June 30, 2014 - Week 26

This week was pretty good. Some pretty interesting things happened... Haha let´s talked about what happened last Monday night at 11:30 at night. So..... This is actually pretty funny... Anyway. So we were sleeping (well, my companion was sleeping, but I was like half asleep and half awake...) I don´t know why I couldn´t sleep this night, but I was awake and I moved and then all of the sudden... OUR BUNKBED FELL. YES.. THE TOP (WHICH I SLEEP ON) FELL DOWN ON MY COMPANION.... Not even a joke. So I was like freaking out and when it fell, I didn´t know if she was hurt or if she died.... It was so scary! So when it went down, she woke up and was doing like this asthma attack heavy breathing and I just jump off of the bed and I am just asking, ´´ESTÁS BIEN?! ESTÁS BIEN?!?´´ And she just wasn´t answering me. Just breathing heavily and really scared... So throughout all of this I am like lifting the bed off up and she gets out from under. Everything is ok. I repeat... EVERYTHING IS OK... The bed stopped before hitting her and didn´t even touch her. She wasn´t hurt and everything is fine. She was just scared cuz she was woken up by the bed like falling and an inch above her face!! But I know FOR SURE that Heavenly Father was most definitely protecting us. So that is the most crazy thing that happened... And when we called the office to tell them, the Elder in charge of stuff like that was like, ´´EN SERIO?!?´´ Haha he didn´t believe us that that happened. But they are sending us new beds and stuff soon. We have been sleeping on the floor with our mattresses for the whole week. What we are pretty sure happened is that usually our bed like kinda moved and stuff everytime that we were on it. Like it was kinda shakey and wobbley, but we never thought anything of it (cuz it is made of metal). But then, this happens!! But now when we think about it, it´s just super funny. 

So this is the bed... Hilarious, right??!!!

So this week, it rained. THE. WHOLE. WEEK. Like seriously. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday... It rained. So that made it really hard to contact people cuz NO ONE was out on the streets! So our contacting sucked again... But we are going to work real hard on that this week. But we did pretty good lesson-wise with the circumstances. So it wasn´t really as horrible as a week as we thought with the weather and all. One of the days was really cool. So we went to visit an investigator that we have had for a while. Her name is Vivi (I have probably told you about her), but found and started teaching her when I was with Hermana B. She was really interested and wanted to get baptized. Her marido (boyfriend that she has a kid with--and yes, she is only 18) is a less active member (his mom and her husband are active members in our ward) and we were working with the both of them so that he could return to church, they could get married, and then she could get baptized. The only problem is that they are LAZZZY and don´t ever come to church. Also, there was a time (when I was finishing my training) when we just couldn´t find her anymore. So we weren´t visiting her... So Hermana B left and then Hermana Morales came. Like 6 weeks ago, we decided to try to find her again and she was home. A little sad that Hermana B was gone, but she was telling us that she had still always been reading the Book of Mormon with her marido (his name is Roberto) and stuff. So yeah, we have been teaching her again kinda. But then we decided to really see if she was interested or not. We read with her (like sometime last week) Mosiah 18:10--It says something along the lines of,´´if this is the true desire of your heart, what have ye against being baptized in my name...´´. And then we gave her two dates to pick from to work towards being married and baptized. Then we left and didn´t really think anything of it. Anyways, we went back just to see how she was doing and when we got to her house, her nephew was sitting with us and she tells him... ´´can I have some time alone to talk with the hermanas?´´ And when she said that, I was so scared. I thought for sure that she was going to tell us that she didn´t want us to visit her anymore and that the church and baptism just wasn´t her priority and that we were just wasting our time and annoying her. But she goes on to tell us that she talked with Roberto and said that the 26th of July was the date that they want to work towards for her marriage and baptism... WHAT?! I was so happy! Then she was like asking us what she needed to do and what documents they needed and stuff to get married. So that was just a really good day. Let´s hope that they just really are serious about all this and that they work towards this goal. 

