March 30, 2015 Turning 20 in the Mission Field and Keeping the Commandments!

Hey everyone,

I am so sorry because I have like...no time to write this week haha! We came to the cyber late since we had a District activity where we played volleyball and hackey sack...I have no idea how to spell that so no judging please ;) haha but I am not very good at hackey (haki?) sack...it´s really hard...the Elders are really good haha and one of the sisters is pretty good but...yeah it is a little hard to play haha.  But yeah, we didn´t even buy any food or anything for this week haha so...it will be interesting :) The good part is is that we are hardly in the house during the day and the members feed us everyday and we are definately not dying of hunger here....so it really isn´t even a big deal :) Plus, I got some packages from Grandma and from Kris so....I have a lot of stuff to eat and I will of course share with my comp :) Thank you guys for sending me those birthday packages!! (I will write you nicer, personalized thank you emails next week when I have more time haha, yeah I know, I am a little lame for thanking you openly in the email haha....sorry!) 

Well, I am also pretty excited about the conference this weekend (and my birthday I can´t believe that I am going to be 20 this friday....) I also can´t believe that conference is already here again! It is kind of funny because I was thinking the other day "Wow, it´s almost general conference....whoa...how weird....my first general conference in the mission was during my training...and now it is conference again and I am training haha..." It was a weird thought but also pretty cool :) But yeah, I hope you all enjoy the conference and that you get answers to the questions or doubts that you have. I also hope that you each learn something that helps you personally, that can help you make your life better and more meaningful. 

 Something that I learned this week that was really impactful to me was that if people would just follow the ten commandments, the world would be such a happier place! If they would only keep the commandments!! Seriously, it is so incredible...like, even just to keep the commandment to not lie...imagine that! The world would be something totally different...we would see changes for the better and we wouldn`t have nearly as many problems haha. Just keeping the ten commandments, that EVERYONE knows about (because they are found in the Bible and EVERYONE has the Bible), would change our whole world. Thinking about this also made me think that, as members of the church, we have a greater knowledge of other commandments that the Lord had given us (like to pray, to pay tithing, to fo to the temple, other commandments that aren´t part of the "big ten") so...we should really be a group of people that stands out from los demás, sorry, from others (sometimes it is easier to write in Spanish haha). 

I don`t know how to explain it haha because it is a principle that is super obvious and all that but, it`s something that we still don`t understand...because if we understood it, we would live differently and be obedient to the commandments that the Lord has given us and slowly the world would change for the better instead of progressivley getting more and more wicked. It is something that my comp and I have talked about a lot lately and it is something that we need to teach to the members and the less actives and also to our investigators so that they can understand it better and start changing their own lives so that they can eventually reach out and change the world.

I want to challenge you guys to think about the higher law of Christ and really apply it to your lives over the course of this week and once you have done it for a week, I want you to do it for a month, then two then three, until you are doing it for the whole year and you are truly becoming converted in Christ. We need to live the higher law of Christ and stand out from the world so that others can know and recognize that we truly are different, that we truly do have the truth and that we are the Lord´s chosen people because we have the fullness of the gospel. I want you to all think about the ten commandments, and the other commandments that the Lord has given us, and apply them to your lives more fully. Live them more exactly and I promise you that you will be happier and see changes in your lives. I promise you that the Lord will bless you more abundantly for your faith and for your efforts if you will hearken more fully to his voice. 

Sorry, I have no more time....but also I want you all to watch the new video that the church let out for Easter that is called "Because of Him". It is really beautiful and it´s something that the Church believes will help change lives and invite others to feel the Spirit and come unto Christ. 

I love you all and hope that you have a great week!

Love always,

Hermana Walker

March 23, 2015 9 Months Old and Moroni's Baptism

Hey everyone! How are you all doing!?

