weeks 4 and 5

1/13/15

Again, I apologize for how short this email will be! Today starts 2 weeks until I´m officially in Santiago Sur! I am so excited!! My district is now the oldest in the CCM because every district but 2 left this morning for their missions. On the Monday night before a big group leaves every two weeks, we have a big goodbye meeting and sing and basically just have a big crying fiesta. Last night was especially hard because our roommates left (Hermana Torres-from Colombia and Hermana Bishop-from Utah) They were so much fun and 2 weeks just wasn't enough! On Sunday my companion and I taught a lesson on Hope at church and had a wonderful experience. It was our last "English" week because this next Sunday and the Sunday after that are all in Spanish. Devotionals and everything! :)  Good gracious I´m out of time already!! Here are a couple of pictures. Everyone take care and be safe. I love you and I am so grateful for the support and emails and letters. :) Love, Hermana Walker

Hermana Endicott bought me a Kinder egg. I hadn´t ever heard of them but it´s a chocolate egg with a toy inside that requires assembly ;) 

Last night before the crying party (Hermana Bishop, Hermana Goodwin, Hermana Torres)

1/20/15


I don´t think 6 weeks has ever gone so fast! I leave for Santiago Sur (South) next Tuesday. I´m so excited to meet so many new people and share the happy message of Jesus Christ with them and their sweet families. :)

This past week was wonderful. To begin, my Spanish is improving! This is huge! Haha It´s still bery simple and a lot of times not the way I should say it but I can get my point across which is really exciting. :) On Sunday, we (my district) taught Ingles to the Latinos. It was so fun and fun(ny) to imagine what we sound like when they´re trying to teach us. ;) For our daily exercise in the morning, we´ve been playing ultimate frisbee which has been a blast! I spoke in church on Sunday. All in Spanish and some Latinos said they understood. YES! 

This whole week I´ve had There is Sunshine In My Soul Today stuck in my head. What a blessing it is to have such uplifting hymns to give joy to our spirits. :) 

I never say nearly all that I want to say in these emails but I know that Jesus Chirst is the Savior of the world. He is the reason for hope and the reason that we can have sunshine in our souls. Thank you for your prayers and love. Have a great week! :)

-Hermana Walker

weeks 2 and 3

There are 2 more emails to post from Maddie; will try to keep up and make sure they get posted as we receive them.  Just happened to check the weather forecast in Santiago this week-looks like it'll be around 95 degrees tomorrow!  Ah, sounds nice! Maybe a few more weeks of snow and then I think I'll be done :)  Thanks to all of you for your love and support of Maddie.  It means a lot to our family.  Have a wonderful week!

12/30/14

Alright so this is going to be short and I´m so sorry for that. An hour to email is just killin me. But mom, dad, Gage, Roma, and Berke, I´m so grateful to have talked to you on Christmas. It lifted my spirits and helped immensly to hear that you were doing so well. I´m so happy for the gifts you received and Roma I really need you to learn some songs for me when I get home. ;) I´ll attach some pictures of Christmas morning. Presidente y Hermana Doll made Christmas morning so special for us. We had breakfast in the commons area of the Hospidaje (our ¨dorms¨) and gave us little gifts and Santa hats. We had breakfast casserole, bread pudding, muffins and fruit and then we went and exercised. ;) Which is better than what I´ve would have done at home which would have been ate all that food, sat on the couch, ate some more food... ;) The rest of the day, we watched Christmas devotionals and then caroled around the city at night. That was one of the most touching experiences I´ve had in the CCM thus far. People started following us and singing along and there are huge apartment buildings and they just came out on their balconies and sang Christmas hymns at the top of their lungs with us. :) In one of the devotionals we watched, Elder Russell M. Nelson said one simple thing that has changed the way I look at my mission and the way I want to look at life. He said ¨cherish every day¨ its so simple and seems so small but it is what I needed to hear. To enjoy everyday, cherish everyday. I challenge you to do the same and I know it will uplift your Spirit and allow you to live in happiness. I love you all and continue to hope and pray that you will be blessed with safety and joy. Have a wonderful week. Love, Hermana Walker
​On Christmas Eve all of us got together and shared our photo albums and talked about our families in our Christmas pjs :) 

1/6/15

Today starts my 4th week in the CCM!  My brain is full of things I want to tell you so I´m just gonna put them in bullet points:

-I forgot it was New Year´s Eve and went straight to bed without another thought because my brain is so tired but esta bien!! :) I love learning the language and forgetting English ;) I can´t speak either now. ;)

-we have 2 new Brasilanio hermanas in our District! Hermana Borges y Hermana Anunciacao They are so sweet and are teaching us a little Portugese and a lot of Spanish!!

-I leave the CCM on January 27th!! :) I can´t wait to start meeting so many people! 

-I have a little fashionable button thing in the back of one of my shirts near the collar and I´ve gotten a sunburn there twice already!! So I have a permanent teardrop tan thing that all the Latina sisters ( and Gringas make fun of) ;) 

-Funny story: My companion and I were walking to the post office last week and a sweet little old guy was trying to say ¨hello¨ but said  Ï love you¨ instead! He kind of yelled it while smiling a huge smile which is why I think he was saying hello..lets hope! ;)

-We have a new Colombian roommate! She is so funny! She always corrects our awful spanish and laughs at us but loves helping us too :) She´s great :) 

-WE HAD COLD MILK FOR THE FIRST TIME ON SUNDAY!! Hot milk and chocolate milk is just not as good ;) Tender mercies ;) 

-the power goes out daily but esta bien!! It went out twice this morning but I´m just grateful for electricity :) 

-on Sunday my District and I sang Come Thou Fount and it was such a wonderful spiritual experience. One of the girls, Hermana Ross, arranged the music herself and accompanied us on the piano. We had everyone crying..even the Elderes ;) 

-last but not least, the best chocolate >I´ve ever eaten is Bon O Bon chocolate!! I´ll be sending some to you, Mom :) Enjoy every bite :) They´re what get me through the days when I can´t speak English or Spanish ;) 

Have a great week everyone! Take care and keep me updated on your lives :)

Love, Hermana Walker