Photos

Just figured out how to open her photos so I could post them and share them!

Letter 9-16-13

I hope everyone is happy and well and that you are all healthy and doing some missionary work! Well this week has been crazy like every other week in missionary work I love it! We have been going through some changes in our companionship and I am no longer in a trio which has been wierd but Hermana Hanson and I are still together. I have been learning lots this week and seeing some cool miracles. This week we had a lesson with the father of one of our investigators that has a baptismal date and he invited us to a "Bible Study" Which was really interesting. He showed us some scriptures about how the Bible shows that God give us the laws and commandments to trick us and make us have to sin. But as we were teaching I felt the need to bear testimony instead of show many scriptures that were contrary. I felt my testimony so strong and have been feeling so grateful for the opportunity to have shared my testimony with him. We will see how everything goes with him . He was very friendly and invited us back and also told us that his daughter has permission to get baptized. We are currently working with alot of investigators that are progressing but it is very sad to see how Satan always tries to put stumbling blocks in their way, but it always helps me know that what we are doing is really worth fighting for. Thank you to all who sent me my package! I can´t tell you how heavenly peanutbutter and chocolate taste to me! I love the food here but there are always a few things I miss from home. I will fill you guys in about my penionista. Her name is Mami Yovani and she is a really good cook! She makes really yummy meals. Lunch is always the biggest meal here but we always have bread and Ecco( a barley drink) for breakfast and then some type of yummy huge meal for lunch with a huge scoop of rice. Dinners are smaller with maybe sweet bread and Ecco. The food is so good and Mami always does special things for us. Her family is so sweet too. And do you know what? She irons our bedsheets! I never knew I would be so spoiled and boy was I ever wrong about losing weight here. Everyone we visit always wants to feed us. The thing that really impacted me this week was when a Member in my ward was taking to me and I told him that I needed to get a new bag because by backpack is falling apart and we told him that we have certain requirements that we have to get new ones too. He was wearing a nice bag and I asked him where he got it and he started emptying it out and was giving it to me. I really almost started crying. That is how humble and wonderful the people are here. Even when they dont have much they just give everything they have. That was a lifechanging experience for me. I love Peru and the beautiful people here. They are so great. I hope one day you all have the priviledge to get to know this beautiful country full of beautiful people. I am going to try to send pics of what we did for Pday. We went to the museum of the king of Sipan. Really cool ancient ruins that sparked my old dreams of being an Archeologist. I love you all hope my Heavenly Father continues to bless you all! Con mucho amor, Hermana Sanders

09/03/2013

Sad news.... your package came... but I spent forever pleading with them to let me have it. I guess you cant send medical things in the packages along with old clothes. So I am so mad and sad! They said I could try and get the chocolates but the rest they will send back! GRRR! I got Angies package though. I am going to get information from my comp whos mom sends stuff with a woman that travels often to Peru and brings the packages for the missionaries. I am so sad, dont judge but I cried a little bit ha ha. The work is coming really well, I am very tired but I somehow make it everyday! I have been greatly blessed with health. Everything is going well, we had to postpone our baptisms but I may have good news next week we will see how everything goes we are praying really hard. That is so exciting about Steven! DId Morgan get baptized? I am excited. What about Papa Don? I hope everything is okay with Tyler.. is he getting any better? Thats cool that you guys have birdie! Im so sad I missed peachdays! I miss you guys so much I will send some pics of my birthday with my pensionista. Did you guys get my letter I sent? If not I hope soon. I miss yo so much!

Letter From Whitney 08/26/2013

I am so happy to write today and just be so excited for my little bro! Pat I am so proud! My trainer is from that mission! Fort Collins is supposed to be so beautiful! My brother Elder Sanders, I am just so happy! The best present I could have gotten this week! I was also so excited to hear that someone my companion and I found and taught got baptized this week! So exciting. Especially after alot of walking and wind and dust this week ha ha. We are working really hard. Its been a good week and God is leading me and my two companions in this work. I can truly testify that I could not to the work without Him. I feel so priviledged to be a part of this work right now. I am going to try to send pictures this week. I am sorry there isnt a ton to update on this week but I just want to say that the people here are so great and are like family to me and always look forward to seeing my beautiful kind people. 

I love you all thank you for all you do!

New Letter 8/12/2013

Hey everyone! I hope you all got my email last week and that it
answered some of the questions you have had for me. The time here on the computer is really short and I have tried answering all of my emails but sometimes I run out before I can get to everyone.  I am learning so much here in Peru with my companion. I am learning to be the missionary I need to be through having so many experiences. We have a baptism coming up hopefully in two weeks. Each baptism takes so much faith, prayers and miracles. My companion and I have been blessed to find some really great people that have been waiting for us. Peru is so beautiful. The people are so beautiful. The lifestyle here is totally different. We eat breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday in the house of our pensionista who is so tiny and cute and reminds me of my mommie. She takes such good care of us and we are so spoiled she even does our laundry. We walk alot everyday and its usually hot in the day and cold at night. Sometimes we are lucky and take moto which is a motorcyle with a little seat behind it that we ride on. I have finally mastered how to yell the directions to them and to bargain the price with them. We have been working lots with the members here who work really hard with us in missionary work which is great. I´m learning more and more everyday about the scriptures and how they are the best missionary tool ever and have helped me train my companion too. We are learning so much and having so many wonderful experiences.
I love you all and hope that you too are having missionary experiences everyday too. Its the best thing I have ever done. Thank you all for your support and your examples that lead me to where I am today.
 Love you all Cuidense y vayan con Dios siempre! Con Cariño Hermana Sanders

 (My new companion Presidente y Hermana Risso)

Whitney's letter 8/5/2013

Wow, I am so sorry that it has been a while since I have written a big letter. I miss my people so much and feel bad that I haven´t been able to share much of the biggest experience of my life. So I am in Chiclayo Peru, right next to the Mission Presidents house and my church is were the first stake in Chiclayo was organized. The members are so sweet and so willing to help but the Church is still very new to them. The last few weeks I have been with 2 other companions learning the area and we had miracles. This week we had transfers and I am now training Hermana Brito from Riverton UT. She is so sweet and willing to learn and help me, and I feel a huge responibility to be an example and help her. Sadly right after the change we went to one of our investigators that was going to be baptized and he told us that he wants to focus on his studies and work. I am praying very hard that he feels a desire to return. It is really hard when they are so close and go against the spirit they feel. But I know the Lord will help me understand how I can help him. We have another baptism planned for this month and we are just really trying to get her support because she will be the only member in her family. I am really focusing on searching for guidance and inspiration. I realized that all baptisms that have ever happened, happened because of alot of hard work and miracles and I am ready to experience that. Peru is beautiful and the people are always giving us hugs and kisses. I have been to some places where they havent seen North American Missionaries in Years. I love it here and am learning so much thank you for your support. More to come next week

