The Better Newsletter

Plus/minus 29 rejections in one week

2012-01-29T12:34:00.000-08:00

So here's my dating story for the week. On Sunday night my roommate and I decided what we would do for our Friday night date. There is this thing called Humor U and it is stand up comedy put on by BYU students. One of my old roommates is one of the comedians. They also had this promotion where the first 50 tickets bought got free shirts. So we planned to get tickets and free shirts. So Devyn went at 8:00, they weren't there yet. I went at 9:00 and the tickets weren't there yet. So this happened several times. I went home and took a nap and woke up to a text from a different roommate saying he got tickets and shirts. So I got up and raced over and handicap parked in the closest place possible and bought 4 tickets and got 4 shirts. $16. Cool.

So on Monday I called a girl, Kristy, and left a message. She got back to me on Tuesday and was already busy. So then on Wednesday I started texting this girl Kirsty that I met the other day so that I could call her and ask her out. She answered the texts, but not the phone call. Then I called this girl I knew from freshman year named Stephanie and she was already busy too. And finally I wrote a note to this girl who's number I didn't have asking her out and she called back on Thursday saying she was busy too, this was Alissa. Zero for four. Not bad. And Devyn also tried setting me up with 2 blind dates that failed.

But lucky for me the ward was also hosting a ward date night and the idea was to either bring a date, or take 15 minutes to try and find a date. So I decided to try my fortune. I was lucky enough to have one other person show up without a date so we went door knocking to find dates. We ended up knocking 24 doors. 2 buildings with 4 apartments on each of the 3 floors. We found one on the top floor of the first building and the next one at the top of the second building. So our sales pitch was that we were looking for girls who didn't have plans that wanted to play bigger and better. It was just like the mission. The first one was shorter than me and pretty cute, and I was thinking how do we decide who goes with who? But the buy I was with, Spencer, said that he would get the taller girl. Thank goodness, let's just say it worked out better for me.

So we played bigger and better, we started with a stick of gum, then we got a banana, then we got a picture of the Salt Lake Temple made out of 9 tiles, then we got a brand new unopened game of candyland and we finished with a pair of shoes owned by Matt Carlino, who is a starter on the BYU basketball team. He was sleeping when we got there so his dad just gave us his old shoes. Cool. Then all the groups got together and shared their loot. Then I asked my date, keara, if she wanted to go to Humor U, but she wanted to go home so that her roommate didn't have to be alone.

So I called Steven and we went to the show dateless. I really don't know what I'm supposed to get out of this experience, but it leads me to have a pessimistic view about post mission dating...at least I have a good profile picture...

Iron Cross

2012-01-05T07:33:00.000-08:00

Mom, make sure dad sees this. Just a couple things I've been working on.

Parking permits

2011-12-08T18:50:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-01T20:19:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-24T17:46:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-21T20:43:00.003-08:00

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

2011-11-08T12:26:00.000-08:00

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

So maybe I didn't

2011-11-06T13:42:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-03T17:15:00.001-07:00

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

2011-10-29T12:04:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-10-22T11:38:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-19T15:04:00.000-07:00

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.

2011-09-03T12:27:00.000-07:00

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

13 June 2011

2011-06-13T14:45:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-06T18:56:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-30T17:55:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-23T12:44:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-16T10:38:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-09T11:44:00.000-07:00

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

2011-05-02T11:05:00.000-07:00

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

2011-04-25T06:51:00.000-07:00

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

2011-04-18T14:28:00.000-07:00

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

2011-04-11T15:36:00.000-07:00

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

2011-04-04T12:08:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-28T09:31:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-21T09:54:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-14T13:04:00.001-07:00

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

2011-03-07T10:23:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-28T09:43:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-21T07:52:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-14T11:13:00.000-08:00

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

2011-02-07T10:36:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-31T14:18:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-24T09:48:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-17T16:06:00.000-08:00

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

2011-01-10T08:46:00.000-08:00

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

28 December 2010

2010-12-28T11:06:00.000-08:00

Uruguay Montevideo missionaries

Floridá zone

This week went really well. I really enjoyed Christmas [see picture above]. I’m also in the Montevideo bus terminal because today was transfers. My companion and I are staying together – few changes in our zone.

On the 24th we had a cool miracle. We knocked on a door and a lady let us in. Her husband is blind and she had a serious bandage on her foot. We watched Mormon Messages about Christmas. It was really cool. She said the God sent us there. That was cool.

On Christmas Day Uruguay is dead from a late night and fireworks and alcohol, so we took advantage to do our weekly planning. Then we went to eat lunch with our branch president, and then we planned more. We also cleaned out our cell phone. Zone leaders and sisters have cell phones in our mission. Other elders have met people and put them [their information] in the phone. So, we called a boatload of people and saw if they wanted to be baptized and when they used their agency incorrectly we wished them a Merry Christmas.

I loved the phone call. It made me feel really good. Thanks for being the best family ever.

Love you lots,

Elder Whitaker

6 December 2010

2010-12-06T10:03:00.000-08:00

This week was really good. Thanks for all the letters. I got a lot of them and I’ll print them out to have time to write you all.

We had a baptism on Saturday. And like you probably know, there is always a bunch of opposition when someone wants to get baptized. We got to the church 3 hours ahead of time to fill the font. Turns out the font was full, from our last baptism. Gross. We had to empty it and then fill it up. We brought a DVD player and a DVD to watch after the ordinance, but there was only one plug, so we prepared a backup plan with the VHS built into the TV. Edgardo, who was getting baptized, couldn’t find a taxi. So instead of getting to the church 30 minutes early, it was like 4 minutes early. Sonia, Edgardo’s wife, has a cell phone out of commission. And at 15 till, there was one member. It was cool, and not even that stressful, really, because it all got fixed in time and the baptism went really smoothly. I performed the baptism. Edgardo is like 65 years old. This week he got married to Sonia after being together for 5 years. Sonia is a member since her youth.

Yesterday we had a meeting with the district president. That was cool. What called most to my attention was the spirit we felt together. The spirit that accompanies a district president is different. What was even more interesting was the zone leader council we had this week with Elder Arnold of the Seventy. He said the same thing. He felt a different spirit as he met with 22 zone leaders and the assistants. I thought, “What is he feeling and how is he feeling it?” I felt the spirit he brought but nothing due to the fact that I was there. It was interesting, something to ponder.

But I think that’s all I’ve got. I love you lots. I hope you all enjoy this Christmas season. We’re working on having a white Christmas. We’re working on baptizing Alicia on Christmas, the only saving ordinance you can perform on Christmas because the temples are closed on Christmas. You could pray for that.

I know the church is true. I know Christ lives. What a glorious blessing it is to represent Jesus Christ.

Love, Elder Whitaker

29 November 2010

2010-11-29T11:47:00.000-08:00

Thanks for all the letters. It sounds like everyone is doing well. This spacebar is wacked. Bear with me. [The spacing is now edited correctly, but it was odd.]

I’m glad Thanksgiving went well. My Thanksgiving was a regular day. We did order pizza at the end of the day to celebrate. It was okay.

Thanks for the brownie recipe Mom. The first time I burnt the bottom; the second time it worked perfectly. The biggest difference is the oven I have does in 50 minutes what the regular oven should do in 25. My companion was a fan of them. And the good part was the ingredients for the brownies are ingredients we often have in our house.

So the other day I bought toothpaste. I bought discount toothpaste to save money. Don’t ever make that mistake. Maybe it’s okay at Walmart, but in Uruguay, don’t do it. It was half the price of Colgate and double the size. Oh well.

That reminds me, how is the family newsletter doing?

So this Thursday, we have our zone leader council in Montevideo. All the zone leaders go and the assistants and President and his wife, but this time it will be even more special because the area president, Elder Arnold, will be there. I’m excited.

But I’m doing very well. Thanks for everything. I love you all.

Elder Whitaker

23 November 2010

2010-11-23T13:47:00.000-08:00

Thanks for the pictures of Steven’s eagle project. What does it mean when I don’t recognize anyone in the pictures? I guess I’m getting old. I was planning on sending you some pictures but the USB port is too skinny to let my USB enter. Next time I’ll bring the little cable that eliminates that problem.

Yesterday we went to Montevideo for a leadership training meeting. That was way cool. I learned a lot. From our zone we brought 6 of our 12 missionaries – 2 zone leaders, 2 district leaders, and 2 future leaders. The meeting was composed of groups like this from every zone from half the mission. They had to do this meeting twice. It was cool. The spirit was really strong and we focused on having a hunger to baptize. When the whole mission gets that hunger, the Lord will be able to provide to feed the hunger. This hunger also pushes everyone to live the way you have to to deserve the blessings of baptizing someone.

Another thing I’m trying to do is focus on investigators in my studies. It is selfish to study something I want to study. It shows charity if I study for others. And there are promises made by leaders that if you study for others you’ll learn more than you could studying for yourself. I saw that this week. I wanted to study baptism, our first covenant, from Preach My Gospel, to help an investigator. It was incredible. This section has like 7 paragraphs. In the first 3 it mentions baptism 1 time. Why? To understand baptism you have to know what an ordinance is and a covenant. Duh. Why didn’t I ever notice that? The last 4 paragraphs mention baptism like 17 times, and then ties it all into the sacrament. It was incredible.

Thanks for letting me know your areas in the mission, Dad. It impressed my companion that you were all over the country. Elder Llamín is from the part of Santiago called Florida. Ironic enough, right? I’m from Florida and we’re serving in Floridá.

I read something about Christmas gifts. It sounds good. We’ll see if I can do something about getting a Christmas gift to someone. I needed to be on that yesterday. On another Christmas note, who will be home for Christmas? Who will get the great gift of talking to me?

I think that’s it. I’m doing really well. I’m happy and excited to work and serve. Yesterday we learned about the secrets of missionary work – work and obey - secrets that aren’t secrets that Brad shared with me a long time ago.

I love you lots. Thanks for the emails.

Elder Whitaker

15 November 2010

2010-11-16T06:35:00.001-08:00

Today is transfer day. My companion, Elder Vargas, is going home and my new companion is Elder Llamin, accented i. He’s from Chile. I’m excited. He’s relatively young in the mission and for a zone leader young too. He almost has 9 months. I’m really excited to work with him. And, Dad, it would be cool if you could send me a list of all the areas where you served in Chile. That would be cool because there are a lot of Chilenos and my branch’s branch president served in Chile.

We went to the temple this week. That was awesome. It was tough, though. Because I can’t go frequently, I tried to focus on too many things. It’s hard to focus on keeping covenants when you can’t remember them all. But I’m a lot better now. I learned a lot.

We had a baptism last week. Jennifer got baptized. She’s married to a member that recently re-activated himself. It’s really cool to see the way the gospel changed this family.

Thanks for the brownie recipe, Mom. Now I have to go about getting myself a pan. We used to not have an oven, so there would be no need for oven-safe dishes.

And, Dad, I know how you feel. I’m a little overwhelmed also. It wasn’t that hard being a zone leader when my companion had been a zone leader for like 10 months. Now I have to train a zone leader. I’m also the oldest missionary in my zone. Lucky for me my zone is the smallest zone there is, or at least tied for smallest. There are six companionships.

Thanks for everything. I love you all lots. Thanks for the prayers and emails.

Love, Elder Whitaker

8 November 2010

2010-11-08T08:16:00.000-08:00

Wow. It seems like everyone is doing well. Thanks for praying that we could find new investigators. We really saw miracles in our area. We wanted two per day, but we set another goal to get 20 “news” in the week. The PMG (Preach My Gospel) definition of a “new” is to teach a lesson and have a return appointment. We got our 20 new on Sunday at 7 PM, just in time. We also saw a great miracle in two new investigators, an unmarried couple, Domingo and Mariana. We found them on Friday, visited them Saturday and invited them to be baptized. On Sunday we stopped by their house and they went to church. It was a huge miracle. If we can find one family like this, why can’t we find ten families like this in a week? I learn that we set our own limits and our attitude has a lot to do with everything.

I saw another miracle in my old area. They had two baptisms this week, a couple got married and baptized. And my old area has four more this week. I really can’t believe the blessings this branch is receiving. I don’t know how or why it’s happening. Weird, eh?

This is my companion’s last full week as a full-time missionary. He’s a great example to me because looking from the outside in you’d never guess that he was almost done. He is working until the end, and he’s teaching me a lot.

We’re going to the temple on Wednesday. I’m super excited about that.

I think that’s it for now. Oh yeah, we’re going to have a baptism this week. Jennifer is getting baptized. I’ll tell you how that goes next week.

Love, Elder Whitaker

1 November 2010

2010-11-01T11:13:00.001-07:00

I’m glad it seems like everyone is doing fine. I hope Halloween went well. Cody asked if I had an orange tie. Nope. Halloween is interesting here. At like 3 PM we started seeing kids go out, only a few went out with parents. The costumes consist of masks and witches, little creativity. It was hard to knock doors, though, because the kids were stealing our targets.

