Happy New Year

Aloha!

So tram this week was really fun it rained a lot, they say that this is the most rain they have received in two years! So picture this, two,short, sisters in red ponchos, drenched, inviting people to line up in the rain to go on a tram tour. There is so much water that there is practically a river flowing in the road! It was pretty fun but hard because there were people hiding from the rain and they weren't very happy when we told them the last tram was full. We have three tram shifts, tram 1 goes on the hour, tram 2 goes at twenty after and tram 3 goes quarter to, and lately we have had the third tram. The third tram is hard because of the last tram. We don't really have a lot of sincere people who ride they just want to waste time before the night show starts, which is fine, but they can be the hardest to talk to and get referrals from.

Christmas was fun we watched movies and had a gift exchange. The members were really sweet and gave us a bunch of groceries and toilet paper. :) New Years will be the same, movies dinner and then a talent show.

Yesterday in the VC two little girls came in with their dad and Sister Wantanabe and me we on the couch and the two girls came over and started talking to us about everything they could thing of it was super cute. One of the little girls (2) asked another sister what her name was she pointed to her badge and said "sister Brown, what's your name?" the little girl spent some time looking at her shirt trying to find her name tag, mean while the other little girl was in front of sister Wantanabe and she was singing the song from the book Brown Bear Brown Bear What do you See? It was so funny because that little girl sang the whole book, and I could tell Sister Wantanabe didn't understand what was happening, she was just nodding her head. I had to try really hard not to laugh.

I suppose I'm on the other end of what Elder Pinder experiences, I don't have to learn a language but I'm around sisters who are still learning, and I feel for them because I can empathize how hard that would be. It's hard for me too though because sometimes I don't understand what they are trying to say and it gets more frustrating asking questions because it just gets more confusing. So we just go with it. :) You know you don't realize how American you are until you start talking with someone who isn't. :) We have a lot of fun here because there is always something new to learn or to teach. The other day a Senior Elder asked me if I was learning Japanese, I told him a little. He asked if I was teaching English terms, I said yes and he said well try these terms : the lights are on but nobodies home, the elevator doesn't reach the top floor, and I lost my marbles. Ha ha, it was really fun to explain, and then when I told the senior couple what I was teaching my companion they added, hold your horses, and don't get your panties in a wad. My pad sisters also explained "cheesy". So it's a lot of fun. I forget about all these sayings and words that mean things to us but have no meaning to others. While reading we also come across words that I know but then when I have to explain its really hard.

Elder Pinder I know that more happens than what you are telling us, and I know that you have miracles all the time and good experiences with people you teach, and hard times too. I also know that you have at least 40 minutes to write so you had better be using all your time to share you experiences! You need to bless your family with all the insight you have been gaining! I know that if you do this you will be able to remember more fully all you blessings, WILL YOU DO THIS. :) how's that commitment?

You know there are two things that never change, one, is trials and two is the happiness the gospel brings. Yeah times can be hard but if you are following the lord and asking for help their is nothing we can't over come, the bitter will become sweet. Sometimes we just have to ask. There have been a few days that I have woken up grumpy or had become annoyed at something but when I think about why I feel that way I know that Satan is at work, I quickly pray that I can get rid of those feelings and feel the happiness of the gospel. I haven't ever done that before, I just allowed my self to become more depressed. The gospel truly does bring so much happiness we just have to embrace it.

p.s thanks for all the birthday wishes, please thank the Dicou's and Burnahs, and Auger's, I will write to the ward but I just don't have time to write everyone. Also I have looked and looked through all the letters from the ward and I didn't see any from Brooke and Kelsi are you sure they were sent?

Also, I'm glad for the family update, it reminds me that time hasn't stopped or changed. :) It helps me to be more specific in my prayers.

Dad have fun shoveling the snow ha ha, sorry we aren't there to help, I actually get to help a family paint their porch this week so I'm still working on other things as well as teaching the gospel.

Love you all! Enjoy the New year and make it a good one!

Sister Pinder

Another week

Another week has come! All is going well I can't believe that it is already Christmas time! We are going to have a fun Christmas, we aren't going to be proselyting on Christmas day because most of the people around here are members and they will be spending much needed time with their family. We have a dinner and a movie planned for Christmas. For New years we are planning a missionary talent show. My companion and I have a pretty much amazing talent planned. More to come later.

