Monday, June 26, 2017

A Good Week Photos

making sister brown cookies! 


zone conference!! 


sister brown cookies!! :) 


the view :) 


we found the elders lost in our area and took spy shots of them 



we found mold on our bed frames and well.... bleach is my best friend.


i have no idea what animal is that... 


clapping, instead of knocking a house 

A Good Week

This last week was a really good one! We worked hard and working hard makes me happy! :) 

We found a few new investigators which is great! One is 19 and wants to come to church so she can better her relationship with her dad but she can't read so we are gonna have to work lots with her to help her gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon. 

We taught a really funny, awkward lesson this week. We had explained to one of our investigators the law of chastity and she understood it and agreed to live it but then suddenly her boyfriend was living with her again.... so we went to teach the law of chastity AGAIN and well just (por casualidad) I have no idea how to say that in English, but whatever, her boyfriend was there too! 

Woo hoo, so we started teaching her the law of chastity and she just got this panicked look on her face and kept standing up and sitting down super uncomfortable. She did NOT want us and him to be in the same room, haha. 

And I realized that she was NEVER gonna bring up the law of chastity with him so I just started talking to both of them and was like, yeah it'll be better and you will both be happier if you wait to have more relations until you get married and she was just dying but it was kinda super funny! We want to help her so much and we love her so much but sometimes I want to hit her over the head and makes her understand that living the commandments will make her HAPPY!!!!! :) 

Something else funny... so in the ward FHE the elders were teaching and after the lesson Elder Edwards declares that we are gonna play ¨Piccionario¨ and all the little kids started shouting; ¨no elder it is diccionario¨ and he responded ready to clue them into the pun; ´no it is called piccionario because it is with fotos....¨ haha and my comp and I died laughing.... haha when English puns just don't translate! A good moment! 

The hermanas from the neighboring zone came over for a sleep over so that we would all be able to arrive at a zone conference on time and it was super fun! We made delicious chocolate chip cookies and enjoyed catching up but we found Mold growing on our bed frames, yuck! So my comp and I went crazy with bleach! It is my new best friend! We have literally used about 3 gallons of bleach in a month... gotta love humidity! It was so humid here on Tuesday that we would dry the floor with a towel and 5 minutes later we would turn around and there were little water drops on the floor again...grr. but it is fine cuz it is officially winter here now but it warmed up this last week and we didn't have to use tights!!! Hallelujah (with an Argentine accent obvio .... alelussshhha)!! 

This week and in the conference we talked about the importance of attitude and being HAPPY! :) If we as missionaries are happy, the people we meet will see our happiness and want to know why we are so happy! And we are happy because of Jesus Christ. Through Him we can change and be clean and return to live with God. His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the next world. So we spread the gospel this week with a smile and you know what.... life is good :) 
--
Hermana Walker

Monday, June 19, 2017

Food Poisoning Photos

the burning of trash in the street.... we always smell like smoke 

with Magali 

candid district shot... 

the day we were sick... 

Food Poisoning

This last week was really good.  It didn’t end as well as we wanted it to, but that’s just the way things go sometimes.

What made the week super great is that we were able to teach lots of lessons - and well more than that, we really felt the Holy Ghost working through us to reach the hearts of those we taught.  That is probably my favorite part of being a missionary - feeling the Spirit work through me as I teach.

We taught and worked a lot with Magali this week.  We taught her about the Word of Wisdom and she told us the same day we taught her she shouldn’t smoke that she had already cut in half her number of cigarettes per day!  Woohoo!  By the end of the week she had gone 2 full days without smoking.  So we are seeing progress with her.  She was the shining light that helped us get though the week.

Cuz on Wednesday - I woke up with familiar stomach pains - food poisoning - and my comp with the flu.  We went out to work all the same, and even though it wasn’t done with lots of energy, we did it happily (sorry Mom I don’t know how to express myself in English) and we saw and felt lots of blessings.  We got a less active to agree that she should probably come to church before ‘deciding’ to go inactive after a month of being sick and we met lots of people with lots of potential.  We truly felt the Lord sustaining us through the day, we didn’t have the energy to teach so the Spirit kinda had to take over - and He is the true teacher.  The day ended with a few blessings of health, lots of sleepiness (my comp) and lots of throwing up and crying (me).  But we survived - I literally lost 5 pounds in 24 hours but we survived.

Thursday we got up early and after my breakfast of jello #flavoredwater we headed to Banfield for a leadership meeting.  From what I remember it was good, I was really tired from being up all night in the bathroom.  Hermana Calquin was nice enough to get me crackers and a water bottle to eat for lunch.  Woohoo.

Friday we worked a little, but my comp got worse so we had weekly planning and stayed inside out of the cold.  And Saturday we had a really productive happy day.  Really despite being sick we had a really good week!  One of our best and we were super excited for Sunday.  We had a ton of people who had promised and committed to come to church and it didn’t rain like everyone thought - so no excuses.

