Monday, August 29, 2016

Strengthen Those Around You

Dear Mother,

Have I ever told you how cool I think you are? Seriously. I have been trying on my mission to learn Spanish, as I told you a few months ago, and in large part is it because of you. I talk about you all the time. You are awesome! I remember throughout my life how you have been called to visit teach the Hispanic members of our ward, and how your visiting teachers were often Spanish speakers. I remember you being worried because it had been so long since you had spoken in Spanish on a regular basis that you found it hard to communicate with those sisters, and you always just hoped that they would forgive you for the mistakes you made and to help you relearn to be fluent. I remember listening to you in the other room, or making some excuse to walk up the stairs just so I could hear you speak to them in a language I couldn't understand. It fascinated me. I took Spanish for three years and honestly still couldn't speak it very well. Mostly that's because I didn't study as much as I could have, but whatever the case I was a little disappointed because I always wanted to be able to speak another language fluently. I kind of hoped to speak another language on my mission, but I was sent to Georgia (granted they do have their own form of English which I love, but at first it disappointed me). When the opportunity presented itself to me that I would be able to teach someone here in Spanish I was so excited!! Finally I would be able to learn something, even if it was small.. Sadly, they ended up moving a few weeks ago, so there hasn't been much in development of fluent Spanish speaking for me. It's still a goal I have, and I'm working on the patience and the diligence needed to learn it, but I think it is awesome that the Lord has used you in such a way that talents and skills that you learned years ago when you were my age!! are helping you now. And through you, others are also being blessed. How cool is that! The fact that you can still use those talents means to me that you have used them in the way that Heavenly Father wants you to, and He is going to continue to use them far into the eternities. How lucky you are for that! I want to be like that when I am your age:)

Yesterday at the dinner I had with some of the members of the ward I was so touched by some of the things that was shared that it left me, and pretty much everyone in the room in tears. One of the members who was the ward secretary, spoke about how it is hard for him to sometimes encourage missionaries to bring new members into the ward, because he sees all these people that are already in the ward that the ward isn't taking care of (as it is with every ward) and he worries that adding more will not help. However, he knows that the Lord has a better plan then what we might know, and so he and one of the other members here who is on the high council decided (all on their own!) that they were going to go on splits with the Elders for a few hours every week so that the investigators and the less actives can come back into the fold. He then bore a powerful witness that it doesn't happen due to how people teach, or how things are done, or even what is said. The only way that people will come closer to Christ is through the love that they show for them and for Christ. He then started crying and said that to him the most devastating thing is watching your friends slip away from the truth that they know and quit coming to church, but the happiest moments are when they come back. He wants so bad for everyone to feel that and for everyone to love them as much as he does and as much as Heavenly Father does, and to hear the marvelous choir of angels shouting for joy each time someone comes into church, whether for the 5000th time in a row, or the 1st time in years. Remember that email I sent a while ago about the less active that came to church for the first time in 10 years and how I screamed with excitement? Yep. Totally should happen every time, but maybe with more reverence.. haha. My question posed to you, is how many people do you know in your ward at home? How many people are perishing with want for help, and none are there to help? I'm not saying its up to one person to fellowship and bring everyone back to church, but at the very least we could love them! I looked at our ward roster a few weeks ago, and I don't know hardly anyone! I know there will be lots of new faces that I will learn when I come back, but I think of the people that we don't know. Our ward boundaries aren't very large, especially considering places like here where the ward boundaries are 7 1/2 counties. My goal when I get home to to find time to visit at least one family I don't know a day. I have no idea if it will work out, but I want to try. I want to do more then just fellowship at church. I want these people to know that they are loved even if they have never come to church. All of us are children of loving Heavenly Parents, and because I love and respect my Heavenly Parents, should I know love and respect those that they love too? My brothers. My sisters. MY family! I don't even know the lengths I would go to help you or Dad or any one of my siblings. Should it not be the same for everyone else? Granted, I, nor anyone else is perfect, so understandably we will never be able to love everyone as much as they need, but even if I can learn to love one more person, and they know it, they can in turn help another person, and they another until eventually everyone is taken care of. Thats what I want to be able to do. We shall see if this conviction of mine stays when life not as a missionary come back to full force. 

