Spiders Trojan Horse

Monday, 24 November 2014

so our investigator Matilde is just such a champ its incredible. =)

we teaching a lady that is just accepting all of this to the point where neither i nor my comp can fully believe it. =) she quit smoking, tea, coffee, and drinking, the DAY we taught her the lesson. she said that now she doesnt feel anything when she sees people smoking and that its not even a temptation any more. =) she came to church yesterday and loved it! she is going through a really hard time right now, like super duper rough, but i was really grateful that the Spirit helped us out, it brought a lot of scriptures to our minds that really helped her. the scriptures are so cool. =) i love how we can read and depending on where we are at in life the same verse means something completely different. =)

then mis chiquitas, my little ones, they are awesome. they finally like us now!!!!! hahaha it was a battle, at first we showed up and it was like, ugh, hey come sit and listen, and now they come up, we have sick handshakes, and we have a lot of fun teaching them. Karina y Roxana are their names. they and Matilde will be baptized this friday=) so we are super stoked for that. Roxanna and Karina chose me to baptize em but then we talked it over for a minute and imma baptize Karina and my comp is going to baptize Roxanna=) hahaha we dont really know who is going to baptize Matilde yet. we will see. 

Elder Armstrong es my new comp. hes a stud. hes the first comp i have had that is taller than me! hes a big dude=) but we are getting along great. its going to be a really fun transfer. i think at the end of the year they are going to transfer me outta here. so that will be sad. but i got a month and a week to go hard!!!!! =) i seriously love my area. the pench is getting sketch. haha there are just a LOT of spiders. they are coming from everywhere and are really big. OH MY GOSH last night!!! there was a big spider on the ground while we were taking dats, so my comp got up and stepped on it. well he stepped on it, and like 100 baby spiders came flying out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! he stepped on it and it went from bad to way way way horribly, just so much worse. we were both running around yelling and just stomping out anything black that moved. hahahaha

so we were in a lesson with a recent convert and had a really cool experience. we shared a scripture where Crist talks about his lineage, who he is and what he came here to do. then shared about this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased, hear him. 

the invitation i want to extend to all of you is that you think about this relationship. the one that we have with the Father, and then, think about this: What words would our Heavenly Father  use to present us? and what are we doing now to make him proud of us. 

there is a massive power in prayer. something i am working on is trying to really close my eyes and then really talk to someone. not just pray, but really imagine that hes right there. sometimes we just say things in prayers cause there are other people listening, but really i want you all to get up there, especially on your thanksgiving prayers right before the food when everyone wants a short and sweet one, i want you to get up, and really tell him what you REALLY feel. but of course, keep it short and sweet, the foods getting cold. were not monsters here=) hahahaha 

i love you guys, but i might love this work more=) its so much fun, its hard sometimes but if you keep the miracles youve seen in your head all the time its always awesome=) 

loves from ARGENTINA

Elder Whitaker

haha we are havin a lot of fun. we get along really well

​.  

We have a very particular set of skills..... we will find you....and we will 

baptize you.   good luck =)​

so our investigator Matilde is just such a champ its incredible. =)

we teaching a lady that is just accepting all of this to the point where neither i nor my comp can fully believe it. =) she quit smoking, tea, coffee, and drinking, the DAY we taught her the lesson. she said that now she doesnt feel anything when she sees people smoking and that its not even a temptation any more. =) she came to church yesterday and loved it! she is going through a really hard time right now, like super duper rough, but i was really grateful that the Spirit helped us out, it brought a lot of scriptures to our minds that really helped her. the scriptures are so cool. =) i love how we can read and depending on where we are at in life the same verse means something completely different. =)

then mis chiquitas, my little ones, they are awesome. they finally like us now!!!!! hahaha it was a battle, at first we showed up and it was like, ugh, hey come sit and listen, and now they come up, we have sick handshakes, and we have a lot of fun teaching them. Karina y Roxana are their names. they and Matilde will be baptized this friday=) so we are super stoked for that. Roxanna and Karina chose me to baptize em but then we talked it over for a minute and imma baptize Karina and my comp is going to baptize Roxanna=) hahaha we dont really know who is going to baptize Matilde yet. we will see. 

