merry christmas!!!!

We loved hearing from our missionaries on Christmas!  They are both doing great and seem very happy!  It's great to see their testimonies growing and see them serving the Lord so well!  Philip even said he's gained some weight!!! Yeah!!!

Hey family,
Festival season is fantastic!  We have to be at the visitor center at 4:00 each day and the whole night we're on 15 minute shifts.  So about every 15 minutes we change positions.  These positions vary from ushering, holding doors, clicking in everyone who comes in, talking to people in the back, front, outside.  It's fun.  My favorite exhibit is called Special Witnesses.  It's where the testimonies and recent talks of the Apostles and Prophets are.  Up top, painted on the wall is the picture of Christ ordaining his original apostles.  Then directly under it is a painting of the modern day apostles and prophet.  It is such a testimony that today we have that same authority.  That Christ's church, the same one that Christ established when he was on the earth, is here again!  The spirit fills the visitor center and it is incredible to teach there!  Just yesterday I talked to a family from Vietnam.  The missionaries are going to visit them!  We've got 9 new exhibits, which are awesome!  Miracles happen every night.  On Monday or Tuesday one of the Elders came up to me and told me there was this man who wanted to know more.  The man and a lady came up to me and I asked if he wanted to know more.  He did.  The lady with him is a less active member who wants to come back.  She told him about the church and it's just what he's looking for.  He told me his story and he's been prepared his whole life for the gospel and now's the right time.  The Lord allowed me to be a part of this and I am so grateful for that!

Our 16 year old investigator got baptized!  He is so prepared and it's so neat how much he has changed.  He is so much happier, he likes church, his attitude about life has changed!  He wants to do what's right.  I wish you could see the before and after - it's cool!  It's been so neat to see the Lord's hand in his coming into the church!

I talked to someone who was in Brigham about a week ago and they said Brigham is still there, so that's good.  How is the temple?  Probably amazing!
Love you all!! Love Sister Wankier

The Visitor Center lit up for the Festival of Lights

Favorite past time - roasting marshmallows with Sister Welch!

Hi everyone!  Things are going good here.  We had a baptism on Saturday, but it wasn't an investigator.  It was an 8 year old that lives in the area.  His mother and brother were baptized a few months before I got here.  We had our branch Christmas Party on Friday.  It was pretty fun.  It snowed here a little bit last night, but nothing much.

I gave a talk on Sunday at church.  That's like my 3rd talk so far.  I gave one at the baptism too.  It's weird though, because we only have about 30 people at church, so it will be different in a regular sized ward.

I've been with Elder Wilkins the whole time so far, but he goes home the beginning of January, so I'll be getting a new one.  I am doing well.  I'm doing a lot of studying and learning the gospel.
Love, Philip

philip pictures!!!

at the MTC 

at the MTC

the "tree" amigos

at the MTC

catch up time!!!!!!

Nov. 29

Hi family!

Okay so this week was great!  Last night was Ambassador night at the visitor center.  That means a bunch of important people come, such as Ambassadors, and have a program and they turn on the lights.  Elder Nelson was also there.  As missionaries we were not allowed to approach anyone, but if they asked us questions we were to answer them as information, no inviting.  I really liked Elder Nelson's talk.  It was good to feel the spirit with him and cool to see how he tied the Book of Mormon and modern day revelation into all of it.  

Well, I love you all and have a great week!

Love, Sister Wankier

Nov. 22

Happy Thanksgiving!  Yesterday us missionaries got to do a service project with a bunch of organizations in the DC area to feed the homeless.  It was super fun.  The people were all so nice and grateful.  For Thanksgiving we get to go to a member's property and have a big Thanksgiving dinner with games and a talent show.  Then later there will be dessert at the member's home.  It's going to be fantastic!  We're all getting ready for Christmas time.  We had a meeting this morning about Festival and how we'll be super busy and it will be super fun.

We just got five new sisters yesterday.  They're great and I'm excited to get to know them.  From now on we're going to be getting more and more sisters.  It's an exciting time!  We had transfers, but I'm still in Kentlands with Sister Welch, so it'll be fun!

Thanks for writing!  I love you all, have a happy Thanksgiving and eat lots of food and have lots of fun.  Love you so much!  Love, Sister Wankier

Nov. 15

Dear Family,
This has been a great week.  Kentlands is very ritzy and I love it all!!  The people here are so great.  I really love Kentlands!  Our investigators are doing good.  We're getting all ready for Christmas.  December is almost here and it's the most exciting time of the year!  The temple exhibit and 'I'm a Mormon' exhibit are both finished at the Visitor Center and it looks fantastic!  We've got some Christmas trees up and more to be decorated and put up.  There is an exhibit for Christmas that is being put up that is Nativities from all over the world.  It's so good!
Well, family, I love you.  The church is true!



