Ending Strong

Dear family,

Life on the mission gets different every day as the end draws closer. It is definitely way more difficult to stay focused with the end coming. I don't like to think I am trunky, but maybe to another looking at me, they might think I am. I am giving it my best in these last weeks. Like I always have, I want the next two elders who get this house and area to have a great transition and not have it be like when I got here. Our area and zone is doing really well. The mission posted the numbers for the zones on the website. President is really pushing us to set goals and achieve them. No one even came close to achieving their goal, but the zone that I am in has the highest results. That made me happy, but then I remember how we didn't even come close to hitting our goal which is what President wants us to do.

We finally made it past Carnaval season. It would have to be the most dangerous part of the year where everyone travels. We actually made it through just fine. I ht ought that our areas would have been the worst due to it being the center of the city, but there was way worse stuff last year when I was in Curicica. The only problem was that the entire city shut down. We couldn't find anywhere to cut hair or use the internet.

Thursday was Zone Conference, and it was really special. It was my last one, so I bore my testimony as one of the Elders leaving. It's really funny to hear the testimonies of those that are leaving and those who barely arrived. I can't believe that I once spoke so horribly. They can't even imagine what is waiting for them during these two years nor do they quite understand how powerful and important their calling is. If I could go back and do it all again knowing what I know now, I would do so much better. I thought I understood Preach my Gospel and the principles of the gospel, but now I understand so much better. I can only imagine that some day in the future I will understand so much more.

Renata and Matheus are doing very well. Renata is excited to share the gospel with everyone. One of her friends said that she stopped believing in Jesus Christ and now believes in Joseph Smith for joining the church. She had such courage to explain the truth and even invite him to go to church with her. Unfortunately she refused, but she recognizes that she is planting seeds.

Sunday was Stake Conference. I met up with several familiar faces including elders who had already gone home.

I know the gospel is true. I know that as we keep the commandments, we will have the Lord's promise that he will bless us. As members of the church we need to be different. We can try to be normal by the world's standards, but there are still some things to which we cannot conform. I know that this is the example Christ left us. He always did the will of the Father.

Com amor,
Elder Walker

Another Crazy Week

Mi querido familia,

 

Man I love being a missionary still, but can I tell you it´s just one thing after another in this piso.  This week, not to complain was the electricity.  But everything seems to be functioning okay again.  We have had a crazy busy week and have worked our tails off!!!!!  But we did it!!!!  We finally found someone to baptize this transfer.  Samuel is from Dominican Republic and is so prepared!!!!  He loves the gospel so much he follows us around all day to citas!  He´s great and will be baptized this Saturday.  I don´t think I´ve ever worked so hard my whole mission to find a baptism or somebody anybody to teach, but hard work has paid off.  I´m exhausted.  Craig, you´re so cute, I love you.  I just sent you the word cheezy as a joke, I think you emails are fantastic!!!!  I look forward to reading them every week!  I´m so excited for you to hit the field!  You´ll have a blast!  The mission field is 10 times more fun then the MTC!  Just remember to always have the spirit with you and not be afraid to face your problems and challenges head on.  Do this and you´ll be just fine!  I´m so excited for the many amazing experiences and miracles you will see out there.  I have grown so much this transfer and am nervous for this next transfer only because it´s going to be a huge shake up.  We have almost half of our missionaries going home.  And half of that are sisters.  I´m so nervous because this means with all the missionaries who are leaving we have a ton of new ones coming in which means it´s coming time soon for me to train and that scares me.  Do I really know the language?  Am I really prepared to take the lead in discussions?  Am I able to answer peoples concerns and comments with confidence?  I don´t know...but I´m sure with the Lord´s help I could do it!  Dad thanks for your spanish lesson of the week.  I actually got a lot from it and now some things and questions about subjunctive I´ve had for a while just make sense...so thanks!  Ya sorry craig Dad´s answer on subjuctive will help you way more then mine, but my advice about subjuctive is DON¨T WORRY ABOUT IT!   You can get away with not using subjunctive, but the more I´ve been with a native companion, which I´m sure you´ll have sooner or later, the more I´ve used it and learned how to use it properly.  So don´t worry too much about it at first...it will come and it doesn´t need to right away.  Just for now talk in the language as much as you can and really learn to listen to people, instead of how they are saying it.  This is when the spirit will kick in and you´ll be able to understand and say things you didn´t think you knew how to say.  The spirit is the key to being successful as a missonary.  But something I did do was just dive straight into the language when I first got here.  Don´t be scared to talk to strangers and ask if you can practice speaking with them.  Also I kept a notebook of all the words I heard that I didn´t understand or phrases and went home and studied them.  The dictionary with the spirit will be your best friend for now.  Good luck!  Love you all!!!!!!

