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

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!!!

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?

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

Singing to the Tune of the Holy Ghost

Dearest Mother,

Due to unplanned service this morning, I don't have too much time on emailing today, so my email will probably be on a little bit of the shorter side. There is just way too many things to do today!! It's kind of exciting though:) I learned this week the importance of having the Spirit with you all the time, and the power that the Spirit has in helping people come closer to Christ.

So... We are teaching an older lady who has a lot of health issues. She at one point had a surgery on her heart, but then recently her heart started leaking again (because I am not a doctor I know know the terminology so I might be accidentally making it sound worse then what it is) and so she has been back and forth to the hospital for high blood pressure. Her ankles are extremely swollen and so the doctors also gave her some medicine for that. We went and visited her this last week, and we were lucky to have caught her because she had just gotten back from the hospital that day. She was pretty sleep from the drugs they gave her, but she told us to come inside and talk to her anyway. We decided to teach her about the Word of Wisdom because of previous issues that she had with it, and we knew that if she'd commit to follow it that she would feel a lot better. We had also been teaching that to a lot of people because of the realization that all of us can work on it. But I will get to that part later. Anyway, we were in the middle of sharing a part of it, when she fell asleep on us. I stopped talking mid sentence, and my companion and I looked at each other. We tried a few times to wake her up by just speaking a little louder, but that didn't work. About a minute later she woke up. She felt so bad about it, but we told her it was ok, and that we would come back another time. We always end with a hymn though because she loves to hear us sing. So we decided to sing "Did You Think to Pray?" For whatever reason, my companion and I BOTH IN SYNC began to sing the words but to a completely different tune. We are looking at the little hymn book I carry with me, and we are confused as to why the notes don't match what we sing. But we go with it. We somehow transition to the actually song about halfway through, and we only do one verse. So we ended singing the right hymn. We have absolutely no idea what just happened, and we have no idea how we could not only be off, but off together that we were having a really hard time keeping our faces straight. The whole lesson just made us giggle. I've never had anyone fall asleep on me before when I was teaching them. The lady after we finished was crying and she told us we sounded like angels. She wanted us to record it so she could listen to us sing all the day long. Considering we sang the wrong song, and it isn't really supposed to work well that was funny to us. Well we said a prayer, and then we head out to leave. When we get to the car, we bust out laughing. We figured out the tune that we were using was "Israel, Israel, God is calling" and we tried to reproduce what we did and failed miserably.. I'm not sure why we ended up doing what we did, but I do know that the Spirit definitely guided both of our voices. There was no other way we could have done that, and had the Spirit touch her so strongly. Plus the fact that both of us did it and we weren't ever singing different notes was pretty amazing too. And then you add to it that neither of us have heard that tune in a few weeks and it is pretty amazing that that was the one that came out of both of our mouths. I love the way the Spirit works. :)

So the thing about the Word of Wisdom that we both realized. First we heard that President Monson spoke about the Word of Wisdom in the Priesthood session of conference. There was also quite a bit of attention given to it in the other sessions as well. So rather then say that we are perfect at the Word of Wisdom, we dug a little deeper into it. Realization #1-The Word of Wisdom is more then just Thou Shalt Nots.. There is more to it then don't do drugs, or drink tea, coffee, or alcohol. There are lots of thou shalts. The easiest way to break it down is by saying to eat healthy, get adequate sleep, and exercise daily. Too many people focus so much on the negative things of what they shouldn't be doing that they ignore the things that we should be doing. And then people get discouraged when they can't seem to stop whatever it is that God wants them to stop, and so they give up. Especially when they see other people who seem to be living it perfectly, and even though we shouldn't, they compare themselves to them. Realization #2-ALL OF US have something we could work on in the Word of Wisdom. For example, me. I hate exercising, but the Word of Wisdom says to exercise daily. So that's what I need to do. Some people have trouble with eating healthy. Eating healthy means not so much fatty foods and sugar, but more grains and fruits and veggies. Some people, like me, will either over sleep or not sleep enough. Any of those three things are important and are part of the Word of Wisdom. So we decided to teach it to everyone, and help all of them understand that there is always somewhere that we can improve. Its pretty awesome sometimes when you realize that there is so much more for us to learn. I love learning!

Love you all!! Be safe:)
-Sister Monica Walker

Testimony: Never too little, Never too small

Dearest Mother,

So its interesting how things work out sometimes.. I will of course keep Grandma (and Grandpa but specifically Grandma) in my prayers. I did however think about them all this morning, and the first thing that I did when I got on today was send them an email about how much I love and appreciate them. And then I read your email. I love the way the Spirit works sometimes:)

Patiently is usually the best way to answer questions that people have about the church. As I am sure you faced as well coming on a mission, there are a lot of people with a lot of question. Not all of them are nice. Most of the not so nice ones are only trying to get a rise out of us as missionaries and argue with us. And then when that happens, the Spirit will not be there. After all it does not stay with contention. I think that was the best response that you could have given to them, even if you physically couldn't be as strong as normal. I imagine it is very similar to the way the Quorum of the 12 and the First Presidency feels every time they get up to speak, especially those that are more advanced in age. There is a power to the Lord using us in our weaknesses. I'm sure the younger man was impressed with you even if he decided not to agree with you. I always am impressed with people's commitments when they express their beliefs here in the south. As long as they aren't trying to tear my beliefs down, I love hearing about their own. I wonder what they thought when you sat down? I wonder if they felt the power in your voice, the testimony that you had when you bore your testimony to them? I'm sure that even if they weren't in a position to hear it, you did exactly what Heavenly Father wanted you to do. I can't help but think of Abinadi. How sad it is that he died thinking that no one heeded him. Little did he know that one priest, one of the company of his accusers heard and listened, and repented. Look at the magnitude of people Abinadi was able to affect by his act? You would think that by the miracles and the signs that were shown to the people that more would have been affected by Abinadi, and maybe they were and we don't have that record, but among the rulers of that group of people, her only affected one, but that one affected so many others! No effort to further the Lord's work ever goes unused or wasted. Every small gift of a testimony, every action, every word, is recorded. Everything is used. Whether to plant seeds or to harvest, each have a part in the conversion. You have an affect in mine, and through mine, my companions, my friends, my investigators, the members here. It is never too little. It is never too small. I wish we could sometimes see the big picture so that we could understand the full scope of the decisions that we have and will make, but alas, that is a part of this life in mortality. We will never understand exactly how our choices will affect others while we are still living them out. Prophetic counsel is always a wise thing to listen to. Especially since it will always help you in ways that you would never know. They really do know what we need to hear. The Lord is clever to be helping us from all sides.

