Hi,
Uggghh! I had something to write you but now there is no time. The computers are so bad here. I’ve used 45 minutes of my hour just waiting for email to load. But this week was good. We found 7 new investigators, which is a bunch and all of them are really cool. One is Arnold who is a member’s friend and actually works for another member. He is awesome understands well and is super interested. It was funny at the end of our second lesson he said the closing prayer. And he ended en el nombre de jesucristo... Then we were waiting for like 10 seconds and finally he said Amen Pe!!!! haha. So funny you have to know Spanish and Peruvians a little bit to understand what "Pe" means, but in the circumstance it means like Amen bro. Like, hey I ended why are all of you still bowing your heads?
But then he didn't go to church, and no one went. But you just have to work harder.
I just wasted more time trying to load a picture, but now I really have to go!
Love,
Elder Walker
Monday, February 23, 2015
Monday, February 16, 2015
New Companion, Great Week
I can’t believe you are at Disneyland right now! I wish I was at Disneyland :(
My new companion, Elder Lopez, is from Santiago Chile and he actually lives in Marcus’s mission. He is 20 years old and has 20 months in the mission. He is a super cool guy and knows a bunch about the gospel. Because of that I want to learn all I can from him. His personality is a little bit like Trevor Montgomery’s, I imagine. He is super smart, works really hard, and is super organized and in terms of clothes he is very particular and always dresses great. He irons his shirts every day. He is cool.
We have been working hard. We found an 18 year old named Jean Pierre who is super cool. We meet him last week and he is super interested and asks the perfect questions. Like how do I find Jesus in my life? But he didn’t go to church. Actually most of the ward didn't even go this week because it was raining. Apparently that makes a lot of people not come to church here.
Have fun. Love you all,
Elder Walker
PS It sounds like Camron needs to go to Salt Lake and kick someone in the butt. I wish I was there to do it.
My new companion, Elder Lopez, is from Santiago Chile and he actually lives in Marcus’s mission. He is 20 years old and has 20 months in the mission. He is a super cool guy and knows a bunch about the gospel. Because of that I want to learn all I can from him. His personality is a little bit like Trevor Montgomery’s, I imagine. He is super smart, works really hard, and is super organized and in terms of clothes he is very particular and always dresses great. He irons his shirts every day. He is cool.
We have been working hard. We found an 18 year old named Jean Pierre who is super cool. We meet him last week and he is super interested and asks the perfect questions. Like how do I find Jesus in my life? But he didn’t go to church. Actually most of the ward didn't even go this week because it was raining. Apparently that makes a lot of people not come to church here.
Have fun. Love you all,
Elder Walker
PS It sounds like Camron needs to go to Salt Lake and kick someone in the butt. I wish I was there to do it.
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| A little soccer with my zone and some kids |
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| Hello, my fine feathered friend |
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| Cool cat with weird eyes. |
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| New companion, Elder Lopez |
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| Pizza with Elder Lopez |
Monday, February 9, 2015
Heart, Might, Mind and Strength
MOM. I suck. I bet my blog is terrible because I've sent you so little to put on lately. But this transfer has been hard, and I haven't had much I wanted to send home. But this week with Elder Molina and with everything was amazing. The prayers and fasting payed off.
Obviously the work has been hard during this transfer. We haven't had a single investigator come to church this whole time I've been here. We are teaching, but for various reasons a lot of our lessons aren't very effective.
Things have been so hard with my companion that I've just sort of settled for surviving.
I have learned this week that it really isn't enough to give up two years of your life. You can't just give up your time either. You have to really give all of yourself. I shared DyC 4:2 with Elder Molina and told him this is what I want. (Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day.) I want to give everything, my heart, might, mind and strength, to the Lord for this 2 years because anything less is a waste of my time and a waste of the Lord's time.
