Jesse Email - December 30, 2013

Happy new years!!!! well it turns out that i didnt get transfered! so i will have 6 months in my first area:P it is crazy to think that i will literally have 1/4 if my mission in one area! i didnt think that was going to happen, but i know im here for a reason! we also baptized 2 more people this Sunday:) a father and son the father is Ariel. and the son is tobias. Ariel is one of the coolest funniest and sharpest men i know. yeah he has his past but who doesnt! his desire to learn more and to better his life is incredible. he is the one who alwasy had questions and everything clicked perfectly with him. when he came out of the water, tears and joy filled his eyes and the spirit was very strong! i took some pictures with the guys for christmas but i still have the virus problem!!! but once i get it fixed you will all have a bunch of pictures headed your way!!!

Diana - Email - December 30, 2013

Hello Everyone!!!!

I hope everyone had a good Christmas. My Christmas was so much fun my companion and i woke up did are studies and then we opened presents. Than Sister White made goodies while I sat and watched. We also had to do laundry that was not fun. Then we went to a members home and i got to talk to my family!!!!!! I miss all of you so much and it was so good to see everyone!!! Then after we talked to our families we stayed with the Ete family for the rest of the day and we played oranges to oranges, and Hawaiian charades. Thursday we a did normal missionary stuff saving souls, sharing testimony just saving to world. Friday started off like any other day and then a dog deiced he wanted to eat my hand off. So we were going to go see this guy who said we could come back and we go and knock on the door and we where standing there for a while and we turned around and and there was a really cute dog and we started to pet it and is was so lovely and then i tried to see what its name was and out of no where it bit me. I am fine it didnt even leave a cool bruise but I know the Lord was protecting me lol the worst part if this hole thing though is when we had to go back to this home where they really dont like us and tell them there dog bit me and ask if its shots are up dated. We decided we are going to leave that house for the next set of missionaries. Saturday we had another really good day just saving souls but the girl who was on date for January 4 Juliann wasnt able to come to church so she cant be baptized but we know the Lord has a plan for her and she just might not be ready for the gospel yet. Sunday we went to church and we had a less active come and that was so amazing!! His name is Dom and he was baptized in Samoa and he moved to America and went less active but he has a desire to go on a mission so we have a goal for him. Sunday night we had the most amazing thing happen my companion and i followed this car home one day because they looked Samoan and we decide to go an knock on there door and do you what was on the other side of that door? A miracle Jubi is a 24 year old guy who met with missionaries before but moved and  lost contact with them and we ask him to read the book of mormon and he asked us about who Joseph Smith was. it was the most amazing thing i have ever seen its people like him that make the mission worth it. He is on date for January 18 please pray for him he is so ready and you know how satan is when people find God and the Gospel. I just want to leave all of you my testimony  I know this church is true i know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God I know that being a missionary is the best thing in the whole wide world being to share me testimony with anyone who will listen is the best thing ever. I love this Quote by Elder Holland " Missionary work isn't easy because Salvation is not a cheap experience" I love being a missionary i love the Gospel of Jesus Christ and I love My savior so much please if you havent read the book of Mormon with an open heart and ask God if it is true and i promise you that Our heavenly Father will answer you and tell you it is true. God lives and i know i will be with my family forever!!! love you all so much!!!

Love sister whetten 

Jesse E-mail December 23, 2013

well it sounds like everyone was busy this week and that everyone had a great time! everything down here is normal... hahaha

okay so this week we saw a cop chase! there was a car full of young adults who were running from the police for who knows what reason! they were pretty far ahead of the police and getting away when a bus pulled unto the road and blocked there way. that's when things were pretty interesting. one of the guys inside pulled out a freakin gun and told the bus driver to get out of the way. he did as he was told, which was expected. he had a gun pointed at him, and then they just continued their little chase and i never saw them again:P ohh and probably the best thing about this week was the baptisms that we had yesterday! we baptized two people. one of which was Maxxi`s younger brother! thats not the best part either. his younger brothers name is pablo and he wanted me to do his baptism. and not that i didnt want to do it but i had a better idea. we went and talked to bishop and asked if maxxi could receive the priesthood:) so about 30 min. before the baptism maxxi received the aaronic priesthood! and he then went on to baptize his younger brother. just thinking about it makes me tear up a little bit, and the joy that i felt was so much stronger than if i wouldve done the baptism. and then we also found out that pretty soon here he will be called to be the assistant to our new Missionary leader! its just great to see the effects of the work and the difference it makes in peoples lives! we also baptized a young girl names sofi, she is one of the smartest little girls ive ever met! all the lessons clicked with her and she had questions and just paid attention to everything. this little girl reminded me of minnie:P she is only 9 years old but has a very good supprt to go to church and everything. both baptisms were yesterday along with another one from the other half of our area. haha ill go ahead and save some of this stuff for Thursday so we can have something to talk about! but i love you all and cant wait to talk to everyone! and im trying to get pictures sent to you all but i have to remove this virus:P until Thursday! i love you all remember that!

love your son, brother, grandson:) Elder Whetten!

Diana E-mail December 18, 2013

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!

