1st Letter from the field

February 22, 2010

Hello Everyone!
How is everything been going? First of all I want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! I love you so much! A little package should be coming sometime this week. We can only run to the post office on Mondays. P-days and so I will be mailing it off today! I hope you have a great birthday! I love you so much!

Things are going really well here in Ohio! It is Freezing though! Well to start off I am in a little town called Greenfield, OH. It is so funny! We go to a church in a blue double wide! (a trailer).It's just insane! It is a branch of about 27 members. I have already met everyone in the branch and have eaten dinner with a majority of them. They are all super nice and very inviting! I am getting along with my trainer, Sister Seibel, very well. She is super cute and a way nice girl! We are working way hard. I don't think that her and her last companion worked as hard as they could have. So I have been bringing in some excitement and finding a lot of new people. We have been tracting a ton! I didn't think I would be doing it as much as a sister or even as much in the 30 inches of snow out here. But we are and its great! There are also a lot of less active members that we are going to try and get in contact with! We sat down with the branch president yesterday after lunch with him and his family and went over the list. But lets see...

I want to answer all the questions. Dad, there is a ton of snow on the ground. I guess a few days before I came they had a huge snow day. The missionaries couldn't even leave their apartments for 2 days. But they got about 20-25 inches of snow. I am not sure how cold is has been temperature wise. But its been cold. I have been using my gloves, ear muffs, snow boots, and huge coat! I am in Greenfield. It's the most southern part of the mission. We cover a few different little towns. Leesburg, South Salem, um... a few others I can't think of. Just a bunch of little towns. You should try to Google it. I am not even sure it would come up. Ha-Ha! Who knew this city girl would be serving in a town where the population is 5000. They have a subway, McDonalds, and a burger king. Then the closest Wal-Mart is about 30 mins away. And that's where we are going after this. I need to get some warmer tights! My legs have been cold! And thanks for sending that quilt off and finishing it for me mom! I have been so cold and that quilt has for sure helped! It has saved my life! Keeps me warm at night!

Mom you asked how my mission president and wife were. They are really good! I didn't get a lot of chances to talk with them. But they are really nice and really care for the Sisters! And just so you know my P-days are on Mondays and we are most likely going to be emailing around 10-10:30 every Monday morning. Except on the days when the library is closed. But everything is just going really well out here in Greenfield! It's been great so far and we have found a lot of potential investigators from tracting this last week. So hopefully as we go and teach them this week they will want to progress and keep learning! I am just so excited to be out here and love serving! It's been great! Cold... but great! And the humidity is not to bad.

The rules about emailing is I can only email my family. I am not even supposed to email Zack because we only have 30 min. So you will just have to forward my emails to Zack. But can you get me his address so I can write to him. Even though it may take a while to write back and forth. But my 30 min are up so I better get going! But I love you all so much and I am so thankful for all of the support everyone has shown me! It's been so nice to get letters and packages!

My new address is:
Sister Whitney
530 Jefferson
Greenfield, OH
45123

February 5, 2010

How is everyone doing this week? I am missing everyone! Thanks for the letters! You guys are so awesome! I am still loving the MTC I can't believe I have been here for a week though! Its so crazy! All of the days just blend together! I can't even remember what has been going on! Its just awesome! Lots of study and classtime! I am learning so much! I love it so much! I am still getting along with my companions really well! And I love my district! The Elders are so funny! They just don't work hard sometimes. But I guess I haven't talked to you for a week so I will just tell you a little bit of what's been going on... thats If I can remember.

Well Sunday was really good. We got up and got ready and went to the spoken word. Then It was Relief Society. All the sisters in the MTC have Relief society together and its so cool! The spirit is just so strong here. But the MTC president talked at Relief Society and he pretty much just talked about keeping the Elders in line! It was really funny. But I love being a Sister at the MTC because we get such great treatment. Everytime we walk into a room the Elders stand, they also always open doors for us. And at mealtime the stand for us when we come to sit down at the table and they take our trays when we are done! It's pretty sweet!

But after Relief Society we went to the new sister's meeting about grooming and eating healthy. They just told us to look our best and take care of our bodies. I have been eating salads at the cafeteria because I don't want to gain any weight and well pretty much its the best thing they have there anyways... besides breakfast! I love breakfast here! I have cereal, oatmeal, bagels, french toast, pancakes. There is so much to choose from!

But sunday we were able to just study after the meeting and learn. I love all the time we have to study! I have learned so much! Its crazy how much I have learned from the PMG and the scriptures. I never even knew... But then we had sacrament with our Branch. I love my branch president and his wife they are both super nice! Its President Nuasem and his wife. But our branch is made up of 3 districts which is actually our Zone! Its been so cool getting to know our Zone and the other Sisters in it. Then sunday night we went to the MTC Choir. I was pretty much dragged along! My companions both wanted to go and so we went and sang. It was a good experience though! The music is so beautiful! After choir practice we had a sunday night fireside. It was a musical fireside! So beautiful! I totally loved it! We sang hymns as an MTC for an hour! That was pretty much sunday.

Monday... We just pretty much study and go to class all day. I am trying to think of anything particular that happened. Let's see... WE were able to go to watch a movie. It was called the Gift of Teaching by Elder Holland. It was really inspiring! Mom, you should totally watch it I think you would really like it and it would totally help you with your teaching. Except I am not sure where you would watch it or how you would get it. Maybe on LDS.org or something.

But Tuesday was a really good day. We had a fireside where Elder Richard Hinkley and his wife came and talked to us! It was so cool! He is in the Quorum of the Seventy and is President Hinkleys son! It was such an amazing experience! He just talked about missionary work and how to be a sucessful done it. I love this thing he told us "I glad I did, Not I wish I had." It was really inspiring.

Lets see.. Guess what! Your never going to believe! But I get up every morning at 5:40 to go and excersize with my companions! It's crazy! Mom and Ellen aren't you proud of me. They actually have a class for Sisters at 6:00 am so we go. But I actually ran the mile yesterday! Ten times around the indoor track o yeah! I am so proud of myself! But way mad I am not losing any weight. O well..

I can't even remember what we did wednesday and thursday! The days just all blend in together! Its so insane! But I just want to let everyone know how thankful I am for letters and packages! They really keep me going! I am just having the time of my life and learning lots! Working super hard! But its all worth it! Mom and Dad thanks for everything! I love you so much and hope everything is working out at home! You should send me some pics so I have some to show to people!

Mom... I need a copy of my patriartical blessing. I guess I didn't bring mine! And did you get a chance to pick up my make up? I love you so much! I hope you have a great week! I will email you next week about my flight plans and hopefully will have the time I will be calling! I love you guys! Have a wonderful week! I love you Zack! I hope everything is going good in Chile!
Love, Sister Madison Whitney

p.s. I went to the Provo Temple today and it was so beatiful! Such a good experience! I Love and miss you!