Monday, March 28, 2016

No Charger--No Pictures:(

Hey what’s up everyone! To answer your questions, my ward is fantastic. I really like my Bishop, he’s a good guy, and we went on divisions this last week so I went with our ward mission leader Luis and taught a lesson with him which was fun. He knew a little English too so it was good. Anyways, no I have not gotten a new charger for my camera (he left it at the MTC—so no pictures) yet so I still can’t take pictures...I was supposed to get one today and last Pday but we ran out of time last p day and today is my companions birthday so we’re kind of doing what like he wants to do...I need a haircut too but like he has a plan so we probably won’t get around to it...oh well...maybe next week...I’ll try to get a charger. And yeah there’s pulgas (fleas?) but it’s just a part of Chile ha-ha I’m like already used to flea bites...everyone just kind of deals with them. Anyways, we had a good Easter yesterday; we both bought a bunch of sweets and ate them and what not and got stuff from people in the ward. It was good! It was weird without a candy poster though ha-ha missed it a lot!! This week has been real slow; it’s been a tough week. We found 2 new investigators though through tracting which is great! They’re a really cool mom and son. I can’t wait to teach them more!!! Also 2 other investigators of ours asked us if we could give a blessing to their daughter last night so we did which is really cool that they would like ask us to do that. We are also going to their house tonight for an asado with them to establish some buen ohnda (?) and for Nielsen’s birthday! Konya, the wife really wants to get baptized but doesn’t exactly want to marry her boyfriend and the boyfriend is still not really sure about the church but he really likes us and has been like a lot more open and what not recently which is great. So hopefully this month we will be able to baptize them. Hmmmm what else has happened this week, oh we have started chopping our wood ha-ha you chop so much wood in this mission, I’m going to get jacked --it’ll be great, good thing I like that type of stuff! Uhm I’ve eaten so much pan lately, I’ve been working out extra hard in the mornings because if I don’t I will gain a load of weight here. Anyways, I really need to get a new charger I want to start like taking pictures and what not because here it’s either beautiful or like super ghetto and I want you all to experience it. Anyways I hope everyone is doing well! Have a Great Week- Elder Zack Walden

Monday, March 21, 2016

Preaching to the Bus

Sorry I don’t have like much time today, but some cool stuff happened this week! So Tuesday of last week we were on a bus that was paaaaccckkkeeedddd and Elder Neilsen was like "man want to do some contacting?" I was like” yeah man I’m always down!” He was like "alright preach to this entire bus!" I was like uhhhh yeah sure I’ll do it ha-ha even though my Spanish is terrible, so I got up and in my broken Spanish I introduced myself and testified of our Savior and then went and passed out some pass along cards to like 30 people, it was so scary but it was good. I felt so good after it and he was proud of me. I’ve been trying to focus this week on contacting and just using the Spanish more with random people, sometimes they can’t understand me and I can’t understand them but like it’s the only way to get my Spanish better and it’s been going pretty decently. We had our first intercambios this week and I went with Elder Ackerman. He’s a good guy from Sacramento California, fellow golden bro from the golden state ha-ha and he’s a drummer so we get along pretty well. Anyways, he only has like 3 months left on the mission but he’s such a good missionary-- sometimes I can’t even understand his Spanish because he talks so fast! But we had a lesson with a girl named Pamela, it was her first time with the missionaries so I invited her to baptism and she accepted which was super cool! Totally thought she wouldn’t, I guess I need to have more faith or something , so yeah that was cool! This week I also had my first pichange, completo, and Mormon coffee! And they were all absolutely delicious! By the way a pichange is fries with a bunch of different meats, pickles, cheese, tomatoes and onions and what not, yeah Dads dream food, I’ll have to make him one sometime ha-ha. Yeah so I’m starting to get like fat on how much pan we are eating , I’m going to gain so much weight out here! Well I have got to go but I hope everyone has a wonderful week! Thank you to everyone who has written me:) Love- Elder Walden

Monday, March 14, 2016

Dogs Everywhere!!

