Week 23: We're not asking for money!

Hola hola hola!

The Christmas countdown is now at 35 days.

This week flew... most weeks fly. We had intercambios (exchanges) this week, which was way good. I went with Hermana Pickett to a teaching appointment with this super cute couple. The husband is from Spain and the wife is from some country where they don't speak Spanish. They were super friendly and I guess it's a custom in the wife's country to give a LOT of food to visitors, so we were eating nuts and crackers and bread and she just kept pulling out more and more food! We were teaching and then all of a sudden the wife (who's muslim) whips out her Quran and starts reading to us from it! First in her language (arabic?), then in Spanish. Meanwhile we're sitting there, our mouths full of almonds and pecans, trying to chew and swallow so we can move on. She read like two pages before we were able to get a sentence out haha. That about sums up that cita, eating almonds and reading the Quran. But intercambios were really great, and I learned a lot from being with other missionaries for a couple of days.

Update on Jonathan: he can't come to church until the end of JANUARY because he has to work literally every Sunday until then. And his wife doesn't want to go without him, and neither does Matei... so we're a little bummed. But they're still reading every day and Matei is burning through the picture Book of Mormon, which is good. We heart-attacked their door and copied some scriptures from the Book of Mormon in Romanian to put on the hearts, which was a struggle but ended up good in the end... we think. Hopefully it's legible. We don't speak Romanian.

On Thursday we had a noche de hogar (family home evening) with Yovanna, her kids, and her husband! It was awesome! Yovanna was in charge of the spiritual thought, and we left it up to her to decide what she wanted to talk about. We watched a video she found about how families can be together forever, and then read a few verses of scripture, and basically she called out her family and said they need to go to the temple and get sealed or they won't be able to be together after this life. WHOA! GO YOVANNA!!! And then they all talked about the steps to get to the temple, like going to church every Sunday and things like that. We also played charades, which was super fun, and then ate peanut butter Hershey kiss cookies (from us) and polvorones (from them) for a treat. Basically, the best noche de hogar ever.

For the past few weeks, Hermana Encarnación and I have been planning a Christmas concert with all 3 Málaga wards to kick-off the Christmas initiative this year (it's called #lighttheworld in English, and the new video and everything come out the 25th of this month so mark your calendars!). It's been a lot of work, finding people from all the wards to participate and getting invitations and things. Well on Sunday we brought a (pretty cute, if I say so myself) brown sign to put on the table inside the doors of the church that says "Concierto de Navidad" (Christmas concert) really big and then some of the details--you know, to get the members all excited. But awkward, because on the bus into Málaga on Sunday morning, we were holding this Christmas concert sign and someone tried to give us money! "No, it's okay." "No, I insist!" We kind of looked at each other. "Is it because of our sign?" "Yes!" Oh no. "No, this is a sign for a Christmas concert at our church! We're not asking for money!" "Oh..."

Kind of awkward. We tried to give him a pass-along card, but he wasn't interested.

This was our first Sunday with the new, big ward! It was great. We finally have a ward mission leader!! He was the ward mission leader in Málaga 1, but he got moved to our ward so now we've got him. Not sure if/when they're going to find someone to lead the music in sacrament meeting... but I don't want to do it anymore! Actually, I haven't wanted to do it for the past 17 weeks, either. Still holding out hope. But we've got a ward mission leader, so hey.

The big miracle of Sunday was that Yovanna actually came to church! She hadn't come in a while. And not only Yovanna came, but her two teenage kids came too!! Did they have the time of their life? Probably not, they're teenagers (I guess I'm a teenager too...). But did they come? YEP! We were so excited when they walked into church!!!

This coming Sunday we'll get phone calls to know what will happen with transfers (the 29th), so I'll let you know what the news is with that next Monday.

I was reading this week in the book of Mosiah (one of the books in the Book of Mormon), when it's talking about the prophet Alma and his people. Basically, they were in bondage to these really bad guys, and they prayed to the Lord for help because they were suffering a LOT. I really loved what happens in a response to their prayers. "And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord." The Lord didn't take away their trials and their burdens, but he DID give them the strength that they needed to be able to face their problems. I've been trying to pray less for my problems to be taken away and more for the strength I need to face them, and I really can see a difference. We can learn so much from the scriptures!

