Week 1 with Hermana Gaitan

April 29, 2015

The "s" key on my keyboard isn't working too well and I need to type fast so if  I'm missing an s in some spots just fill it in. ;) Haha

Last week in the email that I wasn't able to end I had planned to say that I got a new companion-another Argentine. :) Hermana Gaitan is one of the sweetest people I've ever met! She's from Mendoza, Argentina and is about to complete a year in her mission in May. Our firt week was pretty difficult. Almost all of our lessons fell through everyday leaving us feeling discouraged. Sunday was one of the most difficult days I've had in the mission. We had planned a regular day of contacting, visiting people who had listened to the missionaries before us and lessons with invetigators and less-active members. Few answered the door and of the one that did, no one wanted to hear from us. We knocked on the door of a less-active member of our ward that neither of us knew. There wa a lady sweeping her patio and immediately said "No! No quiero nada con ustedes!" (I don't want anything from you) My companion asked if he knew Lara (the member we were trying to visit) and I don't know how but I think she lost the ability to hear in that moment becaue she looked right at us and kept on sweeping until she was out of sight. ;) We left, a little surprised at what had happened but had a good laugh anyway. :) We continued to contact and as we were walking to the house of a reference, that we had in our area book, an elderly woman yelled "hermanas!" We turned around and saw her with her cart of groceries.  She asked if we could walk with her to the Gran Avenida and El Parron. We started walking with her and after about 30 minutes, reached El Parron. In these 30 minutes, we hear all about her life and the difficulties and challenges she has had. My companion invited her to come to church on Sunday. She said yes and left us with a hug and a thank you. We walked back, feeling better but still a little discouraged that we hadn't had a lesson all day and it was now 9:30pm.  We started to contact again, 15 minutes later and more houses with no one answering. We decided to say a prayer. A prayer that in the last 15 minutes of the day, we could find someone who wanted to listen to our message. We started to contact houses again. As we were nearing our apartment, we passed a young woman with her head down looking a little sad. Hermana Gaitan and I looked at each other and decided to go back and talk to her. We asked if she was alright and she said yes with a smile. We started a conversation and she asked us what we were doing here in Chile. We had a conversation for 15 minutes and asked if we could meet with her another day. She was so excited to give us her address and telephone number! She then aked if she could invite her uncle, grandpa and family to listen as well. Her name is Valentina  and she's 19 years old. We left her with a Book of Mormon and she gave us both hugs and thanked us. :) I don't know why it seems like always in the last minutes of the day, the Lord puts people in our path but I'm so grateful for thee days of difficulty in which we can more easily see the miracles. I know that we all have these days when everything is difficult and it's hard to see that there was anything good in the day, but I know that without this opposition, we could never know true happiness. The true happiness that the gospel of Jesus Christ brings. Thank Heavenly Father for the small miracles and remember "For it must needs be that there is opposition in all things. If not so, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holines, nor misery, neither good nor bad.." (2 Nephi 2:11) Look for good in every day. I love you all! Have a great week! Take care.

Love, Hermana Walker

Alicia and Anastasia

Maricel!

Hermana Jerez and I on the day of transfers. My eyes aren't closed ;) 

Chocolate easter eggs from Hermana Jerez's parents 

Another Cambio in Brisas de Maipo (and my computer crashed..)

April 22, 2015

About 10 minutes ago I was ready to send a nice long email with pictures and an explanation of everything that happened this week and... my computer crashed! Next week will be better! Take care! -Hermana Walker

Transfers

April 15, 2015

This week is my last week of my "training" with Hermana Jerez. I can't believe how fast it has gone! Today is possibly our last p-day as a companionship so we were able to visit the temple this morning. It's fall here and cold enough to wear boots and scarves and jackets. I really like the temperature but they say that it's going to get really cold in winter and we don't have heat in our apartment so I'm hoping we can stay warm in some way! This week was great.  We were crossing the street a couple weeks ago to go to a lesson with Hugo and entered his house when a lady rang the doorbell and asked if we spoke English. I said yes and she asked if we could talk with her friend Cecilia real quickly. We walked outside and Cecilia asked if we could help her sons with English and we set a time for the next Thursday to visit. She has two sons, Vincente and Maximo, who are 9 and 6. They both changed schools this year and their schools before didn't teach any English so they're really struggling. After this first run-in with Cecilia, Hermana Jerez told me that she and her companion before me had taught Cecilia one time before and the second time they visited, she didn't want to hear anything! We visited on Thursday and helped Vincente and Maximo (I learned too!) and set another time for the next Thursday and she invited us to have onces with them. We prepared a short lesson, thinking that we'd be able to talk a little about the Book of Mormon. She was more prepared than us. :) She had so many questions for us and we were able to give her a Book of Mormon and invite her to read it. She received it with a huge smile and a lot of excitement to read. :) We're going to meet with them again tomorrow to help Vincente and Maximo with their english and talk more with her. We were able to see another act of the Lord's hand and His timing in all things and in all places and in all people. Perhaps she wasn't ready to receive these things a few months ago, but we know that her heart is changed, her mind prepared and her faith in Jesus Christ strengthened. This week we also received a call to visit a less-active member named Maria Teresa and her son Marlon. He is 8 and also needs help with his English. We were able to have a wonderful lesson with her and invite her to church on Sunday. She's had a really hard time caring for her son. She works in the feria (farmers market) selling clothes and told us that for 5 years she lived in "house" with her son with no shower, kitchen or separate room to sleep and carried the gas tank to heat the water for her shower to her neighbors house to shower everyday. She was still so grateful for everything she had and continued to work so hard. This people are incredible and we have so much love for them. My faith is strengthened everyday through their example. I hope your faith can be strengthened as well through their lives and progress towards a life again with our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ. Have a great week, everyone! Take care and enjoy the spring weather! :) Love, Hermana Walker 

