Happy MLK Jr. Day!

Querida família,

Time flies. You blink and it's gone. Just like this week. I can hardly remember anything about this week. 

We've been working quite a bit with Cilene. Cilene is a woman who has already been to church. She is very poor. She lost her house last year because a giant rock fell on it. Bad luck. I feel like she is progressing well, but something is stopping her from being baptized. I am impressed by her humility and her faith. She wants to give her two year old daughter a better life. Unfortunately she hasn't gone to church yet because there was a party in front of her house all night long. I'm not sure, but I'm willing to bet that Brazil has more parties and holidays than Spain. Every weekend is an excuse to have a barbecue and drink.

We had many other people that we thought were going to progress, but those who progressed this week were the most surprising. Claudilene, Gerlane's sister, surprised us by going to church this week. We had pretty much given up on her because she promises every week and doesn't pull through. Three weeks later when we hardly even talk with her, she decides to go. Her brother Lenilson also went. We've taught him for a few weeks, but he always had to work on Sunday. This sunday he went and really enjoyed it. They were our miracles this week. When we were calling people to go to church we were getting discouraged because everyone gave up Sunday morning, but the Lord always surprises us. 

My other miracle of the week was João. We taught him on Christmas eve. We left a very simple message, but he couldn't go to church due to work. We stopping passing by his house. This week his family stopped us in the street and said to come to their house. We went there to find João sick. He said, very humbly, that we had pretty much changed his life. I was standing there thinking, "It was just one little visit..." He said that every year he and his wife fight on Christmas and New Year. This year thay didn't have one fight. He said he always drinks. This year he didn't drink. It's incredible. He says we are angels. We know that we didn't do anything. This must be one of those moments like Ammon and King Lamoni. He will do all he can to be in the church in the next few weeks, but first he has to talk to his boss and get his Sunday's off.

I know that the gospel is true and restored. I know that Jesus Christ is our "redeemer", and I learned what that means in the conference Ensign today.

Com amor,

Elder Walker

Wow!

So when I got on, I had 10 emails!!! I had to borrow some of my 
friends time to read all of them and send this email. Mom, I have not 
met an Elder Jenson yet and I see Elder Swasey (whose mother passed 
away) all the time. There is also an hermana fish that is going to 
Peru the same time as me and Cochabamba, Bolivia also. 
 
First off, let me say happy birthday to Dad in 2-3 more days! Feliz 
cumpleaños a ti! You are my favorite dad.... because you are the only 
one jajajajaja. I hope you have fun and not stress on your day of 
birth! 
I´m sorry to hear of Mom´s surgery thing in the hospital! Sounds 
painful. It was really gross to read about and made my stomach turn. 
 
As you guys read in my letter, my travel plans came for the Peru 
MTC!!! I´ll be leaving next Wednesday at 4. We´ll wait around in the 
Georgian aiport for 3 hours so I am sure that you guys will be home 
then to answer my call. Mom, I do not know all the specific 
information for our flight and arrival. Nobody around here really 
knows much about the Peru MTC because only 60 to 70 people go there 
and half of them are natives. It´s probably one of the most prettiest 
MTCs in the world! 
 
Russel M. Nelson came and spoke during a devotional here. He said that 
he was addressing the presidents and leaders here in the MTC, but I 
still applied some things that he said to missionary work. So I think 
there is something in the food here.... It´s like they inject fiber 
into everything. Also, every here complains about how bad the food is, 
but I think it beats out Mac and Cheese or taco bell for a whole year 
anyday! Also, everyone says to avoid the orange juice, whatever that 
means. 
 
My district is pretty funny and cool. We got along really fast and 
have had any problems! I don´t know why but they gave me a nickname; 
The Legend! Everytime I say something or do something they say, ´´and 
the legend continues.´´ I don´t know if they´re making fun of what I 
do or if I surprise them with everything I do. They´re funny. I don´t 
think I will every say the word ´´sorry´´ the same again. My teacher 
always says Sorrry in his Español accent. It´s quite humurous. We also 
play 4 square at gym time, which is pretty intense! We made up moves 
and named them... yeah, we´re dorks. I think my companion is starting 
to get annoyed with all my singing. That´s one thing I kinda miss is 
music... they won´t let anyone play any music in the provo MTC. So to 
make up for that, I sing and make beats a lot. 
 
