Canuelas

So this week was amazing!  This week I was in Canuelas with my temporary comp Hermana Menezes and we help out the Hermanas McBride and Dias. 

So to start off, Canuelas is…. CAMPO (I think that is country in English.)  It is the most removed area of the Hermanas, a few hours in taxi.  But it is super cute.  The branch is small, but has 4 missionaries.  The one bad thing, okay so there is more than one bad thing, but more than anything the water tastes like salt and not just a little like salt but A LOT and because it is in el campo there are lots of trees and grass in the fields with lots of cows and just basically lots of humidity.  It was a super hot, super humid week.

As for my temporary comp.  Well my comp Hermana Abate Daga has been having some knee problems and some other things going on and all but Sunday in the afternoon the assistants called to tell us she would be spending the week in Adrogue to go to medical appointments and such and that Hermana Menezes would be my traveling companion.  And it turned out to be fantastic!  Hermana Menezes is from Brasil and is a working machine and really loves the work and the Lord.  We had ton of success in Canuelas.  We found 13 new investigators and 5 accepted baptismal dates and we just worked our tails off, even though it was an inferno outside.  

One day we worked in the morning and when we got back to the apartment for lunch we ate in about 5 minutes and then used the rest of the hour of lunch to take a nap.  When the alarm went off we got up to study Spanish but Hermana Menezes and I literally couldn’t!  I was dizzy and couldn’t stay awake and she had her head in her hands just trying to focus on her Book of Mormon study but we just couldn’t do it.  Finally I asked Hermana McBride for the health binder, and it told us we had heat exhaustion and it said to take a cold shower and cool down.  And wow did that help :).  After studies we were getting ready to head back outside to the inferno and it was super funny cuz we were all doing whatever we could to stall going outside again;  applying and reapplying sunscreen, applying off for the mosquitos, sweeping the floor, trying to find pass along cards, filling and refilling our water bottles, changing our shoes…. finally we all realized we were stalling and laughed about it and then headed out into the oven.  I believe this week I reached a shade of tan that I had never reached before.  

Working with the Hermanas McBride and Dias was a treat too!  Hermana McBride is from the East Coast and Hermana Dias is from Brasil too.  Kinda funny cuz none of us has Spanish as our native language!  

Working in the country had its special challenges too! For one thing the reunion de distrito was an hour train ride away!! But the train ride was beautiful!! Open fields with cows and have I mentioned before that the clouds here in Argentina are different and beautiful!  I think because we are at the bottom of the world they so pretty but for real... GORGEOUS!! :) an so the district meeting went good and all right .... until the last prayer was a little too long and we missed the bus back to Cañuelas so we had to wait 2 hours in the train station..... country probs :)

Also I had a fun biking experience this week. We had to take a train to lunch right….and the train only passes every hour or so... so we took it with the other Hermanas and they had the bikes but no problem right, so we went to lunch in this little house and it had to be more than a hundred degrees inside, to try to cool it off they sprayed the tin roof with water but it didn’t help much, I think it just added more humidity. 

And bueno, after lunch we were pushing it for time cuz the train passes on a schedule and we had a long way to travel to the station... so we decided to use the bikes.... I rode on the part between the handles and the seat of a mans bike side saddle while Hna Dias was peddling and we made it halfway there before..... you guessed it..... CRRRAAASSSSHHH!!! :) But we didn’t get hurt, we just fell over on the dirt road and we were all sweaty from the lunch so the dirt stuck to us and wasn’t too lovely but bueno... we still had a train to make so we climbed back on the bikes and finished the journey. (After we went and took a shower :) ) 

Mostly it was just super funny! We just sat there laughing on the dirt ground for a good minute!! :) I don’t know how we didn’t get hurt!! :) I am pretty sure we have protecting angels that have to work over time to keep us safe and sound :) 

So yeah basically that was my week in Cañuelas! I love the mission and I love the gospel. How amazing is it that people can change and repent.  Anyone, no matter what they have done can change and be clean through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  I have seen so much change in my mission, from investigators, less actives, missionaries and in myself. I am so grateful to my Savior JesuCristo. I love Him and love serving Him! 

-- 

Hermana Walker

Canuelas

A family who gave us food and was super genial!

Taking the train with our bikes going to and from lunch... gotta love the country! 

Cañuelas

The four of us!! 

from my week in Aldo Bonzi...... you better believe I was inside the freezer.... but hey it is hot here what you gonna do?? :) 

Check out our gourmet home made pizzas!!! :) 

The ice cream we ended the week with! Argentina has the best flavors of ice cream! 

The Villa

Hey so this last week was super good! :) Super busy and crazy but good! 

​what happened this week...

ohh so lots of good things! 

