First week en el Campo Misional‏

HELLO ALL!!!

So my name is Hermana Walker and I am a missionary. my first area is Ezeiza and my first comp is Hna. Medrano. She is from Bolivia and you guessed it... speaks no english so my castellano is improving rapidly.

So first off it was hard to leave the CCM, it had carpet and the little family I had built for myself so very sad to leave. Singing god be with you till meet again would have brought me to tears if I hadn't been playing the piano.

but i am in the campo now and that is that. The first day was super hard and I went to bed super frustrated and sad and angry and the nexct day I realized it was because I didn't eat dinner. apparentl my comp doesn't eat dinner so I excplained i need to eat or I get crnky and she seemed to understand but she still seems a little weirded out and surprised every time I remind her we need to eat. I don't know my address but I live in a building across a field from the chapel on Ramos mejia. There are 4 missionaries in our ward, 2 elders and 2 hermanas and we split the ward in half. We actually live in the elders area but that is okay. 

​So Buenos Aires (my mission is the province of BA not the city) is not the USA! SURPRISE!!! :) haha but really but no. Our appartment is pretty nice but others.... holy cow talk about humbling. They make do with what they have which isn't much. I feel very out of place here with my blond hair light skin and cheta things. My comp tells me that everything I have is "Cheta" aka nice and expensive. so yeah I definetly stick out like a sore thumb and get stared at ALL day. no biggie.

My castellano is improving and is actually pretty good but I am to say the least a perfectionist and so saying anything not with perfect grammer bugs me. Also I am not a chatty kathy and my comp asks me all the time why I don't ask lots of questions, and i tell her I just don't have many. Sometimes she just tells me talk faster hermana! And I just want to yell, I can't this is as fast as I can translate and congugate in my head but I just smile say a prayer and try to talk faster so she can feel more normal.  Basically my language is good enough to know that people are talking about me and get the gist of what there are saying but not enough to respond to whatever was said so yeah.... poca a poca. Little by little I will improve. But I have definetly had to rely on the Savior and my Heavenly Father to get me through the week. I have been praying though and he is definetly there and answering my questions. Everyday in personal study I stumble across exactly the verse or passage or story I need to get me through the day. And I found so many lines n my patriarcahl blessing that have given me the faith to perservere and stay here. It is hard though. Miracles do happen for sure. Just last night we invited a man with whom we where having our first lesson and he accepted the invitation to be baptized so miracles are real and happen. ​

but yup! I am a yankee (or chankee) as they call me here in Argentina and it is hard. No doubt about it, but as long as I keep in mind why I am here, to help others be happy and be with their families forever, I know I can do it. Prayers of coarse are appreciated though :) Thanks for the support I love you all.

Hermana Walker 

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Abby 

MTC Photos

Abby's MTC or CCM 

Downeast Divas!  

Abby and her companion at the Temple

The Arrival of Hermana Walker

Dear Walker Family,

We are writing to inform you of the safe arrival of your daughter in the Argentina Buenos Aires South Mission.  Attached here you will find a photograph of Sister Walker with President and Sister Thurgood.  Her trainer will be Sister Medrano and they are going to serve in the area of Ezeiza A. Their preparation day will be every Monday and you can expect an email letter on that day. 

Thank you for sharing Sister Walker with our mission.  We truly appreciate your support and also the fact that you have a daughter who wants to serve.  We will take good care of her!  God bless you.

Sincerely,

Elder Pribyl y Elder Maldonado

Assistants to the President

Misión Argentina Buenos Aires Sur

Just another week in paradise!‏

Hola!! 

What a week! Alright so where to start. How about with this little tidbit of info that will make my mom nervous.... so ther are 4 missions in BA because the city is a monster, holy cow it is big. So apparently the west mission is pretty normal, I know nothing about east, the north is the rich part of town.... and the south is the Ghetto!! So yeah I am goin to the hood :) Every teacher I ask about my mission either tells me I'll get robbed a lot or just holds up little finger guns so yeah..... It'll be a blast I am literally soooo excited! :D 

This week is my last CCM pday which is weird juz I don't feel like Ive been here that long. Also I had a one month mark this last week so that's kinda wierd to think I only have 17 months left in the mission. 

