July 31, 2013

ok so i will get my notification that i will not receive my VISA like tomorrow or friday. and then i will get my reassignment next friday or thursday. and they allow us to email after we get our reassignment so i will let you know where i am going. :) also, if scott isnt using em or hasnt destroyed them already, will you send me those black pumas. the ones with the grey stripe. cause my work out shoes are kinda small and suck to wear all day. so that would be cool. but if scott wants them i can totally wait till i get my reassignment and then buy some other shoes when im in the field like on our P Day or something. but yeah. anywyay. oh and mom. that blanket thing sounds amazing. i have been freezing. cause the way i sleep i like to stay mobile and that doesnt work when i cant pull a blanket over my shoulders that isnt tucked into the sheets:) love you sooo much and bye

Elder Awesome

MTC 24th of July!

Hey Everyone!!!

So this week and last week... and the week before are all just one massive blur. I cant tell the days apart anymore. Its just wake up, study, eat, study, teach, study, sleep. And do it all over again. Its kinda funny. But I have started the awful habit of waking up before the alarm and I hate it!!! Sleeping is hard to come by as it is, so once i get to sleep i cant even enjoy it now. but everything is going really well here. im having a lot of fun and have been getting art assignments from kids for the LDM (libros de mormon) so today im playin with that. its been fun. but anyway. i forgot to write last week and tell you all that i saw Amanda Coffelt like three times in two days. i hadnt seen her here the whole time and all of a sudden she was every where. it was great seeing her!

    on our Sunday walks to the temple the past couple weeks there have been... well im not sure what to call them. for the sake of time lets call em protestors. they stand out on the corner of the parking lot where we walk by to get to the front gates with these white crosses that have stuff written on em. and they scream about how they love Jesus and what he did for us and that we suck. and the first week it was really funny. we had a few missionaries that would stop and talk and basically start teaching the guy. and then someone took pictures with them (we got kindly chewed out for that during the devotional that night for that one) and this week they had a new guy with em. so now the bearded guy is yelling and some other dude just holds the cross. and the third one right by the temple gates was playing some music. i recognized it. like it was good music and i toldt everyone to be quiet cause thats the first music ive heard since i watched a mormon message about a blind kid that plays the piano. and when we heard it Elder Morrin was like WOO music!! but the guy thought he was supporting him. so he said " YEAH!!! it was really funny, and we just walked away.

    So our first investigator became our teacher and i just have been forgetting to tell you about him but i brought my little black book today. so i wont forget anything. but his name is Kevin Miller or "Aldo" or "Manuel" but its really Kevin. and he is the Safety for BYU. and he is seriously yoked!!! he is massive. but besides that he is seriously the coolest guy in the world. he has said some of the most inspiring things i have ever heard. like every time we leave after class im just so pumped up. like everything sounds possible. im like oh im totally fluent in spanish. what the Pope has a free half hour? oh i can baptize him in twenty. its just funny how some people can be like that. he used a quote that said "todays Homeruns wont win tomorrows games" so just because we are spiritual today and know what we are doing right now wont help us tomorrow. we have to always be working and strengthening our faith.

    This place is funny. so you know that song. we have been taught and we understand. something like that. "we are as the armies of Helaman" that one? well there is a part in that song where it says "we will be the lords missionaries to bring the world his truth" but instead of "we will be" it is now " we are now" its just funny little stuff like that that keeps you on your toes.

    Jolene Allphen came. it was the same lady from that trek fireside we went to a few months ago. she came and talked... it was good. but its nuts the things those people did for us. oh and turns out 17 miracles is basically the greatest and funniest movie in existence. the little midget guy was so funny!!

    so we watched a talk from Elder Bednar. and he talked about the 20 Mark note that he gave to a general authority and he didnt know why he did. but later learned that the government in Germany was trying to kick that authorities wife off the train. so he gave the gaurd their passports and inside was a 20 mark note which was aparrently a lot of money back then inside his wife's passport. well when the guard came back the money was gone and they were allowed to go on their way. but the funniest part was he stopped for a sec and said. "now just to be clear. that is NOT a bribe!.... its a righteous exchange" hahaha i died. it was so funny. same talk he said that a member was being mugged and the robber had a gun. and the gun went off but in the members pocket there was a small book of mormon. and even the bullet stopped at the Isaiah Chapter!!! hahahahaha ohhh mission humor is weird

