29 June 2009

Hey, it’s Pday again. This is a long message. I know sometimes I wouldn’t read letters that were long because I didn’t feel like reading a lot. I hope you don’t have that problem, sorry.

A ton of stuff has happened already and I’ve only been here for 4 days. Elder Calarco baptized a family the week before I got here and on Sunday the father and son got the priesthood. The father asked me to ordain him, which was still a surprise when the time came to do it because I wasn’t sure that was what he was trying to tell me. The bishop helped me with the important words, but I was able to give the blessing by myself.

The people here are amazing. It’s truly humbling to hear them pray for those less fortunate than themselves. At least this area is way better off than the one area I tracted in in Buenos Aires.

In sacrament meeting yesterday the bishop had me bear my testimony. That was fun. I Just shared D&C 76, the scripture mastery. I like it a lot.

The members always feed us lunch and so far they have been very good. We were at one member’s house and the kids were playing Uno. My whole life has been a lie, because when they play they say Una. Sad day.

Oh, yeah, this area that I’m in is called Sarandi del Yi. Now you can find it on the map. It’s like a 3 hour bus ride from Montevideo.

It’s been pretty cold here. I’m glad for my coat. I just wish I would’ve brought a hoodie for the apartment. It gets cold at night. I can see my breath inside. That’s different. Elder Calarco is my comp. He’s a good guy from where Brad’s serving. We seem to be having a lot of success. It’s normal for me but I’ve only been here 3 days. We knock doors and they let us in. We’ll see what happens later this week. We have a list of 6 people to visit and teach and like a list of 5 recent converts and less-actives.

This week we have mission conference and we’ll meet the new president. I’m looking forward to that. It’s exciting to be engaged in the work of the Lord. I love the people, and I’m happy.
Oh, and you don’t need to send this part off to everyone, but I found a miracle while reading my patriarchal blessing. It says I’ll be able to communicate well with the people. It blows my mind because I can do that already. I can say enough and they can understand it. It’s truly amazing.

Love, Elder Whitaker