No Fires, but.....

Well I’m happy to report that there weren’t any fires this week! Ha-ha So there’s a little success but it was also just interesting as a week. Woo I have quite the story to tell you guys...So you know how we were going to baptize this week? Well the Hermana’s in our branch were going to baptize also, and their 2 people chose us to baptize them. So we were all ready for the baptisms on Saturday and people were getting there late so we had to like postpone it just a little. So the Hermana’s decided to go in the car of one of our investigators (Pamela, Oscars mom) to pick up 1 of their investigators. So we were waiting, and they had called us saying they were almost there so we started to get everything ready to start the baptism. Well we get a call a couple seconds later from one of the Hermana’s crying hysterically saying that they had gotten in a car crash! So my companion went and told her other 18 year old son named Nico and we sprinted to where the accident was. The ambulances, firefighters and everyone were already there and we went and found them and the Hermana were just crying like crazy saying that it wasn’t there fault and that it was a big crash, (the car was completely destroyed) but luckily no one was hurt too bad. It turns out that the guy driving the other car was drunk and ran the red light and T boned them head on. It’s honestly a miracle that everyone left out of that car with only minor injuries. The drunk guy and his friend were a little more messed up; everyone in our investigators car was fine. But they had to all go to the hospital and fill out reports and what not so we had to cancel all the baptisms because the Hermana’s couldn’t go or the mom of Oscar. We had to go back to the church and give the bad news to everyone. It was really a horrible accident and now this family does not have a car but the family sees that it could have been much worse. Oscar will get baptized this next Saturday and the family will keep going to church and working with us so it’ll be good. I’m just happy that everyone is alright!!! All the things that have happened to us this cambia (exchange) have been crazy! The adversary is working hard in our little branch. Anyways have a great week everyone! 

 

 

"Your house is on FIRE!!"

Well this year is passing by super-fast. It’s already June ha-ha-- what? Well I’ve got some great news for all of you, We’ve been working with a family, a mom named Pamela and her kids, Oscarito, Emilio, Nico and Nico’s girlfriend.  They are such a great family. So it’s been a work in progress but they all had baptismal dates for this Saturday but they’re all not ready except their 8 year old son Iscariot and he really wants to be baptized this Saturday. The mom is super excited about it too so he will be getting baptized this Saturday and the rest of the family will be baptized on a later date! So we are stoked here! It’s been 2 years since the elders have baptized in this sector and we are seeing miracles!!! And we are so happy! Oscarito is awesome, the other day he told us "I don’t know what I want to do...like I want to be a professional soccer player, but I also want to be a Mormon missionary....hmmm I think I’ll choose missionary because its cooler" ha-ha! And whenever we come in he runs and gives us giant hugs.  I feel so loved in that house!

 

 Anyways, we got permission from the Hermana Isomer (the mission president’s wife) to go to the gym in the morning if it’s possible and if we get up early to go. So there just happens to be a super nice gym right by the house! So we went today and bought a month membership for like 20 bucks, I’m so excited! It’s been almost 2 years since I have lifted weights! Its good because I think we will both feel better through the day too and be more energized in the mission work. WooHoo!

 

Well the word got out in the mission, so I guess I will tell you guys too...so last Sunday, like 8 days ago, we got a call in church saying "YOUR HOUSE IS ON FIRE!!!!" So we ran out of the church and sprinted all the way to the house to find a ton of firefighters there...long story short, our combustion, the fire thing in our house is a really good one and gets like super-hot, so we had a towel hanging there drying, like all missionaries do, and it seems like it must have fallen and it caught on fire and burned a gnarly hole in our roof. There’s really nothing we could do to prevent it, just a freak accident, we've been keeping it on the down low but someone put it in the mission announcements, so now everyone knows. So this last week has been pretty hectic with dealing with that, moving 2 of our companionships in the zone and having 3 intercambios this week and balancing a sector with 5 people preparing for baptism. We’ve been pretty dang busy. So right now we are not living in that house...it does not have electricity and there is a giant hole in the roof and wall....lucky no one was hurt though and the only thing that was lost was the towel! So there’s some major blessings right? So yeah now you guys know...but hey in the house we are in now, we don’t have any way to heat ourselves and the shower only has cold water so it’s been pretty cold lately in the middle of winter here in Chile haha but we’ve toughened it out. Our other house should be remodeled in at least a month so we will tough it out until then! Ha-ha ah you gotta love them mission experiences:) Have a great week!

