Unexpected pause 6/30/2014

This post is by Sister Whitney Ormsby's mother:

I received and unexpected phone call last week from our Stake President to tell me it had been decided that Sister Ormsby will be coming home to receive medical attention.  She has had shoulder pain for several months, that has progressively gotten worse.

She will be arriving home tonight, and will receive a medical release.  

Our plan is to have her diagnosed and treated as quickly as possible and then she can returned to her beloved mission.

Please keep her in your prayers, as you can imagine her heart is very tender at this time.  

Sometimes it's 102 degrees, with 100% humidity.... I LOVE FLORIDA!

HAPPY JUNE 23rd!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!It seems like a good day to be happy, no?
If I was to describe this week I would with the word LONG.

On Monday we had a truly wonderful lesson with Georgene. I can't remember everything I have told you about her, but she is so incredibly sweet. She has had some health struggles lately, and she contacted us because she was praying for strength and she knew that our prayers and our spirit could help her.
It was sooo great to see her and one of my favorite things about her is that she so easily recognizes the spirit and the hand of the Lord in her life. We showed her the video 'Lifting Burdens' (http://www.mormonchannel.org/come-follow-me-the-atonement-of-jesus-christ?v=910937379001) I am so grateful for the Atonement of my Saviour, Jesus Christ. I know that He understands each of us perfectly. What a sweet comfort that brings to each of us in times of pain and sorrow!
Also, she knows that Book of Mormon testifies of Christ and she is learning more and more how similar it is to the Bible!

Wednesday was the Funeral and although it was hard, I couldn't help but be amazed at the love our Father in Heaven offers us. He has made a perfect plan for us to find happiness and peace through every trial and into the next life. Brother C. and Bishop spoke and they had beautiful testimonies to bear. They were stunning missionaries actually, explaining their pure testimonies of the plan of salvation. They were great examples of the temple! How grateful I am to have the knowledge of eternal families, and to have already began my covenant path to return to my Heavenly Father! I know that Whanau IS Forever! That brings me a comfort, peace and joy that is explainable!

Thursday we had interviews with President Cusick and he gave the council to go to the doctor. [please don't freak out] My left shoulder has been giving me some minor, slight trouble lately and he wants me to figure out what is going on. I have been alternating heat and ice and taking ibuprofen but nothing is really helping. I have an appointment with the Orthopedic on July 3rd. And we will see what is going on.

Saturday was a hard day! Hermana K. was in a lot of pain (she has previously torn 4 ligaments in her hip flexer). She went downhill really quickly. Just in time for my shoulder pain to really kick into high gear. We were both pretty broken, trying our best to look after one another.. but the other Hermana's in our ward came and looked after us. They made us dinner and help around the apartment. We weren't able to get to church due to the lack of sleep from pain. But they came and gave us lunch and dinner! Today we are feeling a lot better!! and we had blessings on Saturday, don't worry.

I was able to go on splits with Hermana D. last night to see a referral we got and it was really cool! We got to teach and testify quickly to 3 people.
The work goes on! Even through our small struggles. I am soooo thankful to play a small part.
My love to you all!!
See you in a week,
Sister Ormsby

First day with Mi Hermana!

  

'Midnight' Cereal Snack! .. It was really at 10pm, but that's our midnight on the mission‏

The only mountain in Florida!

With Sister K. on Exchanges

Sometimes it's 102 degrees with 100% humidity.. I love FL!

Rolling R's Lesson Uno

Rolling R's lesson dos

 

Rolling R's lesson tres

     

She's a Goal Orientated Missionary. 6/16/2014

So I have really taken Zone Conference to heart. And yes, maybe I made a list of new personal goals 3 pages long, got super overwhelmed at how much I need to improve and use the Atonement, cried for about a day, erased the entire list and narrowed it down to TWO THINGS! hahaha :)
I am going to make 2 changes, and the rest will follow.

First- I am beginning to understand the power and importance of planning. 
I have always hated planning. loathed. despised. avoided. BUT I have always LOVED the outcome from seriously good planning. If you didn't know this already, I will let you in on the inner workings of missionary life. We plan. Like all the time. When we don't plan, it is a terrible day. We spend part of Companionship Study every morning confirming our plans for the day. When we are out driving, we are confirming plans. Every night we plan for 30 minutes(often more.. :\) for the next day. And every Thursday morning, after 3 hours of studies.. we have the glorious opportunity to plan for the coming week.. just want to make sure you got that, THREE HOURS! okay, if you didn't catch my sarcasm... it is not glorious. it is terrible. helpful. but terrible.
Well, that's a stupid attitude to have when none of this is in my control, right?!!
The answer is yes! Sister Ormsby, you are making yourself miserable!
And to that I say- I WAS! (past-tense, that's important)
The truth of the matter is, planning is great, but inspired planning is POWERFUL.
I can plan for hours (and I do), but with out the right attitude.. I am wasting mine, the Lords, my companions time, and everyone else! 
So, the simple truth that I explained in a very complicated way just now?
Your attitude makes a difference. Things change when we do it with a happy and positive disposition. Don't get me wrong, being happier about it doesn't just make 3 extremely looooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggggggg hours instantly easier. Not even close. BUT it does make it bearable! YAY! for that I give thanks! :)
just in case you don't really believe me... because of our inspired planning- we doubled our lessons this week. Doubled. Yep. You read it right. THERE IS POWER IN YOUR ATTITUDE and of course, in inspired planning! :)

Second, filtering my every action on my missionary purpose!
I invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.
If what I'm doing isn't helping me fulfill that, I stop. 
What is your purpose? Do you have one? Do you check up on it each day? Is what you are doing helping you to fulfill that purpose?

I love this gospel! It is perfect. I know that. Jesus Christ is my loving Savior. His care for me is beyond my understanding.