Whitney's in Peru! 7/9/2013

Hey mamì! How are you? Did you chew pat out? That sounds like a fun forth of July. Hermana Kimball, Hermana Batman and I are the only gringas( white girls) in our mission. We were sad that we didn`t do anything to celebrate the 4th. All is great here. It`s a little bit hard because things are way different and funcion way different than my other mission but I shouldn`t compare. I love it here. We walk everywhere unless we take a moto which is a little cart attached to a motorcycle but it costs money. Its very dusty because there aren't roads and all of the houses are made out of cement or bricks with mudd as the cement. It looks ancient. We live in a small room with a small bathroom. Our pensionista mam'i yoavani is so sweet and makes really good food and my garments have never been so white. She also irons everything! I`m spoiled I know. There is a recent convert here that says that went Hermana Kimball and I came we answered his dreams and prayers because she was wearing clothes that he saw in a dream and he always prayed for someone that can play the piano ha ha so I have to play the piano every Sunday because no one knows how . I played this Sunday and it was horrible ha ha. So I am trying very hard to learn alot because I am co-training with Hermana San Roman because hna. Kimball is new and Hna. San Roman does all of the exchanges here with the hermanas so I have to train her when Hna San Roman isn`t around. It scares me. The work is very different here. Everything is with the Bible and my bible knowledge isn`t that great but I'm learning. How are you? How is the family? Whats going on with Pat?

Whitney's In Peru!!!

Its wonderful. I don´t have much time today but I will tell you about my experience. I came with Elder Harris friday and we traveled together to Dallas and there I flew with one of the Hermanas that was in my district in the MTC and we got in Lima at 2-00 in the morning and some man picked us up in the tiniest car and we went in the crazy traffic to a hotel in Lima and it was nice. The next morning we didn´t know what was going on but someone came for us and took us to the airport and I came to Chiclayo where my Presidente Risso and his wife picked me up and then I met my companion and since we have been doing missionary work. Lots of walking in dust with a bunch of dogs everywhere and they are some of the ugliest dogs I have ever seen. The food is really good. We have a pensionista and we go to her house every day and eat with her for every meal. We always eats 2 lunches and its huge! There is a man in our ward that looks just like Luke Stevens ha ha. They are very kind and sweet. Today we ate at the Mission Presidents home which was really yummy ceviche! I already feel so close to them they are like second parents

Letter From Whitney- June 24,2013

HI! So I got transferred this week and it feels like it was forever ago! So I am in El Camino Real, Canoga Park. Its really close to Calabasses if thats how you spell it. Its really pretty and really different. I am on bike still and its been really hot but really fun. My companion is Hermana Higley! She is from Wendover and is so cute and is a Family Consumer Science major which means that she makes me the best food ever and taught me how to make beans and horchata and Jamaica! We lived together my first transfer in North Hollywood and we are good friends so we were so stoked when we got put togther! It was crazy because we were together in the temple when we were talking to our Mission President and he was telling us how he had finished transfer assignments and that he was feeling really good about it. We didn't know then that we were going to be companions but we decided that it must have been a confirmation when we were together in the temple. Its been great because we have been having a ton of success! We got 10 new investigators which has been the most ever in both of our missions.

Yay its so cool and crazy I love it. My last area was so ghetto and this one is so clean and pretty and the people are great. I am so excited to have the support of my ward too! I speak next week in Church and get to share all of my new insights since the broadcast yesterday. It was amazing! What did you think of it?

New letter from Whitney 6/10/2013

Wow what I cool trip and experience. Those places and things are so important to me and must have been so cool to experience first hand. I have been reading in the Book of Mormon about how God said the people that would come to this promised land would be lead by His hand here and have felt so blessed to be a citizen of the country. You should ask my companions I have so much American pride its annoying ha ha. It is so beautiful and am so glad you got to enjoy those things because you deserve it! So I was so expecting my visa to come this week but it turns out that I will finish another transfer here unless it comes this week. I do believe it will come soon though. We had some amazing miracles this week. One was that we recieved a referral from elders in our district and we looked forever for this mans address and gave up and decided to go knock on a door of someone we had contacted before. They weren't home but then we were handing out cards and just outside we asked this mans name and it was the same man we had been looking for and couldn't find! We taught him this week and set a baptismal date with him and he told us that he had given a fake address and number to the Elders and that God really wanted us to teach him because we found him! That was so cool! Then the next day my companion ran over a staple and got a flat tire and we were so annoyed because we had been in the bike shop earlier that week. While we were standing there trying to figure out what to do this woman came up and told us she was a member and that she hasn't been able to come to Church because she has really bad health issues. She told us that she would like us to read some scriptures to us because she can't read and told us that in the morning she had prayed to have some happiness in her day and that we were the answer to her prayers. I just felt so blessed to be guided by the Spirit and to know that Heavenly Father has so many details in His plans ... even flat tires. It was so cool! We also got to take out the youth and do splits and go contacting. It was really fun for me to watch a young woman share her testimony and truly be like my companion! I hope the youth at home can have a chance to do that. Also we have a funny companionship. Its been a great week. We also had a lesson in the park with one of my investigators and he bought me Elote! So good! I will send pics! Anyway that was my week and I know that Heavenly Father needed me to stay here for this week!

