Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Last Words

OK well sorry for responding late. Monday we went to San Miguel which is like a little city two hours away from Celaya. When we were coming back the offices called me and Elder Russel at five to tell us that we needed to be in Leon that day at eight to work out our immigration papers. and well I just got back from Leon. But they had a problem with our papers so I have to go back tomorrow at night and I'm going to get back on Thursday. Then Friday I am going to Leon a third time to leave Saturday morning. So its going to be a rough week.


I just got done having a rough week too. I ate something that did something to my body and I was throwing up for about three nights. I'm OK now and my stomach doesn't hurt anymore.

also the baptisms we had left out of town for the holidays so we couldn't baptize them this week. Probably would have been hard with all the stuff I have to do.

Other than that there isn't that much to tell. Hope all is well. Love you all!

Elder Whetten

Oh and I was actually thinking about what to eat when I got home.  I was thinking and In-n-out Double Double with a cranberry lime aid from sonic with homemade blueberry muffins and root beer ice cream.  But since its Sunday just a homemade hamburger or three would be nice.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Pictures

Doble Plantano





Monday, November 29, 2010

Still working hard!

My companion and I went to a family's house yesterday that was on the ward roster but we have never seen at church. When we went there was about fifty people there having a big birthday party for one of the girls. we entered and everyone was thrilled that the Elders came too. They gave us cake and stuff to drink. But there were some members there who I knew from the last ward I was in here in Celaya. We got to talking and I asked them what the best way to send a package from here to the United States would be. (I'm thinking about sending all the heavy stuff home in a package so that I don't get overweight charges.) And they said that they have a friend who is a member who is going to Arizona pretty soon and usually he takes packages for them to their family up there. So they are going to talk to him and see if he can do that but ill get back to you on that.
The work here is starting to turn out. The members are starting to help us out and we are starting to find some people with real potential. Im going to see if I cant put some people on a baptismal date right before I leave.
Hope all is well. Love you all!
Elder Whetten

Monday, November 22, 2010

Pictures

A Knight on a Chokobo



Red Moon

Work is Hard

Well changes came again and it looks like I'm going to stay here in Celaya until I have to leave. I guess that's all right. I was kinda hoping for a change but I guess its kinda useless with my time.


That's all right with me about the Christmas party just that it doesn't conflict with when I get set apart. Or like I don't mind if I go as a missionary or not just that if the stake president is going to set me apart that evening I would rather do that instead. And I hope he isn't on vacation when I get back. speaking of which my temple recommend has expired last October. You think you can look into an appointment to get it renewed?

Lately it seems like the harder I work the less the work gets done. I know I'm in one of the hardest areas in the mission but that shouldn't make a difference. but hopefully some good may come out of it. It seems like the weeks are going by like days too.
Yesterday when we were walking home at night the moon was red. I took a bad picture of it but ill put it up anyway.
That's about all for now. I saw the commercials for Harry Potter and looking forward to seeing it too but I still need to see the one before it first.
Love you all!
Elder Whetten

Monday, November 15, 2010

Teaching Kevin...and his family!

well thank you for singing happy birthday to me.


The members are starting to give us references, the only thing is that all of them have been out of our area. but things are progressing.

We were looking through some old references that the Elders in the past have received and we found one named Kevin. we went to the address and a kid of about 10 years came out so we asked for Kevin. he went back inside and out came a kid of about 9 years. he was Kevin! we have been teaching his family and they have been really impacted by the things that we tell them.

Other than that there is nothing much to talk about. We went up to a small city called Comonfort about an hour away from celaya to visit some investigators and we ran into some members who sell food in the commercial part of the city. They gave us something called Viril for my companion to try. Now I've always known what Viril was but I had never tried it before. they said they always liked to give it to the American elders and tell them what it is afterwards to see their reaction. I was fine with eating it but my companions reaction was pretty funny when he found out what it was. Now if you know what Rocky Mountain Oysters are, Viril is the part above those. Hold your stomach.
That's about it for this week. Love you all.
Elder Whetten
P.S. Happy wedding anniversary! I didn't get my package yet.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Dec 18??!!!!!! Yippeeee!

Well to start off, after you got me thinking about school and stuff I got the impression that I needed to come home earlier.  So I called the offices and asked if I could change my date.  And well now I'm coming home the 18th of December!  I didn't really want to do it but I guess there is a reason for everything. 
 
in the MTC they showed us some videos of elders teaching but my companion is telling me that they are alot better now than they were when I was in the MTC.  We have them here but we wernt able to watch them yet because nobody has a key to the office where the TV is.  Also one of my companions friends is in it.
 
Speaking of my companion, he has been doing really good lately learning the language.  He has been learning really fast.
 
The ward is starting to give us references and organize family home evening with their friends.  I was talking to our bishop yesterday about stating a missionary experience program like we got in our ward where they pass the tie and neckles around.  He liked the idea and we are going to start it next week.
 
That's about all for this week.  Be safe!
 
