Week 24- Norcross, GA- Spanish Speaking

Dear Family,

I am first very happy to hear you made it home safely. Thank you for

all your prayers and fasts. The gift of tongues is very special. It is

interesting because it is used completely on the Lord's merit. Hermana

Martinez is always telling me that when I testify everything comes out

perfectly. I feel the Lord gives me the gift of tongues only when

there is something he wants me to say. Then the word just roll off my

tongue. Otherwise, having me serve in a different language was the

greatest idea ever because it is hard for me to say too much and it

totally controls any "genes" I may have because I otherwise don't know

what's going on and don't have the vocabulary or ability to say

anything.

I think the most difficult part sometimes is that I feel like I have

been hacking at this language for almost 10 years. It's a little bit

discouraging. So I just try to not focus on it.

This week is was great. It has been cold and rainy, but the Lord was

very generous to us. We feel like the field here really is "white and

ready to harvest", and he has us harvesting here! We have

investigators, and some baptisms hopefully coming up soon....

Being a missionary really exposes you to recognizing that all the Lord

wants us to be are humble servants willing to do his will because we

love him and love our neighbor. One of our investigators who hopefully

is getting baptized soon will only be able to do so because of the

faithful visiting teacher of her less active granddaughter. Every week

her visiting teacher brings her to church. (Because our investigator

can't drive and they live super far away). She makes sure that her

needs are taken care of and has even brought some of our investigators

great grandchildren. I truly believe that faithful visiting teachers

can change the world because this one is changing our investigator's.

(Would still like to know if ANYONE has a connection with someone

serving in Baranquilla, Columbia)

Sister Martinez and I really like to listen "Yielding our heart's to

God" by Neil F. Marriot. Her favorite thing to quote is the Protestant

hymn:

Have Thine own way, Lord!

Have Thine own way!

Thou art the Potter;

I am the clay.

Mould me and make me

After Thy will,

While I am waiting,

Yielded and still.

(she always does it imitating her accent, which makes me laugh, so you

have to LISTEN to this talk, not just read it. and can I just add that

I feel like this last conference had so sort of a pottery theme

going?)

As we are humble in our trials, the Lord is able to help shape us into

the person he wants us to become; who is someone better than we could

ever imagine. It's crazy to think about who we might become when we

also consider who we once were. This morning I was studying more about

the premortal existence. The scriptures tell us that we were a part of

the "good" who were selected to be "rulers" or better yet, servants of

the Lord's kingdom in his purpose which is to "bring to pass the

eternal life and immortality of man" (Abraham 3:22-26 and Moses 1:39,

also see https://www.lds.org/topics/becoming-like-god?lang=eng)




It is incredibly humbling to think that the Lord has called me,

weaknesses and all, to be one of his servants. And that furthermore,

it means I must have done something right, even with my complete

imperfectness. I think it just goes to show that God doesn't just

focus on who we are, but on our potential and our path on who we are

becoming. This talk and really conference, talked a lot about

humility, in being humble to learn and change as we strive to follow

the Savior Jesus Christ. I really like this new Mormon message:

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/mormon-messages-2015?lang=eng

Jesus Christ is the center of everything we do. (Well, He should be).

It is His atonement which gives us the grace to accomplish whatever it

is Heavenly Father wants us to do. "The greatest, most capable, most

accomplished man who ever walked this earth was also the most humble.

He performed some of His most impressive service in private moments,

with only a few observers, whom He asked to “tell no man” what He had

done. When someone called Him “good,” He quickly deflected the

compliment, insisting that only God is truly good. Clearly the praise

of the world meant nothing to Him; His single purpose was to serve His

Father and “do always those things that please him.” We would do well

to follow the example of our Master." (Uchtdorf, "On Being Genuine") as

we strive to follow Him, so that we might return to Him, we are

changed. We can take all the bad and turn it over to Him because He

paid the price for us so that we might have eternal life. Isn't that

marvelous?

I am so grateful to be a part of this work. I love it so much. I hope

everyone had a very Happy Halloween! And Happy Day of the dead! I

asked some members what they do with the food they leave on all he

gravesides, and they say that the people clean it up, but all he

Mexicans who believe in it will tell you that their ancestors eat it.

Which is why I had to ask the question in the first place.

Anyways, I LOVE YOU!!!!

