May 5, 2014 - Week 18

So let´s start out with changes. We totally found out changes yesterday before church (usually we wouldn´t find out till today..) and guess what... I am staying in my area! I honestly had no clue what was going to happen. If I would change areas or stay. All I knew was that I would be getting a latina companion. And guess what. My companion is from Uruguay! So this should be quite the new experience. I wouldn´t be surprised if my Spanish just skyrockets this change cuz that is what I will have to speak ALL the time now. Also, of course Heavenly Father will help me with the language as well... So yeah! That´s the new news I have. So now it is up to me to teach Hermana Morales (that´s her name) my area! Pretty exciting, eh? We are both senior companion as well cuz we have the same amount in the mission. She just has 4 less weeks than my when I was in the CCM, but she came with me to the mission. My feelings about all of this: well, I will most definitely miss Hermana Braunersrither. We have seriously become so close and such great friends this last change together. We laugh about everything. Seriously. And she is such a good missionary! She has honestly taught me so many things!! She is going to the area of the temple. It´s called Moroni. The first chapel in Paraguay. We go on Wednesday morning to get our new companions and stuff and I was informed that I (and my new companion) will be signing into the country as well. So that should be fun. Not really... I hear it takes like 2 or 3 hours or something... But anyways... I am excited for Hermana B! Also, I am pretty excited to see how this next change will go. It will be difficult getting used to a new companion and stuff... Especially a latin one... But I remember her from the CCM and I think she is really cool and we will get along just fine. :)

So... Other stuff. My wallet got stolen. Here is the story... So we were getting on a colectivo to go to a baptism that the Elders had on Saturday, and I was the only one with money out of me and my companion. I had a 100 mil (like $20-25 US) so I was gonna be getting a lot of change back (It only costs like 2 mil to get on). So I was waiting at the front for my change and the guy was like counting my change for me. I knew that there were a lot of people watching and stuff and I remember thinking ´´Wow.. this could be dangerous. Everyone can see my money!´´ But I just took like my 90 mil and stuck in in my wallet and put my wallet in my backpack. And I didn´t even think about it. Then we got off the colectivo and went into the church. I took my backpack off to get something out and saw that the zipper was open a little bit.... My stomach dropped. I looked in and looked up at Hermana B and said, ´´someone stole my wallet´´ (like 4 times). I just couldn´t believe it. Well, actually I could. I was just so mad at myself cuz I totally had the prompting! UGH! Especially after I had that thought that there are a lot of people watching me get like 90 mil back in change... So long story short... LISTEN TO THE SPIRIT! LISTEN TO THE PROMPTINGS! But everything is ok. The mission office knows and I hear that my card is cancelled and stuff. So we´re all good! Mostly I was just mad that there are people that would do that and I just loved that wallet! It was so cute! ;) Also, I have money for the month, so I´m not too worried about anything.

 

This week went really good! We had a great Fireside that all our investigators and the menos activos were invited to and Elder Wilhelm (of the 70) spoke. It was really good! And also, he spoke to the missionaries in our zone the next morning for our Zone Conference. It was a super good talk! His wife spoke, too. They are just great people. So that was fun. Also, we visited Veronica this week and she said something that was so cool. She first started out telling us that after she was baptized, she honestly didn´t really feel any different. She didn´t feel anything... But then she told us that after she was confirmed and received the Gift of the Holy Ghost... She felt the spirit soooo strongly and she had like goosebumps! Then she told us that since she was baptized, she just feels more like herself. I can believe it, too! She has changed so much! She is just so much more bright! She just shines every time I see her! It has seriously been the coolest process to watch her go through. She is so much happier! It´s just a huge testimony to me that the Gospel of Jesus Christ really is the ONLY thing that can bring TRUE happiness into lives. It is so crazy!

So that is about it! This week has felt like it´s gone so fast and I can´t believe that this week I'm about to experience my first real change! I hope you guys all have a fantastic week and thank you so much for always looking out for me! And helping me out, especially with the wallet situation! I wasn´t even worried about it cuz I know you guys have my back! ;) LOVE YOU LOTS! Talk to you THROUGH SKYPE tomorrow!!! Don´t forget... 5 o´clock sharp be online! I will be ready at 7 here!