Mom said something about Steven’s eagle project and having good examples. It struck me because in my talk yesterday, I spoke a bit about examples. A ward member got his mission call this week and went to the pulpit and spoke a bit. He said he had to be an example to his younger siblings. Then I spoke about the power of older brothers. I am where I am because of that power. Many people don’t fully understand that power. Then I spoke about my older brother Jesus Christ. It was really powerful to me. Then I spoke about the priesthood and how exercising the priesthood in my life has helped me in specific experiences. I chose that topic because our recent covert and an investigator’s husband need to be getting the priesthood shortly. I was happy with how it went because I didn’t have much time to plan either. Saturday I get the message, “And oh yeah, you have to give a talk,” but I didn’t know if it was a joke or an assignment. I remembered Sunday morning, pondered a bit in preparation, and after the sacrament my branch president announced my talk. Fun.

The miracle of this week is being able to be a zone leader over my old area and see the heavens open and change that entire area. Before I got to that branch they had two baptisms in the year. When I left they had three. One month later they have seven, and their goal for this next month is five. Three people got baptized last Saturday. One was a reference I got. Another was a contact on a P-day. The other was a street contact. I can’t believe the miracles. It was sad not being at the baptism, but at least I have the photos.

If you could pray for something specifically for me, those prayers would help us a lot. Our goal this week as a zone is to find two new investigators every day. We’re looking for the people that are prepared to be baptized now.

Thanks for everything. I love you lots. Have fun working, Dad.

Elder Whitaker

25 October 2010

2010-10-25T18:59:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-18T17:31:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-11T16:35:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-05T07:56:00.000-07:00

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

27 September 2010

2010-09-27T13:41:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-20T13:17:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-16T10:23:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-06T13:21:00.001-07:00

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

30 August 2010

2010-08-30T15:51:00.000-07:00

Wow. Thanks for all the emails. It sounds like everyone is doing really well. Mom asked the question if I live in a 2 or 4 elder house. There are 4 of us, 3 Americans and my comp from Paraguay. The 3 of us all came together to the mission, but I never go to know them that well because I was put in the Latino group (at the MTC).

Steven, have fun with all my old teachers. It looks like you have 4 or 5 that I had. You’re welcome for my setting the bar really high. Good luck doing better than me.

And Michelle mentioned something about keeping the house like the temple. Ironically, I had been thinking about that this week, and I changed something to make our house more like a temple. I set a goal. Sometimes I would do what I needed to do faster than the schedule gives me. In the morning or at night when that happened, I would start my studies or sleep earlier. But this week I put that time into cleaning the house. One morning I swept and mopped the floor. I also washed dishes and cleaned my desk. It’s made a difference. I’ve been able to sacrifice 2 things I like to be able to feel the Spirit more – some sacrifice.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!! Enjoy that. I’ll refrain from any other comments. Just know I’m thinking of you.

So, I’m really excited for this transfer. I love my companion. This is his third transfer and he’s really learning English well. It’s interesting that he knows enough to be at the point in the learning process that I can help him a lot. We talk a lot in English and he always prays in English.

Another cool thing that we found out this week is that the missionary that taught my companion’s mom the gospel lives in our city. I thought that was way cool. It shouldn’t happen, but things like this happen all the time.

Our investigators are good. We were a little disappointed because those that said they’d come (to church) didn’t make it. But we’re being super obedient and we’re going to see some awesome miracles. I’m excited.

I love you all. Thanks for praying for me. And thanks for the pictures.

Elder Whitaker

24 August 2010

2010-08-24T07:31:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the letters. It was good to hear from everyone. First I wanted to answer David’s questions. Am I allowed to look at blogs? I really don’t know, but it would be easier for me to just attach a photo or two to an email. And Dave asked about how we get food. The members provide for us usually every day besides P-day. We eat lunch with them. Breakfast I make for myself. I’ve been living on hot cocoa during the winter, and I’ll probably go back to corn flakes when it stops being cold, and that might be really soon. Sometimes we eat dinner or a snack when we get home, but not always. It’s a really interesting change from America. If I eat a double portion at lunch, which is what the members give us, I’m usually not even hungry until the next morning. But it was an interesting journey getting used to not eating dinner.

I had a question for the family. Where are you reading in the Bible? Have you finished it? Or are you in Isaiah or something? At the moment I’m reading Jesus the Christ for the second time. Good stuff. I’m also transferring marks from my old Bible to my new one.

Another random question: In America has the Lays chips company made these “French fries in a bag” chips things? Because they sell these things in every little shop and my companion always buys them. Just wondering.

Here’s another question for my missionary relatives. I’ve been wondering what habits you acquired on the mission that you are still doing today. Are there habits you lost and had to get back? And are there habits you lost and want back? It’s just something I’ve been wondering.

So, Elder Arnold of the Seventy visited our mission this week. It was awesome. I don’t think I have time to say how awesome it was, but the Lord is changing missionary work. We have new things we’re focusing on and I think there’s a new book to supplement Preach My Gospel. And there are new DVD’s to teach us. I don’t think I have time to explain that either.

So transfers came. I’m staying in Florida, but I have a new comp – Elder Nunez from Paraquay. And my new zone leader was my second companion. I’m so excited.

We had quite a few miracles at church this week, like 6 investigators came. 3 that came felt the Spirit, and don’t have to get married or divorced, so we should be having baptisms soon.

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

Love, Elder Whitaker

16 August 2010

2010-08-16T14:57:00.000-07:00

“Tell us a story of your favorite investigator.” That’s what Brad asked me to write about. That was what I was planning on doing. My companion and I are teaching a couple, Cindy and Nicolas. They have 2 kids, Mauro and Bruno. The four of them went to church this week. They are an awesome family. Their two trials right now are that they are not married and Nicolas is out of work. They are going to the marriage place to get a date so that they can get married. And we visited them with our branch president one day and the president just so happened to need a worker for a few weeks. They are doing construction work outside of the city. They leave for four or five days and come back on the weekends. It’s awesome knowing that our investigator has spent two weeks now working with the branch president and a handful of other members. The kids are 5 and 2. The 2 year old was having fun during sacrament meeting and wasn’t very reverent. But that’s okay, because the Lord wants his 2 year olds at church. So we’re excited about them and hopefully they can get married soon so that they can get baptized.

We also found a new family to teach this week. It was cool and it just so happens that the lady is a relative of a member. That’s always cool. We went to visit them with a Brother Machado. We call him the district ward mission leader, but some might know that that isn’t a calling. He’s a high council member over missionary work, and he does his job really well, which is interesting down here in Uruguay, but it shows that the church is really developing down here.

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

Love, Elder Whitaker

9 August 2010

2010-08-09T15:06:00.000-07:00

And wow, Brad, you even had a pony and cart. Here in Uruguay horses and carts are a big thing. I imagine it could be the same in Resistencia. I hope one day to ride a cart like that. And thanks for the tie, Brad. I’m wearing it right now.

And as I pondered more about the family reunion proposition the more I think a yearly activity would be nice. I realize that I don’t know my cousins that well and a yearly shin dig would help that.

Brad question: What was your trainer’s name? I don’t remember if I told you but a guy here served in your mission, last name of Blanco. I think he was the assistant at one point. He’s been home for 2 years now. This guy didn’t recognize you, but I think he would know your other companions.

So we had our interviews with President this week. Those went well. I love President da Silva.

We had district meeting this morning. It went well. I shared a lesson about persevering to the end. We memorized Ether 12:6 as a district and then I shared a wrestling story. One time I went into double overtime and won 1 to 0. The next week I wrestled the same kid and beat him 13 to 1. I said that if we persevere, we’ll destroy Satan the second time 13 to 1. It was cool when I said it because I was talking through the Holy Ghost. It’s always cool when that happens. I wish it would happen more.

What else happened? What a boring week. I practiced the piano before district meeting again, and I played a duet with another elder. That was cool.

I’m reading Jesus the Christ again and learning a lot. I got my [Spanish] Bible, Mom, so you don’t have to worry about sending me one.

And I have nothing else to say. Sorry if this email was boring.

The church is true. Jesus Christ is our older brother. We have a living prophet today, and here’s a quick clip from a hymn that has become a part of my testimony:

Yo se que vive me senor.
Consuelo es poder saber.
Que vive aunque mureto fue.
Y siempre su amore tender.

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

Love, Elder Whitaker

2 August 2010

2010-08-03T06:55:00.000-07:00

So, this week was really good. I learned a lot. I finished reading the May conference Ensign and the New Testament. It was one of the best studies I've had in my life. It was good to study the most recent prophetic counsel - the Lord's most recent counsel to his children. I was impressed with the focus about personal revelation, families, and Jesus Christ. My testimony of the resurrection was strengthened. I knew before, but now I know better. Something that really called my attention was Elder Hales' talk. He said to parents that their children are their most important investigators. That made me think. I am teaching lessons to my investigators as often as possible, hopefully like 3 lessons a week. I try to invite members. A golden investigator can get baptized in around 4 weeks. I compared that with my personal investigation and journey towards my baptism - 8 years of church, thousands of prayers and lessons, structured and unstructured, and then 11 or so years of retention lessons. Is there any wonder I am where I am now? Thanks Mom and Dad for being great missionaries. I'm sure this thanks comes from all of us.

And, Brad, ironically on Saturday I was reading Revelation 19 where it talks about the Lord's wedding. That made me think of you. Hehehe.

So here's a very interesting story. My first companion was from Argentina. He went home last September. Shortly after going home he moved to Montevideo and has had a girlfriend ever since. He has always been bothering the missionaries in his ward to get my phone number. Well this week he finally got it and called me out of the blue, and then he invited me to his wedding next week, and wanted me to ask President for permission to go. That was really weird, and should have never happened. But I asked President and got the answer I knew I would get, "NO." I just thought it was interesting that Brad and he finished their missions within a week of each other and got married the same way.

So, I shared my testimony last Sunday and the Spirit taught me something very important. Earlier in my mission I tried to avoid sharing my testimony on Fast Sunday saying that the members needed to be using the time. I learned that was a lie Satan wanted me to believe, and I repented. The Spirit told me to share my testimony and it was really cool. I shared the testimony David shared once, I think: A boy walked into a forest with a question, and the boy walked out with an answer. That answer changed the world. That forest became sacred and that boy became a prophet. How grateful I am for that boy.

Love, Elder Whitaker

26 July 2010

2010-07-26T18:06:00.001-07:00

Thanks for the emails everybody.

It sounds like a lot is going on in the Valrico Ward missionary work. That makes me happy. I was pondering D&C 82:10 recently. The Lord blesses us when we work, but the blessing is always hinging on the commandment you’re not keeping. Once you change, you feel the spirit more but there are more blessings to be gotten because there’s another thing you need to repent of. Just a thought I was pondering

Mom, you mentioned something about Maria. The other day I got letters from a Mutual activity. I sent a letter home responding to the letters I got. I think maria wrote something to me so I wrote her back.

What else happened this week? I spoke in sacrament meeting. I spoke about missionary work. I shared my conversion and the story of George Connor (a friend from high school I baptized) and the story of Norma Correa from Rocha. It was good.

I’ve also been studying the conference Ensign still. I just finished the priesthood session this morning. President Monson’s talk in the priesthood session was really interesting and made me reflect on the way I live as a missionary and the things I don’t be able to go back to doing when I get home. I’m realizing how many things I used to do that would offend the spirit. Sometimes the spirit is so offended from the last thing we did we can’t realize what we’re doing is also offending the spirit.

What else? I’m doing great. It’s not as cold as it was last week, but it did rain Sunday night. We had a lady with a baptismal date, but she didn’t go to church. Her kids want to be baptized too.

Yeah, sorry I don’t have much to say. I didn’t plan this email that well. Keep up the good work. Enjoy your vacations. Enjoy getting married, Brad and Cody. I think that’s going down this week.

Love, Elder Whitaker

19 July 2010

2010-07-19T11:05:00.000-07:00

So I got to Floridá. It’s a town bigger than Rocha. It rained Sunday and we had about 38 in attendance. The branch president reminds me of Bishop Tolman. My companion is named Elder Matamoros from Honduras, my third comp from Honduras. I live in a house with 4 elders again. It’s a really nice house according to mission standards. Our shower has pressure, we have a fireplace, and a Uruguayan BBQ thing called a parilla. I look forward to using that. We are neighbors to the church. And it’s really winter now. It’s cold. I never go anywhere without my gloves, hat and scarf. Can you believe that I’m using a scarf? Scarves are awesome.

With my new companion, we started running in the mornings. I hate running, but it helps us. I feel good and I’m already skinnier.

