Monday, November 18, 2013

November 18, 2013:  Hitting the 4 month mark this week! 

FAMILIA!!!!

So in case you didn´t know, I will hit 4 months on Sunday! How crazy is that!!!! Man, sometimes it feels like it´s been a lifetime and sometimes it feels like it was only yesterday that I was in the MTC. And this week is my last week of training and then I´ll just be a normal little missionary. Haha. That´ll be nice to not have to be in training, but there are also some downsides too, like we have to leave piso earlier during medio dia and there´s nothing to do at that time, but that´s ok. I´ll survive. 

Well let´s see. We had exchanges with the sister training leaders this week. That was so much fun! The hermana that came and stayed with me here in Murcia is the best! We had so much fun together, and lots of success too. Well, kinda. We had good lessons. Nothing new or anything like that. But the lessons that we had set up went really well, so that was fun. It wasn´t long enough though. It´s for 24 hours, but it seemed like 3. haha. But it was great.

So fun story. Kind of. Haha. We went out with a memeber last night contacting some references we got from the elders. We went and passed by the house of one man and we were talking about religion and stuff like that and we asked his a question about his life and beliefs, and he told us he´d been in jail for the past 15 years and was released within the past year. It´s kind of interesting. He´s a different kind of guy, but he´s willing to listen to us, so we´ll see how that goes. We have an appointment with him tomorrow, but we´ll definitely be bringing a member with us for that one. Haha. No, don´t worry. He seems like a nice enough guy, just a little different. I´m not nervous about that. 

I am excited for one thing this week! We have a thanksgiving dinner that we´re doing with the Stake President and all the missionaries in our stake! I´m so excited! I don´t even care that we aren´t doing it on the actual holiday! I´m just excited that we get to do something! The stake president here is an awesome guy. We love him. And I´m so thankful that he´s doing this for us. There of course are some things that I will miss from our family traditions, but that´s ok. I can deal with it. And I know you guys are going to have an awesome thanksgiving next week too! Followed by an awesome wedding! AAAAHHHHH!!!!! I´m excited for them! That´ll be so fun! I wish I could be there, but that´s ok. I know it´ll be beautiful whether I´m there or not :). Haha. No, it´ll be fun. And we can photoshop me into some of the pictures later. 

Well I´m not sure what else to tell you for this week, so I´ll end here. But I love you all and am so grateful for the blessing that each and everyone of you is to me. Thanks for being exactly who you are! Enjoy the snow and have the best week!

Hermana Walton

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Latest from Hermana Paige.  I love her honesty and willing example to learn and grow and give all credit to the Lord!  Miss you Paige!

Family!

Well, all I can say is thank goodness it´s a new week and that we get to start over again. It´s been a rough one. But one with a good ending. So it started out normally and everything was fine, nothing too exciting, nothing too bad, but fine. Then we got to tuesday. It was going to be a great day! We had 6 lessons we were going to teach (which is a whole lot for us!) and then every single one failed. We had nothing. I felt like a really crappy missionary. It was probably one of the lowest days I´ve had in the mission so far. That was only magnified on thursday when I was reading my scriptures and there were so many about pride. I kind of had an epiphany that day with the whole companion situation that I´ve been dealing with. I realized that as much as I may want to change things about my companion, I can´t. But I can change me, and I can change the way I go about things. I realized the pride that I had in my heart and my unwillingness to change. It was a very humbling morning. I went to my room and cried for most of the morning. I felt completely torn down. I felt like I wasn´t doing anything right. I felt like I wasn´t good enough, that there was no way that my Heavenly Father actually wanted me here, because there was no way I was doing a good enough job with his work. Well after a day of wallowing in self pitty, I decided to pick myself up and get over it. I decided that no, things may never be perfect with my companion, but I´m going to try to at least make them better. No, I may never be a perfect missionary, but I could do better than I was doing then. And so that´s what I´m going to try to do. Things are definitely going better. The work may not be going better, but I´m at least happier. My companion and I still have hard moments with each other, but we´re found fun things we can do together. I may not be able to see all the fruits of my work, but I know that I´m here for a reason. I really do love these people. I can´t imagine not knowing them. I can´t wait until one day you get to meet them too. I don´t know why I´m needed here, but I am, and I´m going to try hard to do what the Lord wants me to do.

Alright, well now that I´ve told you all that, I´ll tell you about my spanish. It´s coming. Poco a poco (little by little) just as everything else, but it´s definitely coming. I catch myself thinking in spanish and I can communicate what I want to say a good majority of the time. I obviously have a long way to go as learning a language completely takes a long time, but I finally am feeling like yes, maybe one day I really will be able to do this and talk to people like I really know what they´re saying instead of just nodding my head like I understand them. Haha. One day, but it´s definitely coming. Although there are some days where I swear that my head is just sick of spanish and it rejects to translate or understand it because somedays I just  can´t understand anyone haha. But it´s good. I gave a talk in church yesterday, obviously in spanish, and I got lots of complements on it so I guess that´s a good sign! I felt like it went pretty well. It was on missionary work. We´re trying to get the members excited to work with us more and to help us out. It´s hard because Murcia at one point was the most successful area in the mission, but now it´s kind of dead. Our ward has only had 4 baptisms all year and one of them is already inactive. So we´re got lots of work to do, but it´s not going to go anywhere if we don´t get the members to help us out. 