Love, Hermana Whittaker

April 28, 2014 - Week 17

Veronica is a baptized woman! That`s right, you heard me. She is a baptized woman! It was so awesome! I am just so happy for her. Everything went perfect this week. We finished teaching her all that she needed to know, then she had the interview with the District Leader, then she got baptized Friday, April 25th! I was just full of so much joy. I feel like she is my real first baptism, because I taught her from the beginning and really saw her change. Well, first of all, it wasn`t MY baptism... It was HER baptism. And she looked so beautiful and happy! It was great. Everything went flawless, my companion and I sang `I Look for Rainbows` (in Spanish obviously...) and then there were like empanadas and drinks after that her cousin brought. Plus, we had a cake that we made for her that the Paraguayans just LOVE. They`re called Nemen Marcus Bars (?) and my companion makes them. They are actually pretty dang good.... So we definitely made them and they were a hit. She was baptized by her cousin`s husband (who is the 2nd couselor in our branch) and it just went wonderfully! Then, we took her out to get icecream with us from this great place called Amandau to celebrate (which is not even as nice as Baskin Robbins... but as far as Paraguay goes, it`s like a Ghiradelli...). It was just such a great day. She has made so many friends in the ward and I am pretty sure that she is going to start going to Institute soon! So it`s just a great situation. So that`s what happened with her!

Veronica with her cake

As for other things... Not much happened. We had kinda a week full of nothing.. A lot of unexpected things came up this week and we had to go to like 3 meetings that kinda screwed up our schedule. But it`s all good! First of all... Changes are like next week. Can you believe it?! I have no clue what will go down... I could stay or leave... It`s just nuts to think about. All I do know, is that I am like almost 100 percent sure that I will be getting a Latin companion... Cuz that will sure help my Spanish out... 

Secondly... We have another girl that we are now working with named Griselda. She is super cool. How we found her is actually pretty funny. So a while back, we got a reference from the other hermanas for this menos activo in our area. So we went to visit her and it turns out that she is actually not baptized, but all her kids are. So we thought, wow we can definitely work with her and help her out and stuff. But then, she got really bust and we couldn`t ever find her. We went back there a week or two later and she wasn`t home again. But we did meet her daughter Lisandri. So she got baptized when she was like 11 or so and hasn`t gone to church in years. She is 19. At first, she didn`t seem interested in talking to us... But then, we called her to remind and invite her to come to church with us and she was totally on board! So she came with us last week (Easter) and really enjoyed it. Then, that same day, we went to visit with her and she introduced us to her friend... Griselda. And she`s totally interested and wants to learn more about the church and stuff! Plus, Lisandri is just awesome and wants to do like everthing! She totally came to Veronica`s baptism and also brought Griselda to church yesterday! So they are just really cool girls. Some bad news about some of our investigators.... So remember that girl Vivi?? Well, she is definitely avoiding us right now and we have no clue why. I don`t know what happened cuz she seemed so solid! She just really wanted to get married and baptized and she was telling us she had a date in mind.... And now..? She won`t answer the phone, she is `never home`... It`s just so weird... But it`s fine. We are hoping that she will figure things out with her marido and stuff and then maybe we can work with her again. 

Things coming up... Well we have a Fireside with Elder Wilhelm (of the 70) this week on Wednesday. Should be great. We have a lot of people who told us that they are coming. It`s for like all the members in our stake and they are all supposed to bring a friend who isn`t a member. Then, we have a Zone Conference this week, too. Should be fun! 

This last week... We had a farewell breakfast for Elder Willes.... Who Izzy met!!! How awesome was that?! I totally have had it planned for a while, but I wanted it to be a surprise! He is such a great Elder. Especially for doing that for me... Anyways... that`s about all I can think of for this week! (Chloe had Elder Willes bring Izzy a birthday present from her - personally! Such a thoughtful and special thing for her to do. Was very sweet!) 

Rosalia, Jenny (member with red hair), and Hermana Whittaker

I did that thing that mom told me about. This week I decided to write some random things that happened on some days... Here they are!

