Here is the link to the video if any of you need help finding it:
https://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/the-will-of-god-2
 
 
Dear family and everyone else,
     The news...Well...Total stress bomb for me, but...I...Will be
Training! I have no idea who my next companion will be until tomorrow
morning when I am at the mission office. There you have it folks. I,
Elder White, have officially given the last of my will for the Lord's
will. Not that I haven't given my all, I HAVE. I'm still out here,
right? Anyway, I'm very nervous and also somewhat excited to meet
this/these new elder(s).
     In other news, Sally Ann Molinari got baptized as planned Sunday-
August 28th, 2016. She waited for 4 years for this moment to finally
happen. She finally came up with the courage to give up smoking for
good. After all, this is Elder Shepherd's last baptism before he
leaves the area tomorrow. He then flies home Wednesday and gets home
Thursday morning at about 1 in the morning. His stake president will
also be there to release him immediately after he gets off the plane
so he can go to bed and not worry any more about being a missionary.
His stake president gets up that early anyway for work, so it all
works out for both of them. He has enjoyed much of his mission. I
say farewell Elder Shepherd, until we shall meet again.
     The only other thing worth mentioning is that I had dinner last
night with the Hokanson's, and then we had dessert with the Nate's. It
was a good dessert of bun cakes with icing. It was a night to remember
right before transfer calls came. Brother Nate was the first to know
before I let anyone else know. These last few months have been the
time to prepare for this final event. I think about this one video on
mormonchannel.org about: "The Will of God." I ponder those words that
Hugh B. Brown and Elder Christofferson have said and what they really
mean for me. It really puts things into perspective every time we are
cut down, only to bear greater strength and more fruits for our labors
called spiritual growth. May we all remember what it means to be
brought to humility to serve the Lord and give up ourselves for the
benefit of others growth. As we help others, we not only help them, or
the other person, but we also help the Lord.
      I bear witness of the love that Heavenly Father and his beloved
son Jesus Christ have for each of us. They will always hear our
prayers. They will always help us when we are in great need.
 
Sincerely,
 
Elder White
 
                                                       Dessert with the Nates

   Sally's baptism

Elder Shepherd's getting ready to go home

ODear family and everyone else,
     This week has been pretty good after our long drought of slowness. Speaking of drought, it started sprinkling this morning. Not sure that it will completely rain today. Elder Shepherd made some home made bread last night and baked it this morning. We gave one loaf to a former investigator in our complex, Giovanni. We are making sure that we can still have a good lasting impression with him even though he doesn't want to hear our message anymore. He occasionally will ask us a question here or there.  It seems like he forgot what he was trying to ask this morning, so we just left it at that.
     This is my last week with Elder Shepherd ya know! I'm going to enjoy every last minute of it with him. Let this week be the week of miracles and that we have a baptism or two before he goes home. Sally Molenari and Corey made it to church again this week. Sally is now on date again for I think it was this Sunday the 28th. She promised that she wouldn't smoke anymore. She has waited for 5 years for it to finally happen. This might just be the day. We shall see. We are also hoping to get Corey baptized the same time too. We just need to get through all the lessons and make sure he doesn't smoke anymore. Hopefully he won't be turned off from the gospel because of his occasional smoking.I'm sure he can do it. He has his wife to support him. Pray for Sally and Corey if you all could. That would be much appreciated.
     So this week's activities: We were able to have another Zone Conference in Stockton on Wednesday. I saw my 2nd cousin, Elder Brown again. Interestingly enough, there was an Elder Black too. They both have been out for about 2 months or so, so there is a picture of the3 of us colors in the mission. It's quite funny really. White, Brown, Black. Each gets a shade darker by the mention of the name. Also that night, we had another visit with Marcia Baker about kindness. We are just making sure that she is getting along with everyone where she is living  so she doesn't get evicted again.
     Another funny moment was on Sunday. Elder Shepherd promised this girl named Mikaela that he would make it to her baptism whenever it happened, so after a year from teaching her, she finally got baptized by the watchful care of the sisters who are serving in the YSA ward now. The funny part was when former Elder Jaron King showed up to the baptism in his white jumpsuit. We were all surprised, especially Sister Palmer. He drove all the way here from Utah to baptize her. She wanted him to do it, and so it happened. He was my Zone Leader when I moved up to Modesto from Clovis at the beginning of my mission. He is such a wonderful person. Just being around him fills your entire soul with light. Not many people are like Jaron King, or Christ for that matter, but we all at least strive to be as loving and compassionate as we can.
     Friday, the Spanish Elders came over to take apart Elder Shepherd's bike. They took off the handle bars, wheels, even the tubes and the pedals. Now Pedals are very hard to get off, from what it appears. Those elders were of great help. Though, it was sad to realize that it just makes it one step closer to him going home and me being left desolate until I gain a new friend called a new companion.
I wonder who it will be? I will tell you next Monday!!!
Sincerely,
Elder White.
P.S. I also went on an exchange again with Elder Ashton before the transfer ends. It was a great day with him.
 
