Anthony- December 31, 2014

My computer is an idiot

Next week I will for sure fill you in on everything but right now I can't. Love you all and have a happy new year. 

Love E' Whetten

Jesse - December 29, 2014

hello momma!! 

so yesterday i wasn't able to write you because we ended up doing a service project for the new bishop that lasted the entire day.. it was a good service but we didn't get any time to do anything we needed or wanted to do. that's all right though, service is a good thing and we even got sunburned because of it!  i am a little darker now and look a little more like a Latino and not a dark white boy. this week was great though especially being ably to talk to the family and Anthony! seriously it is going to be so fun talking to each other in Spanish in front of everyone, i cant wait. it looks like everyone is doing great! and Grace looks adorable! jaja i cant wait to see her in person and not through skype!! but to experience grace! the members here have treated us really good and have really fed us a lot! some even went and bought us some Christmas presents! we are still searching for someone new to teach, that's the only thing that has been a little rough. of course we are still teaching the recent converts but we want to find new people too. we are happy though and probably have a little too much fun at times but we work hard together! elder Holmes is legit and we get along really well. and the tip for this week would have to be don't wrestle 250 pound missionaries for Christmas:D 

love Elder Whetten!!

Fotos from Argentina

Fotos from Chile

Anthony - December 17, 2014

Not-so-Weekly Report of a part time Latino

Only part time mind you, I'm still very much a gringo at heart. Entonces, this week was good, not much really happened, the usual, lecciones, walking, yelling at houses, walking, getting fed to much by everyone, and have I mentioned walking. But its all good, not like I didn't know when I signed up. We had Cambios this week (sorry changes) so we had to go to all the people that we had grown close to over the weeks. My companion left which I'm kinda glad for but still I'm going to miss that sucker. Now I have what is know as a Greenie breaker, he's Latino and super awesome, I can just tell we're going to have some fun together, I just have to get him comfortable to the sector first. His name is E' Bejarano, he's just crazy. Also there was a Christmas Concert, it was super cool. The Temple was lit up with cual quier luz, and it was just spectacular. I still don't have a comp with my same taste in, well anything, it makes me sad to not be able to crack jokes and have people understand me. But that's just life (so keep dancing through) But I have finally gotten comfortable to where I can be my complete self. We did this Christmas thing where we made cookies, stood in the middle of a park and sang it was Fun, I got to play the violin with another elder. Also I was roped into playing piano for a special number in church. I hate to say it but people here suck at singing, nothing bad about that except when you have your ear tuned to the tuning of a violin. No matter, Love you all and hope your week is stupendous. 

Love, E' Whetten

Jesse

Totally worth 43 peso!!! 

latin santas Rock!!!

Jesse - December 15, 2014

this week a lot of funny things happened with elder Holmes and i. but i will go ahead and share those moments near the end. this week was again filled with lots of tracting and searching for new people to teach because we don't have very many. so there were many hours of just slammed doors and hot hours of nothing, but there is always something to learn on days like that and it usually has a lot to do with patience:P and we did get to meet new less actives that belong to the ward, and we invited them to the end of the year activities that we are going to have soon so it turned out perfect. but i would have to say the best part of the week was again when we had a lesson with our investigator maria lujan. she has given up alot to continue listening to the lessons we have for her. and then she came to us with some more news. she told us that she had wanted to feel sure that what she was doing was correct, so she decided to fast again to make sure. she said she felt the spirit really strongly and hadn't felt that happy in a really really long time. in fact she felt so happy she decided to tell her mom who lives in another town, and that's when the trial came. she ended up telling her mom about her baptism but her mother was not at all happy with her decision, lujan even explained that this was the first time that she hadn't supported her in a decision and she felt really bad. but she said it didn't really matter because she made her decision and was going through with it. we even moved the baptism a day early. so we are really excited to have a white Christmas!!! haha ohh and the funny things that happened this week... We taped a pizza crust to the tail of our wiener dog that we have right outside our door and it was so happy that it started wagging its tails there for it couldn't quite reach the crust. we were caught in the street fighting over a piece of candy and we busted out laughing because of it. i got a crusty burnt lime kicked all over my pants! and we got stuck in a rubber tire and almost tripped on the sidewalk. some of them don't sound as great but you should definitely try the taping food to a dogs tails it was hilarious. but i hope everyone has gotten to see the video of he is the gift! if not i want to invite you all to watch it and share it all over facebook! i love you all and wish the best for you!!! 

