Elder Matthew Whittle-- November 29, 2011

Que honda?
comemos pabo y spagetti tambien, pero no celebramos el dia de accion de gracias. solamente comemos por una hora y despues regresemos a la obra. Fue un buen dia. Como estan ustedes? Estoy feliz, y bien! Sounds like you all had a great Thanksgiving. I'm so excited for Cho and his mom. I will write a letter today. I actually have a little extra time today because it's transfers today so we wont go shopping until tomorrow. My companion and I are staying here still of course, but he actually leaves in 3 weeks back home, so I don't know how that will work because transfers are every six weeks.

Tell Elder Terry that he's going insane and he has to snap out of it haha. I love him to death, and yes we are brothers. We will definitely hang out when we get back. Tell him to keep having a positive attitude, and don't let Satan get in his head and discourage him. It's all going to work out.

Jim and the guys at work are awesome. When you see Aaron next time you should tell him that I said hi, and also to tell Jim and Chris hi for me when he gets a chance.

O ya I almost forgot haha. I have a crazy funny story to tell you. The other day we were in Central and we had just gotten out of the car. My companion was getting stuff out of the back seat, and I was waiting for him. I saw a car passing by up the street. The guy was going really slow, and staring at us. Finally he turned around and started driving towards us. He stopped and asked if I was Elder ....... (don't remember what the name was) but I said no, and then he asked what are we studying. (by the way this was a guy that was in kind of an old style gangster looking car, He had the beard and everything going) I told him we are studying about Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon. That's when it got crazy. He just started going off. I don't think I've ever heard anymore swear words used in my entire life. He just all of the sudden blew up. haha every other word was the f word or something else.

After he got done with his "spill" He said in a demanding tone, "you understand me?" I obviously couldn't understand with all the vulgar language so I just smiled at him and said, "nope, but is there anything we can do to help you?" haha, then he said, "O you a smart ..." and then he just kept going for a minute. (Couldn't understand him again) When he stopped I just said, "ok sir you have a nice day" then I recieved another ".... you" and he sped off. Haha it was so funny/ridiculos. I don't understand some people, but I guess he got his chance to hear the gospel. We always like to joke about saying to people like that as their walking/driving away. See you at the judgement bar haha. I love it out here. A lot of fun experiences, and miracles ofcourse.

Well I hope everything is going well at home. For the package I would love food of course. I haven't really gotten any fatter, but I've gained probably ten pounds since I left. We excersise in the morning, and walk and bike half the week so it's the good kind of weight haha.Keep up the good work. Remember every soul is great in the sight of God. Talk to everyone! I love you all.

Con amor,
Elder Whittle

Sister Alex Hartvigsen-- November 29, 2011

Hi Everyone, I hope that you all had a wonderful Dia de Accion de Gracias. (Thanksgiving) I know that I did. On Wednesday I was with English Sisters in their area because Sister Nishiguchi was on exchanges. We were able to talk to many different people as we walked around. Sometimes we would even be driving and if we saw people we would park the car and jump out and talk to them. It was fun. We talked to a member that way and somehow we got on the subject of poaching in other peoples area which just means when you teach someone that other missionaries should be teaching ( like English missionaries teaching in spanish and using and Interpretor rather than letting the Spanish missionaries teach.) This member said that it was a big problem in his area because all the Spanish Hermosas would always take it. It made me laugh because he mixed up Hermosa ( Beautiful) for Hermana ( Sister) I am a Spanish Beautiful and thats the way that I like it. haha... towards the end of the day we stopped to talk to a couple teenagers who were sitting on the street corner. On of them, mentioned that he is Peruvian and said that we could come over and talk to his family. We went by their house later in the week but they weren't home. We are going to pass by again. On Saturday Sister Nishiguchi and I were in a part of our area where we normally don't go. As we turned on down a street we saw a group of people outside of their apartment. We went over and started to talk to them and explain who we are. One of the ladies had known some members back in Nevada who had invited her to come to church but she couldn't go because it was all in English. We told them about our ward and invited them to come. We also set up an appointment to come back and teach them. When we went by on Sun night we taught about the restoration and the Spirit was very strong as we taught about the First Vision. It was a really cool experience and I feel like we were definately led to these people. There are 3 families there that share 2 apartments next door to each other. We are really excited to teach them again this week. I was in the VC on Sun getting ready to leave when a women in SPanish asked me to do the Christus Narration for her ( the words that are played in front of the statue of Christ) I played if for her and bore my testimony that I knw that she was loved by Jesus Christ. I then asked her if I could do anything else for her. She then told me that she wanted to learn more about the Bible and the purpose of life. That wasn't exactly what I was expecting but I was really excited to be able to help her get in contact with the missionaries from her area. I was even more excited when I realized that she lives in my old Spanish ward. I am excited to see her progress.
Have a wonderful week
Love Alex

Elder Matthew Whittle--November 22, 2011

Que onda!