Love,

Hermana Wallis

Sent from my iPad

Week 23- Norcross, GA, Spanish Speaking

Dear Family,

Although you are in Hawaii right now, I would like to inform you that
I am in the greatest place ever. I love the mission so much.
This week we had zone conference and the whole focus was on developing
Christ like attributes, because who you are is just as important as
who you become.
https://www.lds.org/topics/becoming-like-god?lang=eng
I love the mission so much because I feel like it has been this
opportunity to just turn everything over to the Lord to allow Him to
change me for the better. It's not easy, but he's doing it. He takes
it all and is refining me.
The mission is a really great place to allow yourself to be changed
because no one really knows who you were before hand. So you can
completely re-invent yourself, and there is so much love that it makes
it a comfortable place to do so.
It isn't easy, and requires a lot of humility, but I am so grateful to
be able to say "'Twas I, but 'tis not I."
Don't get me wrong. I am no where near perfection, nor will I ever be.
And I still have A LOT to learn and I still make A LOT of mistakes.
Just this week I panicked and ended a phone message in the name of
Jesus Christ, because I didn't know what else to say! I think the
worst about this was that it happened, twice. Haha I then was fired
from making phone calls.... I have made plenty more mistakes than
this, but try to not focus on them.
Yesterday we, the missionaries as in me, Hermana Martinez, and the
three elders, had to sing in church. We sang "Más Cerca Dios a Ti". It
went well.
Our investigator who told us she wanted to be baptized the first
Sunday I was here, as finally decided to be baptized here. She has
wanted to wait until she goes home to Baranquilla, Columbia, because
she feels awkward now that her granddaughter is less active, but she's
decided to just get baptized the weekend before she goes home. So if
her granddaughter had a problem with it, it won't matter because she
will just be leaving the country the next week.  Haha it was hilarious
when she told us because her granddaughter is so nice, we figured
there must be something else going on. But really, she has just been
planning her own baptism this whole time. If anyone knows anyone
serving in Baranquilla Columbia, or it would be great if they could
email me so she's not lost when she goes back to Columbia...
We had a 5 year anniversary party for the branch on Saturday night. It
was great! There were some less actives and part member families that
came!
I love this work and am so grateful to be a part of it. I know that
Jesus Christ is our Savior and that He lives. I know that it is
because of His sacrifice, we can be made clean and we can be changed.
The atonement is real and it is powerful.
I love you all!!!
Love,
Hermana Wallis

Week 22- Norcross, GA- Spanish Speaking

Dear Family and Friends,

I honestly never really know where to begin because SO MUCH HAPPENS!
This week has had the whole shebang.One of the best feelings is coming home exhausted because you know you've
done your best and the Lord has helped you complete all He needed you
too.
We had a lot going on this week; on Saturday we combined with the
English Ward for a chili cook off. Hermana Martinez was soooooooo
excited. She said she had never had chili until her mission and she
loves it! The Ward members were great- there was a family from the
English Ward that even brought a Spanish family! We were able to talk
with them and invite them to church and set up teaching appointments
with them.

I have been good. We are working hard. We teach mainly elderly women.
We found this one lady from Guatemala, but she doesn't know how to
read. She said she'll have her grandchildren read to her... Which will
be sweet because it just means more investigators! We've also been
working a lot with less actives. We are trying to see at least 15 a
week! We've started emailing our branch president a weekly report of
all the less actives we work with. He really liked it.
I was thinking, so in Spanish one of our biggest conflicts is that not
everyone in branch council has email, so we can't email everyone our
weekly church attendance email. When we brought this up to president,
he said, "well, call them!" You could maybe have the missionaries text
you or write you a letter of who comes to church and what not if you
wanted. We have to report on investigators, less actives, non members/
visitors, and then we also list people's needs for the week, ( for
example: so and so is sick, so if someone could bring a meal, it would
be much appreciated!) I'm hoping the more we report on people, the
more enthusiastic the branch will be about helping the Lord's "Lost
Sheep!"

I love this work so much. I love being a missionary. I love having my
time completely devoted to helping the Lord's "Lost Sheep". In relief
society our lesson was on "Feed My Sheep". I love that lesson. I love
it because we are all children of a loving Heavenly Father. Who loves
us so much, He gave us His son, Jesus Christ. And He gave us his
gospel, which is teachings and guidance for how we can be happy in
this life and return to live with Him. His son, Jesus Christ, came and

lived a perfect, sinless life for us, yet he suffered everything for
us. He felt every thing we have felt, do feel, and will feel. He did
this for each of Heavenly Father's children. He died for us. He knows
and loves each of us perfectly. He loves each of us more than we can
ever comprehend. That is why when we serve each other, when we help
those who he loves so dearly, he feels it as if we are serving him.
I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve him. I love it so much
and am so humbled by it every day.
I know this is His church and this is His gospel. I know that the Book
of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ and combined with the
Bible, that is what gives us His complete gospel. It is a privilege to
be able to share it with others.
I love you all so much!!!
Love,
Hermana Wallis

