Week 35 - Softening Hearts

Hey Ya’ll ,

Singing at Norman Institute
(Sisters Jenkins, Gentry, Lewis, Walker)
Check it out on Norman LDS Institute FB page

Take a wild guess at what we’ve been doing this week. We have been singing all week long and finding and teaching and it’s been so much fun! The last couple of weeks have been such a blast with music and can I just say that music just brings the Spirit and it touches lives. We will walk up to a door and they will barely have it open a crack. “What do you want?” and we just say, “Can you just take 2 minutes of your time so we can sing you a song about Jesus Christ?” The door opens a little wider and we start playing and then they’re in tears. Who knew? Sis. Jenkins wrote this song when she first got out here. So we have just added harmony and she said she had no idea this song was going to have such a big impact in the future. It was inspiration and it’s been cool to see it touch so many hearts. We have so many people we will be teaching soon. One in particular, we were out in the middle of the boondocks in Noble, on Cemetery Road, visiting a member of our ward and hitting all the trailers along the way. We just parked our car and started walking. We were in front of this house and not getting much success and were about to leave, when we felt we needed to knock at 2 more houses. We knocked at the first one not getting a good response, then we knocked on the second one and a lady answered the door. Sister Jenkins noticed by the toys in the yard that it must be a family. This lady invites us in and we sing her and her family this song and she was so touched. We talked to her about the Book of Mormon and other things testifying of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They said they have been looking for something and have been going to churches looking for something. We kept talking to them about the gospel and then we invited them to pray about the Book of Mormon. We asked them if God ever answered their prayers and Cami said she used to make a list of things and pray about each on the list, for example, why are there trees? Simple things, but so sincere to her. So we explained to her about the importance of praying about the Book of Mormon and they said they would. We left them and were excited to come back in the next couple of days. We came back on Friday and they were a little busy but were able to invite them to church. They didn’t come to church this time but we have high hopes for them in the near future. That was a miracle from the music that we’ve been writing and some that Sis Jenkins has been writing. It just shows how much you can use your talents. I didn’t know I’d be writing music and singing like this. I knew I’d be singing on my mission but I didn’t know it would go this far and it’s been amazing to see the amazing and miraculous events from it.

Composing a new song on Prayer
Sister Jenkins & Walker

While we’re on the topic of music, we have another song. It’s all about prayer and how we speak to God. How when we get on our knees and we are humble He will answer back to us in the darkest nights and when our hearts need that light in our lives. It’s like a round with a child speaking and then Heavenly Father is speaking, sort of like A Child’s Prayer. Our new song is all about prayer and how you can really find peace from praying to your Heavenly Father. In the song you’ll see why we pray to Him and that is to feel comfort and peace, and the only way we’ll feel that way is because our Savior Jesus Christ suffered for us and that is the only way we can get over the trials we face and get over the hurt we feel some days.

We are teaching Navea and Michelle, Stephanie’s daughters. We were at a recent convert lesson with her and she pulled her two daughters in and said she wanted us to teach them. They weren’t too excited but we asked them questions about why they were taking the lessons and they were honest, their mom’s making them. We are trying to get them to see how cool the Book of Mormon is and how amazing it is to relate to it. In that lesson we had them put their name in the scripture and then said look how much this can relate to you. Throughout the lesson their hearts began to soften, especially the one who didn’t want anything to do with anything. She’s actually softened up to church a whole bunch. She used to fight her mom not wanting to come to church, but now she just willingly gets up and gets in the car. It’s really cool how routine and habits of doing those good things the Lord has asked us to do gets easier when we continue to do them and see the miracles we see from going to church, reading our scriptures and praying. So that is one of the challenges we gave them was to pray about if God really hears them and we asked them to write it down in their journal, cause they got little cute journals to write down their testimony and thoughts in. And we said they could use their journals but they had to pray and read scriptures too. We’re excited to see what comes out of it. We’re teaching an 11 year-old and a 12 year old and we have no idea what we are doing. We are just going by the Spirit every single time we go over there but we have faith that it’s all going to work out and they are going to realize how much the Lord loves them through all of this.