Yo sé que Dios es nuestro Padre Celestial y ama todo de Su hijos. 
¡Este obra de misionary es ayudando muchas personas en el mundo! En el 
nombre de Jesucristo, Amen. 
 
Well, my time just ran out so I can´t finish my testimonio 
 
Elder Walker

¡Hola, hola!

Hola hola,

 

WOw!!!  Sounds like this week has been crazy again for everyone!   And now you ask why I never like going to the doctor...mmmhmm smells like malpractician to me.  Oh please how do you accidently rub up against someone´s pancreas??  Crazy....POP....woops I think that was you´re wifes lung....that´s okay she can get by without it?  come on people really these are people´s lifes were talking about here.  Okay that´s enough of that venting. 

 

I am so glad the holiday is over.  They have sooooo many holidays here in Spain!!!  The whole country closes down and every one goes on vacation.  Makes it really hard to do missionary work.  They have the 3 kings holiday which is the 6th of January.  Neverending parties here in Spain, this is my kind of country!!!!....just not when I´m a missionary.  We were so busy somehow this week even though we were still fired a lot.  Amoak is getting baptized this week and is just the icing on a cake kind of guy.  Just a great guy!  

 

Can I just tell you how grateful I am to have this opportunity to serve in Spain.  What a pleasure!  I was so excited to get my call here and continue to be as we see the hand of God perform miracles daily.  We were also so excited that we reached our goal of 450 baptisms plus!  How neat is that?  My testimony grows daily as I see our prayers answered.  Our miracle for this week is definitely being able to meet our goal of finding people to teach.  We doubled our goal number wise.  This is such a blessing as we have really had to struggle these past two weeks with finding people to teach.  We finally realized we just had a bunch of recycled internal investigators, in which usually would fire us all the time.  So we just contacted like crazy and mined through all the references we could find leaving us with 8 new investigators this week.  Luis is our new fecha.  He is from Ghana and is just fantastic!  We just met him this week and have already had a lesson and he came to church.  He loves it and is so excited to be baptized.  He loves the Bible and knows the doctrine very well.  He was the only person in the gospel doctrine class participating.  He´s wonderful and will be baptized the 3rd de Febrero.

 

Hermana Preston is wonderful.  I don´t know what it is but I´ve really seen a change in here this past week.  She has grown so much with the time we´ve been together.  I love that we just get each other.  I love how well she knows her scriptures.  Everytime I hear her teach and testify I think, "Yes! That´s exactly how I want to be once I really get a strong grip on the language."  She´s great and I have learned so much from her.  When she has something to say people really listen, whereas with me they are more focused on correcting my Spanish and how I say it.  Someday I hope to be as good as Hermana Preston is at the language.  I think that will be my biggest struggle is getting comfortable in the language.  I pray every night and study hard, but I still have a hard time understanding and speaking.  It gets frustrating at times because I truly want to help these people and want to be a better teacher, but I know all I need now is patience and time. 

 

I love the gospel!  Yay for a new year!

 

Con amor,
Hermana Walker

Jan 9, 2012 Olá Família!

I have decided to put more Portuguese in my letters because everyone puts Spanish in their letters. Sorry to hear about all the medical problems in the family. I think mom averages 50% of her time in the hospital. Every other week she has a visit to the hospital. At least it's better than the Brazilian hospitals. They scare me. If you can imagine a hospital from a scary movie, it's a Brazilian hospital. Poorly lit, people suffering and dying, and many other things, and you see all of it. Yesterday we went to the hospital as well. Don't worry, I'm not sick. We gave a blessing to a part-member family from São Paulo. The man was hit by a car while painting the road. He wasn't supposed to live, but he survived. We gave him a blessing and he thanked us doing so. It's nice to know that you can get a blessing while traveling in any part of the world. 

Our week was short on time. i felt like we were running everywhere this week. We started the week with trainings with President. That's why I wrote later in the week. Did you guys get that email? It sounded like you hadn't received anything. Anyway, After losing one day of work, we have to do 5 days of work in 4 days. Basically it's impossible. We had very few solid days to work due also to interviews. I went on division on Friday with Elder Jenks in Tijuca. What I really like about exchanges is that we can learn a lot from one another. He kept saying that he had learned a lot from me, but I had also learned a lot from him. That's the beauty of it. I plan to use the things I learned in my area.

