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FIREPLACE!!!!!
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Happy New Year!
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| 10:25 am (1 day ago) | | ||
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So it finally happened! My first baptism!!! I got one! Haha, wow, that probably sounds really bad. But hey, that´s ok. It was a really good baptism. Of course, it´s a lot better when it´s your investigator than someone else´s. Even though you´re obviously happy for them, it´s better when you love the person and have seen them progress and all that. But yeah, little Carmen is officially a member of the church! It was so cool! I just love her a whole bunch. She´s a little crazy, but I still love her.
So let´s see, Christmas...it was so good to talk to you guys! I loved seeing you all and hearing your voices! I wish it could´ve been longer, and hour was no where near enough, but that´s ok, at least we got a little bit of time. And it´s kind of weird to think that we´ve got 5 more months and I´ll talk to you on mother´s day and then the next time we hear each other´s voices will be in real life!!! That´s so weird to think about. But that´s still a ways off. After I talked to you guys the day was done, so yeah. And then we had the baptism saturday.
Oh! And yesterday was so much fun! We went to a family´s house to eat and had some really good soup and rice. Then afterwards my comp saw the fireplace they had and asked how you use it. Haha, she´s such a city girl. So the dad lit up the fire and then whipped out a bag of marshmellows! Yes, we did roast marshmellows in their fireplace, and yes, I did teach them how to make s´mores out of them, and even though they didn´t have chocolate and the crackers weren´t exactly the same as graham crackers, they were still so fun and yummy!
So this week is going to be an interesting week. First of all we have new year´s. And once again, spain has some strange traditions they like to do. We have permission again to be out til midnight for new year´s eve and they do this thing where they watch this big clock in madrid and when the clock chimes 12 they eat a grape for every chime, so you have like 12 seconds to eat 12 grapes. Haha. it´ll be kind of fun! Then we also have a talent show on friday with all the missionaries on our side of the mission, so 3 zones of missionaries, which means I get to see hna Jarvis!!! I´m so excited to see her! I´ve missed her! So that´ll be way fun. And we also have 2 mini-missionaries coming to stay with us from thursday morning to tuesday. This could be a good thing. We´ll see. Haha. It means that for 6 days we´ll be on splits with them. They´re obviously not missionaries, so they won´t know the lessons or anything like that. And it will sure be a whole lot more work for planning the days, but we´ll see. It´ll hopefully be a fun thing and a good thing for the girls and for us.
Well I´m out of time for today. I love you all so much and hope that you know how much your Savior loves you too. Thank you for your examples, for your love, and for all you mean to me. I love you so so so so so much! Happy New Year´s!!!
Hermana Walton
So we did have a white Christmas after all!!!! Oh wait, that´s just ice they dumped out on the side of the road from the local fish market...
Monday, December 23, 2013
Oh how I wish her package had made it! I'm a sad mommy right now. Mailed at Thanksgiving...stuck in Madrid customs. I can only pray for a miracle. It is not about the stuff...it's about the love. Good thing we get to Skype in two days!! Merry Christmas!
Feliz Navidad!!!!!!
Feliz Navidad!!!!!!
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6:17 AM (15 hours ago)
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Oh Family! This is a very different and strange Christmas for me, to be honest, not to be with all of your will be really hard, but I get to talk to you and see you in 2 DAYS!!!! So that makes me feel better! And yes, it´s hard and different, but I know that my Saviour needs me here and so I will allow myself to feel of his spirit which is the true spirit of Christmas.
So speaking of the non-true spirit of Christmas, I haven´t gotten my package yet, nor am I planning on having it for Christmas day. But I think I´ve finally gotten all the paper work in that they need so that I can get it. It wouldn´t be that hard if I was a normal person, but as a missionary it´s been a long process just to finally get it. But I´m hoping it´ll come sometime this week. We´ll see. The post office is closed tomorrow and wednesday so it may not happen, but it´s possible. It´s just kind of a rotten luck kind of thing. The lady at the post office told us that of the thousand or so packages that came into spain for the holidays that only 100 of them were chosen to go through this new scanning process. And what luck! I got chosen! Haha, oh man. That would happen, huh? But that´s ok. I´ll get it eventually.
