Week 46 - I'M IN LOVE WITH PAWHUSKA!

"I'M IN LOVE WITH PAWHUSKA!"

Alright, so I have decided that I am in love with this area so much!! I am for sure missing Noble, and Sister Jenkins, and singing together, but I LOVE that I am getting to serve in this cute amazing town! Pawhuska is a cute little town and is the home of the Pioneer Woman (Ree Drummond), and I guess she's pretty big over here. She has a Mercantile in the middle of town, and I'm so excited to try her food sometime! Just waiting on MSF (the funds). Because of her mercantile there are so many tourists that pass through here! It's the coolest thing because we will walk down town and meet so many people from all over the country, and then see members occasionally.

Oh and side note, they have an old 1800's piano in the middle of town that anyone can play!! So you know where we go we've made friends with the shop owners down there by the piano. We just have to convince them that their country music is too loud when you can hear it a mile or so down the street 😂

Sister Walker & Sister Sampson

But I haven't even started at the beginning. Sister Sampson is my new companion and I know we have been put together for a reason. We are absolutely crazy together! We were at transfers and getting ready to start the 2 1/2 hours to Pawhuska. We were pulling out of the mission office parking lot, and there was this cop behind me so I made a conscious decision to be super careful pulling out. By the way we have a truck! A little red Nissan truck and I'm definitely not use to driving a truck. In fact this is probably my first time ever driving one, so yeah it's really fun! Anyways, I pull out kind of fast, maybe a little too fast, and start heading to the 77. This cop also turns out and gets behind me. Well all of a sudden he turns his lights on! I'm like, what am I doing wrong!?! I check my speed, it's fine, even below! I'm thinking it's probably the bike rack. Oh and then I'm trying to find a place to pull over because there is no shoulder. Luckily we saw a gas station a couple hundred feet in front of us so we just pulled in there. Sister Sampson and I are freaking out. Ahhhh I've never gotten a ticket before either! 😒. Well the officer gets out of his car pretty quick, which never happens, we roll down the window,  and ask, "officer?" He asked us how we were doing and then said something I never even anticipated him saying, he told us we weren't in trouble, but he saw our phone fly off our car when I made that sharp left turn   Oh my gosh I don't think we ever felt so relieved to hear that and so terrified at the same time! He said he would escort us back to the middle lane where it landed and get it for us. By the way, our District Leaders were getting gas and watched the whole thing. We said a quick prayer that the phone would be ok, and followed the officer to the middle lane. Our phone only had a small crack in the screen, and other than that it was perfectly fine! We were so grateful!! Not only for our phone being ok, but also not getting a ticket, and having someone nice enough to pull us over to tell us our phone flew off our car. We were so appreciative for that officer! The Lord even gave us a miracle the first day!! We said a grateful prayer immediately. 

Snapping Turtles! He didn't like
Sister Sampson trying to get the l
eeches off of his back😬

We finally got on our way to Pawhuska, and my companion is a crazy driver! Needless to say we almost ran into a pole trying to find the entrance to the freeway. But we didn't and all is well. We made it safely:) 

I think one of my favorite parts about this new change is my companion! I love love love SISTER SAMPSON! We were in the same district together in OKC! And she is awesome!! She works so hard and always has an attitude of missionary work. She has already taught me so much in a week! Fun fact: She speaks fluent Navajo! She is half Navajo and part Polynesian. 

Also, I think the Lord had seen how much weight I've gained on my mission so far and put me with a runner and a crazy athlete! We run most mornings, and bike up and down hills everyday! And when I say hills I mean STRAIGHT UP! It's insane! I sometimes walk, but man I want the endurance she has!

We are in a branch, and I love it so much, and how unified and small it is! There's about 45 people, and it's made up of 5 senior missionary couples. They are so great! The Giauques and Titmuses are from the Boise area too! Our Branch President doesn't like being called President Hendren, so we call him Marty, and his Brother Bruce. They are hilarious and incredibly stalwart in their testimonies! They both support us so much, and love missionary work! 

Bruce  and his wife Sharon own our little home (which is the cutest little house) and saved us when are heater pilot light went out. The other morning we woke up freezing! Bruce came to the rescue, and taught us how to work our heaters😁  Love them! We have a swinging bridge right next to our house! It is terrifying!  Sister Sampson rides her bike over it. I refuse! I will go the long way. (Note: Sister Walker has walked her bike across it which was terrifying. We will see if she gets used to it and rides her bike across:) It's an extra mile the long way)

"Rainy Days are for Miracles"
Sister Sampson, Cat & Trevor, Sister Walker
Thanks Sister Mansell for posting on Facebook!

