February 24, 2014 - Week 8

This week was a good one! So I`m starting to get kinda used to life as a missionary and stuff. I`m getting the hang of it! Here`s like my usual schedule... We wake up at 6:30 then we work out-mostly like stretches and stuff, then we get ready for the day and at 8 we have personal study, then at 9 we have companionship study, then at 10 we have language study and then at 11 we have my training studies-it`s called The First 12 Weeks. Then we go to the house that we eat at for that day and then go out and work! We visit investigators and members and teach them and we also contact and try to get new investigators and people to visit. Typical missionary stuff! Haha but I love it so much. It`s really crazy how much I have learned. Like just about myself and also like the language and the gospel and stuff. It`s way cool. I seriously love the scriptures! I never thought I could be as excited to read the scriptures everyday as I am now. It`s crazy. It`s still super beautiful. I love it so much. And you should just see the sunsets! Wow! They`re beautiful here! Also the language it still coming along. It gets tough sometimes. I just want to be able to tell people how I feel and I just can`t sometimes! It`s gets frustrating, but I know that, again, WITH TIME, I will learn it! And I do learn more and more each day. My roommate, Hermana Hunt, was talking to me the other day and she said something that really helped me. She said... You just need to not worry about it. It`s not gonna be easy and it`s not gonna come overnight...I don`t know if you understand, but It`s a freaking LANGUAGE... You just need to try your best and not be afraid to talk. HAHA that`s exactly how she said it too... Hermana Hunt is like one of the funniest people. She can make anyone laugh and we just click with eachother. It`s funny though... She always makes fun of me for that fact that I have colored contacts. She thinks it`s so high maintainance! Ha, she`s preobably right, but it`s funny... The language, though, hasn`t stressed me out too bad. I`m just trying and doing my best with it, so yeah! With Heavenly Father`s help, it will definitely come.

So living conditions are good. One day this week, we didn`t have water at night... But that`s the first time it`s happened since I`ve been here. I`ve heard that in other areas it happens a lot more often. But yeah, things are great. My companion and I get along great. She is really good at Spanish and teaches me a lot. It is kinda hard to speak Spanish all the time though, because there`s 3 Americans and one Latina living in our home. So it`s usually English.... But we`re gonna work on that! The food is the same. We just eat lunch usually at members homes and it`s always been rice with some sort of meat. But it`s tasty. They give you a lot of food.... And you have to eat all of it! So that is kinda rough.. It`s great though! Also, it seems like we haven`t walked as much this week, but I`m getting used to that too. The really bad blister on my left foot doesn`t hurt anymore. So that`s good!

I`ve been contributing a lot more in our lessons. I have extended the baptismal invitation to a few people in the last few days, so that`s cool. Also, I have done better at contacting people in the streets. I have a lot of help from my companion though.. It`s good cuz I definitely need it! She`s a really great trainer and a super awesome missionary.

We had a baptism this week! It was on Friday. I don`t know if I can call it my first official baptism in Paraguay, because the family was being taught by Hermana Braunersrither and her old companion, Hermana Sanchez... But it was really cool to see! It was the familia Maldonado. There are three girls--the mom, Lourdes, and the two daughters, Sandra (23) and Natalia (11). It was really cool because we`ve been visiting with them this past week and I`ve seen a TON of progress with them! You can just tell that they have a huge testimony of this gospel and they were just ready to be baptized! It was awesome! Super cool experience.

Today, because it is P-day, we went to the stake center and met up with our whole zone (well, most of our zone cuz some people just didn`t wanna come) and had a BBQ type deal. It was cool cuz I got to meet a ton of the Hermanas and Elders that are serving nearby. Everyone is really cool! Also, I got to see Hermana Dunagan! She was in the CCM with me and she`s also in my zone.. So I was so excited to see her again! So that was pretty fun. 