 

Su hermana y hija

Hi

Hey family, today is my last p-day at the Peru MTC and then off to the 
field. I leave next Tuesday for Bolivia and i believe i get to email 
one last time on Monday. I haven´t been excited for the field because 
I feel I won´t understand anyone. But once the beginning of the week 
hit, I´m excited to leave! Mom or Dad, there are two Elders here from 
Chile; an Elder Cifuentes from Santiago and Elder Alvares from Vina 
del Mar. Just wondering if you might have known their parents or 
something. I´m not good at transitioning in an email because there is 
no Return/enter button to space it out. Also, I know my emails aren´t 
that good and are probably bore you guys to death, but I´m trying. I 
wish I was better with words and didn´t sound so ´´cheesy´´ all the 
times in Marissa´s words. That´s one of my weaknesses. Some people 
like Dad can talk their way out of things or convince people things, 
but that is something I struggle with. Well anyways, Marissa, Mom, or 
Dad; do you have any advice for learning subjunctive, especially past 
subjunctive. For example, what really is it, when do I use it, etc. I 
know you use it after para que or a fin de que for example, but ¿Why? 
Also, can you send me a picture of Roger Federer, he´s a tennis player 
and some latinos tell me I look like him. It´s funny because I keep 
getting told that I look like someone. I´ve been called, Peter Pan, 
Justin beiber (I need a haircut and am getting one on Sabado), Roger 
Federer, politicians, people´s cousins, some apostle of the 12 whose 
name I forgot, etc. Yep, chevre. cool. Last Saturday, we visited 
inactive families in Wards around Lima. The People here are much 
different from the US. When poeple are inactive their, I feel like 
they avoid the church and in a way despise it. But here, the people 
openly embrace everyone (most people) who come to their house and are 
very friendly. They just have some excuse why they stop going, but for 
us, they agreed to come to church this next week. They might come, but 
from reading Cameron´s letters, I feel like many people commit, but 
few stick to their word.            shwishshwish....           sorry, 
i still have time. However I don´t know what to say. Testifico de 
Jesucristo y su expiación. Él sufrió en la jardín y murió en la cruz y 
entonces fue resucitado despues de tres días. Eso es nuestro mensaje y 
traeren las personas a arrepentimiento. En el nombre de Jesucristo, 
amen. 

Carnival

Ya, Marissa's email brought back some good memories. I remember when I took a shower from a bucket. The water sometimes runs out. I left a bucket under the sink to get every drop of water I could. Here we get hot water from the shower head that heats up the water. When the shower head breaks bye bye hot water. W had to heat up water on the stove like you guys. Oh, and Marissa, never use a wet towel to put out an electrical fire. The fire extinguisher maybe.

Dear world,

 I am kind of stressed as my mission is coming to an end. I don't want it to stop, but I have to make changes now for when mom and dad get down here. It will all be fine... I hope. 