That's pretty smart to bribe Robert to stop completely.. Was it really that scary with all of us? I would have liked the whole bribery thing too. I promise I am better at driving now.. Granted we have monitors hooked up to the car, and I still get yelled at occasionally, but 98% of the time its due to incorrect speed limits in the tiwi, or ones that are really annoying, like the fact that our apartment complex has a speed limit of 5 miles an hour and there is a big hill to get up to it. That one gets me when I drive up it. MY companion always gets that one too. 

Love you lots Mother!! You are in my prayers all the time as well:):)

Love,

Sister Monica Walker

MY testimony of the gospel

To My Favorite Mother in the Whole Wide World:)

Actually there really wasn't anything that happened here because of the hurricane. The missionaries that were in the Savannah and Augusta areas were evacuated to Macon, but there we didn't really see any affects aside from it being a little windy. It was cloudy in the sky but hardly any rain. I love rainstorms here, and I was a little disappointed we didn't get one, but it is ok though. We were safe here:) Funny/cute story about the storm. So everyone was talking about the storm, and everyone was saying that it would be a really big one this time (as opposed to the last one that we had. We were at Dollar Tree trying to get a present for someone's baby shower, when we were outside writing on the card. A mom and her young son and daughter walked out. They happened to be talking about the hurricane with the cashier, and so the little boy walks outside singing "Hurricane Matthew, Hurricane Matthew.. Mom? I love Hurricane Matthew. Can we go see it?" Which was cute by itself, but then we heard the mom say-"Watch out Matthew there's a car!" Haha This little boys name was Matthew, and he thought the hurricane was named after him.. It reminds me of a little girl who thought everyone that was at Great America on her 5th birthday was there for her 5th birthday. Because obviously the world revolves around her. :) (Its true though.. My world does revolve around me:))

Isn't it amazing the little things that we do that can become such great things? Mom you impress me so much with everything that you do! Too often I see people in the church and in my life who express a belief in something, and then never do anything about it. Granted, I am far from being perfect at that too (prime example being my love of letters, but my terrible response time), but it amazes me to know that there are people out there who are working every day to help other people come closer to Christ in their every day life. Not that they have to be name tag wearing missionaries who go knock on people's doors, but just who take the opportunities that life gives them to share what they believe. I am so grateful for your example to me because I think you are awesome at sharing your testimony everyday with everyone, and then when the opportunity arises, you speak to them too:) I want to be like that when I get home and when my kids are on missions too.. And who knows about that guy! You planted a seed, perhaps it will grow later in this man's life!

Yay for Robert!! that is so cool that he is driving now! He is probably super happy. Wait a second... He is seriously the only one of us that will never have to drive the van! You should have kept it for him to drive to school. I did it! Granted I understand why he wouldn't want to, but still.. He is a lucky kid.

Josh will do well in that field. I'm proud of him:)

I am so excited to go to college with Ben! Even if my classes are undergrad classes, and he is in graduate school.. It will be so much fun!

I AM SO EXCITED TO MEET HENRY!! and to see my cute little Prince Charming too:) I love my nephews:):):):) <3

You should let me know if that is a hereditary thing being tired. Cause I might get it too.. I am amazed at how much can be accomplished on such little sleep when it is being done in the service of the Lord. Don't worry though about my sleeping. It is getting better, it has just been a lot of late nights. The downside to having such a great companion is that is it hard to stop talking when it is time to go to sleep:)

I'm excited to see Alex and BJ too:):) I miss spending time with my sister and brother-in-law. they are pretty legit:)

DADDY I LOVE YOU! He is the best Dad in the whole wide world. So that means since you are the best mom and he is the best dad, y'all did a good thing getting married. Now you both are my parents:) You had the best child ever, so obviously I had to have the best parents, and the best siblings too;) Basically I'm telling all of you that I love you and wouldn't trade you for anything.

I don't have too much time left, but because I know you wanted a testimony I will try to finish with just a quick one.

First and foremost, this is MY testimony of the gospel. Not my Moms, not my Dads, not anyone's but mine. I have worked very hard to get it, and it isn't perfect yet, but it is a work in progress:) I absolutely love the Gospel of Jesus Christ! I love the sacrifices that are required of me, even though it is hard in the moment to give, I know that it is all worth it after. Everything that I do I want to be for my Heavenly Father. I want to see all my family and friends with me with Them in the Celestial Kingdom. I know that everyone can get there if they really want it. It is an individual choice and not a group decision. I know the Savior has given each of us responsibilities to help nurture and support each other as we grow, and I am so thankful for each of them! I know that Joseph Smith Jr. is a prophet, that he began the Restoration of the fullness of Christ's gospel, and I know that Thomas S. Monson is the Lord's prophet today. I know that following the teachings of the Savior found in the Bible and the Book of Mormon brings a glorious change to anyone who is willing. He never will force the change on anyone, but how wonderfully glorious it is to see it happen in your own life and then watch it happen in others. I know prayers are answered everyday. Mine are answered every minute. He is there. He is watching. He loves me. He loves you. I love you. I am a witness of His divinity! In the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

I love you all.
-Sister Monica Walker

PS. Consider this- what is the difference between a witness and a testimony? Which do I have? <-This was a question that came to me during General Conference. I thought it was a really good one to make me think. Enjoy!!

General Conference

Dearest Madre,

What a week it has been!!! I'm not even sure how it is Monday already. It has seriously just flown by. This week was a little more difficult in missionary work since it seemed like no one was home, or no one wanted to answer, but the different meetings we have had this week have been a huge boost to me. It was awesome:) I really do love being a missionary!!

