31 January 2011

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I love you all. Thanks for everything.

Elder Whitaker

24 January 2011

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

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

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

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

Love you lots,
Elder Whitaker

6 December 2010

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

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

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

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