This week we had a miracle baptism. Renata and Matheus. They are mother and son. Renata had already gone to church many years ago, but gave up because of something that was said to her by a missionary. Her first impression of our visit was "not again!" But it quickly changed as she had several questions. We answered and she was liking it. She and her son went to church last week and loved it. Renata was even asked to be the welcomer at Relief Society without being a member. They were the perfect investigators. They were completely prepared by the Lord because we didn't really have to do anything. On Sunday they were baptized, and the member who gave us the referral baptize Renata. It's funny that all the members were crying and we didn't know why. Apparently many of the old members remember her and her family. And they saw that even though it took 14 years since she was almost baptized, she opened her heart and accepted. It was incredible. 

I love you all and love being a missionary.

Elder Walker

Happy Valentine's Day

My dear family,

 

Happy Valentine´s Day!

 

This week has been full of miracles, but really hard.  I say that only because every prepared person and progressing investigator we meet or have, randomly moves or is not in our area.  I sent a picture of one of them.  This is Junior.  Was baptized just last night.  We contacted him, had a lesson, brought him to church then had to hand him over to the other Hermana´s.  Great, sweet, and just a humbled guy.  This was like his 4th or 5th time meeting with the missionaries.  President always says usually it takes them until the 7th set of missionaries to finally go through with it.

 

Yes!  I did meet Elder Booher this week!  Great missionary!  We chatted about you for a bit.  We also finally got the hot water fixed!  It´s about time!  Funny and scary story,....so we have this old iron that was giving us trouble....one day my companion plugged it into the wall and it not only blew a spark but the whole iron randomly caught on fire!!!!!!!  It burnt the cord off and a section of the ironing board.  i was in the room with her doing my hair when it happened.  I ran and got a wet towel and the fire extinguisher.  1 min later it was out...

 

Yesterday on the way to church we had a drunk guy follow us around and tried hitting on us and kept trying to grab my cute little blonde haired companion.  Well I got fed up with it and turned around and told him off.  Oops.  He was drunk anyway so probably didn´t know who we were.  Then my other companion was like, "If you don´t leave us alone, I´m going to call the cops!!!"  He took off running.  jajaja.  Then that same day, in the evening,  3 more guys, probably drunk as well, followed us inside to the church for the baptism.  They sat in on it, talked with members, the elders had their eye on them.  They went and grabbed pamplets and were like if those american girls go here we want to be baptized!  So uncomfortable as they stared us down the whole meeting.  so funny!  they left before it even ended thank goodness. 

 

I know as missionaries we have the spirit of God!  Too many experiences happen a day where I cannot deny that!  Love you all!!!!  Have a great week!!!!

 

su hija

--

Hermana Caminadora, Spain Barcelona Mission

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Sup

¿Que paso? It sounds like everything is great in Zion, and Babylon is 
getting farther from the truth. Great, can´t wait. These are exciting 
times my brethren and sister(en). They truly are the last days in 
which everything is being restored and fulfilled. I'm kinda exciting 
for the future and look forward to the world becoming more wicked (is 
that a bad thing?), because that means Christ´s coming in glory is 
closer. Ok, that kinda sounded like the beginning of a general 
conference talk. Let me start over. Hello familia, glad to hear 
everything´s ok back at home. Peru is pretty great! It´s been a week 
since the new elders came in. My new companion is from honduras and 
his name is Elder Hernandez. He is so nervous all the time. He´s like 
a little puppy or the little baby lemer off of Madagascar with the big 
eyes. He´s only just started talking more. Out of 12 people in his 
family, he´s the only member and was baptized 6 years ago. However, in 
our first teaching lesson, he taught with such power, humility, the 
spirit, and let me talk half the time. I haven´t realized my 
improvements in Spanish until this group came in. I understand almost 
everything they are saying, but still have trouble remembering every 
conjugation for every verb. Most of my sentences are like; por 
ejemplo, Yo ummm necesité uhh ir al bano i mean baño. And don´t get me 
started on subjunctives. But teaching the gospel is actually pretty 
easy for some reason. I do enjoy teaching. But people keep telling me 
that they could see me as a seminary teacher or that i looked like 
theirs. Great.. no comment. One thing is for sure, this is where I´m 
suppossed to be. My favorite part about the MTC is the studying. I´ve 
always wanted to study hard about interesting things like religion. I 
would compare my mind to the mind of Barbara Streisand off of that one 
Jewish movie/musical where all she wanted to do was be a boy so she 
could study in the Jewish schools. The only difference is that I am a 
man and I´m not Jewish. I have now finished the Pearl of Great Price 
twice, the Bible Dictionary, and am half way through Jesus the Christ 
and the New testament. It´s fun. Well, I thought I had more things to 
talk about. But I guess the week flew by so fast that I forgot to 
write stuff down. Yep, Chow. - Elder Walker. 

