Antofagasta: Soccer with the pres

I love you tons mom! The work is going great here! If you could pray
for Margarita and Rodrigo. They are two of our investigators who have
received an answer about the Book of Mormon but live together and
aren't sure they want to get married. They are very liberal but also
very good people.

Today we played soccer again with the mission president. The office is
still part of our zone and I haven't been able to completely escape. I
think I'll be kind of part of the office till I finish. Things are
going well here but we're struggling a bit to find people to teach. We
are talking with EVERYONE but something is lacking. We'll figure it
out though with help from the spirit.

Antofagasta: People are interesting

Haha, that makes me laugh about Camille's investigator. I feel like as missionaries we have giant crazy people magnets floating over our heads. I'm not getting her e-mails but I think I'll write her now and tell her to put me on the list or something. 

Yes we keep seeing miracles here. I think this has been the ward where I have seen the most action, we have the most willing members, and the attendance is the lowest. This ward has serious potential. The only problem is that there are many members who move to other wards. More than half of our recent converts over the past year have moved to other wards. 

Sometimes I miss dancing but then I remember that I'll be home pretty soon. I'll probably take another dance class the semester when I get back. I always had a ton of fun in the social dance classes.  It's kind of crazy how close I am. Spencer will finish his training when I go home. One of my good mission friends, Elder Anderson, finishes this week. He's in the office as an assistant right now and he's taking the whole going home thing pretty hard. I hope that when the end comes for me I can go calmly haha. It's like dying. Everything just wants a slow, painless death.

As far as the Portuguese is going, eh. I kind of hit a wall and haven't learned any more. If I stay with the same companion that I have now I'll commit a little bit more. 

I love you tons Mom! Be sure to scout out future potential wives for me!

Elder Walker

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.

Antofagasta: Covenants made

I'll start off with last Saturday after I wrote you.

Saturday - We finished P-day and went to the baptism. It went pretty normal and the Bishop did the baptism. Junior gave his testimony afterwards and it was pretty powerful. He shared a bit of what his "Journey" to find the truth has been and then said "I guess I can say this now, hi, my name is Junior, and I'm a Mormon." It was a pretty cool moment. He told us after the baptism and confirmation the next day that while the ordinances were happening he didn't feel that special. He did tell us that while he was walking home after the baptism reflecting on the significance of it the spirit hit him very strongly and he just started to cry. The spirit talks to all of us in different ways and in moments when we don't expect as well. It's very cool to see the change that Junior has had and the determination that he has to move forward. He's left to do visits with a couple of different sets of missionaries and is having tons of cool spiritual experiences.

After Saturday the next big event that happened was that Maria José had her baptismal interview and passed. Her husband Johnson (who was inactive a couple of months ago) also passed an interview with the bishop so he was able to baptize her. We held the baptism today in the morning and everything went relatively well. They were going to a wedding reception afterwards so we waited for them to change clothes and went over there together. It was our P-Day so we went to give them support and take advantage of a free lunch. She'll be confirmed a member of the church tomorrow and we're super excited!

This week I'll be driving down to Vallenar with about half of the office. It will be a long trip because only two of us can drive here in the office. I'll let you guys know how it goes though!

Love you guys so much!

Elder Walker

Antofagasta: Busy week; lots of blessings

So this week was a pretty well one! Let me just make a short summary of everything that's been going on.

Monday - We Picked up the finishing missionaries and helped them get to the mission home. In this group of finishing missionaries were three of my former companions - Elder Aleluya, Elder Sepúlveda and Elder Rivera. Because Elder Huffstutler (my companion and the Commissary) and Elder Prada (being trained as the new secretary of visas) don't have licences it meant that I did a lot of driving. I'm nervous for when Elder Morales leaves the office in five weeks and I'm the only one with a valid license. To have an "international license" you have to have a valid license from your own country and no one else does! We worked into the night driving people after their meetings at the mission home as well. Not the best day for mission work because we woke up at 4:30 and didn't have that much time during the day.