So remember how last time I told you about our week of finding and how we had a goal to find 800 new investigators in one week? Yeah well get ready for some awesome miracle stories, and some not so miraculous ones too. Haha. As a mission, we found 847 new investigators!!!! It was crazy! The most that has ever been found before this was 558 which was during an earlier week of finding and we usually average about 225-250 new investigators in a week, so that was a really big deal for us. As a companionship we found 4 new investigators. One of them happened monday night, the first day of the week, and the other 3 happened sunday night, the last night of the week.
The first new we found is the "husband" of an investigator that we have. It was actually a big blessing that he was here this week. His name is Sylvestre. He normally lives in France which is where he is working right now and then comes back and visits when we had days off. But he´s been here for a while and we´ve had two lessons with him this week, and he´s great, he just needs to stop talking and listen more and he´ll be all set.
The 3 news that we found last night were actually antiguos that we had dropped but then we had a cita fall through on us last night and we were close to their house so we stopped by. Their names are Edita, Dayleni, and Wilber. Yep, that´s right. The family that had fechas but the Dad said no, and we haven´t seen them since. We finally got to see them! That was such a blessing! I forgot how much I loved them. They´re just so sweet! And Wilber was so funny. We were just talking and all the sudden he just says, "I´m not changing my mind mom, I want to get baptized." Hahaha. He´s 10 and I just love him. All of them, actually. So their dad is in Switzerland working for 3 months and we´re thinking that´s why they let us in, because he´s not there, but even if that´s true that´s fine with me, we´ve got 3 months to work with them and get them coming back to church and all that good stuff.
So, now for the big miracle. Remember the family of MariCarmen, Juan, and Carmen, the cute little spanish family that we´ve been teaching since I got here and the parents are working of getting married so they can get baptized? Well, the little daughter is getting baptized on saturday!!!! Yep, Carmen is getting baptized!!!!! And we´re so excited! She´s already had her interview and her parents are all for it so we´re set to go, we just have to actually do it and that´s that. I´m so excited that I´ll be here to see it too. The first lesson I taught in the field was with this family and I was so sad that I wasn´t going to be able to see them get baptized, but now I´ll at least get to see Carmen´s baptism.
So it was raining a little this week. Well actually that´s an understatment. It rained a lot. Especially on thursday night. So this was our thursday night. We went to Paula´s house to eat and it started sprinkling a little bit but we thought we were fine. So we started contacting a whole bunch of futures we had, we even had a cita with one of them, but no one was home and the cita fell through. And it was pouring like nobodies business, and we were too far away to go home and get umbrellas. So we were drenched! We did have one miracle lesson, but they took our number and said they´d call us when they wanted more, so I´m not expecting anything more to come of that. We counted afterwards and we went to 21 different people´s houses and no one was home, which doesn´t make sense, because you don´t go out when it´s raining, but oh well, that´s what happened. So we were soaking wet and cold and it was a fun and interesting experience. We can back and took hot showers and made french toast and hot chocolate and then went to bed. Haha, so it ended well.
Well there´s all the goods from this week. I´ll see all your beautiful faces on wednesday!!! 10 am your time, 6 pm my time. Just leave your skype open and I´ll call you when I´m ready. I´ll probably use mom´s account, but I would have dad´s open too just in case something happens. Love you all a whole bunch!!!! Have the best Christmas and tell everyone else there how much I love them too!!! See you soon!!!!
Hermana Walton
Monday, December 16, 2013
9 DAYS!!!! But who´s counting right?
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10:11 AM (1 hour ago)
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Alright, so next week we will only have 2 more days until we get to talk! I´m kind of really really excited to talk to you! It hasn´t really hit me yet that I actually get to, but that´s probably a good thing or that´s all I would think about. But yeah we have just a little more than a week and I´ll be able to see your faces and hear your voices. I´ve missed them. So that´ll be nice.