Oh! Here's a story I thought was very sweet. So we have this investigator named Victoria. When we first met her, we were actually focusing on teaching her roommate. She declined sitting with us and talking and at the end when we asked her if she wanted to join us in the prayer she said no because we weren't Christian we were Mormons, and then she walked out so we weren't really able to tell her that yes we really do believe in Christ. Her roommate laughed and said she knew we were Christian, and to just ignore Victoria. Obviously we didn't. The next time we came by the roommate wasn't there, so we sat and talked to Victoria. We were able to share with her our beliefs in Christ and how everything that we teach is focused on Christ. Anyway, fast forward to a few lessons later, and we get talking about missionary work and what it is that we do all day (I may or may not have been falling asleep). We basically gave her the daily schedule of a missionary, and she was in complete shock. We saw her last week, and after the lesson she told us that we needed to make sure that we are getting the sleep we need because she is worried for us. It was super cute! We assured her we were fine, but I can honestly say it is the most tired I have been in a long time. That's why I need two weeks of sleep when I get home. Hahaha.. We joke about that all the time. However on a serious note, I honestly believe that the Lord is helping me everyday to be able to do everything that he requires of me. It is the best!

Yes we do get to watch all of conference as long as nothing else is going on that would stop us. For example, the Elders in my ward had to miss most of the Sunday Morning session because they had to go on Post and have the normal Sacrament meeting with the recruits. Since they aren't allowed to watch TV, church was like normal for them. Other then things like that though, we get to watch it. We usually go to the church to watch it, but if we don't have it being broadcast to the church, then we go to a member's home. I realized though that I really like going to the church to watch conference. There is a different kind of Spirit there when you don't have distractions, and you are sitting in the chapel watching it. BEST. THING. EVER.

It was an interesting conference this time, because I had the realization that this would be my last conference as a full-time missionary. The next time conference comes around I will be back in school!! So it was interesting the mix of things I was getting as I was listening to conference. A huge theme for me was the joy of the gospel. I seriously loved that part about how as missionaries, we teach everyone, and we are supposed to teach them in a like manner to teaching our own children. Not treating them like a child, but being careful with giving them too much before they have had time to swallow what we have already said. And then I thought about the reverse too, how as a mother, I want to teach my children the same way that I have been teaching my investigators and the less actives here on my mission. All the messages I got were a strange combination of being a missionary and also being a mother. I now have goals that I want to accomplish in my last few months of being a missionary, but I also have goals of what I want to do when I am a mother. I want to continue that tradition of making everything a gospel related event, like how you have done all my life, and how grandpa has done to you. I think that is a wonderful tradition that I want to keep for my future family. A huge thing that I learned for my life in the long term is the real fact of my mission being a prepatory time for the rest of my life. I have discovered that there are many trials that I go through not because I have done anything wrong or that other people do something wrong that affects me (although there are my fair share of those) but because I need to experience so that I can understand someone else better and be able to help them. One thing I have never lost through anything is the hope that Christ gives us. The hope of a brighter tomorrow, the hope of peace, the hope of eternal family, etc. Hope is key to happiness and joy. I can get through these hard trials not because I am strong, but because I have hope in a Savior and a wonderful glorious Plan of my Father. These two things cause me to continue to act in a way that will get me to where I want to be despite the many hardships that I might be going through at the time. Hope is wonderful. I love hope. 

Alas, time again has got the best of me. I love you so much!!

-Sister Monica Walker

Women's General Conference Session

To my Wonderful Favorite  Mother in the Whole Wide World!!!

I love you:) Like a lot:) 

We had the opportunity to go watch the Women's Session of General Conference this last Saturday, and there were so many wonderful things that I learned!! One really important thing that I knew, but I was reminded of was how grateful I was to you and the example that you have been for me. I am so grateful that you have had a firm foundation in the gospel and that you helped build that in me. I know for a fact that I would not be here on a mission if it was not for that example to me. I love how you have taught me to be the best I can, and you expect me to do the best I can because you know that I can be like that. You pushed me to learn and to grow into who I am today. I am also so grateful for Daddy in teaching me (and then reminding me all the time) what a young woman should be. How I should act. He taught me to value myself and hold firm to my beliefs. He taught me not to be proud, but rather just remember my divine heritage as a daughter of a Heavenly King, and as such how I should act. I love you two for the things you have taught, for the character you have helped me developed, or the many other things I cannot even begin to describe of the effect that you have had on me. I love you two for being MY parents. I wouldn't have anyone else. :) I think all the time about how my actions would change if you or Dad were there, and many times I try to think of what you both would do and I try to do it. I had the sweetest compliment the other day from my companion about this, which is also why I was thought about all of this. 

Once upon a time, we were driving along in the car and she was telling me about an instance she had with someone who she had previously had a hard time talking to. Not because she doesn't like talking to people, but because this person sometimes can be rude or frustrating in conversations. We both recently made a goal to be this persons friend, and to help them understand that the way they speak sometimes is not appropriate for conversation, and even though we know they don't mean it, they are an adult and are capable of speaking nicely. Anyway, it was really cool, because when we were in the car, my companion leaned over to me and said something, but I didn't catch much of it because I was distracted, so I asked her to repeat it. She told me that in the last interaction she had with this person that they said something that upset her, and she was going to react in the way she normally does, but she thought in her mind "What would Sister Walker do?" and then changed her response to what she thought I would do in that situation. It was seriously one of the nicest compliments I have gotten ever. I honestly don't know what my response would have been in that same situation, and I know that I don't have an endless supply of patience like I sometimes wish I did, but it was really cool to have her tell me that she thought of my being patient with people when she was trying to be patient. That made my heart happy.. and then she and I cried because we love each other. the end... haha.. it was pretty funny, but very sweet of her. I really do love her a lot for it.

She and I have talked a lot in recent weeks about the image that we give to others. What is the first impression that people have, and what is the things that are most apparent and that they will remember? For example, to me the things that I noticed about her right off was her love for people. Whether it was mutual acquaintances that we have, or people I didn't know that she did, she loves everyone! She doesn't judge anyone for anything that she hears. She bases her judgments off of the interactions that she has with them, and even then she gives them the benefit of the doubt. She is funny, she is sweet, she is always happy and smiling. She gets excited about the randomest things and it will then make everyone else happy. She radiates with her testimony and from the other things that I have seen of her, and the stories that I have heard from her about her life, I know that she has a very firm belief in this gospel. She loves the Book of Mormon, and is seriously wiling to go through a lot of ridicule to keep it. She is awesome.

She told me that the image I give off is slightly intimidating... haha... not because I am scary or anything, but because she can tell that I hold myself to a high standard, and that I am intelligent. She said its intimidating because most people aren't like that. It just reminded me of the different scriptures that talk about the Lord's people being a peculiar people. How we will be set apart from the world, and it will be noticed. I am far far away from perfection, and I know there are many things that I have to work on, but it is cool to see all the different people that I meet, and I see the same things in others. My companion being one of them. The is most definitely a difference in the people that truly are followers of Christ and those that are just the Sunday worshipers.

