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

May 26, 2014 - Week 21

So... It is pretty much officially winter here. It was cold for like 4 days straight. First, there was a rainstorm like Thursday night and then Friday-Sunday.... Freezing. Seriously. Well, it was like 40 degrees farenheit and that is freezing to me... Today isn´t too bad. The sun is out and stuff, so I´m not complaining! But, on Sunday we had a pretty small number of people show up to church cuz it was raining. ALL DAY. And when it rains in Paraguay... NO ONE does anything. But it´s ok cuz guess what...

Hermana Morales, Angel, Hermana Whittaker

Angel got baptized and confirmed this weekend! It was such a great experience. He was so excited like this whole week and then came Friday and he was so nervous for his interview... But it went just fine. And Angel Vera was the first person baptized in the new chapel of Itaugua on Saturday, May 24th 2014! He was super happy for that, too. So that all went super well. So then the next day, it rained like ALL morning and we got a call from the familia Portillo (Angel´s neighbors). They told us that they wouldn´t be able to go to church today cuz of the rainstorm and they had no money to take a colectivo. They have a baby that is like 6 months old, so they couldn´t walk in the cold and rain and stuff.. So we ask, ´´well, is Angel coming? He has to get confirmed today...´´ They tell us that ´´no...he doesn´t want to go alone´´ WHAT?! So we are like ok... Well we are going to walk to his house and get him so he can be confirmed. So that is exactly what we did. In the rain and everything... We walked (like 15 or 20 min) to his house and everyone was there waiting for us. I mean EVERYONE. Familia Portillo... (8 people) All the friends of Angel (like 5 people) and Angel´s mom and sister. It was awesome. So we all get on the colectivo and go to church. We got there like 15 minutes before sacrament and everything went great. So we had like 6 investigators at church even though there was only like 70 people total!!! So that was awesome!He is so happy and I am so happy that he has the gospel in his life. He really has a testimony. And the cool this is, his mom loved the baptism and church on Sunday. She is really interested and so we are going to work with her next. Also, his sister Belén really loves the church, too. Also, his best friends, Jaime and Jorge (who are members--inactives) have been coming to church and stuff now! And on Sunday, Jaime passed the sacrament! So it´s just really cool to see this like chain-reaction. 

Angel and all his supporters!

So as for other things... This week we had interviews with President McMullin. They went well. I felt like crap after, cuz there is like a thousand things that I could be doing better on... But also, it was good to talk to him. At this little conference, I was expecting that the assistants brought my package... Nope. They did, however, tell me that they saw it in the office. Ok, so why didn´t you bring it??? Whatever... Haha at least I know it´s here in Paraguay, right?? So that was cool... But wait, there´s more! So like a day later, on Thursday, our district leader calls me to confirm our interview for Angel on Friday. Then he tells me, that he has my package! So I was like SOOOO happy! And sure enough, I got it on Friday! So yes.... I have recieved my package and it was so cute :) Thank you so much, mom for all the cute paper and the easter candy! It made my week a little bit better, especially cuz this week wasn´t very good for us...

Chloe doing hair on the "pamper day" last week

That sounds weird, right?? I mean, it´s really, really awesome that Angel got baptized... But as for like our lessons this week... Wow. HORRIBLE! With this cold, I´m not even kidding you, there is like NO ONE on the streets and NO ONE wants to answer the door when you clap. Plus, it like really sucks to walk around in the cold. My feet have never been colder in my life! I have most definitely been using my leggings and coat like everyday... Also, with the interview with President, I felt like a terrible missionary! I don´t know why, but it just hit me hard! But, it´s all good cuz I got over that pretty fast... So yeah.. That was my week. But it is OK! We are going to work harder and do better this week! I can feel it! Plus, we will be contacting up the wazooo this week cuz we have to do this ´´contacting on the streets´´ thing with our ward. So we are going to have like an open house for our chapel and there are going to be like different booths where we (missionaries) talk about the different things of the church. Then the Elders are going to be by the baptismal font dressed in white and they are going to explain that stuff... It´s supposed to be like the Visitor´s Center in SLC and apparently there is going to be the Christ staute here. (Or a version of it or something...) The church has done it for other wards and apparently it is like super effective. Cuz it´s supposed to be for like investigators only, so they can really get a feel for what the church is like and stuff! So we have to invited everyone to this open house this week and next week cuz it is on June 7th. Should be good! 

