Arica: PICTURES & New Companion

Hey Everybody!

This week was crazy! I'm officially done with training (not done learning though!) and I said goodbye to my papito! He got on a bus this morning to Calama and we said our goodbyes; Somewhat sad, but also super exciting. The baptism this week unfortunately fell through. It was hard for my comp because the next day we got a call saying that he was going to Calama. My new companion is named Elder Sepulvera and is from Chile! I haven't met him yet but I'm super excited! Another Eldder from our pension, Elder Swett, also left this week for Vallenar. It's super sad t see two elders that have had such a big impact in my life go, but to quote my ninth grade English teacher, Mr. Reeves "Variety is the spice of life!"

It's hard to believe that I already have 4 and a half months out in the mission. In the mission you blink and it's already gone! I'm working hard to change who I am to become the best missionary possible out here! One of the greatest things about the atonement is the power that we have to fall on our knees, repent, then stand right back up again and have more strength than before.

--Spiritual Thought--

Elder Dallin H. Oaks gave a talk in Santiago to the missionaries of Chile. We watched it by broadcast. One of the things he talked about was the meaning of "asking with a sincere heart and real intent". Our main purpose as missionaries is to invite people to come to Christ. We invite them to read the Book of Mormon, to come to church, and to ask God if these things are true. They need to have this real intent though. Elder Oaks talked in great detail about this and many other things. The thing that stood out to me though, is the word COMMITMENT. When we have real intent, if we recieve an answer to our prayers, we will act on that answer. For our investigators, that action is often baptism. If we don't have this commitment to act though, why would we recieve an answer? What good would it do us? When Lehi recieved a DREAM in the Book of Mormon, he had the commitment to act on that prompting. He had the commitment to recieve grand answers. It's that kind of commitment to the Lord that I am trying to develop on my mission and that we all should strive to develop in our lives.

--Some Chilean Stuff--

I'm like super addicted to empanadas. I think I have a problem. No, but seriously, the empanadas here are super delicious. Every empanada comes with half a hard boiled egg inside, lots of delicious meat and sauce inside, and an aceituna (It's an olive, but with the pit still inside and WAAAAAAY more potent). We can buy them fairly cheap here, and I can't describe how much better they are than a dollar burger at some fast food joint in the U.S. THEY ARE SOOOOO GOOOOOOOOD!!!!!!!!!

Love you all!

Stay Frosty,

Elder Walker

Arica: Last Week of Training

Qué honda!

This week flew by super fast!

So I'm going to open up by saying that yes my toe is fine and no one should be worrying about it. I'm walking normal again, well as normal as I used to. I still trip a lot, especially when going up stairs, but that's irrelevant.

This week we had companion exchanges with the district leader. I packed up some things and went for a day to his sector. It was super cool because for exercise in the morning we went running on the beach. His sector also is the center of the town so there is tons of activity and there are many wierd things going on all the time. When I got back I found out that while I was gone, one of our investigators took the initiative to be baptized!!!!!! Super exciting! We're preparing here and her son for their baptism this Saturday!

There is a scripture in Hebrews 4 that talks about the word of the lord being sharper than the sword. I use this when I'm talking with investigators about the importance of coming to church. When we put ourselves in the church, we are changing, or maintaining our desires. Goals are the key to life, that's also what I'm learning.

Other than that, for P-day today we rented some bikes and rode them along a trail by the beach to some caves. It was super cool! I'm super sunburned though. Like SUUUUPER sunburned. 

Oh, before I forget the most important part of this week, THIS IS MY LAST WEEK OF TRAINING!!!!!!!

Yeah, that's about all for this week!

Stay Frosty,

Elder Walker

Arica: First (hopefully only) Visit to a Hospital

Hey Everybody! This week with Elder Walker we'll be finding more about hospitals in Chile and what not to do with your feet!

No but really. So my toe had been having a little bit of trouble, the nail was ingrown you see. I called to the mission nurse and asked if I could take some anti biotics for the minor infection. She said I had to first send her a picture. Long story short, she may have freaked out a little bit at the picture and sent me to the hospital. So here's what happened.

