10/25/10- Letter to the World

Hello World!

This week was awesome!  We'll go day by day, shall we?

Monday--P-Day!  The Holland in our ward took us and YeYang out to lunch for her birthday.  We went to a Chinese buffet and taught the Word of Wisdom afterward, at the restaurant.  We thought it'd be fitting :D

Tuesday--We tracted some and got some potentials.  We taught a LA (less active) lesson and the whole family sat in!  It was especially exciting that the 16-year-old joined us because last time we were there, she came right as we were leaving and acted like a complete brat.  This time, she listened and asked questions!  Also, I think this was this day, we had a way cool experience!  We took the car in for an oil change and while we were waiting for it to be done, a member called and asked if we had jumper cables.  We were at an auto store!!  So we bought cables and drove out to meet her.  Some clients of hers (not members) needed a jump so we were able to help them, refuse the money, and give a pass-a-long card :D  And thank goodness for Sister Longmore who knows about cars!!

Wednesday--Our walking day.  We were walking for awhile and as we approached a house to tract, we were talking about all of those stories of missionaries who go to a house and the people are like "We prayed you'd come!" or whatever, so I said I hoped this would be that way.  It was way different than I expected.  The guy was certifiably insane.  He was nice and stuff, but for instance, we asked for his phone number and he said,. "Honestly, if I give my phone number to the Mormon church, I think they'll kill me."  Okay....then as we were leaving we went to shake hands and he said, "I don't feel comfortable touching you, but we can do an air five!"  So that's what we did.  Ya.  We tracted into some other fabulous people that hopefully will turn into more!  Gregorio doesn't currently have religion, and was just running out the door, but said we could come back.  Claretta is a mother of five young kids who listened to basically the Restoration on the porch and took a Book of Mormon.  Ardith is in nursing school and doesn't feel she has time for religion, but took a Book of Mormon.  A concern we often here is that with so many people claiming visions, how can we know Joseph Smith isn't just a cook.  We just testify and tell them they can ask God :D

Thursday--We called the Bishop to ask if he could baptize YeYang on October 30th and he brought up some concerns about the date and some other things going on.  Between him, the building scheduler, and YeYang, we tried the 23rd, 24th, 27th, 30th, 31st, 3rd, and 6th, none of which worked.  Satan much?  He's such a terd.  We ended up getting Nov 3rd to work, so that's when she will be baptized!  Right after mutual :D  We taught a recent convert who's doing great and Mandy, another investigator.  We're shooting for the 18th, but it depends on her dad's job and her aunt, who is like her mother.  Her aunt doesn't want her to be baptized, so we're praying for her and encouraging her to fast for the inspiration on how to approach her aunt.

Friday--Today was the Mission Tour!  Unfortunately, the GA couldn't come, so we had training instead.  It was great.  Then we began exchanges.  I was with Sis. Rogers for 24 hours.  I learned a lot!  It was really fun.  We taught a less active and YeYang that night.  It was also the first time I've seen someone talk until the door was shut in their face :D  haha

Saturday--We taught YeYang again and then went out to lunch with her at a cute French Cafe which may or may not have been legit...probably not...We went to follow up with a referral/former and had met quite a few potentials that I really hope are potential!!  Sis. Rogers makes people PROMISE to read and pray if they want a copy of the Book of Mormon.  We got phone numbers and these women seem excited for us to come back!  Hopefully we'll be able to teach Davina, too, the referral.  We had dinner with some recent converts and then taught Mandy again and then switched back to our regular companionships.

Sunday--I knew a fam in our ward had lived in West Jordan awhile ago, and I found out this week it was in the Oquirrh 3rd Ward!  Say what?!?  They know the Boyer and Dunlap and Clarke and Bray!  It made me happy to talk to someone who knew my deacons (albeit they were like 3 yrs old then haha).  That was pretty cool.  We also got to teach 2 less actives lessons, which was good.

The work is good!  Sorry for the novel!  Love you all much!

Sister Denton

10/11/10- Letter to the World

This'll have to be SUPER short.

I wrote some lyrics this week for a friend that I want to share.

Sometimes in life, I wonder
Did I really know life would be hard?
Could I really have agreed to come down here
if I knew these things were in the cards?