Side note: One thing that some of our investigators this week were surprised to find out was that in our church, we don't just believe in the Book of Mormon. We believe in the Bible (the Old and New Testaments), AND the Book of Mormon (Another Testament). The Bible takes place around Jerusalem, the Book of Mormon takes place among the ancient inhabitants of the Americas. We talk about the Book of Mormon so much because it's the "keystone of our religion"--we are the only church that believes the Book of Mormon to be the word of God, so basically if the Book of Mormon is true, then this is the true church of Jesus Christ. There are so many different translations and interpretations of the Bible (a person can point to a verse and say it means that the Lord's day is Saturday, while another person can point to a different verse and say that only 144,000 people will be saved). The more I learn about other religions here in Spain, the more I see the need for the Book of Mormon--another Testament of Jesus Christ. It states so clearly the doctrines of Jesus Christ, and together with the Bible we really do have the fulness of His Gospel. If you haven't read the Book of Mormon, I would encourage you to read it!

Love, Hermana Walker

 We did some service and were rewarded with cookies.

Week 22: Chestnuts roasted on an open fire are pretty good

Hola hola hola!

We decorated for CHRISTMAS! No, we're not even halfway through November, but we're wearing sweaters now, so I say it's Christmastime. Our little tree is the cutest thing you ever did see. I love Christmas so much. 42 days and counting!!!

This week I would say the biggest lesson I've learned is about GRATITUDE. We were meeting with two of our investigators and invited one of them to read a verse in the scriptures. She told us she couldn't do it, but we found it in her language so she would be able to. But she still couldn't do it. She shook her head. "No colegio." "No school." She's not some crazy grandma lady who's 92 and half-blind, half-deaf. She's a normal woman who's probably about 50 and just never learned how to read. Later, we were meeting with another family. The husband has been out of work for 5 months as of this week. I've been on a mission for 5 months as of this week. 5 months is a long time! His wife is sick, and can barely talk. She can barely sleep because she can't breathe. And because of his wife's problems, this man is so stressed that he can't even eat. After hearing these people's stories, I'm trying to be more grateful. No matter how tired I am, or no matter how many people don't want to talk to us, at least I can read. I can eat. I can sleep. I can breathe. We have GOT to be more grateful.

We went over to Andrea's house to help her clean a couple of times this week. She still hasn't found the Spanish Book of Mormon that we gave her, BUT we found a Book of Mormon in Hungarian (her language) and gave it to her. She was so excited to get something in Hungarian, and it was so cute. We also finally got to meet her husband and her two cute kids. They ALMOST came to church yesterday. Normally we don't even have hope that anyone will come to church, so this is a step forward. At least someone ALMOST came. We're hoping they'll ACTUALLY come this coming Sunday, or the next Sunday for the primary program (when the kids from the ward sing songs and say little things). They're such a cute family and their piso is almost done, so we're excited to keep teaching them.

We've met several times with Jonathan and Lelica. They're so cute too. We gave their son (who's 8) one of those illustrated Book of Mormon picture books and he was so excited to read it. When we visited them last night, he was already several pages in. We're hoping that they will come to church this Sunday. They didn't come this past Sunday. We have to go slowly so that Jonathan can translate for Lelica, but they're happy to have us come over and teach them any day.

Update on the roasted chestnuts: I did finally try them. They weren't what I expected, but they were pretty good. Probably 4 out of 5 stars. Would definitely recommend!

In other food news, I made the peanut butter cookies with the chocolate in the middle again. I hadn't made them yet this transfer, and Hermana Encarnación really liked them, so you could say I'm finally contributing to the gourmet cooking here in Torremolinos.

My goal is to finish the Book of Mormon again by the end of the year, which means I've been reading a LOT. Got 2 minutes while Hermana Encarnación hangs up her laundry? Read the Book of Mormon. Waiting for something in the microwave? Read the Book of Mormon. Lots of reading. It's awesome! I was reading in 2 Nephi 33:10 and really liked this verse, which is written by one of the prophets in the Book of Mormon named Nephi. It basically explains the purpose of the Book of Mormon:

"10 And now,... all ye ends of the earth, hearken unto these words (these words= the Book of Mormon) and believe in Christ; and if ye believe not in these words believe in Christ. And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me; and they teach all men that they should do good."