So, I’m still studying the New Testament and the conference Liahona. I’m in Revelations and I’m using the New Testament student manual. Good stuff. But I found something really interesting in Elder Christofferson’s talk. In the footnotes it quotes Wikipedia. You can throw that in the face of teachers that still don’t think it’s a good source. Apostles are wikipediing.

What else happened this week? Yeah, it’s been cold, but I’m doing well and keeping warm and healthy. Oh yeah, one of the elders with WHOM I live (is that grammar right, Stevo?) is Elder Wally. He would have been my comp in the MTC if I had opted for the 2 month stay. So, I’ll get to know him a big more now. He’s a great kid.

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

Elder Whitaker

13 July 2010

2010-07-13T09:20:00.000-07:00

So, this week was good. It was my last week with my greenie. Transfers came and I’m leaving Rocha. I’m happy though, because I was getting tired of the area. I’m headed off to the department of Florida. So, we’ll see how that goes. And my comp’s new companion is my old zone leader, Elder Erickson from Texas. He’s a stud.

What else did I do this week? I can’t remember anything. This week got cold. I had to use my coat and my sweater this week which is weird because last year it was way cooler this time of year. We’ll see if Florida is cooler.

Thanks for all the support. Thanks for the prayers. Thanks for the updates. That’s it. I love you lots.

Elder WhitakerDelicious Ravioli

Another view of the Paloma Lighthouse

5 July 2010

2010-07-05T16:48:00.000-07:00

Today was fun because we went to the famous light house at the Paloma. I took a lot of pictures. Here are 2. I’ll try to send more next week. We had district meeting and did service and the Hegerhorsts made the whole zone lunch – BBQ chicken and baked potatoes and coleslaw and toasted garlic hamburger buns and carrot cake. I love them. It was our 4th of July BBQ.
So last Sunday was cool because my companion and I got to bless the sacrament. It was the first time doing that as a missionary for me. It was an interesting thought that I was acting for Jesus Christ in two capacities at the same time. I was representing Jesus Christ representing Jesus Christ. Cool. I felt the Spirit.

We had zone conference this past week and I loved it. President da Silva is called of God, and it has been a great blessing in my life learning from him. I also got my conference Ensign this week. It’s about time. But I learned something incredible reading President Monson’s welcome to conference. Our prophet was grateful 5 times, hit about 7 or 8 important doctrines and taught the plan of salvation. His wife fell, had two injuries, more recovering, then went home. Adam fell, spiritual and physical death, atonement, persevering to the end, celestial glory. It was an incredible insight and I don’t know where it came from. Cool, eh.

Lots of love, Elder Whitaker

28 June 2010

2010-06-28T14:02:00.000-07:00

So, this week was really good. At district meeting last week, Sister Hegarhorst made chocolate chip cookies to share with the zone, and she made them thanks to Mom’s blog (here's the recipe). Thanks a million Mom. It was good to eat a good old chocolate chip cookie rather than an alfajor.

This Saturday we had our baptism. Norma and her adopted daughter Victoria got baptized. Norma recently moved from Maldonado, another state, to Rocha, where her kids live. She wanted to be closer to her family. She went to church with her son, and then we got a golden reference. Her son baptized her. It was really special and it was my companion’s first baptism. But the baptism gave me a question to ask. Is the baptismal prayer the only time in our church where we do something in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost? Just something I was wondering.

Another special thing that happened this Sunday was I had a spiritual epiphany. I was sitting on the stand in sacrament meeting because I was leading the music. Yeah, can you believe that? I was sitting there and I could see the entire congregation. Sister Pizarro was speaking, a sister that remembers Grandpa, and I realized that I love the people of Uruguay. As I realized that the Spirit was very strong. I love the people with whom I serve.

And Dad, you’re welcome. It’s the least I could do. I’d like to see how it turned out. Anyway, I’m still working on my goals. At least now I’m remembering to pray for help. I hope one day I can get to the point where I change and never fall again.

Well, I think that’s it. I’m going to send this and see if the pictures sent correctly.

Thanks for all the support. I love you all a ton. When people ask, you can tell them I’m doing great.

Love, Elder Whitaker

21 June 2010

2010-06-21T14:57:00.001-07:00

Thanks for the pictures. It looks like Nauvoo was fun. And I’m glad Brad’s all fixed up from surgery. And Steven, good work on your shoe. Just last week I had some work done on a pair of shoes I have and they’re as good as new now.

So, I found an interesting scripture this week. I’m studying the New Testament and in the light of the restored gospel it all makes sense. It’s interesting that every Christian church on earth has the Bible and using the same book they get such different doctrine. For example, the Bible teaches us that we need to pray to saints but it also teaches us the God the Father is actually Jehovah. Hmmmmm. But thanks to the restoration we have all the truth.

In Philippians 4:11 I learned that we can learn to be content. It was something that has helped me. Paul was a stud of a prophet.

So, last week in sacrament meeting a drop of water landed on my suit pants during the sacrament, and it helped me remember that when I was a kid just about every week I would drip a drop of water on Dad’s pants and he would always point it out. Why is that an interesting thought? Because as early as I can remember I spent my Sundays at church. Thanks.

So Uruguay plays against Mexico in the World Cup tomorrow. It’s going to be interesting because my companion is Mexican. I hope it doesn’t affect our daily lunch with the members. That leads me to a question for my brothers. Where did you mission companions come from? I’ve served with an Argentine, Honduran, Chilean, Paraguayan, Mexican, and Provoan.

We’re really excited for this week because we’re going to have a baptism. We finally found someone that was spiritually hungry and thirsty. A mom and daughter, Norma and Victoria, are planning to be baptized this Saturday.

Dad, I hope you had a good Father’s Day and liked your present. And I think that’s it for this week. Love you all and thanks for the emails and prayers.

Love, Elder Whitaker

Oh and Steven, my companions say we look exactly the same. You're a lucky man. Have fun being 17.

14 June 2010

2010-06-14T14:55:00.000-07:00

Thanks for all the letters and emails. I got to open letters today, so that means I got a letter from Elder Tyree. He’s doing well. Thanks for the pictures and the talk. I’m going to read it as soon as my companion starts doing his email.

So the other day I realized that I never saw a picture of Megan where she was visibly pregnant. Was Megan never “big with child”? At least for me she never was. That’s exciting that Wyatt is home. Have fun with that.

Oh, and Stevo, I hope your birthday was smashing. It just so happens that one of our investigators had a baby on your birthday. Carolina had a boy. Unlike Weston’s, he came a week late and is really ruining her chances of going to church. Lucky for us the other kids in this family are great. Two of Carolina’s kids have come to church with us and this week they invited their cousing. We’ll see how that all goes.

So this week was another miraculous week at church. We had 6 investigators – 3 kids from Carolina, a member’s mom and sister, and another lady we found this week. This other lady should be a member because her son is serving a mission in Nevada. Unfortunately, she smokes and is not married.

So, this week I had an interesting insight and I saw how something I did was prompted by the Spirit when I didn’t even realize it. There is an inactive member we visited. The first time we visited him he was yelling and really grouchy at us. We went back because we said we would. We wanted him to feel the Spirit again. At one point this brother was a member of the branch presidency and endowed. He was offended and inactive ever since. We talked to him about the Book of Mormon and bore our testimonies. Then I shared Brad’s testimony with him. Brad sent me his testimony in Spanish one time. That morning I looked for the piece of paper and put it in my backpack, don’t know why. In the lesson the Spirit told me to read it, and I did, and the Spirit was strong. Then the Spirit taught me something that this brother needed to know. Why are missionaries transferred and come to an area knowing nothing about the people? I told the brother that I don’t know why he’s inactive, and frankly I told him I don’t care why. It doesn’t matter why. All I want is this guy to go to church to get the blessings the Lord has ready for him. That is how the Lord feels. He doesn’t care what happened before. He just wants us now. It was an interesting insight that I never thought of before. And the Spirit was really strong.

Mom mentioned that I had been gone a year. That’s true. It goes by really quickly. I’m not the same person I was a year ago. I’ve grown in ways that would be impossible to achieve in any other way. It’s an incredible work. Thanks for supporting me and encouraging me.

I love you all.

Elder Whitaker

7 June 2010

2010-06-07T11:03:00.000-07:00

Wow, that’s some big news! Congrats, Wegan. Very congrats.

Mom, I’m staying warm. It’s winter, but not super cold yet. There are days of cold then really pleasant Thanksgiving-type weather here. I’m thinking about buying a sweater today. We’ll see how that goes, and we’ll see if I pay with my debit card or cash, who knows?

So, this week we had a huge miracle. We had 5 investigators go to church! And for two of them it wasn’t their first time! So, the work is picking up and after a lot of patience and hard work we can see the blessings come. When we gave our weekly reports to my district leader, he was very impressed with what we had done. We’ll see what happens next.

What else has happened? I don’t really remember. I’m still a bit sick, but I felt good enough to cook myself lunch. You could put this on your blog, Mom. I made rice and steak and vegetables and it was good, and I made a ton for to eat later.

But wow (he he), that’s cool that I’m an uncle now. That wasn’t what I was expecting when I woke up this morning. Congratulations. I’ve been waiting for this moment a long time.

I’m almost out of time. I love you all. Thanks for the pictures from Kyle, Mom. Tell his mom Hi for me. I sent him a letter the other day; we’ll see if he ever gets it.

Love, Elder Whitaker

1 June 2010

2010-06-01T06:42:00.000-07:00

So this week I got to speak in sacrament meeting. It was fun and I learned a lot. I spoke about conversion – Alma, Paul, Joseph Smith – it was good. It was funny though because a sister fell asleep during my talk and started snoring, which made it hard for some people to focus. But I think it’s ironic payback from all the times I’ve fallen asleep in church. It’s hard to stay awake some times and I know how this sister feels. Lucky for me, I haven’t fallen asleep in church for some time.

The other really cool experience that I wanted to share happened last night. We visited a less active member. She doesn’t go because she isn’t married. I shared 3 Nephi 18:32, I think. It talks about inactive people coming back and being healed. Jesus said this right after he instituted the sacrament. We invited her back. Then I read her, in 1 Nephi 21 I think, “I will never forget thee, O house of Israel. I have graven thee on the palms of my hands.” This scripture has always been a very powerful one to me. But yesterday it had never been more powerful. We can put our name in the scripture where it says “O house of Israel” to personalize it. The Spirit bore witness to me last night that the Lord will NEVER forget us. He CAN’T.

And what made the experience even more powerful was something Elder Bednar taught us when he visited us last November. He taught us that when an apostle quotes from the Doctrine and Covenants, he is reading it under the same authority from which it was given. Joseph Smith received the revelation as an apostle in the Melchizedek Priesthood, and an apostle reads it under the same spirit of revelation. That thought came to my mind. As a missionary, if you read the literal words of Jesus Christ, as a personal representative of Jesus Christ, you are reading it under the same authority that he used in saying it originally, and that is why I felt the Spirit so strongly as I shared those two scriptures.

But thanks for the email Dad. Your advice helped. We had some awesome miracles this week.

We also got transfer calls. I’m staying with Elder Gomez in Rocha.

Steven, Happy Birthday, Biscuit Head! I would send you a card, but you don’t deserve one until you’re an Eagle Scout. Have fun on the SAT – don’t know why you’d do that again, I thought you were already going to school for free.

Michelle, stay beautiful, and I guess that’s good advice for my sisters-in-law.

Love you lots,
Elder Whitaker

24 May 2010

2010-05-24T14:14:00.000-07:00

So this week was really good. And I’m going to try to attach pictures again. I think it’s going to work.

So, here’s the miracle that describes the pictures. There is an old inactive man who lives in Rocha. The missionaries from 50 years ago would give him these “remember me” cards, with the Articles of Faith on the back, and a picture of the temple on the front with the missionary’s address and the mission office’s address. Well, believe it or not, I found Grandpa’s and Elder Richard G. Scott’s cards.

I couldn’t believe it at first. It’s funny, because I’ve shown other missionaries the cards and the Elder Scott card just blows their minds, but Grandpa’s card is more incredible to me. I’ve had them both laminated and I use them as bookmarks for now. I’m pretty sure if I went back I could find some of Grandpa’s companions’ cards. Cool, right? I also visited where Grandpa lived and took pictures of the house for him. I don’t know if it’s changed a lot, but the members say that’s where they lived and the remnants of the baptismal font are in the back yard still. Happy Father’s Day, Grandpa. Being able to live where Grandpa served has really taught me one thing. I’ve learned a lot about tender mercies and how God really loves each and every one of his children. In Grandpa’s journal you learn that when he was 20 years old he loved genealogy and family history. He’s loved that stuff all his life and now the Lord has been able to bless him even more. Neat, right?

Thanks for all the letters and emails. I love hearing from you all. Thanks for praying for me.

Love, Elder Whitaker

FYI, this house is now an old person home and a less-active member works there. That’s how we got in. We sang to the people there before we left. It was fun.

