Week 40

Hola!  So this week was strange big stressful.... We spent a lot of days sick, but we did a really good job with the Christmas program in Puerto Escondido (below), a town about 2 hours down the coast from Santa Maria but more on that in a minute. Photos attached of the town while I'm driving down the road really fast!

 We didn't have the baptism for Mary. This is so sad. She sent us a text last week and said that she made the decision not to be baptized. So we went and talked to her about it. Apparently she now has the fear of just dropping her first baptism for this one. Afraid it doesn't mean anything to her, her first baptism.  So she just wants us to come to her house to teach her new things and that's it... It's so sad because she was progressing so well! I am sure something happened between her dad or something because when she was talking to us it was almost like she was hiding something.... Hopefully we can do something before the time I leave so she can have that desire again...

 We were able to put on our Christmas program again but this time in Puerto Escondido! It is another coast town but we are considered the real Huatulco!! The performance turned out so good! Everyone loved it and the choir sounded great. I also got the great opportunity to sing “Oh Holy Night”! Also, Hermana Madsen asked me at last minute if I could sing a song with her called “Once on a Silent Night”. It was really pretty. And she translated it by herself! She's doing really well with her Spanish now :) But it was a fun opportunity to direct the choir again. I love being able to share my musical talents with the other missionaries, but also the people who came to see us. I'm really hoping that Pres. gives me another chance to do it again. Maybe for Easter :)

 And of course, what would one of my emails be without a health problem update?! I guess that's the highlight of the mish right now for me... me and Valverde started having stomach aches on Wednesday and Thursday… We thought it was just from the beans because we always feel that way when we eat them. But on Friday I had a constant nausea feeling... It was weird. And I couldn't stay in one spot for a long time. I had to be moving or I had to run to the bathroom!  It was still there on Saturday, but worse. That was really bad because we had to travel 3 hours to Puerto Escondido! It went away, but my comp started feeling that way... In fact, the entire day it was almost like when I felt bad she felt good, and when I felt good she felt bad. We were always running to the bathroom and stuff! It was weird. We ended up asking our district leader to give us blessings and that was very meaningful. And we had a sleepover with the Hermana’s in Huatulco because we would have gotten home at 11 pm…that was really fun:) But on Sunday after we got home we had to stay at home because my comp couldn't leave her bed. She had huge pains in her stomach, and we ended up going to the doctor… that is a story in of itself. He kept checking her stomach, but whenever he touched it she freaked out because it hurt so bad. So we made the conclusion that something happened to her appendix, so he walked us to the hospital and I had to spend time by myself because they wouldn't allow me with her.... I felt like I was in an insane asylum there with all the security and locked glass doors..... Freak!... But it turns out that she has a huge infection in her stomach and has to get injections for the next five days and we can't leave the house because it hurts her to walk... For me, I just have nausea a veces this time....

Okay, funny story of the week! So, I have this joke with my first companion, Hermana Olsen that I am always “picking up” a "boyfriend" in every area. Well, I found my “Santa Maria Boyfriend” this week in the form of a state trooper!  Me and Valverde had to go to the ATM to get money for the rent and there was this police officer there guarding the door of this government building. He came up to us and asked who we were and of course we said, “We are the Missionaries!” Then we started talking about safety in the area, like, “be careful of stalker investigators”, and “don’t go to those areas, or those, or well, don’t go anywhere at night…” But then he stopped us suddenly and asked if we know and have seen the movie “Titanic”.... Ummm, ya. I have....and of course, the standard comment comes out: “Did you know how much you look like Rose in Titanic?” see, I get this comment ALL THE TIME!! “you look and act like Rose in the Titanic movie!”.... “Oh thank you”.... We went on with the conversation and he just kept stopping us to tell me that.... so now, whenever we pass he always forgets that it's Hermana Walker… To him my name is “Hermana Rose”!!  I hope that gave you a laugh:)

 We are getting very excited for Christmas here, we have learned that we will be having Christmas dinner here on Christmas Eve with the MP and wife. I am excited to get some stuff from my mom so I’m excited when it all gets here! The weather is warm and sunny so that will be weird not having snow and cold but I hear that it is warm and sunny at home too!  At this point we are able to Skype family on Christmas Day but we are all learning that a bunch of missions are doing away with Skype altogether…! I see why, it makes us “trunky” when we see our families during the holidays! Thank you Stephen Alexander for your letter! I am planning on writing back to you this week! Everybody, I DO get snail mail occasionally so please write!

 Anyway, that’s what's happened this week. I hope y'all are doing well and happy. And I hope you're still reading the Book of Mormon. I hope it's now become a habit to read it :)

 Love you!!

