Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Well, things are going really well! I am at the point where I think of a lot of Spanish words over English words. It is super cool! Today surprisingly was a regular p-day, even though it is a religious holiday here. A lot of things were closed..even the place we usually go to write emails! But we found another place, haha! Halloween is pretty low key here. There are a few people here and there who have decorations but no mucho.

The picture you got was from a member visiting from the US. He came out of nowhere in his car and said ¨Bet you haven’t seen a gringo here in a while! ¨ I was super confused at first but then he explained that many years ago he served a mission here and was looking for a member’s house! So we showed him where she lived and then he offered to take a pic for you! That was super cool. I’m glad that finally came!

The baptism picture is of a guy that we found one day and spoke with! He ended up living in the sector of our roommates so they ended up teaching him and we were able to attend his baptism. He is super cool. The day of the baptism, Elder Campbell calls me and says “hey we had someone assigned to give a talk during the baptism tonight but they fell through...can you give one on baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost?” I was like oh shoot! Uhhhhh sure! So during the day I slowly wrote some notes here and there (in English!) and then when I gave the talk, I just went off of bullet points that were in English. It was so cool! I was able to translate all I wanted to say into Spanish and people said I did well! It was like 6 or 7 mins! So scary but rewarding afterwards!

One of the videos we like to share with people on our first contacts is called Gracias a el, or Thanks to Him. (Jesus Christ) I figured you might like to watch it and see what we share with people :) Its in Spanish of course here but i imagine its in English too! Its like 3 mins or so but it is pretty awesome! :)

It’s really eye opening to see other people’s houses outside the US. They are so bad but the people are happy to have it! It’s the same thing with cars, most of the members don’t have autos. We have one of the nicest houses of all the missionaries in the mission, or top 5! That said, it’s not anything compared to our houses back home haha! It does have a microwave and outlets and a fridge. The outlets are different. They have three holes vertically. So maybe an adapter for that would be nice. I have one for my camera battery charger but that is it. 

Well, I have written in my journal every day! Today is actually day 111, haha! I know that because of my journal :) So I will definitely send more stories home when I get my camera fixed! So you asked how I’m doing physically with all this walking/running all day long!:) This week I got a fat blister. It hurt really bad for about 2 days but thanks to the blister Band-Aids you put in my bag it’s almost all better now! So thank you for that! :) My back was hurting earlier this week but now that is getting better too :) Mission life is rough physically and spiritually but it is also so great in BOTH ways! :) I am understanding most of what I read in my Libro de Mormon and doing so much better! I have 2 weeks left of training! How nuts is that?! I’m getting excited for the change though! I will most likely stay in my sector and my trainer will leave, but we will see. Also I sent a

letter like 2 or 3 weeks ago so it should arrive in the next few weeks :) 

Well I hope everyone is doing well! Tell everyone hi!!

Love Elder Walz

Dia de Independencia!!

Hello!

Okay so this week was nuts! It was Dia de Independencia here! The holiday was the 18th but people started partying on the 16th and stopped today on the 20^th! Haha! That is why I have p-day today! Nothing was open yesterday because it was the day after the holiday! That didn’t make sense to me but it was cool. Sunday and Monday we returned to our houses at 7pm because a lot of people get really drunk and they didn’t want us to be in any bad situations or anything. But the holiday was great! Members hooked us up with food! I sent a lot of photos this week. Sorry I don’t have time to explain them ;) 

I tend to finish showering and getting ready in the morning at around 7:35am, so I have till 8 to do whatever. I like to write to friends and family during that time. Other than that, I really don't have any extra time but it's all good!;) I still LOVE getting letters!

We can only receive packages every 2 weeks at our district and zone meetings so I should get the last one you sent next week. I hung up the piñata you sent for my birthday but didn't take any swings, I like it as a decoration! :) 

I’m happy to hear that my experiences have positive effects on your life and hopefully other people's back there because I don't feel like I contribute a whole lot yet here. It’s getting better though! This week I started to understand the words that people say, I don't know what those words mean because I can’t translate quickly enough, but at least now I know that they really are speaking Spanish! Haha! 