Well I don´t have much more time today, so I´ll end here. But I love you all with all my heart! Being away from you has only shown me how much I love you and how much each one of you means to me. I´m grateful for the knowledge that this and any other seperation that may come our way is only temporary. We will be together forever. And I wouldn´t have it any other way. Thank you for all your love and support! Talk to you next week!

Hermana Walton

Monday, November 4, 2013


November 4, 2013  Yay...it's a better week!

Hola Querido Familia Walton!

Entonces, este semana fue un poco dificil y el mismo tiempo eran tiempos muy buenos. Como viernes. Fuimos a la casa de un miembro de nuestro barrio por un noche de hogar. Ella se llama Paula y su marido se llama Enrique. Alright I´m done with spanish...haha. Basically, we went to the house of a member last week. There names are Paula and Enrique. They´re basically my favorite. I don´t know if you remeber the lady that I talked about that I met in the temple when I was in the MTC, but this is her and her husband. She´s one of the sweetest ladies in the world! We went to their house for family home evening and we had fun and watched a little video and chatted for a little while, and then she wanted to make rice krispy treats! No, they don´t have them here in spain, but she heard about them and wanted to make them, so she found the recipe and we decided to make them! They were so good! Little piece of america, haha. Basically that was my favorite night of the week though. She just is so sweet, she´s like a grandma, but younger, and she just loves us so much, and I just love her. I hope you get to meet her one day! 

So Halloween here is basically the same as in the US to be honest. Obviously we weren´t home for that so I don´t know how that works with them knocking doors and stuff like that, but they get all dressed up and go trick or treating and all that fun stuff. The day after is dia de los muertos (day of the dead) which is basically like our memorial day where they go to the cemetary and honor their dead. 

So the work is pretty slow here right now. Still nothing is moving forward. The elders in the other ward had a baptism on saturday and I guess we helped with that, so dad, I got like half a baptism, but it didn´t count for our numbers, haha. So she lives in our area and in our ward, but she started receiving the lessons from the elders when she lived in their area and she got baptized in their ward because of some family stuff. It´s a long story, but we did go visit her a few times and taught her and she´s super sweet! I love her! Her name is Jesica and she has 2 little kids that are super cute too. 

Well things are going a little better with the whole companion situation. We had a good talk and at least aren´t going to kill each other anymore. It´s not perfect, nor do I think it ever will be, but we´re going to try to not get so frustrated with each other. I´m still hoping this will only be one transfer, but at least this will make the rest of the transfer a little bit easier, I hope. Haha.

Well I hope all is going well at home. I love you all lots, more than you know. I´m incredibly grateful for the eternal family that I have. I couldn´t ask for better people to have by my side for the rest of forever. I love you and will talk to you next week! 

Hermana Walton
October 28, 2013...  My how she is learning!

To those whom I love most in this life:

Well this week has been interesting to say the least. Things haven´t really gotten better in any aspect. With my companion I would say things have gotten worse. We just aren´t getting along. Just a bunch of little things that have all rolled up into one big thing that hasn´t done anything good for us, but I have no idea how to get rid of it. We also haven´t had much success this week. No good news yet from our failed baptisms. There´s no way it´s going to pull through for this saturday, sorry daddy to get your hopes up. I wish it was different news, but it´s not. 

We did get one new investigator this week though. Her name is Pilar. She´s a friend of our bishop´s wife and has been "investigating" for a while, but she´s in the midst of seperating from her husband so she´s finally at a point where she really feels like she wants this in her life. I think it´ll be really good for her! She´s awesome, spanish, has 2 kids, and is probably in her late 40s early 50s. We´ll see where it goes with her. We just started teaching her so I don´t have a ton to say about her, but I think she could make some really good progress.

We also had a Cosecha (harvest) on saturday in Cartegena which is another big city that is about an hour away from us. Basically what we did was had all the missionaries from our stake go out and contact and try and help the missionaries there to find some new investigators that they can teach. We did find one future for them, so hopefully something can come of that. We´ll see. It wasn´t a very good day (you can ask mom for some more details if you want), but I did have the saving grace of seeing Hna Flake and her companion Hna Bangeter (who I was also in the MTC with and who I love to death). Honestly they got me through that day. It was so much fun to see them and to have someone else to talk to and to be able to talk in english again! Haha.

Speaking of which! My spanish is coming along. I´ve definitely still got a ways to go, but I´m starting to feel more comfortable. For the last little while I´ve caught myself translating my thoughts in my head of how I would say that out loud, and sometime even thinking in spanish, which is weird but kind of fun at the same time. I still haven´t had my first dream in spanish yet, but that may also be because I don´t really remember most of my dreams. So that doesn´t help either. Haha. 

Well, I´m praying for the strength to get through this transfer (thank goodness we´re already 2 weeks into it, only 4 more to go) and praying with all of my heart that I will be blessed with a transfer. I don´t know that it will happen, but I would be absolutely exstatic if it did! I love you with all of my heart! I know that you are at home praying for me and working hard in all you do. I pray for you in basically every prayer that I say, even in lessons, and I hope you can feel the blessings from this coming your way as well. Yes, I´m struggling right now, but I promise you that I´m not coming home because of it, and I´ll get through it, as hard as it may be. I love you I love you I love you. 

Good luck with all you have to do this week. 

Hermana Walton

Elder Datwyler, Hna Morris, Bangeter, and me. We all were in the same MTC group, so we all hit our 3 month mark together this last week. PS this is my chapel where I go to church every week, but it´s the back left part of it. 
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