Well... Today is my official 18-month mark. Crazy. But cool. Weird.

Were going downtown again today :) 

Funny story-

We met up with a less active lady that sister Nielsen used to work with in one of her old areas because she's been really having a rough go of it, and is leaving the country for a few months tomorrowish. So, we visited with her. At the end of the visit, we were sitting in the car and she was telling sister Nielsen about her family drama...

LESS ACTIVE: so yeah, my step dad started yellin at me and cussin me out. He started gettin real mad, and he started standin over me like he was gonna fight me. And he is like way taller than me and bigger than me. Plus he was drunk. I told him to get away from me, but he wouldn't. So I was all like, uh uh, I'm not gonna deal with this! So I was all like, you get away from me o I'm gonna knife you! 

[pause]

SIS NIELSEN: wait, you carry a knife on you??

Less active lady started reaching down to grab it for us then stopped.

LESS ACTIVE: uh no, actually I'm not going to show you...

Ha idk maybe you had to be in the moment, but it was so funny... :) hahaha oh my goodness..

We visited with a member yesterday who just moved in, and he's a paleontologist. He told us about dinosaurs and showed us fossils and it was AWESOME. 

I'm eleven pages away from finishing the Book of Mormon.i don't know how many times I've read through it at this point. But it's not the first or second time :)

Basically, it's just true. I don't know what else to say. It's just true. And I'm so grateful for it. 

Not only is it true, but it's real. So real. I've seen it. I've seen it change lives and melt hearts, and it's a miracle every time. What a blessing :)

Love you all!!

Sister Hayley Walton 

"If your having a bad day, you need institute. If your having a good day, institute needs you." -Anthony

Yes, FALL is upon us!! I love it. It's so pretty and fun. I just can't wait for pumpkins and colorful leaves. That's my favorite part of the season! And sister Nielsen is slightly obsessed with this time of year too, so we kind of feed off of each other... :) 

Sounds like all sorts of crazy stuff is happening back home! But sounds like a lot of fun :) 

Well, we went contacting with the Big Book. Idk if you've seen it on Facebook, but it was pretty awesome.  One of the elders in our district used to be a professional mascot guy, so we made a big Book of Mormon and stuck him inside. We built a frame of PVC pipes, and sewed a cover to fit it and painted letters on it. So cool and so fun. 

I haven't had a chance to teach with the Woodburys yet, and I found out a week or so ago that that's actually like, a thing. So I asked president to come to a lesson with us with Han. He's another Chinese investigator we have that reminds me so much of Haisu (still miss him!). So yeah. It was a great, spirit driven lesson. So crazy cool. I just adore president and his power with the spirit. It was a break through lesson.

And Han shared with us that when he was like 15, he had this really strong feeling that he would be baptized. He was living in china at the time, and didn't know much about religion or baptism. But he just knew for some reason that he would be baptized. He told his mom about it and she told him sure. 

Ha so here he is, contemplating baptism before he moves back to china in two weeks. Crazy. 

Just throwing it out there- the Chinese are so ready. Anyone who's served with a lot of them could probably testify to that. It's awesome. 

I was on an exchange with sister Olsen this week. She was asking me about BYU, and in reference to my dating life said that me going to BYU would be like "a marshmallow going to a bonfire." Hahaha idk it's a funny image. You have to know her.

Also on my exchange with sister Olsen, she found a dying bird on the sidewalk and insisted that we save it. Not knowing what to do, she carried it (ew) around all of Hyde park until it had a seizure and died in her hands. Then we took it to a park and buried it under a tree. BUT we contacted a family along that crazy journey. So... The Lord knows... Haha but it was a crazy experience I couldn't believe it was happening. 

The elders randomly had nerd guns in the trunk of their car. So we stole them. Ha. And we used them in a lesson with Kyle! :D best lesson ever. We talked about laying down our weapons of rebellion... 

A returning less active member of ours that we have been working with had a crazy party life and history before he started coming back again. We were talking to him the other night about his experience coming back (he passed the sacrament two weeks in a row!)... His response was interesting... He said that since he's come back to Christ, he's "been able to feel again." I thought that was very telling and interesting... 

"If your having a bad day, you need institute. If your having a good day, institute needs you." -Anthony

But yeah, it's been great. Pure testimony, born with love, is the way to go. Social media is a great way to share the gospel. 

Love you all!! 

Sis Walton 

This week has been pretty crazy. Ha I'm so tired.

Penny is a new girl in the branch (idk if I mentioned her last week)... She's from china (same place as Haisu), and just moved back to Chicago to finish her last year of school. She was baptized August 2 (same day as Haisu) in California and she is the sweetest thing!

She bore her testimony on  Sunday and shared the sweetest story of her conversion... She was raised not to believe in god. But then she said that when she finally prayed about what the missionaries had taught, she felt gods love for the first time. I thought that was so cute... To feel gods love for the first time! 

Saturday, Brent was baptized!! Wow, like a month after we followed the prompting to talk to him, he was baptized. And he is solid- such a great addition to the branch, I'm so proud of him!!

After Brent's baptism, we went to a baptism of one of sister nielsons old investigators in Lake Villa 2-- one of my old areas. I was there almost a year ago with sister graham. Crazy! And the girl that was baptized (Jordan) was someone that we tried teaching multiple times. I'm grateful that we planted seeds though, and that time softens hearts. Ha sister graham and I went over to her house when we first got there, and her mom (a less active) literally chased us off the porch. Ha luckily, she didn't remember me! ...I was introduced to a brand new woman at the baptism :) and it was great

Friday we went to a training meeting for the new STLs... My companion being one of them. It was so awesome! I loved it. And pres Woodbury shared some thoughts at the beginning, and it was so needed and perfect. Man, he's so inspired!! I love it. And it was in the mission home and we had lunch (it's been a stellar week for food! We've been fed a lot this week-- I don't even need to go grocery shopping today :D). 