    Landon is gone now. it was funny. i went up to his room to say good bye and it was way weirder saying good bye this time. but he was good. they gave him ENGLISH LDM's so he hopefully got rid of those either in the airport or gave it to the poor soul that sat next to him on the plane. we have a joke that when people come to sit down and see a missionary in the seat next to them it must just be shear dread in their mind. haha cuase they know that we dont stop talking. my friend had to go get a ultrasound for something and got to go to the hospital and he said it was so fun. like he just talked to people. it was exciting just to have someone to interact with. so he talked to every doctor and nurse. all the people in the waiting room. stuff like that. and i totally get that. everytime i see someone i just wanna talk to em now.

   So we have this thing called TRC where we have real members that come in and they dont pretend to be an investigator anymore. we teach them how they are at that time in their lives. like one lesson was a couple. they were so cool. but they wanted to know how to get their... nieto.... grandson. to go on a mission. and we talked about that and it was awesome. like we had scriptures going everywhere. Scott, i used your angels thing in the Index so props. except im not 100% what it really said. i just took a guess cuase it sounded cool. anyway. the next one was just a guy. and he was talking to us telling how they had just got back from a mission he and his wife and how he went on his mission when he was younger and all this stuff. so we asked if we could start with a prayer. well all of a sudden when we said amen he became a freaking catholic with a protestant wife. and he was way hard to understand so i was tryin to follow and i thought he said he was a member and she was catholic. and he said he wanted to know how to get his own answer and know Jesus better. well i thought he meant like he didnt quite know if he had a testimony or if he was thinking about joining his wife. well that was wrong!! and i started like saying you need to read your scriptures and he would only talk about the bible and i got so confused. hahaha it was terrible. and then he got confused cause i kept talking about prophets, but hey "Paco" doesnt know about prophets or the BofM so i was so confused. it was crazy.

well i forgot my card reader (that some random kid who i still dont know) gave to me. so i will send pictures in the afternoon.

my scripture is Alma 29: 6 AND 9 not six through nine.  thank you 

when we get those family pictures back, send me some yeah? 

dear elder is always fun just to get something. uh... oh and tell 

Kristi thank you for her letter. it was really good and ive used it

in lessons and will continue to for sure. 

Les Quiero.

hasta pronto.

Elder Whitaker

have fun at the rodeo tonight!!!

Le amo!

Nomeolvides ;)

Elder Whitaker

July 21, 2013	7/21/13
to Bryce

Hi Elder Whitaker,

Here's Maryn's invitation.  Isn't she gorgeous?  I'm sure all of
Seth's friends are all wondering why they didn't go over to Delta
and find her first!!

I'm writing you a letter and will put it in the mail tomorrow but I
wanted you to see it so here you go.  They are getting married
August 3rd in the Manti Temple with a dinner and reception
that afternoon and evening.  We need to be there by 2:00 P.M.

I've been wondering about the watch that won't beep?  The Gold Bond
stuff for your face?  Scott said to tell you it doesn't go on your face.
Probably doesn't make sense so let me know what you need
and want.

More to come!

Love you,
Mom

Attachments area

Preview attachment photo.JPG

photo.JPG

Bryce Whitaker <bryce.whitaker@myldsmail.net>	7/24/13
to me

so the watch thing i took care of. this kid had a SICK watch and was like dude i hate it. and i showed him mine and he liked it.

so we all won. like i dont know what was going through his head. my watch was hideous.

 

and yes that stuff goes on my face. i promise. but its ok. im figuring it out. i got robared of my shampoo but found some other stuff

in a box that exiting elders didnt want. the lord takes care of us. the one day i didnt have any this kid next to me had it on the ground

and i was like oh please let him leave it. and he did. so i took a tiny bit. and later he came back and got it. so yeah. he is watchin out for

us always.

love you

 

Elder Whitaker

MTC

 July 10, 2013

im getting enough to eat. i have put on like five pounds already. and those packages were huge!!!! so yeah

they are way fun to get but i am good for a while;) letters and stuff are great. it is just nice to get something

when the mail comes.

the bread was awesome. we ate the whole thing that night. we have half a stick of butter left. and most of that

jam is still in there. and my voicemail shouldnt have a password. so i dont really know. but what bout

3589 or 3895 that might work. other wise i dont know.

