Elder Matthew Whittle-- April 25, 2012

Que Honda Batos! Thanks for the ties. They're are super good. I really like the green and the purple one, and the GPS is awesome. I got it just in time. We just recieved some referrals last week so it helped a lot to be able to find them. Thanks a ton. O man Brandon is really having hip pain? O man that's no good. I really hope that he doesn't have to go through the same thing that I did. It's not very fun at all. I will definitely keep him in my prayers. What kind of pain is he having. I always felt really stiff and it ached really bad in the front of my hips. I still have some of the pain when I play soccer but it doesn't feel stiff anymore. It just gets achey sometimes. I hope that he doesn't have to get surgery. That will be so cool to see Elder Kidd. I love that guy! He's such a stud. Tell him hi for me. Hermana D V's son is serving in Nicaragua. They're an awesome family. You'll definitely have to come down with me sometime so you can meet them. Hermana Del Viarr is learning english right now. She has a goal to learn it before her son gets home. Man sounds like Trude is having some fun experiences haha. That's awesome. I'm so happy for him. Missions are such great experiences. I'm sure he's learning a ton just like I am. Any updates on Elder Terry? Man I miss that guy. Tell him hi for me, and that I love him. So for Mother's day we are allowed to skype. Do you want to do that instead. We're going to our mission leaders house and he probably has the set ups. Can you guys figure out how to do that. If you want we can skype. Just let me know. Either one works for me. I'm not sure the time yet. I don't even know what day it is to be honest :/ haha. I go to the temple in not next tuesday but the one after that. So in two more weeks I believe. It will be the last week of the transfer. We had a really cool miracle this week. One night we had about 5 minutes left until we needed to go home, and we could have probably just headed back to the apartment and we would have gotten home at 9 but we decided to go to the park and try to talk to one more person. Well when we got there there was a lady walking alone around the soccer field. So we went up and talked to her. We asked her how her day was and she said she had just lost her job. She had come out to the park to walk because she just felt like she needed to to calm down. She had a bible in her hand and we asked her about it. She told us that she comes out every morning to the park to walk and read in the bible. We talked a little about how the scriptures help us. Then we shared a scripture from the Book of Mormon with her that she really liked. She then told us how she knew that we were sent by God because she never walks in the park at night, and that God sent us to her to help her. Then she told us that she didn't like the church she was going to because they got mad at her for not being able to come to church on sunday because of work. Then she asked us about or church. We explained how services are on sundays. Then she just said interesante and told us that she's probably going to come to our church, and that she'll probably end up staying with us. She gave us her number and address and told us that we could come by. We're still working on setting up a time with her to teach her the Restoration. It was such a miracle! It's amazing how God prepares people and uses others to answer their prayers. Well everything is going great down here. We're working really hard, and seeing success. I hope Brando is ok, and Paisley too. Tell everyone hi for me! Love ya all. con amor, Elder whittle p.s. De tin marin de do pingue cucara macara ti tera fue yo no fui fue tete pegale pegale que marito fue los moritos de cafe :) (Iney miney miny dos in english)

