Good Christmas

Not much to say since we just talked, but here are some pictures.

At the conferencia Navideña

So we were in the center of Huancayo on Christmas Eve en la plaza huamanmarca singing with all 80 missionaries. Super cool and fun. 

Christmas Eve dinner. The Elderes from Pampas were with us and we stayed in our room for the week until they went back to Pampas. 

Christmas Eve PJ's

We ate pancakes as a zone with some of the chocolate chips you sent in the church on Christmas morning. We borrowed the key, set up, cooked and everything. 

Skyping

Family Photo

Feliz Navidad

Dear family and friends,

I love you! I love the family and missed you all this week. 

We had an absolutely crazy week. Last Monday we had a zone p-day followed by our zone meeting on Tuesday (Elder Bullock's first). The p-day was fun: playing games, eating lunch, and relaxing. Elder Bullock was nervous about the first Zone Meeting, and he reminded me of myself during my first zone meeting about 5 months ago. I've grown up a lot since then. He did great though; We shared a message about completing our missionary purpose with verdadera intencion--doing the right thing for the right reason and not counting the cost. Something I've been working on and practicing a lot in my own life lately.

Wednesday I did divisions with Elder Phillips. He is a new missionary from St. George. Great guy. We had a lot of fun working together. The biggest thing that happened this week was the activity in Pampas on Saturday. This is what was stressing me out because since Elder Gonzales was transferred, he left me to pretty much plan and do everything alone, from transportation to lunch and the actual show. It turned out great though. Stake leaders, ward leaders, and 2 zones of missionaries went. We did a lttle talent show (our zone did a skit) and then passed out food. We also contacted about half of the population of Pampas. It was super cool. It was nice to do service during this holiday season. 

I won't lie it's been hard this week to stay focused and not count the cost. It's helped that I've been busy. The activity in Pampas was a blessing because I didn't have time to think about home that day (except on the bus ride). Also, I've been able to overcome it because I just decided not dwell on the past and to put my faith in the future. Like Elder Holland said, "It takes exactly as long to repent [and change your attitude] as it takes you to say, “I’ll change”—and mean it." I choose to keep my "eye single to the glory of God" and to keep moving forward "with faith, hope, charity, and love" because life is too short to be bitter. I'm far from perfect, way far. I decided to change my attitude.  However, the irony about life is that sometimes as soon as we decide to repent and move on, we get tested and we have to repent again and keep on moving on. (Like when I had a great week until I got Chloe's wedding invitation on the 18th). 

I read Jeffery R Holland's talk entitled "Remember Lots Wife" that mom gave me and President gave me. Everyone should read it (or Mom re-read it.) That talk helped me a lot. He starts out by explainin the story of Lot's wife that we all know then proceeds to say the following:

"Apparently what was wrong with Lot’s wife was that she wasn’t just looking back; in her heart she wanted to go back. It would appear that even before they were past the city limits, she was already missing what Sodom and Gomorrah had offered her. As Elder Maxwell once said, such people know they should have their primary residence in Zion, but they still hope to keep a summer cottage in Babylon.

"It is possible that Lot’s wife looked back with resentment toward the Lord for what He was asking her to leave behind. We certainly know that Laman and Lemuel were resentful when Lehi and his family were commanded to leave Jerusalem. So it isn’t just that she looked back; she looked back longingly. In short, her attachment to the past outweighed her confidence in the future. That, apparently, was at least part of her sin.

"So, as a new year starts and we try to benefit from a proper view of what has gone before, I plead with you not to dwell on days now gone, nor to yearn vainly for yesterdays, however good those yesterdays may have been. The past is to be learned from but not lived in. We look back to claim the embers from glowing experiences but not the ashes. And when we have learned what we need to learn and have brought with us the best that we have experienced, then we look ahead, we remember that FAITH IS ALWAYS POINTED TOWARD THE FUTURE. Faith always has to do with blessings and truths and events that will yet be efficacious in our lives. So a more theological way to talk about Lot’s wife is to say that she did not have faith. She doubted the Lord’s ability to give her something better than she already had. Apparently she thought—fatally, as it turned out—that nothing that lay ahead could possibly be as good as those moments she was leaving behind."

I choose to have my faith in the future: a new day, a new month, a new year. I know that the Lord does have something better. I choose not to look back "longingly" but to put my trust in God. I know I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be. I'll end with a scripture that I love that Elder Holland cites, 

"This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." [Philippians 3:13–14]

Love you! Have a great week. Talk to you on Saturday!