We are teaching a young woman named Daniele and her mom. They are elects, but don't know it yet. Daniele has already been to church a few times with her friends, but she says that she has a few doubts about being baptized which she still hasn't shared with us. The mom is way excited to go to church. Hopefully next week we'll help them to understand the importance of baptism and help them to feel the spirit saying that. They didn't go to church because Daniele has some skin disease under her arm. It's kind of gross, but should be better next week. You know how young women are...she wouldn't dare be seen in public with that under her arm!

Gerlane, who was baptized last week was confirmed and is the newest member missionary. She took a friend to church this sunday. This is why I love recent converts. They want everyone to feel the same things they are feeling. And they support one another.

Fun fact, last year they held the first EFY in Brasil in Sao Paulo. This year they will have the very first EFY in Rio during Carnaval. The funny part is that they learn all the same dances and everything. So, as I talk to some of the members who will be the Counselors, they are all surprised when i know the dances they are learning. 4 years of EFY... Represent!!! 

Now that I have the conference Ensign, I will start the conference talk thing again. Today I read Elder Packer's talk that he gave to youth. He gave much advice, but one thing that stood out more than the others is the Holy Ghost. He gives the promise that as we follow the Holy Ghost, we will be safe from serious sins. The Holy Ghost will guide us and is more feeling than a voice. He quotes one scripture where Nephi says to feel the voice of the Holy Ghost which is an interesting concept. Usually we hear voies, but the Spirit's voice is a feeling.

Love you all and I wish the best for all.

Sei que a Igreja é verdadeira e que o evangelho foi restaurado pelo profeta Joseph Smith. Sei que Pai Celestial está guiando todas as nossas vidas e que a obra dele é uma obra maravilhosa e um assombro. Sei que o Livro de Mormon é verdadeiro. Ao seguir os princípios do livro, poderemos chegar a Cristo e conhecer o evangelho dele. 

Com amor,

Elder Walker

 

I forget to expain the pictures. One is our baptism from last week with our very helpful ward. The other is the elders that live in our house on New Years. We all used white ties.

Completed one week in the MTC Provo

Pues, Pues, Pues, Que tenemos aqui? 
 
It has now been a week (and a day) since I've been out. I'll admit 
that life got easier after the first couple days. Our district is way 
awesome! We all got to know each other really fast. I think my teacher 
got a little annoyed from our teasing and joking with each other. 
Chistes. My companion Elder Knight is great because he always reminds 
me to be obedient to the little rules that I sometimes like to see how 
far i can go without actually breaking any rules. For example going to 
be exactly on time and doing everything exactly as it says on the 
schedules. 
 
Everyone says how great missions are because they change your life and 
make you a better person. So I came here thinking how better I will be 
and how great a second language will be. For me however, I get a loss 
of motivation when I focus on myself. My motivation to work hard only 
comes back when I focus my thoughts and energy on my future 
investigators and by loving them. Then I work hard and efficient to 
make sure I'm everything I can be for them. One great program/learning 
thing at the MTC is the progressive investigator. We have 
investigators (teachers?) come in and we have to learn the lessons in 
spanish and teach their needs. Yesterday, I commited him to baptism 
and he said yes! What's also cool is that he will become our future 
teacher and we'll learn all the things we said right and everything we 
messed up on in Spanish, etc. I came into my class thinking that 
people would help me with the language. However, my whole district 
looks to me for what to say. It's weird because we learn the same 
thing, but for some reason it sticks in my head. I've never had this 
good of memory in school! It's sometimes annoying when i'm trying to 
concentrate and then I hear "Elder Walker, como se dice blah blah 
blah." Nevertheless, I think that I've been given a strength to 
contribute and help my district out. 
 
Well, my time is running out fast. Mom, please send more 
t-shirts/p-day shirts. I love you all, adios. 
 
-Elder Walker 

¡Feliz Año Nuevo!

Jan. first conversion with Hermana Preston

District in Zaragosa

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! 

