Week 48

Okay, so this week went by pretty well…better than last week. We were able to talk with a ton of people and we found a couple of new investigators. I'm only going to count about a few things that happened this week because I am still suffering from transfers and I can't think…so tired and adjusting!. 

This week we did a lot of work with little kids. There were tons of times when we didn't have a plan on where to go, so we decided to contact and a lot of them were kids. One group of kids, it was so cute, started asking us when English classes were. So we told them and they went on their way. Then they came back and asked us what to bring, so we told them, “a notebook and pencil” and they went on their way. Then they came back with a little flower for each of us and went on their way. So we stopped them for a minute and started talking about the gospel with them. Turned out that one of the girls had listened to the missionaries once and has a Book of Mormon and the others would like to listen to us too. And they were little, little kids. So we talked a little about Heavenly Father and asked if their families would like to listen too, and they said yes. So we have plans to visit them! 

The next day we went to the English classes and all of these kids were there. But also another group of kids that we contacted a week before were there too with the primary for an activity. So after this activity we went and had our English class where we sang, “I Am a Child of God” and learned the numbers from 1-20. It was so awesome and they loved it!  The next day a group of these kids went to church. I really hope that we helped start a generation of future investigators. 

Saturday night and Sunday were really stressing, but so awesome! I got a call at 10:30 pm on Saturday from Elder Poole telling me that I have to pack my bags because we were going to be staying with other missionaries the next night to make changes easier.... I got three hours of sleep on Saturday, I packed up all of my stuff, cleaned the house, showered, still needed to wash some clothes, write letters to members, and finish the area book.... I was so tired on Sunday. But we went to church and I think it was the best Sunday I've had in the mission. First, it was fast Sunday and we had people going up one right after another to bear their testimonies--I did too. Second, we filled the church house and we had to bless the sacrament again because we ran out. But also, Jose wanted to share his testimony and he said that he knows that this church is absolutely true and that the Book of Mormon is something that helps us become better people... He's gone to church three times and we've taught him twice. It was so amazing that I cried!! But I think it was also one of the hardest Sundays too because the whole day I knew I was leaving and I knew it would be the last time I would see these people for a really long time. But we ended the day with an awesome lesson with Jose. He wanted us to go to his house to have a prayer with his grandma. But we had tons of members come with us and we shared a message about the family, sang hymns, and said our prayers with them. It was so great! We also visited Silvia one last time, crying, and then I was in Bahias in a blur! I had Sem, Aby, and Blanca help me with my bags and we went to hear where we were going.

So transfers happened and this is what we have...

Hermana Valverde is staying in Santa with a companion named Hermana Gusman. And I am back in the city, in an area called Zimatlan. I feel very content here. My companion is named Hermana Arancibia from Antofagasta, Chile! She came here with Hna Valverde and is absolutely adorable:) And I am in pure farm country. I love it! And I feel really happy here... Only a little sick from all the traveling we do. And it is completely flat here! I've always had hills, and now no... It's weird, but beautiful. We might already have some baptisms and sealings this transfer!! :))

But I hope everyone is doing well and is happy. I hope you're all still reading every day and are praying. Don't forget to pray! It's bad. I love you all and hope to hear that everything is good.

Love Hermana Walker

Week 47

Hello everyone!! This week went by and I don't want to look back on it for a lot of reasons... 

On Monday we had a good P-Day of lying around and writing lots of letters. We also went to the comida with the Hermana Elia and we were able to meet her son that she's worried about. He didn't seem very interested in the moment, but he says that he likes to learn about God, so we have another visit with him. And he promised to come to church with us in two weeks. That night we also visited with Lucina to help her with a question she had in Gospel Principles class yesterday about the spirit world. Now she knows where everyone goes and does after they die.

On Tuesday it was a bit rough because my companion started to get a cold. And it didn't help that it was super- hot weather. So she couldn’t go around without getting dizzy, so we spent more time studying in the church. We also had comida with Hermana Nolasco and then went over to Lucina's house again because we promised her son that we would watch the movie about Joseph Smith. But when we got there, he said that he would come back in like ten minutes and we can start it... What happened? He never showed! Gah! And this isn't the first time that's happened.... and his older brother was super rude during the entire movie...:P And we were slightly sad because we wanted to help him out, but he wasn't there to see that. And my comp felt worse so we went home so she could rest.