The purpose of the Book of Mormon is to help you believe in Christ, and teach you to do good. Anyone who believes in Christ and reads this book will know that it is true. It's called "Another Testament of Jesus Christ" for a reason-- I can honestly say that, although my testimony of the Book of Mormon grows as I read it, what's growing the most is my testimony of the Savior. I've been putting a little black dot in the margin next to every time Christ or Heavenly Father is mentioned, and there are a LOT of dots in this book. It's a book about Jesus Christ and anyone and everyone who reads it will come closer to the Savior. So if you haven't read it, or you aren't reading it every day, READ IT! It's the best!

Stay warm, decorate for Christmas, drink lots of water, and read the Book of Mormon!

Love, Hermana Walker

Yummy food made by my companion

Zone Conference

Waiting at the bus stop

Christmas lights strung across the street

The Christmas wreath on our door

Week 21: I got pooped on by another bird

Hola hola hola! 

First off: no worries, the majority of our investigators who dropped off the face of the earth have now been found. We met with Fátima, Kevin, Victoria, Lorenzo, Andrea, and MORE this week! 

On Monday night, Hermana Encarnación and I decided to toque (knock doors in) a building. This is a massive building. Twelve floors, about 50 pisos per floor. Where do we start? We felt the twelfth floor sounded good. So we started toquing. First door, no one opened. Second, no one. Tenth... No one. And then, after probably 15 doors, someone opened up. "I have your book!" said this man, super excited. He ran back into his piso, grabbed the Book of Mormon and all the pamphlets, and came back to the doorway. He pulled out a note that two sister missionaries wrote him thirty-five years ago, and that he'd kept all this time. "Me and my family read the Book of Mormon together!" he told us. This man's name is Jonathan. He's from Romania, so his pamphlets and book are in Romanian, but he speaks Spanish and English well too. He gave us his number. "Visit another day when my wife and son are home!" Um... Okay! 

We went back a few days later to visit Jonathan again. This time his wife, Lelica, and his son, Matee, were there. His wife speaks very little Spanish but is so so cute and so patient as he translates. Matee is eight and speaks Spanish and Romanian perfectly and is super sweet! We found out that they've met with elders (missionaries) as recently as a couple years ago. "They were my friends," Matee told us. The entire family has such a strong testimony of Jesus Christ. Lelica was a little confused about the difference between the Book of Mormon and the Bible, so Jonathan opened up his book, flipped to the picture of Moroni burying the plates, and explained it to her. He remembers EVERYTHING! The thing is, we can't find any teaching record for Jonathan or his family. We had never heard of them before. But the Lord knows that this family needs the gospel, and He helped us find them again. 

We asked if we could come back and visit again. "Yes!" Lelica said. "What day?" we asked. "Every day!" Jonathan told us. Um... OKAY!

I'm not saying this family is going to join the church in two weeks. Jonathan smokes and drinks a LOT of coffee. His wife has health problems, and she might need surgery. But it was such a miracle that we found this family and we are so excited to keep teaching them and to see them progress!

In other news, this week was Halloween. No trick or treating, but a lot of kids dressed up in kind of scary-looking costumes. No princesses here, that's for sure. 

We visited Andrea again this week too! She is awesome. Her apartment is still being renovated, so life is pretty crazy for her right now. We taught her part of the Plan of Salvation and she liked it. She asked questions when she didn't understand but wasn't contradicting everything we said. Then we went back the next day to help her clean some parts of her piso. She's not really in a position to learn a ton about the church for the next few weeks, just because of the craziness of the renovations, but we're going to help her clean again this week and when she finds her book of Mormon (it's packed away in one of her MANY boxes), we're going to keep moving forward in the lessons.

I needed a winter coat and found one in our piso which works great, except the first (and only) day I wore it, I got pooped on by another bird. No worries, the coat is now clean and ready to be worn again. 

The tri zone conference was awesome! I wish I could remember more about it off the top of my head (my notes are in our piso right now, and we're in McDonald's). But trust me when I say it was really REALLY great. It's always fun to get to be with so many missionaries, too! 