Week 21- Norcross, GA, Spanish Speaking

Dear Family,
The sun has been shining in Georgia and it has been great. For the past 2 weeks before last, it was raining non- stop. I blame that for any melancholy I may have expressed in my previous 2 letters.
We have been working so hard. We can tell because we are exhausted. It was actually kind of funny this week because at Zone Meeting, they took all of our numbers and put up our averages on a big screen and then had each companionship talk about their numbers and what they had been doing in their area. (Accountability!) Naturally I was promising myself that we were going to work harder this transfer and yaddayada being too hard on myself because our numbers were actually great compared to everyone else's! They even gave us stars because our averages superseded the standard for the mission. No wonder our district leader, zone leaders, and president kept on telling us we are doing fine! Not that it's all about numbers, because it most certainly is not, it was just interesting to see our work measured and to see that we weren't doing that bad! Hermana Martinez and I laugh because we think that last transfer we were both under so much stress from adjusting that we had just worked super hard to cope. It can be frustrating at times because we have had  hard time helping people commit to baptism, but we are just doing our best to help people increase their faith in Christ and repent by keeping commitments. 

Last night we were able to do service for this one lady who we just let us into her home a few weeks ago. We taught her the restoration, and she agreed with everything until we got to Joseph Smith. She immediately started arguing "I've never heard of him before! He's not in my bible!" (You'd think we weren't here to teach new information) She then refused to read the Book of Mormon or pray to know if our message was true. So we left with a prayer and that was that. Last night we were trying to visit a potential who lived catty corner to her. When she saw us she immediately opened her door to let us in. Not wanting to waste the Lords time or accidentally get caught in a bible bash, we politely refused. She then tried to leave to go for a walk/ pretend to be busy. When our potential said she was too busy, we asked the lady if there was anything we could do for her. Typically no one can think of anything, but she had us change her curtains for her! It was neat because I'm hoping the more we serve her, or just the people in general, that we will be recognized as servants of God here to preach the truth! 

I am so grateful to be here and continuously humbled by this calling to just serve the Lord by serving His children. I loved Elder Ballard's testimony from his talk "The Atonement and the Value of One Soul": 

"I believe that if we could truly understand the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, we would realize how precious is one son or daughter of God. I believe our Heavenly Father’s everlasting purpose for His children is generally achieved by the small and simple things we do for one another. At the heart of the English word atonement is the word one. If all mankind understood this, there would never be anyone with whom we would not be concerned, regardless of age, race, gender, religion, or social or economic standing. We would strive to emulate the Savior and would never be unkind, indifferent, disrespectful, or insensitive to others. If we truly understood the Atonement and the eternal value of each soul, we would seek out the wayward boy and girl and every other wayward child of God. We would help them to know of the love Christ has for them. We would do all that we can to help prepare them to receive the saving ordinances of the gospel."

I am so grateful for this time that I have devote everything I have to helping others receive the atonement in their lives by "Coming unto Christ". I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer and that He lives. He knows and loves each of us. 

I love Him and am so humbled to serve Him. 

I love and miss you!!! 

Love, 

Hermana Wallis

P.S. My Ponderizing scripture this week is Romans 8:28 "and we know that
all things work together for good to them that love God to them who
are called according to His purpose." Hermana Martinez' is ether 12: 4
Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better
world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh
of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them
sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to
glorify God.
I LOVE YOU!!!
Madeleine

P.S.S. We went to the pet store today. (For Hermana Martinez. She LOVES
animals.) did you know you can have a pet rat. I found it disgusting.
There was also neon fish! And then  2 minnows died, and Hermana
Martinez saw one die.... It was very traumatic.... 
Last week we went to Costco with a member I also included a picture of
me in their car. Because  I just realized I don't have any recent
pictures of me....

