Monday, December 14, 2015

December 14, 2015 Whoa....Can You Believe It's Already Been 18 Months?!!

I can´t! I feel like this isn´t real haha. I feel like I still need to finish like three more months of the mish por lo menos! I can´t believe that I will be home on wednesday.... I have a lot of mixed feelings about it all....and I actually don´t have time to write more but I figured that it doesn´t really matter because we will be able to talk in person in like, a day and a half....so yeah, that´s pretty exciting. But also sad at the same time.... yeah, I really don´t know how i feel about it.... I mean, don´t get me wrong, I am super duper excited to see you all again and to be home for Christmas and all that :) :) but... I am really going to miss being a missionary....and I will miss Mexico and my mission. These last 18 months have been amazing and I have learned so much and have felt the love of my Heavenly Father and I have been able to see so many miracles. It´s been amazing! but yeah, i have no time left. sorry. I love you all! see you on wednesday!! 

Love,

Hermana Walker

Monday, December 7, 2015

December 7, 2015 "Navidad, Navidad, Hoy Es Navidad"

Ok well....maybe it isn´t quite Christmas yet but....I am super excited tat it is at least December! :) I love this Christmas Season and the great spirit that we can all feel during this time! I am so grateful for the Church as well and for all the things that they prepare to share with the whole world so that everyone can see what being members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is all about :) they are always on top of things ;) 

Well, this week was alright....our numbers weren´t all that good in regards to lessons with member present and things like that....but our lessons were all really good and powerful and we were able to see a change in our investigators because they are showing more interest in our message so that is always good :) but.....the one good thing (or two good things I might say) that happened this week is that.... VIVIANA AND CARMEN GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!! :D it was really great :) they were super happy :) haha they arrived late to sacrament meeting on Sunday haha but don´t worry, they still got confirmed :) AND they already have their temple recommends and Carmen is planning on going to the temple this month with the ward!!! how awesome is that!? :) Viviana won´t be going because they already spent a lot of money to get married haha so....she will be going next month :) 

Today we had a zone activity and so I attached a picture of my companion and I with two other sisters in the zone (they are my granddaughter and great-granddaughter) how cool is that that we are all in the same zone and that I am their sister leader!? I think it´s pretty cool :) but anyway, I think that is about it for this week....i don´t really have a lot of time left to write anyway haha :) 

I hope you have a very amazing week and that you keep on feelin the good ol' Christmas Spirit and that you can find someone to serve this week! Love you all! Until next week :) 

Love,
Hermana Walker

Viviana and Carmen's Baptism

Me and Hermana Castaneca

Me and Hermanas - Zone Activity


            

Monday, November 30, 2015

November 30, 2015 Viviana and Carmen Are Getting Baptized!:)

Yep, this week Viviana is going to get married and then on Saturday she and her daughter are going to get baptized and become members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!! I am so happy for them! :) They already had and passed their baptismal interviews and we are working on the plans for the program and all that good stuff so that this day can be a spiritual and special day for both of them :) They are super great people and they are going to be great members :) This week we taught them how to make truffles and we helped make like 270 or something like that so that they could sell them to earn money to help pay for the wedding since it is a little bit expensive to get married here in Tehuacan....I don´t know why they make it so hard and expensive to get married.... but yeah, it was fun to teach them how to make them :) and they turned out SUPER cute :) I don´t have any pictures but...we can just make them at home and y'all can see how cute they are :) 

We also made a cute poster thing of the plan of salvation and it also turned out pretty cool :) I do have a picture of that one but...it´s all in spanish and...you probably won´t be able to read what it says all that well since it will be kind of small.... but yeah, we made a lot of things this week compared to normal :) 

So yeah, we´re gonna have two baptisms this week and the zone conference with President Stellmon :) I´m excited :) I am also excited for this Christmas Season and for the opportunity that we have to share a special video with the whole world about the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for the great love that our Heavenly Father has for each one of us, that He loves us so much that He sent His Only-Begotten Son to come to earth and suffer for each one of us to save us from our sins and make it possible for us to return to live with the Father once again. We are so blessed to have this knowledge and it is so important that we share it with the whole world. I challenge you all to share the video that the Church released, for the Christmas Season, with someone who isn´t a member of our faith and help them believe more firmly in the Savior of the World. 