There is so much more I want to say, but I keep running out of time. Remember I love you lots!
Oh, some housekeeping items:
  • Transfers are this next week.. My companion is going home Sunday and I have no idea if I am getting transferred or not, if I do get transferred, I will have the three hours at church to say goodbye to everyone I want to and then I will be gone. Kind of strange. 
  • Next Monday is a holiday and so I don't know if I will be able to email home. It all depends on whether or not I will be in an area where they have a key to the Family History Center or not. We shall see.. And then with transfers, and my not knowing if I will be transferred or not..
  • I ONLY HAVE ONE MORE TRANSFER AFTER THIS NEXT ONE!!! That is absolutely mind blowing to me...

Love,

Sister Monica Walker

Monday, August 22, 2016

Peace, Trust, and Raindrop Blessings

Dearest Mother,

I love that idea that going to the Savior heals us. I have honestly come to appreciate the Atonement so much for that!! The sacrifice that our Savior gave wasn't just for the sins of the world, but for all the heartache and suffering that we could possibly go through. He is there wanting to heal us, but He will never force it on us, we must reach the depths of humility and admit to ourselves, and to Him that we need help, that we want it, and then we must act on that to receive His help. This is not because He likes to watch us suffer, or because He wants us to feel a little of what He suffered for us. I am sure if it were somehow possible for us to learn all that we were here to learn without having to go through pain, He would somehow make it possible. But He knows, that we still have agency, that it is all our decision on whether or not we will accept help, and He knows there are some things that we can only learn through those tests and trials. Its a lot like learning at school. As much as you can pass a test on the knowledge or theories of how something should work, it isn't until you practice applying it that it will make sense and work better for you. I think better explained would be to compare it to learning to play an instrument. I don't know how to play the cello, I would love to learn, and I think it is beautiful. I know the theory behind it. I know how to read music, and so some might say that I could play, but I have no idea how to make my fingers work the way they should to make the notes sound beautiful and not off. I don't have the strength in my fingers to hold notes with my hand stretched without my hand cramping or giving way. There will always be an instructor there to help guide me and show me the better way to learn, and to reduce the pain, but only if I am willing to listen in my humility. That doesn't mean He can do all the work for me and I am automatically a world renowned cellist. I must put the work in for myself. The same works with our lives. The Savior is there waiting on the sidelines, the most glorious epitome of humanity. He knows exactly what I must do in my mortal state to create the most beautiful harmony of my life, and here I am struggling to find the melody in my life, and finding myself with sore arms and fingers and blisters and lots of other not fun things that come from learning something new, but He the Master Musician is waiting to help bandage my injuries to soothe my aches, and to show me by example how to perform life to its fullest. I must turn and watch Him. That is the only catch. If I am not turned toward Him and watching, and trying and emulating, then I will not improve, I will be frustrated, I will quit. Sorry this thought might be all jumbled together, but I really do love that idea that the Savior is there to heal us if we but turn to Him. There is so much power in that statement He said quoted in the New Testament "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you" (John 14:18) or even later in that same chapter He tells those around Him who are listening "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid." It is in Christ that we can find that peace. No matter where we are or who we are with or what we are doing. It is only through the Savior that true lasting peace can be found.