17 May 2010

2010-05-17T07:30:00.001-07:00

So this week I found an incredible talk that I recommend to anyone who lives in a home, from the June 2009 Ensign, a talk by Elder Callister called Our Refined Heavenly Home. It’s a really good talk about preparing our home to be more like the celestial kingdom. This talk comes from a website speeches.byu.edu, and I’ve read a lot of good talks that reference that site. It would be cool to go look there. I think it’s where they post the Marriott Center talks.

Grandpa, apparently in your "sea sick six" was an Elder Millet. The Rocha family here knew him. And Elder Millet came back later for a second mission here. I also found the daughter of a sister in one of the photos in your journal. It was really cool, because yesterday was Mother’s Day here in Uruguay, and this sister got to see her mother at church.

So here’s a really weird miracle that happened this week. It was a tough week and our spirits were a bit down. I realized that and decided Saturday to change my attitude. Saturday I also decided for some reason to make my bed really well. I always make my bed, but I do it in my way and it wouldn’t pass anyone’s inspection except mine. It’s hard to make a top bunk bed, but I did it. I made my bed and changed my attitude, and Saturday was an incredible day. We had 6 lessons and watched the restoration movie with 3 families. Stunned in shock, I made my bed really well on Sunday too. We found 7 new investigators on Sunday. That has never happened in my mission, and 6 of them were young men within the ages of 17 and 30. There was a message sent and received. Kind of funny though. You repent and get blessed. But I repented from not making my bed well. Cool.

Hey, but I love you all a ton. Thanks for all the support, emails and prayers. This week I shared my testimony with an inactive member. I told him that what we were telling him is what Jesus Christ would be telling him if he were here in that moment. The Spirit testified to me that what I told him was true. I am a representative of Jesus Christ. It has been a huge blessing in my life. I thank you all for helping me get to this point in my life.

Love, Elder Whitaker

26 April 2010

2010-04-26T17:53:00.000-07:00

First off, thanks for the email, Weston. “Be the missionary Mom thinks I am” was some of the first advice I got from my mission president in the mission.

Also, thanks a ton for the birthday package and wedding package. I got them both this week. I would like to send some photos but we’re pressed on time today.

I really appreciate Grandpa’s missionary journal. Words can’t describe what it’s like to get to know my grandpa through his mission experiences. Words can’t describe what it’s like to walk in the same cities that he visited, ride busses on the same roads he did, and associate with the descendents of the people with whom he associated 50 years ago. On Sunday at district conference a counselor in the Montevideo Temple presidency spoke. He served here in Uruguay 50 years ago. I asked him if he would have known Grandpa. His name sounded familiar – Richard A. Kenny. I found his name later that night in Grandpa’s journal. Grandpa baptized an Amaral. I baptized Nilsa Terra Amaral. She’s like 75 years old. Can you believe that? It’s overwhelming. I hope you’re doing okay, Grandpa. I hope this raises your spirits.

So, my companion and I saw a miracle this week, lots actually, but one in particular. I always loved the story of the brother of Jared. Jared is a thinker and his brother has a ton of faith and spirituality. I wanted to try what they did. One day this week I had a righteous desire to find a family to teach. I told my companion to pray that we could be able to find a family to teach that day. And we did. We were in an area where I had never been and a grandma let us in and two of her granddaughters were there. We’re going back later.

This will be the last you hear from me before the wedding, so Happy Marriage Dave and Elizabeth. I love you lots. I’ll wear the tie on Saturday.

But I think that’s it for now. The church is true. It’s an awesome feeling to know that on the same exact streets where Grandpa’s testimony was sealed to him, mine is being sealed to me. I hope that future generations will be able to know how this feels one day.

Love, Elder Whitaker

20 April 2010

2010-04-20T17:16:00.001-07:00

Wow, this week was really awesome. We had 2 baptisms in our branch – 2 teenage girls. The other Rocha branch had a family of 4, and the other little town’s branch, La Paloma, had one. We did them all together – 7 baptisms and 6 baptizers. The picture is really cool with 13 of us in white. The service went great. I got to baptize our branch’s 2 girls and I baptized first so I was changing while the others got baptized. It was way cool.

We also had a miracle of an investigator going to church when we didn’t expect him to go. He got to see 2 confirmations. Daniel. I love this guy. We’re visiting him tomorrow.

The other huge news is that my new companion, Elder Gomez from Mexico, arrived today. I’m training!!!! I’m so excited. I’m not district leader any more, but I’m stoked to work with a new missionary. He’s from Mexico City, the first missionary from his family. He was baptized with his whole family in 2002. I’m excited. Can you tell?

Oh Steven, did you know in Uruguay I can buy a 3 kilo bag of cornflakes for like 8 dollars. It’s glorious. I think of Steven when I enjoy my frosted flakes in the morning.

So, I was studying Alma 42:26 and I had a thought. The plan of salvation saves the righteous and destroys the wicked. Another name for it could be the plan of destruction. Just a random thought I had studying.

And another think I like about studying is I’m studying in a new Book of Mormon and I have ideas that I want to mark in the scriptures I use, but it’s weird that some of the stuff I want to mark is already marked. So sometimes as I read I have the same thoughts I had the last time I read. Just something I noticed. I don’t know if others have noticed the same thing.

But I love you all. Have fun getting married and watching tv.

The church is true and the “r” in this keyboard is broken. Sorry. [So you can be glad I re-typed everything.]

Love, Elder Whitaker

12 April 2010

2010-04-12T17:18:00.000-07:00

So, I’m glad everyone is doing well. Congrats, Brad, on getting married. Good luck with that. It’s just a shame that everyone is getting married and not graduating from high school while I’m here. I hope you get that one.

So, what happened this week? I read in the beginning of Alma this week and was thinking about Amulek and the guy who offered him 6 onties or whatever to deny Christ. I was just thinking about how that was 42 days of pay for a governmental judge. That’s a lot of money. If a judge these days makes like 150,000 dollars in a year, that’s like offering 17,000 dollars like nothing. It just made me think. It’s interesting.

It’s interesting to read letters as a missionary, because often people write things they’ve written before, but don’t realize it. I might do the same thing, who knows? But it was cool that Steven gave the family a huge compliment today about how good our family is. It’s true. And David reminded me the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. Good advice. And more than once Dad has shared how much he loves the story of Abraham. And Megan apologizes for not writing much. JK, love ya, but it’s cool to see this side of the family as a missionary.

Thanks for all of the support. I love being a missionary. It’s really hard sometimes but it’s what the Lord has commanded, and it’s all worth it.

I think I’m about out of stuff to write. The church is true. The Book of Mormon is true. The plan of salvation is true.

Oh yeah, I just remembered a miracle of the week. I’ll share it right quick. This Saturday I fasted that we could find a family to teach. I wanted to find a family or realize which family we had would progress in the gospel. Saturday night we visited a family that we’d been trying to visit but were never home. We were about to give up on them because we thought they were avoiding us. Saturday they were home and we had a great discussion and my fast was answered. God works miracles when we fast.

But I love you. Enjoy my email like always. Don’t be mad for my comments Megan and Dad and Steven and yeah.

Love, Elder Whitaker

5 April 2010

2010-04-05T08:24:00.000-07:00

Wow, conference was awesome. There are a lot of Americans in my district and the other branches don’t have church buildings that get conference, so everyone was at our church. I got to watch in English this time and was excited about that. The two couple missionaries that are serving as branch presidents were there and brought home-made American-style goodies. It felt like home. I really enjoyed it.

I think I’m mainly going to share with you all my personal highlights of conference; hope that’s okay. In Rocha we live in a house of four elders, including Elder Martino and Elder Carter, a Texan and a Floridian. It was way cool, though, because Elder Martino’s uncle, Elder Martino, spoke and gave an awesome talk. And Elder Aoyagi spoke of the missionaries that baptized him. Elder Carter’s grandpa, Elder Carter, baptized that man. I thought that was way cool to see how small the church really is.

I loved Elder Oaks’ talk on healing the sick. An hour before that talk I was able to seal an anointing for a sick sister. It was cool that some of the questions I’ve always had were answered.
I loved what Elder Packer said about power comes from keeping our priesthood and temple covenants. It was cool because I’ve taught the same thing to missionaries before. It was really interesting to hear something I’ve taught come from the mouth of an apostle.

Elder Eyring made me want to see the new Duty to God program. If you ever get one, I’d love for you all to send me one.

Elder Bednar was really interesting because he talked about acting. Last November he visited our mission and taught us the same principle, using some of the exact same words. He’s been preparing that talk for six months. Way interesting.

And I loved President Monson’s story about the missionary who didn’t get letters. God answers missionaries’ sincere prayers.

I also want to share a quick experience that made me feel really good and I did it because of the way I was raised. Last zone conference we had some complicated travel arrangements and the couple missionaries couldn’t go with us. I took good notes and next district meeting I gave them a copy of my notes so they’d know what our president wanted them to know. I didn’t think much of it, but they were really grateful. They felt good, and I felt really good. Little things really can make a difference.

In good news, it’s getting cooler here. I found a double wide black v-neck sweater in the house left by someone. I sewed the sides and now I have a nicely tailored sweater to protect my cold body. But I ran out of black thread doing it. Sewing kits aren’t made to edit sweaters. I’ll have to send a photo.

This is getting kind of long. Sorry folks, but honestly, you enjoyed it a ton.

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

The church is true and God loves us. Take some time to look at how the Lord is blessing our family.

Love, Elder Whitaker

29 March 2010

2010-03-29T08:11:00.000-07:00

So Dad said it was tough getting all the logistics set up for your trip to Nauvoo. I kind of know how you feel. We had some crazy travel logistics this week for our zone conference. But that’s all done and it went well. I learned a ton. It was really cool because President da Silva shared Alma 22 and the points he wanted to make I already had marked in my scriptures. Either the Spirit teaches us alike or we think alike. It was cool. President also asked us to all read the Book of Mormon in 6 weeks before the next zone conference, and mark everything that has to do with Jesus Christ. I’m learning a ton. I’m marking his works, references to him, and types for Christ. It’s way cool.

And this exercise gave me an idea of a way to read the Book of Mormon as a family. Read it normally, but each person would be looking for a specific topic and marking it all in their copy. Every now and then for FHE you could share what you’ve learned. Some topics I’ve thought of are Christ, 4th Article of Faith stuff, joy, preparation, obedience, promises, God’s mercy (from Moroni 10:3), and hearts. There are a ton of topics I’d like to study, there just isn’t time.

Thanks for the FHE ideas, and Mom, I remember "Don’t Eat Pete." I’ve done that here in Uruguay. We call it "come Pedro." Good stuff.

The other day in my studies I was thinking about Alma 48:17, the “if everyone was like Moroni” scripture. I was thinking about what you’d have to do to get a prophet to say that about someone normal, that isn’t a Book of Mormon prophet, and I got to thinking it wouldn’t be that hard, because most of the temptations come from other people. If those temptations stopped coming, Satan would have very little power. I really think you could put anyone’s name from our family in this scripture and it would be true.

I love you all. Until next week, Elder Whitaker

22 March 2010

2010-03-23T10:55:00.000-07:00

This week was way good. One reason why this week was so awesome is because I learned a ton in my scripture studies. I started not ending my prayers to start studying so that the entire hour is a long prayer. And I realized that the Lord has been able to teach me a lot more through the Holy Ghost. Two things happened last week I'll tell you about. That quote Steven sent me went along with a lession I was planning. I wanted to share it in Spanish. It just so happened that during my studies I got a copy of the Ensign with that talk in Spanish. The chances are zero that the 1982 April conference issue would be in my house in Spanish the very morning I wanted it. It would be impossible for that to happen, but it did.

Also I was studying Ether this week. The brother of Jared put a light bulb stone on each end of the boat. With only one light there would still be darkness, but with 2 there would be always light, especially if the boat was shaped like an elipsis and the lights were in the foci. (That was for Steven. I think that's right, assuming the sides are mirrors.....tell me that insight didn't come from the Holy Ghost.) So, the 2 lights are the Bible and the Book of Mormon. With the two, every point is lighted.

In this Ensign I found a really cool talk I would recommend - by John H. Groberg on the power of family prayer. It was really cool and makes me so grateful that our family did that well. It's a shame that a lot of families don't have that habit. It's weird that when the missionaries come over it's easy to do it, but without us it doesn't happen, at least over here.

I have a random question for my brothers. Were there any cool FHE games you guys used during your missions that kept attention really well and made people think? I would love to hear about any suggestions to have another weapon in my arsenal.

So today I didn't write in the morning because we had a zone activity. We went to a national park with a huge fort and a beach. Other guys went fishing, but I didn't. I don't have the patience. We played soccer too. There's camping here, too, Dad. I hope you weren't mad at my remarks from last week. It might have been a bit disrespectful, but you would like this place Dad. La Fortaleza de Santa Teresa is what its called.