Elder Armstrong es my new comp. hes a stud. hes the first comp i have had that is taller than me! hes a big dude=) but we are getting along great. its going to be a really fun transfer. i think at the end of the year they are going to transfer me outta here. so that will be sad. but i got a month and a week to go hard!!!!! =) i seriously love my area. the pench is getting sketch. haha there are just a LOT of spiders. they are coming from everywhere and are really big. OH MY GOSH last night!!! there was a big spider on the ground while we were taking dats, so my comp got up and stepped on it. well he stepped on it, and like 100 baby spiders came flying out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! he stepped on it and it went from bad to way way way horribly, just so much worse. we were both running around yelling and just stomping out anything black that moved. hahahaha

so we were in a lesson with a recent convert and had a really cool experience. we shared a scripture where Crist talks about his lineage, who he is and what he came here to do. then shared about this is my beloved son in whom i am well pleased, hear him. 

the invitation i want to extend to all of you is that you think about this relationship. the one that we have with the Father, and then, think about this: What words would our Heavenly Father  use to present us? and what are we doing now to make him proud of us. 

there is a massive power in prayer. something i am working on is trying to really close my eyes and then really talk to someone. not just pray, but really imagine that hes right there. sometimes we just say things in prayers cause there are other people listening, but really i want you all to get up there, especially on your thanksgiving prayers right before the food when everyone wants a short and sweet one, i want you to get up, and really tell him what you REALLY feel. but of course, keep it short and sweet, the foods getting cold. were not monsters here=) hahahaha 

i love you guys, but i might love this work more=) its so much fun, its hard sometimes but if you keep the miracles youve seen in your head all the time its always awesome=) 

loves from ARGENTINA

Elder Whitaker

haha we are havin a lot of fun. we get along really well

​.  

We have a very particular set of skills..... we will find you....and we will 

baptize you.   good luck =)​

Addwe will find you....and we will baptize you.   good luck =)​ caption

Bryce with Elder Armstrong 

The famous Mission tie!

Working hard!

el imposible se consigue

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

yet again another sweet week here in San Nicolás Argentina. =)

we had a little bit of a bummer which taught me something. that sadly, do not trust members to do anything with an investigator if we are not there. 

we had familia chamorro, his best friend is a member. well that friend and the bishop told us that they were going to go over and visit los chamorro. well we let them go, thinking that would be a good idea. well it ended up with espinoza, the friend, telling chamorro they arent ready to be baptized, that they need to think it over well as a family, all this stuff...... hahahaha so we lost four this week. BUT!!!!!!!!

God taketh away, but He also giveth abundantly=)

we lost four but found 5 more. =) so we are still having a total blast!!!!!!!

miracle of the week. 

this has a lot to do with something Scott told me. he said, that mission needs YOU. elder BRYCE whitaker. no one else. 

SO =) we were contacting and came to a members house that love me so, to be me and be a dork, we hit the doorbell and walked to the next house, they came out but not enough to see us. so i went back and hit it again. and we went two houses down to continue. =) hahaha this is all really funny to me cause this whole time i was laughing really hard. =) well they came by a little later on a walk, just to pass the afternoon and saw us, so we talked and they found out it was me and we laughed. well when they came we were about to knock a door, well they stopped us, we talked, and when we left, we did NOT go back to that door, we crossed the street and headed back the way that we had come knocking still. well we knocked a door, and a kid, about 11 came out. and i saw his mom way in the back washing clothes, she yelled for us to wait a second and she would come, well three minutes passed and i was like, ok this is joke. well she came. opened the door and we started to talk. well we got in the house=)

taught and all that. well at the end, we committed them to be baptized. she accepted and said, i knew i needed to open the door to you guys. usually i open the window and say i have a church and close it. but something told me to open the door and listen to you. i promise i will do it. i want to be baptized in the church of Jesus Christ. 

and the angels came and they were translated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! seriously so cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we left that house like, holy freaking cow, i cant believe that just happened. they are sweet. so we will see what happens. 