Hello Friends and Family- Well I am here in Chile and loving it! I am serving in the outer area of the city and it is pretty ghetto. People literally live in shacks, but esta bienJ It is pretty poor down here and there are SO many dogs….they are everywhere! We’ve had to fight off a couple because randomly they will just come up and try to attack you. My companion taught me that if one challenges you, you just pretend to pick up a rock and pretend to throw it and the dogs will run away but he said if that doesn’t work just actually chuck the rock or kick it away. Haha But the good thing is that at least here in Chile they give you free rabie shots if you do get bit. So it’s all good. I’ll probably get bit at some point so be waiting for that letterJ Oh and I also got attacked by fleas! Super itchy on my legs but that’s mission life so I will get used to it. Like I said it is pretty poor and sketchy here but it is fine. The Spanish here is soooo different, I can’t understand a thing! The first lesson with an investigator I was like uhhh what? So whatever I share in the lessons are completely based off the Spirit helping me, hahah but it works! It is so hard though. I don’t even know if they are saying words or just like mumbling. At least my companion is super good at Spanish. My companion is really awesome. I like him a lot. We’ve gotten along super well and I’ve gotten along super well with our zone leader also. We slept at their house last night and they are really cool. And the one guy has a ukulele so that was fun to play around with. To answer some of your questions----I am sleeping fine. The food has been super good so far. We eat lots and lots of pancito (it’s bread), I am going to get real fat real fast. Hahaha It’s pretty yummy. I feel bad though because the Chilean’s give us tons of bread and juice and what not and they are literally living in a shack so it is like all they have. It’s toug! Yeah so the Chile life is pretty rad so far! I can’t understand a thing which is hard and it is super poor here but I am loving it! I did my first baptismal invitation yesterday and the lady accepted but her husband did not…..but yeah we should be having some baptisms coming up real soon. I’m excited! Thank you to everyone who wrote me---it made my day! I didn’t have a lot of time to respond to many of them but please keep emailing me—I love getting mailJ Love you all- Elder Zack Walden ***Pictures attached are of him with his Mission President and wife and the other one has his new companion in it also.

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Arrived Safely in Chile:)

Parents, Family and Friends- So I am here in Osorno, Chile right now! No sleep last night and I haven’t showered in like 30 something hours but I am doing good! Flight was long but good. My companion and I for today made a goal to have a conversation with people in the airport about missions and we did. It was good! I am also happy because I totally assisted in my first baptism today I gave the guy next to me a Book of Mormon and taught him about it and it was perfect. I’ll tell you more about it in my next letter because I just found out where I am going to be spending the next 12 weeks! I am going to Punto del Mar tomorrow with Elder Neilsen. I meet him tomorrow morning and I’ve only heard good things about him. I am so excited!! Love you all! Gotta Go! Elder Walden

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Last P-Day in Mexico!

Yay! Last P-day in Mexico! It’s crazy! But it’s been a good one. We played some Latinos in volleyball today and made super good friends with them, I’m starting to love the Latinos here. They are great! Such nice kids. They’re all sad we’re leaving though. But I can’t wait to get to Chile! It’ll be such an experience. Leaving here on March 8th and it will be a long day of traveling. Should be fun! 6 other people will be flying with me and for some reason they made me the “flight leader”—so I have to make sure that everyone is safe and that they get on the plane at the right time and stuff. I don’t even know how to get myself on a plane, let alone 6 others ha-ha so that should be interesting. So yeah there’s my life next week It’s going to be sad leaving the MTC. I’ve made so many super close friends here but I’ll see them in the future:) So yeah I’ve been playing so much cage soccer this week that I now have holes in the toes of my tennis shoes, so I’ll have to buy some new ones out in the field...oh well! Hopefully they have my size. So I’ve got a ton of pictures for you guys this week. Have fun with them, just got one sent to me from President Calls wife of me shaking Elder Oaks hand. So I’ll try to send that. So miracle of the week- They were thinking Hermana G. had appendicitis and were planning on sending her back to the states to get surgery. There were so many prayers said for her. But they did a bunch of tests and she just has some weird Mexican stomach bacteria. But the Mexico hospital knew how to treat it and she’s back at the MTC now on track to leave on Monday with all of us. I really do think that is such a blessing from God! He really does answer prayers. Such a fast recovery is not just something natural...prayers really do work. So I’ve been kind of stressing this week about the language because I still feel like I’m not like where I should be with it. I actually feel like I’ve gotten worse so I’ve been freaking a bit. But last night we taught a TRC and we taught this one lady who had such a strong testimony and told us all that our Spanish is good and that all we need to do is keep working at it and God would help us, which is exactly what I needed to hear. It was great! Hmmmm lets see...what else happened this week-- Oh I’m in a wheel chair now btw...uhm long story...and I might not get a P- day this next week because I’ll be missing Tuesday in the field so you might not hear from me next week. Just warning ya! Love all of you! Hope everyone is well! Elder Zack Walden **Note from Zack’s Mom---He was just kidding about being in a wheelchair and being injured. It was a friends who hurt her ankle but he thought he would scare us by saying it was him who was injured. Still trying to joke with us—even from so far away. Oh that boy! Sure do love him