"I'm so grateful for the time I have to serve down here in Argentina...."

Hola mi familia y mis amigos,

Todo tranqui? Things are going well here in romero. We had a solid week. I started it off with an intercambio with my buddy Elder Russo, from california. It was a solid day. We taught some solid lessons and got some rocks thrown at us by some tools on the streets. We also found some chiles and we made some mexican salsa and I had real chips (the lords chips) and salsa for the first time since the states! it was legit.

We have a bunch of peole to visit but not a ton that are going anywhere so we have been looking a lot and getting a lot of references. Its been going well. One of the biggest problems down here is that people arent married and its hard to get married! There are like 5 people that could get baptized right now if they were married and not living with somebody. Its frusturating but we are helping some people get married. 

we have been doing a lot of good stuff with activities out here and a lot of people having been coming to the family sports nights. It has been a good way to help people feel comfortable at church.

Im so grateful for the time I have to serve here in Argentina. It really is the best experience. Its weird how fast it is going but im so grateful for the time I have to help these people down here. Its the best being down here. I know that this message will bring more happiness to somebody than anything else in the world. It gives you a complete sense of life and who you are. I know that many of you who are reading this have many doubts, or problems, or questions, but i know that whatever it is, the restored truth and fullness of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will help. I invite everyone who reads this who arent members of the church to talk with the missionaries and find out. We dont bite. and If you are a member but stuggle to believe talk with the missionaries anyways or get down on your knees and start praying to know and studying the scriptures. My life has been tremendously blessed for doing so.

I love you all

Elder Whitaker

"We have met some very strange people...."

Hola mi familia y mis amigos!

It was a solid week in Romero. Im still adjusting but it has been a fun week. My new comp is a chileano that i knew from when i started the mission which is fun. Im also living with Elder Russo and Elder Stevenson. Elder Russo and i knew eachother a little before the mission and started at the same time so we are buddies from the MTC. Its way fun to be in a pench of 4. We have a good time.

This week we had 2 baptisms! I only helped with the finishing touches to prepare them for baptism but it is awesome to see people that are ready to follow the Lord. We also have found a couple people that have accepted the invitation to be baptized in this last week so we have some good people to work with.

We have ward sports activities every friday in romero. They were playing volleyball. At first i was taking it easy but the other team was laughing becuase they were winning and they thought i ddnt know how to play so i brought out my beach volleyball skillz andwas spiking it on all of them hahaha. it reminded me of the good times in newport with my brother trent spiking it on Mom when she was bragging about her volleyball skills. (haha i love you momma) 

An interesting thing about Romero is that right in the middle there is a big mental hospital. We have met some very strange people. They let some of them out of the hospital inbetween certain hours so sometimes they want to talk with us. I have already had some interesting experiences... 

well i hope you all have a good week! Happy Birthday to my little brother Trey! he´s turning 15. So crazy how fast time flies. I dont know if im down to see my little brother learning how to drive when i get back.

Elder Whitaker

"I have really learned the true meaning of charity here in KM 26...."

hola mi familia y mis amigos!

This was one of the best weeks of my mission and also one of the saddest. It was my last week in Km 26. Mom, im sure youre happy im not in an area as dangerous anymore but i miss that branch so much. I am back in La Plata again in an area called romero. I heard its a pretty good area with a lot of work so im stoked about that, but im still going to miss kilometro a ton. 

This last week in Km was awesome. I basically knew i was leaving because i had finished training elder mamani so people knew. The youth moved the sports activity we do every tuesday to wednesday so I could play, because i was on an exchange on tuesday. It was fun playing my last game with my buddies. Its awesome because my two best freinds from Km 26 were less active when I got there and now they are filling out their papers to go on the mission! 

In a certain way leaving an area of your mission is sadder than leaving your family. I know my family will be right there waiting for me at the end of my mission But in the mission when you leave an area, especailly when that area is on the otherside of the world from where you live, its not very likely that you are going to see the people you have grown to love another time in this life. Its pretty sad. A lot of the lessons we taught this week were about how I hope that they follow firmly on the path Christ left for us so that we can see eachother again in the next life. 

It really hit me how much I have g rown to love these people when I had to give my last talk this last sunday. I was sitting back watching the congregation and got a little emotional that i was going to have to leave all these amazing people behind. (I think a lot of it was because it was hot and i was sweating from my eyes). I had a talk prepared but as I was sitting there a bunch of scriptures came to my mind on the spot and I started adding to my notes to the point where they didnt make sense so I just put them aside and went up there an spoke what the spirit had put in my heart. It was an amazing feeling because Im a terrible public speaker so its easy for me to recognize when I talk of myself or am speaking words that were given to me. I have really learned the true meaning of charity here in Km 26. I love this place and I am willing to sacrafice to help my brothers and sisters here. 

well the Lord has called me away and Im sure He has another work for me to do. Im glad to do it. By the way Im going to try to thank everybody who sent me letters for chirstmas personally but if I dont have your address I want to thank you right now because it really meant a lot to me to see how all you guys remembered of me. I love you all!

Elder Whitaker

"Feliz Ano Nuevo! This week was awesome!"

Ty being cautious on his mission...

Hola mi familia y mis amigos!

Feliz Año Nuevo! This week was awesome! We had a lot of good work and some fun. New years was sweet. We got invited over by the familia barretto and had dinner with them and talked and stuff. then we had to be in the pench at 10:30. we then climbed up on the roof to watch the fireworks in the villa but then our neighbors who are members invited us over to be on their roof. They live right next to us but there is like a 4 ft gap between the houses so the brother passed us a plank of wood and made a bridge to walk across. It was like 2 and a half stories up so it was kinda sketchy but it worked out good. The fireworks in the villa were sick. I have some videos but i cant send them yet so you guys will have to wait till i get home. It was sweet.

Another fun thing that we did was plan a movie night with the youth from our branch. It turned out awesome. we went and invited all the inactive people and also had the youth invite their friends. We watched 17 miracles whivh is about the pioneers and the trek and it was awesome. we had a good group of people and they all really liked the movie. At the end we turned it into a testimony meeting and a lot of the youth shared their testimonies. Even the inactive kids. Then the next day in church every one of them was there! it was super sick and was worth all the effort.

The work is going awesome here. Its sad that this next week might be my last week in kilometro but we will see what happens. I hope you all have a happy new year!

Elder Whitaker

Ty and ward youth at Christmas party

Ty & his comp

Ty and comp at youth Christmas party