After the meeting, president was giving blessings to some of the sisters- I had five minutes and his couch looked sooooo comfortable. Man, it was an awesome five minutes haha. And then this huge rain storm came out of nowhere and me and another companionship got totally DRENCHED trying to save the Woodburys tent thing at was still up in their backyard for their sons wedding reception a couple weeks ago. I'm pretty sure we did more damage than harm...

Were making a giant Book of Mormon to parade around downtown. I love creative contacting ideas... Pics on FB in the next week or two!

We taught some awesome lessons to a couple incredible new people we've found to teach! I'm excited to see where they all go in the next few weeks and months :D

We were talking to one of our investigators during our first lesson... We asked him something about what his relationship with god was like. He said something like, "he's my bro- he got my back always! Were so tight, it's like a bromance!" ...#YSAinSouthSide 

We were talking to a returning less active member about his goals. He said that he really needed the peace and comfort and love from going to the temple by the end of the year. He said, "I feel like I need to cuddle up with god... In the temple." ....#YSAmissionarywork 

I went on an exchange with sister graham and sister straddling (they are in a trio right now) it was soooo awesome to be with her and have one last exchange with her. She has grown tremendously in the past (almost) year and I'm so proud of her!!

This week, Elder Hamula and his wife of the seventy are visiting the mission- well have a mission-wide conference on Friday I'm so excited about!!

Yeah, that's kind of it. Were keeping pretty busy.

I have a goal to finish the entire book of mormon this transfer. Ha I'm a little behind, but it's going well :) I love it! And I love doing the work of The Lord here in chi town. South side is where it's at! 

Love you all :)

Sister Walton

This week started out slow, but got faster and faster!!!

This week started out slow, but got faster and faster haha. We helped one of our sweet ward members move. It was actually the best. I love doing stuff like that helping out. AND, I got a pretty killer leg workout. So actually it probably did more good for me than for her anyway ;) but it was great

Our investigator, jacqui, is awesome. She totally adores Simone. Simone is making such a huge difference already!! She is an amazing friend and gospel principles teacher, and does such a beautiful job answering people's questions (mostly because she's already asked them all herself!) seriously. Amazing.

Brent's baptism is this week. A month ago tomorrow will be when sister Bradley and I first ran into him. The Lord knows him. He's entering the waters of baptism is Saturday :)

Sister Nielsen and I got on the bus to go downtown this week. She got on first and had an impression to sit by a guy, but say by another girl instead. That's why it's funny that I got on the bus right after her, had a prompting to sit next to the same guy, and I sat by him. I was figuring out how to start up a conversation with him when he turned to me and said, "so, how long do you have left?" Haha there are certain things that people say to you that hint that they know more than most people about Mormons, and that's definitely one of them! Ha turns out he's an inactive member-- one that I've personally actually called on a couple different occasions since I've been in this area. Ha I was so excited to meet him. We had a great conversation on the way up- he was great. After a while, our bus stop was approaching. He made a comment on how it was such a coincidence we sat next to each other. I told him that the spirit told me to sit next to him. He laughed. Ha I looked him in the eye, smiled, and told him that god knows exactly who he is- it was no coincidence that out of all the people and buses in Chicago at that moment, that I (a missionary who had called him unsuccessfully on many occasions) sat next to him. I told him that god is ready for him when he is ready to come back and invited him to church. It was a rather awesome experience :)

We have an active member named Kyle who we visit on a regular basis just to help him out. Holy cow, I love that guy so much! We decided we would surprise him his week by showing up at his work. He's been telling us about the wasabi ginger lays chips for weeks, so we thought we'd try them. We went into the heart of Chicago, to his walgreens and it was awesome. I love the city :) and the chips were good too!

So I've read 190 pages of the Book of Mormon since I started last week. Whew! Lots of reading! But it's great :) a cool side effect of reading the scriptures really diligently and studying them effectively is that your prayers improve. I haven't really done much with my prayers, but they have been improving this week and I know it's because of my reading of the Book of Mormon. It's super cool too, because I notice how faith and prayer works in the Book of Mormon, and its transferring over into my actual life and making a difference on how I do things. Love it. 

Well, Chicago is great, I love it so much and the work is going great! Love you all :)

Sister Walton

Well is week has been crazy.

Well is week has been crazy. Ha I miss sister Bradley so much. But sister Nielsen is great! 

We helped a less active move out of her apartment this past Friday. I was actually super fun and I love when I can do random hard physical labor like that. Ah it felt so good! And it was fun to be there with the branch. Elder Berhow got stung pretty bad though by some kind of crazy bug when he was out loading the truck. Ha poor guy.

It's so humid here right now!  

We had a sweet lesson with Simone, and our investigator, Jacqui. Jacqui really relates to Simone, and Simone does such a great job at supporting her and answering questions. I love to see it!!

Sister Nielsen came down with some kind of sore throat, flu, headache, congestion deal Saturday. Ha she took a much-needed two and a half hour nap after church yesterday. She's still hanging in there, but luckily it seems to be getting better now? Apparently it's been going around the mission. Ha I've stayed clear of it, for the most part. I definitely haven't gotten it nearly as bad as her! But she's doing great- she's working so hard despite it, so I'm proud of her :)

Honestly that's kind of it for now, I think! Nothing super crazy new or exciting. There's a pretty sweet thunder storm outside right now. I love thunderstorms in the Midwest. Dang. 

Oh cool thing-- so, in the MTC, my MTC branch president committed us to finish the Book of Mormon during our six weeks there.well, I finished in six weeks and it was a killer way to kick off my mission. 

