Monday, September 28, 2015

Transferring

To my favorite Mother in the whole wide world,

I'm being transferred! I'm also still going to be a Sister Training Leader, and I'm also going to be a trainer. So basically I'm going to be super busy this next transfer. I just hope that I will be able to do all that the Lord wants and expects of me in the next 6 weeks. I do know however, that I can do whatever the Lord asks me to do as long as I am relying on Him, because He can do anything, even shape me in the way He needs me. I am of course very nervous, but I am still very excited to be able to have this opportunity to serve my Heavenly Father and my Brother, Jesus Christ. 

Yesterday during Sacrament Meeting, I was able to bear my testimony to the ward, and I hardly got any words out before I was crying. It's almost harder to leave this area than it is to leave home because the people at home I know I will see again soon, but the people here I might not ever see again in this life. It isn't a bad thing though because how wonderful will be our reunion in the Celestial Kingdom will all these people who I have met and become like family too? I really have loved serving in Warner Robins and I am so super excited to be a part of the Lord's work elsewhere.
In other news though, I don't remember if I told you about Endora, but she and her two older daughters are preparing for baptism, and this last week we discovered that her boyfriend might be interested in learning too! We weren't sure before, because he would always take the baby and go outside when we came, granted he was always very nice, and he wasn't leaving because we got there, but rather to help it be a more calm environment without the baby. It turns out though that he might get baptized with the rest of his family! That made me kind of excited because they would be baptizing a whole family in stead of just part, and then they can go to the temple in a year and be sealed for ever as a family. It makes me so happy and excited when that is everyone's goal! Because families truly can be forever, but only through God's authority and not anyone else's.

I also really loved Conference! We watched it at a member's home, and it was such a spiritually uplifting event! The story of the girls Great Aunt Rose made me cry. It testified to me of the love that my Savior has for every single person in the world, and that no matter where we are in life, He can help us lift those burdens and "shake off the chains" of the adversary (2 Nephi 1:23).

I love my Father in Heaven! He is such a source of comfort to me:) Especially when those hard times come (as they always do) and I can't go to any of my other family. His Beloved Son, My Brother, knows my sufferings and my joys and weeps and rejoices with me every single day. The Holy Ghost is always with me and I can feel Him guiding my thoughts, words, and actions in the direction that My Father wants. Jesus Christ LIVES! And because He lives I can have joy, and peace, and hope! There is nothing that can change my thoughts on that. I know that the love my family (both earthly and heavenly) have for me is real, and powerful. Prayer is the key to greater knowledge and enlightenment. I love my scriptures, and I learn from them all the time. God is real.

I love you!
-Sister Monica Walker

(Your favorite child)


P.S. What happens for transfers here is that we all get on a conference call Saturday night (Except this time is was Saturday morning due to the women's session of conference), and they list the names of the missionaries who need to pack their bags and go to the transfer meeting on Tuesday. They also list the names for all the new trainers (whether 2nd half or brand new isn't announced) and they have to be early to the transfer meeting for another meeting that they will go to to help them learn how to be trainers. Then today (Monday) They send an email out with the names of all the leaders for the transfer, and my name was on that too. But they list those randomly because they don't want people to be able to guess who their companion is before they get to the transfer meeting. (Although if you really in tune with the spirit you'd be able to figure it out) haha so really I don't know much except for the fact that I have to pack and prepare to help another missionary learn the ropes and that somewhere I will be training all the sisters in the area.

I don't know if it will be a brand new missionary or a missionary that has been out for 6 weeks, since training technically is 12 weeks. But yes. The Lord has asked me to do a lot this next transfer. Basically every position that I can fill on my mission all at once. Plus I'm transfering. So yep. I know I can do it though. Because the Lord has asked me too, and He's not going to leave me hanging


Mom I do want you to know that as hard as a mission is I really do love being here:) It is so awesome and I get to meet all these wonderful people. I do miss talking with you all the time though about the things I learn, but there is just not enough time to share everything that I want to with you, but I am making a little book for what I learn from the Book of Mormon, and I will send that to you when I am done and you can read that:)