Elder Walker

Zone Meeting on Tuesday

Divisions with Elder Phillips

Chloe, sorry I can't make it to the wedding. Something came up called being a rep. de Jesucristo. I sent my wedding gift though. Hope you like it.

Missionaries at the Pampas Actividad

Bus ride to Pampas

People of Pampas enjoying the party.

New Companion

YESSSSSSSSSSSS! You got my package. Elder Bradford is seriously the best guy! Please tell him thanks for me and take him out to eat or something because it was no small task. Tell Camron that the package is for you so when you get it mom, you can open it. I hope you like everything I got and sorry for not giving you anything my whole mission! What kind of son am I?! Seriously though I will send more small letters home. The problem is just finding time. Anyways tell Elder Bradford thanks.

SOOOOO...... It's hard to believe but Elder Gonzales had transfers, and I stayed here in Peñaloza! 6 months! 3 comps! here in Peñaloza. Like my new comp says I don't just know everyone here in the ward Peñaloza but I know everyone in the neighboring ward Chilca, too (we share a building). It's pretty funny. I would say I wanted to leave a little bit, but having Elder Bullock as my comp is like a dream come true. He is the definition of a BOSS. He survived Cerro de Pasco twice. He is a marine. He is a great guy. Hard working. He was trainging in Cerro before he was here. He like me has never been a district leader or anything, but went straight to zone leader. I am training him as a zone leader. He has 14 months in the mission. He is from pleasant grove Utah. He is 21 years old. We get along great. So needless to say transfers were pretty crazy. 

This week has been a fun, crazy week. It has been funny to watch Elder Bullock go from Carhuamayo (city right outside of Cerro, known as the worst area in the whole mission. 10 people go to church) to Huancayo. It has been a nice change though, after being here with Elder Gonzales so long. We will have a lot of fun and will be together for Christmas and New Years. 

The work is good. We are working with a lot of new investigators and actually had 5 go to church. The problem is that they don't have a date for baptism and the ones that do didn't go to church. So we keep working with them and some less actives. We are also planning an activity to do with the stake in Pampas. Apart from that we are planning the Christmas Conference for all the missionaries and our zone meeting. So we are busy with everything. Not as busy you, Mom, but still busy. I like it though. Stuco prepared me for planning activities, and we should have a lot of fun. 

Love you all. Mom, thanks for explaining the 12 tribes of Israel to me. What day is the wedding?

Elder Walker

Good bye to Elder Gonzales

New Comp. Elder Bullock

Elder Bullock

Questions

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. It has always been one of my favorite holidays behind Christmas and the 4th of July. I guess Christmas is the only holiday left in my mission. I am fine on planning our Skype call, but if we dont do it on Christmas day I'd rather do it on the 26th not on Christmas Eve when you are all at... Wait where is everyone going to be on Christmas Eve in Gmas house? Our house? Where Mare is living? Hhhhmmmm weird, but skyping would better on the 26th. The picture of me here was on Thanksgiving day when I was in Huancavelica in the morning for a baptismal interview.

I'm sending and have already given an Elder a package to give to you guys. I sent it with Elder Bradford. He is from Provo. You can probably facebook stalk him or something and get connected to his family. His first name is Gabriel. I put on the package Camron's name and phone number. If that info has changed and isn't correct you need to try to contact Elder Bradford. I told him joking that he will be paid upon pick up. But really please thank him for me because I sent a pretty big package with him and it was super nice of him to do it. If everything goes as planned then you could have the package on Saturday when Camron comes down for his eye surgery. 

So I don't know if you know, but I just finished my 12th transfer in the mission. Transfers are tomorrow and it is like 60 to 40 that I'm leaving and going somewhere else. I love Huancayo. I love the people and unique culture. Even in Peru the culture changes a LOT and the mountains of Peru have become my home. 

This week I learned about the 12 tribes of Israel. It is super interesting and confusing. Like why does John in Revelations 7 mention Manasseh and not the tribe of Dan? The 12 tribes are the children of Jacob, or Israel, but are Ephraim and Manasseh tribes as well? It was interesting reading about the blessings of the tribes though. 

Other than that we visited Beatriz she said she was gonna go to church but didn't. We had our ward conference and about 170 people came which was cool How many people go to our ward? 

Transfers are tomorrow! Exciting. 

Love you, 

Elder Walker

Thanksgiving day when I was in Huancavelica in the morning for a baptismal interview.

