Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Februaru 27, 2012

Hello Everyone!

How are you all? This week has been good. A little bit slower than the past 3 or 4 weeks, but still good. Our investigator Taofeek is going to be baptized this Saturday. I'm not sure if i've mentioned him. My letters all blurr together, I don't remember who i've talked about or not. Everything about meeting and teaching Taofeek has been a miracle. He grew up in Nigeria and came here for graduate school a few years ago. His mother has been a member of the Church in Nigeria for about 15 years. Since she joined she has tried to encorage Taofeek to read the Book of mormon and come to church with her. He has just ignored her every time she starts talking about the church. he wasnt interested at all. So about 5 weeks ago Taofeek was looking online for a free bible because his was falling apart. He ended up on mormon.org, requested a bible. Well when you request any free item from the church, they give you the option of either having it mailed or having the missionaries drop it off. I guessTaofeek never requested us to come, but for some reason when the referral came in it said we were supposed to drop it off. So we stopped by and brought the bible. He wasn't exactly happy to see us, but we convinced him to meet with us. He's been coming to church ever since and reading the book of mormon. He knows its true and wants to be baptized! I am 500% sure that we had no part in this. at all. Theres no doubt that his mother has been praying for him to accept the restored gospel for the past 15 years, and her prayers have been heard. He hasn't told his mom he's getting baptized yet though. Haha. They talk a few times a week even though she lives in Nigeria. He didnt want her to have any influence on his decision. He wants it to be a suprise. I just wish I could be on the phone when he tells her! Our mission president interviewed Taofeek and it was so funny to hear Taofeek's perspective on everything. He told President that we were a huge pain in the neck. Ha! But he realizes that God's hand has been in it all and that everything worked out the way it did for a reason. Missionary work is just amazing. Day in and day out I get to witness miracles and see the plan god has for his children unfold.
I have 8 minutes left... I hate the time limit on public computers.
We had sister's specialized training this week. It was fun to get to finally meet all the sisters in the mission and to catch up with some I havent seen in a while. It was definitely way differnt than any other meeting i've been to. Everything is so Elder dominated normally, it was very odd to be with only sisters. But good. We talked a lot about goal setting now as missionaries and for the rest of our lives. There was also a couple of social workers who came in from lds family services and gave us a stress management presentation.
What else. Well we went on a hike today. We were supposed to go last week but it didnt end up working out. We went bowling last monday and it took up all our time. Anyway... it was probably the worst hike i've ever been on. Maryland has horrible trails. There're powerlines and garbage everywhere. Not very nature-like. We went with elders in a neighboring area and they kept us pretty enetertained though. Transfers are next week and I'm terrified! I dont want to leave! I'm pushing my time here and i'm pretty sure i'll be leaving! I love eldersburg and I love the columbia zone! I'm sure whereever I go I'll love it just as much though. hopefully.
Have a good week everyone!
Love
Sister Walker

February 13, 2012

Hello!

It's been another good week. Unfortunately Gus did not get baptized yesterday, which was kind of a disappointment. Everything was good to go until Staurday night. We went over to his house to fill out his baptism record, and he told us he couldnt be baptized. He still has a membership in the baptist church he used to attend, and he told us he couldnt be baptized into another church until his other membership was dissolved. He said it was "religious prostitutuion". haha. So he is going to be baptized as soon as he gets everything figured out with the old church. At first I was totally heartboken when he told us he didnt want to be baptized, but after talking with him for a long time I was ok with postponing it. He's trying to be as honest before God as he can be, and I cant fault him for that. It doesnt quite make sense to me, but to him it's important that this other church membership is dissolved. So I respect his decision. I have no clue why he waited until the night before his baptism to tell us about this though. It would have been a lot easier to work around if he would have told he had this concern before. He's talking with the pastor of the baptist church either today or tomorrow, so hopefully his baptism will be this coming sunday.

Our area is on fire right now! We are being blessed with so many people to teach! I'm most excited about this 15 year old were teaching, Tramain. He doesnt understand why every church teaches different things, and he sincerely wants to know what is true. And he brings his friends to our lessons too! His trying to convince them to come to church. He's such a cool kid. He's planning to be baptized on March 4th as of right now. Hopefully that will work out.

