Parking permits

So I had another good day. It started off by having one thing on the to do list. That's great!

So I worked out with Steven this morning (btw he got 2 hours of sleep and was still there at 6am to work out with me, whatta trooper). Steve bought me breakfast.

I got home showered and took a 2 hour nap.

I did my last minute studying for my last Bio test. I needed a 89% to get an A and a 65% to get an A-. So before I took the test my question was if it were really worth studying, it's not hard to get 65%. But somehow I only missed one question. I mighta tied Brad! Either I'm getting better at guessing or the computers are busted...

Then I finally got around to getting my handicap parking pass. So the form was interesting. It said I couldn't walk 200 feet without being fatigued. It said I needed help from a brace or crutches. And it said I had orthopedic surgery. I didn't want them to call me out as a liar because NOW I can walk pretty well so I took a crutch with me just in case. It worked. They gave me 2 passes. One for my car and one for the person who gives me a ride. Cool.

But here's the sad part. My next errand was getting the tires rotated at Super Walmart. There is no handicap garage. Fine. Then I went to the BYU creamery and the parking spots are so close that there is no handicap spot! Strike 2. Then I went home. I have an assigned underground parking spot, and there are no special spots above ground. So maybe before the 3 months run out I'll be able to take advantage of my crippleosity. I guess it will be nice once all the parking lots are covered in ice....And yes, I did manage to get my groceries up the stairs all by myself in one trip.

I wish I had pictures but I don't.

A really good day

1) I figured out how to climb stairs like a regular person again

a) I got about a quarter of my home teaching done while doing it

b) Class got cancelled, so my morning turned into a 40 minute stair/walk fest.

2) I went to see the doctor

a) he said if you look at 100 patients I would be near the top

b) I can walk without crutches

c) I can take regular showers again

3) I went to physical therapy

a) I got 127 degrees. New record

b) I dominated the exercises

c) I called out one of the assistants for stalking me because she just "happened" to be running west as I was walking north to school on the same corner at the same time and says "looks like you're doing well" just on the day of the week when I don't have therapy.

4) I took my New Testament test

a) I got a 97%

b) "Awesome" "Great Job"

c) I almost choked on my spit when I saw it

5) I walked home crutch-less

a) I saw another crutcher and we had an instant connection

b) every car still stopped for me, I don't even have to break stride

6) I finished my homework

a) I did all the reading for my Friday classes

b) I finished a project due Monday

c) I went to the gym

d) I'M BLOGGING RIGHT NOW.

The only bad thing I can think of is that I had to write this post Dominican style because the internet connection conveniently broke when I tried to post it last time. That would be "e)" under "6)" but it wasn't good.

7) I got groceries

a) I can eat fruit again

b) That reminded me that Steven needs to buy me breakfast this week.

Surgery

I had surgery Tuesday. I reported to the hospital at 6:30 am. The plan was to put in a nerve block to turn off the feeling of my femoral nerve, then to put me under with anesthesia and then operate. I didn't remember any of it, weird. I went home to Megan's house and Steven and Megan and Weston helped keep me safe from Wyatt and recovering. We created a 2 couch "Pack -n-play" to keep Wyatt out.
And on Wednesday I went to physical therapy and the doctor was pleased to see me get a 90 degree bend. They also got me the paperwork I need to get a handicap parking pass for 3 months. Cool.
I like this one because it tells you so much: I really can bend it 90 degrees, they did a great job shaving part of my leg, and the painkillers work great.

Day before surgery rings

So I wanted a video of the best I can do before I got surgery. So this is it. Pretty fun stuff. I've learned a lot.

Nov 8, 2011

So here's my attempt at a gymnastics "routine". I wish I knew more tricks.

So maybe I didn't

So I told a friend of mine that I went to the doctor and and that after an MRI the fact that I tore my ACL was confirmed. This friend is is very strong in his opinions and INSISTED that if it were really torn I would not even be able to walk. He wanted to know which doctor I saw.

What would you do in that situation? Arguing is just stupid, I'm not going to argue with him. But at the same time, do I call the doctor and say he was wrong? I saw the MRI. So I just nodded my head and said "okay, maybe" and tried to escape. I stopped at the door I thought he would use. He lingered. I went to the bathroom. He was a boy so that didn't work either. But finally he left. So I'm nervous for monday because we always sit next to each other in history class.

But my friend does have credentials I don't have. He is taking anatomy and probably has better than a D-, so maybe he knows something that Dr. Mortensen and I don't.

ACL Tear

So I twisted my knee about a month ago playing a game called wallyball. It's a way fun game. It's volleyball in a raquetball court and you can use the walls. So I decided to just walk it off. After a week I could jog again and after 2 weeks I could jump again.

Then I had an intermural volleyball game and twisted it again. The score was like 25 to 25 and you had to win by 2. I went to save the ball that had flown out of the court and when I went to pivot my leg my knee twisted. We were playing down a player so for the last few plays we played down 2 players.

I decided it would be better not to walk it off this time. I went to the doctor, got an MRI, and today they said I ripped my ACL. Well that's the story. I wish I had pictures, but I don't.

More Rings

The first movie is me doing a "muscle up". I can do one every day, never two. The second video is nothing really, just know that my forehead isn't touching the ground, even if it looks like it does. And the third is just doing whatever. So this is what I did this week. Enjoy it as much as I did.

I figured it out!

So here's a video I can be proud of. It just took a little bit of thinking it through and buying a real rope.

Gymnastics

So a kid I met at the gym and youtube and $50 inspired me to try out a new talent. It's only going to get better. Stevee's my workout buddy. We do this MWF at 6:00am.

I can't figure this thing out anymore. Maybe later. This was ONE picture of our Timp climb.

13 June 2011

Thanks for the emails. This does feel weird knowing I’ll be home before next Monday comes around. Congrats Dave and Elizabeth.

This week went really well. We had 8 investigators at church. We’re looking at 2 baptisms on the 25th and 2 more on the 2nd of July. My companion will keep baptizing, which is really great because Elder Peña’s been called to train. That’s so cool. It makes me feel good because I just trained him. And he’s feeling good because it shows that the Lord trusts him. there are few elders that train in their first area. If his new companion is from the USA, he’ll have just 6 weeks more than him. Ha, Ha, that’s funny.