Love these Missionaries!
(Sisters Gentry, Walker, Lewis,
Ruth McDougall (amazing ward missionary),
Jenkins, Elder Franklin & Jones)

This is a little random. . . but the weather here is like 60’s and 70’s. It’s been whacko. Two weeks ago it was in single digits and maybe even negative at night. It was so cold and humid and bitter and you didn’t want to go outside. Now it’s 50-60 degrees and we can’t quite figure it out. I don’t know what it’s like there but I’m loving it here right now. Hope it stays this way but we have heard that it does get like this in January and then it plummets and you’re freezing forever till March and then it finally warms up.

I absolutely love you all and I’m so grateful for the support and the prayers that have been coming this way to Oklahoma. I am grateful for each of you and hope you have a fabulous week. Your Challenge this week:  Read the Book of Mormon and pray to have a better testimony of it and if your testimony is already strong, that’s awesome. Continue to pray about it and to have that strong desire to relate it to yourself. A lot of the lessons that we taught this week revolved around the Book of Mormon and how we can apply it to ourselves. Read the Book of Mormon, insert your name in it, then pray to know if it is another testament of Jesus Christ. I love you and let me know how everything goes. Have a fabulous week!

Love, Sister Walker

Week 34 - Music brings Miracles ... and I saw Aubrey!

Hey Ya’ll, 

Sarah & Aubrey!
Aubrey got to OOKC mission in December.
What are the odds that you get to serve with
your cousin? Feeling so blessed!

I finally got to see my cousin, Aubrey! (oops, Hermana Pulsipher) I almost started crying when I saw her!! It was a miracle we were BOTH at transfers!! I LOVE HER!!

Sister Walker, Hermana Pulsipher & Sister Pulsipher
We knew Walker was a common name, but Pulsipher?
And all in the same Mission
(My mom's maiden name is Pulsipher)

Craziness is happening in Noble right now. We just had transfers and sadly Sis. Kresge left Noble and she is in Tulsa and is going to be greatly missed. I love her so much and she has taught me so much. I’ll never forget the relationship we had, it was just an amazing companionship. As you all know from my last email, I now have Sister Jenkins as my companion and I’m even more excited and keep thinking back that this is such a miracle. We both love music, write music, play instruments, and sing.  So, you put two very happy people together and it’s an amazing companionship right now. We are going crazy with music and harmonizing and writing songs. We have one song written which I’m sending and then one almost done. We’re on fire right now and having so much fun. It was definitely inspired and we’re being super creative in the way that we’re finding people to teach. We are going to different neighborhoods and Sister Jenkins plays the guitar and I bring my voice – I wish I had a portable piano but we’ll see about that- and we go and sing this song that we wrote together. (Sister Jenkins wrote this at the beginning of her mission and we just added to it in the last 3 days.) We are seeing so much success from it. We have so many potentials that loved the song and were touched through the Spirit.

Hermana Pulsipher & Sister Walker

It comes to show how much music can have an impact and can bring the Spirit. I’ve realized that I feel the Spirit through music and it’s kind of amazing that WE get to do this. We have sung to almost everyone what has been outside, and have knocked a few doors with our musical message of Christ. The first day we tried knocking and not one door on the street wanted us to play anything, but that made us want to go to another street, and try again. We honestly had to forget the past day where we saw nothing, and keep going and not give up. We met a lady that heard us down the street and wanted us to come and play it for her. She used to live next door to elders and then sisters. Her husband did a church swap with them, and we asked her if she would do one with us next Sunday. She is coming! and we are headed to hers in the morning. WE are Pumped! We also saw a ladies heart soften, as she was about to shut the door. Sister Jenkins asked her if she would just give us a quick second to play her a song. Her demeanor completely changed, and as we sang she started to tear up, and opened the door more. We asked here what the words meant to her, and she testified of her Savior’s love for her. She had a beautiful testimony! We also met some cousins that live together, and they both just cleaned their life up and started going back to church. They loved the song, and then asked us to play it for their nephew that lived in the tiny trailer in their front yard. We got to play it for him, and then we testified of the Book of Mormon. He said that he would be interested in reading it, and told us to come back with more music, and he would tell us what he learned. We saw so many miracles, and it was from tracting! Believe it or not, I'm starting to love tracting now...haha. This is bringing great miracles and we’re excited to do this for the next six weeks and hopefully longer. J  I am loving singing every single day for hours on end, especially sharing the gospel through song. I never thought I would get this opportunity. It’s incredible and it’s an absolute miracle we are together. Just a short 3 months ago we were on exchanges together and we thought then how fun it would be to be companions one day. Nah, it won’t happen, but guess what? It’s a party! It’s a blast! It was definitely inspired and we both needed it. I’m so grateful for Sister Jenkins pushing me and being confident. I never thought I would be walking down the street playing music for people. It’s pretty awesome and I am absolutely loving it!