Mom did you really just say "stoked"? haha I think you need to start listening to my country music more;) haha that rap music is getting to ya. Speaking of music, could you send me some more music? I can listen to music that talks about Christ, and that isn't disruptive. So a couple songs I would like; Jesus take the wheel, and like raise it up (from august rush) Those would be aproved. So I guess you could have Brando help ya pick out some songs or something:) Thanks.

It was so good to see TJ! I'm so excited for him to go on a mission! He's going to love it. It's so much fun to go out and try and find people, and help them change their lives. Yesterday we invited 75 people to learn about the restoration of the gospel. We got a couple potentials so we'll see how it goes.

I'm so glad they finally got a hold of Cho! You need to work with the missionaries, and try and help them in any way you can. I've learned the power that comes from working with the members. We have a lot more success when we work with members. Please have the missionaries talk to Cho's mom and make sure and tell her that I know that this is the true church of Christ, and that it will bring her more happiness than anything else in her life. Tell her I wouldn't have left her, Cho, and my family if I didn't know it was true. Tell her I love her and that I want her to find out that's it's true too because I know the blessings, and joy it brings into my life. Thank you for working with that. Everyone is a missionary.

Well there have been a lot of crazy things happening here in Oceanside. We got a hold of Luz again (finally) she's been really busy, but we're going to go visit her today. Hopefully she still wants to be baptized. I have a feeling that she does. It was crazy last Sunday. We had two investigators that showed up that we weren't even expecting. One was a man named Leo. His wife is a member, but he's not. He just decided to come with his son that's 10. It was so cool. He's been taught pretty much everything, and just needs to decide to be baptized. He's such a cool guy. Very humble, and honest. We also had Carmen come. She has been srtuggling with getting a new job that doesn't work Sundays. She wanted to come to church so bad that she called in and said that she was sick and then came to church.... Not the best solution and we told her that, but kind of cool that she wants to come that bad. She's a great lady. All her children are members de la iglesia, and she see's how happy they are. She wants to be a better mother to them as well. There are so many miracles going on that I can't even pick one to tell you about, but I guess one day I can tell you more.. Hopefully that day doesn't ever come;) haha.

Dad of course I've been to a Spanish ward haha I go to one every Sunday. It's a great ward. Kind of small, but it's growing pretty quickly. It's fun to speak Spanish, y misteco tambien. Misteco is a language from Oaxaca. (not sure on the spelling) but we ask people en la calle como se dice oraciones como de donde es. En misteco: dasho ni ka ku. It's so fun to hear them speak it.

I'm glad Elder Terry is recovering. Hopefully he'll come to Carlsbad CA haha. Tell him to stay strong and remember that the lord has it in control. I'm so happy for Garret! sounds like he's doing great. Tell him to keep it up. Well I have to go. Hope everything is going ok at home. I'll make sure and pray for Dave. I love you all!

Con amor,
Elder Whittle

Elder Corbin Moore-- November 28, 2011

Hola to all those who have the wonderful chance to read my email this week. Im glad to hear that everything is going the way that it should be going in the good old state of Utah. I miss being there for this time of year, because as everyone knows this is my favorite time of the year. I don't know what it is about this time of year but everyone is just happier. It is unfortunate though that it only lasts from the beginning of December to the beginning of January, and then everyone goes back to there old ways. I hope for all that read this, that you can try and continue the feeling of Christmas, or the holidays. Look around yourself and be grateful for the things that you do have, in this world of twisted ways and a descending morale scale. That is one thing that I've learned in the short time that I've been here on my mission, that I was so ignorant of those blessings that I have in my life. As one that has seen both sides of the spectrum, and heed my advice. Always give thanks for those things that you do have, always remember that it could be worse, and that there is someone in the world, who in fact does have it worse than you. Well to the events of this week. Well as everyone knows this has the been the week of thanksgiving. Everyone is wondering what it was that I ate. Well I tell you that it wasn't turkey. We had spaghetti for our thanksgiving meal. Jajaja. The members house that we ate at, they don't like turkey. So yeah it was nice to have something that was different. We have been able to work more with the Silva family. They came to church yesterday all but one, Connie. But she was able to attend a baptismal service that we had after church. They are all pretty excited about learning more. Hope they will be able to enter the waters of baptism in December. As for Veronica she has been on vacation this whole week so we haven't had a chance to talk with her. This week I also had an interesting experience, I was able to give a training session in District Meeting this week. I was weird that they asked me because im new but it was a good experience. As for my Book of Mormon reading. I am in the book of Mormon. The actual book within the book. haha. Well got to run because i don't have anytime left but I hope that everyone is doing great. I would love to hear from you all. Happy Birthday this week to Bernie. Love you all

