A new year and BIG changes

Hello all! 

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and that you are all getting excited for the New Year. I had a great week and big changes are headed my way :) 

This next transfer I DONT HAVE A COMP OR AN AREA!!! :) Say what?? Call me a gypsy :)

Every week I will be working with a new companionship, training them and helping them and their area :) So 6 areas in 6 weeks vamos :) My mom has more details and can explain :) They call it ETM Especialista en el Trabajo Misional. Or Viajera (traveler). 

This last week was a good one :)

Highlights: Andres went to the Temple :) woo hoo :) He did baptisms and was super happy about it, and then for Christmas he brought us sparkling pear cider without alcohol because he remembers that word of wisdom :) He is so cute and I will miss him :) 

I had an intercambio with Hna Hinrichs. 

We had a dinner with lots of hermanas to celebrate the Birthday of Hermana Calquin and Hermana Davis. We ate my first real dinner in 9 months and it was pretty awesome :) And there was cake at the end! 

We went on Friday to an old folks home to sing them Christmas carols because no one ever visits them. So the whole zone, like 35 missionaries went and the zone leaders brought me the best present ever, a member with a violin, and I got to borrow it and play while the zone sang and my old strolling self totally came out and so that was awesome. Back in my element. 

For Christmas eve, We had a Christmas party with the other hnas in the ward and we totally made sweeet and sour chicken from scratch and terriyaki beef and broccoli and while Hna Medford and I were cooking, mixing ketchup with vinegar and pinapple juice our comps just looked at us like we were nuts.... who puts pineapple and red pepper with fried chicken and a weird red sauce! We do and it was deiclious :) We spent Christmas Eve playing uno and exchanging sweets (we all had a sugar headache the next day from a major overdose) :) It was a blast :) 

On Christmas morning we woke up and made french toast (again our Chilean comps thought we were nuts till they tried it) and then got ready to go to church. But holy cow it rained and super flooded the roads and there weren't any busses cuz it was Christmas so we all put on rain boots and stuffed our cute shoes in our backpacks :) 

In the sacrament meeting I got to play violin with the ward choir and it was super fun :) loved it :) 

And of coarse talking with my family was the highlight of everything :) 

So here we go everybody, set some goals and get to work because the new year is almost here and there is LOTS to do! :) And hey don't forget that those New Year´s resolutions are possible!!  Because Christ came and the Expiacion is REAL :) love you all :) 

 

--

Hermana Walker

A new year and BIG new changes photos

An intercambio with Hna Hinrichs 

And a Birthday dinner for Hermana Calquin and Hermana Davis :) 

Christmas dinner all from scratch :) 

Chocolate Pudding Pie 

Christmas Fun :) 

we played uno all night long :) 

Miracles and Christmas

Hola to everyone and Merry Christmas

I hope everyone can really get into the Christmas spirit and feel a little more the love of our Savior in this special time of year. I have truly learned that as we serve others, our love for them grows and we feel more love from the Lord, so do something nice for someone today :)

This week was a good one :) We were able to find a record breaking 6 new investigators in our area this week which was truly a tender mercy and Christmas miracle form the Lord. While I was with Hna Garner during intercambios we were able to find Maria who is super sweet and a painter :) her paintings are wonderful. But she has had a really hard life. Most of the people we met this week have had really hard lives and are really struggling this Christmas Season. But it amazing to see how the gospel and Jesus Christ can really change the lives of people. And it is a privilege and honor to be able to be a representative of Jesus Christ bringing about change in the lives of people. 

This week we have really been working with Victor :) He has been a fun little challenge.  Most of the people here in Argentina believe a lot in Jesus Christ and God... but Victor not so much. We explained to him that the Lamb of God isn't literally a lamb but JesuCristo who came to pay the price for our sins and make it possible for us to change. And we changed his life :) He tells us all the time that we helped him find Jesus which is something that is really gratifying to hear. We are helping him to prepare to be baptized in January and he is super excited :) A new life, he always says :) 

I hope everyone enjoys this Christmas and that you can find the time to see the little miracles that pass every day of our lives. We rarely notice them, but if we look daily they are there. And I hope we never forget the biggest miracle of all, that Christ came. He lived a perfect life and he chose to give his life because he loves us with a perfect love. And becase he came and lived and died we can all change and become new people, every day. And because HE LIVES we will all live again. What a miracle. I testify as a representative of Jesus Christ that he lives and loves each one of you. He knows us perfectly and will help us if we let him. I know it. Look for Him and remember the miracles this Christmas. They are the best gifts. 

