadhouse for dinner with members

I love pictures

 I sent Jacob a tie to wear the day his sister, Abbie, got married. It's the same tie that her husband, Ty, wore. He was sad to miss his sister's wedding but he seems truly happy as a missionary!

Hanging out at a member's house in my tie for Abbie's wedding

I'm so happy for my sister, Abbie, and her new husband, Ty

The Blessings Keep Coming

Hey Everyone!

This week was good! Lots of good stuff happened! Wednesday we went on exchanges. We were able to see a lot of people and help them come closer to the Savior Jesus Christ. One person we saw, James, who we see every Wednesday, immediately greeted us and welcomed us into his home and was very excited to teach us some self defense! hahaha. He is such a funny guy. He is an ex-marine and a black-belt in karate. So guns, knives, and fighting are always part of the conversations we have with him. That night at dinner I got my first stain on my white shirt. First time I have ever spilled something on one of my shirts! I was pretty bummed! But luckily it came pretty much all the way out when I washed it that night.. haha. Later that night we had a lesson with a recent convert. His kids were in the other room playing the whole time. Towards the end of the lesson the kids came out and sat next to their parents. And all of a sudden they noticed the little girl's hair. It was cut. Her older brother had gotten the scissors while we were occupied with the lesson and cut his little sister's hair! It was crazy! haha. 

The rest of the week was pretty slow. But Saturday made up for it. Sita was baptized!!! It was so awesome and i have never felt the spirit more strongly than I did at her baptism. Sita would have been baptized whether I came on my mission or not, but I am 100% certain that she was a huge reason I was sent here to Idaho. Because if I hadn't been sent to Idaho I wouldn't have met her and her family and I wouldn't have been able to have the spiritual experience I did have at her baptism or the confirmation I got from my Heavenly Father of the truthfulness of this gospel that has been restored to the earth in this the dispensation of the fullness of times. I know that Joseph Smith was and is a prophet of God. That through him, the Church of Jesus Christ was able to be restored to the earth after being lost for so many centuries. I know that we have the priesthood on the earth again today and that if I am worthy, I can call upon the power of God to help me in any situation. And I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. That it was given to us by God through a prophet. And that that prophet was Joseph Smith. 

Anyway, I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

-Elder Waite

Robby Grant from Payette showed up in one of my wards yesterday!! It was great to see him again!!

My Dr. Pepper tower that looks like the Nauvoo temple!

S.M.I.L.E.

Hey Everyone!! 

So this week I got this cool little thing that lets me type my emails out and then I can upload them to the computer right when I get on the computer! It's really cool! So now my emails should be a little longer with a little more detail in them because I won't be held back on time! 

Anyway, on Tuesday we were able to see a lot of people and get some visits in. We stopped by one of my favorite family's house. They are a couple of returning members preparing themselves to go through and be sealed in the temple with their kids sometime next year. We were able to share some Mormon messages with them and it was a great experience. We also had a great lesson with the Curren family. My last companion and I taught them the first three lessons about a month ago but haven't been able to meet with them  since because they have been out of town for work for the past few weeks. But we were able to meet with them on Tuesday and review the lessons with them and get them back on track. They are awesome. They have been reading the Book of Mormon and have such a great spirit about them! I am very excited to see how they progress.

Tuesday was a good day as well. Elder Pereira got his bike today so we were able to ride bikes today! I finally was able to ride my new bike that I bought 2 weeks ago! Haha. It really sped up the work. We met with John (a less active guy) in the very south part of our area and afterwards we met with James (another less active guy) towards the top of our area and it took us almost no time at all! We also were able to meet with Bobby. I love her so much! She is amazing. She has such a great spirit and a great heart and is just so fun to be around. We also met with a recent convert. His name is Scott. We are teaching him the new member lessons and we taught him the law of tithing again. He is struggling a little bit with it right now but he really is trying to pay his tithing. All I could do was promise him blessings from doing it. The same blessings that the Lord has promised in Malachi 3:10. The Lord has promised us that he would bless us so much from paying tithing that we wouldn't even have room enough in our hearts to receive all of it! Isn't that amazing?! 

So Thursday was a little slow. We did have a great lesson with two of our investigators, Travis and Kim. They are awesome. And I am really excited for what the future holds for them.