I remeber at the end of a basketball game my Senior year vs. Faith. We got hammered and lost by about 20 points. After the game, I remember sitting on the bench and Coach Jonas yelling at us and then Coach Ballistere just ripping us and yelling at us for 15 minutes. I remember after everyone changed and left and I was still sitting there. And I realized that my body was full of energy. I felt like I could run a mile. My legs weren't sore at all. And I was mad at myself about it! I realized I didn't give it all in the game. I commited to never do that again and to always play with all my heart, mind and strength and to leave it all on the court. The season improved so much after that.
When I am on my flight home from Peru, I want my legs to hurt. I want my shoes to have holes in the bottoms and to have weathered clothes. I want to be extremely tired from two years of working my absolute hardest--to leave it all in Peru.
Love you,
Elder Walker
PS I bought a new camera (not as nice as my other one). I should have pictures for you next time.
Obviously the work has been hard during this transfer. We haven't had a single investigator come to church this whole time I've been here. We are teaching, but for various reasons a lot of our lessons aren't very effective.
Things have been so hard with my companion that I've just sort of settled for surviving.
I have learned this week that it really isn't enough to give up two years of your life. You can't just give up your time either. You have to really give all of yourself. I shared DyC 4:2 with Elder Molina and told him this is what I want. (Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day.) I want to give everything, my heart, might, mind and strength, to the Lord for this 2 years because anything less is a waste of my time and a waste of the Lord's time.
I remeber at the end of a basketball game my Senior year vs. Faith. We got hammered and lost by about 20 points. After the game, I remember sitting on the bench and Coach Jonas yelling at us and then Coach Ballistere just ripping us and yelling at us for 15 minutes. I remember after everyone changed and left and I was still sitting there. And I realized that my body was full of energy. I felt like I could run a mile. My legs weren't sore at all. And I was mad at myself about it! I realized I didn't give it all in the game. I commited to never do that again and to always play with all my heart, mind and strength and to leave it all on the court. The season improved so much after that.
When I am on my flight home from Peru, I want my legs to hurt. I want my shoes to have holes in the bottoms and to have weathered clothes. I want to be extremely tired from two years of working my absolute hardest--to leave it all in Peru.
Love you,
Elder Walker
PS I bought a new camera (not as nice as my other one). I should have pictures for you next time.
Monday, February 2, 2015
Angels Round About Me
Hi,
Your letter is absolutely perfect, Mom. I can't really describe what I'm going through right now exactly, but It's perfect. I don't know how you do it, but you just send me exactly what I need. It's a testimony to me that God really does know what we are going through and knows our struggles and difficulties. It's like how Bednar said, "Why would God send you an Angel when he can bring to your memory the words of your Angel mother." I have felt like that many times on my mission, and yeah thanks Mom. I love you.
About my area. So yeah we live in La Merced but are area is called Santa Ana. We work primarily in La Merced, but are also in charge of Santa Ana and go there once every week. There are 3 comanionships in the La Merced ward and the 3 companionships work in every part of La Merced. There are no boundries. We are separated by sectors, but if we find an investagator in the Hermanas' area it doesn't matter, we still visit said investagator.
The ward here and members are awesome. The are hard working and it's like an actually ward here as aposed to my ward in Cerro. The church building is beautiful. There are about 180 or so people that come to church. But yeah the members are super loving. For example the members gave me 3 different parties for my birthday.
Tell Grandma Sue thanks for the email. I like to think that Grandpa Jack is one of my guardian angels and that he is enjoying helping all of his great-grandsons on missions right now. I also love that scripture from DyC 84:88. I think of it often. I remember that Bishop Stewart quoted that during the opening prayer of my farewell.
So the members and the area are awesome. I need to remember that and count my blessings, even with my other struggles. Got to go.
Love,
Elder Walker
PS Thanks for putting money in my account. I plan on buying a new camera later today.
Your letter is absolutely perfect, Mom. I can't really describe what I'm going through right now exactly, but It's perfect. I don't know how you do it, but you just send me exactly what I need. It's a testimony to me that God really does know what we are going through and knows our struggles and difficulties. It's like how Bednar said, "Why would God send you an Angel when he can bring to your memory the words of your Angel mother." I have felt like that many times on my mission, and yeah thanks Mom. I love you.