                                            On exchanges with Elder Ashton

                                                             Jaron King is back for a baptism

                 Elders White, Brown, and Black.  The three colors in the mission!

Dear family and everyone else,
     A wonderful event occurred at church yesterday. Corey Sheeringa came to church again, and this time, he and his kids (Korra, Payton, and Noah)  stayed the whole time. After some careful planning, we were able to encourage him to come again and not feel so embarrassed. Sister Ivers even gave a helping hand and took Noah to sit by them a few rows down from us. She kept him entertained, and Corey was able to listen along with his twins. It was a great day for him. Noah was sick the night before with a fever. He seemed to be doing okay at church. They brought down his fever, but that tired him out. We even had a violin duet during the meeting. Noah loves music.  As soon as they started playing, he dropped everything he was doing and locked his eyes right on the violinists. He was completely captivated from what sister Ivers said. It was also brought to our attention that he also has a mild form of autism, so that just threw something into the mix to make things a little more difficult, but we will get Corey one of these days.
     Later last night, we went with Brother Nate to Tracy again for Mission Preparation, and this time we were able to witness a panel with 4 people of other faiths and ask a few questions on what they believe and how faith has helped them in their lives. The first person was a girl in her 20's. She grew up Catholic but could not reach out and feel her faith strengthened, so she was invited by a friend to join a non-denominational church, and she felt she made the better decision. She feels she can come closer to God and renew her faith in him. The music is also what excites her the most too.
     Then, there was an Orthodox Jew.  He was also young, tall, and skinny. He said the Jewish faith is very ritualistic and has been passed down from generation to generation.
     Lastly, was the older Islamic couple. They are from the minority part of the Muslim faith. She related what we as students have learned about general religions of the world in school. They have 5 pillars of Islam. I won't go into much detail about that one. She also said that we must look at the context of all things. The 3 points in the Koran that talk about killing, or killing the infidel, is by self defense only. From any religion, one can take one scripture and completely take it out of context, but when we read the verse before and after a chosen verse, we get a better idea about what the verse is trying to tell us. They also believe in being in unity with modern day society. Their Sabbath Day used to be Thursday evening to Friday sundown, but they have recently moved it to Saturday, the way the Jews do it. The only day the women completely cover themselves in their branch of faith, is on Sunday's. The other part about 70 virgin's: Well...from what she told us, there is nothing in the Koran that says or even hints out that a man is given 70 in the first place. She said, "There just aren't enough to go around anyway." It was funny the way she said it. She laughed, and we all laughed. She and Brother Nate made sure that the atmosphere was happy and light so all could benefit from this wonderful meeting. Overall, it was a great learning experience to see the other person's view so that we are never biased. If you need to know something, talk to a person who is in the faith rather than an outside source. It's like for us. What's a Mormon? I don't know, go ask one yourself.
     One other thing to note for this week. We haven't found anybody to teach this week. Nobody seems to be home who we have been working with, so on Saturday, as we were walking down Main Street, Brother Cortex spotted us and pulled over. He picked us up and we then helped him move somebody's stuff into a storage unit for 2 hours. It was a huge moving trailer with lots of stuff. They are soon moving somewhere into Manteca. They don't know where yet.That's about it. Have a great week.
Sincerely,
Elder White
 
