To My Little Brother

Dear Robert James Walker,

It's probably really odd to be the only boy in the home. There is only two of you left. Monica and you. Robert, I'm super proud of you. For the longest time I thought you were 12. Turns out you are 13. In this ward, the Orangeburg ward, I am well acquainted with the 12 year olds and I am surprised how grown up they are. I was thinking they were older than you (you were younger than they now are when I left). Upon discovery of your real age, I've come to realize you are a lot more grown up then I remember you being. Both in height and maturity and strength and wisdom and knowledge. Wow. You are probably amazing.

Don't forget to keep up with daily scripture study. Read the Book of Mormon if you haven't read it by yourself yet. Start by prayer to help you understand the scriptures.

You are a leader. Part of the responsibility of being a leader is to figure out how to lead. This is done by prayer and fasting and searching the scriptures. If you ever have any questions about anything I recommend asking Dad; if he, or Mom doesn't know the answer to the question you might pose, ask Monica. If she doesn't know, ask Alexandria... Oh wait... Scratch all that, ask me first (after God). =)
I love you lots Robert. You are super. I look forward to seeing you in October. Hopefully you get this letter before you leave to Idaho... Second thought, I'll mail this letter to Alexandria, then you'll get it for sure. Now that I'm going to do this... are you surprised you got a letter in Idaho? Hahaha.

I read somewhere that one of the biggest sins members of the church will commit is that of ingratitude  We are so very blessed of God. It is amazing how immediately he blesses us (Mosiah 2:24). Be sure to remember what a great son you are of God. You have divine potential. I cannot even fathom what that means. You are developing characteristics unto perfection. Learn the gospel. I promise, Robert, if you learn about the Restoration, about the Plan of Salvation, about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and about the Commandments as given to us in Preach My Gospel chapter 3 well enough to teach the lessons before you are a missionary, you will have much the advantage in the mission field.

Take time from Family Home Evening to practice teaching parts of the lessons to the rest of the family. Teach one principle at a time until you can teach two principles at a time and sooner or later teacher all the gospel in full before you go on a mission. Invite your friends to church. Invite your friends to scout activities. Invite your friends to service projects. I wish I had done this more. It's the same thing as your friends inviting you to go fishing with them or to a birthday party. Except you will be offering a much more important and eternal blessing to your friends. If you really love your friends wouldn't you share with them the most important thing in your entire life that they can get, for free? Bear your testimony. One of my favorite quotes is, "Personal testimony is the strongest arrow in my quiver." Keep the highest expectations for yourself. Mom, Dad, Joshua, Alexandria, Monica and I have really high expectations for you. We've all seen you grown up and we all love you and know where your heart is. But not as well as Heavenly Father. He knows you perfectly, better than you know yourself and He is preparing you to be divine. He has perfect expectations of your. When God says you can do it, He's right, you can do anything with the Lord's help; just remember to ask for help. Develop meekness (great power unter complete control). I feel like that will be part of how Heavenly Father is going to use you in the future. You will be a great tool in his hands due to your meekness.

I would encourage you to write in your journal daily. Ask Alex for one if you don't have one. She's sure to know where to find some. Every day write down in your journal what you are thankful for in that day. I promise you will find strength in this when you go through struggles and need to feel the spirit, if you go back to journal and read those things you have been thankful.

I love you lots Robert,
Elder Benjamin Ray Walker

The Power of the Priesthood

Tell Robert, I'm super proud of him =-). Way to go. Now he's getting into more of the Isaiah chapters. It's hard to read those chapters without gaining an understanding the background of them. I'm sure he'll learn to enjoy them once he understands all of the symbolism down the road. (Unless he'll understand it as he reads through it by himself, in which case, I'll be bewildered.)

The grass just turned green again, and the weather is abnormal, every other week it's warm, then cold, then warm then cold. This week is supposed to get colder again, just after I thought it was finally warming up. And when it rains (which it does frequently), it pours, but God has been gracious to us and only let it pour rain right at the perfect times when we're driving long distances, or in church, right after we get in for the night, or in the morning when we're studying. It poured rain all last night and the rain stopped for us (literally, from pouring to not raining for about 3 minutes) to get out of the car and into the apartment, when then it resumed almost immediately after. This morning it was also pouring, then when we were all done doing our things for the morning and headed over here to the library, it stopped raining and we haven't got wet yet. God is good to us.