Hermana Walker!

Week 38-39

Week 38: I was violently ill this particular week. Very scary. Luckily, the MP wife was actually in the town where I’m at so she was able to talk to me and find out what I needed. I’m doing better now and the baptism fell through.  

Week 39: Happy Thanksgiving to all in USA!

This is how we celebrate it here in Santa Maria, Huatulco…fry bread! This is me and my new companion Hermana Valverde. I am glad I wrote Ian a letter this week, he has missed me a lot this holiday season. He really enjoyed getting a letter and it was good to hear from him and to write him back. I will be writing my broham every week from now on! I’m excited to see my family on Christmas Day when I can Skype! Hoping the computers don’t have issues like usual, they are so slow. Last week, it died during talking with family…don’t want that happening again. lol! Mom would kill me!

Everything is going better with my companion this week. She is now listening to me a lot more and we’ve become friends. We had divisions this week too so that helped to get a second opinion from another Hermana.  Last week’s illnesses are gone thankfully so I am feeling better.

Our Christmas Choir performed this weekend! YES!! It turned out so good, you guys need to also go find the video of “He is the Gift” and watch it. It is beautiful:)  I am hoping Hermana Madsen puts up some pictures of it on Facebook sometime soon. I got to direct it all and I also sang “Oh Holy Night” for the Talent part of the night. We will be performing it in Puerto Escondido this coming Friday too! I don’t have Christmas packages yet and Mom says I have the best present that got through Customs that I will really like! Cap’n Crunch Peanut Butter Crunch :)

The sad case of Mary, our Golden Investigator is so sad. We were prepping for her to be baptized on Saturday but she woke up one morning and didn’t want to get baptized. She feels sad but she needs to pray as we all do…I am still so upset and sad about the whole situation I can barely talk about it. I pray that she will listen to the Spirit and hopefully she will seek us out again soon.

I love my mission and I am so happy to be here even though the sicknesses are everywhere with us missionaries. I love serving the Lord and serving the people of Huatulco! Have a great week!

Love, Hermana Walker :)

Week 37

Please pray that I live during these next 3 months... This week has been THE hardest week on the mission so far... Y'all have no idea....

On Monday and Tuesday, I had the awesome chance to have a "sleepover" with some of the other Hermana’s from my generation and it was awesome!:) We talked, ate dobladas, maybe went to the beach, hit the water, met a surfer.... Nah just kidding :) We had a good time meeting some of the people investigating the church there:) On Tuesday I met my "daughter", Hermana Valverde. She's the youngest in her family and the only one to serve. She's 19 and is from Chihuahua. And it's was fun because she tried her first tlayuda on this day :)

On Wednesday, we had our first district meeting with Elder Poole, our new leader. He's from Utah and seems pretty cool... But we did some pretty nice practices specifically for our investigators and we're going to put them to the test. We also saw Silvia and we thought that doing a fast would help with the situation with her husband. He's basically locking her up, she has no friends and has no way to make them, and he doesn't think marriage in necessary so he won't get married, so she can't get baptized. So we're going to do it with her. We also finally found Soledad in her house! She got sick so her boss let her have a break this day. But we were able to talk to her about how she needs to pray to know if the church is true. Because she feels that it is, she just hasn't done anything about it. But today I realized that I might have some issues with my comp. She is very blunt, and usually doesn't listen to a word I say. But she's been going through with the fact that no one has written to her. Her parents don't have emails, and her bishop went around telling everyone that they can't write to her. So she kind of had a breakdown tonight too. But we talked and she talked to the sister training leaders and felt fine... Me... Not all the way....

Thursday, I think was the hardest day for me. We went around to all of our investigators houses and I had my comp starting lessons, ending lessons, getting annoyed with my advice, and I have the sister training leaders doing what they can to help her get a hold of her parents because it's affecting her a lot, and she's frustrated with that, and she's expecting me to do what she says. But I'm all caught up on the fact I'm in charge of everything and I still have no idea what I'm doing, and I can't have anything on top of that. And she doesn't believe that the lessons should be doctrine, so we go and it ends up being a beautiful conversation about God with her and the investigator. I ended up breaking down on the phone with Elder Poole and he helped me out. I explained my problems and he gave me experiences that he's had with his "kids". It helped and I ended up talking to her because she wanted to know what all of our English was about. She told me it was just because she has so frustrated with her parent issue that she's not thinking straight. And I talked to the sister training leaders or my "mom" and that was nice. They gave me advice and they're going to keep talking to me during these next few days.