This is where everything ties back in. The talks that were given during the Women's Session reminded me a lot of this conversation that I had with my companion, and who we are and who we are representing. They encouraged all of us to continue to grow our testimonies, and to do our best to secure them in the bedrock of Christ. So that when storms beat down on us, that we will be able to hold firm in our beliefs. We were also told to be that example to others that the Lord knew we could be. We were admonished to be the best mothers we can and the best daughters and the best wives, etc. Whatever the role that we have now is what we need to be working on. Promises given by the Lord will come to fruition if and only if we keep doing what we are supposed to do! Faith and trust in the Lord is so key! We must at the very least understand that the Lord is only ever trying to help us, and anything that He asks us to do is because that will be the greatest for us. I really do love the gospel. I'm so excited for what will happen in the future!! So much potential!

Love you all! I hope you have a wonderfully fantastic week!!

Love, your most favoritest child in the whole wide world,

Sister Monica Walker

Back in Columbus!

Dearest Mother:)

I am back in Columbus!! This was the place that I left 6 months ago to go to Albany, and now I just left Albany and I came right back! This time though it is in the other ward in Columbus, so it isn't exactly the same, but its still pretty close. We had stake conference this last weekend and it was kind of funny because I knew more people there then my companion did. Three people in the other ward I was in even offered to feed us dinner or lunch sometime.. Haha it was nice to know that I was missed and that people still remember me here:) The ward I am in now if the Flat Rock Ward, and my companion is Sister O'Brien. She is from Hawaii, and I'm pretty sure this is the first companionship I have ever had where one of us is not from Utah or Idaho.. Really all we need is to be in a trio with someone from Florida and then we have all the vacation states.. haha I thought that was funny. It has been pretty cool though, because this companionship is a lot like the one I had with Sister Danible. With Sister Danible, it was cool because she left the Rivercrest Ward 6 weeks before I got there, and then when I got to my new area in Albany, she was my companion, and we could talk all day about the Rivercrest ward. Here my companion is Sister O'Brien, and again, she had just left Albany 6 weeks before I got there, and my next area, which is ironically Columbus again, she is my companion!! So it has been fun to catch up with her about Albany and also to hear some of the updates of the Columbus wards.. I love Sister O'Brien though! We became friends almost within an hour of meeting each other, and we are still friends a week later.. haha.. so I am excited to see where this is going to take us in the next few weeks. It is entirely likely that she will be my last companion and that she will be the one that will see me off, and I love it. She is pretty much obsessed with Star Wars. I gave her a Star Wars puzzle and she almost freaked out on me. It was funny. She is an awesome person though, and we already have found a good rhythm in our teaching where both of us are teaching and testifying and participating pretty equally in all the lessons that we have. She makes me happy:) I have decided about this area though that I haven't seen as many sketchy areas as I did in Columbus. Perhaps that is because the Elders cover those areas here, but it does make it seem a little bit different, even if I recognize a lot of the people.

Alex sent me pictures of all of them, their family pictures are adorable! I love them so much. I can't wait to see them again! It will be fun to meet Henry for the first time. I love my family:)

That is so cool that all of you got to go to the Sacramento temple! I vaguely remember going there for the open house. I know I remember thinking the ceilings were really high, but I was also smaller, so I don't really know how tall they are.. haha. Didn't Alex go through the Sacramento temple for her endowments when the Oakland temple was closed last time? And did something happen to it to need major repairs? or did it just get old? 

This last weekend we had the opportunity like I said before to have Stake Conference. The cool thing about this Stake Conference was that there was going to be a General Authority there. This is the second time in a short span of time that I get to meet not just one but three of the General authority 70s. The one that spoke this last Stake Conference that I attended is a recently called General Authority named Elder Peter F. Meurs. He is from Australia, and he gave wonderful talks with his wife on the Atonement and the power of it. His wife shared a story that I thought really put into perspective for me repentance and how it works. Forgive me if I tell it wrong, but the general idea of it will be the same:)

-There was once a boy named Johnny who had recently been given a slingshot to play with. One day he decided to practice using his slingshot and spent a long time trying to hit his target of the trees. He continuously missed, and eventually got tired so started to make his way home. He had almost made it all the way home when he spotted a duck. Thinking to try his luck one more time, he shot at the duck. Surprising to him, he managed to hit the duck. Sadly, the rock hit the duck and killed it. Devastated, and knowing that he would be in trouble for killing the duck, he took the duck and hid it behind the woodpile in their backyard. After hiding it, he looked up to see his sister, Sally, watching him. She told him she saw what he did with the duck but that she wouldn't tell. Later that evening, his grandma was asking Sally to come help her with the dishes, Sally responded with "I would love to come help you with the dishes, but Johnny told me earlier today that he wanted to help with the dishes tonight." and then leaned over to her brother and whispered "Remember the duck!" Grudgingly, but a little guiltily Johnny went and helped his grandma with the dishes. The next day their family was going fishing, but the grandma told them that she needed Sally to stay home with her to help her prepare dinner. Sally again told her grandma that she would, but that Johnny had expressed a desire for him to help earlier to her. Again she whispered "Remember the duck!" After a few days of Johnny not only doing his chores, but Sally's as well, he finally went up to his grandma and confessed what he had done with the duck. His grandma looked him lovingly in the eye, and said "I know, I was standing at the window and saw it all happen. I was just wondering how long you were going to let Sally make a slave out of you." 

I thought that was a wonderful story! Because how true it is. Heavenly Father is much like the grandma who is watching out the window who sees it all happen, but is waiting for us to come to him to tell him. If this boy had only gone to his grandma earlier, he would have been spared the anguish of doing so many more chores. He would have been able to do all the fun things that he missed out on because his sister made him her slave. If only we would learn to immediately turn to our Father in Heaven when we do something wrong. We cannot hide it. He has already seen us do it. Our hiding it only causes more pain for us. What a powerful example of repentance though. Although I knew it, and I understood its significance, this made it hit a lot more home then usual.

I wish I had more time to tell you more about it, but again, time has run out. Remember that I love you all and I appreciate everything that you do for me everyday:)

Make today a great day!

Love,

Sister Monica Walker

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..

