Week 12

Alright alright! Last week in the transfer! Here we go:)

Lunes: First we had a little play practice. We're getting so close to the performances:) And after, we had an activity with all the hermanas in the city area. It was so much fun. We played volleyball! After that we went home, did TONS of laundry, and sat down for a minute. Then we went out to Loma Linda and met up with a group of kids and played a little bit of soccer with them and shared something with them. It was so much fun:)

Martes: We didn't have a district meeting today because we had a Zone Conference at night. But we had an awesome lunch with Familia Martinez in the ward. I finally got to try one of the seven types of mole:) We tried meeting with Hermano Hugo for baptism prep, but he wasn't home. But we did see a car crash... Traffic is awful here and I'm surprised that I finally saw something like this happen. Then we had zone conference and it was all about how we can do better in finding people to be baptized. It kind of let down my mood though because I was picked on a couple of times by my leaders because of my Spanish. I don't know and understand as well as they think and they just didn't understand. I had a good cry and our AWESOME district leader gave me a really good blessing:) And I got some dearelders from my family:)

Miercoles: We finally went to the doctor for my legs. Apparently I have an allergy to the hot kind of humidity. So I have to cover myself up quite a bit and take some medication. We met with Hermano Hugo with a counselor in the bishopric and he's getting there for his baptism. I got to eat in a mansion! Like this house was bigger than some houses I've seen in the U.S. It was gorgeous!:) And the food was great:) And we had another lady come with us to a few lessons too. She kind of reminds me of my Bunka. They would be great friends:)

Jueves: We had another ensayo today and our comida was with the bishop. We met a guy to teach, in English!, but it was all bashing. He said we should expand our horizons with religion. It was just great.....But not very many people were home so we didn't have very many lessons....

Viernes: We had our last lesson with Hermano Hugo before his baptism... He was scared. So scared, but we calmed him down a little bit and he is so ready for it. We also had lunch with my Bunka friend, Hermana Margarita. Her food was SO good!! We also met with another investigator that speaks English, Tony. And we talked to one of our borachos, Edgar. He's having the hardest time, but we're trying to help him:) And we found out his friend, and one of our investigators is in jail.... Yay...

Sabado; ¡Bautismo! Oh it was so perfect! We first had a play practice but then we ran to the church. Hermano Hugo was so scared but the elders in our district helped him out so much. Elder Sulat did the ordinance, Elder Allred gave the baptism talk, I gave the Holy Ghost talk, and Hugo said the closing prayer. He felt the spirit so strongly. It was so great. After, we also had the chance to go see the baptism of one of Hermana Olsen's old investigators in Monte Alban. His name is Fransisco. But you could feel the spirit so strongly. Even his wife cried and she's never been interested. But it was a great day. Ended in a lot of rain:)

Domingo: Today was awesome! Hermano Hugo was confirmed and we met two girls from Virginia who are staying with the bishop's family. They make me want to go out south more than ever!!:) We ate with the Familia Martinez again. Oh my goodness!! So good! We went out to Loma Linda for lessons, but couldn't find anyone. Our friend that was in jail is out now, we made some awesome contacts, and while about to use an investigator's bathroom, I found a black widow... HUGE!!! We smashed it with a rock:) And transfers...... I'm going to..........

Reforma 2 with Hermana Olsen!!! Again!!:)) So exicted. We've got lots of work going on:)

Well, Have a good week ! Hope ya'll do!

Love Always,

Hermana Walker

Week 11

This week..... Oh goodness... What a week....

Lunes: We had another practice for our play. It's coming together really well. Then we all went to Central where I bought my Oaxacan shirt and coin purse. I also tried crickets... They're not too bad... You can just feel the legs so it feels weird... And we taught our borachos the Law of Chastity. They took it pretty well but they still need to learn that there isn't a difference with the law in the US and other places. It's all the same commandment. And I saw fireflies for the first time!!! I was so happy!:)

Martes: Today we had our weekly district meeting. It was really good. We talked about how to effectively do contacting... That's been the hardest part for me out here. We didn't have much time to teach today, but we did have at least 3 lessons with the borachos because each time we had someone new come into the lesson, so we taught whatever we thought they needed to apply. We also had our meeting with the ward mission leader and ward correlation... And I lost my name tag! I was so sad!! Good thing I have two others, but still....