As for the rest of the week we had a lot more awful experiences. Lucina's family didn't let us leave their house until we finished making donuts with them and had no respect for us as women or missionaries. I've never felt without the spirit like this in my mission. And I don't ever want to feel like it again. We also accidentally broke the door in Mary Asucena's house. She let us go to eat there when she wasn't there... But we didn't know that her door opened inside instead of outside. And she has a dog that can kill that was loose, so in our fear we pulled the door open a lot in the wrong direction. She got yelled at hard by her husband... but it was awesome because President Chava went over on Sunday and was able to fix the door from scratch. So hopefully her husband is happy now. I also had more experiences with my comp where she got so mad at me. I have no idea why she has so many expectations from me that she knows I can't fulfill because I'm not the person she wants me to be. And when I try doing what she asks, she doesn't even try when I ask her to do something. And now I know why people are telling me that I look dead. Because I am not happy.... And I hate it... At least transfers are this week, so here's to hoping that something happens :)

Well I love y'all and I hope that you are happy and well.

Love Hermana Walker

Week 46

Hi Everybody!

Well, I am happy to say that this week went a whole lot better than these past few weeks have. We had tons of adventures and crazy stuff happen every day! :)

On Monday we had an awesome lazy day. We washed our clothes and cleaned the house too. We got to sleep in a bit! It was so nice :) We also went over to see Silvia for a lesson with her husband Javier. We went over and Hermano Pancho came with us. Our plan was to start out with the story of the Tree of Life because he keeps having dreams just like that, so we wanted to help him understand his dreams and that he can change his direction to the Straight and Narrow path. It was going really well but then Pancho started talking and completely changed the idea to the story of Moses somehow... it was crazy fast…I don't know what happened…but then he straight-up told Javier that he needs to get married to Silvia and he can do it for free on Valentine’s Day....HUH!?? That came out of nowhere! But what was cool- we might have a baptism finally with Silvia!! …but we have no idea where our lesson went....weird. :0

On Tuesday we had our district meeting and it was pretty fun. We talked about contacting and we had some pretty great practices with each other. We also FINALLY did our White Elephant gift exchange. I had Hermana Bigelow and I gave her a shirt and a bag of candy. I didn't receive mine because one of the zone leaders has me and they weren't there. We had comida with Hermana Nolasco and we shared something about the temple with her. We also went out with Hermana Fransisca to meet a friend of hers and we thought that was all we were going to go out and do with her.... Nope. We went out for two hours contacting people and we found a few cool new people to visit!! One person, I don't know how we're going to teach them. Her name is Kevin....!?  But it's cool. We also visited Nary Asucena and read a scripture to her about charity. She's still reading her scriptures really well. 

On Wednesday I literally jumped out into the street saying,  "I'm going on an adventure!" We left the house at 9 in the morning to walk and work in Benito Juarez. It's a part of our area that no one has gone to in years. But it's also one of the most dangerous parts of the area….but we went out walking and found quite a few people to talk to and to help with many things. We helped a family carry wood to their house and afterward we had a lesson with them and they accepted a Book of Mormon! Then we kept walking and found an Hermano building his house. He is so ready for the gospel. He used to be catholic, but as he read the Bible a bit more he realized how much he felt how wrong that church is, so he left it. He accepted the Book of Mormon we gave him and would read it :) We kept walking and contacted a family of all daughters. There are like 7 of them! We didn't have time to share anything with them, but we have the plan to visit them this coming week. Then we kept walking.... We walked until it was 1:30 and we still hadn't gotten to Benito Juarez!  Whoever told us it was only 30 minutes walking distance is a liar !! haha ;)  And we didn't have water so we needed to take a taxi. This was such a great contacting experience because the driver saw us an hour before and asked why we WALKED there. So I made my first taxi contact!! :) We also visited Silvia for the comida and went home to rest and finish our studies. Then for the rest of the day we helped Silvia move to a house down the street. 