I gave a talk in church. I had planned to talk about the Sabbath day and the sacrament; that just didn’t feel right. So at the last second I talked about the things I learned on my mission. It was cool because we had two visitors from the stake, two freshly returned missionaries, a sister and an elder. The sister served in Argentina and the elder served in Idaho.

Thanks for the pictures. I think that’s it for now. I don’t feel like this has to be super long. Thanks for the support and prayers. I love you all. The Lord has truly blessed me during these two years of service. I know even more than ever that the church is true, that the Book of Mormon is true, that Joseph Smith really saw God the Father and Jesus Christ, we truly have a living prophet.

Thanks again for the sacrifices you have all made for me so that I could be here.

Love,
Elder Whitaker

6 June 2011

Thanks for the emails. I’m a little stressed out right now because it’s raining. As a result the email place was closed. I guess the regular 10 year old customers don’t play internet games when it’s raining. Bummer. So after leaving and coming back a couple of times we jumped on a bus to another email joint. Be glad you have a computer with internet in your house. It’s a lovely thing.

Other than that, this Sunday was awesome. We had two confirmations, our four recent converts all showed up, and we had 7 investigators. That’s big. Silvia, who got confirmed yesterday, brought her sister and mom. They have baptismal dates for June 25. The daughter and grandson of another recent convert came; unfortunately they don’t live in our area. We found two 9 year old girls who are twins that belong to a part-member family and they came. They’re technically not even investigators yet; our first lesson with them will be tonight. Oh, and our ward mission leader’s sister came. Our ward mission leader loves us.

We also had a really good week this week focusing on heaven-sent questions or inspired questions. The church has new Preach My Gospel dvds and one of the sections taught us about that. The Spirit knows the investigator perfectly, so let the Spirit ask the questions. A cool quote was “heaven respects agency so much that it will draw and never drag things out of people.” With inspired questions we were able to help someone feel the need to find their Book of Mormon and read it, we helped someone know that God loves them, we helped someone realize that they already believe the Book of Mormon is the word of God. It’s been really cool. I wish I could’ve figured this out earlier. An explanation of the picture – that is the Montevideo International Airport. I can see it from various locations in my area, and all the planes the land there we see and hear coming in, a constant reminder that I’m going to be inside that airport soon. It’s weird. But I feel good. We’re working hard. I’m positive I’ll leave this are baptizing. There’s nothing worse than arriving to a dead area.

And Mom asked if I had menu suggestions for when I get back. I think you could pretty much guess what I would like to eat – the same stuff I asked you to make before. I’ll be happy with pretty much anything as long as it isn’t “this will help you on your mission when they serve you weird food.” And with respect to that mission preparation, I got pretty lucky here in Uruguay; there wasn’t that much weird food.

I think that’s about it. Just so you know, Tuesday is transfer day. I’ll take all my gear to the temple hostel. At 3 PM we’re going to the temple with President and Sister da Silva. That night we will have a FHE with President and interviews. On Wednesday morning we’ll finish packing and have some time to hang out, maybe visit some people or places in Montevideo. At 3 PM we head off to the airport and leave at 5ish.

Thanks for everything. I love you all lots.

Elder Whitaker

30 May 2011

Thanks for the emails. This week was really good. Here’s a few photos – 3 of the baptism we had on Sunday - Agustin and his mom, unbaptized step-dad, brother, Elder Echegaray – Area Authority Seventy – and Elder Peña and ISilvia, her cousin baptizing her, the cousin’s wife and kids, Silvia’s unbaptized mom and sister and useveryone that went to the baptism minus Elder Peña and meAnd the last photo was last week when I was sick. I had a 39° Celsius fever, but I’m better. It happens.

So our baptism was really cool. It says somewhere in the missionary handbook of Preach My Gospel to always leave your area better than how it was when you got there. Our area is a lot better. We’ve been able to have 4 baptisms in 3 months. Last year they had like 6 and unfortunately few are still active. Agustin who got baptized yesterday has a great musical talent. The branch president gave him a green hymn book last Sunday. In one week he learned at leave 5 hymns – 3 for sacrament meeting and 2 for his baptism. You could really perceive the difference in the meetings. It’s a big deal not having a brand pianist for years and then getting one. I told him how Mom was the Primary pianist at 12 years old. He’s 11.

It was really cool to have an area authority seventy at the baptism. After the welcoming into the branch he was given a little bit of time to speak. It was really spiritual. You can feel the authority of his calling, even though he didn’t say anything that I haven’t heard before. It really called my attention that he had the expectation that Silvia and Agustin will always be faithful until the end. Unfortunately, not everyone has such hope in people.

I can’t think of anything else to say. I’m still working hard and trying to end on a baptism. It’ll be tough but it can happen.

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

Elder Whitaker

23 May 2011

Thanks for the emails. It sounds like everyone is doing well.

First off, Dave asked a question about what I eat here. The members take care of us very well and provide lunch. It depends on your area and how many active members there are for the frequency of the lunches. I've had areas where we have lunch every day. Currently we fend for ourselves 2 or 3 times a week. They serve us pasta with tomatoes and meat sauce, fideo con tuco, or fried meat, milanesas, with rice. Sometimes they do grilled meat, asado, with rice. Every now and then we get the Uruguayan shepherd's pie, pastel de carne. And in the winter we get a lot of stew called guiso. It's rice and/or pasta with meat and vegetables, potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions . . . really good. There's a lot of variety and it's good. We eat enough at lunch to get us through till night, and even then usually I don't eat anything, or very little at night and just wait for breakfast. And for breakfast I buy a 3 kilo bag of frosted flakes and that keeps me going. I've never eaten so much cereal in my life.

So this Sunday was good for us. We're going to have 2 baptisms next Sunday. There's a cool story for why we're doing them Sunday. Their names are Silvia and Agustin. They're in no way related. Silvia, 15, is the cousin of a member, Javier. Javier just got married and his wife got baptized when we got here. We finally taught Silvia everything and now she's getting baptized. The second person is Agustin, 11 years old. His mom was more or less inactive, due to the fact that she isn't married, and her partner is not divorced yet. Because of this Agustin was never baptized. Agustin and his mom asked an old family friend to baptize him. This family friend is Elder Echagaray and he's an Area Authority Seventy. They coordinated with him, then called President de Silva, and President da Silva called us telling us to do everything in our power to make it so this elder could baptize Agustin. Area Authority Seventies are busy people; Sunday at 5 is when he can do it. Cool. I've never had a Seventy come to a baptism before. I'm way excited.