So...guess who turns 9 months old today...? Yup, that´s right, I turn 9 months old today!!! And my daughter is totally the cutest because she made me breakfast and a little "Happy 9 months" sign :) I will attach the picture so yáll can see it :) 

We had Moroni´s baptism this Friday!! It was really nice :) Well, it was actually really stressful but...remind me to tell you the story when I get home haha...all I will tell you now is that he was so happy to finally be baptized and so it made it all worth it in the end :) He´s the cutest kid! :) I sent the pics from his baptism in another email because they wouldn´t all fit...you guys are going to get a lot of photos this week, be happy about that ;)

haha oh yeah and also in the last lesson that we had with him and his family I ended up doing a few things for them in Donald Duck and he and his sibs were laughing SO hard!! It made me laugh super hard to hear them laughing....oh man it was pretty great :) But yeah so after his baptismal service and all that he came up to me and asked me if I could do "the voice that isn´t my voice" for him haha. He wanted me to say "Te voy a matar!" (I´m going to kill you) because I had made little 10 commandment cards and the commandment that says "Thou shalt not kill" has a picture of a guy pointing a sword at another guy and the guy with the sword says "Te voy a matar!" and the other has his hands up in the air and he is saying "Noooo!" haha but that card was his favorite and he likes it when I say "Te voy a matar" in Donald Duck. haha Moroni calls it "the other language". So to him I can speak three languages...dang I am pretty cool... ;) haha no, it´s a joke :) 

We had stake conference this week and it was pretty exciting :) well...kind of haha. It was good at the beginning and at the end....but in the middle, it was a little rough, not gonna lie....and it did not help AT ALL that it was pretty warm in the chapel....it is always a lot more enticing to fall asleep when the room is warm rather than cold, am I right? Maybe it´s just me but, the middle was a little rough for me haha. I am super excited for Conference weekend! It is going to be the best weekend in the mission because on the 3rd...I turn 20. then on the 4th and 5th we get to listen to the prophet and the apostles again!! It is going to be the best!! :) I can´t believe I am gonna be 20 years old....that is super weird.... 

OOH! Also I am super happy!! Like, ecstatic because in Cholula on sunday night (the last Sunday. Like the Sunday that we were going to find out who had transfers) Sister Lara and I put a baptismal date with one of our investigators that had been listening on and off to the missionaries for like 2 years...his wife and daughter both have been members for about two years but he still had doubts and didn´t want to get baptized. But so we put the date with him for the 14th of February and I thought, "Pues, por seguro hermana Lara tiene cambios porque va a terminar su misión entonces, a lo mejor voy a quedarme por un mes mas solo para enseñar el área a mi nueva compañera entonces, a lo mejor voy a estar por su bautismo!" But...NOPE! Oh man, it was killer! We both had changes and left the area! So my whole time here (in Atexcac) I had no idea if he did actually get baptized or not... and then the other week I ran into a member from La Joya that was here in Huejo for school and she told me that Diana´s dad got baptized!!!!! I was SO happy!!! In fact I was so happy that my comp and I walked a little ways down the wrong street haha! I finally looked around and said, "oops, sorry Hermana, la parada para las combis es mas por allá..." and we had to retrace our steps haha. But it made me so happy to hear that he got baptized and that they were all finally together, enjoying the blessings of being members of the restored church of Jesus Christ. But today I was made even happier because Diana emailed me and sent me pictures of her dad´s baptism and I was so happy and it was so beautiful that I started crying...but oh my gosh, I am so ridiculously happy right now :) It was so beautiful...  (haha I don´t actually know what face this is but...I figured that it could work for a happy crying face...right...? ;) if not, just go with it alright? :) ).

Well....I have to go now because my comp really needs to use the bathroom haha and there isn´t one here....so we need to leave...we don´t want her to have an accident in the cyber... (Elder Sampson...recuerda esta historia que te dije de los elderes y obediencia con exactitud? No queremos que pasa eso con mi compa jaja....)

I love you all!! Have a great week! 