I read in Alma 43 and 44 this week. I tried to think of ways to apply it to our lives today. To me, our armor is the Lord, the commandments, the atonement, and our knowledge. The commandments help us keep away from bad situations. They help us stay in a healthy mindset. The atonement assures us that we will be okay (like when wounded in war). Any time we have hard times or need help, we can have that help through the atonement! Then our knowledge is also our armor. We know that Jesus Christ lives! We know that if we live righteously, we can be together in heaven! I guess knowledge can also kind of go with “reasons for fighting” or reasons to live the way we do!:). We know that there is much more than this life. We also know that our eternal happiness depends on our actions here. We want to be able to enter into the celestial Kingdom when that day comes. We know that as we live righteously, we will have blessings from on high! Blessings that we can't even comprehend. That alone is a good enough blessing to want to always try our best. We have our family to fight for. That is probably the biggest reason for me. I want to do all I can to be with you guys for ever and ever! But just like in Alma, the wars (or our lives) are difficult. Our "spies" or guidance in life are through prayer, scriptures, and modern day prophets. We can receive revelation through the Holy Ghost to help us in all sorts of situations. Then every general conference we are given knowledge on how to live in this day and age. The Lord warns us of things through the prophet and his apostles. I don't know about you, but that is some serious spy work to me! :) But yeah, like in Alma 43:21, we need to make Satan afraid of us by doing our best and immediately repenting when we mess up. We aren't perfect, no one is! So never feel bad about needing to use the atonement! Then like in 43:48, it will be hard at times. I know you have had hard times, but remember your end goal and what you can still fight for! In 43:51, we might be outnumbered at times, but that doesn't change anything. We have the Lord's help especially when we are living worthily. In 43:54, we also need to have the forgiveness of Moroni. He could have easily justified killing them twice! But he didn't! There will be many times people will hurt us maybe knowingly or unknowingly, but we need to try and have charity. It's so hard. I am still struggling with that here. But I know that it is very important. Haha. Sorry that was longer than I anticipated but hopefully it makes a little sense:).

Well, another weird thing here is that all my clothes are getting too big. I have lost a lot of weight and muscle! It's really weird. I might have to tailor some of my pants here if it gets any worse. We get done planning around 9:30-9:40 and 4 days this week went till 10 or later! That's hard because I don't have time to shower and wash my face and stuff, oh or eat dinner!

Okay so for the last thing. I have a challenge for all that want to accept haha! I started reading the Book of Mormon and Libro de Mormon. Every morning I read 3-4 chapters of The Book of Mormon during personal study and throughout the day I read the same 3-4 chapters in the Libro de Mormon. So I am going to read The Book of Mormon from start to finish in 2 languages! About 3 chapters a day and if you or anyone else wants to join me that would be awesome! :) It takes you guys half the time it takes me to read it in Spanish so I know you can do it! It will take like 2 months but it will be worth it! 

Well that’s all today. Hope all is well!

Love Elder Walz

Happy Birthday!

Wow! Another P-day already! I feel like this week flew by. I have about 20 minutes this morning before personal study so I wanted to write ya!

I wanted to tell you how great my birthday was! Man, I don't think you could have picked better candy to put in that box, haha! And that hair gel was perf! So thank you so much for that. A lot of people say birthdays kind of suck out here so thank you for making sure that didn't happen. You are seriously the best!

I also wanted to tell you what my roommates did. They all woke up early and set up your gift and all of their gifts in the kitchen. When the alarm went off at 6:30am, I was the only one still in bed. So I got up and Elder Catola said "Elder Walz! Get down here now!" Then when I got to the kitchen, they were singing happy birthday to me and they had bought me a cheesecake! They set up the candles you sent also! Then after they sang they all gave me a gift. E'Catala got me a leather jacket somehow and then also he bought the cheesecake. E'Rodriguez drew me a card and got me candy. E'Agostinelli bought me candy and also gave me a ring. The ring has been passed down a few times on the mission. The ring says "730 on the outside and the inside says "days to serve, a lifetime to remember". Then they all went around telling me some words of wisdom and needless to say this put me into tears, haha. The elders I live with are all so awesome! That ring is literally so cool. 730 might seem like a lot until you put it into perspective of a lifetime, haha. I'm so glad I made it out here. I honestly never thought I would be here until this last year.