We have a seventy that's visiting in a couple weeks, and to prepare, pres Woodbury asked us to read the Book of Mormon and highlight the doctrine of Christ. 

I made a goal to finish my mission how I started it by reading the entire Book of Mormon in my last transfer (six weeks). And between Tuesday and today, im in 100 pages! :) which is actually kind of impressive. It'll be tricky to keep up with it, but I'm bound and determined. 

It's so cool though to see the real-life application we can find in the Book of Mormon. I feel like that's what the spirit has been teaching me this time around :) 

Love you all! Have a great week!

Sister Walton 

He referred to me as "mademoiselle". Fancy!

There's a quote you sent me once that sis something like, "I always know when I am under the influence of the spirit when I learn something from what I said"... I love those moments on a mission. We were in a lesson with an investigator, and with Simone, and the investigator asked a question about repentance, and neither sister Bradley or I knew the answer, and Simone had the same question! We both thought for a minute, and without knowing what to do, I did the best I could to answer the question. But within the first sentence, I stumbled over my words. So I stopped. Paused. And then tried again. Ha and I totally learned from what I said! I dunno, it was just so cool, and i felt the spirit and I knew that what I had said was correct. And I learned from it! Yeah. Sweet.  

Sister Bradley and I were walking to walgreens to pick up a prescription of mine. We walked by this lady who stopped us, and was like, "can I ask you a question?!" We said yes, and she then asked if we were nuns. Haha we explained it, and she was so excited to hear about our missions and that we would (hopefully) be getting married when we get home and stuff. Ha it was a great and hilarious conversation. I love those. 

We got a group of missionaries together and went downtown to contact with some posters. Kind of like the "feeling gods love" table thing a week or two ago. It was so fun! Ha you meet so many unique people doing that...

I met this one guy named Peter.

He referred to me as "mademoiselle". Fancy! That's a new one haha yeah, but he wasn't into the whole 'faith' thing. It was an interesting conversation. Good thing were here to invite, not to convince. :)

We also ran into an LDS family where one of the girls goes to school with sister Bradley's cousin. Small world.

There was this homeless guy camped out at the intersection we were contacting at. He called sister Bradley over to ask about what we were doing. She explained a little and he asked for a Book of Mormon. He said, "the bible got me off of heroine and cocaine. I'm willing to give this Mormon book a try." Dang he was awesome. His name was Michael. He will do great things.

Every once in a while, you hear those missionary stories that only really ever happen in the Ensign... Not in real life. WELL, we had one of those.  

Two weeks ago, sister Bradley and I were booking it to the church with a plate of fresh-baked cookies for Haisu and Simone's baptism. A block away from the church, we walked past this guy dribbling a ball on the sidewalk. We said hi as he walked by and he said our cookies smelled good. We kept going. Ha we knew we should talk to him, but we didn't cause 'we had other things to do.' Pfffft. Anyways, we get to the church, and sister Bradley is like, "we need to go back and talk to him." I felt it too, so we made the long awkward walk back to talk to him specifically (this is why you follow the spirit the first time!!). We invited him to the baptism. He was hesitant, but we convinced him to come and promised cookies. 

Well, he showed up with a friend! The guys name was Brent. We were a little busy putting the baptism on, so we sent the elders over to talk to them (plus elder Berhow is a baller too). 

Well, he's been to church ever since. The elders told us yesterday Brent's side of that story.... He had been feeling like he needed to fix up his life. So he prayed and asked for guidance... The next day, he saw us walking and wanted to talk to us, but got nervous. So he didn't. But as we walked away, he promised he would talk to us next time he saw us... So... Five minutes later, we came back! He loves the gospel and what it's done for him. Now he's preparing to be baptized on September 6. Woaaaah! Those stories DO happen In real life! :) 

We went to the temple with Haisu and Simone this week to do baptisms. Best day ever. Wow what a great experience. They are amazing. 

Haisu leaves for china on Thursday. I'm going to cry. So sad. We will miss him so much. But it's a great excuse to go visit china! :) man, I can't even explain how amazing he is. He's going to do incredible things. I'm betting he's going to be the architect for the first temple in china ;) man those people are so ready for the gospel. 

I think that's it for now! I'm excited for what's ahead. Ha we have a lot of work to do, but I love it :) it's going great.

This gospel changes lives and I love seeing it every day.

Love you!!

Sister Walton 

Seriously- sister missionaries killing bugs in their apartment? So comical. Hahaha

Well this week has been nuts. I like don't even remember what happened really :P there's just so much packed into one week and it always goes so fast! And we have another zone activity today so I won't have a ton of time to write this all out haha  

Well the highlight of the week was Simone's lesson in gospel principles! She was called last week (right after her confirmation) to be the teacher, and she taught yesterday for the first time. It was SO AWESOME!! It was engaging and spirit-filled. She did such a great job teaching as a fresh convert the word of wisdom. Oh man. 

Haisu told us he is leaving for china on August 21, even sooner than we thought! But he's so excited to get the priesthood next Sunday, and he will be attending the temple with us (the whole branch) this Friday :D so exciting! 

Sis Bradley and I don't think it's a coincidence that he's leaving for china so quickly and so soon after his baptism... It's just how things have worked out. But I see more and more that out of all the people for The Lord to have that happen with, I can see why it was with Haisu. He's just so elect and so ready, and I feel like he's going to be a huuuuuge support to the people and the church in china as time goes on. He's so solid, he's going to do great things.

We taught him about temples again this week and showed him a video. At the end, the first thing he said was, "who designs the temples? They are beautiful. I want to do that." He just finished studying architectural engineering (if I remember that right) so he loooooves them. 

