Wedding Planner

Hi,

That is the chosen title of my email today because that is what I feel like these days: a wedding planner. Our three progressing families are couples that are waiting to get married, but unfortunately I haven’t been a very successful wedding planner lately. I am currently planning weddings number 4, 5, and 6 that of my mission.  We had one scheduled for Friday, the one I wrote about last week, that we had been planning for five weeks, and it was cancelled.  

This is what happened. I am a little upset with the officials, because between the time that they got their appointment to get married and last week they had changed the paperwork and did not let them know. So they showed up with what they had told them to bring before and not the new secret requirements.  It actually messed up two of our couples.  It was super rough for all of us.  They are headed today to go get a new appointment.  The problem is that they must get married in the registro civil, and to do that they have to get an appointment about a month in advance for when they can go and get married.  The country is a little unorganized so the requirements are not always the same. Sad. It is so awful that it is so hard to get married and keep the commandments in this country.  For those of you who live in Vegas: home of the 24 hour wedding chapels, you have no idea how much I wish that we had that here! But other than the two cancelled weddings, it was a good week.  

Basically we stay busy all the time taking care of these families and trying to find new ones.  It is a great problem to be so busy that it is hard to get everything done. I have a little over two weeks left! I can’t believe it.  I heard that President cancelled the end of the mission tour, so that is just another reason I’m so excited that mom is coming.  We can see Buenos Aires together :)

The best moment of the week was Saturday.  The Stake young men and young women had a theater event where each ward did a short play of a Book of Mormon story.  Since the MTC my favorite chapter in the Book of Mormon has been Jacob 5, and I have probably read it about one or two times a week since I have been on the mission.  And it gets me every time.  And as it would turn out our ward was assigned the Allegory of the Olive tree from Jacob 5 as our little theater production.  They did a modern dance version of the trees with the young women wearing green and brown dresses.  They danced and played the trees, and then they had one of the young men play the Lord of the Vinyard, and because we have very few young men, our little 12-year-old investigator, Liam, played the Servant of the Lord of the Vineyard.  

I sobbed the whole production of about 15minutes as I watched our little investigator play the part of the Savior.  I might just miss watching this family enter the waters of baptism, but some things are more important.  A long time ago in my mission I prayed to my Father that he wouldn’t send me anything or ask me to do anything that would influence me to develop pride.  And as I have watched the blessings unfold from that desire I am amazed, that I have been allowed to feel successful but in a quiet way.  I felt lately that my Father is proud and accepts my service.  This moment was one that has literally changed me, and the whole family was spiritually uplifted.

I can’t believe that Marc leaves tomorrow! How is he doing? Camron sent me a picture of you guys at Grimaldi’s.  I love Grimaldi’s!  (Ever since Whitney and Ryan suggested we walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and go to Grimaldi’s, I have loved it, for the pizza and for the happy memory of that day!)  That is on my list of the things we will be eating my first week. Mom, what are you going to do when the boys are gone? We’ve been planning so long to get them ready to leave, and tomorrow they will both be gone. When I think about them, I just cry. I can’t even imagine how you feel. Mom, you and I have both been doing very scary things lately!

I love this gospel and being a missionary, even if that means I will be doing wedding planning for the last two weeks of my mission. Haha. Oh, I hope to see these weddings! We shall see.

xoxo,
Hermana Walker 


PS. Nick sounds so good.  I love that he’s like if my emotional sister can do it, I can do it. Haha.

Funny Story

Hello all!

For the past couple of days, I have been noticing that all of my socks are getting holes in the balls of my feet, and I have been wondering why and just thinking that my socks are getting old.  Then, I took a look at the bottom of my shoe, and I saw my foot and started cracking up in the street. haha.

I am crying in cyber because of all of the pictures and letters from and about Marc and Nic today. I've actually been doing a lot of that lately. Every time I feel the spirit of missionary work, like in a lesson, or at church or something, I start to cry because I know that I will be feeling a lot less of that soon. My companion and I are trying to just work our hardest, and in reality we are just super enjoying everything.   

As for our family, they are getting married this Friday, and everything is still on schedule.  They have their interview tomorrow, and then instead of Saturday, they are getting baptized on Sunday after church and then confirmed the same day. We changed the day because on Saturday there is a stake activity and our chapel is the stake center. We couldn't find a time other than 2 in the afternoon, and having a baptism in Argentina durring the siesta is like asking for no one to show up, maybe even the people getting baptized. haha.  

This last week I got strep throat just like my companion, so that pretty much sums up our week.  But our family is so cute!! This week the dad told us that he asked his children if they wanted some tea in the morning with their breakfast (something they used to always do), and then the children were like all confused and offended because the Hermanitas said that tea was bad.  Then the dad said, "I know I was just testing you."  It was a super cute story! Ya, these children are super, super cute.  With the last week before the baptism, we are expecting a lot of problems, but it is to be expected before every single baptism. 

