"I'M GONNA MAKE THIS PLACE YOU'RE HOME"

Hello my lovely friends! 

HAPPY EASTER!!!

I know my blog is a little behind with my mission stuff, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I'M BACK HOME IN UTAH!!!!

My new email is whitneysue96[at]gmail.com and my new phone number is 385-424-5359 for anyone that wants to get a hold of me. I also lost all of my contacts so if y'all could shoot me a text and tell me who you are then that would be AWESOME SAUCE! 

Many of you have commented telling me you'll miss my weekly emails. I'll do my best to keep the blog updated for those of you who want to follow along with my crazy life! 

WELLLLLLL 

I just wanted to send one last email letting everyone know I made it home safely and fill you in on all the fun adventures that have happened this week. What a marvelous roller coaster it's been! THIS EMAIL IS GOING TO BE LONG SO IF YOU DON'T HAVE TIME TO READ ALL OF IT THEN AT LEAST SKIP DOWN TO THE END AND READ THAT!!

SUNDAYYY was my last Sunday in the field. We had church and our sweet investigator Nelly came. 

[Nelly!]

[Me saying goodbye to Lilly and Sydney and their Grandma, Sister Torres]

We met with John, Rachel, and Arturo and had a nice little lesson with them. I sure do love that family a whole bunch.

After that we went over to the Baerga's for dinner. They are just the sweetest family. That evening we also met a guy named Frank that we taught a little bit. Then we came home and I started packing.

MONDAYYY was my last P-day. I spent the morning packing and the rest of the day hanging out with my mission buddies. In the evening we had FHE and dinner with the Mackey family and they are just a hoot! I love them! And just like that my regular proselyting days were over. That hurt me right in the chest.

TUESDAYYY I woke up and finished some last minute packing. We loaded everything up in the car and ran to the mission office to get a paper. God sent me a tender mercy and I got to say goodbye to my best friend Sister Glover. 

Then we went over to David's World Cycle to drop off my bike (that I may or may not have ever actually ridden in Florida... haha) Then Sister Yance dropped me off at the Wetherbee building and I had to say goodbye to one of the sweetest humans I have ever associated with. I love youuuuuuuuuu!!!

I got to say hi to my girl Sister Stratton. Sister Stratton and I went to the same high school and she is pretty good friends with my little sister and a lot of the people I know back home. She got to the mission the day before I left so I passed my Layton baton on to her. Good luck my friend! You are going to do incredible things!! Take care of Florida for me!

I took my last Polaroid with Sister Glover.

THEN THEN THEN 

we sat at the church for eeeeeeeetttttttttttttttttteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrnnnnnnnnnnnnniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittttttttttttttttyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

We were all starving and stranded with no car and no phones so we gave your money to the group of elders that were at the church too and those blessed elders drove to Chick-Fil-A and got us some grub. They are going to get so many blessings. SO MANY.

Then we waited some more...

Then we had a good meeting with President about all the challenges of going home. While we were in our meeting the sweet Assistants weighed all of our bags for us and when we came out we helped the Elders and Sisters re-adjust their bags that were over the weight limit. Then we trecked on down to the mission home in the big white whale and the truck.

At the mission home we had dinner. Several of the Senior couples came so they could say goodbye to us. They had all of us departing missionaries sit at the table in the dining room and it felt like we were at the kids table. It was a party. I sure do love these crazy kids a lot! They always make me laugh so hard.

After dinner we had one of the most tender testimony meetings I have ever been to. My friends, I sure have loved these last 18 months. The Lord has been so good to me. He's been so good to all of us. At the end we stood and sang Called to Serve one last time. I was filled with so much gratitude for my Savior for this opportunity He gave me to serve. Then we all knelt in a circle and said a prayer. It was such a sweet experience.

Then we took the traditional stair picture.

I can honestly say I don't think any of us slept that night. At one point I rolled over in my bed and Sister Mohenoa said "Sister Reid...are you awake?" and I just said "ya...." and she said "I can't go to sleep." haha from that point on I didn't sleep much for the rest of the week either.