 We had zone meeting on Friday and received some "technology" training. Some time in the future every mission in North America will be an I-pad mission. So we just had some training on how we should use technology. 

Yesterday, Sunday, was a great day. We had 3 hours of meetings in the morning and then 6 hours of church after that. It was just wonderful! hahaha... It was a long day but rewarding. We got home from church with enough time to change out of suits and into regular proselyting clothes before dinner. And before dinner we got a call from a guy that is interested in hearing the lessons and coming back to church. so after dinner we went straight over there and had a good gospel conversation with and got to know him a bit. His name is Ben Long. I really enjoyed listening to him and getting to feel of his spirit and desire to come back to church. It was really awesome. The conversation, at one point, was focused on not being carnally minded and being spiritually minded. So I shared a scripture with him in the Book of Mormon that says, "to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life eternal." I love that scripture so much because one of the best and most simplest ways that we can be spiritually minded is just to smile. And it is really cool because "Spiritually Minded Is Life Eternal" is an acronym for Smile! So my hope and my prayer for us all this week is that we can all focus on being spiritually minded and just smile. Because you never know who is watching you and whose lives you could affect by just the simple things like smiling. :) I love you all and I hope you all have a great week!

-Elder Waite 

I can hardly believe that Jacob is celebrating having served one third of his mission so far today! It seems like it's going really fast but at the same time it's taking forever. Such a bittersweet thing to experience. 

I asked him about the device he's using to type emails now and where he got it. He told me, "There's this guy that has a whole bunch of them and some missionaries live with him in Nampa. His name is Bromar. He sells them to the missionaries for $6 and my dad, Elder Boswell, is living there right now and I asked him to get me one and I would give him money but he bought it for me!! hahaha. I'm his only son so he loves me.. lol."

Apparently Jacob finally tried Panda Express and he now loves it. You could say he has been 'converted'. I'm glad he opened his heart to it. haha!

The 'Alphasmart'

Elder Thatcher (Elder Nicholas from Thatcher) and me

Emailing with Elder Brown and Elder Martinez

Elder Brown

A New 'Energetic' Companion

Hey everyone!

So I don't have anytime at all to write this. It seems like that is how it is every week and I am sorry about that. haha. But I wanted to at least write something! haha!

So my new companion's name is Elder Pereira. (peh-day-duh) He is from Brazil and is a good missionary. I enjoy working with him. 

I hope you all have a great week this week! I love you all! Remember our Savior Jesus Christ and his sacrifice he made for us! This is so important and I am learning more and more about how important it really is every day! I am so thankful for Him!

-Elder Waite

Elder Waite and Elder Pereira

I think the missionaries answer all their emails before composing a 'mass email' and it gets left to the end. Hence the very short email this week!! I asked Jacob how teaching was going -

 "Teaching is going good. We had a lesson with Travis and Jenna this week. They had a nonmember friend come over to listen as well. She's pretty interested. Her name is Kim. Anyway, last transfer we taught Travis the first 3 lessons but he doesn't really understand. So we are reteaching the first 3 lessons again. But this week we read Alma 18 with the 3 of them to help them understand the nature of God more. It was AWESOME! They were totally hooked on the story of Ammon cutting off the arms and when king Lamoni fell as if he were dead they were all like "well what happened!? did he actually die!?" So we read chapter 19 as well. It was so cool. But yeah. That was fun."

He told me he likes his new companion although he is very energetic! (he had to cut him off from his Dr. Pepper because it made him even more 'energetic' - haha) But, he's a good missionary so this should be a good transfer for Jacob. 

I've also been informed that his 3 pairs of Dockers already need to be replaced and he broke the lens cover off of his camera. I guess these are good things considering that they let you know he is working hard and making the most of his time as a missionary.  

Elder Pereira and Elder Waite

Miracles and Transfers

 Hey everyone!

So this week is transfers! This transfer has just flown by! I can hardly believe that I am now in my 6th transfer! Sometimes I feel like I should be in my 10th transfer by now but that's life I guess! haha. So I am getting a new companion today. We had to get up at 5 this morning so we could get Elder Hutchings over to the transfer spot to go to his new area. So, now I am in a trio of sorts until this afternoon when I will get my new companion. His name is Elder Pereria.. I think.. haha. I haven't met him yet so I don't quite know how to spell or pronounce his name quite yet. All I know about him is that he was born in Brazil! So that's pretty cool! I am excited to have him as a companion!