Then also, a member had my same birthday so they also had us over for dinner and cake! I think they sent Tan a picture but I am not sure. So I just wanted to let you know I had a GREAT birthday!! :)

So yeah the Haitians went to church and now we are actually teaching like 7 of them. There are 2 couples that are progressing more than others. When we got to laws and ordinances I was kind of nervous especially about the law of chastity and word of wisdom. Both couples live together and aren't married. But when we taught both those lessons they like immediately believed that they were true commandments of God! And they are both planning on getting married soon to follow the Law of Chastity and then they agreed to try and stop drinking coffee every morning too. It was just crazy to see how receptive these guys are. I expected more complaints and wanting reasons for why we have the commandments. So yeah the Haitians are sweet!

Some lessons that have been meaningful to me are in 1 Nephi 16! This is the chapter where Nephi's whole family gets discouraged. They all murmur to the Lord for not being able to eat, even Lehi. But somehow Nephi is just a boss and never ceases to have faith in the Lord. He eventually makes a new bow and goes and gets food. Then he brings it back and shares it with his whole family who were just complaining. I don't know if I could stay strong like that when everyone around me was complaining. This story is such a great example of staying strong when others aren't doing what’s right. Even when times get rough, just have that faith that the Lord will provide. And when he does finally bless you, have the charity of Nephi and still share it with others that aren't doing what's right. Always be that example. I know this to be true in many experiences of mine here on my mission. I was struggling a ton but as soon as I put all my faith in the Lord things started to get better. I hope this makes sense because I don't have time to look it over :)

Oh one other interesting thing here is that the church has some huge olive and walnut farms here in Melipilla. I guess the church owns farms like these all over the world. (Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Florida, Cali, England) In Florida I guess the church owns like 15% of the land in all of Florida haha! This was interesting to me how much the church actually sells on the open market. I want to learn more about that someday. There are a few members in the ward that are in charge of it here. That is how I know a little bit. But yeah I thought that was super interesting!

Well I think that is it this week! Spanish is getting a little better :) haha No huge improvements yet but it is coming. Take care and have a great week!

Love Elder Walz :)

 Show original message

Reply, Reply All or Forward | More

Things are going better!

Okay so first of all, this is the letter I wanted to send you last week! haha I think I was struggling a lot when I wrote it so you can take comfort knowing I am doing much better this week! The other pics are of my room and then also the place we went to eat today. My companion is from Peru so he took us to a Peruvian place to eat! I’ll send you another email in a little!

I figured I would write you and tell you some of the little stories about what happens and also my feelings here and there. I'll tell you in the email this week, but my time in the field so far has not been great. I have definitely had good times still though.

So my first day in the field after meeting with the Mission President started great! I got to the chapel where we would find out our trainers and when I saw I got a Latino from Peru, I thought it was cool because I would probably learn Spanish quicker. I'm hoping that will hold true but as of now it is very hard. It is stressful spending a whole day with someone that you can barely communicate with.  It gets a little boring quick. I really am doing my best to stay positive though.

The hardest part though is in lessons. I swear the people here in Melipilla slur so much. You know how it is kind of hard to hear hill billy's because they don't pronounce all their sounds? Well imagine a hill billy speaking another language. It is so hard. It literally drives me bonkers and makes me wish I would have gone English speaking. I know once I figure it out, I will be extremely happy to be here. I'm sure it isn't true, but I feel like I am worse than I should be. Everyone keeps saying for only being here 6 weeks, I am doing fine. But I really feel like I have to guess everything that is said. I am going to write to Brennan this week to see how Spanish was for him. I hope he struggled like me. That will make me feel better about myself.

One crazy thing is that I already had fleas in my bed! SO sleeping has not been great here so far haha. I didn't realize it was fleas until about a week in. I know I'll joke about it soon enough but I was so angry at first. I was like seriously! The only time I have to relax is in bed and for 2 days I knew i had fleas and couldn't do anything but wash my sheets before I bought the spray. I have around 20 bites throughout my arms and legs. They itch but they really aren't too bad. Getting to live like this really does make my appreciation for what I have at home increase a lot! I pulled out the flea collar you sent. I think it’s all good now and I'm starting to laugh a little about it. It’s rough but I can already see progress in my mindset. I still can’t even think of what person I'll be in 2 years, but I've already made so much progress in the way I think and act.