One other cool thing that happened this week is that yesterday, we went to visit a menos activo family that I had never met, but we found their name is our area book from the other missionaries. We went and found their house and really, they are just inactive cuz they´re lazy... Just like everyone here. Haha that is kinda mean, but it´s true! Anyways, they have a daughter who is 9 and so we are going to start helping her and teaching her so she can get baptized and stuff. Also, we are going to work with their family to get them back to church. They have been members for like 35 years or something like that! A lot of time. They were sealed in the temple before there was even a temple in Paraguay! They went through the temple in Brazil! So we are definitely gonna work with them. But, they have a son and apparently he plays drums. So I saw his drumset!!! It was the first drumset I have seen since I have been in Paraguay! So that was pretty cool! Haha maybe they´ll let me play it one day... ;) 

Well that is about all. We have been having a lot of fun together, me and my companion. We are seriously the best of friends! Today for p-day we went to Pizza Hut and then icecream with like 2 companionships of elders and 5 companionships of hermanas for Hermana Hunt´s birthday... Which is today! So that was really fun. Also, tomorrow I officially complete 6 months in the mission. That is nuts. That is a half of a year. That is also one third of my mission. I can´t believe it. The time goes so fast!! I just love the missionary life! HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!! LOVE YOU SOOO MUCH!

LOVE, HERMANA WHITTAKER

June 23, 2014 - Week 25

Well this week was pretty good. There is honestly nothing that I can think about that happened. Pretty standard, normal week. Oh, well other than the fact that we need to just open our mouths and talk to people! Seriously... We (me and my companion...) are having problems with our contacting. The mission goal for people contacted on the streets and stuff for week is like 50 MINIMUM and we are not reaching that... It is so weird! We don´t know why we are having a hard time doing contacting right now cuz we both know how and have done it before... It´s probably like we just need to have a better attitude towards it and just WANT to do it. But anyways... That is my difficulty of the week. We are gonna work harder on that one for sure!

This week, we were going to drop an investigator... Belén. But we couldn´t do it! We thought that she just wasn´t progressing and stuff and that it was just going to be a waste of time to teach her if she didn´t really have the desire. She is like only 11 (she is Angel´s sister) and she is always going to the church and stuff... But sometimes, I just don´t know if she really wants to get baptized cuz she knows that the church is true and stuff, or cuz she wants to get baptized cuz her brother was. So that was our problem. We went to go and talk to her about the fact that we were going to stop teaching her and stuff (of course, in a nice way...) and we got to her house, and she told us how excited she was to get baptized and that she feels so good when she is in the church and stuff and she feels just happy and peaceful. So we didn´t drop her as an investigator, we just moved her date to the 5th of July. And also, we put goals with her so that she can read the Book of Mormon and always remember to pray. We both felt good about this and guess what. We have noticed a huge difference in her! She is doing great and progressing more. This morning, we went to her house to talk with her mom (who is also an investigator, but that is another long story...) and her mom told us that she hung up the paper that we made her as a reminder to read, pray, and go to church, on her wall. It says: Belén... Las bendiciones vienen cuando... Haces tus oractiones, Lees tu Libro de Mormon, Asistes la iglesia. (The blessings come when... You say your prayers, You read your Book of Mormon, You go to church). And also, she was working on doing her family tree and stuff! We didn´t even ask her to do that. She just did it herself. I guess she learned it in primary. Anyways, she is progressing much faster now and we know that it was the best decision to change her date. 

Other news, the new hermana came to Itaugua and is with Hermana Francois. Her name is Hermana Meese, and she is from Alpine, Utah. So that is pretty cool. She has like 8 months in the mission and is pretty nice. Also, yesterday, Angel received the priesthood. That was really cool. He is so excited to be able to pass the sacrament. Things are going really good here. 

Hermana Whittaker and her companion - CUTE!

Sorry, this is a short letter, but seriously... Nothing cool happened this week. It has all just gone by fast and I don´t remember any of it... But it was fun. I am loving it here still and my companion and I are just the best of friends. I seriously don´t want to get changes with her! I have learned so much from her and she has helped me with tons of things! Especially Spanish! I hope you guys have a great week. We are going to have p-day at night cuz the hermanas wanted to like eat pizza and watch a movie (church movie...) So that is why we worked in the morning today. So my p-day should be a fun one.. Let´s hope. Have a great week!!! LOVE YOU TONS! <3

Love, Hermana Whittaker

June 16, 2014 - Week 24

Well... We just received changes this morning and.... I AM STAYING IN ITAUGUA WITH MY COMPANION! So we were both really happy, but we totally knew that we wouldn`t have any changes. So it wasn`t a huge surprise! So it looks like I am going to have like 7 months in Itaugua and I am so fine with that! I seriously love the people here and want to be with them for as long as I can... Also, I love my companion and our 6 weeks together went by way too fast... So we definitely need another change together! So that is the news with the changes and stuff. Also, an American hermana is coming to Itaugua to be with Hermana Francois and Hermana Hernandez is leaving Itaugua. So that should be fun to get to know a knew hermana, but I think we will be moving from that house soon so we won`t be spending too much time with her... But yeah. That`s the news!