Everything else is going well. Theres too many good things to talk about, actually. I just feel so blessed to be here!
I'm sending a picture we took about an hour ago. Sister Park and I went out to lunch at Panera with sister Talbot and her son Eldon. I love her to death! She's one of my favorite members here, if i'm allowed to say that!

I hope you all have a good week!
Sister Walker

February 6, 2012

Hello everyone!!

It'll be another short email this week. My letter to president belliston waslong this week so that took up most of my time. Plus we didnt have much time in the first place because we had a zone activity that ran longer than expected. We vistied old ellicott city today. It's pretty cool, theres some building left from the 1700's. We spent most of our time antiquing actually. It was pretty funny... I did not think the Elders would love it as much as they did. Haha. Unfortunately my camera broke a couple of days ago so I dont have any pictures. The lens just stopped opening for no reason. I have no idea what i'm going to do for the rest of my mission without a camera.
We had another amazing week though! We are being blessed way more than we deserve. I couldnt ask for the work to be going any better right now! I'm just happy to be here!
I hope everyone is well! Ill write a better email next week... hopefully!

Sister Walker

January 30, 2012

Hello!

So i'm pretty sure I want to be a missionary for the rest of my life! I had an absolutely amazing week! Sister Park and I were able to reach the standards of excellence! The standards are basically goals for lessons, new investigators, people who attend church, etc. Its definitely a stretch to get them, especially in this mission. There might be 3 areas a week that reach them. Anyway... It was a ton of work, but really rewarding. We have been blessed to be able to find a lot of people to teach. We have 11 people we are actively working with right now, none of which are from this country, by the way. I might as well have been sent to Africa. We're teaching 8 africans, a guy from Grenada, and a couple from Trinidad. We also have another baptism coming up on february 12th. His name is Augustine Nyeswah. He's from Liberia, but moved to this country about 15 years ago. His kids are still back in Liberia and he's been trying to find a way to get them here. It's pretty sad. But he is amazing and has a ton of faith that everything in his life will work out if he puts God first. He was introduced to the Book of Mormon a long time ago, and knows its the word of God. He met with missionaries in the past but never got to the point of being baptized. I think he's going to follow through this time though.
Our investigator Phil who I mentioned a few weeks ago, he asked us to start meeting with him again. Haha. I knew he would ask us to come back. I didnt expect it quite so soon. He's starting to realize that he misses what we brought into his life. Or really what the restored gospel brought into his life. He wanted time to explore other churches, but hasnt found anything that feels quite the same.
Friday night we had a fun little adventure. At about 2:30 am our neighbor comes pounding on our door. He told us someone hit our car as well as two other peoples cars. Apparently this drunk guy came speeding through our parking lot, hit our car as well as the car to the right, backed up and hit our car again and the car to left. He tried to drive off but his car stalled at the top of the hill. So our neighbor who's car got hit saw the whole thing and ran after him. This guy was so drunk he didnt even realize he hit us and didnt understand why our neighbor wanted to call the cops. So... We got to stand outside from 2:30-4:30 am waiting for everything to get figured out. The baltimore county police arent very bright though. They didnt even take him to jail! By the time they did a breathalizer it was 2 hours after the cars had been hit, so they said he wasnt drunk enough for them to arrest him. So now we are without a car for a few weeks until it can be fixed. Luckily our recent convert wayne works at an auto body shop, so were taking it to him so it can get fixed quicker. Funny how that worked out!
I dont think I ever want to leave randallstown. It's too much fun here. If I ever get sent to west virginia I'm probably going to be bored out of mind. I really do love every aspect of this work and being here. I love being able to teach people and help them build their faith, but I also love the not so fun stuff like standing out in the freezing cold for two hours in the middle of the night. I love it all and the time is going by too fast!
I hope you all are well! Have a good week everyone!!

January 23, 2012

Hello everyone!!