Miercoles: Oh goodness.... What a day... We had another play practice and had a lot of fun. I don't see how the sisters can't be as funny and random as the elders... And we went and met with Hermano Hugo so he could fill out the paperwork for baptism.... He didn't want it anymore. We were devastated. He kept giving us reasons why and they didn't make any sense. And nothing we said was going to help him.... It was so sad... But we went on with our day anyway, taught our borachos and a new investigator Esteffan, and I made a goal with my district leader with doing contacts. I did 8/6 contacts! I was so happy!:)

Jueves: This morning we had our last interviews with Presidente Leyva. He's so great! I'm going to miss him when he's released in July. But we had a good time, joked around about my singing as always:) We ate lunch with the bishop, amazing food as always:) Then we went and taught our borachos, a couple of menos activos, and we tried hunting down one of our investigators but we couldn't find him... But my contacting went great again!

Viernes: This morning we went over to help one of our menos activo families, la familia Maison. They had something they needed to do with people in the US but all of their paper work was in English and they don't know any. So we went over to help translate and call on the phone. But we couldn't find a phone that worked. We're going to try next week.

Today we also had the curse of Friday and Saturday.... No one was home!!! We ended up finding the mom of one of our borachos and taught her, the borachos, and one of our menos activos. ANNNNND.... Our district leader is so great. He and his comp took time out of their schedule to go visit Hermano Hugo and ask what was up..... They figured out his doubts and he's getting baptized next Saturday! Woot!!

Sabado: Today was another hard day in finding people. We met with Hermano Hugo and had a nice chat with him. Then we kind of just went around trying to talk to as many people that we could find. We taught the borachos and one of them... oh so great... He came over in his suit and tie and said that he was ready for Sunday. It was so awesome! And we found all of them who had been missing for a day and a half. Scared us so bad!

Domingo:.... Not our day.... We left early to go get the borachos for church and we were so excited. We got to our spot and found that they had been drinking since we left the night before. And we found the others in an abandoned house in one of the most awkward situations ever. The spirit was gone like that. So we didn't have anyone in church with us... And then we couldn't find anyone to teach.... And I found out I am either being eaten alive by mosquitoes, bed bugs, who knows what. It looks like I have chicken pox again only from my knees down and nothing is making it go away. We spent the rest of the night check my bed and clothes for bed bugs...

Well that was my week. Lots of ups and downs, but that's a life a missionary. I just have to keep strong:) Have a good one!

Love Always,

Hermana Walker

Week 10

This week was full of ups and downs, but everything is okay now :)

Martes: We had our weekly district meeting and talked about how we can better involve the members in the work. We also went and taught our borachos and that was so hard. Two were slightly drunk and rambled on, but they had a bunch of friends come over... But we taught them more about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and we ended up having to finish up the lesson fast because they had two friends telling them to drink and being disrespectful to us, chastity guy was back, and it just wasn't the best place to be teaching. But the boys had us say a prayer in a different location and we gave them assignments to read.

Miercoles: ¡Templo! The temple here is so tiny! It was so weird. And everything was in Spanish! Weird... But it was so great. I miss going every week... But we had a few good lessons with other investigators and then we went to the borachos.... Not a good day for any of us. One had been punched in the mouth right before we got there so we went to the lesson with him bleeding. But he did all of the reading and even more. And he hadn't been drinking all day. We watched the 15 min restoration movie and looked at some of the Book of Mormon pictures. When we went back for the other boys.... It was so bad. They didn't do their reading, they were half drunk. We were so disappointed. Hermana Olsen had us leave because she was too frustrated to teach. But later the guy who did his reading told us that the others realized why we were mad and we had a whole apologizing session, so we're good. They just need to work.

Jueves: Today was a little hard because we couldn't find anyone to teach. No one was home..... But we did run into one of our less actives and taught him a really good lesson and asked if he would come to church.

Viernes: Today was kind of the same as yesterday. We couldn't find anyone to teach. We did talk to two people who have baptism dates. One is having trouble understanding why he can't spend money on Sundays and why he can't drink coffee because he doesn't fear anything bad will happen. So we're working with that. The other one has a baptism this upcoming Sabado, so we asked if he had questions of doubts.

Sabado: ¡Feliz dia de las madres! Today was awesome and frustrating... We got to have Dominos for lunch today because they were doing a deal. It was so good! But in the middle of it, it started POURING rain! It was so awesome! So when we left to go teach we had our rain boots, raincoats, umbrellas, everything :) But we could not find a single soul to teach because of the rain and because it was mother's day. I almost got kissed too by a very drunk guy.... yay.......

