November 18, 2013

So this week was crazy.  But despite every challenge we´ve had this week, I´ve seen miracles.

We went to Ramos Mejia this weekend to listen to Elder Holland.  It was absolutely incredible.  He reminded us why we are here and what we should be doing.  He said that the most important thign is who we are are that we work hard to live up to the potential that we have, that we will never reach, because it´s way greater than we could ever understand.  And if we do that, and become who the Lord wants us to be, we are going to see miracles.  We are going to love our missions, every minute of it, the good and the bad.  I´ve come to learn that that´s true, and am learning to love every experience, because everything we do is a chance to grow and become who God wants me to be, and even more so, help other people to feel His love in their lives and make the changes necessary to receive the blessings that are awaiting them.

Yesterday I got the chance to do divisions with one of the sisters in my branch, Sister Cortes.  We were short one sister missionary (temporarily we were in a trio, but we decided to divide and conquer, in order to visit more people), so Sister Cortes came out with us.  She never served a mission, but is super great and powerful.  We only had one lesson, but it was incredible to see what an impact the members can have when they help the missionaries. And she was such a good sport about riding a bicycle all over Junin with me.

This week was full of a thousand other stories, but that´s all I´ve got time to tell for now.  Maybe one day we´ll sit down together and I´ll read you all of the miracles I have written in my journal.

I love the mission.

Sincerely,

Hermana Walton

November 11, 2013

Hermana Medeyro, Hermana Cleveland, and I in bicis!  (Yes, we always wear helmets, and yes, everyone comments on them.)

Wow, it´s already mid-November.  What happens with the time?

This week was sort of a crazy one.  It´s interesting how the more time I have in the mission, the the faster it seems to go by.  It feels like there is a new pressure to the work every day and we are running from place to place trying to do everything we need to do.  Wooo, the mission life.  (It also doesn´t help too much that we have an hour less time to work everyday because of our time for training every day.  But it´s worth it to help out mi hija!)

I´m sad to say that Rocio and Karina still were not able to come to church this Sunday for their confirmation and I´m afraid now that they´ve lost their opportunity.  I don´t know what´s going to happen with them, which breaks my heart because I really do love them a lot.  Their situation is a little bit complicated right now, but we´re still trying to visit them this week to see what happens.

Even though that was a bit difficult, we have something really great coming our way this week!  Like, SUPER GREAT. Our zone leaders told us today that the ENTIRE mission is going to travel to Ramos Mejia on Saturday, because ELDER HOLLAND is going to come and speak to us!  Wooooo!  We´re all super jazzed about that and I´m sure that will help us feel more motivated and deepen our understanding of how we can be better missionaries.

I think that´s about it for what I have to say this week, but I hope everyone is well.  I send my love.

Sincerely,
Hermana Walton

November 4, 2013

Okay, so this week I´m a little bit really super sad, because Rocio and Karina still haven´t been confirmed after their baptism and I´m not sure if they are going to be.  They haven´t been answering our calls or coming to the door when we pass by to visit them and didn´t come to church yesterday.  I´m really sad to see that happen, but we´re trying hard to keep our heads held high and recognize that there are other people for us to help and there are people waiting to hear the glad message that we have to share, so hopefully this week will go better.

This week we had a special training meeting just for the sisters in the mission, which was super great. We spent all day Thursday in Ramos Mejia (yes, we made a total of four 5-hour bus rides in one week. ugh.) for the meeting, and it was all of the sisters and basically it was like one big party.  Okay, and also we learned lots of important things, but it was so fun to see all of my favorite sisters again (okay, other than the two that are ACTUALLY my sisters.... sorry, Rihanna and Macalla).  by the end of the day we left with a new feeling that, although we´re young in the mission and don´t have a lot of experience, we can do this. If we´re diligent and obedient, and patient, too, we´re going to be able to see miracles.  So that´s exactly what we plan on doing here.

Other than that, this week came and went super fast.  I hope everyone else is enjoying their week, and a special shout-out to my dear Hermana Cindy Lusk, who entered the MTC last week, as well as Elder Parker Stockford, who heads out this week!  (Suerte!)  And also, a great bienvenidos (welcome home) to Elder Andrew Luke, who came home this week!  Way to finish strong.  The work certainly continues on!

I send my love,

Hermana Lauren Jane Walton

P.S.  The pictures:

First, my lovely companions and I from Junin (with Hermana De Leon before she left)

Second, several of the sisters with whom I began the mission!... and then some.  Great people.

Octobere 29, 2013

CAMBIOS!

We had transfers yesterday!  I´m still here in Junin!  I still love Junin, but I feel like I know my area super well now and am coming close to having knocked all of the doors.  But we´ll keep on working.  I have a new companion here, Hermana Medeyra, from Argentina.  YES, my first Argentinian companion!  She´s actually waiting for her visa for Venezuela, but the visa for there is super hard, so it might be a very long time that she´s here.  This is her second transfer in the mission, so I´ll be finishing up the 12-week training program with her.  It´s so strange because it doesn´t feel like all that long ago that I was receiving the 12-week program for myself. I feel like it will be a good refresher.

I can hardly believe that I´m now directing my area and training.  It feels like a lot of new responsibility, and I would be lying if I said I wasn´t at least a little bit nervous, but I know I can´t do it alone... I have to trust that the Lord is going to provide a way for me to do everything that is necessary.