Did I know that I'd have to struggle?
And sometimes feel oh so alone?
And feel like I can't ever do something right?
Or do anything but whine and moan?

I know that I am a daughter of God
but sometimes that isn't enough
When for days on end I feel so overwhelmed
And think all that I do is fluff.

On days when I just want it easy
I find myself slightly chagrined
When the Spirit itself beareth witness to me
that it never was easy for Him

In Gethsemane I might spend a moment or two
To Calvary a step or two climb
Christ did so much more and He suffered for me
He gave His life so I'd have mine.

I added this the next day

So life up your head and be joyous
Whenever it's hard, think of Christ
and live your life as His disciple
with all of your heart mind and might.

Anyway....ya missions aren't easy, but neither is life.  Hopefully that'll help someone, because it helps me when I'm feeling overwhelmed.

YeYang is doing GREAT!  This week she said how much she misses church and was excited for it Sunday and after church she said she felt it was so short because everything is so interesting!  We had an addiction recovery combined RS/Priesthood and she said how much she loved it because it really made her think about how people are suffering.  Her testimony strengthens mine SO much!!

That's it for today!  Sorry, I had LOTS to respond to in my inbox.  Time's up!  Love you all!

Sister Denton

10/4/10 - Letter to the World

Hey World! 

I'm going to try and actually write this time!  It'll probably be just a bullet point type thing again, but we'll see :D

We got here Sept 20 and were picked up at the airport by the Mission President, his wife, and the APs--one of which is none other than Elder Clark!  He knows Cody and Kyle from school and is the son of Jeff Clark--my boss at Deseret Book!  I told him how amazing his dad is, but I'm sure he already knew :D  (The next day I met Elder Winters, a grandson of a coworker and a kid who graduated my same year from BHS that I didn't know)  We all went out to a buffet restaraunt and then home to their house.  We had milk and cookies.  I went to drink the milk and it was disgusting, but I figured it was just some weird PA brand--kind of like Winder Dairy in Utah (yuck!).  Then I watched Elder Willes make a really weird face.  I just kept trying to drink it--taking a bite of cookie and then some milk.  When President drank it, he asked what was wrong with it.....apparently it was WAY old!!!  So I drank sour milk for the first time :D

We all went to bed at like 8pm--we were exhausted.  The next morning, Sis. Quijano woke me up saying it was 7:30am.  Woops.  That's when we were supposed to be at breakfast downstairs.  Typical Sis. Denton.  We then went to training and met our companions and found out where we were going!

My comp is Sis. Longmore from Riverton, UT.  She has been out almost 10 months.  We are whitewashing this area--elders were removed after being evicted from their apartment for being too loud.  We drove for 5 hours to get here.  We were following Tom's directions (the GPS) and all of a sudden I saw a sign that said "Welcome to West Virginia."  Crap.  We decided to just keep driving and then saw a sign that said "Welcome to Maryland."  Double crap.  So, we had dinner in MD at a place called Penn Alps.  We did end up in Harrisburg, where we were supposed to. We waited for our luggage and then headed another 45 minutes to Mountville.

We got to our brand new, 3rd floor apartment at about 11:30pm.  It is beautiful and it's great that it is brand new, but brand new doesn't mean stocked.  We had 0 food and a couple of boxes of pots and pans.  Our beds weren't even put together!  The mattresses were leaning against the wall.  And no toilet paper.  Just sayin.  Luckily, I found some 48 hour kits that had toilet paper in them, so all was well.

The next day, we scoured the area book for information.  Turns out the Elders didn't keep records.  Great.  So we've been working like crazy in this area to find out anything and everything about the investigators.  We had two recent converts that we didn't even have a confirmation date for, but we're working with one of them now.  The other we can't get ahold of yet--she's been out of town.