At the Zone Training Meeting we had two weeks ago, one of the Sisters gave a training on trust. Trust in the Lord, Trust in our companions, and Trust in our leaders. I have felt like there are been lots of trainings on trust in recent times. I know I have mentioned it before in past emails, but I still think that all of us can learn something new every time we are taught about it. Honestly if we all had perfect trust in the Lord then we would never do anything wrong, because we would trust His word that this was what was best for us. One of the Elders mentioned this idea too, but he proceeded it by asking us who our favorite scripture heroes were. Every single one of them is trustworthy, and that is a main reason why many of us look up to them. We then discussed the different reasons why missionaries are considered trustworthy or not, to the members, the mission president, or even to the Lord. It all boils down to obedience, which of course if we trusted the Lord, our obedience would be a much easier decision to make then if we had no trust and either had to make a leap of faith or trust in our own capabilities to make up for it ourselves. As is with many things in the gospel, trust is seriously one of main foundation blocks to building a better life, to being happy and having that peace previously mentioned. Faith plays a huge part as well, as does love and repentance, and lots of other things, but trust for me seems to sometimes be harder then all the rest of that. Mostly because as humans we will all experience at least one moment in our lives where we trusted and someone breaks that trust, whether maliciously or naively, and we begin to doubt the possibility of ever being able to fully trust someone ever again. We become hardened to the idea, and even begin to keep parts of ourselves secret and close, so that it wont get hurt again. Of course Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ do not want us to be like that, they do not like to see us hurt or bitter or holding back, because when we are, we will not be able to receive the fullness of the blessings that He wants to give us.
One of the other things that we learned was about the symbolism of "the Cross." Many in Christian faiths wear crosses around their necks or have them prominently displayed in their places of worship. We are asked often why we do not, or why our churches do not have crosses in them. Especially being here in the south that is a very common thing for people to wear or see when they are of a Christian faith. I always would tell anyone who asked it is because we do not focus on His death, but on His life and His resurrection. We were trained a little bit on that idea, but rather then because we focus on His resurrection, which by the way is still true, the idea was proposed that it is because we carry His cross in ways that are not visible to those around us. I think of that man that was a stranger to Jerusalem who was commissioned by the soldiers to help Christ carry the cross when after immense suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane, the torture and suffering, inflicted by the guards when they held him imprisoned, and then the mockery and other cruel things they subjected Him, the Savior of even them, His mortal body pushed beyond anything asked of anyone else, He could no longer lift His cross. The only person I can think of during His mortal ministry that was able to physically help Christ, was that stranger who lifted the cross and endured the humiliation and degradation known only to those judged traitors. We are each asked in our own way to bear a part of that cross. Would we have been willing to carry that cross for Christ with hundreds if not thousands of people spitting and swearing and belittling us all along the way? Did we answer honestly? I will not ever know if I would have or not, because I was not there, but in a small way, the Savior has asked us to bear our own crosses in each of our lives. There will be humiliation, suffering, torture, confusion, and many more trials for being Christian. I cannot even count the number of doors that have been slammed in my face or people who mock my beliefs, or say crude things to me because of the things that I believe, or because of the things they incorrectly belief I believe. Through it all I am honored to in some small way bear His cross. I in an infinitely small way get to help lift the Cross of Christ. How honored I feel for that opportunity!! How wonderful this whole plan is! How glorious and exciting it will be to see the whole picture and see the hand of our Loving Heavenly Father in all that we do!

This last week for me was rough. Not for any particular reason, but it was (as will happen in life, some weeks are worse then others). One of my leaders committed me to write down every night three blessings of the day in a little book. I have named these blessing the raindrops of my day, mostly because I have come to really learn to love rain and the cool rain on a hot summer day. Some of my raindrops are simple things, like when my ward mission leader's wife made us treats for our Ward Correlation Meeting, some of them are more earnest like not crashing when I fell asleep driving. (Trust me, I take 5 mins every once in a while when I am driving far to get up and walk around or to take a short nap so that I will not be tired when I drive.) Each one of them, whatever the reason they are one of my raindrops that day, have a significant memory of that day for me. I am reminded of the hymn "Count Your Blessings". How true that is! The more you count your blessings, whether great or small, the more happiness and peace you will find in your life, no matter how hectic or crazy your day may be. Sometimes we have to live day by day not week by week, or month by month. But each day we must find those blessings, and really rely on the Lord when we are down that it will go away! We can find happiness!! It is not hidden and only VIP members can find it, but it is out in the open for all! My having happiness does not prevent you from being happy, but rather it somehow will augment others happiness. How great our happiness can be when we are all focused on being happy and helping others be happy! It will be awesome, and it is awesome. 

I love each of you!! You are all amazing individuals:)
Sending my love, forever and always,

Sister Monica Walker

Monday, August 15, 2016

No Perfect People, But True Church

Dearest Mother,

This week has been so crazy!! So many awesome things have happened.

First things first. I told you last week that we found out that we were moving last Wednesday. We literally had two days to pack up all our stuff and clean the whole apartment so that when we moved out, the Elders that moved in wouldn't have too much to complain about. Although we didn't have time to vacuum so I feel bad about all the hair they will find for the next little while.. Granted it has been a sister apartment for the last I don't know how long, so its possible that the hair will be forever ingrained in that apartment! Haha.. They said it would be ok though, and they appreciated us cleaning the rest of it for them. So Tuesday evening, the mission office couple over housing came down here and they took us out to eat. Wednesday morning, the four other Elders, us and the Senior couple got all of our stuff out of our old apartment and put the elders stuff in the apartment, and then went over to our new apartment (which by the way is literally just around the corner. Its the same apartment complex just a new number) and unpacked our stuff and our furniture and "new" stuff that the missionary couple brought us. (Their names by the way is Elder and Sister Grigsby.) Our new mission president's wife, Sister Grayson thinks that all the missionaries here should have a "home" to come home to, so she is making sure that we all have pictures on our walls and the like. It is very sweet of her, but it meant that we spent a while trying to make our apartment look like people lived in it, and not just stalkers with giant maps and people, and tons of church supplies.. I thought it was funny.. Very much appreciated though!

