Spiritual Feasting Week 9/30/2013 Pictures too! :)

                                                 All dressed up for the R.S Broadcast!

                                                       We played chinese checkers! :)

                                                Street Contacting! Not as fun as it sounds...

Some explanation to the first paragraph; before I post her letter... I asked her if she'd put her bike together yet, since she hadn't had to ride it yet. And suggested if it wasn't put together yet, she needed to get it put together and make sure it was all there...  

Elder D assembled my bike for me a few weeks ago.. It's all there & all put together. Its silver not white but whatever its still pretty. The front fender did break, the back one is on and fine. but Elder D said it was broken before he even tried to attach it.

 

This week we had 3 days of downpour! Lots of fun to go out in.. thank heavens we had a car!

Wednesday was Zone Conference and Elder Teh from the seventy spent the day with us. He was so amazing! He helped put a lot of things into perspective for me. He just moved to Bountiful from the Philipines with his family a few weeks ago. He taught us a lot about not becoming complacent. Keeping our focus and remembering the moment when we happily gave everything up for this work, and how we need to feel that way again. President Cusick gave a great analogy about us having the right, and clear vision to accomplish much in this work. Our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ and as we are focused on that purpose, we will accomplish so much more.

Some of the thoughts i really loved from that day;

- In this life we have all slipped away at some point. And we all need to be found, through Christ.

- Remember the time you felt so strongly to devote yourself to the Lord that you WILLINGLY gave up all of it.

- Astonish others by your devotion to this work.

- Find out what you LOVE about the gospel. Pinpoint a principle that you can sincerely bear testimony of.

Basically it was an amazing day!

And plus!! I got to see Sister U (her companion in the MTC) there which was a total shock, and lovely surprise! She is doing wonderful things! :)

 

This week we were short on miles so we spent a lot of time not driving. I cant ride yet though, so we have totally relyed on the sisters in our ward. Who have been AWESOME. We spent 3 days out with 3 different sisters. And a lot of our time has been spent trying to find. So basically we knock on doors. Heaps of doors. We have been able to visit with a few less actives which is so nice! So many of them just dont know that somebody cares.. we love being those people that do :)

 

R.S Broadcast was fantastic!!!!! We drove up to the Stake Center (in Brandon) for a dinner the brethren gave us at 7pm, and to watch it at 8pm. I wondered if you would be there! :) It was pretty amazing. What an amazing reminder of the covenants we have made! I particularly love Sister Reeves talk. I love when she said; "Seek the Spirit when you are being critical of yourself- does the Lord want you to be thinking that way of yourself? or do those thoughts come from Satan?" Such a needed reminder for me. It is easy to get discouraged in this work. I often focus on what more I have to learn and what more I need to be doing. But how different would this world be if we could all look at ourselves with the Lords eyes, and even better, if we looked at each other with His eyes. The Prophet had me in tears of course. His spirit is so beautiful! :)

 

The Spirit really fed my soul this week. I feel so blessed to have this gospel of peace. The Spirit teaches me everyday and I am so grateful that I was blessed with parents that always taught me of a loving Heavenly Father. I know He is always looking out for me. He guides my life, every small step is made by His design. I surely do love the Lord.

 

C & T are wonderful! They made it to our Book Of Mormon Class on Wednesday and really enjoyed it!! Today we are going geo-caching with him, he loves it so much so it should be fun! This Wednesday we are taking him on a tour of the chapel and then Book of Mormon class again. And we are going to watch Saturday Conference at the S's(she is the primary president and has become friends with T) and C's family! He also just had his last Sunday at work yesterday!!! :D

 

I'm sorry about your migraine, (I told her about the worst migraine I've had for a long time, that lasted 3 days last week) please rest and get it checked out!

Our winter doesn't really seem that different.. kinda like Oz that way. BUT I LOVE IT!!

Some days its in the 70's which is kind of a bummer. haha

 

Love to you all!!

See you in a week,

Sister Ormsby

News Time 9/23/2013 & photos too!!

News time!!!

First, I saw the specialist on Friday.. stop going all mama bear please.

