Copiapo: Crazy is the Norm

Hey everyone!

Hope everything is all good back in the states! I heard Donald Trump is the new president so that kind of surprised me. I hope I don't have a hard time getting back into the states now! Haha, just kidding.

Things here in Copiapó are going pretty well. My companion and I are still seeing a lot of success. I think the homesickness might have caught up with Elder Jones a little bit but he seems to be doing a lot better now. I started to think about how weird being here must be and how different it is from the US. When we got of the bus to Copiapó it was about 3 in the morning and there was a man playing a base drum and spinning around in circles while getting chased around by a pack of about fifteen dogs. Elder VanNatter (another Elder who lives with us) and I had to argue with the taxi driver a little bit and get us to where we live. All of this in a foreign language could be pretty confusing. I guess there are things I've gotten used to over two years. 

Some highlights for this week:

We went to an appointment with Edmundo and Patricia, two of our investigators who ARE married. They had a baptismal date for this 26th but were a little bit unsure about how soon it was. We passed by their house and they were super excited. We asked them what was up and they told us that they had decided that they were all in and wanted to get baptized! They told us that ever since we started passing by again they have been calmer, fighting less and just happier in general! We passed over the baptismal interview questions with them and they are SUPER prepared! Their baptismal interview will be this Tuesday evening. Awesome!

We were able to get a few people to church this week, which was a bit of a miracle seeing as how we weren't able to attend. We were getting ready for church Sunday morning when I sneezed and it felt like something exploded in my lung. I was left a little bit immobilized for a bit and then called Sister Ferreira. She told my to just lay in bed all day and do the sacrament in our apartment. I'm feeling a lot better and we have an appointment with the doctor later today so we'll see what's going on inside my body. The cool part about all of this though is that  Luis, a member a talked a bit about last week was super worried and even came to see us while I was in bed. He and his family were worried about me. It's cool to have investigator families that care as well!

I'm trying not to think too much about home but it happens every now and then. I haven't straight up told my trainee that I'm going home in three weeks and I'm pretty sure he hasn't figured it out yet, haha. It's helped me to not get "trunky" talking a lot about home though.

Spiritual Thought:

We watched a satellite broadcast from Buenos Aires, Argentina from Elder Rasband who was with our Area Presidency. One of the things that he said was that the more we learn about our Savior, Jesus Christ, the more we will love him. The more we love him, the more we will want to serve him. I have a strong testimony that when we read the Book of Mormon, we learn more about Christ than any other way. As one reads the Book of Mormon, there love for the Savior increases and there desire to serve him will grow immensely. If anyone is struggling with their testimony or feel like they lack a desire to serve, they should read this sacred book and it's stories about this continent's ancient inhabitants. 

I love this gospel and the change it has brought about in me. I love you all and am super excited to see you soon!

Elder Walker 

Copiapo: Training in a new area

Saludos de la mejor misión del mundo!

Hey everyone, So I'm still alive here in the beautiful desert paradise of Copaipó. I think the biggest news from this week is that I started having a pretty bad cough that eventually led to some chest pain. That's right, I got diagnosed with Atypical Pneumonia. Before anyone worries too much though, the healthcare system here in Copiapó is actually pretty decent and I should be at %100 here pretty quick. 

As far as the work goes we've been blessed with some pretty cool miracles. We've been opening sector which involves a lot of contacts in the street and lots of visiting old investigators as well. One of the old family investigators we found are named Patricia and Edmundo. She just happens to be from the same city in Brazil (Natal) as my companion Elder Olives. They have a five year old daughter named Sofia and a four month old son named Martin. They had attended church for various months about a year and a half ago but couldn't get baptized because they weren't married. Getting married is a bit more complicated here in Chile than in the US. The good news though is that NOW THEY ARE MARRIED!!!!! They came to church this Sunday and are super excited to get back into the swing of things and get baptized. They are really awesome people and are super prepared. 

We're also working with a part member family. His name is Luis and her name is Marcela. He is a member but hadn't attended church since he was thirteen years old. We found them when they were having some marital problems. We talked openly with them and Luis was super excited to come to church again. We talked with them about how progressing in life is like rowing a boat, that both partners have to be rowing otherwise the boat will be moving in circles. Sunday they both showed up with their nine year-old son Martín. It was awesome because Marcela had gotten off of her shift at 8 in the morning but decided that she needed to come as well! Luis got up and shared his testimony and said that he was feeling the spirit super strong. It was awesome

Attendance in the branch also skyrocketed this week. Even though it doesn't have as much to do with our work as the branches the attendance hit 86 this week! Elder VanNatter, an Elder who has a bit more time in the branch says that the highest he's ever seen it before! The other Elders that work with us  in Paipote were also able to bring some families to church. We're seeing tons of miracles here! I feel like I'm finally recognizing and following the spirit and I know that this work is true!

Love and miss all of you guys! See you in four short weeks!

Elder Walker

Antofagasta: loving the work

This week was another one for the books!