Love Elder Whetten

and the tip for this week is that yelling at a deaf man to get his attention does absolutely nothing! Feliz Navidad!!!!

Anthony - December 10, 2014

Not-So-Weekly Report of A Christmas Feend

Ok, so now that I got all of that figured out, hopefully you all get this. Anyways this week was kinda boring, not alot happened. I'm looking back at my planner and yeah not much, most of our lecciones fell through and this Pday was kinda chill. WE had a kinda cool thing happen with Marcelo. He let us in to teach him, and he was all alone. It may not seem like a very big deal but it was super cool, But yeah boring week. big along with that boring week comes my last week with my trainer. it not official but I think he is going,and by think I mean hope. I mean I love that crazy guy and all, and its fun to work with him but i don't want to leave right before Christmas, its ...its... its fome. sorry my spanish is coming out. But there is just no other was to describe it. So yeah, the spanish is coming along fine, I have gotten to jokes now, not communication but jokes. Como: Que el orfeón  pediò a la Pizzaria? Dos Familiares. at least I think thats how it goes. anyways, thats my life, love you all and hope you have a good one. 

Love, E' WHetten

Jesse - December 8, 2014

FELIZ NAVIDAD!!

bueno, where to start! i am still in the same area with the same people in it but i do have a pretty dang cool companion! we started working a lot harder this week and we haven't really seen that many results yet but thats to be expected:P for the time being we are planting a ton of seeds, we have knocked on a lot of doors and looked for a lot of less actives in the directorio, and thank goodness we have found some people because we are just exhausted! its been great though, this week i believe the best thing we did that changed the area was that we gained the confidence of the members here. things were a little rough with my last companion going home last transfer so it went a little downhill. but We Now Have Their Trust and that changed everything! i found out that i really love being able to share the gospel during christmas because its so easy! i will admit that it is still hard with the kind of people that we come in contact with but it is easier! we have been asked to share the video "El is la Dadiva" with everyone we come in contact with. in English i believe it is " he is the gift" it is an awesome video and the people really like it! we do have a baptismal date for the 20 ot Dec! her name is lujan and i think that i mentioned her in the previous mails. she was a little lost in the world when we actually found her(by accident) and within 2 weeks stopped drinking alcohol and coffee. she stopped going to parties because she knew she would get tempted there and even fasted to get off sundays to go to church!! she is awesome and is reading through the book of mormon. she takes notes of every chapter and just really understands everything that we teach, and when she doesnt understand she just straight up asks us about it. and this week my companion and i took up the sport of dart throwing, yeah its become a good past time for us. he even managed to make my finger bleed jaja and there is a dog that belongs to the owners of the apartment and she just comes in the apartment whenever she wants. she is a wiener dog and technically we arent allowed to feed her anything but we decided to feed her a little tiny bit of kettlekorn. mayonnaise, bread, hot sauce and rice. shes a trooper cuz she aint dead yet. oh and her name is dalila. but other than that we find fun ways to make boring things well...funner! christmas is going to rock this year! and new years! its crazy that we are already at this point again but i wouldnt change anything. marry christmas to everyone and tip for the week....moist salt is still usable, and socks make the best sponges! 

Love, Elder Whetten!!! 

Fotos from Chile

 Got these pictures from a Chilean family who Anthony & his companion had shared Family Home Evening with.  

 Anthony & his companion cooked pancakes - the family had never had them.