On Thursday we had divisions so we had to go to Bahias. While we were there our district got together so we could practice a song for a meeting on Saturday with Elder Pieper from the Seventy! Hermana Madsen had asked me to put something together so we decided to have the district sing “I Know That My Redeemer Lives”. We got to practicing and then we got to arguing because some people couldn't feel the spirit from our singing. Then some of the missionaries wanted to take people out of the choir….then they wanted to put people in who weren't ever going to practice with us….then they kept telling me to just sing a solo because some people were sick, but some of these ‘sick’ people still wanted to sing...and I was like, “Gah”!!  We ended up putting together a duet--Elder Poole and me because we have the strongest voices....It's all good. After the practice we started divisions. I was with Hermana Morgan and we went to the comida with Hermana Rosario. Then we gave her a surprise by setting up with her a visit with some members who used to live in her area. She was so glad to see them. We also visited the Hermana who feeds us on Mondays, Elia. Then we ended the day with Mary Asucena.  Later that night I had an accident... I totally fell when I was washing my feet!! I wanted to do some exercise before bed, but my feet were dirty, so I went to the sink to wash them. I finished washing one but when I put it down to put the other foot up, I started to fall a little…and I tried to catch my balance but went right to wet ground and I smacked right on my tailbone/backside and my arm! It was so funny!!! I laughed for an hour! Of course, that night I couldn't sleep because the fall made my body tense and my companion had nightmares…whoops!

Friday, I was so sore!! We dropped off Hermana Morgan in Bahias and went straight to the comida with Mary Asucena. We went and tried to find people to visit and teach, but no one was home. This is when the mission is so hard, when people aren’t home, which happens a lot here! So that night we finished with a message with the Relief Society during one of their activities.

On Saturday we had to wake up at 5:00am to be in Bahias by 8 for the meeting with Elder Peiper! I was so excited for this meeting! Now this meeting was awesome! I learned so much on how I work with the investigators more and I could feel the spirit really strong. Elder Poole and I sang really well :) That night we had an activity that we planned. We watched The Testaments and we had an awesome turnout of investigators and members, and food! :)

On Sunday the day was pretty good too:) I got to give a talk about the work of the members. It turned out really well and the people loved it. President Madsen also came and gave a really powerful talk and shared the Area Plan for Mexico this year! We also had a good lesson with Jose, one of our old investigators and Hermano Irvin joined us for that. Then we went out to Benito Juarez with a group of members so we could get to know the inactive members who live there. It was so much fun. But we also learned that Hermano Irvin will be released as ward mission leader... And Pancho is coming.... I am really scared where this is going... I'm worried that he will be another Hermano Pino, very combative.... But we shall see.....

But that was my week. I hope you enjoyed it. Keep reading. I love you guys so much!

Hermana Walker

Week 45

Hola Familia! Alright, so this week was a lot better. A lot of good things happened as a companionship and also with the members. I was able to talk to Presidente Madsen and he made me feel better about things going on here in Huatulco with investigators, with my DL relationship and with my Compantion. I love that man, he is so inspiring!

On Monday we had a really good p-day. I started doing a project that I hope to finish before Mother's Day ;) so that was nice. We were also invited to a birthday party at Hna Adela's house again, but for her daughter. She just turned 12 and will be heading out to young womens! :) And we brought jello for the meal :) We were able to talk with Adela's other daughter Blanca. She's been going through a phase where she really wants to know if this church is true, but she's kind of going elsewhere. So we decided that we wanted to help her out a bit. So we talked to her and she agreed to accompany us to some lessons. It was awesome!

On Tuesday we had a wonderful district meeting. We talked about our covenants that we've made, we need to remember them always if we're going to be inviting others to make the same. It was pretty awesome :) One visit that I absolutely loved today was with Hermana Tomy. She just moved into the ward from Puerto Escondido. She's so awesome and full of testimony. She just doesn't feel comfortable with the members, so she doesn't go church at all. Yep it happens here too! So we decided to talk about that with her and how we can help her.  We also planned some activities with her and her son said he would accompany us to some at his friend's houses. It was pretty cool because we haven't had anyone do that in a really long time!