Yesterday at church we had such a great sacrament meeting! We had Cat and Trevor come to church, our new investigators!  The sisters found them on the Saturday of General Conference at the Church. They were outside playing Pokemon Go. I guess the Church building is a huge "Poke stop". That is actually pretty smart on their part! We might get more investigators running through the Church parking lot😉  They gave Cat a pamphlet, and she and her boyfriend came back the next day and said that she believed everything it said, and she wants to learn more! They pulled them both into the Sunday session of conference, and they loved it! The light is glowing in their eyes, and they just grasp onto what the spirit teaches them. They are so incredible, and we love them so much! 

We have a few more investigators that are on fire right now. They are progressing so well! 

Sister Giaque took us to Costco😄

We have been running into several families lately, and we keep hearing about something called a "teacher walk out" where all the teachers go to the capital in OKC and petition for more funding for education. The kids don't have school during this, and it went from the week of spring break to 2 weeks Into April. A group from Tulsa even walked 2 hours to OKC to prove a point. Its been hard not to get into political talk because everyone wants to get our stance on it, even though we have none. Pretty crazy, but it allowed us to teach several families all together that week! 

Overall it has been such a great week! 

I love seeing Aubrey (oops Hermana Pulsipher:))
I never know what to call her.

Your Challenge: 

I want you to open your Book of Mormon and read Alma ch. 17. (If you don't have a Book of Mormon there is an app called "Gospel Library" and its free!) It talks about missionary work, and how the Sons of Mosiah were called to a land they knew nothing about, but they had faith and went. This chapter is so motivating! Then I want you to think of some ways you can help the missionaries this week to further the work of the Lord. You are so vital in missionary work. Your testimonies matter to so many, and the missionaries need you. The Lord needs you to help further this great work. 

I love y'all! Have such a great week!!

Sister Walker 

Tusal, OK Zone

Sister Baker, Walker, 

Zone Selfie with the AP

Week 45 - Tracting, Miracles & Transfer Call

I guess to start off we did a lot of tracting this week and we saw so many miracles.

The first miracle, we got some exciting news!  We’ve been teaching this part member family, Kasey and  Kadence,  Kasey is the mom and Kadence is the 9 year old daughter and I think I mentioned this in my last email, Kadence had read the full children’s version of the Book of Mormon and Kasey read all of it. We were on exchanges when this happened, but Sister Jenkins and Sister Baker went over there and they exclaimed they had read the whole thing. Kadence exclaimed, “It was so awesome.” So we had a lesson with them the other day and we were able to talk to them about commitments and making the next step. We felt prompted that we needed to ask them to be baptized. When we did, Kadence’s face lit up and said, “Ya, ya, that would be so cool!!!”  She was so excited and Kasey agreed. It was a crazy amazing moment. It was just so cool to know what listening to the Spirit does because we were not planning on doing that. We were going to teach the plan of salvation and Sister Jenkins brought it up and we both agreed we needed to ask them to baptism. They don’t have a specific date yet but they are praying about a date in May so we’re real excited for this family.

We have seen the Lord work through us but it has taken so much sacrifice, determination and motivation this week. We were on fire the beginning of this week, on Tuesday. We had a gap of 3 hours that we had nothing to do. We were looking at potentials and all these people we could possibly go see and we couldn’t think of any one. So we picked a street near where we were going to have dinner that night, and we tracted three big streets and all the houses along those major streets. We did 3 hours of tracting that day and we would drive up, park, walk up and then walk to the next house and then drive a little bit and then pull up, walk up, and then knock and talk to every single person. It was kinda [hard] cause some of the houses had gates and so we just had to do what we could. We saw so many cool miracles and met so many awesome people.  Those streets are often times not thought of because they’re just on those “major streets” and so missionaries in the past haven’t tracted into these houses for a really long time.  They’ve been overlooked since they’re not in a neighborhood. So we decided we were going to cut that stereotype and just go tract to all of those houses. We met Amanda Kiefer and Chad and we have return appointments with them. We actually had a return appointment the next day with Kiefer. He’s in high school and does band with a member of the ward. We saw him through the window while he was in the kitchen and he just looked at us and wouldn’t answer the door.  We had the member friend and his brother with us and even though he could see us he wouldn’t answer the door. We had given him a Book of Mormon so hopefully he read it– because that book could change his life – he’s a super smart kid. Other than that, that day was insane and because of all of the work we put into tracting that day, we were able to see real cool miracles in the end. Even though we didn’t exactly get a bunch of solid return appointments or potentials, we got some, and at the very end we went to visit a member. You know that the Lord’s timing is absolutely perfect and as we were coming out of the member’s apartment, this lady was getting out of her car and started running over to us. People never run over to us! So this was really exciting! She said, “Sisters, Sisters, are you Sister Mormon Missionaries?  I’m a member.” She started talking to us and we found out that she has been less active for a couple years since her baptism a couple of years ago. She had moved in 9 months ago and really wants to go to church. We found out that her husband is not a member and we asked if she would be willing to have us come over to teach him. It was so cool because if we hadn’t walked out of the member’s apartment at that specific time, she would never have seen us and not have learned what time church was. So I think the Lord puts us in places where we need to be but we have to be listening to the Spirit to make sure we know where we need to be. Sometimes we’re going to be somewhere and the Lord just knows, and you’re going to see miracles. That was just a cool experience!  Sadly she wasn’t able to come to church today because she got food poisoning but next Sunday, hopefully.