I am going to go, but l love you! And hopefully there will be pictures of a baptism for you next week! 

xoxo,

Hermana Chloe

Hole in my shoe. haha.

Elias is a recent convert whose parents are getting married on the 22nd of August so that his mom can get baptized!

Hna Reid and I in our Jerseys watching the semi-finals game (Dia day repose people, we couldn't watch the finals on Sunday.) However, I'm very sad for Argentina ;( 

These are two pictures that I have in my bag and show almost every new person we talk to.  It really helps us gain confidence with the people  to talk about our families. The first picture is one side and the second is the other side. (Do you like how I added myself to the graduation picture?)

Praying for the Time to Go Slower

Hello all!

So the whole mission was kinda hit this week by a wave of sickness and luckily I did not get it this time!! Unfortunately, my companion did. She was sick with strep throat so she got an antibiotic on Monday, but then it didn't get better so they upped her dosage on Thursday, and then she finally got better. Basically that means that we did little teaching last week trying to help her rest and feel better.  But we did manage to make it to our most important investigators. I will tell you a little more about our miracle family that I've mentioned before.

Barby started listening to the missionaries 13 years ago, but then she stopped because her husband didn't want to get legally married so that she could  get baptized.  About 7 years ago, she attended church with her at the time little children and again desired to be baptized, but the same obstacle of marriage prevented her from baptism and lead her to investigate other churches.  In this last year, Barby and her family have gone through a lot of trials, and she was about to move to Spain to work for a year to get away from all the problems before the missionaries knocked on her door two weeks before she left.  She listened to them for about a month before I was transferred into the area.  In our first lesson  after I got here, we taught Barby with her husband (Jesus) for the first time.  Then the next lesson we taught the whole family with the children Liam (12) and Julie (10).  And then that Sunday they came to church together as a family!  They have a date to be married on the 25th of July and to be baptized on the 26th.  They seriously are a miracle.  So prepared.  In the lesson we had with them on Friday, Jesus said the last prayer and prayed for their family fechas and at the end of the prayer he was crying.  It was a super sacred experience.  He started the lesson saying he thought it might be a good idea to wait for a month to get married so that they could have a little more money, but when we explained that they could be going to the temple in one year and that the sooner the better he just said, "Well then I guess we're really getting married on the 25th," and he just looked at his wife and smiled.  And the children are angels.  I love them, and I am humbled for the opportunity to teach them.  I know that Satan will not make it easy, but the power of Christ's atoning sacrafice will make it possible!

About my companion! Her name is Hermana Maren Reid.  She only has one transfer less than me on the mission, so it is kinda crazy that we are together.  She is 23 and from Mesa, Arizona.  Basically, we are super good friends, and the work just seems so much easier these days to be with someone like her.  I have loved every one of my companions, but it takes a lot of stress away to be with someone who is so much like me and who also wants to finish strong on the mission. And with so little time left on the mission, working hard is the only option.  We both love this area and the mission, and she is a saint for putting up with me in my last transfer and my anxiety about going home :)

The new mission president and his wife, President and Hermana Robertson, came to our zone meeting this week. I've been in denial that the Carters actually left, but meeting the Robertsons made it very real! Don't be jealous Mom and Dad, but I felt kinda like my parents left me behind!!! You know how I love the Carters! But actually President and Hermana Robertson are super nice.  I think that he is going to be a very good president. He seems to really know the gospel and how to apply it in our lives, and I think that he will be a very good spiritual teacher for the missionaries.

I forgot to tell you, but before President Carter left, we had a great interview--kind of like my exit interview where we talked about the future and everything. At the end he gave me a blessing; it was very sacred. I will tell you all about it when we see each other in August. I am officially pathetic. President and Hermana Carter are planning a mission reunion in October during Conference. This is how pathetic I am: the thing that I am most looking forward to after the mission is . . . the mission reunion! Haha.  The Carters love to set people up, and he said that he has a few former elders in mind but he will consult with the hermana to get her thoughts on who they should introduce me to at the reunion. It's going to be a big reunion in the Tanner building on campus, and I really am excited. No judging! 

May we all try a little harder to find the touch of our Father in Heaven's hand in all things beautiful this week.  Do the things that you won't be able to do in one week like give eachother all hugs.  Marc and Nic you are both commanded to give each other a hug at least every day. I LOVE YOU!

xoxo,
Hermana Chloe 

PS. We have permission to watch the Argentina soccer game on Wednesday!!

Julie and I 

President and Hermana Robertson

My 4th of July outfit.