Tuesday - We went into the office at a normal time and worked like normal. Elder Morales and Elder Prada went to drop people off at the airport at five o' clock and we started to get things ready for the missionaries that were going to come into the mission. We had a Brazilian coming into the mission and his flight was delayed so President left the assistants and I in charge of the rest of the newbies for a couple of hours at the mission home where we improvised a couple of classes or something for them to do. The North Americans who came in were cool but were drop dead tired. Apparently they had been awake for almost 48 hours. We stuck around in the mission home until the end of the day and then once President and Sister Dalton came back they set us free. I basically just stuck around so I could drive the Assistants back. Sister Dalton did the unspeakable though. We had saved some of the empanadas from lunch and they were in a plastic container on the counter. She got there and asked me how long they had been out. I responded about three hours and then watched in horror as the sabrosas empanadas were thrown into trash. You could have fed many starving missionaries with those empanadas for many moons. I guess she didn't want anyone getting sick but still. It hurt inside to see them trashed.

Wednesday - We got up early to go receive the trainers who were coming in to receive their trainees. Everything went off without a hitch. We also went to work like normal but nothing really interesting happened. 

Thursday - The mission was audited. We had a church representative sent from Santiago and he basically spent all day revising our financial records with me. He was a really nice guy and we only had small things to improve. Our president can still be really intense sometimes though. He has a presence that just kind of stresses everyone out. The cool stuff that happened this day was that Junior, our investigator who went to Peru got back and when he saw his first words were "I want to get baptized, When?" We talked a lot more with him about how his trip was and it was everything you could have hoped for. He also found out that many members of his family are Mormon. We talked with President to get special permission to let his attendances in Peru count and Junior well get baptized this coming week. We also received a call from Johnson and Maria José saying that they got an hour to get married (here it is a ridiculously complex process to get married) and they will be getting married the 21st and she will get baptized on the 28th! We're seeing some miracles happen here in the office!

Friday - We did a lot of walking and then met up with Junior and he had his baptismal interview. He passed! He wants to accompany us to a lesson today and we're super excited!

Saturday - We've just been kind of hanging out.

Sunday - I'll be giving a talk in church about Humility.

I love you guys so much! I know that when we let him the Lord does miracles through us!

-Elder Walker

Antofagasta: New missionaries and an International Drivers License

Here we go, this e-mail might be a long one but I'm going to write it anyways because this week was the dreaded CAMBIO WEEK!!!!!!

Saturday: The cambio calls are made

Sunday: All is calm. I attend church with my companion, Elder Gonzalez, who will soon be leaving home. We teach a little bit after church then head into the office to finalize logistics for what will be the craziest week in history. Late Sunday night President gets back from his trip to Buenos Aires for a Mission President's Seminar.

Monday: We woke up at 7:30 AM like normal only this time I was saying goodbye to my companion who was being picked up and taken to the mission home to do the final day stuff. We are now in a trio. It's weird but exciting and fun at the same time. Monday was calm. We made sure all of the finishing missionaries got in from all ends of the mission safely and then went out to work like normal at 5 o'clock.

Tuesday: The madness begins. We woke up at 4:30 and went to meet the Latinos at the airport so Elder Morales (Secretary of Visas and International Travel) could do their check-in and I (Financial Secretary) could pay for all of their baggage. Elder Spanbauer also accompanied us because we're in a trio. All was going well until President came up to us with one of the Elders and it turns out that his last destination was wrong. It was a very heated moment. We ended up working it out to buy his flight to Santiago and we were then going to have him wait in the airport and get his next flights ready in the office. We ran to the van and drove immediately to the office where Elder Morales started making calls to Santiago to get everything sorted out. In the end everything worked out so that the Elder could make it home. While we were doing this the gringos got dropped at the airport and left.