Well... That is all. Also I totally tried mate (pronounced--mateh) this week! Don´t worry, don´t worry... I didn´t break the rules... It was mate DULCE... Which is really just coconut in the metal cup and like super hot milk. So it didn´t have yerba in it... Which is what we are not allowed to try (as missionaries). So that was fun! Super delicious, but I most definitely burnt my tongue... Haha but it was a good week! I hate the cold and I am not looking forward to it for the next few months... But I still love being a missionary :) HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

May 19, 2014 - Week 20

Well this week was a pretty good one. I am having a blast with Hermana Morales, seriously! We get along so great and my Spanish is getting good (I think!) Mostly cuz I have to speak it ALL the time! Haha but it´s fun. We have a lot of fun together. She still says random things in english and I just love it. She also knows like a ton of songs in english so sometimes we will hear them together somewhere or she will start singing one.... It´s so funny! But yeah, things are great with her!

So this week we had a fun activity at the church for all the moms (for Dia de la Madre--which was on Thursday). The elders cooked good food for them in the kitchen while we (the hermanas) did their hair and makeup. It was like a ´´Pampering Day´´ type thing. They LOVED it. So that went really good, especially cuz about 50 moms, or so, showed up! So we were super impressed with that. Then for the rest of the week, we just have been working with some kids. Haha sounds funny, but all of our investigators that are progressing are under the age of 13! Seriously! Right before Hermana B left, we met a kid named Angel. He is 13 now (just had his birthday) and he is super interested in the church. He has a baptismal date for the 24th! (The same day as Jill´s birthday and Jade´s wedding.... Everything is that day! ;) But he really loves the church and reads the Book of Mormon and everything. It´s really cool. Plus, his sister is now interested, too. Her named is Belen and she is like 11. She went to church for the first time yesterday and absolutely loved it. She wants to get baptized as well. The only thing is, since they are underage, we had to ask their parents for permission to teach and if they want, to be baptized. We talked with their mom and she was totally cool with it! Also, I think... I KNOW that Angel and Belen will be great examples to their parents and this is the door for them as well. Their mom actually came to the Mother´s Day activity that we had and really liked it. She says she wants to come to church to see what it is like and stuff. Also, we ended up talking to their dad as well. It is hard to cuz he hasn´t been home in like a month. The thing is that he works super far in constuction and has to go different places for like a month at a time. But this weekend he was home and he was fine with us teaching his kids, too. Also, he said that if they feel like this is the right thing, he wants to go to the church, too. So that´s really awesome! It´s hard, with his job and all (in fact he just left again yesterday for another month or so...) but, I know that this is just the beginning for their family! I am so excited for them.

Through all of this, I have gained a stronger testimony of working with the members in the ward. If it weren´t for the familia Portillo (they are next-door-neighbors with this family) we wouldn´t have been able to find and teach these awesome kids. It´s really good, too, cuz I am seeing a chain reaction. Angel is best friends with some kids who are less actives and now they are coming to church again! It´s just really cool. We have Noche de Hogares (family home evenings) with the familia Portillo and all these kids like at least once a week. They love it! Also, it is stregthening our relationship with the familia Portillo. They are seriously like our best friends now. We ate lunch with them on Friday and we helped them make ñoquis (this weird noodle type thing made out of potatoes). That was fun! They put the pictures on facebook... They showed us ;) But anyways... We visit them about everyday. In fact, today for P-day, we went to their house in our REGULAR CLOTHES (jeans!) to play volleyball with all of them. It was super fun. Now there´s something hard to do... Play volleyball in Spanish. I kept saying everything in English cuz it is just easier! You don´t realize how hard it is to yell things (nice and appropriate things) in a language that isn´t your native. If that makes any sense... Hahaha so I would say things like ´´out!´´ and ´´go!´´ and stuff and all the kids were copying me... So now they know a bit more english ;) So that was super fun. 

