June Already?

Wow, I cant believe tomorrow is june... crazy!

Well this week went well!
Just your normal office work, and our mission work in our area was
pretty normal as well.

I thought i would share some random stories with you all:)

So on Thursday morning at 3 am we had to take another Elder to the
airport, and so I was driving the Truck. Normally the truck stays in
the parking lot of the office building, but when we take missionaries
home we park the truck outside the house for the night. On our way
back at 400 am from the airport it was raining. Normally there is
always a ton of people outside in the street but due to the hour no
one was outside and my comp said to me "Wow, no one is in the street
not even REX is outside at this hour" (REX is the local dog that runs
the block and tries to pick fights with everyone, but we all love
him). Anyways we parked the car around the corner, and when we were
walking towards the house we turned the corner and Rex was standing in
the middle of the road, dripping wet, just starring at us.

Maybe you dont find it funny, but its my favorite story of the week.
Basically Rex is famous here, so thats why...
Sorry for the randomness

So we have just been doing our normal duties here in the office along
with getting things prepped for President Caffaro, he is going to be
here so soon!

This week i was studying Alma, and I found something very interesting in Alma 4.

8 For they saw and beheld with great sorrow that the people of the
church began to be lifted up in the pride of their eyes, and to set
their hearts upon riches and upon the vain things of the world, that
they began to be scornful, one towards another, and they began to
persecute those that did not believe according to their own will and
pleasure.

9 And thus, in this eighth year of the reign of the judges, there
began to be great contentions among the people of the church; yea,
there were envyings, and strife, and malice, and persecutions, and
pride, even to exceed the pride of those who did not belong to the
church of God.

Many talk about how there are members of the church who do bad things,
or how they arent good examples to others. PLEASE, take note that
members of the Church of Christ have always fallen short, and failed.
Including the members at the time when ALMA was prophet.

13 Now this was a great cause for lamentations among the people,
while others were abasing themselves, succoring those who stood in
need of their succor, such as imparting their substance to thepoor and
the needy, feeding the hungry, and suffering all manner of
afflictions, for Christ’s sake, who should come according to the
spirit of prophecy;

But the church is perfect, and it is here all over the face of the
earth. We, the members, are not perfect. We must be humble, look in
the mirror and recognize our sins.

I am sorry for those that point fingers, stop going to church, and
blame things on the Bishop or the YW president.
I am scared for them, the day when they face our Maker on the final
day..... it isnt going to be pretty.

Love you all, we are hoping to have some baptisms next week, so pray
for Marixa, Edin, and Susan!:)

Elder Nathan Russell Walton

Curves Balls Thrown on the Daily

So basically the office is insane. I have never been so busy in the
mission, but I am enjoying it and it have so fun.

So Ill just get a little brief summary of what is some of the stuff I
gotta do, and the good news.
Monday - Friday we are in the office from 10 am - 4 pm. We are in
charge of everything in the mission that doesnt have to do with money,
because those are the things of the financial secretaries. We are in
charge of the mail, sending convert information to SLC, all the dats
are reported numbers in the mission, the cell phones, references,
immigration stuff, receiving new missionaries and sending missionaries
home, and basically all that jazz. It is super crazy because we
usually plan out our day and things are calm in the morning, but I
swear a single day doesnt pass without Pres Stay or the Assistants
calling us to ask for a side-project. CRAZY!

I am loving the office and The Lord has taught me show much already.
After 4 pm we head to our area which is close by, and we only have a
couple hours to do all that needs to be done. I definitely have gotten
a lot better at planning my days, and making sure that the most
important things get done.

We are four missionaries in the office. My companion Elder Mendez and
I are the Executive Secs, and Elder Gil (mexico) and Elder Monson
(Bingham HighS) are the financial secs.

Our area is awesome and we have found some cool investigators, and a
few are working their way towards baptism. We are teaching a small
family and they are so amazing and humble, but a huge problem is the
language barrier, and it isnt my spanish, it is theirs. They are from
Coban and speak Kekchi. It has been hard these couple weeks teaching
them, but they go to church with us and love learning. After some
prayer and thinking, we realized that a sister in the ward speaks
Kekchi, and so her and her husband have allowed us to bring the
investigators to their house, and she translates for us and helps us
teach. The Spirit is always TOOOO strong I cant describe. Please pray
for them, they are wanting to get baptized on the 7th of June.

So the mission is a lot different, but I am learning so much and
adapting. I know that The Lord wants me to be here.

PS. I hope this letter makes sense.... sorry but I am super tired.
Like I said it is our responsability to take missionaries to the
airport and we have to make sure they get their bags checked, their
ticked ready, and that they get to the gate of their flight. Two
missionaries went hope this morning due to health reasons. One of them
is from my group, Elder Fraughton, and we entered the mission
together. He slept over with us last night, and then we took him and
the sister to the airport. We were supposed to wake up at 330 to get
to the airport at 4 but ended up just talking all night and I didnt
get to sleep until 515.... haha. Welcome to the office life. :)
It was super sad to see this Elder go home, but he has been super sick
almost the whole mission, and it is better that he goes home and
recovers. He was such an amazing missionary, and our conversation last
night was unreal. We were able to talk about all our amazing
experiences are really how much we changed due to The Lords help. So,
ladies Elder Fraughton is on the market, and he is toooo fresh.
Promise:) S/O Elder Fraughton.
"They say the best die young."