About my area. So yeah we live in La Merced but are area is called Santa Ana. We work primarily in La Merced, but are also in charge of Santa Ana and go there once every week. There are 3 comanionships in the La Merced ward and the 3 companionships work in every part of La Merced. There are no boundries. We are separated by sectors, but if we find an investagator in the Hermanas' area it doesn't matter, we still visit said investagator.
The ward here and members are awesome. The are hard working and it's like an actually ward here as aposed to my ward in Cerro. The church building is beautiful. There are about 180 or so people that come to church. But yeah the members are super loving. For example the members gave me 3 different parties for my birthday.
Tell Grandma Sue thanks for the email. I like to think that Grandpa Jack is one of my guardian angels and that he is enjoying helping all of his great-grandsons on missions right now. I also love that scripture from DyC 84:88. I think of it often. I remember that Bishop Stewart quoted that during the opening prayer of my farewell.
So the members and the area are awesome. I need to remember that and count my blessings, even with my other struggles. Got to go.
Love,
Elder Walker
PS Thanks for putting money in my account. I plan on buying a new camera later today.
Monday, January 19, 2015
Happy Birthday, Marcus!
Hi family,
I've written everyone but you, and now I'm out of time. I had a great birthday, but I thought about Marc all day. The irony is not lost on me that I've always wanted my own birthday party and the first time I get one I spent the whole time wishing I was with him.
I have the best pensionista! Her name is Hermana Helly (pronounced normal like in English). Her husband is Boris (the Patriarch of the stake here). Their son is Aldo (17 a DJ doesn't do anything because here they finish high school at like 16) and then they another son who is not shown in this pic. His name is Ronald, and he is about 26 and an RM. He lives above us in our apartment. We live around the courner from Helly's house. Ronald is married to Lisbeth also. So yeah we have the best pension in the entire mission! They had a big birthday party for me. I guess it's a tradition here to crack an egg on your head and throw flour on you on your birthday. So yeah that happened. haha. I love the Hellys.
Love you all too,
Elder Walker
I've written everyone but you, and now I'm out of time. I had a great birthday, but I thought about Marc all day. The irony is not lost on me that I've always wanted my own birthday party and the first time I get one I spent the whole time wishing I was with him.
I have the best pensionista! Her name is Hermana Helly (pronounced normal like in English). Her husband is Boris (the Patriarch of the stake here). Their son is Aldo (17 a DJ doesn't do anything because here they finish high school at like 16) and then they another son who is not shown in this pic. His name is Ronald, and he is about 26 and an RM. He lives above us in our apartment. We live around the courner from Helly's house. Ronald is married to Lisbeth also. So yeah we have the best pension in the entire mission! They had a big birthday party for me. I guess it's a tradition here to crack an egg on your head and throw flour on you on your birthday. So yeah that happened. haha. I love the Hellys.
Love you all too,
Elder Walker
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| Boris, the patriarch and I |
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| Birthday! |
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| Pondering |
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| Cool waterfall pic, but someone dropped my camera in the water taking it. So I need a new camera :( |
Monday, January 12, 2015
Courage is Needed
Hi everyone,
I got my Christmas package and my calendar!! They were both awesome!! Thanks so much for the Christmas package; it was perfect!! The pjs and Chelsea jersey! Like wow perfect! I didn't really want anything, but it made me so happy to get those things.
About the week a lot has happened here as well. We had interviews with president. After the interviews, we did divisions with one of the assistants, and then I did divisions with Elder Kidd on Saturday. Elder Molina is a 21 year old from Bolivia and the first member and missionary in his family. He has 9 months in the mission. We are struggling. I love what you wrote last week. I love the heck out of my comp and I have no idea what it would be like to be in his situation or to come for the backround that he comes from. But I love him, and I have to have the courage to tell him what’s up sometimes. That was president’s advice, I need more courage. CS Lewis said, "Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point." (Elder Lynn G. Robbin’s talk “Which Way do You Face?”—I love it—read it). But that is what i have learned and I don't want to talk bad about my comp at all. So I’m struggling, but I just keep swimming in the wise words of Dory.
