Week 63

Well, this week was quite interesting. I think from all the work we've been doing these past couple of weeks have really paid off. This week we were able to find five new investigators: Moises, Barbara, Fidelina, Lulu, and Julia. Moises is Ana's husband and has a lot of doubts that God even exists, Barbara and Lulu are friends with an Hermana, Hermana Leon, and we actually visited them for the first time with her and they seem like they will become really interested in time, especially Barbara. Fidelina is Hermna Leon's sister in law. She's catholic and she's actually never wanted to listen to the missionaries, but we saw her this week and shared a message with the whole family and she liked it and participated and said we can teach her if we catch her at the family's house. And she actually asked for us one day so we think it's her time. Julia was an awesome find. We went looking for a reference and ended up at a creamery where she was working. And we asked for this Hermano, but he wasn't there and when we said we were from a church she lit up. So we contacted her and taught her right then and there. And she was very receptive and wants to follow Christ. She just didn't want to accept a baptismal date just yet, which is normal. So we gave her a Book of Mormon and it was awesome because we walked past about three hours later and she was reading the Book! :)) It was an awesome week finding people.

We also might have some new admirers. Janiery has A LOT of little cousins and here there are a ton of flowers. And whenever we come over and her little boy cousins are home, they always run over to this tree with really pretty pink flowers and jump, climb, whatever, to get flowers down for us. I've filled the pages in my Book of Mormon with flowers to press and I've used a lot of them to decorate my books and stuff. I even made a hardcover for my hymnbook because it's coming apart and I put a lot of these flowers on it..:)

So cool story! We were over at the Leon family's house and it was actually the day we taught Fidelina. But we were talking about service and we were having a really good conversation.  We've been having lightning storms every day for a week and today was no exception. But in the middle of this lesson one hit! This house is a restaurant too, so there's a part that goes outside and there are windows everywhere, and the house across the street has a lightning rod where it hit. Now with the outside and all the windows we saw a blue light enter the house and a HUUUUUUUUGE crack! I thought we almost died! And Hermana Leon almost went outside at the same time.... It was crazy........ The rod was BLACK afterwards!

I also realized that I don't know how to teach the big subjects to children. Yesterday we had to teach Janiery about the law of Chastity and I had no idea what I was doing. We even did a practice with an ex-primary teacher..... Luckily I had my comp with me because she saved the lesson a lot. I guess I need more practice in this sort of thing because we still have to teach Amerika about this sort of stuff..... and teaching my own children....

We also had divisions again. I went out with Hermana Mitchell again and it was pretty fun. We did really well with our time and we actually got 6 lessons within the day when our normal lately has been 3-4. She told me that I've become a better teacher and my Spanish has improved. That's nice to hear!:)

Alright short stories:

1. We went to correlation meeting with our ward mission leader and his nephew were listening to music really loud and guess what it was..... PARAMORE!!! The first time I hear music I listened to at home and it had to be my favorite band!.... For an hour.....Ahhh!

2. On Monday it started raining really hard so we had to change our plans. We started heading over to the familia Golpe Rubiera's house, with our new umbrellas :), and a guy in a mototaxi stopped and told us that we could jump in without charge. So we did and had an awesome contact with him:)

3. I saw drag racers on the freeway!!! It was so cool! With police everywhere:)

4. I can now play “If You Could Hie To Kolob” on the guitar:)

Well I hope you all enjoyed this email, filled with stories:) I like them like that, so let's hope a lot of cool things happen this week:)) I love you all and keep the faith! Ya you!

Hermana Walker

Week 62

Well this week was AWESOME, but also very looooooooooooooong. Hermana Gonzalez and I are now in the process of looking for new investigators and that has been quite the search. This week we decided that we were going to go find 6 new investigators and I just have to say that I have definitely gotten out of my comfort zone to do this. Here is what we did: We went looking in the area books and found a BUNCH of old investigators that were basically abandoned because they only had one or two lessons done and they seemed like awesome people. But the missionaries didn't write down why they dropped them. So we did a bunch of walking searching for them. We found a few houses, but no one was home. So we did a bunch of contacting. I don't think I have talked to this many people or bought this many little snacks on the street just to talk to someone. And we knocked on doors. That's never been my biggest thing to do because I never know what door to knock on. One day were walking for so long I got desperate enough to knock on a door. So we went down a random street and we found a metal door and I went up and knocked on it and said to the guy "We are missionaries and we are here to sing a hymn with you." He tried to give us the excuse that his family wasn't there and we just ended up contacting him and singing the hymn anyway. And he told us we can come back!:) We didn't find any investigators this week and yes we did get slightly sad that no one wants to listen, but maybe it's because Heavenly Father has something bigger in mind for us in the next couple of weeks.:)

We also went to the doctor. Last week we started getting sick from the rain and we got sore throats. But mine changed to a cold and my comp got a huge sore throat and a temperature. It stayed for about 4-5 days, so I took her to the doctor. She had a throat infection and a little bit of bacteria which was causing the temperature. So she took some of the medicine that he gave her and slept for the day. He told me I might have parasites, as if I didn’t know! and my stomach is backed up. So good thing I am doing the diet I'm doing. Here's to drinking lots of Jamaica! :)

Oh ya! I bought a guitar! I am so happy! :) It only cost me like 650 pesos which is like about 60 bucks! So worth it... But I have no idea what I'm doing. I figured out how to play a Christmas song that I don't remember the title of just by playing. It's not tuned right so I have no idea if it's the right note for this song anyway. So please send me the sound from that vid of tuning a guitar. Por favor!:)

I also taught the Hermanas in the ward how to make chocolate chip cookies! The Relief Society wants to learn things so that they can be more self-sufficient. And it went really well. They were all willing to help make them and they turned out awesome. The kids kept coming back for seconds:) They tasted differently though because the butter, Crisco, and chocolate taste differently here. But I was happy to have REAL chocolate chip cookies! They eat theirs hard and toasted.....mom would love them… Not sure if I'm going to stick with that idea when I get back...