We went on Wednesday to the clinic and worked for a couple hours trying to get all the insurance stuff figured out. We met with the doctor and he set an appointment for the following day. 

We arrived Thursday and they have me remove ALL OF MY CLOTHES . I then had to put on the typical surgery gear. It looked like I was going to have my appendix removed or something. I went into a wheelchair and was wheeled into the sanitary zone and literally layed down on an operating table. The doctor shot some anesthasia into my foot and began to cut. I hate needles. Nuff said. He then stitched up my toe, during which I learned that you can stictch through the toenail! Who knew?

We had two days sitting in the pension. If I didn't have my guitar I would have gone crazy. Today we went back and he took the stitches out. Let's just say that my career as a foot model probably won't take off anytime soon, haha....ha....ha.....

While I was in the operating room my companion found some golden investigators though! The Lord works in mysterious (and sometimes foot model career killing) ways!

We watched conference this week too! All the missionaries from our stake joined up at the conference center. They even had a gringo room where all of us from the U.S. got to watch in English! 

Things super awesome from conference:

• 'I can teach you to dance, but you have to hear the music' -- This was probably my favorite talk from conference. It used many references to music.
• Elder Bednar quoted my favorite scripture when he said 'Perfect love casteth out fear'.
• The father of one of my friends, Elder Sitati, spoke in the last session.
• I learned that I need to get married. Like every talk told me that. Especially the morning session Saturday.
• Elder Holland started to talk about st. george and I couldn't even contain my excitement.

I love you all so much! Read your scriptures!

Elder Walker

Arica: Earthquake, Floods and Baptism

Hey Everybody! Greetings from the mission under the sea!

No but seriously, this week was suuuuuuper crazy! I'm gonna give you guys the story from my point of view, I'm sure that you've seen what's going on in the news.

THE STORY:

We were teaching a family home evening with some members in our ward (last monday). It was super awesome! It happened to be Hermano Diaz's birthday, so we were just eating cake and minding our own business. All of a sudden, the lights went out. We went outside of the house and all the lights in the entire city were out! We got a call from Elders Swett and Giadach (our zone leaders)  telling us to immediately return to our pension. Hermano Diaz gave us and the Hermanas that work in our ward a ride back to our pensions. We then sat around for a couple hours in our pension because it was only 8:30 and we don't go to bed until 11:30 in our mission. We peered out the window into the black abyss that was Arica for a couple hours. You could see sirens in different parts of the city. That's one of the cool parts about our apartment, we're on the fourth floor and can see forever. There was also a fire in part of the town.

The next day we found out that it had been flooding in the south and that's why we had lost power. We didn't really know the extent of what was going on. This day we didn't have any cell service but we had power.

The following day we found out the extent of the things that were going on. Apparently rivers had just taken out cities in our mission. One of the cities to get hit the worst was the city of Cheñaral, which pretty much doesn't exist any more. The significance of this is that my companion spent his first six months in the mission in Cheñaral and is super worried for all the people that he knew there.

We spent a greater part of the week worrying for the missionaries and wondering what was going to happen in the mission. We finally got a call from the president (through our zone leaders) telling us that all the missionaries were fine and that there wouldn't be any huge changes in the mission. Other that that, we haven't really had ANYTHING happen in Arica. Wait, I take that back. We had a 6.4 earthquake in the middle of the night. I slept through it...haha...not sure if that's a good thing.....

Now onto the more important part! The part where we had a baptism! 

His name is Pedro Choque! The hermanas found him in the street and started talking with him! About a month and a half later he got baptized! We were super stressed because we had to teach the lessons very basically and were worried that he wouldn't be able to remember them. He passed the interview and everything went through without a problem! He was super excited after the baptism and says that he wants to keep progressing forward!

Here's a scripture about baptism taht I like -- Mosiah 5:8-10

Love and miss you all so much!

Stay Frosty,

Elder Walker

Arica: First Zone Conference

This week for P-day we went to a museum of mummies! The mummies of chinchorro are some of the oldest in the world! 8000 BC! It was super cool and the museum also had the progress of civilization from then until now of arica!

