December so far

Elder Walker with his cousins Elder Austin Bean and Elder Scott Laughlin at the MTC

I'm sorry about the delay in the update about Elder Walker. It's been pretty busy around the house.

He has informed us that currently has a new favorite scripture, 2 Nephi 18:30:

For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have.

He told us about how the mission work is going in that part of the world:

We have an investigator that we found a couple of weeks ago knocking doors. He's the first investigator that has come to church with us (he came yesterday) besides the the family that have been baptized. He had problems with all of the word of wisdom and was/is addicted to smoking. He has one kid that is currently in custody (being accused of something that he didn't do as far as I know) that is one year old (has been in custody for 9 or so months). He's waiting to get lawyers to fight for his side. He doesn't have a job and has one more kid on the way...

Now, knowing all this (that he has gone through hard times in his life), he committed to keep the word of wisdom, he has relapsed once, but has keep it since even when some random person walked up to him and handed him a pack of cigarrettes. (Literally, a random person gave him cigarettes.) He ended up leaving the cigarettes on the ground. He comitted to keeping the law of chastity and we impressed upon him the importance of being married (using 1 Corinthians 6 & 7) or separated. He'll get married in April, but has decided that he will stay with a cousin until he is. He reads the Book of Mormon on his own and understands the story line very well even though he can't read very well. (I'm sure God has something to do about that.) When he came to church with us yesterday the ward did a fabulous job in welcoming him and he told us later that everybody was very friendly. He even commented in a couple of the classes (sunday school/gospel principals and priesthood).

Something funny... his roommates (1 girlfriend and 2 identicle twin sisters) texted him to ask us in the middle of our lesson if we were single.

He's also finally informed us on the name of his companion, Elder Winger. He was originally in one of the Georgia missions before it was disolved. The other two elders in his apartment are Elder Memmott and Elder Hancock. A quick story about him and life in his apartment.

I bought Cholula sause for our apartment. A couple of weeks ago I bought Cholula sause and I showed them how much I like it several times... Elder Memmott (4 elders in my apt remember?) pored it out in a cup for me to drink (about half a cup) and I did. What a waste of Cholula sause though ... easy peasy it didn't effect me at all. Yes, it was a complete waste of Cholula sause, and I won't do it again because the whole things costs about 5 dollars and it doesn't have very much to start with (and yes, we've been out for two weeks now).

The sign Elder Walker saw and drew for us.

Also, while he has been out and about in South Carolina he came across a sign another church had in their yard. He didn't inform us of the name of said church, but the sign read "Don't pray about the Book of Mormon! That's how they get you!" We've had quite the laugh over that.

He had also written his almost 12 year old brother Robert a song. It's a song that we've called Robert's for a long time, but because line 3 is different then it normal is for our family, this means he made it up. While reading imagine the melody to "O Christmas Tree":

Oh Robert James, Oh Robert James,
I truly! truly! love you!
O wobert James, O wobert James!
I truly truly do. 

I love you in the morning,
I love you in the evening,
Oh Robert James, Oh Robert James
I truly, truly, love you!

He seems to be doing well! He wants to thank those that have written to him, and he tries to get back to each of you, but sometimes it takes him awhile. But he thanks you each.