On Wednesday.. This one menos activo lady named Catalina asked me if I had a nose job cuz apparently I have a cute nose.

On Thursday.. A reference we received and then contacted told me that she wants me to be her son`s girlfriend

On Saturday.. I lost the keys to our house. What an idiot. But it`s ok, we`re fine

On Sunday.. Two different drunk guys told us that we were so beautiful and stuff... It was really annoying, actually

Today.. I weighed myself. Lost 5 pounds this month. 

That`s all! LOVE YOU GUYS SO MUCH!

April 21, 2014 - Week 16

Guess who's getting baptized? VERONICA! So this is how it all went down... We went to visit her again one of the days of the week. I think it was Tuesday cuz we couldn´t find her last Monday. We visit her and we just start talking like normal, friendly conversation and stuff. Then, when we ask her what she wants us to ask in the pray, she tells us that she wants us to ask for more faith for her. So then we ask her why and she doesn´t really say, but then we guessed that it was because she needs to have faith to make the right decision. The decision that she knows is right. She then tells us that is exactly it. So we have a normal lesson with her. Shared Mosiah 18: 16-17 (?) I think.... Some scripture in 18... Then we gave her some homework to read Ether 12 (about faith). We didn´t want to keep pushing baptism on her, we just wanted her to know that Heavenly Father will help her and answer her prayers. So we left that with her. When we went back the next day to ask her what she learned. It was also her 18th birthday this day. Some other things were happening and she wouldn´t really tell us. At one point, she was crying in the other room and then came back out so we could talk to her. We had no clue what was wrong, but she just sat and was listening to us. We were talking about Ether 12 and it just seemed like her mind was somewhere else. So I´m just thinking... Wow this isn´t going to good. She doesn´t wanna listen, she isn´t feeling the spirit, this isn´t a good lesson. Then she tells us.....  A little bit out of nowhere.... That she is going to get baptized.

WHAT?! I was so happy! Still am, too. She just knows that it is what she needs. She also told us that she wants to this Friday. So in a few days! I´m just so excited for her! Plus, she told her cousin (member) and stuff this time. So it´s for sure! She totally made the decision for herself. It was just really good. For me, this is just a HUGE testimony that Heavenly Father answers prayers. He answered my prayers AND hers. It´s just so cool. Then after, we had a party for her. Another family (members) came over and it was just super fun! We brought a cake and stuff and took some pictures (I´ll have to send them next week or so cuz my computer isn´t working this week). She was just so happy! 

So that´s the story and status of Veronica... As for others... I don´t really know. Vivi told us that this week that we could go to visit her and she had been talking to her marido, Roberto, and they want to set a date to get married so she can get baptized! She says that he´s been reading el Libro de Mormón and stuff! So that´s cool. All week, we tried going over to her house and she wasn´t home. So I don´t really know what´s up with that. Also, the family of our recent converts (the Maldonado´s) are doing pretty good! Get this... The kid, Fansisco (12 years old), has been reading the Book of Mormon. And he explained to us Lehi´s dream the other day! He´s only 12 and he reads on his own! He´s in like chapter 11 of 1 Nephi. Also, he and his other brother (Moises) and sister (Clara) came to church yesterday with Sandra and Natalia Maldonado (our converts). It´s just so cool to see how much they are enjoying learning about the gospel and stuff.

 

This week was the Semana Santa. A ton of people gave us chipa. It´s not really that great. It's made of mandioca flour and it is just like super rubbery and hard stuff. I don´t like it really. Also, everyone left to visit family and stuff this weekend so we couldn´t really find anyone towards the end of the week. On Sunday there were a lot of people at church. Sabrina finally came! She left right after they passed the sacrament (they do sacrament last here) but at least she came! We gave a lot of kids like chocolate eggs from the store. Not super tasty. But they loved them! Had a lot of good lessons with great people.