Can you please figure out how to look up my AP scores!!!!!! and i found those shorts.

also deer hunting pictures and pictures of dixie would be dope.

uh my face is way oily over here and thats been weird. i just wash my face now and go.

i hate shaving with a passion.

uh sleeping is weird. im trying to think of what i need!! i forgot my list.

oh if you could get my a good tooth brush. not those soft kind that just lightly massage your teeth.

i want the kind that literally will take the flesh off my gums. you know what i mean?

uh. oh if you could send me like three or two more pairs of those shorter ADIDAS socks that would be

amazing. im gonna run out and we have gym time every day now.

my shoes. the mack ones are alright. im going to have to really break that one in. so thats gonna be fun.

uh. what else. but please get those AP scores. here are some pictures. if i can figure that out.

                                        Elder Bryce Whitaker

                                        AUG10 ARG-ROS

                                        2007 N 900 E Unit 82

                                        Provo UT 84602

MTC
July 17, 2013

Salutations my dearest family.

so im short on time and the computers here keep freezing and eating my time and its killing me but oh well. thats fine.

anyway! everything is going great. we started this program called TRC and you go into these little rooms and teach regular members. like they dont pretend to be an investigator they are just themselves and you talk about any problems they have with the gospel any challenges they have in their lives or in my case you talk about golf for fifteen minutes and realize you have five minutes left in your lesson before you open with a prayer. then you ask if they have any questions you can help with and the guy honestly was like. well i really wanna know the daily schedule of the missionaries. so we just talked about what we do every day. and then on our evaluation chart he said he wanted us to share something else with him when he gave us nothing to go on. so that was cool

have i told you guys about the cream soda tree? cause yeah guys. there is a tree that smells like cream soda. Casey if you ever need a new business idea i think we have something there;) also for Casey. was that picture of the white guy with the black guy your friend? didnt you do the Haka at Canyon View Park with him? i feel like that was something. also send me the words to the Haka. i have been having some sick doodles over here. i will mail em home or something. but they are really cool. also did they have the Cream soda tree when you or Lance came through??

we had a fireside last night. Pres Hinckley's son came and it was really cool.-- i think. i got distracted. but you could hear Pres H in his voice and see him in his face. it was really cool. i didnt hear much but what i did was nice. the reason i got distracted was i found landon and sat by him. and of course we didnt focus. before we were like oh how sweet would it be if we were companions. and now we know. that would be the worst decision anyone has ever made. haha we literally just talked and laughed the whole time. he is such a funny kid! i have missed our stupid humor so much! but i have elder morrin in here with me and he is pretty freaking hilarious. that kid has the funniest things to say in every situation.

my spanish is really coming along great. i just gotta get the golden plates and memorize that and ill be good to go. oh the plates is a little gold card of conjugations. conjugations is really the only place im hurting right now. that and object pronouns. wow do those really suck. but everyone says dont worry about the language. work at it but dont get mad. just focus on learning the gospel and everything will work out.

so are you kidding me!!!!!!! i got a TWO!!! i suck! i thought i would have at least gotten a three! but lets face it. i gave up on the entire free response. that was where i drew the best lion ever. it was awesome and i havent been able to do it since. but thats ok. i hate math and math has now shown its true feelings for poor Elder Whitaker.