So, this week should be a really good one. We have Stake Conference. Also, we`ve planned some Family Home Evenings (Noche de Hogar) with a few familias, so that will be fun! Something really cool that happened for me this week was that we were teaching this lady who is catholic, Mabel, and she was crying and telling us about some hard stuff in her life. Then she was looking through Hermana B`s lamina (?) book and was just looking at all of the pictures of like Joseph Smith and the stories from the Book of Mormon and the Bible and I was looking at the pictures as she flipped through them and then all the sudden it hit me! I just had this overwhelming feeling of the spirit! It was so cool. I just remember thinking to myself, wow.....this is the true church! It was kinda a small experience, but it was cool! Just another testifying moment for me about this awesome church and how important this work is. It`s just really cool that I wake up every morning a missionary and I get to go out and do what Heavenly Father wants. I love it! I know I say that every week, but it`s so true! I love Paraguay and I love the people and I love this gospel! Anyway, this church is great and so true and I can`t wait to hear about next week from you guys and write about what happens here! LOVE YOU GUYS A TON

Love, Hermana Whittaker

(P.S. I was going to send a lot of pictures this week cuz I have some of the Maldonado`s before their baptism and other ones... and I totally forgot to grab my cord to plug in my camera.... So.. next week for sure! I`ll send home a lot of pictures!)

February 17, 2014 - Week 7

Hey everyone! So I´m in Paraguay! I seriously love it here. You know that feeling you get when you just KNOW that everything is happening for a specific reason and you are exactly where you are supposed to be?? Well first of all that´s the spirit and second of all... I totally felt that way as soon as the plane landed amongst the beautiful red sand and green trees!

It is seriously so beautiful here and I love it so much! No place I would rather be than here :)

So when we left the MTC if was a little bit rough, not gonna lie. I made SO many great friends there and like loved my teachers, so I was kinda sad about leaving them, plus I was finally used to how things went in the CCM and stuff. BUT.. Things are grand! We left at like 4 AM on the 10th and flew to Asunción. There were like 22 of us, I think, going to Paraguay. So the flight was good and stuff and we arrived safely.

We met the mission president and his wife, President and Hermana McMullin, at the airport then went to the mission office. We learned a lot of stuff about what the mission was going to be like and things were just really good. Then that night, all of the Hermana stayed at the Hermanas home that were in the area by the mission office. Then the next day we get up, go to the office, and like everyone is there! Tons of missionaries that are ready to do their changes and get their new companions and new areas (if they have a new area). So I get my companion, Hermana Braunersrither, and she´s like really cool! My first companion is from Texas and speaks English so that is a blessing! She´s super good at Spanish so I´ll be learning lots from her! She has been out for like almost 5 months in the field, so her 6 month mark in the mission is like next week. Crazy, huh! She says it has gone by so fast and doesn´t like it when I ask "So is it crazy that you almost only have a year left?" Hahaha it´s so funny! She doesn´t want to admit that she has been out here so long. Anyway we´re already pretty close and she´s a great trainer. The first thing that she told me is that I was going to paradise. Yeah, she was definitely right. We are in a place called Itaugua and it is beautiful! It´s about like 45 minutes away from Asunción and it´s a really nice area. We have such a great house! It´s like super nice. She said I was so lucky to get a first area like the one I have cuz it´s so nice. We also live with another companionship of hermanas. Hermana Hunt (who has been out for the same time as Hermana B) and Hermana Hernandez (she is like in the middle of her training and is from El Salvador). So Hermana Hunt is seriously hilarious. She makes me laugh so hard!! And Hermana Hernandez is so sweet and helps me with my Spanish a lot. She is trying hard to learn English so we talk in both a lot of the time.

So..... When I first got here it was pretty overwhelming, not gonna lie. We got to the house and I unpacked and then we went to the store quick and got a bit of stuff. Then we went out and visited families! It was crazy cuz I just got here and we got right to work. It was really good. We walked to this place called Conavi that is like 20 minutes away and has a lot of members. Oh, that´s another thing, we have a super good area. A lot of members that always wanna help us! So anyway, we visit some of the members and share with them quick. You always give the hermanas a kiss on both cheeks when you see them. And also if you wanna say hi to someone when walking by, you say "ADIOS!" Weird, cuz that means goodbye, but true. The people here are really patient with me too cuz I don´t speak very good Spanish. That´s another thing, this is completely different than the CCM! Like when I left I felt like, hey, I can speak some Spanish... UM NO! I like have to learn the whole language again! Hahaha but it´s all good! I´ll get it! And I get better every single day I´m here. So when we teach our little lessons, I pretty much bear my testimony about it at the end and yeah.. that´s how it is for now :) Also I say prayers. I can understand A LOT more than I can speak, too. 