 

I can´t really think of anything else that happened... Today for p-day we did like nothing. Just stayed home and my companion made corn flake chicken. It was pretty good. So we had like an American home-cooked meal. Pretty delicious. Hopefully next week, we´ll do something super fun. I think we´re gonna try to meet up with hermana Hunt and her comp somewhere... Who knows! But this week we are having a farewell breakfast for Elder Willes. He goes home on Wednesday! How crazy! So we are making this grand breakfast and saying bye tomorrow at district meeting. Then this Friday we have Veronica´s baptism. That´ll be great. And that´s about all I can think of that is happening this week! I hope you all have had a great Easter weekend and can´t wait to talk to you next week! LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

Love, Hermana Whittaker 

April 14, 2014 - Week 15

Ok... So this week was full of Awesome´s and No-So-Awesome´s. First of all... Let´s talk about how I got to go to the temple on Tuesday. Wow. It was so awesome! Did the session in Spanish (obviously) and it was WAYYYYYY easier! It´s crazy how much you can learn in like 2 months. Also... Let´s talk about how beautiful it was. It was LINDISIMO! (That´s super duper beautiful in Spanish...) Seriously. It was such a great experience. The spirit was just so strong and I just loved it. It was so great to get to do that. I only have to wait another year to do it again... ;) Hahaha but it was awesome. Totally took up our whole day though. It´s like 2 hours away from our house. 

So this week we had a lot of good lessons and stuff. Not too many new things happened. My companion and I have to teach District Meeting tomorrow. That´ll be interesting. Hahaha. Everyone is doing good. We still really need to work with Vivi on getting her marido, Roberto, back to the church and them married so that she can finally get baptized. It´s hard though... because he is literally never home. Every time we go over there.... Never home. So that´s frusterating. We are gonna really work on that this week, though. Then we have Beatriz. She is like 66 years old and a little bit crazy. But I love her so much. She is the funniest lady ever and sometimes has no clue what´s going on. She always tells me that when I first got here, she could´t understand anything I said... It´s hilarious. She was progressing and going to church for a while and this week, she told us that she now has to work on Sundays so she can´t go to church. Sad. But we are still going to visit her and stuff and work with her. But let´s talk about this situation now......

Veronica... So this week Veronica changed my life like 8 different times this week. And I´ll tell you why. So she has definitely been like feeling the spirit and stuff, right? So that is all just great and stuff. We had a lesson on the Plan of Salvation and stuff that went great. A lesson with some members so she could meet some other people and have some other friends... That went great. Also, we had a great lesson with her on Friday, though. We pretty much just answered a lot of her questions and doubts and stuff and it ended up getting really spiritual and serious. So she is a super like shy and timid girl, right? And also, she is kinda lonely cuz she´s living with her cousin... So she kinda misses her family (who are Catholic--of course)... (And also they won´t approve of her being baptized in the church and stuff... ) But she has really opened up to us and we just KNOW that the church is true. It´s just so obvious. And then she told us... On Friday... That she knows that the Catholic church doesn´t have the authority and that the authority is in the Church of Jesus Christ. I wanted to cry of happiness. It was just so great. She like was talking about baptism and me and my companion were just so happy. So things went super good. The spirit was so strong. Yeah. Then we went to visit her on Saturday to teach the 10 Commandments. That went good. Then we took her to a baptism with us (it was the baptism of the other hermanas) that night. She enjoyed it. She met a knew friend, a girl in the ward named Romina, so things are going great. Then on the way home... She starts telling us that she is feeling like baptism is a Yes and then a No and it keeps switching in her mind. Oh no, right?? So the next day (yesterday), we go over and have a lesson with her on Faith and talk about when Peter walked on water, but then doubted himself and fell... But then Christ was there to help him again... It was a really spiritual lesson and stuff. Then she just starts saying that she doesn´t know if she should be baptized and stuff and she hasn´t told her family and she doesn´t know if she has gotten her answer yet. So I tell her... well not really me, it was the spirit for sure... That a lot of the time, I think we don´t ¨receive¨ answers cuz we are scared for what the answer will be. Because we know what the answer will be. And she totally got it... She totally understood where I was getting at. Then I told her that it doesn´t matter what goes on... Just like with Peter, there will be a storm all around us and we will always have problems, we just need that one time, the one testimony that we have felt the spirit testify to us, to know what we need to do. Then she tells us.. Yeah... I feel like I know my answer.. I´ve had my answer. So at this point, we know she´s gonna say it... So we ask her ´what is your answer?´ and she says.... ´No bautizarme´.............................