Friday, was a lot better. We laughed a little bit and we found a new investigator named Sebastian and he is the son of a menos activo. But he is so interested in the Book of Mormon, so we're going to keep talking to him.

On Saturday, we had another awesome rehearsal for the choir. We have some really good singers and I really hope we will be able to pull off all the songs that we have planned. We found another new investigator named Socorro. She's heard from the missionaries before, but they never came back. So we will :) Hermana Valverde had another breakdown today. The Hermana’s have been trying to get  hold of her bishop and he hasn't answered and she came to the point that she questioned why President hasn't just let her call them. So we talked with the Hermana’s and they gave her permission to talk to him. So she did and she has permission to talk with her parents. It's just been a really hard situation for both her and for me.

Sunday, was pretty good. We were able to visit Higinio and talked about the atonement with him. But I think my most favorite part about the day was our lesson with Pedro. He is 15 and his family is super Catholic, but he absolutely loves to hear from us. But they took his Book of Mormon so we read 1 Ne 17 and we applied it to his situation that he should never back down from his beliefs He absolutely loved it and is going to try even harder to get his parents’ permission to listen more:)

Well that is my week. I hope it wasn't pitiful, but I hope that they get better as time goes and I really learn how to get along with my comp. Anyway. I love y'all! And don't forget to read Alma 31-40 this week!

 Love, Hermana Walker

Week 36

Hola Everyone! Okay, it’s been really busy and being sick is just gross but thanks for the prayers! This is what happened this week:

 On Tuesday, we had our last district meeting and it was super fun because we went a little earlier to have kind of a party. We made these pizzas with tortillas, pasta sauce, and cheese. And our zone leaders... I will forever be happy with this... They found ROOT BEER!!! Root beer here in Mexico! I was so happy, so I savored it and it was good :) it’s my favorite fizzy drink and I haven’t had one of those forever! I also had a "horribly lovely" experience with the comida. So the doctor told me that I am not supposed to eat greasy stuff and dairy for a few weeks. So we go to the comida thinking that the Hermana remembers that I can't eat it.... She made something barbacoa, which had the most grease and irritants I have eaten in the mission. I was sicker than a dog.  I couldn't sit during the lesson or anything! Luckily I had an appointment with the doctor, so we went straight there and we told me that the grease is what makes the illness worse so I need to MAKE SURE that people know I can't eat it. He also gave me a powdered fiber I need to eat every morning, which has been working. The hard part is that it is so bad to not eat what has been given! It is very hard to say no! So most all of us missionaries are sick!

 I was finally able to have progress in our English classes on Wednesday! People came!  We had our investigators Marisol and Yazmin come to get some help with their English homework. They're really sweet girls and I hope they keep coming and invite their friends :)

 Ay! Thursday was the saddest day ever in the transfer.... So we went to the church for Mary's second interview for baptism. But when she got there she was different so we talked to her about what was going on. She told us that she seriously wants to be baptized, but her dad wants her to get baptized in her uncle's church, which we were aware of the situation. But she then told us that a few days before her dad sat down with her and said that he doesn't think she is ready for baptism. He thinks that she needs to analyze the Bible a more and its doctrine so she can be fully prepared. But we told her she doesn't particularly need that for baptism, she can be baptized knowing just the basics because she's going to learn the doctrine in the church throughout the years. But she doesn't want to ruin her relationship more with her dad, so she went in with the interview, but she will have to wait more time for a baptism. It was so sad to see her crying and everything…I appreciate being a member of the church, I think I’ve taken it for granted! But we will get her baptized this transfer! She will hit the water :)

 On Saturday I finally had my first choir practice for the Christmas Program. And I can say I was pretty freaked out when I first got there because I didn't know if anyone could sing, read music, or anything, but some of the music might be a bit hard for some people.  But it turned out pretty good. We have a few who can sing and I think that if we just keep practicing they can get it!  It was a good day too because President and Hermana Madsen were there to help me out and they brought my birthday package with them from Oaxaca!  Thank you for the letters and cards! I loved reading what y'all had to say. I also got a letter from my friend Stephen! Thank you, Stephen! I love getting mail, we are far away from the mission home and don’t have our own address so we have to wait extra-long weeks to get mail and sometimes some of us don’t get mail even then so all mail is precious to us so please write :)  We also went to the baptisms the elders in our branch had for their investigator Samuel and our branch president's son. They have such sweet testimonies and you could see how happy they all were afterward.