Zone Conference

This week has been crazy, hard, fun, and full of miracles!!!!!  We had zone conference for the last two days straight with President.  Zone Conference is like medicine for the missionaries.  President tells the greatest stories and him and his wife have the most touching testimonies you´ll ever hear. 

 

THANK YOU sooooo much everyone for ALL the BIRTHDAY WISHES!!!!!!!!!!  so sweet!!!!!  Mom, Dad thanks for the package, loved it!   Aunt Jen...love you!!!!  Glad to hear you´re doing so well.  Tell the fam I say hi.  Let´s just say I´ve only been in this area for 3 weeks and I was SPOILED for my 23rd birthday.  Yes 23 I´m getting old!  Estoy viaja.  My companions spoiled me and sang in the morning.  All day i was suprised as to every visit we went to it was another suprise party.  jajaja.  These members and investigators are so loving!!!!  I was showered with 3 cakes throughout the day, new jewerly, makeup, a brand nice nice nice spankin pair of mission boots for the winter, perfume, meals and texts all day.  Wow i feel loved here already.  Even people from my old area were calling.  People here either absolutely love or don´t want any thing to do with the missionaries.

 

Craig....jajaja...I hear ya when it comes to understanding.  Whatever you do smile when they smile and when they don´t, just have a neutral face, just in case someone has just died or something...yep i say that by experience.  I remember when I first got here I would just sit there and smile and shake my head like I knew what they were talking about half the time....learned pretty quick that you can´t do that.  My trainer taught me the neutral face.

 

It feels like south america in this area.  Especially since we haven´t had hot water in the piso all week.  It stinks especially since it´s cold outside.  I guess you havén´t served a mission until you go through experiences like this.  I hop in and out like a leap frog,,,one companion´s got 5 pots on the stove boiling every morning...oh and did I mention there is 5 of us in a piso???  jajaja...haha

 

We have so many fechas and their ALLL from Dominican Republic.  We had struggled to find people to teach in our area for a while because everyone we contacted was always in the Elders area.  jaja.  Now we´ve been showered with many blessed individuals whom God has put in our path.  We live in Barcelona so sometimes it´s harder to find people in our area to teach as a lot of our contacts start the first person we see when we leave piso.  Being with two cute companions, one a cute blonde, the other a gorgeous Armanian, we get a lot of whistles...GUAPA...guapa...at first it made me nervous being here in the ghetto....now I just smile and wave and soak it all in.

 

I´ve never worked harder my whole mission, the language is still hard at times, I have a frezzing cold shower every morning, no dryer, no time for myself, but this is the happiest I´ve ever been!

 

I know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ has a healing power for us all.  The gospel is just so simple and so clear.  If we just take the time to read and learn of the Book of Mormon with the bible, it has a converting power that prepares the people more than us as missionaries can for baptism.  As we keep our baptism covenants with God we will be blessed and happy,eternally happy.  Love you all!!!  

