Hola todos! Como
estan? Espero que todo esta bien con ustedes y que mi español es correcto pero
más probable no es correcto.
How was your week? Are
you all getting excited for Thanksgiving? I can`t believe it is already
November and that Thanksgiving is approaching really fast...and that Christmas
is around the corner then New Year`s then Mother`s Day, my birthday, Father´s
day, independence day, then it is fall again and almost Thanksgiving again and
then....I finish my mission... What the!? This can`t be real....
Well anyway, nothing
super crazy happened this week and I haven`t fallen again so...it`s been pretty
boring around here ;) naw no es cierto. It`s never boring in the mission field!
There is always an adventure to be had, new people to talk to and lessons to
teach :)
We had three new
investigators this week and their lessons went really well. I love working with
Hermana Lara!! She is super awesome!! :) Victor Cruz is still in Mexico and so
we haven`t had the chance to teach him for a while or commit him to
baptism...and he obviously wasn`t able to make it to church...so we had zero
investigators in sacrament meeting...and zero baptisms. But it`s ok because we
were still happy and we still had a really great week!
We had ELEVEN lessons
with members present!!! That was the largest number for that category that I`ve
had in my mission so far and so it felt pretty awesome to achieve that :) We
also had 17 less actives in sacrament meeting on sunday which is a lot...and
that felt so awesome too! Especially when I saw that Hilda came and that
Elizabeth came as well because we weren`t able to see them all week and remind
them to come to church but they came all on their own and it was awesome! :) It
probably had something to do with the fact that this Sunday was the Primary
program....haha but whatever, all that matters is that they came and it was all
awesome :)
The Primary program
was so cute and I didn`t really understand what was happening for a lot of it
but it is amazing that I could still feel the Spirit through their songs and
sweet messages :) The Holy Ghost truly is a marvelous gift :) Did we have our
primary program this Sunday as well? How did it go? (if we did have it :)
) I miss my kids...can you tell them that I miss them and that they are super
awesome! And that I love them too :)
We had one fecha
bautismal this week :) Nati accepted the invitation to be baptized on the 13th
of December! I hope that it doesn`t fall through and that she will be able to
come to church and progress! And I really hope that we can teach with the
spirit, that she will follow through with the compromisos and that she can gain
a testimony of her own so that she won`t become menos activa...that would be
the worst... ok not literally the worst because there are worse things, but it
would be pretty sad.
Oh! Cody, I thought of
something else that you can do :) You can go visit and teach with the
missionaries so you can get a feel for how it is to do the Lord´s work
because...I never went with the sister missionaries and so it was a little bit
of a change for me when I was thrown into the field....but even a little bit
more weird because every one was speaking in Spanish and I basically had NO
idea what was going on.... so yeah, you might want to try and prepare yourself
at least a tiny bit so that you aren`t totally thrown for a loop like your
sister... ;)
Ok so now I will share
something more spiritual and serious haha :) Last night we went and visited two
families. One is less active and just a husband and wife who are older and the
other is part active members and part less active. With both families we
watched a short film called "The touch of the Master`s hand" but it
was really cool how with each family the lesson was a little bit different. In
this video, for those of you who haven`t seen it, there is an old man who is
making a violin. It shows a little bit of each part and how the man makes the
violin with care and love and then he plays a little bit of a song on it to
make sure it works correctly and has a great sound. Then he lovingly puts it in
its case. After that, it shows that a mother had purchased the violin for her
son so that he could learn to play it. He tries to learn it but obvioulsy
doesn`t like it and lots and lots of horrific things happen to this poor violin
that cause pain to my heart when I see them...they really are so sad.... The
violin is dropped several times, it is sat on by children, used as a bow with
suction cup darts, and as a shield in a battle between two children. Lots of
bad stuff. Finally, after severl years and several horrific instances, the
violin is in an auction. It is the last thing to be auctioned off and at first
nobody wants it. They bid $2 for it and the auctioneer is about to sell it when
the old man who made the violin walks up ot the front, takes the violin, cleans
it off a bit and begins to play a beautiful tune. After he finishes, he hands
it back to the auctioneer and sits down. Suddenly everyone wants it and it
auctions off for like 2 million dollars or something like that.
After the video, we
all went around the room and talked about what we learned from the video and
how we could apply it to our lives. There were a few different answers but
mostly it was the same (with the part active member part less active member
family). It was a really beautiful family night and the Spirit was definitely
there.
I would like to just
take a few moments and write to you my thoughts from the video. We can apply
this video to our lives in the form of the atonement. Everyone makes mistakes
and everyone has things pass in their lives that are challenging but in the
beginning, we were with God. He made us and he made us perfect and beautiful
without blemish. But as we go through this life we get a little banged up
spiritually. We get scars, we have marks, we go through horrific experiences.
At some point, we are no longer clean, polished and perfectly manicured. We end
up looking like a beat up old violin. But, our Heavenly Father is so loving and
merciful and he gave us something so incredible. He gave us the most amazing
gift we could ever ask for. His Son, Jesus Christ. He sent his son to earth to
atone for our sins, to take upon him our errors and faults, our shortcomings
and temptations and all manner of uncleanliness. He sent his son to do all of
that for us so that we would have the chance to pray for help, to ask for
forgiveness and to be washed clean with the "touch of the master`s
hand". Christ`s arms are always, always open to us. We can always come
unto him with our burdens and ask for relief. We can always ask for strength
and beg for forgiveness. The Savior will always help us when we ask in faith
and through Him we can become perfect and clean again. I want to share a
scripture with you but I don`t have it memorized in english and I only have my
spanish scriptures but you can look up the verses after in english or put this
in google translate ;)
D&C 45:3-5
"Escuchad al que es vuestro intercesor con el Padre, que aboga por
vuestra causa ante él, diciendo: Padre, ve los padecimientos y la muerte de
aquel que no pecó, en quien te complaciste; ve la sangre de tu Hijo que fue
derramada, la sangre de aquel que diste para que tú mismo fueses glorificado;
por tanto,Padre, perdona a estos mis hermanos que creen en mi nombre, para que
vengan a mí y tengan la vida eterna."
Yo se que es verdad.
Se que todos los hombres, mujeres y niños quien creen en el nombre de
Jesucristo pueden ser salvos y pueden obtener la vida eterna. Es una promesa de
Dios y de Jesucristo. Ellos no pueden mentir. Se que por medio el Salvador
Jesucristo, todos podemos ser limpios y recibir perdón de nuestros
pecados. Él siempre es aquí por nosotros con sus brazos abiertos y listas
para recibirnos. La expiación de Jesucristo es el don más bonita, más hermosa
en todo el mundo y es la única manera en que podemos empezar otra vez con una
pagina blanca. El evangelio tiene la plenitud de luz y todo felicidad
y verdad para nosotros. Estoy muy agradecida por esta conocimiento que yo
tengo y por la oportunidad para compartirle con mi chiquito parte del mundo
aquí en México. Siempre recordar su Salvador Jesucristo y continuar en su fe y
en la conocimiento tengan que él siempre esta para ustedes para ayudarles en su
misión aquí en la tierra. Que tengan un bonita semana y espero que ustedes
pueden trabajar con fuerza para que Dios les bendice en todas partes de su
vida.
Con mucho amor,
Hermana Walker
(I hope that all of that Spanish was right or
that it at least makes sense...for those of you who know spanish ;) )