Thanks

Thanks for the great letters. That's super sad news about Ms. Ringen. She was a flaming Liberal, but I always liked her so much and especially admired the love she had for her students. Actually, she is the only teacher who has written me on my mission. She said this in response to my email,  "thanks for understanding.  you are, as always, right, walkman:  life, including a mission, is tough.  reality bites, sir.  think of you often and fondly.  thanks for getting back to me, and i promise to crush jason lyon for you.  with respect and affection (and no, i don’t use caps in email), your friend." Great lady. I will miss her. 

I love the talk from Elder Wirthlin as well and thanks for reminding me about Thanksgiving because I completely forgot. I'm going to print out your letter and read it later. 

Hey, so I spent a lot of time preparing and organizing a small memory chip I'm about to send home so sorry. I would like to know two things about politics because it's annoying and distracting to hear Peruvians talk about it. First, is Donald Trump going to be president? Do we want that? Is world war three about to break out because of a terrorist attack on France? That is the stuff I have heard and would like clarifiction. 

Anyways, quickly this week we went to Pampas to do divisions there. It went okay. Pampas is struggling as a family group, but the missionaries are great there and we have a lot of hope. We will have a zone activity together with the stake for Christmas. We were able to find and teach a few new people this week and will see what happens. More than anything we continue to work with less actives and recent converts. All good though. Tomorrow we will do divisions with Chilca and then have to go back to Huancavalica to do a baptismal interview. All good. Everyone here skips Thanksgiving (guess it is just an US thing) and is thinking about Christmas. Gratitude is so important. Love you!

Elder Walker

Photos

Hey,

I have a couple of questions and then I can move on. How did Joe ask Chloe to marry him? Where are they doing their reception? Where did Chloe get her dress and what's it like? 

Also small note, I found out that two people I found in Villa Rica got baptized. It was super funny. I was in the mission office looking at the baptism records and saw two from Villa Rica. Looked at the named and was like hmm I know them. crazy stuff. Two random people we started to talk toon the street got baptized. It reminds me to talk to everyone, especially here in Peru, because you never know. 

The work is going slow here in our area for now. We have an older lady named Guillermina, who is the only real investigator we have. She has gone to church 3 times now but it is hard for her to undertand. We have to teach very slowly with her. She is cool though and will get baptised at the end of this month or at the beginning of Dec. Other than that we are working with a lot of recent converts because the Sister missionaries left some and we already had some as well. We keep working at it though. The zone is great. Pampas is struggling because it was demoted from a branch to a family group. All of the missionaries are great though. 

I'm sorry I don't have much to say today. I'll just send more photos. Happy birthday to my sister, Chloe. Love you all,

Elder Walker

Working in the rain like a real missionary

My pensionista's granddaughter, the cutest little girl in the world. 

Here I Raise my Ebenezer

For the first time in a while, I am writing you, and I have a lot of time to do it. Ironically, now I can't think of very much to say. 

This last week went by fast with consejo de lideres, a multi zone pday, the multi zone training, then our zone meeting. In reality this whole change (half way down) has gone by fast and even this year as I realize we are already in November. My companion and I both get to our room at night exhausted. One doesn't realize what the hermana missionaries do until they're gone. We are great though and have plans to keep working hard and to help the ward. More than anything we need to find more investigators because we don't have anyone that goes to church. We are working with some less actives as well. Jean Carlos and Beatriz continue to be MIA but we were able to talk to them both once. Needless to say that whole situation is so frustrating.

Of all of the trainings and out of everyone that talked my favorite was the Hermana Henderson when she talked to us in consejo de lideres. She has such a strong testimony and without fail I can feel the spirit when she talks. I'm gonna paraphrase a little bit of what she said. 

We first got the lyrics then listened to the song "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" all of the verses and it is an amazing song. I invite you all to listen to it when you have time and to really focus on the words. Afterwards, she asked us what Ebenezer means when is in the song says,

Here I raise my Ebenezer
Hither by thy help I come 
And I hope by thy good pleasure 
Safetly to arrive at home

In Samuel 7 it explains the story. Israel was battling with the Philistenes and the Philistenes were subdued. In verse 10 it reads,

10 And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel: but the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were smitten before Israel.

Then later in verse 12 Samuel comes and takes a stone.

 12Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.