 

su hija

Happy Valentine's Day-Celebrated in July in Brazil

Dear family,

What a week! we worked our hardest. We spent most of our time running from one appointment to the next. Lots of success! On monday we had a rather special experience with a less active woman and her family. This woman has been less active for 30 years and her daughter, Renata, and grandson, Mateus, were never baptized. We received them as a referral from the ward. After the first lesson, the daughter and grandson were wanting to know more. I can't help but imagine that they were prepared for this moment. They had plenty of contact with the church and Renata has already been taught by missionaries and was almost baptized. Now she is more ready than ever. She had many doubts about the plan of salvation which were explained using the most simple of techniques. We had little pieces to form a map of the plan of salvation, the kind you use with children. It is incredible that when we teach so simply that even a child could understand, the spirit teaches the rest. Renata understood and accepted the baptismal invite for next Sunday. She was the first to show up at church this Sunday and the Relief Society received her very well. Nothing made me more happy.

Another miracle would have to be the professional magician we are teaching. That's right he's a magician. He took my watch without me even knowing after the lesson. (of course we asked for a little show). He was an ordinary contact on the street. We get talking with him and he asks where the church is. We asked if we could teach his family and him another day. He accepted and revealed that he was baptized in the church when he was 10 years old. Tha family is amazing and way interested in getting to know the church. The father/magician (Elielton) has many doubts about religion and it is obvious that he has forgotten many truths of the gospel. All of his doubts could be answered through the message of the restoration of the gospel.

I love you all. The church is true and is led by a living prophet. The book of mormon stands as its evidence. 

Com amor,

Elder Walker

(Cameron)

Greetings

MTC Provo District

Climbing the walls at the MTC

I know geography!

CCM in Provo

Companion at the CCM in Provo

District at CCM in Peru

Peru Temple

Search, Ponder and Pray

Where's Craig

Welcome to my email. First off, happy birthday Marissa! I hope you 
will be exitoso y have divertido during your birthday. Yesterday was a 
sad day because our Latinos left to go to their missions. However, I 
do like the peacefulness of about 20 people here. Also, I am now what 
they call an advanced north american, even though I don´t feel like my 
Spanish has improved that much. We´ll be getting new missionaries 
toady and tomorrow. There´ll be only 80 people in this MTC, which is 
quite small compared to 2500 in Provo. Last Saturday, we went tracting 
in the city. Wow! What a wake up call and a great experience. Overall, 
my companion and I made 8 contacts who were interested(?) and wanted 
to know more. However, only one of those actually let us in the door 
to teach. We taught part of the first lesson and she wanted us to come 
back. I guess I should say that my companion really taught her. Most 
of the time I tried to understand what was going on. Occasionally, she 
would ask me a question and in my broken Spanish, I would answer. Then 
I bore my testimony of course. After that house, we met a member and 
went into his house. We gave a blessing to his dying wife and his son 
who looked like he got beat up. If I had to describe the overall 
experience, I would have to say humbling. It was humbling to see all 
the poverty of the people. However, they were content and happy with 
what they had. It was also humbling to realize how little I teach and 
how much the spirit is involved with everything! It is necessary to 
always obtain the spirit. Maybe that is why pray everywhere we go with 
everything we do. I think I have bruises on my knees from kneeling and 
it is awesome!  Well, my time is up again, sorry for being so slow, 
good luck with everything, and good luck to Mitt Romney jaja. - Elder 
Walker 

Fountain of Peace

Working 24/7

I don't know any famous brazilian singers

Dear Family,

Oh man, what a week. I feel like I am working 24/7. I work non-stop and can't remember a bit of what happened.

A highlight of the week was Marcos. We are running into a few barriers. We've finally identified his major problems. First, faith. He wants the cold facts. He wants proof of everything which unfortunately will never happen. Second, Commandments. Mostly tithing and chastity. He says the bible says nothing about chastity other than adultery which he understands to be cheating on your wife. He questioned the source of the commandment, but in the end he agreed that it's the right thing. He also says he might never be baptized if he has to promise to give 10%. Third, he wants to know everything. He really researches everything. We showed up to his house on Saturday and he asked us about Doctrine and Covenants and History of the Church because he wanted to read those. Little by little we are helping him with all his doubts, but he has some good doubts that aren't easily settled. We had the pleasure of taking our wheel-chaired lawyer to church on Sunday. He appeared to enjoy the classes. In Priesthood we talked about goals and our eternal potential which is something that really hit him. He behaved himself well in the classes like he said he would because both Elder Nascimento and I know that he could easily confound and confuse the instructor of these classes if he wanted to with all his questioning and reason. There's a reason he's a lawyer. Overall, we feel he is searching something and feels something in the messages. He questions the commandments but deep down he feels and knows they are right. He's had quite the past and I feel like he feels empty inside and wants that to change. Every changes in their own time.