This week we had conferencia de zona also. President Dalton, his wife, and the assistants to the president led us in activities that will help us to become better missionaries in everything that we do!

Other than that, not a whole lot happened this week. Spanish is progressing and I'm learning tons!

Elder Walker 

Arica: Highs and Lows

Hey Everybody! Que Honda en Los Estados Unidos?

This week was full of ups and downs. In the mission life there really are the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. 

Some things that happened this week:

• We had a baptism planned for last week but our investigator, Humberto, ended up moving out of our ward boundaries. Sad because we didn't get to baptize him but I know the missionaries in the other ward will do a good job as well.
• We had a Family Home Evening with one of our investigator families and the Father said that he knew that the church was true %100 percent! We're working with them on baptism. The hard part is lots of people think that baptism is a huge deal and that they have to be near perfect to be baptized. So we're working right now on that.
• I got really sick Sunday. Like to the point where I was throwing up. Not fun. We had to go back to the pension. The cool thing though, is that my companion and I shared stories with each other between my trips to the bathroom. I feel like grew as a companionship, so count your blessings right?
• This week for P-day we went down to the port. Sometimes I forget that we live so close to the ocean. We took some cool pictures....but I forgot to bring my memory card to the ciber....so next week I'll send them.
• We have 4 baptisms planned for the 28th of this month! My companion and I are working super hard to prepare the people, so keep us in your prayers!
• There are tons of people here with Arsenal jerseys. The first time I saw one, I said something like "yeah! go arsenal!" Then I saw like three more the same day. Turns out, people here are crazy here for Alexis Sanchez

Spiritual Thought: Alma 7:11-12

11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

 12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.

Christ really knows each and every one of us. It's amazing the changes that a person can make in their life if they just humble themselves before Christ and accept the atonement! I'm learning so well on the mission that I have so many weaknesses and that I can be made strong through Christ! I know that there is no way that I could do everything that I need to here without the power of Christ's atonement!

Love and miss you all!

Stay Frosty,

Elder Walker

Arica: FINALLY got a picture!

Elders Walker, Aleluya, and Mendez

This week was super crazy! We literally had tons of appointments and taught so many lessons!

Some things that happened this week:

• We had companion exchanges with the District Leader and his companion this week. It was SUPER wierd because it was the first time since arriving in the mission that I was speaking in English. The language is coming along super quick and I feel super blessed with the gift of tongues.
• We have so many appointments in the nights that we often will do splits with different people in the ward. This time I went with Miguel Angel. Miguel is probably the most charasmatic person I have ever met. For his job he does magic at the semaforos, which means he will wait for the cars to stop at a stoplight, do a trick, and then people will give him some money. When we were contacting people in the street and would walk up to the people, he would just start talking to them so casually that they were super friendly with us and talked pretty openly with us. It was a pretty cool experience.
• We have three baptisms this month!

Some other random thoughts:

It's finally cooling off here in Arica. This week school started back up again as well, so we can't take the priests from the ward with us as much. This is a bummer because alot of them are super spiritual and have been helping us out alot.

We're still looking for a mamita for our food. Right now we kind of take turns cooking for the four of us in our pension. I really don't mind though because we can cook what we like and it's not super difficult.

When we were having intercambios Elder Goff (lidèr de distrito) apparently while we were all sleeping planted Ley de Castidad pamphlets all over our apartment. He covered the floor in our living room. It was pretty funny, we walked out and he started saying "Oooooh Santa Claus de Castidad! Feliz Navidad de Castidad!"

I met my Abuelo (grandpa) this week when we were exchanging missionaries. In the photo, I'm on the left (yep, that's me) My companion, Elder Aleluya (mi papito) in the middle, and his papito, Elder Mendez, on the right.

Things are going super well in Arica! Miss all of you and keep it real!

Elder Walker

Arica: Line Upon Line...

Esta semana fue super bakan, enserio!

The language is coming along super awesome! I can almost understand everything that is being said. Now I just have to work on talking, which is alot harder. 