 Things are doing great here in the Great Northwest we had a Christmas party as missionaries and we ate and sang Christmas Hymns and acted out the Christmas stories. it was a lot of fun. i am so in love with the Samoan people the mebers are really nice and they love to make fun of my lack of Samoan. 

the weather doesnt bother me anymore and i havnt worn a coat for two days but that was a really bad idea my companion was sick and now i think i am going to get sick which is not good at all.

well i just want to share my testimony with all of you I know that Jesus Christ is my savior and Redeemer I know that he was born in a manger long ago and he came to this earth so he could live a perfect live and show us the way and then to suffer for me and everyone who will ever live who has lived. I know that The Book of  Mormon is another testiment of Jesus Christ and brings us closer to him. I love you all and hope you have a great Christmas. Love Sister whetten

Jesse Email - December 16, 2013

this week was pretty interesting! we found this great convert whose name is Ariel Nimo. as soon as we started teaching him he was understanding the lessons and asking questions. these kind of people are the funnest to find but also tricky because  we really have to be prepared for their questions and what they want to know. but just yesterday we had a lesson with him about the plan of salvation, he couldnt get enough of it and the lesson went great! he understands everything and really wants to change his life. we asked him to say the closing prayer in the lesson and midway through, he asked if heavenly father could forgive him for the things hes done wrong and to help him where he lacks, he started to cry and the spirit was just strong. sometimes there just arent words to describe the feelings we get out here doing the lords work. ohh and we also got robbed...by our mission leader!!! turns out hes not who he appeared to be. heres the story-> we were going to have a elders quorum activity so we prepared to buy food and calculated that everyone had to pay 20 dollars so we did. well Thursday he came over and cooked food in the apartment like he does every other week, and he asked for elder davis`s and Elder Brush`s camera because he was graduating from school. so they trusting in the mission leader let him use them. well turns out that Saturday came for the activity and he didn't show up. we called and everything and he never answered. well turns out that he left back to Paraguay. and he had also "borrowed" 15,000 pesos for school  from a member 200 from another and with the money from the activity he left to go to Paraguay. without paying his rent with the cameras, a laptop, and who knows what else he took but hes gone:) and the weather, yes its a lot hotter now that is summer,there are some nights when i just cant sleep because we dont have the privilege of air-conditioning:P that's what happened this week.

Diana - E-mail - December 10, 2013

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

 Oh my goodness I love being a missionary so much!!! my new compainon is sister white and the Samoan people have a heck of a time trying to say both of our names lol she is so amazing i love her so much!!!! she is such an amzing missionary and we have so much fun together!! It has been so cold not as cold as flag staff but man its cold. i have to wear two pairs of tights and they are getting so worn out lol its all the walking we do.
  

Sister White likes to make fun of me because i have been in rich areas my whole mission and we are in the ghetto she is always telling me that i am not in Bellevue anymore. its a little scary some times but sister white has been in this area for 6 months so she is really smart about where we go and what we are doing.

 I am getting a little sick but i am taking care of myself i have been taking on guard. I cant believe its almost christmas time its so crazy but i love this time of year.

EXCITING NEWS!!!!! we have some one on date for baptism for January 3!!!!!!! my first baptism!!!! we had an amazing lesson with her last night and we had some young women with us and man the youth are so amazing they brought a spirit that we as missionary's cant do that is why members and missionaries have to work together. I am so grateful for being a missionary and being able to share the good news with everyone that will listen to me last night we had family home evening with some members and i said that i wish i could be a fulltime-missionary for the rest of my life because i love being so close to the spirit and seeing that hand of the lord work in these peoples life.
 

I love you all so much and i hope you are having amazing Christmas season!!!

Love Sister Whetten 

Pictures from Argentina

Jesse E-mail - December 9, 2013

everything on this side of the world is fine now:P when we got off the internet last week we were really lucky to be able to send our messages! about 3'0 minutes after we had left the internet a huge storm went through argentina! we were actually shopping for our food when it hit. we were about to exit the store when we saw rocks hit the roof of the store through the sky roofs! we went tto the windows and it was just nuts outside! in just 30 mins trees were blown over powerlines were all over the roads, it was raining and the wind was crazy strong. but we figured we had to get home so we went out in it:P we were about to get on the bus but then the bus driver told us to get off and he just left...this happened 3 times. which was fine because we ended up helping an older man get a tree off his truck, in the rain and wind four missionaries doing a bit of service, it was something you only see in movies haha some other guys saw us helping the man and came and helped us pick up the tree so he could move it. then we started walking to the apartment because none of the buses wanted to stop for us. and about 10 mintutes later the storm just stopped. but it left quite a lot of damage. we ended up not having power or running water for 5 days straight! yeah it sucked, but it was a pretty fun experience! nothing like sponge baths, candle light studies at night and being able to finally see some stars! and the people here are really rebelious! because the power didnt come on for days they blocked the routes for the buses with burning trees and tires so they couldnt pass. and we had to return to the apartment early because the streets were alot more dangerous with no power. we finally got our power and water back so we are a little more normal now:P and the work was great this week! we were able to get 8 baptismal dates! which is quite a bit. so we are praying that all of them will happen! the language isnt really a problem now, so im very blessed in that area! but i still have a long ways to go. im really sorry that i havnt sent any pictures! i can take them on my camera but i cant send them because i have to take the virus off!  but i will try to send some pictures off of elder davis`s memory card! well that pretty much summarizes my week:P i hope every body has running water and electricity! ohh and working heaters! hope the cold isnt too bad, because i really miss it. this humidity is killing me! cold showers and i have become really close friends!:D 

Love Elder Whetten!!!

Diana e-mail December 3, 2013

Hello Everyone MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my goodness December is here can you believe it??? Where did November go??? but man i do love the Christmas season!!! 