WHAT?!?!?!?! I was so confused! It seriously threw both of us off so bad. It was the weirdest thing. And it completely broke my heart in two. Seriously. And the worst part about it is that she KNOWS the church is true. She KNOWS! She told us! But, she is just so afraid of what her family will think. She doesn´t want to cause problems in her family. So then we told her that we want her to tell Heavenly Father her decision and if she feels good about it, go with it... IF NOT... Maybe it´s the wrong choice. We had her say the prayer and tell Him in the prayer. She did and at the end you could just tell that she knew.... You could just tell. So that we left. Feeling so sad. Like SO sad. But we are going back there tonight and we are going to verify with her on how her prayer went and stuff. It´s so sad and I probably told that story horrible. Sorry if you can´t understand. But that is definitely what happened this week.  

That´s about it! I have been praying like crazy for Veronica... I´ll let you know what happens next week! This week is Semana Santa (Holy Week) cuz of Pascua (Easter) and they sell a whole bunch of chipa (this bread stuff that they eat here). So I´ll probably try some of that. That´s all I can think about that happened for this week.

LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

LOVE, HERMANA WHITTAKER

April 7, 2014 - Week 14

Ice Cream with Hermana Hunt before she leaves

Well this week was conference! It was so good, too! So I thought it was funny, but as missionaries, when it´s conference, everyone is just like soooo excited! It´s pretty funny, actually... Just that since there aren´t too many things you look forward to as being something exciting and different as a missionary, when it´s conference weekend, everyone acts likes it´s the Second Coming. Which actually, it´s pretty close considering the words we get to hear come straight from heaven! Hahaha this is me trying to be funny in a missionary-like way... ;) Anyway, conference was SO good though! The best part about it all was that I GOT TO WATCH IT IN ENGLISH! I didn´t know that this was an option for missionaries till like Friday night... So I was so excited! Especially because when we went to the Women´s conference (which for us was Saturday morning but for you guys was like a week ago) it was translated in Spanish, so we had to watch it in Spanish. It was good, but it gets really hard trying to understand everything for that long. Seriously, I was getting a headache trying to keep up with what was being said! So when we got to watch conference in English... Wow it was quite the blessing. So that was just really cool. Also, it kinda felt like I didn´t know any Spanish after cuz I had listened to all of conference in English and also talked to all American missionaries durning conference. So for two days I didn´t really speak Spanish and it was just really weird!

A beautiful sunset - Chloe says it was better in real life!

I loved EVERY SINGLE TALK. But I especially loved Utchdorf, Bednar, Anderson, Holland, Nelson and OF COURSE President Monson. So those are like half of the talks, but they were just so good! I can´t choose any favorites! Like I loved how Anderson said: Don´t let the wirlwinds drag you down! (Those could definitely be song lyrics, if they aren´t already) and Bednar´s talk on how we NEED loads in life you get back on the road to our Father in Heaven. That was soooo good! Plus Holland is just awesome at dropping cane on everyone and Ioved his testimony at the end about how he was ¨more sure that the ordinances and convenants that we need to make are restored and on the earth than he was sure that we were sitting in front of him¨. Then that inspiring story that President Monson gave about the boy on the flight and how we need to be more mindful and show more love to others. Wow. SOO great! I thought that a huge theme of this whole conference was that we really just need to be like Christ. We need to treat others like Christ would treat them. We need to look for Christ in all we do and we need to remember His sacrifice for us. I (of course) looked at this message from a missionary´s perspective because I AM a representative of Jesus Christ! I need to do everything like He would! It just made me want to be even better and work even harder and to just remember to be like Him.

An avocado a member gave - imagine the guacamole!