Afterwards, at eleven I went with Elder Talbot and Sister Talbot to the mission home to start getting things ready for the new missionaries while Elder Spanbauer and Elder Morales went to pick up the food for the newbies. The newbies were picked up by the Assistants in a bus while we were doing this. We got everything ready super fast and Elder Spanbauer and Elder Morales arrived just barely before the newbies with the empanadas. The newbies got of the bus with their suitcases and we put tags on all of them. We then threw all of the sister missionaries' luggage in the truck and went inside. 

Afterwards we ate lunch with President and Sister Dalton, the newbies and the Talbots. The newbies finished their lunches and we took all of their pictures and had them sign documents for their visas. We (The trio) then sneaked out of the mission home and took the sisters luggage to Holiday Inn and did the check-in. We drove back to the mission home to pick up the Talbot's and finish cleaning up (all insanely quietly because the newbies were having a meeting) and left the van with the assistants so that they could drop of the sisters in the hotel. We went back to the mission office and set everything else up for meetings. At 6 we went out to work like normal missionaries and had a bit of success contacting a couple of people.

Wednesday: Trainer meeting. We woke up at 5 to get ready and be at the mission offices at 7 to receive the trainers who were coming in from all over the mission. We set out breakfast for them and all of the newbies arrived. We took their suitcases and ushered them inside. The training meeting started and we ducked out of the auditorium and into the office. The newbies came in and sister Dalton introduced us and what we did. We ran and went to Domino's and picked up lunch and then we had the ceremony where the new missionaries met their trainers. Everything was going well until one kid opened up his letter, read it, and then got to the part where he read his companion, stopped, and said , "uuuuh, I don't think that's allowed." President Dalton walked over and then looked straight back at us. (We were kind of hiding in the back) and we all got super nervous. I don't know how I got nominated but I walked up into the circle and grabbed the call letter. We then ran to the office and printed off a new one but this time one that didn't say that he would be trained by an hermana. After that we (the office) told some more things to the newbies about their visas and mission credit cardsand then left. We cleaned things up while they were finalizing the meeting. We kept cleaning after the meeting and set up for leadership council. We got out to work at about 7. Worked until 10:30 and then went to sleep at 11:30 like normal. I found fleas in my bed though so I was wigging out and actually got to bet at 12.

Thursday: Leadership Council. We woke up at 5 again to be at the office at 7 to receive the Zone Leaders and Sister Trainer leaders coming in from all over the mission. As they get in we take their suitcases and they go to eat breakfast that we have prepared. When the meeting starts at 10 we go into the storage room and start to unload their suitcases that are full of pouch from all over the mission. We then organize the pouch and put it in the corresponding suitcase along with proselyting supplies for the different zones. Afterwards we ran and picked up empanadas. All of the food has to get their a little bit late. President Dalton gives us a time and we have to arrive 5-10 minutes after the time he gives us. We get there and throw everything out for lunch so that the meeting can end and they can come out and eat. The leaders then go back in and we go do office stuff while they wait for us to finish. The meeting finishes at 4 and afterwards we are all attacked. I'm not sure why everyone waits to talk with us instead of just calling us with their problems beforehand. 

The only funny part that happened was that a group of about 14 hermanas came up and half surrounded us. They started to complain about where they were sitting on the buses to get to Antofagasta. Elder Spanbauer looked at me even though it's his job and I got stared at by the menacing glances of a herd of wild hermanas. I took a step back and said that I had nothing to do with bus pasages and Elder Morales did exactly the same thing on the other side of Elder Spanbauer.

We got everyone off and when everyone had left President called us into his office. The three of us went in and Elder Spanbauer and I sat down in front of President while Elder Morales hung out on a couch behind us. President then started to review these packets that Elder Spanbauer and I had completed to be able to drive. It was super intense and I felt like I was having a worthiness interview about my driving record. BUT I PASSED. My international license is now here and I have been loosed on the streets of Chile.