We are now working on OYM's.(Open your mouth) It's our new zone goal. We have a hard time meeting new investigators so we are now working on OYM. This means "Open Your Mouth." We need to get two a day and they have to be someone we don't know and aren't members. It's pretty difficult but it's really needed and I have a feeling that my faith is about to start growing bigger. :)

It rained here pretty much all last week and I must say prune feet aren't exactly enjoyable, but like they say, the rain here is our snow and it's that time of year.

Thank you for the package! It was great, tell the ward thank you for the letters too, ha ha especially the "random kid from the ward." I borrowed another sisters gear so maybe now I can send some pictures through email.

I love you all and will talk you you this weekend.

Keep working hard Tacoma district, the lord is aware of you and will guide your every step if you let him. We have been using 3 Nephi 12:14-16 and Helaman 14:5 to let people know that Christ was made known to all people and is still a light in our lives. Stay strong.

Till next week

Sister Pinder

L. Tom Perry and Sister Perry

Hey! So it's finally my P-day I just happened to have arrived on my p-day and we didn't have any time to do anything. They say if you can make it till Wednesday in the MTC you can do anything, same thing when you get to you mission. There is a lot to learn and it was quite difficult to adjust but I did and I am loving it. I know the lord knows me well because this is the perfect place for me. I love the visitor center! We have shifts so sometimes we are at the visitor center sometimes we wait at the PCC to give tours to come to the visitor center and then other times we are out teaching and trying to find new people to teach. The hard thing about where we are is that 80 % of the people in Laie are members. Which is great but we don't have the opportunity to teach a lot of new investigators. We are trying to find new ways to meet new people to teach but it's really hard.

I have already had some great experiences and also some really hard experiences. I always get really excited when I get to share my testimony and then someone shows interest in learning more. My third day here we gave a couple a tour and they turned out to be very anti. I didn't know what to say and he kept trying to make me believe that what I was doing was wrong what I believed was wrong. I must admit I cried after that encounter but it was okay because it just made me so much stronger I think I was mainly crying because of how "lost" they were and I couldn't do anything about it there understanding came from probably the computer and they weren't interested in learning the truth from the source.

I love it here the spirit is so strong and 95 % of the people are all so nice and happy. I think I was pretty much born to be an Asian person in a American body :) Most of the Asians have a birthday in December and then there's me. :) My companion is great! She's from Japan and she's shorter than me! ha ha I'm pretty average height here and that is nice. I get to give hugs to people who are my size. The best things come in small packages. :) Her name is Wantanabe (2) (Wan-ton-ah-be) there are two Wantanabe's and so we have to number them. There are only 5 Americans, 6 Japanese and the rest are from various islands(9 others). Understanding can be a challenge at times but we really do have a great group. There are only four elders in our area at a time which is a little weird, we only see them when we have meetings.

In the little town of Laie there is one grocery store and no where really to shop. It's tricky to buy groceries because we only have $175 a month and food isn't cheap. I haven't had the chance yet to eat with any of the members but I'm told that I need to learn to eat REALLY slow, because its offensive to not finish your plate.

We live with two other sisters who are a lot of fun, my poor companion is stuck with three of the five Americans. :) Our pad (house) is one of the nicest, we are literally right on the beach I wake up to a beautiful sunrise. The other sisters are all really close to one another but we are in a special pad farther down the road because the other sisters get to do online chat for LDS.org. Elder Eubank (he is our visitor center director) said he put us there because he knew he could trust us not to use the computers or be tempted by the beach. Because where the sand begins the mission ends. :)

Oh when I got here I got a cubby to put all my stuff in and it was decorated really cute, one of the post its said we are glad you are here and can drive! A lot of the sisters can't drive because of foreign license. So I have been driving, its not bad because we really don't have to drive very far.

So one of my mistakes was not bringing any cardigans it can get pretty chilly, and I can't go shopping. Also because I get to drive I would love to have the Cd's I left in my car, you would have to take out anything that wouldn't bring the spirit (there's also a CD in the side of my door) Sorry I know that you probably thought you were done sending me things. I will probably be sending my temple things home- because of the chaos that the temple is in now with everyone and their dogs going :) we only get to go twice a year. Sad I know but the President is trying to work things out.