Anyways, as for missionary work.... This week was a really good one. We ended up meeting Lourdes Maldonado´s (our recent convert who is pretty much like a missionary now cuz she helps us find like everyone to teach) sister and her family! A family of 6! They are just the greatest. They seem really interested and just want to learn more! So we will definitely be working with them a lot this week. Tonight, actually! So that was really cool. Also, one of our investogators, Veronica, is progressing A TON! So she has been like reading the Book of Mormon and praying and stuff and totally came to the first session of conference on Sunday! She said she learned A LOT of things and really loved President Monson´s talk. She could really feel like spirit, too. She said she had like goosebumps throughout conference! It is just awesome. She just knows the church is true. Hopefully she will be able to be baptized soon. I know that it is a huge desire that she has. I love seeing her be so happy!  I know it´s gotta be super hard for her, cuz she lives with her cousin and is just going to the university and doesn´t have very many friends and stuff cuz she´s in a new place... But I have seen a huge change in her! We had some great lessons with her this week and she had a lot of questions for us and stuff. We answered them and she totally understood! Just super good. Also, her cousin´s (the member) little girl, who is like 2, now knows me by the name of Hermana Chuchi... Hahaha soon the whole branch will know. Also, this week we had some lessons with this kid named Hugo that we met at another investigator´s house. He seemed super interested and said that he was for sure going to conference on Sunday.... So it pretty much broke our hearts when he didn´t show up. But, that happenes a lot here. The mission (in Hermana Hunt´s words) is like a novio (boyfriend). The people lead you along for a while... Then they just take and throw your heart on the ground and break it when they don´t come to church. Funny... But so true. Things are going great though! Me and my companion are like best friends now and we get along great. We laugh at each other like all the time and we tried singing the whole musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat the other day... So things are good! I still love being a missionary! I cannot wait to go to the temple tomorrow! It is gonna be so great! HOPE YOU GUYS HAVE A GREAT WEEK! LOVE YOU!

Love, Hermana Whittaker

March 31, 2014 - Week 13

So the first major news is that we got changes this week. Of course I am in the same area with the same companion, so that`s cool, but I got to see what it was like! So everyone just waits until they get the call and then they go to the office the next day and get their new companion and go to their new area! Crazy, right?? Wonder when I`ll get my first REAL change...? Anyway, Hermana Hunt left. It was a sad day, but she was also really ready to see more of Paraguay. She`s been in Itaugua for like 6 months, so she was sad to leave, but ready at the same time. So she actually ended up going to Hermana Braunersrither`s old area. We had a going away party for her with the members and they were all SOOOO sad to see her going. They really love her. Also, Hermana Hernandez totally got cake in Hermana Hunt`s face and I got a picture of it. It was great. So now we have a new hermana living with us. Her name is Hermana Francois. She is from Haiti! Cool huh! She also speaks really good Spanish (she has been in the mission for like a year and 2 months--she`s close to being done!) and English and French (her native language) and Creol (?--which is like Haiti`s Guarani) and a little bit of Guarani and Portuguese (because her last area that she was in for like 7 months was Pedro Juan and that borders Brazil)! That`s pretty cool, right?? She is super sweet and a great missionary. So that`s the newest in our house. Also, me and my companion have become WAY more close this week. It really is because Hermana Hunt is gone. Haha that sounds sad, but it`s true! Hermana B and Hunt were super good friends and so when we were all together, they would be talking or whatever. Now, she only has me! Haha so we have become a lot better friends this past week.

Also, our zone got split in two this change, and our district leader is now our zone leader. They also divided up the elders area in Itaugua and put two new elders in. One of them is our new district leader. His name is Elder Chinchilla. So now we have 8 missionaries in our ward. That`s a lot, huh!

So as for missionary work, things have been pretty good this week. We went with two of the elders that are in an area that borders ours called Mboi`y (pronounced: boy-oo, but with a Guarani accent ;) to a reference that OUR recent convert, Lourdes (the mom of my first baptism here) gave us. She happened to live in the elders area, so we went with them and Lourdes to meet here. She is THE GOLDEN INVESTIGATOR. Seriously! She is just really interested and stuff. The lesson that we had with the elders was a super good one, too. They are just really good missionaries. The spirit was there sooooo strongly! Wow, it was great. The elders have also been visiting her and they told us that she ready like all of 1 Nephi chapter 1 and they didn`t even give her a BOM yet! Lourdes gave her one! So that`s good for both of our companionships cuz they have a great investigator and our recent convert is just out being an awesome missionary now! Plus, after the lesson with the elders, Elder Willes (who is almost done with his mission--he has like 4 weeks left and also lives in Sandy, Ut...Just a fun fact) told me that he was honestly super impressed with my spanish. He said it was really good for how long I`ve been in the mission. So that was cool! Also it`s good that he said that, cuz I have been feeling really down about my Spanish this week. It`s so weird, learning a language! Cuz one day I feel like really good about speaking and the next, I feel like I haven`t learned a thing! It`s pretty frusterating. But it`s ok cuz I will just keep learning and it will be easier!