I had an amazing blessing the day before.. we were at correlation meeting and bishop looked at me and said have you had a blessing yet? so he offered to give me one. Brother H(our ward mission leader.. he is so awesome!) consecrated the oil and then Elders A, L, P, F & Brother H and bishop laid their hands on my head. The spirit was sweetly strong and I was promised so many wonderful things, one of them being that i would be able to stay out here through this and that I would finish and serve my mission honorable unto the Lord. we were all crying after.

Well, the Lord was right! Please stop stressing! And know that the Lord answers your prayers.  I have a hemoglobin(?) (she means a hematoma :) ) basically a bruised bone. It will be tender and sore for about another month. I have a prescription steroid to take and ibuprofen in the meantime, I need to use a heat pack on it too. (dumb because everyone has been telling me to ice it! haha) no cracks in any of the bones and nothing else to stress about, okay?!

Second, Honestly i am LOVING this heat.. everyone complains but i am soooo happy!! BUTTTTT then again, i have yet to bike in it... sooooo.... yeah, that might change. although! it is getting cooler now.. some days don't even get to 90 anymore! :(

Third, I am sad when you tell me about awesome talks that you have read because we don't have the resources to read them! :( next time could you print it off so i can read it? ;)

Four, GOT YOUR LETTER ON SATURDAY!! I AM SOOOOO HAPPY TO HAVE PHOTOS!! EVERYONE IS FLIPPING BEAUTIFUL! :)

Five, the reason we moved apartments was for safety. nothing ever happened to us so don't worry. but we never really felt safe there. President wants us to go outside for exercise every morning and the few times we did, we saw homeless people and other creepers. once we told bishop everything got sorted out very quickly! (we even had priesthood escorts in at night until we could leave... quite embarrassing actually..) so please don't worry. we are safe now!!! we live in a gated apartments on the 3rd floor with heaps of streetlights everywhere! Speaking of, my new address is: 13408 Tall Palm Place, Apt 304 Riverview, FL 33578

Memorize it! Tell it to everyone!! :)

Six, That is awesome about Jaime!! (I told her Jaime had written her a letter)  I'll be waiting for her letter... And, GET EXCITED FOR AUSTRALIA!!!!! FFFFAAAAMMMMIIIIIILLLLLYYYYYY!!!!!! the best thing ever!! Honestly, they love you and cant wait to spend time with you again!! (vegemite, crunchie block, chicos & caramello)

Seven, my time has slipped away! QUICK UPDATE:

We met with C on Wednesday night, and it is amazing how the Lord provides!!!!!! He desperately wants to commit to this, but he wants to do it all the way.. the Lord saw that desire and answered all our prayers. Literally the day before we went to meet with them. T has been offered a new job! A promotion, with better pay and better hours, enabling C to be a full-time stay at home daddy! Which is JUST what he wants! He handed in his 2 weeks notice and T starts her new job Oct 7.. we are planning the baptism for 2 weeks after conference now.

The B's are a part member family.. we have had dinner at their house twice this week and did some service for them too. A is the mother, she is french!! so i really enjoy that! :) She is great and we are working to help her husband P see the difference this gospel will make in his life. He reminds me a lot of Uncle Glenn! :) He'll come around!! ;)

We have had a busy week with moving in and this coming week we have my first ever zone conference!   A member of the seventy is coming so that will be awesome! Also, today after emails we are all gonna go play laser tag! We are pretty excited! :)

I love you all soooooo much! Keep the prayers coming, they help more than you might realise!

See you in a week,

Sister Ormsby


Photos for this week! 

                               Sister Ormsby & her Companion Sister L "selfies"

                              

She LOVES the cooking of her investigator "C"

"C" with his famous Tres Leche cake... mmmm!

She also loves these cute girls of the part member family she's teaching

All the Elders got matching colorful shorts on PDay... Apollo Beach is styling!!

Ready for the Sabbath day :)

New address!