It would be nice to have dear elders to read during the week so that still the same. My address is 1500 S Beretania St Ste 416 Honolulu HI 96826.

I talked to Elder Eubank about calling and he said that I could call on Christmas eve if that would be easier and I could call at 5 here so 8 there? Or I don't know if Christmas would be better just let me know so I can schedule a time to call. We only get 40 min. Oh I will also probably be sending most of the calling cards home, you can send them to Tucker, it's free to call while I'm here at the VC, and it's the only place we can call from.

I think I answered most of you questions. Let me know if I didn't. I haven't heard anything from anyone so let me know what's going on. I also still need Tuckers address. And if you are thinking of things to send, anything snacky we love things to snack on during our vc shifts. The senior companions sometimes buy us dried fruit and nuts and they are usually gone by the end of the day. :) Thank you for all you do I love you and I will talk to you next Wednesday. (it might be later because we won't be able to email till about 3 because of a meeting.) Love you all!!! The Church is TRUE!

One more week in the MTC

I saw Bryce for the first time, today I'm sure he will give you a bit of a up date. VC training has been great I am so excited to get out there and teach. I get to go to temple square tomorrow to practice everything I have been learning. The VC sister are all really sweet. I'm the only one though that hasn't had to learn a new language. There are four sisters going to Arizona (Spanish speaking) and five sisters going to Honolulu. Three of the sisters are Japanese and my "companion" is Filipino they all had to learn English. You will laugh when you see the picture because all the sisters going to Honolulu are really short. and then we have a sister who is 6'1. On Monday we get to go to the call center and call the referrals we received at temple square.

Thanksgiving was great. we had a devotional in the morning and Elder Holland came to talk to us. He had some elders talk about certain things and then his grand children sang I know my heavenly father loves me. That was kind of hard because it made me really think about the kids. The rest of the talk was really good Ill tell you about it on Tuesday. We also did a service project, we assembled kits to make back packs. We ended up with 33,400 backpacks to make for elementary school kids.

So last weekend we took pictures with our teacher and he decided to hold his breath so we could take a funny picture of him turning red. Pretty soon he let out his breath and knelt on the ground he crawled forward a little bit and then fell forward on the desk. a second later he sat up and said what happened. We thought he was kidding around (he's a really funny teacher) but he wasn't he actually passed out in class! It was pretty funny and a little scary too.

I was sad when my district left I miss them and dutch class was a bit hard because I was pretty much on my own. But I'm doing great now and can't wait to leave.

I saw Bishop Hyatt here the other day as well I didn't get to ask what brought him to the MTC but it was nice to see a familiar face.

Well thanks for all the packages and your love and prayers. I love you all.

P.s don't use apostrophes in dear elders they look weird.

I also need Tuckers address so I can write him

I included a video of instance that occurs during class one time. When we are late we have to do a door approach. Our teacher came to the door and was telling us he wasn't interested one of the elders called from inside say "who is it sonny?" our teacher said oh don't mind him that's my grandpa he has mental issues. And he was run over by a Bishop of the LDS church. The Elder said "Mormons" It was really funny so we had the elder replicate it. Not as good but still. I had to let you know it was coming next week.

Dad tell Brittany thanks for the letter it meant a lot. I would write her back but I don't have her address.

times up love you talk to you next week in HONOLULU!!!!

All by myself

So my whole district will be leaving on Monday, and I won't be reassigned a new companion till Wednesday. That means I get to hang out with the two other sisters who are in our district. I will attend their meetings (which are in dutch :) ) it should be interesting. I won't have a teacher so I will be studying on my own and picking up what ever I can from the other classes. I don't really know what the visitor center training will entail but I do know I will get to go to Salt lake at some point. The sisters I will be with are really nice and fun but I will miss my sisters especially Sister Brendlinger.

Oh we had a health meeting the other day and the man conducting was 85 years old he got off topic a lot and seemed to enjoy our discomfort, he made jokes about diahrea and nose picking. He went over by thirty minutes which can really throw a missionary off. He ended the meeting by playing his harmonica for us. He was a funny old guy but I wouldn't ever want to have a meeting like that again.