New letter 5-30-2013

Okay so what a crazy week! Don't worry mom I feel fine. We just wanted to get it checked before I someday ( I don't know when) I got to Peru because it has been 8 months and Im on a totally different diet and am on bike all day. I'm always tired but that just is what biking in the sun does to you. Man, I did get the drivers liscence stuff but it turned out to be a huge pain in the you know what and I went to the mission office to get help from the office and basically I don't need it until I get home so its okay. I never found my wallet but I was wondering if you could look in my folder of stuff and make sure my social security card is in there I was sure to leave it home but I want to double check. So I have had such a good week with some exciting miracles! New investigators and baptismal dates! I am having so much fun seeing my area grow and learing so much from the people we teach and my crazy fun companions! So out of nowhere uncle john emailed me and said .. oh Im getting married and something about cherries. Random! Send me pics okay! I am sorry I am so behind on letters but Preparation days have been crazy and I have not been able to get stamps but I will get to it this week! Mom I love the people here and its going to break my heart to leave. I am so proud of pat and thought of him all that day. Sister Cropper called after she talked to you and said... your mom just said they had a graduation and I was trying not to cry! Just so proud. What is the status on when he can do his papers?

Pics! 05/06/2013

 

Letter from Whitney 4-22-213

Familia y Amigos mios! I am so happy here in North Hollywood to be a missionary and to be doing the best thing for my life. It has been a good week and am always amazed at the revealation and life-changing experiences I have had in just one week. This week we had Zone Conference where our Mission President Hall trained us on planning and teaching simply. He also told us the changes that will be coming in our mission. We were blown away by how small this mission is going to be with almost double the missionaries we have now. There will be almost 10 missionaries in each ward! WOW! The First Presidency also announced that there will be leadership positions for Sister missionaries too! How neat! Well this week we have been praying really hard to find a way to help our ward have better unity and a stronger conversion to the gospel so that they will have desires to help us in missionary work. Our answer came and it was so wonderful. We had district meeting with the 8 missionaries in our ward on Friday and our Disrict leader told us how he and his companion gave a committment to read the Book of Mormon everyday for 30 days. When they thought about it later they realized that, that is what our ward needed. The Book of Mormon is so powerful and is what we need to help them become converted and united. Hna Zepeda was asked to train us and had called a few days before trying to figure out what to train on. The morning of the meeting she changed her training to be on The Book of Mormon. It was inspired because we didn't know about the challenge until right before she trained us and so it was a confirmation that The Book of Mormon challenge was an answer to our prayers. We had a very Spiritual testimony meeting after that and we have been so excited to be giving this challenge. We'll in my thoughts about the 30 day challenge I felt like I should invite my family and friends to do that also. Just about 10 to 15 mins a day read the Book of Mormon for 30 days, then ponder on the changes that come from those few minutes it took everyday. I know The Book of Mormon has converting power to change peoples lives, no matter how many times you have read it. It has contained many answers to my prayers and many revealations. I know the days that The Book of Mormon hasn't been read are days missing divine, personal, life-changing revealation. So I "exhort" you to not miss a single day. I can promise you many blessings in your home, ward and family from taking those few minutes to do that. Don't miss out on your most needed guidance. I love you all so much and am so grateful for all that you have done for me. As always I wish I could share every moment with you! Stay faithful and Strong! Con Amor, Hermana Sanders

Message From Whit!

Taco truck pics!
So I don't have much time left but I will write you all a letter today. I got your package and Jenny's and Angie! Holy lots of chocolate and goodies! It was great! I love my socks! Thanks so much! How was your week? You look different in your pics. Everything is going great here. I feel like I'm learning more Spanish. I got an email from the visa department at the Church travel ce...nter. And they said that they check on it everyday and they they will let me know when my visa will be granted which means they haven't heard anything yet. Just know that I am happy here and know that I have a purpose here so I am not very worried about it. We believe we will be here for the whole transfer which is the next 5 weeks. I'm okay. We are learning lots. The work is hard here but we are trying and we were happy to see lots of our people at church yesterday . That was the best Easter present. I will write you a letter today! Love you all and take care. Hope you had a wonderful, meaningful Easter!
Hugs and kisses!
Hermana Sanders —

Familia y Amigos

Buenas! Como estan? He tenido una semana que fue muy interesante y bonita. No puedo creer que estoy aqui todavia pero me gusta California mucho. So this week one of the other Hermanas is going home because she is past 18 months. We went out to celebrate with frozen yogurt down our street. While we were eating our yougurts we could see film crews setting up. They came in to sample icecream and asked them what they were doing. They were shooting an episode with of a show with those twins from Disney Channel Tia and Tamara. We left before we got there but that was something interesting. California is so interesting. We have met all walks of life and we can feel the love that Heavenly Father has for all of them.

 

Sabado we had an experience when we went to go see some people that we had been teaching to invite them to Church. Well when we got to the gate a man pulled up and we were going to move our bikes to let him in and he said he was just grabbing things and then was going to leave. So we offered to help him with his things. While moving everything he owns to his car he told us that he was kicked out of the house and that they took his rent money and he had nowhere to go but to live at a park in his car. He is about 65 and is disabled so he cannot work. As we were talking with him he was saying how he wanted to change his life, that before he would normally drink when things were hard but that he didn't want to now.He said that his children won't have anything to do with him and he was at the lowest of lows. We didn't know what we could do for him. But we invited him to change his life by coming to Church with us on Sunday. We didn't promise him any help because he we didn't know what we could do other than bring him the comfort and change he needed in his life through Church. Well he came to Church before us on Sunday and wen't to all three hours. Members got together to see what they could do which wasn't much but they pointed him in the direction of places he could go for addiction recovery. He was great and told us how he felt much better because of going to Church. Later last night he called us and told us that after Church he really wanted to drink but that instead he went to the hospital instead to get help. That was amazing. He also told us again that he wanted to change his life and that he when he gets money he wants to go buy a white shirt and nice pants to go to Church to just feel clean. Also said that he was going to start reading the Book of Mormon. I have just felt that we were there at his house at the same time for a purpose. Heavenly Father has a plan for him. He still has his agency to choose but Heavenly Father has really pointed him in the right path while he is in the lowest he has ever felt. I know he has true intention. That was just one of many miracles we had this week.

I hope you are all doing well and that you know how grateful I am for your support.

 

Yo se que Dios tiene propostio por cada persona. Tenemos la albeduria para escoger el plan de Dios y se que si escogemos Su plan, vamos a tener todos de las cosas que necesitemos. Mediante la Expiacion de Jesucristo podemos cambiar y lleguemos a ser la persona que Dios quiere.

 

Les Amo muchisimo

Con Amor,

Hermana Sanders

New Letter!