Merry Christmas everyone :) 

--

Hermana Walker

Miracles and Christmas Photos

I got a little burned :( 

Hna Garner in the house of the investigator Maria, she paints :) 

Check out this mural :) 

With Victor in his front yard, he had on an awesome hat and I asked if I could take a pic with him and he went and got another hat and well..... Victor is very interesting :) 

It´s Begining to Feel a Lot Like Christmas, and Summer

HOLA a TODOS :)

I hope everyone is enjoying this wonderful Christmas season :) We have been starting to really get into the Christmas spirit here and things have really started warming up here!  BABY IT'S HOOOOTT OUTSIDE :) But it´s all good cuz we got the freezer fixed this week so we will have ice for the first time in a few months woohoo :) And we will be able to buy meat for Christmas :) 

Last pday we had a district activity, dessert with games, we tried to play some card game in Italian and everyone brought a dessert, there was grapefruit ice cream, no bake cookies that didn't set and soup and some good old Argentina style chocolate chip cookies (no brown sugar here so they turn out weird) But there was also peach cobbler and brownies so that was yummy :) 

In the Spirit of Christmas, I got a package from my mom with new shoes HALLELUJAH!!! and a bunch of spices and other presents I haven't opened yet :) And my comp and I bought and set up a Christmas tree and garland and those with the decorations my mom sent help make the apartment feel like home :)  sorta :) 

Also, as part of #iluminarelmundo we have been singing in choirs as a zone while others contact and it has been cool. 

We have kept working with Andres lots this week. On Tuesday we got a call from the Stake President that he was in the chappel, we were super far away and didn't have an appt. but we took a bus over there and he just told us that he didn't get to say goodbye to us Sunday and figured we would be close by :) so we set a cita to keep teaching him :) On Saturday we took him to the family history center and helped him start a familysearch account and he is gonna be able to take his mom's name to the temple :) He was also sustained to receive the Priesthood Sunday :) 

We are working with a new investigator now, Victor, he is espiritista. I have no idea what the translation is there, basically he has a totem in his front yard and wears a necklace of bones he made himself but he is progressing, he accepted to be baptized in these coming weeks so wooohoo :) #aguantebanfield2    My favorite part with him this week was seeing him arrive to church and the surprised looks on the members' faces :) But he got along really well with Oscar, a recent convert, so that was awesome :) 

In other randomnes, I made my first croutons this week and they greatly enhanced my salads for lunch. We bought a kilo of lettuce last Monday so lots of salads :) 

Hey so guess what?  :) I have been in the mission for 9 months, who can believe it? :) Halfway there :)  we celebrated with Grido Ice cream, the best flavor ever that doesn't exist in the states, dulce de leche con brownie ;)

I can't believe how fast the time has gone! 

I love being a missionary and representative of Jesucristo. Sé que esta es la iglesia verdadera y que Jesucristo y Dios nos aman muchisimo. Sé que Dios mandó a su hijo al mundo para que pudieramos cambiar, progresar y llegar a volver a vivir con Dios y nuestras familias. Amo el evangelio y sé porque estoy acá. Siga adelante iluminando el mundo y no se olviden que hay esperanza. Feliz Navidad :) 

-- 

Hermana Walker 

It´s Begining to Feel a Lot Like Christmas, and Summer Photos

our Christmas tree :) 

our investigator Victor and a member (less active :) 

thanks mom :) 

this air vent is amazing, the air tastes like chocolate .:) 

Hno Cuttiani fixed the fridge for us! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS :) 

guess who already is halfway there :) 

 my salda with homemade ranch and croutons :) my mom sends the best spices in packages :) 

chorus in the park

our investigator Victor and a member (less active :) 

I convinced an investigator of the elders to give me his pack of cigarettes :) 

Andres doing his history familiar

Another hot week photos

Lunch with a member 

ice cream because it is hot and we were outside ALL DAY :) 

servicio

from the open house

We had a stand 

and we were right next to a dancing pizza..... 

Another (hot) week!!

So this week was pretty good, and more than a little bit hot. We are just starting to enter summer and the humidity.... killer.  But it is all good, we had a good week! 