WEDNESDAYYY we woke up at the CRACK OF DAWN.... Actually..... WELL BEFORE THE CRACK OF DAWN. We were awake by 3:30 to start getting ready to go. Around 5:00 Elder Dummer and Elder Lyon (the assistants) came by and had breakfast with Sister Olsen and I and President Clark. Then we loaded up our stuff. Said goodbye to Sister Magno, Sister Mohenoa, and President and Sister Clark and the Assistants took us to the airport. They dropped us off at the curb, shook our hands, and we were off! 

OKAY OKAY OKAY ARE YOU READY FOR THIS...

So we get in and see the longest line of my life. I about died because we were already running slightly behind schedule. We see the Elders that had gotten there earlier and they are already through baggage and were looking at us like "hope you make it Sisters..." ahhhh so Sister Olsen and I said a prayer right there in the middle of the baggage line. The line went pretty fast. The guy that checked my bags was a member. Then we got through security in a good amount of time. I had forgotten to take my liquids out, but they didn't stop me to check it so that was a #HASHTAGBLESSING. Then we start to make our way towards our gate and after we get off the little tram thing we see Elder Greenwood and Reyes running towards us. The said "SISTERS YOUR FLIGHT IS ALREADY BOARDING! GIVE US YOUR BAGS!" So they grabbed our bags and ran us to our gate. We said goodbye to them (they were both flying to different states) and we walked right onto our plane and before I knew it we were in the air!

The flight was good. We all kept checking the clock every three minutes so that made it feel extremely long. We watched all the Mormon Messages on my iPad.... nothing like watching Chastity, what are the limits? With your mission buds on an airplane.... ahhahaha

We finally landed in Utah. We had landed a little early so we had to stall a little bit to make sure our families had enough time to be there. 

Then the long-awaited moment happened! I hugged my family! I felt more like a celebrity than I ever have in my life. haha And let me tell you. Every lonely moment in the mission was all worth it when I finally got to hug my army of people that supported me for the last 18 months.

MY SWEET FRIEND HANNAH MADE ME THE CUUUUUUUUTTTTTTTTEST VIDEO OF ME AT THE AIRPORT

Then I got some Cafe Rio. #BLESSED

Then I spent the day visiting with friends and family and I just had a grand ole time! In the evening I went to meet with my Stake President to get released. He had my littlest sister Mikall (she's 12) take off my name tag. She then handed it to my other Sister Danielle who is 18 and will start her mission papers in the next couple weeks. That was sweet, but it was oh so hard. And just like that I became Whitney again. 

THURSDAYYY I took my littlest sister "tracting" in my neighborhood to deliver invitations to my homecoming. It was the best tracting I have ever done in my life! haha every door I knocked on swung open and I was greeted with screams and hugs and I can honestly say I never received that kind of response when I knocked on doors in Florida. haha I also got a phone and had a bunch more people come see me. Then in the evening I went to institute with my friend Kenna. I accidentally introduced myself to the class as "Sister Reid"

*face palm*  

During class Kenna slipped me this note and said "here.... this is practice for when boys try to flirt with you." haha

FRIDAYYY I ran errands and in the evening I had my open house. I got to see so many friends and a bunch of family. I played with my cousins who are so big. Around 11:00 at night my best friend Lauren and Lexi and their family came to hang out and didn't leave until after 1:00 and I didn't go to bed until after 2:00. Just like the good old days!

SATURDAYYY I went to my Sister's State Theater competition. High schools are a worldly place. haha I was NOT prepared for the music and performances at this competition. It made me feel like I needed to go read my scriptures for a few hours. haha But my sister did great and that was fun to watch her compete. In the evening I went to Kenna's house and I watched my first movie. I made everyone stay rated G and we watched Zootopia. All my friends decided that I was Kathy. The whole time I watched the movie I was just looking for gospel analogies in the movie. Then we watched a couple episodes of Bob Ross..... don't ask.... my friends are weird. 

TODAYYYY IS EASTER SUNDAY! This morning I got up early and went to go help teach mission prep. I role-played in front of the class with my friend Jordan who got home a few months ago. That was fun. I was told I would be given an official calling as a mission prep teacher. I was pretty pumped about that!! 

So now it's 10:00. I have church at 1:00 and will give my homecoming talk. 

I included this in my email last week, but for those of you who didn't get it, I wanted to include it again... 

SAPPY THANK YOUS COMIN' ATCHYA!!!!