Monday, September 21, 2015

Talents vs Abilities

Dearest Mother,

You really are super amazing! Thank you for sharing about Celeste. I really appreciate it:)
I remember Celeste. She was so nice. I think that is the best thing ever that she got to go to the temple to be sealed with her family before she passed away. And it truly is a miracle that it was able to happen so quickly. Her family is definitely blessed for that. I also love that the sister who was on a mission was able to be home for that sealing. That made me cry! But in a good way:) This is really is the message that we share. Families can be together forever! I am sad that she is no longer here on earth to be able to experience the things in the rest of her life. Her death is sad because she was so young, but her faith was so strong that I have no doubt as to where she is now, and I know that she will still have that opportunity to have a family of her own because that is a promise that Heavenly Father extends to all of His children. Because of Jesus Christ, and the sacrifice he gave, we have been promised eternal happiness. Eternal life, with God, with a FAMILY. I love my Savior. I love the things He has done and continues to do for each of us every single day. He is amazing. The Hymn I Know that my Redeemer Lives is probably one of my most favorite, because everything in it is exactly what He is to me. It is my testimony! You should listen to it, and pretend I am singing it, because I am in my head:) Here is the link so you can go straight to it:)

This actually reminds me of the training I received a little bit ago from President Cottle, that I then shared later with the other missionaries. It was about our talents vs our abilities. To start off, President Cottle had us try to write down the top ten of our talents in 30 seconds. That was really hard, and most didn't even get 5. He then asked us to reevaluate our list and ask ourselves if they were really talents or were they abilities, and what the difference was? Upon further reflection and lots of scriptures, President Cottle explained that everyone has many abilities. He went to the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, and had us read it. They were given talents according to their "several ability" not just their single ability, but their many ability. In short, he explained that the difference between the two was that talents are abilities used in service of the Lord. Take singing for example. If we are only ever in school choirs and never church choir, then its just an ability not a talent, no matter how well we sing. On the flip side, even if all you can play is one note at a time on the piano, and you play in church, it is a talent. Then he explained again the idea of the monetary price of talents. (These are his figures, some of them might be wrong. Or at least that was the disclaimer her told us.)
1 talent=76.5 POUNDS of Gold.
1oz of gold=$500
so therefore,
1 talent=$6,000 or about 16.5 years of work
2 talents=$12,000 or about 33 years of work
5 talents=$30,000 or about 82 years worth of work
We each have different capabilities and different abilities given us. Some of us can only use it for 16 years, like Celeste. Some of us have the capability of using it for 82 years. However the reward for each is exactly the same. Because they were faithful over a "few things" He made them ruler over "many." God knows our hearts. He knows our abilities. He gave us the capability to use those abilities as talents, but has then given us the agency to choose whether or not we will. Remember that.
How will you use your abilities?

Love you so very much!
-Sister Monica Walker

Friday, September 18, 2015

Cornbread Recipe

This cornbread recipe was given to us by a member. It's really like cake. I liked it. Hope you do too.

1/2 cup butter/margarine
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cup sifted flour
1 cup cornmeal
1/2 tsp salt

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs. Add cornmeal. Alternate to dry ingredients and milk. Put in greased 8x8 pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Monday, September 14, 2015

Miracle from Fasting

Dearest Mother:)
I really do love my mission!

Last Fast Sunday, our whole mission participated in a fast for everyone in our mission to be able to find new investigators and progress them to baptism. This week, President Cottle shared with us some of the stories he heard and received as a result of this fast. Here's one of the miracles I saw from this fast:
A few months ago, a member of our ward gave us a referral to this old man who he did some work for, who the member said cried when he heard about the Plan of Salvation. So we have been trying to go over and teach him a little more about what the member had said, but we never had caught him at home, or when he had a free moment until last Friday. Unfortunately he wasn't really interested, but we did leave him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet and told him we might try later. As we were walking back to the car, we saw a young teenage girl across the street who was watching us, and had been since we arrived. Sister Dietz said she wanted to go talk to her, so we went over and asked her if she wanted a picture of Jesus, she said yes, but then told us to hold on a minute, and she ran in to go tell her mother that we were there. The mother comes out about a minute later, and we tell her who we are and that we have a message for her from Jesus. She invites us in, and introduces us to her 3 children. One of her friends walks into the room, and the mom introduces her too, but it turns out we already know her because she is the best friend of the girl who just got baptized and we had met her the week prior. This was super unexpected because when we first met her, she was all the way on the other side of our area. Small world.. Anyway, we start talking about the baptism, and she asks us where our church is so we give her a card. We end up teaching the Restoration, but though the whole of it, the mom keeps telling her children that they have to pay attention because they were going to go to church that Sunday and she didn't want them to be confused. At the end of the lesson, we asked her and her family and the friend to pray about the things we taught and ask God if it was true. The mom looked at us and with a smile said, oh, I already know it is. I guess we looked a little confused, because she then added that she always prays about people who are coming to talk to her, either to sell things or to talk about religion, and God told her that we were messengers from Him. Crazy! That was pretty awesome and we are excited to go teach them again later in the week:) Unfortunately, they did not come to church, but we will try to get them there next week.
Those people that we meet randomly are sometimes the ones Heavenly Father has prepared the most for them to choose to receive the truths of the restored gospel. I really do love meeting them and sharing with them my testimony of Jesus Christ and our His and Our Father's love for us:)