As far as lessons go, I am starting to teach more and more. Especially the restoration and the plan of salvation. I don't know what the people say when responding to me but my companion answers their questions and then I start teaching again! :) Our Search for Happiness is a great book! And read Chap 4 of PMG. I read that this week and my prayers have been strengthened a ton! It applies to missionaries but I’m sure you can apply it to everyday life at home too. haha

So Melipilla! Melipilla is the area I am in and it is the largest section of the mission. Which means we cover the most area. Melipilla itself isn't too bad but we cover like 20 tiny farming communities around it. It is also pretty ghetto around here. Our house is decent but almost everyone else's houses are pretty bad. Everyone we have taught so far has been really poor and missing teeth. It is really weird to experience life like this. I hope I get used to it.

Okay so my last complaint, lol. My left foot and backside of my right knee have started to hurt. We walk so much and always so fast so that is the other thing I need to get used to. Luckily, yesterday, we got to go to the temple for the whole afternoon. It was a ward temple day and my companion had a recent convert going to do baptisms for the dead. So we got to go and I loved it. I was able to see some of my friends still in the CCM. I also saw my teacher that I liked. It was weird, I felt back at home there. I don't feel comfortable in Melipilla yet. But yeah, we were the 2 witnesses for a session of baptisms. We told the guy whether or not they went fully under water. Then we also got to confirm a few people. But yeah, I really needed the trip back to Santiago to get some confidence back. I also found out that all of my friends from the MTC are struggling just as much as I am so I don't feel so behind:). Oh one more thing. We can only listen to Hymns and MoTab. :( Haha. It isn't a big deal but now I won't be using my iPod for 2 years. So we also do a ton of contacting here. I didn't realize that. Our schedule is like..

During Proselyting, half of it is contacting. Lunch is always with a member and then we can have dinner after planning if we want, but I am usually too tired. Then I also think it is weird I only have a half hour to study the language!

Well darn, I haven't told you too many stories yet and I am already 2 pages in! So I'll just tell you a few..On Wednesday night, we contacted into some Haitians.They were all black and they invited us in to their house. All of them looked sketchy so I was legitly kind of scared. But after we taught them the Restoration, they agreed to come to church today. So hopefully we will see them today!

Another story was the next night, we contacted someone at 8:20 pm when we were about 20 minutes from our house. We have to be home at 9 unless we are in a lesson. Then we have till 9:30. Anyways, this lesson ends up going till 9:17 and we had to be home by 9:30 so my trainer made us run the entire way! It sucked but looking back on it, it is a funny story. It is also cool to see how obedient my trainer is. Every day we also have to take sketchy buses to areas. That is how large our area is. We take the bus like 30-40 minutes and then slowly make our way back.

So I just got home from my first Sunday and it was really good. I had to go up and introduce myself in Sacrament meeting but it wasn't bad. I didn't really understand anything but that is okay. After church, we had lunch at a member’s house. They were super cool. They cooked all kinds of meat including blood sausage! Look it up:(  Then potatoes and salad and beans. One weird thing here is their salads. All salads in Chile have plain oil and then a lemon for you to squeeze on it. Super weird. Anyways, after that we had a total of 4 lessons. In the last one, I was able to get 3 people to agree to be baptized if they receive a confirmation from their prayer. So that was really cool.

I hope I don't sound too sissy in this letter. I just needed to express how I was feeling. I know these tough times will bless me so much. I think I would not have been able to get through any kind of med school without this. I have never pushed myself so hard in my life. I still have a lot to go but my confidence for post-mission life is already growing. I also know eventually I will love it here, haha! It will just take a little. I LOVE you mom! I pray for you probably 3 times a day. I hope life is treating you well! Study the scriptures every day! It really is a way to receive personal revelation. Also, please pray for me :) por favor! I will be fine but I could use the extra help. I think it is in Alma10. It talks about praying for others really does help them. You are the B-E-S-T! Yo estoy muy agradecido por tu!