So we just had transfers and I am in a new area!! I am in the Samoan Ward and i cover the whole mission. I am so excited!!! I will be so white compared with these people. My new companion is sister white she has been out for 6 months and she is form Utah.

Somerset will always have a special place in my heart i love the people there and i will miss them dearly!! so my new comp was telling me about the area and the places we will be so i am used to the people i serve having a lot of money and living in big houses well that is not the case  here people are in more humble homes and i have to be careful its going to be exciting and i also learned that these people LOVE to eat and  that is how you gain there trust is by eating so i have already gained weight on my mission and i guess i am just going to gain more great!!

Its getting really cold here it snowed a little last night and it rained more rain than snow. it is actually 36 degrees right now and its 2:02pm lol i am freezing i hope i will get used to it soon.

well i love you all and i hope you have a great day and enjoy christmas and share your testimony!! 

oh happy birthday minnie!!! i cant believe my baby sister is going to be 13 have a great birthday!!

love you all 

Sister whetten  

Jesse E-mail - December 2, 2013

Hello America!!! things have warmed up here in south america and the humidity is beating me up a  little.

thanksgiving hmm i wont exagerate that one, it sucked. they dont have the same holidays here that `Murica 

has so i missed out on the pie turkey stuffing and countless other america made food. but hey i have three guys

a hot apartment and a bunch of work to do so the time is great! the past two weeks have dissapeared and i
really didnt realize that it was december to be honest. one its reallly humid here. two, the people here dont
really put up cristmas decorations, and i have very little to put up:P three, i dont have my family to spend it with!

and we all know im a little distant from family but closer to my spiritual family:) the work has been great, not a whole 

of success but we dont stop for anything haha we always have something to do and i love it. drunk guys have a tendency 

to come and talk to me, just yesterday after church we were all walking together, the four misisonaries im my area. and this

drunk comes across the street and just starts respirating his alcohlic breath in my face. but he was funny:P he gave me a hug haha 

and told me to tell him a little about the word of god, we said some quick words, i told him my name was Elder Davis and he

then did something i will never forget haha he grabbed my hands put them on his head and told me to give him a 

blessing. so a little irritated with the poor guy i alone gave him the fastest and most fakest blessing ever:P he wont ever remember this 

moment but i wont ever forget it. im not sure why drunk people tend to want to listen to the word of god when there

drunk but i guess its better than nothing right:P this week was also a little rough with investigators, not too much luck and 

in all reality not too much happened, just a lot of walking, sweating, teaching, and basically missionary work:) its definatly

no picnic but ive grown to love every minute of it:) because hopefully at one time in their lives these people will remember talkign 

to an Elder of the church and just maybe it will spark their interest 10 years from now when they see missionaries pass by

theirs always hope:) i just keep my head up and think of the reason im really here. sure it sucks sometimes but hey, Im

Elder Whetten:) i have a calling to fulfil, a message to share, my families to support me, and people to save,and im a MORMON:D

haha one day thats going to be a mormon message thing just watch! I love you all and pray for you every chance i can, i miss

you all too but hey i will see you all in what...20 1/2 months:P

Love Elder Whetten!

Jesse - E-mail - November 26, 2013

Oh my goodness this week was crazy! so many things happened its hard to keep track of it all! this week my new companion and i started teaching together. it was different at first because i didnt have my trainer, but i have a feeling this next transfer is going to be better than the last. the first day we started we hadnt had time to prepare anything but we went and did the work anyway. and we taught off of each other really well even without planning. his name is elder montaño and is from Ecuador if i didnt tell you already. some pretty insane things happened some of which i wont share with everyone so you wont worry about my safety. but some that were just hilarious. the worst thing we ran into this week really hit us hard. we are teaching a family, ruth is the mother and fernando is the father and they have 6 kids under the age of 6. we had been teaching them and the mother was sick the last two times we taught them, after our second lesson the father talked to us outside for a minute and told us that his wife has a terminal disease and they say she wont live for very much longer than a few months. just that thought made my stomach sick. but it makes me glad to know that she is learning these things just in time, and glad that i know of them for myself. on brighter notes there are some crazy kids in this area! we were looking for a house in the villas and found a group of kids sitting on the corner one of them we had talked to before and told us to come over and talk to them. we found out there names and talked for a bit getting to know them and such then it changed:) one of the kids pulled out a baggie of what i knew was weed. the kid asked if we wanted some and i dont know why but the first thing that came out of my mouth was "oh no thanks man, we have some" they started laughing and we told them it was a joke, then they shoved the weed in our face and  we told them we had to go. and of course being guys we still climb to the top of the roof and just talk about life for p-days. we worked alot harder than i ever did with Elder paredes, which is great because we both want to change the way this area works for the better. there hasnt been a night that we haven't gone to bed completely exhausted so far and it feels great knowing that the work im doing is effecting so many lives.and something else that you should know is that maxii has a brother named mattias. he is hardcore into catholicism at the age of 17, and hes never wanted to listen to thelessons with his family. but this week we changed that we started teaching him this week and things are going great! we even got a baptismal date for the 8th of December r!!! ohh and i think i told you that i got the package the families sent for my birthday. i almost cried when i saw that you made me salsa!!! thanks so much! and one more quick story:D we have a greenie in our apartment named elder brush, so elder davis and i wanted to play a little trick on him. we got with one of the sisters in the ward and went over to her house for dinner. we had already eaten and shared the message with her family,but before hand i had given the sister 200 pesos and told her to ask for a blessing from elder brush. she played it off so well!! she asked for a blessing from the four of us and we volunteered Brush. he said he hadnt given one in spanish before yet but he would try, then she handed him the 200 pesos and said is this good enough. i said yeah because the last time it was 100 pesos. he looked at her and said " this is a joke right?" she didnt even crack, just straight face then we started laughing together. but the funny thing is that one other daughter of this family didnt know o this before so she thought we were serious too! what a great week in the mission feild! and there of course is always drunk guys who want to hold hands and say prayers in the streets at night but thats okay:P im still safe and living life to the fullest! i love you all and pray for you every day and night!!!

love Elder Whetten!