and mom. or i kinda feel like Scott had a lil sumthin sumthin to do with the receiving of the BBQ chicken cheese sticks. but oh my great goodness!!!!!! i needed that so bad!!!!!!! like you dont even know how happy i was when i got that! i have a picture of me that i will send over. but there is a funny back story. so my comp got like four packages in one day haha it was redonk. but the funny thing was that it was like a jacket or rainpants and stuff he had forgotten at home. Me and Elder Morrin were makin fun of him as we were walking to the post office about getting rainpants earlier and elder morrin was like "if i got rainpants i dont think i would be super stoked about that. like Aw sweet rainpants!!! YEAH!!!!!!" it was way funnier than that. anyway. so i got that package and was like super excited. and then..... i saw that towel poking out the side. haha i had the biggest AWWW ever. so we go back to the room and im feelin like a dumb person cause i just made fun of Elder Clarke for his packages and then got a towel. so i opened it up and went to grab the towel when i realized there was something in it. and when i finally got through the two rolls worth of tape;) and saw that sweet sweet box of BBQ CCS. i screamed. i was running around yelling YEAHHHHHHH!!!!!! haha we had just eaten dinner. and that didnt slow me down. they were still nice and warm. (high five mom) and i ate half the box and gave some out to the other guys from SF on my floor cause i knew they would appreciate it. so after the Devotional our Branch presidency 2nd counselor was coming over so we were cleaning up and i had just the ends and like two of the ones that are next to it left. and i dont know if im allowed to have stuff like that. and our garbage is under the desk. so i just set it on top of the can. well turns out later that night freaking Elder Clarke decides to do something and he threw em away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so yeah that was a little depressing and i only cried for like.... ten maybe fifteen minutes. haha chiste. but yeah im not too mad. they were the parts that no one really likes any way.

well guys just know that the church is true. god is there. and i now know for sure that i have gotten an answer from him. like no doubt about it. i know im here doing what i should be. and that the things i know and have taken for granted my whole life can bless someones life.

I love you guys!!!

No se preocupan sobre mi.

Elder Whitaker

MTC

July 10, 2013

So family here we are!

Today is our first P day and everything is going great. im going to do my best to recount the whole week and if i repeat anything from letters well lucky you:)

Bryce's desk at the MTC

in the very first picture. it is hanging in the hallway up here who is this white guy!!!!!!!!
i swear Lance knows him!!!!!!!!!!!!  (Elder Ryan Hales from the 12th Ward)

So as most of you know my best friend of all time escorted me into the MTC and that honestly made all the difference in the world. because i knew i wasnt in here alone and that someone that i knew was in here going through the exact same things. so i got checked in and everything. the guys in my room are all super cool. we literally just hung out in our room two nights ago and just laughed for like twenty minutes. there are so many funny jokes and stuff to tell its crazy. like this one kid. Elder Morrin. he will be telling a story and finish it in the funniest way. like he was telling us about his AP psychology teacher and how it was really hard and how his buddy would just say dumb things and mess with her head. like she would say. ok now on this test do not use a pen. pencils only. and this kid would raise his hand and be like hey so can i use my pen? like thats ok right?? and she would get all confused and say no i just said that!!! it was just dumb stuff like that that elder morrin kept saying. but at the end he did a big sigh and was like yeah.... then she got pneumonia and died... hahahahahaha i honestly laugh everytime i hear that. even just barely when i wrote that i just laughed and everyone in my district did when i told them why. its our big joke now. even though its sad that lady died and stuff... but still funny.

   So everyone has been askin how my companion is. And so far i am getting along with him pretty well. he is from missouri and just lost his dad and grandpa in a plane crash this november. so he has gone through a lot. he is a really cool guy and we can talk and laugh so thats been nice. he is really good at spanish and teaching so its nice when we do our lessons cause if my topic gets shot down he can talk about stuff for a while. but he also cuts me off and cuts our teacher off. which bugs me sometimes. but overall i like him.  i like it when we are in the residence halls cause i can just get away and go talk with my other friends in the building. it is so weird having someone be with you ALL THE TIME. like there is a drinking fountain just down the hall from our prison cell(classroom) we seriously spend ten hours a day in there. anyway. the drinking fountain is right there and every time you wanna go get a drink you have to take someone with you!! and like its not a big deal but i seriously miss just sitting in our basement by myself. but all the guys in my district are really cool. haha ok nevermind. so i loved everyone right until we got these three new kids. they came in the same day i did but they just moved into my class room cause we are the intermediate class. and this one kid. i seriously have absolutely nothing in common with him. he loves band and grammar and stuff like that. hahah so as Scott knows we say "like" a lot. and this kid had been in our class for honestly five minutes and was like "seriously if you say "like" one more time im going to go crazy" hahaha oh my gosh and then he corrected dude!!! so yeah me and that kid are gonna have some problems. but i will manage to find somethin to talk about. i always do.