I will post her email shortly... but for everyone's benefit here is Sister Ormsby's latest address:

13408 Tall Palm Place, Apt 304 Riverview, FL 33578

She adores getting hand written letters... but if that's too hard, she would still love to hear from you at:

whitney.ormsby@myldsmail.net

Dear Family... letter 9/16/12

This is the letter we received the same day as her email I posted yesterday:

Dear Family,

I'm sorry I have gotten dreadful at writing.  Sometimes it just seems easier to email y'all each week.  But then I realize how much I miss getting hand written letters/mail & I guess if I want some, I better give some :)

Well the past few days have been pretty hectic- just since I wrote you on Monday! (I'm writing this Wed night & sending it Thursday - let's see how long it takes ya to get it!) (to clarify: that was Wed 9/11 & Thurs 9/12.)  Tuesday night we met with C & T again .... He made us a freaking delicious meal; salmon & mashed potatoes with a homemade mushroom gravy - I swear he should be a 5 star chef! He is incredible! Anyway, tangent.... sorry.  T told us how she got an interrogation after church on Sunday.  He was so excited he wanted to know every detail!! He is so funny! We told him he would figure it all out when he come :)

After dinner we answered a few of his questions.  he is awesome with questions, which we love! :)  He read 2 Nephi 31; READ IT. RIGHT NOW. (Verse 20 is great)  I'll wait.....

Amazing right?! :)   He was a little confused about the priesthood, so we cleared some things up.  Then, we taught him about the Plan of Salvation! And, oh man! The Spirit was so strong!  It was incredible!!  Then, you won't believe it -- I invited him to be baptized!  He lit up with excitement, like a kid at Christmas time.  It really is incredible to see how the Lord prepares His children! :)  C is preparing to be baptized on Sept 29th!!  We are sooo excited for him!!  He really can't wait & we can't wait either!!

The Lord has blessed me with a sparkling, shining, freaking ultimate golden investigator as my first!  

I, of course, realize they won't all be this willing & prepared.  But C has already shown me of the REAL happiness that comes when we follow Christ.  I know the difference His light makes in our lives & that is why I love this work!

I have the best job ever!  I get to see Christ light up God's children with eternal joy!!!

This experience is shooting up my adrenaline! haha.  I feel a fire in my heart.  A yearning to have all my brothers & sisters feel of this peace, light & joy! :)

Anyway, that's probably enough rambling.....

Oh, but one more quick thing!  I'm learning Spanish! :)  Slowly ... but let's be honest, I'm pretty much fluent! :P
We are learning how to bear our testimonies .. a bit at a time & practice by reading the Restoration pamphlet in Spanish everyday.

- Hola Hermonas Y Hermanas, Quiero Compartir mi testimonio en espanol.  Dios es su Padre Celestial y Jesu Cristo es el Hijo de Dios.

That's all I know so far ... haha plus a few random phrases, but it's coming!

For now, that's the news! :)
Love & miss you all!!!

See you in a week, Sister Ormsby.

First transfers...first baptism! 916/2013

Well I made it through my first transfer, unscathed!!! (technically it will be tomorrow. but i made it through!) I can't remember if i told you or not, but we just had a 4 week transfer. Yes, generally they are all 6 weeks apart. But this one is all messed up for some reason. So they way they work it is on Saturday you get a call either from your zone leaders telling you if you are staying or one of you is going or president will call you and ask you to train or do something special.. i don't really know. But Sister L and I are excited to say nothing has changed! :) We will however be moving apartments on Wednesday. I don't have the new address yet, so I will send it to you next Monday. In the meantime keep the mail coming to my Shell Point Rd address, we will stop by every afternoon to check it for the next week or so.

Hopefully you've gotten my letter by now.. I don't really want to repeat myself.. haha

News on my knee:

We have a mission doctor, Dr.Young. I have been in contact with him and he has referred me to an orthopedic surgeon. He thinks at this point it could be two things. A stretched/torn/stressed ligament and some soft tissue damage. Otherwise it should have healed by now. Whatever it is, the way to make it better is rest. Which as we all understand is exactly what missionaries do 24/7 :P 

I called to make an appointment but something is wrong with my insurance? I was hoping you would be online so we could talk about it.. Am I still covered on our insurance? Because they said I wasn't.. At any rate, I will try and call them this week to make an appointment for as soon as they can fit me in. 

The AP's really want me to try riding a bike.. it is so hard making the Elders ride everywhere. They complain and I mostly feel terrible about it all. I'm trying hard not to be a burden. So hopefully it will work out soon. We called Brother Young, but I'm not allowed to ride until we figure out what it is. 

So I'm Sister Limpy over here. Dragging around a knee brace. :/

But I'm just complaining. Everything IS great.

