Jesse email - September 2, 2013

Momma!!! i finally have the opportunity to talk to you!

everyhting here is so much different than the USA but it is so amazing! the conditions of the city itself are terrible but the people are amazing! seriously the dogs here are like bunnies! you cant walk one block without seeing 20 dogs! but at least there nice and smart enough to look both ways across the street. ill just share with you some things that are a little more different here. in USA we have blinds on the inside of the window to keep the sun out but here we have metal or wood shutters to keep anything and everything out! so thats always fun to think about. we also dont knock on doors here, everyhouse has a gate that is really close to the street so we end up clapping instead of knocking and yes everyone knows when the clappng is for them or not:P

the food that we eat here is alot more different than i thought it would be too! its seriously more italian than mexican! i know you might not want to hear this but out of the 7 days that i have been here i have only eaten 8 times:P so ive already lost my mtc weight! thats good news right haha but when we do eat with the members the food is really good!

we eat when the members feed us:P haha but other than that we dont eat a ton of food, just cookies and soda for snacks. and we cant drink the water that comes out of the tap because it will get us sick so we have to filter all of our water, and the members and everyone does that too but they usually give us soda or jugo which is juice

and im in the Parque Baron mission! and my companions name is Elder Paredes! haha he speaks no English!  so i will learn a little faster i hope!!  im teaching him some english and he is helpng me with my spanish:P

(after asking him if Pargue Baron mission was in the city of Buenos Aires)

umm honestly i have no idea what part its in. im just here teaching haha all i know is where my apartment is the church is and a few members

ill see you next week! i have to go! I Love you so much!

Elder Whetten!

Diana e-mail September 2, 2013

Hello everyone!!
Anthony I hope you took pictures. I'm sorry it was so painful but i
still want to see your face lol I hope you feel better by tomorrow.

i cant believe Ebens home already crazy tell him to right me I want to
know what his mission was like and all the cool things he did as a
missionary.

well this week has been pretty slow not to much has happened. We
tracked into this really nice lady a few weeks ago and we had a lesson
with her and gave her a Book of Mormon and she said she would read it.
We were so excited and we went back yesterday to see how she was doing
and she said it was the weirdest thing right after we stopped by she
was visited by old pastors she hasn’t seen in years and she asked them
about the mormons and the book of mormon. they told her that we dont
believe that Jesus Christ is our savior and that we worship Joseph
Smith and a whole bunch of stuff and she said that when she was
reading the book of mormon she didnt feel right about it. so to say
the lest she doesnt want to learn more. but she was super nice about
it and we tried to clear some things up for her and we had a lovely
conversation. and something she said i just wanted to do a face palm
because its true and if she would take her own advise. she said that
the devil knows who Jesus Christ is and he knows the truth. and that
the devil is very clever and he wont come out and tell us something
but he will put some truth in what he is saying.
 Anthony and for all you future missionaries go and read 2 Nephi chapter
29 and when you get out on the mission you will see how true that is.
The Book of Mormon is the word of God and so is the Bible but we cant
just read one and not the other all the books we have are words of God
and we will be judged on how well we read them and more importantly is
UNDERSTANDING what they say. So if you want a testimony of the Book of
Mormon read it with the intention of finding out of its true and then
AFTER you have done your part go and ask God if these things are true.
The beauty of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is that
you dont have to take anyones words for it go find out for yourself.
In the scriptures is tells us to find out for ourselves. So please go
read the Book of Mormon with real intent and pray read the Bible the
stories in the Bible our so much fun those people in the old testiments
are crazy lol go read the love storys you will see what i mean lol

And know that when you start to read and test these things out  for
yourself you are going to have 10001 reasons not to pray and to not
read because the devil knows how strong you will become and he knows
that once you start coming closer to God and Christ the harder he is
going to work so remember what Brigam young said if you dont feel like
praying get down on your knees and pray till you want to pray and then
keep praying ( i dont really know if those are his exact words but
close enough lol ) and this can apply to all parts of the Gospel you
dont want to read the Book of Mormon read till you want to. you dont
want to go home teaching do it till you want to you think your too
busy for the temple make time. God has given us everything we have he
gave us time it self and how selfish of us to think that we dont have
time to do the things that really matter. There are so many families i
have seen here that are just suffering and its because they arent
having family prayer and scripture study together. they arent eating
together as a family. Mom i want to thank you so much for making us
sit down as a family and eat as a family even when we were tired or
busy we still ate together and you know what thats is what i miss more
than anything is being able to sit with you guys and talk about weird
things lol or quote movies. So make time for the Lord and when you put
Him first you will have time for other things and everything else will
just fall into place.
I love the Lord and I love Jesus Christ.He is my best friend when I am
sad or feeling alone He knows how I feel. He suffered for me and there
is nothing i can do to repay him he owns me and all he wants from me
is to follow Him and to love those around me who are lost and alone. I
commited to him in the temple that all my time and energy is going to
be for him even after my mission. my mission is like the MTC for the
rest of my life and when i get off the plane my misson wont stop. It
started when i was baptized. i said i would be a missionary and i
wasnt a very good one before now but let me tell you what i am going
to try to make that up here on my mission and for the rest of my life.
something that i finally had my eyes opened to this week is that i
have been set apart from the world from sin form all light mindedness
and i have been given authority to preach repentance and to be baptized
and i have the same obligation to the members but instead of baptism i
have to remind them of the promises they made at baptism we all
promised to be full time missionaries. The Gospel is apart of us just
how i have brown hair and brown eyes i am a member of The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We as members Glow with the light
of Christ and with a world that is going deeper and deeper into
darkness we are going to stand out even more so stand tall be proud of
who you are We are all children of God so we must Act like it!!! you
dont have to be wearing a name tag to be a missionary just be you!!

 i love you all and i love this gospel so much and i am so proud to
come from such an amazing family and am proud so say i am a Whetten
and i have the Coolest MOM in the world and the Sweetest DAD in the
world!!! And i just have to say that my brothers and sister are all
pretty good looking too!!! Everyone i show pictures too agrees lol
well stand tall and know that God loves you have a great week
everyone!!!!


Love Sister Diana Marie Whetten