To tell you about the baptisms, I'm going to copy my letter to President Holm because it will be a lot more time efficient:

Howdy president. The baptisms went great! Immediately after CM's baptism itself was probably the strongest I've felt the spirit right after a baptism. (He is the now un-excommunicated member.) He yelled (out of joy) and cried, "I did it! I made it home! Oh thank you Lord Jesus. I'm back!" It was awesome. CA's baptism went good as well. This is a good ward, and I think we're doing a better job at involving the members and presenting them with opportunities to do missionary service and share the gospel. 

Yesterday we took part in exercising a lot of priesthood. With two confirmations, the sacrament blessing and passing, two anointing with oil, and two sealing the anointing, there was a great number of people blessed yesterday. More exciting, one of our new converts passed the sacrament, and another of our new converts went to the temple to do baptisms and confirmations for the dead. This is a wonderful time to be alive, especially where we have the opportunity to witness the work move forward. 

Elder Johnson is doing great. He is a good missionary. Thank you President Holm for giving me the opportunity to be assigned as a trainer. I enjoy it a lot.

Elder Joshua Walker, you sure do have a lot of opportunities to speak to general authorities. That is awesome.

I was contemplating on the power of the priesthood this morning and I find myself thinking things similar to what Nephi says in 2 Nephi 4 in the what's known as "the song of Nephi." God's blessings are incredibly amazing. What reason should I find a lack of commitment in anything? The blessings are enormous. I have the opportunity to use the Melchizedek priesthood! Do I understand what that means? It's an awful lot. That's the same priesthood that was used to organize the entire existence that we barley have gained an understanding of. I ought not to have an excuse for anything at all. There is no reason that I should not devote my entire being for the work of the Lord "to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." I continue to be impressed by the great love and trust our Heavenly Father has for me. Can I not show but a little of that trust back to Him?

Being a missionary was/is definitely the right decision to make.

I love you all. Have a great time at the Christensen home.

Elder Benjamin Walker

Inner Commitment to the Savior

So to answer the question: [The news that missionaries can email more individuals] was a letter sent from the "brethren" to all the mission presidents in the world with those facts in them that we can email "priesthood leaders," "friends," and "recent converts" with all interpretation of those definitions left up to the mission presidents. Time is also left up to the mission presidents. I am allowed 75 minutes of email now.

Mother, I get dessert at every meal too. =-) I still eat till I'm more than full at every meal and am usually always served desert afterwards.

From what it sounds like the "Adam God Theory" that you mentioned mother I think I know what Joshua is talking about. I have actually read a couple pages excerpt in the Journal of Discourses where Brigham Young (I'm pretty sure it was him) went into great detail on some theory about how Adam was actually the person who was Jesus' Father. It was a conversation of sorts and they explained how some other person came to that conclusion and it made sense the way he explained it (but of course it didn't feel right), it was very detailed and specific for how the other people came to that false conclusion, but at the end he denounced the theory as an abomination.

This past week was fun. One of our investigators is going to the Philippines in two days (on Wednesday). But our discussion we had with him really impressed him and he invited us to speak to his security team. He owns a company that does something with a security team. He set it up at the mall of Saturday morning and gave us 5 minutes to speak. We weren't sure how long we'd have to talk until we got there. We figured at worst 5 min and best 2 hours. We ended up taking 10 minutes though. He started his meeting talking about how he's leaving to the Marshal Islands (I guess he's going to both places) in a couple days and he talked about tolerance. He introduced us and told everyone that he was really impressed with us and invited us to speak to them for a few moments. He said that he asked us some "very hard questions" and was "very impressed with the answers". He must have felt the Spirit when we answered, because these were the "very hard questions" he asked us a few days before:

He said something to the effect of: "Is it ok if I ask you some hard questions? You two are great guys and I'm asking sincerely and not trying to offend you. Are there girl missionaries?"
We said "Yes, and there are a lot more coming on the way into the mission too."
His other "hard question" was: "I've never seen a Mormon that is African American, Mexican, or Chinese, are there any?"
This question was particularly humorous as half our ward is Mexican or African American. We answered, "Yes, there are lots of them."

That was the extent of his "Hard questions."

He had 14 employees in attendance in this meeting in some back side room of the mall. It was fun. We left lots of media for them to take freely of with our investigator with a list of our contact info and church time and location.

I recently stumbled upon "josephsmithpapers.org" as I read everything about the new scriptures the church is releasing in august. That is very interesting. I'm going to look into that after my mission a lot more.

This morning I decided to finally start reading some of my family history stuff Grandma and Grandpa left with me. I made it a goal, I'm pretty good a making an effort to act on my goals too. I'm actually interested in learning a little bit more about my extended family now...

