Hola
hola hola!!
This week we got to
visit a recent convert in our ward named Manuel! (he's the one who gives us
weird foods and hats). He showed us this planner he has, where instead of writing
"do the laundry" and boring things like that, he writes down when he
prays and how many pages of the scriptures he reads! He is awesome!
On Tuesday we got this
random phone call from an elder at the London visitors' center, it was a
reference for someone who lives in Puerto (actually, she lives in the other
hermanas' area and they're teaching her now). I think that was the first and
probably the last time I'll get a phone call from London.
On Wednesday we dove
into the swimming pool that is the 21st century (I miss swimming) with an
8-hour long conference on technology, where we got our very own SMARTPHONE!
It's an Android and is equipped with all sorts of things, including FACEBOOK
and (more importantly) WHATSAPP! No one here in Spain uses normal texting,
everyone uses this app called WhatsApp. They don't often answer their phone and
normally can't recieve normal texts either. You can imagine that this made it
kinda difficult with our nice 12-button phone before. Well, we finally have
this app too! We have used it to get in contact with several investigators and
members and are really excited to use it to get in contact with even more
people. We have Facebook too, like I said, but I don't think we'll be using
that nearly as much as WhatsApp. Also at the conference, all four of us Walkers
in the mission (still don't know if any of us are related) were together since
we're all in the same zone, so we took a family photo.
On Thursday we met
with Andres, our favorite 82-year-old investigator! He's a character, but he's
great. He's been writing down where he is reading in the Book of Mormon too,
since we always ask him.
On Thursday afternoon
we got to meet with a member who we didn't really know, named Loli! She was
baptized a few years ago (like Hermana Moncayo!) and we had a good lesson with
her, getting to know her and things. She also asked us some really good
questions, like what she's supposed to do now that she's finished the Book of
Mormon--read it again? (hint: the answer is YES) She told us we should come
visit her more often.
Thursday night we had
English class and then noche de hogar! Hermana Pinkney's birthday was on Friday
so we had a little birthday party for her there, it was fun! The English class
crew is definitely a funny little group...
On Friday we went to
Rota. It's mostly a touristy town, and since it was January 19th there weren't
a whole lot of people there. We were knocking doors on one street and everyone
kept talking to us through their timbre (doorbell... but with a speaker?
Intercom? No sé) and telling us to leave them alone, our companions had JUST
come by! We were very confused. We are the only missionaries assigned to Rota!
After being told this about 5 times, one lady finally pulled out the pamphlet
she had just gotten from these other missionaries. Not our pamphlet! It was
from the testigos. That was kind of funny. Different church! Also, on Friday we
got a phone call from a Mexican (hermana Moncayo says the accent was a Mexican
accent) in Kentucky, which was another reference (again, for someone in the
other hermanas' area). I think that might also be the first and last time I get
a phone call from Kentucky, unless I move to Kentucky someday.
Saturday we finally
got to have another lesson with Jazmin! She only had a half hour to meet but we
did get to teach her the first part of the plan of Salvation, and the lesson
went really well. She was one of the people who we were able to get in contact
with through WhatsApp this week! Hermana Moncayo liked finally meeting an investigator
who's not 82, lives in our city, and has two fully-functioning kidneys. Jazmin
told us she was going to come to church on Sunday, but then we messaged her
before church and she told us she had been asleep, so she didn't come. Next
week!
But on Sunday someone
who DID come was this 17-year old, Joselito, who hasn't come to church since
I've been there! His whole family is members but none of them have come for a
long time. We told Joselito we were going to pick him up on Sunday morning,
because he always tells us he'll come and he never does, and we did go to pick
him up but we sent him messages and called him and he wasn't responding so we
had to leave to go to church. Then we're sitting in the American branch and in
comes Joselito, white shirt and tie and all! I guess he felt bad that we went
to pick him up. He stayed for Spanish ward too. Go Joselito!
Today we went on a
hunt to find the post office. We searched for the post office in our GPS and
two came up, but one was closer to mercadona so we decided to go to that one.
Mistake--turns out it was just leading us to this plain, old, ordinary mailbox
of disappointment sitting on the corner. It's fine, we're not upset. WHY that
was in the map as a post office, we do not know. Then we went to the other post
office, which luckily DID turn out to be a post office.
This week at the zone
conference where we got our phones, we watched some training videos about not
getting distracted on them and only using them to fulfill our purpose as
missionaries here in Spain. One thing that someone said (I don't remember if it
was in a video or not) was that mobile devices are a tool. They help us stay in
contact with people, maybe take a picture every once in a while. So you take it
out when you need it, use it, and then you need to put it away! I know that
before coming on a mission I definitely used my phone too much. I think we all
use our phones too much. And when the person speaking talked about taking a
tool out of a toolbox to use, using it, then putting it back in the toolbox,
for some reason I got this really funny visual in my head of someone taking a
hammer out of a toolbox to, I don't know, hit a nail into the wall. And then,
when the nail was hit into the wall (or if we're getting symbolic here, when
the text was sent) this person kept the hammer out of the toolbox and started
hitting other things around the house, just because they already had the hammer
out. Maybe they hit a wall, or a table, or a cup (aka, they decided that as
long as their phone was out they might as well skim through facebook... or go
on the discover page (does that exist?) of Instagram just to see what's on
there). I don't know, but to me it seems kind of pointless to use the tool that
way. Not that Facebook is bad or anything--I've got it on my tablet now. But I
would like to invite you to try to avoid getting distracted on your phone this
week. After you send that text or whatever you're doing, put the tool
back in the tool box and do something worthwhile! I am really grateful that
we get to use technology in this mission so that I can develop habits here that
will help me after the mission too. I took a picture with all the other Walkers in the mission since we are all the same zone. There is one Elder Walker and 3 Hermana Walkers.
Also, this week we got
a new president of the church! The church today is led by a prophet, his two
counselors, and a quorum of 12 apostles, who are all led by God and called of
Him too. The way that a new prophet is decided is super simple--the person in
the quorum of 12 apostles with the most seniority is the new prophet. I am so
grateful to be led by so many people who are called of God and led by
inspiration from Him to direct His church and I know that they really ARE
prophets for us in our day! God hasn't left us alone--He loves us just as much
as He did the people in biblical times, so He also speaks to us today through
living prophets (AND personal revelation, AND the scriptures!). I am so
grateful for this amazing blessing!
Love, Hermana Walker
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