We also had a baptism on Saturday of this 8 year-old kid we have been teaching. His name is Joey. It was technically a child-of-record baptism, so it wasn't a convert or anything, but the rest of his family, including his siblings, mom and grandparents are all converts so that was really awesome. He has been so excited to be baptized for months! His grandfather requested that we teach him the lessons that they were taught so that he can have a better understanding of what he needs to know when he is baptized. So we taught him all the lessons before being baptized. Last Sunday though he actually got up and bore his testimony on the Holy Ghost and how it helped in him class know what the answer was to a question he really truly did not know. It was the sweetest thing ever and it made me cry! He has been so great for his family, because they are all less-active, except for his grandparents, who they currently live with. The older sister ended up giving the talk for baptism, and they were all there for most of the lessons, as well as for the baptism. This family has gone through some really rough things this summer, but Joey's testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel, as well as his effort in reading his scriptures every single day, praying all the time, and going to church for all three hours has really blessed his family to be closer together and even a little happier than they were at the beginning of the summer when I met them.

Love you lots!
Your favorite child:)
-Sister Walker


PS. Sister Cottle loves that she has had both Ben and I as her missionaries. She asks me all the time how he's doing:) and tells me all the time that she can definitely tell we are related by the Spirit we both have. I thought that was cool.

PSS. Favorite thing about Georgia is the rims on peoples cars. It seriously is super funny how much money is spent here on rims. There is even a place where you can rent rims for a day to put on your car. Rent-a-rims. Seriously though, there are some super crazy ones..
I do have a cool recipe you should make, its for this really good cornbread, but I forgot it at home.. I will send it to you though and you should try it. Its super good, and it isn't dry like most peoples corn bread here. (its not deep fried either)

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Maintenance

Dearest Mother:)

This last week has been pretty amazing! So many miracles have been going on as we go around trying to share our testimonies of the Restoration. One of my favorites has been concerning our maintenance people. One of them, whose name is Dwight, lives in Macon. We have always waved at him when we saw him, and we always go and say hi. A few weeks before Sister Applegate left, we went and invited him to a baptism. Despite the fact that he didn't come, we were glad we invited him, because we were able to find out some of the problems he was having at home with a very sick wife. We offered to send the Elder's over to give her a blessing, and he told us he would get back to us, because he wanted to wait until she was more lucid before having someone come over. On Sister Dietz's first day here, he called to tell us, because he knew we would want to know, that his son had been killed in an automobile accident the Friday prior, and that he had just buried him, and then his wife had died that morning, and he was going to bury her later that week. We thanked him for telling us, and tried to offer the comfort we could over the phone. We didn't see him for a while, but the next time we did, we told him that the Elder's we were telling him about not only can give blessings of healing, but of comfort, and we asked if he would like one. He said yes, so we called Elders Owen and Wilkins (The APs) and told them where he lived and when he'd be home as well as gave them his phone number. Dwight was really excited to have them come. Unfortunately due to a miscommunication, they missed each other, but they were still able to meet Dwight's in-laws and teach them a little about the Restoration. They even said a prayer and then left. They called Dwight later and told him they were sorry they missed him, and have been trying to set up an appointment with him since. (He works two jobs so it's hard to catch him.) Dwight later told us that even though he missed them, he knew something had changed just by them being there. He still wants the Elders to come by though because he wants to continue to have that good feeling they left last time when he missed them. However, as sad as his circumstances are, I know that it has prepared him to hear and listen to the message we have to share. He loves the Spirit we bring when we talk with him, as well as the Elder's when they speak with him over the phone.