Wow seriously. These people are so elect. Where the heck did they come from?! They were and are both so prepared for this gospel, and it's so clear to see that The Lord has different, but specific and great plans for both of them.

We had zone meeting on Tuesday. Me and sister Bradley taught about teaching in unity by the spirit... And that's exactly what we did to teach it!... In unity by the spirit. Ha we think it went really well. 

Seriously- sister missionaries killing bugs in their apartment? So comical. Hahaha

We had transfer council yesterday with president. Basically, we go to the mission home, socialize with the other sister training leaders, eat a meal, and talk about how much we love the sisters and what they are doing and how we can help them be better. Yes. So lucky. 

Well that's pretty much it. I found a falafel mix at the local grocery store today. You add water, roll them into little patties and eat them! I got the spicy one. I can't even explain explain how ecstatic I am to eat and experiment with them this week. Yay Mediterranean food! :D

Well, I'm having a blast. I love the work. I love studying the scriptures (#mishnerd, right?!). I love my companion. It's going so well. The church is so true...

Have a great week! :)

Love you all!

Sister Walton 

Today was awesome!!

Today was awesome!! We just got back from going on an adventure downtown with sister Spackman and sister Olsen. We went to the navy pier and went on the Ferris wheel and shopped around and visited Garrett's popcorn. It was a blast :) 

This week was easily one of the best weeks of my entire mission. I just don't even understand how I ended up being so lucky. The Lord has blessed me far more than I could ever hope to deserve. 

Ha I just loved it so much!!

Simone and Haisu were both baptized on Saturday, on my birthday. That was awesome. I couldn't have asked for anything better! 

Simone had a really rough week this week, leading up to her baptism. Just in general. But to add to it, she told two of her closest friends that she was being baptized and they refused to support her. And they asked her a ton of random questions that Simone didn't know he answers to and she got a little flustered about it. Mostly Simone was just sad that her closest friends would react that way to something so dear to her.

She's been receiving answers that this is true, but somehow, doubts were making their way in and she began to question.

But ultimately, Simone knew what was right and she decided she'd just stick with it. God has told her it was right on many occasions, and he would never send her mixed signals. So she moved forward with her tiny seed of faith that has been being attacked all week. 

Right before the baptism, she started to cry. She was just so nervous and mostly sad that her friends weren't there to support her. 

But she kept putting one faithful footstep in front of the next. Rig into the baptismal font, where brother Judd, our institute teacher, baptized her. She came out and gave him such a big hug and then just started to cry. 

It took her a really long time to get changed.

We found out why when she came back out. 

She asked if she could share her testimony.

It was one of the sweetest, most heart-felt testimonies I've ever heard. She was SO HAPPY and she couldn't stop saying it the whole time! She shared her experience of coming to that point, and it was incredible. She told of all the trials she had faced that week, and how it was all so worth it and she was so happy because she just knew it was true!

After the services, three of her member friends gave her a quad that they had all pitched in and bought for her. So sweet.

Simone was just so incredibly happy and grateful and excited. She is a sincere seeker of truth, and she found it. And words will never be able to describe the feelings I had.

The next day (sunday), she was confirmed by elder Berhow, and it was an incredible sweet blessing that mentioned what a big impact she will have on the lives of others. I'm so humbled to have even been able to associate with her, much less, teach her!!

She was sustained with Haisu as one of the newest members of the branch. Then she sat down. Then she was immediately asked to stand again, where she was called and sustained as our new gospel principles teacher. YES. She will be amazing. She is a rock. So solid, so set, so strong. I admire her so much.

During the testimony meeting, she shared one of the most incredible stories I have ever heard. She's been through so much. But she fought her way to this point. Wow I'm so impressed and so humbled by her.

Haisu has pretty much been ready for us to baptize him since day one. 

He was contacted by a sister missionary on temple square (on a trip with his parents), and after teaching him the first three lessons (in Chinese over the phone), and realizing he was ready to progress and meet with his local missionaries, she referred him to us. When we taught him, he was just so ready. But we had to at least review the lessons in English. Ha he was just so ready.

Over time, he told us how he quit drinking and smoking after he was taught the word of wisdom. He had been clean for four weeks, cold turkey, no problem. His favorite thing about the gospel is the aspect of change and how we can become better

Haisu expressed to is after a while that he was having a hard time figuring whether he wanted to stay here and find a job or move back to china. He was really struggling with it, but we gave him some suggestions on receiving personal revelation and did hear too much of it again after.

We continued to teach him, and he progressed so much and loves the gospel so much. He reads and prepares and loves to learn and is always so excited about it!!

Well, the time came, and he had his baptismal interview (also with elder Berhow). He passed with flying colors! We met with him afterwards for a mini lesson, and he told us he had decided to move back to china at the beginning of September... What? Ha I almost cried, I was surprised! I realized how much I had grown to love him and how much I would miss him. Sister Bradley made the observation that it wasn't a coincidence that he was going back right after his baptism. We know that he fulfilled the lords purpose for being in the states. Now he's going to prepare to move back and continue on in his journey there in China. Man, he's going to accomplish amazing things there we are so excited for him.

Anyways, he was baptized Saturday. There was a physical difference we saw. He glowed. He was just so happy. It was awesome.

Then he was confirmed in church, and bore a powerful testimony about believing in God. My favorite part was near the end where he simply said, "I know this gospel is true"... Oh man! 

Then, an hour and a half after his baptism, we were in a lesson with him with a new investigator! She lives down he hall from him in his apartment building, and she is also Chinese. He invited us all to meet in his apartment, and he bore the best testimony ever about the Book of Mormon, and was able to speak to her in Chinese for us (sounds so cool!!) and explain to her about church. He did so great and he was so excited to be a missionary :) SO AWESOME!! And just the day earlier, HE was on the other side of that-- being taught. Now, not even two hours after his confirmation, he is teaching with us and bringing others to he happiness he has found.