Wednesday was a pretty nice day. We had a lot of spiritual lessons. We read with Silvia in 2 Ne 29 where it specifically talks about the Book of Mormon and she loved it. She's been reading the Book of Mormon by herself and having this conversation has helped her to understand a little bit more why it's important to read. But what she also realized that she actually does like reading the Book of Mormon just to do it. That was interesting to hear someone say that. Very awesome! We also had a Book of Mormon class with Hermana Adela and her family because they also want to understand it better. So we read the intro with them and we had a helpful conversation with them. They were able to see that they understand a lot more than they think they do and they want us to keep coming to read with them! We also saw Lucina and I think this experience was my favorite of the day. We wanted to invite her to the temple trip at the end of the month so we started talking about the importance of the temple and what she will see and feel there. But, as usual, we got onto the issues going on with her kids and they started fighting with her. But once they left we had an awesome conversation and she really felt that urge to go to the temple. And she wants to! She offered the closing  prayer and after saying it she started crying. She really felt the spirit. It was great :) So hopefully she will be going to the temple with us!

Thursday was pretty great too. I think my favorite part was when we were with Blanca. She also had Hermana Tomy's son Sem with her. So we went out looking for our youth investigators. We found Zoyla and decided to read a little in the Book of Mormon with her. So we read chapter 1 in 1Nephi with her and talked about what we can apply. And our visitors, Blanca and Sem invited her to EFY this year. She seemed pretty excited to go. Lot's hope her mom lets her. We couldn't find anyone else in their houses, so we decided to teach the two how to contact people on the street. They did really good! They had their pamphlets out and invited a ton of youth to EFY. It was pretty awesome! :)

Friday was filled with a lot of walking, but Saturday was pretty cool :) We finally saw our friend Mary Asucena again! She's home now :) And she's doing great, just a little sad still from her dad's passing away a few months ago. We also read the testimony of Three Witnesses with Hermana Adela and talked about what we can apply from it. We also helped President Chava clean the church a little bit...I raked the leaves. I wanted to jump in them, but I knew I shouldn't...:( grrr!  We also helped with the Young Women practice for a musical number they're doing. We also had English classes but not very many people showed up this time, but it was still fun. We learned how to sing “I am a Child of God” in English. It was pretty fun and they did well. :)

This Sunday was a lot better than the bad week of last week. We invited an old investigator to church (if you remember Jose) because we had the sudden urge that he might be ready. He loved it! He loves the hymns and the classes too. Silvia even came and stayed for more rime than she usually does! :) We also received references from people we rarely talk to as well, which was awesome! We're hoping to get more new investigators this next week. We also ate comida with a family we've never visited, Fero and Pancho. Pancho is the first missionary out of Santa Maria and he gave us tons of tips on what we can do to better the area and have more success. It was awesome! And we also had a really fun night with Hna Adela and her family. They invited us over for dinner and we talked about what we can do to help them more:)

This was my week and I really hope that this week goes by even better.... One thing that will help me... Mom! Can you please look for some really good country, like the country that I like, music that I can listen to here? And send it to me??? Please?? Just stuff like churchy stuff! And the Testaments movie?!  That would be awesome :) Anyway, Love y'all!

Hermana Walker

Week 44

Hola, I think this has been one of the hardest weeks of my mission yet... And I'm still trying to get over the emotional rollercoaster...

On Monday we had a good Pday. We went over to an investigator's house because we planned to eat barbacoa with her. It's this soupy dish that they make with beans, rice and chicken. It's pretty good :) And this Hermana is super nice. The problem is just getting her to that point where she is taking the lessons seriously for herself because she's really only interested in it for her kids. But we had a good talk with her, about the time she has spent in the U.S. and how I can get permission to live here later… ;)! But it was a cool conversation. I also got a haircut that I'm still trying to get used to what she did with my hair!! I just wanted a trim and a few layers…but here they don't do soft layers!! So this lady cuts off chunks of my hair and it looks really really thin! More thin than normal...:P  I cried so hard and what’s worse is my comp wants me to get a perm because it will make it look better when it’s curly!??!!

The rest of the week was really rough... Because of New Year's everyone is still on vacation or they went to the beach every day. So we had a harder time than normal finding people in their houses, let alone in the street. We did have a couple of good lessons with Pedro and Socorro, some of our investigators. Socorro is still trying to figure out if she wants baptism or not because her husband is super catholic and they're not exactly married. But we had an awesome lesson with her about prayer the other day. We read the story about Enos and we talked about how we don't need to be scared to say a prayer. God is there waiting to listen always. And it was awesome because she willingly gave the prayer at the end. It was pretty great. We also talked with Pedro. He's a 16 year old who absolutely loves listening to us. But it's hard because his parents are very catholic and don't think that it's necessary to be exploring another church. But he has us come anyway. And that was actually our plan this week, to talk with his parents. But he decided to talk to them himself. When we went back he told us that they didn't yell at him this time and they said that we can come to their house and he can go to the church and he accepted a baptism date in the same day and promised to come to church with us. We were on a high all night ! It was so great!