On Saturday we had correlación (in English, correlation meeting? Not sure) with the elders in our ward and Ramon. We don't have a ward mission leader (Ramón is in the bishopric) but we decided to have this meeting anyway. Basically, we just talk about what's going on in our areas and how the ward can help. It was really good and now I can say that after 15 weeks in the field, I finally know what correlación is! Our ward is so excited to get new members on the 19th. Málaga 2 is definitely winning in the ward-boundary game, because we aren't losing anyone, only gaining more people. Here's to hoping the boundary change brings a ward mission leader, and someone to lead the music in sacrament meeting.

On Sunday we had stake conference in Granada! The church had a bus to pick up members from Fuengirola, Torremolinos, and Málaga. I think it was about 2 hours to Granada. The bus ride was beautiful, and the chapel in Granada reminded me so much of a chapel in the States! The talks were really good and we got to hear from the Madrid temple president and his wife, President and Hermana Andersen, and several members from the stake. 

Sunday night we went with Susana (daughter of Ramón and Norma) to eat with Lorenzo, our investigator! We had a good conversation about prayer and recognizing the Spirit. This is so important, because it's the only way that anyone will ever join this church. As missionaries, we don't quote scriptures at you until you get baptized. We teach what we believe in this church and then invite you to pray to know for yourself. The Espíritu Santo (holy ghost) can show you the truth of all things, but you need to do your part and read the scriptures and pray with real intent. If you have doubts about anything, I would encourage you to "study it out in your mind" and then ask God for an answer. He will always respond! 

Fun fact of the week: Dora the Explorer exists in Spanish-speaking countries, but instead of teaching you Spanish, she teaches you English! Hermana Encarnación and I discovered that Dora the Explorer exists in each other's countries and it's kind of super cool. 

Have a great week!

Love, Hermana Walker

Spanish Bakery

 Coconut pastry

 The chino store is ready for Christmas

 Flowering tree in Torremolinos

 This street felt like walking into the jungle for us.

Delicious food made by my companion

Week 20: Chestnuts roasting on an open fire

 Hola hola hola!

For district meeting this week, our district leader asked us to read a talk called "Return and Receive" by Elder Ballard from last April. It was REALLY good and I hope you go look it up and read it! It talks about goals and plans and it's just really really good.

This week a few of our investigators just dropped off the face of the earth. That happens sometimes. But we're going to figure out what happened to them, don't worry!

One investigator who HAD dropped off the face of the earth but who decided to reappear this week was Andrea! She's the one who we taught lesson 1, then she went on a trip, then she was living in a different city while her new piso was being renovated... Well, her piso is still being renovated, but she and her family are living in it now, which means she's back in Torremolinos! It had been a really long time, so we kind of did a lesson 1 (the restoration) overview. One problem: we invited her to read the Book of Mormon (she said she read a little before her trip), but the Book of Mormon we gave her is packed in a box and she doesn't know which one! She didn't want to take ANOTHER Book of Mormon ("Really it's fine, we have so many!") but she's going to go looking for hers. Hoping she finds it, and hopefully we'll get to meet with her again this coming week!

We also taught this cute couple who moved here from... Romania, I think? Not sure. All I know is that their first language is not English and it's not Spanish. But they are so cute, and we found some things (pamphlets, Book of Mormon) in their language. So we're going to visit them again this week and try to use the things we found and give them the Book of Mormon to read.

Speaking of the Book of Mormon, I finished reading the Book of Mormon and just started it again! I'm trying to finish it by the end of the year. The Book of Mormon is so awesome and every time I read it, my testimony of it grows! One thing I noticed from general conference was that several people mentioned President Monson's challenge to read the Book of Mormon every day. I would also challenge you to do that! The Book of Mormon is AWESOME.

We also visited Yovanna and her husband (Gonzalo) this week! They gave us this kind of Spanish giant-muffin-cake sort of thing. I took a bite and it was reallyyy hard to bite through, and kind of had a weird texture on the outside edge. But I made it through the bite and swallowed it.. then realized that I had just taken a nice big bite of the paper wrapper (picture a giant cupcake wrapper). So... that was awkward. Aside from the paper, the cake thing was really good! Spanish Christmas treats do not disappoint. 