Elder Whetten

Monday, November 1, 2010

New Focus, Slow Going

Well this week wasn't that successful. This new way of working is going really slow. But yesterday in sacrament meeting we were able to talk to the members about what we were doing. and the bishop really helped us the third hour because he got everyone together and basically reiterated the things that we said and showed the members how it really isn't our job as missionaries to find people but that our job is to just teach. He then gave out a couple "copies" of the Book of Mormon to some members and challenged them to give it out that week. He then told them that he was going to be handing them out every week from then on. so hopefully we may be able to see some improvement soon.


Now my companion and I live in a really nice and safe neighborhood. We were kinda surprised yesterday when a hoards of children started to come to our door. We forgot that it was Halloween. not that we would have bought any candy or anything but my companion felt really bad so we gave them stickers that said in Spanish that said"I am a child of god" and "I hope they call me on a mission" on them. Most of them liked it.

But I didn't go to Leon last week. They said that they were going to postpone it until this week but I just asked my zone leader this morning and he said that everyone else but me was going and that i was going to go later. Oh well.

So that's about it for this week. Love you all!

Elder Whetten

Monday, October 25, 2010

Don't kill bugs!

Well this week was a little interesting.  I expected this new way of working to start off a little slow.  The members here aren't used to working like this so little by little we should start to see progress.  We were trying to find ways to find some investigators right away so we asked a list from the ward secretary on all the kids 9 and above who are in member family's and haven't been baptized yet and like a page of names came out.  So we should have some fun with that. 
 
Tomorrow i am going to Leon to be capacitaded on how and what to teach my new Elder.  (its the same capacitation that all the zone and district leaders go through.  So I might be there for about a week.  And my companion will stay with another Elder here in Celaya.
 
My companion and I have just read something this week from Joseph Fielding Smith where he basically says that we shouldn't kill any creation of god unless we are ready to eat it.  So my companion and I have been having a hard time not killing the bugs that are in our house.  Ha ha.  Just have to sweep them out.
 
Not much happened this week.  it was kinda slow due to the new way of working.  Love you all!
 
Elder Whetten

Monday, October 18, 2010

Open Your Mouth

First of all my reaction to your surgery wasn't anything big because I knew that gall bladder surgery isn't anything big to worry about. (most of the time) But that doesn't mean I wasn't praying for you. Glad to hear your ok.


This week we had a conference with the president and It was one heck of a conference. This mission is changing completely. We are no longer going to knock doors at all. All our work is going to be focused on the members and working through them to find the people who are ready. not only that we are going to be focusing on reactivating all the less active family's and the baptisms from late missionaries that were kinda just left to trail behind. I am so excited that we are now going to be working like we are supposed to. Our success is really going to change.

We are also going to be doing something called "open our mouths" which is two questions which members can ask people. 85% of the people who have been asked these questions were baptised. The questions are: 1. can you read? and 2. If I gave you a book that talks of Jesus Christ and his coming to the Americas, would you read it? Right now we are having all the members "open their mouths" and give out Books of Mormon to their friends.

So we are doing pretty good now. Hope everyone is doing fine and I love you all!

Elder Whetten

Friday, October 15, 2010

A Late Update

Well I guess that she is going to have to cut of on all the Diet Coke then.  This was his response to "Your mother is in the hospital having gall bladder surgery".  Mom's response, "Thanks son for your heartfelt sympathy and concern."


Well this week I had to send my companion to Leon alone so that he could get all his immigration work done. So i went with two other missionaries to their area to work a little bit and at about 4:30 I called the offices to see when they were going to send my companion back and they said that they already sent him at 1:00! Witch meant that he was probably waiting for us in the bus station for like two hours! So we rushed over there and sure enough he was there. With the very little Spanish he had he was trying to ask people if he could use their cell phone. No one let him because they thought that he was going to call the united states or something.

We also when we were looking at our food calender saw that one of our foods this week was like 15 miles away from the city. We took a bus there and I was amazed at what we saw. The city where the sister that was going to feed us lived was surrounded by millions of pine trees and everything was green. there was a waterfall. It was completely different from Celaya. It also had a huge catholic church right in the middle which was really beautiful. I didn't get a chance to take pictures because it looked kinda dangerous. but it was pretty cool.
Love you all!
Elder Whetten

Monday, October 4, 2010

Marriage before Baptism

Well things are going great right now and Conference was also great. I only missed the first session but I got to see everything else. I really loved all the talks and the spirit that they bring. unfortunately we wernt able to bring anyone to see them. it seemed like everyone is having a problem with something that made it so they couldn't go.


Elder Wanamaker and I are doing great. I forgot to say that he was from Orem, Utah.

I have been losing weight lately. (last time I checked I weighed like 120.) So I bought some protein and I am takng it everyday together with exercise to gain some weight.

We have some very interesting people we are teaching right now. We have a family where the husband has had a very bad past and is looking to change his life for the good. We are working very close with them now and they just have to get married. We left them with the challenge to get married and they are going to talk about it. when we get back they should have their answer.

But that's all for today. Love you all!

Elder Whetten

The Arizona Law

The first one I've seen

Monday, September 27, 2010

Elder Wanamaker

Elder Wanamaker
Welcome Elder Wanamaker!