P.s. we really dont have marijuana 

Diana E-mail - November 25, 2013

Hello Friends and Family!!!
 

This week has been a good one. It has been sunny all week and i love it. I have needed the sun. The work is going great the Chins are so amazing I love them so much I hope I will be here to see them baptized! We havent been able to get them in the temple yet but hopefully soon your prayers would be amazing for them!!!
 

 FUNNY STORY so i have never really liked my ears because Jesse and Anthony said they look like Buddha ears and I dont know how we got started on this but sister kim a kreoan lady in the ward said that asians love my kind of ears so now i love my ears lol so many things have happened this week and there is so little time well everyone have a happy thanks giving and I am so thankful for my family and everything they do for me and i an thankful for the Lord and The Knowledge i have that I cam be with my family forever have a great week.

 sister whetten

Jesse E-mail - November 18, 2013

this week was so rewarding! it was all such a blurr! it was mine and elder Paredes's last week teaching together as companions. we stayed up a little later than we should have because my comp procrastinated packing till last night and we went to bed around 2 or 3 yeah terrible but he had to go! he was beginning to slack off and not want to work anymore because he knew he was leaving the area. but now i have  a new companion and his name is elder montaño. He is from Ecuador.  i have a feeling this next transfer we will accomplish a ton! yesterday Elder paredes and i had the oportunity to baptize the parents of maxii! they had an up and down week and almost didnt get baptized! but Friday night we invited them to put everything aside and just pray together about what they should do and they got there answer:) they called us around 10 that night and said they were getting baptized! the joy we had that night was great but when we baptized them it was even greater!! Sunday flew by so fast especially knowing that it was my last day with E Paredes, and the baptism! i also got the oportunity to stand in the circle and give maxii the gift of the holy Ghost! we then went around after church and visited with all the members and let Elder Paredes talk to everyone one more time before he left. its hard to believe that i have been out here for 4 months already! the time flys by too fast! im already 1/6th of the way through my mission! i said goodbye to my mission Dad as we call it because he was my first companion, and now i move onto the next chapter in the mission with elder Montaño! which means we will be spending christmas together along with elder Davis too who is from arizona and we are not sure yet who his companion will be yet:P other than all that crazy stuff nothing too exciting has happened! i found a dog who likes to chase rocks when i throw them so everytime i pass by this house this yard recieves one more rock in it because despite all the dogs in the streets i still love them! i wish i could have a dog on the mission:P

Diana E-mail November 18, 2013

Hello Everyone!!!

 I have been out on my mission for 4 months yesterday! How crazy. I still feel like i just got off the plane. but i have heard that this feeling never goes away even when you are about to go home.

Last week was a good one, we weren't able to teach a whole lot but that's ok. A family that we are working with the Chin family they are so amazing!!! They are dry Mormons they live a Mormon life they just are to stubborn to be baptized so I don't know if i said this already but the temple is in our area and so we want to take them to the waiting area of the temple and teach them about the temple we are so excited.

this has nothing to do with missionary work but i am so white i know my family has made fun of me for being a very white Hispanic but i am just pasty now i havent really seen the sun for a while but man it is just sad. I bought a red rain coat last week and i havent been cold it is so nice i love it so much i will take a picture i do however  feel like a marshmallow its really funny.  

Well i love you all and I hope you are having a wonderful thanks giving season know that i think of you often and miss you more than words can say. keep up the awesome member missionary work!!

Love Sister Whetten 

Pictures from Washington

Maxii Baptism

Diana - Emal - November 11, 13

Hello family and friends!!!

Another week has gone by how crazy and can you believe i have been out here for 4 months i only have 14 months left :( crazy!!! Anthony and Ty I am so excited for the two of you!!! Congrats Whitney!!! you will never regret going on a mission.

Well its starting to get really cold and wet and my umbrella is such a hassle so i had to buy a rain coat at walmart i feel like a red marshmallow but it has a hood and hopefully it is water proof. Everyone makes fun of me because I am so cold all the time and the one thing they keep telling me is " Oh sweetheart just wait the cold is still coming" WHAT!!! its going to get colder? man my Arizona blood is just not liking this cold weather.

So we had some really sad news today so i told you all that i was in the mission choir well President Choi and the other Leaders said it was time to end it. :( I was really sad but I guess the Lord has bigger and better plans for the Washington Seattle Mission.  The work has just been awesome. we talked to a lot of people and I gave out 4 or 5 copies of the Book of Mormon and I was  just totally stoked!!

We have an activity coming up and it sounds so amazing i really want to stay in this area for at least one more transfer so i can be here. It is a festival of nativity and I will send you a video explaining what it is but its amazing!!!

Well everyone I love you so much and I know the Lord loves you!  Anyway I hope you have a great week and remember you dont need a badge to be a missionary.