I LOVE IT. I can't even describe in words how I feel about this whole experience. It's crazy. The Lord totally knows. He knows these people. He knows them because they are his children. I have participated in the conversion of some of the most incredible people I've met in my life. And I hardly did anything- they were so elect, so prepared. I just let the spirit guide. The Lord knew them and knew what they needed- I just needed to be humble enough to follow his guidance and counsel on their behalf. I'm so truly incredibly humbled by these incredible lives. I'm pretty sure they've done far more for me than I have for them!! Wow. They will accomplish incredible things- The Lord has so much prepared for them to do.

On exchanges Wednesday, we went contacting in the city :) it was so fun!

We went with our zone leaders, district leader, and another set of elders. Sis Buckmiller and I set up a table on the intersection of michigan and congress (if I remember correctly) right outside lolapalooza. And each companionship took a corner. On the table, sis Buckmiller and I had a big piece of butcher paper what we wrote the question "how do you feel gods love?" And invited people to sign it. It was so fun and so good. I'm incredibly lucky to be here!

One of our other investigators has not really been progressing lately. But idk what exactly changed this week- now she's doing so wonderfully and progressing great! She came to Haisu and Simone's baptism and loved it. Then she came to church the next day. She's feeling the spirit and the truthfulness of our message and is finally starting to act on it! I love to see it :D

We had a big sisters conference this past Thursday with all the sisters in the mission. It was so awesome. I loved it.

We got locked out of the baptismal jumpsuits closet and no one had the keys. Luckily the elders showed up for a cancelled appointment and two companionships of them broke in to the closet. So awesome and funny. They took the hinges off the closet door... And a whole bunch of other stuff haha :)

And for my birthday, we went to a Mexican restaurant downtown with Kyle and his grandma :)

That's pretty much it. I'm doing good and staying busy. Love you all!! :)

Sister Walton 

This week has been pretty great! Busy, and great!

This week has been pretty great! Busy, and great! We are helping both Simone and Haisu prepare for baptism on August 2-- this Saturday! It will certainly be a party! They are both incredible.  

We were teaching Haisu about keeping the sabbath day holy, and he asked us for suggestions on how we do that. I suggested some things that we did as a family- play games, go on walks, make fun dinners, etc... And he was like, "oh, like family party?" In his awesome Asian accent. It was the best! I was like, that's exactly what it is if your a Walton! :) 

Simone has always been a little nervous about being open about her investigating the church. Partly because she's worried that her friends will ask her funny questions that she won't know the answer to. But the more she prays and progresses, she has more great experiences answering questions and sharing the gospel!

Earlier this week, she was (I think) going somewhere with the kids she hosts a summer camp for. She saw the elders ride by on their bikes, and thought- oh hey, elders!

A 16- year old kid next to her made a comment like, "oh I know them- they are probably going to visit my brother now"

Simone was like, "oh no way, I know them too!!"

The kid responded, "I don't know that much about Mormons.... Are they... Bad?" 

Simone laughed and was like, "no, of course not!"

The kid asked what they believe in, then.

And Simone told him some of the things we believe. 

Simone walked away from that experience, SO HAPPY that she was able to correct some confusion on our beliefs. She loved it. And felt the spirit and was able to bear her testimony and help him understand the truth. We are so proud of her! And that day, to end our lesson, she even prayed and asked for more opportunities to tell  the truth to others about what we teach and believe. Go Simone!! :)   

On Friday, Rachel (former companion and trainer, hermana Miliron) came to visit! We got permission from president to have her come teach some lessons with us. It was fun- just like old times! She's a boss at contacting (she even got us kicked out of a house!!). Haha so fun :) 

Kyle (the member we visit every Saturday) made us lemon tarts at our appointment. YES! He has a talent of cooking, and it was so delicious. Kyle is the best! :) oh man I wish I could explain him over email- just doesn't do him justice.   

We had a cool lesson with a member who's struggling a little. He's Hispanic, so I get to talk in Spanish in the lessons a little. It was such a cool, spirit -directed lesson. I love those. 

Jacob 2:8- the word of god healeth the wounded soul.

Heck yeah, it does!

Exchanges are great. I got to exchange with one of our polish sisters this week! There are only two sister missionaries from Poland in the entire world, and BOTH of them are in our mission. And BOTH of them are converts. Solid. So great. I got to be with Sister Olejniczak (try pronouncing that one!) :) so great. 

We had interviews with president Woodbury this week. So awesome. He's so wonderful, and I appreciate and admire him so much! 

I'm doing great over here! I've seen the gospel change the lives of willing and humble individuals, and I love it. 

Love you all!! :)

Sister Walton 

Hey! Sounds like fun!

Yeah, that teaching dynamic is so funny, isn't it??

I realized pretty early-on in my mission that it's way better to ask questions and help people learn for themselves than to just lecture on what you think is cool. I know my church teachers would do that a lot, so I felt like I was figuring things out for myself, which made it that much more valuable to me. That's cool that you recognize that and are learning it.

One thing I would recommend is  preach my gospel (shocker, right? Haha) chapter 10: teaching skills. But more importantly, the asking questions and listening sections. I love it so much!!

Teaching according to peoples needs is like my favorite thing to do in the world. I love to take an inspired topic, study it, prepare, and come to the lesson with that preparation behind me, and see what the Holy Ghost brings to mind for me to teach during the time I have. I feel like my most successful lessons and talks have been because I've formatted it and prepared for it in that way. :) it can be a little scary, because I don't have it all written out. But when you study and prepare, the spirit totally brings to your mind, heart, and mouth what to say :)

Well, I know how much you love Tee! I asked the elders again yesterday about him- they had a really great lesson or two with him this week and he's on date for either the first or second week in August. Buuuut he missed church yesterday cause he slept in :P

Missions are really funny because you have no idea what's going on in the world around you.