Sister Alex Hartvigsen--April 18, 2012

Dear Family, I hope that you all have had a great week. Last week was
amazing. We saw many miracles and life is good. We got transfer news
on Sunday and I will be staying in my area and with Sister Slater. I
am really excited to be able to finish here. It is a great area and we
anticipate to see many miracles. On Monday we had a lesson with one
of our investigators and a member from our Spanish ward about the plan
of Salvation. The Spirit was really strong and our fellowshipper was
so good and invited him to come to church with him as well as the
upcoming fathers and sons. On Sunday there was a little bit of
miscommunication and he didn't realize that church was 3 hours and so
he stayed for Sunday school and part of priesthood but had to leave
before Sacrament because he had a previous commitment. We will be more
clear with him when we meet with him this week. On Wednesday we had a
lesson with him about the Doctrine of Christ and we committed him to
be baptized on May 4,2012.! He seems really receptive but we are
concerned that he is not reading the Book of Mormon like he said that
he is. We are going to focus on giving him short specific passages to
read and give him specific things to think about as he reads. We had a
lesson with a less active in our singles ward this week about the
individuality of the Gospel and how Heavenly Father is aware of her
and her challenges and wants to help. We also had a lesson with
another ysa and talked about Enos and the power of prayer. On
Thursday we had a lesson with an investigator. We have been working
with her for a while and we felt prompted to invite her to be
baptized. We talked about baptism and the difference between the power
of the Holy Ghost and the Gift of the Holy Ghost. We invited her to be
baptized on May 4th. She said that she would but is concerned about
her negative feelings towards her father and her sister both of whom
are very abusive. We talked about the healing power of the atonement
and how Heavenly Father will give us strength in our trials. She said
that she wanted to be baptized. She has been to church off and on but
did not make it to church this week. We are going to have a lesson and
discuss the importance of Sabbath Day observance. On Saturday we had a
meeting with an investigator who has been hard to get in touch with
for the last few weeks. She was really excited to see us and asked us
if we felt that she is prepared to be baptized. It was then that we
found out that she is not married. We talked to her about the
importance of the Law of Chastity and how she can have a forever
family. We still haven't been able to have a meeting with her "marido"
( we have a challenge sometimes where people here call their partner
their husband) because he is always working. We also had an lesson
with a part member family and talked to them about agency.
This week I have been studying the importance of inviting. This has
really helped me to be more bold in talking to people about the
gospel. I can not control how people will react when I share the
message but it is my responsibility to give them a clear choice and
then they get to choose. Even when people are very rude, especially on
chats or over the phone I have been able to share what I know and
then it is up to them to act. We have a lot of people who call into
mormon.org or log onto chat just for the purpose of wasting our time
and sometimes swearing at us, but every once and a while we have the
chance to talk to people who have sincere questions and really want to
know. Those can be so amazing.
This week as I was in the front of the Visitors Center, a young
looking Apache man came in. He had been outside looking for a job but
was drawn in by curiosity about the Christus statue that we have. He
came in and felt the Spirit and wanted to learn more. Sister Slater
and I taught him how to pray and he offered a prayer in the Visitors
Center and we gave him a Book of Mormon and I shared with him Alma
40. He has been struggling with several deaths in his family and
friends and was just looking for peace. The elders in his area are now
teaching him and I am excited to see how he progresses.
I love you all,
Love Alex

Elder Matthew Whittle-- April 18, 2012

Que Honda!
So I think I pretty much had the best birthday of my life. Elder Russel M Nelson came to our mission on my birthday, and I was able to meet him personally and shake his hand. It was an amazing experience. I know that he truly is an apostle because you can feel it the second he walks in the room. It was such a great birthday, and then on top of that, I had three birthday dinners, and cake in a row on saturday night, and then Sunday we had another dinner on sunday, and then cake last night with the whole branch. I about threw up when we got back on saturday night haha. It was fun. I feel like the branch here is my family. Don't worry I still love you guys;) haha Oh man Hermana Del V. is awesome. She has a son on a mission right now too and she always wants to feed us and just talk to us. You need to meet her. Her husband isn't a member yet, but he's super nice and reminds me a lot of dad. We joke around a lot with eachother. They both want you and dad to come down with me one day and meet them. They're an amazing family.
Thanks for the packages. I really had an awesome birthday, and the gps works great! Sounds like SMOTO is doing awesome still haha. Ya I thought it was something down in the hub that was the problem, but there's probably something wrong in the speedometer as well. That's super crazy that Kendelson got married, It's weird hearing news like that.
Well I have to get going sorry I didn't have a lot of time to write. Thanks for everything. Things are going great. We set 2 baptismal dates last week so we'll see how it goes. I love it down here, and never want to leave. It's a great place, and I love the people here. Love you all! Hope you have a great week!
con amor,
Elder whitle
p.s. Where do Marshell and Jerry live. I could have sworn I saw their jeep out front of a house haha.