Bugs and Transferred

Dearest Mother,

Who came home to keep me from being your favorite missionary in Modesto 1st Ward? Shouldn't I be your favorite anyway since I am your child? Also, why in the world am I not your favorite missionary in the world? Having favorites outside of your children is not allowed.. It's hard enough to compete for the spot with 4 other people, we don't need to be adding in any more.. ;)

So we had an interesting adventure this week.. Last Sunday (the 13th) Sister Maher and I went home for lunch and Sister Maher went into our room to take a nap, while I stayed in our living room and read (what a surprise!) when Sister Maher starts freaking out and yelling and ran back into this room, grabbed her shoe and went back in our room. I followed her in, and discovered BUGS!!! There were many little black bugs crawling around our room, that had been there for who knows how long, but since we are only ever really in our room at the end of the day or the beginning of the day we never noticed them.. I then freaked out because it meant that I had been sleeping with bugs for who knows how long. Pretty much cried for the rest of the day. The Senior couple here who is in charge of helping with housing in this area told us to try to spray everything with permetherin (as did the Senior couple over housing for the whole mission) so Sister Maher and I spent the next 5 hours doing just that. And then we checked the mattresses for bugs (because we figured out it was bed bugs on the wall) and they were clean so we sprayed them again and brought them out to the living room and had a terrible night sleep as both of us couldn't stop thinking about the bugs. Day two of the bugs was P-day so after we finished emailing, we went home and vacuumed and sprayed everything again. We also called the office for our apartment complex (they were closed on Sunday) and told them that we had potentially bed bugs. They told us they would have the Knox people come look at it soon. So anyway, we did that again, I might have had a minor meltdown as well again because I realized that it was all on my side of the room that the bugs were, and we are pretty sure I had been bitten on my legs from before. (Nasty).

Tuesday comes along, and I am done with the bugs so I started to pack, because I didn't want any of my stuff to have the bugs in them so I checked and sprayed everything I owned before I packed it all.. At about 9 the Knox guy came for a inspection and when he went into our room, he flipped over our box springs. Mine was solid black in every corner on the bottom, and Sister Mahers only had a few. Super nasty. They then gave a checklist to us of all the things we had to do before they could come and spray our apartment. So we spent the next 6 hours doing all the stuff on it. Essentially it was like we were moving apartments, but we had to wipe down and spray everything in the process. So my beautiful map that I made a few months ago had to be taken down, all the fabric in our apartment had to be put in heavy duty trash bags to be washed when we left, all the stuff on the counters and bookshelfs and etc had to be put in bags and either taken with us, or we could leave them (but we took the supplies with us since most of them are paper, and we didn't know how those would fare in the bug bombing). The Sisters in the other ward, who we were going to stay with for the next week came and helped us pack all our stuff and clean everything. We filled both our cars with stuff and took it to the other Sisters apartment where we sprayed their apartment and then put the bags from our apartment in the middle of the room with a permetherin boundary around the whole thing so they don't spread. And then we went and did missionary stuff for a few hours, and then came home to the sister apartment and began what would end up to be over 15 loads of laundry. I stayed up that night until about 1 switching laundry around so that we didn't have to stay at the apartment and do it. As we took it out, then we sprayed them again and folded them.

The next day we had to go back to our apartment to vacuum the whole thing (including our room, which we honestly hadn't touched yet because neither of us wanted to deal with the bugs). We also had to get rid of our beds and box springs since the mission was going to just pay for new ones, so we called some members to come get them, since they had a truck, and we don't and so three of the brethren in the ward came to get them for us. We asked them before the went in to grab them if they wanted us to spray them, and they said no, then they went and got it all and afterwards asked us to spray them. (apparently after seeing it, they changed their minds.) Better safe than sorry people! 

Apparently we found out later, each of them went home to their wives and told them it was probably the worst they had ever seen it, and it completely freaked them out. So my meltdown Sunday was completely validated, even though Sister Maher was laughing the whole time.. I am the Queen of Drama is all:) Basically after we finished cleaning we left the apartment and haven't been back since. I will never be in that apartment again so that is strange. We still and to clean the rest of our clothes and we even had to send some to the dry cleaners which was interesting, but hopefully when we can go back it will all be fixed and there will be no more problems. They even get new mattresses and box springs so they know there are no bugs in them. It has been fun though at the other Sister's apartment for the last week. Tonight is our last night there.

Another blessing that came from this was the fact that after I cleaned everything of mine, I was able to pack it all, and transfer calls were last Saturday. Either way I would have had to pack it, so I just packed on the off chance I was going to get transferred, and I'm getting transferred! Luckily because this happened, we don't have to clean our apartment, and I don't have to try to locate everything that is mine, because everything is already packed. We also don't have to go shopping today because there is no point as we have no place to put it until we can get back in our apartment tomorrow. So I don't have to pack, or shop, or clean my apartment today, and I can just go say goodbye to people all day instead.

I am getting transferred by the way. I found out Saturday. I have been here 6 months and I knew it was probably time for me to leave. It will be interesting. I don't know where I am going though. I kinda hope I am either going to Savannah or Augusta but my thought is that I will go to Fort Stewart area since my last two areas have been military places. (Fort Stewart is over by those two places either way). We will find out what happens tomorrow and I will tell you all next week where I am and who I am with! :)

Also I am super excited to be able to talk with you when I get home because I am learning so much from my studies that I can't all email home, but that I am writing down for everyone to read (namely my companion because she wants to read it later when she can understand it better). Much of it is the thoughts and connections I have made in Jesus the Christ, but some of it is from my study of the Book of Mormon as well.. Super awesome! Plan for a whole month mom where I am just going to talk your ear off. It will be great!! :) Someday in the long distant eons of time these questions will be answered.

Super excited for that day.

Love you all!! Hope all is well with you:) I am thinking about you every day:)

-Sister Monica Walker

Taking Care of Yourself

Dearest Mother,

Here's a story I didn't tell you when it happened, but I will now:) (I'm telling it now, because it has to do with trusting in the Lord.) A couple of weeks ago Sunday morning I woke up in the middle of the night not feeling super well, and slept sporadically for the rest of the morning until our alarm went off at 6:30 at which time I got up to get ready for the day and for church (since it was Sunday.) I was both hot and cold at the same time (which is a bizarre feeling) but felt well enough to go to church, especially knowing how important it was for us to go. Anyway, we got to church, at which point, I then have a headache. It got to the point where I started crying because I really don't like being sick on my mission, and I knew that I would have to go home soon because it wasn't getting any better. I actually ended up leaving halfway though sacrament to go lie down in one of the classrooms nearby to see if that helped at all before I really had to go home. Didn't really help. So I ended up getting a blessing from the Elders before heading home, because I really didn't want this to last super long since there was so much work that Sister Maher and I had to do, and anytime I get sick on my mission I feel bad taking a break because there are people we need to see and lives we need to touch and we only have a short amount of time to do so.