We got transfer calls Saturday night and I’m going to PAWHUSKA, OKLAHOMA!!!!!!!!! With Sister Sampson!!!!!!!   I am so excited for the people I will meet and thrilled for this great experience!  I will miss serving with Sister Jenkins and all the amazing people here in Noble, but I know she and Sister Krause will kill it in Noble and take good care of everyoneJ  Change is good, and it will help me to grow. Pawhuska is up near Kansas, between Clevland and Bartlesville.  It’s a reservation where most of the Osage (part of the Sioux tribe)tribe live, and one of the big ones in Oklahoma. My companion, Sister Sampson, is from the Navajo Tribe.

(Sarah didn’t leave a challenge in this letter, it got deleted from her recorder, but we would like to issue one for her. Actually, it’s more of a request, or plea. We ask each of you to remember Sarah in your prayers, and specifically ask for her to be guided to those who have been prepared for her to teach them. Pray for her to see miracles. Thanks.)

Love , Sister Walker

Week 44 - Spiritual Exhaustion: One of the Greatest Things Ever

I don’t even know where to begin with this week. It has been the most spiritually exhausting week of my life which is actually a good thing. Being spiritually exhausted is like one of the greatest things that you can ever be, because it means you are growing and learning and putting forth so much effort into strengthening your testimony. I’ve seen that in myself. I have grown so much and I am changing for the better. I am so grateful for all the people who have been able to push me and help me in this...my companion, Sis Jenkins can I just say how amazing she is. She pushes me and I’m so grateful that she has so much confidence in talking to people and I absolutely love her. I really hope that I don’t get transferred this next week because I would love to just stay one more transfer with her. 

Not just a BSU and BYU fan, but also an OU Fan!
(When in Oklahoma, do as the Okies do:)

We went on exchanges this week, which was a challenge for me because we went on OU campus. There are lots of people on campus and you only have a certain amount of time to get their attention, talk to them, and bring up the gospel before they head into class. So it was a huge challenge. I was with Sister Gentry and she is a go-getter, she is pushing me to the max and that is exactly what I needed. I just love her so much. By the end of this exchange I was sparking up conversations I didn’t even know I had in me. It was amazing to see the change in talking to people and coming out of myself to share the gospel and share my testimony. We got a few numbers from it and it was so cool, and I was so grateful that I had that experience to grow and stretch myself so much because I feel more confident. It’s just cool to see yourself grow and change. I think that can happen with anyone. If you’re weak in something, overcome it by doing what is holding you back, because when you do that the Lord is going to give you strength. If you pray first you’ll know how to overcome it. 

In General Conference Elder Larry Y. Wilson gave a talk about prayer and about how you have to pray with a solution, and say this is what I am going to do.  Then say "help me do this" but then go and do something about it.  You can’t just sit on your backside. I loved the story he gave of the sailor who didn’t just go and pray that the ship would be protected, but he prayed to know what he could do to help the ship to not sink in the storm. He found the solution and was able to save the whole ship because he listened to the Spirit. He wasn’t just expecting Heavenly Father to take care of it. He was going to listen to the Spirit and pray to know what to do. This is something I am still working on and something I really want to get good at one day. I have a testimony that I know if I pray with a solution and act upon the promptings from the Spirit, I will overcome/ accomplish what I need to.
If you'd like to listen to the talk here is a link :
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/04/media/session_4_talk_4/5761841027001?lang=eng

Sister Walker, Jenkins and Lona & Stephen Walker

Speaking of spiritually exhausting, we had Zone Conference this week and that was incredible because first of all, it was inspired. Any mission president is inspired for their mission; I have a testimony of that.  Pres. Mansell is definitely inspired for this mission and he knows exactly what we need. So he approached us the very first second of Zone Conference and told us it was going to be a ‘firehose of knowledge and information and growth. So get ready!’  This training, since there were a lot of new missionaries in the room, was from past trainings. So we got 15 minute segments of each training that they’ve done in the past because it’s really good training. We talked about part member families, and working with the members, and service, and what our purpose as a missionary is, and how to use the scriptures in teaching, and how to quickly bring up the gospel when you have 2 minutes on a campus. We talked so much about how we can be better missionaries and it was so cool. By the end of it we were all just so spiritually exhausted. It was crazy!