So the first day I met like 4 different families that were members. They are all so sweet! There is this one family, familia Ramirez, and the mom (Hermana Noelia) helps us a ton with visits. She sometimes comes to visit the Maldonado family. They are our family that is actually getting baptized on Friday! Exciting huh! They had a set date when I got here, so I don´t know if I can count them as my first baptism. It´s 3 girls-the mom and her two daughters. They live out in the middle of nowhere and it takes like 30 minutes to walk there from Conavi. So that´s them! Then I met the Portillo family... They have like 12 people living in their tiny house! They are members, but the dad´s brother lives there and he is not a member, so we teach him and his wife. But there are seriously like 9 kids there and they are SO FREAKING CUTE! They can´t pronouce my name, so get this...... They call me Hermana TINKERBELL! Cute huh! They say that that is what it sounds like! Hahaha! And I´ve met a ton of other people and they are all awesome. They comment about my blue eyes a lot and call my "rubia" (blonde). It´s just really good here :)

We also eat like only lunch usually. Well, the hermanas in my house eat yogurt like every morning (well they drink yogurt cuz that´s how you do it here apparently-I usually just eat an apple). And then the members feed us lunch. So food in Paraguay isn´t really that different. It's just not healthy at all! They feed you meat and carbs. I´ve had a lot of good things. Rice with chicken, rice with fried steak-ish stuff, rice with meat and cheese... Yeah. Apparently they eat a ton of pasta too, but I just haven´t tried it yet. And today we went to this restaurant and got a good lunch. It was this burger/sandwich thing that was delish! So yeah! The food is good and not that different! They give you a lot though... And you have to eat like all of it. So that is why we only eat like one meal a day.

 

I walk a freaking ton and have horrible blisters. They hurt. BUT it is all good! They are actually getting better the more I walk and I´m sure they´ll be good soon enough. It´s all worth it honestly. We do, however, take collectivos (that is what they call buses here) to a lot of places. It just depends.

Church yesterday was really good. We had a huge attendance, so that´s good! My new district is pretty cool. Two of the elders that were in the CCM with me are in my district (they were in the group of Latinos that left when we left).

 

So this week has been really crazy! Trying to learn the language and stuff and trying to adjust, but it has been really good at the same time. I know that I was called to Paraguay for a reason! It just feels so right! I will be honest, I get feeling down sometimes when I´m walking and my feet hurt, or I can´t say what I want to say in a lesson, or I don´t know what anyone is saying to me... But then I gotta just realize that IT´S NOT ABOUT ME!!! Then I pray and remember why I´m here... And things get better :) It´s been a rollercoaster, the missionary life, but I LOVE IT!! Oh, and yesterday we went to this thing where the young adults (in the ward of the other elders in our district are) had a presentation about going on missions and us hermanas had to talk to them. So I get up there and I tell them the reason I went on a mission, and bear my testimony as best as I could, and that was it... The elders told me after that my spanish is super good for only being here for like 5 days... So that gives me hope!! Cuz I feel like I know nothing!

So that´s about it for the first week here! Really crazy that I´m finally in Paraguay! It´s so cool! I´ll send pics! I love you guys so much! TALK TO YOU NEXT WEEK! :) :) :)

February 10, 2014 - Week 6

Hey so we get to email today to make sure you guys know all about the flight and stuff.

It´s flight AR1260 and it leaves at 7:35 AM. The group of us going to Paraguay leave at like 4 AM from the CCM.. Super early. Wow I´m pretty nervous BUT mostly excited! This is just the beginning! ! I´m sad to be leaving all of the awesome people I have met.. I´ve become super close to them! This will be an adventure for sure! I LOVE YOU GUYS! 

Talk to you as soon as I can! 

Con Amor, Hermana Whittaker

Here´s me with my liter and a half Coke Zero that I got while proselyting this week!

February 6, 2014 - Week 5

Wow! It´s crazy how time flies! Seriously though... It kinda feels like I just got here and now I'm leaving on tuesday! Anyway, this week has been a pretty good one, but I also kinda feel like I´m stuck in a rut. My Spanish doesn´t really feel like it´s improving, but I´m working hard on it! It´s the verb conjugating that is the hardest I think. Also, I can understand a lot of things and pretty much understand what people tell me in Spanish, my problem is that I can´t respond! Anyway... It´ll come!