And Mother's Day! It was so Awesome:) In the Relief Society the Primary and Young Women sang to all the moms and passed around a cute little note and a sucker rose. And at the end the priesthood gave us cupcakes. It was adorable:) Talking to our families was awesome. Even though we had a ton of technical difficulties we were able to get Skype working and the talk was fantastic!  It is just weird to think this was the last call home, but even more weird when I told you guys, "See you in September!" It was weird and time is going really fast, but the time here is so worth it! :)

Well I hope this week was good for you and keep smiling. Keep reading and stay close to the Lord. He loves you! Ya you!

Hermana Walker

Week 61

Hi! I hope everyone is doing okay and we are all happy! :) This week was pretty good. We didn't have as much success as we've had in the past, but we had a lot of fun experiences. 

On Monday I was able to meet my new comp Hermana Gonzalez. She is from Quintana Roo, which is a State of Mexico along the border of Belize. She's Mayan! It's so cool!:) She's 23 years old and is so ready for the work. In fact, she teaches like none other. She can think of an example or idea in the moment. It's awesome! :) We get to work a lot conquering the hills here because she's not used to them. Her house is all flat. But she's super adorable and we already get a long really well so I think training her will be a little different than the first time I was training.

We've also had a TON of rain this week. On Tuesday we left not only our windows open again, but the door to our balcony... And we were on the other side of our area..... So we had to run all the way back to the house to close up everything and we got home more soaking wet than I've been in my life... Oh ya! While running home I saw Hermano Hugo driving by on the freeway! I think he saw me too and he looked super surprised as he drove away... Anyway. We were super wet and by the time we got done cleaning up the house it was like 7:30 and our neighbors were freaking out that we were going to get fevers if we didn't jump into the shower right away. So we couldn't leave for the rest of the day.... And yesterday there was a HUGE lightning storm. Like lightning that strikes like 5 times before it goes away. And it wasn't very close at all, but the brightness was like none other. It was cool:) I love the rainy season here:) 

Well, we didn't have that much success in finding people around because with it being Dia del Niño, or Work Day, and Cinco de Mayo they had basically a week of vacations. So we spent our time contacting on the street and I realized my confidence in talking to random people on the street has gotten stronger. But we also found a ton of people we haven't been able to find in a really long time, like Neri and Amerika. Also a lot of members that don't exactly like the missionaries for some reason allowed us in their homes for a message. And they opened up a lot and shared some very personal stories. There were some awesome lessons and I really think that in time they will have a lot more confidence in the missionaries. :)

Also just a funny story.... We've been having Janiery read the Book of Mormon from the beginning and we're still in 1Nephi. But one day this week she went looking on Youtube for videos about Nephi and she found the Living Scriptures in Spanish! She got so excited and wanted to watch them with us but we couldn't. But isn't that funny?? I love those videos! :)

Well I hope everyone is doing awesome. I know some words in the Mixtepec and Zapoteco dialects!  I've been doing better from the stomach infection, but I've had a random sore throat this week, my comp too. I might also be having a weird allergic reaction on my hands. When I wake up there's random bites on my fingers and stuff, but there aren't bite marks. And they keep coming up and they itch! We'll see what happens..... Have a good week!

Love ya’ll!

Hermana Walker

Week 60

Well this week was quite eventful... We were able to start it out with divisions with Hermana Madsen on Monday. They were so much fun! We were able to go visit a few of our really progressing investigators and a family of recent converts that just moved into our ward. She's doing so much better with her Spanish now. When she first got here she didn't remember a thing because she hasn't used it since her mission. It's been crazy hard for her but she's doing a whole lot better and loves sharing her testimony with everyone. And it's a lot more impacting because she uses such small words.

We also got sick this week, the both of us. I started getting sick Monday night with body aches and the next morning I got nauseas and diarrhea and it was super hard to stay okay enough in district meeting. And it didn't help that they gave us cake, soda, and cookies.... And the stinking elders made me eat it anyway.... And later that day we had to both go home because Hermana Ray didn't feel good either. In fact she's the one who threw up. And we were like that for three days. Turns out we got a stomach infection from something we ate. And we didn't eat from the street so it might have been the food with a member. And because of the heat the food goes bad really fast. So we had nauseas, diarrhea, body aches, TONS of sleep, headaches, the whole shebang.... And we're slightly suffering still. But it helped because I put myself on a diet for the rest of my mission where I can't ANY kind of bread or tortilla and I didn't this week. And my stomach feels pretty free:) And the temple is awesome! We went, sick as dogs, on Wednesday, and all the time we were there we didn't feel sick. And when we walked out it came back. The temple has power!:))

We also got to do the baptism for Guadalupe. It was so awesome! We had a crazy week having to teach her EVERYTHING before her interview and it didn't help that we were sick, but she passed her interview and was ready for her baptism. 

Next day: There was no water in our church building! How are you supposed to do a baptism without water?! And the elders had another baptism too. So we had to change everything up. We had to go to another building to do it. But also we had to call everyone to tell them the change. The elders couldn't do it together with us, so we had to worry about timing. And we had to assign who was doing what because our ward mission leader hadn't been home all day. Then we get to the church. No one is there, the elders had just finished there baptism. But another ward had just started their baptism... 5 minutes before ours!! What communication! Luckily Guadalupe didn't show up until a half an hour later. So we were able to get pictures done, we had to steal some elders to be witnesses because no one else showed up, and it was an awesome baptism. She went right under the water and looked so different afterwards. Funny story though: Her mom was supposed to do the closing prayer, but for some reason ran out of the room right when she needed to do it. So her dad, who's not a member got up and started talking and I thought he was going to give some closing thoughts.... No he goes into "Father thou art in heaven"..... It was the most different thing I have ever seen in a baptism.....like it was a sweet prayer, but I've never had that kind of experience before.

We also got transfers!!!

Hermana Ray is going home to Texas! And I'm going to be a mom again!! I'm training!!  I am so excited. Right now I still don't know who she is, but we are going to pick her up tonight. But I am freaking out! I should be training at least these next two transfers. Then I just have one more transfer left! But I'm just going to be a good trainer and think about how I can help this missionary be the best she can be. I love you all and hope everything is okay. Go to the temple, remember Heavenly Father loves you! And me too:)

Love Hermana Walker

Week 59

So this week was really fun. We didn't have very much luck with the teaching, but I guess that's fine because we had our plate filled with other important things. 