Some quick weekly highlights: We've been teaching an older gentleman named Alejandro Robledo for some time now. He wants to get baptized and knows the church is true BUT has a bit of a problem. He needs to get married to his live in girlfriend of many years. Here it's a pretty common problem and not that hard to fix UNLESS you are married already and your old wife from over 40 years ago doesn't want to be legally divorced unless you give her 10,000,000 chilean pesos. If that is the case you have to start a legal process and wait about 2-3 years. Alejandro is progressing well though. He's actually an old investigator from the missionaries that were here before but hasn't attended for about 6 months. He came to general conference! And brought a friend! Even though he won't be baptized for a while we're working to get him attending regularly for when he can.

We are also working with a little girl named Constanza. She is nine years old and started attending church when we invited her to attend with her grandpa who is an active member here. She loves the primary and is being looked after by the primary presidency. This week we met with her mom who is also very receptive! 

We're working with some other families as well and have found some very receptive people this week. Miramar is where miracles happen!

I'm not getting too trunky here but every now and then I remember that I only have a few months left. My companion and I get along great and we're working hard to help the zone as well!

Spiritual Thought:

Alma 12:9-10

" 9 And now Alma began to expound these things unto him, saying: It is given unto many to know the mysteries of God; nevertheless they are laid under a strict command that they shall not impart only according to the portion of his word which he doth grant unto the children of men, according to the heed and diligence which they give unto him.

 10 And therefore, he that will harden his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word; and he that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full. "

It takes time and energy to understand the mysteries of god. We need to heed what God has already helped us to understand and dilligently follow what we already know. As we do so we bit by bit come to understand spiritual things. I think after two years of missionary work I'm finally begginning to understand some of the many mysteries of the universe. 

This week a lady basically yelled at us that we were slaves to religion and trapped by what we were doing among many other things. I think that if anything, as I've devoted more time to spiritual things I've gained more self control and more agency over what I can do in life. As we choose to give more to God we gain more agency. One of Satan's biggest lies is that we are "trapped" by commandments. As we sin we become slaves to sin and bit by bit lose our agency until we only can focus on the things that give us momentary pleasure. I wish I could have helped the lady to understand the gospel of Christ but every one has their agency to accept the gospel or not. 

I love you guys so much! Keep making good choices! Follow the commandments and don't become slaves to sin!

Elder Walker

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: Visit from a Seventy

Hey Mom and Dad!

This week was a roller coaster but we passed through all right and
were able to see some miracles as well.

Some things that happened this week:

We were blessed with the visit of a general seventy this week.
President put me in charge of preparing the chapel and getting
everyone to the chapel that we were going to use. Long story short a
miracle happened and we found a member who owns a bus to take the more
than a hundred missionaries from the bus terminal to the Orígenes
chapel. We got everyone there on time and everything turned out well.
I was worried things would be more hectic than they were.

At the end of the conference President Ferreira asked me to stick
around and I had a one on one interview with Elder Brag (the seventy).
We talked a little bit about the mission and he asked me what my plans
were after the mission. I gave him the normal "go back to study and
get married". He chuckled and told me not to worry about getting
married quickly but that God would put someone in my path. Pretty
interesting that even a general authority is talking to me about after
the mission!

Speaking of after the mission, I'm planning on giving my buddy Austin
 freshman year the responsability of finding me somewhere to
live for me. I wrote him a quick e-mail and asked him for permission
to be bugged a little bit by my mom. I'm pretty sure he's living in
Liberty Square and that's where I wanted to live before the mission. I
have an interview with the Mission President this Thursday morning.
I'll get the recomendation done and start planning for which classes
I'm going to take. I'm thinking he'll give me permission to scope out
a little bit.

The rest of the week was pretty calm. We, by luck, had an investigator
at church but the week was pretty hard for us. We just split the
sector and gave half of our everything to the other Elders. They are
cool though.

I'm getting along great with my companion. I've learned it takes me a
little while to warm up to people but I'm bit by bit opening up to the
missionaries that live with me.

I love you guys so much!

oh! I know I've been pretty low maintanence in the mission and haven't
really asked for much but could you take my electric guitar into
Guitar Dan's repair shop to get fixed up? If I remember right the
bridge needs to be taken down a little bit but they should know better
than me what needs to be done.

Love,
El primer Élder Walker ( o el segundo si papa cuenta

Antofagasta: New companion

Everything is going good for me here in Miramar! I'm with my new
companion, Elder Faúndez from Santiago. He has about seven months in
the mission and we had the same "papito". He seems really excited and
ready to work so we're going to work hard till we drop!

Everything is going well with the zone as well. I think I'm growing
into the role well. We have really experienced district leaders as
well who are helping out a ton. In other news a seventy is coming to
Antofagasta this week and we'll be here with half the mission for a
special conference! He's going to have a special meeting with all of
the zone leaders and sister training leaders as well. I'm super
excited!

I love you tons mom! Thans for your love and support as always!

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