 

We had some other really good lessons with the people this week. We have a really cool investigator named Vivi who is like all ready to just get baptized and stuff. She has a testimony and everything. She just needs to get married to her marido (which pretty much just means your ¨guy¨ that you have some kids with, but you`re not married yet--there are a lot of those in Paraguay... Pretty much everyone hahaha). He is a menos activo, so hopefully we can get him back to church, them married, and her baptized! Also, we have an investigator named Veronica. She is 17 and is living with her cousin (who is a member in our ward). She is really shy, but this week she really came out of her shell with us. She is such a cutie. Also, she came to church yesterday and sat with me! So that was fun. Church was really good, also. I don`t know if I have already said this, but our chapel in Itaugua has been under construction for a long time. I think like a year, but it is like almost done now. It looks really pretty and I can`t wait till it opens. They are just waiting for seats, I think, and then we can use our chapel. As of now we just all meet at our chapel and then we take a free colectivo, that the church pays for, to the chapel in Mboi`y. So anyway, on the whole ride back from Mboi`y on the colectivo, I had a conversation with two of the kids in our ward. They were being so funny! I don`t even know what they were trying to explain, but it lasted the whole 30 minute colectivo ride! I`m just loving it here. The people are awesome and I feel like I`m making better relationships with them. It`s great.

Also, we got some sad news. So apparently familia Portillo moved. They just packed up and went like last Sunday. Sad huh! We had no clue! We found out when we went to their house and Hermano and Hermana Portillo (the brother and sister-in-law who are the members) told us that they left. It was sad to find that out. I hope they will be able to find the church and other missionaries wherever they are, cuz I know that they have the desire to be baptized! We also had some good lessons with Sabrina this week and the best one was yesterday. We talked with her and her boyfriend, Nelson. It was a really powerful lesson and they both said that they are going to work towards coming back to church (for Sabrina) and baptism (for Nelson). I just love the familia Flores so much. I have become so close with them! Sabrina told me that she loves me the most ;) I just really hope for the best for them. I know that she has the desire to quit smoking and to change her life. She just needs to act on it! Her parents are just the greatest, too. The hermano can now say my name, so he always greats me by saying Hermana Whittaker now instead of Hermana W. He`s the funniest guy, too! And the Hermana told me that we can come over to her house any time that we want! Cuz her house is our house. Haha it was a lot funnier in real life.

Speaking of names though, here`s something funny. So we have a Presidente of the branch here instead of a bishop of the ward. He`s a super cool guy. He is like really young, too. He`s a returned missionary and he went to Argentina. His wife is awesome too and she`s the cutest thing ever. She is pregnant with her first baby. ANYWAY... We eat at their house every friday for lunch and they have a hard time with my name. SO... She decided that she is going to call me Hermana Chuchi. Chuchi means like expensive and fancy and stuff along those lines in Guarani. Apparently I`m chuchi cuz I put on makeup and wear earrings and stuff. Hahaha it`s so funny though. I`m sure that pretty soon the whole ward is gonna call me that. It`s now like this huge joke. BTW--being chuchi isn`t a bad thing. It just means I`m a little bit high maintainance is all.... ;)

Well.... That is it for the week. Love you guys so much! Glad you had a great week! Talk to you next week!!

Te amo muchisimo!

Love, Hermana Whittaker

March 24, 2014 - Week 12

It´s pretty crazy... That I have completed my first change. Wow it flew by. This week was really good though! We had a lot of lessons and found some really cool people.