This week we did a lot better. I feel like we got a lot of stuff done and visited a lot of people. We found a few pretty solid investigators, too, and we have built a pretty good relationship with a menos activo family that has been like MIA for a while. They came to church yesterday, though, so that was really cool!

But yeah... We worked a lot harder this week and had some great lessons. We are also excited to stay together for another change cuz we have some solid people progressing! First, we have a lady named Blacida. She is the daughter of this menos activo family (familia Sandoval) and we just recently found out that she isn`t baptized and she wants to work towards getting married (to her boyfriend who is actually a menos activo in the ward also...) so that she can get baptized and raise her son (who is going to be born like any minute--no, en serio... She is like 40 weeks pregnant and will have her baby like any day now...) in the church and stuff. So she is really cool and we are working with her. The only problem is that her boyfriend is married to someone else... Yeah. I know... Complicated. And he needs to pay to get divorced so that they can get married. Cuz the ``wife`` is like with some other guy, too. It`s just all messed... But yeah! And also, we are working with Blacida`s sister to get them reactivated in the church and stuff and her daughter who is 8 years old, named Leti, baptized and stuff. So that is what we have going on and the people that we are working with now. Also, Belèn (Angel`s sister) is planning on getting baptized this Saturday and is pretty excited. And Angel is going to receive the priesthood so that he can pass the sacrament and he is so excited for that. So things are going pretty good!

Other news is that we had a zone conference on Thursday with President McMullin and stuff. It was SOOOO GOOOOOD. Seriously... It was great. Like first of all, the zone leaders did a grand talk on how we can realize when someone is progressing and when we need to drop someone as an investigator... Even though that is really hard to do! But it was a really awesome talk. Then.... President McMullin gave his talk and it was so beautiful. Not even kidding. I about cried. Haha but really. It was a bit different because I guess some other hermanas asked him a question during our ``break`` and he decided to address all of us on this subject. So I guess they asked him if he had any advice for their investigator who had a problem with pornography... And he decided to pretty much give this talk on pornography and the dangers of it... It was honestly one of the most spiritual talks that I have ever heard in my life. He wasn`t going to use like the whole time to talk about this, but I guess he just felt really inspired to talk about it and I just don`t even know how to describe it. It was just SO GOOD! But also he related it to us as missionaries, cuz even out here on the mission there are opportunities for stuff to come up and you just never know... You could find yourself in situations. Like especially in the cybers when we are emailing home. He then was talking about how he wants everyone to have a ``video`` prepared in your mind. He talked about how he wants that in this ``video`` he wants you to think about the day you`ll be getting married. You`re in the temple and you`re with your future spouse and stuff. Then he just goes on describing this ``video`` that he wants us to have and if we ever find ourselves in this situation... Turn as fast as you can and play this video. I honestly can`t even do half as good of a job trying to describe what he said... But it was just awesome. Seriously one of the best talks I have ever heard in my life. President is just awesome. But yeah... That was like definitely a highlight of my week!!!

So that is about it. We did nothing really for p-day today. We had to go to a cyber that is like 20 minutes from Itaugua cuz the one in Itaugua was closed today. Also, Hermana B came to Itaugua to visit today! She just like found out yesterday that one of her companions had to go to Capiatà (the neighbouring place) for something, so she was going to take her other companion (cuz she has two..... haha) to Itaugua to visit me! And so that was pretty fun to see her. But we didn`t really do anything. We tried to visit Veronica cuz Hermana B wanted to see her, but she wasn`t home. So that sucked... But it`s been a pretty tranquilo day. Excited for this week! Especially cuz I get to stay another change in Itaugua with my companion! Should be a great next 6 weeks! LOVE YOU ALL! HAVE A SPECTACULAR WEEK!!! <3

Love, Hermana Whit 

June 9, 2014 - Week 23

This week was full of stuff that we did. It was pretty fun, though! Let´s start with Wednesday... We had divisions with the Hermana Leader trainers. So I stayed in our area and my companion went with Hermana Gutierrez to her area called Mburucuya (it´s pronounced booducuya--which means passionfruit in Guarani...) which is like super chuchi and it´s like right where the mission office is. So she had a fun time and stuff. And I stayed here with Hermana Owen in my area. It was really fun! Of course, I was a bit worried that she was going to drop cane on me at any second for doing something wrong... But nope! It was pretty good. We had some really good lessons. Actually, one of the most spiritual lessons that I have had so far. One of them... But this is what happened...