 

Now is the time to reminisce on the year of 2011 to see what God has blessed us with and what we need to change.  I love setting new goals for the new year!  I have sent some pictures to reminisce on my missionary experience so far, since I wasnt very good at sending pictures at first...oops!  For new years they celebrate it by eating a grape every second of the last 12 seconds before the clock strikes midnight.  Really funny because your mouth is just this big bowl full of grapes.  I have also learned the elect always feed you.  We had a ton of meals this week.   Everyone feeds you, you cant get out of it.  So when we dont want to eat to not offend we ask to take it in a doggy bag home.  Thats just the latin culture. 

 

So we have 3 missionaries out now.  THATs NUTs!!!!!!!  yay for missionary work.  Sounds like youre having a great old time in the MTC Craig.  So I actually had a scary experience new years eve with a man but all is well.  I am not harmed.

 

This week has been full of miracles.  I want to specifically talk about Orlano.  We found Orlando Wednesday night as we were knocking on Antiguos doors.  We had been walking for hours, we were cold, sick, hungry, tired, lost and just not having a lot of success.  As I was starting to drag slower behind Hermana Preston thinking what we should do I spotted a man who seemed to be waiting for somebody.  We caught eyes as we walked past.  He looked into my eyes with this feeling of being lost, sad, cold, and needed help.  Through the wind I yelled in front of me ¨Hermana, we´ve got to go back and talk to that man.¨  Sure enough he was more than prepared to receive us.  We taught him the whole first lesson in a nut shell right on the street.  We gave him a Book of Mormon and he thanked us as we set up a visit and went our ways.  At that next visit he told us that he was just feeling empty like there is something missing in his life.  He then went on to say that night he was miserable hungry, and cold waiting for a client who was late.  That´s when we stopped to talk to him.  If that client had not have been late, if we had not been lost we would not have found him.  God knew that would happen.  He placed him in our path.  Just as both of us had about hit our limit and were going the extra mile, that´s when miracles happen.  PRICELESS. 

 

I love my companion Hermana Preston.  She has taught me so much about life, myself, what a missionary should do, etc.  Something I really admire about her is her listening skills.  She is really good about listening to these people and discerning their needs.  She always says exactly what needs to be said and at the right moment.  Something I know I need to work on. 

 

I love this gospel I know its true with all my heart.  ENJOY THE YEAR OF 2012!!!!!!!!!!!

Su hija

Happy New Year

Dear Family,

Sorry to be writing a little late. We had training on Monday and Tuesday.

First I would like to say Happy Birthday to mom. I would buy you a present, but knowing that it would cost me a fortune to send it or never even make it, I'll just wait until you come down here. 

Happy 2012!! This year will be very exciting because I come home, there is a presidential election, and the world will end in December.

This year we had to go to bed at 10:30. But it was pretty much impossible due to all the fireworks. Brazil goes crazy with fireworks. They have them every Sunday for soccer games. One thing that is cool here is that everyone dresses in white for New Year. It is supposed to symbolize peace. Elder Nascimento and I used our white ties being the only thing that we can actually change.

The rain never stops here. I left Nova Friburgo thinking that the rain would stay there, but I guess it's just that time of the year. Rain makes it pretty difficult to dry clothes due to the lack of dryers in this country. We worked our best this last week. With New Year being Sunday it makes it really difficult to find those who are willing to wake up early after staying up for hours drinking. However, we managed a baptism. Gerlane is a young woman with a lot of faith. It's not any person who has the courage to get baptized on New Years. She woke up at 6 after going to bed at 4 just to get ready. It was so special. It proves that there are people in the world who are willing to change and do their best to keep the commandments. The ward was very nice when receiving her. I have never had a ward so wonderful on my mission. All the members were actually there to help. We didn't do anything. Usually the members run when you want to take pictures, but this time everyone wanted to be in the picture. I was really impressed and happy to have a ward with that kind of attitude.  

 

Mom, I make my bed every day.

I know that this church is true. I believe that the principles of the gospel can change anyone's life. It's interesting that many don't know the joys of the gospel just because they aren't willing to experiment. It's not easy but just like Lehi, once we have tasted, that's all we want for our family and friends.

Love,

Elder Walker