Hola de North Hollywood! Its been a crazy week and we have been working lots! I'm working on getting some pictures up and going. So we had an exciting announcement this week that our mission here is changing into 3 missions . So the San Fernando mission will only be here in the Valley and there is a new mission opening up in Bakersfield , Ca and then other parts are going to Ventura Mission. This is amazing because there are so many missionaries coming out that there has to be more missions created. MILAGROSO! So I have some homework for all of you... go to LDS.org and search for the talk called "Do We Really Know What We Have?" by Scott Anderson. It's beautiful. Being here I noticed that there were many times that I have taken the knowledge of the Gospel that I have for granted by not acting the way I should have at times. People here are willing to take on a huge lifestyle change that is totally different than that of their neighbors family, friends and changes relationships they have with people. It's all for the better and they recieve many blessings in their lives for it. But , I have been thinking in Utah we take it for granted because that is almost the culture. So I challenge you to read this talk and think of ways that you can show better appreciation for what you have. Since I have been here I have struggled to speak in Spanish. Church and our lessons are usually in Spanish but everything else that surrounds me is in English. I'm understanding things better but at times I have lacked confidence to speak because I make mistakes. I know that it is prideful for me to be that way that this week I have tried to open my mouth more and listen to the words that God tells me to say. When I was studying the scriptures this week I read in D and C 1:20-24. This was an answer to many of my prayers. It talks about how God calls the weak and simple to teak His Gospel. And that He gives them the ability to teach in their language to help with understanding. Read it because I just gave a really bad summerization of it. But it was beautiful to me. I have been expecting myself to be perfect before I try. Thats not how Heavenly Father works. He wants us to try so that through the enabling power of the Atonement He can perfect us. I love the scriptures and they have been a huge source of revealation to me every day. If you are not reading them everyday you are denying yourself revealation and strength that they provide, I love California and the more I'm here the harder it is to imagine leaving .I still look forward to Peru but I want to have the experiences here that God has in store for me. Love you so much! Cuidense! Con Amor Hermana Sanders

Letter From Whitney March 1, 2013

She writes:

 

Hey, so I ran out of time on the email because I was emailing so yeah but I wanted to tell you a funny experience that we had at the library when we were emailing.  So there were these Elders that asked an elderly woman to switch computers so that they could be side by side like you're supposed to as a missionary and the woman was fine with it but this other woman came over and was like getting mad at them for "making" the lady move and was saying "What organization are you from?" and the Elders were being so calm and cool and she's like "We can take this to the front desk if you would like..." and the Elders were like "Okay".  The front desk didn't do anything and the other sweet old lady had already finished her emails with no problem.  Meanwhile I had no idea what had happened and the crazy lady came and sat down in front of me and some other Hermanas.  As we were leaving she pointed at us and was like "Disperse!" ha ha She's like "if you are loud and a disturbance, we'll call the police" and we just left.  There are some hoolagans out there but it puts spice in life ha ha.  In my email I told you about M. It was the most awesome experience for me and Hermana Arguello even said in her prayer before we left that "if it be they will, help us find a prepared woman."  And that prayer was totally answered.  I think I was lacking faith in thinking that there weren't going to be very many people that would want to listen to us.  But this message is true and God has a way of softening the hearts of people to prepare them to receive the blessings of the Gospel. 

(I can't read the next line...)

...been members.  This is such a crazy experience for me.  I carry a backpack full of books on a bike.  I can't believe it.  You would think I would lose weight but all of these latinos give you butt loads of food that gives you direahs til Easters.   Ja ja.  (can't read that word).  I haven't had direah (can't spell it) yet but I'm expecting it.  Everyday there is so much I want to tell you guys but I don't have time.  I want to hear from all of you.  What's going on?  I get short 2 lined emails I mean come on.  j/k  But serious.  Here's my address so write me a carta.  Love you so much.  Be good members.  Invite people to church and have the missionaries over for dinner.  Mom, I'll let you know if I see JM around and try to convert him too. 

Oh yeah, today we were on the street called Cuhuen, which is in that video on youtube with the lady with the koolaid and crusty-crust lips ha ha

 

El Senor vive!

Les Amo muchisimo

Con amor,

Hermana Sanders

LDS Church Creates 58 New Missions!