Gringo Greenie

Well we had interviews with the president this last Wednesday and he was just asking me if I was being obedient and if I was getting along with my companion. Then at the end of the talk we had he told me that the very next day we were going to have special changes. My companion was going to Leon and I was going to receive a new companion. But that he was going to be new. Like really ¨new¨. Fresh from the MTC. That made me really nervous. I then asked what his name was. He said that his name is Elder Wanamaker. Which made me more nervous because he is a ¨Gringo¨. Well the very next day my companion left and I was waiting for my ¨new¨ companion and the zone leaders told me that he actually was having problems with his visa so he was working in a Spanish speaking mission in Arizona for two months. But he actually was working in a Spanish speaking mission in Utah for two months. So I am a Trainer now. But he already knows a lot of Spanish. We just got to work on his teaching skills now.


Our first day I asked him about how the mission was in Utah. He said that they never knocked because they always got references from members and everyone paid for everything for you. I responded well, here you will always knock, never receive references, and no one will pay anything for you. He’s adjusting. We actually went to a member’s house the other day who are really humble. They live in a concrete box of sorts with a mud floor and half a roof. Witch really surprised my companion when we left. He said that it made him feel really spoiled.

We had a baptism last Saturday that I will never forget. I don't even know what was so special about it. They were two kids from a less active family who were reactivating. When they were baptized the spirit was there really strong. I felt like something really special happened just then but I don't know what. The same feeling was there when they were confirmed Sunday. It was really special.

Oh and that place where we saw the guy got electrocuted. Nobody has been working there since. They were actually painting the building and the building is still half painted. So we think that something really bad happened.

But that's about it for this week. I'm going to see if I have some pictures to send. Love you all.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Pictures

Grammy's Package
Yummy!
Cactus Fruit

Someone took us to  Golden China Buffet


Caution: PG-13 for Violence

Well as we were taking a bus this morning, something really interesting happened. We were sitting on the bus and we were passing a building that was being constructed. As I was watching the builders building, there was one at the top who lost his balance and grabbed a wire suspended over the building. At that moment his whole body lighted up and we heared a loud bang like someone had set off a firework not 30 feet from us. The next thing we saw was the guys body hanging halfway off the top of the building. and all the workers were grabbing ladders and to get up there and pull him back so he didn't fall three storys. Everyone on the bus were then trying to call the ambulance. My companion and I were thinking that there was probably alot of water up there due to the rain last night and it probably made a good conduct of the guy to something else. But we wernt there long enough to see if the guy had died or if he was just unconscious.


There has been alot of rain the last few nights. And it looks like its going to start to rain in a little. Other than San Luis Potosi I think that this city is the closest to the ocean. Its coming from the east right? I don't get to watch much news.

I just got grammys package! The cookies wernt that bad. But now with the new president our zone conferences with the president are going to be three months apart. So other than the zone conferences I will be able to get mail every interview with the president or when our leaders go to Leon to have their meeting with the president. And This Wednesday we are having interviews with the president.
One day when we were eating I saw a book of brothers grim story's in Spanish. I started to look through it and I found the Matchstick Girl story. It made me think of Christmas back home a little.

Thats about it for now but I hope that everyone is doing great. Love you all.

Elder Whetten

Monday, September 13, 2010

Well I'm writing to you guys now because I'm not going to have time to write this next Monday. The Internet is really far from our house and we were close today but we wont be for a while.

Also almost all of our investigators are falling. We've been working in a very poor area were usually they are really apt to progress. But we find people and a couple days later they tell us that someone in their family came over and got mad at them for listening to us and now they don't want to listen to us anymore. But we aren't going to lose the faith and we are going to find more. even though its taking us a long time to find progressing people who really want to change here. We´ll find them.

Just the other day we saw some people robbing the corn from the train. now we know how they do it. I guess they pay their kids to go stand out on the tracks before the train enters the city and when it stops they open the doors and get in. Later on when the train gets into the city they start to throw the bags of corn out and people who are waiting in the city take them to their houses. now the train passes very fast through the city.
I hope things are going well with everyone. This week I felt kinda down. But I started to read 3 Nephi 12: 2-11 really cheered me up. If anyone is feeling down don't forget to read the Book of Mormon. Remember that Heavenly Father loves you and wishes to help. In your times of sadness he will carry you if you show him that you want him to. Love you all!
Elder Whetten

Monday, September 6, 2010

Shoes!


New Shoes!

Shoes and Corn

Well not that much happened this week, except that I was provided with new shoes! its really funny how the lord provides when you are in need. Just hope that they last four more months.

It has been raining alot. And it is starting to get really hard to walk with all the mud. We found two family's, one is a family of seven and the other a family of nine. Hopefully they will gain a testimony of what they hear from us.

This week the town robbed the corn from the train passing through. We just heared about it one day and the next day we knocked someones house. they told us that they were super busy and couldn't talk to us at the moment. but I saw inside and they had a ton of huge bags of corn stacked inside their house. We thought it was kinda funny.

This week was actually kinda slow and boring. not much to talk about. But I hope that everyone is doing well and feeling good. Stay strong in the Gospel and listen to the spirit.