LOVE ELDER WALZ

A week in Talagante!

It was hard for me to know what to share from this weeks letter. Elder Walz had limited time and some mild frustration as he tried to upload some pictures, which included photos of letters he'd hand written, to a computer with all Spanish instructions. I think he pretty much lost all of his pictures and I could tell he was frustrated. He is officially living in Talagante and experiencing a "Chilean" Spanish immersion! I'm told that "Chilean" Spanish is way different than textbook Spanish. I was also counseled that his first weeks and months can be extremely challenging as he attempts to transition from English studying to full time, 24 hours a day, SPANISH!! My heart ached for him as he expressed the need for a good blanket and some snacks, a better jacket and some English study material. He is truly at a point where he will learn to rely on the spirit for more than just inspiration to teach the gospel. He will be praying for temporal help as well as spiritual. He will feel and experience what some of the struggling people of the area feel which I'm sure will help him learn to appreciate and love them in an entirely different way. Letters of love and encouragement will be appreciated!!

Elder Walz wasn't able to write much of a letter about the mission, but I want to include this in the blog for the sake of memories, observation of transition, and something to laugh about in a few years. I usually clean up the typos which are caused by the Spanish spell check, but I want Talon to be able to look back on this day as it was, haha!:)

10:13am Talagante!

Okay so the things ineed are

my blue columbia jacket from dad

a blanket :) Mine are trash here.

Oil canester

Ensign or liahona in english

Any snacks

Missioany reference book

Fine point pens from Pigma Micron 03  .35 m ina lot of black and then a few colors. I hear they are on amazon

Arizona temple postcards of the onesin az in deseret book if they are cheap :)

I also wanted you to call pvcc and ask if they need you to pick up my diploma cuz i never did haah

Oh and put ctholic jesus sttickrs on the package to make it get here sooner :)

Okay so sorry im writing so bad. Ihav like no time now. Onehour to writemy pres, you, dad, and tanner. I did write a letter for you and took pics so im going to try and send those pictures.! Im glad the pres got the letters to you :) He was pretty cool.

Well i just some how deleted allmy photos onthe memory card! :( Im kind of upset haha I had a lot of things. But anyways i will send the picture next week of the letter i guess. I am almost out of time :( I had a really bad first week but hopefullyitwillget better. I couldnt understand anyone i was teaching I just would bear mytestimony here and there. And then i just delteted my photos because i couldnt read what was going on.

Anywys i am trying to keep my head up. Love you mom. Your the best! Have a great week! I hopeyou understandthe list but if not i can clarify when i have moe time next week.

Love Elder Walz

10:19am Just Breath:)

Everything will be fine Talon. You will get this. Sorry about the pictures, stupid computer!;) I'll get your things sent!❤️❤️❤️

10:20am re: Just Breath:)

Haha thank you so much! I just said a paryer and looked up and saw this! :) So you understood everything for the

most part. I have a second longer because they are trying to makemymemory card work againso i can take photos

of my emails haha Butthanks I really do just need to breath! haha

Love you mom :)

My first area...Talagante!

Elder Walz was able to write a hand written letter in the midst of transfers..I have typed it out..

Hello!

I am officially out of the MTC! We just got to our Mission President's house and took pictures and got to know them a little. Now we get to write letters to you while waiting to be interviewed. It is already so cool here. Their house is huge and super nice. They are also pretty young. They have four kids ranging from 16-8. Another cool thing about them is that they have traveled a lot. President grew up in LA and his wife grew up in San Francisco. But after they got married, they have lived in Provo, Miami, DC, Canada, Holland, Argentina, and China. Each one of their kids was born in a different country.

So as of now, I don't know who my trainer is. We found out our P-day will be on Mondays. I am very excited to hear where I will go. My teacher in the MTC said there will be new missionaries in his ward. The President's assistants said some of us will go to the coast. I am so excited to be on a mission. Everyday I feel a stronger feeling telling me I am where I'm supposed to be. I'm so grateful I was able to be raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I finished reading the Book of Mormon this week. I loved reading it. I don't know why it was so hard to read back home. Well, I have to go. I sure love you guys. I wouldn't be here without ya! Have a great week and I will see your emails Monday! 