I love you all and I hope that you have a great week! Keep the Christmas Spirit burning and make sure to serve someone as often as you can! (At LEAST once a week would be great I think :) )  

Love,
Hermana Walker

Mission Council Mtg Pic 1

Mission Council Mtg Pic 2

Plan of Salvation Pic 
            

Monday, November 23, 2015

November 23, 2015 Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello everyone! Well, I am a little short on time this week because today was super crazy and we were running around all morning and in the early afternoon doing things that we needed to get done! But yeah, I just wanted to say Heppy Thanksgiving to all of you! Sadly, they don`t celebrate thanksgiving here in Mexico BUT, we basically eat like it`s thanksgiving everyday so....at least I won`t be missing out on good food...and a lot of it! (Although I do miss the food from home, especially holiday food!) But life is great here and the food is amazing as always :) 

We have two baptismal dates! :) They are for our investigator and her daughter :) Their names are Viviana and Carmen :) They are going to get baptized on the 5th of December AND...yep, you guessed it! We are going to have another wedding!!! Wedding number three in Tehuacan! (Whoo... ;) no but really, whoo! It`s a good thing that we are marrying so many people so that they can be living the gospel and so that they can receive many blessings from the Lord). Viviana and her less active husband are going to get married (before the 5th of December) and then she and her daughter are getting baptized :) It is going to be amazing! Viviana has a lot of time knowing about the church and she actually knows basically EVERYTHING so it is really easy to have lessons with her because she already knows it all :) Her daughter knows a lot as well :) She`s like 13 years old and she is very cute :) So yeah, that is the good news that I have for yàll that happened this week :) 

Oh...yeah...I have some sad news as well....Areli and Juan Carlos are going to move to Oaxaca for a little bit.... like 6 months to a year....So I am pretty sad that I won`t get to see them or visit them anymore....we are going with them tonight and we are going to eat dinner with them :) I also made them a little picture book with one of the photo albums that you (mom) sent me and I filled it with their wedding pictures and pictures from her baptism :) It is my "going away" gift to them.  

I know that this is the true church here on the earth and I know that our God is a God of miracles and that He is constantly pouring blessings over us as His beloved sons and daughters. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that it testifies of the Savior and that by reading it, we will come closer to Him and understand His purpose as well as ours. I know that the Holy Ghost testifies of truth and that he touches the hearts of many, young and old, and that his influence in our lives is the most power and important thing that we could ever have because he leads and guides us in paths of truth and righteousness. I hope you can all pray fervently and live worthily to be able to have the Spirit more abundantly in your lives. 

I hope you all have a great week and a fantastic thanksgiving! :)  


Monday, November 16, 2015

November 16, 2015 The Most Stressful, Most Beautiful, Amazing, Miraculous Week Of My Whole Mission!

Alright, just to save time, cuz I now have none left, I am just going to send you all what I wrote to my mission president this week because...it´s basically a novel. I am really sorry if some of the things that I say/said don´t really make a lot of sense. All you American spanish speakers understand me :) I have kind of lost some english speaking abilities along with my ability to form sentances properly.... but it´s alright, I´ve got the rest of my life to figure it out again :) 

