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Hey family!

This week went realy really well! I pulled a rookie move and left my daily planner in the house this morning... normally i write a few things down that I want to share with you guys but since i left it i am just going to have to freestyle this one!

This week we were able to take 10 investigators to church and it was such a miracle. 3 families! We also found a lady named connie who is preparing to be baptized on the 14th. I knocked her door and she received us along with her brother who was in town for the day. She said it was the first time she had ever opened her door to someone and now she knows why. She promised us that she would show up to church by herself and like she promised, she did. We showed up a little late actually waiting for Marina, Otto, Frank and Sandy and the sister connie happened to sitting there already! Such a miracle.

On Friday I did splits with my canadian friend elder Fisher from edmonton, we had a good day together and we ended the night with pizza! (Ill send pictures)

So what I would like to share with you guys is the how literal being set apart is. As missionaries we are set apart not only to preach the gospel, but we are literally set apart from the world and being a missionary is the most amazing experience. i love being to share this gospel and Elder Rocha and I are working hard to have success in our area and help our zone. There are always trials but we are doing are best to meet our potential.

Sorry this email is so fast I have been crazy busy this morning. Love you lots an have an amazing week!

Love elder nathan russell walton

the picture is from Monjas when the siblings of carlos were bapitzed, i gotta send the pics from his baptism as well. also i will send you guys 3 pictures next week and some investigators in jerusalen that just got baptized!:)

19 Months

I feel like time is slipping through my fingers... I never thought these days would come.. but it just gives me the desire to keep working and take advantage of the time I got left.

Well this week went really well! We started off the week with our district pday activity that we only get to do once every 6 weeks. We played lazer tag and drove go karts... it was a lot of fun and i dont think I had laughed so hard for a long time... one of the brand new elders in my zone crashed into the wall and the guy started yelling at him in spanish and he just sat there like.... I dont understand anything youre saying to me... it was a lot of fun.

So we had some really great experiences this week. We have been working with the Granados family and on Tuesday towards the end of the visit we told them that we would love to share the message with some of their friends as well.

On Thursday we showed up, and they had invited a family over to listen to us and watch a church video! It was so neat to receive a referral from investigators:)

We have an investigator named Francisco that we contacted about a month ago.. we taught him once and then due to the holidays we couldnt find him. On Tuesday he shared such a special experience with us about how he had read in the the book of mormon on Monday and God truly answered his prayer that it is true. I dont have enough time to share everything but he commited to a baptismal date for the 31st and he went to church yesterday for the first time and loved it, the talks were so good and it truly helped his small testismony and desire to grow even more.

On Friday I went on splits to San Juan Sacatepequez. It is outside the cap, the farthest area in this stake. It is so pretty and all the people there are true natives... i am sure if you google it you will see pictures.

Like I said our sacrament meeting was amazing. The couple that spoke talked about trails, challenges, and tests of faith. I loved the stories they shared... it made me think about the scripture

D&C 136: 31-33.  I dont remember how it is in english but I love the line "el que no aguanta el castigo no es digno de mi reino"

Love you all and things are going great! I am super happy and my comp and I are working super hard, really trying to give the zone our example.

Have an amazing week,

Elder nathan russell walton

A New Year

Hey family!

Hope you all had an amazing new years eve... here was worked as hard as we could although the 1st and 2nd was basically a ghost town in our area. We didnt do much celebration... i guess in the mission holidays just sort of disappear.. it just isnt the same, but that is how it is supposed to be.

We had an amazing day yesterday. 8 investigators attended church with us and that includes two families. These two couples need to get married (like always), but God is true doing miracles here in the area because they are both wanting to get married and baptized. Please pray for the Solis family and the Granadas family. Despite the holidays and all the celebrations... we have managed to have success and continue working... many members and investigators left town these last two weeks, but that gave us the chance to find new people, and now we are going to work with the new people we have found, AND those we were teaching that disappeared for the holidays.

On Friday we had the Mission Council... that is when all the zone leaders, APs, and the President get together and we talked about how December went, what we are going to change, and now my comp and I are going to share the information in the council tomorrow with the zone.