I believe one of the greatest measures of my inner commitment to the Savior is doing what is right in whatever circumstance I happen to be in without thinking about it, just out of instinct. I find that in dreams there really is no time to ponder at all, you just go and do. I have also found great purpose driven and uplifting attitudes result from realizing that I made the right decision without thinking about it, such as in a dream, which to me means that it may be part of my second nature self. That is probably comforting, Monica, that you automatically had that desire to find the Savior.

Love you all!

~Elder Benjamin Ray Walker

"I Know He Will Be Ok"

There will be a baptism this Saturday, it will be great. He's made quite a change in his life, and he's going to be an awesome member.

The lesson I didn't end up attending [mentioned last week], I really wished I was there before it happened and afterwards too. Apparently he wasn't very receptive, but that's not going to stop us from having dinner with him on Sundays.

I have some friends from South Jordan too. Missionary companions (2 or 3 of them I think) Elder R. Scott Cahoon & Elder Trevor Peterson. They both finished their missions recently. If you ever run into them Joshua, tell them you're my brother. Actually, the missionary in Modesto Ward might know one of them too.

[The following is an insert from Elder B. Walker's mother's email to give you context of what Elder B. Walker talks about following the insert.]

The other day Monica and I were speaking about a myriad of topics and the subject of your leaving on your mission came up. She told me about an experience that she had which she had not shared before with me. Reminder of the background. The Sunday before you left you spoke in both our ward and the Singles' Branch. We were all excited to hear you speak and so proud of the decision and preparations you had made to serve the Lord. Early that Sunday morning, we received a phone call from your Uncle informing us that his 37 year old daughter, Natalie, a mother of three small children, had passed away in the night. Although she had had a physical only one week prior, she died unexpectedly from a heart attack. Dad and I were shocked, and sad. Dad kept thinking of the tiny niece he had seen grow from a baby to Young Adult. It was just hard to believe. Monica was sad, especially when she thought of the three little children, but Natalie was in a generation that she didn't really get to know. A few hours later, I received a phone call informing me that two girls formerly of our stake had been hit by a train in Utah. I was asked to go through my pictures and put together a video for the family. (Turns out I had over 300 of them from over the years.) One of the girls was Monica's age. So, with all of that going on, you leave for your mission. Monica tells me that when you left she felt she was being torn apart. (Her eyes teared up again as she shared this with me.) On an emotional level, she felt as if she might never see you again. It felt to her as if you were dying too. As she carried this burden with her for a few days she found herself praying. Praying for you, pleading with the Lord that he would protect you so she could see you again (in this life.) I don't know if she received her answer right then, or if it was later as she pondered, but at some point a feeling of peace, calmness, and assurance overcame her as the Spirit testified to her that you would have the Lord's protection. She was promised that you would return.  As she told me this, we were both crying of course, but then her eyes dried and she firmly stated. "And Mom, I don't worry anymore. I know he will be OK."

You know what that story you told me of that discussion you had with Monica reminded me of? King Mosiah's promise he received that his sons would be ok. Then that later account of looking back on it after Ammon cut off all the arms of the Lamanites and it is written that the Lamanites didn't know that the Lord promised that Ammon would be ok and wouldn't be able to end his life as he desired. I don't know if Ammon knew that at the time when he went forward cutting off all the arms of those who opposed him if he was protected or not, but if he did, that may have been that assurance of his actions to go forward with trust in the Lord. That is very comforting to me that I will make it home safely. I imagine that Monica wouldn't be comforted if she found out that I came home as a result of being arrested or false charges. Maybe this is my opportunity to be arrested for only one night then because that's not going to happen. (Although the other sons of King Mosiah, such as Aaron, were arrested, though and they had that promise for them as well, but they still finished their missions over the next 14 or so years.)

I finished an amazingly large project (to me) in an amazingly small amount of time from Wednesday to yesterday. Especially because the days were packed full of appointments and I didn't work on it when I wasn't supposed to anyway. (I didn't take time away from proselyting in other words.) I'll be sure to tell you about it sometime. I mentioned it in my journal, and I more thoroughly mentioned it to President Holm in my email today. I'm sure you'll read about it someday.

We had a meeting with Elder Marcus B. Nash last Wednesday: Feb 27, 2013 (did I already tell you that I was going to have that?) I cannot remember. It was a really good meeting, all five hours of it. I started out tired, and gradually became less tired. By the end of which I was not tired at all. Members of the 70 have such good trainings and insights on the scriptures. I'm glad that missionaries get to have these kind of meetings. It's lots of fun.