On Monday we got to have a multi-zone activity and we all played soccer. It was super fun! And I have no idea how to play! And it was super funny because Hermana Ray hurt her leg again so she couldn't play, so I was the only Hermana on the team of super good elders. But it was cool because they cheered me on and everything and I actually played okay, as far as only kicking the ball when it comes near to me to a REALLY far away place:) And we all played six 12 min games straight. I hurt really bad afterward. But then again I felt a lot more energized too! :)

Our house got flooded! Well, not super flooded but filled with quite a bit of water none the less. The rainy season really did start this week and we had lightning and rain and even hail! One night we had a super crazy storm and we were super far away from the house. So we had to just onto the bus and run to the house, already sopping, and then we jumped into the bishop's car to go to a lesson. And we get going up the hill and the rain gets heavier and there's lightning everywhere. And we almost get to the house we're going to, realize she's not even there, when this huge lightning strike comes down really close by and we're like Nope! So we turned right around and went back to the house. But when we got there it started hailing!  It was so awesome! And there were pretty nice quarter sized hail and there were so much that it covered the entire ground like snow. But the bishop's wife ruined our fun when she asked if our windows were closed. No!! So we go up and there is hail on my comp's bed and it's on the other side of the room! And even when we shut the windows the water kept coming in from under our balcony door, so we had to spend a half an hour drying the floor and sweeping the water out and we had to put a huge board of wood in from on the door. It was pretty fantastic. But I can't wait for the huge rivers that are supposed to come to these hills! :))

But because of the rain our church got flooded too... But only in the room where the baptismal font is...What’s worse is our ward has this huge habit of not draining the font because the drain is broken. So you scoop the water out with buckets. But during Enrique's baptismal interview we that when people came to clean this room they cleaned the room. But just didn't empty the font..... Not the first time we've done this, but with our district leader's comp we emptied the font. I was so wet! And my arms hurt! :P But it was worth it and it was white when we were done. And he passed the interview too:)

We had the baptism on Saturday! It was awesome! Enrique is so awesome that I feel like we didn't do anything. He did everything for himself. It's awesome!:) It was fun because we were able to share it with our district leader and his comp because they had a dad and daughter get baptized so we had a huge turnout with both wards too. The talks were great, given by a recent convert in our ward and an elder who found the investigators in the other ward. Then they did the ordinance and he went right under the water! It was awesome!:) He was so ready for this. And we were able to sing a song as missionaries for the two wards. Enrique likes, “I Know That My Redeemer Lives”, so we all sang that, and put a bit of English into it:) It was a super spiritual experience and he is already planning on the mission, wants a calling.... He's amazing and so chosen!! So worth teaching him only in three weeks!:) Now we have to do that with Guadalupe, but it one week so she's ready for her baptism on Saturday. But she seems pretty legit and ready:) Let's just hope they dumped the water out of the pila this time.....

Well I hope all is well and that you are all having fun. Everyone is getting done with school and summer's coming. Just don't get too busy to not put some time in for the Lord. He always comes first:) Hope you have a good week! Love y'all! 

Hermana Walker

Week 58

This week a lot of things happened. There were a lot of little things that had huge effects on us.... 

First off: We went to Centro! And I should never be given money again when little old Mexican people try selling you their cute little trinkets they make... #hnaraysaystruestory... But it was fun. I found a really cute Oaxacan shirt and a bunch of stuff to send to people! :) But still,we just pumped a lot of tags.... AND these darn Oaxacaños just love their blockades! They had one during our Centro trip(and we actually saw it was going to happen on the way there) and there was a bus blocking off EVERY SINGLE STREET from Centro to Santa Rosa because the government wanted to raise the price of the bus by one peso.... So we walked like 11/2 hours home….and walked all over the hills to teach right after....and just a few days ago they had a march for some democratic party and blocked off the roads…and one with the mototaxis.... If you don't know what those are I will send a pic next week. They're awesome! :)

We also have some awesome news! We'll have a baptism this week! Our investigator Enrique is just awesome! He's been super interested in the Gospel and he's had the baptismal date for April 18 for a while. But he's been out on vacation for two weeks so we haven't seen him for a while... BUT! We found out that for the two weeks he was gone he went to church those two Sundays AND three sessions of Conference. AND says he's going to read the Book of Mormon all the way through. AND is very determined to get baptized this Saturday. We are so excited!! And actual chosen one!! And we might also have one the next Saturday too! We also met a girl that has gone to church 3 times already and wants to get baptized. So hopefully we can teach her all the lessons in these next two weeks so we can do it! :)

We also made apple pie...like in the oven! Everyone has an oven but no one ever uses them! They're like cabinets... but the bishop's wife let us use her oven to make the pie for our district meeting and we ate it happily:) But our house was a mess!

We also had divisions this week. I got to go to the area Gualeguetza for the day with Hermana Mateson. It was super fun! I got to teach a lesson in English, which was the hardest thing I have done in the mish, I swear! I'm so used to teaching the Gospel in Spanish that it sounds weird to teach in English. But the Hermana wants to practice her English so we did it :) We also met this really cute Hermana selling candy from her house for a peso. She's 86 years old and loves to sing so she sang us a song :) And funny story: At the food we drank this drink called Jamaica. It's super good :) So we both drank like four or five cups of it...Then the Hermana told us that it makes you go to the bathroom like crazy.... Yup….. we went running around for about an hour looking for someone that was home so that we could use their bathroom #missionprobs.... but divisions were fun and Hermana Mateson really helped me think about the goals I'm wanting to accomplish for the rest of my mission. 