Hi everyone!  Everything is going good.  We have been teaching a lady and her son and daughter.  We taught them the restoration.  Then the next time we taught them the plan of salvation and we asked if they would be baptized and they said yes!  Another lady we were teaching came to church for the first time a couple weeks ago and no one fellow shipped her so she said she didn't see any point of meeting with us anymore.  Later we got a call from the senior couple in our area.  They said that she went to the Sacred Grove and prayed.  Apparently she had a good experience because after that she went and talked to a missionary that was there.  They talked for a long time and then she called the senior couple and told them that she wants to come back to church.  So that's awesome!

We actually had our first real snow today.  I don't think it will stay for very long, but on the other hand it's only about 27 degrees.
Love, Philip 

pictures!!!!

Just found some Hailey pictures!!!!!  Thanks to Sister Jones!

 

Who knew a mission could be so much FUN!!!!!!!

kentlands is so good!!!!!

I have to start this post out with a confession.  I have once again earned the coveted "Mother of the Year" award!!!  I have actually earned this award countless times in my tenure as a mother.  I got home from work yesterday and checked my email to find a little note from Hailey saying,  "Hello.... is anyone home?"  That was it.  Yes, I forgot what day it was and had totally FAILED to write my sweet daughter an email!!!!  She waited half and hour then sent her regular email.  Of course I didn't see either of them until much later.  What makes this worse is that I had checked her past letters to make sure this wasn't transfer week because on transfer week she writes on Tuesdays and I didn't want her to write and not have something from home considering it was Tuesday --- and it was actually Wednesday!!!!  Anyway...... on to her email  :)


Family!
This week was super good.  On Sunday before church we had about 2 and a half hours to go tracting and find people.  We were in this area where it's really multicultural.  Nobody was answering and the few that did weren't interested.  We walked up to the next door in line and before we knocked a dog was barking and a lady came up and told us to wait a minute while she put the dog away.  She came back and let us right in.  She then asked us if Alex sent us.  We were super confused because we didn't know who Alex was.  She continued to let us in and had us sit down and told us that Alex was her son.  He is 18, joined the church 2 years ago and is now wanting to go on a mission.  She is not a member and was super nervous about him going in the spring.  They had even talked about missionaries coming over to see her, but he hadn't talked to any missionaries about coming over yet.  She had a bunch of questions to ask us and at the end she called Alex to come over and he was happily surprised we were there.  He then told us to teach his mom and set up a return appointment.  She couldn't set up a time right then, but we have her number and will be calling her.  It was such a miracle!  Also, come to find out that one of the missionaries who taught Alex is our district leader when he first came out on his mission.  It's super cool!

So we had been hoping that the visitor center would be open by Friday, it didn't open until Monday.  They still have quite a bit to do, the only things that work currently are the theaters.  So if one comes in they can look at the Christus (no narration) or watch a movie.  Kinda limited, but that's okay, as long as it's done for Christmas.

Hey did Philip tell you that they lost power there because a squirrel got electrocuted?  That was so funny!  Did I tell you about the time we were checking on people and we saw a squirrel climbing a building with a slice of pizza in it's mouth?  There are so many squirrels here and they are so funny!

Well, I love the gospel, I love you.  Have a great week!  Love, Sister Wankier

I'm still searching and waiting for pictures to post!!

report on Sandy!!!

Hi everyone.  The storm didn't really affect me.  It rained and it was windy, but that's it.  So nothing really happened except we lost power for about two hours.  That had nothing to do with the storm though.  A squirrel climbed up a pole and cut out the electricity.  Believe it or not.  The squirrel died!

There are about 10 people we are teaching and we are usually pretty busy, so I've gotten used to things pretty quickly.  It's getting kind of cold.  The lows are about 28 degrees but it will get lower than that.  We have a car so that helps.  We have gone door to door a couple times - it's not really something we do a whole lot, but we have a little.

Halloween was fun.  We just watched the Book of Mormon movie and had dinner.  I did hear that the celtics lost to the heat.  I actually saw rondo in the paper that someone left open and it talked about it.  I don't really know when or if basketball season has even started yet.  I know preseason started, but what about the regular season?  I think the Jazz will have a pretty good season this year.

Well, I'll see you later.  Love Philip

all is well!!!

Family!
Okay, so the storm...... was super lame!  Everybody was making this big deal about it and buying up all the water.  On Monday we could only go out for Zone Training and if we had appointments.  It rained and the wind blew and no trees came down, no roofs blew off, nothing!  At least in Kentlands it didn't.  But I hear New York got it pretty bad, so I'm waiting for a report from Philip, that'll be good and fun.

Today was our Halloween party..  Sister Welch and I were witches.  It was pretty good.  The Visitor Center has been closed since Monday.  They've been really good at working around us and just being in the back, but the exhibits have now been delivered and they've needed a few days to put them all in.  So, hopefully it will be back up and running on Friday.  We'll be excited when it's all finished.