For example, I didn't know there was a fourth transformers movie until it showed up on the box of Oreos a member gave us. What the heck haha. But I'm so glad to report that Oreos haven't changed a bit! ;)

We had a zone meeting on Friday. Meetings as a missionary are just the best. And I love pres Woodbury so much!!he is so awesome! He is a HUGE example to me of 1) humility and 2) following the spirit. And I haven't learned those things from a 'how to follow the spirit' lecture from him or something... I learned those things because I've just watched him. I've been learning by example. 

It's so cool- he will get up in meetings and stop in the middle of what he's saying, grab the pulpit, and look down in concentration. (This is where I start thinking, "wait for it... Wait for it.....) and then he will look up, and with a different feeling or attitude, start his next statement with, "The Lord wants me to tell you...." 

SO AWESOME. 

And he's just the most humble person ever. He is so gracious about admitting when he's wrong and apologizing and asking forgiveness and sincerely striving to be better. It's just the sweetest. Especially watching him with sister Woodbury. I love it!

So yeah, our meetings are the best.

Friday night, the elders and us put together a BBQ activity thing for our branch, and invited a ton of people. It went so well and there was such a great turn out! We had recent converts, less actives, investigators, new friends, and some active members show up. And we all had a blast together,and everyone has been asking us when the next one is ha :) it was so great! 

And Steven made his first s'more ever! What an honor :) he loved it, but felt like a dork eating it. He was like a little kid- so awesome. 

And i just finished washing the clothes I wore and they STILL smell like fire. But sister Bradley and I loved it because it's been a while since we've smelled like fire, and it brings back good memories of the good ol outdoors for both of us :)

We have two investigators on date! Haisu is preparing for August 2 (happy birthday to me!), and Simone is preparing for July 31 (happy birthday Andrew!). They are both so awesome! And Simone is just the greatest- we had some really cool lessons with her recently, and were so proud of the progress she's making. It's been really hard for her to make this transition, but she's fighting for it because she's been receiving answers that it's true. SO COOL. 

Kyle is an active member we work with who I just LOVE. He's so awesome. And so funny. He's a character. I wish I could adequately describe him to you... He's just great. And he loves jokes and Rock Paper Scissors. 

The great thing about the gospel is that you can re-learn the same things over and over and over again, and no matter how much you may know (or THINK you know), you will always learn something new. That happened yesterday- we had an awesome lesson in RS about baptism. 

And in sacrament, I was taking the sacrament, and I had this epiphany that I literally was clean again. Clean slate, bleach-white, clean. Again. Just like right after I was baptized! And that happens to me every single week, as I worthily partake of the sacrament. It just really hit me in that moment how merciful our god is- he gives us so many chances to literally stand pure and clean and white before him at the last day. So awesome. 

Well, that's pretty much been my week! I love it here and it's going great :) 

Love you all

Sister  Walton 

This week was long and crazy. Ha and long. And tiring.

Update on Tee- the elders are still working with him, but they haven't been able to get in touch with him in the past week or two. So I honestly don't know how he's doing... I assume he's still doing well? :) 

This week was long and crazy. Ha and long. And tiring. 

Tuesday was transfers- we carpooled up with sister hone and hermana Toney- they are sister training leaders too now! :) at the meeting during transfers, president talked a lot about how this transfer, there was an emphasis from The Lord on sending people places because of the area. That's just significant because I don't often feel like I contribute a ton to the areas I serve in. Like, I do the best I can, but I don't feel like I make significant differences. Presidents talk had me start thinking about that more,and how I'm here now for the area :) 

The new district leader/new missionary in our branch is Elder Berhow- he goes home the same time as me and he's pretty awesome. Anyway, he got really pumped about coming to the branch, and we decided to throw a party thing to spice it up a little since there aren't any activities in the branch this month. Were hosting it this Friday on the beach and were making it huge. Well see how it goes! :) 

One of our Investigators, Haisu, made us a legit Chinese meal. It was awesome! :D and he was amazed at my chopstick skills. He said I could use them better than him! :) way to go, dad! You taught your white daughter to use chopsticks better than an Asian! :) Haisu is so awesome, and getting ready for baptism in the next couple weeks. He's so excited, and he loves seeing how the gospel is helping him change his life. 

You know the really unfortunate thing about having two sister missionaries in every apartment? 

....there's no men around to get the bugs for us!

So one of us has to man up enough to get whatever crawly thing we find in the apartment.

And I feel like it's just so comical sometimes.... :) 

I was trying to go to sleep the other night when I remembered something that happened when we were visiting grandpa and grandma in Mississippi as mission president... I think I was like 14?

I was sitting on a bench at a park because I was bored or tired or whatever. After a while, this lady came up and sat next to me and started talking to me about god and the bible and stuff. We had a nice little chat, and she told me all sorts of things about how great god is, and how the devil doesn't want us reading the bible and stuff. It was fine. She was super nice, and excited to talk to me about all that, so it was fun.

A while later, my grandpa (who was a mission president at the time) came up to us. He had on his classic white shirt and tie and name tag and stuff. With his naturally cheery and calm disposition, he introduced himself. This nice lady that I had just been talking to did like a 180 degree turn. She got so angry and upset and mad. I don't remember what she said, but it was clear that she pretty much hated my grandpa, of whom she had just met. My grandpa didn't change at all. He just bore a simple sentence of testimony, and she left. 

I don't really remember much about that whole incident. That's pretty much it. But it hit me this week that my grandpa didn't change at all. No matter what this lady said or did, he didn't change who he was. He just loved her anyway and bore a simple testimony. 