Like I said in my letter, we set a date with C. It is pretty cool how it's all working out.. The 29th we have a linger longer after church so Bishop has decided we will combine Sunday School, and have the baptism then! With the whole ward!!! And then after R.S we will have the linger longer. We are so excited for it all!!!! :D C didn't make it to church on Sunday, so that was a bummer. We are gonna talk to him this week about the importance of the Sabbath Day. T came and he would have been there, but he works. Pray for his work to understand how important this is! We know he will be blessed for the courage to act on the principle to attend his Sunday meetings.

Otherwise the work is good! President just gave us a new mission. Starting September 15th we are spending all our time not teaching investigators, on FINDING. We are looking for everyone in our ward. The Bishop has made a list that we go through with him during correlation meetings of everyone he doesn't know in the ward. The list is long. And all we do everyday is find them. See if they moved, don't want to be contacted at all, or miss the spirit in their lives. (This is how we found T & C)

It is crazy how that is the plan Sister L and I had for this area. We hadn't met the ward yet, and weren't even in our area yet.. but we felt prompted to focus on the returning members of the ward. And now it is what we have been asked to focus on!!!! 

THE LORD IS IN THIS WORK!

In other news, Sister L is an amazing trainer. I don't know if I have said as many wonderful things about her as I should have. I know that the Lord made us companions for a reason! We get along so well, but above that. She teaches me things everyday. Not always by what she says but by the missionary she is. I really do love her. I am so grateful that we can serve together and that out of all the missionaries out here, she is my trainer. :)

Hope you had a fun retreat!! The time is really flying by here. I can't believe you are mentioning fall. It is so funny to me how the time goes by here. The weather doesn't really change much. It's humid and fantastic. We get huge storms which are fun!! But no hurricanes yet :( 

The ward is truly incredible! And the work is moving along! I love you all! 

See you in a week,

Sister Ormsby

P.S- Sorry, no photos this week.. I'll do better next time!! Buttttt I would LOVE some photos too....

This week's email 9/9/2013

Oh man!!! The mission is soooo great! This week flew by!! I am so surprised that it is already P-Day again!!! But I guess that's how you know, you're staying busy.

AWESOME WEEK! A few big things happened! I had my first exchange!! Angels protected us! And we taught a lesson and got our first Investigator!! :D

So they just started doing this thing called 'Surprise Exchanges'! as in... we get a call ONE HOUR before!!! I guess they usually give you about a weeks notice, but someone decided that everyone was planning that day full of good lessons and otherwise having a crappy week. Because of that they decided to give us pretty much noooo notice! and let me tell you.. i was super nervous!!!!! Our Sister Training Leaders are Spanish speaking! So Sister L stayed in our area with Hermana M and I went up to Brandon with Hermana R for 24 hours. I was freaking out while i was packing Friday morning, Sister L and I were joking about me having to bear my testimony in Spanish when I don't know any Spanish.

But when the time came, it was really amazing. 

The first lesson I headed to was with R. She has a baptisimal date and we had to teach her chastity. This was my first time teaching chastity.. but i didn't really teach it because i don't speak Spanish. R is from Cuba, she was so funny! She was reading the pamphlet and she kept stopping and completely agreeing with everything. She was already living it and it all made perfect sense to her. One of the coolest things was that I didn't feel confused at all... I knew everything that was being said. I don't really know how to explain it, because I still don't know Spanish. and I could feel the spirit- but more than that, I understood the conversation as if it was in English. that probably sounds weird, but whatever.

The rest of our day we got to teach 3 different little children! I LOVED IT! teaching kids is my favorite!!!! It was better because I felt like i could actually talk to them because they all spoke English. But Hermana R isnt very good with kids, she was talking to them like they were adults and used big words, but we worked together so well because I could relate to the kids in their 'language' and she could teach! haha

We also went to read the Book of Mormon to M. She is 93 and in a nursing home. She cant really move so the sisters go and read to her. Hermana R totally put me on the spot and asked me to read a few verses in Spanish.. I was so scared.. And I kinda pronounced the words with a French accent (like 'los' you dont pronounce the 's' in french but in Spanish you do) But they were both super nice and helped me get the hang of it. It was pretty cool!!

I don't know Spanish but the spirit helped me understand it!! :) it was such a blessing.