   ok so did you guys know that when you put salt in Sprite. it fizzes back up again like no other!!!! i found that out on accident when i was playing with my food after lunch one day. and it blew my mind hole. so if anyone knows why that happened let me know. cause one of the elders  (my companion) has a theory and i dont buy it. he also has a theory on gravity. that everything is expanding constantly. but yeah. that bugged me all last night. hahaha but he reminds me a lot of uncle terry. he knows something about everything!

   so our first sunday here was fast sunday and that was about the hardest thing i have ever done. we fastest basically a full 24 hours. and the dinner line that night was ginormous. so while in line i ate a salad a bowl of cereal and an ice cream bar. then! we abandoned that line to go get the same meal at another one. and right when i was about there. they closed it down!!! so i went to the one next to it and right when i was about there. there were no rolls!! so yeah ive had some pretty rough trials. the worst was the roll. hands down;) but i havent had that big break down that every one talks about. im doing just dandy. everytime i get a little home sick or think there is no way i can do this i just say shut up dude. you got this. and i get back to work.

   i miss all of you and mom. that sticky note with the dogs hair. that was hilarious. oh and that yogurt got here pretty cold. and holy cow with the packages:) im good for a while :) but keep the letters coming. getting a letter is the highlight of every day. its like christmas when you get one and when you dont its kinda poopy. haha but yeah thanks for sending everything. i will tell you everything i need in the email i will write when i come back this afternoon.

Much Loves

Elder Whitaker

First letter home!

July 3, 2013

Dear Family!!

So I'm totally alive and well!  My comp is a really cool guy and the guys in my room are 

all fun.  One of 'em is from SF.  Paxton Patey.  I never knew him before today but had 

heard the name.  A kid I know from SF is in my classroom and another SF kid is in

my district so overall SF is killin' it over here.  I saw Cody Pritchett today and will 

be seeing him a lot.  Only hung with Landon for a few minutes but it was still nice.

He's so happy it's crazy :)

But tomorrow they are letting us watch the fireworks so that's awesome.  Oh!! so I

am teaching investigators TOMORROW!!  Yeah, holy cow!  I'm not ready at all for

that but hey, I'll pull through.  Spent a half hour in class not totally knowing what the

teacher was saying haha.  But I have enjoyed it here.  It's not nearly as bad as everyone

says.  I am having tons of fun.  Oh but there is NO food.  I'm starving.  So the sooner

my food package comes the better.:)  

I used to not be able to tell the difference between hunger and the spirit but yeah that's

been discovered :).  Oh also could you mail me some pictures of Dixie (our dog) and

the fam.  I forgot the Dixie one....:l  Anyway, miss ya'll.

Much loves!

Elder Whitaker

P.S.  It's now Thursday and I just got the note for your package but the mail room is

closed because of the 4th so I will open it tomorrow.  Oh if you could send 

a watch that won't beep!!! I'll tell you about the week in my email.  (PDay is

Wednesday) I've been keeping little notes of funny stuff. :)

Love you

7 July 2013

i cant really remember right now what my scripture is. just ask grandpa what his is. and thats what i want.

im getting enough to eat. i have put on like five pounds already. and those packages were huge!!!! so yeah

they are way fun to get but i am good for a while;) letters and stuff are great. it is just nice to get something

when the mail comes.

the bread was awesome. we ate the whole thing that night. we have half a stick of butter left. and most of that

jam is still in there. and my voicemail shouldnt have a password. so i dont really know. but what bout

3589 or 3895 that might work. other wise i dont know.

Can you please figure out how to look up my AP scores!!!!!! and i found those shorts.

also deer hunting pictures and pictures of dixie would be dope.

uh my face is way oily over here and thats been weird. i just wash my face now and go.

i hate shaving with a passion.

uh sleeping is weird. im trying to think of what i need!! i forgot my list.

oh if you could get my a good tooth brush. not those soft kind that just lightly massage your teeth.

i want the kind that literally will take the flesh off my gums. you know what i mean?

uh. oh if you could send me like three or two more pairs of those shorter ADIDAS socks that would be

amazing. im gonna run out and we have gym time every day now.

my shoes. the mack ones are alright. im going to have to really break that one in. so thats gonna be fun.

uh. what else. but please get those AP scores. here are some pictures. if i can figure that out.