Thanks for all the support and prayers. Don't worry about me. I feel great. I'm working in the same intensity that I've worked my whole mission. We're still running. We're trying to finish in white.

Love, Elder Whitaker

15 May 2011

Thanks for the emails. It sounds like everyone is doing well. Wow, this keyboard is great – all the letters are still printed on all the keys and none of them stick after using them!

This Sunday we had stake conference. It’s weird that we’re in May and I’ve already attended two stake conferences. Our ward mission leader was in charge of the choir. So to help him out we practiced one or two times after church with him. It was originally a branch choir, but it turned out to be a stake choir. We sand “I’ll Go where You want Me to Go” and “The Day Dawn is Breaking.” And thanks to that I got to sit next to President da Silva. He was surprised to see us up there. It was cool to sit on the stand. It’s a lot more quiet up top. I didn’t hear any disruption at all. I can see how it would be easier to feel the inspiration as a speaker to say what the Lord would want said. President da Silva spoke and the counselor to the temple president – Brother Kenney who served here at the same time as Grandpa. He finishes his mission in one week. They talked a lot about missionary work. That was cool. A recently returned sister from the stake gave her testimony. Just by listening I could tell she was a really good missionary. That was confirmed when President da Silva said he would have liked her in his mission. I know he doesn’t say that about everyone. I think that could be one of the most powerful compliments one could receive.

So last week we got an interesting email forwarded to us from the area presidency. In the email it said to print out the attachment and treat it as scripture. It was a 12-week study schedule to train new missionaries. It allows us an extra hour of companion studies every day except P-day and the day we do our weekly planning. It’s focused on the eight new focuses we have. It’s been cool following a new study plan. I’m wondering if this is something that came from Elder Arnold and maybe if it works it’ll be used worldwide. It’s a trainer and his new companion study program, but right now the whole mission is doing it. Cool.

And last night as we studied a bit I learned something cool. In John 14:26 it talks about how the Holy Ghost brings all things to our remembrance. That made me think of the sacrament prayers that say if you remember Christ you can always have the spirit. It becomes either an upward spiral or a downward spiral. If I remember Christ, the Holy Ghost helps me remember him more and better and that gets me the Holy Ghost more which helps me be more purified. But it works the same in reverse. Cool.

I think that’s it. Thanks for the prayers and letters. I love you all lots.

Elder Whitaker

9 May 2011

Thanks for the emails. It was nice to call home and talk with Mom and Dad and Steven and Michelle.

A few comments from last week’s emails – Dave, freshman year at BYU I got called to be secretary in my Elder’s quorum by a president I had never met. He never met me either. It was a miscommunication between the president and the high council member and some other things that I don’t remember. But as we started working together we realized it was what the Lord had in mind. Cool.

Brad, some advice for your brother-in-law as he is about to be set apart as a full-time missionary – Mom took notes of my setting apart and typed them up for me. It was something so small that I have been eternally grateful for. No missionary that I’ve talked to remembers really well their setting apart. I remember a lot thanks to Mom. I would recommend recording it if there isn’t any instruction manual saying you can’t. He’ll love you for that.

This week church was great. The three people, youngsters actually, that should be getting baptized May 28th came to church. The secret to their success is this: one is the son of a less-active member, one is the niece of our ward mission leader, and the other is a cousin of a recently activated member. Awesome.

But it wasn’t all roses this week. President Brigham Young made a wonderful quote once about whenever the saints start to build another temple the bells of hell begin to ring. President Young said, “Let them ring.” We’ve been hearing those bells all week.

One of our investigator’s suddenly fell sick and passed away. His name was Miguel; he was the one that got married the week after we got here. Unfortunately, he didn’t progress as he should have. It’s really sad. It was cool to see the branch work together to help this family. Natalia is now a widow with two young daughters.

Apart from that almost all of our lessons failed us and we lost a few more investigators.

Oh Megan, I read a talk last week and thought of you – Elder Perry’s “Mothers Teaching Children in the Home.” It was one of the past few conferences. My advice would be to teach your class as if they were Wyatt. Or teach your class to teach you how to teach Wyatt. It was a really good talk. Or you could practice your lessons teaching Wyatt. Oh, and I liked the photos. Thanks.

Oh, and Mom, remember Elder Thornton who was in my area before I got here and you saw his blog? I called him last night to tell him about Miguel. He said he’s been updated by his dad by my blog. Cool. So here’s a shout out to Brother Thornton. Elder Thornton is a great elder.

I love you all. Thanks for the support.

Elder Whitaker

2 May 2011

Thanks for all the emails. It’s good to hear that everything is going well. So last night came the transfer calls. It was interesting being at the bottom of the phone call chain instead of being at the top. We’re both staying together. Of the ten companionships in our zone all of them but two had transfers.

So this Sunday was death. It rained big time, and to make things better it was Labor Day I guess – the one day in the year that the bus system is completely turned off. I read an interesting quote about hope this morning, but being realistic yesterday we didn’t have much hope for anyone coming. We had 13 at church; sacrament meeting ended when everyone bore their testimonies. It was cool though.

We’re still excited. We’re hoping to have three baptisms next month. From what I have heard, two people from my last area got baptized last transfer.

What other cool miracles happened last week? We’re seeing a lot of miracles. We invited our Elder’s Quorum President to a couple of lessons and it turned out the investigator we were teaching was an old co-worker of his. That was unexpected.

Thanks for the pictures. It looks like everyone is doing well. I think that’s it for now. I love you all.

Elder Whitaker

25 April 2011

I’m sending some cool photos – one of our Easter celebration, 2 of our baptism, and one of my companion and I doing our post-baptism celebration jump,but a better caption would be “putting on our game faces.” There’s proof that there’s still room to mature more.