Love always,

Hermana Walker

My Daughter:  Hermana Estrada :)

Me and Tacos Arabes

Moroni's Baptism!!!!:)

9 mos old in the mission breakfast!

March 16, 2015 Spiritual Experiences with Porfirio and Moroni

Hey everyone! ¿Como están? I hope everything is going well with everyone :) 

Haha alright well, we don´t live like SUPER far away...BUT we have to go to Huejo every Monday (to buy all our food and stuff) and every Wednesday (for District meeting) and it costs twenty pesos each time we go and come back (ten each person). So just in one week we spend 80 pesos...it´s kind of a lot of money haha....but this week we had to go to Nealtican because that is where the Stake Center is and so we have to go to Huejo then to Nealtican and then back to Huejo and then back to our area....so it´s like 20 pesos, 16 pesos, 16 pesos again, 20 pesos again....and we did that Wednesday and Thursday this week...and then we did the trip to Huejp two more times because we had intercambios with our Hermanas lideres this week....we spent so much money on transportation this week it isn´t even funny...but it´s all good. We are going to make it through the month without running out of money! I have faith!! :) 

So...we are going to have a baptism this weekend....ON FRIDAY!!! :) I am pretty excited about it! :) "We" are going to baptize a nine year old who has gone to church his whole life and has a perfectly active family! Yeah I know, we worked pretty hard for this baptism ;) (you are all probably wondering "Well, if they are all active and he has gone to church his whole life...why on earth hasn´t he been baptized!?" My answer is this...patience. All will be revealed in it´s due time... :) ) 

We put his date for Saturday but I didn´t know that it was going to be Stake Conference this weekend haha so....we had to change his baptism to Friday and he will be confirmed the next Sunday in Sacrament Meeting...but he is super excited and he is such a cute little kid! I love the experience that we had with him the first time we went to teach him. We had had a crazy day because we had to go to Nealtican for the Zone Conference on Wednesday and we had to leave our house right at 8 to get there on time because in la combi it takes like a little more than an hour....but yeah so we got back to our area later and still had to do all our studies and go to the appointments that we could...so I was a little stressed out haha because I had all that stuff running around in my mind and I was trying to plan everything out and change the plans that we had had before. But so anyway, we ended up cancelling all our appointments except for two that we had with investigators. 

We first went with Porfirio and....it was pretty tough because he doesn´t talk AT ALL! He doesn´t even shake his head "yes" or "no" to answer our questions....we had planned on teaching him the Restoration up until "Prophets" but...the Spirit told us what we needed to do and we changed the lesson and just testified to him that he truly is a child of a living God who loves him and sees his potential. We told him that maybe it was a little hard for him to open up at this point and talk about his life and interests because they are like private things from his personal life that are important to him and we told him that we understand and that everything was totally fine....we just want to help him and guide him to expand his knowledge of spiritual things and we want him to feel comfortable talking to us and expressing his thoughts and feelings regarding our discussions. We told him and testified to him that God knows who he is, that He knows his thoughts and feelings, that He knows the things that are important to him (Porfirio) and that He knows what he was thinking about in that moment. We saw on his face that he was really listening to us and that he was thinking about what we were telling him, even though he never said a single word or shook his head in any direction, we knew that he was listening to us and that the Spirit was testifying to him of these simple truths that we were sharing with him. It was a really beautiful moment that helped me to forget all the stress from earlier in the day and I was able to feel a lot of love for this 16 year old. I was able to see his potential that he has and see him a little bit more as our Father in Heaven sees him. We left him the pamphlet to read for his commitment since he didn´t say a word....his way of accepting the commitment was opening his fingers to accept the pamphlet so...yeah he accepted! We are really hoping that he has read it by our next visit!

