Last night, for the first time,  there was a clear sky above Sequim and we saw the moon and the stars in all their glory! This morning we saw our first sunrise!

I realized as I looked out the window, that we miss the beauty in places and things and people if we compare them to somewhere or something or someone else! We must learn to see the beauty in that person or place or thing alone!

Dear Family and Friends,

We are getting more adjusted to our mission--and the sun has shone both yesterday and today! That makes such a difference! This morning I came out of the bedroom and thought the living room looked almost pretty! I don't know why I am so affected by my surroundings!

I am trying to teach the Elders that the way they keep their apartment is a reflection of their souls. One Elder thought about that overnight and the next day told me that he could see that it was a good comparison.  If, he explained, we repent of our sins and once get clean, then each time we partake of the Sacrament we become still cleaner and more filled with light. In the same way, our house gets cleaner and cleaner as we do just little things each day. If we let ourselves get dirty again (soul or house) it is easy to slip back into those old habits and just let everything go until something forces us to have a "housecleaning" again. 

We have had some sweet experiences visiting members, inactive members and some darling non-members! We love one of these couples! They are a little older than us, he is probably almost 90, and I don't know how old she is. It is their second marriage. He is so deaf that he wears headphones of some sort to help him hear but still mostly relies on lip-reading. She is glad to visit with someone to whom she doesn't have to yell. We have visited with them twice and happened to mention that the son living in our home trains horses. He loves horses and made an immediate attachment in his heart to Michael. By the second time we visited he had already told the full-time missionaries, who live in one of their apartments, about the son who trains horses! He asked us about him first thing! 
We want so to bring the Gospel to them! 

She has a daughter that is a Mormon. The daughter and her husband are planning to serve a mission soon! But somewhere there is a block in our friend. I am praying for inspiration to know how to help her remove that block and how to interest them in the Gospel. The Mission President said, "Sometimes you can be much more effective and forthright than the Elders can be with their landlords," which gave me a green light!

I was looking out the window at the "fort" that brought such solace to me the first week we were here. I was a little dismayed to think how far "down" I must have been to be comforted by that! I think it must have been because children had built it and must still be close by!

We spoke in the Dungeness Ward Sacrament Meeting Sunday morning. Of the three wards here in Sequim, it feels best to us. It seems unified and has enough youth to make both Primary and YW/YM organizations solid. One of the wards has only about 10 children in Primary with both JR an SR combined, and only 1 active Priest to bless the sacrament. The spirit of the ward is good, but 12 families moved out when a tech company moved from here to Orem, Utah! We need to reactivate some parents and youth! People seem to come here to retire and to hide. And when they retire from employment, some of them also retire from the Church!

Three zones of the mission gave a fireside Sunday evening called, "Why I Believe." The missionaries presented musical numbers and some of them have very fine voices. Five new converts bore their testimonies--and we mean "new" converts! All had been baptized in the last two months, the first speaker only the day before! It was very moving and such a great opportunity for them! We also attended an inspiring Zone Conference on Tuesday. We are excited about the work!

Since Jan 15th, the day we started checking apartments, we have put 1,020 miles on our car! We have had some sweet visits with some of the Elders and Sisters. It is worth the time and miles--hope we can keep it up!

Two things have been impressed on my mind this week: 

I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the way for each of us to be successful in this life and together in the world to come. I know that the Savior was willing to suffer for our mistakes, and that He blesses us with His enabling power, but He also must let us use all our strength to the utmost (and allow us time for many repetitions) so that we can get strong! 

In I Nephi 17:7, the Lord says to Nephi, "Arise and get thee into the mountain," and then asked Nephi to build a ship! It makes me realize that for us to progress there will, and must always, be change and new challenges, and reminds me that the talents we have developed instead of being the "end," are only a platform or springboard to greater achievement!

When we had our interview with President Basden, of the Port Angeles Stake, he quoted the 9th Article of faith to us referencing our talents and our missionary service. 

"We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God."  
Meaning that, tho' we have used certain talents in contributing to the building up of the Church, there may be other talents that have not been developed as well so we are less comfortable using them, but they may still bring great blessing to us and to others!

Even tho' it has been unseasonable warm here, most of the rocks and trees are still wearing sweaters! 

Love you dearly!

Elder and Sister Walker

Sequim is beautiful! The sun shines more often than anywhere else in Washington and the light glints on the droplets of water that keep the earth washed fresh and clean from rain and fog and just plain humid air. Yesterday it was 39 degrees F and 98% humidity!

Sequim borders the Strait of Juan de Fuca and from the shoreline north of town we can see Victoria, BC and the San Jaun Islands. Dad and I stood there and watched a ship go by. I love the sound of the sea breathing. ;) It was low tide but the sound was big and deep and thrilling.

The Strait of Juan de Fuca north of Sequim, WA

But for a week and a half I did not think Sequim was beautiful. We came to Sequim in the darkness. To me it was grey and filthy and moldy. The sun, if it shown, sent weak rays of light through the dirty windows of the small house we were to live in. Most of the time it was grey and foggy outside. I did not go out for three days. I just scrubbed until I was exhausted and my hands and wrists were lame. The only thing that keep me going was the hope that soap and water gives, my desire to make a home for Bruce, and my testimony! Even then there were tender mercies; a yellow fire hydrant that I could see through the scraggly bush at the corner of the yard, a rough and tumble fort that some teenage boys must have built at the house across the street, and the word, "Fabulous!" that I saw through the window in the bedroom on (what I assumed was written by very positive people) the back door of the house next to ours.

In a few days the house was clean and the mission sent nice furniture to us and I realized that the structure  under the filth was a kind old house that had been sorely mistreated but had a nice spirit. I felt that it appreciated being unburdened so it could make a good home for us while we were here!

We met some very nice young Elders (missionaries) who helped us carry refuse out and good furniture in, who cheered our hearts and were very welcoming. We met some kind members of the Church who invited us for dinner. We even discovered a couple who had served with us in the Family and Church History Mission in 2006-2008 and were members of our choir!

The first experience of our mission was going to the Missionary Training Center. I had always envied anyone who had the privilege of going there, and yet I was a bit nervous that I might not measure up! 

I understood that we would be taught how to teach investigators using Preach My Gospel and I had studied it, watched all the episodes of The District, re-read the Book of Mormon after receiving our call, and prepared as well as I knew how, but still I was nervous!

Everyone at the MTC was so gracious--each missionary couple had their own young missionary escort to show them around and help them gather their materials etc. and then our training began. We met in a large group meeting where the 80 couples were divided into Districts of 4 couples and Elder Walker was chosen as our District Leader. Volunteers were asked for help with the music and only a few volunteered so I was able to help several times, both playing the piano and directing.

Our classes were very inspiring. The young returned missionary trainers were fantastic! They helped us feel as comfortable as possible while we were learning to listen for needs, ask inspired questions and teach the principles of the Gospel.

We learned to love our instructors, the other missionaries in our group, and particularly, the members from the community who came in as volunteers for our "role-play" sessions! They were instructed to use only experiences and thoughts from their own lives so that the sessions would be as real as possible. The only thing that wasn't real is that they were already members of the Church. We had only 45 minutes to get acquainted with them, listen carefully to their feelings so that we would understand what to share that would bless them most, and then teach and bear testimony. 

It was overwhelming to me that, even in a role-play situation, the Spirit would testify with such power to the things we were teaching, that often we would be moved to tears! Their was nothing unreal about it! Over and over the Spirit testified of how much the Lord loves each of His children.

Pointing to Port Angeles, WA on the world map at the MTC