So we’re teaching a Jehovah’s Witness who is a life long friend of our branch mission leader. I’ve wanted to baptize a Jehovah’s Witness all of my mission. We’ll see what happens with Ana Laura.

Easter was a really good day and I was able to have significantly spiritual experiences. While I was showering the song “Tell me the Stories of Jesus” came to my mind and got me thinking about a talk Elder Andersen gave Easter morning in last year’s general conference. I read it while I ate breakfast. That led me to a wonderful confirmation of Christ’s resurrection.

During sacrament meeting Maria Elena was confirmed. I felt the Spirit really strongly when she was instructed to receive the Holy Ghost. That was cool. And Elder Peña and I got to pass the sacrament.

I’ve been working on repenting daily and that helped me have a better experience as I renewed my covenants.

As I was studying my patriarchal blessing the word “special” called my attention. There are four specific special things in my blessing. They were interesting to note.

But thanks everyone. I love you all lots. I hope you all enjoyed Easter.

Love, Elder Whitaker

18 April 2011

This week went really well. We found some cool new investigators on Saturday night. Unfortunately, it rained Sunday morning. We got our legs wet walking to church. It was really windy too. Interestingly enough, once we walked into the gate of the church all the wind stopped blowing. Interesting. But we did have one investigator at church this weekend and it was Maria Elena whose pareja died when we got here. She’s getting baptized next Saturday. We’re excited for that.

Because of the rain, an already small branch became smaller. There were 18 of us at church. I got to say the opening prayer in sacrament meeting and bless the sacramental bread. That was a wonderful experience.

So I’m still studying hearts in the Book of Mormon. I’m categorizing the huge list I have into feelings of the heart, actions of the heart, and states of the heart. I also counted the specific phrases that show up the most – hardened hearts, hard hearts, pride for your hearts – it’s interesting.

So yesterday I woke up early at like 6:23. I still had 7 minutes so I fell asleep again. In those 7 minutes I had a dream. I dreamed I was teaching a man about tithing, and right when I woke up I was about to teach him the eternal principle of budgeting. I never tried teaching someone how to budget. It was interesting – the dreams one dreams as a missionary . . .

Oh, and something that I was wondering last week. I’ve gotten a few “run through the finish” emails recently, but if I remember correctly I started sending Brad “run through the finish” emails when he had six months left. I was kind of getting ahead of myself, Brad, sorry. But I was wondering if you have any of my old letters hanging around. It would be interesting to get a letter from myself from 2 or 4 or 6 years ago, maybe not 6 years, I don’t remember writing to Weston, sorry.

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

Elder Whitaker

11 April 2011

This week was good, but there’s a lot of opposition. The bapsisms that we were supposed to have last Saturday will be postponed even more. Now they’re married, but aren’t going to church and still smoking. We really need the spirit now to find out what their real problem is. The first excuse never is the real problem.

But we did have an investigator at church yesterday. Her name is Silvia. She’s 15 years old. Her cousin, Javier, just got married to Valeria, and Valeria got baptized our first week here. She’s good. We don’t really have to do much to keep her going.

So Sunday morning at 3:30 AM something interesting happened. What was a drippy pipe behind the sink became a fire hose. I’m in the middle of a wonderful dream when my companion wakes me up with the lights on asking for help. We worked all we could to get that thing to stop. We live behind the owners and we didn’t know where the water line was. We thought it was the same water for the two houses because there’s just one bill. After a while and a few prayers, Elder Peña grabs a white pencil and sticks it in the wall. He fixed it. Cool. It worked for more than 24 hours. And today we fixed it for real. The owner loves us because we didn’t make him do it. That was the adventure for the week. So I decided today that it was time to follow the advice President Uchtdorf gave in the priesthood session. if I don’t do it now I’ll forget. So I read D&C 20 today and I still have to read 84 and 107 and 121. I learned a lot. I didn’t realize it talks so much about baptism in the Doctrine and Covenants – the doctrine of the priesthood.

I gave a talk in sacrament meeting. My companion and the branch mission leader did too. I spoke about the doctrine of Christ, 2 Nephi 31 and 3 Nephi 11, and the conversion of Sanford Porter Senior. In Preach My Gospel it says that the best way to help members trust you as a missionary and have enthusiasm for doing missionary work is to help them understand the doctrine of Christ. That was the idea behind the talk.

We found a new family this week. We’ll see what happens with them. I’m still finding all the different references to hearts in the Book of Mormon. I’m on like the 5th page. I got to Helaman this morning. But I think that’s it. Thanks for everything. I love you all. Keep doing what you’re doing. I was going to send a picture or two, but the computer doesn’t read that I have my pen drive in it. Oh well.

Love, Elder Whitaker

4 April 2011

This week was a good one. Something really interesting that marked this week was one of our investigators passed away. Gualberto passed away the day after we got to our area and the day after we met him. We met him our first Wednesday, he passed away on Thursday, and we visited them the next Tuesday. That was unexpected. But we only met him once so we were less affected than the other elders would be. Ironically, the fight with him and Maria Elena was getting to get married. That’s not a problem now. We are helping Maria Elena. She really surprised us by coming to three sessions of conference. I felt that a lot of the talks were directed to her. She should be getting baptized the 23rd of April. Unfortunately, she was the only one who went to conference, so the couple that is getting married this week will have to postpone their baptism. It’s tough. We couldn’t contact them yesterday so they don’t know they’ll have to wait more, but I feel good with the counsel Elder Christofferson gave – divine correction. Hopefully, we will be able to convey a lesson that has an everlasting impact on their lives, and they react in a way to make it a good one. I finished the Book of Mormon. I found like 424 references to the heart. I miscounted; I think it should be more like 422, but you can get the idea. I invite you to check for me . . . . And now I’m making a list of the specific phrases that are used. I have four pages and I’ve only gotten to Alma. Corazon endurecido is a big favorite (hardened heart); it has more than 30 hits already. So I really enjoyed Elder Christofferson’s talk and the one after his about being and doing (Elder Robbins). President Monson’s priesthood session talk was interesting. You can only guess what I got out of that. General conference is to guide us for the next six months of our life. He made things really clear. I also thought it was interesting that they made two references to the fact that the father is the head of the family and the mother is the heart. I never thought about that before. I think that’s it for now. Thanks for everything. I love you all lots. Love, Elder Whitaker

