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.