Another great part of the week was Daiala and Luana. It is kinda funny how we found them. One sunday morning we walked by their front door and I heard from inside the house, 'those are the mormons, the church of Jesus Christ of Latter day saints, they don't like black people." Then I thought to myself someday I will stop at that house to teach them. They seemed to know quite a bit at the church. Well we ran into that woman who said that on the street. She's really cool. She has two daughters Daiala and Luana who are the elects. She also has a son named Walker which is shy she stopped to talk with me. They all enjoy the missionaries, but Luana and Daiala are looking to change their lives and help their kids find a better life than the one they have. They are so humble and willing to try anything to help. Daiala has been to several churches looking for something, but still hasn't found that church that connects with her. We marked their baptisms for the 19th.

Love you all and wish the best for you. 

Com amor,

Elder Walker

Playing Mom

These 2 last weeks have been crazy as I´ve played mom.  Not one but both of my companions got sick almost all week.  I´m lucky I still haven´t caught a thing.  After studies I made them soup, did all the mile high dishes, mopped, cleaned out piso junk that I´m sure had been there since the 80´s, took down the christmas decor and ofcourse as you know me cleaned and redecorated.  It was disgusting but I got the job done!  The fridge when I got there smelled like a dead rat so I cleaned it out head to toe.  I ended up with 5 big trash bags of junk, trash, and rotten food. 

 

Contacts here have to be done 10X faster than in my last area because everyone is always in a rush here in Barc.  It´s seriously like a Spaniard NYC.  We take the metro everywhere we go and pass out cards left and right like the Newzies, there´s music in the metro, etc.  Being a missionary here I feel like a Newzie in NYC on strike in the ghetto.  Graffeti everywhere, men whistling, I mean just some crazy stuff here in the suburbs of Barcelona.  Speaking solement Español in this companionship has been the best but the hardest thing I´ve ever had to do.  I´ve learned to be patient that´s for sure.  I´m just glad I have a friend in this trio to help me out when I get stuck in the language barrier.  I´ve learned more Spanish in 2 weeks than in 2 months.  It´s wonderful, but hard for certain...other reasons.  We´re also in Cataluya area which means everything is in Catalan not Spanish.  Totally different language here in Barc. the Catalans want to be their own nation here it´s crazy.  so looks like I might have to learn a little bit of Catalan while here. 

 

We meet soooo many Bolivians here I feel like that´s all I contact.  So Craig I just got a reference the other day here ya go:

Jhonny Terrazas c/Los andes sona transito N 927 Cochabamba Bolivia.  telefono: 45902577

 

oh and mom katie palmer just wrote me and she wants to be added to the email list.  Thanks for the christmas letter mom, loved it!  Also thank you to everybody who sent a christmas letter and card to me.  Thank you so much for your support!  It is greatly appreciated!

 

I also was able to go to Madrid again this week to pick up my card, so fun!  We thought we were supposed to be there Monday but it was Wednesday.  So we woke up at 4 in the morning for nothing last week, got there at the train station and the guy was like um...these tickets say for Wednesday...miscommunication with the office.  haha.  We went back to bed. 