28 March 2011

This week was cool. I met my new companion, Elder Peña. He is from Santiago, Chile. He is a third generation member, the first missionary from his immediate family. He has an uncle or two that were missionaries. He is the oldest son in his family. He has three younger sisters and a younger brother. He’s really good. One of my biggest worries was that I’d have to lower my level or speed with my new companion. That won’t be a problem at all. So far we’ve been getting to know the area and the members. The other elders left some good directions and a good map to get us up to pace really quickly. [Note: he replaced Elder Thornton, and you can find his blog here.] And yeah, we did have a baptism our first Saturday. Valeria married Javier on Thursday, and Valeria got baptized by Javier on Saturday, and I got to confirm her on Sunday. We have a branch and this Sunday there were like 30 or 40 people. The other missionaries were working well and we inherited an excited branch. They trust us already and are excited to help us. My area is located in Montevideo, but it’s at the border. Our area ends where Montevideo meets Canelones, and the main highway is called Camino Maldonado. It’s on the way to Pando, a little town Grandpa opened for two weeks and then realized they didn’t have any success and got shipped out. My district leader is in Pando; maybe I’ll be able to go visit one day. I’m excited for general conference. I’m in 3 Nephi 18. I need to read about 100 pages more before Sunday. Oh, and Megan, the other day you wrote that you gave a Book of Mormon to a friend. I forgot to tell you what we do. We learned this from Elder Arnold of the Seventy. When we introduce the Book of Mormon for the first time, we read the first paragraph of the introduction and let them tell us what they got out of it. Then we read the second to last paragraph and discuss a bit, then the last paragraph. Then we invite them to be baptized and place a specific date. It would be cool to get a referral that already has a baptismal date. I don’t know if regular members can set baptismal dates; I don’t see why not though. I think that’s it for now. Thanks for the support and prayers. I love you all. Elder Whitaker

21 March 2011

Thanks for the emails. It sounds like everyone is doing well. We had a good week. We keep finding new investigators, and families at that. We broke our 0 investigators at church streak finally – 5! Heavenly Father is very generous. We changed our prayers; that helped. Instead of praying for investigators to get to church so we could have a great number we started praying that they would come so that they could be baptized and enter into the Celestial Kingdom and that investigators would help excite the ward to help us. After working like crazy, we made our list Saturday night of people that could make it to church. 19 people were on that list. 2 of those people came, and 3 more came – part member families we visited weeks earlier. Heavenly Father doesn’t need missionaries. He can do it all by himself. I didn’t even need to leave my house this week and 3 investigators would have landed in church. But I’m grateful for the opportunity that I have to grow and help those that wouldn’t have made it alone.

The other BIG news is transfers came. It was interesting being in the zone with the offices. They knew the transfers on Thursday; we found out Sunday night. It’s weird verifying each night with a district leader who really knows your future. My companion is leaving the area to be zone leader over another zone, and I’m leaving to train a new missionary. 2 new zone leaders are coming into the area. It was the last thing we saw happening, but we’re super excited. It made us wonder, though, because usually they only take two elders out at the same time if they’re doing bad things, or if they want to put in or take out sisters, but we know we were working our tails off and doing things right. The Lord knows what he’s doing. Because I’m training my comp, we will get to our area both new. That’ll be fun; it’ll be the second time I’ll get to do that. It’s a good way to learn. I’m excited. I’ll find out tomorrow who my new companion is.

It’s kind of sad that I won’t be able to continue being a zone leader. I’m going to miss that calling. I’ve learned so much. It’s interesting that as a zone leader we say the opposition is a lot stronger than before in my mission. The better you get, the harder your trials have to be so that you can keep growing. I’m thankful for the opportunity I had to serve in that capacity, but I’m excited to serve as a trainer. Instead of focusing my service and help towards 12 missionaries, I will be called to focus on helping one the whole time.

What else can I say? I’m still reading the Book of Mormon. I’m in Helaman. Helaman’s a good book. Nephi and Lehi were really good missionaries. I want to be encircled by fire, but as I meditated on that story, yeah, I’ve done that already. If you interpret the fire symbolically as the Holy Ghost, I can say I’ve felt that. I’ve learned recently that when I feel that, those around me feel it too. It’s real.

Thanks for all your prayers and support. I love you all lots.

Elder Whitaker

14 March 2011

Thanks for the emails. It sounds like everyone is doing great.

Hey Brad, I ran into Juan Pablo Rodriguez yesterday in stake conference. He remembered you. You were the assistant when he go to the mission. He’s from Montevideo. And interestingly enough, the elder I trained is in his ward. He got home 2 months ago. Weird, I’m now where you were when I entered the mission. Holy cow.

At stake conference I also ran into my trainer. That was weird. He actually lives in my area, but he goes to a different ward. Weird. I ask myself why the Lord put him in my life in the very beginning of my mission and now. There’s a good reason and when I find out I’ll let you know.

Stake conference was cool. A newly called mission president spoke, our mission president spoke, the temple president spoke, the stake president spoke, 3 returned missionaries spoke. It was pretty good. Unfortunately, we didn’t have investigators for the third week in a row. We’re finding families, but it’s tough to get them to church. Looking back, it’s incredible how many families we are teaching now. And all of them were found thanks to following the Spirit.

It’s interesting that as my companion and I read the Book of Mormon, searching for the word “heart” we feel ourselves changing. We are more sensitive to the promptings of the Spirit. And we’re only half way through Alma. President da Silva times it perfectly so that we’ll be finishing just in time for general conference, which would be a great moment to have a soft heart. It’s cool to be able to have a 6 week preparation for general conference. I know it will be an amazing experience.

We have had a lot of success recently in our work with less actives, though. We’ve gotten more less actives to church in this area than investigators, which is not normal. I feel like we’re the bishop’s special forces. We go in, find their problem, share a scripture and help them feel the Spirit, and then get out. It’s interesting. We are able to do in one visit what the home teacher should be doing and accomplishing in months. I guess the Lord knows we don’t have months so he makes us more effective. It will be interesting to see if I will be able to help in the same way when I’m not a full-time missionary.