We had a awesome Zone Training Meeting Thursday. I cried through the whole thing. The Spirit was there so much! And everything was so uplifting! Saturday and Sunday were awesome too, because we had our Stake Conference, and we had a visiting General Authority come. His name is Elder Sitati, and he is from Kenya. He is a member of the first quorum of the 70 and he is over the area that I serve in. Im not sure how they classify this area, but that's all I really know. 

And sad to say, but I am again running out of time. I was hoping I would get the opportunity to write more about it, but it has been a crazy day, and we still have so much left to do! We have to fun over to Tifton in a minute for our interviews with our mission president, and so sadly I don't have as much time as I wish to to be able to write as much as I want to. I will bring my notebook with me next week too so that I can tell you all about each of those meetings:) But for now, just know that it is awesome to know that this church is true! It doesn't matter what people around you say, or whether they are seemingly of influence. No one ever claimed this church had perfect people, we just claim to have the fullness of the truth of Christ's gospel.

One question posed to me by my ward mission leader. If for some reason, something drove me away from coming to church, what would I then do with my life? Where would I go to find the spiritual nourishment that I need? Knowing what I know about authority, and the priesthood, and modern revelation, if I deny this church, I would never be able to find any other to even begin to compare to the spiritual power found in this one. If this church is not true, then the true church cannot be found anywhere on the earth!

However, I do know that this is the only church in the whole world that is led my God's loving guidance. I know we have a true and living prophet that receives revelation that helps each and every one of us every day! I know that we are loved by Him, and that he takes care of us even in the smallest of ways. I know that the Book of Mormon was written by Him through prophets that lived in America, and has the same power as the Bible in convincing people of His existence. I love this gospel!! And I will never allow anyone to convince me to leave. Because it is the source of all my happiness. Without it, I have no promise of a forever family, I have no promise of peace, I have no promise of love or of really anything. This gospel is my life. It is who I am. I will never ever regret that. I hope you never will either.

I love you all! I will talk to you next week!

-Sister Monica Walker

Monday, August 8, 2016

Hymns

Dearest Mother,

I am sorry I shocked you when I told you I played the organ in church.. But ready to be shocked again? I did it yesterday too!! But I probably wont be doing it again just because the lady that normally does it will be back in town this week. Plus this next weekend is Stake Conference and I will definitely not be playing then.. There are people in this Stake that play better then me. Plus there is a 70 coming. That would be so scary to play at Stake Conference, even though its a stake that really doesn't know who I am, and I will be leaving soon.. About my playing yesterday though.. Apparently whoever was doing the programs misheard the hymns that I was told, and so they announced the hymns and one of them was one that I hadn't practiced!! I nearly had a heart attack. Thankfully though, the hymn that was replaced was the one that I was having the hardest time with, and it was replaced with a hymn that I could sight read pretty well.. Trust me I was praying the entire time that I played that I wouldn't mess up too bad. I didn't play with the feet, because I'm not very good at that part, and I can't practice very easily on the organ at church, usually when I practiced it would be at night before I went to bed and in the morning when I would wake up on the electric piano I borrowed from the seminary room. It has an organ setting so I was able to practice playing it on the "organ". And then it was nice because Sacrament Meeting went over by like 20 mins and so I only had to play the last song one time through. It was kinda fun though and I would love to do it for real except that I honestly don't have a whole lot of time to practice on my mission.

News of this week- We (the sisters) are moving to a new apartment on Wednesday, so I'm not sure if I have given you our direct address or not, but if I have, make sure you are sending everything to the mission address:

400 Northside Crossing
Macon, GA 31210

I don't know where exactly we are moving yet and I don't think I will know until we are moving stuff.. It is in the same apartment complex though, it is just a different one. In case you are wondering why in the world are we moving apartments- so we have two new Elders here in this ward. They are currently living with the other Elders in the spare room that is in their apartment, but because President Grayson doesn't like more than one set of missionaries to an apartment, they have been trying to find these two new missionaries an apartment since. For whatever reason, this morning they decided we were going to get the new apartment, and the Elders were going to get ours. I think its because the new apartment that we are moving into is further away from the other Elders apartment.. I don't really know though. So today we are going to have to pack up our entire apartment to prepare to move on Wed to the new one. Its going to be crazy..