Other Stories:

I got a package from my family knowing that they would be sending me my face medicine. But when I didn't see anything like that in there I put the new keychain on my bag and put all the chocolate in the freezer.... So Sunday I open up the other pack of BRITISH! Cadbury Eggs and saw a Press Here sign..... I'd frozen my face med....Oopsy...!! 
We found a baby kitten in the street! Like it was only a day old! We were walking away from a lesson with Janiery and we see a rat moving in the street like something had run over it. No, it was a baby kitten that still couldn't even move itself. But we found the owner and said he will take care of it. :) 

We took an investigator to the temple for a lesson. Her name is Ana and she is doing okay but no progressing very much. So we thought this would help. And we got there and her crazy son was super calm and we had someone from the temple presidency talk with her. It was super cool and you could seriously feel the spirit there. :)) AND I saw Hermana Limon and Hermano and Hermana Corzo from Reforma there! It was super fun to see them again! :) 

We also had an AWESOME contact on Monday after the big blockade. We were walking home and it had already gotten dark and there was this girl that passed by, but we didn't pay any attention. We started laughing and joking around like always, but then we heard hard crying from the girl in front of us. So we thought we should check if she's okay. So we went up and I started contacting her, asking if she was okay. At first she didn't want to talk, but then we started explaining that the Gospel brings us happiness. Then she stopped crying hard and actually stopped so we could talk to her. Then we asked if she was going home and for her information so we could keep in contact. She just said she felt very alone. So we left her with a hug and hopefully we can keep in contact. But something could have happened during her walk and she only looked about 17 years old... Hopefully she's okay. 

Last story: So I re-dyed my hair last transfer and I forgot to wash the hair bands I held it up with. So Hermana Ray comes asking me for a hair tie yesterday and I tell her where she can find them…so she gets one. Now we're in church and she keeps getting these red marks all over her hands and arms and we had no idea what it was from. Then during a class she takes the elastic out of her hair to fix her braid.... It was coming from the elastic!...and because her hair was wet…it got the elastic wet too.....so…she's got a little red spot in her hair....!!:)

Well I hope you liked all of these funny stories. The work is awesome out here in Linda Vista and I hope it stays that way as this transfer comes to an end. BTW Mom!!! I found a guitar!!! You know I've been searching for one my entire mission and I've found some handmade ones for only 650 pesos, and that includes the pick and case.... That's like $50 bucks! :) But also I have stuff to mail out to you guys and other people.... But I don't have spending money to do it so I would love some help... Thanks for the package! I love you so much!! Bye!

Hermana Walker

Week 57

So this week went by a little odd. First off, it was Easter Week. And NO ONE WAS HOME!!! It was a super hard week to find people anywhere. No one was in the streets or in the house. I think we had a total of 5 hours in people's houses and the rest was walking. But it was cool. We got to see a lot of their traditions, like tons of fireworks at all times during the day and there are bands playing in the street all during the day. The only thing that I thought was really weird was that on Friday there was this "parade" with women singing this very sad song and a few men carrying this statue of Jesus, covered in blood, carrying the cross. And then they went over to another group with a statue of Virgin Mary and started praising the both of them... And on Sunday they stayed in their houses watching TV..... Strange things are happening to me!! (Hermana Ray and I quote that all the time! :)) But they have purple and white everywhere and the flowers are out, so it feels like Easter! :)

So. Guess what we do when we are ready for bed at night? We play pick-up-sticks! It's so much fun!  We get so into it!:) Like we are on the floor, in weird positions just so we could see which sticks we can move. So beware when I come home because I will beat you all :))

Another funny story... We live at the bishop's house, but there is another guy who lives there who is a lawyer and he travels all the time to Puebla and brings us sweets. Well, this time he brought us home something called Borrachitas.... Weird name for an innocent kind of candy.....? We tried them with him there. But when he left we hurried and checked the ingredients before we swallowed. There was wine in them!! Hence the name! So we had to give them back.... They were sweet candies... But let's not lose ourselves! :)

Also CONFERENCE!!! It was a very weird Conference. We got to watch it in English at the stake center and it was really fun. We got to watch a session with Pres Madsen too :) But still it was very weird how they did it. They didn't do a welcome or a farewell at the end. And we didn't get to see the cute exit of Pres Monson after each session. And everyone seemed sad on Sunday too. And what happened during the sustaining!?!  My heart sunk as I heard that “no”.  Who could deny that they are prophets!? But other than that I learned a lot. They had a lot of power in their words and I loved that they focused a lot of marriage and family this time. My comp says that they have a conspiracy against us missionaries ;) they want us to get married! But it was really cool. I'll have to write out my notes and send them next week. It was a good last conference in the mission and I won't forget the lessons I learned. 

I love you all and I hope you learned a lot and were able to feel the love of Heavenly Father yesterday. Easter is a day of remembrance of our older brother who gave his life for ours. I love Him and know that

He is with us :) Love y'all! Bye!

Week 56

THE RAINY SEASON IS BACK!!!! I have gotten drenched so bad every day! I have learned that my hair can go into ringlets! :) I am super excited! But anyway it's gotten so pretty because of the rain. Mexico is turning green :) I think the only thing I'm not okay with is that the streets are slick and super steep here in Monte Alban and I would rather not have another “Hermana Ray falling moment”. But I can now wear me rain jacket again. My companion thinks I'm full of sunshine with it and she just goes around saying "I hate sunshine! Horrible, wholesome sunshine!" She's great! :)

Haha! Funny story. So we were walking down the street, all calm and everything, and this guy comes running around the corner like a mad man. But once he saw us, he gave off this freaked out face and turned right back around. It was like a "The Mormons are Coming!" moment! Just turns out he was in a hurry and forgot to shut his door..... Awkward...!

Yup so we think we totally broke the Word of Wisdom this week. On Sunday my companion gave this talk about the importance of giving food to the missionaries, so all during this week the members have been giving us more than normal. But one day we were super full and we already felt sick.... I think it was also because we literally ran up and over a huge mountain earlier in the day..... but we had to sit down a lot. Then it started raining, so we ran over to a members house and she gave us hot chocolate and a HUGE plate of cookies. And I was full!...like way full!! But then plop, goes a plate full of tacos durados with freaking HOT salsa on top. I almost died of fullness but I was also so full of gas from the chili! That's what happens when you eat spicy stuff. But I got home and almost exploded and had the biggest headache ever. So also got to know those little oils that are ever so popular in my house (DoTerra) and they worked!

The Women's conference was awesome!! I hope everyone listened to it and if not, GO AND LISTEN TO IT NOW!!!  It was amazing and I learned so much that I am going to apply this instant :) I can't wait for Conference!!

Sunday was awesome too! We had so many cool things happen. We have an investigator whose family are inactive. The whole family came to church, including the dad! Now this guy, he has to work on Sundays to have enough money for the family. But he went right up to his boss and said that he can't work on Sundays. And got the Sundays off!  We also had all of our investigators in church, including Enrique who is in the Istmo right now. We also had TONS of less-actives there which brought up our attendance to 85. It was awesome!