                                                            Risk party on P-day

Dear family and everyone else,
     I want to apologize now for forgetting my camera. I haven't forgotten to bring it for months, if not for a year. So...I guess there will be no weekly selfie this week. Oh well. You all know what I look like anyways.
     Guess what.  There is a new powerful bible video the church just released on mormonchannel.org. It's called "Substance of Faith"-Hebrews 11. In this video, Paul the Apostle, is in prison writing a letter to the Hebrews back in Jerusalem. He lists many examples of what faith and hope bring in the lives of saints, soldiers, kings, and prophets. (Beware: Boldness ahead!!!) The main point is to bring an awareness that faith is possible because of the power of Jesus Christ, the very son of God who created all things in and around us. Faith is more than a belief. It is a seed that can become a physical thing. But if we do not nurture our seed of faith, the seed will die, and the idea of faith can become vain and dead.  Christ said, "By their fruits, ye shall know them." I ask you all, how is your faith? Is it weak, or can it withstand persecution. Can your faith provide healing and miracles, or does it have only words of belief. Do your actions declare "the true example of the believers", or are they for the "vain things of the world, where moth, and rust doth corrupt," and for "the praise and recognition of men?" I say unto you, even by faith, it can pull you out of the pit of despair, misfortune, and turn you around heading back to the father, and his son Jesus Christ.
     Now that I have woken you to a new spiritual message of the week, here is what I have done this week...Ah yes, LAST Monday I forgot to mention "HAPPY PARENT'S DAY." Back to this week...we had an investigator drop us after our first lesson with him. Gene Tuake was his name. Like many people before, he only accepts the Bible, and he thinks that it was everything and is most correct. We tried to share with him that God speaks to us today just as he did of old. There was always a new prophet after the next, up until Christ, and then people think it's all done. No more revelation once the apostles all died. I guess that's the end of that one until he's ready again. He said he would continue to try to read and pray about the Book of Mormon.
     Also, yesterday Corey Scherringa came to church, along with Charles, who is investigating in Lathrop Ward, though it was only about 5 minutes in when Corey's 3 year old son, Noah, started getting restless, kicking, and screaming, and while in the hallway, he decided it was too much and went home. Sister Ivers told us afterwards that she would be happy to help him in the hall the next time he does come to church. Noah was funny. As soon as we sang the opening hymn, he clapped and said, "Yea." It was sweet. Music is exciting. If we could all say yea, glory to God for music. But, church is church, and that is the time to be reverent. In time, as Corey brings his son to church, he will learn what it means to be reverent. I just hope he won't give up too easy. Things were never meant to be that easy.
     Friday, we were given an assignment from Sister Neilson, the Mission Secretary, to go contact a very important and dire referral.The wife tried contacting all the church's in the area, and we were the only one's to respond. I guess church organization really is important if you want something done. The husband developed stage 4 cancer and had no idea he had cancer. They travel the United States in their RV trailer. They home school their twin boy and girl, age 16. He lost a total of 67+ pounds, and she lost around 40. It worked wonders until now. In the midst of this healthy exercise and diet, they went hiking in Yosemite, and after they were done, he was extremely tired but didn't recover, so they went to the doctor and found cancer in him. They don't know what kind, but it's so advanced that it's all over his body. He could barely hold anything down. They also had no food, so  Elder Shepherd and I bought some bread and whole vegetables for them to juice so he can better change his diet. They have already learned some of the diet plan for cancer people. No more sugar, fat, or acidic foods. They are what feed cancer. My companion knew a lot about cancer, since he studied it, along with stem-cell research, so he explained everything to them, some of it being not detoxing after all that weight loss. When a person burns tons of fat, all that remains is the poison from the food we eat (preserves), and damages the cells in our body. The body finally gets rid of it after a while, but it may be too late. Elder Shepherd councelled to all in the trailer to detox before going on an extreme healthy plan. We also brought Brother Iver's, and he was impressed. He also said he needed help with a better diet plan, along with his wife. We also talked about the temple and their travels in Utah seeing the Salt Lake Temple. She loved the idea of families being together forever and wanted that for her family. We also shared with them the word of wisdom, including some of the scriptures about conspiring men, and they accepted the healthy plan wholeheartedly. No more coffee, and no more tobacco was what she said. We then gave them our facebook contact info and e-mails so when we go home, we can still be in communication with them in their wonderful world travels and possible baptism.
     Finally, last night we had a good lesson with the Tinae's. We haven't seen them in weeks at church, so we thought to go stop by. We also brought Brother Nate, their home teacher, for a little bit. We talked about family councils and how we can use them to help each other grow in our spiritual, emotional, physical, and intellectual health. That way, all our ideas can come to the table in a family council without being hindered. We should always start out our councils and meetings in prayer. Christ can make all things fair. He is after all, the righteous judge.That's about it for this week.  Love you all.
Sincerely,
Elder White
 
