25 October 2010

Last week I got a few questions. Michelle asked me if I ever go to Mutual to talk about missionary work and asked how Mutual is in South America. I never got invited to speak about anything. We are always invited to play soccer, but it’s kind of against the rules and a VERY ineffective use of the time we have here. From what I see, Mutual is a quick spiritual lesson and the boys play soccer and the girls do arts and crafts.

Cody asked me if I have played the piano. One time I did, for an activity. I can play Nearer My God to Thee, from the regular green hymn book. I was scared and nervous and it wasn’t done that well, but it’s a step up, right?

David sent me a good scripture about being men from 2 Nephi 1:21. The day before my comp pointed that scripture out. I had that marked. We also found a Mormon Message by Elder Christofferson about being men. And ironically, all this helped us resolve a problem in a companionship this week. It was cool.

Dad asked if my companion is a zone leader too. Yes, he is. He’s training me.

I found an interesting scripture this week: 4 Nephi 1:27. It talks about the state of apostasy of the Nephites 200 years after Christ’s visit. As I pondered it I learned something. This pride cycle was different because they couldn’t repent and get out of it. Why? Maybe because this was after Christ’s visit. I always imagined that Christ revealed temple ordinances to the Nephites, the same ones we have today. They apostatized from that knowledge, greater condemnation. They were administering those ordinances to unworthy people. That’s bad. Megan told me a bit about the temple, so this thought fit in well. I love the temple.

So, every house in the mission got an oven this week. Mom, could you send me a recipe so this oven has a use for me? Maybe brownies or cinnamon rolls. That would be cool. Just make sure the ingredients exist in Uruguay, thanks.

I have no time. I love you all. Lots.

Elder Whitaker

18 October 2010

Wow, do you know what just happened this week? I got a letter from everyone – every parent, brother, sister and sister-in-law. What did I do to deserve this blessing? There were so many letters I won’t even try to read them now; I’ll print them out and read them later. But I hope everyone is doing well.

Mom, I got my absentee ballot letter thing in the mail. Could you send me who you’re voting for so I can copy you. I’m uninformed and really don’t care much right now. You sending me information is option #1. The other option is I can let my companion vote for me. It would be a good opportunity for him, maybe a once in a life time opportunity. And could you let me know when I need to get that sent by and how to send it. I think postage is free, but I don’t know if that will fly with the Correo Uruguaya.
So the miracle of this week was we baptized a family. We had 3 baptisms Saturday. It was really cool. The father is Robert. He’s a computer programmer, kind of rare to find in Uruguay. His latest work has been designing apps for ipods. He loves the computer and for the first time in my life I could see someone use mormon.org the way the brethren wanted it to be used. He was all over general conference and the Mormon Messages. He even put some on a cd for us to use. The cool thing is that we could baptize a family, and even better, future leaders of the church.

What made this experience even better was the fact that it all happened with Elder Vargas. A year ago when we were together we had zero baptisms. We worked hard, really hard. I learned this week, more powerfully than ever, that the Lord blesses us when we work hard in his cause. Sometimes the blessings come a year later, but the Lord will always keep his word. There’s a cool scripture in D&C 58 I think that talks about this – left hand page left column in Spanish.

But I think that’s it. I love you all. Thanks for the prayers and support.

Love, Elder Whitaker

11 October 2010

Wow. It sounds like everyone is doing well. Here are the questions. Is my companion Elder Vargas almost done with his mission? Yes. This is his last transfer. Where is my companion from? He’s from Honduras. How many times have I gone to the temple? 2 in the MTC and twice in the field, and twice in America I think. We got good news this week that we’re going this November during our zone conferences. Yeah, I’m excited.

This week was a tough one. It’s hard being a zone leader. We did something we never did before this week. We got in a city bus and shared the gospel. It took a lot of guts to do it, but it wasn’t that hard. We prepared a ton of pamphlets with the mission phone number and did what we do best. We liked it so much, and had leftover pamphlets, that we did it two more times. We had 80 contacts before 8 AM.

I want to share what we did in district meeting to help the zone focus on our baptism goals and feel the spirit. It was weird. One day I thought, “Why don’t we have a meeting in all white clothes, baptism clothes?” It was a weird idea, but I shared it with my companion. We prayed about it and felt good. Today we had our first district meeting of the transfer. All 12 missionaries were in white. We all introduced ourselves and bore our testimonies. It was so cool. When we were in white we announced that we were going to be able to go to the temple this transfer. It was really cool. I’ll never forget it.

I’m out of time. Enjoy the letter and photos. I’m sending pictures of me and my old companion from last transfer. One was our last baptism and the other is a big “animo” booster I left in my old house. It’s even better now, but I don’t have the picture.

I love you all,
Elder Whitaker

5 October 2010

Thanks for all the letters. Yes, Mom, this week was transfer week, but before I get to that I want to tell you about all the miracles I saw at general conference.

On the 5 sessions, we had 9 investigators. That’s incredible. Cindy and Nicolas, Alejandra and Andres, Andrea and Richard, all couples that need to get married. Carmen and Agustin, and Axel. Huge miracles. I was so happy to help people hear the voice of the Lord’s prophet. I was sitting in one of the sessions and realized that we had 2 investigator families present. I can’t explain the joy that filled my soul. I’m doing my job and I’m happy.

Unfortunately, I’ve been transferred from that area. I didn’t want to leave. But the cool thing is I’m in the same zone and same city. I’ve been called as a zone leader and I’m serving with my second companion, Elder Vargas. I’ll be helping him end his mission. Exactly a year ago we were together, and we’re back together. I’m so excited.

I’m glad everyone enjoyed conference. I agree, the topics seemed to be follow the prophet and agency, and gratitude. The human race needs to be more grateful. That’s what the Lord told the prophet.

Well, I think that’s it. I love you all.

Elder Whitaker