AAAAAANNND we also have lice in the house. But luckily my comp is a pro at taking care of them and she was super prepared. I guess she got them a lot in the Istmo and she still has everything. So we are on that RIGHT NOW!

Anyway I hope everything is well and that we are all happy!:) Love you all and I hope you have an awesome Conference weekend!!

Love Hermana Walker

Week 55

So, we just had the weirdest week ever. Just know that I am now in Linda Vista and my zone is called Monte Alban (just letting you know mom:)). If you have Seen Nacho Libre movie, Monte Alban are the ruins where Nacho takes his children to at the end of the movie! My comp is Hermana Martha Ray from Arizona and it actually turns out that she was comps with Hermana Olsen in the MTC..... She's dying this transfer....:) And after this week I've questioned if she might die for real!

So, on Monday, Hermana Arancibia and I got everything packed up and cleaned and I came to realize while packing that I am going to have to do a lot of throwing away of my stuff within these next 6 months. We went to the ADO for our new comps and it was awesome because I met the Hermanas that have been in Reforma! They caught me up on all the news! Everything! Like a guy we taught there (named David) got baptized and he always told us that he didn't want to. They haven't been able to find Edgar or Martin lately. But our baptism, Hermano Hugo, is falling away from the church!!! No! He says that it's because no one in the ward visits him or talks to him and he still has an issue with tithing so he just tells the Hermanas they are wasting their time when they visit.... So sad..... But I left with Hermana Ray and her old comp and we went off to Linda Vista and bought food and whatnot. I will miss Hermana Arancibia very much!  We live with the bishop so I met his family and other people that they visited. It was cool. Our area is literally the side of a mountain! Like you have to climb up stairs because it gets so steep. I love it!!!

Tuesday.... I saw someone pass out for the first time!! My own companion! We went back to the ADO to drop off Hermana Ray's old comp and we came back to start teaching. We had a really good lesson with our ward mission leader and then we started walking up the street but then had to go down one. When Hermana Ray stepped up onto the sidewalk she totally slipped and extended her leg a little too much. She thinks she might have pulled her thigh. But she was okay and just wanted to go sit on a little step outside, but when she got there she started getting queasy and her face went white and her lips were purple... It was weird. But then she started freaking out that she was going to pass out and everything and I had no idea what was going on. I kept asking her questions, she went cross-eyed, and she would not answer me! Then she started talking and then stopped.... And I saw water rolling down the hill.... Then she got up, told me to call the bishop and I had no idea what to tell him because there wasn't a street name... It was crazy! But my comp finally got up and she told me that she passed out at least 6 times within 5 minutes and I didn't even know.... And we ended up laughing even more because I fulfilled my last name as being Hermana Ray's “walker” and that fact that it was water I saw. She was so dead to the world that she peed her pants.... It was hilarious!!!

We also went and got Hermana Eichstaedt from the hospital. She just got her gallbladder out and we had to watch her until Friday. So we got to go to Reforma! And we also went out into Centro to drop off her gallbladder and this weird liquid that was coming out of it to go get studies of it. In fact that is what we did all week. We went back and forth, from Centro to Linda Vista to Reforma back to Centro and home, basically every day! It was so much fun! But I am so tired and I miss teaching... And studying....Hermana Eichstaedt ended up going home that week, 5 weeks before her actual return home date.

I also got to speak in Sacrament meeting about the missionary work. It was pretty good. And this ward seems pretty cool. It's just getting them to come with us on visits that’s the issue....

Well I hope that you enjoyed learning about my week and my new comp. She's pretty great and we have so much fun. I love having an American comp again:)

Love you all!

Hermana Walker

Week 54

Okay, well this week went pretty awesome:) We had a pretty full week of running around and helping others out, so I am just going to give you the highlights of this week. 

So, remember that family we found last week? We went back over with the mom, Yanet, to talk with her a little more about the gospel. We asked her if she prayed or if she read the pamphlet that we left her and she said that they did them both. And what was so cool was that she said that after we went over on Sunday to visit them, they have been trying to do their prayers like us. Then she said that the things that stood out the most to her in the pamphlet was about the restoration of the priesthood. So we talked about that and it brought up the idea of baptism and she asked us if we baptize in the church and how. We explained to her how we do it and she said that she and her husband have been thinking about baptizing them, but doesn't know into which church. We then explained that it's wrong to baptize little children and that in our church we baptize at 8 years of age. She seemed to think about it and accept it. She then had to go talk to someone at the door, so we sang primary songs with her kids…they sang along and almost fell asleep in the process. And the Hermana was super happy with that! :) I really think we have found a golden family with this contact we made last week! :)

We also got to go to the temple again. And it was so cool!! I learned so much more this time! I love taking my patriarchal blessing with me and reading it in the Celestial Room. It gives me a sense of understanding and we learn so much about our purpose. That's what a patriarchal blessing is. It teaches you about what you should do in your life and gives advice, but also promises blessings. And it was really cool to read about it in the house of God! :)

We also had the baptism for Roman!!! It was so great!! We were a little freaked out at first because our Ward Mission Leader forgot to come over and start filling the font, so we had to figure out how to do it ourselves. But we got it filled and Roman came over with a huge smile on his face and all of his family there with him. While we waited for him to change we got to play a little bit of football. I actually threw the ball with a spiral!! It was awesome! :) The whole baptism went great. He went under the water, the talks were beautiful, and he shared a really good testimony at the end. He is really happy that he has made this covenant with our Heavenly Father!:) On Sunday he received the Holy Ghost and he looks so much different now! He has a glow! :)

We also got our transfers. Here it goes.......

WE'RE BOTH LEAVING!!!!!  WHAT??!!  We are so surprised and so confused about these transfers. We have been working so hard, the area is progressing, we have recent baptisms that just happened, and new investigators that are golden.... and we have to leave them?? Because they are closing the area...what is worse was that we didn't think that I was going to leave so I didn't say goodbye to anyone and I don't have pictures with them either.... Gah!!:P Hermana Arancibia will be opening an area in El Tule with Hermana Morgan, who came and did divisions with us in Huatulco.  I am in Linda Vista in Monte Alban. I'm literally walking up a mountain here..... And my comps are Hermanas Ray and Eichstadt..... They're both ending their missions this transfer too... So we will see how this transfer goes. I love you all and hope everything is all good!