Also, Friday night- there was a huge storm! like more rain pouring down than I thought possible! hahaha, the lightning was INSANE! but we had an appointment after dinner, so we headed out! anyway, long story short. I don't want to freak you out but I want you to understand that i am being looked after! So basically what happened was a van cut us off, on the passengers side(where i was obviously). This wasn't like normal though. I don't know how to explain it, but that car was in our car. It cut us off so close that I am POSITIVE that it was hitting me. It felt like slow motion, I saw him coming and I braced myself for a hit. I completely thought it would hit me. I don't know how else to say this! but it didn't even nick us. It was crazy.. not like oh he was an inch from us. but I am so sure his car was on top of me... but it just wasn't. There were angels around our car!!!! They saved me because I cannot comprehend how else nothing happened. Your daughter is being looked after!! KNOW THAT.

So exciting!!! On Saturday I went back to Apollo Beach and we had an appointment at lunch with a less active and her husband Sister L visited with while we were doing exchanges. THEY ARE AMAZING! We walked in and they made us lunch.. my first cuban sandwich here!!! SOOO DELICIOUS!!!! T and C have been married for 6 years. She grew up in the church but fell away when she was in college. C grew up catholic. But HE IS PREPARED! they just had their first baby, T! She is almost 6 months and freaking cute! They both have been feeling like they wanted to go to church for their daughter and then they met us! :) We were just planning on going for a get to know you and to pray with them. But we ended up teaching the first lesson!!!!!! It was amazing!!! I have this adrenaline! hahaha. He accept everything so well and was good at asking questions! We asked him to pray about it and he said he already felt like it was right but that he would because we wanted him to! hahaha He read from the Book of Mormon what we asked him to as soon as we left! And T came to church!!!! C had to work otherwise he would have been there. But she stayed for all 3 blocks and the lessons were all spot on what she needed! The Spirit is amazing! We even had a baby blessing! :) We are going there tomorrow night for dinner and the second lesson. We are pretty giddy about them!!! :)

About these random pics from this week- We de-bugged our apartment this week! pretty sure we only got a little high off the amount of fumes.. haha. And did i tell you about the water? it it gross. so we drink from 65c gallons of drinking water! LOL :) Also, all our walls and ceiling are concrete.. sometimes we play volleyball/walleyball :D Oh, and I'm learning how to read upside down.... :P

Oh, my bike is here! I'm sorry I never answered that question. it is sitting in a box, yet to be assembled. but we will get there. My knee has been hurting I'M FINE THOUGH! but the mission doctor says I cant ride for a few weeks- that's why we have the car full time. I just have to brace me knee and ice it as often as possible (rice).

CARTER IS ONE?!?!?! HOLY CRAP! I can't believe how old he looks in all those freaking adorable photos!!! 

I really wish i could be there!!

Your lesson sounds great!! Thats the same one we taught the YW last week! :) we kinda taught them more about being missionaries though ;) it went good! 

Good luck at work this week! You're in my prayers too!!

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!! See you in a week!

Sister Ormsby

Week 2 and lots more photos

We got emails and letters today!  Hooray :)

First some pictures of the glorious Sister Ormsby with her companion Sister L.

The idea of this picture is to make them into magnets with their phone number to give to the members.

                 
Following is some pictures for her apartment (for those who missed it on facebook) It's pretty amazing right?

Now to the wonderful words of our fantastic missionary sister!

Hello family!
So my life is crazy busy, hard & wonderful! :)
Here is a typical day in the life of Sister L & Ormsby:
6:22am - alarm goes off - we lay in bed till 6:30...
6:30am - work out/stretch
7:00am - shower, eat, get pretty
8:00am - shoes on & personal study. (We start with something called a "sacred grove experience" - we go into different rooms & for 10 minutes, have a personal, specific, humble vocal prayer.  It has changed my life & relationship with God - please try it!!!)  
9:00am - Companionship study; we sing a hymn, pray & read from the white handbook before we study.
10:00am - 12 week training - basically an infield training for new missionaries. (So even though transfers are every 6 weeks, I know that Sister L will be my trainer for 12 weeks). 
11:00am - Go out & teach!
12:00pm - Lunch
1:00pm - Go out & teach!
5:00pm - Dinner
6:00pm - Go out & teach!
9:30pm - Be at home, daily planing
10:00pm - relax! (write letters/unpack)
10:30pm - lights out.