Week 20- Norcross, GA, Spanish Speaking

Hello Family!
Didn't you just love conference?
I loved conference so much. It was great. We were able to watch the
Saturday Morning session at the home of some investigators! It was
great because the father has cancer, and receives his chemotherapy on
Friday, so on Sunday he is still in a lot of pain and hasn't been able
to come to church. We watched it in Spanish They loved conference! 
If conference was every
weekend, they would totally watch it! Bummer hat it's not, and that
you actually have to come to church to get baptized... But we are
hoping and praying that the talks touched their hearts and that they
will have the faith to at least come to sacrament meeting...
We watched the rest of conference at the church, in Spanish. So I
didn't really understand everything. (I can't wait to read them in
English) It was a very good time to really learn by the spirit. A few
things did stick out to me and they included, "clean your room", "be
humble enough to take and apply council", and any testimony of the
Savior and His atonement.
It was very humbling to see the three new apostles to be called. When
you are called to be an apostle, the time remaining in that calling is
indefinite! You are there until you die.
I have been so humbled by the calling to serve in
the Lord's work! It has brought me more blessings than I think I could
have ever imagined. My trainers are each the best friends I have
waited for my whole life. They are so kind and loving. They tell me
that they consider me like a sister to them and They write me each
week! I view them as blessings from the Lord! 
I am so humbled by the opportunity and trust the Lord has given me to
not only serve here in Norcorss, in Spanish! And to serve with Hermana
Martinez. I love her so much. 
This week we went with the relief society president and another sister
to visit a sister who tried to commit suicide 2 weeks ago. It was very
precious to be able to testify of our Savior Jesus Christ. He was
perfect. He loves perfectly. He is the son of God. Yet, He had to walk
alone. Even his own disciples, His best friends, rejected him. They
faltered in their faith throughout His ministry. Yet he continued to
love them and was always there for them. I can't imagine what a lonely
path it must have been that He walked. But I am so grateful that He
walked it, and that He did it for me. So that I could turn to Him, as
my best friend. The one who always understands and knows how to succor
to my needs. I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve as a
missionary, where I can help others gain the same sweet relationship,
by helping them apply the atonement of Jesus Christ.
This past week I had a dream where I decided to go home for a minor
operation. I could have endured whatever it was for the rest of my
mission, but I had decided to take the excuse to terminate my mission.
I made plans with you to go back to backpacking Europe after the
operation. I said my goodbyes, left my departing words with my mission
president and came home, happy to see you and the rest of the family.
But as I sat in the waiting room, waiting to go into the operation, I
thought about my mission, and how much happiness it had brought my
life and all of the blessings the Lord had granted me. I started to
weep. I no longer cared about traveling on grand adventures through
Europe or Africa, I just wanted to go back to my mission. But I had
already decided to not do that, and it was no longer an option. I woke
up crying tears of gratitude for this opportunity and that I was still
here. I am so grateful to be a missionary. I love it so much. I am so,
so grateful for everything I have and am learning. I am so grateful
for this experience and for every blessing, big and small, that the
Lord has granted me because of it. I am so grateful that I made it out
here. It's crazy to thing that exactly 6 months ago, I was touring the
streets of Paris, and working to figure out how to get back home, so I
could come on my mission. I love it so much.
I still love and miss you, but I know this is where the Lord wants and
needs me. I am so humbled by the trust He has given me and the
opportunity to see how he strengthens my weakness' and makes up the
difference for the things I can't do on my own.
I love and miss you!!!
Hermana Wallis

Week 19- Norcross, GA, Spanish Speaking

Dear Family and Friends,
I love you all so much. Thank you so much for the emails and letters,
I love it!
This week was a little bit rough, but Fanny came to church on Sunday!
That was really exciting. And even better, her granddaughter's
visiting teacher brought her! Her granddaughter doesn't want to
continue in the church anymore, so we are hoping and praying that
Fanny's faith will remind her of how she felt when she decided to get
baptized.

On Tuesday night we went to an English class to try to find new
investigators. Supposedly the week before, the whole room had been
filled, but this time there were only 2 that showed up. Maybe this
week there will be more. The teacher also a less active, so it's good
to work with him.

On Wednesday, we went and tried to translate at an elementary school
for parent teacher conferences. That was fun!

We have been working hard to try to contact a bunch of our potentials
to find new people to teach. I honestly love contacting and tracking.
People are so interesting! I really love the ones who will just talk
with you and share with you what they believe. Because then, all we
have to do is listen. I feel like most people know and believe in the
gospel of Jesus Christ, they just don't know it, because every person
on this planet accepted the Lord's plan at some point, to be here. So
I feel like our job as we listen is to help the recognize the gospel
truths they already believe in, and then build on that. On Saturday,
we tracked into this guy who was telling us all about how the whole
media is trying to get rid of Christianity, and all the owners of the
big networks like
Comcast etc, are anti-Christians. So we just listened to him, and then
when he was finished we talked about how as we are growing nearer to
the Savior's coming, how satan's influence also grows stronger, and
how the Book of Mormon talks about everything he was talking about. So
we then invited him to read 2nd Nephi, and because we had taken the
time to listen to him,
He was totally excited to go look up 2 Nephi!