Let me pause the story here and tell you how much I love the Priesthood! It really is the power of God, and whether someone uses it for me to help me heal or for comfort or for all those sacred ordinances that I take part in, it always makes me happy, and it reminds me that my Heavenly Father loves me and knows me individually and personally. Those blessing especially remind me that He is aware of all my needs, whether it is here in Georgia or home in California.

So back to the story, in the blessing I got, I was reminded that it is super important for me to not only take care of those around me, but that I need to remember to take care of myself too. I was kind of rebuked a bit just because so much of my focus in the last few months have been on other people, whether it was my companion, or those I teach or just those that I love in my life. Many a prayer has been said for all others in my life, and honestly I don't know if I ever prayed for myself. Heavenly Father told me in this blessing that I needed to take care of myself and get better before I could help other people. I thought it was strange for me to be told to focus on myself before I helped other people, because usually the Lord asks us to be unselfish, and this felt like He was telling me to be selfish for a moment. I ended up going home, and fell asleep for a total of 14 hours (I woke up a couple of times throughout the evening, but was still too tired to do anything so I had to go back to sleep).

That week, I was reading in the Ensign one of those short stories in the back about people's spiritual experiences, and I came across a story about this woman who suddenly had to start taking care of her aging mother in addition to all of her children and in addition to her already demanding calling in the church. In this story, this lady literally ran herself to exhaustion from doing so much for others and not doing much for herself, and had to spend a week in the hospital because it had gotten so bad. I was reminded of the blessing I had received and the Lord's counsel to me to make sure I was taking care of myself.

I realized that as much good that I had been doing, I was taking on myself more than I should have been, mainly because I felt like it all rested on me to do it. I was then repeatedly reminded to rely on the Lord. To trust Him to take care of the things that I can't. Like the scripture in Book of Mormon says "And see that all these things are done in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order" (Mosiah 4:27).

This was a needed reminder to me that I can't do everything. There is a reason missionaries are not sent on missions one by one, but rather two by two, that my companion is there to help share the load. There is also a reason why we have District Leaders and Zone Leaders and Senior Couples and a Mission President (and his wife), who are all there to help if I need it. The Lord provides us with the strength we need (plus a little extra) to get through what He asks of us, but that doesn't mean we have unlimited strength. It is possible to overexert ourselves due to our pride in thinking we can do it all ourselves, or to put off the help He does provide for all of His children (whether its the priesthood, doctors, or self help books). What we have to remember is that as important as it is to help other people, we should not do it to the point where it is detrimental to our own selves. He loves us just as much as He loves them, and so He wants us to take care of us too. 

That is honestly a hard lesson to learn as a missionary, but it all goes back to whether or not I trust the Lord. I will do all that I can, but then I have to let Him do the rest. I can't do everything. And that's ok.

I love my Savior! I love my Heavenly Father! And I love all the support I get from my family and those around me:) I wouldn't be here without any of that.

Love,

Sister Walker

PS I was better by the next day and it didn't really affect anything else other than that Sister Maher had to stay in the apartment with me for all those hours I was sleeping.. haha

PPS So funny story I thought I'd share.. A few weeks ago the library was doing a contest for some drawing. Thinking it would be fun to enter, but not really thinking I'd win, Sister Maher and I put our names in. I had totally forgot I had even done this, and today (while I was in the library) I got a call from the library telling me I had won the drawing! They gave me a free book:) Because I said it was a book I wanted that I didn't own.. I guess I will read it when I get home in 8 months! Hahaha

This library is awesome!

The Love of Mothers

Dearest Mother,

It is amazing to me to see the love that people have for other people, especially their family, and what they are willing to go through to help their lives be the best. Yesterday as you are aware, was Fast Sunday, and we had a lot of less actives there that have been coming for a while, as well as some that it was their first time. One such less active of the latter sort, got up to bear her testimony. I want to tell a little of her story. I am sitting in the second to the front row, so I really don't know what is going on behind me. One of the brethren come up with a microphone, the one used for blessings and what not and begins to plug it in. I watched a little confused, as the podium was working fine, when I glanced over to my right where the Spanish Elders were helping a lady walk up to the front. They were in the process of helping her walk up the stairs because of her physical inabilities to walk, but ended up sitting down in the front pew and spoke from there once they realized there was a microphone for her. She was a middle aged woman, who walked with a walker, and honestly if she was sitting, you would never be able to tell that she had trouble walking. She starts her testimony with a little of her background, namely that when she was younger she was involved in a serious accident that left her in a coma for a few days and when she woke up, she woke up a quadriplegic. But she continued to bear a powerful testimony of the effect that God has had in her life, especially since at the time she had the accident she wasn't Mormon. She talks about how since the accident, she has been able to literally feel the Spirit more firmly and real then she did before, which was a huge help in her being converted. She went on to explain how she feels it a lot differently than most people, but even still it bears witness to her of the truthfulness of the things that she has learned in the Gospel, and what it means to her. She knows that is is true, and knows that God loves each and every one of us despite what circumstances they find themselves in. She was in the gospel Principles class with me later, as well as in Relief Society, in which she shared a little bit more of her story, which I want to share with you as well. At the time of the accident she had a baby girl, who wasn't very old (less than 6 months it sounded like), and because she could no longer even help herself, Social Services came in and tried to take her baby, which she adamantly refused to let them do, but came to the realization that she needed to place her baby for adoption because she knew she was incapable of taking care of herself, let alone a baby. So she spent 6 months looking for a family to place her in, in which time, plus 6 months after, women from Relief Society (not sure how they knew her since she wasn't a member) came every day Monday-Friday many hours a day to help her get up the stairs, take a bath, fed her, clothed her, did her dishes, cared for her child, etc, so that she could focus on getting better without the added stress of taking care of all the other things that she couldn't take care of anymore. She had always been a Christian person, and so the entire time she is looking for a family to place her daughter in, she is praying and fasting and praying and studying. Hours after countless hours she is trying to narrow down the families, when at 6 months after the accident, she is lying in bed pleading for the Lord to help her find the best family for her daughter, when the most overwhelming sense of peace and assurance came over her, and she felt someone stroke her head in comfort (she said she looked around and no one was there either). Seconds after this, she gets a call from another lady who had cut her hair for years who said that she had friends who were willing to adopt her girl if she still needed them too. Again the feeling of peace overwhelmed her, and she realized that the Lord was telling her that this was the family that her daughter was supposed to go to. Immediately plans were made, and the next day the family came up the next day and took her daughter so that she could be taken care of even while the papers still hadn't been figured out. I told her later that I was super impressed by her willingness to let her daughter go, especially in light of all she had already had to let go because of the accident she suffered. She told me it was the hardest thing she had ever done but that she is glad that she did it, because it allowed her daughter to have a wonderful full life that she might not have been able to offer her otherwise.