SALT LAKE CITY — In response to the enthusiastic reaction of young Latter-day Saints to last October’s announcement lowering the eligible age for full-time missionary service for both men and women, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is establishing 58 new missions of the church around the world.
An exclusive article in Saturday’s LDS Church News, available online, indicates that the "immediate and unprecedented" response to LDS Church President Thomas S. Monson's October announcement lowering the age of full-time missionary service to 18 for young men who are high school graduates and 19 for young women has pushed the total number of LDS missionaries currently serving around the world to more than 60,000 for the first time in more than a decade.
The number of young men and women applying to serve missions jumped nearly 500 percent after the change.
"We are thrilled with the response," Elder Russell M. Nelson of the church's Quorum of the Twelve told Church News reporter R. Scott Lloyd. "Our first feeling is one of deep gratitude for the commitment and the consecration of these missionary families."
The church is opening the 58 new missions in July, bringing the total number of LDS Church missions in the world to 405, to accommodate all of the new missionaries — including the surge expected following high school graduation this spring. Seventeen of the new missions are in the United States, including three in California and two each in Arizona, Idaho and Washington. Other locations around the world receiving multiple new missions are Mexico (eight), Brazil (seven), the Philippines (four) and western Africa (three).
All of the new missions are being created through boundary adjustments within existing missions — no new missions are being created where missionaries haven't previously been working.
For example, President William John Monahan of the Philippines Baguio Mission recently wrote to his missionaries to explain that the mission will be divided and a new mission, the Philippines Urdaneta Mission, will be formed. President Monahan will be the first president of the new Urdaneta Mission, and Anthony John Balledos has been called to take over as the Baguio Mission president.
"The First Presidency has asked me to determine which missionaries will be assigned to the two missions on July 1, 2013," President Monahan wrote. "That determination will be made under the direction of heaven during the June 19th transfer. At that transfer, those missionaries serving in the areas within the new Urdaneta Mission boundaries will be permanently assigned to the new Urdaneta Mission. At that same June 19th transfer, those missionaries serving in the new Baguio Mission boundaries will be permanently assigned to the Baguio Mission and under the jurisdiction of the new mission president on July 1, 2013."
The Baguio Mission is one of four new missions created in the Philippines. Douglas C. Tye of Murray, Utah, will be headed there in July. Accompanied by his wife, Dana, Tye will be president of the new Philippines Cavite Mission.
"I'm kind of overwhelmed," Tye said Thursday. "We're creating a new mission. But what does that mean?"
Thankfully, Tye noted that creating new missions is something "the church has done many times before."
"Under the direction of the Lord, they know what they are doing," he said. "It's nervous and scary for us right now, but I'm sure we'll be fine."
Church officials say that while the current surge in missionary applications is expected to last "for about three years," the new missions will be sustainable beyond that.
The church has already moved to add more training capacity for the new missionaries by announcing a new large Missionary Training Center in Mexico City that will be ready in the summer. It has also moved to shorten the length of time missionaries stay in the various MTCs around the world and introduced a 12-week training course for missionaries after they arrive in the mission field.
The surge in the number of LDS young people — primarily young women — leaving to serve full-time missions has impacted Utah businesses and colleges and universities. It has even had an impact on intercollegiate athletics, especially for schools that tend to recruit heavily among Mormon high school students.
But the greatest impact is being felt among young people whose lives have been forever changed by President Monson's announcement last October.
"I just kind of sat there — I didn't know what to do," said Amanda Johansen, who was a 19-year-old student at Snow College in Ephraim, Utah, last October. "I have been planning on going on a mission since I was 9 years old. But it was always off in the future. But suddenly last October, I could go instantly."
Johansen said she thought and prayed about the decision for a week after the change. "We had a family fast," she said. "And then I knew what to do. I went to talk to my bishop that Sunday about starting the paper work for my mission."
Johansen enters the Provo MTC next Wednesday prior to her departure for the Argentina Resistencia Mission. She marvels at the fact that by the time the next general conference rolls around in April she may be on the ground in Argentina serving as a full-time missionary.
"I always thought I had years to prepare to be a missionary," she said. "I think President Monson's message to all of us was we need to be prepared to serve the Lord right now. It was like the Lord was saying, 'OK, I need you. Are you ready?’ ”
Unlike Johansen, Victoria Jorgensen of Riverton, Utah, wasn't planning on a mission last October. As a 19-year-old freshman at Southern Utah University, she always figured that by the time she turned 21 — formerly the minimum age for young women to serve as full-time missionaries — she would be involved in her career and wouldn't be able to go.
But as soon as she heard the announcement, she says, "I thought, 'I can go on a mission now!’ ” She says she will be submitting her missionary application to her church leaders this weekend.
"It's a huge difference," she said. "I've talked to a lot of girls my age, and they all agree. Being able to go at 19 is a lot different than having to wait until you're 21. I've had a year of school. I can go for 18 months and then come back and finish my education and then begin my career or whatever. It's a lot more convenient."
Not only that, says 19-year-old Aubrianna Schaefermeyer of Kaysville, Utah, but it's also an opportunity for young women to establish a firm gospel foundation earlier in their lives.
"For my friends and I, we've all gone from, 'Yeah, maybe someday' to 'Yeah, we're going,’ ” said Schaefermeyer, who is in the missionary application process. "I'm so grateful I get to go now. I feel like this is going to be a foundation for the rest of my life."
Lauren Beck of Highland, Utah, will be leaving for the Germany Frankfurt Mission on March 20. Her perspective is a little different than many of the new sister missionaries entering the MTC this year because she will be 21 when she starts her mission.
"At first I was kind of bitter," she said, chuckling, when asked about last October's announcement. "I had been fasting and praying about the decision to serve a mission for a year, and now all of a sudden all of these 19-year-old girls are going on missions at the drop of a hat?"
But, she says, "I humbled myself," and now she thinks it is thrilling to be part of this sudden surge in missionary service.
"Years from now," she says, "I'm going to be able to say I was a part of this huge army of missionaries who are responding to a call from our prophet. How exciting is that?"
New missions


Africa Southeast Area

Angola Luanda

Botswana Gaborone

Africa West Area

Ghana Accra West

Liberia Monrovia

Nigeria Benin City

Asia North Area

Japan Tokyo South

Korea Seoul South

Brazil

Brazil Curitiba South

Brazil Fortaleza East

Brazil Juiz de Fora

Brazil Natal

Brazil Piracicaba

Brazil Santos

Brazil Sao Paulo West

Central America Area

El Salvador San Salvador East

Guatemala Coban

Honduras San Pedro Sula West

Europe East Area

Ukraine L'viv

Idaho

Idaho Nampa

Idaho Twin Falls

Mexico Area

Mexico Cancun

Mexico Ciudad Juarez

Mexico Ciudad Obregon

Mexico Mexico City Chalco

Mexico Pachuca

Mexico Queretaro

Mexico Reynosa

Mexico Saltillo

North America Central Area

Colorado Fort Collins

Illinois Chicago West

Kansas Wichita

North America Northeast Area

Ohio Cincinnati

Virginia Chesapeake

North America Northwest Area

Oregon Salem

Washington Federal Way

Washington Vancouver

North America Southeast Area

Georgia Macon

North America Southwest Area

Arizona Gilbert

Arizona Scottsdale

North America West Area

California Bakersfield

California Irvine

California Rancho Cucamonga

Pacific Area

Australia Sydney North

New Zealand Hamilton

Papua New Guinea Lae

Philippines Area

Philippines Cavite

Philippines Cebu East

Philippines Legaspi

Philippines Urdaneta

South America Northwest Area

Bolivia Santa Cruz North

Ecuador Guayaquil West

Ecuador Quito North

Peru Huancayo

Peru Iquitos

South America South Area

Argentina Comodoro Rivadavia

Argentina Posadas

Chile Santiago South

Utah Area

Utah Salt Lake City East

 

To read this article you can also follow this link:  http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865573903/LDS-Church-creates-58-new-missions-in-response-to-surge-in-missionary-applications.html?pg=1

Whitney's First Area!

"BREAKING NEWS!!! Whitney is leaving for San Fernando, CA Monday morning! She will stay there til she gets her visa to Peru!! She just called me! She was crying and I didn't!!"

 - Joel via Facebook

Letter From Whitney 02/12/2013

Ok, apparently Whitney is leaving the MTC this week but doesn't know where she's going!!!
See below! Or maybe she isn't telling us? Not sure!

