Monday, November 21, 2016

Last Letter

Dearest Mother!

I can't believe this is going to be the last weekly missionary email that I will send to you! It has seriously gone by so fast, but yet somehow this has felt like my whole life.

This last week was pretty great! We had a Zone Conference last Friday and we were taught so much! It was strange though because normally when we receive trainings there is a lot that I think about on how to not only improve as a missionary, but who I can help in the upcoming time. This time it was so strange because the only people that I thought about were the ones that I know at home. For a few minutes it didn't feel like I was a missionary, but that I was a normal person again. It did make me super happy though because it was proof to me that the spirituality that I have been feeling here on my mission doesn't have to change or lessen when I get home. There is still a lot of things that I can do to not only work on but keep doing so that I can be as happy at home as I have been here:) We had interviews the next day with President Grayson, and it was so strange because there wasn't too many interview questions due to the fact that I was going to see him again in a week for my departing interview. Mostly he just asked me how I was feeling about going home, and if I had a lot of things planned for this week. It was so strange to think about. Honestly it still doesn't feel like I am going home. As far as my mind is working right now, I will be back at this computer next week emailing y'all all over again, but in reality I will be on a plane headed to California!! It is so mind blowing.
I have loved my mission so much! I am so glad for the opportunity to serve the Lord in the South Western half of Georgia! The Lord really knows what He is doing when He put me here and when He sent me to the people who have become lifelong friends to me. I love how detailed His plan is, and how nothing is ever a coincidence or a mistake. The tender mercies that He gives are so real! And He only does it because He loves us. He loves us so much that He makes sure that you get a phone call right when you need it, or a cool breeze, or a smile from a stranger. This message that we share is AMAZING!! Didn't you know that HE LIVES? Don't you know that HE LOVES YOU? Don't you know that MIRACLES HAVE NOT CEASED! He is speaking to a living prophet, just like He did in the Old Testament. Just like He did in the Book of Mormon. GOD IS REAL. And He is so aware of all of us. Even if you don't think He is, He is. How grateful I am to know that! I love being a missionary!

Be safe y'all and I will see you in a week!!
Love you lots!
Love,
Sister Monica Walker

Monday, November 14, 2016

Short email

So Dearest Madre,

This email is going to be really short...... I'm sorry. Today We are going to Callaway Gardens. A member couple is taking my companion and I before I go home. And since it is an all day thing I won't really have time to email today, but I just wanted to let you know how much I love you! And that I am super excited to see yall in two weeks!! Be safe and remember to pray everyday and read all the time:) Also fun side note, I hit 18 months on a mission yesterday!!!!! that is so crazy to me. Anyway, I really do have to go now.

LOVE YOU LOTS!!!

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Close To Returning

Dearest Mother,

Is it bad that the closer I get to the end of this transfer, the less I want to tell you because I know that I will be able to tell you myself when I see you again? Not that that means that I won't be emailing you.. I'm pretty sure if I didn't email you would worry forever and a day until I did, or you saw me.
This week was a pretty emotional week. There were some people that I had to say goodbye to because they are leaving to go out of town and don't get back until after I leave. These are people that I have already said goodbye to once. I[It] was right though way back when my trainer went home. It is a lot easier to say goodbye to people at the end of my mission then at the beginning because at least the people at the end of my mission I can call/text/message right as soon as I get home, whereas those that I knew from the very beginning of my mission might not even remember who I am. Or it will take them a moment. Yesterday was my very last Fast Sunday on my mission. A tradition of the missionaries here, and one that I have always tried to do, is that if you think you are leaving the area, or you are leaving, you bear your testimony to the ward about Christ and His restored gospel. My companion nudged me at one point and asked me if I was going up. Then she poked me and said ti was the Spirit telling me to go up. Well the Spirit already was telling me to go up, and so up I went. I tried to keep it simple and honest, and I tried not to mention anything about how long I had been serving or when I was going home. I left the podium and I started crying. My companion had kleenex ready for me when I came back to sit down. It was really awesome though especially, because we even had an investigator there that day. This is the investigator that has been in and out of the hospital, and fell asleep on us the one time, and to whom we sang the wrong song. She loves church. When I came back down, she had to stand up so I could sit down, and she gave me a hug and told me that she loved me and that she was super grateful to have me as "one of her girls". She [w]as crying too.. and then of course that made me cry even more. It really did make my week though because every single person that she spoke to she said how thankful she was the the sisters keep teaching her and inviting her to church. How at home and how peaceful she feels when she walks into the doors of church, and even how she tells everyone about us! She already is trying to get all her friends to come over to her house when we come by, or to get them to let us come by their house so we can teach and sing to them too, since we sound like "heavenly angels sent by God to give her peace".

I really will miss Georgia when I leave. There isn't much else I want to say this week, but just that I love all of you! Keep being the wonderful people that you are, and keep putting that trust where it belongs! (in God in case you didn't know)

Love you lots!!
Sister Monica Walker

PS. I only have two more emails after this one.. say what?

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Investigators

Dearest Madre,

First order of business.. Next week I hope to email a little sooner then normal, because a member is taking my companion and I out to lunch and to a place called Callaway Gardens next Monday. Since it is a little further away, emailing will be cut short a little, or else we will email a little bit earlier so that we can get actual emails to family and friends. But this is just a forewarning in case my email is really short next week. Its not because I don't love you. In fact I love you lots and lots:):) there just isn't enough hours in the day.

This last week all inclusive was pretty fun. We were trying to pass on an investigator to the Rivercrest Sister's last week, and so we went to a baptism in that ward and then went out to lunch with them, and had a wonderful time! But then the appointment fell through. It was really sad.. That appointment was strange though because it looked like the girl we were trying to teach had moved. Her truck wasn't there, and instead there was a car, there was a dog that was there that hadn't been there before, and there was a basket full of empty alcohol bottles even though we know she doesn't drink. And her phone the one we had texted her on the night before was disconnected.. It was so strange because this person wasn't one that would just up and leave without telling us, and she wouldn't lead us on like that at all.. IT made me little sad though. That night however we got a text from a random number telling us that it was that particular investigator and she was sorry she missed us but she had just gotten a new phone because her old one broke. She also told us her truck was replaced with a car because her truck broke and she was dog sitting. She felt bad about all the confusion, but we were just grateful that she hadn't run away like we feared. That was pretty awesome.

Oh! and then on Sunday we were standing at the door greeting people, and I kept nudging my companion because we should go sit down. She told em we needed to wait a little longer. Well we waited for a few more people and I gestured again for us to sit. She leaned around the corner of the door and said there is someone who doesn't look familiar, who looks new and said we will wait for her to come in and then we will come in. So she comes in. We introduce ourselves. She introduces herself. She looks lost. We tell her she can sit wherever she wants. We then glance at the Elders to see if it was either of their investigator. None of them knew who she was. We felt prompted to go sit by her, but when we noticed that there wasn't a whole lot of space left over there we asked her if she wanted to some sit by us. She did. Come to find out she was not a member, this was her first time coming to church, and it also turns out that she was the referral that one of the Bishopric members had given us that we had been trying to see for about a week now. It was really cool to just see her walk through the doors. She couldn't stay much longer afterwards, but she said we could come by and see her sometime this week. I love blessings from the Lord. They really are super awesome.

I love you lots family!! And all my friends too! :)
Be happy this week and remember to look for the Lord's hand in all that you do everyday:):):):)
Love,
Sister Monica Walker