It's so true about sharing your testimony.  I've gotten so frustrated at times because I have to be reminded over and over again of my testimony, different parts each time.  I think to myself, can't I just get a testimony and be good?  Nope, it constantly has to be shared and strengthened and built and reminded.  No wonder the word "remember" is in the scriptures so much.  So I've decided to make a section in my study journal of the Book of Mormon stories and how they apply to different principles of the gospel.  I feel like I'm always brainstorming with my companion what stories would be good for our investigators, so this will make it easier.  It's so cool to study this way too, I learn so much and it's all right there in 1 Nephi.  No wonder it's at the beginning of the Book of Mormon.  It's the best!  Well, love you all!!  Happy Halloween!
Love, Sister Wankier

hurricane sandy!!!

It's been a week of preparation for both Hailey and Philip with this hurricane hitting their areas.  We got an email from Hailey's mission on Friday letting us know that they were preparing all the missionaries with emergency kits, making sure they had plenty of food in their apartments, telling them all the safety procedures, etc.  Then we got pretty much the same email from Philip's mission yesterday.  Then, of course, we watch the weather channel and see the big circle of storm right over Hailey!  It's hard to know something like that is happening and not be able to be there for your kids!  But we have really been blessed with peace knowing Heavenly Father will take care of His missionaries!  Last night we got another email from Philip's mission saying at that point it wasn't looking like it would be quite as bad as they had anticipated, but they were still taking every precaution to be safe.  Then this afternoon we got word from Hailey's mission that all is well.  DC was hit pretty good, 400,000 people were without power in the area, but none of the missionaries lost their power!  It's great to be on the Lord's team, isn't it?!  Philip was able to write his email on Monday.  Hailey usually writes on Wednesday or Thursday, so I'm hoping we hear from her in a day or two.  I'm excited to hear their stories!!!

A newspaper picture of the water in DC

Hi family,

We heard about the storm.  We were told to get a bunch of food and water in case something bad happens. They gave us a list to get at the store, and we got it all, so we should be fine...unless our building collapses!  We were told that the storm will be pretty bad here, but I don't know what to believe.  People say that it will be a way bad storm, and others say it won't be that bad, so we'll just see.

Halloween is on Wednesday.  I don't think we're supposed to go out and do anything, so we are just going to the Benson's (the senior couple in our area).  We are going to watch movies and stuff.  It should be fun.

Well, I guess that's all I have to write this week, so I will talk to you later,
Philip

catching up!!!

Ok it has been quite awhile!  My computer has had a virus that we have been struggling to take care of.  I think we're good now, so time to update!  I will condense all the letters I've missed into 1 letter.  I'm not incredibly creative, but hopefully this will distinguish between Hailey and Philip's letters.

Reminder of addresses:

Sister Hailey Wankier
Washington DC North Mission
11700 Falls Rd
Potomac, MD  20854-2823


Elder Philip Wankier
New York Utica Mission
PO Box 149
Whitesboro, NY  13492-0149


Hello Family!
Conference was AWESOME!  You should've been at the visitor center when President Monson announce the age change.  Every single sister gasped and got super excited and we are all just so happy about the news.  It'll be so good!  It's been a real testimony to me that the Lord needs more missionaries and that even though it's not required for sisters to serve, He needs them too!  It's so exciting, all the youth programs will be centered around missionary work.  The Lord is expecting so much out of the youth now and not only the youth, but everyone.  Elder Oaks' talk was amazing also.  A lot of times the parents just aren't stepping up and Elder Oaks called them out.  It was awesome!  That talk will shake a lot of people.  Elder Holland was awesome too!  Oh, that hit me so hard.  I LOVE IT!!

Well, I was transferred.  My new companion is Sister Welch.  She is a visitor center trainer, so we'll be at the visitor center more often.  our area is Kentlens.  It's where the President lives and the Assistants serve.  It'll be great.  The ward seems great and I'm excited to get to know everyone here.

We've got a couple teenage investigators.  I love it.  But it's hard because not all of them can see the need in their life, but they're willing to learn.  I love the youth though, so I don't mind at all.  I love it.  They are so fun to teach.  I can just be myself and be excited and they don't think I'm stupid...well they might, but that's okay!  Well, love you all, the church is true.  The visitor center is under construction and it's going to be awesome when it's finished.
Love, Sister Wankier

*pictures coming!


-still in the mtc-
Sundays are pretty good here but I have to say my favorite days here are Wednesdays.  That's my pday so I get to hang out with just regular clothes on.    I hope everything is good there.  Things are really good here.  I just got done playing basketball.  It was way fun.  I think I'm ready to be done; I'm just getting to the point where I want to be done at the MTC and get out to New York.  I got my travel plans today.  I leave at about 1:00 am.  So I'm going to need to stay up late that night.  Dang!  Well, I guess the next time I will write will probably be in New York or on the way there.  Talk to you later.  Love Philip

-in new york-
Hi everyone!  The flight was good and yes I am really tired still.  The MTC was a lot of fun and I still kinda wish I was there.  I am in a place called Ogdensburg.  It's not a big city but I guess it's an ok size.  My new companion's name is Elder Wilkins.  He is a pretty nice guy.  Towards the end of the MTC I just wanted to leave, but now I miss it.  I didn't realize how great it was until I left.  Same with my branch from the MTC.  We all slept over in the mission home where President and Sister Worthlin live and watched Mormon Messages, studied, and hung out the rest of the day.  We got there at about 2:30 in the afternoon and stayed the night there.  It was awesome.  The next day we went to a little bit of training and right as we got to the church they gave us our new companions.  I got really close to my district from the MTC, so it was sad to say goodbye.  One person that was in my district there is still in it now though.  His name is Elder Koga.  He was one of my favorites so that's good.  Everything is good now.  It's just getting used to everything.  Conference was really good.  I still have trouble staying awake, but from what I saw was good.