Hola familia y mis amigos! Como estan? Es muy loco que esta mi ultima semana aqui en el MTC! WOW! Yo no se a donde voy pero yo sabre en 2 mas dias! Estoy lista pero yo tengo mucho mas enspanol que necesito aprender.

Gracias por sus muchas oraciones y por pigetas y cartas! Y Angie gracias por so dones por el dia de corazones! Mi companera le gusto mucho! Yo tambien gracias! Yo tengo muchas cartas que necesito escribir hoy, hare eso! See translation below

Okay wow way to much going on now adays as usual! More spanish and gospel all day everyday. Its funny because before coming here I thought it would be much easier to speak spanish but wow. I still have been really blessed with what I have learned. My companion and I are only speaking spanish to eachother this week. That is really hard but we have learned so much doing that. Anyone who has studied spanish knows that subjunctive is a real pain! Im no complaining its just difficult ;) Okay so it looks like you are all having tonz of fun! And I feel alot like Jeff says he feels in his letter. Man he is looking handsome that cousin of mine. Skinny too. Someone please dear elder me his address because I got a short email from him but I can't email back. Mis pequenos primos estan creciendo mucho! Lindos! Extrano les mucho!

So this week we had some awesome firesides. This one was with a man who works on the missionary committee and it was cool. He had people fly in from Argentina that he taught 40 years ago and it was special for me to see. I want an experience like that some day!

Well you all should write me and guess where I'm going!

P.S I got a letter from Hermana Arnaud! She is in Enterprise! YAY

Les Quiero mucho! Por favor, Leeran 2 Tim 1:7 me gusto mucho!

Hermana Sanders

Hello family and friends! How are you? It's crazy that my last week here in the MTC! WOW! I do not know where I'm going but I will know in 2 more days! I'm ready but I have much more I need to learn enspanol.

Thank you for your many prayers and pigetas and letters! And Angie thanks for gifts so the day of hearts! My companion liked it a lot! I also thank you! I have many letters I need to write today, will do that!

Letter From Whitney 02/05/2013

Okay so wow. 2 semanas left! Still no visas but we will probably know whats going on soonish.

It's been a really good week. We have learned so much but as we get ready to go out I get a little nervous but I trust the Lord and know that I am just an instrument in His Hands.

Today we went to the temple. It was great. The breakfast was awesome as usual! So today I have letters I will be writing. I'm so sorry for those that didn't get replies to their letters last week. I wrote all P-day. I think I was just really slow at writing them. Be patient with me. I'm usually writing when I'm doing laundry so it's hard but yeah.

I have seen Elder Tait quite a bit this week. The MTC can be very overwhelming the first week but he has a great spirit and he is going to do great! It was so nice to see a face from home.

So this week we sat by Sister Nally the MTC Presidents wife and she told us the news of the new MTC in Mexico , which will be fabulous! This week we have 1,500 missionaries coming. There isn't much room but they are very organized here so I know they will have something figured out. Its amazing to see how Heavenly Father is opening so many doors for the Church now. Did you hear that Mexico made special visas for a student for 8 weeks? Missionary training in spanish is only 6 weeks , I don't know why anyone else would be a student for 8 weeks in Mexico. Amazing.

No chior this week ;(

Mom and Dad I can't believe you saw Elder Holland! He really is a celebrity around here!

My teacher says if it is possible for us to get our visas in a few weeks they might have us serve here in Provo for a while! We will see!

I don't know what else to say, so much to say but not much time.

Oh yeah , here is a good scripture to recite while working out ha ha

Y si los hombres vienen a mi,

les mostrare su debilidad. Doy

a los hombres debilidad para

que sean humildes. A basta mi

gracia a todos los hombres se

humillan ante mi. Porque si se

humillan ante mi, y tienen fe en mi,

Entonces hare las cosas debiles sean

fuertes para ellos. 

Try it... ha ha.... Im weak when I work out but the other day I was reciting it I focused more on that than wanting to stop and I got a really good work out in.

Pray for my poor Hermana, her family hasn't really written her this week and its terrible.

Thank you , I'm so lucky to have your support!

Les Quiere!

Hermana Sanders

Letter 1/29/2013

Wow! This has been a really long week! So much to tell you as usual!

So this is our 6th week here and I can't believe it! We are the oldest district in our zone! Still no visas but I had a cruel joke played on me this week. So one night this week I saw that on one of the DearElders I got that my departure date was put for this week on there and I was like WHATTT??? The next day I was called out of class to go to the front desk and I thought it was probably my travel plans, my companion was crying and it was nerve racking. I got to the phone to call the front desk and it was only to tell me that they found my skirt that alterations had lost! Ha ha. Well during this week we sat at breakfast with the MTC President, President Nally. We talked about where we were going to serve and about visas and things. He said if they haven't come by now it's likely that we won't go to the Peru MTC and that if they don't come like the week before we are supposed to leave we will have to be reassigned until we get them. We feel like we will be reassigned. I was sad about that for awhile but now I really look forward to sharing the Gospel anywhere! This week our teacher gave us an opportunity in class just to pray for 10 minutes and to listen. I thought 10 minutes was going to be real long but I ended up taking 15. Anyway after I recieved alot of personal revealation. One part of that was in D and C 79:3-5 and it says, 

" Wherefore, go ye and preach my gospel, whether to the north or to the south, to the east or to the west, it mattereth not, for ye cannot go amiss. Therefore, declare the things which ye have heard, and verily believe, and know to be true. Behold, this is the will of him who hath called you, your Redeemer, even Jesus Christ. Amen."

This was just a beautiful confirmation to me this week that it doesn't matter where I go as long as I am doing what Christ has called me to do.

Wow! Um ... Oh Ephraim is coming tomorrow?!? I will watch for him! Tomorrow we get to be host and bring all the new missionaries in and get them settled so I will watch for him! I loved the fashion show pics! What was that for? Pat looks skinny with long hair!

I hope everyone is staying healthy. We missed going to the temple today because we are coming down with sore throats and stuff. But we can function and we are greatful to not have the nasty flu that has been going around.

There were so many hard things I had to go through this week that I was really missing all of your advice and I wished that I could have just called you. But this time has really shown me that I can rely on the Lord completely. My companion really has been struggling with things and it felt like no matter what I said or tried to do nothing helped. I felt so helpless and we were having a hard time completing all of the things we needed to do because of it. I prayed really hard and was really down because of it. But this Sunday both of our prayers were answered by testimonies of those in our District. Wow... exact answers to our prayers. Heavenly Father really is listening.