New Year's kind of failed a bit... We had some random check up with our district leader and zone leader... This has never happened before in my mission and they caught us at the wrong time: right when we were about to get changed to start studying. So now they worry that we don't study and aren't following the rules exactly obediently. Just because we weren’t ready to study when they “caught” us! I'll be respectful and not say anything more of what happened... But it’s so hard when we can never find anyone and when we can’t find anyone, we don’t really teach. After they left me and Valverde sat and talked and it turned into this big huge discussion about all the things that I do that bother my companion. Because talk with an American accent, that I do things differently, and when she gives me personal advice I don't follow with it. The entire night I felt like, Crap! Gah! “What more do you want from me?”  This whole companionship has been terrible, I try so hard as the Sr. comp, we pray and fast for things to go smoothly and to find people to teach and have success with—we aren’t seeing improvement. She is so racist against Americans, and she says it aloud. All the time! I don't know...I felt really down. But we're working better because she finally gave me a chance to voice my opinion. 

Saturday was awesome! We didn't teach very much because of the same problem as the entire week, no new people to meet or to teach. It’s a weird area. We had fun with a Hermana, making popcorn for our English class. And when we got to the class, we had around 20 people there! It was so great! :) One of our own investigators was there, one of the elders' investigators, some members, a few less actives and Mario, the police officer who calls me “Hermana Rose” were there. It went really well. We talked about how to greet people and then we ate our popcorn and shared some Mormon messages. But then the rest of the night got really weird. We helped Mario a little bit more with his English and he ended up starting to profess his love for me and what not…only because I look like Rose from Titanic... Gah! I was really freaked out a bit! He said to our faces that ya, he wants to “listen to our message, only because I'll be there giving it to him...” Gah! I freaked and then got scared because I don't know what to do, if he gets mad and he is a Mexican Police officer, a big one...My DL’s are aware of the problem because this has been going on for a few weeks but we made them aware again because they don’t do anything! They are not supportive at all. MP Madsen knows that there is a problem too but it is so hard to be in the situation and feel like there isn’t local support. We have to take care of ourselves. Luckily we are strong. We need the priesthood though and ya we have it with some of the members but we need the support of our elders!! Scary.

Sunday was the worst. None of our investigators came to church. Everyone who went up to bear testimonies went up against their will, which was so sad. My own district leader didn't pay attention at all during a class I gave. No one gave us a chance to talk to them. And Pedro came out slowly and sadly to tell us that we can never come again to his house to teach him... It was the worst feeling in the world and I didn't know whether to cry or not. And I think it was hard because this is all I've seen on the mission and I don't know if it's just the area, the people, or if I need to change so I can see something good. I'm getting really tired of seeing people give up or lose a chance to get baptized. But we also had more "problems" with our district leader that night where our zone leaders called us to see what the deal is between us and the DL.  They didn't have enough proof to give us if we did have a problem anyway. So that made me even more on edge with what I'm doing here.... But luckily our district leader called me this morning and we had a good talk with him and found out everything was from miscommunication. What?  Huh?!

Seriously. I have lost so much sleep this week...this has been the hardest week. I guess I will be the “seed-planter” type of missionary. Not much success with teaching and baptizing but hopefully people will remember me and my example and seek Jesus Christ and the Gospel through the example they saw through me. So here's to a New Year. Keep reading the scriptures. I love you!  And I'm going to bed at 10:29 pm tonight, I promise. Bye!

Hermana Annekke Walker!

Week 43

Hola todos! It was so great to see and talk to my Family on Christmas! I'm very glad that I was able to Skype them and to know that all is well at home.  Haha they got to hear me speak Spanish a lot! I was even breaking into Spanish in the middle of sentences and got a phone call during the Skype when they got to hear a full-length conversation in Spanish! It made them laugh. I am doing well with the language now, having the last 2 companions only Spanish-speakers!