Sister Jenkins & Walker
Opening doors & hearts thru their music.

Over the past 5 days I’ve learned that you have to use your talents that God has given us. I was reading over my patriarchal blessing and it hit me that this is what I need to be doing. I need to be using my musical gift and talent. There have been other signs over the last 3 weeks that have pinpointed that I need to be using my musical abilities to touch other lives.  In a way, singing is a different language in talking to people and it brings people so close to the Spirit.

Every dinner message that we’ve had over the last couple of days we’ve been doing the song we wrote or a hymn. We’ve been opening every lesson with a song and Sister Jenkin’s dad asked her to make this a priority, so we’ve decided we should do this from this now on.  Every single lesson that we have, we start with a song to bring the Spirit in, to soften hearts, and to allow the Spirit to teach. There is so much that you can say with music. There are so many words that will pierce someone and allow them to think about the words and how they can change their life if they follow the counsel from the words.

Weekly Challenge:  Your challenge this week is to magnify your talents, magnify your gifts that God has given you. If you can’t figure out what your gifts are, I promise that you have gifts.  Heavenly Father loves you so much that he has given you amazing talents. It might take you time to find them but I encourage you to pray about it. It’s there, maybe it’s not super obvious at first but I encourage you to use it to do good. Use it to teach the gospel and share your testimony with others.

I hope you have a wonderful week, I love you all, thanks you so much for your prayers and thoughts and your letters. I appreciate all of them and it makes me feel so close to home even though we’re so far away. I love you all and hope you have a great week. Let me know about everything you do with the challenges I give you. I love to hear what everyone’s been doing.  BYE!

Sister Walker

Week 33 - Work Hard, Be Obedient, & Have Fun - & Bed Bugs!

Hey Ya’ll,

Sister Walker & Lewis
on exchanges at OU campus

This week was eventful. We had exchanges so I got to go to OU Campus with Sis Lewis for 2 days and it was so much fun. I love campus and OU Campus is absolutely the best. We were able to do a 2-day exchange, and were able to get to know the area better and the Sister better and I absolutely love Sister Lewis. She is so much fun, just a party. We talked to so many people. I love the college students because I can totally relate to them so it was a lot of fun on exchanges. One of the lessons was with an investigator named Hannah. She is literally me except she has super kinky curly hair. She is my personality. . .we just talked for a little bit about ourselves and got to know each other and then by the end she thought she could make a commitment to follow Jesus Christ and be baptized . . . sometime. Sis Lewis and I just looked at each other and just said ”awesome”!  So she’s solid and amazing and such a true seeker. We love Hannah. 

That night we went to dinner with a member of the ward who usually doesn’t like to feed the missionaries. (She told us that.) But when the dinner calendar was going around she had the feeling she needed to sign up. During dinner she told us about her brother who served a mission and after wasn’t doing so well. She wasn’t expecting her family until after we would have left but they showed up early and so her brother was there. He sat down and started eating, then he said, “Sisters, you’ve probably already shared a dinner message but this can be part of your dinner message, I’ve got some questions for you.” He asked us why we went on a mission? What helped us progress to a mission? What are we going to do after our mission? How are we going to stay in the same habits that we have on our mission?  It really got us to think and it was really cool as we could bear testimony to him about the gospel and how it’s not just a testimony, it is a conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s what our mission President’s vision is, to be converted in 20 years and not fall back into our old lazy habits. So we testified to him of this and after he left, his father came up to us and said, “I hope you weren’t scared by his questions, but he literally wanted to know that and you testified to him and that is probably going to do him some good down the road.” That was a miracle. It was the timing and the place and angels listening to the Spirit and all these other factors. I really hope that he gets his life together and is able to come back to Jesus Christ and find Him in his life again.