So Ebenezer means stone of help. The Israelites afterwards touched the stone whenever they need help in their lives. Now we maybe can't walk around with a stone all of the time, but our Ebenezer can be the moments in our lives when we were certain that the church is true or when without a doubt we knew that God help us when times were hard. Hermana Henderson explained that her Ebenezer was when her sister died. She said that in that moment she was sure. I think for me that moment was at Braize's and Kaleb's farewell and at my own farewell as well. I've had moments when I really felt the Spirit strongly. The earliest I can remember was when Grandpa Bob passed away. It also has happened on my mission. My first week in the field in Cerro. These are moments when I knew for sure that the church is true. To many people forget about these moments and lose grasp of their personal Ebenezers. Hermana Henderson said that one of those people who has forgotten is her son who served a mission but who continues to live outside the gospel. We have to hold on to these our Ebenezers like we hold on to the iron rod!

Anyways that is what I wanted to share today. I would love it if you and Dad could listen to this song and then share you Ebenezers with me. I love you. 

Elder Walker

All the missionaries from my CCM group at the consejo. 

For the first time in more than a year I was able to see and talk to my companion, Elder Shreiner, from the CCM. True love.

Poor, Poor Joseph, What You Gonna Do?

Mom,

First off, I have little time due to doing so many informes and writing president. I also having gotten my package yet but I have been to the office in a while. Soo thanks so much! Do I open my "Christmas Package" right now or do I wait? I also sent a letter to Chloe, and she didn't write me back. Nor did Joe. But tell Chloe I'm sorry. Maybe she's not even reading my letters.

The last couple of weeks have been super crazy. There are 16 people in our zone still, but what happened is that the area of Hermanas here in Peñaloza closed and one area in Pampas opened. There are 4 Hermanas in the zone. But here in Peñaloza, we are the only missionaries. It is like double the work load with all of the other stuff we have to do as zone leaders. It has been hard, but we are managing. We had a baptism of an investigator of the Hnas named Jimena who is 13 last week. And we are teaching a lot of other people. We are struggling right now though finding investigators who come to church and progress. The work has been hard but we are still working hard. 

Get this tomorrow we have consejo de lideres on Thursday, we have a multi zone pday on Friday, we have the multi zone training, and on Saturday we will do our zone meeting. Then we have pday and next Tuesday we are in Huancavelica. We will be super busy! Such little time to work our giant area too. It's kind of stressful. 

If there is one thing I have learned over the last couple of weeks, it is forgiveness. I made a list, and I have to forgive. And I need to forgive myself. Anyways lots of stuff. It is sooo hard to forgive and sometimes it seems impossible to forget. I know I have to do it because like it says in True to the Faith, "You will find that forgiveness can heal terrible wounds, replacing the poison of contention and hatred with peace and love that only God can give." In other words peace and love is impossible without forgiveness. If we choose not to forgive, it is like refusing to take the antidote to a toxic poison. We will not be able to progress spiritually temporally and we will certainly not be able to be happy. 

I was studying a lot the story of Joseph (ironic the name, I know) when his brothers sold him into Egypt for 20 pieces of silver. Come to find out it is not just a cool Tuachan play, but it is also a sweet story in the Bible that teaches the principal of forgiveness. Because their father, Jacob or Israel, loved Joseph more and gave him a cloak of many colors the brothers of Joseph got mad and wanted to kill him, but decided to sell him the the Egyptians. We all know how Joseph with the help of the Lord prospered greatly. We also know that Joseph received revelation about the 7 prosperous years and the 7 years of famine in the land. 2 years into the famine the sons of Jacob come to Egypt searching for food and they meet up with their long lost brother Joseph. Now I cannot imagine how Joseph must have felt, and I have no idea how he was able to forgive his brothers. After making them get his brother Benjamin and revealing himself he says, 

Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. He forgave them and consoled them. Later it says in chapter 50 

16 And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying,

17 So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.

 18 And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants.

 19 And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?

 20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

 21 Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.

I strive to be more like Joseph. More humble and accepting looking for the good in a bad situation. He could have condemned his brethren, but he didn't. I have to do the same. 

Christ is the perfect example when he was dying and said forgive them for they know not what they do. 

Out of time. I could go on but can't. I love you all! I miss all of you. Hey Mom I want to ask you for more money knowing that you already sent me some and a package. I want to buy things here in Huancayo before I go home. Thanks. Love you all!

Elder Walker

Swim Through the Pain

Thanks mom for the pics. I spent all of my time writing Chloe and Joe. I kind of got mad at Chloe. Because I won't lie I did get mad this week. Initially, I was in shock and happy for Chloe. I'm still happy for her and Joe, but it wasn't fair what she did to Marc and I. She could have given us more of a heads up. I just wanted a little more from his email and from her. Now I feel bad because I was a little mean in my replies. I don't know...