Keep reading and remember that Heavenly Father loves you!

Love Hermana Walker

Week 53

Well this week was pretty awesome. We started out with an awesome p-day. A family in the branch invited us to go over and eat breakfast with them and IT WAS SO GOOD:) We had atole, which is a drink made with tortilla dough, and pan dulce. Then we ate tacos de pollo :)) It was so good!! We were also able to go see Meet the Mormons. It was actually a really good movie. I liked it.... Especially the football part.... I think the elders were all laughing at me during that part.....:) But it was awesome:)
We also had divisions this week and this time we didn't go in trios.... I went out by myself with another Hermana. I thought I was going to get lost! But I went out with Hermana Mitchell from Roy and we had some good success together. We were able to find Maria's son who is already a member, but is giving her a lot of problems. He's out with a girl 15 years older than he is and has teenagers and his mom is a little freaked out for him. But we talked to him and asked if he's still reading and stuff. He said no, so we made the commitment that he will. And that night we went to the Family Night with his girl. We also found a new investigator named Ezequiel who talks a lot. And I think he's going to be a bit hard because he says he's catholic, but doesn't live the Catholic commandments or norms. And he doesn't believe that there is a true truth, so he's having a hard time accepting the Book of Mormon as truth because he doesn't fully believe that the Bible is truth.... And he talks a ton! But hopefully we can work with him:)

I also learned that as I grow older, I hope my future husband never becomes addictive to alcohol and that I never become bitter as an old woman. We had to experience dropping some investigators this week. We've been visiting some investigators that are like 85 years old, but are super catholic, hate each other, and forget everyone we've taught them once we leave. So we haven't really figured out what we should do to help them progress. But this time we got there and they were already fighting, but after 45 minutes trying to teach them, they got at it again. But this time they pulled out things they can use to hit each other and everything. They were yelling and screaming so we ended trying talking over their voices and sang a hymn... But we don't think we're going back.... We also went over and visited Reina and Eli and this is where the drunk part comes in. They have been doing great and he hasn't been drinking. But the other night he came home after drinking a bit, but he wasn't drunk. But he started pushing his son around and his son didn't like it and neither did Reina, so she tried to get after him.... up to the point where they were outside with a knife and a branch of wood in hand.... Right now they are working harder on their relationship. Their homework was to write letters to each other with good things written. They seem better. And Eli is now listening more and has questions :) 

We've also been working a lot with Roman this week. He has been really down on himself, but luckily we have a lot of members that are welcoming him and everything. He's just having a hard time forgiving himself. So the other day we went over and taught the family about repentance, but he really focused it on forgiveness. So we used a little exercise with a pen and the Gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet. Inside are the steps of repentance so what we did was an activity where he holds the pen in his hand with his palm to the ground and his arm straight on the side. Then every time we read a step he can let go of the pen with one finger. And you keep going until you get to step 5 and he has to let go. But as the exercise goes your arm gets tired and tired, but when the pen (sin) is gone, you feel relieved. And then we went on about forgiveness. He seems to be doing a lot better and says that he is more than ready for his baptism. So we're excited for Saturday :)

Well, these are some of the highlights from last week. I've completed a year! What!? That means I've put up some good goals for the next 6 months because I WILL RETURN WITH HONOR..... and a few less pounds! :) But I've learned a lot of things this year that I don't think I would have ever learned if I hadn't come to Oaxaca. A lot of things that are helping me now, but also when the time comes where I have to experience certain things. But I've also learned how to rely on Heavenly Father for everything. It's been amazing to see new light in the eyes of people when they learn that there is something more. I'm excited for the next 6 months. They're going to be AWESOME!!  I love you all! Bye!

Hermana Walker

Week 52

Okay. This week I learned a lot about faith. There were a lot of experiences that we went through, some I don't ever want to happen again and others where I can't stop looking at the pictures again.

Well, Roman and Guadalupe got married!!! It was a great experience to share with them. And they seem super happy too. Roman couldn't stop smiling! :) And they had like 120 couples get married that day! It was the craziest thing! There were tons of teens too, like 16 year olds, all in their cute white cocktail dresses and high heels.... It was crazy.... And I don't know if it was because it was free to get married or what, but there were tons of them. And they did everything together: the vows, the kiss, and they had like 10 cakes so everyone could have a piece. And it was looooong...... Like 2 hours. But it was cool. I got to do Guadalupe's hair. A nice French braid :) They are happy:) 

They also had their baptismal interviews! And passed! Our district leader said that they are in awesome shape and ready to go! Yes! I was super happy!:) But then everything got weird on Friday. We went over to their house because we had an appointment with them.... At 8..... And Roman still wasn't home and neither was Eli... That's not good..... Because they both work at the same place and Eli and all their coworkers always go out to drink after work...... We ended up talking with Reina because all of Guadalupe's kids were asleep... And they still hadn't gotten home. And their phones wouldn't work either! So we called every half an hour until 10:30 to see if they had… and still no....

So we went over in the morning on Saturday and Guadalupe and Reina said they got home fine. They just worked super late and their phones weren't charged. Yes we're all good?! So we went about our day and had an awesome lesson with Maria. She's getting baptized on March 14! :) Then we went to the church to get everything ready for the baptism and waited.... and waited.... and waited until 5, but Roman and Guadalupe weren't there yet... So we called them and Roman answered, but he kept saying "I have a problem, I have a problem, I'm not home yet". So we ran over to the house and Guadalupe was all ready, but Roman wasn't there. Then he came around the corner on his bike and Guadalupe went over to meet him. After that everything went by in a whirl. Guadalupe came back crying, the branch president called and said that Roman had just gone and drank, Hermanos came over to take us over to the baptism, Roman felt so bad that he got on his bike and left, and then we were at the church crying our eyes out. But one thing I won't forget is Guadalupe's faith and determination to get baptized. She said that she was fine, but very sad. But because she made a promise to get baptized, she would go through with it.  We had some Hermanos go looking for Roman and she went underwater and came out smiling. She has so much faith in Heavenly Father that I can't even describe! And Roman came, super sad, after the ordinance, but just in time to hear his son bear his testimony. And she was thinking about separating him, but now no. Everything is fixed. But it was a sad and life-changing experience that I won't forget. And she said that she felt something fall off her when she was in the water and it was the best feeling in the world. So cool!! And after her confirmation she looked all the more happier :)

But this is my crazy week. We've brought one more soul to the truth and we will bring Roman too on March 14. Be careful of what's in the world right now, even with members of this amazing church. Because even they will say, "Nothing will happen" even though something's wrong to do. Keep reading your scriptures. In fact, read Alma 5. But don't just read it, but study it. It's one of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon and it's really made me think about my work here. And go see Meet the Mormons! It's really good:) Love you all!! Bye!

