Hey Fam,
Lots of exciting news from home. Noah going on a mission, Broncos going to the Super Bowl, Marcus getting transferred, and the YW activity. (Tell Anna I'm liking the brace face. haha. She’s cute. Too old though!) Crazy and I don’t know why, but it seems like more people have written me today and last week than wrote me on my B Day. Weird but true. Everything is great here in my area and ward of Tarapaca (accent on the last a) in the Huallaga Zone in the Huanuco Stake. There is a river in the middle of the city that divides what is known as Huanuco and Armarilis (weird because the whole city is also Huanuco) but there are two zones on this side of the river and two on the other side of the river. Also, one stake here and one over there. One big difference here is that Huanuco is super small. My area is like 4 blocks by 9 blocks, which is a huge change compared to my area in Huancayo. I like the smallness though. It is a refreshing change.
Answering your questions. Yesterday we just worked normal. Last p day we played soccer. Today we don’t have anything planned, and we are probably just gonna make cookies and play chess.
Sorry, I don’t know why but my adapter isn’t working to send pictures.
Life is good. We are teaching a cool new family of 3. A couple and their daughter: Juan Carlos, Mayesi and their daughter Julisa. The dad is less active and the 9 year old daughter isn’t a member... yet. So the goal is to help Juan Carlos so he can baptize his daughter. They are super cool. The mom is an active member she is from Colombia, actually, and super cool. They didn,t go to church though sadly because the Mom like straight up had to take out one of her teeth and is in a lot of pain and sadly the other two didn't come. Other than that we are working with a young woman who has gone to church 4 times already. That’s pretty much it for now. In other news, in Peñaloza, my last area, they baptized Linda who we were teaching and Dennis, another guy, I taught is gonna get baptized next week. So that’s cool.
We had interviews with President and tomorrow we have consejo so we go to Huancayo. The interview was funny like always. We basically just talked about how to endure to the end and then at the end President slipped in that in October we will have our mission reunion. Good stuff.
Sooooo I was listening to a random talk by President Uchtdorf entitled Forget Me Not. I love it! You should reread it Mom. He gave the talk to the sisters so obviously I had never heard it. But he talks about 5 things it would be wise never to forget.
They are Forget not to: Be patient with yourself, the difference between a good sacrifice and a foolish one, be happy now, the why of the gospel, that the lord loves you. My favorite part is when he talks about being happy now. It is something I have thought a lot about on my mission because it is so easy to think that happiness will just come when this happens or that happens or after the mission or after transfer, etc. I also love this part of his talk when he talks about the story of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,
“In the beloved children’s story Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the mysterious candy maker Willy Wonka hides a golden ticket in five of his candy bars and announces that whoever finds one of the tickets wins a tour of his factory and a lifetime supply of chocolate.
Written on each golden ticket is this message: “Greetings to you, the lucky finder of this Golden Ticket … ! Tremendous things are in store for you! Many wonderful surprises await you! … Mystic and marvelous surprises … will … delight, … astonish, and perplex you.”
In this classic children’s story, people all over the world desperately yearn to find a golden ticket. Some feel that their entire future happiness depends on whether or not a golden ticket falls into their hands. In their anxiousness, people begin to forget the simple joy they used to find in a candy bar. The candy bar itself becomes an utter disappointment if it does not contain a golden ticket.
So many people today are waiting for their own golden ticket—the ticket that they believe holds the key to the happiness they have always dreamed about. For some, the golden ticket may be a perfect marriage; for others, a magazine-cover home or perhaps freedom from stress or worry.
There is nothing wrong with righteous yearnings—we hope and seek after things that are “virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy.” The problem comes when we put our happiness on hold as we wait for some future event—our golden ticket—to appear.”
So be happy now! I love you. I love the mission. I know that this work is true.
Elder Walker