Hermana Owen & Hermana Whittaker

So we started off in a ´´neighborhood´´ that is in our area named Conavi 3. We visited a menos activo there first and had lunch with her. That went well. Then we visited the familia Portillo and then Sabrina. All really good lessons. Also, while we were walking some guy on a moto drove up to us and said, ´´Are you guys mormons?´´ We say, ´´Yeah...´´ And then he says, ´´Well I want you guys to come to my house and teach me about your church and stuff and about the Bible...´´ So we were pretty shocked at this point cuz this never happens. Then he like asks us if we are Americans and stuff. So really we don´t know if he is actually interested in the church or...... Yeah. So that happened. Hahaha but then we had to go in front of the chapel to contact for the Visitor´s Center thing that we did this week. Me and Hermana Owen contacted a good number of people in the 3 hours that we had to contact. I think she contacted like 40 and I contacted like 30. Something like that... But it was good. Then after all that contacting and inviting people to the Open House for Saturday, we went to find a reference from a member. Long story short, we couldn´t find it. No problem though, cuz we were just going to do it another day with the member himself. So we needed to find someone to teach closeby. Then Hermana Owen says, ´´Hey, isn´t that the house of an investigator? I remember when I went on divisions with Hermana B we went to that house and taught that lady...´´ So I look and sure enough, it was the house/dispensa (store--there are a lot of houses that are small stores, too) of a lady named Emeteria that we used to teach at the beginning of my training. I remembered that we stopped teaching her because she never went to church. So we decided to try again... I mean we needed to find someone that could be our new investigator that day and she was a really good choice. So we went and she was so happy to see us! She told us, ´´I thought you guys forgot about me!´´ And also she remembered Hermana Owen, so that was funny. She then decided to give us some Ñanduti... Just as a gift! It was so sweet! So that was cool. But anyway... It was her and her daughter and we shared with them. We shared the restoration with them and I don´t know why or what happened... But the spirit was SOOOO strong! It was seriously so cool! After we shared the first vision with them it was just silent.... Their faces were in awe. It was awesome!! But anyway, they accepted the baptismal invitation and we are for sure going back to visit them. So that was my cool story about an awesome lesson that we had. 

The other cool thing that happened was that on Friday, me and Hermana Morales had to contact again in front of the chapel for CVC and we got like 108 contacts! I got like 50 and it was just cool. So that means for this week, I got like 87 contacts total. That is really good. So I was so happy! That was thanks to this time we got to contact though... But whatever! It was cool! But anyways, we had the Visitor´s Center thing on Saturday from 4-8 PM and it went pretty good. There was a missionary couple that is like in charge of it that are in the South mission (they totally know Elder Lyon, too). The cool thing is that we are the first ward to do this in our mission and it went well! So anyway, Elder and Hermana Arnold came to set it all up and there was like a ´´statue´´ like the Cristo statue in SLC... But it wasn´t an actual statue. Just like a hard posterish thing. I don´t know how to describe it. It was kinda like a cardboard cut-out, but not really. Anyways... They came to set it up and teach us what we would be doing. So we (the hermanas) had to lead the tours. Which was welcome the people to the thing and start the words of Christ for them to listen to (same in SLC, but in Spanish--of course) and then teach shortened versions of like ´´The Life of Christ´´ and ´´The Restoration´´ and ´´The Plan of Salvation´´ and stuff like that. There were like different pictures and stuff set up and we just lead and taught the tour. So that was really neat. There were 3 different companionships of hermanas doing the tours, so it wasn´t like we were the only ones. But it did go for 4 hours... So that was fun... ;) But we had about like 100 or so people show up and it was really nice. Well... We invited through contacting like over 1000 people or so... But that was a really good turn out and probably a breaking record (according to Hermana Arnold). In one of the tours that we were teaching we had like a family of members in our area but with their sons (who are menos activo) and an investigator but also a few other people that were interested. There was one girl who some of the missionaries invited off the street to come in and learn more and she totally did and she was in that group. She lives in our area so we were excited about that. Well.... We were almost done with our part of the tour and my companion was testifying of the importance of temples when this girl just like starts swaying... Her eyes were like fluttering and I just knew that she was going to faint. So my companion is like 3 seconds away from saying... ´´in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen´´ and then I was going to ask her if she was OK. Then BAM! She just falls to the floor! I just run over to her and all the people in the room like help her up and stuff. My companion didn´t even see that that was happening to her, but she just runs to get water and stuff. Turns out that everything was ok and she fainted cuz she had taken some medication that morning and the cultural room in the chapel was kind of hot. So she is ok! And the good news is, we are going to visit her soon in her house! 