Jesse E-mail - November 11, 13

I had an great birthday present when Maxii got baptized yesterday. and now he is right here sitting next to me:P

So we have another member of the family esquivel that wants to be baptized! that was good news!! he wants to get baptized the week after his parents:)
He turns 8 on the 24 of this months which is why he has to wait so long but hes been listening to the lessons and apparently pays more attention than i thought:P  This kid is just talking about baptism now!!!:) it makes me happy that he was listening to the right things!!

but man sometimes i dont feel like a missionary! i feel like im a sphychiatris?? one of those people that talk to people to help with there problems??:P haha i cant spell long words anymore:P
we intend to say how the gospel can help with their problems, but sometimes some interesting things come up and its hard to steer things back in that direction:P  Either we get it going in the right direction just in time or we "run out of time" and have to go. and usually when that happens we have some time to recuperate and gather our thoughts and pray:) so thats always nice to do!

ohh and i get to see jeffery r holland Saturday!!
haha im just excited because i understand English and can get more out of it:P some of the things are lost when they are translated but not for me:)

the language is really good i understand just about everything that i hear i just have to figure out how to make the same things come out of my mouth but its fantastic!

tell everyone i love them! and to keep smiling:)

Argentina Pics

 my only hate in this life...

i had my companion kill it:D

Jesse E-mail = Nov.4, 2013

right now i am very tired:P

we played soccer pretty much all day and now i just want sleep:P

but other than that i am doing great!!!

this week flew by! there wasn’t a whole lot of success but i was happy:) the family that we are teaching have a date for the 17th and the boy of theirs maxi! wants to be baptized on the 10th! so if thats how it works out it will be a great birthday present:)!!! Yeah, but his parents have a date for the 17th of this month too so we will see if he gets baptized on the 10th or 17th with his family. but this week seemed to be really chill, nothing out of the ordinary happened:/

(Do you have any trouble with dogs?)

haha no not really they only chase after bikes for some reason! 

and in my area we dont have bikes we either walk or take the bus.

and if they are gutsy enough to come barking at us then we kick them and they leave us alone. there just dogs

(Do you live in the city or the country?)

It’s not in either haha its more of the suburbs kinda.

there is a part of our area that is just cement houses and shacks  and the other part has a little bit more money and the houses and streets are a little cleaner there but every square foot is used here there is no space between houses. and the only way to go is up!

It’s what about 3 oclock there?  its weird to think that life over there is still just going on with out us missionaries. elder davis and i talk about home quite alot because he went to EAC for a year and we know some of the same people. so thats cool.

Diana - Email - Nov. 4, 2013

Sister Whetten – Email – November 4, 2013

HELLO FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!!! 

So this week has been a really good one lots of amazing things are happening in Seattle!!!  I want to start from the end of the week and go back so today we had Choir practice and it was really good and fun I love seeing sister and president choi every week! So yesterday Sunday November 3, 2013 was like the best day ever!!!! I turned 20!! CRAZY!!!!! but the sun was shining it was a beautiful day yesterday the sunset looked like the savior could come right at that moment.So Washington does daylight savings and so on my birthday i got to sleep in an extra hour it was really nice!!! A family in the ward gave me a gift to unrap it was some very warm fuzzy socks they know i am an Arizona girl and i am always cold lol we had dinner with the popes and we had some really good meat loaf and rolls. and sister pope made me a cake and she put candles on it and everything it almost felt like home but everyone who was singing happy birthday sounded good so not quite like home close enough though. Last night we had an awesome lesson with a lady we asked her to read the Book of Mormon and SHE DID!!!! It was so amazing!! Heavenly Father grants us blessings everyday. Saturday was pretty fun too. Well all of you know how things just happen to me and they usually are embarrassing well just imagine this...... Its a very windy day leaves flying around like crazy and a Sister missionary is trying to get out of a car with out her skirt flying up and in the middle of this missionary vs wind and skirt the car door decides so join in and eats her skirt. yeah if you were wondering the sister missionary was me and we where out side a persons house and my skirt got stuck in the car door and the wind was not helping at all. and my poor companion was trying to help the best she could pushing the car door puling on my skirt it was a mess and i was dying laughing at all of this going on I am sure anyone watching this was rolling on the floor laughing. it was quite a show.  

Thats all i can remember at this time. It was a really good week!!! So this week I was missing home a lot and i was missing Jesse who is thousands of miles away and i was just having a hard time and then i started thinking about Anthony and how i wont see him for 3 years and that seems like a long time anyway to make a long story short i was missing my brothers and i was reading in Alma 17 and this is were Alma sees the sons of moshia at the end of there 14 years mission and then in verse 13 it talks about how the brothers separated to all of the different lands and it said that they trusted in the Lord that they would see each other after there harvest. Harvest meaning mission and i could feel the spirit just telling me that i would see my brothers again I just need to stay focused on my harvest (aka) mission, and after our harvest we will see each other again. Jesse is far away but he is a servant of the Lord and he will be protected, but if something does happen which i pray everyday nothing will happen we are an eternal family, i will see my family again!!! and then after it talks about the brothers separating it goes into the story of Ammon and he cuts off the arms and the lamanites are astonished because he cant be killed it talks about how the lord promised King Moshia that his sons would be safe. His enemy's couldnt kill him so I think the Lord made that promise with my mom and dad so everything will be fine!!!