So let´s see, what happened this week...oh...well actually I was sick and at home for a total of about 3 days over the course of the week. Yeah that was fun. Haha. Some days you think you want a break, and they really are nice, but when you´re sick, they´re really not that fun. I mean you can only spend so much time sleeping or watching the same church movies over and over again. But that´s ok. I´m finally out and about and working again. So that´s nice. My companion went on splits with the members a lot so that we could get something done. I mean we still didn´t get a lot done, but at least we had a few lessons during the week. Man oh man though. Some of the members are so funny. I had one member staying with me one night and all she wanted to do was tell me her life´s story and show me pictures of everything and it was funny. She´s sweet and I love her, but I got a little sick of it after the first hour. Haha. They´re funny though. Carpeting basically doesn´t exist here in spain, sad I know, and so we have rock tile floors and here everyone wears shoes inside all the time, but I´m not a big shoe person so when I´m home, I like my bare feet. Anyway, whenever someone was in our piso they almost always got mad at me for not having socks on or anything. I mean, we had the heater on and the floor really wasn´t cold, but one of them even went out and bought me little slipper things so that I wouldn´t do it anymore. Haha. Oh man. It´s sweet, and I love that they care, but I´m a big girl, I think I can figure it out. Haha.
So we got to watch the Christmas devotional yesterday after church. They even had it in english for the missionaries! How great is that! It was good, to be honest, the elders were talking the whole time, ok I was talking with them too, so we didn´t really hear much of it...woops! But that´s ok. We listened to the music. And alright my favorite part...did any of you catch during the song that the primary kids were singing that one of the little boys winks at one of the little girls??? Yeah, it definitely happened! We were all dying! It was pretty great. I know that´s terrible that that was my favorite part, but oh well.
So this week is a big week for the mission. We are doing a week of finding. That means that we are setting a big goal as a mission to find a bunch of new investigators. And man is it a big goal. Our goal is to find 800 new investigators in one week. That´s an average of 8 per companionship. In the past, the most we´ve found as a mission in one week had been 558 and that was during another week of finding. We normally average somewhere around 250 in a week. To be a new investigator we have to teach them and then set a return appointment to teach them again. So this week is no small task, but it´s going to be a week of miracles and we´re so excited for that! I´m sure I´ll have a bunch of stories next week to tell you all. We are going to work hard. There´s a quote from someone, I have no idea who that we use as missionaries. To have success we need to work as if everything depends on us and pray as if everything depends on the Lord. And that´s exactly what we´re going to do. We´ll be as obedient as we can and pray as much and with as much faith as we can and then let the Lord do the rest. It´ll be an awesome week, I´m sure. But it´s also going to take a lot of work. So pray for me, k? Thanks!
Well I love you all so much and can´t wait to talk to you in 9 days!!!!! Thanks for being the world´s best family! I really have been so incredibly blessed to be a Walton. Love you love you love you! Talk to you next week!
Hermana Walton
2 WEEKS TIL CHRISTMAS!!!!!
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Dec 9 (7 days ago)
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Feliz Navidad! Feliz Navidad! Feliz Navidad, prospero año y felicidad!
Haha, I think that´s how the song goes. But I can´t believe it´s only 2 weeks away! Man I´m so excited! It´s going to be so nice to see all your smiling faces and hear your voices again. So I´m trying to remember what happened this week. Oh! Fun story! So there was a member who lives alone that needed some help this week so we went with her to the doctor´s office and then took her grocery shopping (it actually kind of reminds me of helping out grammy now that I think of it). We were then taking her back to her house and there had been this guy that was following us around for a solid half hour - 45 minutes from store to store. I didn´t really think much of it. But when we got ready to go into her house he stopped me and gave me a piece of paper that was all folded up and then left. The member we were with kind of freaked out and was not very nice to him, I don´t think she understood what was going on. I felt kind of bad for him, but that´s ok. And then she threw the paper on the ground and took us inside. I was a little curious after that as to what it was and we stopped to look at the paper to see what it was on the way out. The guy had given me his number and asked me to call him. Haha. Oh man. Interesting stuff. Never would´ve expected that. There are some interesting experiences that happen on the mission.