<3 Elder Walz



The following is a very special and sacred letter we received today from the mission president. I am so grateful for his prayerful support of Talon. When Talon was set apart as a missionary, his good Stake President taught us how not only is Talon called to serve in a place, he is called to serve with and learn from a specific mission president and his wife. I can already feel confirmation of that.

24 August 2016

Dear Brother and Sister Walz,

Sister Woodward and I were pleased to welcome your son, Elder Walz, to one of the finest missions in the world, the Chile Santiago West Mission.  He is well and happy, and we are impressed with his enthusiasm for the work.  After departing from the MTC, he arrived at our mission home and I interviewed your son. He is a wonderful worthy person. We had lunch together and afterward, we went to the mission office which is the Stake Center of Maipú. My Assistants and office missionaries then gave him a brief orientation of the mission. He met his new companion, and they departed for his first area!

Elder Walz has been assigned to work with Elder Agostinelli, who will serve as his training companion.  Trainers are chosen for their competence, patience and dedication, and are selected after prayerful consideration.  With this letter we are including a photograph taken of your son and his new companion with Sister Woodward and myself.

Please accept our deep appreciation for raising such a fine son.  We feel a genuine fellowship with you in supporting and providing him this opportunity to grow spiritually as he labors to bring souls unto Christ.  It is my prayer that the Lord will inspire us all to sustain him in this challenging assignment. He will experience some of the most difficult as well as the most rewarding moments of his life here. Please write him frequently, weekly if possible.  Express your love, support, and confidence in him.  You will witness miraculous changes in his life as he engages fully in the service of others.

If you have any questions or if we can assist you in any way, please do not hesitate to write.

Sincerely,

President Christopher G. Woodward

Chile Santiago West Mission

Mission President

Mission president and new companion

Pokemon GO

Well, I can't believe its my last P day here! This week one of the talks we watched was Elder Holland on the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. It is a powerful one! I loved it!

So this week I got to go on splits for 4 hours! It was so great. I worked with Elder Lima and he is from Brazil. He spoke pretty good English though so he was able to teach me a lot. We took the metro to the East Mission and started walking through his area. We tried knocking on some investigator doors but no one was home so he said, "lets sit down and say a prayer and ask the holy ghost to help us out" because we couldn't find anyone to teach. He asked me to say it and in Spanish of course. Then not even 5 minutes later we contacted someone at a street light and they were interested and he set up an appointment! We then closed it with a prayer. She asked us to pray for some of her emotional problems and then Elder Lima said absolutely! And told me to say it! I was like uh oh! But the prayer actually turned out pretty good. But then it gets better. About 15 minutes later, we found a 16 year old kid at a park playing Pokemon Go! My companion told me to contact him. So I went over and asked him how he was doing and stuff and then told him my family played Pokemon go before I left to come here for my mission. He thought that was cool and then my companion took over. After about 2-3 minutes, I was lost but then the kid started getting teary eyed. My companion pulled out a Book of Mormon and gave it to him. In the paper copies of the Book of Mormon, they have pictures in the front. Elder Lima explained the Book in a cool way. He opened it to the first picture which was of Christ and explained that the book was another testament of Jesus Christ. And then the next picture was of Lehi leaving Jerusalem and then a picture of them on the boat coming to the Americas. Then he just said the rest is about the trials of the people here trying to live the gospel and that there were prophets that kept records. Then he hands the book to him and gives me the eyes! I was super nervous again but I just bore my testimony on the reason I was here and that it was because of that book. The teachings in the Book of Mormon have made me the person I am and it has brought me much happiness. And then I told him if he lives by the teachings in there the same will come to him. It was such a cool experience. The rest of the contacts were pretty quick but they almost all made appointment times! It was such a testimony builder! It was hard to understand investigators. Well I pretty much didn't understand hardly any actually, haha! But my companion was awesome and helped me out. Then when we got back we got Papa Johns for dinner! It was great! Other than that, everything was pretty much the same. We had a total Spanish day yesterday again and they are always a little quieter because we don't know what to say haha. This was the last week of going to the temple every Wednesday. It has been great starting off the days with such a great feeling that you get while in the temple!