Apparently a couple of weeks ago temple walks were band because missionaries were having picnics, and running across the temple grounds as well as picking flowers and all sorts of other things. I'm really glad that our Elder aren't that immature. They like to have fun but for the most part they know when to get to work. I forget sometimes that they are only 19.

Oh here's something funny. I thought that being a missionary I wouldn't have any boy troubles but that's not true. I was doing my laundry last week and an interesting elder leaned on my companions washer with his elbow and said " so are you new here? I haven't seen you before. I notice you at gym and thought you must be new" I felt really awkward because I was washing all my stuff and I wasn't engaging in the conversation. Luckily we left, but the next day he found me at gym and was talking to me and said I was really anti social because I didn't talk to him in the laundry room. I told him I felt awkward talking with him there and he didn't really understand why. He finds me occasionally and talks to me and my companions help me out by getting me out of there. Its pretty funny when ever anyone in our district sees him they say watch out there's your boyfriend. Very awkward, I don't know what to say to him to get him to leave me alone without being completely rude. :)

Oh I have been taking exercise classes in the morning. They start at 6 so we have to wake up earlier to get ready to go. they have things such as Pilate's, yoga, aerobics, kickboxing, toning and stretching and steps. They are pretty intense and really hard to wake up for but they are pretty helpful for getting in shape, it is actually a lot like the wii stuff just faster.

I just want to let you all know how simple the church is really. If you gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon everything else falls into place. Because if you have read and pondered the book of Mormon and asked with a SINCERE heart and a true DESIRE to know if it is true you will receive a witness. And if the Book of Mormon is true Joseph Smith was a true prophet and he organized the only true church on the earth. A false prophet cannot bring about a true book or a true church. So since he was a true prophet which I will testify that he was, we are still receiving revelations from god. And if we follow what god wants for us to do we will return to live with him.

Reading the scriptures as if you are going to teach it so someone who doesn't understand it make SO many more things stand out and makes the scriptures very interesting. It brings out more questions that you have to make you self under stand so you can talk to others about it. And just because you might not have someone to teach it to doesn't mean you shouldn't talk about what you have learned to others.

I love you all and would hope that you can all feel the love of god as strongly as I do. And I know that if you ask for it you will receive it.

One week

Hello! I can't believe I have only been at the MTC a week. So much has happened and I honestly feel like I have been here a year. People say that the MTC is hard but they never really say why. I think its because we are going from six in the morning till literally 1030 at night. So the schedule is pretty hard, and it feels like there isn't hardly ever time to work on what I need to work on. But it has also been a time for extreme growth. I never really knew how much I didn't know. My prayer has become so much better. My relationship with god is actually being formed. All the things I thought I knew, have been changed. It's hard to explain really. I always believed in this gospel but I'm actually learning why I believe the things I believe. I'm taking more time to actually delve into things I haven't before. It's been a hard adjustment because I haven't felt good enough and some days are better than others but I can truly feel my self changing for the better.

My companions, that was a struggle in the beginning because one of the sisters rubbed me the wrong way and I was really trying to love her but everything she did seemed to bother me. But we have what are called companion inventories where you all talk about whats going well and what could be improved on. Me and the other sister explained our concerns and our discomforts with our other sister and she explained things and ever since it has been really great. I think part of the problem is the fact that we are actually a lot alike in a lot of ways. We all have strong personalities and we all seem to complete each other. One sister (the one I struggled with) is REALLY knowledgeable about the scripture references and the Gospel, another sister is really uplifting and happy which raises my spirits, and I think I'm the positive- go with the flow one. If we combined we would be the absolute missionary. We are still working on somethings but it's a lot better than it was.

I think my expectations were I would learn the lessons and have a lot of time to read for my self and figure things out better. That hasn't really been the case, I'm enjoying what I'm learning but I'm still trying to figure out how to most effectively spend my time.

I haven't seen Bryce yet but I have seen Tannen once and I also saw Chelsey George today too. They are both doing great.

The Elders are surprising at times with their spirit and their dignity and other times they are 19 year old boys who just want to mess around. But they are all great and it's fun to get to know them. There are 8 Elders in our district, and three sisters and only five sisters in our zone so we are the relief society. We share a room with the two other sisters who are going to Belgium Netherlands and are learning another language (they are really nice).