Elder Whetten

Monday, August 30, 2010

Lessons on Prayer

Well the power went off in the whole neighborhood last night at about 12:00 which turned our fans off and made it really hot. We woke up and had to open the window but then a bunch of mosquitoes came in and started biting us. So I went and sprayed a bunch of repellent all over me and went back to bed. The mosquitoes stopped biting but it didn't stop them from buzzing around my ears all night. So long story short, I didn't get much sleep last night.


Elder Tenorio and his wife came to speak to us last Thursday. He told us a bunch of inspirational stories about how he learned English and also a form of prayer that he learned. He showed us Genesis 24:12-20 and the form of prayer that Abraham used to find his wife. Elder Tenorio told us that one day a young lady came to him and told him: Elder Tenorio I have a dilemma. I have two men in my life. I'm almost engaged to one of them but the other wants to go out with me. What should I do? Elder Tenorio told her just as an example, not that she should do it exactly as he says but to go home and before she goes to bed to pray to God and tell him the exact thing that she said to Elder Tenorio and then to tell God let it be that the man who calls me at 1:30 in the morning and says that he was reading his patriarchal blessing and that it says that he is going to marry a faithful and humble woman. That is the man that she is supposed to marry. So she went home and did exactly that and later went to sleep. and Exactly 1:30 in the morning one of the men called and told her that he was reading his blessing and that it says that he is going to marry a faithful and humble woman. At that moment the woman said Dang! I was hoping that it was the other.

He also told us that it doesn't have to be applied to finding your spouse but started to tell us of another story about how he never missed a payment on anything in his life. One day he realized that it was the last day that he was going to be able to pay the payment. The bank that he needed to drive to closed at five it was a half an hour drive with the traffic and it was 4:40 at the time. So Elder Tenorio got in his car and prayed. He said well God you know that I have never missed a payment. It doesn't look like I will be able to make it on time. Let it be that as I am driving there won’t be much traffic and that as I pull into the parking lot a car will be backing out of its space so that I might drive right in and walk into the bank and have the doors of the bank close right behind me. So Elder Tenorio started to drive with faith. There was hardly any traffic, as he pulled into the parking lot it was all full but one car was pulling out of its space so that he could pull right in and as he walked through the door of the bank they locked the doors right behind him. He also taught us many other wonderful things about prayer.

As you might remember we lost a lot of investigators last week. My companion and I told each other that we weren’t going to become discouraged by that and that God would provide us with more and better people. And well yesterday we brought nine very good people to church and met five more today that we are going to be working with. And all of them have had at least one time in church before. We are very excited.

Oh and I had to give a talk yesterday in church. I talked about 4 Nephi and how we could create a family of Zion within our own homes. And it was kinda funny because afterwards the bishopric pulled me into the bishop’s office and said that they had a question for me and that they hoped that I wouldn't get offended. I laughed and asked what it was and they said that while I was giving my talk they were looking at my shoes, they wanted to know if I needed any financial help to buy new shoes. I laughed again and said no, that my shoes were just keeping me humble here in the mission and that I am going to buy some once they totally die. But what do you think? Should I buy new ones?

Well that's all for this week. The church is true. Love you all!

Elder Whetten

Monday, August 23, 2010

The Power of the Book of Mormon

You know you're in Mexico....

Ha ha! I totally forgot about that conversation that we had. But I really needed to hear that. (I sent his this email/text conversation we had just a few weeks before he left on his mission: Jay: We need more bread. Mom: Did you check the bread tree in the back yard?  Jay: No we never planted that one remember? Mom: Go check inside your shoe. Jay: All I found was a guitar pick. Mom: Well, if there isn't any in the dryer than I guess you'll have to go get some. Jay: Can I speak with my mom now? )

Well today is my companion’s birthday. He turned 21. But we aren’t doing anything for his birthday for lack of money.

This week was actually pretty hard for us. We had every one of our investigators turned us down telling us that they didn't want to hear us anymore. We were very heart broken because some of them were really progressing and had no reason to stop listening. And we wanted to say something to help them out but the spirit told us not to and to just leave them alone for a while. So now we are going to start this week new and clean and we are going to find more people who will hear us.

I really hope that my teeth are ok when I get back. (I told him I sheduled a dental appt for him for the first week in January)  I flossed and brushed every day on my mission so if there is something wrong with them then I really got a problem.

Talking about the piano in our house, ever since I've been on my mission I’ve regretted not learning how to play piano. One of my companions taught me how to read music so if you get the piano tuned I will be practicing on it when I get home.

Now for my story that you want: one day when I was in Leon me and my companion after fasting, felt impressed to knock a certain street in our area. That day we went and knocked it and found three people who wanted to listen to our message. As we returned every day to continue teaching them, they each fell one by one. We were a little bit confused. We couldn't understand why the spirit told us to knock that street if everyone that we found wasn't going to progress. So we went on with the normal missionary routine for about two weeks when one day we were knocking a street that intersected with the one where we felt impressed to knock. I remember that I was knocking and I came to a house that took up space on the first street but didn't face toward it. It faced toward the street that I was knocking at the time. I knocked it wondering if we were really supposed to knock this one or if I was just hoping that we were because it was raining at the time. A woman came out and invited us to come in, me not really having the chance to announce what I was there for. When we were inside we learned that the woman and her three daughters were Christian missionaries. Feeling like they were probably going to rebuke me for asking, I asked if they would like to hear our message…and they accepted. Two weeks later that woman and her oldest daughter were dressed in white waiting to be baptized. One of the members asked why they wanted to be baptized and it gave me great joy to hear them answer that they wouldn't be here if they didn't know that this was Christ’s church restored upon the earth and that through this act they could live as a family forever.