Well everyone another week has gone by I am one year older wow and I am a servant of the Lord what an awesome thought!!! I love being a missionary!! but i am not going to lie it is hard and sometimes i want to go home but the Lord needs me out here and Jesse emailed me once and said "this wasnt meant to be easy and it wont be! because it wasnt easy for the savior.. and we, simple people cant expect it to be easy because it was never easy for him." I want to testify that i know that a mission is one of the hardest things i have ever done in my life, but i know my Savior Jesus Christ knows exactly how i feel and how hard this is and so he lifts me and makes me stronger. because i know this i have to share it with other i must tell the world (Seattle) That the Savior lives that we can be forgiven that families can be together forever. I am the Lords missionary and i am not out here for my parents i am not out here for my ward I am not even out here for myself I am out here for the Lord to prove to him that i can over come all things and to find the lost sheep. I love you all and i want you to know Jesus Christ lives that God is the Father of our spirits and they know you and care for you deeply. nothing can keep us form there love and that is an amazing thought there is nothing we can do, no where we can go that their love cant find us!!! keep up  the amazing missionary work!!!

Sister Whetten

Pics from Argentina

Jesse E-mail Oct. 28

so i hope you remember the family that was the answer to my prayers, they are a family of seven and this week they were hit really hard with a lot of trials. satan really doesn't want this family to join the church. Monday was our pday so we didn't hear anything from them that day but Tuesday we went over to there house again and the first thing the mom told us(the dad was at work) was that they didn't want to join our church!! i seriously thought we were screwed. and ill tell you why. a wonderful member of ours went over to there house Monday and brought the father over to his house. this member has a part member family and there not exactly perfect because only half of them are members. so he said look at my family, we are torn apart because only a part of us are members. so looking at this example the father decided that he didn't want this for his family and shared what happened with his wife and that's when she told us!we sat down that day and had a lesson with the mom and told her that everything would be alright, the thing is we don't really remember what we said:P but she changed her mind and we went over the next day and shared a message with the father just before he went to work, he too changed his mind and we were great again! YES!! then about four hours later we got a call for us to go over to there house. that very same day he was fired from his job. so here he is in the middle of the week with no job and a wife and 5 kids to feed. despite this bump in the road we had more lessons with him and his family and they loved it in return. we invited then Saturday night to come and join us in church again and that's when they told us that they might not be able to. they were offered a job the two parents to work for a lady just this one day for 250 pesos each at the same time church started. and they also told us that they didn't have shampoo or soap to wash themselves with so they didn't feel worthy. we told them to pray about this and to kneel down together and decide what was best for there family. we left the house and i just felt like there was something i could do. its the end of the month and im the only one in the apartment with money left over for this week. so i went and used 150 of my pesos that i was saving for soccer shoes and bought them there necessities. i felt great and they were so grateful for this. the next day there they were sitting in church with us, giving up the money for the gospel. this family may not be rich in the worlds eyes but they are rich in heart:)

Diana E-mail - Oct 28

Well hello family and friends!!! 

This week was a little crazy we had transfers this week and i got a new companion. She is a good missionary. We had to put our car in the shop today so we are mostly on foot today :P not any fun because this area is all hills just to get home is literally an up hill battle. but we ill be ok I am in the Seattle Washington Mission choir and is is so much fun i am so excited we are preforming   on November 24!!

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GUESS WHAT EVERYONE????????? MY BIRTHDAY IS IN 6 DAYS!!!!!! I am going to be 20 how crazy i was thinking about Montana and memories of wen we went out on the ice and Jazz was spining around and then she fell and i felt like that was just yesterday but everyone including myself has just grown up. I will be 2 decades old how crazy.

I need some help so I have a friend that I have been thinking about for a really long time and i need to find her her name is ALEXA LOPEZ can someone please find her for me and tell me how she is doing i miss her and i know she needs the gospel so if you have time please someone tell me how she is doing.
  

Well this week is going to be great I know that Lord is with us I had a really cool experience we were out knocking doors and this man opened up and he was telling us how he was roman catholic and so usually I bear testimony of the book of mormon and that usually is a really good gate way for Bible bashing so i just started bearing my testimony of the savior and what he did for all of us not just members of the church and i could feel the spirit just testify to me and this man that what i was saying was true and that Jesus Christ is my savior and he does love me even when i fall short. Keep up the amazing work and I know all of you are love by God and by me!!! have a great week

SISTER WHETTEN 

Diana E-mail October 22, 2013

HELLO FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!!!!!!!!

 so this week was a really great one a lot of amazing things happened but i have the memory of a goldfish so I will try to tell you some lol So I had a sister in the ward come up to me and ask me if i had ADD and i told her that I was never told by a doctor but that i might have it a little bit and this is what she said " Oh yeah you have it I could tell from the first time I saw you" lol so that was fun.

So we had transfers today. I stayed in the area but I have a new companion Sister Madsen she is from utah just like every other missionary out here. any way she is super cute I can already tell this is going to be a great next 6 weeks. Sister Leung was transferred and it was a lot harder then i thought it was going to be to say good bye to her but i truly enjoyed and learned so much from her. She is going to my first zone so that was super sweet!!!

I am so tired today I stayed up till 12 helping sister leung pack last night because we didnt get calls till 1030 and so it was crazy and so i know its going to take me for ever to recover =P

OH MY GOODNESS!!! can you believe i have been out for 3 months already that is so crazy the time is going by way to fast. I dont even know what I am going to do. 

