Hello all,
Late I know but there wasn’t internet here in Villa Rica in the morning and now there is. Kind of cool to be somewhere so remote that sometimes there isn’t internet in the whole city.
I remember coming home from school everyday for 12 years and you asking me, "How was school, honey?" I would respond everyday, "Good. The same." haha. So, ya, now I feel like you’re asking, “How was the mission this week, honey.” And I’m like, “Good. The same.” But yeah this week was actually was good and the same and a little bit interesting as well. Interesting because the two hermanas that we have here both got emergency transferred out of Villa Rica. If you know anything about emergency transfers you’ll know that they happen generally because something bad happened and yeah that’s what happened. I won’t say everything, but I will say that it was P day all day every day for them and they yeah had problems. So this week our zone leaders called us and actually came to Villa Rica last Monday, and actually we had a sweet P day with them and our district leader. Then the assistants called us then president and yeah its over now and there are two new hermanas here, both of them I already knew. They’re awesome. Hna Quispe was in La Merced with me and Hna Chire was in Cerro. Funny how I really don't know very many people in the mission because I keep serving with the same people.
We went to a waterfall for P day today with Clide (our lider missional), with Ronald and Julio (members), and with the Hermanas. It was fun.
This week we worked super hard. We have some impressive numbers, but it’s not about the numbers, but rather the people. We are working with like 5 families that all have to get married. It stinks that everyone lives together here, and it makes it super hard on the missionaries because marrying someone is a lot harder than baptizing them. Marrage requiere effort on the part of the couple. But we are going to marry 2 of them for sure, not this month or the next, but we will marry them and baptize them. It’s funny because in the most of families the kids are members but the parents aren’t. But yeah Edilberto y Silvia are gonna get married and Mijael y Rosio.
Elder Moraga is awesome. He is a super nice happy guy and someone good to work with. We get along great, and we talk openly with each other and more than anything are just great friends. Did I mention that its WEEK 6 of the transfer!!!! Wow time is weird. So Elder Moraga will probably leave this transfer, but yeah veremos.
Time is up. Love you all lots! Chloe, I love you! That stupid Dean character is not worth a moment of sorrow. I would like to slap him upside the head. Camron, maybe you could take care of that for me? Or send me his email, I’ll slap him with my words. What kind of idiot is he? You are the most incredible girl I know, and he’s not worthy of you if he doesn’t recognize that. In fact, go out and eat some Cold Stone ice cream for me! I’ve been studying grace this week I think Ill go in depth next week but remember that God’s grace is an enabling power to makes our weakness strengths and more than anything God’s grace is a reason to be happy. Les amo muchismo. Chou
Elder Walker
Familia,
What the heck, everyone is getting married!!! Lexi and Preston! Crazy! And Ashlyn marrying a Peruvian? If that’s what she’s looking for, why doesn’t she just wait for me cuz according to the elders in my zone, I’m latino now! Haha. My zone leader said the other day that our zone is the best because we are all latinos. Everyone looked at me. Hahahahaha. But they decided I’m latino now! And Anna 12 and out of Primary! Mom, you have no more children in Primary! Haha. Crazy.
For our P day that we had in our zone last week we made Pachamanca with my old pension in La Merced. In this pic I’m with Boris just after we finished making it. It is super good and not that hard to make. There are just a couple of steps:
Step one: Go outstide and dig a good sized hole
Step two: find about 20 good hand sized rocks
Step three: Start a fire in the hole and heat the rocks in hole for about 2 hours
Step four: Remove rocks, place chicken, potato, etc in hole, replace rocks cover hole
Step five: Wait for about 1 hour and a half remove and enjoy.
It is really good; I am not even kidding. The meat and chicken gets super cooked all the way through to the bone, and it’s delicious. And actually you put huge leaves on bottom and in between rocks and meat, but still you will get an occasional rock in the food. You just have to remember it is completely normal. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Right Kelly? Well thats what I keep telling myself and my stomach.
This week has been painfully normal. Nothing has really changed. We had three people come to church, but all of them left after the first hour so that was kind of depressing. It’s hard to persuade investigators to stay for all the meetings when half of the members leave after the first hour. In our mission if you don’t stay for all three hours it doesn’t count as an attendance towards baptism. The work is going good though here.
This week I have been studying a lot about faith and repentance. More about repentance though. We know that if we have faith we will repent or in other words faith brings us to repentance (Alma 34). But what is repentance? A lot of times we think it is a list of things we have to do to be forgive of or sins. We know we have to feel sorry, confess and forsake our sins, also make amends and keep following the commandments. But repentance is more than a to do list, it is a change of heart, becoming more like Christ. I read that sin stops our spiritual progression and repentance is the only way to progress spiritually. Therefore we should repent everyday to become more like Christ and develop His attributes.
If you were a fly following me around, you would see me walking a lot and you would see a lot of mud. It rains a lot here and because there are practically only dirt roads here there is a lot of mud. I have to clean and shine my shoes every day.
Have a great week everyone.