Anthony - Dec. 3, 2014

Not-So-Weekly Report of the Missionary that taught in a Catholic Sanctuary

Well this week was a good one. We have our people progressing and everything is just great. We had an awesome division on Lunez and picked up a whole new family. It was super cool. I was on divisions with an Elder Anderson, and we had nothing to do, no citas, nada. So we decided to just walk around and do what we could to share the Gospel. We head to these apartments called the blocks, super flite( for all those who know what that means) and E' Anderson decides to look up a contact, but unfortunately hes not home, so we sit down to kinda gather our thoughts. as we're sitting there we decide to do contacts. I say " hey, lets contact the fourth floor, second door on the right. So we did and the lady was super nice. We eventually got another cita and another contact. It was sweet. Then yesterday we had an awesome lección con la familia Espenoza, We made pancakes, they loved them then we taught them about temples. It was a super cool lesson but I don't know whats going to happen. Marcelo is super cool and he knows that its all true but he hasn't gotten baptized.  I don't really now what is going to happen now, with free agency and all, but the lección was good and the spirit was strong so we did our part. Today it was kinda weird but awesome at the same time. We went to Cinta Normal  ( ¿the fifth normal? ) today and we were just walking around when we see this really cool looking church, hoping it was a museum we walked over. We found out it was a church after all. and in front of it was a clearing with, well, a Catholic Display of the virgin Mary and like two strapping curious young men we are we walked in. It was interesting, i didn't learn much about the catholic church though. Mostly because it is in spanish and I don't like to read in spanish.  But the cool thing was someone else learned about ours. We met a lady super nice, super awesome, who called us over because we look like nice people. She sayed that we had a light in our eyes.  We start to talk to her and eventually I am prompted to give her a Book of Mormon. She was reading a book about the apostle paul and just super into it and just, well, ready. It was a super cool experience. After that we went back to the park and just messed around. We went to a museum, got rejected by a llama man and just had a great day. Well that's about it, love you all and hope you have a fantastic week. Love E' Whetten 

Jesse - December 1, 2014

to start off, i killed my companion...

tonight he is on his way home and has served his two years here in Argentina. it was a little rough with him talking about his home everyday but it was a fun transfer that's for sure, and i learned more from it! also i got a new companion and he is a Utard, yup his name is Brett Holmes from south Jordon. he is a really cool guy and I'm pretty sure we will get along just fine. this time of year is always the best because of Christmas, and everyone just seems a little closer and kinder. but as always, if we don't take advantage of the time we have we will lose the chance and advantage of Christmas. its a little weird to think that this is my second Christmas here in Argentina because i feel as though I've been here a lot longer than that. but i will make the best of it all! we have this new program called HE is the Gift and we get to 'chare this video with everyone. I'm not really too sure what we are supposed to do with it still but i think this week we will get a little more details. other than that i am doing great and still progressing! we also had interviews with president thurgood. i made it a goal of mine to read the book of mormon in 3 months because in all the time that we have teaching and preparing lessons I've never read fully the book of mormon for myself. so I'm hoping to meet that goal and be able to testify stronger to investigators. but more importantly make my own stronger!!  i thought about many people this past week because my mind wasn't too focused with my companion talking about home every other second. i just hope that everyone has a merry Christmas and remember the true meaning. i really hope everyone will go out of their ways to share this amazing gospel or give a little service to those who need it, and we know that everyone needs it. i love you all and pray for you always!

elder Whetten

p.s. don't every give money to a blind perverted homeless man... its a long story, Merry Christmas:D

Anthony - November 18, 2014

Well this week was much like the others. We still have a mound of ties that we can't get rid of, I swear that thing just gets bigger every time I see it. Then there is the spanish soap operas that are playing in every house that we go in. They are just like you would think. Stupid and dramatic. I don't watch them but from what I have seen I can get a grasp on it. They are all the same. After that it's the dogs they are everywhere. You can't take two steps without running into a dog. They are not bad dogs, just homeless. ( homeless, Homeless like the christ child was) We saw one the other day on someones roof. There is one that stands on the corner every day and just barks at us, relentlessly, my comp has a dog zapper but it doesn't work, es fome. But yeah, its the mission. not like I can change it. Hmm what else. Oh, soccer is everything here, we played a game of baby but then just sort of messed around. it was fun. Then when we got home I was taking a shower and the lights went out. The only thing I could think of was, "who Turned out the lights" it was interesting. but yeah that's my week. one interesting thing after another. well... yeah that's a lie but its still fun. And I love every minute of it. I love this crazy place and all the strange weird wonderful things that happen here. I love you all and hope your week is wonderful. Just remember, today is the beginning of the rest of your life. Love you.