Con Amor Elder Moore

Everything.Happens.For.A.Reason
There.Is.No.Such.Thing.As.Coincidence

Sister Alex Hartvigsen-- November 21, 2011

Dear Family This last week has been really good. We met with a recent convert family. We taught them the plan of Salvation as part of the new member lessons. We went over to an investigator's house with a member of the primary who brought the family cookies and she invited the family to come to church. We had a lesson set up with a recent convert. We taught her about the Restoration of the Gospel. Met with her later in the week as well and read with her and her sister in 3 Nephi 18 and talked about prayer with them. On Sunday we went by an investigator couple to see if they were going to come to church. They have said that they were coming before but something has always seemed to come up. We decided to ask them if we could get a ride to church with them. They said that would be fine. The women and her daughter drove us to church and then told us that they needed to go and pick up her boyfriend from work. So they promptly dropped us off at the church and drove away. It wasn't exactly what we had in mind. We are probably going to be giving them a break for a while until they are a little more prepared.
The Christmas lights come on on the Temple starting on Thanksgiving and we are really gearing up for the big crowds that aways come this time of year. It will be crazy for the next six weeks but it will be a blast.
Have a great week and a wonderful Thanksgiving. I am thankful for the chance to have all of you in my life.
I love you
Love
Alex
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Elder Corbin Moore--Nov 21, 2011

Greetings to all from California. Well this week has been pretty good. They are having me not play sports for two weeks so that my finger can heal a little. Which is a bummer but what can you do. I just stand around and juggle the soccer ball, while everyone else plays sports. At least I have something to do. Well this week in the mission field we have done a lot of work with the Silva Family, they just came to California about 3 weeks ago. Well found out that they had been talking to the missionaries down in Mexico a little, and they want to learn more about the church. They all have baptismal dates, and we are working to have everyone go to chuch. It seems like is the overwhelming problem, down here with the latin culture, because everyone has to work on sundays. So that was our big focus for this past week was to get some people out to church. Two people from the Silva family showed up to church, the mother Gresilda, and one of her daughters Daisy. It was nice to have them come to sacrament meeting, and we have an appointment with them this week, so hopefully we will be able to get them all there. We were hoping that Veronica would also show up for church but she didn't. Elder Conlin and Elder Boyd went by her house on friday, but I wasn't there so im not really sure how that went. I was on exchanges with one of the other companionships in my district. Which was an interesting experience to be able to see missionary work from another perspective. Other than that we have been working with a lot of less active members, trying to get them back in the church.
Well we were challenged by our mission president to try and read the Book of Mormon before the new year is up, and to mark any references to the five things in the Gospel of Christ. So I took up the challenge on November the 9th, and I am currently in the 50th chapter of Alma. Im hoping to be able to finish it, within the next week, and then to begin it in Spanish. I think it would be awesome to have read it in both languages, in a matter of a little less than 2 months. Well hope that everyone is doing good there back home. The spanish is coming along just nicely, and im learning more and more every day. I am part of a new program that the church is implementing. They want the new missionaries ready to train someone in only 12 weeks, that is only two transfers, it should be an interesting task. Well until next week, have fun with all the snow.

Con Amor
Elder Moore

Elder Matthew Whittle--November 15, 2011

como estan todos?

I'm doing great right now. I can't believe another week has already flown by. Things are going great in Oceanside. We have a couple baptismal dates set, and we're working hard to help them make it. The hardest things here to get people to do is to stop drinking, and get them to come to church. So many of them have work on Sunday, and can't get it off, or find a new job. It's very difficult, but I know that if they will put their trust in the Lord, he will provide for them.
I don't know if I'll be able to see TJ because we might be having a thanksgiving dinner with a less active family or something, but if they're in oceanside they might see me walking/riding a bike around. I guess they could always call the mission office and see, but I kind of doubt it would be approved.
Maybe a couple more PMG would be good;) haha I was talking with my Zone Leaders when we were on exchanges and they said they want one too, but in english... so maybe two more in english. Thanks mom. I just got your package today but I haven't been able to open it up yet. We're always super busy, and barely have time to even keep our apartment cleaned up.
Hope Elder Terry's doing ok. I'm still praying for him. Maybe he's supposed to come to Carlsbad now;) haha that would be so cool. Tell him I love him, and to stay strong. The Lord knows what he's doing with him. Also tell Garret I'm so happy for him. He's making the best decision right now. He's going to make such an amazing missionary. He'll be able to relate to so many people in Argentina. I'm so excited for him.
We never were able to meet with the seventh day adventist. He never answered us, but maybe we'll see him on the street sometime again. The girl finally moved and got away from her bad family situation, but now she's not answering our calls. Hopefully we'll be able to get ahold of her soon.
The members here are great. They're aren't a lot in the Spanish ward, but it's starting to grow. We are starting to get more and more investigadors to come, and there were three baptisms last weekend in our district. Tell Miles good job for getting his Eagle. That's a big accomplishment.
Well everything is going great here. We have miracles cada dia. mi espanol esta progresando poco a poco tambien. Thanks for everything you do for me. Tell everyone hi and that I love them. Don't just follow Jesus Christ, Walk with him because when we walk with him we become his friend, and only a friend will care enough to save us. When people see you they should see Jesus Christ. Les amo!

Con amor
Elder Whittle