So there were a couple miracles this week that happened that were pretty cool. The last couple weeks or so Elder Hutchings and I were able to give a couple blessings to a couple different people. One of them to this less active lady named Bobby. She is so cool! And she loves the missionaries coming over to visit with her. She has been having trouble with her health and she has had to go get a lot of blood transfusions. So she asked for a blessing a couple weeks ago. And this last week when we visited with her she was very excited and she looked really good! All her color was back in her face and everything! She told us that she doesn't have to go back to the doctors anymore! That was very cool to see. 

The other miracle was another blessing that we were able to give. So, we were walking around kind of aimlessly one morning, wondering where to go and we both got the impression that we should stop by this older couple's house in the ward and just check up on them and see how they were doing. So we knock on the door and he came out and told us that they were having a little emergency but he wanted us to come in anyway. Turns out his wife had been having trouble with her knees that morning. She thought maybe she was having a blood clot or something and they were trying to find someone to take them to the hospital. So we offered to give her a blessing and she let us. They ended up getting their son to take them to the hospital. Later that night she called us and left us a voicemail saying that they had taken a lot of tests on her that spanned about 6 hours long. And by the end her knees felt perfectly fine. She said she had never experienced anything like it. Whenever her knees had hurt her like that in the past they hurt her for weeks. But not this time! She said she gave all the credit to the blessing. So that was another cool experience for me as well.

The power and authority of the priesthood in my life has been so strong and I have been blessed to have been influenced by it my whole life. I am so thankful for a father that has lived worthily throughout his life to be able to hold and exercise his priesthood and be a good influence to those around him and especially me. I am so thankful for my dad's example to me. I hope that we can all remember the Savior and the sacrifice that he made for us this week. And that our Father in heaven loves us so much that He gave us his Son to be the sacrifice for us. So that we can all, one day, return to live with Him again. I love you all! have a great week! 

-Elder Waite 

There is a Spanish elder named Elder Bench. And he makes fun of me for my last name being Waite. So I get a lot of ''Waite" jokes. So I took that picture of me "waiteing" and sitting on a "bench" for him. lol

Meridian Idaho temple under construction

Elder Rettig - he's going home tomorrow!

Elder Ray - he's cool

Elder Martinez

My new bike!

At the bike shop last week.

Lots of Work and a New Bike

Hello Everybody!

Things are starting to warm up here in Idaho! The sidewalks are clear and now instead of 5 miles everyday we can walk 7!! Except I am getting a bike today so that will probably double! 

The work is going great and our investigators are progressing well. All I can do is hope and pray that they will continue to make the correct choices and continually progress closer and closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ everyday.

Not much else to report on this week. We Jaywalked in front of some cops the other day... so that was pretty funny. It's a good thing that that isn't illegal in Idaho!

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

-Elder Waite

I told Jacob that one of the things I pray about concerning him is that he and his companion will know how to make their time productive. Here is his response: "Thank you for praying for my productivity.. haha. I feel like it helped a lot this week. One investigator, Travis, we have taught the first three lessons to but we are going to start over and reteach them because he really has no knowledge of Christ at all. It's pretty crazy and kinda sad. The family of three we are teaching got back from Germany last night so we have an appointment with them on Wednesday night. We are going to review the first three lessons with them. And our other investigator, Sita, is on date for baptism on March 11th . haha, I tried to kinda push it to the 18th.. but it's okay. The sooner the better. We will probably try to set the family of three for the 18th of March. That way while you are all {at Abbie's wedding} I will be here baptizing 3 people.... lol."

Also, I noticed that he spent money on a bike today so maybe we'll start hearing about bike adventures soon!

No pictures...again! :(

Lots to Do!

Hello Everyone!!

Not much to report this week! Except that the snow is FINALLY melting! It is almost 50 degrees today!! It's like a heat wave!! haha. This winter has been ridiculous!

This week was kind of a slow week. Tuesday and Wednesday we got into a few houses and were able to share a few messages. So that was good. We had zone meeting and Elder Rettig gave a really great training!! He is going home this transfer so he is pretty much a pro missionary!! He is awesome!!