We had a north american in the hosptial this last week for like 5 days so that was sad. He had some internal problems and his stomach swelled up like a balloon so we have been praying for him. He seems to be doing just fine now though. He got to watch the Golden Gate vs. Spurs basketball game so he really just seemed happy about the whole thing. Elders! What to do with them we just don't know! :) 

So we went proseliting this last week and that was fun! :) Hna. Myrick and I first got dropped off in our area we didn't feel very safe so we said a prayer to remember that there are protecting angels around us and after that it felt very safe, although it kinda smelled like the zoo.... But proselyting was neat! We ran into the actaul Elders in the area so that was funny! and I'm possibly related to one of them. He says he has a million cousins who are Walkers and he is from Mesa so yeah... I came all the way to BA to meet my cousin Elder Solberg. But the missionaries were in my mission so that was super fun and cool :) Also we had some decent success while proselyting. We "knocked" on a bunch of peoples doors, but knocking here is really clapping. Because most people have gates in front of there door, you just clap outside their house and they come out, super weird. But we clapped peoples doors and met some people and handed out some pamphlets that way. And then we actaully gav e2 people books of Mormon and taught them about the Restoration and the First Vision!! That felt super good to feel like we had accomplished something! :) I understood more of what people where saying too, usually they were just telling us to be safe and to be in a bigger group and to not drink the water, so not very gospel related but hey... I understood it! :) 

I will be very sad to say goodbye to my family here in the CCM in a few days. I don't know if I have ever been closer to people than my district. We literally spend every. waking. hour. together. We eat, exercise, study, learn all day long together! So we are starting to pick up each others manerisms and puns. And one companionship literally accidentally wears matching outfits every day. It is like our minds have synced up! But I love my district to pieces and know they will always be dear friends forever! :) I love district Ammón y me amo Argentina! Gracias por sus oracions! La iglesia es verdad!! 

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​Hna. Walker​

It's Raining, It's Pouring, My Roommates are Snoring

Hello All! So first off, isn't the church and the prophets and just everything in life so wonderful? Seriously I love being a missionary and I am happy 98% of the time and life is just beautiful. God is so so good and loves us so so much. Also it has been really raining here the past week and everyone thinks I am kinda nuts because of how much I love the rain being an Arizona girl :) 

Conference. Holy cow let's talk about general conference, it was pretty amazing. I went into Conference praying for answers to a lot of questions on my mind and every. single. one. was answered. And holy cow apostles and prophets are amazing. I could really tell a difference in the spirit when they were speaking, they really are special witnesses of Christ. Also all conference I was waiting for my favorite talk and then bam Holland closed it out with my personal fav. I love conference!! :) 

So we got a new addition to the district this week, Elder Orozco. He missed his flight and was in Provo for 3 weeks and then flew down to join us hear. So that has been kinda fun having a new addition and personality in the classroom. 

Also I got two new Latin american roommates which is the bomb! But they don't speak ANY English, not a word so it is very hard to communicate, it took 15 minutes last night to try to figure out the word jealous and when we finally all got it we were so happy and just shouting comunicacíon!! Yay!! It is funny! also apparently one of them snores at night but I haven't noticed because one Hermana taught me this neat way to fall asleep fast and it is awesome. She just sits and talks to Heavenly Father, if you ever can't sleep try it! I am pretty sure I am out within 3 minutes tops. 

I have been learning to throw a football this week during actividad fisica so that has been kinda fun cuz I have no idea what I am doing but neither do the latins so we all look goofy together :) 

It is crazy to think in 2 weeks I'll be in the field. The language is coming along slowly but surely but holy cow I am not fluent or capable by any definition of the word. Our teachers tried to get us to play Simon says the other day because we were learning commands but it didn't really work because the only verbs we know are gospel related so it was like, Simon dice read the scripture, Simon dice ..... orar (pray) we know out 10 missionary verbs and that is it so that was a funny thing. 

One of the coolest experiences this week was the testimony meeting we had after Conference. I bore my testimony (in Spanish) and the awesome part was I was able to say what I wanted to say in Spanish. It wasn't long or eloquent but it was heartfelt and it was amazing. If I learned anything this week it is that God loves each of us and is individually aware of each and every one of our specific personal needs. He answered my every question at conference. And he called me to be a missionary here in Argentina in the B.A. South mission because this is specifically where I needed to be and there are specific people here who need me. I don't speak Spanish very well, but I know I will because the Lord wouldn't have called me here if he wasn't going to make it possible. 1 Nefi 3:7. 

I love my mission and can't wait to be out in el campo (the field) helping Gods children. In the words of my CCM pres: I'M IN ARGENTINA AND I'M SPEAKING SPANISH :) and I love every minute of it. I love you all :) 

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Abby