Here is the link  if you need help finding the new bible video.
https://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/bible-videos/substance-of-faith

Dear family and everyone else,
     Get a load of this. In my picture for this week is me with a new California state flag--my greatest souvenir of all from my mission, besides an interesting rock from a recent convert-Marcia Baker. It was from I believe Kansas State. I also bought an extra player extension to Settler's of Catan, and an 'Epic ball game' obstacle course, something my grandma used to have when I went over while I was a kid. It was complicated and trying, but still entertaining and fun. It takes in all focus, and focus is what I need to work on right now.
     This week during weekly planning, we decided to ask the ward members what they think could help the missionary work move along. We lost 42 active members, including kids, due to moves. The Fortuni's moved to Ripon, and the rest to other states. Our ward is slowly shrinking, and we need to replenish our numbers quick. All in good time. An idea was brought up by our ward clerk-Brother Morgan. He said that home teaching numbers have been very low for a long time. He also says that's widely common in the church. You know, I have grown to better understand what it means to do home teaching. It is to help support the families we work with in friendship and in keeping each of us strong in the truth of the gospel. It is also part of our baptismal covenant to"Mourn with those who mourn, and comfort those who stand in need in comfort," but, how do we know who needs comfort when we don't even contact or know our home teaching families? We must be proactive in every aspect of the church if we too want to stay on the straight and narrow path. "For wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction." Let us follow the council of the prophet and take the harder right, than the easier wrong, and not go down the easy path that leads us down to destruction of soul. We as missionaries are in a way, home teachers to those who are not members of the church. We also assist in areas of need, such as the less actives as well.
     This week, we talked to sister Damian, and her boyfriend, Matthew Crow. They have been dating for 4 years. She, in a separate visit, told us that he has bi-polar disorder. He gets angry a lot but also has a very giving heart. They want to get married, but she is afraid that he could hurt their relationship and her sister that lives with her. They might get married by the bishop in 6 months. We will see where this goes. We did refer both of them to our Bishop. His last name is Peterson. He has been one of the best bishop's I have had on my mission. I also told brother Cortez, who was with us that night, to have her read 3 Nephi 11-29. Perhaps that could help her with some doctrine that can help in their relationship. I'm not the best marriage counselor because I have never been married, but there is still some experience with former companionships that can give me some validity in what I say, though we just left the conversation on marriage with Brother Cortez since he was her home teacher. He's going to be a big help for them in the near future.
     The other idea a member gave us was to host a fireside about something like the restoration, or the plan of salvation. The idea was to give people experience going from room to room explaining each point. The first room is where the people are on a plane and they crash and die. We then explain that they are all spirits and that they will continue to learn. We take a tour into 3 different rooms full of people of what each kingdom is like, the chapel being the celestial room and everyone in there being clothed in white. It was a great idea, though he wasn't' sure how it would go down being in the state's. He did that idea in France, and it worked out pretty well.
     Well, I don't have anything else much to say...so... I bid thee all farewell, until I e-mail you all again. Have a great week everyone.
Sincerely,
Elder White