 Yesterday Domingo was a pretty good day, full of unexpected things happening. First we had this inactive teenager, Omar, come to church with us. He's one of those people I have no patience with, but I'm trying. Patience is a problem!  But he came to all three hours. We had a really good lesson in Gospel Principles about the faith, and then we were able to have a farewell devotional for Julio, a new missionary who left this morning. We were also able to see Mary, Soledad, and Zoyla in the church. But when we left for the comida Omar followed us…when we left there to go to Mary's(member) house, he came with us…we made tortillas with her.  Then we went to Mary's(investigator) house, and he followed us…we didn’t know what to do with him!  This time we were able to talk with Mary’s dad a little about our life on earth and the things we are supposed to do on the earth, and that includes baptism. That got some of his doubts away about baptism. He's worried about being baptized twice in different ways, so we explained the differences in baptism. He understood more and hopefully he allows Mary to be baptized soon. Then we saw Hermana Lucina and she took Omar!  But before leaving them, we had a really good lesson with them about the Plan of Salvation too. Usually we don't have much order in lessons with them but we had perfect order this time….and Omar gave the closing prayer and he did really well with it! Usually it's a joke to him to pray, but he really took it seriously this time. Maybe it was good for him to walk with us all day. I need to be more patient and kind:)

We didn't get to bed until 2:30 last night because we had to dry all of our clothes. We washed them all until midnight on Saturday and left them to dry.... Then the rain came during church today!

 So for transfers.....

Hermana Valdivia is going to her house in Tijuana... I am going to have a daughter!!  As in I'm training a new missionary!  Her name is Hermana Valverde and I’m guessing she's Latina by her last name. But I am excited and nervous at the same time.

 Anyway that's what's happened this week. For Christmas I am dying for cinnamon candies!  For some reason the Latino’s here don’t believe there’s such thing as candy containing cinnamon!

I know we've had a break from the Book of Mormon, so this is the challenge this week: Chapters 11-20 of Alma.

Love y'all!!  Have a good week!

Hermana Walker

Week 35

Hello Everyone, Feliz Noviembre!

So, I finally went to the Doctor to see what’s wrong with my stomach…again! He tells me I contracted amoebic dysentery :P sometime recently and they say it’s from the water but everything I eat will make it worse. Especially grease, beans and everything they eat here!  The Doctor gave me some meds to kill the amoebas and another med to keep them from coming back but I think I will have this until I go home next year.  He checked my weight and I am back to the same as I was when I left home but I tried on my jeans and they are loose. I feel so full and bloated all the time though and I live in the bathroom.  It’s hard living on water and I am afraid to eat any fruit and vegetable because it isn’t clean, I don’t think! This is gross :P!  I’ve felt better these past couple days but it hits very fast and hard all the time and it’s impossible to go by the Doctor’s orders and not eat anything but fruit and water when the Hermanas want to feed us all the time. We can’t say no--my Dr. said I need to force the issue with the Hermanas but it is hard. Sister Madsen, the MP wife said I am doing well if I say “no” about taking food and if the Hermanas feel offended that we should explain and blame our “sensitive American digestion”!  She is in charge of the health stuff and I trust this Doctor. He is Latino but studied for years in the States. This disease is so common here though, dozens of missionaries have had parasites and bugs, food from the street, flies everywhere, the bad water, washing fruit and veg is nothing here and we have to trust the water being clean when we clean them ourselves. I am happy though :) the life of a Central/South American missionary! I am on a diet of bread and water for the next 3 weeks. Yay me! Below the pictures are of me and Hermana Valdivia. She goes home next week!

She is such a sweetheart. She lives in Tijuana and has served her mission well. I will miss her when we have transfers next Monday.

We don’t have a church building here in Santa Maria because we are a branch. We rent out these 2 rooms in this building for church. It is called our “Prayer House”. It has a kitchen and in these photos we are making mole and tamales for Halloween and Dia de los Muertos, “Day of the Dead”.  It was so cool but weird to see how they memorialize the day: a lot of people drinking in the street but all the culture was there—fireworks at noon, Orange Mums flowers EVERYWHERE, “Bread of the Dead” to feed their loved ones, skulls and lots of chocolate and altars and photos of their dead paraded around the streets. (I hope Annekke took photos of this…she never sent any though!). Pan de Muerto looks like an Irish Hot cross bun and tastes sweet. They eat it at the graves of their family. 

 I LOVE how busy it is here in Santa Maria in the Huatulco. It really is beautiful and busy. We walk and walk from city to city all day. It’s awesome! So sad, our investigator, Mary, didn’t have her baptism like we though this week. She drank coffee three days before her interview! :P  But she is getting baptized this Saturday.