Gracias por todos de sus oraciones. Nesecitamos esos mucho! Les Amo mucho. Se que Cristo y Padre Celestial Les Aman tambien. Gracias por su support.

Con Amor, Hermana Sanders

To Grandma Elke & Angie

Yay!  So much fun to get letters from Hermana Sanders in the mail!  Please excuse the "lovely" cell phone pic.  I'm not very good at doing those pics of myself.  LOL!  We just got in from taking Dash for a walk around the block in 28 degree weather and checked the mailbox before going in.  What an awesome surprise!  Thanks, Whit!  We love you!!!

"Dear Abuela!
Su espanol el muy bueno!  Estoy muy impressed!  I'm sorry that work has been so hard but at least you've started your career and you can work your way up to where you want to be!  I've been lucky to be pretty healthy other than a little cough, but I'm healthy and can go to class so I'm so glad for that!  What else have you been up to besides workin'?  How's baby Gavin?  Tell Kristin to send me some pics!  I'm still so sad that I was never able to hold him.  :(  It sounds like the branch is doing well.  When I think of your mission I think abou tthe scripture that says, something like, how great is the joy over one sinner that repents than he that needeth no repentance.  Heavenly Father is so happy that they're there and that your there with a willing heart to serve them!
Awesome!  Te' amo!  (heart) HNA SANDERS"

"Dear Angie!
Como esta?  Estoy muy bien en la MTC y muy animada estoy compartiendo mi testimonia aqui!  Thanks for the Whitney Wednesdays (weird to write my first name ha ha)  I love receiving dear Elders.  Sorry that I haven't been able to write very long letters but I'm doing laundry and have aabout 2 minutes left ha ha!  I'm excited about the Australia trip... send pics!  Oh yeah, tell Blaek that Hermana Horlacher is one of the sisters I room with it's so funny he ran into her family.  She actually told me that before I got the letter ha ha!  Well it's very possible that I will stay here fo rthe next 5 weeks since my visa hasn't shown up yet.  :)  I love it here it's just SO COLD & we never see the sky except for when we go to the temple ha ha. 
Your photoshoot sounds awesome!  I'm glad you're so busy!  Te' amo!  (heart) HNA SANDERS"

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland dedicated three newly renovated MTC buildings on Jan. 15.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland dedicated three newly renovated buildings at the Provo Missionary Training Center.

The dedicatory prayer was given as part of his devotional address on Jan. 15 to missionaries at the center including 18 departing couples gathered for a week-long seminar for new MTC presidents and visitors' center directors.

"We have just completed the Matthew Cowley Instructional Building, the Addison Pratt Residence Building and the Dan Jones Residence Building, as part of the upgrading and renovation going on at this center," he said.

"In those three names we celebrate three of the greatest missionaries that have ever served in this dispensation."

He gave brief sketches of each of the three men.

"Addison Pratt joined the Church with his wife at age 36, went to Nauvoo, and at age 41 was called by the Prophet Joseph to leave his wife and go to French Polynesia," Elder Holland said. In 1844, three years before the Saints got to Utah, Elder Pratt began to see the first converts in present-day Polynesia, he said, "and he is to this day a legend, having given his life to service in the Pacific islands."

Quoting President Gordon B. Hinckley, Elder Holland said that Dan Jones was perhaps the single greatest missionary of this dispensation. Young Elder Jones was with the Prophet Joseph Smith when the Prophet was about to be martyred at Carthage Jail, Elder Holland noted. On that occasion, Joseph uttered his last recorded prophecy: that Dan Jones would yet live to serve a mission in Wales and bring great numbers into the Church. "In two missions to Wales in his 40s, Dan Jones saw 5,300 people come into the Church," he said. "Not all of those came single-handedly from Elder Jones, but many of them did."

"Matthew Cowley is the only one of those three that I knew personally," Elder Holland said, having heard Brother Cowley speak when Elder Holland was a Primary child. "I was spellbound by his mesmerizing pulpit oratory and enthusiasm for the gospel," Elder Holland said. At age 17 Elder Cowley went to New Zealand as a missionary, stayed for three years, then went back to serve as a mission president for eight years. "He became a legendary favorite among the New Zealanders," Elder Holland said.

Elder Holland suggested that the lives of those three men could provide inspiration to the missionaries gathered in the Missionary Training Center and that some future day buildings might be dedicated to missionaries just like them.

 

Link to this article: Here

Lead Kindly Light

Precious Savior, Dear Redeemer

Letter #5 From Whitney!

Wow so much to tell you all as always but not too much time so I will try. Today is PDAY! YAY! We had our heavenly meal at the temple again and I love Provo... otra vez. This week has been so crazy and wonderful at the same time. This week Jeffery R. Holland came and spoke to us and dedicated 3 renovated buildings hear in the MTC. I was singing in the chior again and we sang Precious Savior, Dear Redeemer by H.R. Palmer and Brett Stewart... look it up, and I had this huge overwhelming confirmation that he is an Apostle of our Savior Jesus Christ. Wow... chills. His talk was powerful and motivating. I continued to tell us that we are in the most exciting time of missionary work. There are so many of us here now and it is so crazy. He told us that the Lord is hastening his work. He stressed the importance of our obedience and that our mission doesn't end when we go home but that we should continue to live the way we are now so that we can continued to qualify ourselves for the Spirit we have now. He said, "this is Real Life, capital R and capital L" they don't want us to go home and change but to have this be a forever life changing experience. His testimony on his mission is so powerful. After the talks he gave the dedicatory prayer which was then really powerful as he before spoke about the missionaries that the buildings were named after. Please look them up too; Addison Pratt, Dan Jones, and Matthew Caley. That was a beautiful experience. We are also supposed to have someone special coming tonight too.

 

I love the MTC chior and the director. Tonight we will be singing a beautiful verson of "Lead Kindly Light". As we start practicing these songs the director likes to give us a background of the song to help us feel it. To be honest I didn't understand this song before. The Author of the words was a missionary of another faith before the church was restored. He felt he had a mission to do and new he could accomplish great things, but got so sick that he could hardly move. The songs speaks of how through his sickness he realized he was looking for his glory and for something he had planned but then he says " One step enough for me...." he decided to let the Lord choose his path and he just wanted to be able to do every little part the Lord wanted him to. I love this song! Read the words!

