January 23rd 2014 - Week 3

3 weeks! Time has flown if you ask me! Half way done at the MTC! 

So this week has been super spiritual for sure! First, the temple again was AMAZING! Always is... and we did it in Spanish again because the headsets weren´t working! Haha so it must be a sign that we need to do the sessions in Spanish! Then on Sunday there were some great talks by everyone. I felt the spirit so strongly! It was grand... And I remember thinking to myself, wow, all of these talks all have one thing in common (faith) , but they all share different messages. Not one of the talks were the same! I just think that it´s really cool how the President was inspired to pick the people that he did, because they all needed to share! It was cool :) Also, we saw a super spiritual broadcast of Elder and Sister Bednar speaking at the Provo MTC a few days ago. It was REALLY GOOD! 

Also, I´ve been learning a ton of stuff about teaching. It´s funny, but a lot of the time you think that it´s just going to be language study the whole time you´re at the MTC and you think that you already know a ton about the gospel... WELP NOPE! You don´t! I´ve learned just as much about the gospel and teaching as I have Spanish, so I´m always super busy! It´s really cool though! I love it :) There was a really spiritual day where we were learning how to introduce scriptures to our investigators and then relate it to their lives. (Which, by the way, I learned can be done with any random scripture) And our teacher, Hermano Pedersen (the super attractive one), explained it to us in a way that was super cool. I really felt the spirit and yeah... It´s hard to describe, but it was really good. Then I found a new favorite scripture!! It´s Alma 2:41! So LOOK IT UP! ;) It´s good one. Oh, and then he bore his testimony about el Libro de Mormón and it was so good! That whole day was just a really good and spiritual one! Also I love one of my other teachers a ton. His name is Hermano Vargas! I´m gonna miss him so much! He´s like my height and has glasses and braces and served in Bolivia! He is so funny though! And he literally laughs at like everything I say.... Hahaha just thought I´d let you guys know! ;)

I´ve become even closer with my district. We´re all like super good friends and way tight ;) And I get along with every single one EXCEPT for one of the boys. It´s annoying BUT I´m trying hard to not let it get to me so it´s all good! I am pretty proud of myself because I have been trying new things! I play like basketball or volleyball with the boys like every day and it´s so much fun! I went into this thinking that I wasn´t going to do physical activity and stuff, but it´s actually been really good that I have been! 

The new president got here and it was crazy how he did! So he was suppose to be here on Tuesday on the same flight that we took it. But get this... There was this huge wind and rain storm as they were going to land and it took out a CHUNK OF THEIR AIRPLANE´S WING! Crazy, right!? So they actually had to do an emergency landing in Montevideo, Uruguay and stay there pretty much all night. It´s such a miracle that they were safe! I definitely know that the Lord was watching over them and protected them. So anyway, they finally get here the next day at I think 5 in a the morning and we got to meet them last night. They both talked for like 10 minutes and then we got to do like a meet and greet and stuff. They are so cool! I already love Hermana Willis! She´s the cutest! She is sooo sweet too. And President Willis seems pretty cool. He is just really different than President Openshaw. So, it´ll be interesting to see how everything goes. I´ll miss the Openshaws.. but I think it will be a cool experience to be able to work with two different sets of Presidents at my time here. 

I got my immunizations. I needed Typhoid and Yellow Fever. I got them on Monday morning and it was no biggie! Some people said that you can get sick from the Yellow Fever shot, but I was fine! Haha and it didn´t even hurt! ;) 

I love reading your emails! They´re great! Keep telling me about everything that is happening! It´s really encouraging to hear that everyone loves reading my blog (that I didn´t know existed?? ;) And that everyone is asking about me! Tell them I love them! Also, do you guys post my whole emails on the blog?? Or just certain things?? Hahahaha just curious! Don´t post anything that will embarrass me! ;) (note from editor: we edit tenderly)

LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH! 

Love, Hermana Whittaker

January 16th 2014 - Week 2

 Ok, so this week has been pretty crazy, I´ll be honest! So first, we had P-day and that was really nice. It´s cool that we get to have a sort of break from all the stressful learning... I loved it. But the best part was going to the temple! It was SOOOOO beautiful and I loved it so much! I honestly couldn´t believe the spirit I felt. I was incredible. Also, I did the whole session in Spanish!!! It was one of the coolest experiences ever! I actually understood a TON of what they were saying. If that´s not the power of the Holy Ghost, then I don´t know what is!! But really, it was amazing and I look forward to going every P-day that  I´m here!! So that means today! We actually decided that our district is going to do the session in English this week (so with the headsets, I think). Just so we can understand completely. It will be nice. I love it so much! Mom and dad, I think that when you guys come down to get me in 18 months we´ll have to stop by and do a session in the Argentina Temple cuz I love it so much!! ;)  

