Hola hola hola!
This week was a week of CITAS! In a normal week we have maybe 6 people we visit (members, investigators, less-active members, you know). This week we had THIRTEEN! So it's been a pretty good week.
On Monday we taught Fátima again- but not just Fátima! We taught Fátima, her 14 year-old son Kevin, and her 6-year-old daughter Victoria! It was awesome! We taught them again later in the week too (minus Kevin). Fátima loves reading the Book of Mormon. She knows it's true. And she says that if our church was in Torremolinos she would definitely come, BUT that she can't come to church because it's so far away! This is true--we have to leave for church more than an hour beforehand to be sure we get on the bus on time and can walk to the church from the bus stop in Málaga. It's pretty far. But it's worth it!!! So she didn't come to church this Sunday. But some of the sessions of general conference will be shown this weekend at the church later in the day than a normal church service, so we're hoping we can get her to the church to watch general conference with us this weekend. (how general conference works, just because a few people asked: we can watch it at the church, but I'm not sure what language. Women's session Saturday morning, Saturday morning on Saturday night, Saturday night on Sunday morning, Sunday morning on Sunday night. We watch Sunday night on our own time.)
On Tuesday we taught Giovanna- but not just Giovanna! We taught Giovanna, her husband, their two teenage kids, and someone else (we're pretty sure she was Giovanna's mother-in-law?). Anyway, that was awesome! We invited them all to come to church, and in the end only Giovanna came but we're going to keep working on the rest of them!
We ran into hermana Blanca sitting outside her building on Tuesday. She's so old and pretty big, so she just takes her walker in the elevator, comes downstairs, and sits outside during the day. When we ran into her on Tuesday, she was sitting outside her building with a cute little dog! We asked her where she got the dog and she said "no sé" (I don't know), which was a little concerning... and then we asked her the dog's name and she kind of started laughing. "No me acuerdo!" (I don't remember!). She'd only had it for three days and already forgotten the name! It's the best-behaved dog I've ever seen, but I'm worried it's going to die with Hermana Blanca as it's owner haha. We showed the video "Padre Terrenal, Padre Celestial" and read a few verses together, and the next day we visited again and read a chapter out of the Book of Mormon with her! She also can't come to church... because she really can't walk. But we'll see.
Friday and Saturday were the days of citas.
On Friday, we visited Hermana blanca, Liliana, Amparo, and Fátima! AND THEY WERE ALL HOME! It was definitely a miracle that we visited Liliana, because she was literally moving out of her piso when we came up. If we hadn't seen her, we wouldn't have known that she was moving! And then we all walked down the road to her new piso so we would know where she was living. Our visit with Amparo was really good too, and she said that she really wanted to come to church and to bring her a skirt--but then on Saturday night when we called her to remind her, she said she actually couldn't come and gave us all these excuses. We feel the Spirit so strong in our lessons with Amparo, and she does too, and she really wants to act. The problem is that then we leave, and she forgets the way she felt when we were there!
On Saturday we visited Hermana Blanca, Norma and Ramón (they're super fuerte members, but I'm counting them), and then we finally got to visit a less-active member named Lidia! We've been trying to visit her pretty much ever since I got here, and finally all our efforts paid off and she let us in. We had a really good lesson and are going to visit her again this week! Then we visited another less-active member who they used to visit all the time but who I haven't seen the whole time I've been here (so basically, she dropped off the face of the earth two months ago). But on Saturday we finally met her! The normal people here are all a little crazy. But Loli, this less-active member, is crazy even by Spain standards. She opened the door and grabbed Hermana Johnsons face with both hands to give her besos, and there was this crazy circus-y music playing in her piso in the background, and it just felt like we were in a Disney movie meeting some crazy person, like the witch lady in Brave or that voodoo person in Princess and the Frog or the seagull in the Little Mermaid. Or some combination of those three. But now we have a cita with her for tonight, so hey!