I'm going to write a short email and hopefully send a lot of pictures today. We had a great week! I'm loving the mission more and more. When I think the week goes well, the next goes even better! Wayne was confirmed in sacrament meeting on sunday! I think hearing confirmation blessings are just about the coolest thing ever.
Transfer calls came out today... I'll still be in eldersburg with sister park for atleast the next 6 weeks! I'm pretty excited. When sister park and I first became companions, I thought there was no way we were going to get along. But we've learned how to work together and we have a ton of fun. She's an amazing missionary. Talks to everyone she meets.
Sorry this is so short! These computers are slow and it takes forever to upload pictures. I hope you all have a great week!
Sister Walker



Pictures:

#1 - Sister Park and I found this house.... It took us a long time to find the door, but we knocked it!
#2- Breakfast with the Zone!
#3- Sister Lieber and Sister Shackleford stayed over at our apartment for specialized training. We got to do exchanges and sister lieber and I were back in eldersburg together for a night!
#4. Wayne's baptism
#5. This is the Columbia Zone!!! It was Elder Dobson's birthday. Sister Park and I made cupcakes.
From left to right, starting at the bottom: Elder Cragun, Elder Bryson, Sister Park,
Elder Williamson, Elder Dobson, Elder Christofferson, Me,
Elder Fife, Elder Haycock, Elder Savage, Elder Good,
Elder VanKamen, Elder Pederson, Elder Tanner
#6&7- Sister Park and I went to dinner with Brother Lindsay this past Friday!





7 Attached Images

January 17, 2012

Hello Everyone!!!

I am on exchanges in Damascus, MD today. The computers at the library
have a time limit, so this might be short.
We had a really good week! Wayne was baptized on Sunday! I can't send
a picture because I dont have my camera, but next week. Anyway... I
didnt think I could ever be so happy for someone else as I was for
wayne. And he couldnt stop talking about how happy he was too! His
entire family showed up, some of them drove 4 hours to get here. There
was just an overwhelming support from everyone. I would say about half
the ward showed up for his baptism, as well as a ton of people from
the singles ward. It was a nice hand off from us to the members. I
don't think someone's conversion could go any smoother than wayne's
did. It was exactly a month to the day from when we met him to when he
was baptized. I'm not sure exactly what prepared him, but he was
definitely ready to hear the gospel when we met him. Sister park and I
got to go to a "why I believe" fireside with him that night, and he
loved it. It was the first one i'd ever been to, and it was really
awesome. We got to hear from her ---> http://mormon.org/me/3QV2/.
Probably the coolest woman ive met!
On kind of the totally opposite note, I had one of the most
devastating moments on my mission so far. I think I've mentioned Phil
before, maybe not. I've been teaching Phil since the first week I got
to maryland. He is Korean and when we found him he had absolutely no
belief in God or Jesus Christ. But over the past 4 1/2 months he's
developed a relationship with God and has absolutely no doubt that he
exists. He was going to be baptized this upcoming weekend, but told us
this past Thursday that he he's not sure he's ready. Why? Because he
doesn't want to give up drinking. That was his excuse, but i'm certain
its more than just that. We had a really powerful lesson with Phil on
Wednesday night with our mission president. We played the mormon
message by Elder Holland where he talks about Joseph Smith and the
Book of Mormon. I honestly think that Phil felt the spirit so strongly
in that lesson, knows that the book of mormon and the church is true,
but it scared him. If he accepts the fact that this is truly the
church of Jesus Christ, that would mean he would have to make a lot of
changes in his life, and he doesn't want to just yet. So the next
night he told us he "needed time". Which is fine. I'm willing to give
it to him because I know he'll ask us to come back again some day. But
it still broke my heart. I dont think i've ever cared about an
investigator like I care about phil. I just want him to be happy. I
did guilt him into coming to wayne's baptism though. haha. I really
don't think I guilted him actually, he felt guilty enough on his own.
He knows. And he'll be back.
But other than that, the week was pretty average. It's really
interesting being in Damascus today. It's VERY different from
Eldersburg. A lot more rural, not enough city for me. Transfers are
next week and I'm kind of nervous. I love Eldersburg, but I also know
that at some point I'm going to end up in west virginia, so I probably
shouldnt get too comfortable here. Apparently the members feed the
missionaries a lot of squirrel in west virginia. Not looking forward
to that.
Well I hope everyone is doing well. I definitely am! I cant imagine
being anywhere else right now than serving in the MBM. Love you all!
Have a good week!
Sister Walker