Also, speaking of my district, I thought I´d tell you how much I love them! We seriously have the best district ever and everyone is so awesome. We have the coolest discussions and the most spiritual experiences! And our district leader is amazing! I love em all! The elders are: Elder Turley, Bird, Johnson, Harbold, Fielding and our leader Elder Pulsipher. I get along with all of them in different ways. The sisters are: Hermana Argyle (companion), Dunagan, and Sump. I love them!! Anyway, my whole district is super cool :) 

Something else that was crazy this week. The MTC got robbed! Nuts, right?! So there were these workers that were working on the rooms over the weekend (like Thursday, Friday, and Saturday), and they were like fixing windows of something. So after the temple last week, I was putting on some earrings and I noticed that 2 of my rings were missing from my case.. I was really confused and thought maybe I had lost them, but I hadn´t even taken them out so I knew it wasn´t me. I first thought that it was maybe one of the Hermanas in my room, but I kinda just forgot about it. Then that night I told Hermana Valenzuela (one of my roomies) and she decided to check her wallet. $50 (US) in pesos was gone! She had no clue what had happened! So then the next morning we talk to our room leader and she said she would tell Hermana Openshaw (president´s wife). Later on I told our district what had happened and our leader told all the Elders to check their things. Like 5 Elders here had money stolen! Elder Turley in my district had his $160 for his visa stolen! Anyways, I think there was like $700 stolen altogether?? Crazy, right?! Eventually they got it sorted out and figured out and the workers lost their job and the company is giving all of the money back. Haha I never thought I´d say I got robbed at the MTC ;)

So we went proselyting yesterday!! Wow it was nuts. So usually we would go on Saturday, but because the president is leaving and the new one is coming, they changed this week to Wednesday so all the staff of the MTC could have a huge meeting and activity or something. So we ended up going a few days earlier than expected! So, we get all ready in the morning and then all of us (the North Americans) get in this bus and he takes us somewhere like 35 minutes away. It was so cool because it was the first time that I felt like I was actually in a different country! Sounds weird, but I have been stuck in this MTC since day one and it just doesn´t seem like we´re in Argentina. So when we went out I was like freaking out cuz it was so cool! Argentina is beautiful! It´s so differnt but it reminded me of Mexico. Similar buildings and stuff. It did make me appreciate living in the US though. So we all got dropped off in companionships and had our own areas to proselyte in. At first we were so confused. Me and Hermana Argyle had no clue what to do. So, we just start walking our area. We said hola to just about everyone. We got a lot of weird looks! So we find this street that is kinda like a strip mall with all these shops and everyone is just staring at us!! It was pretty funny. So then we find a spot to sit and eat our sack lunches and we prayed that someone would come to us or that we could find someone to talk to, because we were feeling pretty dicouraged. This lady walks by and we say hola! She then stops and talks to us for a good 15 minutes! She was really nice and pretty much just asked us a bunch of questions and stuff. We told her that we were going to Paraguay and she told us it´s VERY different than Argentina. It was really just like a friendly conversation and she knew a little bit of English so that was kinda cool! Wow though.... The power of prayer is so real! It was crazy that our pray was answered that fast!! The rest of the day was pretty good. We handed out like 5 pamphlets to these (kind of attractive) workers. They waved at us to we talked to them for like 5 minutes and just gave them some random pamphlets. HAHA I think one of them was Chastity??? HAHAHAHA!! ;) It was great. So we felt like we did pretty good for our first time. It is really hard and you have to be really ready for rejection. A ton of people kept ingnoring us when we would say hi. We just kept being happy! Next week we do it on Saturday. I wonder how that will be!! 

Anyways... I love you guys all so much and I look forward to every Thursday to hear from you!! I´m hoping that that package dad said he sent gets here. I had no clue that we couldn´t have people send them!! Hopefully it doesn´t get stuck in customs! The emails are great and I love hearing about what is happening! I love you guys and pray for you every night! I love being a missionary, by the way! It can be frustrating sometimes and stressful... BUT I have Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ to rely on!! :)

I´ll send some pics! LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! 

-Hermana Whittaker

January 9th 2014 - Week 1

Thursday, January 9th 2014
Buenos Aires, Argentina  Missionary Training Center

HEY!! So sorry this has taken so long to finally write back. I had to wait a whole week since last P-day when I got here and wrote that short e-mail. Things are so crazy! I have been learning TONS AND TONS of Spanish and I am pretty surprised that I am getting it so well! That is definitely the Lord helping me :) So I am sending this to you mom, but it is going to be for the whole family. It´s just easier that way!  