 

Our Kitchen

Today has been a little weird. We cleaned our whole house really good last night so we could just get it done with (we always have to clean the house like SUPER good when there are about to be cambios) and so today we had a whole bunch of free time to just talk and do whatever at the house. So, the District Leaders WERE supposed to call us today telling us who was getting changed and where they were going and who their new companion will be... But they might not because the actual change day might be changed (haha) to Thursday instead of Wednesday... So we might just be finding out tomorrow what is going on. I am not worried at all because it´s pretty obvious that I´ll be staying with Hermana Braunershrither because I am only in the middle of my training.. But, Hermana Hunt is almost positive that she´ll be leaving areas because she started her mission in Itaugua and has had 4 changes here. So ALL morning we have been waiting for the phone call. And it probably won´t even come! Hahaha! I really am hoping that Hermana Hunt will stay...At least one more change! I love her so much. But, it´s really whatever the Lord wants. But today as been just really tranquilo.

So, for our week. So first of all, it was a rainy week. There was one day (I think it was Tuesday) where it rained really hard all day. We were supposed to have a service project in the morning at like 7 with the rest of our district, and as soon as we got on the colectivo to get to the chapel, it started POURING. So, when we got off the colectivo, we ran in the rain to the chapel and got soaked! Then, we didn´t even end up doing the service because it was raining! It was fun running in the rain though...!

So we visited a lot of our menos activos this week. We really focused on them and stuff. Had some great lessons. Then, we got a reference from the Elders, Laura, and visited her. She is like a golden investigator. She has already gone to church like 2 times. So we were super happy to meet her. She is great and has a really hard life story. She is a single mom with two little kids. Her husband left her when her youngest baby (who is like 1 and a few months) was like 5 months old. Sad, right? But she has gone to church with her kids one time and her other son (who is like 4) has gone twice. She has a friend who´s husband is a bishop in another area, so that´s why she has gone to church and that´s how she knows of the church. Anyway, she was totally going to come with us to church this week and we were all set to go pick her up in the morning and go with her and my companion was going to bring her a skirt.... And Sunday rolls around and she doesn´t answer her phone, doesn´t answer her door, so she ends up not coming to church. Wow. It broke my heart. I was so excited for her to come! Then she just didn´t... Missionary work is hard. You get your hopes up and then BAM! Someone grabs those hopes and tramples on them...... It´s ok though! We are totally going to try to visit her this week and see what´s up. Not worried about it :) But, also like none of the people in our whole area came to church this week. It was kinda sad! Even our actives didn´t show up! It was probably because it was kinda cold outside in the morning (that´s another thing, it´s starting to get a bit cooler because we´re going into fall here) and sometimes Paraguays don´t do anything when it´s cold or raining or too hot.... Yeah, I know. Also, Sabrina, was going to come to church this week FOR SURE... And she didn´t either. It was sad! But, still a great Sunday with a lot of great people!

So, on Thursday, we did divisions with each other. I went out with Hermana Hernandez and my companion and Hermana Hunt went out together. It was really great for me, too, because I we were in my area and I had to pretty much be the senior companion! I like had to plan everything and take us where we needed to go... Also, I had to speak Spanish the whole day...! Cuz Hermana Hernandez speaks Spanish. So, it was really good for me and I actually really enjoyed it! It kind of gave me a chance to build a better relationship with my member, investigators, and menos activos, since I was the one out of the two of us who knew them. It was good :) I felt super close to them. Also, Hermana Hernandez is a great missionary, so she helped me out a lot. She might be leaving soon.. :( Guess we´ll find out if her and Hermana Hunt stay together another cambio, or one of them leave!

Hermana Whittaker & Hunt with the Golden Dragon

Hermana Whittaker with Sabrina

Anyway, the day we went out, we visited Sabrina. It was really good. Shared a great scripture (Ether 12:27) with her about weaknesses. It was SOO good. Then, I just became like really close with her. We are like best friends now. She says that when I get done with my mission, she is going to come to the United States to my house for a vacation. Hahaha! I love her so much! She´s just a super cool girl. Anyway, that´s about it for the week! Can´t think about anything else!

I hope you guys have an awesome week and things go great for you! Be safe! LOVE YOU GUYS!

Love, Hermana Whittaker