Love E' Whetten

Jesse - November 15, 2014

where do i even start! this week has been interesting..very interesting. this week for some reason my body decided to make me start suffering with my allergies WOOH!!! there hasn't been a day where i haven't had a plugged up nose itching eyes or headache...it sucked. so the doc of the mision told me i have to buy some weird medicine where i have to squirt up my nose now it should be interesting. i just hope that it wont be long before the allergies go away and i don't have to deal with them anymore. the other thing is that my companion is dieing in 2 weeks, not really dieing but he is finishing his mission here very soon, and its hard being the companion to someone who is going home because all they talk about is their family and the things they are going to do when they go home. my companion is a great missionary but lately he is having a hard time focusing i guess you could say. hes tired and close to the end i guess it gets hard and it makes me have to work that much harder. i dont want him to quit,especially when he is right there at the finish line. so ive decided that im going to kick his butt and work him till he cant stand anymore, if im going to be his last companion im going to send him home tired and content. the work here is going somewhat good, its still very slow but we just have to keep pressing forward. just last week for my birthday our mission got the chance to listen to one of the 12 apostles,Elder Neilsen. him and his wife both gave amazing talks that were very inspired and just what we needed to hear at this time. but i think the part that struck me the most was when Elder Neilsen bore his testimony to all of us and left us with an apostolic blessing. i wont ever forget when he bore witness that our heavenly father lives as well as his son Jesus Christ, i was close enough to see that there was no room for doubt in his voice or on his face. it was almost as is for him, it was a fact. and it could be! but those words touched my heart and have strengthened my testimony not only in the savior but in his servants the prophets. i hope that one day in the distant future (because i have a long way to go) that i too can have with me, that kind of surety and faith. I love this gospel and i love being able to be a representative of Christ. it has been the biggest blessing of my life and it has made me into a better young man and son of god. i just hope that i too can make the best out of the time that i have here in Argentina, its both a privilege and a blessing. life has never been so easy yet so hard, its a challenge but its worth all the long hours in the sun, rain,heat,humidity. i pray for everyone always, and i mean it when i say i love you all!! and remember me when you are all suffering in the beautiful arizona coldness, because i would prefer it to the heat and humidity any day:P 

Love, Elder Whetten

Agunate Argentina!!  

Picture of Anthony & Conner Allen

Elder Russel M. Nelson came to Chile and talked to all of the missionaries.  Anthony was able to see his friend Conner Allen who is serving in the Santiago West mission.

Anthony - Nov. 12

Well, not much to say. We got another fardo and that is always an adventure. Elder Nelson came and talked to us but I'm running out of time so I can't really relate anything just know it was awesome. I hope your weeks are fantastic. 

Love E' Whetten

Jesse - Nov. 10, 2014

so this week was a little rough. from the weird weather that we've been having for the past month from hot to cold a lot of people are sick for the time being and i guess it was my turn. but when i wasn't sick we had divisions i think is what its called in english, i went with one of the zone leaders to their area and that elder happened to be elder davis haha this month we both have birthdays so we are planning on doing something for that. they also live on the 10th story so we spent the last part of the night throwing paper airplanes out the window and looking back at the progress we have made since my first area Parque Baron. he is a really great leader and a great friend but the coolest part is that he only lives like an hour and a half away from home! respresent arizona! but the best part of the wek was that we have found a really good investigator to teach. the first lesson we tought was in the church and she brought with her her sister. she is twenty years old and just has a really strong interest to learn more about the church and we can really feel the spirit when we teach with them. they also took us up on the invitation to come to church yesterday and see how it was, they both loved it, and the best part was that we hardly had to do anything because the memebers did their jobs and showed them what was going on. it really helped us out a ton! the problem i think the ward is having is that they dont really know the importance that they have in the conversion  of an investigator. but we are slowly making some process! in fact here in about 30 minutes we have another lesson with them and then we are going on to a family home evening with some members. they also sayd that a big storm is coming in tonight  so we might see some more floodings:P it never gets boring when it rains quite so much as it does here haha service!!! also a shout out to my little bubby anthony who is turning 19 today, te amo hermanito! disfruta tu tiempo en el campo misional...falta poco;) i love you all! i promise i do!! 