So in my ward I am in the Somerset ward and we have 2 sets of missionaries Elders and sisters so last transfer all of us were elder larsen form mesa Elder Atherly from provo Sister leung from Hong Kong and myself well the Elders and sister Leung were transferred. so I am the only one who stayed and that means I have to help the Elders and my new comp. and the ward crazy but it is going to be fun I am excited!!!

So I would just like to give advise to anyone who is willing to listen. If you are thinking about a mission or maybe you dont think you will go but you wonder whats its like go out with the missionaries!!! I love it when the youth in the ward want to go out with us and it gives you a taste what missionaries face everyday. I really wish I would have gone out more when i was home but it was so much fun when i did go out with them so all you girls thinking about missions find sister missionaries and GUYS ( Anthony ) lol go out with the Elders find time if even its only once it will totally be worth your time =D

 Well everyone I just want to let you know that I know the church is true, God Listens to my prayers and He knows me!! He also knows you!!! I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God .We as missionaries never force people to read the Book of Mormon we just invite everyone to read it and find out for themselfs if it is true. and i can promise you this that when one reads it with the really intent to know for themselfs it the book is true they will get an answer from God and he will bless you. I know that everywhere you go the church is true and people are willing to help any way they can and it is so amazing to see.I love you all so much and i am so blessed with such a wonderful family and so many amazing friends. I pray for you everyday and i hope you are happy because God is happy when we are happy!!!! love you all

Sister Whetten!!! 

Jesse Email - October 21, 2013

haha this week was a little bit of both good and bad but mostly good!

so this week we were supposed to go and have our baptism with micaela, but things got a little crazy. the day of the baptism we found out that her and her mom took a trip to paraguay which is really common. so after we had already begun to fill the font and everything we found this out and had to drain it and think of some other plans to do instead:P that was the worst part:P

(I asked him what the best part of his week was)

we found a family to teach!!! and they are very very receptive to all we have to say:)

(I asked him if he had any fun this week)

aha of course mom:) its me! the four of us elders play alot of Uno, and it get pretty intense when there's two languages flying around the room. and we play soccer ever week! and im a little tired right now because we played today too:P and me and elder Davis climbed onto our roof:) i have cool pictures of it!

i hope you all have a wonderful week, don't have to much fun without me:P i miss you all and pray for you always!

Jesse E-mail - October 14, 2013

alright so this week literally brought me to my knees. everything was hard to do. home and family  were on my mind and i tried so hard to put it all aside but i couldnt this time. so my knees hit the floor and just just my father know how i was and that i needed help somehow. i also prayed for and investigator to fall into our hands someone who was ready to recieve our message. two hours later we returned to the apartment to study but the natural man got the better of me and i slept for and hour and a half. i woke up and it was raining outside  just what i needed right? well we had a lesson with an investigator so we went into the pouring rain. the streets here suck and have already worn some small holes in one pair of shoes, my feet were soaked. and just before i turned my sadness into anger i remembered a talk from general conference and the talk that said if the bitter cup doesnt pass,drink it and move on. something like that:P haha my heavenly father loves me because almost instantly i was happy and was literally jumping in puddles because lets face it there wasnt anything i could do about it, so being me i enjoyed it and even found out my companion is deathly afraid of frogs hahahah so i picked one up and chased him with it haha blessing are everywhere!! thats just one of my stories:P

did i tell you we have 4 missionaries in our area now??!!  they are with us in our pension haha its so much nicer to only have half of our area! its massive without the other two! one is from peru like my companion and his name is elder pacaya!  and the other is from Arizona!!! haha we even know alot of the same people! his name is Elder Davis!  he is from saint david, and his name is tyler davis

haha we had a really interesting experience with a drunk guy!!:) we were late to a lesson with a member when we were walking past a corner with a man standing there. he said he wanted a message from god so we taught him a really quick 3 minute lesson and said we had to go and all this time he had my hand in a handshake. he went on to tell us that he was stabbed and even showed us! he took off his shirt to sow us and said he was unarmed and we didnt have to worry. we could smell the beer so my companion asked him if he had chairs for us to sit in outside he said yes and quickly ran inside. at this time something to my right caught my eye so i was looking at it and when i turned around to my companion he was half a block away running! i didnt know he had started running so he yelled and said vamos!!! haha so we ditched a drunk guy and he probably wont ever remember it!:D

its getting warmer haha and there's a lot of mosquitos  we get to email in places called cibers! where we pay for our internet use. and we have a baptismal date for the 27 of this month for the 9 year old:P
 

Diana E-mail October 14, 2013

Friends and Family!!!

How are you this week??? Well I have been ok a lot has happened and I just am glad the Lord is in charge of this crazy world we live in. 

So i just looked at my families school pictures and I think my family we are all pretty good looking!!! I want top start off with Jazz holy cow I have only been gone 3 months and she has just blossomed!! Which is not good Jesse's not there to scare a way all those boys so Anthony scare them off with you super power "weirdness" lol But really Jazz YOU are BEAUTIFUL!!!! Minnie YOU are  BEAUTIFUL too. who gave you guys permission to grow up while i am gone i dont like it!!! Anthony you are just well Anthony and i mean that in all the nicest ways!!

Have I ever told anyone about how amazing my family is!!! They are!! Look at my Mom she is super women and her super power is to love unconditionally I put my mom through a lot and she just took me and loved me and look at how great i am jkjk  My dad is superman!!! and his super power is he can fix anything!!! Jason and Kelsey are the power couple and there secret power is that they can have so much fun Jason blinds people with his shiny bald head and Kels can clean there teeth lol

But really I have the best family in the whole wide world!!! I know I didnt talk much about my missionary work this week but know that I am working hard and that God is preparing people and I will find them soon.