And Sunday we get to church… and there was just about no one in the building.  We called and got a few “no I’m not coming because (fill in the blank)” and lots of voicemails and well there were 35 people in church yesterday.  It was really sad and it kinda got us super down.  Not a single person we worked with all week came.  We felt really kinda bad cuz we had such a great week and then, nothing.  Grrrr.  Sometimes it is really frustrating that everyone has agency.  Talking with Hermana Besieger yesterday we talked about how frustrating it must be for God sometimes.  He teaches and gives us everything we need to succeed and we don’t obey him and he can’t bless us.  I wondered if he ever gets frustrated like us missionaries do and wants to throw the hat in now and then.  

But I learned something this morning studying the scriptures.  That Jesus Christ will never give up on us.. his hand is always stretched out still (2 Nefi 19).  How many times in Jacob 5 does the Lord say to his servant “let us go down AGAIN to tend the vineyard, even though it keeps giving me bad fruit”  The Lord of the vineyard had lots of faith and hope and love for his trees and our Lord has perfect faith and hope and charity for us.  Even when we disobey, and He suffers and sorrows because we can’t be as happy as he wants us to be, he keeps helping us.  So I’m gonna have a little more faith and hope and charity (Moroni 7: 40-48) and I’m gonna go back out with the Lord again to tend his vineyard.  Because this is the last time He will nurture his vineyard and blessed are those who work at his side.  (Jacob 5:71)


Hermana Walker

Friday, June 16, 2017

Mission Conference Week Photos

my zone this last transfer 


the mission choir :) 


a few hermanas from the mission :) 


reunited :) love that mexican ;)


living life by candlelight :) 


cows


me with the cows 

Mission Conference

So great news! I get to stay with my lovely comp Hna Biesinger!! Sooo excited !! :) Its gonna be great :) 

This last week was a good one! 

The highlight was a mission conference we had with the President of the Seventy, Elder Clayton, and the President and his counselor of the area South America South, Elder Teixera and Elder Packard. It was really great and we learned lots and felt the Spirit but my favorite part probably had to be the musical number and when I got to play prelude with a cello and piano for an hour before..... I got to make music and it just makes me feel whole :) It was beautiful :) 

Also the WHOLE mission was there and reunions of the whole mission don't happen every day and it was awesome cuz I got to see old comps and friends and give lots of hugs :) So that was kinda great :) 

Other events from the week... the light has been going out just about every other night so gotta love that! But actually it is kinda relaxing living by candlelight... luckily the water heater runs by gas and we can turn on and open the oven to heat up the house :)
 
We saw lots of cows :) gotta love country living :) 

We are working with a 21 year old with so many problems it makes me sad, and it gives me a glimpse into what my life might have been like without the gospel, kinda sad. We tried and tried to teach Ricardo and Claudiolina but they were sick and we were busy and we didn't teach them all week!!! Ahhhh kinda worried about them.... gonna work hard to find them this week. 

Basically life is going again and I have realized why God gives us commandments... to make us happy :) the law of chastity so we aren't 21 with 2 kids and living alone just trying to survive. The word of wisdom so we aren't chained to substances that are expensive and destructive .) and just every. single. commandment. is to protect us and make us happy :) I am so grateful for all the blessings I get like a rain shower from heaven for obeying the commandments. God is so good :) I love life. 
--
Hermana Walker

Open Air Photo

open country air 


open country air 





When the train had an accident and we had to get off mid station 





With a cow outside the meat store :) 





We attacked the mold in our pench!!!! Down with mold. We are enemies. 



Open Air

So this week was a good one, crazy of coarse... but if my week wasn't crazy it wouldn't be normal!! :) It felt like we hardly had time at all to work in our area this week but oh well! 

So some craziness from this week... so on Tuesday when we had to take the train to go to a choir rehersal for the visit of the general authority this week there was a little accident.. (a suicide, really sad) and so, well we had to get off the train between two stations and find a bus to take to the capilla.... so that was an adventure! :)
 
Also I had intercambios this week from Hermana Chappell. She is from Arizona so we are in the same boat dying in the humid Argentine winter here.... thin blood or something but que sé yo?? But we had appointments in what felt like the end of the world and well IS the end of the mission and we took photos with the open air and train tracks!! Super pretty :) 

Also this week I had a rehersal and I AM GOING TO PLAY VIOLIN AGAIN..... :).... crying down here:) #sohappy It felt so good to rehearse a little with the cello and piano and I just felt so happy :) it was wonderful... even though I was embarrassingly rusty! but nothing a little practice can't fix up... although I miss my violin. 

We are working hard and well with the investigators we have right now... but we are in need of some new investigators with lots of potential. It was a bit sad Sunday cuz no one came to church, almost no members came either because it was super cold in the morning and well people come to church walking half an hour or so and so lots of times they just don't feel like going for a walk in the rain, cold, fog.... 

So prayers so we can find some new people to work with would be really appreciated :) Thanks love you all :) 
--
Hermana Walker