We went out and President signed the audit sheets that Elders Gonzalez, Talbot and I had done. We then left to work and had a pretty successful day, got back at 10 and then went to bed at 11:30 after planning the next day.

Friday: The reperation after the storm. We were so busy with meetings the whole week that I had a bunch of work buildup and had to get things done really quick or they were going to cut off the electricity in one of our apartments other problems had arisen as well. I also argued with the Dueña of an old apartment for about 30 minutes on the phone. We're going to have the missionaries go there and meet with her Monday to discuss her demands before she will take the apartment back from us but in reality they are just going to hand her the keys and walk away. She isn't going to be very happy at all and I expect a very angry phone call from her Monday. I ALSO DROVE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE MISSION!!!! It's an interesting experience.

We went out to work and did some splits with members. The one advantage of being in a trio is that it is really easy to split up with members. We found some new investigators and had some spiritual lessons as well.

That's pretty much how my week went. Hopefully there is something interesting in all of my ramblings.

I love you guys tons!

Elder Walker

Antofagasta: Learning new role and finding balance

This week went pretty well for me. I think I'm kind of getting back into the swing of things. Office life is pretty calm. Not a lot happens here. My companion (the old financiero who is training me) has some pretty bad back problems and it looks like he possibly could be heading home early so we really haven't been out to work that much. I've had lots of time to meditate and to study and then meditate some more and I think it's helped me out a little bit. I wish I could say more that's going on but there's really not that much going on so I guess I'll just explain what I do.

My job as Financiero:

1. Reimbursements- Any time any missionary that buys something that can be reimbursed I have to deal with it and/or tell them no.

2. Living Quarters- I am in charge of setting up contracts with landlords, paying landlords, arguing with landlords, arguing with missionaries when they do wierd things (i.g. some sister missionaries stabbed their refrigerator with a knife and let all the frion gases get out. Don't worry, they were trying to get the ice build up out so it's not AS bad as it sounds. Still not the smartest thing to have been done.) Landlords can be some of the most frustrating people in the world. Also all of the missionaries have to send me their pension inspections. 

3. Medical Payments- I help missionaries get money to go to the doctor.

4. I pay people- Literally every payment that the mission does goes through my hands.

5. Zone Conferences/When the newbies come in/When the old ones go out/Leadership Conference- We are in charge of getting all the food ready for all of these meetings and making sure all the stuff runs pretty smoothly. All of the Zone leaders come to Anofagasta once a month and we have to get everyones mail sorted and recieve mail from missionaries going to other missionaries and that kind of stuff. We also travel when we have zone conferences and help set them up in the different parts of the mission. President Dalton and Sister Dalton usually take the assistants and we take THE MISSION VAN. It's this brand new minivan and it's pretty legit. I will be getting my international license here pretty soon. (Thank you mom for making me get a new copy of my license a week before I left). The process is pretty easy and I don't have to take a driving test or anything so I think I'm safe.

6. Anything else in the office- We help each other out alot and are pretty tight here in the office. If something big goes down we've got each others backs. We basically run the mission because President Dalton spends the majority of his time travelling. I'm in here with Elder Gonzalez-gringo (my companion and Financiero Trainer who will be with me the entire transfer), Elder Spanbauer-gringo (The mission Historiador/Comisario), and Elder Morales-Chileno (Secretary of Travel and Visas).

7. Being a normal Missionary- On top of the aforementioned responsibilities and a bunch of other small stuff I do that I didn't really feel like explaining I am also a missionary. At five o' clock every day we shut down the office (returning later sometimes for emergencies) and leave to teach in the streets of Antofagasta. It's really wierd combining the two worlds. I feel like I have a full time job in addition to being a missionary. This part is probably the hardest to focus on because my mind is often times still so involved in the business aspect of things. 

So that's pretty much my life in a nutshell right now. Get up. Study. Go to the office. Go work. Sleep like a rock.

So now here's something I've been thinking a lot about.

Spiritual Thought:

2nd Nephi 2:27- Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself.