Finally some REAL FOOD!

Hey Hey! 

Well the new missionaries arrived! They call us veterans except we barely know anything! 

Okay so a few cool things about this week! 

The cafeteria is getting redone so we have been eating in the gym of the church on the grounds and GOOD NEWS, the food has been so much better!! We have had lasagna, chicken salads with ranch, meatballs and potatoes, and pizza! Yesterday for lunch we got Papa Johns! It was great! 

We also had a clean room challenge this week and we won that. So the president's wife made us chocolate chip cookies! That was the night of the pizza so yesterday was just great! 

We ended up not going proselyting last week, so we have that tomorrow! We did get to go contacting and my companion and I gave out our first Book of Mormon haha! It was to a 17 year old kid. He let us practice our Spanish with him and then after a while we got into church stuff and he was interested so we gave him a book! It was super cool. But yeah tomorrow I will be going on splits with a missionary from the east mission for 4 hours! Pretty scary but now i can at least understand Spanish. My Spanish is still slow though, especially past and future tense. Yesterday we did a solo Spanish day so that was difficult but super beneficial! 

I've been reading in Alma this whole week and I'm to chapter 40! Its been pretty awesome! He is like the best missionary ever haha! He gives up being the top guy almost to go around preaching the gospel. He doesn't care how many people shut him down, he keeps teaching and just loving all the people! It is really cool to read. My favorite scripture and the one I memorized in Spanish this week is Ether 12:27. It's crazy, I'll be out in the mission field in 2 weeks!

This is for Turner and Tyson! Pokemon Go just released here this week and everyone is going nuts. Even our teachers when they walk out of class haha! Then everyone when we went contacting at a park were just roaming with friends playing it. 

Okay here are some pics:

My roommates finally got me to put up the flag last week. 

Me being silly in front of the flag 

We decided we had to take a pic in front of my flag!

I found some clay tennis courts!:)

 Here in Chile they have a grand mac! I only got the super mac!

We got mcdonalds last week! So good!

A fake bose mini sound link for only $30. It sounds pretty good!

Half way through the MTC!

Hey everyone!

A cool spiritual story from this week was about the brother of Jared. We got a new teacher for the second half of the MTC and he is great so far. We read Ether 3:1-6 over like 20 minutes. Its about when the brother of Jared went to carve the 16 rocks out of the mountain and then take them up to the top of the hill. That is all I would think about the story before but he had us slow down and think about it. He  probably didn't have any climbing gear, nor tools to carve out the rock. So he probably fell a few times and hurt his hands many times and was probably frustrated but he still eventually climbed all the way up the mountain. When he got up there, he still was so humble that he asked for forgiveness for his weaknesses or something like that before he asked the Lord for help making the rocks glow. I don't have my scriptures with me, otherwise i would summarize it better but read those 6 verses again with the mentality of putting yourself in the situation of climbing a mountain by yourself and having the pressure of your people needing you to do that for them! It was pretty cool :) 

Also there is a talk by James Hamula about having a sober mind. If you haven't heard it, look it up! haha It talks a lot about the fact that we were chosen to be here at this time and then also that we were able to defeat Satan and temptation in the world before this. So we still have all the same personalities we just need to find them again. This was really cool to me because i finally got my patriarchal blessing printed off this week and it says at one point that I was valiant and a leader to people in the spirit world. Its super cool that I read that the day before I heard that talk! 

On Friday we go on splits with the missionaries in Este! haha Its going to be crazy. We are going out for 3 hours and I still don't feel great about my Spanish. It is certainly coming along but not all the way. So I am half scared but also excited. My Spanish is typically better in lessons so that is nice and also a testimony of the gift of tongues from the spirit. 

We also got to hear from Elder Zaballos which is one of the 70! He was super cool but i forgot my notes on the talk. :( 

This last Sunday our district sang He Sent His Son in Sacrament Meeting. That was scary but everyone said we did good!