The other really cool moment of this crazy day was when we went to visit with Moroni (the nine year old that will be baptized this Friday). Well, so we went to his house and it is really cool because his whole family is active and they all have been baptized and are all super excited for him to be baptized so there were no problems with anything. He just didn´t get baptized because when he was of age, the baptismal font was under construction and his dad had to work a lot and didn´t get home till super late on Saturday nights so...he never had the chance to get baptized. They were going to baptize him in the river...but I don´t know what happened...but the point is is that now he is an investigator of ours but he has been going to church his whole life, and he has great desires to be baptized and an adorable little testimony! The first night we went we asked him if he wants to be baptized and he said yes and then we also asked his mom why he didn´t get baptized when he was 8 and she told us what happened and all, but then he started telling us how badly he wanted to get baptized and his little eyes filled with tears....it was the cutest thing I have ever seen! Hermana Estrada and I started crying.... we had a great lesson with him about baptism and confirmation and a little about faith and obedience. We also had a moment at the end of the lesson where his parents and his brothers and sister shared their testimonies about the gospel and their baptisms and all that and the Spirit was really powerful there with us in their humble little home. It was a truly beautiful moment that touched my heart and really helped me feel a lot of peace, tranquility and love. I am really grateful to my Father in Heaven for giving me these two opportunities. I know that He knew that they would help me to feel tranquila and to help me take a deep breath, relax, and to appreciate the simple things more. It was a nice little miracle for me.

Also, the Elders are talking with the mission President about a situation that we have with a man who lives in Huejotzingo (the area of the other missionaries)...but he and his wife want him to get baptized in Atexcac (our area-the ward above that we have) and they want us to give him the discussions....we had a lesson with him this week on Saturday and it went really well! He is super ready! And he really wants to learn more and be baptized! He accepted a baptismal date that we put with him for May 2nd but we are waiting for the answer to see if we can teach him still or not.... We are really excited to be a part of his learning and progress but we also know that President needs to make the decision and we will honor whatever the outcome may be....even though we REALLY want to teach him....it would be super sweet :) 

Well I hope you enjoyed getting to know a little bit more about what my daughter and I have been doing for the past two weeks...sorry that I don´t usually tell you much about the people we teach and all that...I will try to be better at that....but I hope you enjoyed knowing a bit more :) I will also send pictures because we both bought new cameras here since s that we brought are a little bit dumb sometimes...and we are pretty much in love with the cameras... :) so yeah, it´s been pretty fun :) and also...THERE´S MANGOS NOW!!! I am pretty excited because they are absolutely delicious and I love them to death.... :) 

Well, I love you all! Have a great week!!

Love always,

Hermana Walker




                   

 

 

 

 

 

 

March 9, 2015 And the New Miss Atexcac is... Hermana Estrada

Hey everyone!

Haha, yeah yeah I know, my subject line is really lame...I apologize, I just can´t think of anything to put haha so I took the old "Miss America" route haha :)

Well, our numbers weren´t all that great this week...because we had changes and also there was like no one home when we went to their houses...so that was a little hard, but other than that my first week with my new companion was really awesome! She came so prepared spiritually! She has a great testimony and she loves learning about the gospel and sharing her testimony and she is super excited to serve and work hard so I am really excited to see the success that we are going to have during these three months together :) My companion´s name is Hermana Estrada (That´s right Hermana Estrada! Tengo una compañera con su mismo nombre! Que genial, ¿verdad?) oh...well for everyone else, Emilee Estrada was one of my teachers in the MTC so her name there was Hermana Estrada...and now my daughter´s name is also Hermana Estrada so that´s pretty cool :)  She is from Durango Mexico.  All of my Latina companions have been from the North.

Oh yeah, I also got semi-bit by a dog on Saturday morning haha! We were walking towards the house of an investigator and I knew that there were a bunch of dogs in this little street (it´s like a little dirt road) but like, I´m not afraid of dogs and nothing had ever happened to me before either but when we walked down the street toward the house all the dogs came out from around the corner and they were barking and all that, just like normal, but one of them was like a little bit crazy and he scratched me with his tooth and either like ran into my leg really powerfully or really did kind of bite me on the leg...because I have a tooth scratch and a big ol bruise on my calf haha. It´s really lovely ;) It actually wasn´t even that bad so don´t worry mom! The Relief Society President´s little son gave me a sling shot so I am all set to defend myself the next time ;) I just need to practice using it haha because...I always hit myself on the hand or my fingers since I don´t know how to use it haha....

