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!

Robberies, Swine Flu and Earthquakes. Oh My!

Yah we got robbed. I was contemplating on if I should tell you or not. But Elder Hatton said he told his mom so I figured it would reach you anyway. The first day they just took all of our electronics (except for those grey speakers you gave me) So my CD player is gone, and my black speakers, they even took my electric toothbrush!!! So that needs to be replaced. I think I can find one the next time I go to Costco or somewhere. The second time they robbed us was the next day and we reinforced the door so they couldn’t get in so they just took our tank of gas. So now we are living with the zone leaders and looking for a new house.

Yah everyone in Mexico is wearing face masks right now, trying to keep themselves from getting sick. But we are just working hard and trusting that the Lord will take care of us.

I didn’t feel anything this morning, Aguascalientes is pretty far from Mexico City. (I asked him if he felt the earthquake).

As for the call for Mothers Day, how this is going to work is I’m going to call you before to set up a time that I am going to call you and then I am going to go buy a phone card and call you at that time. (I’ll have more money by then and phone cards are pretty cheap.)

I can’t see half the letters on this keyboard so some words might be weird. But I’ve got to go. I love my companion. We are working hard. We are having amazing experiences.

Love you all. And enjoy the moment you are living right now.

Elder Whetten

New Area - New Experiences

Well my first week has gone by just fine. My companion Elder Toutai (not Toetai) is a hard worker and knows how to be obedient. So we are getting along just fine and having a lot of fun working really hard. We have quickly learned that you don’t have to know the language to have the spirit as a witness to testify of the truthfulness of the gospel. But we are still studying hard trying our best. We are the story of the mission right now though. The assistants to the president call us a lot to see how we are doing. But the Lord is blessing us a lot in our efforts.

My new house is a little different in some ways. My last house had a boiler but this one doesn’t. It’s ok though. This town is called Aguascalientes (agua for water and caliente for hot) because the water is naturally hot in some places. I don’t know why so don’t ask me. But my last house wasn’t in one of those places but this one is. But there is one problem. We don’t have enough money to pay the water bill. So the water that we have is cold. It’s ok though. The rest of the day is going to be hot so I try to enjoy it. Our house is a lot quieter at night as well.

Well for the package I do still need packing tape. And my memorycard. Maybe some CDs that are consistent with my calling. Like Motab. If you can find a pocket translator that would be cool. But anything you feel like I would need, go ahead and send it. Or also an electric razor. I’m getting some pretty bad razor burn marks.

My new area has a lot more trees and a lot of high steep hills so I love it here. But for some reason nobody can understand me here.

Well that’s all for now. Love ya.

Elder WhettenElder Toutai and Elder Whetten

Herbie the Love Bug - Jay LOVED these movies when he was little.

A Mexican Bus Stop

Pictures!

It say's "Who will you be with this Semana Santa (Holy Week)?

This must be Elder Toetai - his new companion.

New Companion

This last week was Semana Santa. And it was pretty interesting. Every day the towns and churches perform a different part of Christ’s last days. On Friday I got to see part of the big performance in Mexico City. We were at a dinner appointment and the family had the TV on the news feed of the performance in Mexico City. It was on Friday so it was on Christ’s journey and death. And man was it bad! (Jay was in the incredible Easter Pageant at the Mesa Temple for four years in a row, check out pics of it at www.easterpageant.org/ I'm sure that is what he is comparing it to.) First of all, all the actors had one of those big microphones that you hold which didn’t look right. And they had this weird opera music playing during the whole thing, and angel was following Christ everywhere, and most of it was wrong. Like on time in his journey, a woman stopped him and asked him if he could remove her sins. The actor playing Christ then replied "God suffered for your sins."

But yah, that’s what Easter here is like. Today marks my 99th day in the mission and the end of my first change. God has decided to give me a new companion and tomorrow I go to a different part of Aguascalientes to serve with Elder Toetai. He is a Tongan from California and he only has one more change than I do which means that our experience is about the same. To put this into perspective, I remember seeing him in the MTC. All the elders say that they have never seen something like this happen before. No two Americans have ever been assigned as companions either. But we are up for the challenge, and we know that if we put our trust in God and work hard that we will have success.

That thing that I am holding in my hand is a corn. Don’t you remember Nacho Libre? Watch it again.

And that calendar is our dinner appointment calendar. And don’t worry about what’s written on it. I am on my mission and all I care about is serving the Lord.

I don’t have any good pictures of Toetai but I will send the one I do have that I took today when we went bowling. Well that’s about it.

Tell Beth congrats. I have a lot of hard work ahead of me and I am ready to take it on. Contention is of the devil. God is love.

Elder Whetten

A few more pictures

These came in a few hours after the others.....