President Wirthlin said that we do get to go visit the church sites the last week of our mission.  We also get to go to the Palmyra temple.  So that's something to be excited for.  I found out too, that we have a meeting next month that is a training meeting, but my companion said that it's pretty much a MTC branch reunion.  We all get to have lunch and talk, and of course have a meeting.  I will be here for about 18 weeks.  It's my first area, and I'm being trained, so I have to be here longer.  I feel like I've been getting separation anxiety.  I have never been away from my ipod and music for so long in my life.  I believe that's what made me truly happy in life -- maybe not!  That's what I think though.  In the past when I have been able to pop those headphones in my ear, those were some of the happiest times of my life (next to my family :) )  To me my ipod is the equivalent to a girlfriend.  It's a hard relationship though!  Life is good!  I'll talk to you guys next week.  Philip

*pictures coming!

the work is going great!!!!!

OK, so I'm thinking I need to do something obvious to make a difference in Hailey's letters and Philip's.  Just watch the last line until I think of something clever!

Hello family,
Guess what..... Michael came to church!!!  So he told us to call him to wake him up in the morning and come to his house to make sure he was ready and by the bus stop.  Well, we called and called and called, and knocked and knocked and knocked, and nothing.  We're at church 10 minutes before it starts and we get a call from him, he'd been sleeping.  He got ready, and rode the bus to church on his own, missing only the first 20 minutes!  It was so good!!

The work is going great!  I love teaching the gospel because it's true!  It just makes sense and the spirit is amazing and it's so good!  I love it!
I love you all and have a great week! 
Love, Sister Wankier

philip's surviving!!!

The MTC is going pretty well.  I am way busy.  Not as busy as I thought I would be though.  My schedule is get up at 6:30, go to breakfast at around 7:30, then usually I go to class for another three hours, then do something else, then go to lunch.  After that we usually have another class for a few hours, then another something else, then dinner, then some study time, then getting ready for bed.  A lot of what we are doing is just studying.  The classes are about things like getting revelation for investigators, and how to teach people effectively.  My companion's name is Elder Dutson.  He is from Idaho.  He is going to Utica also.  We get along pretty good.  My district is 5 companionships, so 10 elders.  6 of us are going to Utica and the other 4 are going to Tennessee.  I'm running out of time, so see ya!

Philip

the church is true 100%!!!!

Ready for meetings!

They are serious about learning!  (except Hailey!)

These are the birthday people getting sung to!  (do you think they forgot Hailey's birthday isn't until November?)

 

Hello Family!

 

Okay so this week has been really good.  We've been going through former investigators and seeing who still lives there and if they're still interested.  We've got quite a few return appointments, hopefully they keep.  We're particularly excited about a couple of them.  Our investigator Michael introduced us to his friend and she asked for a Book of Mormon and our phone number.  That night she called us and told us and told us she wanted to be a part of this.  Yep, it was awesome!

 

next letter....

Okay, so my life in White Oak....lately it's just been sick...literally.  I was sick one morning, Sister Ertelt was sick 2 days, not fun!  Other than that things have been going well.  Our investigators are great!  Michael hasn't been to church, at all.  But, he is progressing!  He used to smoke, so the other day he got really stressed, went to the store, bought the smokes, brought them home, BUT WAIT - he stopped, walked back to the store and took them back!  Yeah, that's right, he didn't smoke!  We were very happy.  We've also got this new awesome investigator, Lary.  We've taught him once and the spirit was super strong.  He's great and will be such a good member!

Well, the church is true 100%!  I love learning more and being able to understand things better.  It just makes sense.  I have a mormon message for you to watch, it is the bomb!  It's "patterns of light' Elder Bednar talks and it's 3 parts.  Amazing!  I love the gospel!  I love you!  Love, Sister Wankier

like it or not.....the day is here!!!

Today way the bitter-sweet day!  We took Philip to the MTC.  He has officially begun his mission, which means this will not only be a blog about Hailey's adventures, but also Philip's!  Welcome to our missionary world!

We begin with last night, as we were supposedly packing.  Philip, his cousin Cameron, and his brother Derek weren't too serious about helping me pack!!!