 

 

Busy Week

Ya well we don’t have much time again this week...sorry this week has been, agotador (exhausting), just use google translate ha-ha, I don’t know how to translate it. Well this has not been the best week in my entire mission ha-ha we’ve had some major problems in finding people in this sector. It’s tough because we always have super good planned out days and every single day this week, some missionary has problems, the office comes to our zone, Hermana needs urgent service, or an investigator has problems. Oh I love serving and I know that we just need to be open to what God throws at us, but it’s just tough because we see the need to find a lot of people but we’re just not given the time to do it. Then when we do have the time, no one opens the door. It’s been tough but we’ve been praying a lot and fasting a lot to overcome. We have fasted a lot this cambio, we’ve made it a thing in the zone. Actually with the whole zone we are fasting at least once a week for the mission work. I know major miracles should come from it! We’re trying to make Chiloe into a stake!! I’m actually getting like pretty skinny too ha-ha this week I’ve lost like 8 pounds- whoops. Do it for the work!! Anyways yesterday, they asked me to give a talk in church. So I got to share a message with the branch which was good. I like it because I used to be so nervous for talks but now it’s something easy. I like it a lot actually. I shared the story of Jesus walking on water and then Pedro (Peter) following him but falling, it was good. I put a little mission spin on it too, interesting ;) Ha-ha anyways, that’s my week in a nutshell; we go up to Osorno tomorrow again! Woo! Another 12 hours on a bus!! Wish me luck!

Have a Great Week!

Zack

Volcano:)

Hi Everyone!

I am writing you from Chaiten.  We had to come here, 5 hours in a boat, to do a baptismal interview and house inspections, and I have some cool stories to tell you from here. But that will come later in the letter. First I will tell you about my week. So we just got here yesterday and we will be leaving tomorrow, so our journey to Chaiten will not be very long. We did have a stellar week though! We had zone conference as well, we had to do a part too so that was good. I got to talk a lot about finding and what not, good times, ha-ha and also this week we’ve had some good lessons and good progression with some of the investigators that we have. Like for example, we have one investigator named Elizabeth, and she is awesome! She has felt a strong desire to change her life and she has thought a lot about baptism lately, but she said she was missing something, she just wasn’t quite sure what. So the thing she was missing was going to church!!!! And we finally got her to church yesterday!!!!! Woooooo!!!!!! So that was a win! And she loved it!!! She really felt the spirit and it was awesome! We actually went over on Thursday too and had a really good lesson with her. It was super spiritual and we had a really fun time while we did it. She is great! So we are seeing some major progress with her. Anyways, the zone is doing really well as well, we actually are leading the mission in numbesr which is fantastic. I’m really happy about that! So sorry but I don’t have much time to talk, so I will make it short, and I have A TON of photos to send you guys, because we HIKED A FREAKING VOLCANO TODAY.  So that was pretty cool, I’ll send pics! Love you guys! Chao! 

 

Island Hopping!

Woo...sorry ha-ha it has been such a long week. Insanely long. So I ended up not having time to write last week because of all the traveling...in 2 days I traveled 22 hours...in the same suit...so I had to go from Porvenir to Punta Arenas (3 hours), fly from Punta to Puerto Mont (4 hours) take a bus from Puerto Mont to Chiloe (4 hours and a half) and then when I get there Elder Amaya, my new companion, tells me that we have a zone leader meeting on Friday and we had to go the very next day. So the next days we went up to Osorno (6 hours) and then back (6 more hours). It was insane...I have never traveled so much in my life....But hey I’m here now!

The Conseco de lideres was sick, so our mission president asked me to share some experiences of miracles I had in Porvenir to everyone so that was really good and spiritual. And I got to see some friends from the mission that I hadn’t seen in a long time. It was great! But hey I’m on my 3rd island in a row now ha-ha. President just loves sending me to secluded islands! But it’s cool because the island is pretty big so we’re a whole zone here on the island and now the zone leaders pretty much just go to every sector and work with the missionaries in their sectors and show them how to do stuff and everything so we will just be straight traveling here. It is going to be great! We still have a sector, but we spend a lot of time out of it. But so far the zone leader life has been pretty great. I love the zone already, we have some really cool people here. Today all the people from Castro all met up to play bang and basketball, it was a good time.