Keeping with the paper theme, I taught Hermana Encarnación how to trace your hand and make it into a turkey. She's so funny. I NORMALLY understand what she's saying to me, but sometimes I just kind of match her facial expression and pretend I know what she said. Except she started catching on, so now when I do that she just kind of laughs. "No entendiste?" (You didn't understand?). "Nope!" Then she says it again, and I normally get it the second time. It's super weird waking up in the morning and immediately speaking Spanish. Kind of messes with your head haha. Also, as predicted, we have been eating REALLY well this week. She's the cook and I'm the dish-washer. It's a good system. She uses all sorts of fancy stuff, like lentils and tomatoes and basil (I REALLY don't cook haha).

Today we have our tri-zone conference with Elder Bennesar, an area seventy from France! He and his wife also came to our ward for church yesterday, which was cool. They were really nice! I had to give a talk in sacrament meeting, which I really was not excited for. Then I found out this area seventy was going to be there! Even more nervous. Luckily they don't speak Spanish haha. Elder Bennesar gave a really good testimony and I'm excited for tri-zone this afternoon!

Random note: I knew chestnuts are roasted over an open fire, because of that one Christmas song. But I've never actually had a roasted chestnut. I've actually never even seen ANY chestnut, I'm pretty sure. But in the past couple weeks, there are so many stands that have been set up on random street corners that have little fires and pots and sell chestnuts that are roasted right there in front of you! Haven't tried any yet, but Hermana Encarnación says they're good so we'll have to get some soon.

So I've been reading in 1st Nephi this week, and I've learned so much. In 1st Nephi 13:16, part of the verse stuck out to me. "(they) did humble themselves before the Lord; and the power of the Lord was with them." The power of the Lord can be with us, but we need to humble ourselves and recognize that we CAN'T do it on our own. As missionaries, we can't teach a lesson just using the knowledge we have--we need the Holy Ghost to be there. That's the same for any calling in the church. You can't do a good enough job or touch the hearts of the people you're serving or change the lives you're supposed to change if you're trying to do it on your own. But when we humble ourselves and recognize that we need the Lord's help, His power will be with us, and THEN we can do what we need to do.

Have a great week!

Love, Hermana Walker

This one type of tree decided to get flowers and it makes no sense to me because it's definitely almost November, pero bueno.

At the halloween activity (combined with all 4 Málaga wards)... Hermana Encarnación stuck spaghetti noodles in her hair and we decided it made her look like the statue of liberty
Also at the halloween activity, look who I ran into!

Paseo del pan triste: literally translates to "walk of the sad bread". Why this is the name of a street, I have no idea. What made the bread so sad? 

Week 19: Out with a bang

Hola hola hola!

This week has possibly been the longest week of my mission--not in a bad way, just in a wow-last-Monday-feels-like-ten-years-ago kind of way. 

On Tuesday we had a great lesson with Amparo. As we were teaching her, she was telling us that she could feel the Spirit testifying to her. She's still trying to stop smoking, which has been really hard. But she's doing great, and the next step is to figure out a way to get her to church!

On Wednesday we woke up to a massive thunderstorm! Hermana Johnson and I agreed that it felt like a hurricane (then again, neither of us has ever actually been in a hurricane, so I don't think we're qualified to say that). The windows were shaking like crazy and later that day, we heard that there had been more than 110 lightnings! (Pretty sure that's not how to say that...110 bolts of lighting?) We woke up at 7:30 like usual and Hermana Johnson started trying to finish packing, and then about 20 minutes in... the lights went out. It doesn't get light until 8:30 or 9, so basically our piso was pitch-dark. Hermana Johnson was convinced that this was her punishment for putting off packing for the last minute haha. Luckily my lovely mom made me bring a little lantern on the mission, so she finished her packing via lantern, and the occasional super bright lightning flash that would light up the entire piso. Hermana Johnson took a video of the storm that shows one really big lightning strike, I'll try to attach it. You could say that mother nature wanted Hermana Johnson to go out with a bang! Right as the sun finally started to light up the piso...the power came back on. Anyway, Hermana Johnson finally finished packing, and then we pulled her suitcases to the bus stop near our piso. Three buses were completely full and passed us by... so we decided to go to the train stop and take the train, about a half hour away. We probably looked pretty weird, two Mormon missionaries lugging three suitcases through Torremolinos centro. But we made it to the train stop, got her suitcases down the stairs, got them down ANOTHER set of stairs that goes under the train tracks, UP a set of stairs to get to the platform on the other side, and onto the train. It was probably a 2-hour process to get from our piso to the big train station in Málaga, but we finally got there! President and Hermana Andersen had picked up Hermana Encarnación from the airport and had all her suitcases in their car, so I hugged Hermana Johnson goodbye and then President and Hermana Andersen drove Hermana Encarnación and I to our piso in Torremolinos. Needless to say, the trip from Málaga to Torremolinos was a lot faster than Torremolinos to Málaga! 