We finally finished packing and got out the door this morning.  When we got to Provo we went to eat before the MTC experience.  We went to Golden Corral.  We began with the blessing of a free meal for our new missionary!  Very kind people at Golden Corral!  I think they give a lot of free meals there.  We ran into several other missionaries.  One came and met Philip which I thought was very nice.  As we began eating a sweet lady came up to Philip and said "I heard you say you were going to the Utica Mission?"  She proceeded to tell us she was from there and gave Philip a card with a couple referrals on it!  He's getting started off right!  Then a few minutes later a nice gentleman came up to him and congratulated him on his mission and said they had just taken their son to the MTC a few weeks ago.  He asked where Philip was going and got very excited to hear Utica because his brother just got released as the Mission President for the Utica Mission! 

Very good but hard day!  I know he'll do a great job.  Very excited to hear from him!  What a great time of life it is!  Having missionaries is the greatest! (It'll be even better when they finish their missions and come home to me!!!)

fall sports day!!!!

 

 

Family!

 

Okay, White Oak.....It's good.  I really like it so far.  We're building our teaching pool, but we've got a good investigator and some potentials that we are hoping to meet with this week.  We've also got a ten year old boy who is our investigator, we've met him once, but will meet with him on Friday, so that'll be good.

 

Anthony is the boy that Sister Jones found, or he found her rather.  he's super great, comes to church and is feeling really good about being baptized at Christmas time so the guy that introduced him to the church can come, his girlfriend and his family.  So that'll be good.

 

Okay, so today we had a mission activity.  Fall Sports Day.  It was epic.  We played soccer, Capture the flag, and Quidditch all at the same time.  It's called Hero Ball or something like that.  Super fun, I'll explain it all when I get home one day.  The church is true and I love it!

Love, Sister Wankier

 

editors note:

So they have soccer going length wise on the field, Quidditch going the width of the field, Capture the flag going diagonal on the field, and dodge ball wherever!  Whoever gets hit with a dodge ball is out no matter what game they are playing!  Sounds awesome!  I dare anyone to try it!!! :)

 

(Sister Fehlman got hit in the face with a soccer ball!  Ouch!)

 

 

 



 

 

transfers!!

Family!

Well, it's transfer day.  I'm going to White Oak with Sister Ertelt to white wash.  So we're both going to a new area.  They split the White Oak area and neither of us have been here before, so we're both learning.  It'll be fun.  our roommates are Sister Wong and Sister Holt, so that's going to be great!  Sister Wong knows the area, so she can tell us a bit.  Apparently we have two investigators.  The members are awesome and we will love it.  Sister Ertelt is half French and half German, she is from Germany and we are friends.  She's great.  Love her!  It's great that we have the visitor center because we know all the sisters.  So all my companions, I know them before we're companions, it's cool!
Well....I'm sad to leave DC2 but it's okay.  Sister Jones is training a new sister there.  They'll do great.  Arunjana is still moving along and progressing.  Sister Holt, Wong and I are praying that she gets baptized this transfer, she's headed that way.   Now I'm back to a family ward, I am kinda excited to teach and be around children and teenagers again.  It'll be good.  Although I do see them at the vc, so that's good.  I love giving youth tours and primary kids tours, it's super fun and good.  The spirit is always super good too.

The missionary work is going good.  I love being a missionary!  I love the temple!  I love you.
Love, Sister Wankier

golden investigator!!!!

(august 22)

Family,
Things are going good here.  Yesterday we had a lesson with a girl who has been taught everything and we're trying to see what's holding her back.  It was so good because the spirit was there and she knows it's true, but she's got some things holding her back right now.  It may take some time, but as she relies on the Lord, it'll all work out.  She's great!  Also, last night was a welcome night at American University (Sister Jones went to that with a member while Sister Holt and I taught Lauren - the investigator I was just talking about).  So there was this guy who's been investigating, just moved here and has been looking everywhere for missionaries and the church.  he apparently walked over to Sister Jones and said, "Finally!  I've been looking everywhere for you!"  It's great, Sister Holt and I will meet him today for our first lesson.  He's been taught everything and almost knows it's true!  So as of now with our investigators, they don't have far to go.  Just the realizing that they know it's true and having the courage to act.  YSA is great because if they commit to something they will commit to it!  They're solid for the most part.

Well, I love you all.  Keep being awesome!  Have fun!
Love, Sister Wankier

all these things make me happy!!!!

Good day family,
So, Arunjana's visa ran out and she doesn't know if she'll be able to get it renewed.  Pretty much she may get kicked out and have to go back to India.  We don't know when, it's whenever she gets notice in the mail.  We're super sad and are praying she can stay because the church is super small and far away in India.

We've got some other good investigators but we've only met with them one or two times and will hopefully get them on date for baptism soon.

(update a week later...)

Arunjana may not know if she is kicked out until December.  We'll get her baptized before then.  Well the Spirit will tell her and she will recognize the answer and want to get baptized before then.  She came to the visitor center yesterday, watched the Joseph Smith movie then stayed for Night of Music and Inspiration, which was all based on the Restoration.  It was so good and the spirit was so strong.  She says she's getting closer, she is, she'll make it.  She's putting in more effort, she's getting more results.  She'll be baptized soon.