Some cool things that happened this week:

• We had the wedding of Pedro and Claudia! In reality they were already married in the courthouse but we had a ceremony in the chapel where the bishop talked and they gave each other the rings. It was super awesome and it's amazing the changes that I can see in them!
• We are working right now with the parents of a kid in our ward. He wants to be baptized but his parents are against it. We're teaching some of the lessons to him and I can see that he has such a desire!
• We had two new investigators just show up to church today, out of nowhere! One of them is named Vitali and is Italian! Talking with him is super interesting because sometimes I think I can understand him better than my companion. While we were visiting with him he showed us some bibles that he has that are in Italian and Latin and are from the 1800s. Super old and way cool! They looked like they belonged in museums.
• I shared my testimony in testimony meeting. It was still pretty intense sharing it in another language, but waaaay better than a month ago. We're working alot right now with getting the members energized and excited about mission work. For everyone back in the states, do more to help the missionaries!
• This week for P-day we went to Centro, which is basically just tons and tons of street vendors and little stores. We talked with one of the artisans while he made us some sick key chains. While we were in Centro eating lunch I saw Elder Joos, my companion from the CCM. We both freaked out and ran to talk to each other. It's super cool that we are in the same mission and the same city. He said he's doing well and it sounds like we're having pretty much the same experience here.

Spiritual Thought-- 

2nd Nephi 4:34

34 O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever. I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh; for I know that cursed is he that putteth his 
trust in the arm of flesh. Yea, cursed is he that putteth his trust in man or 

maketh flesh his arm.

I've been learning alot here in the mission that I can't "put my trust in the arm of flesh." When we're teaching lessons I could use all the intellectual prowess in the world and still not be able to convert the person I am teaching. It's only through the spirit that you can really teach them and instill in them a desire to understand and live the gospel.

Slice of Chilean life--

We get around our sector completely by walking, but when we need to get somewhere else, we have three options. 

1. We can blow alot of money and take a ride in a taxi. Usually we don't do this. The only time I've ever done this is when we first got to Arica at like 4 in the morning and didn't want to walk through the streets.
2. We can take the bus. Here they are called Micros (Meekrows for all us gringos who can't speak spanish). They are pretty much the same as buses in the US. They aren't super crazy like some of the stories I've heard from my friends in Latin America.
3. We can take a collectivo. This is what we usually do. Collectivos are much more common than the bus. They have a route that they follow, and as far as I can tell, are just black sedans with a sign on top. You hop in the collectivo, hand the driver some change, and then are off. The collectivo will fill all of it's seats, so we always get to awkwardly squeeze in the back.

Love everyone in the States and hope you guys are doing well!

Bronzeando mas cada dia,

Elder Walker

Arica: Life in Arica (Continually wiping dust off my shoes)

This week was another week in the life!

I feel like I haven't done a real good job describing Arica, so I'm going to just talk about Arica for a bit. The houses all run into each other and are made out of concrete, the architecture is super "squarish", if that's a word. In our sector we have a lot of "flaites". Flaites are kind of like gangsters in the way that they walk and talk. When we're walking around on the streets people will yell "Hello, my friend, how are you?" In English. I'll usually say something back to them in English, they'll look confused for a second and then smile and continue waving. I'm writing from an internet cafe, which down here are called "cibers". Their is way more energy in the streets here, probably because it's the middle of summer and no one has AC. It's good for us though, because we can always find people to talk to. 

Our city, Arica, is right on the border of Peru and Bolivia, as well as being the entry point to Chile for many other countries. We have a ton of different accents here and have taught Chileans, Argentines, Bolivians, Dominicans, Columbians and Flaites. Flaites are by far the hardest to understand. The "s" sound is completely omitted and I'm just barely starting to be able to understand it. The Spanish here is alot faster than the Spanish in Mexico, but it's basically the same.

So, we have to cook our own food. Most of the mission has "mamitas" but we are one of the few groups that don't. It isn't that bad because one of the elders in our pension, Elder Swett, likes to cook (Elder Swett is from Wyoming and a straight up cowboy; lasso, hat, boots and all). 

