27 September 2010

Wow, it sounds like everyone is doing well. Thanks for the letters. I got a few questions today.

Will I get to watch general conference live? As live as they can translate it. We’ll be in the district
center and there should be a handful of Americans, so I might be able to watch it in English again.

Have I ever taught a seminary lesson? No. No one ever invited me to seminary.

Could I write a valedictorian speech for Steven? I don’t have time for that chore – unless you want it in Spanish and on a gospel topic.

And what is my favorite cultural tradition about Uruguay? That’s a good question. Maybe a cultural characteristic that I love is when it rains the whole nation kind of shuts down. And then they make tortas fritas – dough fried in cow fat. Be careful with how many you eat. They’re really good with dulce de leche.

Note: Here's a recipe if you want to try tortas fritas yourself some cold, rainy afternoon.

We had an awesome baptism this Saturday. Maria Espinosa got baptized. 34 people came and 8 were not members. Then the 4 we had at sacrament meeting made it a good week. My comp and I are working hard and the whole branch is being affected. It’s really incredible to see the transformation. We’re being blessed so much. We’re being so blessed it’s becoming a challenge. Never thought I’d say that! But we just don’t have time to do all the good things we want to do. And unfortunately I don’t have enough time to tell you about all the miracles we saw this week.

I have a scripture insight for you all. It only works in Spanish, though. Jacob 5:70-72. In Spanish it says “la estacion viene rapidamente,” or the season come quickly. Our branch is called Estacion. “La rama estacion viene rapidamente.” If you put that in the context with the scripture it gives me the attitude I need to work hard.

I love you all. Thanks for all the help. I was going to send pictures, but I don’t have time. Maybe next week.

Love, Elder Whitaker

20 September 2010

Thanks for all the letters. I’m doing great. I have a few questions to answer though.

Cody was wondering if I get to eat a lot of rice and beans. I don’t remember ever eating rice and beans. Rarely beans find their way into guisos; a suiso is a stew you eat in the winter that has meat and veggies and either pasta or rice. We eat a lot of pasta with tomato sauce, milanesas, which are fried meat, and a few other things. I really like the food generally.

Brad’s question was about the leadership training without my companion. The meeting was for leaders and future leaders. Right now my only calling is senior companion. The meeting was for half of the mission; the other half is having the meeting this week.

And yes, I know Elder Sluder, Mom. He’s an interesting kid – a great kid though.

Steven said Brother Slovacek was his teacher. I’m assuming he meant the one that just finished “presidenting” a mission. Say hi for me then.

What else do I have to say? This week’s miracle was we had 6 or 7 investigators at church. The zone’s goal was 8. Almost made it. I won’t complain though. We had 6 of ours and 1 extra from another branch – the mother of our investigator – the one that is getting baptized this Saturday.

I hope the Lord lets me stay in this area a long time because we are really seeing huge miracles. This branch has only had 2 baptisms this whole year and right now I can see like 8 people that could be baptized. It’s exciting work.

I love you all. Thanks for the support and prayers.

Elder Whitaker

16 September 2010

So this is weird, writing on Thursday and everything. On Monday, we had a leadership training conference in Montevideo. It was Monday and Tuesday. Awesome. We learned about all the new missionary focuses and now we are putting them into practice. But there was a miscommunication in how we were going to have our p-day. My companion stayed in our area with another elder; they had p-day on Monday. So the elders that went to the meeting were supposed to have p-day on Wednesday, but I got back and we had to work. So I didn’t really get p-day, but that’s okay. I just wanted to write and say I’m fine.

I finished Jesus the Christ this morning and really enjoyed it a lot. I have to decide now what I’ll be studying.

I want you all to know that I’m really enjoying the mission more than I ever have before. President da Silva has asked us to make significant changes, significant changes in who we are, what we do, and how we do it. As I have been trying every day to make these significant changes, I have been blessed with a joy that I have never felt before in my life. I can feel that the spirit is really being y constant companion. President told us where we had 6 before we need to be getting 20, where we had 15 before we need 50 now. I’m seeing these things change and happen. Last week we had 6 at church and we invited 8 people to get baptized and all of them accepted. We’ll have a baptism the 25th. Her name is Maria Espinosa. We taught her the law of the tithe yesterday and it was awesome. I love my job.

I love you all. Thanks for all the support and prayers, but I have to go and find Julio and teach him what Jesus Christ would have him know.

Love, Elder Whitaker

6 September 2010

It was good to hear from you all. It sounds like everyone is having fun getting back to school. Wow, I can’t believe football season is already back. I remember last year when that happened, it caught me by surprise. It’s interesting to note that I liked to know last year, but as of right now, I could care less. Isn’t that cool that I’m more involved in the work? It makes me feel good that I’ve matured.

So this week I saw a really cool miracle. It all happened because I got sick. I got sick in part because it rained all week. A yearly storm called Santa Rosa came it. It rained from Tuesday until Saturday morning, a constant annoying drizzle. But I got sick and got a priesthood blessing and took vitamins and medication and went to work. At the second day of being sick, I woke up with “Alma 8” in my head. I had no idea what Alma 8 says, so I went to read it. I didn’t catch what I was supposed to get the first time. So, I read it later again during my language studies. The first verse says Alma went to his house to rest. Was that a message to me? So I asked and got an answer. I rested, took a 90 minutes nap, then I went back to work. I felt better and we had an amazing day. It was really cool, though. The Lord knew I was going to work until I couldn’t, but I needed to rest. It was cool because I never got personal revelation in that way before.

I think that’s it for now. I’m running out of time. I love you all. You are always in my prayers.

Love, Elder Whitaker