So this week I lived in the villa. The villa is the ​super poor neighborhood ghetto parts of Argentina. It is basically like a square block of a maze of hallways of doors where 20 people live behind every door. There is only one area with a villa and this week we worked our tails off in the villa. It is super humble and super sad sometimes to see how people live. 

Houses with dirt floors and children with rotten teeth. But the people there are super humble and let us teach them. On Sunday we went to the villa super early in the morning to look for people to go to church with us and well the villa at 7 in the morning on a Sunday morning isn't the safest place.... so we asked the Elders to come with us, and while the 4 of us Hermanas were walking to meet up with the Elders 2 dogs joined up with us and walked like the 30 minutes there with us.  We were quite a sight to see.  Four Hermanas and 2 Elders and 2 stray dogs entering the villa to wake up people to go to church.  But haha that is the mission right? :)

Also we had a lot of fun this week cuz Hermana Biesinger has the board game clue so we literally played clue EVERY NIGHT :) Super fun ::) and one night the Elders from the offices came over to bring us fans cuz it is HOOOT here and to bring the Sisters desks cuz they are doing whitewash and didn't have them and well they showed up at 9:30 right... and they started doing their stuff and by the time they left it was the next day. We were all super tired. Cuz we have literally all gone to bed at 10:30 for a year and then suddenly one night we stayed up WAY past our bedtime but it was all good we were just really tired the next day :) 

What else.... oh so Hna Biesinger and Hna Hinrichs are both great cooks right,.... I think I gained weight this week with their cakes and lemon bars and cinnamon rolls and wow. 

And so yeah ! Life is good! We had trainings with President and the Assistants this week and wow, I am learning so much from President and I love him!!! We are focusing as a mission on the power of the Book of Mormon and on teaching repentance in every moment. And it is so powerful when you can do that. I have read soooo many books in my life, anyone who knows me can attest to that. But the Book of Mormon is the most powerful book there is. It holds the answers to everything. All we need here on earth to gain our exaltation is in that book. 

Please, if it has been a while since you have read it, read it :) It will change your life. Because hey, guess what, no one is perfect.  But because Jesus Christ came we. can. change. We change through His Grace and become like new. We can change and clean ourselves through the soap that is the Atonement and then when we are baptized or when we partake of the Sacrament all the dirtiness can be washed away.  to haunt us no more. I love my Savior so much and am so very grateful to Him and His Atonement because I can change. And my investigatos can change and you can change too. God loves us too much :) 

And I love the mission. Until next week :) 

--

Hermana Walker

The Villa

Cinnnamon and orange rollls!!! You should be shcoked to know that within 12 hours we ate ALL of them without help. 

burning sensitive information :) 

lists of all the people who rejected us and dont want any thing to do with us :) 

cuz we roll like that 

when the elders from the offices came and stayed until morning...... 

meanwhile we played clue and the elders that are in charge of money 

and just accompany the one who fixes things slept on our floor. 

Journal Entries from Birthday Week

Abby sent photos of her journal entries this week and asked me to type them up and send that out as her email.  She said it was a lot easier for her.  (It’s kinda long though, sorry.)

This week was a good one.  I went back to my old area Banfield 2C.  Which was super fun.  :)   My new companion Hermana Abate - Daga and I spent the week in my old apartment with the Hermanas Navarrete y Lopez, but this time I was on an air mattress.  The good news is that after a month or so of my new lovely inflatable bed, my body is finally used to it!  Woohoo!  But poor Hermana Abate…well it has been an adjustment, every morning she wakes up and her back goes craaaccckk, craaaccckkkk.  Poor thing.  But such is the life of a traveling missionary.  But hey, it was a good week and it all started Monday…

So Monday was a super good day - cuz hey it was my birthday.  Herman Abate and I decided to go early by taxi to Banfield to take advantage of the cheap shopping and all the fun stuff on the strip in Lomas.  So we got to the pench of the Hermanas at about noon and they had just finished emailing but we still had to email, so we made plans to meet back up after we went to the cyber and to buy our groceries.  But on the way to cyber Hermana Abate-Daga and I ran into 4 other hermanas from the zone???  Haha, they were on their way to set up a little surprise party and it got spoiled but oops :).  So, we decided to go to the cyber while they set up the party.  After emailing, we headed back to the house and when we entered Hermanas Navarrete y Lopez y Lockling y Molinero y Escalante y Gonzalez were all there with ice cream and a giant candle and pizza singing Happy Birthday and it was super fun.  We had a fun pizza party just enjoying being together.  I am super good friends with basically ALL the sisters in my party so it was awesome to feel super loved  :)  

Bueno, so after the party we had to get on with grocery shopping and what not but it was a super good day, but a day of BIG CHANGES.  Cuz, well as many have heard we have a new missionary schedule and we in the mission received our new schedule Monday.  And let’s just say it has been a hard adjustment.  For example we can now wake up in this mission at 7:00 instead of 6:30 which is awesome right, cuz we are all always tired.  But every morning I am sleeping good right but at 6:25… BOOM!  My internal clock has me wide awake… it may take a while to get used to the change. :)