So honestly I´m pretty sad about leaving the CCM. I´ve have gotten so close with all of the girls here and I love my district. BUT I´m really excited to see Paraguay and what it has in store for me! Also, the weather when we get there is supposed to be....wait for it.....108 DEGREES! That is literally the high for the whole week I get there! And it´s like thunderstorms! Crazy how hot it is here. So I am pretty sure that I´ll be leaving to the airport at like 4 AM because that has been the pattern of all the other groups that have left for Paraguay. So I'm guessing, but I´ll find out for sure on Sunday or Monday. I don´t think my next email will be until next Monday because that will be my new P-day. Pretty sure. So don´t be expecting one on Thursday!

I´m really excited about the temple today! It´s the last time we´re going to the Buenos Aires and the next will be Asunción! Pretty exciting, eh?? We went proselyting on Saturday again. It was no bueno... It was raining off and on the whole entire time so a lot of people were just in their houses instead of on the streets, so we had to clap (knock) a lot of doors. It´s pretty scary when you first start doing it, but then it gets easy, and rejection gets even easier! Haha! We had a new area this time and me and Hermana Argyle´s was probably the worst. The area was really close to where our teacher, Hermano Pedersen, lives so he told us what to expect. He said that our area was mainly residential and there were like no stores in it. Kinda sucks because everyone else seemed to have some really good stuff in their area. Like a few people went to McDonalds (which is really expensive here apparently, but I haven´t been so I don´t know) and some people had full on grocery stores so they got to go and buy stuff. Hermana Miller (she´s in the other district that we came with) got like shampoo and stuff. And Elder Turley in my district, got like 16 alfajors! Ok so alfajors are like super delicious! Everyone here is in love with them! Since I couldn´t buy one, I bought one from him when we got back to the CCM! Hahahaha! Anyway.. an alfajor is like a chocolate covered oreo/cookie type thing. SO GOOD! Haha, but I guess it´s ok that our area didn´t have many stores, because it gave us a chance to clap at more doors and be courageous! But since it was so humid and wet from all the rain... I literally got eaten alive by mesquitos! Like I think I counted about 32 bites in all and that number has increased since proseltying. It's been really itchy and annoying, but a great lesson that next time I need to use my Terrashield! (BTW-mom how many drops do you put in that spray bottle again with how much water?) It was a good experience though! Also me and my companion had the best area in our last proselyting area, so it would only be fair that we had the worst this time.... ;) HAHA! We go again this week! It´ll be our last time so that will be interesting!

The new North Americans got here last Thurday after we went to the temple. They´re pretty cool, I guess. All the sisters are really nice, and I don´t really know about the elders. We play volleyball with them at physical activity so that´s pretty fun. They are a lot better at Spanish, though, than we were when we first got here. IT´s kinda crazy. Also one of the girls has the same birthday as me, so that´s kinda good/not cool. I am just rambling now, so sorry!

I love you guys all so much and I can´t wait to tell you how Paraguay is! It´s getting real now.... I´m really a representative of Jesus Chirst! I love this gospel so much and know that I'm exactly where I´m supposed to be!

 

Love, Hermana Whittaker

January 30th 2014 - week 4

You guys I got the pillowcase! It was so funny. Literally the day after I emailed you guys and was feeling all sad, it arrived! So that was a huge blessing! I love it so much and honestly everyone in my district is so jealous of it! Hahaha it was such a cute idea! Thanks! Now I feel so much closer to you guys! ;) (This pillowcase has our family picture printed on it. Scott sent it in a padded envelope and was worried it wouldn't arrive since the MTC doesn't accept packages, that's why Chloe was sad- she didn't think she'd get it!). Also I ended up getting a letter from the Young Women! Tell them all I said THANKS SO MUCH! It was so sweet of them. It really means a lot to me. 