Several people came to church yesterday too. The people that were supposed to be baptized in a couple weeks didn't, but we still had 7 investigators show up.

A mission could never be the wrong

5 Things I Love about Orangeburg

The following is part of a letter Elder B. Walker wrote to his sister on Monday 25 February 2013

1. The area we (just the two of us right now) cover is large. The ward boundaries are exactly twice the size of the Salt Lake Valley. There's plenty of people to talk to.
2. The ward members are very welcoming and willing to serve. (They feed us a lot too.) Many of the ward members have years and years of experience. (Experience in construction, callings, business management, spirituality, etc). We have very inspired leadership too; they take the time to pray and ponder for inspiration of what they can do to fulfill their callings.
3. It's really easy to keep a positive attitude when you have a great companion that doesn't get discouraged easily.
4. I'm humbled by the blessings that the Lord gives. There is a stark contrast in the lives of the active outgoing members compared to those that piddle in the communities and don't have much of a desire to forgo and leave behind their bad habits. They are astoundingly happier and much more productive.
5. I have learned how, why, and what to do as a member in the wards I will live in to make it a loving prosperous place, as far as bringing souls to Christ.

Saturday 23 February and Sunday 24 February, we had 13 appointments with people. Every single one fell through. However, we both sustained our positive attitudes and God blessed us because of it. Sunday, the first door we knocked on let us right in. It was a very long lesson. He talked about the struggles he's been going through. We taught the restoration (first lesson in Chapter 3 of Peach My Gospel) and I used a lot of scriptures. He told us we were scaring him because every single scripture we read he had pondered on semi-recently.

Also, there was a piece of paper that had phone numbers and names and looked like at some sort of even these names were collected from interested individuals. It didn't have a date and I found it right after I got to Orangeburg and my companion didn't know what it was. I almost threw it away a lot of times over the past three months but kept telling myself no matter how old it was (expectancy was 2+ years ago) it wouldn't hurt to call them anyway. One of the names had an associated address too. We called them all, none answered. Yesterday, we visited one of them, the only one that had an address. We were let right in but it turned out the person we were looking for wasn't home. As we were leaving, she got home and she was surprised to find out we were there for her. We found out it was an event from last summer that she had written her information down and nobody every followed up. We started to talk about how prophets need authority to do things like to baptize and she interrupted us to tell us she's been dreaming lately about going back to church and singing and that she has felt a great desire recently to be baptized again. We then invited her to be baptized and she told us how excited she is and described the Spirit to us and that was how she was feeling. Cool!

Saturday, the first person that opened the door (while knocking around our fallen through appointment) let us right in. He told us that he loved the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. We taught him a little bit, described what a church service is like and he said, "Wow! Every church should be like that." (Did I mention he's a reverend?) He's all for coming to church next week with his wife too. (He's got to be a retired reverend).

The Lord blessed his obedient children. I promise, keeping the commandments is the answer 100% of the time. When we put God first, all else falls into place.

Elder Benjamin Walker

Christmas Eve

I wanted to tell you about one of our investigators... A week ago Saturday we called W. to confirm our appointment for Saturday morning and he dropped us over the phone. He never wanted to see us back at his home again and wasn't interested in the church. I asked him if he had read any of the Book of Mormon or prayed about it at all, his answer was no. I committed him to read something, anything and pray about it and told him that we'd come by in a couple of days to see if he changed his mind. He told us to not come over because he didn't want to see us any more. I told him we'd call him then, he consented and we left it at that. On Wednesday evening, we were on an exchange and our plans ran short and we were near his home so we went over to see him anyway instead of giving him a call. He let us right in, we taught him about the Book of Mormon, he told us he didn't pray or read, but he committed to church (which was one of his big hangups) and committed to be baptized. I tell you I was pretty confused, I was expecting him to not even let us in the door again. Alas, he came to church, and is still committed to be baptized. It was kind of a neat unexpected miracle. Since then, he has started reading the Book of Mormon and now has a testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Very interesting. I'm short on time for various reasons, one of which is because we are at a member's home; however, I will talk to you tomorrow. 

I meant to make a bunch of Christmas cards and send them to a variety of people, but all the Walmart photo maker machines are broken thus unfortunatley my Christmas letters aren't going to get sent or made. =( I just don't have time to write everybody.