Hermana Encarnación is great. She speaks probably as much English as I do Spanish, so between the two of us we normally can figure out what each other is trying to say haha. She's from the Dominican Republic but has lived in Barcelona for three years. And she's going to be a chef, so basically, we're going to eat pretty well this transfer. We haven't even been together an entire week yet, but I've already learned a few things from her:

1. I do not know how to cook.

2. I am not as tidy as I thought I was... I used to think I was a pretty clean person, but she came in and reorganized all the kitchen cupboards, mopped all the floors, and started taking apart things that I didn't know could be taken apart (like the vent/hood thing over the stove), cleaning them, and putting them back together! She's like the fairy godmother of cleaning... she makes cleaning supplies that I didn't even know we had appear out of thin air, then uses them to make the piso sparkling clean! I try to help, but I'm not quite at her level yet (I cleaned the bathroom this morning, but then she came in and re-cleaned it, and now things I didn't even know were dirty are clean!)

3. My Spanish has a loooong way to go haha

4. The word for sticker in Spanish is pegatina!

It's definitely been weird being with someone other than Hermana Johnson, but Hermana Encarnación is really great and I'm sure we'll get closer as the weeks go on!

On Wednesday afternoon, we visited Fátima and taught her about receiving answers through the Holy Ghost and acting on those answers. She told us that she knows the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith couldn't have written it, and she knows he was a prophet, and she told us that this coming Sunday she's going to come to church! Then we went to Lorenzo and Inma's house to eat. It's weird doing the exact same thing we always do, but with a new companion. 

On Thursday we ate mediodia (the noon meal) with Norma and Ramón, then visited Giovanna again! Except funny story... her name isn't Giovanna. It's Yovanna. If you say Giovanna and Yovanna out loud, they kind of sound the same... but we've definitely been writing Giovanna and calling her Giovanna and everything for the past three months, and just realized like a week ago that her name is Yovanna. So THAT'S awkward. She probably realized we were calling her the wrong name, but didn't say anything because she's so sweet. No worries, we're now calling YOVANNA by her actual name!

On Friday we visited an old investigator named Angeles. We've knocked on her door a few times but she never opened up--but this time, she did! We talked with her for a long time. She has a lot of problems, and she really needs this gospel--and she invited us back to visit her again! Yay! Then we went over to Hermana Blanca and read 1 Nephi 17 with her, and THEN visited a woman named Maria. We were about halfway through the video (which is only like 2 minutes long) when this huge mouse ran across the floor and behind a bookshelf! Hermana Encarnación and I kind of looked at each other, but Maria didn't seem to notice it. Then it ran across the room again a few minutes later! This time Maria noticed it, but didn't seem fazed, so we're not sure if it was her pet or what. Kind of weird haha. Friday night we visited Fátima again!

Saturday was pretty much a day of trying to find people and finding no one. So it was a REALLY long day. Sometimes hours fly by, and sometimes five minutes take ten years to pass. Saturday was more like the second. But on Sunday after church, we got a phone call from our investigator Lorenzo who we've been trying to call for weeks but never answers his phone! He told us he wanted to meet later that day, which was super awesome and almost never happens! We met with him and had a really good lesson. 

I've been reading in the book of Ether in the Book of Mormon, and Ether 6:4-12 talks about the Jaredites' journey across the ocean. They submitted themselves to the will of the Lord and trusted Him to guide them, but that didn't mean they had a really quick, easy journey. They were "buried in the depths of the sea" a few times, which probably wasn't fun at all, and the journey took 344 DAYS! But the Lord protected them and always brought them back up to the surface, and when they finally did get to the Americas, the first thing they did was express gratitude for the Lord's help.

