Arica: The Gospel Blesses Families

Hey Everyone!

This week was another week in the life of a missionary!

Some fun things that happened this week:

We found bags of goldfish SUUUPER cheap in Líder, the Wal-Martish store where we do all of our shopping. Let's just say if we have a zombie apocalypse, we're good for a couple of weeks.

We've been practicing all sorts of magic with some members. Not the black arts stuff, more slight of hand and cool card tricks!

We went to part of the Birthday Party of one of the members here. It's a tradition that the birthdayee has to take a bite of the cake without using their hands. Something that happens alot is that the birthdayee goes in for a bite and will have their head shoved in the cake! Fun Stuff!

Now on to some progress that we've been having:

We've been working alot with different families. I have a strong testimony that the gospel brings happiness into families! If we live the gospel in our homes, I know that we will have more love and happiness in our homes! We're working with a mother and her son who has aspergers. They've been coming to church for a while now, and the difference is amazing! The son has been calmer and more social; he even is getting along great with one of the young men in our ward!

We've also been working alot with the less active members in our ward. We have a ward of about 400 members, but only about 80 regularly attend church. A lot of the less active members, even the ones who haven't come to church in 15 years, still have a strong testimony of The Book of Mormon and of the church. They've just fallen a little bit of the path. We're working hard right now to get the members excited about befriending and helping them come back to church!

And now for a spiritual thought:

In the mission field, something that I'm learning alot, is how to be humble. I've been called to serve the Lord but I have to remember that I've been called to teach by the spirit. Sometimes I lose my focus and teach from myself. I have to focus on letting the spirit do the teaching. There is nothing I can teach without the spirit. To steal a scripture from an e-mail from my cousin, Elder Kenison "yea, acknowledge your unworthiness before God at all times."  (Alma 38:14)

I know that the church is true, and if we search diligently, we can find and strengthen our testimonies of Jesus and his Gospel.

Love you all!Elder Walker

Arica: Birthday in the Field - What better place to be?

Hey Everyone!

This e-mail is being sent to you by the new, the improved, the one year older, ELDER WALKER!!!!

I had my official birthday party in the mission! Which involved waking up like normal, getting handed a slice of cake, then proceeding to study. WOOT!!!! SO EXCITING!!!

I did end up getting a really good birthday present though! One of our recent converts, Andrew from Maryland, recieved the Aaronic priesthood! He's really motivated to follow firm in the faith and I've been learning tons from him. He is dilligently attending church even though it's in a language that he doesn't understand (albeit he has me whispering a somewhat butchered translation) and wants to keep progressing forward! We were teaching a lesson with him and we talked about prayer. I, just asking one of the regular questions asked, "How are your prayers? Are you praying every morning and every night?" He just gave me a wierd look and said, "We shouldn't only pray when we get up and when we go to bed, we should be praying in every moment! I'm praying when I'm out in the field working. Many times I'll just take a quick moment and say a prayer during the day." It's amazing to be able to see the progress of recent converts and be able to take part in such a marvelous work!

Quick Scripture-- Mosiah 26: 29-30

29 Therefore I say unto you, Go; and whosoever transgresseth against me, him shall ye judge according to the sins which he has committed; and if he confess his sins before thee and me, and repenteth in the sincerity of his heart, him shall ye forgive, and I will forgive him also.

 30 Yea, and as often as my people repent will I forgive them their trespasses against me.

It doesn't matter what we've done, who we are, or who we have been; The Lord is here with us. I have gained a stronger testimony here in the mission that if we will accept the help of the Lord, we can recieve true happiness. The mission isn't always easy. There are many times when I feel more than a little frustrated, but when I kneel down and offer a sincere, heartfelt prayer, I always can recieve peace.

I love all of you guys! The best birthday present anyone could give me is to further the work back at home! Invite a friend to church and look for opportunities to give the missionaries back there some work!

Stay Frosty,

Elder Walker

Arica: Staying Put in Arica

Saludas del Ciudad del Eterna Primavera!

This week was crazy but was an awesome week at the same time! We just had transfers, and I'll be staying in Arica with Elder Sepúlveda for another six weeks!

Highlights

The sister missionaries were taken out of our ward this week. They've been having some problems with some guys that have been harassing them, so President Dalton took them out. This means that we're going to have to take over their sector while maintaining ours. This means A LOT more walking. We're also going to have to manage our time really well as we take over the investigators of the sisters. This cambio is going to be one that involves a lot of humility and faith in the Lord!

We've been seeing a lot of progress with some of the families that we're working with. This cambio we're expecting to see many baptisms, and we're super optimistic! 

This p-day we played a little bit of guitar at the house of one of the members! He has a sick Gibson and was playing tons of cool riffs for us! Turns out, I can still pick out one or two things, haha!

Spiritual Thought

In all of our lives we're going to have the opportunity to teach. One of the greatest examples of teaching is the missionary Ammon in the Book of Mormon. One of my favorite passages of scripture is when he is teaching to King Limhi. One of the things that Ammon does to start teaching is that he starts to question King Limhi. In Alma 18:24 he starts to ask Lamoni questions. Specifically he asks if Limhi Believes in God. Limhi responds that he doesn't know who God is. 

What many people would do here is proceed to explain about Heavenly Father. Ammon though, being a good teacher, and led by the spirit, asks another question! The key to good teaching, I'm finding out, is asking inspired questions. 

I have a testimony that the Book of Mormon is a true book and that through it we can recieve TONS of wisdom and be blessed in many ways!

Love you guys!

Elder Walker