Sister Hannah Walker

Just loving the South :) The weather lately has been clouds and cold wind and rain.  Kinda like Utah!! Except, there are still some green trees here among all the colored ones...definitely doesn't seem like November weather.  I'm in a whole different world!  It hasn't dropped below 37 degrees yet either :)

First of all, we were extremely blessed this week.  I take no credit for anything.  The Lord's hand was everywhere!  On Tuesday, we set a date for Jackie to be baptized! :) We've been teaching her for a few months and finally she has a day to enter into the waters of baptism....Man, that was such a spiritual lesson.  Baptism wasn't planned at all, but the Spirit led us there and it was totally inspired.  Love those moments :) and we need to strive to make every single moment one of those.
BUT, not only did we put her on date, but we went over to see Ciria and her daughter Jackie many times this week (Jackie's kind of an elect name ;) ).  And guess what....Jackie's getting baptized this weekend!!!!!!!  She turns 9 tomorrow and we're super duper excited for her :) :)  every time we go over there, she asks if she can have a lesson so she can be ready for her baptism.  She's just super smart and the Spirit is definitely working through her. She takes in information like a sponge.  She's asked us so many times about getting baptized and her mom has always said  to us that "she needs to make the choice for herself and not because of anyone else."  And boy, has she made the choice :) And she won't stop talking about it!  We are so excited for her :)  I feel like that family is one of the reasons I'm here in this area. I'll come back to go through the temple with them.  Ciria's asked me to :)

Soo yeah those are the two wonderful people we're focusing most on this week to get them moving! We were able to also do a lot of service this week.  From painting a baby's room, to helping put together breakfast burritos for the scouts, to helping get a relief society activity ready.  There's been a lot :)  Even little things like letting the elders borrow our car so they don't have to ride their bikes to the store in pouring rain.  Man, I was thinking about this yesterday...one of the things I have really learned on my mission is not only how to do these various tasks, but how to absolutely love doing service.  It brings so much joy and happiness that you just can't receive otherwise. haha sometimes I get selfish and when people ask if we can come help out with something, I get over excited because I know I'll feel really good afterwards :) Because who doesn't like being helped out right?  :)  That's one of the things I will keep up after the mission...Always looking for opportunities to serve :)

I learned something else just this morning actually,....I've been reading more out of the bible (you gotta be on your toes with these southern baptists ;) ) and this morning I read a couple stories.  One of the classic ones that I have always loved since the Veggie Tale days is the one of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego.  They were thrown in the fiery furnace for not worshiping idols.  When they got out, the king was amazed and started glorifying their God.  I started thinking about how because they responded to their trial by faith, the King was changed.  People are going to look at how we respond to the trials and challenges that we are given.  Because when it really comes down to it, how we react to things when we're at our weakest points can define our character and who we really are....what we value.  Those three men had faith in God and valued keeping His commandments and therefore they were blessed for it.  The King saw that and saw that any God that would bless his followers like that is worth following. haha would yall agree?  We can stand as witnesses of truth and righteousness by how we react to what we are given to handle in life.  So I challenge all of you to stand by what you believe.  Defend it, especially when it's hard.  Do hard things.  It's what you're made to do :)  And you'll be blessed for it I promise...

Much love from me to you! :)
Sister Walker

ps...i traced my lineage all the way back to adam and eve on family search! haha win!
pss.....oh and i might've been the one to set a fire in the apartment this week...we figured out how to make smores over our electric oven! haha