But yeah, I’m doing great. We’re preparing our area for next transfer – one week from tomorrow. We could be staying together; it would be my companion’s 4th transfer here. We’ll see.

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

6 March 2011

with Elder Salisbury

Thanks for all the letters. I got a lot today, which helps because I was in a grouchy mood. I just waited 90 minutes so my comp could cut his hair in 10 minutes. Uhhhhh. In Uruguay Monday is the traditional day off for barber shops. There are like 5 around where we live, but only one is ever open on P-day. At least I got a few letters written.

This week went way, way better than last week. I’m tempted to make a blasphemous comment about how someone must be praying harder, but thanks to my increased level of maturity I’ll refrain myself – Alma 38 something, refraining passions.

We started the week with 2 baptismal dates and ended with 11. On Saturday while we were fasting we found 2 families – 7 new investigators. We invited them all to be baptized, and put specific dates with 5 of them. We visited another couple from earlier in the week and set baptismal dates with the 2 of them. Cool

We had a zone leader meeting on Tuesday. It really helped me to change my attitude. After I did that success came naturally. It is interesting how it all went down. The day after this meeting there was a leadership meeting for half of the mission. It was for the zones that aren’t in Montevideo. So they don’t have to travel hours home and come back the next day, they stayed in Montevideo. They did divisions with the elders in my zone, so on Tuesday we had 10 zone leaders working in our zone and we got double the work done. That was a huge blessing and a tender mercy for me.

Hey Grandpa, if the gossip I heard is right and accurate, Elder Arnold of the 70 went to 33 yesterday and made 33 a stake. I hope that makes you happy. It’s interesting that my current companion was in 33 and Pando, just like you.

My old area had another baptisms this week. Unfortunately, we didn’t. Hopefully we can get investigators to stake conference next week.

I’m kind of stressed out and in a hurry after spending 90 minutes in a barber shop, so this one will be done now. I’m not used to doing nothing for 90 minutes. It’s weird. I love you all. Thanks for the prayers. Keep up the good work.

Love, Elder Whitaker

28 February 2011

So, this week was interesting. I guess horrible would be a better word, but somehow I’m still smiling. We lost a bunch of the investigators we found last week. We didn’t have anyone in church. We almost killed ourselves doing a special fast, but we feel good about what we did. It’s kind of weird. It’s a blessing though that our adversity is coming from outside sources. We don’t have to worry about the consequences of disobedience or an un-unified companionship. We get along great and are obedient to the best of our abilities.

We have a few investigators. One is named Sebastian. He’s 22 years old and well off. He is looking for the truth. The night after our first visit his business was robbed and he lost almost everything. On the night after our second visit his aunt died, which meant he was busy the next day, Sunday. But he’s doing really well. He’s reading the Book of Mormon and preparing for baptism.

Last zone conference President da Silva challenged everyone in the mission to read the Book of Mormon before the April conference. We are to read and mark every time it makes references to the word heart. We’re studying hard and soft hearts. It’s really interesting. When Elder Bednar came to our mission he invited us to do the same and said to look for a change in references to hearts before and after 4th Nephi. I started Mosiah today. It’s interesting though because I’m realizing it’s hard for me to read a lot every day and focus on one thing. I really liked what I was doing before studying Preach My Gospel for our investigators. But in order to be obedient to my mission president, I’m doing this, and the Lord is blessing me.

So, as I was cleaning the kitchen today, I found a pouch of Betty Crocker type cake mix – just the pouch, no box. We didn’t have instructions, so we mixed it with milk and eggs, and it looks like it should. It’s the white cake with rainbow thingies inside. I’m excited. We will probably eat it when we get back. That’ll be fun. Ironically, after we had it in the oven and I kept cleaning, I found the directions. We forgot to put a third cup of oil in. Oh well, at least it’ll be healthier.

Thanks for all the prayers. I love you all. I love being a missionary. I love representing Jesus Christ.

Elder Whitaker

21 February 2011

So, this internet hut is pretty killer. They got the Napoleon Dynamite song playing for us in the background. I just thought that would be very important for you all . . .

So this week was really good. I’m super content because in my old area they had 3 baptisms on Saturday – a family we found and were teaching. I’ll send a picture of them. (The other pictures are the view from our house to give you an idea of what it’s like in this part of Montevideo.)

As I was studying in 2 Nephi 1:26-27, I learned something interesting. It called my attention to how direct Nephi was with his brothers. It’s interesting that as I feel my testimony grow, I become more direct with the people. Jesus Christ was very direct when he needed to be. And I recognize that it’s a great way to invite the Spirit.

Another change that I can see in me is that my testimony is a lot more powerful than it used to be. As I am direct with the people and invite them to repent, because I really know what will happen to them if they don’t, I realize that my own testimony is more powerful. I also see that the quality of my investigators are a lot better now than they were before. I’m sure there hasn’t been a great spiritual rejuvenation in Uruguay in the last year. It’s because I’m a better missionary. Elder Eyring said once that the Lord sends his prepared children to his prepared servants. It’s incredible to see that become a reality.

Last week I had an exchange with an old companion who is now a district leader in our zone. It was my comp in my 4th transfer. We were together 6 days and then had a special transfer. It was cool to complete the week of our companionship. It was cool to work with him. We both changed a lot. The time I had 6 months and he had 4. This time we both had the experience of training, being a district leader and a zone leader. We had an incredible day and could feel the spirit so strongly.

We had zone conference last week. A sister made tacos for everyone, which is not a native Uruguayan food. And the next day almost everyone was sick – like 30 elders in 2 zones. Lucky for me, my comp had medicine, and I got healed.

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

Elder Whitaker

14 February 2011

Thanks for the emails.  It sounds like everyone is doing well.  Hey, Megan, Happy Birthday on Sunday.  We’ll try to get one investigator in church for each year you’ve graced the planet with your presence.  And while doing so we’d probably hit a record of some type.  I hope that doesn’t make you feel old.  Enjoy it.

So, I like my new area.  It’s very different from what I’m used to.  We live in a 13 story apartment building.  We’re on the 4^th floor.  There’s an elevator that works.  And it’s a lot more modern than other elevators I’ve seen here.

