Hola

This is Craig's favorite of literally gathering Christ's sheep

Hello,

Thank you for your emails and letters.

I feel a ton better this week! I am getting used to Potosi, the
people, my companion, the mission, and the work. The only thing I
still have trouble with is the language still. I feel bad because my
companion does most of the talking while I try to listen, but my mind
gets tired and I start to fall asleep. And when I try to speak, they
don´t understand me that well, even when I thought I said the right
thing. However, when we teach lessons, i understand, speak, and they
understand because that is mostly what I have learned in the MTC. I
guess what is most important is to preach the Lord's word, but I think
an apostól said that we want missionaries to not only have a
missionary knowledge of the language, but to be immersed into the
whole culture. So that is one of my goals. Apparently I had an
incorrect idea of the food here. I pictured burritos, tacos,
carneasadas, churros, etc. But i guess that is only Mexico and not the
whole South America. Tortillas are rare here and pizza is more common.
The main food is sopa, arroz, papas, un typo de carne (I not sure what
the meat is exactly...) y postre. It´s funny because before, I would
say, eww gross - there´s a hair in my food. But now it's more like -
yes, wow! There´s only one hair in my food. jajaja.

One thing I´ve seen on a mission so far is how much the Lord uses our
talents, knowledge, and past experiences. For example, yesterday was
stake conference for all of Potosi and they didn´t have anyone to play
piano, so I played. By the way, Elder Holland spoke to all of Bolivia
through satelite transmission for the meeting. For his testimony, he
said it all in Spanish. It was funny because it one of the worst
gringo accents that i´ve heard, but yet it was still powerful to hear
his own voice and not the translator. I´ve even used things I´ve
learned from psychology here. In fact, all of missionary work is
psychology. Even the small and simple things you wouldn´t expect
anything of, the Lord uses. Like a simple magic trick I learned amazes
and entertains the kids here. Or the little beatboxing I learned is
also entertaining.

At a baptism on Saturday, I was asked to give the message. Of course I
was hestitant because of the language, but I decided to go up with
confidence. I shared a message, read a scripture, and explained
further. The best thing was is that it flowed straight from my mouth
and they understood me. I shocked myself as well as my companion. It
was definitely by the spirit that made it happen. Which also brings up
a good point. Go into life with humble confidence/faith knowing that
what you want to happen will happen. The Lord will provide the rest.
Frustration, doubt, and discouragement are not of God and the spirit
can´t be there. It´s all about visualization, worthiness,
desirability, appropriate evidence of realization, faith, and the
Lord´s mercy. With that combination, anything is possible.

-Elder Walker