Good Week. The Same.

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

Pachamanca

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

Straight Latinos!

Good News and Bad News

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

Conference

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

Villa Rica

In the mission there are weeks when nothing really changes or happens. This was not one of those kind of weeks. 

Thursday night we got a call from our zone leader, Elder Cayo, and he first told my companion Elder Lopez that he had transfers to Tingo Maria (another jungle city). Then in crazy turn of events he told me that I had transfers as well to Villa Rica. So they closed Santa Ana, and I'm here in Villa Rica. It was hard to leave. I love the people from La Merced and Santa Ana, and it sucks and breaks my heart because the members in Santa Ana are kind of abandoned now. 

Villa Rica is still the jungle, but it is at a little bit higher elevation than La Merced and is in the region of Pasco. It is also a little bit colder, but it isn't cold at all. It is the perfect climate. I am in the same Zone and Stake. Villa Rica is known for producing coffee, and everyone grows coffee. They sell their coffee to Starbucks. Like all my areas it's kinda remote and far from the mission office. It is about an hour from La Merced.

My companion is Elder Moraga from Masaiya, Nicaragua. He was with me in Cerro de Pasco, and he is a great guy. He has 18 months in the mission and yesterday he turned 20. He comes from a family of 5, and he has 2 brothers and 2 sisters like me. I am excited to work with him, and we work hard and enjoy the work. 

This week though we will go to La Merced to watch conference. So I will get to see all of my friends there which is cool. 

Mom thanks so much for your letter last week. It was perfect and really just amazing. When are you going to write a book! Inserio. But this week I have been thinking a lot about your letter, happiness, and especially love. 

This week we talked with a member who is having problems in his life and he told us that he doesn't know why he can't be happy. He said he is keeping the commandments and doing what he should be doing but isn't happy. It was literally what I have been studying all week. I had the chance to bear my testimony that true happiness comes from understanding the Atonement and from living and loving the gospel. As a bore my testimony I realized that it was true.

I came up with 5 things that lead to true happiness 
  1. Keeping the commandments (MSH 2:41)
  2. Truly repenting (Alma 36: 41)
  3. Humbly seeking for happiness (Alma 27:18)
  4. Understanding the Atonement and grace
  5. Loving God and other people in life

Love is the key like you said mom. Love is the motive for our existence here on the earth and Christ's sacrifice for us. Love like faith is a principle of action. It is sacrifice and it is all encompassing. If we love God with all of our heart like the first great commandment says and our neighbors, we will find true happiness in this life. 

A missionary from the ward got back this week. The ward threw him a little Homecoming party. His name is Victorio, and he bore his testimony. He said that he learned more than anything how to love on his mission. I realized that what he said is so true. I have learned how to love companions, the bishop, ward mission leader, the ward, investigators, and the people of Peru. I have many weaknesses shortcomings and faults. I have tons of fears doubts and questions, but I love (or try to love) more than my personal problems. One of my favorite scriptures that I found in my research is found in Moroni 8:16, ... Perfect love casteth out all fear. Perfect love overcomes our fears and doubt. 

In true to the faith is says, ... The only way to real happiness is to live the gospel. That statement is what confused me at first. I like the statement, The only way to real happiness is to love Christ and his gospel. 

LONG!! haha. Love you!

Elder Walker

Elder Moraga and I

End of the Cambio Already. What?

Hi,

I have completed cambio 5 of my mission! Wow it went by fast! I am excited for the next transfer. I think my comp and I are going to stay one more together here but I am not sure. Anything could happen. One cool thing about the mission being able to look back every transfer and analyze or judge personal progress and progress in the area. I have definitely grown this transfer. I have learned a lot from Elder Lopez. The area is stronger although it isn't reflected in the number of baptisms. I still want to do and be even better. Because of that Im looking forward to the next transfer. 

So two of my best friends in the whole mission went home this week. Elder Kidd (white shirt standing up) and Elder Perrins (bottom right with bird). Elder Kidd finished his mission and it was sad to watch him go because I have been with him my whole mission. He has been my zone leader my entire mission! He is a great guy and the kind of missionary I want to be. I love him, and I made him promise to send me a wedding invitation. haha.

I entered the mission with Elder Perrins and actually in the buss ride to the CMM in Lima we sat next to each other and have been good friends since. In an extremely unfortunate turn of events he has to go home to get a second surgery on his wrist. He broke it before the mission playing rugby then continued to play with it broken actually won state and then had to get surgery. Now he has to go home to fix it again. Super sad. 

So I'm gonna read your letter later to save time, but this week has been good. Like I said it was hard to watch some friends go home, but really that is how the mission is-- a bunch of farewells and welcomes. It is sad though because as missionaries we make the people around us our family. We love and serve and then we have to leave them. Again and again and again. And the start over again and again. But I like it too. 

It didn't rain this week and 4 investigators went to church!!! yeah! Efrain y Sofia (need to get divorced and married) went to church. They are super great people and while they need a lot to get baptized nothing is too great for the Lord. Joao went as well. He fell through on all of our appointments with him this week but went to church, which is so cool. Then Tuvi a friend of Aldo went to church as well. (haha I write the friend of Aldo and not Aldo’s friend naturally. haha). It was a good week. We had a bunch of appointments fall through. 7 appointments on Saturday fell through. haha. But that is how the work is. 

Love you all,

Elder Walker

The Daily struggle: trying to find a reference when no one knows street names and none of the houses have numbers.

 

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Hello again,

This Sunday it rained again hard in the morning. We had one investigator go to church though named Joao, who was receiving the lessons with the missionaries before he went to Huancayo for vacciones (summer break). So we are teaching him, and he is a cool guy. This week was kind of tough. We had 17 appointments fall through and only 12 were there that we taught. We have a couple new investigators, and yeah we just keep working. It’s kind of tough though I haven’t had one baptism my whole time here in La Merced, and it is hard not to judge your success in the number of baptisms. I mean we all know our purpose is to invite and the people to Christ, and they have their agency. But that doesn’t stop self reflection and scrutiny. I read Elder Bailey’s email this week, and I loved what he said that we just have to keep working hard. He talked about the Hoover dam and how damnation is literally like a dam stopping our spiritual progress. And what power would be required to break the Hoover dam! But that is what I want to do and what I am here to do! It just requires more patience than I would like. I also feel like I am just preparing the way for other missionaries here. For example, the two Jovencitas, whose Grandma is a member and who went to church, they both now don’t want to get baptized this month and want to wait 3 or 5 months to "investigate" because the Grandma got baptized after going to church for 2 years. So they see this example, and ya fuimos. Also two investigators that we found have to get divorced before both of them get married and then baptized. So that is where I am at. 

I’ve been pondering this question lately: what is true happiness and how do we obtain it? Any help with that would be appreciated. 

Also, my companions family went to Marcus’s ward to see him and took a picture with him. Pretty sweet!

Love,

Elder Walker

PS. Hey! Congrats to Justin on his mission call. Is that the same mission as Timmy?

Marc with Elder Lopez's family

tags

Kickin' it in the jungle