Arica: Earthquake, Floods and Baptism

Hey Everybody! Greetings from the mission under the sea!

No but seriously, this week was suuuuuuper crazy! I'm gonna give you guys the story from my point of view, I'm sure that you've seen what's going on in the news.

THE STORY:

We were teaching a family home evening with some members in our ward (last monday). It was super awesome! It happened to be Hermano Diaz's birthday, so we were just eating cake and minding our own business. All of a sudden, the lights went out. We went outside of the house and all the lights in the entire city were out! We got a call from Elders Swett and Giadach (our zone leaders)  telling us to immediately return to our pension. Hermano Diaz gave us and the Hermanas that work in our ward a ride back to our pensions. We then sat around for a couple hours in our pension because it was only 8:30 and we don't go to bed until 11:30 in our mission. We peered out the window into the black abyss that was Arica for a couple hours. You could see sirens in different parts of the city. That's one of the cool parts about our apartment, we're on the fourth floor and can see forever. There was also a fire in part of the town.

The next day we found out that it had been flooding in the south and that's why we had lost power. We didn't really know the extent of what was going on. This day we didn't have any cell service but we had power.

The following day we found out the extent of the things that were going on. Apparently rivers had just taken out cities in our mission. One of the cities to get hit the worst was the city of Cheñaral, which pretty much doesn't exist any more. The significance of this is that my companion spent his first six months in the mission in Cheñaral and is super worried for all the people that he knew there.

We spent a greater part of the week worrying for the missionaries and wondering what was going to happen in the mission. We finally got a call from the president (through our zone leaders) telling us that all the missionaries were fine and that there wouldn't be any huge changes in the mission. Other that that, we haven't really had ANYTHING happen in Arica. Wait, I take that back. We had a 6.4 earthquake in the middle of the night. I slept through it...haha...not sure if that's a good thing.....

Now onto the more important part! The part where we had a baptism! 

His name is Pedro Choque! The hermanas found him in the street and started talking with him! About a month and a half later he got baptized! We were super stressed because we had to teach the lessons very basically and were worried that he wouldn't be able to remember them. He passed the interview and everything went through without a problem! He was super excited after the baptism and says that he wants to keep progressing forward!

Here's a scripture about baptism taht I like -- Mosiah 5:8-10

Love and miss you all so much!

Stay Frosty,

Elder Walker

Arica: First Zone Conference

This week for P-day we went to a museum of mummies! The mummies of chinchorro are some of the oldest in the world! 8000 BC! It was super cool and the museum also had the progress of civilization from then until now of arica!

This week we had conferencia de zona also. President Dalton, his wife, and the assistants to the president led us in activities that will help us to become better missionaries in everything that we do!

Other than that, not a whole lot happened this week. Spanish is progressing and I'm learning tons!

Elder Walker 

Arica: Highs and Lows

Hey Everybody! Que Honda en Los Estados Unidos?

This week was full of ups and downs. In the mission life there really are the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. 

Some things that happened this week:

• We had a baptism planned for last week but our investigator, Humberto, ended up moving out of our ward boundaries. Sad because we didn't get to baptize him but I know the missionaries in the other ward will do a good job as well.
• We had a Family Home Evening with one of our investigator families and the Father said that he knew that the church was true %100 percent! We're working with them on baptism. The hard part is lots of people think that baptism is a huge deal and that they have to be near perfect to be baptized. So we're working right now on that.
• I got really sick Sunday. Like to the point where I was throwing up. Not fun. We had to go back to the pension. The cool thing though, is that my companion and I shared stories with each other between my trips to the bathroom. I feel like grew as a companionship, so count your blessings right?
• This week for P-day we went down to the port. Sometimes I forget that we live so close to the ocean. We took some cool pictures....but I forgot to bring my memory card to the ciber....so next week I'll send them.
• We have 4 baptisms planned for the 28th of this month! My companion and I are working super hard to prepare the people, so keep us in your prayers!
• There are tons of people here with Arsenal jerseys. The first time I saw one, I said something like "yeah! go arsenal!" Then I saw like three more the same day. Turns out, people here are crazy here for Alexis Sanchez

Spiritual Thought: Alma 7:11-12

11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

 12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.

Christ really knows each and every one of us. It's amazing the changes that a person can make in their life if they just humble themselves before Christ and accept the atonement! I'm learning so well on the mission that I have so many weaknesses and that I can be made strong through Christ! I know that there is no way that I could do everything that I need to here without the power of Christ's atonement!

Love and miss you all!

Stay Frosty,

Elder Walker

Arica: FINALLY got a picture!