That is a little what it felt like for General Conference and can I just say that General Conference this weekend made my week. There was just so much that confirms that this Church is true, that we have a living prophet on the earth today, President Russel M Nelson, leading and guiding this church. Also, the Twelve Apostles and so many other leaders that are inspired to know what to teach us is a blessing. The whole overarching theme that I got from conference was UNITY. It all started when we all together sustained our beloved President Russell M Nelson as prophet, seer, and revelator. As every single person in the room stood up to sustain him, even in the small living room that Sister Jenkins and I were in, we could feel the Spirit and unity of the Church sustaining a prophet of God. That was Incredible!!!  I have absolutely no words to describe how incredible it felt. My testimony grew so much as I saw the unity of the 12 Apostles and also the counselors of the First Presidency – even just watching them on the stand you can tell they are so unified. One hundred percent unified together as priesthood leaders and you know that they hold the power of God. You could tell by their demeanor and their humility and the way they spoke. Each and every one of them sustained our prophet as they went up and spoke, I thought that was the coolest thing. I loved how also the theme of this conference was service and love, especially service – service in the church. And there were changes made in the priesthood organization and visiting teaching and home teaching. That is crazy that we don’t have home teaching and visiting teaching anymore, but I know it is inspired. It makes complete sense and I completely agree and sustain our prophet and the apostles in that revelation that was given to us. Ministering is just serving and loving each and every one of the members of this church. Sister Jenkins and I have been really talking about how we can involve the members more because there are a lot of people that don’t ever get visited and so I feel that this was very inspired. All of conference was just so incredible.

There were so many times that it was confirmed that the work is going forth to every nation. One of the biggest things that confirmed that was when Pres. Nelson announced the temples that are going to be built. I will not lie, when they said Russia, I just started tearing up thinking, this work is going among all nations and that is prophecy for when the Savior comes again. I think it’s so cool how we’re so close but we need to be so prepared for that great and amazing day. This conference was so inspiring. I learned something from Elder Bednar when he came to the mission, he told us that when you listen to anyone speak, especially when it’s the leaders of this church, don’t write down everything they say. He had us put our pens and papers away and only write down what the Spirit tells you. I have really taken that to heart and today I was able to get so much revelation for myself and for me as a missionary and for our companionship. It was really cool to see the potential that this work has for so many people. I loved Pres. Nelson’s talk about revelation and how we can receive our own revelation. That was just a confirmation that it’s so important to do the Lord’s will because He can see what we cannot see. He sees into our future and knows what is best for us. We just need to trust Him and that He knows.  And trust that He will provide a way, but we have to put our foot forward and have faith in Him and do His will. Sometimes that’s hard. Sometimes that’s scary. Sometimes we fear and sometimes we don’t have confidence. Sometimes we worry that we’re going to mess up. But if we do His will and are obedient, just like Pres. Nelson said, we will find joy and happiness in the end because the Lord knows our potential and we will get there if we just trust in Him. So that is some of the revelation I received for myself and this has been like an ongoing thing.

My CHALLENGE for you this week is to look at your notes and see what revelation you received for yourself and I want you to write that down.  Then ask yourself how you can apply it to your lives – in your prayers, in your scripture study, in your daily life activities, and how you can grow within your testimony.  All revelation given from the Spirit is because the Lord sees our future and knows exactly what we need. That is why the Spirit confirms to us truth and the revelation from the Lord to us. Each of us can receive our own and I am so grateful for that.

I hope you all have a wonderful week.  I love you all.  Thank you for your prayers and your thoughts.  I am so happy I am out here on a mission and I might not be in Noble too much longer, but I am so grateful I’ve been able to grow in this area.

Sister Walker

Here is a link to all of the General Conference talks.  Listen and write down what inspires you.
https://www.lds.org/general-conference?cid=HP_SU-1-4-2018_dPFD_fGC_xLIDyL1-B_&lang=eng