Hey dad, here in Castro there’s a Brazilian training another new Brazilian, it’s awesome! We eat lunch with them every day and they’re going to help me with Portuguese, it’s going to be sick ha-ha. But yeah I love it here so far, but it rains ALOT!!! They tell me that it rains more here than in any other place in the mission, and it has been true so far!

So a little about my companion---he’s from Colombia and he is legit. He’s known in the mission as one of the best missionaries and we are getting along so well. He’s such a fun kid who just works like a dog too, it’s awesome. It’s funny because I learned a lot of Colombian slang with Molina (my last companion) so I talk to him in full Colombian and he thinks it’s funny, Venga paca papito! Anyways, he’s such a smart guy, and knows a ton about the gospel! His dad was actually a mission president in Ecuador when he was like 12, so he knows what he’s doing. So now a little about the sector, we are teaching a lady named Pamela who they had just found like a little over a week ago, and she is awesome! She is trying to stop drinking and she has so much desire to change. Her kid Oscarito is awesome! He just loves us and wants to be a missionary just like us one day. He literally taught us the first vision perfectly, he is great and he is 10 years old. So they came to church for the first time on Sunday and LOVED it! And we actually got her with a date for baptism yesterday and she is so stoked! I’m pretty sure we will see some

major miracles in this sector and I’m super excited! I am not able to send any pictures this week but I will try next week. Hope you all have a great week! Looking forward to talking to my family on Mothers Day!!

Love-

Zack

Transferred!

  So because of cambios (exchanges) we're doing like a half Pday today and a half Pday tomorrow hahah so I will write you guys tomorrow. I want to tell you now that sadly I am being transferred. I'm going to miss Porvenir a ton, but I will be headed to the island of Chiloe as a Zone Leader! So that'll be a cool experience. I'll write you guys some more tomorrow...today will just be all packing, contacting, and goodbyes. I'll be sure to send pictures tomorrow! Chao!

**From Zack's Mom----Unfortunately he never did get to write us today so this is all we got for the week:( The island of Chiloe is 2800 miles away from Porvenir so I am sure he had a whole day of traveling today. Looking forward to hearing from him next week and hearing about his new area. Send him a quick email---I am sure he would love to hear from you----zachary.walden@myldsmail.net

 

 

 

 

Baptisms:)

Well I got some good news for the week! Martina and Heriberto were baptized and confirmed! Woo! It was awesome! I got to baptize and confirm Heriberto and my companion baptized and confirmed Martina. It was awesome because there hasn’t been a baptism here for like 4 years so like the whole town came. We had like 40 people there, which is more people than come to church.  All the less actives came too because it’s a rare sight to see 2 baptisms here. I will attach pictures. By the way, funny story--the font here in Porvenir is tiny, so I totally bonked Heriberto’s head on the font but I knew he wasn’t under all the way when he did so I just forced him under a little more ha-ha! Everyone made fun of me for it afterwards-- everyone always makes fun of me here for everything ha-ha! Anyways, it was an awesome baptism, Heriberto was super nervous but afterwards he was all good. But we should also be baptizing again on the 6th. We put one of our investigators with a date this week, and he’s awesome, his name is Gino. He was actually a reference from one of the members and he’s so stoked! We have such powerful lessons with him and he actually asked us, "Is that the only date you have? Or can I get baptized sooner if I want?" ha-ha he’s so great! So we will be looking forward to that, I hope I don’t get transferred before that.

 So anyways, Elder Shumway called me yesterday with some good news; they baptized a family that we found together! The mother and the son! So we’re stoked about that. We seriously found them so randomly, it was so guided by the spirit! We went into the area and we were walking just to like explore to see where this road led to and I had the prompting to knock a house, and they came out and now they’re baptized! So I’m stoked about that! Elder Shumway also had some bad news for me too...Well do you remember our investigator named José and Juana from Calbuco? We always went over to their house and we always ate there and they were super awesome, I always sent photos home with them, so I know you know who they are. Anyways, they had a daughter that had a really strange sickness but had lived with it for 24 years, well Saturday morning she passed away in the hospital; he was telling me that they’re pretty distraught about it. But I actually got it where the missionaries live behind their house now so it’s good because the missionaries have been a major support for them. I really think we showed up at the perfect time in their life. Jose has been saying that God gave her to him for 24 years, what else could he ask for? So he’s dealing with it really well. I wanted to update all of you on that so that you can keep them in your prayers.

Anyways I hope all of you had a good week!

Love you All!

Zack