So I don´t know if you remember the family that I sent you a picture of me with them a while ago. They´re spanish and we´ve been teaching them for as long as I´ve been here. They´re just incredible! I love them so much! They are finally making plans to get married! And they will be getting married in 2 months. I´m sad I won´t be here for their wedding or their baptism that will surely come after that. But I am so grateful that I´ve been blessed with the opportunity of getting to know them and being a small part in helping them find the gospel.
We also had special training conference with the Cartagena zone and with President Deere on friday. So I got to see hna Flake again! Oh how I love that girl! We also got to have personal interviews with President. He´s incredible! He has so much love for every single one of us! He is so sincere and just the best. I´m so grateful for him and for Hermana Deere. They´re just the best. President talked all about the power of the book of mormon and how using it can strenghten the power we have as missionaries. We defintiely have power already, but there´s nothing better that we can use than the Book of Mormon to help us teach and to help our investigators gain a testimony of this gospel. And it´s so true! There are so many great blessings in this gospel, and the Book of Mormon is truly one of them.
Well I´m out of time so until next week, but I love you all! I hope everything is well at home! Lots of love and can´t wait to talk to you in 2 weeks!!!
Hermana Walton
Monday, December 9, 2013
It´s beginning to look a lot like CHRISTMAS!!!!!
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| Dec 2 (7 days ago) | | ||
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WALTON / WILDING FAMILY (and friends)!!!!!!!!
Ok so it´s not really looking like christmas here at all. The only thing are the lights they have strung up above the streets, that´s about it. And they haven´t even turned them on yet, how sad! But I will definitely take a picture and send it to you when they´re on. And although it may not be cold enough to snow, it´s still pretty dang cold, especially when you have to walk around in a skirt all day. Those dang elders have an easier life, haha. Well, not always, but in this matter, yes.
So miracle time. We didn´t have anything to do on saturday night (weekends are really hard here in spain) so we decided to call a bunch of futures we had that we hadn´t contacted yet hoping that something would come from it. We called one lady, her name is Carmen, and asked if we could pass by the next week. She said the only days that work for her are saturday and sunday, so we said ok and invited her to church the next day (yesterday) and she said yes. We honestly didn´t expect her to show up to church, but the next thing I knew, I was sitting in sacrament meeting and a member came up to me and told me there was someone in the foyer looking for the sister missionaries! She actually came! She´s so sweet too! I loved meeting her and I´m so excited to start teaching her! I don´t want to get my hopes up too much, but I really am so grateful that we found her. Well, the elders found her, but we get to reap the benefits :)
So thanksgiving, that was strange. For lunch we ate kebab at the church with the elders. That was a little different, haha, but it was fun! The elders here are awesome. We got lots of new elders this transfer too. All of the companionships of elders changed, so we got 4 new elders. 2 are greeenies, one has been out for a while, and the other is elder allen. It´s kind of strange because he was my FHE dad in my provo ward last year. It´s fun to have another friendly face here. He´s a nice guy.
The day after thanksgiving we went to an investigators house and they made us fritos (the recipe that I sent you a while back that´re kind of like deep fried dough and cheese) and lots of other good stuff. So we had an after thanksgiving "dessert" kind of thing (attached picture). There was a member there too. I love her to death! Her name is Zora. She´s so much fun and is such a big help to us. We also had an eating cita yesterday after church with some members that was so much fun! We had burritos! Haha, they were delicious! I also had my first turrón. It´s so good! The kind we had was made of almonds. It actually tasted a lot like sweetend almond butter, chunky of course. It´s pretty delicious stuff.
Well that´s all I have time for today. I love you all! I hope everything is good and that you are feeling the blessings from your sacrifice of letting me be here as well. I love you I love you I love you!
Hermana Walton
PS to all my friends out there reading this, I´d love some letters! I love getting letters from mommy every week, but I´d love to hear from other people too.
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