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