then sunday. RUSSELL M NELSON came. its whatever. no big deal. it was really cool. a couple minutes into his talk, he told his translator to take a seat and he would take it from here. =) such a capo. it was really cool. talked about temple covenants and the security they can bring to our lives and our relationships. and then, i got to shake his hand. =) his wife is amazing as well. =) but it was a great weekend. 

that sunday night we went to a callback and ended up setting baptismal dates for 3 people. =) seriously its just so fun to commit people. it makes the teaching way more fun cause your trying to teach so that when you commit them its a no brainer that they need to be baptized. its a blast. 

so pray really hard. we need to find a couple of our people with fecha. other wise they are going to fall. but i know the lord is preparing people here. and i wanna tell you guys that our mission is changing drastically. and i loveit. we went from one of the lower, frankly, crapier missions, to now we are killing it. and it all comes from faith, work, concentration, and changing our minds to YES WE CAN!!!!!!!!! i love the mission. if any one of your relatives doesnt want to go on a mission, let me know and send me their email and i will see what i can do. =) cause i truly love what i am doing. 

the impossible is attainable. 

i sure do. he is a yankee. and a big dude. =) everyone says he is really cool so that will be fun. i am kinda glad to be able to be a normal LZ again. it was a lot of fun and i learned a lot but it was kind of a lot for one dude to handle. especially with all the changes i was making in the zone. but=) i will now have a second brain to help me out=) so that will be fun. =) 

i gotta go now. but i will talk more next week. loves and oh. i forgot to send pics... dangit. more next week. 

cuidense muchos mis patos=) hahaha

THE BEST WEEK OF MY MISSION!

November 10, 2014

ok, this was by far and away, THE BEST WEEK OF MY MISSION

no questions asked. we went so hard this week and had so much fun!!!!

so tuesday we had our zone conference, my part went awesome and everyone really enjoyed it. we are working really hard to get our missionaries to change their minds, to go hard, to really truly believe that baptism is possible. that we can baptize every week, easy. and just committing everyone to be baptized. 

so wednesday i got to do divisions with the assistants, and that lit a fire in my soul. straight up, i am not the same missionary. I AM SO PUMPED!!!!!!

we went out that morning, and had about four lessons, and commited 5 people to be baptized, in just the morning. it was so fun. then the afternoon we taught another 2 lessons and found a bunch more investigators. it was a total blast. well that made me realize, my two favorite things about the mission. 

teaching,

inviting to be baptized. 

why not do it ALL THE TIME!!!!????!!!!

well the rest of the week we have gone hard in the paint. we have been working like crazy. and its just been so much fun. we really need prayers to get people to church. thats going to be the biggest challenge. we have so many people that are so ready to be baptized, we just need to get them to the chapel. 

FAMILIA CHAMORRO   he is going to be bishop some day. it is a family of 5. and they are awesome. he grew up with a member from the ward and is right now, really really sick. they were totally coming to church, i called them at 10 AM and they said yeah. well the dad took a hit and was in bed just a wreck. he cant really walk too well. it was sad. so they were unable to come. 

MATILDE GALEANO  she is a stud. she will one hundred percent get baptized. she knows what we teach is true. and through her we are finding a ton more. ​we went over for a lesson, and found her daughter NATALIA with her. well at first she didnt really want to lesson, well long story short, she came and ended up crying saying that she really needed what we said and that she would come to every meeting and prayed that there would be more lessons with us. she is for sure going to the font shortly. =) from Matilde no mas, we have the potencial of about 7 baptisms. THAT WE KNOW OF: =) so really pray. she needs to get her house done and set. that is why she couldnt come to church yesterday

FAMILIA ROJAS   also amazing. they will take a little work but today we have an appointment with them where i think they will start progressing. we will for sure be committing them to baptism for the 13 of dicember. so that will be fun. pray that they will open their hearts and just pray and read. 

i know with out a doubt that if we can have these people just read, pray, and then come to church, THEY WILL KNOW. if you can just get them to church, 80% will get baptized. almost every time. i invite you to do the same. this week, go to your church services looking for an experience. i did it yesterday and i got it. the church really is a very special and important opportunity for these people and it should be for you too. 

im so grateful you guys are all active and strong. that i dont have to sit here and try to reactivate my family. we are trying to do that for an elder that is from this ward so that he can focus on his mission in Peru and not about what is going on here. 