Internet has been sooooo weird lately. I don't know what to say. I love you. I was going to send pictures, but I let another missionary borrow my converter and now I have no time. Ahhh...I wish we could just talk for like an hour. That would be nice, but the day will come soon enough. 

I feel like I'm at the 3rd length in the 100 breast race at regionals. I've gone strong for the first half and it's not the last length yet to sprint and go all out, but it's the lap you just have to fight through the pain. I try not to count the cost, but it's hard some times. I think it was Dougie that talked about pain and having to love it and push through it. Swim through the pain. At the same time it's like I've breathed in a breath of water and now it's even harder swim through the pain while choking. ahhh. I'm fine though. I can't be two places at once and I'm happy with being here. I don't want to be anywhere else. I just try to focus at the job at hand. 

Love you!

Elder Walker

Crazy Week

(ONE GIANT SIGH) Wow! Crazy week at home!

First, say happy birthday day to Jack for me. Second, how is Marcus doing? What happend to his companion? Did he go home? Third, my Christmas package, I would like some of those like picture scripture marker things for my scriptures in English. I had those when I was younger and started to put them in. I'd like to finish, so I'm going to start to read my scriptures in English again and want those. 

Okay, also I want to make some goals mom to end my mission. I was wondering what goals you think I could make to improve as a missionary and just as person. I don't know maybe you can ask Camron, Dad, and Chloe what they would do differently in their missions. I've set the goal to read DyC, the Pearl of great price, and the New Testament and parts of the Old Testament. Also, to write more in my journal and to send better emails home. What else? And finally Mom: WHEN ARE CHLOE AND JOE GOING TO GET MARRIED? And what are your thoughts on that? You seem to just have mentioned it, and then moved on. You seem fine? Are you? How are Dad and Camron? 2 weeks ago my sister was sad and never getting married, and now she's engaged. I'm sorry, but that's a lot to process. Transfers are tomorrow. I'll let you know what happens.

I'm super happy for Marcus. I swear I think of the coolest stuff to write you mom, but then I sit down in the cyber and forget. 

I'm reading the book of Daniel, and I had a bunch of cool thoughts to share but now there is no time. I dont really need anything else just the stuff I said and the scripture picture markers of the BoM, DyC and Bible. Love you guys.

Elder Walker

Kraps this Week

So,

I know you probably think I'm writting some big, huge, profound letter but really I've just been sitting here for about 20 minutes thinking about what I want to write. I am completely shocked from your letter................. I'm trying to process it right now, but can't... Anyways, here is a picture of me with some kraps I found in Peru... Just to make us laugh. haha.

I will start with my week and a few things I need or want. Question: I want to know where Marcus is exactly I have a friend here, a member, who will go to Chile, Santiago, soon. How is he doing too with the training? How is his comp?

My week was good. I went to be with Elder Viñola again and we were in his area for the divisions. He is from Bolivia and a super cool guy. One of the coolest part about being a zone leader is getting to know so many good missionaries and being able to serve them. Also, their pensionista is sweet and fed me fried chicken, mac n cheese, then pancakes in the morning. So all good there.

We ended up not going to Huanvevilica this week because the investigator wasn't ready and will probably have to go down there this week. We will see though because we already are going to do divisions with Pampas. On top of that our zone training is tomorrow. This is also the last week of the transfer. Crazy

This week I will complete 15 months on the mission. President told me that I will also go home earlier than my 28th of June date but not sure by how much. Probably 2 weeks which would mean I only have 8 months left. But we will see. I might want to go home with Marc and will explore that option.

Okay. What do Dad, Camron and Chloe say? Does Chloe know he asked for her hand in marriage? It is crazy to me that I have not heard nor read Joes name for 15 months on my mission only to come to internet one day to find out that he wants to marry my sister. It shocks me. I'm not mad. This is just shocking. 

I know that God loves us. You already gave yourself the best advice. BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD. Everything will work out. Love You!

Elder Walker

Huaytapallana

Dearest Family!

Thanks for the fantastic letter Mom. I agree I’m a lot different than I was 1 year ago, but I’m also more aware of how far I have to go. We went on a big hike yesterday and weren't able to do internet until today. I hope you didn't worry too much. We had a good week.