Something cool about this area is that the temple is really close.  There is a couple missionary that work in the temple that are assigned to attend church in our ward.  They are from Utah and have been here for 6 months.  They don’t speak much Spanish out of the temple vocabulary.  When they aren’t working in the temple they are free to accompany us in lessons.  It was really cool to hear their testimonies in very basic Spanish and translate what the people wanted to tell them.  Working 5 days a week in the temple gives them a special spirit and an increased capacity to love the people.

So we got to do an interchange with the office elders last week.  That was cool.  You usually do those for 24 hours, but the office elders are working in the office from 10 am to 4 pm, so we started the interchange at 4.  I got to work with our district leader who is the mission’s financial guy.  That was cool.

I really get along with Elder Salisbury.  He’s from Kaysville, Utah.  He has one transfer less than I do.  This is his third transfer as a zone leader.  It’s interesting to hear that he has been through a lot of the same experiences as me during his mission.  He’s just my second American companion and we were able to set some goals to take advantage of that.  The first time I had an American companion, it was my 6^th transfer.  After 5 transfer of Latinos, we almost never spoke in Spanish and I saw how it affected my ability to speak.  To avoid that problem now, we set a goal to always speak in Spanish together.  It’s really cool, and not even that hard to do.

It looks like we will have 2 baptisms not this Saturday but the next one.  And we’re looking for more people to baptize.  We’re working a lot with the members and asking referrals from anything that moves.  It’s an emphasis we got from Elder Arnold of the 70.

I’m kind of running out of things to say.  I want you all to know that I love you a lot.  Dad, I ordered your scripture covers, fyi.  Thanks for the letters and support.

Love, Elder Whitaker

7 February 2011

So the mission has had some changes. Tomorrow is transfer day, but P-day isn’t transfer day any more. We used to all go to the huge bus station in Montevideo on the Tuesday of transfers, but due to a fire in that bus station and having 120 some odd missionaries in basically what you would know as an airport sitting area terminal thingy and a bunch of suitcases and sometimes the disobedient missionaries doing stupid things, all that got changed. Now we have a normal P-day on Monday and tomorrow we are all going to meet in a church in Montevideo. The zones come in privately contracted busses to this church and they leave in the same busses. It’s going to be interesting.

Which brings me to the news that I am being transferred. I’m going to Camino Carrasco. I’ll be zone leader there with Elder Salisbury. I’m excited. It’s another small zone with 12 or 14 elders. It’s the zone where the assistants and the secretaries and financers work and live. It’s also where the temple is. I’ll be working in the Montevideo West Stake, the biggest stake in our mission. Every zone in the mission works with a district or stake, except the west stake. It comprises 2 zones. Cool. I’m excited. It will be my second time with an American companion. I have one more transfer than my new comp. I’ll let you know more next week.

This week was really good. We had 5 investigators at church and a retention of 9 over 10. We had like 70ish in sacrament meeting. It makes me feel really good to know how much I have helped in achieving that number.

I had an interesting experience this week. I realize that the time is coming to an end. I realize that I have 3 more transfers. That makes 18 weeks. So, I made a goal to baptize 18 more people. As I ponder how short this time will be it helps me realize what the mission has done for me and made of me. I’m excited to work with all my heart, mind, might, and strength to help at least 18 more of God’s children do what they need to do to get back to him. Without the sacred ordinance of baptism there is no way they can get back. As I thought about this goal I have set I realized something very interesting. I thought it would be hard to accomplish, but in the last 18 weeks I was involved in the baptisms of more than 18 souls. I know the Lord will put me in a place so that I can accomplish this goal.

I want you all to know I love you all so much. I love being a missionary. Thank you for the prayers and the letters.

Elder Whitaker

31 January 2011

Hey, thanks for all the emails. Mom asked if there is Scouting in Uruguay, no.

This week I found a bottle of mapleine in our kitchen, and I took advantage of an opportunity to try out my Dutch baby recipe. It didn’t work. I didn’t look anything like what it should. Why? Did you send me the wrong recipe?

I realized this week that I have a receding hairline still. Sorry Weston. Prayers would be appreciated.

Today I realized that I was baptized 13 years ago. In South America it’s something that everyone remembers – the date of their baptism. But in the USA I don’t think people really care. So, 13 years, long time. And this morning I had a really interesting study. I studied the next talk of the conference Ensign. It was by Elder Perry on the Aaronic Priesthood. It really called my attention how important that priesthood is. He referred to it at one point as the Holy Priesthood of Aaron. Interesting. I loved the story that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery didn’t ask the Lord about baptisms until they got to 3 Nephi in the translation, where Jesus Christ himself teaches the doctrine of baptism. And once they asked, the Lord reveals the truth. It’s also very interesting the quote at the end from Ezra Taft Benson. He describes what he wants in a young man and makes a promise about what the Lord can do with that man. I’m sure Mom will paste it in for all of you to see. It’s interesting to see how I was able to fit all those characteristics. Thanks Mom and Dad.

President Ezra Taft Benson once said: “Give me a young man who has kept himself morally clean and has faithfully attended his Church meetings. Give me a young man who has magnified his priesthood and has earned the Duty to God Award and is an Eagle Scout. Give me a young man who is a seminary graduate and has a burning testimony of the Book of Mormon. Give me such a young man, and I will give you a young man who can perform miracles for the Lord in the mission field and throughout his life” (“To the ‘Youth of the Noble Birthright,’” Ensign, May 1986, 45).

So this week we don’t have a baptism in our area, but we are planning a cool district activity about missionary work for the members. We invited President da Silva, but he can’t come because that day the area president is visiting. So his counselor will be there. I’m excited. We prepared a PowerPoint slide show and presentation, then we’re going to split all the members into groups and they will practice sharing the gospel with their neighbors in workshops directed by the missionaries of the zone. Then we’ll get back together and the district president and then the counselor to the mission president will speak. I’ll tell you how it all goes tomorrow.

We had a good miracle this week at church. We had 4 investigators, a mom and her two kids and a recent convert’s brother-in-law. Our biggest challenge now is all of our investigators have one attendance, so we’re at least two weeks away from more baptisms. We’ll see what happens. And we’ll see if I’ll even be here to see them. Transfers are next week.