Pray for his family. FAMILIA VERAS/VIGO that they will open their hearts, humble themselves, and keep our commitments. 

totally almost forgot

 

I GOT TO BAPTIZE CAROLINA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

it was awesome!!!!!!!!!

pray for our 11 people that have date to be baptized. and pray that we can meet our goal of having 25 by the end of the week. we will do everything we can to make your prayers count. 

i love the spirit, i really feel guided, i feel that i am finally beginning to fulfill my mission scripture, that i am a still rusty instrument in His hands with a lot to learn , but i pray that i can do what He needs done, that if He needs something done right, He can count on Elder Whitaker.

i love the mission. i really do. i am so glad that i found out the secret to fun now. i wish i woulda known earlier but now i have 7 months to go hard and have some fun. 

love you guys. take care. pray always

ask and ye shall receive

this is the baptism of carolina. daughter of elba. 

​( Top shots of the week with doug miller)​

busy week

Monday, November 3, 2014

this week has flown by. i really cant believe how fast time is going by. i am trying to work a lot more with the zone basing my work on what the president said, that if we help others to have more success and sacrifice our time and efforts, we will see miracles in our own areas. and i am here to tell you that that is 100 percent true. 

we are workin like crazy people over here. its hard but its been fun. the weird thing is is we have a ton of people to get baptized and yet, the days are really tough, we go to one solid person, or maybe two, and then the rest is a battle. but i kinda decided that God just wants to see how bad we want it. and hopefully we are proving we are up to the task. 

we had a baptism of the amazing Elva Arballo this last week. which was amazing. i love the feeling when you see them standing in the water. and when the arm goes up, the spirit just fills the room every time. her daughter was also able to be there which is a miracle by itself because she is going through a wicked time of post partem depression that has literally left her confined to the bed and just sleeping all day. its been rough on everyone. but ELVA GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!

and! i played the piano in her service, just saying...... no big deal or anything. 

then here in two weeks we should have the baptism of two little girls. we are also working with the mom who just has to get married no mas. so pray for her. Thats Familia Gaite. i love those guys, they are the family that we are going to do ice cream in a bag with. =) 

we got a sweet referral this week. she is super prepared. going through a really hard time but is awesome!!!! we left her mosiah 24 to read, when my comp came back(i was on divisions) he said that she explained the chapter better than he could have. hahaha well on sunday we went by and her whole family was there waiting for us and we taught her and three of her kids which are also awesome. she accepted a date for the 29. Matilde Galeano and Fam

then we finally set a date with Zulma. she is Elvas daughter. for the 29 as well. so really pray that we can find her more often. she just works a lot and we also gotta get her to stop smoking, which would really be a lot more easier if we could teach her. =) hahhaha 

so there are a lot of sweet things going on here in barrio oeste. i feel like the ward finally trusts me. they know who the elders in their ward are and what our job is in the mission so they expect more from us, but last week i had our awesome ward mission leader tell me that he hopes i can stay here more time so that we can keep the work going. =) 

uh, ok............... humble hat. i really did not wanna tell you guys this, especially dad casey or scott..... but.... i broke our fridge.   I KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!! IM DUMB!!!!!!!! and the way i did it is even dumber. i was chipping out the massive amounts of ice, and then, white gas started shooting out..... O_O well, that ended up costing me 1500 pesos..... but now we have a new fridge. so thats good. for a few days we were really suffering haha. my milk curdled in like 24 hours it was so hot. =) hahaha so that was a total bummer. ok, so now that you guys know, i have to send a lot more fotos. =) 

mom, when you tell dad, or when he reads this, please tell me if he says, "JEYZ!!!!!" if you dont understand that, ask scott and he will tell you. =) hahahaha

An hermana just told me literally right as i sent that big email that the daughter of elva that they are teaching asked them if i could baptize her!!!!!!! whos pumped????? WOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

​me and my two fridges..... the one on the right is the new one that i just bought. =) 

that is the warning on the inside of the new fridge that basically explains that you shouldnt do exactly what i did when i broke it....

so i am really having way too much fun. =) seriously mom. too much fun. =) 

BYE MOM!!!! LOVE YA TONS: SEND PICS

​LOVE YOU GUYS​

--

Elder Whitaker

Mision Argentina Rosario

7935 Blv Argentino

Rosario Santa Fe 2000

​​

Mom: "Congratulations on the baptism!  Don't wanna be a downer but hey Bryce, your little house is kind of scary looking..."