This whole story though makes me super grateful for the love of mothers and how similar it is to the love that Christ has for us. How willing He is to not do what will make His life easier, but to make our lives the best they can be. Stories of such selflessness are amazing and wonderful, because of man's inherent desires to be selfish, and the excuses that we make to justify it. I really do love the amazing power that the gospel brings people in their lives to make changes necessary for their eternal happiness instead of momentary pleasure. There is such a huge difference that I don't think we realize sometimes, but we really should try to figure it out, because it is awesome!

Also Mom, here's a story for you (and everyone else that knows you and/or your parents and siblings). A few weeks ago I was at a member's home and we were eating dinner when they were sharing some random funny stories of things that their children had done. As your family is prone to do, I started to relate many of the stories to gospel principles that they could tie into the stories to make them spiritual or whatever. She thought that was funny too, and so for a little bit she would make something up and I had to somehow tie it to a gospel principle. It was fun! I told them it was something that I learned from you and that you learned it from grandpa who passed it one to many (if not all) of his children. :) Anyway, we had dinner with them last week, and part way through the meal, the wife turned to me and told me that she wants to be like my mom when she grows up (it's a younger family) because she wants to tie everything that she does into a gospel principle. I told her all she needs to do is practice and eventually it will come naturally. She is super excited about that prospect. I thought it was funny and that I would share. Congrats Mom, you can affect people you don't even know! :) You too Grandpa, since you were the one to teach it to my mother:) My family is awesome! Thanks for being such a spiritual giant in my life, you and dad both:) Love you lots!

Well this email is long enough. I will have more stories to share next week:) Hope all is well, I am always praying for all of you!

Love your favorite missionary

Sister Monica Walker

A Popped Tire

Dearest Mother,

Didn't we move into our house on the 29th of February? Or is that just something I made up because I thought it would have been cool if we had moved in on that day, and so I have always thought it my whole life? Either way it is pretty cool that I can say we have only lived in our house for 4 of todays.

Tell all of our neighbors that I miss them too!! Also ask Lorraine if she could tell you how to make the beans from those Mexican restaurants. I think she said that she knew how to make them, and I want to know how so that I can make them at home instead of having to go to a Mexican restaurant anytime I want refried beans.. hahaha

This week has been pretty great though. Here's a funny story for y'all. I will send a couple of pictures to go with it, but I didn't get too many because I walked away for most of it. So yesterday, we had three meals appointments that we had to go to in the space of 4 hours. The first one was a birthday party for our 97 year old investigator. That was awesome, but I was super nervous about eating her food. It was really good though:) We were there for a little bit longer than we had originally planned, and so we had to text the member family that was feeding us lunch after and told them that we needed to push lunch about 30 mins because we were running a little late. Eventually we head out, and are on our way to the member's home to get there at the time we had told them we were going to be there, when I'm driving along, and there is a loud bang. I realized that I had run over something, and looked immediately in my rearview mirror to check to see what it was. All I could see was a tiny strip of metal that was quickly disappearing. Looking back at my dashboard, I switched to a screen that allows me to see the tire pressure, and I watched as our tire pressure went from 40 to 10 in about 5 seconds. We managed to pull over at a safe spot and out of the way of traffic, and low and behold, the tire was flat. Whatever we had run over had ripped our tire. super crazy. We call the member and tell them that we had just gotten a flat and so we were going to be even later than we had said. They asked us if we needed help, and I told them we would definitely appreciate it if they came to help. Mind you, we have all the tools, and the spare tire, and I know where all of those things are located in the car, but I didn't know how to jack the car up to actually change the tire (which I did know how to do.) Plus we are in skirts, and its Sunday. Anyway, as we were getting all the stuff out to be all the way ready when the members got there, there was a homeless guy who couldn't talk that came up and tried to tell us what to do. He used gestures and seemingly tried to tell us that we needed to change our tire, and we politely tried to tell him that we appreciated his help, but we did have people coming to help us. (Honestly, it wasn't that he was speaking with a heavy accent that we couldn't understand, it was literally that he couldn't talk to us.) He did help us figure our though that we have those car brake things that you put on tires to keep it from rolling away when you park on a hill, or you do something to the car and so it is on the back tires or whatever. So that was nice of him. When the member got there, it was the father, their son, and one of their daughters. I wanted to go find the thing that pooped [popped] our tire, so I took the daughter with my companion and went up the road to find the thing that pooped [popped] our tire, so that no one else would get their tires popped. We left the boys there to fix our tire while we left (which is why I don't have many pictures of someone actually changing the tire). When we walked up the road, we saw one of two other cars that were changing their tires too because they had hit it as well.. Essentially it was a metal strip about 8 inches long with a bolt sicking out of either side (so two bolts total). We are going to see if we can somehow cut it so that each of us can have it as a souvenir. Super funny. By the time we got back the tire was fixed and the homeless guy had left, and so we were able to quickly go to our 2nd meal appointment for the day, but much later than planned. After we got done there, we had to go on Post for our dinner appointment with a less active family that was moving (which is why we agreed to have so many meals) but we had to switch cars with the Elders because Post is kinda far, and you can only get on it through the end of the freeway (unless you want to kill a bunch of miles, and when that's limited its not really worth it), and I didn't feel comfortable going so far and so fast with a spare tire. It was weird driving a Toyota car, because my whole mission I have only been assigned to Chevy Cruses. We were super blessed though to be able to eat all the food that was given to us, even though we might have possibly gained 5 pounds in doing so. Super fun.

