Antofagasta: Working with the zone

Mission work is going pretty well. We've been blessed with a significant amount of success in our sector. We're working hard to keep up our energy and help the rest of the zone to catch fire. It's fun being a leader and getting to know those who you get to help out. I'll always remember my leaders, the good and the bad. Hopefully I'm remembered as a good leader. 

They called me today to ask which airport I was going to. I told them St. George. Hopefully our family hasn't moved, right? 

Antofagasta: Working with Members

Todo tranquilo aquí en Chile,

This week was another week full of miracles. Elder Olives and I hit a point where we were just exhausted this week but everything ended up well. We kept on working hard and the Lord blessed us in grand ways. 

A lesson that I learned this week was that the key to success lies in working with members. We had multiple lessons this week where a member was able to ease the burdens of an investigator and everything worked out like magic. 

There's not that much to report this week other than that all is well in zion so I guess I'll just move on to a 

Spiritual Thought:

I've been meditating lately about a talk I read by Elder Bednar. He talks about the difference between testimony and conversion. Testimony is when we recieved knowledge but conversion is when we put it into practice. The apostles received many testimonies while they were with Jesus but there true conversion took place after teh resurrection, when they began to act according to the things they had learned. 

I pray that we can all build upon our spiritual experiences and bless the lives of others, becoming truly converted.

Love you guys!

Elder Walker

Antofagasta: Baptism and Learning Portugese

This week was great!

We had the baptism of one of our investigators and his wife and daughter came and saw it. We had a large amount of members come and they even brought more new investigators! This ward really is one of the best ones I have served in. 

Today we don't have that much time to write because our zone got together with the office and our mission president and we played a soccer game on a huge field. We played for a few hours so this e-mail will be short. 

We're seeing a lot of success in our zone and we're growing to be more and more unified. It's quite a change to be out of the office and working full-time but not as big of a change as I thought that it would be. 

Estou falando em portuges com meu companheiro. It's cool be learning another language in addition to Spanish and English. It reminds me a lot of how it was to start the mission. I'm glad that I don't have to start all over again!

Spiritual Thought:

Alma 36:17-21

If you don't have a set of scriptures with you go get one and read this scripture before continuing.

I love this scripture because if we repent from the heart we really can replace all of our sorrow and suffering with joy! Repentance should be a daily part of all of our lives so that we can maintain lives full of joy and happiness!

Love you guys! Have a great week!

Elder Walker

Antofagasta: Out of the office, back to the field full-time

Dear group of people,

It's been a long time since I've written a group e-mail but now that I'm out of the mission office I have a lot more time. 

First things first, being out of the office means so much less stress. I don't think I realized how much stress was involved with the office until I left and felt it all go away. Especially with the change of mission president, things were really crazy. Even though I changed to the sector right next to the sector I was in before I feel so far away. My life took a crazy 180 spin. I like where I am though and the people we are with.

A little bit about my sector. I'm in a ward called "Miramar" and there is a saying here "Miramar, donde milagros pasan" or "Miramar, where miracles happen". I've only been here a week and I can see why the saying exists. The sector is also legendary in the mission for having huge hills. I'm going to have some huge calves by the end of this transfer. 

My companion is named Elder Olives and is from Natal, Brazil and we are always laughing about something in the street. We get along well with the ward members and have various investigators progressing. We also have quite a few investigators who are getting married and will be getting baptized this month. I kind of lucked out in that aspect. I get to be here to reap the fruit of other missionaries. It's quite a bit of a change to get to a sector that is having a decent amount of success because when I've gotten to a sector in the past we've had to put in a great deal of work to see any results. 

This week we also did intercambios with some missionaries from Orígenes, the sector next to us. I went with Elder Moraga, a newer missionary. It was fun to be with a newby and all of the ánimo that comes with them. Elder Moraga already teaches really well and I learned a lot with him.

Spiritual Thought:

This week we as a zone climbed "cerro el ancla" , a hill that looks out over Antofagasta, with our zone and had a fireside on top. we talked about love, faith, and dilligence and set some goals for our zone. It was a bit of a climb but we got to the top and felt the spirit as a zone. 

In our lives goals are very important to help us reach our potential. Many times, as we set goals with faith, we aren't able to accomplish our goals but we end up with results much higher than we would have had if we had never set a goal. I've learned in the mission though, that as we work hard to fulfill our righteous goals, the Lord blesses us with additional strength.

I love and miss you guys! 

Elder Walker

P.S. in the picture I circled Elder Ólives and I in red and my old companion, Elder Huffstutler in green.