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