7 Febrero 2017

Today was a good day,  in the morning we had divisions and I went with Hermana Navarrete, she has changed and developed a ton since I was last with her.  It is fun to see people change over time.  It was fun to proselyte in Banfield 2 again.  After that, well we had lunch in the pench - salad and pasta (I made croutons for Hermana Navarrete and weirded out Hermanas Lopez y Abate Daga) and then we had comp study (super weird to have it in the afternoon ) and we filled out the inform de progress before correlation misional.  Wow, are the assistants dead tired, poor Elders Tenhoeve y Burton have the rey bags under their eyes.  But correlation went well even though there were 8 of us.  Today was the first day of the new missionary schedule and it was super weird.  We had planning in the morning and studies after lunch and yeah super weird.  And the pensioners came in the night to give us a water filter and fix the window! Woohoo!

8 Febrero 2017

Today Hermana Abate Daga and I had consejo de liderazgo.  We learned lots as usual and as a consejo we were able to consuir un plan de capacitation for the mission.  We are going to focus on the personal dignidad of the missionaries, the Book of Mormon and the importance of compromises.  All things that help us teach and baptize converts.  It was fun to see and talk with some old friends in the mission.  Also we watched Pixar shorts as part of an exercise which was fun.  After the consejo we got back to the bench and the hermanas were studying but it has been obvious to us that Hermana _____ isn’t okay.  Super over stressed and loca.  So we had an inventory/therapy session to help them out that went well.  After that we hit the ground and got to work and met lots of great people.  For idiom we bought a kilo of Gride(?) and ate it on the roof and talked a little in English and in Spanish.  A good day.

9 Febrero 2017

Today was a good but weird day.  I am having and we are having a hard time adjusting to the new horario as missionaries.  It is hard to completely change your way of thinking, but it will be better.  But adjustments is hard.  I am having a hard time adjusting to waking up at 7:00 and planning always takes longer than half an hour so we need to figure out at what time we need to start planning and studies to leave at 10:00.  Haha, every morning at 6:20 I am wide awake and it makes me laugh.  We can sleep till 7:00 but nope. :)

Today we had a reunion de distrito.  It went well and was short.  Elder Jensen sang me a line of Divina Luz and Hermana Navarrete just groaned remembering when he was our District Leader and Elder Batson made us sing that song every week in District Meeting.  

For lunch all 6 of the hermanas in the ward this week went to lunch with Hermana Colaso.  She made us fried empanadas and they were super yummy but she fried them in Lard, so they were heavy.  

After, I was with Hermana Navarrete and we went and worked in Temperley and made our way all the way to Soledad in the corner of area aA:)  After we made our way to area B for a cita we had with Eduardo, a contact Hermana Hernandez and I did, a super bueno man whose wife died a year ago and he is super sad.  While we were waiting for the Hermana Lucia Romero to show up and accompany us and I saw on of these little flower seed things floating in the air and it reminded me of last week when Hermana Hernandez saw one of them in the pench and thought it was a spider and literally climbed up on top of me to avoid the ‘spider’, super cute. 

But the lesson with Eduardo was super spiritual and he was super sad and I was able to put myself a little in his shoes and it was sad.  But we really felt the Spirit.  At night we had studies and I don’t know but they don't seem as important to my comp as they are to me.  So I am struggling with that a little, pues bueno.  But it was super cool to teach Eduardo after contacting him so long ago.

10 Febrero 2017

Today turned out to be a pretty good day.  In the morning was weekly planning.  Super fun as usual.  And then we had lunch with the army of 6 hermanas with Hemana Huragrin.  After that we had comp study and then we went to a lesson with Victor in the capilla.  While we were all in the train headed to the lesson it suddenly started to POUR!  Per mal.  In the estacion we ran into Victor, waiting out the rain and also some JAS headed to a dance who needed the direction.

When Victor saw me his first reaction was to give me a hug, cute thing.  Of coarse, I did the lean back and extend the hand to remind him, but he said that he had missed me.  We taught a lesson about the Savior’s role in satisfying the demands of mercy and justice.  After we did splits.  And Hermana Lopez and I found an amazing family.  They are catolicos practicante but when we taught them lesson 1 - The Restoration they actually listed to us, the mom, the dad and the 2 little girls.  People never pay attention when we teach!  But they did, it was amazing.  They understood that our church is the Restored church and they understand and have great questions about the Book of Mormon and were super excited to read it.  They also said for sure they will get baptized if they come to know it is true.  It was awesome.  I didn’t feel like I was in Argentina.