Love Hermana Walker

Week 51

Noooooooo!!!! I got sick this week! :P Grr.... I was doing great! And then on Tuesday night I started to hurt in my throat and my legs felt super tired. The next morning I had major body aches.... Then that night I couldn't talk because my throat hurt so bad.... Then over the week I started to get the stuffy nose, every morning I have to drink tea because my throat hurts so bad.... A freaking cold!:P  It's slightly going away today, but gah.... I don't like getting sick in the mission. Even if it's something small :P- My companion is really big at making videos so of course, there is a video of me in bed sick!  I absolutely LOVE Hermana Arancibia! We are so fun together and get so much done!

So we're going to have a baptism this week!! We've been getting everything ready for Roman and Guadalupe to get married and it's all come together. And it's been crazy because Satan has been trying so hard to not allow them to do it. First, they closed the doctor's office so they almost couldn't get their medical studies done. But luckily there was another one open. And they didn't have to pay as much as they said in the first place. And today they closed the offices in the government building for people who needed their acts of birth and stuff. But luckily Guadalupe had all of that in order so she could go in and get everything taken care of. So they're getting married on Wednesday!! And baptized on Saturday!! Woot! Mom's question: Who's marrying them? Answer: The city. But they are so excited! Whenever you ask them stuff about the wedding or their baptism they both get huge smiles on their faces and can't get enough of it. I'm super excited to see them get baptized too. It's been almost a year since I've seen one of my investigators get baptized and I can't wait! :)))

Oh ya! I finally saw rain!! This is so Great!  We went to visit Federico again and it was suuuuper hot that day. But when we sat down with them it got dark…Like eerie dark. Then during the prayer we felt sprinkles. And we thought oh how cool and nice! Rain! :) But the neighbors said, “Uh…No. YOU NEED TO GET INSIDE....” So we went into shelter…and SHWOOOP!!! RAIN!!!  It was pouring!!! Yay!!! I haven't seen rain since November! :) But guess what?  My companion, never!!  She has never seen RAIN! She lives in the desert of Chile and it never, ever rains there! There is one tree. So it only sprinkles for like 5 minutes twice a year. So she was very fascinated and a lot of times stopped talking in the middle of the lesson because she got so excited.... She's so cute!:)

We also had an AWESOME multi-zone conference with Pres. Madsen. When we first heard we were going to have one everyone said that we were going to get planched...This means, BIG TROUBLE!  Kind Of like being corrected…They were right. I guess there has been a lot of disobedience in the mission and Prezy has had enough of it! So he made this huge PowerPoint on disobedience and he went on for about 2 hours on that. He talked about how a lot of people are breaking the big rules and made an example that breaking the small rules begins it all, like not writing in your journal or doing exercise.... They look like small things that don't really matter, but they do.... So, I got planched too because I haven't done journaling in a while. So every day since then I have!  And it's awesome :)

Well these are the highlights of my week. I hope you are all great and are loving life. :) Keep reading your scriptures! I just got to Alma... In Spanish :)

 Love y'all! Bye! :)

Hermana Walker

Week 50

Well this week was awesome! :) A lot of really good things happened:)

On Monday I seriously deep cleaned the house. It was a mess. At our house we just have one closed up room, the bathroom, and everything else is outside and we have a "garden" too. So there was a lot of dirt everywhere, weeds, and we needed to clean and fill a water tank that they haven't filled for months. Now it looks awesome and I feel so accomplished :) We were also able to visit a less active named Catalina and we taught her about the atonement and invited her to church on Sunday. It was pretty good! :)

On Tuesday we weren’t able to teach much because we had to leave in the middle of the afternoon to go to Oaxaca for a zone conference. And it was really awesome.  A lot of times in these conferences you learn how to teach or contact or something that you already know and spend an hour practicing. But in this they used the time to teach us how to be successful and gave us little rules on how we can be. It was pretty awesome.  Of course we practiced contacting. And I'm the only American Hermana in my zone... Weird.... And Hermana Salcedo is in my zone! The red head from Guatemala :) That night we got to stay with other Hermana’s as well because....

On Wednesday we went to the temple!! It was so awesome!! I loved it! :) We almost didn't get to go in because my comp accidentally forgot her recommend in Zimatlan. But the temple president is super cool and let her in, but also because we made silent prayers during the wait. And it was awesome because in the session I saw Angela Pavey and Hermano Ferra from Reforma there! But the spirit was amazing and I can't wait to go next month :) We also had a really good lesson with Ines about the Book of Mormon. We explained with a map which helped a lot. And then we went in on what the story is. She loved it and said that she's going to read, but gave us bad news.... She's going to the U.S. until April! Gah!! I really hope she still has the desire to progress when she gets back.....

Thursday was a bit hard because my comp felt sick. But we had some really good experiences. We went and saw Reina and Eli and talked about families again. But this time we used the temple and gave them a picture of the Oaxacan Temple. I think that caught the eye of Reina more than Eli, but the spirit was really strong. We also talked to a less active named Refugio about the pre mortal life again and invited her to church. She always says that she will come but she never does.

On Friday we had a pretty good day. We went and visited a contact we had named Federico. And we went over thinking "oh, a new investigator".... but He got baptized back in '97! So we talked to him a little bit and he was pretty excited to listen again. We invited him to church too. We also saw Hermana Margarita again and taught her about the Word of Wisdom because she wanted to and we taught her another hymn. She loves singing :) We also saw Roman and Guadalupe! They got back from Chiapas and they got all of their papers done, but they couldn't get married yet. They have to wait until the 25th when they can do it for free. So we did the baptismal questions with them... They are so ready for baptism! :)) And they look super excited:)) Their date is the 28th!