Also fun story!! So Saturday night we came home to our apartment after our Ward Correlation meeting, and found our smoke/CO alarm going off.. There wasn't any smoke though and nothing there to have made CO so we tried turning it off. Eventually we got it off, but we did call our mission nurse Sister Finlinson to let her know, and she told us that we needed to air out the apartment, but that if it hadn't gone off again then it probably wasn't anything. But she said to call Elder Grayson (the housing missionary). So we did, and they told us not to worry and just to let them know if it went off again. So we were getting ready for bed, when Sister Grayson (our Mission President's wife) calls us and tells us that we have to get out of the house immediately, and to go to the nearest Sister's apartment. When we told her it was an hour away, she told us to go to a members home. Just in case it was a real alarm and not a malfunction. So we called our Ward mission Leader, and he said we could come crash at his house for the night. And then we were headed out the door, and Sister Grayson called us again and said she had spoken to Elder Grigsby and that we should be safe there for the night, but as soon as it goes off again we need to get out and call the fire department. It didn't go off again so we were safe, and I had to call our Ward Mission Leader back and call off our crashing at their place. That made me sad, because I thought that would have been so much fun! Even if all we did was sleep there..

That's really it for this week:) There will probably be lots next week with Stake Conference and everything.
I miss you lots and lots and lots:):)
Love you!

-Sister Monica Walker

Monday, August 1, 2016

He Loves Everyone and So Should You

Dearest Mother,

This week has been so amazing!!!! There is so much I want to email you about and I probably wont even get to most of it because there is so much!

Jazlyn is the one that got baptized:) She is the one in the blue skirt:):):):) The rest of them are her sister and her mom and the member family they are good friends with:):)
First things first. Jazlyn was baptized on Saturday!!! It was so exciting! She asked us not to tell to many people about the baptism because she didn't want a whole lot of people there.. It was surprising pretty full though, and when the rest of the Ward found out the next day that she had gotten baptized many of them came up to us and told us they were disappointed they weren't able to go because they would have loved to come!! I thought that was super sweet of them, and I feel a little bad I didn't tell them about the baptism, but I also know she is a very shy person. Her nonmember family came and the Bishop and the Young Women's president and her family and the main member family that had been fellowshipping. Which doesn't sound like a lot, but when you put together all the extended families in those, then it was a full room (plus 6 missionaries and our Ward mission leader) oh and an investigator of the Elders. The best part was before the baptism when I was talking to her mom who we are also teaching, and she told us that when she gets baptized, the water had better be hot. I thought it was cool, because even if she isn't ready now, she can envision herself doing it sometime in the future!! It made me so happy! And then! Her mom's boyfriend is a less active that hasn't been to church in years and years and years, and since we have been teaching this family, he has been coming to church with them when he can, and he has joined us in most of our discussions, and of course was there at the baptism. Afterwards he thanked me for all that I have done for him and for Jazlyn and her family, and I told him it was completely worth it. And for him not to worry. That even though Jazlyn was baptized, and we have gone through all the discussions with them, we weren't going to forget him, and his own family. We have been, and will continue to work with this family for a while, and I loved seeing the steps that each of them are taking to be closer to Christ and each other. I love all of them so much!!!

Yesterday at church was also super awesome!! Mostly because the missionaries basically made up most of the program. All 6 of us spoke, and I played the organ. Yes Mother. I actually played the organ in church. This I think is the first time I have played the organ (or the piano for that matter) in Sacrament meeting.. It was super nerve wracking.. also don't think I really thought it through very much because I had to play the intermediate hymn right after I spoke, and of course I was crying and so I couldn't really see the music. Needless to say, that hymn wasn't the best, but the ward members thought it was very touching.. so at least there is that! I will be playing next Sunday as well. I don't know what the songs are yet though.. I will have to call the music person to find out today so that I can practice.. haha.