On Saturday we got to go to the Women's broadcast. It was very fun. We
had a member from the English Ward drive us, because our Spanish
branch was having a big surprise party for one of the members....
#spanishproblems but it was still fun to go to the conference, and we
We're so grateful to be there.

I play piano for opening exercises (they have their meetings
backwards and so they start with a prayer and a song all together) and
have played for sacrament as well as they want me to play for the
primary program.

We ride our bikes in areas where we have a lot of people we work with,
and when we aren't going far from home. It's really nice especially
when we are at the end of the month and low on miles :)
My companion does have a bike and she rides it every morning with me
while I run. It's a really good workout!

I love you all so much! I am so grateful to be a part of the Lord's
work. It's really amazing.
It has brought me so close to my Savior, Jesus Christ. I love Him so
much and am so grateful for all that He has done for me. I know that
He lives. I know that through Him, the Lord strengthens us to be able
to endure whatever this life throws at us. That is how we are changed
to become better, so that one day we may return to live with Him.
I am so grateful for this time now that I have to completely devote
myself to helping others come unto Christ.

I love you!!!
Love,
Hermana Wallis

Birthday- Week 18, Norcross, GA- Spanish Speaking

So, sometimes a week as a missionary feels like a whole year. Just so
much happens!
On Tuesday I got to have an exchange with another Hermana. She is from
Ecuador. She is just one transfer younger than me, so she is just
finishing up training. She is very logical and level headed, and
reminds me of me. Haha she only spoke to me in Spanish, and told me
that my Spanish is pretty good, I just need to work on rolling my Rs,
so she gave me a bunch of rung twisters she told me to practice every
day. She was asking me about what the hardest part of Spanish is for
me, and I told her understanding people, but I didn't have a problem
understanding her. I told her it must have been the gift of tongues,
and a blessing from our Heavenly Father for us to be friends. She
replied by saying it's because Ecuador doesn't have an accent so she's
easy to understand. Then, when we were driving to exchange back on
Wednesday, I was thanking her for the exchange and telling her what a
great missionary she was. (Because, really, she is awesome! And just
knows her purpose and testifies!) She replied by telling me "you are a
pretty good missionary, you're problem is just uh language." I just
have to laugh. She had also told me that she thinks it's best to
proselyte in your native language because you are better able to
express yourself. I replied by telling her that it's very humbling to
serve in a different language and I've learned that the truths of
the gospel are plain and simple, and that's all you really need to
share. I just had to laugh because if the language was what made or
break a missionary, I don't think we would have missionaries all over the
world. On Thursday we got Hermana Martinez' driving permit!!! I don't know how
I'm going to teach her how to drive. On Friday we had some extra time
before we exchanged again with Hermana Abram, so I taught her how to
park in the church parking lot. Then I had her drive to another church
parking lot, literally across the street. The whole thing was
hilarious because she was just screaming the whole time while I was
yelling at her to go and actually move the car! It brought back a few
memories....

I have been doing a Deep Atonement study dad sent
me, and something that stuck out to me was that the Savior had to go
through His whole ministry and the atonement, alone. Yes He had
friends, but the whole atonement, he went through alone. D&C 133:50.
And his voice shall be heard: I have trodden the wine-press alone, and have brought judgment upon all people; and none were with me...
And throughout his ministry, there were times when the apostles kind
of failed him. Such as in Mark 4:37-40.

 37 And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.

 38 And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?

 39 And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

 40 And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?

The savior felt and suffered everything that we feel. He understands
everything perfectly. But I think that if there is anything in
particular that he of all, especially feels, it's loneliness. I am so
grateful to have a Savior who suffered for me alone, so that I
wouldn't have to. I know that because he knows me and my needs
perfectly, he has given me the companions I have had, as well as the
leaders. I believe that having Hermana Abram as a friend and leader is
just a demonstration of how the lord works though his servants.
I had a wonderful birthday. Thank you for all of the birthday wishes
and cards. I loved it all so much. It was one of the best birthdays
I've ever had.
Unfortunately, we are short on time today so I won't be able to email
anyone personally. Know that I love you, I love hearing from you, and
I am so grateful for you and for your emails.
I love you!!!!
Hermana Wallis