Dear President Stellmon,

Whoo...this week was the most stressful week of this whole transfer! It was also the week that we worked the hardest, even if our numbers don´t really show it, and it´s the week that we were the most exhausted....but it was also the week that we saw the most miracles and the week that I cried the most haha. It was amazing! I have felt the Spirit so powerfully in this transfer and I have definitely felt my faith increasing immensely. Haha I don´t even know where to begin.... well, the main miracle that we have been able to see is with Areli and her family. Areli has been an investigator for a while and when I first got here and we started visiting her, she never really paid attention in the lessons and when we invited her to come to church she never came. We even passed by her house to pick her up three times and no one ever answered the phone or the door and so we just went to church by ourselves. So yeah, that was happening for a while with her. We invited her to baptism when Sister Juncá and I first got here and she accepted a date and everything and we even put a date for her and her husband so that they could get married and they made plans and all that but they fell through and they once again were not progressing. So then we kind of stopped going with them regularly and we just started going every once in a while when Sister Guadarrama was here. Then, one Sunday, a member told us, "Areli y su familia estan aqui". My eyes got wide and I started franticly looking around and I was like "what!? Really? Where are they!?" I turn around, and there they are! Areli, Juan Carlos and their two little kids. I was shocked and pleasantly surprised and I ran over to them and said hi and I was super impressed because Areli looked very nice and she put make up on and everything! So yeah, that was the beginning of this whole miraculous process! Something in HER changed and SHE was the one that had desires to progress and come to church because that Sunday, we didn´t pass by her house nor did we pass by earlier in the week to invite her to come to church, she just showed up! It was amazing :) so after that, we started visiting her again and she suddenly was a lot more attentive in the lessons and she made amazing comments and opened up a lot more with us! (this all happened this transfer). So then we were sitting in our house in our planning session and we were talking about the baptismal dates that we were going to put with people and we decided that we needed to put into practice the things that we had taught to the zone in the zone conference about putting effective baptismal dates with investigators. So we first just stopped what we were doing, got down on our knees and started praying about the dates that we had previously thought of. With two of the dates, we changed them because while we were praying, we felt that Eber and Areli needed to have a different baptismal date. So then we prayed again and waited. We received an answer that was very specific for each investigator. The answer that we received for Areli was that she needed to be baptized on the 7th of november. When we went with her, we decided that we needed to talk about the law of chastity and so we just opened the first page of the pamphlet and had her read it. She read 

"Nuestro Padre Celestial le ama y quiere que usted sea feliz hoy y siempre. Él ha dado consejos y mandamientos a través de Sus profetas para ayudarle. Un mandamiento que es vital para su paz y felicidad es el que se refiere a la pureza sexual, conocido como la ley de castidad. El Señor instituyó esa ley desde el principio y le recalcó su importancia al profeta José Smith como parte de la restauración del evangelio de Jesucristo. La obediencia a este mandamiento es un requisito para el bautismo en La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos días." 