My time is spent, I love you all,

Elder Benjamin Ray Walker

Transferring but Congrats, Brother, on your Mission Call

This particular email was mostly in response to the letter Elder Benjamin Walker's younger brother, Joshua Walker, wrote him. J. Walker's email you can read here. In it, J. Walker informs Elder Walker about the mission call J. Walker just received to serve in the Utah Salt Lake South Mission. Brothers have a special bond. They haven't seen each other since October 2011 and won't until January 2015.

I am super duper excited for Joshua and Ryan. That is awesome!

Today I get transferred (actually on Wednesday). Things were just picking up, those people that are trying to overcome their Achilles foot problem of coming to church were coming to church... oh well. Elder Brinkerhoff will baptize them.

Just to let everyone know, if I don't reply to a letter received within the next 6 weeks, it's because I'm going to be writing letters to Joshua instead (expect some Josh, let me know when your semester ends so that I send it to home after that).

So, is Ryan's mission language English as well? Just curious.

I forgot to bring my journal today as well to finish the Elder Bednar stuff because of transfers in a couple of days. I'm busy packing. It slipped my mind.

One thing that I think I have mentioned before is how amazingly trusting random non-member individuals are of missionaries. They tell us some of the weirdest things you don't tell a normal person. It keeps me entertained.

Joshua will go on his mission approximately the same time the next transfer is. I'll remember that. This is exciting and it's not very long away.

I have obtained a lot of stuff. I may send a box home of stuff I don't need. We shall see. 

Oh, I wanted to let Joshua know, that when I was reading his "Dear Elder Walker (this means me not you)" I though Josh was writing another letter to me within his letter before I finished the line. ha ha ha

Joshua, I hope you received my letter I mailed to you a while ago. You are bound to enjoy my letters in the future. I'm not giving you a choice. ha, just kidding, that's against the Plan...

I've heard a lot of rumours about Utah missionaries from missionaries that serve here from Utah... I'll have to tell josh some of them sometime and see if they are true.

Hey Joshua. If you find yourself looking for something to study I think it would be good to read the "missionary handbook" and look up all of the references that are mentioned. There are a lot of wonderful insights I had never supposed before. 

Well dear family, I'll have to write a letter probably next week, for I am currently caught in thought with the recent events that have occurred. I'll pray for you Joshua! Talk to you all later. See you in 2015 Josh... (that's a long time... October 2011 to Jan 2015).

I love being a missionary!

Elder Benjamin Ray Walker

Special Day: Biked more than we ever had

I've had some awesome activities this past week, and some less-awesome mountains to climb. It's been a week full of adventure... Elder Fisher and Elder Ah Kuoi baptized a new member of the church. We had some good investigators at church. We had a ward picnic and it was awesome: lots and lots of amazing food. We ought to have more investigators on date to be baptized next month within this coming week. One of the days we biked 47.1 miles in one day. (I usually don't keep track of it, but this day was special because I knew we biked more than we ever had before.) We played basketball with some members last preparation day, some LA's and investigators were supposed to come, but none did.

"Food" for thought:

I don't know if I told you about the letter I sent Elder Sean Burnham with fudge in it, I double bagged two good size pieces of them... Well apparently the bags leaked and the fudge melted and blobbed all over the very very good and inspired letter I wrote him... bummer. It was a really good letter. He said the fudge tasted good though.

I'm sorry I'm short on words today, I'm just not in the mood to tell you what's been going on right now...

Greenwood Ward consists of lots and lots of nice members. I've come to discover that it really doesn't (and shouldn't) matter to the missionary where you are at in the world sharing the gospel. We are where our leaders have been inspired to put us because we will help the work move along to the fullest in that area if we all do our part. The church is so inspired and awesome...

Oh, this past week we also got to hear from "Elder Walker" a general authority over all of the temples in the world. It was a really awesome "mission tour" meeting.

Tis all I have to say, till next time!

Elder Benjamin Ray Walker

(@")@ <("<)

(above: two Kirby's fighting)

Advice to People Who Should be Preparing to Serve a Mission

I can't speak for anyone but myself, so I will tell you what a mission has done for me thus far 6+ months out in hopes that I may come to persuade you to put forth a priority in your lives above all else to strive towards being worthy and willing to serve a mission.

When I was growing up, I had been taught from goodly parents who love the Lord; they sought for me to grow up in the gospel, being blessed abundantly, helping me recognize that it all comes from the Lord. Despite all of this guidance from my parents I needed to learn and come to know for myself through my own desire what is right and what is wrong.

I specifically remember one time when I was in a primary class, our teacher, who I'm pretty sure was Brother Barton, asked us why we come to church and how we know the church is true. I remember saying without a moments hesitation that I come to church because my parents bring me with them. My testimony was completely built off my parents testimonies because I trusted them and didn't have a great desire to learn for myself.