I don't think I told you, but do you remember Cadie and Yvonne I taught in Laural?  Well they are getting baptized this Sunday!  Also, Sister Holt taught them last transfer too, so we got permission to go!  We are so excited!  There was going to be a slight problem, because we're short on miles this month, but... we have awesome visitor center directors, Elder and Sister Olsen (they're the best) who told us that they would go and take us.  Because of the shortage of miles, we have bikes now too.  So, when we're in the city we're biking it.  Which is so much easier than trying to find parking.

Well family, the church is true.  The Book of Mormon is true.  Joseph Smith is a prophet and he did see God the Father and Jesus Christ.  We are all children of God and He loves us so much.  All these things make me happy!  Also, I love you all.
Love, Sister Wankier

everything is great!!!

Hailey really hasn't been saying a lot lately.  A lot of answering our questions, etc. but not a lot of mission info so this will be just bits and pieces of recent letters.  Also I got the chance to meet Sister Gordon!!!! That was Hailey's trainer when she first got to the mission.  I can see why they got along so well!  She is so cute and fun!  It was fun to visit with her and hear stories about Hailey and the mission right from her! I wish I had've gotten a picture but I didn't!  Thanks for the fun visit Sister Gordon and I hope to see you again soon!!!

Family,
...So, Sister Jones is perfect for this area.  She's got great ideas and is good at putting them into action.  We're having a Mormonism 101 night at the institute this Sunday for all the interns to bring friends to and for anyone who wants to understand better.  We're also offering 2 hours of free cleaning for students.  What student wouldn't want someone to come clean for them?  And since there are 3 of us we can go into any home.  We're expecting good things to happen this transfer.

Things are good here.  We've got some new investigators we're excited about and we're still working with Arunjana, helping her recognize that she knows the Book of Mormon is true.  (She knows it, she just doesn't know that she knows!)  We've got two investigators moving in a week for school.  But things are going great.

Well, everything is going great here.  I love you all!  Thanks for everything.
Love, Sister Wankier

ps I made a scripture case from an oatmeal box and decorated the outside with a picture of the family and these awesome pictures from a super old family home evening pamphlet.  There's this black and white picture of a family holding hands and running.  It's SO great!

changes!!!

(july19)

Dear Family,

There are sister missionaries serving in Brigham now?  And they came over for dinner?  On that note, there was a girl I met in the visitor center, I forgot her name, but she's from around here and she got called to the Ogden Utah mission, so I told her to look for you guys if Brigham ever became a sister area.

Okay, I'm still in DC2, but I'm in a trio again with Sister Holt and Sister Jones.  They are great!  They don't know how to work with YSA, they're used to family wards, so they felt super awkward at our first member meal yesterday.  No worries, it'll get better for them.  Also, Sister Jones programmed our phone to our car, so when someone calls us it is hooked up to our speakers so everyone can hear and talk.  It's awesome!

The lemonade stand was good.  We only did it for an hour and it wasn't during lunch or dinner time like it will be next time, but it was good!  We have a new potential investigator.  We asked him if he could ask God one question what would it be?  His answer was which church is true?  AWESOME!  Also, we met some girls who wanted to come to church, so hopefully we'll see them this sunday.  Well, 6 more weeks in DC2 - it's exciting!  It's hard to get/find investigators because it is the city and not tons of people want to learn, but the ones we have are solid and the members are fantastic!  This transfer we are focusing on members and hopefully the work will explode!  It'll be good, especially with a trio.  Well, Love you all!
Love, Sister Wankier

everything is going great!!

(july 12)

Hello family!
Sounds like things are going well there, I'm glad.  Everything is still good here.  Transfers are this week.  We'll see what happens.  One of our members gave us some ideas for visual aids, which include prophet playing cards.  So that's what Sister Wong and I have been making today.  We'll play go fish and memory and when someone gets a match we tell facts about the prophets.  It might be a good way to teach prophets, especially for one of our less actives we think it'll work really well.  Xyza hasn't met with us since the 4th of July, so no, she's not even close to ready for baptism.  It's 100 degrees plus humidity here...gross!  But no worries, I've been in the visitor center for a lot of the really bad days.  But there have been a few days when I've been out for an hour ot two and feel like I need to come home and take a shower.

Philip, on the 4th of July after the fireworks - which were fantastic!- we met two different people from New York.  Here is what they tell me:  people in New York are nice, but if you don't talk to them first they will ignore you.  New York is a great place, you'll love it.  So there you go, it'll be awesome!

Everything is going great!  Missionary work is happening, remember to be a member missionary!  Love you all!!  Love, Sister Wankier

update!!!

Hailey has still been really good to send letters and emails, but she really hasn't said a lot in them.  This last week they had quite a quick, but big storm come through.  From what I understand they had hurricane force winds that blew down trees and power lines, so, of course, they were without power, which means no air conditioning.  They have also been having extreme heat.  The mission emailed us and let us know that all the missionaries are ok, but we haven't heard from Hailey yet.  I'm hoping to hear fun stories from her!

a couple things she has mentioned in letters:
Everything is good here.  I don't have too much to report.  Tonight we meet with our investigator, Arunjana, and then go to institute.  It's my favorite because Arunjana is so sincere and awesome, and then institute is good too, but mainly I love Arunjana.  She's from India.