Love,
Elder Walker
I got my Christmas package and my calendar!! They were both awesome!! Thanks so much for the Christmas package; it was perfect!! The pjs and Chelsea jersey! Like wow perfect! I didn't really want anything, but it made me so happy to get those things.
About the week a lot has happened here as well. We had interviews with president. After the interviews, we did divisions with one of the assistants, and then I did divisions with Elder Kidd on Saturday. Elder Molina is a 21 year old from Bolivia and the first member and missionary in his family. He has 9 months in the mission. We are struggling. I love what you wrote last week. I love the heck out of my comp and I have no idea what it would be like to be in his situation or to come for the backround that he comes from. But I love him, and I have to have the courage to tell him what’s up sometimes. That was president’s advice, I need more courage. CS Lewis said, "Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point." (Elder Lynn G. Robbin’s talk “Which Way do You Face?”—I love it—read it). But that is what i have learned and I don't want to talk bad about my comp at all. So I’m struggling, but I just keep swimming in the wise words of Dory.
Love,
Elder Walker
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| Cocanut! |
Monday, January 5, 2015
Jungle Life
In two of those pictures were my zone leaders, Elder Kidd and Elder Larson. They are awesome. We ate every meal with Larson and Kidd every day for 3 months and with Elder Kidd 4 and a half months. Elder Kidd has been my Zone leader my entire mission, and he was transferred to La Merced with me. He will die here in 3 months. Pretty cool! I love him.
I found out I was getting transferred Tuesday night, and then I left Wednesday morning. It happened fast.
So Elder Kidd and I drove from Cerro to Tarma and then to La Merced. It was about a 4 hour drive not too long, but we stopped in Tarma for a while. It was fun. Our driver because we switched taxis at Tarma to La Merced was crazy. Strait up he was going like 120 kilometers per hour and taking the windy, twisty turns like a Nascar driver. I was telling Elder Kidd how we were going to crash, and he was like I hope so that’d be a cool story. Then, we were doing a u turn and we were actually the one time we were going slow. We were on the inside, and we were drifting into the other lane when there was a car in the other lane. Then, in slow motion we hit that car in the other lane. haha So we got in a car crash, but it was super lame and everyone was all right. Seriously don’t freak out or anything; it was actually disappointing how non dramatic it was. But still Elder Kidd and I got our wish. After that we had to take a bus the rest of the way to La Merced though because our taxi driver didn't want to drive us with the damage to his car. But it was just a busted headlight. It was nothing. So there’s my story.
La Merced is the exact opposite of Cerro though. I feel like I'm not even in the same country, and I cant believe that I'm in the same mission: jungle green everywhere, breathtaking views, waterfalls, and rope bridges. I drive through rivers and I feel like Im in an Indiana Jones movie. (Actually I heard that part of one of the Indiana Jones movies was filmed here.) I just wish I could be on vacation here. Because of the heat I am tired and want to sleep all of the time, but all of the oxygen in my brain feels good! Ohh. I have to send you a picture of the church here though; it’s gorgeous. All’s good. Not too much of a problem with the bugs yet and my body’s adjusted fine to being at a normal altitude.
The food is great (awesome pensionista), and my apartment is sweet, too. It’s big and nice (3 big rooms) even if it doesn’t have hot water. haha.
Love you,
Elder Walker
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| New Companion, Elder Molina |
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| Goodbye to Elder Thatcher--I guess golfers are pretty strong. |
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| Zone leaders, Elder Larson and Elder Kidd. Elder Kidd came to La Merced with me to be my zone leader again! Elder Kidd and I are dressed for the hot jungle weather :) |
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| Me, Larson, Kidd holding Thatcher |
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