Anything else? I don’t think so. Sorry if this letter was on the boring side. I wasn’t too entertained writing it. I hope it isn’t a chore to read it.

I love you all. Thanks for everything.

Elder Whitaker

24 January 2011

Wow, where do I start? Last week was really good. Mom asked last week about how a Uruguayan baptismal service is. It’s pretty much the same as one in America, but during the changing time 99 percent of the time we put in movies. It’s easier, quicker, takes less planning, and can invite the Spirit just as well as other things. Invite is the wrong word, maintain the Spirit.
Our baptism was awesome, but we had a good amount of adversity. Agustin felt sick Saturday morning. He was having trouble breathing. We went and gave him a blessing. It was incredible. My testimony in the power of the priesthood was increased a lot. We gave him the blessing and stayed a shared a scripture and when we left he was perfect. Satan can do a lot, but he cannot win. The motorcycle also broke so they couldn’t get to the church. A member went to pick them up. They got there late, but he got baptized. It’s interesting to see adversity when someone is trying to do something so good and necessary. It led my comp and I to an interesting discussion on the difference between trials and adversity. Is there a good talk defining those two things? We decided that adversity comes from Satan and by using our agency and becoming agents we can overcome all adversity, but trials come from another source. I’m not sure yet if it’s God or others use of agency, but to overcome a trial you must persevere. Help on the subject would be nice.

So, I had a great birthday. I made brownies. Elder Vargas’ example two transfers ago helped me to have the best birthday ever. He didn’t tell anyone it was his birthday. I knew but I didn’t tell anyone because for me it’s not a big deal. I asked if he wanted me to tell everyone, but he was indifferent. I think that as a missionary when they know it’s your birthday it shifts the focus from Christ to you. On my birthday I got cards and emails from the family. Thanks. My mission president called to wish me a happy birthday. And when President called at 9:30 PM my companion realized it was my birthday and wished me a happy birthday and gave me a huge hug and asked me why I didn’t say anything all day. I explained why. It was really special. No one else knew. I’m sure if I would have told people I would have gotten my fair share of cake, but this was better. The hug my comp gave me was really interesting. I felt the Spirit so much. It was like all the birthday wishes packed into one. I love my companion. It’s been a huge blessing to be able to work with him these past three months.

Oh, Mom, thanks for making sure I learned the hymn “Rock of Ages.” I had to lead the music in sacrament meeting Sunday. That isn’t a song we sing a lot and we were a capella. It could have been weird.

And the other maybe miracle I want to tell you about was one of our last contacts on Sunday night. We knocked a door and an old Catholic lady opened her curtain half way. There’s only so much you can do in that situation. I told her we were here to baptize either her or someone she knew. Nothing. Thanks for the contact. But as we turned around we found a man sitting in his car waiting for someone. He basically contacted us. “You’re here to baptize people?” he asked. Yep. We didn’t have time so we gave him a pamphlet and we’ll visit him on Tuesday. It’s too early to know. It could have been nothing, or it might be another baptism.

Love you lots,
Elder Whitaker

17 January 2011

This was a good week. We had a baptism last Saturday, and we have another one this week. It was a simple miracle. We were doing our weekly planning on Friday. We were talking about our baptism for the next day and thinking who could be baptized the next Saturday. The revelation came that Agustin, the son of Alicia, who already got baptized, would be ready. It was interesting to watch the Lord provide a baptism. It was so easy, but it came because we’re doing all we know how to be the best missionaries. [picture of Alicia's baptism]Last week we also had interviews with President da Silva. They were really special. President da Silva is a very spiritual man. He based our interviews off of a couple of questions. He told us to imagine that the interview was between him and our mothers. He asked us, “How would your mom describe you as a missionary? What type of missionary does your mom think you are?” The other thing he asked us was what question would your mom have for President da Silva? It was an interesting experience. My first two ideas for the second question were interesting because as I analyzed them, I realized that they were questions I had and I don’t think Mom would have asked them. It was really cool.

And I talked to this brother who served in Resistencia two years ago and he’s told me some interesting stuff Brad. I’m excited to see if it went similar for you. I thought before that our missions would have been very similar, but I’m pretty sure Resistencia was a lot tougher. This guy, Brother Blanco was a branch president, too. In our mission there are two branch presidents and they are couple missionaries.

Thanks for the birthday wishes. I haven’t read the letters yet, but I’ll tell you how my birthday went next week.

Thanks for everything. Love you lots.

Elder Whitaker

10 January 2011

That’s cool that the sisters and the ward mission leader gave talks this week. I remember thinking as a youth that the ward mission leader wasn’t an important calling. I was very wrong. A ward mission leader that magnifies his calling is an incredible blessing. For me now it has become almost the most important calling. It’s also cool being a zone leader because we get to work with the high council member assigned to missionary work. It’s like a stake mission leader. Yesterday with our stake mission leader we planned an activity for later in this month. I’m excited for that. It will be the centro de capacitacion de miembros – translation, member training center. We’ll see how that goes. One never-ending trial in Uruguay is getting members to come to activities.

Something interesting happened this week. I was talking to an elder that just arrived in our zone. He’s in his third transfer. I was briefly telling him my life story. Then he tells me he used to live in Tampa. “Which part?” I ask. “Brandon.” I almost fall over. He lived in the Bloomingdale Ward and moved when he was 7-ish. He knows the Ashleys, the Ellisons, the Gobles. His name is Elder Michael Eric McClellin. That was cool. He was best friends with David Ellison, and that made me wonder if he’s on a mission right now as well. Wow.

So we had a huge miracle this week in church. Our retention was 8 over 8. In the last 12 months in our branch 8 people were baptized. All 8 of them were in church yesterday. Zero less actives. That’s huge in any ward anywhere in the world. And we also had 3 investigators – Alicia who will be baptized this Saturday, her mom Gladys, and her son Agustine – 3 generations. The grandma and son will be baptized on the 29th. And that will make our baptism goal for January. That’s exciting.

Anything else? Thanks for the letters. Thanks for the birthday wishes. I’m excited to have the best birthday of my life, but I won’t be able to tell you about it until the week after, because my birthday won’t be over until after I do email next week.

I think that’s it. I love you all lots. Enjoy my letter.

Elder Whitaker