We found a new investigator this week who can be baptized for April 11th!! We are super excited! But we need to actually put the baptismal date with him and he actually needs to accept it and come to church every Sunday, but it´s definitely possible that he can be baptized this day so keep him in your prayers! He is a 16 year old who is the son of less actives but he never got baptized... His name is Porfirio :) We have a lot of hope and faith in this kid :) Most of our work in the Pueblo is actually going to be with the less-actives because we have a ton here....and the wards all want that the less-actives can be re-activated...but we also really want to have baptisms and invite others to make sacred covenants with God and to open their door to salvation...slowly we will find out how we can accomplish all of this more productively :) But for now we are still trying to figure out who the members are and where they live haha. there are a LOT of names to learn haha :) 

Well, I am learning a ton here in the mission and also just in my first week training. It is amazing how reviewing "the first 12 weeks" can bring new perspective...the things that I learned this week are really simple but I think that sometimes we overlook the simple things in search for something more complicated because we second-guess the simple things. We think that it can´t possibly be an answer because it is too simple...but the simple things and the simple answers are actually the most helpful a lot of the time haha. I won´t go into all the details of the simple things that I learned because they apply more to the life of a full-time missionary haha but also, I have been reading more things about the second coming of the Savior and I remembered how when I was younger this topic kind of scared me and I remember thinking that it might happen in my lifetime and that I didn´t want it to happen because I was scared...but now, I don´t know, it´s weird because I am actually excited haha! It´s not something scary anymore but something to look forward to and I think my attitude has changed because now I am a lot more prepared than when I was younger and I understand the gospel better now. I mean, I still have a lot to do and a lot to improve on haha but I am glad that I am no longer scared or like dreading this day, instead I can learn about it and think about it with joy and excitement :) I am amazed at how close it really is! I was reading in true to the faith and it like breaks down the signs that lead up to the second coming in bullet points and I was looking over them and realized that we only have like two or three of the bullet points left...right now we are in the process of preaching the gospel in all parts of the world, and while we are doing this the world is also becoming more and more evil...and there are individual cases of apostasy....and this is one of the signs of the second coming of our Savior. It´s really close! But it is a really interesting topic to learn about :) And this morning I felt excited to teach my children to be fiel and prepared for this time because for the righteous and prepared it will be a great day but for the wicked it will be a terrible day...and I really just thought of the importance of our life here on earth, because here, right now, is the time that men should prepare to meet God. Right now is our chance to repent and to make the changes that we need to in order to wax confidently in the presence of God. Now is the time to obtain knowledge of spiritual and earthly things. Now is the time to prepare oil for our lamps and to wait with excitement the coming of the bridegroom so that we can enter the wedding with him and not get locked outside of the doors. I don´t know, I am really excited and I love reading more about this topic and I just want to invite you guys to think about the things that you lack and to only focus on strengthening one of those things this week (since I know we all lack a lot of things and I don´t want you to overwhelm yourselves with your imperfection. Heavenly Father doesn´t want that either) I just want to invite you to think of one thing that you lack this week and work to perfect it. Repent of the things that have stained you during this week or maybe during this month, and give them to the Savior, who can and will wash you perfectly clean. And I want you to do this every week so that you can be preparing yourselves weekly for the time that you will be standing in front of God and the Savior. But I want that we can all stand with confidence in their presence and not with embarrassment. Use the atonement of the Savior this week to your full advantage. Think on a higher plain, have pure thoughts, then, as the scriptures say, will your confidence wax strong in the presence of God.