Wednesday, our first real day, we called Bro. McBride, who we had met in Harrisburg.  We asked him who the bishop was and he said we could meet him at the church that night at an eagle court of honor and go to institute in the meantime.  Sweet!  So we met the bishop and as soon as he realized we were in his area, we were introduced to YeYang.  She is awesome!  She had a friend in China who was LDS--a foreign exchange student.  She spent the summer of 08 in her home and went to church all summer.  She now wants to go to BYU, so went to mormon.org to find Bishop Kenley.  She wants to be baptized!  How awesome is that!?  Because she has no Christian background, we are really starting from scratch.  We taught her for the first time Saturday night (though she came to church and the RS Broadcast last week).  We said we'd start with a prayer and she said she didn't know how to pray.  When we said we end in the name of Jesus Christ, she asked who He is.  While explaining, we said "Savior" and she asked who He was.  It's really cool, though, to teach these basic things I've always known.  It's amazing to see her be taught for the first time that there was a God who came to the earth 2000 years ago and performed miracles and suffered for your sins.  Like--it's a lot to take in, but she's loving it!  Last night when we met with her, she said the closing prayer and in it, told Heavenly Father she believed us and knew that what we were teaching was true.  So cool!

While tracting, we met Ben and Cat.  Cat is a Jewish Catholic who is now a Protestant Vegan.  Ben is Protestant.  They let us in and we taught the whole first lesson!  We went back this week and they fed us a delicious vegan meal and we taught the Plan of Savlation.  Ben asked a lot of great questions and we asked if he would be baptized when he knew these things were true.  He said if he converts, he'll convert.  We then went to schedule another meeting and they dropped the bomb.  They said that they felt two meetings is enough for now and we'd gvien them a lot to chew on, but that we could check up on them.  We will most DEFINITELY check up on them.  I hope beyond hope that he really does just want to study it out for himself and is not just trying to send us off.  They are an awesome couple!

On 9/30, it was POURING all day!  We had a little pond and puddle in our backyard that became a lake.  I have pictures to prove it.  I didn't have rainboots or a coat or an umbrella, so we stayed inside and worked on the area book (which REALLY needed work).  As we were about to go out, we got a call from our district leaders.  President said we had to remain inside the rest of the evening because of a tornado warning.  WHAT?!!?  Tornados in Pennsylvania!?  So...we didn't leave the house all day except to take out the trash.  We did get the area book organized though!

While tracting Saturday, we met two more potential investigators.  One is Brian.  He was just released from Rehab and is doing the 12-step program at another church.  He seemed interested and took a BoM, so we're going to give him the info for the 12-step at our church :D  We also met Andrea, the mother of 3, who was interested in learning and took a BoM. She is friends with one of our ward members, so that was a great help, too!

Well, hopefully this novel makes up for the shortness of the last two weeks!  I probably forgot tons, so ask questions.  I try and write exciting things on a post-it note throughout the week.

Love you all!

Sister Denton

9/27/10 - Letter to the World

Sister Denton had a whole bunch of stuff that she wanted to write today, but she spent all of her time today at the computer trying to get it to load the pictures she wanted to send because the computer was soooo slowwww.  She gave us her physical address....she is in Millersville, PA, which puts her almost into the Philadelphia mission bounderies.

She did want me to post that her friends can email her at whitney.denton@myldsmail.net.  She's pretty excited about that!  Until next week!

9/20/10 - She's on her way to the Mission Home!

Let's see...you have your medical forms? Yep.  You have all your luggage?  Yep.  You don't have your cell phone.  Ummm...Yep.  (She said today that she still checks her pockets for it when wearing regular pants.)

Dropping off Whitney at the MTC on Sept 1, 2010

We received a call from Sister Denton this morning at 5:37.  She was at the airport and they had no sooner got past security when the people in her group spotted payphones and flew to them.  She is flying out with 3 elders and no other sisters.  She is the travel leader of the group and said that in their packet they had pass-along cards AND none of them were sitting together.  She figures that their goal is to speak to somebody.  It's time to be a real missionary, and she is super excited. 

She did finally go to the dentist last Thursday to replace a filling.  When she and her companion came back to class, half her face was sagging (total of 8 hours, she said) and they were making a little bit of fun with her, making her smile her awkward dentist smile.  They happened to pass out information that day so they could keep in touch after their missions on facebook and another sister put her face on the board as a novacain face.  She thought it was hilarious.  The side of her face is still tender to the touch.  She said the dentist wasn't the most gentle.