 

So this week we did a district scripture study and we read in Helaman 5:6 and one of the Elders pointed out something that struck me to be so true. It talks about why Nephi and Lehi were given their names. Then he related it to us and our nametags. It doesn't have my firstname and it has Jesus Christ's name on it. I'm not serving for me but for my family and ancestors and for my Savior Jesus Christ. This has been so motivating to me this week. I want you all to know I love you so very much and that this work is SO hard but I love it.

 

Yo se que este Iglesia es la Iglesia que Jesucristo restuaro por medio de Jose Smith. Yo se que Padre Celestial y Jesucristo viven. Ellos quiere no ser feliz y tener la vida eterno.

 

Te Amo mucho!

Love Hermana Sanders

Letter #4 From Whit!

Hola mi familia y amigos! Como estan? Estoy muy bien aqui en la MTC! Hemos aprendido muchas cosas este semana! Ha estaba muy loco!

I cannot believe we have been here for 4 weeks already! It really is flying by! The days are so long because we do so much in a day but weeks fly by like its nothing. Im so jealous of you all in Disneyland but looks like you are all having a good time! It's wierd that Olivia looks so different to me already!? Wow . Um yeah and I've been telling my district that the Elders remind me of my crazy bro Pat and then I just showed my companera that pic . She laughed. Its funny for here because she has no brothers so she died one night when I came back from the bathroom and I was like ... don't go in there  I just tore it up... she just kept saying, I cant believe you just said that ha ha. 

Today we went to the temple and I loved it! And the food there is muy bueno.... like I really think it came from heaven. I decided on vacations I want to stop there for breakfast ha ha. Not that I'll be having any vacations anytime soon!  Last night another pipe broke in our residence hall so at 12:00 last night we heard the fire alarm going off and we had to move to the gym for about 45 minutes and  then we had to get up at 5:30 this morning to walk in the cold to the temple. Its so beautiful in Provo! So much snow! Most days haven't been much over 15 degrees I think. FREEZING! Hopefully no more broken pipes though.

Oh this week we went to chior practice, which I'm sure is more like 600 to 700 missionaries. WAY larger than the mo tab chior. Its so spiritual to sing with that many people! Music is so wonderful here.

One of the highlights of every week for us is in TRC. It's like visiting teaching or home teaching and we go teach a volunteer that has come in to listen to us compartir un mensaje en espanol. Yesterday we had a Chilean lady who spoke really fast with a really different accent , but the spirit still can be conveyed in our hearts and not in the words. Its wonderful. Teaching is getting a little better for us but we still have a lot to learn and have difficult days still yet in my studies I find so much comfort in the scriptures and in the words of the Prophets. I know Heavenly Father knows me personally because I have had wonderful moments of personal revalation in my times of need. My favorite hymn is espanol is Nesecito a Ti which is I Need Thee Every Hour in ingles but they dont quite have the same words or means so its been fun to learn the himnos.

Jenny, Gracias por su carta. Yo entiendo todo de su espanol! Im going to try to writed back today but I dont have much tiempo.

Jaimie, thanks for your card . I seriously love hearing from the fam!

Jaci, tell par par lu you babe, and that I miss cutting his hair :'(

Angie and Grandma, Thanks for your letters! I hope work gets better for you and Ang Im excited for your trip. I will try to write back soon :)

Okay Olivia, thanks for your letter and I will be taking pics with Gumbie and Pokie soon even though I don't understand why Gumbie and Pokie??

Ok so spiritual challenge for you all this week...

We have really learned the importance of turning to the scriptures , especially The Book of Mormon for guidance. Read 2 Nephi 4:15. How can the Book of Mormon be for our instructions and benefit if we dont turn to is regularly? We recieve revalation when we turn to the BOM with our questions in mind, searching for the answers. Also there is much importance in writing down our personal revealation we have recieved. It shows Heavenly Father that we treasure the things He has taught us  and we have e those things there for us in times when we need to remember them.

Read your scriptures!

Love you all so much!

Yo se que la MTC es un casa de Dios tambien y Dios ayuda nos mucho en nuestra obra de misionera. Mi testimoni ha crecido mucho en este mucho tiempo pequeno. Yo se que Jose Smith fue un Profeta de Dios y el tradujo el Libro de Mormon

Les Amo! Love HNA SANDERS!

Letter #3 From Hermana Sanders

Hola mi familia y mi amigos!
Como estan?
Mi semana ha estado muy bueno.
There is alway so much to tell you and I NEVER have enough time to write! But now I'm doing my laundry and this is the time I have. So this morning we woke up at 4 am to a fire alarm in our building where we live. A pipe had burst and caused the alarm to go off so we had to wait forever to go back to our room. Then we had to get up at 5:30 and get ready to go to the temple. It was wonderful! It made me so happy to have one close and has been the first time that we have been able to go since all of the holidays have been on our P-days and the temple was closed. Its so beautiful! Especially now with all of the snow! p.s. the temperature has been -0 F almost every morning this week! FREEZING! And last week we had 18 inches of snow in three days last week that has stayed forever! I think Provo is muy bonita! Le amo!
Thank you for all of your prayers and Grandma and Angie thank you for the WONDERFUL care package. My whole district and I have been taking advantage of the halls defense and I swear its working! I loved the package! Thankfully I have not been sick but so many missionaries have been and its so sad for them to miss even one day of class because we cover so much in a day! We have been busier then ever! We teach en espanol and its coming slowly but surely. Mi companera and I compliment each other well because she puts sentences together really well and I understand really well. We were put to together through inspired prayer. Yo se que eso! Pero no tengo mucho tiempo pero yo estoy tratando poner picturas en aqui para ustedes! Yo se que Jesucristo es mi Salvador. Yo se que nesecito estar aqui, apredir muchas cosas puede ayudar la gente de Peru! Amo la CCM (MTC) es muy marvilloso a mi. Yo se que Dios bendice a mi con este obra de misioneros. Por medio de El Espiritu Santo he tenido aprendir muchas cosas que tiene cambiar mi vida! Estoy muy agradecida por ustedes.

Los amo!

Love Hermana Sanders
ps please send a card reader for my camera! I had to borrow one!