After sharing this story I would like to invite everyone to read the Book of Mormon. If you've read it before, read it again. I just got done reading the book of Mormon for the seventh time on my mission. Every time I read it I learned something new. And I'm sure that if I were to read it fifty more times that I would learn fifty more things. But really take that time to read it and understand it. I think that we horribly underestimate the power of this book sometimes. It can change our life's and the lives of others but not if we don't give it the time to.
That's all for this week. Love you all!

Elder Whetten

Monday, August 16, 2010

Surprise Visit

Well it doesn't look like I will be able to send any videos home. It seems like all the Internets here in Celaya are pretty slow, it's too bad. I found the videos pretty interesting.


Here in Celaya we have a huge area and we have to walk a lot everyday. Also a tsunami like rain comes every day for a half an hour from nowhere. but I like the rain.

We have about two familys that we are going to baptize. One is kinda a poor family and the other has a husband who is loving the Book of Mormon and understanding it like an apostle would.

Also one of the seventy are coming to speak with us again. This time its Elder Tenorio who will come speak to us on the 26th. We actually have to take a bus to a city next to Celaya called Irapuato. Its about a half an hour drive.

Wednesday the zone leaders called us and asked if they could come to our house in the middle of the day to get some copies of the Book of Mormon. So we were waiting in the house when they came. Right after they came in three girls came in after them. Which kinda took me by surprise but then the president followed them in. It was then that I realized that the girls were the president's daughters. His family was going to the homes of all the missionaries in Celaya by surprise to check their houses. Well ours was clean and we don't have anything illegal so the president was happy and his wife gave us each a candy bar for having our house in order.

That's all for this week. Love you all!

Elder Whetten

Monday, August 9, 2010

Back to Celaya!

Well I am going to start trying something different. Everyone has been complaining about how my letters have been getting shorter and shorter so I'm am going to start Vloging too. I'm going to try to send at least one video every week and hope that that kicks up my blog a notch. there will be two in photobucket today so look for those.  (He sent an email later saying the internet connection was too slow and he couldn't send the videos.)

I got special changes!!! Changes aren't for another three weeks but yesterday at 8:30 they called us and told us that we were getting changed. I am now going to Celaya again and my companion is going to San Pancho which is a small city just outside of Leon. A lot of the missionaries who are going home this month are leaving early so we had to fill in the spots. Now the city of Celaya has gone through many changes mission wise. The president has closed down many of the areas in the city and there are only like three left. So our area is like half the city, the north part. But due to all the members going inactive here I don't think that I am going to stay for that long here. Another thing that I heard is that two of my converts here in Celaya have already been excommunicated from the church. I am really sad about that and I hope I may be able to do some good here.

My new companions name is Elder Jerano from Manzanillo, Colima. Its on the coast somewhere near Guadalajara I think. He has seventeen month's in the mission and a hard worker. We live in a really nice house. I think like the nicest I have ever lived in in the mission. And since they just closed down alot of areas, we each sleep on two mattresses!

Well that's all for today. Have a good week!

Elder Whetten

Monday, August 2, 2010

Good Family

Well this week we got a really great family looking into the gosple now. It is a mom Araceli and her two children Alberto and Gabriela. They all know nothing about religion or the bible so the lessons are always a bit long but they are such a good family and they understand the importance of finding out if these things are true. I am really excited to see how they progress.


Just today we were in about the center of the city waiting for other missionaries in front of a bank, and a policeman came up and asked us what we were doing. We told him that we were only waiting for some friends, and then he asked if he could see our ID´s. I then thought about how my ID says Arizona in big huge letters at the top as I handed it to him. But he didnt say anything about where I was from just wrote a couple things down and started to ask us about who we were. I guess if there is someone sitting infront of a bank the policemen have the pocedure of going over to see if those people are trustworthy people. And I guess we passed the test. He only asked me how much time I had in mexico and left.

one day we were walking toward an intersecion and we saw a cars tire just pop right off as it was turning through. We ran and helped the people push their now really hard to push car out of harms way. But it was just a really interesting thing to see.

But thats about it for this week. Love you all!

Elder Whetten.

Pictures

We found this painting of another missionarie in the zoneleaders house. apparently the missionaries girlfriend broke up with him two weeks before he came home so he just left the picture there. And he looks like me a little so I took it and hung it up in our house.
It says "If you move a rock, put it back!"
Why you don't wear your coat in the rain!