So, when I first got here, we had a lot of stuff to do. Get our picture and go through all this information... Lots of stuff. They did tell me that I needed to get 2 immunizations while I´m here. They did not tell me when, however. The first few days were kind of stressful, because I didn´t know what to do and you have to be following the schedule and doing something ALL THE TIME. But, now I´m pretty used to it. The food is pretty normal at the CCM (that´s what it´s called here - not the MTC) (but I still call it the MTC ;). But I don´t really eat as much and I drink a ton of water! So I´m pretty sure I´ve lost some weight too ;) 

Anyway, we are always learning new things and it can sometimes be overwhelming, but then you just take a deep breath and think about the reason you are here. Then everything is all better! We´ve already had to teach like 4 lessons (shorter lessons) to an investigator (our instructor). But they were ALL in Spanish!!! Crazy, right?! But, it´s been really good, because that is what we´ll always be doing. So I´m really grateful for that teaching experience (even if it can be hard at times). 

I have made so many great friends! I seriously love everyone here. That is one of the things that I think is so cool. It doesn´t matter where you came from or the background that you have, everyone has at least one thing in common with you, we are all representatives of Jesus Christ!! So right away we all have a connection. I get along with ALL of the girls so well! My companion Sister Argyle (also my travel companion) is really sweet. She´s a perfect companion for me because she will always keep me on track when I need to get something done. Like when we have chores to do, she will just start doing them without even complaining! She´s just a great example to me. And you can really tell that she has a strong testimony. Some of the other sisters that I have gotten to know are Hermana Dunagan and Hermana Sump. They are companions and I LOVE them!! Especially Hermana Dunagan. We get along SO well. It´s crazy... She´s like my BFF here ;P Haha, but also, in another district (Sump and Dunagan are in mine) there´s Hermana Miller. She´s really chill and fun to be around. We get each other, you know what I´m saying??? Probably not, anyway... Then there´s Hermana Valenzuela. She is from St. George, but is fluent in Spanish so she´s in the same district as some of the Latino missionaries. She is really, really, really funny. She doesn´t even have to try to make us laugh and we´ll laugh! Also, she´s good to have around because she can translate for us!! So, right off the bat all of the Hermanas (the North American Heremanas, anyway) became really close. I remember thinking how cool that was and that that is just another testimony that I am exactly where I am supposed to be. I know that this is where the Lord wants me, and I couldn´t be any happier than to serve Him :)

SO, this past weekend I was learning and studying, but I was still struggling in a way. I can´t really exactly say, but there was something missing. I prayed and asked Heavenly Father if He would help me feel the spirit more. And the BAM! Sunday comes along and it had to be the best day yet! President Openshaw gave some really cool lessons and I felt the spirit so much!! It was amazing how much I got from our lessons on Sunday! Hermana Openshaw also gave a really good lesson to all the girls (North American girls) in Relief Society. (BTW - President and Hermana Openshaw are the MTC presidents...and also, they get released like next week, so we´ll be getting new ones...pretty crazy!) It was just a REALLY good Sunday. I´m amazed at what Presidente Openshaw knows. You ask him a question and he says, turn to (whatever chapter, whatever verse) and gives you the answer. And he knows it right off the top of his head!! 

My teachers are really cool too. Hermano Vargas is one of them and he is hilarious! He is pretty good at english, but sometimes he asks US how to say things... haha. But he served in Bolivia and he´s a great teacher. Then there´s Hermano Pederson..... Ok so I know I´m on a mission and all, so I´ll just spend a second on this....... He is SOOOOOO attractive!! Like super!! Haha he´s from Argentina and he served his mission in St. George, UT! Anyway, I guess he´s a good teacher too... A good one to look at... ;) JUST KIDDING! (Not really) Anyway, then there´s Hermano Abad. He´s cool, but kind of borning. Except yesterday he started to come out of his shell a little bit and he´s pretty funny...

I´m out of time : But I love you guys and miss you so much! Also, I miss Chaz! How´s he?? Even though this is a hard language to learn and sometimes I´m overwhelmed by how much we´re learning... I know that I am supposed to be here and I am a representative of Jesus Christ. I love being one, too! I love being a missionary!! I´ll try sending pictures next week and tell Cocoa, grandma, Natalie McBride, and anyone else that I love them and thank you for writing!! 

I CAN´T STOP SAYING IT BUT I LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH! Talk to you next week! BTW - I´m off to the Argentina temple now!!!! Coo huh! 

BYE!!

Love, Hermana Whittaker