What else has happened? hhmmm. We're working hard. We have a baptism this week and zone conference so it's going to go by way fast. We will be traveling to Trenta y Tres for zone conference. I think Grandpa was there too.

I'm glad you looked up Rocha on google earth. If I knew the streets well you could find my house, or apartment; we live on the 4th floor. It's nice.

But I love you all. Thanks for all the support. Thanks for your examples to me.

Love, Elder Whitaker

15 March 2010

2010-03-15T08:45:00.000-07:00

Thanks for the emails again. I really appreciate your efforts in writing me. First off, congrats Michelle in football. I hope everything goes well with that. Steven, I’m glad you enjoyed pi day so much. I love pie day and pie time. Let’s keep counting our blessings with regards to random math moments in our lives . . . and let’s all share a moment of silence for series right now. . . I feel great!

So that’s way cool to know that Grandpa walked the same streets I’m walking now. There are some old-time members here; maybe they’ll know him. I really like it here. The members are way good to us. And, fyi, it’s a branch and a district here. There were like 50 or 60 at church this week.

Something cool that happened this week was the sisters 30 minutes away in La Paloma had a baptism. They came to our city to do it because branch is even smaller than ours and they meet in a house. But my companion was able to baptize the 2 girls and I was able to be a witness. It was cool to be able to participate in another companionship’s baptism.

So, thanks for the McConkie quotes.* It actually has something to do with what I was studying this morning. I was studying for a district meeting lesson I’m giving tomorrow – about making our lessons shorter and more powerful. One of my favorite quotes from PMG is our calling gives us the authority and keeping covenants gives us the power. The tough part is keeping our covenants perfectly.

Another cool thing I learned this week was from Elder Nelson in 2006. Contemplate comes from “con” meaning with and the Latin root “templum” meaning a space or place to meditate. Both contemplate and temple come from this Latin root. And it’s interesting the interrelation between the temple, the home and the body. Just something cool to think about.

And one more thing of incredibly high importance. I went to La Paloma to do the baptismal interview, and there is real live camping there. CAMPING, you know what that means. Dad, try to conceal your joy right now . . . you can’t. But I think that’s it for now. I love you all. Take care.

Love, Elder Whitaker

(from Steven) - Here's a cool quote that I got in Seminary:
"This, then, is the doctrine of the priesthood. . . . This is the power we can gain through faith and righteousness. Truly, there is power in the priesthood -- power to do all things! If the world itself was created by the power of the priesthood, surely that same power can move mountains and control the elements. If one-third of the hosts of heaven were cast down to earth by the power of the priesthood, surely that same power can put at defiance the armies of nations or stay the fall of atomic bombs. If all men shall be raised from mortality to immortality by the power of the priesthood, surely that same power can cure the diseased and the dying and raise the dead. Truly there is power in the priesthood -- a power which we seek to acquire to use, a power which we devoutly pray may rest upon us and upon our posterity forever."

note: I looked up the talk Steven referenced. It was given by Elder Bruce R. McConkie in the April 1982 general conference. I liked the definition of the doctrine of the priesthood that appeared earlier in the talk, and thought you might like it as well -
"Priesthood is power like none other on earth or in heaven. It is the very power of God himself, the power by which the worlds were made, the power by which all things are regulated, upheld, and preserved. It is the power of faith, the faith by which the Father creates and governs. God is God because he is the embodiment of all faith and all power and all priesthood. The life he lives is named eternal life. And the extent to which we become like him is the extent to which we gain his faith, acquire his power, and exercise his priesthood. And when we have become like him in the full and true sense, then we also shall have eternal life. Faith and priesthood go hand in hand. Faith is power and power is priesthood. After we gain faith, we receive the priesthood. Then, through the priesthood, we grow in faith until, having all power, we become like our Lord."

Sarandi del Yi

2010-03-10T04:12:00.001-08:00

Elder Whitaker's first area was Sarandi del Yi. When he left last November, Elder Sluder took his place. Now Elder Sluder is being transferred, but before he left he took some pictures which his family shared on his blog. I enjoyed getting a feel for the area, and thought others might as well, so here you go -
town sign
a family in the ward

Bishop Barreto and his family

the ward building

A Day in the Life of a Missionary in Uruguay

2010-03-10T04:04:00.000-08:00

I came across a blog kept for another missionary serving in Uruguay and he sent his family a description of a typical day for a missionary. I thought our family might enjoy this description as well. Elder Boyce is in a different area, but I'm sure each elder's day is similar.

So, what’s daily life like here in Uruguay? Well, we get up at 630, exercise for 30 minutes, shower, and eat breakfast in our tiny little cement block house. The members built it for the missionaries 15 years ago. The owners are two old sisters. One is a member. They own a little shop where they sell all sorts of little things. They are called almacens. There are some larger stores, but lots of people sell food in little markets next to or under their houses. They are really nice for grabbing a quick bottle of cold water or a little snack. After breakfast, we study at 8 for an hour. I usually read from the scriptures, or a general conference talk. And then we have companionship study at 9. Then, we head out to work at 10. It’s always the hardest starting out a new day because you haven’t done anything and always feel like you have to start climbing all over again. But it’s also fun because it’s a new day with new opportunities. At 12 or 1230, we have lunch with members. I don’t know if you know, but in South America, Lunch is their largest meal of the day. It usually consists of something like Melanesas (fried meat), pasta, mashed potatoes, potato salad, asado (barbecue) etc... They also have AWESOME things for desert like arroz con leche, fruit salad, dulce de leche (caramel), alfajores, and their ice cream is to DIE for! One Brother here makes us fruit salad with paltas (giant avocados). IT’S SOOOOO GOOD! After lunch we have another hour to study language. I like to read my Spanish scriptures, and of course study the grammar. After that, we work again until 9, and then head home for the night, tired and sweaty. Seriously, the summers here are pretty crazy. It’s not that it’s so hot, so much as it is humid. They have had a very wet summer with LOTS of rain, and these past few days there was a wave of mosquitoes. Thanks for the repellent Mom! Well, that’s a typical day. We just go and work. Talking to people, going to lessons, sharing the gospel message. I love it, although sometimes it gets really hard.

9 March 2010

2010-03-09T08:37:00.000-08:00

So, the big new is that I’m getting transferred to Rocha Centro – the city of Rocha in the department of Rocha. I’m excited. I’ll be district leader again and I still haven’t met my new companion. I think he’s a Paraguayan named Elder Barrios. We’ll see what happens. I think Grandpa was in Rocha. It would be cool if you told me where he was. [Yes, Grandpa did serve in Rocha; it was the first area of his mission and he was there from September 1957 to February 1958.]

So I learned a ton of piano this transfer. Mom would be so proud. I have a random question for Mom now though. My comp was always practicing this song on Pday called Rhapsody in Blue. I was just wondering if you could play that, because it’s supposed to be way hard. [Sorry, but no, I haven't ever tried to play it.]

And I don’t have much time, so I gotta go.

I love you all. Thanks for all the support.

Love, Elder Whitaker

1 March 2010

2010-03-01T12:32:00.000-08:00

Thanks everyone for the emails. Thanks for offering advice and answering my questions. It’s a huge difference as a missionary when your family writes things that can uplift someone rather than things that make you miss home. It’s a shame that lots of people don’t have a family where this type of communication works.

But what did I want to tell everyone? First, congratulate Steven on his new level of nerdyness. I noticed you didn’t even bother comparing scores with me. I’m excited that you’ll be able to help me at college. Both with homework and buying me food. I sure earned it. . .

But seriously Steve, I’m glad you enjoyed giving a talk. I love giving talks too. It’s interesting to me that you spoke about honesty and integrity. And brace yourself, because I’m about to pay you a huge compliment. A few weeks ago I found a scripture and wrote your name next to it – D&C 124:15. Everyone should know that Steven has the most integrity of anyone I’ve ever met. If anyone should be giving a talk on that topic, I’m glad it was him. You’re welcome Steven.

So I learned something cool this week. I have a leadership position as a missionary. Knowing that I’m a leader helps me be a better missionary. I know people are watching. One thing that I would often worry about is the fact that one day I will be a father. I often wondered if I would ever do stupid things as a father. But it’s really cool to me that being district leader is a lot like being a father. If this calling makes me a better person and helps me to “watch myself” (Mosiah 4:30), the calling of a father will probably have an even greater impact on me. It was an interesting thought I had. Maybe Dad or Mom can comment about his idea that I had and tell me if I’m close or way off the mark.

Another thing I learned this week is that the message we share as missionaries is the most important message that there is. This week I’ve made an effort to tell more people that. The result is different than I expected. Saying this doesn’t make more people listen, but it does make me mean what I say, and it makes me sad when and if they reject their opportunity to learn more. I hope that eventually the people will see the sadness in my eyes and maybe that would help them realize or soften their hearts. Who knows?

And Mom, I talked about obedience and sacrifice last week. I think I mentioned 1 Samuel 15:22. Interestingly enough, President da Silva shared that scripture this week at zone conference. That was interesting.

Happy birthday to all those that have birthdays this month. Is Megan’s birthday this month? I feel bad because I really don’t know when it is. Happy 22nd Brad.

Well, I think that’s it for this week. I love you all. Enjoy the email. Choose the right. And right me letters. . . . (I just thought that right now and spelled right wrong on purpose. . .)

Love, Elder Whitaker

22 February 2010

2010-02-22T05:52:00.001-08:00

Thanks for the emails. The week was a tough one. We worked really hard.

So, with the new email, I got all the emails you sent today, so what you’re doing is working. I know less about it all than you do because I have 30 minutes on this thing every week and I’m not going to waste it figuring out how it works when I could be writing something.

So, something cool that happened this week is I made French toast with homemade maple syrup. I didn’t even know I knew how to make all those things, but I had what I needed and it worked. And I really enjoyed it all. It reminded me of home and how good Steven and Michelle have it.

So, one thing I was wondering is what were some of my brothers’ favorite scriptural thoughts to share during the mission. I told you guys some of my favorite ones last week, and just wanted to know some of yours.

And I have a question for my brothers that served already. One thing I’d like to better in my life right now is to have more meaningful prayers. What did you guys do during your missions to have meaningful prayers? It’s hard to find quality time at night with planning and calling the district and everything. I’d like some suggestions, but we’ll see what happens between now and next week.

So Mom asked how my studies have been. I haven’t written anything I’ve been studying in a while. So I’ve been looking in the scriptures for answers to my problems. The problem here is like what the sisters in Valrico are facing – no one lets us in, they don’t progress, and they don’t come to church. So, here’s the answers the scriptures gave me.

Helaman 10:2-5. Nephi faced the same problems. He worked hard and the Lord gave him the sealing power. I was likening the scriptures to me, so . . . I might have just got the sealing powers. . . . The next scripture I found was D&C 117:13. It says our sacrifice is more important to the Lord than our increase. I learned that what I can do to increase the church in any manner is not as important to the Lord as my sacrifice. And in 1 Samuel 15:22 the Lord says that obedience is more important than sacrifice. And we’re being obedient.

So, basically, we don’t see visible success, but that doesn’t matter, because we’re happy. We’re way tired but we always finish the day happy. It’s cool. As soon as the Lord wants us to baptize a ton we’ll be ready for him.

Okay, that’s all the things I planned on telling you. I feel like I wasn’t too focused this time because the other elders are talking behind me. I’m trying to listen to them and write at the same time. It’s kind of tough.

But I love you all. Thanks for the emails. Steven, I love how you dominate Spanish, you crack me up. Michelle, stay beautiful and try teaching Steven to swing dance. It will help both of you. That way Steven doesn’t have to dance with the other girls.

And I think that’s it for now. We’re going to go to McDonald’s now and celebrate Pday.

Love Elder Whitaker

Pouch Mail

2010-02-19T13:34:00.001-08:00

Someone just asked about sending letters to Jeff through the Church's pouch mail system, so I thought I'd post the link to the instructions. Here it is. Pouch mail doesn't accept anything in an envelope, so either a postcard or a three-fold letter would be acceptable.

Here are the instructions for making a three-fold letter:

• Lay a single-sheet letter down with the writing facing you.
• Fold the top of the letter about one-third of the way down, and crease.
• Fold the bottom of the letter to the top of the first fold, and crease.
• Use two pieces of tape or two sticker tabs on the top to secure it, not more than one inch from each side, but do not seal the ends.
• Do not include any other item in the letter such as printed pictures, currency or medication, etc.
• In the top left corner, write the return address.
• Affix a first-class stamp in the top right corner
• In the middle of the sheet, write:

Elder Jeffrey Bryan Whitaker
Uruguay Montevideo Mission
P.O. Box 30150
Salt Lake City, Ut 84130-0150

Be sure to let me know if you have any questions! Have a great day :)

15 February 2010

2010-02-15T08:07:00.000-08:00

So, thanks for all the emails. I got a ton this week. But wow, it sounds like everyone is doing well. Thanks Mom and Dad for your testimonies. Of everyone’s those were the two I recalled best.