This week was a bit rough because there was no one here! We literally went to every single house and no one was here to open their door. But that's okay. We were able to see a lot of blessings from Heavenly Father through different ways. This week we ran out of all our money. Hermana Valverde has been sick for 2 weeks and we needed to use some of my money to help pay for her hospital stay.  I was living off of 100 pesos (about $8) for two weeks and that is not much at all even here!  And that was all for my two transportations to Huatulco, email on Monday, and to pay for Skype. We did not have any food in the house and no drinking water. We went and actually “stole” water from the church whenever we passed and whatever piece of food people offered us we gladly took. But it was awesome because one day this week we went and met with an investigator named Ana. She heard about how we didn’t have water and she gave us two 1.5 liter water bottles. That seriously saved us and it felt so good to be served. That same night we found this guy who sells really good pizzas on the streets. We had contacted him a few days before and when we saw him again it was easy to start talking. He offered us a free slice of pizza. So we had some sort of dinner that day. It was pretty awesome :) People here do not have anything, they can hardly feed their own families, they can’t feed missionaries. This was a good week for Miracles because I remember praying all week that we would have enough money to get things all done for the month and be fine. It all changed on Christmas- I went to town with only 40 pesos on me, for the bus trip there, Skype, and the bus trip back. Me and Valverde were thinking that we were going to an internet cafe with the elders, but the elders didn't have firm plans on where to go... We literally walked up and down on every single street, 3 times... Nothing... So we found the other Hermanas that we stayed with for the night and ended up Skyping at a members house who has a computer. So I now had 20 pesos I didn’t need to use at the café to buy water! After skyping with my family we went to an ATM to take out money for Hermana Valverde to call her parents; they do not have internet at their home so she needed to call them instead. While we were at the bank I decided to check my bank balance too, to see if I had anything in there. And… there were 100 pesos there!  We used that for a nice, small Christmas dinner of tostadas, refried beans, and a salad of canned corn, tuna and mayo! Heaven!  And we were able to contact an awesome guy on the bus who promised to pray for the first time that night. He texted us the next morning and said he had just prayed in the morning before work! So we're going to keep in touch with him. I think he will be a good investigator. 

This area is such a hard area, I feel like my entire mission will be a seed-planting mission. Not much teaching going on after an initial contact and a couple of lessons. It is hard. I know I am successful but I can’t force people to embrace the Gospel or force them to be baptized. They are so devoted to their Catholic baptism and faith it is hard to break the ice and see them develop any more. This area has a lot of stagnant investigators so we had to drop them and start fresh and that is what we are doing now. It is frustrating being the Senior Comp because I am responsible for what is happening and I feel lost sometime at how we are not having much investigator “success” going forward. I do love the people but no one will answer their door or even talk to us further. We just always need to be good examples and always show our love for others, we never know what kind of effect that will be on them later on.  I hope the seeds I plant will grow in their hearts and minds for later on. It is a dangerous area with many streets that we can’t go near. Even our DL was jumped and hurt! 3 people were killed this month alone and one of our YW was assaulted a few weeks ago. We have to be so obedient so we are safe! Mom, don’t worry, I have my stabby-thingy in my hand all the time so if anyone comes near me he will lose an eye!

We had a really fun Christmas Eve party with MP and Hermana Madsen and their extended family. They came down from Utah to visit, they are from Orem...We ate buffet style and had a lot of games going on. I met their son, Clint, who is best friends with Keegan's sister's husband!  And guess what! He is a clogger! So we did some steps together with another Hermana :) Such a blast! We played Christmas songs on chimes, wacked each other with newspaper while playing a game, and we had a good little message from Hermana Madsen about traditions. BTW you guys should go watch the video by the Piano Guys with David Archuleta and, like, 100 other people. It's really quite amazing. And I also got to sing a song with Hermana Madsen as well, called, “Once upon a Silent Night”. (Note from Tricia: I did let Annekke in on the fact that everyone and “their dog: has seen the Piano Guys rendition of “Angels We Have Heard On High” YouTube video and that MoTab was in it and all the other crazy facts on the video!). Thanks family for the presents you sent.  That Global Mission Company must be good to get them to me so quick. I loved the new garments…I am cleaning the ones I have with a rock… LITERALLY, so I am in need of new ones :) And I am so excited to get my box of Peanut Butter Crunch,  that was the best present ever, I need to go buy milk. :) I am excited to be sending a Christmas letter to my family. There is a surprise in it,,,mwahahaha!