Love you all,
Elder Nathan Russell Walton

Saturday Surprises!

I'm sure you are all asking "Why is Elder Walton sending emails on Saturday???"

Lets start from day one.
Monday went well, we had a normal pday, I gotta say bye to a few
members from Nueva Montserrat, and packed my bags. I have a lot more
stuff than i did when i started the mission, so that is frustrating...
i ended up leaving some stuff AGAIN.

Tuesday we had the Change meeting. Everyone in the mission who has
changes, along with their companion show up to Zone 9 in the capital,
and we have a meeting in a chapel. After a short talk from President
Stay and Sister Stay, also the testimonies from the missionaries that
finished, the secretaries put up a power point, and the assistants
anounce the new changes. It is always super nerve racking, and I was
super anxious this time.

The changes are by mission Zone and they started with the Zone
Guatemala. Well....... I was the second name to be anounced.
Elder Walton is now the Executive Secretary of the Guatemala City South mission.

I didnt know what to think either...

Anyways our pday is on Saturday, so that is why I am writing today:)

So yeah, Suprise.

It has been easily the craziest week in my mission.
The ward I am in is Montufar, in the Zone 9 of the capital. The ward
also consists of zone 13 and 14 right next to the airport. It is the
first and oldest ward and chapel in Guatemala and it is basically
famous.

I never realized how much the secretaries have to do until i became
one. Due to the transfers and the changes this week, we have hardly
been able to leave the office because there is so much to do.

I am learning a lot, and am super stressed out because we have to do
all the normal secretary responsabilites, along with getting
everything ready for President Caffaro who will be here in 6 weeks!

On Wednesday night/Thursday morning one of our jobs is taking the
missionaries to the airport. AKA we woke up at 2 a.m. to go get the
sister who finished, and then took the 6 Elders to the airport. It was
fun and but an unusual experience. We did get back til 6 and we hardly
slept.

I am super sleep-deprived because I have had a lot of things to do at
nighttime when we get home so I can learn the Secretary life and I
havent been sleeping... :( haha but no worries, I am getting
accustomed.

So yeah, I am happy to be here, and I know that The Lord has me here
for a reason, even though i dont know what it is yet.

My companion is Elder Mendez, he is from Nicaragua and SUPER dope. He
is one of the only latino missionaries that i have met that is just a
straight-up BRO.

Love you all, and remember to write me before next Saturday:) 

Love, Elder Nathan Russell Walton

Anotha day, Anotha Dolla

So last night they called me, I have changes and I am off to my third
area tomorrow!
I dont know who my companion will be, or where to i am going, but i am
pretty exited.

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!
It was so great to get to talk to you guys yesterday, and I will chat
with you again next December:)

This week went pretty decent besides the food poison we got on
Thursday.... dont eat in the street!

Last night we had an awesome experience.
We were in the chapel with our Mission Leader and the sister
missionaries talking about how the week went when randomly a guy was
walking around in the chapel. Long story short he has just moved near
by, and one of his old friends told him to look for the church and he
will find a lot of happiness.
He saw the lights on, and decided to see if we had some services going
on. Anyways we are going to have a Family Night tonight with him and
the mission leader and so hopefully it goes well!

I am super excited to go to my next area, and please pray for me and
my next companion and area. Im not near as nervous as i was last time
when i left Monjas.

Love you all and have a great week!

Love, Elder Nathan Russell Walton

Yeah, DI exists in Guate too

(Ps. I would never wear this outfit outside the house, dont stress.)

Elder Walton at a Missionary proselyting activity at the Market

5 de mayo is not GUATEMALAN

No today isnt a holiday... but it is pday, so therefore it a
missionary holiday;)

This week went pretty well. The mission had their interviews with
Presdent Stay, and we had our on Wednesday. We actually were the last
zone, and last district, and my comp ended up being Presidents Stay
very last interview... EVER. He is off at the end of june and these
next 7 weeks are just conferences, so he finished his interviews, and
WOW, he gave me so much advice.

He gave all of us missionaries the oppotunity to ask whatever question
wed like, and i asked a complicated question about repentance and
atonement.
His answer was amazing, and my understanding of the atonement has
completely changed, and I feel like a new missionary now.

He gave me 6 scriptures and taught me the repentence process. My
favorite part about the conversation is when he had me read D&C 58:42.
AFTER one has sincerely repented, The Lord forgives, and CHOOSES to
not remember. President explained to me that God knows everything, he
is PERFECT, but due to what The Lord did for US, at the final day when
we stand before our God, he will choose not to remember the sins that
we had repented for.
I always sort of have worried about past sins and i thought "dang...
that is going to be so awkward when The Lord brings up that sin..." I
guess I never understood well that he chooses to not remember our
sins, he doesnt forget, but it is as if it never happened.

Maybe i was really naive and never understood completely that which i
preach everyday, but hey, missionaries arent perfect, and we all have
to learn.

The Ward is doing better and we have been working hard to plan
activities... and I am getting along better with my companion. I think
the interviews helped us both A LOT!

Love you all and keep praying for our investigators and less actives.
We have been working a lot with the less actives and it is so good to
see them show up on sundays:)

Love you all, go and repent, and sin no more!:)

Love elder nathan russell walton