I don't know that you'll care - but it is just interesting to me that the time we actually spend outside our apartment is so small!  It really shows what I learned in the MTC is true - 75% of what we do is preparation & only 25% teaching. It is the way it needs to be though! Like - exactly!!!  We had a correlation meeting this morning & Bishop P said: "We can't just work hard, it won't be enough - we need to work smart too!  It's so true! We are only as effective as we are organized!

So writing is getting harder & I'm sorry!
Here are my recent highlights:
Our Elders here are awesome!  Elders A & D have been so freaking helpful to us.  When we got here we had no area book & they have been so great in helping us learn about the ward & possible investigators, meeting with us & dividing their area book for us.  They are so nice & willing to help us & answer our questions!  We love 'em!! The Spanish Elders F & P are so funny & great too. They helped us out yesterday with catching 2 lizards in our apartment -- but that's a whole other story....

--Friday night (Aug 23) we went to a recent converts going away party - & we meet a lot of our amazing ward there.  This guy's house was right on the edge of Apollo Beach.  Like I mean RIGHT ON THE EDGE!!  His house was 4 stories & there was a deck out on the roof.   It was so pretty!  We could see all of Tampa, & even St. Pete across the bay. (Totally reminded me of the Gold Coast). We watched & heard a storm roll in as the sun was setting.

I LOVE FLORIDA!

- Saturday night (Aug 24) We had Stake Conference & Elder Christofferson & Elder Parker spoke.  It was basically incredible!  Revelation 3:20 --> READ IT!
It was an amazing invitation given to ALL MANKIND.  Brothers & Sisters across the world, Spirit to Spirit, we will 'SUP' with God!  And WHAT A FEAST IT WILL BE! :)
Also - watch the Hastening the Work videos! President has asked us to show each family we have dinner with a video & help them understand there important role as member missionaries. Will you watch one video each night before dinner & discuss while you eat the things the Spirit teaches you & the things you can do to follow those promptings?
Elder Christofferson talked about the brethren's apostolic responsibility to share & help everyone come to Christ - but they don't have the capacity to do it all. So they call other leaders & seventy.  But that's still not enough.  So they call missionaries - around 76,000 ... But we are still not enough. So the Lord is calling all of His children who know Him & His gospel to OPEN YOUR MOUTHS! YOU HAVE AN APOSTOLIC RESPONSIBILITY & THE LORD NEEDS YOUR HELP!!

-Sunday we got to meet him!  He came over to the missionaries before the meeting started.  This is from my journal:  "He just met me & wants to be best friends. Okay, but really - Elder D.Todd Christofferson shook my hand, said my name & "It's good to shake your hand."  But I think that's just best friend code for -"your awesome, let's hang out! :) He told us that we all had a bright glow - but I could feel his."
After the meeting, Sister L & I talked about the things we felt.  So this is my "Weekly inspiration from Sister L": first off we were talking about the importance of being a missionary as a member & forever:
"Really, our mission right now is like an MTC for being a member-missionary for the rest of our lives".  Profound, right?!  I just love her!!!

-We moved into our place finally on Tuesday! We love it here & we are so happy to actually be in our area! That is part of my excuse for taking so long with this letter - sorry!  We have spent all our spare time unpacking, cleaning & de-bugging our place!  AND drum roll please!
Tuesday night I taught my first lesson!!  Her name is Katie, she is so cute & so prepared!  We taught the first lesson & I kid you not - the Spirit was wonderful - SHE IS GETTING BAPTIZED ON SUNDAY :)

Ok, and I should probably mention she is 8 & a member & the date was set.... BUT STILL :p
Her parents wanted us to teach her the first lesson.  Haha, but still an awesome experience & they want one of us to speak a the baptism!
-Here are a few of the awesome less-actives we've met: Sister M, she is so wonderful! Has a testimony & has excuses - but we will get her there.  And the P's! AWESOME FAMILY! Totally feel the Spirit when we meet & they are coming to church this Sunday!  Her husband isn't a member - but we are working on him! :)

Oh- we are teaching YW's on Sunday - super excited!  Sorry this is rushed - I want to send this off.

See you in a week!  Love Sister Ormsby