So the temple was amazing, as usual. I seriously love it in there. This week was completely different then the last week. I end up focusing on something different that is shown or said every time I go. And the fact that I understand as much as I understand in Spanish is amazing to me!   It´s crazy! I don´t know if I told you, but I decided to make a goal and that is to go to every session that I go to while on my mission in Spanish. I just think that it would be cool to completely immerse (?) myself it the language! Haha idk it´s just what I´m gonna do ;)

So I had a super spiritual experience this week. My companion and I were teaching one of our íp´s (investigator progressive). It´s really just our teachers pretending to be an investigator, but it´s still hard cuz you have to teach all in Spanish! And you have to be able to understand their answers in Spanish.... So it´s not too easy. Anyway, we had a lesson all planned out and stuff for our last lesson with our íp Pablo. So we have a lesson on teaching as usual and literally like 5 minutes before we had to go downstairs to meet him, Hermana Argyle says to me, I think we should bear our testimonies about the church and then ask him. And that´s it. Soooo, I say, Well ok then! We go down and she tells him that we are going to have a different type of lesson today. Then she says Hermana Whittaker will bear her testimony then I will.. and then you? He agrees, which is interesting because at this point he isn´t baptized and hasn´t really said too much about the church or anything up until now. The situation is that his family is all baptized in the church, but he does´t feel that he is ready to be baptized because he doesn´t know if he can keep the commandments after the fact. So we´ve been teaching based on his needs for like 4 lessons now and he still doesn´t want to be baptized. Anyway, last lesson we have with him and we just go for it. So I start to bear my testimony...completely in Español...and I´m like hit with the spirit. I just felt it so strongly! Right then I pretty much realized how much this church means to me and just how much I wanted him to know that it is the biggest blessing you could have in your life. I seriously almost started bawling. It was that strong! Then same for my companion! She felt it too! AND so did our íp... I could see it in his eyes. He knew that everything we said was true. It was so cool! We weren´t planning on asking him to be baptized at the beginning, but we decided at the very end to ask. He said yes! It was the coolest thing ever! So after that amazing lesson, Hermana Argyle gives me this giant hug and we just talk about the spirit that we felt. Then, after, we were talking to our teacher, Hermano Abad (who was the íp) and he said, Even if Pablo didn´t say yes to baptism, would it still have been a good lesson? We said, yes of course! And he agreed. Haha anyway that´s all that happened, but it was a huge testimony to me that the spirit is there! It does work and it can DEFINITELY prompt you to ask inspired questions and prompt you teach inspired things! You just need to put your trust in the Lord. This church is true!! Then, he apparently told our morning teacher, Hermano Pedersen, that we had a super good lesson! So that´s cool...

We went proselyting again! We actually go every Saturday, but the first time they switched it to Wednesday because of the President leaving and they needed to have a huge staff meeting. So every Saturday we will be out! It was really cool! We were in the same area as last time, so we knew our way around. We didn´t have a ton of luck at the beginning, but towards the end we found one guy who was Roman Catholic and talked to him for quite some time. He didn´t want el Libro de Mormón, but he told us that he admires us for our beliefs! Haha.. then we found this dude (who was probably high at the time...?) and talked to him. He was interested, and took el Libro de Mormón! Who knows if he is ACTUALLY interested or if he just wanted to talk because we are American girls........ Cuz he was a little bit over excited to listen to us, and even gave us a few kisses on the cheek (which I know is against the rules, but I didn´t even see it coming!!)  But he still took a book! And we got his contact info so he can maybe meet with the missionaries! 

That´s about all that has happened this week. The language is still hard to learn and I have good days and bad days. There are days that I´m really motivated and just get it, and there are the days where I have no clue what anyone is saying.... BUT it´ll come! Can´t wait for the day it does! ;) The new group of Latinos came and left. Just as the last. It´s crazy cuz they´re only here for like a week and a half and then BAM, they´re gone. I´ll keep in touch though. I became pretty close with one of the Hermanas, Hermana Mendoza. She´s so funny! 

Hermana Martinez, Whittaker, and Gonzales

Anyway, the other North American group that got here like 2 weeks before us left too. That was only 5 Elders, but it was pretty weird! It´s crazy to think that I only have 2 more weeks! Kinda scary too! So on Wednesday it was really weird, cuz that only people that were here were my district of 10 and the other that got here the same day as us (which is 7). Today the new North Americans come. 14 of them. That should be interesting! Exciting though... The new President and his wife are so chill! I love them already! They are really laid back, but still fulfill the role of President, you know? He got rid of the no camera rule! (There was a no camera rule before with the Openshaws) So we can take more pictures now! Also, I had to talk on Sunday at sacrament meeting. That was interesting. HAHA I love you guys so much! Keep telling me what´s up and stuff! Have fun on your cruise mom and dad! 

LOVE YOU!! 

Love, Hermana Whittaker