Alice in Wonderland Graffiti


My companion's broken shoe

Monday, July 26, 2010

Well Walter just recieved the priesthood. He was really nervous all week to get it because he told us that he just didn't think that he could bless and pass the sacrament that well in his condition. I forgot to mention that he can drive. He actually took us to his baptism and back. So we told him that. If you can drive I dont think you'll have trouble with the priesthood. But the bishop talked to him a little bit and helped him gain some confidence. He later took him to the sacrament room when no one was in there so that he could get used to all the movements that he would do. And after that he recieved the preisthood.
We went to the park this morning to go play soccer and there were a bunch of kids there that wanted to play soccer too. So we played with them and now they are going to start to come to mutual too.

Also the papers of this couple are taking a long time to process so we are just waiting on that. (to get married.)

Well nothing much else happened this week except that I had my interview with the president. He is pretty cool and the interview lasted about a half an hour. It was pretty great.


But that's about all for now. Love you all!


Elder Whetten

Monday, July 19, 2010

Walter and Chad

Well this week Walter got baptized. It was a little difficult because he is actually paralyzed from his leg up to five vertebra. I don't remember how to say that in English so maybe you won’t know what I'm talking about. But we had to carry him into the font in a char and lay him back. We had to baptize him four times because something kept coming up. Yesterday he was confirmed and he received a remarkable blessing as well. So yeah after forty years he is finally a member of the church. He is really glad he is.
We just had changes but my companion and I are staying together. Elder Farias is leaving though. (Another missionary who was living with us.) And an Elder Moritsen is coming to talk his place. He is from the United States but other that that we don't know much about him.
We found another Gringo! But he’s not as promising as Steve. His name is Chad and he has a bunch of tattoos, piercings, and language. But he wants to know about the Gospel so we are going to teach him. Well see how it goes. Oh and he has a tattoo and piercing shop.
So yeah that's about it for this week. Hope that everyone is doing great. Stay close to the spirit. It will guide you.

Elder Whetten

Monday, July 12, 2010

Rain and Baptisms

I finally met our new president this last Saturday. He is a really good person that has a really good vision. And I like how he teaches. There are also going to be some changes in the mission due to the new president but I’ll talk about them when they happen.



Walter is becoming animated about his baptism and we also have a couple of investigators who are going to get married soon and have been attending church for a while so we are also getting their baptism ready.
It’s still been raining a lot and things have been getting really muddy. The members tell me that it is going to be like this for about two more months. I’m not sure if I should be happy about that or sad. But it still hasn’t gotten cooler.

We had a family home evening with this couple that is going to get married and at the end we played a game. Two Elders took off their ties and we tied one knot in one of them and two knots in the other. The object of the game is that everyone passes the ties around and unties and ties the knots again. When the two ties meet, that person has to receive a punishment. And well when they landed on me I had to eat dog food. It didn’t taste like anything much just really dry.
That’s about it for today. Hope everyone is doing well. Remember to pray and read the scriptures. Those things are very important in our lives and sometimes we underestimate the power that they can give us.
Elder Whetten

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Rainy Days!

Wow I completely forgot about the fourth of July! Hope it was fun though. We just talked with Walter the guy who came from the United States and he is now going to get baptized on the 16th. He wanted a little bit of time to introduce his family to the church so that they could really understand what he was going into. Hopefully they will follow his example.

 
It’s been raining everyday all day the whole week. And my shoes are becoming disglued. But I’m in Leon the shoe capital of Mexico. I don’t think that getting new shoes would be a problem. I don’t need them now but I would like to see if they would last for the rest of the time I have here.



Oh and the new president just said that the elder can play soccer now so yesterday all of Leon went to play soccer together. We played in the rain but it was all fun.

 
This next week we are going to have our first meeting with our new president on Saturday. He didn’t come to check our house this last week.

 
Well that’s all for today. Love you all.


Elder Whetten

Monday, June 28, 2010

Keep Your Stick on the Ice!

Well sometime today our new mission president is going to come and our old one will leave. We don’t know when or when we are going to meet him. But I don’t think that we would have to wait that long. I do work in the same city as the mission home. So who knows?

It’s been raining a lot lately but it’s only been getting hotter. Funny how that is huh?

We found an old man the other day. Well really we saw him everyday on the same corner sitting in a wheel chair with a Chihuahua. So one day we decided to talk to him. (Really bad missionaries right?) And we found out that he had just came from the United States and that he has been going to the church for about forty years. Assuming that he was a member we told him where the church was and told the bishop about him. The other day the bishop went to visit him and found out that he wasn’t a member but that he has been going to church this whole time like he had told us. So tomorrow my companion and I are going over to talk to him a little about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, and if he has a testimony about those things, we just might baptize him this next Thursday.

That’s about all for this week. Love you all. Keep your stick on the ice!

Elder Whetten

Monday, June 21, 2010

Goodbye Pres. Cox!

Well we just said good bye to our President last Tuesday. He and his wife gave the final instructions to us about our work. And we all ate subway and there were some musical numbers preformed by some of the missionaries. It was really great to see all of the missionaries in the mission once again. Our new president is President Del Valle. He is Mexican which will be a change. Our president showed us a picture of him and his wife. He will be coming on the 30th.

It’s hard to believe that I only have six months left in the mission. It seems like the weeks are on nitro blast, like when Sunday comes along the next day is Sunday. Maybe that's why my letters keep getting shorter. Because I hardly have time to think about what’s going on.

