300 Baptisms!

Ok well I have some good news and some goodish-bad news. The good news is that we broke 300 baptisms this month! And my companionship was the one to break the 300 with four baptisms yesterday!! So Bednar should be coming sometime soon and Elder Schow has the opportunity to translate for him.

The Bad news is its time for changes again and we got changed. I am very sad right now. I don’t want to leave my companion. Elder Toutai and I have seen many miracles together and we don’t want to leave each other yet. But we all have to get changed sometime. Elder Toutai is getting a kid as is Elders Hatton and Schow. We still haven’t found a house and since Elders Hatton and Schow are zone leaders they have to live in the same house together. So this coming week they will have six Elders in one house.

But I am actually leaving my area to a different state. Tomorrow I will be leaving to Leon to work in the area of the president and all of his assistants so it’s pretty exciting too.

The language is coming along just fine. I can understand people and they can understand me. Sometimes it is hard for me because I can’t quite teach in my own words sometimes. But when I really need to talk in those special moments, I have seen many miracles with the gift of tongues and I am thankful for all of your prayers. I really need them sometimes.

I don’t really have any Ideas for you but we do role playing in our meetings a lot. We give everyone a doubt or problem while one person is prepared then one missionary tries to find the prepared. The prepared has a doubt too but you have to get past that doubt to find them.

Tell grandma Happy Birthday. Ill Talk to you guys next week.

Love you all!

Elder Whetten

Busy Missionaries

Our experiences aren’t really that easy most of the time. People never just come up to us and ask about our faith. Although we did have something pretty close to it this last week. We found this woman who told us that she had a dream that she was at her church listening to the pastor and everyone around her was singing and praying, but she was crying. She had another dream that she was in a room and someone was just talking to her, but she was crying again. She had both of these dreams twice, and she interpreted it as God telling her that this church that she was in wasn’t the right one for her and she needed to find the true church. We have been having some really good conversations with her and we brought her to church yesterday and she made some good friends. She has some great potential and we have a baptism scheduled for her on Saturday.

Yah living with the zone leaders has been a real learning experience. We definitely have learned a lot that we wouldn’t have if we were just learning on our own. Also Elder Schow knows Spanish better that the natives so he has been a lot of help. We still haven’t found a house though.

More-ron-knee is how it’s pronounced over here. Just like neff-fee.

I am trying really hard to write in my journal. It gets hard sometimes when you get four tired Americans in one house after a long day. But I am doing it. I hope everyone is having a good time and making the best of life. Keep the spirit and appreciate the things that you have.

Elder Whetten

Amazing Experiences

Ok sorry if I scared you by not sending you an E-mail yesterday but we were really busy and we didn’t have time to go to the internet. I enjoyed talking to you guys yesterday. Reminded me of home a little.

Anyway I’m going to start off with an experience that I really like. One day I think it was the first week that me and Elder Toutai had together, we were just walking to another part of our area and we felt the impression to go knock on this door at the end of the street. An old lady answered and we asked if she wanted to hear our message. She told us that she didn’t have time right now and we made an appointment to come back later. (This usually means that their not going to be there and their not interested.) But we came back anyway and much to our disappointment she was not home. We were confused and didn’t know what to do. But we knew we got that impression for a reason so we kept coming back. After the fourth try she answered the door and let us in. We taught her and her grandson of 9 years who was present at the time. She accepted our challenge to pray about our message just like anybody else would, but the lesson wasn’t that significant. The next day we came back and she let us in and she was very excited as was her grandson. They got an answer to their prayers and I don’t think that anything could have impeded on their testimony then, that this gospel was true. They were since then totally receptive to what we taught them and if they had a problem contrary to what we were teaching them, they would change that part of themselves immediately. Rosalia and Soulo were just two of the prepared souls that God has lead us to.

Rosalia and Soulo

There is another story that I want to tell. One day my companion and I were not having any success at all. It came to the end of the day and we were tired and discouraged. It was almost the end of the day and it didn’t amount to anything. I started thinking "Please God just give us someone to teach, give us something to do, Bless us with references or something." (Later I found out that my companion was thinking the same thing at the same time as me.) At that moment a lady came down the street yelling "Elders, Elders! I have references for you!" My companion and I looked at each other and practically fell over laughing. One because we knew we were both thinking the same thing and two because the lady said it in English. She wanted us to teach her boy friend and her neighbors. The neighbors have since then been baptized but we had to let the boyfriend go.

The neighbors

We weren’t able to go looking for a house yesterday because we were so busy. But some time this week we should be able to.

I love you guys. Enjoy life and get your food storage ready!

Elder Whetten

Mother's Day Phone Call

We got to speak to Jay on Sunday for about 40 minutes. It was so wonderful to hear his voice and hear his enthusiasm for his mission. They are working really hard this month. The mission has a goal for 300 baptisms! He said he really thinks they can do it. If they accomplish it Elder Bednar will come speak to them. He said he and his companion have had some baptisms but he wouldn’t tell me how many because he said he doesn’t want to brag and “keep score”. He said we would write on Monday and tell me some of the experiences he has had but I didn’t get an email from him yesterday.

He said the area where he is right now is hilly and he enjoys that. The weather is much like it is here in Arizona. It’s only rained three times since he has been there. They were supposed to look for a place to live yesterday, so they wouldn’t have to live with the Zone Leaders any more. He said he really enjoyed staying with them but was tired of sleeping on the floor.

I asked him what the members feed them every day and he said mostly tortillas and meat (not a lot of beans) but it was all really hot. He is trying to get used to the hot food.

He spoke some Spanish to us. It sounded really good to us! He didn’t seem to hesitate much.

His companion, Elder Toutai, got on the phone and spoke to us as well. He told us how much he enjoyed working with Elder Whetten and what a good missionary he was. That was nice.

One last kinda funny thing...the government asked everyone not to wear their ties for a while because of the swine flu. I guess they think that it's a place where germs can harbor, because they are not washed frequently. He said all the missionaries were doing as the government asked, but when they went to Church on Sunday all the members had ties on and the missionaries did not.

Short but sweet! And Pictures!

The swine flu really isnt a big deal, the virus if treated right dies in 24 hours. Some people wear masks because of what they heard and everyone else who doesnt have a form of news wears them because everyone else is. Which makes it look like a big deal. But I'm fine.

None of the elders have gotten sick and I thing its a cover up anyway. ;) We didn't have church because the government put a law against any large group meetings. So it was just like any other day, we just went out and worked. And I would never stay inside my house, and yes we live in houses not apartments.

We have to go pretty soon but if I have time I'll come back tonight to finish up my E-mail. We are pretty busy right now and this month is a month of sacrafice for us. (which means no P-days) I'm going to try sending some pictures before I go. Love you all!!!

The captions are written by Jay...

The effects of the swine flu!

Real tostitos!

Good times living with the zone leaders!

Looking pretty in my new tie!

Looking bad in my other new tie!