Things are going great.  Arunjana is doing good.  Our appointment with her last week was cancelled because she got sick, but we'll see her today.  She comes to church every week too, so that's super good.  She is way great, love her!  We've been doing tons of finding and getting lots of potential new investigators, one new investigator, so this week we'll hopefully have some good first appointments.  We're excited!  I'll let you know how it goes.  Love all of you!  Love, Sister Wankier

time flies!!!!

Hello!

Mission time is so weird!  It goes by way faster than normal time.  It's already almost July!  In July they are starting to remodel the visitor center, then in August it will be closed for a month to finish it.  When I first came on my mission I was excited to hear it might close for awhile.  Now I'm super sad.  I'm glad they're remodeling, but sad it'll be closed!  1- because it'll be super hot in August and street contacting in the himid heat is not fun.  2- the visitor center is such a good resource and I love giving tours to missionary's investigators they bring in.  3- the events at the visitor center are so good!

Hope you're having a fun summer!  Love, Sister Wankier

more pictures!!!!!

The women of DC!!!!

Sister Wong (Hailey's comp)





Hailey, Brenn, Sister Wong

Sister Wong, Hailey, Sister Jones

Sister Wong, Hailey, Sister Fehlman, Sister Jones

Sister Cardall, Sister Wong, Hailey, Sister Matsumori

washington nationals baseball game!!!

She really was there!!!

Look hard - I know you can find her!!!

i love efy!!!!!!

Hello family!

Things are going good!  I saw Erin Lewis (from EFY) at the visitor center!  It was so fun to see her, she's great!  I love EFY!  Sometimes I see the poster of it in the church and I get really anxious to be a counselor again.  It was the best.  But I wouldn't trade being on a mission, so it's good!  The baptism was wonderful!  The spirit was so strong and it was just awesome.  I'll send pictures.....eventually :)  The sister from Logan is way great, we get along really well. 

Love you all.  Hope all is well at home, all is well here!
Love, Sister Wankier

yeah philip's call!!!

(wed. june 6)
Family,

Tomorrow we get to go to the Washington Nationals baseball game!  We are supposed to have a full pday tomorrow, but Sister Wong and I have an appointment that can only meet Thursday night, then we wanted to go to institute with her.  So we got permission to email and shop today.  YEAH for Philip's call!!!!! I just got the letter today and was super excited, that'll be so good!  We'll almost be next to each other....kinda!  I had to tell everyone at the visitor center and they were all happy too.  So, transfers were today, but I'm staying in DC2 with Sister Wong.  We are both very excited about that.  We have a baptism on Sunday for Brenn.  She is usper great and super ready.  Our recently activated less active, Justin, is baptizing her!  Justin had seen the elders on the street, took them to dinner, and told them he wanted to come back to church.  They told him about the DC2 ward and he's been coming very actively for the past 7 weeks.  We brought him along to one of the lessons with Brenn and he's been a great fellowshipper, always inviting her to things.  Him baptizing her will be really good for him.

There is a new sister here from Logan, we're going to be best friends......probably!  Except she's in the spanish program so we won't be companions.

Love, Sister Wankier

more missionary work ahead!!!!!!

This awesome kid just got that special envelope in the mail yesterday!!!  Hailey's brother, my son, Philip, was just called to the New York Utica mission!!!!!  He leaves on Sept. 19.  He is going to be the bomb!!!  Congratulations to him and I know he will be an amazing missionary!

story time!!!!

Hi family!

It's been a good week doing the good old missionary work!  Let me tell you a story.  Once upon a time I was at the visitors center.  I wasn't particularly in a good mood and it's not that I was in a bad mood, nothing bad had happened, I just wasn't in a good mood.  So I sat on the benches in the visitors center waiting for people to come in, talking to the sisters next to me just kinda going through the motions.  As the night progressed and as I talked with people, my mind was taken off my not so great mood.  I talked to some kids because kids aren't as scary as adults.  My mood was becoming progressively better as I thought of those around me.  Then, because Heavenly Father loves me so stinking much He sent in a group of youth from Utah that had just graduated high school and were on a church history tour.  We listened to the Christus and after extending the invitation to give a message of love for one of their friends (write a note to their non-member friend and we call them, give them the message, then invite them to learn more) hands started coming up.  They were so pumped to do missionary work, it was awesome!  Then, if that wasn't enough, I met a family who is from Roosevelt Ut, and they know Amanda Price!  The Lord loves each of us individually.  I know He does and that he looks over us and blesses us.  The End.  Anyway, that was just a little tender mercy for me.

