To Momma Whetten

Hey Mom!  There was a big Christmas thing here and I did play the guitar and sing with my companion.  It was a lot of fun!  I'm not really as nervous about things as much as I used to be which is great!  I think the mtc really helped with that.  I even spoke in sacrament meeting a couple of weeks ago. 

I am so excited for Christmas!!!  I get to talk to yall in a couple of days!!!  Oh can you tell everybody who has sent me mail and packages and stuff thank you so much!  I really appreciate everything everybody back home has done!  On the other hand I feel like I am getting a lot more mail than my companion and I don't want him to feel bad so maybe keep that in mind?  But thank you!!!

I think that we will be skyping at either 10 or 11 here.  I'm not sure what time it will be there... maybe 9 or 10?  Love you!  Cant wait to talk to you in a couple of days!!

Elder Whetten

Also, he didn't mention it in any of his emails, but Elder Whetten got to participate in a live nativity, where he played a Roman Centurion. He said it was really hard to stay still!

Merry Christmas, & Silent Night...

How is everybody doing?  Alabama is great!  I love it here in Cullman.  This week has been pretty slow though...  There must be something going around in Cullman because a lot of our investigators have been sick and have had to cancel appointments.  We have still tried to stay as busy as we could though.  We did a lot of walking around town just trying to talk to as many people as we could.  It turned out pretty good!  We met one guy named Jason who might be interested in the Gospel.  We talked to him for a while and taught him a little bit about the restoration and the Book of Mormon. 

Well that was the most interesting thing about this week other than the missionary Christmas party.  Which was really awesome! We had a talent show and I got to play Silent Night on my guitar while my companion sang it.  

That's about all that happened this week!  Hopefully I will have even more awesome stories to share with all of you next Monday.  Oh!  MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Elder Whetten   

Sketchy Truck, Christmas Festival, And The Like...

Dear Loved Ones,

Well this week has been great!  On Wednesday I was able to go to the Temple and that was so fun!  Then on Friday night my companion and I had a somewhat sketchy experience.  (Mom you may not want to read this part)  So the Hermanas here asked us if we could help them teach one of their investigators about the priesthood and they would translate for us.  His name is Mario and the lesson went really well!  Afterward it was pretty late and we only had a few minutes to get home so Mario offered to drive us.  He doesn't speak much English so to get home My companion and I memorized "right" and "left in Spanish and that is how we gave him directions to our house.  While he was driving I noticed his truck kept on slipping into neutral.  I thought that was weird.  As we drove a bit longer we realized why.... His truck didn't have any brakes!!  He was shifting into neutral to slow down before a stop sign and using the parking brake to stop.  It was kinda crazy but Mario did it like a pro! haha  I remember him telling us before giving us a ride that "the truck was missing some parts."  Who knew that those parts were the brakes?  Haha It was a pretty awesome experience and I probably will never forget it. 

On Saturday we helped out with a Christmas festival in Huntsville and it was amazing!  They had a choir and orchestra concert that sounded so great!  I want y'all to here it!

Things with our investigators are going so awesome!  I am loving the people here more and more every day!  I can't believe that this transfer is already halfway over!  I am looking forward to the rest of it!  I love it here in Cullman everybody is so cool!  Well I hope that y'all have a great week!

Love you!

Elder Whetten

Homesickness, Freezing, Faith, & Such...

Hey Everybody!

This week has been great!  It started out a little rough and I got a little homesick but I am feeling great now and am loving the work!  It has been raining or cloudy pretty much every day I have been here.  Super cold too!!  Sometimes it gets painful when I'm on a bike haha,  Oh well!  All part of the experience right?

Our investigators are all super awesome!  We had a lesson with a couple this week(Brad & Liz) and invited them to be baptized.  She seemed like she wanted to and got a little excited about it so that was awesome!  He straight up told us "honestly no"  I appreciate his honesty haha. 

Another one of our investigators is named Tina.  Her husband is a member and that whole family is just awesome!  She believes in the church and has a strong testimony.  She has even done a ton of missionary work!  She pretty much got her son to be baptized even though she technically isn't a member yet haha She has been taught by missionaries a lot before but didn't feel like she was getting as much out of it as she wanted too.  She told us if she can understand things better she will get baptized.  I really hope we can teach her in a way that she can understand everything. 

I have really learned that if you put aside all of your feelings and just focus on the work and on other people you will find happiness in missionary work.  I am so thankful to be here in Alabama!

 

I hope you all have a great week and an awesome Christmas season!

Love, Elder Whetten

Cullman, Christensen, Smokers, & So Forth...

Monday's email!

Hey y'all!!