I just got your E-mail which reminds me that I got the package! Thanks for all the socks. And for everything.

I hope everyone is doing all right. Love you all. I’ll try to write more next week.

Elder Whetten

Monday, June 14, 2010

pics

My Companion
The Ugliest House


Ghost lights the boiler in the morning

Well my new area is pretty sweet! It’s rich but humble. And there are a lot of great opportunities here. Our house is right next to the stake center and tomorrow all the missionaries are coming to this church to tell our president good bye and to get to know our new president. (by photo.) I’ll get my socks tomorrow too. I hope.

My companion actually knows about 90% English. He just needs to practice more to get used to the grammar and pronunciation. I asked him where he learned English and he said that he has no idea. That he just had a fascination with English music when he was growing up so basically all that he listened to was English music. And well he knows English now but he never did well in his English tests.

This morning all the missionaries went to clean the church. Right now there aren’t custodians for the churches in Mexico anymore but the members have to clean them. So today was the missionaries turn.

Our house is haunted by the way. We have seen a couple things. But the ghost likes to light the boiler for us before we wake up so we are thinking about keeping it around for a while.

We have met a lot of really great people this week and are hoping that we may be able to teach them the things they need to know to return to their Heavenly Father through the Holy Ghost. We will see what happens. There was also a lot of people who want to fight with us over the things that we teach. I’ve learned by now that it usually doesn’t go anywhere when we talk to them.
That’s all for today. Hope you’re all doing well. If you get a chance tell Bis. Steck hi. Till next week!

Elder Whetten

Monday, June 7, 2010

Back in Leon

Well I did get transferred. I’m not in San Luis Potosi anymore but now I’m back in Leon. In an area called Azteca 2. It’s a little bit near my first area that I had here in Leon and Elder Aitken is in my district. So yah I just got here this morning. I had to wake up at four in the morning. I don’t think I slept that much. I was excited to leave the area because I had six months in it but really sad to leave the people that I have loved for all that time. A lot of them were (sad?) too. But there comes a time for everything and eventually in the mission you just have to leave. Be it to your house or another area.

So my new companions name is Elder Laguna. He is Mexican and has six months in the mission. He also has a great desire to learn English. Already knows about 50%. So that will be fun. And he is from Mexico City. We also live with another companionship. Elder Rivera (I have lived with him before in Celaya) and Elder Fritera. And supposedly our house is haunted. Who cares really? But there are a lot of cockroaches here. That really scares me.

I really haven’t gotten to know the area yet but it seems pretty cool.

But yah, I haven’t really been able to get to know anybody or the area yet so hopefully I’ll have more to tell next week. Till next time!

Elder Whetten

Pictures

Elder Garcia, Elder Martinez and Elder Alvarez (I drew Alvarz)

A drawing of me!

I made this pirate hat for this girl.


The District

Huevo is egg in Spanish

Me

Elder Martinez, Elder Garcia, Elder Whetten & Elder Alvarez
(They look like a bunch of eggheads to me! Sorry!)
My head hurt really bad!

Kisses and hugs for Jay day!


Family Vargas


My last day in San Luis



Monday, May 31, 2010

It's getting hotter!

Well another week has gone and past. This week we actually found some really great people and I’m excited to get to work with them. But when our bishop found out that we were coming back to the ward he called the mission president to see what was going on. The mission president explained it to him but said to keep giving food to just to missionaries until the end of the change (which is at the end of this week.) So I think that we are going to be changed this next change to leave two elders in the area.

Detroit Michigan sounds pretty cool! Don’t know anything about the place but you always need a little bit of action in your mission.

The weather here has been getting hotter but I’m used to it now. The other day we went to eat with one of the brothers in the ward and afterwards me and my companion started to feel like our stomachs were swelling up and the back of our heads started to get these huge migraines. Really weird symptoms, but I really don’t know what happened that day.

I’m starting to make my scar disappear! I bought some cocoa butter and started to rub that on it. Cocoa butter is good for scars and stretch marks.

I know that my emails keep getting shorter and shorter but I really can’t think of anything else to say. But I hope everyone is doing fine. Till next week! Oh and I know its a little late to say this but if you could send the socks so that they can get here before the 15th that would be great! (The whole mission is going to Leon that day.)

Elder Whetten

Monday, May 24, 2010

Crazy Week!

Well I’m not getting changed anymore. The offices called us and told us that they have changed their minds. But I did waste a lot of time getting a hold of the bishop over there and everybody to get our food organized. Not to mention that we were also working there for about three days too. So I’m still here in my area until the next change comes.

The other ward looked like it would be a little hard to work in anyway. We searched that place and there weren’t any poor areas. All big houses with two floors. It was hard working there too. Good thing we didn’t get any appointments. The other Elders are happy too that they aren’t going to have to take over our area anymore. (It’s a little big.)

So that’s another week of not working that much. Well in my area anyway.

Steve just told his parents about his decision. I don’t think they’re happy. But it’s a great thing that he did.

But that’s about it for this week. It’s been another uneventful one. I really can’t wait for those socks! All of mine have holes in them. Oh and you might want to put the Virgin De Guadalupe on this one. When Audri sent me socks, someone stole them.