Elder Whetten

Anthony - Nov. 5, 2014

Not-So-Weekly Report of the Cool kid on the block

I mean come on I am pretty cool. This week has gone by so fast its ridiculous. And Actually not much happened this week. We got a newby in our apartment this week which was cool. He is a couple inches taller then me and also from Arizona. What are the odds. But yeah its cool. Its still pretty hot here, we get home and our shirts are drenched. But hey its fun, and the work must go on. The Language is come pretty well. But I found out that I have no conversation skills. None. Its funny, we did contacts yesterday and E' Turly had to get the phone so I was stuck trying to talk to this lady and I couldn't converse to save my life, it was horrible. Luckily she was pretty interested so i Didn't get the door ( and this time it was a door) slammed in my face ....well the computer freaked out on me but yeah that was my funny story for the week. Beyond that not much happened. LOve you all and hope you week is just awesome. 

LOVE, E' Whetten

Jesse - Nov. 3, 2014

so this week went by really fast but not much happened:P it did however end up raining the whole week! and of course it flooded again! you think they would learn haha so things were very wet the whole time and not very many people let us in. im also finding out that this area really isnt that easy as the last one. this week alone we heard many members talk about how terrible the bishop is and how everyone is really just waiting for him to get released. it was actually really sad to hear but i think what is worse is that nobody helps either. so we are trying more than anything to get there hopes up and get everyone to work together but its slow work, but we will get there maybe not in the time im here but i want to at least make a dent. we did however find a new investigator that found us! we were looking at some souvenirs for my companion to take home for his family when she told us to go and talk to her, she then told us about how she was taking the lessons with other missionaries but then she had moved not too long ago to our area. she now wants to take the lessons and go to the chapel. she seems really excited to learn more and we are hoping that she continues to have these desires. we also have no connection with the world because we don't have a cellphone but personally im doing great. its sad that diana came home a little early but she did what she was sent to do, everything has its purpose and time. i love you all!!

Elder Whetten

 and..

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DIANA!!  i love you sis!!

Anthony - Oct. 29, 2014

Not-so-weekly Report of... well ME!

Ok, so this is going to be hard. This week was awesome but its the kind of awesome that you can't put into words. I will just say this, The spirit is amazing and I might have a baptism. We are teaching this family, the Mom is inactive, but coming back, the dad is not a member but super cool. They have two kids, one who is nine and the other who is like 6, anyways the nine years old just got baptized, like, right when I got here. so the mom and the two kids are coming to Church but the dad no. But yesterday we had a super cool lesson with I'm and so... yeah. 

Other then that this week was pretty boring, I conversed with my first drunk guy, I was really funny. I eventually convinced him I was from Antifagasta, it was super funny. But yeah thats my week. Love you all and hope you have a stupendes Halloween.

Love E' Whetten

Diana - Oct. 27, 2014

Hello Everyone!! things are a lot better then last week! we have found some one to teach His name is Scott and he is so ready for the gospel and the great thing is that he was found by a member and the member wanted his friend to be happy just like him! that is how the work is suppose to be done!:) President Choi has said that missionaries are here to teach and baptize members are suppose to do the finding.I know that is so true we (missionaries everywhere) work really hard but theres working hard and working smart. 

 Missionaries can work hard meaning that they go and knock on doors all day or run people down on the street and out of the billion of people that say no they  try to talk to they find one person to teach and they dont talk to the ward leaders except for when they are in ward coordination or ward council and the persons name is on the progress record and thats it no member lessons just lessons sure the person may get baptized because they feel the spirit but when they come to church who is there fellowship where are there friends? how long will they stay before they feel like they dont belong? 

 then there are the missionaries who work smart. these missionaries spend 15 to 30 min. in members homes sharing lessons from preach my gospel showing members that missionary work is not that scary it just takes practice. asking members to pray for the missionary work in there own life and praying for the missionaries by name. and it takes some time and following up a lot but then members are talking to there friends and families inviting them over for dinner and having the missionaries there to share a message. sure it may feel like you are being pushy or intrusive but if you saw your family member drowning would you think oh i dont want them to feel like i am pushy. NO! you would do everything in your power to help them. then why is it hard to talk to our friends and family who are spiritually drowning? they are saying to us " please help me i an in the dark and i dont know where i am or what i am doing here or where to go to get out of here." 

 i know not every one is going to except the message of the restored truth. i mean 1/3 of the host of heaven didnt except Gods plan of happiness but we have to invite people to change because they wont change until they are invited to do so.  When we invite we are successful even if the person doesnt chose to listen. 