Some stuff that happened this week:

• I've been learning magic tricks from one of the priests from our ward that we take with us to teach. His name is Alan and he is the same age as Spencer, so when we're with I think of my lil bro alot.
• We had an amazing Family Home evening in the house of the Second Counselor/Ward Mission Leader. We talked about the Word of wisdom and then had a surprise party for one of our investigators. She was super happy and this was a blessing for us because right now we're trying to help her develop friendships in the ward.
• We learned how to make empanadas in the house of one of the members. They were super delicious, even if I bawled my eyes out while cutting onions. The sister missionaries thought this was hilarious.
• One of our investigators got married! This is pretty miraculous because he was ex-communicated because he wasn't married. He's served a mission and everything and is super excited to return to the church. We're working with the bishop right now to get him and son baptized!

I'm learning to love the mission and am learning the language super fast!

Continually wiping the dust of my shoes,

Elder Walker

Arica: Learning Patience

The weeks here keep going faster and faster!

This week we had two companion exchanges. One with the district leaders, and one with the zone leaders. It was super interesting to see the different styles that they have and I got some good ideas of stuff that I can improve on.

The language is coming along alot better. I still want to be able to speak more and be able to actually have conversations, but it's good that I'm learning patience as well!

This week was super cool because of one experience I had in particular. We were out on our schedule and were looking at where to go next. A name jumped out at me on our list, but we had planned to visit this particular person later. We decided to follow the prompting and went to this house, even though it was on the complete other side of our sector. We knocked on the door and the investigator was sick and asked if we could come back later. We were walking down the road and heard someone playing a guitar. We went up and talked to this man, turns out, he's less active and had been praying for the missionaries to stop by! Cool stuff!

We're making progress with alot of our investigators but sometimes it's a little bit frustrating because I want them to be baptized right away! Patience is a virtue that I need to work on, so with time I guess!

Other than that, things are going pretty good! Love and miss all of you guys!

Arica: Teaching Families/Learning the Language

This week was a lot better, and I think I'm starting to adjust to life in the mission! I'm definitely getting used to the no air conditioning and walking around in the sun all day. It actually isn't that bad anymore!

This week we've been working a lot with a few families. It's hard when about half of the family accepts the gospel and eagerly comes to church while the other members of the family don't seem to catch the desire.

We had a really cool experience with an 81 year old man we taught this week. He explained that his wife and kids were members and that his children had served missions.  We taught the restoration to him and before we left, we asked if he would say the prayer. At first he said that he didn't feel prepared, but we persisted. After the prayer I looked up and a tear was rolling down his cheek.

I like our area a lot because all of the members we talk to seem super eager to help us with the missionary work. We have this thing that we are doing with a stuffed teddy bear named Elder Rocky. He comes with instructions and the family does one different thing every night. All of the activities are focused on getting the members involved with missionary work.

I'm slowly but steadily learning the language, and I can now understand about a fifth of what is being said. I made a goal with myself that by the first month I would be able to understand most of what was being said and by the third, I would be able to speak to at least some degree of decency.

Last P-day we hiked to a peak that overlooks the city of Arica. There is a giant statue of Christ there similar to the one in Brazil, but a lot smaller. It was cool to be able to have a look out onto the ocean and the city together. I really do love being on the coast and wish that we were closer to the beach. I love the people and the enthusiasm that the members have here!

Nos Vemos,
Elder Walker

Arica: First Full Week

by Mary Anne 

Tommy didn't write a group letter this week, so here are a couple of things from his letters to his family:

• Everything is dry. It is so dry that even weeds don't grow.
• His companion is Bolivian and is trying to learn some English while Tommy is learning Spanish. His companion's favorite English phrase is "We need dance like cows". Tommy doesn't know why.
• He is getting the first taste of not being able to express what is in his head (every foreign speaking missionary has those moments.)
• They made four commitments for baptism this week.
• The members are enthusiastic about helping the missionaries.

(Still no pictures)