Sister Alex Hartvigsen-- April 10, 2012

Dear Family, I hope that you all had a wonderful Easter. I know I did.
On Friday more than 14 thousand people came to see the Easter Pageant.
It was so busy and so much fun. That night I was assigned to be
outside with the crowds and talk to them. It was a blast. At the end
of the night, a member of the pageant came up to me and asked if I
spoke Spanish. He then led me to a group of people and explained that
the 15 year old boy spoke no English and wanted to learn more about
the Church. It got his information and permission from his legal
guardian and was able to get him in contact with missionaries in his
area yesterday. It is really cool because as part of a new program, I
will have to opportunity to stay in contact with this kid through chat
on mormon.org as well as phone calls as he is taught. This is really
nice because before when we were able to contact someone and they
accepted the missionaries they kinda went into a black hole and we
didn't ever know what was going on with them after. No we have the
chance to follow up and see more of the results. Another really cool
thing that happened was on Sunday night as I was at the back desk, a
family came up to me to ask a question. They looked at my tag and then
got really excited. They are Hartvigsens too! From what we could
figure out they are from a different branch of the family tree, They
live is Alpine UT. The Dad's name is Darrin but he gets our Darrin's
info and mail a lot. I told them to look me up on facebook after the
mission to see if we can figure out the family history here. it was
really cool. This week was really good and we saw many miracles in
the visitors center as a result of the Easter Pageant. There was a
very special spirit there and we found out that several of our
investigators came and really felt the Spirit and were touched by the
message. We had a lesson with a part member family this week and we
talked about Easter and what they learned from General conference. We
also talked about Alma 7 and the Atonement of the Savior. We stopped
by an investigators home and invited her to the Easter pageant and
taught her children how to pray and after a little reluctance her 9
year old offered the prayer. It was cool. On Wednesday we had an
unplanned teaching opportunity as we were leaving the Sands
apartments. We were stopped by the son in a part member family.
Normally he doesn't really talk to us much ( he is a typical 19 year
old) but he came over and started to talk. We talked to him about why
we came on our mission and then talked about how he can find peace in
his life through the gospel. We talked to him about prayer and how we
can recognize the answers to our prayers. He said that he would meet
with us but wouldn't set a specific time. This week we have really
been trying to focus on talking to everyone and teach when we find and
find when we teach. It has been a really cool experience especially in
the VC. It is impossible to tell who will be interested in our message
so what my responsibility is is to invite everyone and give them the
chance. We haven't had a lot of people very open to listening but it
has helped our confidence as we have done it.
Last night we had this amazing lesson with one of our investigators.
We talked him about the plan of Salvation and what the purpose is of
our lives here on Earth. The Spirit was so strong. We had an amazing
member with us who invited him to come to church with him this Sunday
and really backed up what we were teaching. It makes such a huge
difference when we work with the members together. it is so important
to have good friends in this process and also helps people see that we
are normal people and how the gospel blesses lives. This lesson was
one of those Yay! moments of my mission. On our next lesson with him
on Wednesday we are going to challenge him to be baptized. This man is
very prepared and eager to learn more. We are really excited to see
his progression.
Have a great week!