"And they did land upon the shore of the promised land. And when they had set their feet upon the shores of the promised land they bowed themselves down upon the face of the land, and did humble themselves before the Lord, and did shed tears of joy before the Lord, because of the multitude of his tender mercies over them."

I picture the Jaredites, setting their feet on the beach for the first time in almost a year, and immediately bowing themselves down to express gratitude. They didn't complain that it had taken so long, or that it had been so bumpy. They just gave thanks. I've been working on remembering to be patient on days like Saturday when pretty much everyone fails us and no one wants to talk to us, and trying to be more grateful when miracles do come, like Lorenzo's phone call. Because if the Jaredites can spend 344 days in a boat and still be grateful, I can definitely be grateful when something good happens after a long day or week. Just be patient and be grateful and trust in Heavenly Father, and everything will work out!

Love, Hermana Walker 

Here are some pictures of Hermana Johnson's farewell dinner with Ramon and Norma.

Week 18: transfer calls!

Hola hola hola!  

I know these emails are always super long, so in case you just want to know where I'm going  I wrote TRANSFER CALLS!!!  in all caps right before I say where I'm going haha. 

Tuesday was district meeting. It was elder Stratford's birthday! Hermana Johnson and I made a cake that her mom sent her from AMERICA and 63 of those peanut butter cookies from last week... We didn't realize 2 batches would make that many! Elder Stratford's comp, Elder Neubert, brought... nothing. The Nerja elders, Elder Lentz and Elder Gentry, brought a pineapple and matches. It was a party. 

One of our goals this week was to give out a Book of Mormon every day. It's normally pretty hard to give these out, because you want to make sure that the person you're giving it to has at least a LITTLE interest, and most people don't want to take a book and have to carry it around with them. We had to run into our piso for 2 minutes on Tuesday night, and then we had 20 minutes left before we had to come back for the night. And we still hadn't given out a Book of Mormon!  So we said a prayer and booked it out of our piso. We crossed one street, stopped the first girl we saw on the corner, and ended up talking to her for 20 minutes! She's evangélica and said her biggest problem with our religion is the idea that we need more than the Bible (this is a common concern, but the reality is that the Book of Mormon isn't devaluing the Bible in any way, it's just God wanting to give us more guidance and more of His word! So who wouldn't want that?). BUT she said she would read the Book of Mormon to find out for herself, and when we called her a few days later she said she'd been reading! She's only 17 so she's busy with work and school, but we're going to try to find a time to meet with her soon. MILAGROS! 

I have nothing to say from Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday... But I'm sure they were good, or at least not BAD, because if they were super awful I would probably remember them. 

Saturday night we got the chance to go to a baptism of the elders in the other ward! 
It was a couple from Argentina who are friends with two members in that ward. They were the cutest couple and so prepared for the gospel! Finding people to teach through members is the absolute best way to find people to teach, 100%. If you have a friend who's interested, invite them to meet with the missionaries to find out a little bit more about what we believe!

All week we'd been counting down the days to Sunday morning, when transfer calls come. It finally came, and thank goodness, the zone leaders called us at like 7:35am (we wake up at 7:30) because if they had waited five more minutes I might have died. 

TRANSFER CALLS!!! 
Hermana Johnson is heading to Almería, which is a few hours away but still in our stake so I'll see her a couple times next transfer. 

My companion is going to be Hermana Encarnación! Our zone leaders didn't know anything about her and Hermana Johnson had never heard of her, so I was a little nervous for a while there. But we talked to a few missionaries at church and on Sunday night and now I know a few things about her!

1. She's a native Spanish speaker, and from the Dominican Republic
2. She does speak some English (someone said she speaks as much English as I do Spanish) 
3. She has an afro
4. She came into the mission 2 transfers (12 weeks) before Hermana Johnson 
5. She's been home for a while (not sure how long) for medical reasons BUT she's back now! This will be her first transfer back. 
6. She's super funny and sassy

That's literally all I know haha. I'll find out more when she gets here! It will be weird being with someone other than Hermana Johnson, because she's all I've ever known. I'm also still confused about where we are about 25% of the time, so we'll be using maps a lot for a while. But Hermana Encarnación seems great, and I'm excited to meet her on Wednesday! 