My new favorite hymn:
"The time is far spent; there is little remaining
To publish glad tidings by sea and by land.
Then hasten, ye heralds; go forward proclaiming:
Repent, for the kingdom of heaven's at hand,
Repent, for the kingdom of heaven's at hand.

Shrink not from your duty, however unpleasant,
But follow the Savior, your pattern and friend.
Our little afflictions, tho painful at present,
Ere long, with the righteous, in glory will end,
Ere long, with the righteous, in glory will end.

What, tho, if the favor of Ahman possessing,
This world's bitter hate you are called to endure?
The angels are waiting to crown you with blessings!
Go forward, be faithful, the promise is sure.
Go forward, be faithful, the promise is sure.

Be fixed in your purpose, for Satan will try you;
The weight of your calling he perfectly knows.
Your path may be thorny, but Jesus is nigh you;
His arm is sufficient, tho demons oppose.
His arm is sufficient, tho demons oppose"

I know His arm is sufficient when we are fixed on our purpose!! :)

Keep praying for Quinton! Please add Georgine to your prayers and our new investigator Cynthia and her children!

I LOVE YOU ALL!
See you in a week,
Sister Ormsby

PS. Thanks for the news on Hermana Olson, I teared up to hear it! She is wonderful, I am sure!  Oh, & read John 14:18, 26-27! LOVE THEM! :)

Sorry I'm a week late posting... this is her email from 6/9/2014

This email arrived on Tuesday instead of Monday and not until around 4pm!! As I discovered they had a Zone Conference on the Monday.

Thanks sooooo incredibly much for all the info about Thea!!! I seriously love her guts and am soooooooo proud of her decision! I just know she is gonna rock it!! :) First off, sorry for the late email.. but better than nothing!! We had a super dooper fantastical Zone Conference yesterday! Elder Don R. Clarke, of the Seventy came! It was inspiringly wonderful! There is so much I learned! I am going to forward you all my notes.. it might not all make sense, but just trust me it is great! I do want to tell you quickly about Quinton! Because he has been doing AWESOME! And He is set to be baptized on June 22, he came to church on Sunday and it was fantastic to see him there. Feeling the spirit mega strong. I totally suck for this terribly lame email! I promise to be better next time!I surely love you a lot!
See you in a week,Sister Ormsby

Hercules the Hamster

  

Walking fun and saying goodbye to Tara    
 Face Masks

x

Hermana Ormsby!! 6/2/2014

Some news from Mum to explain some of her following email.... Sister Ormsby had transfers last week (we knew she was staying in Apollo Bay, but did not know anything about her new companion). Her new companion is a Spanish speaking sister, and if you've been following Sister Ormsby's blog you will know how dearly she has longed for and prayed for the ability to speak Spanish with so many of the people she teaches. Here is the picture posted on the Florida Tampa mission FB page, that was taken last Tuesday, transfer day:

I also sent some photos to her, one of which was her sister Jaime's ultrasound of her baby.

First off- I squealed when i saw the picture of Jai's ultrasound!! SO WONDERFUL! :D

Oh yeah. Like you wouldn't believe and like a perfect answer to my prayers.. my new companion is Hermana K.! She is AWESOME.
We are basically the same person, and we have soooo much fun together!! And! We get to do language study every morning! I AM LEARNING SPANISH! And I am THRILLED about it!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D
I have started reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish, and I'm not too far yet, but it has been really great! I have started praying in Spanish too! And we put sticky notes all over everything in our apartment and car so I can practice my vocab! It is like a dream come true! haha :)
Seriously though, I am so excited to be learning and my sweet Hermana is kind of the coolest person ever.
She is 19, from Orem and the youngest of 6. We like all the same things and have crazy similar sense of humor! It is pretty wonderful! She has been in Naples her whole mission (7 months) and she is a rock star. I love the way Heavenly Father just knows what and who we need. It is such a witness to me of His great love. Hermana K. just loves. It is an incredibly powerful gift that she has. She loves me, which I really needed. But she loves the people. Everyone can really see and feel her love. That is what motivates her and it is beautiful! I know I am going to learn so much for her.

This week, on top of my incredible language skills improving, we had some awesome stuff go down! I have really noticed the blessings of being prepared this week! I realized that I stress about things out of my control, but I am working on that. Now I focus on all I can do. Our lessons have been led by the spirit and I just love being able to focus on others. There
is power in teaching by needs! It is such a cool time to be a missionary. We have the freedom that the 1970's missionaries did not (they had everything memorized to recite).. we get to pray for specific people, be led by the spirit as we focus on what message they need, and then when we teach it can still change based on questions we feel prompted to ask! It is SUCH a gift to be able to teach people what they need, when they need it, and how they need it! 

This week my testimony of charity has grown. In big part because of my new companion. Lately I have become more focused on 'doing', but such power has come from letting Christ-like love fuel my efforts. That is why I came on a mission, because I love my Savior and because I love my brothers and sisters. I testify that others can absolutely FEEL a difference when we show them the love of their Heavenly Father.

So many super cool experiences! But one really quick one was this week I got to see my recent convert of 7 months (Christian) teach a new member lesson to my recent convert from last month (Phillip). And the Spirit bore witness so strong because of Christian's very real testimony. HOW MANY PEOPLE GET TO SEE THAT ON THEIR MISSIONS?! I AM SOOOOO BLESSED! It was really incredible! 
Sometimes I think Heavenly Father just spoils me! :) But I sure am grateful for His pure love!
Love you all!!!!!!!!!!
See you in a week,
Hermana Ormsby

Just call me Hermana Ormsby.

My cutie compañera! We went to a scout activity, western themed! 

We love sporadic Florida thunderstorms!! We had to run to the car in the downpour.