 

This week has been busy and full of miracles.  One of my favorite miracles of the week was Victor.  We were on our way to a eating cita with a family who are members.  Well right before we got there I ran ahead to go contact a young adult.  I started talking to him and he popped out the head phones until I just asked, "Well what are you doing right now, would you like to come with us?"  He said sure, dropped his stuff off I at his house and along he came.  He was so open and prepared to hear the gospel.   Just the sweetest kid ever!  So sincere and so sweet.  He was born and raised in Barcelona. The lesson went so incredibly well, especially since it was my companions and I first or second lesson together.  We couldn´t even finish the baptismal question before he exclaimed, "¡sí, sí, sí!"  Then we realized that he is just barely in the Elders area. haha.  That´s okay though, still a miracle!

Well, love you all!  I know this is the work of the Lord.  ¡Cuidase!

 

su hija

ps can´t believe I´m going to be 23 ahhhhh!!!!!!  I´m soooooo old!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
--

Hermana Caminadora, Spain Barcelona Mission

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Hey from Craig

CR-I always ask you questions but you never answer.  What is a typical 
day like?  wake up, eat, class, eat, class, gym, class, go to bed. 
Week?  Overall, pretty fun. What does the classroom look like and 
dorm?  The classroom and dorms look like any normal dorms. I don´t 
think we´re supposed to take pictures in the buildings.... but we´ll 
see. Do you do the temple session in English? The session was in 
Spanish, but we were those people that used the headphones and took 
forever to get them working. Then the second half was in Spanish. Any 
funny, hard, scary experiences?  Probably, but not enough time to 
share. Have you tracked yet? We are actually going tracting on 
Saturday with our Latin Companions. What is the food like?  All of it 
is made fresh, Peru is known for their food and it is way better than 
the Provo MTC food which produces the food for a mass consumption. 
Weather?  Hot, humid, but sometimes has a nice breeze. When we play 
soccer, I am drenched; probably lost some pounds. Any animals?  Birds. 
haha. How do the Peruvians dress?  A lot of them have American brand 
clothing. Most of the time it looks like America. Have you used 
anything we sent yet?  Almost everything. Be more specific, it was 
kinda vague. Do you see those from your USA group?  Yes, everyone has 
1 latino and 1 north american companion. Also, my class is composed of 
all the North American beginners. Do you know how to use your camera? 
haha yes. What frustrates you?  This one guys in my district and room 
who only talks about himself. He´s done everything, been everywhere, 
and knows everything. I´ve learned more about him than I have learned 
spanish. It´s annoying. What brings joy? The Spirit/gospel. How is the 
companionship going? Elder Wilson and Elder Zuniga are great 
companions. Have you played the piano? yes. Any calling? No. Did you 
get the letter I mailed? Yes, working on it. It is very hard to write 
letters because I´m busy all the time, but I´m trying. (in my email, 
can you space this out mom to look less crowded thanks (and also 
delete this (whoa, triple parenthesis))). Ok, now that I have 9 
minutes left, I´ll try to write my exam, I mean letter. Y Si,Yo nació 
en un granero. So I just finished the BoM yesterday. The ending is 
very sad. Moroni was the only one left, how lonely. Also, in the book 
of Ether, Ether/ Coriantomr were also the only one left. It´s hard for 
me to see that people can get that wicked that they would kill 
everyone out of their hatred towards them. Also, on the spiritual 
side, I believe that the law of progression is a universal law. God 
puts us in situations where we can learn and progress. Sometimes they 
are pleasant, other times they are hard, but either way, progression 
is made. This is true for my experience with a mission so far. I got 
out to the Provo MTC and met some great people. Right as I was getting 
comfortable (which might of meant me getting lazy) I went to the Peru 
MTC. A different change in the atomsphere led to learning. It was also 
a culture shock meaning that I understood nothing. Right as I am 
starting to get used to my situation, I will become an ´´advanced´´ 
english person. Then the field, it´s great, no. On another note, I 
just got back from a day out in the city. Ate some food, bought a tie, 
and placed my first BoM with my companion. I have learned while being 
here that Most latinos can´t sing (and half of the North Americans). 
Sacrament/devotions are quite a sound. You know how much I love tone 
deafness. Well, goodbye - Elder Walker