Domingo: Happy Mother's Day! Today was so great! Good day at church and I got to talk to my family! I cannot even describe how happy I was to see them :)

Hoy: We had another play practice and we spent our day in Central. That's where all of the good shops are. I got a really nice Oaxacan coin purse and an authentic Oaxacan shirt. It's gorgeous!:)

 Well I hope you all had a good week as well. And remember I want to hear from you! Write please! :) Love ya'll!

Love Always,

Hermana Walker

Week 9

This week was a little frustrating...

Tuesday: We've been working with our borachos a lot and today we went over to teach a couple of them about the Book of Mormon. But they were all together with their friends, so we started at the beginning of Lesson 1. We didn't get very far because they kept talking and talking. But one of them asked us to come by and teach his family. Our investigator Martin was doing okay, but it looked like he was falling into his old habits of drinking.

Wednesday: Major breakthrough on my testimony of chastity. We went to teach our borachos, Martin was a little more drunk than usual, but we had a new investigator there that wasn't drunk. But he did say a lot of stuff to me that I understood that really made me grateful that we have the Law of Chastity in our lives. I don't ever want to hear those words again. But we did have a good lesson with a member, Hermana Rita. She offered us Dominos pizza (the pizza here is much better than American!) and we taught her about loving our neighbors.

Thursday: We went and taught one of our other borachos that's progressing, Claudio. He's been very quiet and sometimes didn't really listen to our lessons, but lately he has. So we started at the beginning and taught him all of lesson one. He was so excited to get his own Book of Mormon! And he said he would come to church with us!

Friday: Today was a little different. Hermana Olsen has been getting sick every day, so we went to the doctor. After Hermana Espinosa went home, her back problem was really bad. But we ended up being at home after the doctor so Hna. Olsen could rest.

Saturday: Today we were supposed to teach a bunch of people, but no one was home!! So we spent a bunch of time with Hna. Rita and taught one of the construction workers at her house.

Sunday: Claudio never showed up for church! We went to his house and everything! It was so sad! But we had a good fast and testimony meeting and good lessonas as well :)

Anyway... Have a good week! And please write!

Love Always,

Hermana Walker

Week 8

Wow.... I'm already going onto my third week in the change.... Crazy! This week has been so awesome! We've had tons of adventures:)

Tuesday: So that house we wanted... It went to the other guy, but the lady who owns it said that the couple in one of the other apartments is moving out in a couple of weeks so we're going to keep our eye on it. We also had district meeting today and our focus was on the Book of Mormon and on how to effectively teach it. We had to end early though because one of the girls there has a very bad back (She might have a tumor, so pray for her) and she was in so much pain, so we gave her a blessing. And he did really good in finding people. We now have a group of kids we're teaching and a group of borachos(drunks).

Wednesday: Divisions! I got to do divisions with the girl with the bad back, Hermana Espinosa. It was such a great experience. She is a native, so that got me to practice my Spanish all day. It was cool to see how much I actually know. But we went to the offices so I could practice singing for a meeting and then we went to the therapist for her. It was a really good day:)

Thursday: Multi zone meeting! I got to sing with another elder and people loved it. And there was an elder there that I graduated with! Small world:) But a member of the seventy spoke to us on the importance of Preach My Gospel and the Book of Mormon. It was so long.... 5 hours.... but we got a lot out of it. And later that day we went and taught Martin, a boracho, about the Book of Mormon and I got to give it to him:) It's hard with him though because he is so addicted to alcohol... We can fix that:)

Friday: We taught our investigator Hermano Hugo about the Word of Wisdom. He's seriously so ready for baptism. He has a date May 10:) And he is so willing to follow everything. We also spoke to Martin again.... He'd been drinking... So we taught him the Word of Wisdom as well. He said he's going to try little by little... We also had a zone conference and it was on the importance of keeping in touch with your ward mission leader... And it was crazy because right at the end Hermana Espinosa had to be taken to the hospital. We're so worried about her... She has to go home on Wednesday....

Saturday: We had so much fun today. We taught our little group of kids and brought them a bunch of Hermana Olsen's easter candy. We also spent a little bit of time teaching them English. Pretty soon we're going to contact their older brothers. We also went and taught our borachos, and guess what.... Martin was showered, shaved, with new shoes, shirt, and pants... And he'd only drank a tiny bit... He was completely different! It was so great! But we taught them the first part of the Plan of Salvation. We also visited the crazy Familia Mason. They were better today, but very sad. Someone on a motor taxi ran over their dog and died...So we gave them a thought on faith and the Plan of Salvation to help them feel better.