I love you all
Love Alex

Elder Garrett Allen-- April 8, 2012

Dear Mom and Friends
It is pretty great here. Basically very day is a new adventure and a new experience so that is great. The people here are about half receptive and half hostly. So we always walk fast and say hello to everyone and are friends with the few people that have guns haha. That is kinda of a joke don´t worry to much. I have gone into some bad places but everyone here is a little afraid of me here for some reason. I think it is because i am a lot taller then all of them but who knows. All i know is that the members ask me if i am a fighter. So that is good, needless to say that my companion is greatful for the extra protection that I offer haha. Anyways the work here is actually pretty good. We had a baptism this week for a guy named Juan that we have been teaching and we have an other one set up for next week. The standard of excellence here is one baptism a week so basically the work is good. We teach a lot of people and we walk to a lot of places. It is a pretty good experience. I have been in some pretty interesting house and talk to some interesting people. The challenges here are completly different then what they were in New Mexico. Everyone here beliefs in Christ but the all have these different ideas about things and a lot of them don´t want to change what they think so it is. They always say yes to everything that we say but they don´t really want to act so it makes things interesting. We are working on that and trying to get them to see the difference between are church and other churches around here. So that is just one challenge, but it is all good. the work is still going forward and we are still teaching so I always have something to do.
So to answer your questions yes I do have a mattress but I sleep on this wood thing that kinda looks like a latter so it is like an inch off the ground. so it isn´t super awful but it isn´t super great haha i can feel all of the boards on my back so that is a lot of fun. Honestly it´s not bad. Are housing is actually pretty nice. (the time i didn´t have water i was in the DL´s house) We live in the next level of a house in a prett nice pention. We have one of the better pentions out of all of the Elders. The kicthen is super small and everything runs of gas but my pention has running hot water and basically is nice. It was super dirty at first but i talk my companion into cleaning it and know it isn´t to bad. It will never stay clean just cause it is impossilble with things here in Argentina. Nothing is ever really ¨`clean` but it is not to bad. So no are floors aren´t dirt just tile. So basically we always have water...Not always super clean water but we have water haha. We also have a shower so that is super nice. The only thing is that it has two temps. Super hot or cold. There is no middle ground haha. So some people can read and right. It is a little different here cause reading is easier i think. But there are some people that can´t so that makes introducing the Book of Mormon a little interesting. The people here aren´t super smart. They are great people but there is kinda something missing but the are good people. I also am in a area where there are a lot of drugs and drinking problems so that might have a affect. Elder G. has been out for 10 months on his mission. He is a good kid and all of that good stuff. Some things bug me but i think that is just part of life it is really no big deal. He works hard and really cares for the people. Now the rat is a problem haha. we think that it is still in are house but today me bought this big old crazy rat trap and hopefully we are going to get it tonight. It cost like 10 peso so it was worth it haha. It has sharp points and everything on it so hopefully it will work. The good news is that it hasn´t been on my chest again haha.
So i hope that answers some of your questions. It is alright here. I am working hard and trying to not think about how long two years is haha. so yea... I am just going to work cause that is basically all that There is to do. Honestly the mission life is good. Nothing is painfully hard and the rules aren´t crazy most of the time and basically it is good. Life is good. Life is really good. I am having some fun times and making memories haha
So here are just a few things that i can remember about this week. First we had a baptism and that was super nice. It is way to to see people want to change and start to be better. An other thing is my companion got hit by a moto! it wasn´t anything bad cause the people weren´t going super fast but i happened. The traffic here is crazy and crossing the road is a whole different adventure haha. Cars do not stop for anything. Also I got a picture with a Dog that looks like a pony. It is huge! it went to my hip and was huge haha. I got to see the streets turn into rivers and then walk in it so that was fun haha. When it rains here, it rains. Really that is all that i can think of. Sorry, I will try to be better next week.
Anyways I love you guys a lot and miss you all. I know now the importance of family and i am so very greatful for mine. I true can look back at my home as a place of love and safety and i can´t wait to be there again with you guys. I am starting to love the work and to get a hang of spanish. I wish that I could just know the language. Honestly the Language is the hardest part. I wish I know it and could actually talk to people. That will come with time though so that is fine. I love you guys and wish all of my family and friends alot and pray for you every night. I wish the best for you!!! LOVE YOU ALL
Con Amor
Elder Allen

Elder Matthew Whittle-- April 3, 2012

Hola hola!

Gracias por los fotos de SMOTO y Cherry. los disfrute. Man it sounds like my babies are still workin;) haha that's good! I heard that Bridge and Brando had a little accident. That's no good. Tell Brax to tell her mom that she needs to be more careful when she backs out haha. Thanks for the pin. I might have to buy a little GPS because our area is huge and we had a GPS but it was a different missionaries and he took it back so let me know if that's ok. There usually around 70 or 80 dollars I think.

O man conference was so amazing! I learned so much. I'm still writing down notes from it. I love General Conference! We watched it all in the Stake Center. Every session, and let's just say I think it's ten times better to watch it there than at home. It's a lot easier to focus on what they're saying.

So we found out on Saturday that Elder Zaitzeff is actually going to be staying for another transfer. He's been here for a really long time, but he'll probably be here for one more. We'll see how it goes.

Don't worry mom, I'm taking pictures:) haha, and some super funny videos. I'll try and send ya some soon. I think I'm going to just buy some more garments at the temple when we go this transfer, but I'm always down for more ties:) haha and socks and shirts I'm doing good on. I think I'm going to get a couple of new pairs of pants because there are some rips in a couple of pairs if that's ok.

That's so good That Josh is doing better. I will definitely pray for him a ton. I hope he can get back out soon. I can't wait for him to get out here to Solana Beach!:) That would be so awesome!

Ya we're not supposed to email anyone except our family, so I'll have to write Trudy. Could you get me his adress so I can write him, and also Elder Williams?

Well it sounds like everyone is doing great right now. Good job deciding on finally replacing the garage door. I was wondering when you were going to do that;) haha. Thanks for being such a great family. I love you all. Hope you all have an awesome easter!

con amor,
Elder Whittle