Elders Walker, Aleluya, and Mendez

This week was super crazy! We literally had tons of appointments and taught so many lessons!

Some things that happened this week:

• We had companion exchanges with the District Leader and his companion this week. It was SUPER wierd because it was the first time since arriving in the mission that I was speaking in English. The language is coming along super quick and I feel super blessed with the gift of tongues.
• We have so many appointments in the nights that we often will do splits with different people in the ward. This time I went with Miguel Angel. Miguel is probably the most charasmatic person I have ever met. For his job he does magic at the semaforos, which means he will wait for the cars to stop at a stoplight, do a trick, and then people will give him some money. When we were contacting people in the street and would walk up to the people, he would just start talking to them so casually that they were super friendly with us and talked pretty openly with us. It was a pretty cool experience.
• We have three baptisms this month!

Some other random thoughts:

It's finally cooling off here in Arica. This week school started back up again as well, so we can't take the priests from the ward with us as much. This is a bummer because alot of them are super spiritual and have been helping us out alot.

We're still looking for a mamita for our food. Right now we kind of take turns cooking for the four of us in our pension. I really don't mind though because we can cook what we like and it's not super difficult.

When we were having intercambios Elder Goff (lidèr de distrito) apparently while we were all sleeping planted Ley de Castidad pamphlets all over our apartment. He covered the floor in our living room. It was pretty funny, we walked out and he started saying "Oooooh Santa Claus de Castidad! Feliz Navidad de Castidad!"

I met my Abuelo (grandpa) this week when we were exchanging missionaries. In the photo, I'm on the left (yep, that's me) My companion, Elder Aleluya (mi papito) in the middle, and his papito, Elder Mendez, on the right.

Things are going super well in Arica! Miss all of you and keep it real!

Elder Walker

Arica: Line Upon Line...

Esta semana fue super bakan, enserio!

The language is coming along super awesome! I can almost understand everything that is being said. Now I just have to work on talking, which is alot harder. 

Some cool things that happened this week:

• We had the wedding of Pedro and Claudia! In reality they were already married in the courthouse but we had a ceremony in the chapel where the bishop talked and they gave each other the rings. It was super awesome and it's amazing the changes that I can see in them!
• We are working right now with the parents of a kid in our ward. He wants to be baptized but his parents are against it. We're teaching some of the lessons to him and I can see that he has such a desire!
• We had two new investigators just show up to church today, out of nowhere! One of them is named Vitali and is Italian! Talking with him is super interesting because sometimes I think I can understand him better than my companion. While we were visiting with him he showed us some bibles that he has that are in Italian and Latin and are from the 1800s. Super old and way cool! They looked like they belonged in museums.
• I shared my testimony in testimony meeting. It was still pretty intense sharing it in another language, but waaaay better than a month ago. We're working alot right now with getting the members energized and excited about mission work. For everyone back in the states, do more to help the missionaries!
• This week for P-day we went to Centro, which is basically just tons and tons of street vendors and little stores. We talked with one of the artisans while he made us some sick key chains. While we were in Centro eating lunch I saw Elder Joos, my companion from the CCM. We both freaked out and ran to talk to each other. It's super cool that we are in the same mission and the same city. He said he's doing well and it sounds like we're having pretty much the same experience here.

Spiritual Thought-- 

2nd Nephi 4:34

34 O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever. I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh; for I know that cursed is he that putteth his 
trust in the arm of flesh. Yea, cursed is he that putteth his trust in man or 

maketh flesh his arm.

I've been learning alot here in the mission that I can't "put my trust in the arm of flesh." When we're teaching lessons I could use all the intellectual prowess in the world and still not be able to convert the person I am teaching. It's only through the spirit that you can really teach them and instill in them a desire to understand and live the gospel.

Slice of Chilean life--

We get around our sector completely by walking, but when we need to get somewhere else, we have three options. 

1. We can blow alot of money and take a ride in a taxi. Usually we don't do this. The only time I've ever done this is when we first got to Arica at like 4 in the morning and didn't want to walk through the streets.
2. We can take the bus. Here they are called Micros (Meekrows for all us gringos who can't speak spanish). They are pretty much the same as buses in the US. They aren't super crazy like some of the stories I've heard from my friends in Latin America.
3. We can take a collectivo. This is what we usually do. Collectivos are much more common than the bus. They have a route that they follow, and as far as I can tell, are just black sedans with a sign on top. You hop in the collectivo, hand the driver some change, and then are off. The collectivo will fill all of it's seats, so we always get to awkwardly squeeze in the back.

Love everyone in the States and hope you guys are doing well!

Bronzeando mas cada dia,

Elder Walker