We have the ability to choose whether we want to be free and happy or in captivity and miserable. There are many things that can captivate our attention in this life and take alot of our precious time. If we don't choose wisely after a bit of time the things that we have chosen won't leave us feeling happy. Many times in my life and in my mission I've had to take a step back and re-orient myself so that the things that I'm doing are things that will edify me and in the end give me more freedom and happiness. I can also testify that studying the scriptures - In particular the Book of Mormon - and sincere prayer are two things that bring happiness and will always be of great worth.

I love you guys and miss you tons!

Elder Walker

Antofagasta: Transfer to Mission Home

Halo, Misión Chile Antofagasta, en que le puedo ayudar?

I am now the mission's newest FINANCIAL SECRETARY!!!

I got a call about two weeks ago from President Dalton asking me if I would be willing to serve in the mission office as the "financiero". My job basically entails anything that has to do with money in the mission. All of the money that the missionaries receive weekly, reimbursements, anything that has to do with the missionary living quarters and all other money spent by the mission runs through my hands. It's really not that hard though. The hardest part (as explained by Elder Gonzales, the Elder training me) is when we have to argue with the landlords about details in the contracts. 

We're going to rewind in time a bit. Last Sunday I had to leave my zone at 2:30 in the afternoon to get to the office before transfers to help out. Church ended at 1 so I had to be there, run to the apartment really fast and pack in about 15 minutes and then go to the bus terminal. It was kind of sad because I didn't get to say goodbye to hardly anyone in the ward. They also didn't let me speak in church because an area seventy showed up. All-in-all I just kind of disappeared. Luckily some of the members came to say goodbye to me at the bus terminal and I lost it and got kind of emotional.

Because of the special assignment I traveled alone and showed up in Antofagasta alone in the bus terminal with three suit cases. The office elders had given me the direction of my new apartment and told me to take a taxi there once I got into Antofagasta. As I got into the Antofa terminal at about 10:30 some random person who was taking lessons from the missionaries took pity on me, helped me with my bags and gave me a ride! Score one for humanity!

I got to the apartment and two of the Elders helped me get my bags up into the apartment. We have probably the nicest apartment in the entire mission and live with the four office elders and the Assistants to the the President. The Office Elders are all super cool and friendly. My companion's name is Elder Gonzales and he is from Colorado. He is my first "gringo" companion and I'm still in shock about speaking so much English.

We for the next couple of days were running around helping missionaries finish the mission and then start the mission with their trainers. We didn't have that much time to work in our sector proselyting but the time that we did have we had some amazing lessons and the people here are amazing! Our ward is named Quito and we share it with the Assistants and two other elders. One of the "other" elders serving in Quito though is my good friend Elder Giadach. We lived together six months in Arica and we both kind of freaked out when we heard we were going to be together again another six months.

Now that I'm all caught up here's a quick:

Spiritual Thought:

Luke 17:32 - Remember Lot's Wife.

Now watch this video - http://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/new-years-look-not-behind-thee?cid=HP_MO_12-28-2015_dPFD_fMRMN_xLIDyL1-A_

I recently hit my year mark in my mission and it's been a time of serious reflection for me. There are tons of miracles that I have seen and tons of things I wish I could have done better as well. The beautiful thing is that I can keep moving forward. I've repented of my past mistakes and I have made the resolve not to look back, but to keep moving forward. 

I know that Jesus is the Christ and that we have a Heavenly Father who loves us.

Feliz Año Nuevo

Love,

Elder Walker

Antofagasta: New Continent, New Country--Arrived Safely

by Mary Anne

Yesterday we received an e-mail from Tommy's mission president's wife letting us know that Elder Walker arrived safely in the mission. He looks good.

Any letters or packages should be sent to:

Elder Thomas Walker
Mision Chile Antofagasta
Casilla de Correo 70
Antofasata
CHILE

His email address is still good, and he should generally have access to it on his Monday P-days.

twalker@myldsmail.net