In the night Hermana Abate and I cut Hermana Navarrese’s hair and we all played UNO and they taught me Argentine insults? ;)  A good day.  

11 Febrero 2017 - Sabado

Today was a good day.  I worked with Hermana Navarrese and she is doing well.  She gave me some great advice in the morning.  We worked hard and got rejected 7 few times but hey #aguantabanfield 2.  For lunch the army of 6 went to lunch with the Familia Pitito and well they didn’t have enough plates to feed an army so we had hot dogs/completas with avocado y tomato y leona(?) de papas and it was very yummy.  After that we got back to work.  We talked with a few crazies today.  On old man cutting the lawn by hand while listening with giant headphones to the end of the world radio or something.  He was nuts.  And a poor lady who was sure the nice man on the corner stole her dog.  She was determined to wait outside all night until he came out so we knocked and asked and he just sighed and told her for the thousandth time no.  Also we ran into Victor while proselyting so that was good.  He told us that instead of using OFF for mosquitoes we need to cover ourselves in chicken grease.  Yeah, no :)  But after in the noche we had pizza party to end the week.  2 yummy pizzas and soda and a kilo of ice cream, a diabetic nightmare but it was fun. :)

12 Febrero 2017 - Domingo

Today was good dia de reposo.  In the morning Hermanas Navarrete y Lopez went to look for Ana, the wife in the family we found the other day and Hermana Abate and I headed to church.  It was awesome to be back in Banfield 2.  I got to see Andres, mi amor :)  Also, Oscar was in a full suit!  And Victor was there too and Hermana Pesado!  I love the members of that ward.  Haha, un rey snake showed up today at church.  He had been following Hermana Navarrete at one point and showed up with flowers in his hands today.  That was exciting the assistants were stuck with him. 

For lunch all 6 hermanas went like an army with the Familia Chaparro.  We helped them cut up pounds of fruit for a fruit salad and had a super yummy dessert.  A great familia.  After lunch we packed up real quick and went back to Adrogue!

Happy Birthday Week

My surprise Party :) when they spoiled the surprise :) 

My New Comp: Hermana Abate Daga :) 

​La fiesta sorpresa re trucha​

​La fiesta sorpresa re trucha​

From Last Week

From Last Week

Ice cream and a view from the roof

we found a bridge :) 

Victor- a member now :) 

My week of a tiny apartment and 4 sisters :) and all LATINS :) 

Leadership Counsel - all the hermanas lideres

our convertible sofa :) 

Paltas, Pizzas and PARTY :)

So this last week was super fun!

I was in the area of Luis Guillon with my favorite hermana in the world, HERMANA HERNANDEZ!!!  En serio, I love that girl to death :) 

And we had fun with her companion Hermana Biesinger :) It was Herman Biesinger's birthday which was fun! I got to eat her cake and celebrate my birthday too :) But while we were working super hard we had a ton of fun. I can't send the photos this week but for next week you will get them :) 

I met a dog who loves Hna Hernandez and holds her hand with his mouth.  We found a pair of puppies stranded on the side of the street on Monday, and, well we couldn't just leave them there with their box of chocolate cookies so we put them in their box and showed up at a members house with 2 dogs and they just looked at us like we were crazy and told us no way josé, but in the end after a few hours contacting people with puppies in tail someone took them in :) 

What other craziness... we found a palta tree (avocados) and well we couldn't just not pick some right? But it was kinda super hard to reach them cuz they were super high up so the two of them lifted me up, I put my feet in their hands and they boosted me on top of an electirc box and we finished the day with paltas and it was fabulous :) 

Other fun stuff, we had a pizza party to celebrate our birthdays : ) Basically we had a super fun week and I LOVED being with Hermana Herndez cuz she is the best and we made goofy jokes and faces all week and I have missed her! :) And I felt like I was able to help each hermana in some personal problems they have been having. A successful week :) 

But hey, today is my birthday and guess what gift I got....???!!  Well besides a million letters from my family and an awesome package ........... I GOT A NEW COMPANION!!!! :) we are still traveling missionaries, but now I am gonna have a comp and we will be able to do splits with the Sisters and help out even more!  It should be great :)  Her name in Hermana Abate Daga and she is from Cordoba, Argentina and has 14 months in the mission! So yeah! Should be an interesting transfer :) 

I love being a missionary and, guess what, I am back in Banfield 2 this week! Lets go ! :)

I know the Church is true and that our Heavenly Father loves each and every one of us more than we can even imagine. And so much is possible through his son Jesus Christ.  Every one of us has different strengths and different challenges. And we should not judge or compare ourselves. Because God loves all of us the same and has a different expectation of every one.  All we should do is love others and help them on their journey. And they help us out on the way :) 

Isn't life just the best? :) 

I'm happy to be a missionary and happy to be alive :) Until next week :)

Hermana Walker