So, Steven, good job being smart. I’m jealous of the love you have developed for learning. You could’ve helped Dave and I in Physics last year. Good luck choosing classes next year, because it seems you’ve already taken all of them. I would recommend weightlifting and English 4.

So for week’s our house has had a bag of fruit-flavored marshmallows. This week I made rice crispy treats with cornflakes. It was good, a nice change from alfajores. Good thing Mom taught me how to do that. We also celebrated Valentine’s Day by buying a cake. We bought the “African Premium” cake. It was so good. I miss Mom’s desserts.

So Mom you mentioned D&C 84:88. I love that scripture. I share it often. My scriptural thought involving that scripture is I read it and talk about angels around us. I always show the family picture I have around our fireplace from 2007. I testify that those are the primary angels around us that are supposed to sustain us. And that my angels sustain me.

Brad said he had a goal of memorizing Alma 34. I love Alma 34:3. It changed my mission and it was a very, very specific answer to a prayer and problem I had. It helped me develop the testimony that the Book of Mormon answers all our questions and problems.

Oh, and in my studies this week, I read a really interesting marriage talk I would recommend to everyone who is married or might be married one day. And appropriately yesterday was Valentine’s Day and this might have been the year where that actually meant something to more than half of us. It’s a talk by Elder Holland called “How do I love thee?” He gave it February 15, 2000 at a BYU visit.

And my companion and I are going great. The work is the Lord’s and that’s why we don’t have the visible “success” I wish we could have. But after 3 weeks together and over 630 contacts, we had someone in church yesterday. A member invited him and he came. That’s what we were working on and the Lord gave us a miracle. This week we’ll be working on setting baptismal dates. Ask me about the miracles next week.

Sorry this is so long, I hope it’s interesting enough. I love you all. Thanks for your examples. I’ll try to make a list of a reason I love each of you specifically and you’ll get it eventually.

Love, Elder Whitaker

8 February 2010

2010-02-08T05:35:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody,

Today I got an email from Elizabeth. That was cool. I’m looking forward to having a new sister when I get back to America. It will be cool having a relative that has never been mean to me again. I remember when Megan was never mean to me, but then she did something mean and couldn’t be in that club anymore. Elizabeth, enjoy the “Never Offending Jeff Club” while you can.

So, what happened this past week? It was kind of discouraging, because of the six people we wanted to see at church, zero came. And it’s hard to visit all of them because the fixed schedule isn’t an invention that’s big in Uruguay. So that’s kind of what we’re praying for now, a family with a fixed schedule and time and desires to listen to the missionaries. But we know we’ll be blessed because we’re being really obedient, and we’re really trying. One thing that I’ve been happy with these past two weeks with Elder Stilwell is we’re really going the extra mile in our daily contacts. President has asked for 140 weekly, and these last two weeks we’ve broken 200. Yeah!!!!!!

So like three times Mom has asked how long Elder Stilwell has been on the mission and I forget to tell her. He has five months, two in Argentina and three here. He was in Durazno for his first area just like me. And this is his second area just like me. This is his third transfer here and it’s my sixth.

So the other day I was thinking about testimonies and I realized I don’t know how all my siblings got their testimonies, and I don’t really recall how Mom and Dad got theirs either. I would really like a letter where everyone tells me how they got their testimony.

I got my testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith one night when I was 12 years old. I was reading the scriptures each night to complete Duty to God requirements and I was writing in my journal for Duty to God. Earlier that day I went to a Duty to God fireside. This one night I was reading in 2nd Nephi and I wanted to pray. I got an answer I couldn’t deny, and then I wrote about it in my journal. I forgot that happened for about 5 years, then one day reading my journal I remembered. I know the Book of Mormon is true because the prophets and church leaders instituted the Duty to God program.

I’m sure Elizabeth didn’t know that about me and I’m sure others didn’t know either or forgot. Now you know. I’m so grateful to be able to help others get their own testimonies.

Oh, and Brad, IF you get married before I get back, the “Never Offending Jeff Club” can have two members. Just remember that the Spirit will indicate what you should do.

I love you all, besos, hehehe, o sea, jajajaja
Elder Whitaker

1 February 2010

2010-02-01T05:38:00.000-08:00

Thanks for all the emails. I love hearing from you all.

Dad and Brad had questions about being a district leader. Here are the answers. My district has 10 elders. 4 of us live in the same house, which means I only have to call 3 houses every night. The zone leaders live with me and are part of the district. My companion is just a junior companion, but I’ve learned that being the companion of a district leader means you’re a stud. I love my companion. He’s from Provo. It’s weird that Brad or Dave could visit his family in like 10 minutes if they wanted to. He lives by the temple close to that park with the huge bowl where people go sledding. Cool, eh?

So the sad news is that Raquel couldn’t go to church this week. But she’ll come next week. This week we found her 19-year-old son who plays the guitar in a Mexican mariachi band. Cool. He can also play Mario really well. Steven would be excited. It means a lot to me that you are praying for her. It will probably mean a lot to her.

And I have an amazing miracle for you all about how the Spirit speaks to us. Last night I was talking to one of the zone leaders (Elder Bulloch, who has a brother studying CM at BYU, fyi Dave) and I was telling him what I thought we needed to be working on this change. I said unity in the zone and praying specifically for others and the work in their area. They made a zone plan for the change and that was the first plan. My next idea was that we need to make plans each week and remember them. We have plans at district meeting to make us better, but we never think about the plans during the week. And my third idea was obedience because we love the Lord. Those 3 ideas were the 3 things they had already made as the plans for the zone. I don’t know if I explained myself well, but it was really interesting.

And yeah, we get along really well with the three new elders here. I’m way excited. I can tell you next week about how the Lord is answering your prayers.

And I know it’s been a while since I told you all that I know God lives. Jesus Christ is our Savior. Joseph Smith is the prophet of the restoration. The Book of Mormon is True. And President Monson is our prophet today.

I love you all.
Elder Whitaker

26 January 2010

2010-01-26T05:53:00.000-08:00

Transfers came and went. My new companion is Elder Stilwell from Provo, and I’ve been called as district leader. I’m excited about that. But here’s a story for you. I was supposed to be at a district leader orientation this morning, but I missed it. The zone leader in charge of it said I had a good excuse though. We were late because when we woke up our house was flooded. A pipe under our sink was broken. But it’s really cool to see the hand of the Lord in how our pipe broke. The three elders I was living with all got transferred, so all their gear was packed and nothing got ruined or too wet. If it had broken yesterday lots would be wet, and tomorrow I think a lot would be wet, too. But God loves us. And we were able to dry everything and clean out the house. And I got a packet of papers telling me what I need to know about being a district leader. I’m excited.

And if any of my brothers have good advice about being a district leader, I would love to hear it. That way I can give Steven really good advice in three years, if the world hasn’t ended yet. . . according to the Mayan calendar. . .

So the other really cool thing that happened this week was we found a golden investigator. It was a street contact too. She gave us her real address too. And we found her and the next day she let us in and listened too. She also said the closing prayer and prayed for my companion and me by name. We’re going back Wednesday. Pray for her please. Her name is Raquel.

Elder Whitaker

18 January 2010

2010-01-19T04:59:00.000-08:00

So I just had the greatest birthday week ever. I’m way happy. I got a letter from everyone this Pday and last. I even got two from Weston. He’s stepping his game up. I got to go to a sealing for a family I met in my first area. That was way cool. God loves me. Unfortunately, I just have a ton more questions about the temple now. On my birthday I got cake at lunch, cake at a FHE, and the cake I bought. I also learned an incredible lesson from President Da Silva that will help me the rest of my life. I’ll have to tell you about it later though. We played soccer today and I love that stuff. I learned that my brother is getting married. We’re doing an endowment session tomorrow as a zone and I got to send you guys pictures. I’m happy.

Love you all,
Elder Whitaker
birthday cake

Family Home Evening with more birthday cake

Elder Ferman, Leandro, Leandro's uncle, Elder Whitaker

at a recent district meeting

11 January 2010

2010-01-11T17:50:00.000-08:00

So, what happened this week? I went on a companion exchange with a good buddy from my BYU ward. That was way good. We have a lot in common and we talked about doctrine all day. It was very edifying. It’s interesting because Dad sent a thought about Abraham and his obedience and trial. This elder told me about these Abrahamic trials that everyone is supposed to pass through. It was something to think about that I never really heard about.

And it was interesting that Brad warned me about robbers this week. I don’t think most missionaries write home about this stuff, but I’m not like most missionaries. We got robbed. They broke into our house while we were out. It’s interesting that this day I was on this interchange and I happened to have my camera and all my money with me, two things that don’t happen all the time. I’m doing my best and God protects me. But don’t worry, we’re fine.

So here’s something interesting that doesn’t happen every week. A brother in this ward is going on a cruise in February and going to Miami and Tampa. He’ll be in the Tampa airport flying back. I’m sure it wouldn’t be too hard to connect with him and send me some cool stuff. I could get you the information. But I know it’s harder than it sounds and Dad will shoot it down. I know you’re trying to spend less and I don’t need anything. And I don’t know the customs laws that make that expensive. It would be cool though. . . .

So here’s an idea I had the other day while reading my patriarchal blessing. Dad will probably shoot this idea down too, but in True to the Faith it says you can share your blessing with immediate family members. I’ve never shared mine with any immediate family members and I’ve never read any of yours. And most patriarchal advice is just commandments that everyone should be doing, and most blessings are valid to everyone that’s obedient. So my idea would be to make a Whitaker family semi-patriarchal blessing. It would be very interesting to see what God is counseling us to do and then we could help each other to do it. It would be a really cool FHE. Too bad everyone isn’t together any more.

And another thing I was studying this week was joy and happiness, from Alma 27ish. In the Guia de las Escrituras, if you look under felicidad it sends you to gozo. And gozo sends you to obedience. Happiness, joy and obedience. Wickedness never was happiness, Alma 41:10. Obvious. And true joy comes only to the truly penitent and those that seek happiness. True repentance and obedience brings joy. The Guia says that true repentance is born from love of Jesus Christ. It’s amazing. I love studying the scriptures.

Yeah, nothing else really happened this week. Kind of boring. Thanks for all the emails. Thanks for all the prayers. Thanks for being examples. But I love you all. I’ll write you again when I’m 20 years old.

Elder Whitaker

4 January 2010

2010-01-11T16:56:00.000-08:00

I have really good news for the entire world. The Spirit made it manifest after I read the family newsletter. I’m sorry it didn’t come to me until after reading it. In like 2007 I wrote a Christmas letter that never got sent out. Send that next year. Or use it as a back up next year, Plan B. Who knows? 2010 might bring a really funny year. I mean everyone loves baby jokes.

But I enjoyed the Christmas letter. Honestly I wasn’t rolling on the floor laughing, though. It was interesting to know that Weston busted his knee this year. That was new news. Is he using the torture chamber? Good thing Dave has good advice for all that.

I want to share how I learned again this week that God loves me and he loves me a lot. I was cleaning the house and I found a conference Ensign from October 2007 and a church magazine from 1974 explaining temples. How does God know I love studying conference issues and temples? And how did they just happen to be hiding in our house? One thing I would love to study is the topics hit by the apostles to see if there is a major trend to show how as members we still don’t get a lot. For example, in October 2007, President Hinckley talked about anger in the priesthood session. Sound familiar?

And here’s another thought I had while studying. I’ll share it. Jesus Christ was God’s first spirit child. So in the eternities we spent in heaven before we came to earth he was there the longest. I read somewhere that we will have to study and learn a ton in heaven after this life before we will be ready to create our own planet and all that good stuff, for eternities possibly. All this post-earth learning will take place in the celestial kingdom. We were in the celestial kingdom with God before we came here, and Jesus Christ was there longer than the rest of us. Now my idea is that Jesus Christ spent those eternities taking those mandatory classes that the rest of us will take after we die, the classes that are the prerequisites to perfection. I think he might have took them before he came to earth and that’s how he was so much better prepared than the rest of us. I’m still working it out in my mind but at least for me it helps explain how he did it. If there’s a talk that talks about this I’d love to read it.

Oh, Steven, thanks for the letters. 2 in one week. I was in heaven. I want a step-by-step guide of how to beat the third dungeon. I’m in withdrawal from useless Zelda knowledge. Oh, and you’ll love this. In my BYU ward was Travis W. He’s really smart. He’s in my zone. And he has a BYU math headband. I saw it. It completed my life . . . almost.

So my birthday present from President this year is on the 19th we are going to the temple. It’s like 30 minutes away from here on the bus.