OU District

I spent a lot of time with our district this week and it was a lot of fun. First we went to this weather station because our Mission President and others thought it would be a great opportunity to be seen in the community. And at OU there is a National Weather Station, one of the biggest in the nation. So we got to go and got a tour and it ended up being a miracle , because we got there and had to sign security forms. We didn’t know about all this and were just about not able to go, and then this awesome lady named Shelby, shows up and offers to just give us a tour of where she is allowed to go (because she isn’t allowed into the weather station).  So it was really just a building tour and it was really fun. At the end we gave her a Book of Mormon and we were grateful that we were able to meet her and other neat people along the way. So definitely effective and definitely awesome.

Having fun after working hard:)

I absolutely love the District I am in. We have been able to learn from each other so much and that we’re able to hang out, and do missionary work, but also work hard, be obedient, and  have fun. That is our mission motto and I love it because it doesn’t forget the ‘have fun’ part.  If you are being obedient and working hard you are going to have fun. I just love the District and how much we are unified.

Sisters Kresge, Walker, Stephanie & girls
Love this family so much.

We have been working on getting our area book into our phones. It’s taking a long time and has required just using our phones and it’s made us a little crazy, but that’s ok. Our Mission President  wants us to focus on getting this done, so we’re doing it. We usually go to the library to do this, as we felt strongly that’s where we should go to do it. So we pulled into the library and saw Lazara’s truck in the parking lot.  (side note: We keep running into Lazara, like little moments here and there and since she has decided not to be baptized now, we have been working with her to help her develop faith in Jesus Christ and we’re pretty much doing as Christ taught…line upon line, precept upon precept.  So we might have taken a step back but we want her to feel ready and we don’t want to push anything on her that she’s not ready to commit to.) So we’ve just been helping her and this past week we kept running into her. It’s been so cool because she needs those spiritual uplifts since she has been struggling to read the Book of Mormon, so we’ve been helping her to get back into those habits. We just happened to stop at the Library and she’s there getting ready for a job interview. We asked how her reading was going.  She says, “not good”.  OK, five minutes, let’s read, Alma 7. So we read Alma 7 and it went really well. It just shows how much Jesus is aware of Lazara and what she needs. She is growing and is being strengthened and is progressing so well. So look what the working of the Area Book got us…it got us to the Library to see Lazara and to see more miracles.  That’s pretty awesome!  Also that day we went tracting behind the Library and we met some really cool people. One lady was Michelle. When she didn’t answer right away we started to pull out a Pass Along card and the Spirit told us to knock one more time. We knocked one more time and no one answered so we pulled out a pass along card and this lady comes around from the back and she said, “I’m so sorry, there’s a book shelf in front of that door.” Go figure. So we started talking to her and she was so sweet and so kind. We didn’t want to end the conversation even though it was freezing outside and she didn’t have her coat on. We didn’t get a return appointment but we gave her a pamphlet and a pass along card and encouraged her to read it.  She had the biggest and most beautiful smile and it made us so happy. We could see the light of Christ in her as we talked to her about Jesus Christ and the restored gospel. Hopefully we will be able to come see her again and start teaching her because she seemed pretty interested.

We met some even more awesome people when we went tracting that day.  It was a day full of little but powerful and amazing miracles.

Poor OU sisters got bed bugs:(
It was a long 24 hours...

Soooo, this is where the week gets interesting. Sister Kresge and I finished up our Area Book, getting ready for bed, ending the day on a good note and I noticed I had bug bites on me. I found about 3 on my arm, one on my toe, like 5 on my hand, some on my legs. At first I tried to ignore it and then Friday night I started itching really bad.  I couldn’t figure it out since there are no bugs, no mosquitos, nothing (it’s too cold). Since we were just over exchanges and I had just been over at the OU apartment and stayed in Sister William’s bed, I called the OU sisters to see if Sister Williams had similar bites. Yea, she did and Sister Lewis and Kresge didn’t. They hung up from our call and a minute later we get a text saying, “Come get us right now!”  I called them and asked if they were absolutely serious. They were. The OU Sisters got bedbugs and they’ve had them for 6 months and had no idea. I was so creeped out right disgusted. They lifted up the mattress and saw the nest and it was gross. We are nervous because we had taken stuff from their apartment to our apartment. We started putting everything in the dryer, checking all of our mattresses, all of our sheets, going crazy!  They OU sisters spent the night Friday night and got ahold of Sister Mansel, the mission nurse, and she told them to call her in the morning for a list of what they needed to do. At least the Noble Sisters don’t have bedbugs but we had to help the OU Sisters clean their whole apartment, dump their mattresses, and bag all of their clothes.  The fact that this happened right before transfers was hilarious. We got up at 6:30 and the Elders met us at 8:00 and we just cleaned the whole apartment. That was the craziest 24 hours ever.