Three of the Elders were new to Albany so they each just bore their testimony to the ward. (One elder was replacing another, and the other two were opening an Elders car area here to help us with the vast amount of people we have to see) The other three of us spoke on the phrase "What would Jesus do?" I was surprised that no scriptures were repeated, and the thoughts were so different. Mine was a lot more focused on the Character of Christ, since before you can answer that question, you have to know who Christ is, and how He reacts to different situations. In a nutshell I said that when things get hard for us, many of us will ask why me? Why now? Why is it so hard? I need a break.. etc. We focus inward. We focus on ourselves. When Christ suffered, He focused outward. He focused on others. When He was being tempted in the wilderness (when He was fasting for 40 days) He did end up calling angels to Him, but not for Himself, instead He sent them to His cousin John who was suffering in prison. Later after He had just suffered the effects of the suffering in the Garden, and was very likely still feeling some of the after affects of it, and then on top of it, one of His closest companions betrays Him to the very people that seek His life, but when Peter cuts off the ear of the soldier who is trying to take Christ prisoner, His first thought is not, you deserved it, but rather to just reach out and heal Him. Because He could not stand to see the soldier suffer. How many of us could do that? How many of us will reach out to the people who hurt us, or whom we know intend us harm, and love them? All Christ has asked for us to do is love everyone. He never said we had to like them, but that we had to love them. Everyone in this world I am sure has felt at some moment in their life that they are utterly alone. Many times they seem to be the most alone in the middle of a huge crowd. We will all feel worthless, unworthy, and ashamed of who we are. We will each feel discouraged and down. I plead with you, just as I did the the ward here to never forget that if you ever feel like that, remember there is at least one person who loves you! That is Christ. He loves you unconditionally!! 

He is always there ready to give you a hug when you need it. And if you can't remember that, and you need a more physically there person, you can know that I love you. I may not like you, but I will love you. One of the things I have been most grateful for in my mission, is the love that I have been able to feel for so many people! I know it would be ten times harder to love these people if I wasn't here on my mission, but I am so glad I have been able to learn to love them here. Many of my favorite people here are those who many look at and will walk across the street to avoid. I might have even done the same. There are many people who I see who others will tell me to stop seeing because they look scary, or they aren't worth my time.. I can tell you that everyone is worth my time. I wish I had more time to see all of them!! It is true that many people are scary looking, look rough or dangerous. Many times people who come to church have very large visible stains on their reputations and image. Visible or not, is it my place to judge? Nope. Its not. I love everyone. That is what I am supposed to do, and that is what I will try to do for the rest of my life. In no way am I perfect at it, and I don't think I will be perfect at it in this lifetime, but I can find as many people as I can to let them know how much I love them, and hopefully help change their life for the better. If they have no one else, they have me. I don't want anyone to be alone. Ever. It makes my heart hurt to much. However, I know that I am only one person. And I am in no way near as powerful or as awesome as our Savior Jesus Christ. He could do all this work if He wanted to all by Himself. But He has allowed me to be a teeny tiny part of it. So that I can feel His love for these people. I feel so blessed to be able to have that part, and I feel that responsibility weigh heavily on my shoulders. If He needs me to, I will continue to do this for the rest of my life. That's how much I love each and every one of you. I'm not sure I can convey my sincerity as well over email, but I really do believe this, and I have made this my life goal. I am excited to see where it leads me!

Anyway.. Then I cried, and shared some more stories, and the whole ward was crying too, and three or four came up to me after and said that talk was meant for them, and one person told me that it was General Authority status.. Which I thought was a very nice compliment. :) Not sure if it was that good, but maybe to him it was since it was so personal and it touched him greatly. At least that meant that the Spirit was there:) I really do love giving talks!

Oh! and then after church the best thing happened, this 10 year old girl came up to me and said "Excuse me, but I'm going to get baptized, and the Bishop said I needed to talk to you" It was the cutest thing ever.. Her dad is a member but has only been recently coming back to church. She decided she was going to get baptized, and later when we visited them, she asked if she could get baptized tomorrow, we told her she had to wait a little longer, so she immediately responded with "Ok, so I can get baptized in 2 days?" haha it made me think of me when I was younger and the things you would tell me when I thought 2 days was so long. Loved it. Turns out the Bishop had already talked to my companion about it, but since I didn't hear that conversation, I didn't know that it had gone on, and it had really surprised me when the little girl came up and told me she was going to get baptized but needed to talk with me first. So cute!

I love you lots! (sorry I had to leave out some of my week that I wanted to tell you, but this is a really long email already and now I am out of time). I hope you are having a wonderful week!!
Love your favorite child,
Sister Monica Walker

PS When does school/seminary start back up? The kids here start tomorrow..