On P Day we climbed Huaytapallana to the glacier that is there. We were at about 16000 which is close to the elevation at base camp of Mount Everest. It is higher than any mountain in the U.S. and probably the highest I will ever be in my life. The views were breathtaking (and not just because I literally could not breathe) and I will try to send you as many photos as I can. 

On top of the mountain sits a glacier that is awesome, and there are three small lakes the color blue with a hint of emerald green. On top yes it was hard to breath but going down is what gave my a huge head ache. 

I used all my time sending pictures. Love you! Hasta la proxima semana!

Elder Walker

Mom, Te Amo

Dearest Family,

Mom, te amo. First off, I'm like the worst son ever. I realized last month that it was your birthday, but then I forgot to say anything. I've been meaning to wish you a belated birthday forever! So I love you so much! You are the best mom for me. Hope your birthday was great.

We had a great week full of baptismal interviews and hours of carrying water in buckets. First off, Jean Carlos got baptized this week. He is a great 23 year old guy from Cusco. He is the only member in his family who lives here in Huancayo, and he lives alone. We started teaching him about 2 and a half months ago and we could have baptized him a long time ago, but I wanted to make sure he was truly converted. He is the boyfriend of Beatriz, and he wanted to get baptized right away it was kind of funny. It was cool though to see the change in him. He had to stop doing some things and change his life style and traditions. He was able to gain a testimony of the Word of Wisdom and of Joseph Smith. Great guy. I hope the best for him. 

Maycol also went to church yesterday with a white shirt and tie. It was sweet. We preparing him to be able to bless the sacrament. He also came with us to a couple of lesson, and he was able to share his testimony, and he has grown so much. I feel so lucky to have been able to know him and my other converts here in Huancayo. I was thinking about it a little bit, and I really haven’t done anything. I’m not anything special either, but God has just blessed me with the opportunity to know them. 

I am super excited for Conference. 3 new apostles that’s crazy! Can’t wait. Hey, Chloe hasn't written me :( not sure why not. I’m happy for Marcus. He will be a great trainer. If it is another gringo I will die! Did you all go to Disneyland? Don’t lie I know you did. That’s sweet though for Chloe’s friend. Hey will you send me like a BYU Spanish test guide. I don’t do anything now in my language study and it’d be cool to study for that test I’m gonna take when I get back. 

Love you!

Elder Walker

Elders Whitaker and Rodriguez and I

New Apartment

HEY! LUV YOU!

It has been a great week. First, we went to HCVA to do an interview with of the investigators of Elder Hardison and Elder Daza. The investigator was super prepared, and she got baptized on Saturday and everything went well. Elder Hardison is the one on the far left in the picture that I sent.He is a super great funny guy. He will go home this transfer. Elder Rasmussen is also doing well with Elder Moss. They are both super tall, so they stand out in Peru! Don’t worry I’m watching out for Elder Moss. You can tell his mom. 

We got news while we were in HCVA that my old comanion, Elder Molina, would be coming to the zone. Elder Camacho got emergency transferred to Cerro de Pasco, and Elder Molina came here from Cerro.  I don't know if you remember him or what I told you about him, but yeah he is in my zone now. I was thinking about it too, and I would say if I could have one transfer back I would choose the one with Elder Molina. I feel like I could have done better. I am happy for that opportunity.
      
It was hard for Camacho to go because they had 4 people, a family, get baptized yesterday. Watching their baptism however was hard for me as well. You know that one of my goals is to find a family and to help them take that first step and enter into the waters of baptism and later enter the temple. It was hard just to watch Elder Molina get that chance free. Not just that, but because of some things in the past as well. I know it is just my pride, but it was hard. I was studying a little bit about the parable of the laborers in the vineyard, but it has always been one of the hardest for me to understand.

I also sent some fotos of our new crib. It is sweet. We actually just had room inspections and Prsd and Hna Henderson came to see our room. They were shocked. Psd just laughed. We made them take off their shoes before the entered the apartment as a joke because they make us do the same we we go to their house. Prsd asked us how much we pay, and we said 320 soles. He told us we are robbing the owners, but also told us good negotiating. Hna Henderson said that it meets the requirements for senior missionaries. haha so don’t worry about me, Mom, I’m more than fine! Haha. We have a kitchen and oven as well. Still haven't made anything though. It is for sure the nicest place I’ve lived in Peru.

I’m great, mom. Did Marc get transferred? How do I coordinate to go home together with him from Atlanta? Tell Chloe to write me back!

Love you all!

Elder Walker