6 Months on His Mission!

Hard to believe but true, Elder Whitnah has been on his mission for 6 months already. He wrote today and said he was going to buy himself a stein to celebrate his 6th month mark. The work in Dusseldorf seems a bit slow right now. Many appointments are made but the majority of them fall through. He and his companion are teaching a woman and her inactive husband right now and that seems to be progressing well.

Some fun news in regards to his area of Dusseldorf. This past Sunday while at Church a young woman approached him and looked at his name tag. She responded by saying "I served in Berlin with your sister, Sister Becky Whitnah!" What a small world it truly is?! It was Sister Karen Hadzik who served in Leipzig with Becky as well as in Teirgarten with her as a companion. Karen is from Dusseldorf.

Sean has been in Dusseldorf for 4 weeks now. He is loving the work even though at times it gets discouraging because he and his companion are not having great success. He continues to LOVE the foods he finds in Germany....especially donors(sp?)....Becky loved them as well!

Elder Whitnah's second city: Dusseldorf

The Shield of the city of Dusseldorf...the place where Sean has now been transferred after 3 months of service in Krefeld.

Sean has been transferred a new area. Dusseldorf! Quite a big place, nearly 600,000 thosand people and the economic center of Germany. Sean has hopes to be able to serve in some small areas of the Mission but time will tell and he will go where the Lord wants him to serve. He had become quite close to some of the members in Krefeld and will miss many of them. This one brother in the Ward became quite close to Sean. Sean thought of him as a Grandpa figure in a way. He will miss him that is for sure but even though he will miss his first area he is looking forward to his new area of Dusseldorf.

Elder Whitnah nearly 3 months in Germany!

Elder Whitnah has been in Germany for nearly 12 weeks. That means he will no longer be classified as a "golden." In the German missions instead of calling a missionary a "greenie" when they are first out they are goldens. Sean has loved his mission thus far and has learned valuable insights from his companion Elder Hawker.
It was great to speak with Sean on Mother's Day. We had a 2 and a half hour long conversation. I enjoyed hearing all that Sean is going through and all the ways he has grown. He shared with us that he now truly understands the Gospel and believes it like he never did before. At one point he told me that if someone were to put a gun to his head right now and shoot him if he didn't deny what he believed that he would have to tell the person to shoot him because he would never deny the Gospel and all the blessings that he has received from it. What a cool blessing and what a great son to have! I am so glad that he is progressing so much in the Gospel!
He is thinking that his companion might be transferred this next week when transfers come up..only time will tell. I guess Elder Hawker has been in Krefeld for some time.
Sean shared with us that each day he studies to learn 50 new German words and then he practices reading preach my gospel outload to put the words to use. He finds that that along with talking to native Germans is the best way to learn the language and pronunciation of words. He says right now he has about 75% of his German down. That's pretty good for a missionary who has been out only 2+ months.
He loves the foods in Germany and told us that he thinks the food there is better than what we have here. I am not surprised as I have tried many German foods and it is good. Sean and his companion are teaching a family from Afrika as well as a young college student. They continue searching for those who are ready to hear the Gospel. I am glad that Sean is enjoying his mission. He writes every Tuesday and it's great to hear how much he has learned.

2 months in Germany

Sean has been in Germany now for 2 months. His German improves more and more each week, which he is glad of. His companion, Elder Hawker is the District Leader, which means Sean and Elder Hawker spend a great deal of time traveling. This week Wes' Mom called us and shared something cool with us. She has found a line on her family side that traces back to the 1300's. The name was Van Bitten or Van Bitter. Guess where this family is from? The city of Krefeld...where Sean is now serving as a missionary. How cool is that!? Sean could end up teaching one of his distant cousins about the Gospel. We will get to hear Sean's voice on Mother's Day...can't wait!
I have included this interesting photo of Sean looking up at the gates of the castle...I have to wonder what he was thinking :) Good times on Pday.

Sean is doing great!

Sean has been in Krefeld for 7 weeks now. He seems to be loving it there and he loves being a missionary..something he had longed to do for a long time. He recently sent some photos of the area he is in. There are a couple pictures that he is in but they are off in the distance somewhat I will go ahead and post them anyway I love the photo of Sean swinging from the tree and the one on the hill where he is doing a funny walk

Why Did Sean have to be in Germany so quickly?

Sean is halfway through his first transfer in the city of Krefeld and so far things are going well for him. He and his companion Elder Hawker are getting along fairly well and they are teaching several people. Thus far they have only been able to teach the 1st discussion and after that some of the people show little if not interest. Even still Sean is plugging along and enjoying the work.

Sean has found this city to be a more layed back city. The people are very friendly and overall very inviting of the Americans. I am not sure if that is because the Frankfurt area in general houses many US military or what but it might be helpful. Becky who served in Berlin and Wes who served in Munich found the areas to be tougher and the people to sometimes be a bit courser than Sean is finding in his first area. I imagine there will be some that Sean will encounter that won't be quite as friendly but so far he is loving it.

In Sean's last email he said there are 30 German bakeries surrounding the areas that they teach. He and his companion work very hard NOT to go into one of those bakeries as they know the food is really good and they are trying to watch their waistlines :) 19 year olds boys and waistlines...I don't think they really need to worry about that.

This past week Sean's Mission President wrote us a letter and expressed his thanks to us for Sean's willingness to serve the people of Germany in the Frankfurt Mission. He also shared how important it was that Sean was there now and how he was needed SO much at this time. As I read that I realized THAT is WHY Sean had to report to the MTC in only 5 and 1/2 weeks. Most missionaries who get called to foreign countries are often given 3-4 months to get ready and then arrive at the MTC. Not Sean. Sean was needed and he was needed right now!

I wanted to add a photo or two of Sean and his first companion along with his MP and his MP's wife but my scanner is not working right so I will try and get those entered next time. I will include photos that I copied (cheated :) ) from the net of some of the finds that one would find in a good German bakery. It's a good thing that Sean and his companion walk most of the time. IF they do eat at the bakeries they can walk a lot of the extra food off of them.

Sean did say that walking and riding the bahn is their main means of transportation in the city of Krefeld. The area is large enough that bikes are not necessary. Sean would love to be able to have a bike and ride though. One advantage of being onthe Bahn is that he and his companion can begin to share their message of the Gospel and have a better chance at talking without having the door shut in their faces...always pros to everything :)

I am also including in this blog entry a photo that was taken using Elder Guin's camera. This is the group of Elders and one solo Sister who entered the MTC on December 17th. As you can see this photo was taken on a day after they had all attended a Temple Ceremony in the Provo Temple. Sean really enjoyed those days and hopefully will have the chance to attend the Frankfurt Temple while in Germany.