The DC 2nd ward is awesome!  We went to FHE on Monday because we had a potential investigator coming (James is his name, he is awesome, we're meeting with him on Friday.  I'll tell you more about him later).  There were at least members that brought their non-member friends. (writers note:  I think she left out how many members brought friends!  oh well!)  This ward loves missionary work and I love it.  It gets me excited!!

Love, Sister Wankier

upcoming baptism!!!

Family!

Today, a couple of hours ago, we got a call from one of our investigators, Brenn.  She is awesome!  Her boyfriend is a member, they met in the Navy and he is now deported across seas and she is here.  She's a referral from the stake president.  Anyway, she called us and told us that she got her answer and she wants to be baptized!  We still have some things that we need to teach her, but she is really great!  She was definately prepared.  Things are really going good here.  It just feels so good to be doing the Lord's work!

Love, Sister Wankier

quidditch is the best!!!!

Hi family!

Quidditch is the best.  Quidditch+missionaries+pizza=best zone activity!  We have a pretty legit zone (or 2 zones, we combined).  Okay, so the brooms were water noodles cut in half with cardboard on each end making the broom shape.  We had a flat volleyball, 4 dodgeballs.  The tree rings on each end of the court to make points were hanging across the basketball hoop.  There were two snitches, one on each team.  I can't explain it, so maybe I'll try to when I get home.  If you really want to know it's online. 

We made a survey.  So now when we have free time, we'll go to the metro and find people with 3 to 5 minutes and ask them questions about their beliefs, such as "do you believe in a higher power?"  and lastly invite them to learn more, go to the visitor center, go to mormon.org, or call in for a free Book of Mormon.  Sister Wong had more success than I did.  I ended up talking to a drunk guy (don't worry, he was nice) and a Jehovah Witness.  That guy spoke in paragraphs, possibly pages!  It was hard for me to say anything.  Finally I got away!

I love you all!  Have a fantastic week!
Love, Sister Wankier

ysa ward is awesome!!!!

The (DC 2nd) YSA Ward is a lot different than a family ward, but I do like it a lot!  They are so good.  We had the interns come in this past week and they are great!  The ward is so good to help with missionary work, they love it!

We are teaching three people in the ward right now.  The one I'm most excited about is Arunjana.  Her boyfriend introduced her to us and she is fantastic.  She came up to one of our more recent investigators, Bren, and fellowshipped her.  When she found out that Bren was also an investigator she invited her to come to her lessons with us and everything.  New plan:  every new investigator introduce to Arunjana!  The members in the ward are super excited about missionary work.  They love to come out teaching with us.  We end up doing a bit of street contacting, which isn't super effective.  It's always the latinos who will listen, so we get referrals for the spanish missionaries.  Oh to be in the spanish program!  Now I just need to learn how to contact in spanish.  We have talked to a couple YSA's who want to know about activities the ward is having, so we've got some potential.  We also got permission to attend institute.  The senior couple, Elder Brown, teaches and he encourages the interns and all who go to bring non-members and to do missionary work.  Some statistic we saw says that 90% of non-members who attend institute get baptized, so we're really excited!

Love you all!
Love, Sister Wankier

ps. I met an elder yesterday whose name is Elder Winkler (haha it's a combination of how everyone pronounces our name wrong!)

when it rains, it pours!

We go for so long without any pictures and then a bunch!  This is the feasting moment!  More pictures!  But I do wonder if all they do in this mission is eat!!

transfers!!

Our zone last transfer

Hello family!
Welp, I'm transferred to... DC 2nd ward! It's a YSA and I'm in the city now. I am SO excited! But please pray for me because I have to drive there. My companion is Asian and she is great! Since she's not from the states she's not allowed to drive, so we'll be praying a lot for safety, because I'm driving, in the city, where the streets are weird, but it'll all work out. My companion is Sister Wong and she is Awesome. It's just going to be good.

As far as our baptism dates with Rose and Cadie and Yvonne... lets just say it'll take some time. The Mfogmi family did not come to church, but I'm still holding out for them. They'll become strong members eventually. 

 I want you to know that I know this is the true church of Jesus Christ. I know that it brings us happiness and joy. If we rely on our savior and follow his teachings we will be able to get through our trials and our burdens will be made light. I love missionary work, I find that it's not me doing anything, it's the Lord. He prepares every person we teach.  Pray for missionary experiences. I remember when I was younger people would tell me to do that and I wouldn't want to because I knew I would get one and I didn't think I would be brave enough to take advantage of the situation. The Lord works in mysterious ways and He will give you an opportunity that you can take advantage. He loves his children so much and wants them to have this joy of the gospel in their lives. 
Love you all!  Love, Sister Wankier

insert from the author!

Some wonderful people in our stake, Brother Bruce Lyon, his wife, Sister Kathy Lyon, and their daughter, Jenny went to Washington DC during general conference weekend and were able to see Hailey!!  They brought us back hugs and pictures!  They are awesome people and I thank them so much!  Here's what they got to see when they were there.



Sister Lyon and Jenny with Hailey



Hailey with her 2 companions (I think)



Hailey's favorite view from the visitor center