Elder Chang, a young man that Whitney knows from Kirland, WA (when visiting her cousins, the Loveless') was called to this area on his mission.  One of his first areas was right around our house and he stopped by to say hello.  He is a spanish speaking missionary in this area and he ended up taking Kyle out several times on splits after Kyle found out he was going to Argentina.  It is now near the end of his mission (he goes home in Oct 2010) and he has been called back to our area.  He and a split companion stopped by this past Saturday and when Grammy answered the door he said, "Sis Whitney Denton?" as in, was she home.  Grammy thought that he was caller her Sis. Whitney Denton.  I got to the door and told him that she had left on her mission.  He thought that she had a call, so he wasn't too surprised.  He asked how Kyle was doing and I also filled them in on how Cody was doing in Nicaragua.  It was good to see him...nice young man!

She may call later today from her 1 hr layover in Detroit, MI.

9/13/10 - Letter to the World

Hey all!

I made a huge list of things I need to write and only have 11 minutes, so I'm just going to go down it with bullet points.

• I've seen Elder Devey twice. The second time we were passing and he was like "Hey Whitney" and it was SO WEIRD because I'm Sister Denton now!
• Ysabel Whitney is here and I've seen her a few times now. In fact, her younger sister Rachel served me my French Toast this morning too! I thought it was weird that she'd work so far from home when I realized she's probably old enough to be down here at college! Anyway, that was cool
• There's a guy here that sounds like Channing Tatum and another one that looks like Joe Jonas with a mission haircut.
• I got to talk to some more Nicaragua Missionaries. They were so excited to hear stories from Elder Denton II's adventures.
• Congrats to Casey!! That's SO exciting :D
• I lost a filling earlier this week and haven't been to the dentist yet...hopefully soon. It'll be my second time to the outside world! We also got to walk over to the BYU Health Center (by Wymount) to pick up some Sudafed for my companion.
• Thanks to all that have written letters! I'm trying to write everyone back! I promise!

I still absolutely love it here at the MTC still. It's an amazing spiritual adventure every day. I've loved practice teaching in the TRC. This most recent teaching experience was beyond cool--I've never felt the Spirit so strong while teaching! We have AMAZING teachers that just make class fly by. I'm going to miss class the most from the MTC.

I got to go to the temple today, which was cool. It was closed last week from Labor Day.

Anyway, I've got to go, but I hope everyone has a great week! Next time I write I'll be in Pennsylvania!!!! YAY!!!!

Remember....DearElder is free this week only! Just sayin' :D

Sister Denton

9/6/10 - Letter to the World

(We did receive a short letter in the mail on Saturday...This is her first email home)

Woot! I'm here :D

The MTC has been absolutely amazing. I 100% love it! Some funny things from the first couple of days:

I was the first one in the room and decided to be nice by letting them all choose beds first--bad idea. I was left with the top bunk in the corner without a way to get up. I have to climb on a chair, lift one leg up and then pull myself onto the bed. It's rather comical.

The first day I lost my meal card before dinner and got called over the intercom to the front desk. The second day I lost my meal card before dinner. Ya...story of my life. Haha.

The food is great...a little too great. I've decided to stop drinking milk to help me better empathize with those that are trying to overcome addictions to join the church. I love it with breakfast and dessert, so it'll be hard but worth it. The wraps are really good!!

I LOVE my district! Elders Jex, Willes, and Heinrich are going to PA with me. Elders Hanson and Potter are going to Orlando with Sister Worwood (my comp that I went to high school with :D). Sister Tall is going to Lubbuck, TX. Sister Mousseau (moo-so) is going to Salt Lake (used to be Salt Lake North)

I met an Elder going to Cody's mission and told him a bunch of stories.

Our teachers are absolutely amazing. I love them to pieces!!

I forgot my camera cord, so I'll upload pictures maybe next week (I don't know if it really works here anyway).

I've had a bunch of fabulous experiences here. I love learning about and experiencing the gospel! My testimony of fasting, prayer, and God's love for me increased this week a TON. It's amazing.

I can't wait to learn more! I'm trying to not spend a ton of time in here because all of my roommates are waiting for the internet. They let me go first :D

Love you all!!

Sister Denton