Also we had an investigator go to Atlanta for a Doctor's appointment, and then she never came back. She took all her money out of her bank account and closed her bank account and her phone number and is disappeared. She lived with a member family here and they haven't heard anything from her, nor has any of her family. Super crazy. Keep her in your prayers. We honestly have no idea what just happened with her.

We had to say goodbye this week to many of our friends on post because they are being moved with the army. One of them is moving to Colorado, and the other is going to Utah because they just retired from the military. It made us super sad to have to see them go, because we had been working closely with one of the families to get them baptized, and the other family was their good friend, and ours as well. The second family was also a part member family, so I hope they will get the help they need in their journey to Christ that they couldn't get here. Pictures to follow.

Love you all! And I hope all is going well with you:) I love you and I miss you, but keep moving strong. It will all work out:)

-Love Sister Walker

Book of Mormon

Dearest Mother :)

Oh how much I love to read your letters! It reminds me of the times that we would spend everyday talking about all the stuff we learned in our Sunday classes at church, or after the seminary classes, or our own person study and reflection on the scriptures. I'm so looking forward to that when we get back home too:) I am 10 or so pages away from finishing the Book of Mormon for the 3rd time on my mission, and it has been super awesome to make all sorts of connections this time! I studied this time in a little mini Book of Mormon, which when I finish I will be sending home for Robert in a package with a bunch of letters and some random knickknacks. I encourage y'all to look at it if you get the chance. It's pretty cool. It is in a tiny Book of Mormon though so you might have to have Robert read them to you. I love learning things in the Book of Mormon! There are so many connections in it that I had never put together before, even though it makes completely sense to have it the way it is. Pretty awesome. Also if you haven't yet, I also highly encourage you to read the article Mormon's Miraculous Book in the Feb 2016 edition of the Ensign. It brings new light to how important and amazing the abridging of the Book of Mormon was, and then to think of the miracle that the coming forth of it was as well, What else could it be but of God? Super awesome. I can't say it enough. :)

I was dubbed a princess at a member's home while we waited for dinner.. Super fun! (Little do they know, I really am a princess:))

There is one investigator we have, her name is MC, has had a pretty rough life with the Lord. When she was younger, her sister tragically died in a car accident, and she blamed God for taking her sister at an early age. From that moment and for a really long time, she wasn't very happy with God at all. she thought He was unfair and she didn't like Him at all. Recently she met a cousin she didn't know that she had had, or else a cousin she didn't know very well, who happened to be a Stake President over in Texas. In the last couple of years especially, without her realizing it, she was feeling something missing from her life, and so when her cousin came to meet them one day, she recognized that he had something that she wanted. There was a feeling about him that she liked. She agreed then to meet with the missionaries, and we have been teaching her since. She has a lot of hard trust issues to overcome before she can be baptized, but it is so cool to see her make those little steps that she does to get closer to her Heavenly Father. I love teaching the people here! There are so many that I could talk about, but that would take too much time. So for now that is what I will say. I will think of who I want to talk about next week, and hopefully I remember. :)

I will pray for Dad and Josh and all the rest of you in your various courses of life. All will be well I know it:)

I love you all!! Keep being you! Because you is awesome!

Love Sister Walker:)

I went bowling with an eye patch on, because my eye got super irritated and I wanted to see how hard it was to bowl with an eye patch on.. I GOT A 125! Probably the highest I ever had.. And it was with my left eye, my non-dominant eye.. super crazy.. You have a pretty strange daughter.. but then you have to remember whose daughter I am, and then it all makes sense:) 

Love Reading the Scriptures

Dear Mom,

Transfers were 2 weeks ago. I might not have mentioned it because neither I nor my companion were changed. It's a bit strange to not be a part of transfers.

My companion and I are one of three sets of missionaries in my ward. There is a Spanish set of Elders, and an English set of Elders, and us. I'm almost positive that in this mission, I will never cover more than one ward, and if I am ever by myself in a congregation, its a good chance that it is a branch, or a group. We almost always use our car to get to the different places we have to go, and then walk around for a little bit. It's hard to not use our car because our area from top to bottom is close to 25 miles. And we live closer to the top of the map where there are less people, so it would be hard to not have our car and try to reach the bottom of the map, especially when we don't ride bikes.. if you want to see my area, you can go to maps.lds.org and look up the Rivercrest Ward. Those boundaries are my boundaries. It's only half of Columbus, because the other ward covers the rest and then some..

I think the things I have learned the most, the abilities that have been enhanced as I serve as a missionary, are honestly my abilities to study. I had poor study habits at home, and I never really figured it out, being here on a mission though helped me to learn how to effectively study for myself and or other people. I love those few hours in the morning that I get to study my scriptures and talk to my companion about the things we learn as we study. The scriptures have opened up so much for me! I am on my 3rd reading of the Book of Mormon since I have gotten on my mission, and I am amazed at the connections that I can make from the smallest lines. Here is something I learned this week from my studies, that I was telling my mission president about.

This week has also been very interesting as I have been reading the Book of Mormon again and looking specifically for wisdom and insight that will help me improve myself, and to become more like Christ. I know all these stories. I have heard them my whole life, but the connections I have been making in the past few weeks, are amazing! And they are little things that I should know already, but for whatever reason never connected. For example, in the story of the 2000 stripling warriors, we always talk about the effect their mothers had on them, the spiritual growth and example that they were, but I learned last week that it mentions the fathers too and how they sent provisions to their sons. I knew that, but I thought it was cool that the scriptures mentioned something that the fathers of these 2000 boys did to help them, and to me it was awesome as well because you can see from that that without either of them, they wouldn't have survived. Without provisions, they had no energy. Without the Spirit, they would not survive. Both parents therefore were essential to their surviving the battles they faced. Just like today. Super awesome.

Its cool to see the connections between everything. I will send home the mini Book of Mormon I am using during this reading of it and you can see more of the connections that I have made as I read. Reading the book itself is much different than just hearing the story. There are so many details that you miss by just relating the story. Those ah-ha moments when after reading the connection is made to see that this particular thing relates to this other thing. I don't think I would be able to make these connections as easily had I not been on my mission.. I love [reading] my scriptures! It's super awesome. It brings new light as to why we are supposed to read our scriptures instead of just listen to the stories. Because it isn't the stories that are necessarily the important stuff. Sometimes is the words on the page that will stand out to you in a way that will help you right then and there.

Love you all! Sorry this letter is short..

Sister Walker