I love you all and I love the lord!! I have been feeling a little alone lately but the truth is I am never alone!! Jesus Christ knows me and he is walking with me every step of the way. His Atonement works for everything Form a broken heart to a paper cut. Pres. Monson was telling us the truth when he said that Gods Love is for all of us and it is always there when we are happy when we are sad when we dont think we deserve it. God is our Father and He is very mindful of all his children I know this church is true and some day everything we go through will be made right.

Love You all

Jesse E-mail - October 7, 2013

this week has had its ups and downs there were some pretty crazy things that happened here in Argentina. we had a man have a seizure on the bus and we had to all transfer to another bus. ill leave out a lot of the other stories that i probably shouldn't share with my momma but this definitely isn't the U.S.! things are different and the way people handle things are different too. but on the good side the work is still going forward! i was able to watch conference in English along with the other English missionaries. i watched it in English so i could get the most out of it. yes i can understand a lot of what they say in Spanish but English is just better because its not translated. we also got our recent convert and her grand-daughter to go to the conference! its such a great feeling that she is still making progress in the gospel and that she is sharing it with her family! the girl is 9 yrs old i think i told you about her last week. but she has a fetcha for the 20th of this month! and she really reminds me of Minnie! i have a picture in my white bible that i carry around and it has our family in it and when i show people it they think the girls are 17 and 15 haha they judge age by size here so they think I'm like 26 because I'm 190 centimetros. I'm still learning so much everyday and probably will be for the next 21 more months. the time is continuing to go by too fast, i feel like 2 years isn't long enough already! things are normal for us here i still haven't received any more letters but i will keep my fingers crossed. i love you too mom 

Your son, Elder Whetten

Diana E-mail October 7, 2013

Hello Family and friends!!!!

This week has been a really good one!! My companion got a little sick this week and i really don't want to be sick so i took some on guard, and my mom gave me this little book on how to use essential oils and i was reading the different ways  you can use the oils and one of the things said to put a few drops  under your tongue and well you all know me and mom wasn't around to tell me any better so i tried it. it was so nasty my lips went numb. but hey i am not sick so i wont complain. 

 WASN'T CONFERENCE GREAT !!!!!!! Oh my goodness i loved it so much everyone gave such amazing talks. The one talk that answered my prayers was Elder Holland! I love that man!! I have been having a hard time and i have been really hard on myself and i could start feeling myself starting to fall into depression and Elder Holland when he was speaking i was just crying really hard i think the guy sitting next to me thought i was crazy. but it was so good. Did you all hear Elder Ballard's talk He promised that if everyone would bring one person by Christmas something would happen i have to go back and read it. but that doesn't matter lol everyone find someone by Christmas. 

Oh my goodness i can not believe its October!! Where is all this time going? Well we have a few people we are teaching. We have a family that has been meeting with the missionaries for about 14 years and they are so ready to be baptized. There oldest son graduated for seminary and is now attending BYU Provo. They are so amazing they are dry Mormons they live most of the commandments and yeah all that is holding them back is that the mom Min is wanting to hear a voice form God telling her this is the true church and of course Heavenly Father doesn't answer us like that we have to do our part we have to read the book of mormon study out in our minds and then we pray for an answer and them God will give you the answer but not in the ways we as humans expect. So we are teaching her about how we recessive answers from God. so if you want can you pray for this family there last name is Chins. I know God will help this family find the truth. 

So the Chins took sister Leung and i out for lunch and oh my goodness i had really Chinese food and it was so good. super wok doesn't have anything on this place! i don't think i will ever be able to eat Chinese food the same. Oh i also had Korean pancakes and they had shrimp and SQUID in them the were actually really good so Anthony i beat you to it lol. 

 the weather has been really good this week nice and sunny the weather hear kind of reminds me of the what it feels like in Arizona around thanks giving time. THE TREES CHANGE COLOR!!!!!!!!! It is the coolest thing ever the trees look like they are on fire. I have taken some leaves and put them in my journal for save keeping. oh so we live in Bellevue and we live a little ways out of down town Bellevue and anyways where i live i can see downtown Seattle and Bellevue and it is the most beautiful thing i have ever seen!! 

So I haven't changed to much i mean i have grown up a lot and my testimony is growing but for the normal Diana stuff i am still me i lose everything actually i lost the car keys and i was freaking out because these are the Lords keys and the Lords car and i have no idea why he trust me with something like this but he does and i am doing my best. anyway i lost the keys and they where gone and i said a prayer and i went to my purse where i had dumped everything out already and there they where. I still break everything. Its a good thing i am a missionary because for a normal person well being me i would be so lost. i am so white i mean i was white before i came out but know i am really white i feel like my hair is getting darker but the truth is my skin is just getting white ='( oh well hopefully when i go back home i will just burn really good once and my tan will come back.

 Thank you all so much for your prayers. They are truly needed and appreciated. I love you all so much and i hope you are all happy and excited. we have just heard from the Prophet and he has called us all out. the word must go out and we are the ones caring it so lets not just be hears of the word but lets be doers also. there is opportunities all around us to share. well i love you all again and enjoy the sun for me cuz i miss it :D

Love Sister Diana Marie Whetten

Pictures from Argentina