That´s it for this week! I am looking forward to the next... This Wednesday we have interviews with President McMullin. My first one since I got here! So that should be fun. Also, I will be getting my new mission credit card this week, so no worries! ;) So yep! Things are good! LOVE YOU GUYS ALL SO MUCH! Have a grand week... Also I wanna say....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JILLY! Saturday is your birthday and I can´t believe that you are going to turn 10 years old! Wow! Where did the time go?! I hope you have the greatest day ever and always be a great example to everyone. All your friends, all your schoolmates... Everyone! I love you so much and I miss you! I will see you soon, though. We only have 13 1/2 more months left till I see you again! ;P LOVE YOU JILLIAN!!!

LOVE, HERMANA WHITTAKER

May 12, 2014 - Week 19

So this week was AWESOME! First, the fact that I got to Skype home was a dream come true. It was seriously so good to see you guys again! I loved it! It was like exactly what I needed in the moment! Seriously. Ending the call was the hardest, but it was so fun! You guys look great. It´s a little sad that I have to wait till Christmas to do it again... But look how fast 5 months went by! So it´s no biggie ;) That was definitely the highlight of my week.

 

Hermana Whittaker & Morales - new Companions!

Also, changes happened! I have a new companion, Hermana Morales. She is the best. I seriously love her with all my heart. We are already best friends and we get along great. These next 6 weeks are gonna be so fun with her! Hopefully we have 2 changes together cuz I love her! She is trying to learn English so she always says random things in English and I just love it. It is so funny... Stuff like ´´hey, man!´´ and ´´freaking´´. She is the greatest. 

So when I went to the office, I got to see like almost all of my CCM buddies! So that was super fun. We all had to go together to the Migrations Office in Asunción to sign into the country. That was a blast.... But it really was so fun to see all my friends from the CCM.

This week has been different though. I have had to show my companion around and be in charge and stuff since I know the area. It´s abeen good. I think we are gonna work super good in this area together. So she is really surprised cuz this area is like WAY bigger than her last! She was so surprised at how much we had to walk. But she loves it here too. At the beginning it was a little bit hard for her cuz she loved and missed the people in her area. But now, everything is great. Plus, the hermana that trained my companion used to be in this exact area before me! She was hermana B´s companion before hermana B trained me. So she kinda has a connection with the people already. It makes me a little bit scared for the day that I leave though cuz I love the people in Itaugua! It will be so sad! Especially if I have like 4 changes here! But it´s all good :)

So another awesome thing that happened yesterday is our new chapel opened! We had our first Sunday in the chapel in Itaugua and it was great. There were 170 people there! Which is A TON! It was so spiritual. We (us 8 missionaries of the branch) sang as a choir and it was actually really good! Then, the Presidente of the branch gave a small talk and testimony that was awesome. Then, the Presidente of the Stake which was also super awesome. Also, the Governor of the whole department in which we are located... (big deal) was there, too, and he is a member! He gave his testimony and we dedicated the chapel! It´s so pretty! Also, all the classes after were so full that there wasn´t enough room for us to go to Relief Society! (That is super cool!) So all around.. This week was awesome. 

As far as people go... We have an investigator named Angel. He (yes, he) is super awesome. He is only 13 years old (his birthday was on Sunday) but he is so interested in the church! He comes to church with the famillia Portillo (his next door neighbors) and he is reading the Book of Mormon. Also, this week we talked to his parents to ask them for permission to teach their son and if he made the choice, permission so he can be baptized. They totally gave us permission and so things are great with him! He is such a great kid and he is finding tons of friends in the church, too. His parents are super nice, but they aren´t interested in the church.... YET. I think that they will be able to see the difference in Angel´s life and then their time will come to accept the gospel. So that is what is happeneing in the investigator department. 

Hermana Whittaker & Veronica
(wearing new dress Hermana B. left her)

Today, for P-day, we went to Pizza Hut and met up with Hermana Hunt!!! It was the best ever. We were so excited to see each other! I haven´t seen her in so long! So it was really great. Then, we got frozen yogurt at this place and I felt like I was in the states again. Weird! Also we went to this place and I got a replacement battery for my watch! I needed one and now I finally have a watch again! So we had a super fun P-day today. 

That is all for this week! I am doing really great. I love you all and I can´t wait to hear from you next week! LOVE YOU FAM!

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