Our mission has been struggling lately... and President knows it has a lot to do with our faith, so he spoke to us about the 5 destructive Ds. La duda (doubt), el desanimo (discouragement), la distraccion (distraction), la falta de diligencia (lack of diligence) and la desobediencia (disobedience). It is a chain reaction and is all starts with doubt.

Faith and doubt can not coexist.

I love being a missionary. One of my favorite things is being able to invite others to ask God if the message we share is true. Let me ask you all a question. If we didnt know this to be true, would we invite others to ask God in order to receive an answer? I believe not.

I know this to be true, I am so happy that I have these upcoming 5 months of 2015 here in Guatemala.

2014 was amazing, Guatemala has treated me well and I have grown so much. I am changing, and change allows me to be better.

Love you all, have an amazing week!

Love elder nathan russell walton

photos... Ice cream i bought on the 31st! and some photos from the service project we did as a zone on saturday!

2015

Hey family!! I was so nice being able to chat with you guys on Wednesday! I apologize for not knowing what to say at the end, but it was great being able to see and talk with you all. Sorry to hear you guys are sick, but tough it out and go ski for me. Court and Sean, you guys gotta play lots of ping pong, darts, and mario kart for me too.

So this week was a little slow due to the holidays, most of the people we have been teaching left town to go be with relatives, or their relatives came here and they couldnt receive us... hopefully this week was can bounce back.

Like I told you on Wednesday, I was able to do some interviews for some people that are preparing for baptism, that was a neat experience, and NO, I dont want to be a bishop, interviewing people scares me.. hahaha

So this week was fun, we gotta eat a lot with some members, get to know them better, and we were able to receive some references. Christmas time is always special, no matter where in the world you are, it is special. I loved being able to talk with people in the street all month about the Lords birth, and it was just, fun. We watching HE is the Gift many times with members, investigators, and contacts. EVERYONE loved the video, I have never seen it in english but I assume it is the same... haha

Well for the record, I contacted my first Muslim and Hindu this week! They were people from Guyana south america, and then the next day I contacted my first Jew! So weird.. not normal here in Guatemala but there is a first for all eh?

We this week we were super busy making sure everyone could call their families, opening and closing the chapel and supervising... whatever that means;) and we also did house inspecions this week! I am super tired, but exhaustion reflects success. Our zone did quadrupled the amount of baptisms they had last month, we are rollin more and more.

I love you all, I am doing well and happy! Hope you have a great new year!!

Love Elder nathan russell walton

ROLLIN

Well I dont have too much to say today because on Wednesday I will be able to give you guys a call/skype! Cant wait to be able to get to chat with you guys... glad to here that it is finally snowing in good ole Utah.

Well this week went great. The zone is doing good and elder rocha and I are doing what we can to get things rollin.

On Thursday we had splits with the APs and is was such a good day because I gotta head back to the office and see the inside of the mission again! That day the APs were in a conference so we got started late, Elder Wilcock (AP) and I had to stay back and clean up from the conference. We then headed to the office and well... you know... we did some stuff that most missionaries dont appreciate, but it was fun to be in the office again and drive around in the mission vehicle. It is always a great experience being able to work with the best missionaries here in the mission... Elder Wilcock taught me a lot and gave me some great advice for the zone.

On Friday we had our Xmas multi zone conference with the Caffaros. It was a lot of fun, and the main thing Pte talked about was the book of mormon and the roll it plays in conversion. I know this book to be true, and i love reading and studying it so much. I was able to see a lot of my old companions and friends at the conference, I will send the pics.

Saturday morning we did a huge service project as a zone... sadly I didnt enjoy it as much as i wouldve liked because I got hit with diarhea that morning.... and due to that, I had some VERY interesting experiences we involved me knocking randoms doors to see if I could use their bathroom... luckily we had no accidents;) I will send pics from the service as well.

I am doing great and it sure is guatemalan christmas season here! The culture is a lot different, but I am enjoying living in a foreign country.

Love you all and I will talk with you on Wednesday!!

Elder Nathan Russell Walton

All the elders in his zone doing service

All the elders in his zone crammed into one missionary apartment

Catching up with old companions at the Christmas meeting