It reminds me of the general conference speaker (apostle or prophet) that years ago said that if we have no yet found a testimony of our own, then we can rely off his until we have one for ourself. I have grown up since then learning of the inspired organizations that the church has made so convenient to help me grow: seminary, scouts, young men, Deacons Quorum, Teachers Quorum, Priest Quorum, primary, sunday school, opportunity to give talks, etc. I, however, didn't understand to the full extent how much growth that actually provided me with. I still don't really.

I kept along this path of steady growth until I went to college at BYU-Idaho. I didn't expect the environment at all to be so uplifting in itself. There are hundreds or thousands of returned missionaries at the school. I had always expected myself to serve a mission because that was what my parents did and expected me to do. I don't think I really understood what significant difference in someone's life it makes when we spend all of two years devoted to be a servant of the Lord. All of my friends highly encouraged me to serve a mission as I was preparing myself. They all had wonderful experiences with people where they served and told me that their brief explanations of how great it was for them didn't do their missions justice.

I have had the wonderful opportunity to be nurtured with the good word of God all my life. What a blessing it has been! I am still learning how to use the tool God has provided in these Latter-days, The Book of Mormon. There is so much contained in the Book of Mormon and it truly brings the spirit to all those who sincerely read it. It is amazing how much I learn every time I read it. Reading the Book of Mormon and praying about it is the best way to gain a testimony. I have now been on a mission for a little over 6 months and I have had countless experiences that secure my testimony. I have had so many undeniable experiences and I know that the church is true. I have come to love the Lord more and more. I have developed skills that would have taken many years more to acquire. All of these things are blessings that comes as a result of serving the Lord by serving others (Mosiah 2:17).

A mission puts personal development on fast forward, it really does. The gospel is not separate from the scientific world; that is something I come to realize more and more every day. Everything gospel oriented I learn, I come to realize that they tend to have have excruciating important real-world application; Truly, it all does. Before my mission, I sometimes found scripture study, preparing lessons or talks, going out with the missionaries or other churchly affairs to be quite a task and sometimes a nuisance. I believe the more you study the gospel the more you come to find out there is more to the gospel than we can even comprehend here in this earthly state and it has more application to our lives, to our eternal progression, than anything else does or ever will.

I have grown to appreciate the important things in life; I have gradually come to realize that true joy comes through obedience. Not just obedience, but obedience as a result of charity. Obedience because I love doing those things that are right. Not obedience because it's a commandments; to be obedient with a grudging heart that is wishing he could be doing other things is not a missionary that is going through a change of heart.

These two years I have and opportunity to serve unlike any other I will again. It is a privilege to be set apart as one of less than 200 missionaries in South Carolina. So few of us have the authority to do what we have been called to in the world. There are billions of people ready to come to a remembrance of the plan God has for us that we already accepted. You can't afford to not go on a mission! There are so many secrets of Godliness that you'll miss out on if you end up not preparing yourself and making yourself worthy. The Sisters had a more important calling to get married if they are headed in that direction at the age of 21, but for the rest of us there is no excuse for us to miss this grand experience. We all have our part to do in this world. Even a local service mission is a noble pursuit if you are kept from going on a full time mission. I know from experience that I couldn't have made a better choice than to serve a mission. I love it more than I can say. I've grown more than I can currently recognize. Heavenly Father blesses me every day. Heavenly Father loves His missionaries!

14th Week in South Carolina

Portions of Elder Walker's most recent letter:

We set somebody else on date [appointment for baptism]! But I don't know what happened to him... he didn't come to church. I haven't seen him yet since the first lesson with him. 

I thought my mormon.org profile would be done by now, but I just checked and my picture was denied because of background stores and the obvious library behind me. I can't upload a picture from the library because of the browser they use, but it will happen eventually. 

I got lots of mail this past week. 

Tell Josh that he's super for helping out the twins in sharing them the gospel. It's a lot harder to share it with people you know (like neighbors). He should invite them to go on some of the activities he does like snow camp-outs or hikes. 

I like food. Members feed me a lot. 

I had a lot to tell you yesterday as I was writting 1,000,000 letters, I don't remember any of it now. I think it was a bunch of spiritual experiences. 

"ta ta for now" said tigger.

He's grateful for the letters sent to him! And he wrote everyone back yesterday, so expect a letter from him sometime this week if your wrote him. He's written me more about the Study Journal that he mentioned before, so once I get his letter I will be including them on here later this week. Apparently he's also got a profile at Mormon.org so I'll have to figure out the address and include it on here, so be looking to that as well.