Note  (I really need to stop enlarging his pictures and looking at the backgrounds...Aaaaahhhhh!!!)

Bryce: "ha thats the back part. we dont go in there..... for obvious reasons....."

Pretty Decent Week

Monday, October 27, 2014

so we had a pretty decent week. haha for me it was just full of opposition. hahaha so remember last week when i was mad that i couldnt get the videos but the electricity in the church was out. well it never came back on....

so we gave a three or two and a half hour meeting in about an hour. because the sun was about to go down... hahaha to sing the last hymn we had people pulling out their cells to be able to see the pages. hahaha but it was really fun. i love giving those meetings. its a blast. 

i would just like to say. I love our country. its the best there is and ever will be. we have so many opportunities to just do random fun stuff that little even the OPTION doesnt exist here. we talked about rollercoasters, yep, dont exist near here, theres not one in all of uruguay. we get to play random sports, there are just so many things that we have and do that we really just need to be so grateful for it. 

​

we did service for Elba Arballo, she is going to be getting baptized this saturday so that will be great. i am really excited to finally get her in the water. then we are working to complete a family. the family Gaite, the two little girls and the mom are not members, the little girls have a date to be baptized and the mom, we gottta get her married first. so hopefully that works out. 

the service was fun. IT IS SO HOT. the heat is back ladies and gentlemen. we moved 300 bricks and made that little wall and cut the grass. it was a good time. 

​

thats elba, our ward mission leader, Hermano Bonilla, hes a baller. and then i think we all know that handsome man on the end there. haha

​bummer story, i broke the freezer today....... so that was not cool. hahahahahahaha literally. hahahahaha that occured to me right as i wrote that..... i should have a TV show.... ​

​mom. goin on a hunch, is there a way to make ice cream in a bag by putting stuff in it and then you have to mush it around. we are thinking about a lesson with that and faith without acts is dead.... so if you could hook me up with that.

 I FORGOT THE BEST ANNOUNCEMENT

THERE IS AN APOSTLE COMING TO MY STAKE HERE IN SAN NICOLAS.

WOOOOO. still dont know exactly who it is but it will be goin down the 16 of noviember. so im obviously pretty freaking excited about that

​!

that​

 is all...

love you guys so much.​

--

Elder Whitaker

Mision Argentina Rosario

7935 Blv Argentino

Rosario Santa Fe 2000

Really Really fast

Monday, October 14, 2014

ok real quick, super short on time. 

so we had a crazy week this week. on monday i sent Saldivia packin back to chile. after two years the mission got to him and he went home. =) hahaha 

but yeah i miss that dude, we had a lot of fun together. for sure one of the cooler latinos ive had. 

but i was then with Nord and Gomez monday and tuesday which was really fun. wednesday headed to Rosario to pick up my trainee. 

his name is Elder Giacoboni. It literally took me like 2 full days to remember it. its a solid last name thats for sure. but he is from detroit. hahah kidding, hes from uruguay. and is super pumped to be out here and wants to go hard. so we are going hard. =) havin fun. uh, wow, so yeah that was about it. we didnt really have much time to work this week, i had to do an interview as well. this time they passed, so that was good. but yeah. pray for elba to get baptized this saturday. that she can finally get in the water 

pray for jose luis y fanni. that they can get an answer. 

jose that he can come to church

german as well, to find him and get him to church

and just that we can find new people. 

we are working hard. trying to get the work to keep progressing. =)

love you guys. 

and mom, got your package. and yes, i opened it already, dont hate me. but i didnt not open the present inside. =) so i get points there. 

love you all and send me pics=)