Yeah, I remembered that and thought it was cool :)

We have an investigator named Simone who is awesome! We adore her, and she has so many wonderful questions. She truly has a sincere desire to learn and know, and it is so refreshing!! :) 

The cool thing about this gospel is that Jesus Christ is at the center of it. I don't think I've had a single lesson my whole mission where we haven't brought up our savior, Jesus Christ. Who we are, and strive to be, and the life we live.... It all centers around him. As missionaries, that's the direction we try to point people. Not to us, or the church, or whatever. We point them to Christ. I love it :) 

We also had mission council today. Which is sweet. We basically spend half a day as a group of leaders and discuss the welfare of the missionaries and how we can help them help others come unto Christ and receive salvation more effectively. What? It's not just a business meeting or something. It's a meeting where we as leaders receive revelation on how to help others return to live with god. It's sweet. And president is awesome. He is such a humble, inspired, and spirit-driven man. I'm so grateful for him! 

Well, I feel like that doesn't even explain "a hundredth part" of my week this week... But that's ok. Just know that the church is still true, and I'm still doing awesome!

Love you all :)

Sister Walton 

Storms in the Midwest are incredible with all the thunder and lightening. I love it so much-- so fun!!

This week was great.

Storms in the Midwest are incredible with all the thunder and lightening. I love it so much-- so fun!!

One of the elders in our district almost died eating a ghost pepper. Ha

Me and sister Bradley have a thing for doing rock-paper-scissors when people aren't really wanting to pray to close the lesson. But they always beat us playing it, so they always pray to close ;)

Maria (baptized a month or so ago) is an incredible member missionary! She is so great at sharing the gospel with everybody! We gave her a few pamphlets, and in a few days, she had passed them all out. She just loves the gospel so much that she can't help but share it with everybody.

Transfers are tomorrow, but sister Bradley and I are staying together in Hyde park for another transfer. Yay! :)

Were teaching some incredible people!! We had three investigators at church, and two of them are on date to be baptized in the next month or so. :)

One of them is merricia- she's so awesome, we are so proud of her for coming to church yesterday! And she loved it. She knows the Book of Mormon is true and loves god soooo much, and it's cool to see how she's just adding to that with the Book of Mormon :)

Another one is Simone- she's a student here. She referred herself online because of a girl in her sorority who was Mormon. Live your testimonies!!! 

She has so many great questions and is truly a sincere seeker of truth. I looooove it. 

Another person is Yuxi- he was taught by missionaries in Michigan I think a couple years ago, and has kept his Book of Mormon this whole time. He calls it his 'happy book' :) 

Yesterday, after church, we had a lesson with him and invited him to be baptized. He was sooo excited. He told us, "I've been waiting for this!"

He loves the church and he loves the gospel :)

The other Asian we have is Haisu. He's great - he went on a trip to Utah with his family and visited temple square. He talked a lot to a sister missionary there and she referred him to us. He is so excited- especially to change. He just wants to BE who and what god would have him be, and he loved church! He also came to institute this week and loved that. Ha he's preparing for baptism at the end of this month.

A Chinese convert in our branch named Mary is SO excited about Yuxi and Haisu. She's blown away that other Asians are accepting the gospel and she loves it. She's kind of addicted to missionary work now, after helping us teach them ;) she's awesome. 

We had a less active that we are working with go out and party on Thursday night. He called us Friday at about 4:30pm, right after he woke up from all of that. He was so upset that he had slipped up. We talked with him and sang a hymn with him. We were going to meet up with him Friday evening (because we had an appointment), but opted to go out with his cousin instead. Needless to say, we were really concerned (his cousins not a good influence). We prayed for him all at night. Then the next morning, he called us and told us that he had chosen not to go partying with his cousin again! His cousin made it really hard for him to refuse, but he refused anyway. We were so proud of him. 

...it's not how many times you fall- it's how many times you get yourself back up again :) 

I just love working with the elect! They are incredible, and The Lord truly always does have people who are prepared.

On July 4, we went contacting at a parade here in Hyde park. That was a blast :) 

This week was awesome :) 

Church Is true!

Love you all 

Sister Walton 

YEA. ACTION. Be a DO-er, don't wait for others to do it for you.

Well this week was certainly a blast- we had three exchanges this week and I was in my area for all of them :) 

Here's a classic mission story: 

Sis Watts and I were waiting at a bus stop. On the street was a ton of construction, so we didn't know for sure if the bus would be stopping there. But we didn't know where else to wait, so we just waited there. Awkwardly. Then, on the other side of a 5-way intersection, we saw the bus coming! A lady got off and shouted at us, "the bus doesn't stop there!" So... We booked it across the 5-way intersection. Ha yeah... We got on the bus, and this guy in he front shouted, "oh, Mormons on the bus!"... As a missionary, you learn to be a little concerned when someone reacts that way ha. Sis watts sat right next to him, and I sat a couple rows back. For the next ten mins, this guy was shouting to me across the aisle, rows back, telling us everything he knew about Mormons, and how he's Muslim (but I promise he wasn't...), and how he wants to get a hundred book of Mormons to sell on the street for $2 instead of selling cigarettes... He was so loud and funny and flamboyant but it was such a relief when he got off the bus. I pushed the button to request a stop at the next stop. Just as the bus was pulling up, sister watts ran to the back of a bus to give a lady a Book of Mormon. I stepped off the bus thinking she was right behind me. I turn around to see the bus doors close and no companion. As the bus drove away, sis watts and I just stared at each other through the window.. I just burst out laughing and couldn't stop til I got to the next bus stop where sis watts had luckily gotten off :) good times.... 