But he seems to be doing well! Continue to write him as he really enjoys receiving them and will do his best to write you back in a timely manner.

Ta ta for now!

New Year's Weekend

Elder Walker was able to Baptize someone over the weekend! What a great way to begin the New Year. It sounds like the work is going pretty well for him:

An investigator was baptized by me Saturday the 31st of Dec. Sunday he received the Holy Ghost by a member, and before church on Sunday he was interviewed to receive the Aaronic priesthood and received it in priesthood meeting. During priesthood he realized that he didn't have a home teacher or a family for him to visit and approached the elder's quorum president on his own to get an assignment. It was pretty funny to watch. Something else with the new member is that in priesthood they mentioned that if you can't get your home teacher companion to go with you to do your home teaching, you are welcome to call the missionaries and they would love to go with you, especially if the home teachees are less-active. He heard this and told us he wanted to go out and teach people with us when we have a opportunity to bring him. He's going out with us tomorrow to see some of his acquaintances (I'm not sure if they are friends) that we ran into a couple weeks ago that know him already.

This past week we invited a great number of people to church. everybody. and nobody I expected to some did, but we did have two other people come. There was a person that we met as a street contact that we had given the church address to that I didn't recognize but could tell she was lost that came. There was also an eternigator [people who have investigated much past the recommended time before baptism] that came to church. He has a Book of Mormon that is signed by the last 8 or so (or more) companionships of the missionaries and he only came because he told us a couple of months ago that he would come eventually.

I went on another exchange with the zone leaders. This time I went to North Charleston for the day. We met some pretty cool people there.

Members are great! We just had two members that moved into the ward and they both approached us and gave us their info (# and address) and told us that they would help any time they could.

In another letter he wrote home, he wrote his testimony for his friends and family and strangers:

I know that Jesus Christ is the Redeemer and Savior of the world. I know that it is only because of the sacrifice that both God (mentioned in John 3:16) and Christ (mentioned in John 15:13) have made on our behalf that we may obtain God's greatest gift to us, Eternal Life (found in D&C 14:7 and Romans 6:23). I know that it is through obedience in which we are blessed (D&C 130:21). I know that I am on the Lord's errand (D&C 64:29) out here on a mission. I have seen miracles and I know that they came as a result of the faith of the individuals in which were blessed. I know Christ has set the perfect example for us to follow, and that I should do all I can to emulate Christ ever day of my life. I know that answers are found through the scriptures and this is part of why I study them every day. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Lastly, I mentioned in the last blogpost that Elder Walker was able to skype us. Here is a snippet of his chat with our family:

Christmas

On Christmas day we received a call from Elder Walker. It was nice to chat with him a bit, but in truth he was only calling so he could contact us later through Skype! So it was nice to be able to see and hear him as he chatted with us about life. He's doing really well and we are all so proud of him!

One of the best things about Christmas for him was that he was able to chop down his own Christmas tree, which none of us have ever done before. He was also blessed with receiving many Christmas letters/cards:

I received 24 letters on Saturday, Dec. 17 and I went back to the mailbox on Sunday, Dec. 18 (there wasn't really a reason to but I did anyway even though mail doesn't come on Sundays) and received a 25th letter... there was another letter in the mailbox... wow, that's a lot of letters.

Something I noticed for the age of people that sent me letters: the younger they get, the less they know how to fold a letter to put in in an envelope. One kid I don't know kind of just randomly folded the letter until it fit in the envelope and our youngest brother's was folded in fourths to fit inside. 

Our brother Joshua, a senior in high school, who will be serving a mission in a year and a half, wrote Elder Walker a letter asking about some aspects of the mission:

How much can you drive?
~We have 1,000 miles a month we can use for the car amongst the four missionaries in our apt. Two companionships. It's really not as much as it seems. It takes 100 miles each way to go to a meeting in Columbia for transfers or other stuff, thus far we've been going there twice a month (400 miles) since I've been here.

(Joshua) has been looking at Summerville weather
~Well, I've been looking at Modesto weather. We check the weather here too every once in a while. We call "tell-me" which is a free service that allows lots of things like weather, directions, businesses, etc. to be told to me. We have that number saved on our phone we have. Don't be deceived for how warm it says it is here. The humidity makes the cold, really cold and the hot, really hot. There are some days in between but it usually feels like one of the extreems. Last year at this time it was snowing, this year it still gets in the 70's. There seems to be cold fronts and warm fronts around here.