Then came SUNDAY! Sundays are the best. On the way to the bus stop we saw all the floats lined up for the parade. The floats really just looked kind of like decked out covered wagons. Pero muy bien. There were two really good parts of church: 1. Giovanna was there! She's the best. At the end of the meeting she asked us what day we're coming to visit this week! 2. I didn't have to lead the music in sacrament meeting! I do NOT like leading the music in sacrament meeting. I really don't know the words to any of the songs (claro, spanish) so I'm doing this awkward look-down-at-the-hymnbook-look-up-to-lead-for-two-seconds-oh-no-that's-not-the-right-word-look-back-down-at-the-hymnbook-get-off-beat-leading-pause-to-get-back-on-beat-start-leading-again-oh-thank-goodness-the-song-is-over thing, PLUS the whole ward is just looking at me when I'm leading which isn't my favorite thing in the world. ANYWAY, today one of the ward members just sat up on the stand with a hymn book and led all the songs and I don't even care that they didn't tell me anything I was just so happy during all the songs to not be leading! Here's to hoping he leads every Sunday from now on. Pray for me.
Sunday night we taught Lorenzo again! He has a lot of questions, and a lot of them don't have answers. BUT he has read the Book of Mormon four times. And we asked how often he reads and he said 15 minutes before mediodía and 30 minutes before bed EVERY DAY! So... he just needs time, and faith. We taught him the word of wisdom.
Overall... a very good week! This week I also read the talk "come what may, and Love it" by Joseph B. Wirthlin and I LOVED it. It talks about responding to adversity. We need to laugh, remember the important things (the REALLY important things, not just the things that are important in the moment), and trust in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. There's one scripture that we love to share with investigators, Mosiah 4:9: "Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend." When faced with problems, keep an eternal perspective and don't take things TOO seriously and you'll be a lot happier!!
This week was a week of CITAS! In a normal week we have maybe 6 people we visit (members, investigators, less-active members, you know). This week we had THIRTEEN! So it's been a pretty good week.
On Monday we taught Fátima again- but not just Fátima! We taught Fátima, her 14 year-old son Kevin, and her 6-year-old daughter Victoria! It was awesome! We taught them again later in the week too (minus Kevin). Fátima loves reading the Book of Mormon. She knows it's true. And she says that if our church was in Torremolinos she would definitely come, BUT that she can't come to church because it's so far away! This is true--we have to leave for church more than an hour beforehand to be sure we get on the bus on time and can walk to the church from the bus stop in Málaga. It's pretty far. But it's worth it!!! So she didn't come to church this Sunday. But some of the sessions of general conference will be shown this weekend at the church later in the day than a normal church service, so we're hoping we can get her to the church to watch general conference with us this weekend. (how general conference works, just because a few people asked: we can watch it at the church, but I'm not sure what language. Women's session Saturday morning, Saturday morning on Saturday night, Saturday night on Sunday morning, Sunday morning on Sunday night. We watch Sunday night on our own time.)
On Tuesday we taught Giovanna- but not just Giovanna! We taught Giovanna, her husband, their two teenage kids, and someone else (we're pretty sure she was Giovanna's mother-in-law?). Anyway, that was awesome! We invited them all to come to church, and in the end only Giovanna came but we're going to keep working on the rest of them!
We ran into hermana Blanca sitting outside her building on Tuesday. She's so old and pretty big, so she just takes her walker in the elevator, comes downstairs, and sits outside during the day. When we ran into her on Tuesday, she was sitting outside her building with a cute little dog! We asked her where she got the dog and she said "no sé" (I don't know), which was a little concerning... and then we asked her the dog's name and she kind of started laughing. "No me acuerdo!" (I don't remember!). She'd only had it for three days and already forgotten the name! It's the best-behaved dog I've ever seen, but I'm worried it's going to die with Hermana Blanca as it's owner haha. We showed the video "Padre Terrenal, Padre Celestial" and read a few verses together, and the next day we visited again and read a chapter out of the Book of Mormon with her! She also can't come to church... because she really can't walk. But we'll see.
Friday and Saturday were the days of citas.