Other fun things: Katy Perry's back! I have black hair again but the hair cut I got is hideous! I actually cried when I saw it for the first time. It’s still long but... I got a lot more Mexican layers than I thought I would....

I hear that it snowed like crazy for Christmas and the few days after!? I want snow here! It is so hot, I sweat and it is so gross! We are 20 minutes from the beach but I want snow…

But anyway, I love you all! I hope you had a great rest of your Christmas and I'm sorry for those who went to my house and couldn't talk to me... Thank those darn elders ;)  

Bye!

Hermana Walker

Week 42

Hello all!

This week was a bit better… we didn’t teach as much as I wanted to, but I think I talked to the most people I’ve ever talked to in my life. And a lot of crazy things happened1! So where do I start?...

 On Monday we had a really good p-day. We got everything done by noon and I was able to fix up a few of the skirts and dresses that have ripped or broken… and one I’m excited to be giving to my comp for Christmas…. SHHH… she loves long skirts and one of them I have is too long for me so it will be a perfect gift for Hermana Valverde. We were also able to go to a member’s house for her birthday. This member absolutely loves the missionaries, so her daughter called us to invite us over. And it was pretty fun. We ate traditional Pozole and horchata :)

One Tuesday during our district meeting we all decided that we were going to make at least 10 contacts in our area per day. No one in our district likes contacting people, but we’re also all losing investigators, so we did that today. I have never talked to that many people in one day in my life! We did maybe 11 contacts, but in all it was like 30 people. It was pretty awesome and I’m hoping that new investigators will come out of that. All of ours right now are absolutely not progressing. And it’s hard too because the missionaries before us didn’t go looking for people while teaching these investigators that they have… so they have all stagnated. One of them though, is really being a problem for me and Valverde. He has a “crush” on her and so he follows us around a lot. Even the police officer who calls me “Hermana Rose” even tells us that that man is a problem and for us to be really careful… so that’s our work right now…. And it doesn’t help that’s it’s Christmas… Everyone’s gone on holiday!!! :(

Wednesday ended up being the same thing… we couldn’t find anyone in their houses, so we contacted everyone… and we did get to see Silvia today. She attempted to fast on her own! It was so great! But she told us that she bought treats for her kids and kind of forgot… so, you kind of guess what happened next… But it was so awesome that she tried :) We were really happy.

Thursday we spent the entire day searching for the houses where these contacts live… we couldn’t really find any of them at home in the moment, but we’re going to go back. Others didn’t want anything and they made up stories of why we can’t come in… it was sad…

Friday was a bit better. We found a new investigator! Her name is Cecilia and she’s pretty awesome. I contacted her in a bus a few weeks ago, but we just haven’t been able to go to her house because we were contacting others. But we finally went over there and we think that she liked our message. We talked about prayer and invited her to baptism, but she wants to learn more before she makes that decision. That’s okay. We’re just hoping that her Christmas vacation doesn’t make her forget about it… we also had an awesome Branch Christmas party. We sang songs, shared a message, and tons of people came! Tons of investigators! And they were brought by members! It was a miracle! And they loved it :) They also played this game called Cat and mouse, it was really fun :) They had a piñata too! That’s the tradition here for Christmas. They break piñatas everywhere :)

Saturday was pretty great. We were able to meet a lot of people and we ended the day really well. We went to the church for our English classes, but the people who said that were going to show didn’t show. But there were a couple of young men and young women waiting for an activity to start that didn’t like it would. They were going to watch a movie and eat food, so we decided to take that as an opportunity to share something. So we went inside and turned on “The Best Two Years” movie and shared a message about missionary work. It was awesome because during the movie more people came with some investigators. It was so awesome! :) We were able to get to know some members that just moved here from the States. They’re pretty cool, named Anthony and Alex.

Sunday… Silvia’s husband came to church!!! What?! It was the coolest thing to go to sacrament meeting and see that he was there with her. They stayed for the first hour and then left because they didn’t feel good, but it was great :) And today we also met another Hermana who is kind of inactive named Tomy. She is one of the sweetest people ever and has a huge testimony. She doesn’t feel comfortable with the other members, but we’re going to work with her :)

But that was my week and I hope everything is getting together for Christmas!

Love you all!! Keep reading the Book of Mormon!

Hermana Walker