Sunday: ¡Iglesia! This Sunday was really great. Hermana Espinosa spoke in Sacrament and we had two investigators there. We ate with the Familia Limon.... I have no idea how these people eat this much in one sitting. Oh my goodness! I was so full!! Luckily the husband said that I did not need to finish it if I was full, because he was too:) We also taught Hermano Hugo about the Law of Chastity. He understood it... But he lives with his “wife” and they're not married! But he wants to be baptized so bad so he's going to do everything he can to get that figured out. He's so cute:)

Well I hope that you all had a good week. And please write! Mail is so golden out here:) Love ya'll!

Love Always, Hermana Walker

Week 7

I'm in Oaxaca!! .... Here´s just a few things that happened in my first week in México:)

Monday: Lots of flying... and layovers... And I´ve learned to love Houston. We stopped there for one of our layovers and it is gorgeous! We didn´t get to Oaxaca until like 10:30 at night and we had hamburgers and slept at the mission home:)

Tuesday: Breakfast at the mission home: strawberry yogurt with banana and papaya:) Met my companion: Hermana Olsen de San Francisco. She´s a convert, 21, and goes to USU. And I am serving in an area called Reforma 2. It consists of places called Colonia Reforma, Reforma Issste, and Loma Linda. I learned how awesome the peso is:) And we live in San Francisco. There are so many hills! My muscles will so be ready for ballroom after my mission:)

Wednesday: Best Two Years day!! First person I talked to, he started speaking English:) His name is Noah and he is golden! And when talking to someone on the street instead of saying I didn't have any money on me, I said I didn't have any tithing on me... What?! We also had an awesome lightning storm!

Thursday: Yup. It´s happened... Let´s be prepared to be sick for the next 16 months... I don't know what happened, but when I woke up I didn't feel good already. But then throughout the day it got really bad. We had to interrupt lessons for the bathroom and everything. It was nuts :P Hermana Leyva (Mission Pres. wife) told us to go get a check up with a doctor so we did. All it was was a stomach problem because I wasn't used to the food. So she gave me some prescription options. We also taught a guy from New Zealand who's staying with the Bishop's family. We also helped a lady who had tripped holding her baby and we taught Noah again, starting with the Restoration. And I was the one to ask him to be baptized:) He says he wants to, but he's going to pray about it first so he knows it's something he's going to commit to.

Friday: What an experience.... We went out into a Catholic country to teach the Gospel on Good Friday.... NO ONE was on the streets or home at all.... So we walked around trying to find anyone to talk to... We got a couple of referrals, one was a less active and we went to with the members that gave them to us. The referrals were called La Familia Mason.... These people were crazy! Ducks, chickens, geese, dogs, you name it, roam around the property and the house. Dog fur and grossness everywhere. There's no light in the house and it's just dirty. And the family... The grandma was a little loco and spaztic. She has one daughter who had serious exhaustion, a couple of grandchildren who seem fine. But she had another daughter who was seriously sick... I had no idea what was going on, but when she walked in, it was like a leper came into the house and everyone was freaking out. She was more than twig thin, super pale, and she couldn't walk. So we immediately had the members take her to the hospital. But we think we're going to go back to do service for them. Maybe get a couple of other missionaries in our district to help clean it up and bit and help the family come back to church.

Saturday: We didn't do much today because we were supposed to help Hna. Leyva with a play?... So we didn't plan very much. And one of the Hermana's in the house was really sick so I stayed with her while Hna. Olsen taught with her companion. And that was okay because I needed time to write my talk for Sunday... Yup... The bishop asked me to... But around three we went to the offices for the "play rehearsals"... We watched Pinocchio and Sleeping Beauty!! So great! It was supposed to help with the play because we're taking those stories and twisting them so that the happy endings happen because of missionary lessons... I'm the Blue Fairy and Fauna:) And I got to watch our District leader proselyte...??.... on the bus. So cool!!