And tell Kyle T. that I love his guts. We live 3 or 4 blocks from the beach. I’m going to put a letter in a bottle and hope he gets it. But Kyle, I don’t understand Brasilero so I need a translation in English in parenthesis to understand the random words you throw in those letters. Other than that I love hearing from you. I love your guts and I think I wrote you a letter. You’ll get it eventually.

And say hi to Brother P., but don’t tell him that I’m still working on my goals. When I feel good about them, I would love to share them with him. Tell him thanks for being a good home teacher.

Oh, and this week we did a sweet service project as a zone. We dug a water pipe trench. It was a foot wide, two and a half deep, and like 80 yards long. It was fun. I enjoyed myself and the exercise. My back is ripped. Luckily we were digging in sand and it wasn’t hard at all. It kind of reminded me of Florida and Africa with pine trees and everything. I said to myself, “I’ve hiked this before.” They were some wonderful moments.

Well, I love you all. Thanks for all the prayers and support. Good luck adjusting back to normal life. Just try to remember Christ still.

Elder Whitaker

15 December 2009

2009-12-15T07:49:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

Thanks for all the letters. They really help. Thanks for the prayers too. So the new news this week is that transfers came and went. Of the 4 elders that live in our house we are all staying.

So this past week I realized I have been out here for 6 months already. The time has really flown. I’m nervous because everyone says the second year goes by even faster. But I’m realizing why that is, and I’ll kindly explain it to “all a yallz.” When the average American is younger than 18 years old, time is divided into 2 categories – school and summer. School goes by super slow and summer goes by fast. The mission passes like summer. I’m enjoying 2 years of straight summer.

And for the phone call, I understand that they have this phone through the internet and they have done this before; I’ll ask them about it. I think the other 2 American elders in my area will do the same, but we’ll keep in touch about it. I’m excited to hear that everyone will be there. Write down questions so we have something to talk about. And President says we have an hour. I’m excited to obey that. I realize that a lot of missionaries might not obey that. It might be one of the best gifts to Jesus Christ we can give him.

Thanks for everything. Good luck Dad. I love you guys.

Elder Whitaker

30 November 2009

2009-11-30T12:54:00.000-08:00

Well, thanks for all the emails. It’s good to hear the family is doing well. And I’m glad everyone is pre-occupied about having a good newsletter this year. I’m excited to read it. I was thinking a bit about what I would write, at least on my behalf. You can tell the world that I spent the last 5 days in South America dead broke. It’s kinda funny to think that. I didn’t have one penny or peso to my name, but the Lord always provides and I lived.

Thanks for the email Dad. It does help to know that so many people are praying for me. It’s just some things in the mission you never expect to happen and thus can’t be prepared for them. But I will tell you one thing, everything that is happening to me is making me a better person. And every time I have a problem President da Silva is there to help me. That man is the most amazingly spiritual person I have ever had the privilege to know. It’s hard to explain, but my interviews with him make me feel like I’m talking to God. And I mean that in the most respectful way possible. He is God’s representative in Uruguay and I have the privilege of serving under him. I was reading, in the conference issue Ensign, a talk about enduring difficulties in the first session. Trials come from 3 sources: natural events, other people, and your own wrong choices. It’s some interesting doctrine.

Mom likes to hear my favorite scriptures every now and then. Here’s what I’ve been studying recently – Alma 13:12 and D&C 50:29. It’s an interesting journey to get to the point where you hate sin. That’s a problem I see in missionaries here. We tolerate breaking rules. Once we become completely and consistently pure, anything we ask God will grant, and, even better, God will let us know through the Spirit what to ask for. That’s how you accomplish goals with God’s help.

Oh, and I have a question for you guys, but more for Mom because she’s the smartest. I was reading under “prophets” in the Bible Dictionary. Could someone explain to me the difference between a forthteller and a foreteller? English dictionaries don’t exist over here, and who really knows what a forthteller is anyway.

And FYI to everyone, Michelle is dominating in her letter writing efforts. She’s the best. But don’t worry, I’m not mad. I just like updates.

What else do I have to say? Happy Birthday Dave, enjoy Tucanoes with whomever.

The baptism we had this week went very well. I felt the Spirit a ton. It was kinda funny because we didn’t start the water early enough so we spent like an hour running buckets of water from the kitchen to the font, never did that before. Lucky it was a hot day because the water was not warm.

Stay beautiful Michelle and enjoy your jacket.

I love you all.

Elder Whitaker

23 November 2009

2009-11-23T15:42:00.000-08:00

So, Elder Bednar visited this week. That was awesome. We did a question/answer session. It was really interesting. One thing he wanted to teach us is that the Holy Ghost is the real teacher. Elder Bednar can’t always be with us, but the Holy Ghost can. That’s the biggest thing I learned.

So for P-day this morning we went to the beach as a zone. There was this famous eagle head slash house. Dad will be crying for joy because I read the explanatory sign in the front of it all. (I’m so mature now.) This eagle head gismo was a famous writer’s house. We also played football on the beach. My district leader played college football last season at a junior college. He’s a big guy. But I two-hand-touched him down.

We’ll have a baptism this week. Leandro is 15. It’s kind of hard to explain his situation. I think he’s a foster child that lives with members because he had a tough life living with his parents. The gospel will bless his life.

So, I’m getting better at the guitar. And I’m going to try to send photos right now. Pray for me.

But thanks for everything. It’s truly a blessing to be serving the Lord full time.

I love you all.

Elder Whitaker
Your prayers worked! He was able to send a few photos. Admittedly they don't look very "missionary-ish" but it was preparation day, and he is wearing his name tag on his t-shirt. We can always imagine him cycling through town in his white shirt and tie.

16 November 2009

2009-11-16T11:01:00.000-08:00

So Mom, I took money out of my account because I bought a bike this week. Our area takes 20 minutes to walk to from our house, and longer to get to our appointments. Maybe I can send a picture some day. The tuko turned out very well. I’m learning a lot about cooking. And yes I shared with all the elders. With 200 pesos we can all eat very well when you actually cook something. It’s like 10 dollars.

And Mom asked if I am developing my piano skills. Kinda. Every now and then I’ll have some extra time in the chapel to practice, but I’m still not good enough to accompany anyone. But it just so happens that this week I started learning the guitar. It’s really not that hard. I was practicing with chords and I know like 4 or 5. I learned the hymn “Testimony” and although Dad won’t approve I practiced on some country songs that Elder Jones has. We’ll see if I can develop this talent, although I don’t really have much time to do so.

So my companion is from Honduras, Elder Ferman. He has a bit less than a year in the mission. And the other 2 elders are the zone leaders, Elder Brown and Elder Jones - from Utah and Missouri respectively. I love Elder Brown and Elder Jones. Elder Jones reminds me a ton of Brad and it just shows me how much the Lord knows me and what I need and when I need it. Elder Jones is the one who has a guitar and is teaching me. He says he will give it to me too when he goes home. Cool.

Brad I got the letter from you last Monday. Thanks a ton. It’s what I needed to hear.

And David, I love your story. I had almost the same thing happen this week. Except I was pondering what I should do to solve this problem I have. I was looking in the scriptures for answers, but I didn’t find a solid answer, so I went to my room to pray. As I knelt the church music was playing and the words were ´´I know he’s smiling down on me¨´. God knows what we need. When I do my best I have total confidence that God is smiling down on me. Everyone can have this confidence.

So I’m really excited for this Friday. We’re having a conference with both Uruguayan missions with Elder Bednar.

But thanks for all the prayers. Thanks for raising me in a home where obedience was expected. Not every missionary had that blessing.

I love you all, Elder Whitaker

9 November 2009

2009-11-09T09:25:00.000-08:00

Thanks for the pictures, Mom, today was the first time I actually saw them. I don’t know if I was stupid and I’m getting smarter, or maybe this computer is better. Maybe I’m getting smarter, that would fulfil something in my patriarchal blessing.

This morning was very interesting, but first the update. Elder Gonzalez is from La Serena, Chile. He’s a good guy. I have one transfer more than him. Unfortunately, this morning we got a phone call and he’s going to a different area and I’ll be getting a new companion. I’ll be junior companion again – so much for being a leader . . . but I don’t care. I’m still excited to work here. Oh, and my area is called San Jose de Carasco. It’s like 30 minutes outside of Montevideo. It’s very different from my past area. The people are way more affluent and as a result they work which makes them generally more busy. But this ward has an awesome ward mission plan and I’m excited to be here working.

Brad sent some questions so here are the answers:

How’s your Spanish coming along? Amazing. I can say whatever I want and I understand a ton. I need to study grammar more, because so far I haven’t studied barely at all and I want to speak better. I’m working on my accent and I’m trying to learn more words. The hard thing is knowing which words to learn, because I don’t know them yet. But it helps having 4 consecutive Latin companions.

Are you in a 2-man apartment or a 4-man apartment? 4 man, with 3 Americans. The other companionship is the zone leaders. One of the zone leaders was in this are last transfer, 3 new missionaries, and they split the area.

Is your companion’s old companion still in the area/apartment? No, we both came new.

Are you in a ward or a branch, and about how many people went to church last week? Ward, between 80 and 100 I think. It’s a strong ward, and lucky for us most of the members live on our side of the division

When you arrived, were there already a lot of investigators? We have a couple that look promising.

If not, what are you doing to find more? Contacts at first, but the ward’s mission program is starting up and we’re going to start working with the members a lot and getting to know them.

What city is your companion from? I had 2 companions from Santiago (Garcia, Osorio). Already answered that one.

And I’m out of time. Dad wants me to send some pictures, but it takes work and I don’t have a USB cord. I’ll try to send some eventually. But thanks for everything. I’m doing great. But now I’m going to go home and cook fideo con tuko, or pasta with a meat sauce. I hope it turns out well.

Love you all, Elder Whitaker

3 November 2009

2009-11-03T08:06:00.000-08:00

Thanks for all the emails, like always. First off, David, you didn’t fail because this week p-day is Tuesday because of transfers. Brad congratulations on your spider web game, Mom Steven and Michelle and you mentioned it. To answer Mom from last week they do celebrate Halloween here, but it’s wimpy. They don’t really have a huge selection of candy, no decorations, and a costume consists of a mask, but it was fun to see some of the youth and kids of the ward dressed up.

So, I think Mom told me last week that the truck had a flat tire that needs replacing. I had the same problem on the bike I’ve been using for a transfer and a half. Lucky for me 200 pesos fixed the problem and got me a new tire, like 10 dollars.

In my studies this week I learned something interesting. In the Bible Dictionary we learn "angels do not have wings" There’s doctrine for you. I love the scriptures.

This week my companion told me I was talking in my sleep, singing actually. Some patriotic America song. I’m way confused though, because I don’t know the song.

And just to verify something crazy I heard this week, some one told me that Catholic priests can marry now. Is this true, just wondering? I love Rruguay!

And the big news of the week are transfers. I’ll be leaving Sarandi del Yi, my only area. My companion will be training. 2 new missionaries back to back. I’m really nervous because I’m going to an area that’s being split into 2, with Elder Gonzalez from Chile. This will be his 3rd transfer and my 4th. Wow, I’m nervous, senior companion in my second area. I’m excited to see the hand of the Lord work miracles through our efforts.

Oh, and we had some bad news and our 2 baptisms didn’t happen this week. We had a whole transfer without a baptism, but we were obedient and my last night there I felt very content with my efforts there. I feel like I accomplished what I was sent there to do. Well, time’s up and I gotta go. Thanks for everything, and I’ll write again next week, Monday.

Love Elder Whitaker

26 October 2009

2009-10-26T12:47:00.000-07:00

Today is pday again, but this week the keyboard has all the letters. Yes!

I’m glad the talk from Cleon Skousen was interesting and helped the family have the best FHE ever. That makes me happy. Would you be able to mail me a copy of that talk? I would also like a copy of the talk about the decade of decisions. That would be nice and give me a change in my studies when they arrive. Thanks. Oh, yeah, and could you ask Sister Bernhisel the power phrases we used to use in seminary. I was thinking about them recently, but I don’t remember all of them. I would like to use them with members to let them teach us. It’s really a blessing when someone I’ve been teaching can read a scripture and teach me something. The power phrases will help I think.

Mom asked if they celebrate Halloween in Uruguay. It is a holiday here, but I have no idea to what extent it’s celebrated, or if it’s any different or what. I’ll let you know next week. Wow, I can’t believe that next Sunday will be November. The time is really flying.

Yeah Dave, thanks for the updates. Dave told me BYU would play this week and Dad gave me the results. That was nice. Too bad they lost. Good thing I don’t care. Or, at least, I’m glad this knowledge won’t affect me really at all right now. What a blessing. Oh, and pday is always Monday, David, unless it’s a transfer week, then it’s Wednesday. Transfers are next week. We’ll see if I stay a fourth transfer or leave to somewhere else.