Tuesday I had intercambios (exchanges) with Hna Lockling from Chile! And yes, her name is English cuz her Grandpa was from England, it confuses the members here. She is brand new and super cute. We had fun out in the heat and at our missionary correlation meeting. As part of our intercambio we had service scheduled with a hermana in the ward. We helped finish cementing (home made Argentina stuff) and paint her railing.  It was fun and we got to see the awesome new Christmas video from the Church!  #iluminarelmundo (Light the World)

After that intercambio I went with Hna Shepard to an area super far away. Villa Madero, not the nicest area, but I entered my first Argentine Villa, #Iwaspraying. For those who don't know Argentina, villas are not nice places. But it was small and in broad daylight so we were good! :) That intercambio was with Hna Mattos from Brazil, she arrived with me in the field but holy cow it was difficult to understand her. She pretty much still speaks Portuguese (instead of saying bautismo it goes something like bauchishmo.) So that was interesting! 

Friday we had zone conference and the assistants reduced everyone to tears, apparently they asked all our moms for video of us opening our mission calls and they compiled it all in a video and showed it to us and everyone cried for about 15 minutes and it was pretty cool :) 

On Saturday our ward had an open chappel and it went pretty well... we set up a stand near the train station and contacted a bunch of people and the heat was suffocating but that is life :) A few people came and we have lots of referrals so wooohoo! :) Basically a really, really hot but good week! 

-- 

Abby 

When It Rains It Pours... and Fills the Baptismal Font

So this week. Not gonna lie it was probably the hardest of my life. But holy cow did I learn a LOT!!! So to start off the week it all was going well right? Monday for pday we had the other sisters in the ward come over for crepes and it was delicious and fun and then in the evening we went to the chappel to help Andres with his baptismal interview. 

He was so cute, he had everything all mixed up in his head, ¨tithing for example makes us happy because on Sunday we eat healthy and don't eat to give money.... ¨ Poor guy had all the commandments mixed up but holy cow I have never met anybody with such a pure desire to change and learn and be better. So we reviewed and helped him get everything straight before our district leader came and interviewed him and he passed! WOOO HOO! :) He was cute and happy and we were so happy for him and everything was just peachy :) 

And then the crazines started. So Tuesday, after our reunion de distrito, I started a week of intercambios, because Hna Shepard, my companion capacitadora, is training her comp and she couldn't be alone in her area so even though my comp was new in our area and we had a baptism that week she was left all alone witha newbie to organize a baptism and so that was fun. 

but anyway Saturday.... 

so after the tormenta blanca (which is where all the missionaries in the zone go to work in an area for a few hours) it was pouring right.... like really, really pouring. But we had a lunch to get to.... so with Hnas Medford and Lockling we started the long trek to lunch.... in the pouring rain! We did buy an umbrella when we were already soaked but it was good :) it was actually super relaxing and fun to jump in the puddles and just get soaking, soaking wet :) but afterwards I was kinda cold. :) so after lunch we headed back to the pench for a quick shower to warm us up so we didn't get sick and then we headed over to the baptism of Andres! :) WOOHOO! :) 

So we told Andres to get there at 5:30 cuz it started at 6 right, but he got there at 4 and even brought his tithing money he is so cute :) 💙 So we sat and chatted with him a moment and then went to go make sure that everything was okay for the baptism. And can I just say that Satan has something over the baptismal fonts, for some reason every single baptism has a problem with the baptismal fonts. So basically the font filled up a foot and then stopped, because there had been a problem with the water and the whole chappel didn't have water so I was tired at this point but because of the blessing I had received I had peace. I was a little stressed but I knew everything would work out okay, so we talked about walking around the corner to presidents house and using his pool, it even got to the point where the assistants called presidente to ask permisión and then miracle of miracles the font started to fill! So we had everyone change into their white clothes and we took their pictures and started the service! :) It was super tender and sweet and Andres was just so excited.  An investigator of the assistants got baptized too so it was really a party and Oscar, who got baptized a few weeks ago, baptized Andres. 

One of my favorite moments I have had so far on the misión is listening to Oscar before he and Andres entered the font practice in the bathroom and we were all just outside listening and it was tender. Even if the wáter was Green :) Andres was confirmed Sunday and told me that he was excited because he felt like a new person and was ready for a new life, and that something inside him had opened up. 

So I learned this week that the saying, when it rains it pours, is the truth, but I also learned that the Savior is always there to hold us up. And sometimes there are rainbows and miracles and baptisms :) 

I love the misión. It is the single hardest thing I have ever done, but wow..... it is worth it. 

-- 

Abby 

When It Rains, It Pours... Photos

Baptism of Andres 

and hey if you notice, Oscar who got baptized 2 weeks ago baptized  him :) 

Jam and crackers for Thanksgiving with Hna Davis :)

With Hna Molinero y Davis

intercambios in trio!