On Friday, we visited Hermana blanca, Liliana, Amparo, and Fátima! AND THEY WERE ALL HOME! It was definitely a miracle that we visited Liliana, because she was literally moving out of her piso when we came up. If we hadn't seen her, we wouldn't have known that she was moving! And then we all walked down the road to her new piso so we would know where she was living. Our visit with Amparo was really good too, and she said that she really wanted to come to church and to bring her a skirt--but then on Saturday night when we called her to remind her, she said she actually couldn't come and gave us all these excuses. We feel the Spirit so strong in our lessons with Amparo, and she does too, and she really wants to act. The problem is that then we leave, and she forgets the way she felt when we were there!
On Saturday we visited Hermana Blanca, Norma and Ramón (they're super fuerte members, but I'm counting them), and then we finally got to visit a less-active member named Lidia! We've been trying to visit her pretty much ever since I got here, and finally all our efforts paid off and she let us in. We had a really good lesson and are going to visit her again this week! Then we visited another less-active member who they used to visit all the time but who I haven't seen the whole time I've been here (so basically, she dropped off the face of the earth two months ago). But on Saturday we finally met her! The normal people here are all a little crazy. But Loli, this less-active member, is crazy even by Spain standards. She opened the door and grabbed Hermana Johnsons face with both hands to give her besos, and there was this crazy circus-y music playing in her piso in the background, and it just felt like we were in a Disney movie meeting some crazy person, like the witch lady in Brave or that voodoo person in Princess and the Frog or the seagull in the Little Mermaid. Or some combination of those three. But now we have a cita with her for tonight, so hey!
Then came SUNDAY! Sundays are the best. On the way to the bus stop we saw all the floats lined up for the parade. The floats really just looked kind of like decked out covered wagons. Pero muy bien. There were two really good parts of church: 1. Giovanna was there! She's the best. At the end of the meeting she asked us what day we're coming to visit this week! 2. I didn't have to lead the music in sacrament meeting! I do NOT like leading the music in sacrament meeting. I really don't know the words to any of the songs (claro, spanish) so I'm doing this awkward look-down-at-the-hymnbook-look-up-to-lead-for-two-seconds-oh-no-that's-not-the-right-word-look-back-down-at-the-hymnbook-get-off-beat-leading-pause-to-get-back-on-beat-start-leading-again-oh-thank-goodness-the-song-is-over thing, PLUS the whole ward is just looking at me when I'm leading which isn't my favorite thing in the world. ANYWAY, today one of the ward members just sat up on the stand with a hymn book and led all the songs and I don't even care that they didn't tell me anything I was just so happy during all the songs to not be leading! Here's to hoping he leads every Sunday from now on. Pray for me.
Sunday night we taught Lorenzo again! He has a lot of questions, and a lot of them don't have answers. BUT he has read the Book of Mormon four times. And we asked how often he reads and he said 15 minutes before mediodía and 30 minutes before bed EVERY DAY! So... he just needs time, and faith. We taught him the word of wisdom.
Overall... a very good week! This week I also read the talk "come what may, and Love it" by Joseph B. Wirthlin and I LOVED it. It talks about responding to adversity. We need to laugh, remember the important things (the REALLY important things, not just the things that are important in the moment), and trust in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. There's one scripture that we love to share with investigators, Mosiah 4:9: "Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend." When faced with problems, keep an eternal perspective and don't take things TOO seriously and you'll be a lot happier!!
Have a good 3-months-to-Christmasiversary!
Love, Hermana Walker
We went to a crocodile park on p-day. After more than 19 years of living, I FINALLY know the difference between a crocodile and an alligator.
Crocodiles have long and pointed, V-shaped snouts while alligators have rounded, U-shaped snouts. Their behavior is also different, with crocs being more aggressive than gators. The things you learn on a mission...There were crocodiles, alligators, turtles, and an Irish guy who led the tour. The only people there were English speakers so our tour guide gave the tour in English. At one area, he told someone to pick a number. They said seven, so then he counted down seven people and landed on me. Then he pointed at me and said "alright, you're the one who's going to be fed to the alligator." Then he kind of laughed and said "maybe God will save you". Luckily he didn't really feed me to the alligators.
We made Enchiladas! Corn, peppers, chicken, and mysterious white sauce from Mercadona. They were delicious!
Parade floats (they look like covered wagons): this was the view from our bus stop. There was a group of people working on their float in our apartment complex parking lot all day Saturday to get ready.
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