The dog is in her usual spot to get petted. If you aren't over
there, she barks at you. She even knew Sis. Kresge was leaving:(

In the meantime, we were waiting for TDOC (Transfer Document) and the sad news is that Sis. Kresge is leaving Noble.😞 I am so sad because she knows the ins and outs of this place and she was the backbone. She’s my favorite and my sister and I’m going to miss her so so so much. I love her so much. But as all transfers go you have to get a new companion and my new companion is Sister Jenkins, who has the most amazing voice and writes music, plays guitar, and I’m literally so excited right now! We are going to write so much music. Sister Lewis, Sis Jenkins and I are the music people in this District and we’re just hoping that Sis. Lewis’s companion will be musical too so we could have a quartet of awesomeness. TDOC is so nerve racking, sometimes you hate it and sometimes you love it. The suspense is what kills you. 

So the challenge this week is something that President Uchtdorf said at the YSA devotional. If you didn’t have the chance to watch it, you need to watch it. It is a really good devotional.  I love President and Sister Uchtdorf, they are adorable. Something that Pres. Uchtdorf said that really stood out to me was to “Have faith, have faith enough in the moment you are living in now.” Have faith now and faith in your future that everything will work out the way it is supposed to. Trust in God and know that He will direct you on your amazing path. But you have to do your part.  Challenge:  Strengthen your faith, and develop a stronger faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and in God’s plan for you. I promise you that you will be happier and have a better week.  Love ya’ll and I hope you have a wonderful, fabulous, faithful week. (Oh and your other challenge is to check your bed for bed bugs.)

Love you,

Sister Walker

Week 32 - Stephanie & Chelsea's Baptism

Hey Yall!!!

Stephanie & Chelsea

 O. K. best news ever!  Best Week ever! Chelsea and Stephanie are baptized and the newest members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We are so excited for them. The Baptism was beautiful and the Spirit was felt. Stephanie got her wish and not a whole lot of people showed up. She was wondering if there would be a lot of people and we just told her we had no idea. But there was a good amount but more importantly they were baptized and they made a special promise with their Heavenly Father  to always remember him and keep his commandments and to always have his Spirit to be with them. They came closer unto Jesus Christ on Saturday and even more on Sunday when they got the gift of the Holy Ghost. And when both of them were coming to sit down you could look into their eyes and just see the spirit overwhelming them. When Chelsea came back to sit down she was so excited with the biggest smile on her face and it wouldn’t go away. It was so cute. We asked her if she felt it, and she said, “I don’t know, I think so.” Even Stephanie had an experience right after she got the Holy Ghost, where the spirit told her the Relief Society needed to hear. Everyone was in awe at the Spirit she was. She was so close to the Spirit even when we’ve met with her and now it’s going to be 100 fold because she now has the Holy Ghost with her always. It was kinda cute because the other day Stephanie showed us their calendar and Chelsea has written, “Getting the gift of the Holy Spirit on Saturday.”  It just made our day and we were just smiling so much.  They made that promise and we are so proud of them. It just helps me remember why we are out on our mission, to help people come closer unto Christ and to see the change that comes from it. They are going to be lifelong members and we are so excited to see them influence family and also friends and we just love them so much.