Cake for Lidia's (Angel's Mom) birthday

So that whole activity went really good. Even President and Hermana McMullin were there! So that is about all that happened for this week. It was a full week, for sure. ONLY ONE MORE WEEK OF THIS CAMBIO! That--I cannot believe. Seriously. Well... Next week you guys should know what is happening with changes. I am pretty sure there will be no changes for us, but you never know! Hope you all have a marvalous week!

LOVE YOU GUYS WITH ALL MY HEART!!

Love, Hermana Whittaker

June 2, 2014 - Week 22

Well. This week my companion was sick (enferma). It was really crappy, actually. She started feeling really sick on Tuesday and we couldn´t really work for the rest of the day. She like had the urge to throw up and her body just was aching. So, pretty sure she had the flu. So, we went home and literally she just slept. For like 13 hours. And I am her companion so what did I do? I slept, too! It was good, but bad, too. My back hurt so bad the next day! And she told me that it´s probably because I slept for so long, cuz her back was hurting, too. So that was the consequence. But then, on Wednesday the elders gave her a blessing and she felt a little bit better. Enough that we went out and visited people and stuff that day. Then, Thursday comes and she was feeling fine--well, not completely fine, but fine enough to work again. Then comes Friday and she wasn´t feeling good again. And neither was I! We both had like stomache aches and didn´t wanna eat ANYTHING. So we both feel like crap, but we had to contact people in front of our chapel to invite them to the Visitor´s Center thing that we are going have on Saturday. So, we still conacted and it was pretty good except that like half-way through our ´´shift´´ it started raining... So, you guessed it, no one was in sight! We still got some good contacts and some references to visit. And then, Saturday comes and we both feel great! My voice sounded horrible... I don´t know why, but I like lost my voice on Saturday and couldn´t really talk. I think it has something to do with our heater in our house (cuz we are definitely using our heater cuz it is FREEZING). But it´s back to normal, so it´s fine! 

So that is the story of my week of our sicknesses. And despite that... We still did better with our lessons and stuff this week. So we were pretty happy about that. We thought for sure we were going to have another week of nothing. But, we got a lot of stuff done. We are still working with all the teens in Conavi 3. That is where familia Portillo and Angel live. Jorge and Jaime are doing great. I am really seeing huge changes in them. They are reading the Book of Mormon everyday and Jaime is passing the sacrament every Sunday and they want to do Family Home Evening with their family and stuff. It´s just really cool to see how much they are progressing. Also, we were finally able to find their parents and have a lesson with them this week. And their parents kinda got to see that they really are changing! I think that this is the open door. Like Jorge and Jaime are going to be examples for their family so that their WHOLE family, especially their sisters, come back to church. They are a sealed family and only half are active, but I am starting to see the changes and I know that if Jorge and Jaime keep it up, their family will be more united, and that is really what we want for them! So that is really cool to see.

So, we also found out that we have to move. Apparently President McMullin wants all the companions to live in their own area just as companions, and we live with the hermanas in their area. So, we are looking for a house (wow--that sounds pretty weird...like I am a grown-up or something). So, that should be fun. I don´t think we will be moving out super soon, but we definitely will be moving and the other hermanas are staying in the apartment. I´m not really sad about it though, cuz I pretty much just talk to my companion anyways, even though we live with the hermanas.. Haha! So it won´t be too different... 

That is about all that happened this week. Oh yeah... And yesterday I completed FIVE MONTHS in the mission! That´s so crazy! That is almost a third of my entire mission! Seriously... I can´t believe that! So... Looking forward to another great week here... Have a great week, too!!!

LOVE MUCHISIMO, Hermana Whittaker