Wow! What can I say about my mission so far?  It has been so long since I have has a p day!  I have been out of the mtc for about a week and I am now in a small city in Alabama called Cullman. It is about an hour away for Birmingham.  My trainers name is Elder Christensen and he is awesome!  The members and the investigators here are all so cool!  They are really crazy though..... Sometimes it gets kind of sketchy.  When I first got to Alabama the night before I drove to my area I was told that great things are happening in my area.  That is absolutely true!  I have been in Cullman not even a week and have already received 2 new investigators and a couple of potential baptisms.  It is so crazy!  I haven't had a whole lot of time to do any service for anybody so that's kind of a bummer.  I have just had opportunities to visit some really cool people.  One of the investigators here just has to quit smoking before he can be baptized.  It's sad because he wants to be baptized so bad!!  I know he can do it! 

I feel like I haven't had any contact with any of you in so long!  I'm glad to know that you are all doing well!  I love you!

Love, Elder Whetten

P.S. Write me!!  My address in Cullman is, 1632 Logan Dr SW Cullman AL 35055

And if you want to send me a package (I know you do, and it would be much appreciated)  packages have to be sent to the mission home.  I miss you all!!!

News From The Mission President!

Momma Whetten got an email from A.J's mission president! With Pictures!

Elder Whetten has safely arrived in the Alabama Birmingham Mission!

We are impressed with your son and want to thank you for all that you have done in preparing this wonderful young man for his mission.  He met his new companion and traveled to his first area.

Attached are photos of Elder Whetten, one with President and Sister Hanks and one with his Trainer, Elder Christensen.  He will bless this mission greatly with his enthusiasm and dedication. We love him and pledge our best efforts in directing his service here.

Elder Whetten has accepted a call that will change his life and the lives of those with whom he is serving.  These first few months will be full of new and challenging experiences, and your support in the form of encouraging and uplifting letters will help him greatly.

Our greatest hope is that each missionary has a positive and growing experience, which will help give him a foundation for a lifetime of service to others. We appreciate the time you have spent raising your son to be such a responsible young man.  We thank you for your willingness to share Elder Whetten with us.

President and Sister Hanks

T.R.C's, "Knowing", District Love, And The Like...

My parents were holding out on all of us! This letter came in the mail yesterday (Tuesday).

Dear Family,

Thank you so much for all the emails! I miss all of you so much! Wednesday was my only P-day (so my only chance to email while in the MTC) so I just wanted to catch you up on my T.R.C investigator. Her name is Sarah and our first visit with her went horrible! The second was amazing! That really boosted my companions spirits. The only problem with the second visit is it kind of put me down a little. My companion is a convert to the church and was baptized a year and a half ago. I really admire how much he has grown in the gospel since then. Anyways, she loves listening to him because he has really know what it is like in other churches. She did, however, say that she doesn't like when missionaries who are born in the church bear their testimony that "they know" the church is true. She wonders how they can know that when they haven't ever experienced anything else. Next time she brings it up I just need to say that although I was born in the church and have only been a member of this church I still have gone through my own conversion process. I have had my trials in my life and have had to learn for myself that "I know" this church is true.

Other than that I really love our visits with Sarah. She is awesome! Even though she seems more interested in learning about the church instead of joining it I really think she has felt the spirit even a little.

Well that's the biggest thing that I have to catch you up on, other than: I LOVE MY DISTRICT!

Love you all and miss you!

Love,
Elder Whetten

Training, Organized Companions, Investigators, Etc...

A.J. is alive and well at the MTC! Here is his first mass email!

Dear Family,

I miss all of you so much!  So here is kind of has been going on with me:  Day one was not the best... I felt really homesick and I was so busy.  I started to think that I wasn't going to be able to do this for a whole 2 years.  Everything has changed since then.  My Branch President took me into a room to get to know me and see how things are going.  I told him I was homesick and he told me not to worry about that.  He read me a scripture in D&C that said that not only will you receive blessings from being on a mission, but your family will receive blessings from my going on a mission.  That made me feel a lot better. 

My district has made this entire experience awesome!  We have really grown close and have encouraged each other when we are feeling down.  We are the best district here!  My companions name is Elder Mitchell.  He is in the National Guard so it is really nice to have a nice organized companion haha he keeps me in check.  But he is awesome!  We have two investigators here.  One of them is just one of our teachers playing a friend that they have.  The other is called a TRC investigator.  We don't know if the TRC is a recent convert just playing a role or an actuall person looking in to the church.  Our first visit with our TRC went horrible!  We mentioned some goals that we had like what we wanted to teach her and we just mentioned baptism.... she snapped at us and told us she was offended that we brought it up so soon.  After that the spirit just was not there at all.  We were really depressed that night and for most of the next day.  My companion took it really hard and was ready to go home.  I prayed for him and was trying to think of ways to build him up.  My prayer was answered because he got some great advice from our teachers and branch president. When we met with Sarah (Our investigator) again, we just talked to her and asked her what she wanted to accomplish while meeting with us.  We had a really nice discussion and we were able to answer a lot of questions she had about the church.  It went so well and it really made my companion and I feel awesome again. 

I am so happy here and hope that y'all are doing awesome!  There is so much left to say about my mission so far but I am running out of time.  I love all of you and miss you but I am so grateful to be here and don't want to be anywhere else!

Elder Whetten