Wednesday, August 8, 2012

August 6, 2012

Hello Everyone!!! Everything is going well here in petersburg! This week we got to go out and explore some of the far corners of our area. I thought petersburg was bad, but its a metropolis here compared to some of the neighboring towns. Sometimes it feels like im in a third world country... these people live in run down sheds, garbage piled around the house, dogs everywhere. It's a really strange world. I really am loving my time here though. Somehow. The atonement covers all things I guess. This week we started teaching this really wonderful woman named juanita. She's 83. We were walking to members house and saw her sitting on her porch swing and decided to go talk to her. Her grandson just died last week of cancer. She has a lot of questions about what life is like after we die. We were able to answer a lot of her questions from the book of mormon and she got really excited about reading it! She said she usually reads 2 chapters from the bible before she goes to bed, but this week she said she would read from the book of mormon instead. It amazes me how again and again we cross paths with people who are prepared. No coincidences. We still dont have anyone with a date for baptism. We have a couple investigators who are really close. Our new mission president wants us to set a goal to have a baptism every other week. Which is absolutely possible, but im not quite sure i've got the faith for that just yet. The assistants dont even baptize that much. Im excited for this upcoming week! We have zone conference on Thursday and the Orioles game on Friday!! A member of the ward, sister halterman, is driving us to baltimore, so we will be staying at her house thursday and friday night. She lives on a chicken farm and has cows in her backyard... im not so excited about that. Plus she's slightly certifiable... I'll send pictures next week and you'll understand. Have a good week everyone!! Sister Walker

July 30th 2012

llo Everyone! No time to write again. We're in Winchester today, so were not getting much of anything accomplished. We had a good week. We started teaching this woman who lives in a tent. permanently. She's from france and thinks its totally normal to live in a tent.. anyway... things are going well. Its hard to believe as of tomorrow I'll have been out for 11 months....Its going by way too fast!!! Have a great week everyone!!! Love Sister Walker

July 23, 2012

Hello Everyone!! We had an incredible week! I dont know where to begin! We were blessed with a lot of miracles this week... Well first miracle, we found out that the misson gets to go to an Orioles game on august 10th! I guess thats not really a miracle, but it is to me. I love petersburg, but im dying for some civilization. Not to mention I love baseball, so its a huge blessing in my eyes. Im pretty excited. Second, I was able to say a prayer and teach part of a lesson in sign language! I actually dont think i've talked about our deaf investigator in my mass email yet. So we're teaching this really sweet older woman named Reva. Sister Gritis knows a little bit of sign, enough to teach with atleast. Its been kind of a struggle, but were able to understand each other. Sister Gritis has been teaching me signs here and there throughout the day. The Lord has definitely been helping us with that. I always struggled to learn other languages in school, but sign has come a little easier. Its amazing the gifts that God blesses his missionaries with when they need them to teach! We also started teaching a new family who lives on celestial drive. Needless to say, they're pretty golden! Tuesday afternoon after we had stopped at a gas station to see if they had any good maps of the area because we have yet to find one. So while we were looking very confusedly at a map, this guy comes over and asks if we needed directions. We explained we were missionaries an why we needed a map, etc, etc. He was really intrigued by what we do, so we exchanged numbers and he said he'd be interested in meeting with us sometime, but wouldnt committ to a day or time. His name is Trevis btw. He's an emt in the area. So sister gritis and I didnt think too much about the exchange. Lots of people tell us they'd be interested in meeting with us, but they never do. So a few days pass, friday rolls around and as were out driving a huge storm rolls in and it starts dumping rain on us. I couldnt see two feet in front of the car, so we decided to pull over and make some phone calls until the storm cleared up. As we were flipping through our planner seeing who we could call and try to set up appoinments with, sister gritis suggested that we call Trevis. So we did, and amazingly, he picked up his phone and told us he wanted to meet on sunday! So yesterday we taught Trevis, and neither of us expected how prepared he was. Trevis grew up methodist and has attended several churches throughout his life, but he said none of them ever felt right to him. He told us that somewhere in his 20's, he gave up on religion because he was tired searching and finding nothing but a lot of hipocritical preachers. In the last few weeks, lots of things have been happening in his life, lots of miracles he feels he cant ignore. He's felt like for the last little while God has been nudging him to seek for truth again. So after we met trevis and gave him a mormon.org card, he spent some time researching the church. He told us that as he read about joseph smith's experience, he felt like that was just like him. He told us " I felt like there was this little guy on my shoulder and I felt something I hadnt felt in a long time." Ha! obviously he was feeling the spirit, he just wasnt quite sure how to describe it. So on friday, after looking at all this stuff on mormon.org, trevis had pulled out our number and was just about to call us when we called him. Freak rainstorm? Definitely not. The lord had it all planned out. They're arent coincidences in missionary work. Trevis realizes that none of this was coincidence either. But setting all that aside even, It was one of the most powerful lessons Ive ever had. The spirit was so incredibly strong because he was prepared, he was ready to accept it. He wants to be baptized next month. I cant even describe it well enough in words. I just know that the restored gospel is true. After lessons like that, I cant deny it. I love this work! I couldnt ever say enough how much I love being a missionary! I dont know how I became so blessed to have the chance to serve a mission. Have a great week everyone. I love you all! Sister Walker

July 16, 2012

Carly's e-mail this week was to Alan and I. She asked that I do not forward it nor post it to the blog.

July 9, 2012

Hello Everyone!!! So we went on a really long hike with the other missionaries this morning and it took up most of my email time. So this will be a short one again, Sorry! We went up to harpers ferry. Its so beautiful up there. Theres a lot of history in that area. Look it up. I dont have my card reader with me today, so i cant send pictures, but next week for sure! What a great week! There are so many good things happening in our area right now. I feel so blessed! I still havent quite figured out how to put missionary work into words still. I can only say that I am loving where I'm at and I couldnt imagine being anywhere else in the world or doing anything else right now. My mission has been the greatest blessing of my life! This week we've been really fortunate to be in all the right places at the right time. There were many people who felt like God had forgotten about them and then we showed up just at the right moment. Im so fortunate to be a part of this work. Its changed my life. Im not the same person nor will I ever be because of my mission. Call outs for transfers are today. They havent come yet, but I dont think im going anywhere. I guess you'll all find out for sure next week! I love you all! Take care!! Sister Walker