At the temple today with Hermana Jerez. Definitely starting to feel like fall! 

One of our investigators, Armando! :) He is probably the hardest person we have to teach because it's really hard for him to remember things but he's come to church for about 2 months now since the first time we invited him! 

eleven weeks and a wimpy letter

April 8, 2015

I ran out of time to write a good letter this week and I apologize for that! But thank goodness for pictures! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and enjoyed your Easter Sunday. I will be prepared with a good letter next week! Have a great week, everyone. Take care. Love, Hermana Walker

Hermana Jerez gave me her mate for Easter. Mate is a herbal tea mainly used in Argentina but lots of missionaries drink it in the morning here. :) 

Before General Conference on Saturday. 

Pictures

March 25, 2015

Sorry for the gruesome picture of my ankle but I was pretty impressed with the damage my shoe caused ;) 

The first is a picture of my companion and I on our p day last week and the last is a picture of us decorating a house for the homecoming of a missionary in our ward.

Three months!

March 18, 2015

Today, I have 3 months and 1 day in the mission! Woohoo! I don't have much time today to write and the computer I'm at won't let me send pictures! :( But, I wanted to share something that helped me this week. This is a quote by President Uchtdorf "Patience means accepting that which cannot be changed and facing it with courage, grace, and faith. It means being 'willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father' (Mosiah 3:19). Ultimately, patience means being 'firm and steadfast and immovable in keeping the commandments of the Lord' every hour of every day, even when it is hard to do so. I love this quote and I love the principles that we can learn from it. Patience is action not just waiting and action with faith. I hope you all have a great week. :) I promise a better letter and pictures next week. ;)

Love, Hermana Walker

The Lord's Timing

March 11th, 2015

Friday we had a day totally in the timing of the Lord. After lunch we had an appointment with a young woman with 3 kids who we've been trying to talk to for weeks. We finally had this appointment and when we got to her house she said she was busy and to just come back another day. I was super bummed and frustrated that our "for sure" appointment fell through. This appointment was at 3 and our next appointment wasn't until 4 but we decided to go to the next one early and see if she was home. She was and thankfully we caught her just before she ws going to take a nap. After this lesson we walked down a street that we don't usually walk down because Hermana Jerez remembered that we needed to buy laundry detergent. The woman who sells it from her house is a less-active member who we've never had a lesson with because she had been talking with the elders before. We knocked on the door and she let us in, gave us snacks and sat down ready for a lesson! We weren't prepared for a lesson with her but said a prayer with her and taught a lesson about prayer and receiving spiritual answers to spiritual questions. We then went back to our apartment because the night before, we discovered an iceberg in our fridge and had to let it thaw during the day, go back to make sure that our kitchen wasn't flooded and put all of our food back in before it went bad. At 6:30 we had an appointment with a lady that we had contacted in the street with her daughter. Her daughter is about 10 and is autistic. She recognized that I was "gringa" and immediately started talking with me in english! So we met with them and Monica (the mom) told us all about Andrea and their background. She talked to us until around 8:20 and we had lessons at 8:30! All day we had been calling sisters to help us with divisions since we couldn't visit both appointments without dividing and no one could help us except for one sister. We were waiting for her at the church because she said she would be about 5 minutes late and we were wondering what we were going to do when a young woman from our ward came walking down the street. We yelled her name and asked is she would PLEASE help us. She said of course and 1 min later the other sister came. We were able to go to both appointments and both were lessons filled with the Spirit and filled with progression. Heavenly Father cares about all the souls in this area and in the world. I have a greater testimony of this following this crazy day. :) It's true that "every soul is of worth in the sight of God" and I know that if we do our part to be instruments in His hands that He will always help us accomplish what is necessary. I hope, as always, that you all are doing well. Have a great week!

Love, Hermana Walker

Hermana Jerez and I with our Argentina shirts! She bought one for me at the farmers market (feria) for 1 mil (pesos)

Hermana Pocon, Hermana Johnson, Hermana Jerez and I after the Capilla Abierta

An elderly couple that we teach-Hugo and Elaina :) I love them so much! Hugo was just baptized in December at 90 years old! Elaina has been baptized for 40 years and never forgets to tell us! ;) They are the sweetest couple!

The elders in our ward with us-Elder Llacza, Elder Norman, Hermana Jerez and I