Our other maintenance guy, Thomas, we would also wave to every day, and this morning when he was fixing one of our light bulbs, we asked him if he'd be interested in learning more, and he said that if we could catch him when he wasn't working he'd like that. He was visiting his girlfriend in Jacksonville, Florida, and saw two Elders who lived two doors down from his girlfriend backing up the driver in the car. He apparently went and talked with them and told them he had two girls in the apartment complex that he works at that does the same thing. They explained that we were all from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and that our church was all over the world. He then told us his girlfriend was coming up that weekend, and that we could try to see if we could see them then, because she is really religious too. Haha. So we gave him a Finding Faith in Jesus card with our number on it, and told him to call us if he has time and we will see what we can do. I'm so grateful to be able to be an example to those around us, so they can know that there is something a little different about what we share.

We then gave Dwight and Thomas some cookies, thanked them for fixing our lights, and then they left, and we came here. It is really fun being an example to others, even if it is because we look a little strange because we are backing each other up in the middle of a field of grass. 

I love you a lot! Have a wonderful week! and always remember your Savior!

-Sister Monica Walker

P.S. Oh! I forgot to tell you that Sister Cottle [Mission President's wife] told me to tell you that I am an awesome missionary, and that my area has been leading the mission since I have been here, and that she loves me, and Ben, and thinks I'm amazing.. And a bunch of other stuff I forgot.

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Baptisms Galore

To the Greatest Mother in the Whole Wide World!

I'm glad you liked my birthday card:) I put a lot of thought into not only writing it, but getting it too:) Just so you know, I don't really think you are old.. You can never be old to me, because you are my mother:) Also I'm glad you figured out that the letter was addressed to you, and not some other mother somewhere out there. How often do you check the mail? Because that letter should have gotten there quite a bit before your birthday. I actually wrote it at the beginning of August and then hung on to it for a week, and then sent it so that it would arrive closer to your birthday:)

This week has been absolutely amazing!! We have another baptism this Saturday for our investigator Tonieshia. We have been teaching her since I got here, and she is finally ready for baptism! We are so excited for her! It really has been a work in progress, and there is still a lot of things we have to do for the baptism, but we are working hard to maker sure that it can run smoothly when the day comes:)

Last Friday was one of the best days I have ever had on my entire mission. It was the day we try to set aside so we can plan for the following week, and so most of the day was taken up by making those plans, and we only had a few hours at the end of the day to actually go and talk with people and share the Gospel. So when we finished planning it was about three in the afternoon, and we had to go because we were being picked up by one of our new ward missionaries (who had never gone out with us before). The first person we saw was Evon, who was the lady who had been in the hospital a few weeks ago because she almost died. We scheduled an appointment with her and we went and talked with her about baptism a little bit more. Last time we had seen her, we asked her to pray about being baptized on the 26th of Sept. So we followed up with that, and she told us that it felt really good, and that she wanted to do it. One of the concerns we had with her was that every other week she would attend "her church" and then she would come to "our church" when she was asked. Long story short, she basically realized that she can't keep doing that, and she understands that if she really does want to be baptized she can't continue to go to another church. It has finally clicked with her the importance of Priesthood, or the Authority of God, and where it comes from.

We then went to go see a lady by the name of Virginia and her daughter Danielle, who has actually come to church 3 times in a row, and who decided she wanted to join the choir, and one of those Sundays actually sang in choir. We had asked her before to be baptized, and she agreed at first, but then a few days later called us and told us that she wasn't ready for that commitment yet. However, when we went to them and talked with them about baptism again (after about another month and a half of teaching) they agreed to pray about being baptized on the 3rd of October, which they said they were pretty sure would be a good day for them, because it still gives them time to learn more about what we have been teaching them.

Then we went home, and ate dinner.

THEN we went and visited this awesome lady named Endora, and her kids Unique (9), Quanaisa (11), and Princess (1). We taught them the pan of Salvation and then invited them to also be baptized on the 10th of October. They all looked us in the eyes, and not only said yes, but said with firmness, that they promise that they will do what is needed to be baptized by that day.

Anyway, that was a pretty awesome day because not only did we put 6 people on date for baptism, but they all understand the importance of what they are promising, and all of them are pretty solid in their willingness to be baptized.:)

Super excited for the weeks that are to come!
Sending all my love
-Sister Monica Walker


PS next week is a holiday, so I wont be able to email Monday, and will probably do so on Tues.