Things are really shaking in Chile

Hi everyone,

So another week in the CCM and things are going well. I’m starting to understand Spanish and can pretty much get what are teachers or other gringos are saying. The hard part is when talking to natives. They speak so fast here that their sentences sound like words. 

Big news! We had an earthquake a few days ago, and it was the craziest thing. We were in the computer lab and at first it didn’t even feel real. 

It’s weird to see Anna going in to middleschool and Clayton going into high school. Best of luck to both of them!

On Sunday the mission president of the Este mission came down and gave a fireside. He gave an amazing talk about the atonement. He described how the atonement not only saved us from our sins, but also our weaknesses and how different those two things are. He said that weakness and strength are very similar and how through Christ our weaknesses can be strengths. It's really hard to do, but I’m trying to learn patience.

Time to go to the City and get some food. I guess they have some really good hotdog things here, completas are what there called. Last week my companion and I got yelled at for the fist time. I think the man was cursing at us, but my feelings were not hurt cuz I couldn’t understand him. Haha. Blessings of my terrible Spanish. Got 2 go. Love you all!

Elder Walker

Study, study.

And more study.

Beautiful Santiago Temple

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Hello!

Things have been going pretty great here in the CCM the past week. Last P day was probably the best day of my mission so far. It´s only been like 2 and a half weeks I know, but it feels like forever. After messaging every one (last week that is), we went out into Santiago. We are in a really nice area, so yeah there will be a few random dogs, but everything is super nice and urban. Anyways, my companion and I went to the mall looking for an mp3 player for our roommate when some lady came out of her little shop and started speaking English to us. She picked us out because of our white skin and said that she just wanted practice her English. So we explained to her why we were there and what we were doing, and we asked her if she would be interested in learning more about our church. She said yes, and when we were writing down her information her friend came out and told us that she really wanted to go to our church. My companion and I were just like uhhh sure, we’ll write down your information and we’ll have some missionaries call you. It wasn’t much, but it was really rewarding to feel like I’d actually done something. 

The CCM gets really boring and to be quite honest isn’t that fun. But my Spanish is getting better, and thanks everyone so much for all the emails and prayers. I’m trying to develop patience and learn how to find joy in the trials that I have. Trials are so important for us. Without them we have no opportunity to grow and no chance to show our faith. I heard that Henry B Erying at one point in his life prayed for trials. I am trying to wait patiently for the gift of tongues and understand more simply those things that I know so I can teach them simply and clearly to the awesome people here.

Entonces, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!! I love you so much. I am really jealous that you get to be with my wonderful sister right now--what a gift!!! Chloe you are amazing, and love you so much. The only time I have cried since I got here was reading your email last week—your last email from the field. I really needed and still need your advice. I’m trying really hard to NOT to act my age but it’s not easy. And the Latinas here are craaaazy! We got a new batch last week and they are loca. It’s hard sometimes.

I don’t have any more time, but my companion and I got awesome ties today. Let’s just say that Chileans have some sick swag. Haha. All the ties were about 3 mill or like 6 dollars, but the pens here are super expensive. I bought a pen today for about 5 American dollars, which seems expensive to me. Anyways, I love you all!!

Love,

Elder Walker 

PS. Tell Chloe that I love her and have probably thought about her the most this week. Things are hard, but I’m getting it slowly.  

Another Week in the CMM.

Hi,

This past week has been really hard but rewarding. I’m starting to learn more and understand the language a little bit. My companion is awesome!! Elder Brush is from Heber City, and he his super funny. We joke around a lot and keep the work fun. He also has a huge testimony, and I feel the Spirit so strong when we talk about the Gospel and our reason for serving. Thank you so much Mom and Marilynn for helping me pack. That’s one area where I have been super prepared. Everyone in my room (Elders Williams, Prisbree and Brush) loves the stereo/speaker and Mp3 player. Anyways, my hair was really long so on Friday or something one of the Elders came over to our room and cut my hair. It looks really nice, and he’s been doing it for 4 weeks so he’s pretty much a pro. Haha.

Alcántara, the house that we live in, is really nice. It used to be a Swiss Embassy so it’s really big with a pool house and stuff. (Of course we don’t use the pool. Haha.) We have a counselor to the CCM mission president and his wife, the Jacobsons, living with us.  They are nice and make us goodies sometimes. 

Last week for P day we got to walk around the city. In Santiago things are super nice, and they have huge malls with tons of shops. Talking to native people is really hard. The Chilean accent makes all the words sound so similar, and I can only pick out a few phrases. I’m learning though and dealing with my stress. I’ve only been here for 2 weeks so I just have to trust in God. That’s why we have weakness and trials so that we can trust him and so that he can bless us. I don’t have any cool stories; we just sit inside and learn all day. Although, yesterday was pretty cool because a group of missionaries were leaving, and we had P day so everyone was just super happy. That’s all I have.

Love, 

Elder Walker

Alcántara

SO I’M IN SANTIAGO!!

Hi, 

        This city is beautiful. In my classroom, I can look out the window and see the Andes Mountains, and it’s just so amazing how pretty they are at night covered in this pinkish glow. Anyways for those of you who don’t know, I got here to the CCM a day late because my flight got canceled from Las Vegas to Atlanta. So on Wednesday I flew out and arrived on Thursday. Getting there was very crazy, and I was in total cultural shock as I went out the door of the airport.  It was very crazy and about a 100 people were standing there waiting for someone, but luckily I saw some guy holding a sign with the name of the church. So I walked towards him. We couldn’t talk because he spoke no English, but he took my bags and drove me to what I though would be the CCM. Instead we pulled up to some big random house in the city, and I saw about 40 missionaries getting into these big vans. So I got out, dropped off my bags, put my nametag on, and got into the busses with them. That was my first day everyone knew me as the elder that missed his fight. 

          That first day was really hard flying all night then having to go to classes and such. That’s one thing I’ve learned really fast is that this is not easy. In fact it's already the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. Spanish is so difficult, but I know that the Lord is blessing me. I really appreciate the prayers from all of my family and loved ones, and please keep praying for me to be able to speak this language. On those really hard days, which for me were the first and third days I was here, something always happens which lifts me up and motivates me. For example, on Saturday when I was really down about understanding and learning the language, my companion and I during the break started walking around the temple. While we were walking around, a little girl waved to us and then ran up to us. Then, she just started saying something really fast in Spanish. I had no idea what she said, but it just made me so happy for her to treat us like friends. Anyways she did some weird handshake high five thing with us then said chao.

        It’s experiences like those that have kept me motivated this first week or 5 days. On a different note, the house where we are living is really big, and I share a room with 4 other elders with 2 other elders in another room joining ours. We eat breakfast there, which is made by Ceclia who is really nice, then take a 10 minute drive to the CCM where we study from 10 to about 10. There’s a saying here that the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days. It doesn’t feel fast at all to me, but we’ll see how I feel in 5 weeks. My companion is Elder Brush from Utah, and he’s really chill and we get along great. We have an Elder in our room who went to West Point for a year, and he's super motivated and clean and organized as you might expect. The other elder in our room is our District leader, and he told me today that he heard about me in the airport when he called his mom. I guess my mom and his mom talked online about my flight being cancelled, and I was not surprised in the slightest cuz let’s be honest, Mom, you stalk those missionary websites. Haha. I don’t have a lot of time and want to write some people to BYE.

Love you,

THE OLDER AND BETTER

ELDER WALKER 

Elder Brush and I

Missionaries staying at the house--we call it Alcantara. I think that's the name name of the street it's on.