Sisters Kresge, Walker & McKee
(Sister McKee & I sang at the baptism)

So one of our other investigators, I’ve talked a lot about her, Lazara, had a baptism date but she’s not feeling comfortable with the baptism date right now. It was a little sad when she told us that she was going to put it off and not get baptized on the 14^th but we realized that teaching to the investigators needs is really important and that could actually be a lesson for all of us.  Sometimes we can’t push the gospel on people but it starts with what the scriptures have told us. . . . Line upon line, Precept upon precept. Sis Kresge and I have to take a step back and we have to find out what she needs right now even though we really want her to get baptized.  But we are going to focus on faith and what the Lord needs us to do. If all of you could keep Lazara in your prayers that would be awesome. We love her so much and we hope that soon and one day that she will be able to accept baptism. She’s still doing real well but things happen.  It was sad but the biggest thing is that she is continuing to grow.

So we had a chance to do some service with Lazara which was really cool. Lazara is the most caring and kind person. She is always serving and she needs just as much as these people but she puts them first. That’s what I love about Lazara. She’s amazing and she is always willing to serve. And so we got to clean out a member’s home to help them go through stuff and throw things away. It just helped us love Lazara even though we struggled a little bit to hear she wasn’t getting baptized, but to know that she is still following Christ in a way right now. And one day it’s going to progress even more.

Sis Kresge & I have been challenged by our district to do some more tracting but because we hate the word tracting we decided to call it Q for B (aka: qualified for blessings). We’ve seen so many miracles even if it’s not the day of and even if no one will talk to us, down the road, for example, we got a referral, Salt Lake called us and told us that a woman had moved somewhere and then moved back to Oklahoma, and was interested in being taught again and so we are hoping that we can get a hold of her so we can teach her. So that is a miracle we saw and it came from us doing the things we don’t necessarily want to do, like knocking doors, but qualifying ourselves to receive blessings down the road. That’s a good lesson for everyone. Even if something’s hard, do it because you’re going to see the blessings from it later.

Smart phones Ya'll!!!!

Some exciting news for the Mission. We got smart phones and its real funny because 7 months ago we had smart phones and now we have them again and we don’t have any idea how to use them. It’s quite the adventure and experience. We are having to put both of our area books into the phone, because Noble was in two parts about a year ago (Noble North and Noble South).  So we’re having to put all the area book in the phone. It’s hard to navigate but its going to get easier. It’s better than our little brick phone. We asked our Mission President what to do with it and he said he didn’t really care. We could use it for a door stop, run over it with our car, throw it. The OU Sisters threw their phone about 100 times and it’s still intact. It’s kind of crazy but we’re going to run ours over with our car. But you know, that’s just the Noble Sisters way. I’ll have to film it and send a video of it next week. We’re so excited to have these, it’s inspiration from the First Presidency from the Lord, because this is going to make missionary work progress so much. And even though it’s really tough to transfer information this will be so beneficial to missionaries in a few years down the road. Getting all the information and the area book app is really cool because it will automatically show progressing investigators and potential investigators so that we can find people to teach easier. We’re still knocking doors but this is just another way the Church has for finding people easier.

Sisters Kresge, Williams, Lewis, Walker

This weeks Challenge: Today we had a dinner message and we talked about the importance of the Book of Mormon and some fun ways to read it. One of the ways was to find Christ’s name on every page of the Book of Mormon whether it is Savior, Redeemer, Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, and we challenged the family to highlight in whatever color they wanted, Christ’s many names. And so that’s your challenge.  You can start from the beginning or wherever you are at right now but I challenge you to find Christ on every single page, because I can promise you that his name appears on every single page in the book. The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ will reflect in those who will read the Book of Mormon. And as we strive to become like Christ, we can’t miss this book which a lot of sacrifice was made to bring it forth to this generation of people. Joseph Smith did not have to go through what he went through to bring forth this book and with the Lord’s help he did. He even died for it. It brings me so much gratitude that we have it and more motivation to want to read the Book of Mormon, because there was a lot of sacrifice in time and effort put in to translating it. Back when Nephi was writing it, he had no idea that this 21^st century generation of people were going to be reading his record thousands of years later, but we are and we are learning from it and we are growing from it. It all goes back to one person. Every single chapter goes back to Jesus Christ and I am so grateful to know that He is the center of this gospel and I love him so very much. I know that if you will read the Book of Mormon with a purpose that you will find the blessings and gain a stronger testimony of Jesus Christ. That’s my challenge for you this week. Let me know how they are going for you.

Love,

Sister Walker 

"Everything is gonna be OK"