Sunday: Sunday was very great. My talk went well... With the help of a Latin missionary:)... And we had three investigators in church! Great! And weird thing for a Sunday and being a missionary... The family we were supposed to eat with forgot... And couldn't have us come over.... So they gave us money and we ate out... On a Sunday... But I realized how hungry missionaries can get. We bought a Little Caesars size pizza and it came with nuggets and little potato log fries.... And it was gone when we were done. And it was so good! And we got a lot of contacts with the people who work there... And their friend... Apparently now I have two boyfriends in Oaxaca, according to my comp. This guy and some guy who's always in Domino's when we go in to use the bathroom... So creepy... Let's convert them!:D We also went house searching. We’ve been living with other Hermanas when we're not really supposed to. But through prayer we found one that should work!:)

Hoy: We spent our p-day going to the new house. First, with our zone leaders so they could take pictures for Pres. Leyva. It was perfect!! But we had to go a second time with Pres. Leyva and the assistants. They loved it!... But guess what.... Some guy who lives upstairs came right after the first time we went and paid the money because he wants a very slightly bigger house. So this all falls on if he still goes with it because we could pay the money now and move in ASAP, but..... He went first... Pray that we get this house!! We also had another rehearsal for the plays. So it's been a very looong p-day......

Anyway I hope you enjoyed my adventures this week. Stay tuned next week:) And please write!!

Love Always,

Hermana Walker

Week 6

Alright ya'll. I know it was my p-day on Tuesday, but our branch president said that we can write to people today before we leave:) Oh my goodness! I'm so excited! This is so crazy! I'm going to Mexico in two days! I'm at that point where I'm thinking, "What am I getting myself into?" But it's going to be so great:) I feel like Rapunzel. I can't believe I did this! I can’t believe I'm doing this..... This is so fun!!:))

Basically this week we've been reviewing everything and just having fun with each other. We didn't hear from Elder Holland, sadly, but our Tuesday devotional was amazing anyway:)

On Wednesday, we got elders in our zone! Finally! It was getting kind of lonely being an all girl 6-person zone... But it's sad because we've barely seen them at all because they've been doing first week stuff and we've been doing last week stuff... But they seem cool:) One is from Orem and is going to Canada. The others are from Idaho and Cali and are all going to Argentina. And none of them have taken Spanish, so it will be fun for them:)

On Thursday, I had to go to Main Campus with Hermana Young. She had to get a shot:) But it was cool because while I was waiting for her, I met a couple of elders that were super cool. One was from Hawaii serving in Anaheim, another was from Australia serving in the Marshall Islands, and the other was from Japan serving in Japan. It was cool to hear their accents and stuff:)

Friday was a LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG day.... In-field orientation.... We had to spend all day at Main Campus learning about stuff. We learned about exercising our faith like the young men who helped the pioneers cross the Sweetwater. Then we learned about setting goals, how to involve with members in your teaching, how to help members share their testimony with nonmember or inactive friends, and stuff like that. And we saw a play:) It was about what might happen on our first day... So it was a good day. It was just long.... And the food was so good! I think they get the good stuff and give what's left to West Campus... I had a wrap. Both meals:)

Today I've been packing and stuff like that. We had class with Toledo this morning and he just went over things that he thought were the most important for him to leave with us. Then we had a fiesta with a piñata that Hermana Young's mom sent. It was so fun and I'm going to miss this guy. He was just a big ball of energy and absolutely loved the Gospel. I almost have everything packed up. It's just hard because I'm still using some of the big stuff. I've weighed what I can already and I'm doing really well with what I have. I'm just trying to save as much weight as possible because I don't want to have to pay a bunch of money for a couple of pounds when I already have to pay for my second bag. 75$! Ugh! Tonight we are having class with Hermano Lounsberry for the last time. I had such great teachers here. It's sad to leave them all... Maybe I can come back and teach with them:)

Tomorrow we're going to have Music and the Spoken Word, Relief Society, Sacrament meeting where we are supposed to sing a musical number (I'm not sure how that is going to turn out... No one's really taken it seriously except me and Hermana Young...), lot's of devotionals, and just being with each other for the last little bit. It's going to be so sad, but this is going to be such a great experience for everyone.

I'm probably not going to get any sleep tomorrow night. Everyone in my apartment leaves at 2:30 am and then I leave at 4:30 am. But everyone is FREAKING OUT about packing and everything that is going on. I'm just thinking, "Don't stress. You'll get everything done if you don't:)"

Well, I don't know when I'll write next, most likely once I get to Oaxaca, but I don't know... But Family: I hope you are having fun in London. I'm jealous and Amelia, you'd better win for me;) And all you missionaries: I am so excited to experience what you've been experiencing. It's going to be so much fun and I hope that you are just having a blast giving free happiness to others who don't have it. I love all ya'll! You're all examples to me and don't forget Dios nos ama:) Have a good week! Be safe and make good choices!:)

Love Always, Hermana Walker