So this week we’ll have 2 baptisms. We’re really excited. Paola and Daniel. Paola is in her 30’s with a 3 year old son. She was a reference from the bishop and wants the best for her son. This is the best for her son. She worries that he doesn’t behave, but I have several stories of when I misbehaved and it helps her. I love Dad’s story of when I smacked my head on the pew in front of me in an attempt to punish Dad for moving me, and the time I said, “Ahhhh” after enjoying my sacrament water. It was unusually delicious that day.

Oh, and Michelle, I’d love to write a family newsletter, but I really don’t know what’s going on in everyone’s life. How can I make fun of things that I haven’t been around for? We’ll see what happens. Maybe I’ll write a paragraph for myself. I should pray about it.

But thanks for everything. I love being a missionary. I love learning about the gospel, about doctrine. I love the Book of Mormon that has all the answers. I love Joseph Smith and I know he was called of God as a prophet. He didn’t give his life for a lie.

Remember to look for missionary experiences every day.

Love you all, Elder Whitaker

19 October 2009

2009-10-19T14:25:00.000-07:00

Well, first off, this keyboard has all the keys, but some of the keys are blank. I wish I could type without looking at the keyboard. Maybe the Holy Ghost will bring all things to my remembrance.

Thanks a ton for all the letters; they really raise my spirits. Where should I start?

Brad, it’s good to hear from you. I have the restoration DVD, but I’m looking forward to the other stuff you’ll send. You’re a stud. Thanks for your example. And one thing I was thinking. What was the first thing Brad did when he got home? Weston tried to teach us the first lesson and David drank 2 percent milk. What did Brad do? [He ate top ramen with Tabasco sauce.]

Mom told me it would be okay to send a scripture of the week every once in a while. This week I’ve been reading the Pearl of Great Price. I got to the picture of the priest trying to kill Abraham. Being the toddler I am, I spent some study time coloring the picture in my Libro de Mormon. I learned stuff too. The wicked people or objects I colored in dark and the righteous stuff I put in bright colors. I can’t wait to color the other 2 pictures and study the meanings.

Last week we cut our hair. A member offered to cut our hair and we let her. Please don’t offer to do stuff unless you have talents and abilities in the thing you offer to do. It’ll grow back. I think it’s funny. And ironically we had zone conference and a stake conference with Pres. Da Silva this week. He didn’t say anything though.

So the other day I read a very interesting talk called The Atonement by Cleon Skousen. It talked about intelligences and other very deep doctrine. Steven, if you get tired of the "Primary" doctrine you might be learning in Sunday School you should study this talk. I hope that doesn’t sound rude or mean, that’s just how I felt growing up. Maybe Steven is more spiritual and doesn’t feel that way.

I was thinking about all the prayers you all offer for me. Thanks. I realize that at least twice a day some one says, “Please bless Jeff in Uruguay and help him to find people that are ready to receive the gospel.” I realize that to answer that prayer I have to do everything in my power to do so. That motivates me and we’re working hard.

Well, I’m out of time. Love you all lots and Michelle, stay beautiful.

Jeffhead

12 October 2009

2009-10-12T08:37:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody,

I learned a new word today in English, palatable. It means “doesn’t taste gross anymore.”

To answer Mom’s question - “how did I get from Buenos Aires to Montevideo?” – we flew. It was about a 45 minutes flight. We got off the plane basically in the runway, took a bus/trolley 150 yards to the door of the airport, and got our luggage like 5 minutes later. I don’t know how they do it so fast. David’s theory of decoy luggage doesn’t apply in Uruguay I guess.

And mom’s other question. I have the Liahonas for the past 2 conferences in Spanish. I don’t really know how I got them or where they came from, so maybe eventually I’ll get the magazine for this conference. But I am excited to read the articules and compare them to the notes I took watching it.

So this Sunday rained all morning. It was kind of sad, because we were hoping for 6 investigators to come. But I can’t blame them for not coming while it was raining, because there were lots of members that didn’t come either. That makes me sad. Commandments are commandments whether it’s raining or not. But I’m not the judge.

So I really love being a missionary. And I love that the members love the missionaries. And I love that the members show their love by giving us food. I love the food here. This week my companion and I are going to cook tuko and ravioli. I’m sure you can find out what tuko is on the internet or from Brad. It’s like a meat sauce with finely chopped vegetables. Muy rico.

And the work is progressing. I’m developing my patience. The mission goal is a baptism each week. We’re working as hard as we can, but we don’t have a baptism each week. After we do all we can, the Lord will do the rest. I’m excited for the email that will tell you about when the Lord does the rest.

Oh, and here’s some math for Steven. The last conference Ensign has all the numbers you need. Imagine if every missionary companionship had a baptism every week in the year. Tell me how many new members we’d have in one year, and the percent of growth we’d have in one year. It’s amazing.

But thanks for everything. And I love you all.

Elder Jeffrey Bryan Whitaker Beckstrand

5 October 2009

2009-10-05T14:44:00.000-07:00

Hey Everybody,

Thanks for all the emails. I don't know where to start. Mom posed some questions. Yes, we did have investigators at conference. One friend of a member who watched 3 or 4 of the sessions and is in Mosiah in the Book of Mormon. I'd seen him before, but we started talking to him yesterday. We taught him the first discussion in between the 2 Sunday sessions. And a sister who is waiting for her husband to divorce and then marry her was there with the family.

I'm exercising well in the morning and I'm getting 8 hours of sleep. My body is getting used to the schedule. Today I woke up like 20 seconds before the alarm rang. Oh, and Dad, my Spanish is progressing faster than I'd ever thought it would. I feel like I can say whatever I want to. I watched all the conference sessions in Spanish and I probably understood close to 90 percent. It's amazing.

Speaking of conference, I loved it. For the first time in my life I didn't fall asleep. WOW. That's big. I enjoyed the priesthood session talk about fathers and sons. I enjoyed the prophet's talk about service, and I loved Elder Holland's testimony of the Book of Mormon. I would like to study that one more and try to have a testimony as strong as his. I also like Elder Nielson's talk about missionary work. His son was in my floor at BYU and I'm pretty sure I've met his other son that he shared the story about. Small world. And now that I think about it, I've met Elder Nielson too. Cool

In between the Saturday morning session and the noon session the satellite was showing Mormon Messages. There was a really good one; I don't know if you've seen it. Something like the story of a stone worker – the story of John Rowe Moyle. Look it up. [I did it for you! Click HERE.] It's very powerful about sacrifice.

I love how as a missionary we have the answer to every question that there is. It's called the Book of Mormon. It's truly a blessing to be the Lord's mouthpiece in helping others to solve concerns and problems.

And speaking of problems, Steven the Spirit has guided me to a solution to all your worldly problems. I know that Mom buys unsugared cornflakes, and she won't buy other cereal until they're finished. I know some mornings oatmeal is for breakfast. Make oatmeal on the liquid side, put in lots of sugar, and add cornflakes. I've been eating this ever since the Spirit told me about it. It's easy to make, makes oatmeal taste good, and gets rid of the cornflakes. You're welcome.

Well, thanks for everything. Mom and Dad, I love you. Michelle, I love you. Everyone else, I love you. And brethren, yes, you too.

Elder Whitaker

28 September 2009

2009-10-01T13:16:00.000-07:00

I don't think I have much to write about this week. But I'll try to muster up something.

Oh, first things first. I was studying Preach My Gospel with my new companion. We learned about nirvana, and I think I'm close to reaching it, is that right. Nirvana is a state of tranquility to the things of the world and such. I would recommend a dose of nirvana to Steven. And I'm gonna leave this topic before I become too apostate.

My companion's birthday is next week. FYI, my comp is Elder Vargas from Honduras. He's awesome. I love working with him. He has 8 months in the mission and we're working hard to accomplish the goals we have set for ourselves. We are doing all we can and the Lord will do the rest.

I have a story about the Lord doing the rest. This week we've been really focused on doing the mission goal of 20 contacts daily. And we usually give a pamphlet to people when we contact them. Usually the restoration pamphlet. But we were running low on the restoration. Saturday we left the house with one restoration pamphlet, saving it until we found someone that would actually read it. We did 26 contacts without giving it away. At 7:20 our appointment person was busy and we had nothing to do until 8:00 when we would have a correlation with the bishop. At 7:25 we knocked a door and a woman let us in. My companion took out the plan of salvation pamphlet first, but then switched it to the restoration In a few minutes the dad came home and we started teaching them. During the discussion there were 3 interruptions, that tells us something. The dad asked us how we can know which church is really the true one – the best question there is because that's the question we answer. I'm excited to see what happens with this young family of 4.

I hope that story makes sense. Good luck with everything everyone. Oh yeah, Steven, you're okay. Michelle, stay beautiful. Dad I hope your diet is still good. Mom, I love cookies. Wegan, nothing. David, go BYU. Brad, enjoy a swim for me.

Love, Jeff

23 September 2009

2009-10-01T13:15:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody,

Thanks for the emails. I'm glad you liked last week's email. I was feeling good that week. I hope I'm feeling good this week too.

David, thanks for the advice. I'll try to look my best more. And I'm sorry BYU lost. How's your tailgating going?

So my old companion goes home today. He missed seeing Brad and the parents by one week. I would have loved to send Brad a video on his camera, but such is life.

So we had a baptism last Saturday. Laura. It was awesome. Elder Calarco's last baptism in the mission. The spirit was very strong. I hope that I'll be able to go to the temple with her in 1 year. At the end of the baptism we had a musical number. Number 118 in the Spanish hymn book. Brad can tell you which one that is. Good memories practicing. I hate choir practice, but it was fun and the spirit was there as we sang. The choir was Elder Calarco, myself, and the Barreto family – dad, mom, 4 daughters and the other daughter playing the keyboard.

I got a letter from Grandma where she asked about how we get investigators to stop smoking. I only have one instance where we did that. We taught the Word of Wisdom and the next day he stopped smoking. I can't explain it any better than anyone else.

I was studying Jesus the Christ again. I have like 150 pages left still, but I learned something interesting. Jesus said 7 things while he was on the cross suffering. We can study each thing he said and learn a different lesson. I think it would be a very interesting sacrament talk to analyze those things he said and what he taught us in the last moments of his mortal life.

So my new companion is Elder Vargas from Honduras. I met him, but haven't really talked to him much. I'm excited to be able to serve with a new companion. I know that God chooses my companions and I'm excited to learn why Elder Vargas will be my companion for these next 6 weeks.

Thanks for all the letters. Thanks for the photos, Mom. Good luck adjusting to real life again, Brad. And Steven, practice counting; it'll help the calculus. When in doubt, count and pout.

All my loves, Elder Whitaker

14 September 2009

2009-09-14T09:37:00.000-07:00

Thanks for all the emails.

I feel like I have a lot to write about this week. I don't know where to start. We have a baptism this week, Laura. We found her a while back and now she'll be baptized. She's about 40 years old, she's married and has a 15 year old daughter. She prayers for her family that one day they'll want to be baptized. We pray the same.

MICHELLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow, 15, if you were here you'd be having a huge expensive party and Dad would be grouchy until Thanksgiving! Have fun driving and enjoy your new shoes and CDs and clothes. Good luck in your play too.

So I have some randomly sad news. I think I'm going bald. Prayers please. It's not too bad yet and I think we can fix it with faith. I think the hairline is receding, but only on the left side, it's kind of weird. I wish I knew how to send photos to show you all.

Speaking of photos, my camera's memory is full almost and I need either the USB cord or another memory card or both. Alright, I don't need it, I'd like it and I'd be grateful if I could get it eventually. Thanks.

The winter seems to be close to over. It's not bitter cold in the night or morning any more. I'm kind of worried for summer though. I think it will be very hot here.

So I completed 3 months this week. Wow. Joseph F. Smith became fluent in Hawaiian in 3 months. Prophets aren't the only ones that see miracles like that in their lives. I don't understand everything, but I can say what I want to. It's amazing. This Sunday a brother spoke in sacrament meeting – Hermano Barreto. He also spoke my first Sunday in the field. He only has teeth on his lower jaw, and is tough to understand. I didn't understand anything the first week, but yesterday I understood a lot. He spoke about service.

The other day we had an FHE with a couple families. We learned about testimonies and went in a circle and everyone bore their testimony. I love doing this because the Spirit is always present and powerful. I would recommend inviting a family over and trying it at our home. And, of course, have cookies and cake and milk afterward.

Next week is transfers, so Pday is Wednesday. FYI I didn't die. [I think that means he's not being transferred.]

Oh, and Mom and Dad, thanks for all the things you taught me. Thanks for “there is no excuse”. I've been thinking about that lately. Thanks for the prayers. Every now and then I'll feel comfort that comes from those prayers. Send Kyle my love and luck. Brad, good job going 6 minutes [referring to lasting a full wrestling match without getting pinned]. One of these days I'll send some letters I have stacked up, but no rush, you're not going anywhere soon.

Love, Elder Jeffrey B. Awesome