To my sweet friends Mayra, Cassie, Will, Cedar, Junior, Josh, Patrick, and Robbie who I've watched enter the waters of baptism while I've been here I want you to know I'm so proud of each of you. I'm glad I got to watch you come closer to your Savior. I'm glad I got to play a tiny part in you journey to the Celestial Kingdom. Stay faithful my friends. We are going to rejoice together in Heaven someday.

To all my investigators I've taught over the last year and a half and the hundreds of people I've met in the streets or knocked on your doors, I want to say thank you for allowing me the opportunity to share my testimony with you. Because every time you let me share my testimony, my testimony became a little stronger. I want you to know that I do know these things that I've taught you are true. I pray that y'all will be able to continue to learn and grow and I can't wait to see you again someday and see how far you've come.

To all my sweet ward members. Everyone from Leesburg, to Daytona Beach, to Buena Vista, to Deland, to New Smyrna Beach, to Lake Nona. Thank you so much for all you've done for me. Because of you home has felt a little closer. To the active members, and those who come to church less frequently, I don't know how I would have done the last eighteen months without all of your sweet smiles. Thank you for your righteous examples. Thank you for all the meals. Thank you for being such good member missionaries and for sharing the things you know and love with your friends. 

To all my deer companions. Sister Ives, Sister Brown, Sister Guynn, Sister Mohenoa, Sister Nelsen, Sister Lewis, Sister Duran, Sister Muhlestein, Sister Hart, Sister Larsen, Sister Simpson, Hermana Jones, Sister Glover, and Sister Yance thank you so much for all you've taught me. Y'all have become some of my closest friends and will forever be people that I think about with joy. I'm glad God allowed us to spend so much time together. I want each of you to know how much I love you and how much I appreciate each of you. I hope we are able to stay in contact and I know that these friendships we've grown won't just last in this life, but will extend into the eternities. 

To my mission leaders. To President and Sister Berry, President and Sister Clark, to President and Sister Wood, and President Humphrey's, to all the elders that have served as Assistants to the President, to all my Zone Leaders, Sister Training Leaders, and District Leaders, and to my sweet sweet trainers Sister Guynn, and Sister Nelsen. Thank you for your righteous examples. Thank you for teaching me how I can be the best missionary I can be. I don't now if you realize the impact your small acts have influenced me as a missionary and as a person. I have strived to emulate the love you've shown me with those I've been able to serve and my heart has swollen with joy in the process. Thank you for your trainings. Thank you for your love. Thank you for every time you've served me. Thank you for helping me be better. 

To my fellow FOMers. Especially the sweet sisters I've been able to learn from as I've served as a Sister Training Leader. I've probably learned more from y'all than I've ever been able to teach you. Thank you for becoming my friends. Thank you for helping this time I've spent in Florida become such a joyful time of my life.

To my fan club back at home. To my sweet family, to my friends, to my home ward, and everyone else who cheered me on as I've been out here serving. Your prayers have carried me. I know that angels were sent to assist me in this work because of the prayers y'all have said in my behalf. Thank you for the financial support, for every letter you've sent, for every email you've typed, and for every prayer you've said. I feel so grateful to have such an army behind me supporting me. I wouldn't have been able to do the things that I have if it wasn't for you.

And last but not least, thank you to my Father in Heaven for this time I've been given to serve here in the Sunshine state. I echo Ammon's words again when I say "Yea, I know that I am nothing, as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever." (Alma 26:12)

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THAT Y'ALL HAVE DONE FOR ME THESE LAST 19 MONTHS AND MORE THAN THAT, THESE LAST 20 YEARS. I COULDN'T HAVE DONE ANY OF IT WITHOUT YOU, AND WITHOUT THE HELP OF MY FATHER IN HEAVEN, AND HIS SON, JESUS CHRIST. I WILL FOREVER PRAISE THE NAME OF THE LORD FOR THE TIME I WAS GIVEN TO SERVE IN ORLANDO, FLORIDA. IT WILL FOREVER BE AN EXPERIENCE I WILL CHERISH. 

I LOVE Y'ALL MORE THAN RMs LOVE TELLING MISSION STORIES.

UNTIL NEXT TIME,

WHIT.