After she read that, I asked her, "Hermana, ¿que es lo que entiende de lo que usted leyó?" And she said, "That I need to get married." we were shocked that she said that because it was perfect! So yeah, then we asked her if she would like to get baptized and if she would like to get married. She said yes :) and she told us that the Spirit had been prompting her the whole week that she needed to get baptized. It was incredible! We went with her two times after that and everytime we went we left her the commitment to pray about her baptismal date to know when it should be and I think I already told you all about it how we prayed and she prayed but she didn´t feel a date, she just knew that it was something that she needed to do, but her husband was the one that said that she was going to get baptized in november and then he said "like, the 7th of november" and Sister Sánchez and I almost fell out of our chairs because it was the exact date that we had received as our answer! It was amazing and we put the date with her and she accepted it and then we told them about a thing where they could get married for free! (Our ward mission leader told us about the whole free wedding thing) but, here is where the stress comes in, what he failed to do was give us all the details all at once. What he did instead was only find out little by little all the info and then as he was finding it out, he told us. So, we found out little by little about the "free" wedding. Yep, it was one of those "too-good-to-be-true" things....because what they had to do was have all their paperwork all done and turned in before the 5th of november and that is what our mission leader told us so we told that to Areli and Juan Carlos and they actually got right on it and they got their papers all turned in on time and everything! But then, our mission leader calls us and reads the paper that has all the information about the wedding and it turns out that the papers still had to be turned in before the 5th but that the wedding was going to be in PUEBLA, not even in Tehuacan, and it wasn´t going to be until the 25th if november!!!! What!? Umm...yeah, that was not ok. So yeah, when we heard that we started getting stressed out because we felt lied to and then we were the ones that had to tell Areli and her partner and we had to tell them that now they would be the ones that would have to pay for the wedding because it wasn´t going to be free.....and they have no money.... but basically the Lord blessed us SO much and He totally just prepared the whole way for this cute little family. He provided a very kind and generous member who isn´t even a member of our ward, who was willing to pay for their wedding, He helped them to feel the Spirit the day before they were going to get married because Satan was working super hard against them and he was trying to convince them to not get married and....ah! It´s a long story....haha this is the reason why I didn´t even know where to start but, basically they called us on friday morning and told us that they weren´t going to get married ONE DAY BEFORE HER "BAPTISM!!!" So we just booked it to her house to talk to her (and I wasn´t even in my area because we were in interchanges but sister sanchez called me and told me what happened and I started feeling uneasy and I told her to go and talk to them right then in that same moment). I tried to finish up my session of personal study but I was so distracted with what I was just told that I couldn´t think about anything else and I couldn´t concentrate on my studies. So after I ended my study with a prayer, I looked at sister Rodriguez and she looked at me and we both just said, alright, let´s go! and we prayed and left the house to go talk to Areli and help them understand that the adversary was the one that was causing all of this confusion and trying to convince them to not get married. When we got there, we knocked on the door several times and we waited outside for like 5-10 minutes and then Hermana Sanchez and Hermana Estrada came out and they told us what was happening and they told us that Areli and Juan were going to have a companionship inventory and that we would come back in a half an hour. We returned 35 minutes later, knocked on the door and waited. Areli answered the door and she just smiled at us and said "Que sí!" and we screamed and clapped and we were just so excited! we planned the hour in which we would leave so that they could get married that same day. When we got to the CIS, the place where there were going to be married, they told us that THERE WERE NO JUDGES THAT COULD DO THE CEREMONY!! Oh my gosh. I couldn´t believe it!! They told us that they were so sorry and that if we came back the next day they would get them married by 9:15 A.M and that it would be the most beautiful wedding ever. So, the next day, we get all ready and we get to the CIS and the judge is there! And it truly was the most beautiful wedding and the judge said some amazing things! So yeah, even though this letter is super long I cut down the story a lot and to make a long story cut short cut even shorter, Areli got married and got baptized the same saturday! And it was a miracle that the judge came and that they got married on a saturday because....that doesn´t happen! They don´t do weddings on saturdays! And another thing that is just a side note is that Areli has a cute little son who is three years old and when we sang the closing hymn at his mom´s baptism, he felt the Spirit very very strongly, so strongly in fact, that he was crying! I was leading the music and my comp was playing the piano so when we finished the song and we both sat down, we asked him what was wrong and he just sniffled and wiped his tears and he cried again during the prayer that my companion said and I felt the Spirit as well and was so touched by the innocence and purity of this cute little boy that I was just overcome by the Spirit and I joined in crying with him! It was a very beautiful moment and an amazing day, despite all the stress that we all felt.

I know without a doubt that this is the only true church on the earth and that Christ is at the head of it. I know that our God is a God of miracles and that He prepares the way for His children to complete His commandments. I know that miracles exist and that God answers prayers and that His power is stronger and more powerful than any other force or power here on the earth or in the universe. I am grateful for this gospel in my life and for the Spirit as well and for all the things that I have learned and felt over the course of my life and my mission up till this point in my life. 

I hope that you and Sister Stellmon have a great week and I will see you guys tomorrow :) 


I also hope that all of you have an amazing week and that you can all keep working hard and that you can do your part so that you can receive all the blessings that the Lord has prepared for you and so that you can all be worthy of seeing and being part of mighty miracles. I love you all! 

Love always,
Hermana Walker 


P.s here are some pics of the wedding and baptism :) 

Areli's Baptism with her son, me and Hrmna Sanchez

Group Family Baptism Picture

Me at Areli's Beautiful Wedding! :)