I dont have much time this week to write. I hope you all had a great week and that this one will be even better! Just don't ever forget the Savior and the sacrifice that He made for us. I am so thankful for Him and the life that He lived so that I can be the best that I can be.

I love you all!

-Elder Waite

I asked Jacob if they're doing a lot of walking and if he likes his companion. Here's his answer: "We did do a lot of walking! 2 square mile area and we walk at least 5 miles a day! Yes, Elder Hutchings is great! Teaching is awesome. We have 5 investigators on track for baptism right now. It's going pretty good. We are teaching as much as we can!"

He says there is a lot of work and they get a lot of member referrals which is how it's supposed to work, right?

More Baptisms and Lots of Teaching

Hey Everyone!

This week went by super fast! Like what the heck happened?? It was just Monday like 7 days ago!! haha ;)

Sorry I haven't written a mass email the past few weeks. Two hours is not enough time to email but hey, you gotta make due with what you got. Plus we kinda got kicked out of the FHC earlier than expected. haha

The past few Saturdays I have been so privileged and so lucky to be able to go back to Payette for 7 different baptisms. All people that my last companion, Elder Dean, my trainer, Elder Boswell, and I taught that all got baptized! I was so happy for all of them! They are all progressing and I know that they made a great choice and that the gospel will affect their lives in ways that they never imagined! 

Things in Meridian are going good. We have 5 investigators we just started teaching that are all getting ready and are on the path to baptism. They are golden! They keep all the commitments we give them and are coming to church! It's awesome! We walk at least 3-4 miles a day in our 2 square mile area that covers 3 wards... haha. Walking in the snow and ice isn't very fun but hey! We're doing the Lord's work so it's okay.

Thats all I really have to report this week. I hope we can all remember the Savior's sacrifice He made for us. He was sent to this earth, lived a perfect life, taught the gospel, was rejected, scorn, and beaten, suffered for our sins and was crucified. That's the price that He paid for us. All so we could repent and come to live with our Father in heaven again. I know that is true. I love you all! I hope you have a great week! 

-Elder Waite

Me, Elder Boswell, Erica, Elder Dean, Elder Pennington (he replaced me in Payette)

Elder Boswell, Kimberly, Elder Dean, Bryce, and Me

Finally got a study table!

A Good Week in Meridian and Baptisms in Payette

No mass email again this week. I think Jacob's pdays in Meridian include shorter email times! But, that's ok. I write him every week and I'll share some of his responses. I asked him about the baptisms last Saturday because I know he got to go. He said, "I am glad that I was able to go as well! It was so awesome! The spirit was there! And I know that they know they made a great choice! And President and Sister Sorensen were there, too! So they got to meet them which was pretty cool!" Most of the pictures I got this week were taken at the baptism.

I asked him about who he is teaching right now. He said, "Right now we are teaching a family of three. We have taught them the first lesson and they came to church yesterday! And they said they liked it wayyy better than where they've been attending! hahaha, so that's promising! I am enjoying Meridian. It's a lot different from Payette. But its okay. I already know that I won't like anywhere I serve as much as I liked Payette, but that's okay. I'll go back someday." I guess it's a good thing he got his favorite area first! His dad and I had a favorite area as well. 

As you can see he got his HAIR CUT! 

Carla and her husband and kids

Elder Dean baptized Carla and her kids

Elder Waite with the Stowells

Elder Waite with the Wards

Elder Waite with Bishop Youngberg

'Action shot' Elder Waite preparing a video during the baptism

Elder Waite and Elder Hutchings

Elder Waite and Elder Ray on exchanges

A New Area, New Companion, and Hopefully a Haircut!

Transfers were this week and I'm happy to say that Jacob was nothing but positive in his email communications with me! I worried all week that he would be really upset about leaving Payette but I prayed a lot and I know the Lord is blessing him to be strong and ready to learn what he needs to learn! He said, "The week was good! Transfers went well. Elder Hutchings is awesome! I love him already. We are living with the zone leaders, Elders Rettig and Martinez, in an apartment. It's a nice place. I have a top bunk. So, that's a little different. I am planning on getting my haircut today at a place called great clips cause they give us free haircuts on Mondays.. If it's closed for MLK day I'll go tomorrow - it's too long to wait another week. So far Meridian is good. I don't like the city too much but the people are awesome. The Madsens and the McEvoys are my favorite so far. (I've told him and many members that I've found on facebook that he needs a haircut bad!!)

