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