Until next week, Have a great one!

Love, Hermana Annekke Walker!

Week 34

I have been asked by Hermana Madsen, the MP’s wife to direst a Christmas choir! I’m so excited! I‘ve asked my family to send me the music of “The First Noel” by Dan Forrest. I love this arrangement! The concert will be in Santa Maria for the branch members there. I love the members here. They have absolutely nothing which makes them the happiest people around. It’s so interesting to watch the food being made here, and to eat it :) We eat a lot of fish!! Mole is eaten a lot too. We eat a lot of eggs and home- made tortillas and beans… lots of beans! I’m finding it quite hard to stay healthy with such starchy foods. My companion, Hermana Valdivia is an amazing cook! She gets offended if I don’t eat with her or the food she cooks so Hermana Valdivia is often ill. Luckily I’ve got a good water bottle and DoTerra oils to help!! DigestZen and Clary Sage to the rescue!! :)

Speaking of health issues, I’ve been sick this past week, first, with a horrid eye infection but it is better now. I couldn’t put makeup on so I walked around “looking like a man that’s been crying for days”… ahha!  I still haven’t been able to get over a bout of nausea and vomiting though, it could be the food but it could also be the weather. It finally started raining and the mosquitoes are out with a vengeance—the bites are bad.  There are swarms of them! My District Leader has contracted denge and is in the hospital.  Prayers all around to these missionaries so they can all get back to doing the work! All of this going on the same week as Divisions… I got to serve with my old companion Hermana Olsen!  It was a blast serve together again! She is serving in the “Istmo”, the very indigenous area of Oaxaca, in the mountains where it seems the people haven’t been touched by modern civilization since the Book of Mormon times… I really hope to be able to serve there sometime during my mission. Oaxaca State is the most diverse, indigenous state in Mexico…19 different dialects spoken in that state alone. They say that each area has its own dialect of Spanish to learn.  I’m so happy I’m a quick learner, though learning Spanish has been one of the hardest things. Knowing German sort of caused the conjugation of the Latin language of Spanish to come on pretty slowly for me, but I’m still holding out hope that I’ll be able to teach someone the Gospel in German!

We may have a baptism at the end of this week! Mary may be baptized! We’re so excited for Mary! She is so smart and very knowledgeable of the basic tenets of the church.  We will find out next week! 

I finally got my hair cut! After 8 months! I got “Mexican layers”. :P

We do our washing outside in a sink near their house. I feel like I’m getting really big arm muscles because of all the scrubbing.

Hermana Valdivia and I get along very well, though Hermana Valdivia only has 3 weeks left in her mission. I get to “kill” her… which means that she is finishing her mission as my companion. The mission phrases are so funny! When you go into the MTC, you are “Born” and you “Die” when you finish. Haha! :)

I am very glad for my mission. I never thought I would go and do something like this. I am very glad I am here right now. 

I love everyone and hope you are happy and enjoying life!

Hermana Walker

Week 33

The weather near the coast is quite different than in Oaxaca City. It’s even more humid, if that’s even possible!! If you look at a map of the State of Oaxaca, Santa Maria Huatulco is on the Pacific Coast directly South of Oaxaca. It is very dry on the coast too but it rains more than in Oaxaca with a lot of thunder and lightning. The climate looks ‘just like Ireland’ but in an extremely hot and humid sort of way haha! I am still looking forward to eating Iguana and is constantly being chased by huge black bees. I live with tarantulas too! The mosquitoes are enormous and they have a horrible bit. Even with all the sorts of repellents I put on, they never leave me alone! The bites on my legs over the past 7 months will scar, but luckily I haven’t gotten “denge”, a disease contracted by mosquitoes—there are 2 types of denge, the one that kills and the one that doesn’t…you get fevers and your bones ache like crazy. The locals drink fresh grape juice and they say that drinking it helps a lot with the symptoms. I heard that one of the Elders contracted it a while back but after a blessing from Presidente Leyva he recovered well.

Spanish is coming very well now, after having 2 native companions who don’t speak much English at all. I actually now start my prayers in English and end in Spanish :P!

The work is going slow but well, there’s potential with “Mary”, the golden investigator!

Hello to everyone and would love a letter from all of you for Christmas! Packages are slow to not getting here at all so I recommend no packages, unless you use “Global Mission Shipping”. They are fantastic, go through DHL and have tracking and confirmation through Customs to the mission home. It takes 4 days to get to the mission home but takes weeks to get to the coast where I’m at as the leaders only go to and from Oaxaca every few weeks!

Please write!

Hermana Annekke Walker