My New Companion, Elder Hutchings, and me!

He told me they're working with a girl that was going to go on a mission and then decided not to and basically doesn't believe it anymore. He said it was really sad but he asked her if she was reading The Book of Mormon and she said no. He challenged her to read it and she said she would. I can't wait to hear more about her and how reading will help her to feel the Spirit! Also, Jacob got to go to the baptisms on Saturday. His mission president took him himself! That's so amazing! He said he hopes to be able to go to the ones this Saturday and next Saturday, too. That would be a bummer to work so long with people and not see them be baptized. 

My New Zone - the Meridian West Zone

He said they're working with lots of great people in Meridian so he has lots of work ahead which is great!

And then, just like that, they were kicked out of the Family History Center Library and he had to say good bye! That's why I'm writing this post today! Can't wait to hear more and see if he actually gets his hair cut! 

Saying good bye to Elder Masten at transfers!

Saying good bye to Elder Price, too!

And farewell to Elder Dean!

From Payette to Meridian and the Storm of the Century

Hey everyone!

This week was kind of a bummer week! We couldn't do hardly anything because of the weather! 22 below is not fun at all!! We spent a lot of time indoors. And a lot of time shoveling snow. 

This week was transfers and after six months I am sad to say that I will be leaving Payette. I am going to Meridian. I don't know what to expect about it. I have heard a lot of different things. But I guess all I can do is trust that the Lord has something there for me he needs me to get done. My new companion will be Elder Hutchings. I haven't met him yet but I am excited to see what he's all about!

So there really isn't that much to report. Except that it is colder here than it is in Alaska. And that this is the worst winter Idaho has had in 30 years. Storm of the century! It snowed about ten inches yesterday and then rained on top of it! So there is about an inch of ice on top of all the snow! Crazy!

I hope that you all have a great week this week! 

-Elder Waite

It's been so cold and the weather so bad that all church meetings were canceled this past weekend! Snow on top of snow on top of ice on top of snow does not make for good driving conditions! Jacob said his ward mission leader, Brother Ward, took them around shoveling a whole lot. He loves Brother Ward and is trying to get him to move to Arizona! :)

He has loved Payette so much and would stay there his entire mission if he could. He's been working with lots of great people helping them progress in the gospel and come unto Christ. He told me, "I also really hate to leave here because this coming Saturday we have three baptisms (two of them were supposed to be two days ago but they cancelled all church meetings for the weekend.) James, Bradon, and Bryce. And then next Saturday Carla, Mariah, and Daniel are getting baptized. And the week after that Erica is getting baptized. That's seven people I've been working with for the last six months and I don't even get to see them get baptized. Hopefully I can get someone to take me back to Payette for the next three weekends. It'll be interesting." I hope he can get back there for a few of them and maybe return to finish his mission there like he hopes. But, this transfer is a chance for new growth. I know he'll find people to love wherever he serves and he knows it, too. It's just hard to change! He said, " I think my time in Payette was well spent. Bishop Youngberg told me that I've done a great work here. And that I should be proud. Haha, I don't think I did that great but I am proud of what the Lord has enabled me to accomplish here.

Another week with no pictures from him. Hopefully next week I'll get some with his new area and companion! 

Happy New Year!

Hey Everyone!

So I have ZERO time to write this email. I hope that everyone had a great Christmas and a very Happy New Year! Both were quite a bit different for me as a missionary. It was hard. but it's over now and time to move onto 2017! 

This week will be busy with transfers and everything. Hopefully next week I will be able to fill you in more! 

Never forget the Savior's sacrifice! He suffered, bled, and died for you. He has carried all of your burdens already. Don't keep anything from him! My sister told me that today. That's something I am going to work on this week.

I hope you all have a great week!

-Elder Waite

Jacob seemed to be in a rush today. I think he's a little stressed about a problem with an investigator. We've been praying lots that everything will turn out just fine. And he's been in Payette for a long time so I'm pretty sure he will be transferred (you never know for sure, though) this weekend. I know he doesn't want to leave the area but change will bring more growth and I think he's ready for it. 

Sister Stowell posted these photos on Facebook which happen to be the only photos I received this week!

Idaho is getting hit with so much snow!