One thing I love about serving YSA and having FB is that the younger generations will post pretty much their whole lives on Facebook :) hehe. So one of our kind-of investigators (she's dating a less active member the elders are working with) posted that her boyfriends basement had flooded. So we messages her and offered to go help, and we did! It was actually kind of fun. Probably because it wasn't MY muddy flooded basement... But we made a dent in it and it was fun :) 

We paid our parking ticket this week, and just found out we have another one.... But I might not have to pay because we might have been on exchanges when it happened :) well see....

You know your in a Chicago YSA when the relief society activity is going to a free yoga class at Millennium park... It was so awesome. 

We had a lesson with Kyle this week and he found out he's a child of god! Yes. :)

Sister Bradley has a friend back home that's been taking the missionary discussions for a long time. She even got to teach her a little bit via skype since being on the mission! Well, she got baptized this past Saturday! So we went to the church (because the internet there is only slightly better than in our apartment) and watched the services. It was fun to meet (ha) sister Bradley's family and friends from back home, and see her friend taking this step. So fun :) 

Yesterday, for church, we had a combined block with the YSA ward from up north- they came down to our branch and it was PACKED. So awesome. And so fun. And we had one of our new investigators, Simone, come! She is so wonderful- she has so many sincere, thought-out questions that we love to answer... Because she means it! She really has a true desire to know. I love it. Plus she asked a question about marriage from the bible that sent me on a scripture hunt with my quad, and I LOVE when that happens... :) she's wonderful.

This week we had a lesson with a recent convert who said that he hasn't been reading the Book of Mormon all week because he left his copy at his moms house, and didn't know where to pick up reading again. We talked to him about how he doesn't have to read the Book of Mormon like a normal book. If he forgot where he was reading, he could study by word or topic using the index!

We decided to do it with him. We asked him to choose a word from the index he wanted to study. After a few minutes of flipping through the pages, he chose the word "kill." ....at this point in my head, I'm a little worried, like- oh great, what's I get myself into.... But he said he chose that because he wants to be a soldier and wants to know if that's ok. In about twenty minutes, we found the answers to his questions concerning that, and the spirit was there. It was awesome! And again.... I love going to find things in the scriptures! I just love it so much, and I love the scriptures so much and I love learning things from them so much,it's just the best!! 

I LOVE THE SCRIPTURES. I'm such a nerd. 

Reflections of a Consecrated Life, Oct 2010, Christofferson... Awesome. As well as The Returned Missionary by Perry. Yes. 

The work is going well. Were done with exchanges, so Sister Bradley and I have the whole week to ourselves in our area :) it'll be so wonderful! Love you all :)

Sister Walton 

I've been getting plenty of water, but not as much sun-- it's been raining the past week:)

Here's my week in a semi-bullet-pointed list:

- it took us an hour and a half to get to a lesson when it should have taken a half hour (traffic...) and I got to use my Spanish for the majority of the lesson! :D she was an active member we didn't know well who was more comfortable in Spanish, and her mom sat in too. So that was fun :)  

- went on exchanges down to Indiana with sister Buckmiller. It was awesome. We took pictures by a railroad track and had a blast.

- went on another exchange with sister Lepule, and taught one of their investigators, Gilbert. He's great, and was kind of being a punk, so I was able to be lovingly bold at my finest. Ha it was a blast, actually. I love lessons like that :)

- on that same exchange, we got DRENCHED and kicked off a porch and then we got MORE drenched, and then we were stuck at a bus stop for twenty minutes, so we sang hymns together, and I sang 'Israel god is calling' like Alex boye

- we go to institute with the YSA in our branch, and the sisters had an investigator of theirs come with us... It was so awesome... :D

- we went to the temple on Friday night! It was so wonderful- we got to see 3 of our recent converts (Steven, mike and Maria) do baptisms for the dead for their first time. SO AWESOME. I love going to the temple anyway, but that was particularly cool.

- Kyle and George are awesome. They are two members that we visit every Saturday to help them along and make sure they are doing ok.  

They are so funny. I LOVE our lessons with them, and think it helps them a lot :)

- it's kind of awkward how much of our missionary work revolves around peoples dating lives. The missionaries know more than people give them credit for... ;) but yeah, it's funny- we know who's dating who, what's going on, why they broke up, etc. It's funny how much of our work revolves around it

- speaking of that, a couple in the branch 'graduated' from YSA! They got married this weekend. She invited us to the reception, and we went for a little bit. It was Hispanic. And it was awesome. And she was gorgeous.

- were teaching a Chinese guy named Yuxi who's studying biology. His English is great! But theres occasionally a bit of a language barrier that's kind of funny. Reminds me of my Spanish days... :)

Ha I had a fun-filled and packed week! I love it so much! Every single minute of it!  

The more I learn about the gospel, the more I learn that it is achieving a balance.

For example, It is good to be humble. But sometimes, if we are too humble, we turn into someone who is easily taken advantage of and walked all over. It's good to be confident, but sometimes if we are too confident, it turns into arrogance and pride.

Christ was humble- he loved unconditionally, and was often with those who others would consider unworthy of his presence. But he was also

confident- he knew who he was, and he knew his mission, and stood for what he knew was right.

I hope that made sense, it's hard to put it into words. But my 'thing'

with sister Bradley has been achieving the balance of the gospel.

A perfect example is being lovingly bold! They are two words that are on two slightly different ends. But as you achieve the balance, miracles happen :)

Another thing that's cool is that THE SCRIPTURES ANSWER REAL-LIFE QUESTIONS!!! (...what?). Yes. I know, because I've done it. This week I had questions that weren't necessarily 'super gospel-y,' but I took them to the scriptures to see what I would find, and I found...

ANSWERS!

Yes.

So, that's my week in a nutshell of an email. I love it :) Love you all!!

Sister Walton