Elder Walker
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| Straight Latinos! |
The good news is the Church is true, and that I’m in La Merced again for p-day. The bad news is we got robbed (we weren’t in the apartment, so don’t worry.)
So the took my 500 soles of pasaje (money to travel) and my comps money, our DVD player, my comp’s camera, and all of his USBs. It is bizarre because they left my camera (thank goodness) and my wallet. We think it most have been someone who knows us, but we aren’t certain. But yeah there is a first for everything and that was the first time getting robbed, and it was cool but I don’t need to do it again. It sucked too because we had a perfect day until we got to our apartment and the door was wide open and our things were scattered everywhere. Mom, really don’t worry, because like president told me, this is one of the safest missions and that is why that are so many hermanas.
Ohh yeah, we had interviews with president this week on Friday. Thursday night we got robbed and after the interviews in La Merced we did divisions with the Zone Leaders until Saturday morning. Talking with president is always great. He asked me what I was working on and the normal missionary stuff but near the end of the interview I had to ask about Duke, and if they won because President Henderson went to Duke Univ. and I knew he is a Duke fan. Long story short we started talking about college basketball, and he told me Duke won. He also started telling a bunch of videos of b ball I need to watch when I get home, and I was like yeah okay in a year and a half Ill watch them. But it was good.
Divisions in La Merced were good. It felt so great to see loved ones and friends after 2 weeks of not seeing them. I can’t imagine how it will be after two years. Haha. But I was with Elder Cayo my ZL, and he is a good friend. He was with me in Cerro as well.
And now I’m in La Merced again for P Day. All is well. How is Marcus? What happened with transfers?
Short story. On Thursday before the robbery, we had a service project with some less active members, and we were going to clean up their jungle of a front yard. However, when we got there in the morning with about 6 other members, it started to rain super hard. When it rains here a lot of the times it will rain hard for about 10 min. then it stops. So we went inside to wait for the rain to stop, and naturally as missionaries we started to teach Simon and his family. We talked about faith and how it is a belief in something not seen but true and how it is a principle of action. We focused and how faith is action because they have stopped going to church. We also focused on the things that you can do with faith and with God, which is everything.
We finished the lesson and we talked and everyone wanted to move the service project to another day because there wasn’t blue in the sky, but my comp and I said no we have faith that the rain will pass. We waited for about 10 more minutes then decided if we really had faith we wouldn’t just wait for the rain to stop, but we’d start working. So we got to work in the rain and within 10 min. the rain stopped. It was awesome you could call it a luck, but for me it was a testimony builder. Prayer is powerful. Also, I learned that machetes are super useful in yard work! Haha.
We had a baptism this week. His name is Carlos. He is a great guy. His sister is on the mission and we are also working with his family, but his parents need to get married, and we are in that process. But he was ready and he gave a sweet testimony about wanting to follow his sister’s example and serve a mission.
Hope you all have a great week.
Love,
Elder Walker
Hi,
I had a good week, but not much happened this week. Actually, only two things have really happened. One I got sick for the first time since Cerro de Pasco and two, of course, is General Conference.
So yeah you’ll be happy to know that I didn’t get sick at all in La Merced, not even once. I thought that my body had finally adapted and that getting sick was something I left behind in Cerro. I also thought that I was like a Latino or something and could eat whatever I want and not get sick, but no, I am still a gringo. I ate a hamburger at a restaurant with my comp and members and naturally I was the only one who got sick. I also ate anticuchos in the street, but that was two days before I got sick so I’m pretty sure it was the hamburger. But yeah lesson learned—make sure your meat is cooked all the way through.
Conference was great, but yes it talked a ton about family and marriage. The ward figured out how to set up conference on satellite here in Villa Rica so we didn’t have to travel to La Merced. I also watched it all in Spanish, and I understood everything but it isn’t the same and doesn’t have the same power or emotion in the talks for me in Spanish. Especially Saturday morning talked about marriage and I was thinking about Camron and Chloe the whole time. M Russell Ballard in the priesthood session said something along the lines of Drop the phone and find your eternal companion. That just made me laugh. I also loved Jeffrey R Holland’s talk, and Wilford W. Anderson’s talk about the hearing the music of the gospel was my favorite.
So yeah we are working with two jovenes right now. The first one is named (and don’t laugh) Winner, but it’s pronounced wiener. I smiled the first time I heard his named, but he is a super awesome guy. He is 15, and he attends seminary is going to church has a goes to all of the activities and has a super strong testimony. We have tried to teach his mom and dad as well, but they aren’t really interested yet. All he really needs to get baptized is permission from his parents because he is under 18. It is kind of weird. In the US there is no way parents would let there kids just talk to the missionaries, but things are different here in Peru, and the parents don’t care. The other is an 18 year old named Jimy.
Villa Rica produces about 40% of the blend Starbucks uses in their coffee. The people here say that they grow the best coffee in the world. So If I wanted to try coffee for the first time, this would be the place to do it. Haha.
Ask me questions for next time. I don’t know what you want to know.
Love you,
Elder Walker