On Saturday we made tortillas! It was super fun!  I finally learned how to turn them over. I'm way too scared to do it because the pan is SUPER hot. But it's awesome :) We also found a new investigator named Pablo. He drives a moto taxi and has a lot of family problems, so we shared with him a bunch from the Plan of Salvation. And we invited him to church with us and he seemed like he wants to. We also talked with Ismael again about Jesus Christ and his ministry. But afterwards his family invited us for hot chocolate and sweet bread. We had a good talk with them and the food was delicious :)

Sunday was pretty awesome. In church we only had Roman and Guadalupe there as investigators, but Federico, Catalina, and Refugio came! Three less actives! It was pretty awesome! :)) And after the meetings we got to stay after for New Beginnings for the young women.... There are only 4 here... But it was cool :) Afterward, an Hermana opened her mission call.... Guatemala Guatemala City Central. It reminded me on my call opening because it was absolutely not expected. But it was cool and she's super excited!:)

Well these are a few highlights from the week and I hope you enjoy!:)

Love you all! Bye:)

Week 49

Hola everyone!

Wow! This week went by and it was so awesome! I am so excited to be here in Zimatlan. There’s a lot of good work going on here and my companion is adorable:)

On Monday, I traveled the entire day to my new transfer so nothing much happened there. I was able to talk to an Hermana who is going to be in Barrio Reforma so I told her about people she needs to say hi to and stuff like that.  It was funny because Zimatlan was her first area! so she told me about this place too.  That night I got to know my new companion a little bit more. She is from where Cayla Ullman is serving, but she doesn't know her. IT IS FREEZING COLD HERE IN ZIMATLAN!!! I never, ever, ever thought I would say that it's cold in Mexico. But I am now wearing scarves, cardigans, sweats, and I’ll have to ask for another blanket from the offices…and I was thinking about sending all that stuff home...hahaha~ :0

On Tuesday, I think my favorite part was doing service for a member family. It's all farm country here and this member has a corn field. So today I got to use my hands a little bit and I learned how to take the corn off the cob so make tortilla dough. I'll just have to say it hurts to do this. The corn is all hard and you get cut really bad. AND this Hermana knows how to speak Mixteco, a dialect. And she's going to teach us! In fact, there are tons of Hermana’s who speak this language. It's so cool! :)

On Wednesday, we got to meet out new district leader and district. Our district leader is Elder Boynton from Salt Lake and he was in my zone on the coast. And it's funny because his comp in the coast is also in our district, but is training an elder from Salt Lake. And then we have the elders that we share Zimatlan with. I also got to teach English today. I guess they did English classes with one of the elders who was here before and I'm picking up where he left off.  We are also in charge of the ward Family Home Evening. We taught about repentance with the spider web game (like you do at girls camp), but no one could get through. And we used that to teach without Jesus we would be lost after our first sin. Then we watched a video called “His Hands”. It was beautiful.  To end we had one of our investigators, Roman, share his testimony because he has gone through the repentance process for a long time. A beautiful testimony.

Thursday was pretty awesome. We visited an investigator named Marta and before, we were debating about dropping her as an investigator. But when we got there she started crying when we sang, “I am a Child of God”.  We asked her why and she opened up to everything she's been going through. Her daughter died so she is taking care of her grandchildren, but one of them is super disrespectful and she doesn't know what to do with her. So we shared with her Ether 12:6-27 to help her feel better and we made plans to talk with her granddaughter and her together. And this Hermana gave us a shopping bag filled with mandarin oranges from her tree and fresh eggs from her chickens. It was super sweet. I also got to meet Roman and his wife, Guadalupe, and they are awesome people. Roman has been trying to drop drinking and has gone for a few months without it. All they need to do is get married (which is what they are doing this Wednesday!!! :) So we invited them to get baptized on Feb 14, so we're having a baptism this week!!

On Friday it was a bit rough. Because our area is so big we have to take Mototaxis everywhere. Basically all of our lessons fell through because we were so late to each one. But one investigator that I met was really great. Her name is Ines and we visited her with a member named Guadalupe and we taught her from Jesus Christ and his ministry to Joseph Smith. And we asked her to do the closing prayer, but to ask if Joseph Smith was a prophet. And she did and started crying. But she didn't tell us why! She might have received her answer or it might be something else. We just have to figure that out.

Saturday was pretty good. I met another Hermana who speaks Mixteco. Her name is Margarita and we have to teach her by writing the lessons in a notebook, but in simple words because she learns slowly. But she is the cutest abuelita ever! She loves learning and reading new scriptures that we write for her. We also learned that we might not have a baptism. We talked to Roman's sister and she said that her husband and Roman came home the day before completely drunk and something happened and Roman hit Guadalupe.... So strange! Because he was doing so good!  We will wait and see what he says to us.

Sunday was pretty great. Zimatlan is still a branch, but it's big enough to have its own church building and we had about 80 people there!  The members are super nice and love the missionaries, which is awesome, haven’t had that in a transfer! :) Our ward mission leader is a teenager preparing to go on a mission. His name is Ramiro and he is the only member in his family and he's doing his papers alone. They don't know!  We also talked to our branch president about Roman. It's complete gossip!! So we will have our baptism! :) Exciting! :)

Today we were able to meet a member named Ismael. He's 26, has a dream of going on a mission, and is the only church member in a family of super Catholics. He is awesome and super sweet. He can make really cool things out of soda cans (he made me a flower :)) We also met with Guadalupe's (member) brother, Alfredo. He seems pretty cool and is willing to get baptized. It's just hard because his parents are super catholic and will disown him if he does. 

But that is what happened this week. I am super excited for the work I have here in Zimatlan and it is a big change.  My companion is very different from my last. A lot more open to be weird in public which I absolutely love. And she's willing to try new ideas. I am in the Atoyac stake, so different from Reforma. It feels a lot more safe and close-knit. The members seem to work a lot more with us here too. They go out and visit investigators by themselves and everything. It's great! Mom- I know I should get that package tomorrow because we have zone conference. So everything should be good. I love you all and I hope everything is going great! Talk to you next week!

Love Hermana Walker