On Sunday night we got to watch a broadcast from Germany! Elder Ballard from the quorum of the 12 apostles gave a special talk to all the members in Europe. It was super good. He talked about how there are miracles that God can make happen, but we have to have faith or they won't happen! Faith has been a theme I've noticed in the Book of Mormon this time reading it. If we don't have faith, we won't see blessings, we can't be strengthened, we can't experience miracles. But if we DO, we can see God's hand in our life in amazing ways! So keep up the faith! 

Love,

Hermana Walker 

There was a big combined youth activity with all 4 Málaga wards and the fuengirola ward a few weeks ago. It was with all the missionaries from those five wards and was about getting them excited to go on missions. We just got two pictures from it, so I just shared those with you. Don't be confused by how many people have name tags, because we gave everyone fake paper name tags... 

Victoria, Fátima's daughter. She is the sassiest six year old you will ever meet. 

Chicken with mashed potatoes and Ikea gravy. Happy day. 

This big fountain in torremolinos centro was filled with bubbles- someone poured soap in it. Hermana Johnson had never heard of doing this so she thought it was hilarious.

A book stand on the street in Málaga where all the books are blue... If you look very closely, you can find the truest blue book there is! 

Week 17: A very normal week

Oct 9, 2017 Hola hola hola!

Well, like the title says... this has been a very average, normal week. Nothing too crazy happened besides the fact that we walked about 56 miles this week.

We didn't end up getting to meet with Andrea, since she's living in a different city for a few weeks while her piso is being renovated. We're going to see if we can get something to work out in a week or two. We met with Amparo and Fátima. They both like meeting with us, and they're both reading the Book of Mormon and really like it, but neither of them is willing to make the sacrifice to come to church, which is a little frustrating. We also met with Lidia, a less-active member, who actually DOES want to come to church but got in some sort of accident so now she has foot problems and can't for a while.

I sliced my finger open with a knife! This sounds a lot more exciting than it actually is. It was a butter knife, and the cut was more like a really long, deep paper cut. I didn't even know you could cut yourself with a butter knife. The more you know! It happened when we were cutting up squares of chocolate to put on some peanut butter cookies that we made on Monday night. We brought them to district meeting and everyone was WAY excited because peanut butter is hard to find here and when you do find it, it's really expensive. But we made the sacrifice, splurged on the tiny jar of peanut butter at mercadona, and WOW it was worth it. Fact: we're making them again tonight at 10:15 so we can take them to district meeting again for Elder Stratford's birthday.

We went to visit one future investigator this week named Angeles, and she let us into the building, but then when we knocked on her door this adorable little 3-year-old boy opened it. Apparently, his mom went "shopping." When we asked him when she would get back, he said, "Um... 9:30." He was totally lying and his mom was definitely there, but he was super cute so it was okay.

Transfers will be on Wednesday the 18th, so this coming Sunday we'll get transfer calls! (We'll be told who's going, who's staying, who's coming for the next six weeks.) What's most likely to happen is that Hermana Johnson will leave and go to another city, I'll stay here for at least 1 more transfer (6 weeks), and someone else will come in to be my new companion. BUT, we really won't know until Sunday. So I'll let you know next Monday what's going to happen!

Sunday was fast Sunday, and I went into church determined to get something out of every class and every speaker. It's just extra easy to get unfocused at church when you only understand about 80% of what people are saying. But I tried really hard to take notes during testimony meeting and actually got a lot out of it, which was really cool! Also, when I was leading the music (for some reason, whenever it's my turn to lead the music, we end up singing songs that are either really obscure from the English hymnbook or not even in the English hymnbook, which is fun), I looked around and realized that I recognized the vast majority of people in the ward! I've been here a long time haha.

One thing I loved that someone said (I might have written it down wrong) in their testimony was, "El Señor no quiere que corramos más que podemos, pero que sí, corramos." "The Lord doesn't want us to run more than we can, but that yes, we run." He doesn't expect anything more than our all, but He DOES expect our all.

Have a great week and give it your all!

Love, Hermana Walker

We went to IKEA on preparation day.  Ikea is close to our apartment and it has good Wi-Fi and food so I'll definitely be going there again.

We also got to see the city garbage being collected.  We always wondered how that was done since the garbage cans can't be opened up.  It turns out they are raised into the air and the dumpsters underneath them are dumped.  Mystery Solved!