Other than that, we had a baptism last weekend!  My last weekend with Hermana De Leon and Rocio and Karina finally got baptized!  It was a beautiful service, and two other investigators (Daniel and Candela) of the Elders got baptized.  It was very lovely.  But Rocio and Karina missed church on Sunday, so their confirmation will be this week.

Anyways, I´ve got to wrap this up, but I hope everyone is well!  I send my love.  Until next week,

Hermana Walton

October 21, 2013

Hello, family and friends!

First of all, I know you´re all dying to know about the baptism that we had this weekend.  Welllllll, we didn´t have one.  I´m sorry to say that it fell through, because Rocio´s 2 month old baby, Ian, is sick.  He was hospitalized Friday night and they still haven´t found out what the problem is.  We´re praying really hard that he´s going to get better this week, and that Rocio and Karina can have their baptism this weekend. 

This week should be transfers, but due to some scheduling things, it´s going to be next Monday, so Hermana De Leon and I have a week more together here in Junin!  It´s not very likely that we´ll pass another transfer together, but we´ll see what happens next week.

This Sunday was Mother´s Day here in Argentina.  Did you know that it´s different for different parts of the world?  Fun fact.  So Hermana De Leon and I made cards for all of the wonderful women with whom we visit and in our little branch, and gave them alfajores.... GRANDOTES.  They´re the second best type of alfajores, but we couldn´t find my personal favorite- Jorgelin- so we went with those.  But a shout out to my lovely mother... hope you unconciously enjoyed your Mother´s day!  Love you!

Other than that, this week the heat really started to hit.  We´ve been sweating like crazy on our bicycles.... so Hermana De Leon and I went shopping today for new clothes to better adapt to the heat. 

Anyways, I hope you´re all well!  Have a great week!

Sincerely,.
Hermana Walton

14 October 2013

Hellllllooooo, family and friends!

So I just found out today that this transfer is going to be 7 weeks long, instead of 6, but we´re going to see some crazy changes coming up soon!  Buenos Aires Oeste will be receiving 38 new missionaries this transfer, so it is VERY unlikely that Hermana De Leon and I will pass another transfer together.  It´s also likely that we could be training or taking over a new area.  And here I am, comfortable in my little branch in Junin, doing what we do here.  We´ll see what happens next!

This week was kind of a crazy one.  Hermana De Leon and I have been working real hard, and we feel like we´ve been running from one end of our area to the other, because our investigators right now are pretty scattered abroad.  But it´s good, because we´re working hard! 

The best news is that we should be having two baptisms this weekend, for Rocio and Karina, a mother and daughter that we´ve been teaching for a couple of months now.  They´re super great.  Rocio has 5 children, Karina is the second.  The oldest daughter doesn´t have too much interest for now and the other children are 4 years old, 2 years old, and 2 months old.   They basically feel like family for us now.

Our district leader challenged us this week to share with our family a spiritual experience this week, if we don´t have a habit of doing so.  I like to think that I try to do that, but to be more specific, here is one.  This week we had a lesson with a woman who had had lots of difficulties in her life and through the course of that, she turned away from her faith.  Now that she has worked to regain her faith, she feels as though the her past is unpardonable.  We explained to her that, while justice may demand that she be punished for her past, the mercy of the Atonement of Jesus Christ is what should bring her comfort in this time, knowing that if she is truly repentant, all is forgiven.  I know that it really is through the Atonement that all of our pains and afflictions, every downfall in our life, is made better. 

In 2 Nephi 9:18, it speaks of those who carry heavy burdens, but endure them well.  It says that their joy will be full.  I know that´s true.  It doesn´t matter what we experience in this time- if we are faithful, our joy will be made full forever.

On that note, I hope you all have a lovely week!  I send my love!

Sincerely,
Hermana Walton

7 October 2013

So this week was GREAT.  Why was it great?  Because it was GENERAL CONFERENCE!  And there´s no weekend better than that for a missionary.  Why?  Because we get to tell everyone about the opportunity that they have to listen to the voice of a prophet. Even if we gave out more than 150 invitations and we only had 5 investigators come to the conference, it was a beautiful weekend.

Before conference this week was a bit rough.  Hermana De Leon and I were working really hard, but ultimately it was a week of a good amount of closed doors and hung up phones. But that´s not what matters.  What matters is that despite all that, we saw some success, and that success is so much sweeter than the bitter of rejection. Our investigators that came really enjoyed the conference.

This week we went to Chivilcoy again for a zone meeting.  Our zone leaders gave us a lot of advice on how we can gauge our success as missionaries, which helped me a lot.  As missionaries, sometimes we are rejected and people don´t want to talk to us.  Sometimes the people with whom we visit decide that they don´t want to visit with us anymore.  Sometimes we invite people to church and when we pass by their house Sunday morning, they don´t answer the door. But that´s because they have their free agency, to decide for themselves.  If they don´t want our help, we can´t help them, and we can´t judge ourselves off of that.  All we have to do is assure that we´re giving it our best.

Along that same theme, there was a talk this weekend in General Conference by David M. McConkie, who reminded us that as teachers (or as missionaries) we are called to be representatives of Christ and act as He would act- nothing more, nothing less.  If that´s what we´re doing, we don´t have to doubt that we´re doing the right thing and giving it our all.

Anyways, other than all that, Spring is in full swing here now!  It´s a beautiful, sunny day, but give it another few days and I´m afraid I might be dying of heat stroke.  We´ll see how the summer goes.

I believe that´s all for this week!

Sincerely,
Hermana Walton