I know that this gospel is true and that it was restored by a living prophet Joseph Smith. I know that the Lord speaks to his servants here on the earth and that they receive inspired revelation to guide us in the paths of the Father. I know that God had given us the map to return to live with him and that we can find his path with ease as we pray and read the scriptures daily, as we have Family Home Evenings and strive to strengthen our families and as we nourish our fatih and testimonies. He loves us. He lives, as does his Son. I know that we are in the only true church here on the earth and that there is no other church that has the full and restored gospel here on the earth. 

I hope that you all have a great week and that you can keep preparing yourselves for the day in which you will meet with the Father and the Son face to face. !¡¡Échale ganitas!! Les amo mucho!!

Love always,

Hermana Walker

Here are some photos :) 

Me, Hermna Estrada, and my Trainer Hermna Kraczek at transfers

Me and Hermana Estrada - Happy in the Rain!

March 2, 2015 It's a Girl - Becoming a Mother in the Field!

That´s right! I am going to be a mom tomorrow!!! I´m gonna train!!! I can´t believe it! It feels like a dream haha! I can´t believe that it is real....and tomorrow in the changes meeting I am going to meet my daughter! Whahoo!! I am super excited because the new missionaries always have a ton of awesome energy and they are really excited to work and serve and I feel like it will really help out our area :) I think my daughter is going to be Latino but I have no idea where she is going to be from...so I will tell you all the details next week and I will send pictures also :) President told us that there are 6 or 7 new sisters and I think there are 2 elders coming and he told us that they are like all latinos and one north american so that is how I know that I am going to have a latino daughter :) I´m super excited! We got the call from the zone/district leaders (they are the leaders for both haha) on thursday night and they told me that I was going to train! and then all the trainers went to a meeting in the mission house on Saturday to learn a little bit more about training and the expectations of our mission President for us as trainers and our new missionaries. It was really awesome :) And yeah, tomorrow I am going to meet my new companion and welcome her to the life of a missionary :)  But yeah...that is my big news for the week! :) I will also tell you where my comp Hna Oaxaca is going to die....she dies this next change...it´s so sad! She is going home in April...all my companions go home like, right after I have them as companions.... Pray for me a lot!! And for mi hija! We both need a lot of help and prayers because....I still feel like I don´t know what I am doing and I need to be a good mom for this missionary so that she has a really awesome entrenamiento and not a really stinky one... 

I finished Genesis! I started in Exodos this morning and I am really loving my Bible reading because I learn more about the history of the world and the gospel and I can remember more details of the stories that I learned in Sunday School. I just started reading about Moses and the Egyptians and realized that that Dreamworks video isn´t really the best source of information haha ;) It has some details added for suspense and drama that aren´t Biblical...so it doesn´t have the fullness of the gospel... ;) how sad! But I am really glad I am learning all the details from the Bible and not from Hollywood ;) How is it going with your scripture reading? did you guys take the Book of Mormon challenge or the Bible challenge? I guess you can take them both...but I realized that maybe I am giving you too many challenges because I am a little bit excited about all the things that I am learning haha ;) well, the most important thing is that you guys are reading everyday so, I will be happy with whatever challenge you choose to accept ;) 

Keep me posted with the mission status of Cody and tell me when he gets his call! I am really excited to see where he gets called! :) 

Ok well, I need to go! I love you all and I hope that you have a great day and a fantastic week! I can´t wait to hear from you all! P.s. Sorry Kris, I can´t write you back but I read your email! Thanks for writing me back! :) And thanks for sending the package! I still haven´t gotten it but I am super excited! That was really sweet of you to send me something :) 

I´m gonna try to send some pictures this week :) I love you all:)

Love always,

Hermana Walker :)  

Carnaval (painted black)

Carnaval (painted red)

Me with some young men who particpated in Carnaval

People from Carnaval in Huejo

The sign we made for our mini golf "actividad misional"