SO its crazy that I am half way through the MTC!! I feel like i just got here. haha 

Well I dont have a whole lot for you this week. Nothing too crazy happened except the 3 weekers all left for their missions and we got a whole bunch of new Elders today. I also have no pics because we wrote before we left to go out to the city. :( Usually i can take pics while I am out and then send them when I get back. So sorry about that. 

I love you so much Mom! 

Love Elder Walz

 Show original message

Made it through Week 2!!

Made it through week 2! 

Hello everyone! 

The CCM (missionary training center) is great. In two weeks I can now understand the gist of what fluent people are saying. On Monday's, our morning teacher doesn't speak any English now so its rough but really good for us. Our afternoon teacher does translate a little still though. 

This week was a lot like the last except I got sick. Our teacher was getting a little sick and I think I got it from him but now a lot of us are sick. Not super bad but we all have runny noses. I'm feeling much better today but it could be because it is P day! :) The food is still bad... but I am getting a little accustomed to it. I bought some Tabasco today at Walmart so that should help a lot! Tomorrow we have a general authority coming to speak to us. I don't know his name but he is Chilean. So that is exciting but I hope he speaks in English at least a little bit! Okay so something spiritual real quick. I read Jacob 5 one day this last week. It is a long parable but it is super good. You guys should read it. I would explain it but I'm still getting this computer thing down and I don't want to take too much time! But it basically says no matter what we do and how long we have been doing it, the Lords hand is still stretched out waiting for us to ask for help. Haha I thought it was pretty cool. Oh I also would like you (mom) to send me an email with all the scripture mastery references from each testament please. :) Oh and also 2 Nephi 29 is cool to read! So each week i decided i am going to try and memorize a scripture in Spanish and write it to you! 

Joseph Smith 1:16-17 Vi un columna de luz, mas brillante que el sol, directamente arriba de mi cabeza, y esta luz gradualmente descendio hasta descansar sobre mi. Al reposar sobre mi la luz. Vi en el airre arriba de mi a dos personajes, cuyo fulgor y gloria no admiten descripcion. Uno de ellos me hable llamandome por mi nombre y dijo senalando al otra; Este es mi hijo amado escuchalo.

Okay so a few crazy things that happened this week:

We had an earthquake already! Our teacher said we will have one every month haha! And then a bad one every 2 years which it has been about 2 years since the last one so it could be any week! :) It was in the morning on our way to breakfast. It was pretty cool!

I have been playing soccer every morning and it has been a blast but yesterday morning I split open my chin! Its not that bad (I'll send a picture) but it was kind of freaky at first. I headed a ball and got my feet taken out and landed chin first on the cement. But i am okay! The Doc here at the CCM said a stitch would be good but he isn't licensed to give me them in Chile since he is also from the US. He said I could go to the hospital but that we should just try using the steri strip things and surprisingly they have helped a lot. It already looks really good. So I am still going to keep playing soccer :)

So since the food is so weird here every one has had trouble pooping! Luckily myself its been going right through me haha! But a few of my friends didn't poop for like 4 days and had to take some pills. It has been pretty funny to joke about it. 

People have told me days feel like weeks and weeks feel like days and I have found it to be true! Days are so long but then I feel like i was just writing like yesterday so that has been cool!

Oh another soccer story! So the courts are the size of outdoor basketball courts. I took a shot from about half court and it drilled the sidebar then hit the goalie in the face and the sidebar and the goalies face again!!!! So funny. I felt bad but it was hilarious. It was actually the other Elder that came from Phoenix haha That was like 15 minutes before i split open my chin.  

Did I tell you Elder Fuller is my district leader? Haha he is a super cool kid from Logan. I don't remember if I told you the names of everyone so I'll tell you again. Driscoll is from Georgia, Roberts is from Utah, Harper is Utah, and then Hansen is from Idaho-Connecticut. They are really awesome. We have had some good bonding!

Well that is about all i can think of right now. Oh today for p day i finally had a legit cheeseburger! Tasted so good to finally have real food :) 

Love you so much Mom. Thanks for the email. You are the best. Talk to you in a week. And I'll send some pics in a little. Oh if you know Tanner's address send it to me asap. :)