But I hope that everyone is doing good. Love you all!!!

Elder Whetten

Monday, May 17, 2010

Opening New Area

Ok so the zone leaders just called me and said that I am now going to get transferred to that area way back when I was going to be changed about two months ago. Its only two areas over but it’s the area of the stake center. I don’t see why they are changing us with only three weeks left of the change but oh well. I guess I won’t be having any baptisms for the rest of the change. (We are reopening the area and an investigator has to be in the church three times before they can be baptized.) But maybe there will be someone in the area book that the previous missionaries have been working with. Well see. I’m supposed to change areas sometime this week. Oh and the area is where we meet with Steve so no problems there.

It has started to rain every day this week. It’s pretty nice when it rains but really hot when its not. San Luis Potosi is a strange city and you can never predict what the weather will do. Most of the missionaries in SLP have been getting heat strokes, including my companion and the two other elders that we live with. I guess I’m accustomed to it by my time in Arizona. But I had to stay in the house a couple days with the other Elders until they recuperated. So we didn’t work much this week.

Say hi to everyone that said hi. Also to Grammy and Grandpa and Grandma. And to the family.

That’s about it for today. Nothing much happened due to the sicknesses. Hope everyone is doing well.

Elder Whetten

Monday, May 10, 2010

Mother's Day Phone Call & Steve's Baptism

This day take advantage of the Great Impact! Free Baptisms just like Jesus Christ taught us!
Steve's Baptism




Yah well I really don’t have much to talk about either. Basically said everything yesterday. But it was so good to hear from you guys. Hope you got enough sleep last night. I uploaded some photos of Steve’s baptism so have fun looking at those. Take care. Until next week.

Mom here – after finally connecting (it helps if you have the correct phone number!) we were able to speak to Jay for over an hour last night. He has quite the Mexican accent! But he sounded so good…so mature. He loves his mission and is thoroughly enjoying serving the Lord.

Steve (the young man in the Baptism pictures above) was baptized on Friday. He has contacted me on Facebook and we have had several long, enjoyable chats, so I feel quite an affection for him. He is a sharp, thoughtful young man.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Like mother like son!

Well my forehead has completely healed! It went really fast! By the time the next Friday came around, making it a week that I had the injury, it had completely healed. I thought that the Elders were going to start calling me Elder Potter but they are actually calling me Cholo Matón which means Cholo Killer. I guess one of the missionaries asked another what happened to my head and he told them that we got into a fight with a cholo and since he was too strong for us to do anything, I had to hit him in the head with my head so we could get away. But yeah I now have a scar there in the same place as mom! Like mother like son no?

I had just talked to Steve and it looks like he is going to be baptized next Friday. We are going to talk to him on Wednesday to straiten everything out.

We had a zone conference this week so I got my Valentine’s package! The other Elders loved the dog and I like the shirt. Also with all the candies and stuff. They are lovin it too. Grammy just asked me if I want anything from her. Just tell her that I would appreciate anything that she would like to send. Love you Grammy!

A member in the ward showed me a video on YouTube that was pretty funny, just type in ¨the good word¨. It’s a video that kinda makes fun of missionaries a little.

Other than that nothing really happened this week. This month is a month of sacrifice and we have a goal of 1000 baptisms this month but this time its looking like we have a pretty good chance of accomplishing it.

that's about all for right now. Hope everyone is doing fine. Till next week!!

Elder Whetten

Monday, April 26, 2010

Gory Pictures!

Teletubbies or KISS ??

The Zone

The wall that did the damage to my head

Jay as Harry Potter


The little girl that was baptized on Sunday



I Cut my head open! But unfortunately I don’t have a cool story to go with it. In one of the rooms of our house there is a piece of wall jutting out right next to the doorway. What happened is I was facing away from the door with my hand on the doorknob and I turned really quickly to leave and shut the door but my hand being on the doorknob put me over to where the wall is and I totally smacked my head on it! The Elders started laughing and I was too but we stopped when I took my hand off. My face was covered in blood and my hand too. So I went right to the sink so the draining blood had somewhere to go. (other than all over the floor) And when by body kicked in and stopped sending so much blood to my head I started to feel really dizzy so I had to go sit down. I told one of the elders to go get a soda while I told one of the others how to take care of it. Then I received a blessing from one of the elders and got enough energy to brush my teeth and go to bed. That morning I felt fine and it is healing pretty rapidly. But that’s my adventure for this week.

We just baptized a girl yesterday whose mom got baptized last Friday. She was a little nervous because she was the only one getting baptized that day but afterwards she felt really good. Her mom is a really great convert. Yesterday she was asking me what she should tell her family because this 24 of December she and to bring the saint of Niño dios or god child which is basically a figurine of baby Jesus to a celebration that her family has every year and they pray to this thing and offer up offerings to it. I really didn’t have an answer for her but she said that it doesn’t really matter, she’s not going to do it anyway.

Steve is doing fine. His baptismal date is on the 30th and we still have a couple of things to teach him but he’s doing great.

That’s about all for today. I heard that my package is in the offices. I’ll probably get it this week. Love you all.

Elder Whetten