 Ok i will step down off my soap box now lol i just know that God has so many children and not enough time and just like Pres. Monson said " its time for members and missionaries to work together" in John 4: 35   is says to not think there is still time it says the time is not "the field is white and ready to harvest"  i paraphrased but yeah. members cant look at the missionaries and say " oh look at how cute they are they are so young and sweet and they work so hard lets feed them" feed us please keep feeding us but also put your work cloths on and come out with us  work with us PLEASE!! i love this work so much its not easy at all trust me but i know soem day it will be worth it. i love you all and pray for you every day! have a great week!!

Jesse - October 27, 2014

starting over!

so this week went by really really fast and the good part is that i enjoyed it. i am no longer in la plata that's for sure! la Plata is a city and where i am now is a little more hood:P I've gotten a little more used to all the buildings being 2 or 3 stories tall, walking a lot, and in this area we always have to watch our backs, i wont lie its a little more dangerous than La Plata. the people live in fear and it rubs off a little bit. everyone is indoors right when the sun goes down. and by the way it is really hot and humid now! i had forgotten how bad the summer was here argentina! I'm good with the heat but the humidity kills! it makes sleeping at night a hassle, we have to cover up with something or else the mosquito's will kill us. but hey bring it on Summer who doesn't like sleeping and sweating! my new companion is legit though, his name is elder Cornejo, this transfer is his last for his mission then he heads off to peru. so we are doing our best to give it everything we got before i send him home:P this area also has a lot of peruanos...peruvians its a good and a bad thing. good because the peru women really know how to cook! they eat a lot of rice but they make it with so much love its amazing!!! and the bad news is that i have to start exercising if i don't want to get fat. but i don't know what is stronger my will to keep eating foreign foods made by the hands of peruvian women or get out of my bed in the morning just to make myself sweat even more than i already was. Food sounds good!!! ohh and by the way elder Tyler Davis is my zone leader! he is the elder that i spent last Christmas and new years with in Parque baron! so now we get to spend Christmas together again in argentina. and did i mention that I'm still the district leader here in this area? but I'm doing great! and i really think I'm going to like this area, who knows,maybe ill even finally get the chance to train here. Ive got almost 15 1/2 months without training so I'm thinking my time is coming up. i love you all and pray for the best! 

Elder Whetten

Anthony - August 23, 2014

Well, you are probably getting ourself for some sort of bloody gory incident, well you can stop worrying, its nothing major. I just got my arm chopped off. Just kidding, I'm in one piece still but I did hurt myself. SO, sit back relax and enjoy the ride (MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA). We had service at our apartment, water the plants, but there was one hose and 4 guys. You can do the math, we were messing around with a lid from like a butter container, using it as a Frisbee and because of the bad luck of myself and my comp, it flies between the slats of someone porch and into their laundry. Not wanting to disturb the poor person my comp decided to use two sticks to get it out. I watched with a big grin n my face, just waiting for the door to open. Well it did, as soon I saw the doorknob turn I was gone all that was left of my was my shadow. So anyways I raced around these two cement block and was almost home free when my foot turned at an odd angle and I felt a pop. I hit the ground and instantly curled up into a ball. It hurt pretty bad. to cut the story short I twisted my ankle and now I am stuck in the house for a weeks, and when I go out I have to wear this stupid boot. OH well, Yesterday E' Turley and I had a flicken chicken fight.  don't ask but it was fun. Also I read a really cool article called "the Forth Missionary" it is super cool. Well that was my week. The house and a fat foot. Love you all and hope your week is awesome. 

Love E' Whetten

Chile Fotos

1. creepy pooh

bowling night

My new haircut

my poor ankle

Ok so we didn't have ice the first day so that on my leg is a shark fin, the other elder found it in the street and we have had it in our freezer, don't wory mom its in two bags

the veiw from my apartment

Futbal