We had a fireside on Sunday and we able to listen to sister Sheri Dew. It was amazing she talked about how it's not an accident that we are here and three things we should try to do 1 read sec.138 and pray to know the lord it there for us and who we are. 2. lean on the lord always. 3 Ask the lord to teach you how to receive personal revelation.

So this last Tuesday we had a devotional and we had been told that for the last three weeks an apostle has spoken so we didn't know what to expect for our devotional. I was ECSTATIC to learn that Elder Bednar would speak to us. I wish I had more time to tell you everything but he focused on getting us to learn the difference between doctrine, principles and application. we often focus on application rather than doctrine. Why do we home teach? because the lord told us to, that's not the doctrine, he told us to find the doctrine in the Scriptures.

I don't have much time left so forgive my mistakes but I need somethings from home. For some reason I didn't pack shorts i thought I had but didn't as well as my backpack and I cannot remember where I put it! Also I don't know why did didn't know this but we are not allowed to have gum (big problem :) ) So if you could send like altoids( Cinnamon) or something stronger than just life savers that would be great. It is definitely getting colder as well and I don't know I can last much long I think I need a bigger coat and Some nylons ( I don't know if there is such a thing as thigh nylons but that would be awesome. and Tamales would be great too. :) Thanks for everything my time is up so I will talk to you next week.

P.s dad I have been getting up at 540 to exercise in the class they provide for the sisters, I'll explain more next time, but I thought you would be proud :)

New Adventure

Well it looks like I have found the change I have been looking for. Around the middle of July I decided I wanted to serve a mission, so I turned my papers in. I was hoping to be able to receive my call before my brother left to Mexico City for his mission. But that didn't happen, so I was hopeful to get it before my friend Whitney left to Denmark on her mission, that also didn't happen. Four weeks later I finally received my call. I believe that two things set me back, first was that my stake president got in an accident, and not the typical kind of accidents. He was biking and ran over a dog. It sounds kinda funny but it was pretty serious, since he killed the dog and ended up in the hospital. He broke eight ribs, was severely bruised and punctured a lung. That may have delayed things; second I found out that the brethren take the month of July off. But I finally received my missionary call and am so stinking excited! We had a poll at work and my friends also guessed where I was going but nobody came even close. I don't think it was even on any one's radar. So when I read Honolulu Hawaii, I was so surprised and so excited. I still can't believe it I am going to Honolulu Hawaii! And I will be serving at the La'ie Hawaii Temple visitor center. This means I will have to postpone my blog and my art for 18 months. But that's okay with me, because I am going to be in an amazing place for quite a while, meeting amazing people. I can't wait for my new adventure to start on the 3 of November!

New Start

I haven't ever had a personal blog before. I only created one because it was required for my technology class at UVU. I thought about what I could write about that people would actually want to read. In the end I decided I didn't have much people want to read but I do have have a talent that would be fun to share.

I suppose I will tell a little about my self first. My name is Whitney, and I live with my parents in Woodland Hills. It is a beautiful area, but I'm getting ready for a change. I moved home after my study abroad to Italy in 2008. Italy was the best experience of my life; I loved every minute of it. I loved all of the various types of art, and it was priceless to have an experienced instructor to teach about all the hidden treasures through out Italy. But it pretty much left me broke, and with student teaching on the horizon I wasn't able to work. Hence my current situation.

I graduated from UVU this Spring in Elementary Education and have been trying to find a teaching position since December. It's pretty brutal, and really frustrating. Especially because everyone has always said "education will always have teaching positions"and "getting a job as a teacher won't be to difficult" But I have found that isn't the case.
When I'm not trying to earn money or out looking for a job I like to relax. I love to read and try to find books that elementary students would love to read. I hope to be able to find books that would interest students who hate to read. If you have read a good book let me know. You can check out the books I have read on the left of my blog.

My other hobby is art. I took some private lessons when I was fourteen thinking it would be better than sitting at home watching TV. I didn't think I had a chance to be a good artist; but slowly with time and practice my skill increased. The rest of my blog has pictures of things I have done I put them in order from th most current to the least. Maybe at some point I will have a contest and draw someone a picture.

Well take a look and let me know what you think.