The most common food I make: mac & cheese or top roman
~Ha ha ha, very funny. No. The most common food I have eaten is pancakes. I do love pancakes. However, home-made mac & cheese seems to be a common thing to be made here in the south. During Thanksgiving and the ward Christmas party (which was really really wonderful btw) most people had made home-made mac & cheese. 

Josh remembers to water his cactus
~That's good, keep it growing, I see a lot more cactus' in people's pots on their porch around here, maybe that's just because I'm tracking and get to see everybody's house, there are a lot of weird things to see while tracking. I met my first midgit and first reorganized LDS saint on Saturday, Dec. 17. There are also a lot of wild animals that walk out of the forest all the time. (Remember the forest is everywhere around here.) How's the raspberry bush doing? I hope you've been watering that too. 

I have been eating lots of strange foods I've never thought of before. We ate dinner at the C–'s house yesterday. Bro C– knows 9 languages and counting and Sis C– doesn't like to cook but knows how to cook everything from every country it feels like. (I've had some of the most unique food at their house) 

How is the ward I'm in:
~The Summerville Ward is stupendous! (super). They have done such a good job with welcoming the investigators or others visiting the ward. Their activities that they organize are also really good. The Christmas party, for example, was really really good. They had about 500 paper (really only about 200) snowflakes strung across the gym and Christmas lights all over. The tables had crayons for me to draw on them and there was way too much food. It was like a while Thanksgiving meal per-table. (about 16 of them. 7 chairs a table). And lots of dessert. The different Thanksgiving meals we went to were awesome too. We are always told by people, as missionaries, "If you ever need something, food, a ride, or are in the area and need a drink, or want access to something you can't get because of mission rules (like internet, pages printed out, or movie made for us) just ask us and we'll be glad to help you." Both members and non-members tell us that. Which reminds me! We made a video for the Christmas party that we spend 1 1/2 hours on but a non-member actually made for us... one of these days I'll get it and mail it home... our view of what the movie was going to be was so much better than it turned out being. I was disappointed the first time I saw it... but we had a talk with the guy who made it for us, and he told us of these cool effects he was going to add to it... but his computer crashed several times trying to burn it on the DVD so he did a straight shot clip because he procrastinated due to lack of time. Looking back on it, it's still pretty good though.

I got a haircut from Elder Winger today... he's pretty good at cutting hair.

You know how you sent me that extra picture of our family's boys, mom? Well, that was the second time you sent me a replacement picture... I have two of them now for the one I lost at the MTC. (That one I had no control over because the blackhole ripped it from my possession into the midst of the fabric of time.)

And to me he says:

Dear Alexandria Mae Walker,
     Mom tells me that you are super. Thanks for being so super for me. You really are wonderful for updating my facebook account for all of my friends to see what's going on in my life right now. (I'm not sure if it's facebook or something else, but nevertheless, thanks a bunch!! You are the best oldest sister in the world!)

End of Week 2 in SC

Elder Walker wrote us today! He first made it known how sweet it was to have a good friend of ours in primary write a letter asking if they could be pen-pals. Elder Walker said that of course he accepted and that he hopes this young boy will have fun reading his future letters.

He had some interesting information to share with use that we found a tad fascinating.

First, I should share with you that he was considering buying a GPS unit because then he could figure out where he was going and such. But he had decided against it:

I decided that I'm not going to buy a GPS unit for a couple reasons. 

1. I'd rather have a hands-on map of every area I go to than for using google maps. 

2. (this is really awesome) ... The church have been progressing a lot lately in technology ... I went to a meeting last tues (every tues) and one of the ward mission leaders told us that he was talking with someone (I forgot his name though), a general authority I think, and it turns out that the church will be giving ipads to every single missionary. The ones out in the field will be receiving one and incoming missionaries will be receiving one. This is what results because of it:

• mission presidents will be able to call the missionaries if they have been in the apartment too long. (all ipads will have been programmed in a way so that the mission pres can see where we are at all times)

• does away with all CDs/DVD players/thumb drives/GPS needs/ward rosters/etc.

• all missionaries get to keep the ipad after their mission. the ipad will be his/hers to keep.

• the missionaries will need to pay a little extra per month, because they will be paying for it (but I'm sure that the church gets some sort of huge discount for buying in bulk)

• it's unlikely that it will come out before I get off my mission, but I wouldn't be surprised if Joshua gets one on his mission and I would be surprised if Robert doesn't get one of his mission.

Then there are other things happening with the ways missionaries do things. In the Fresno California Mission, where Elder Walker's parents live within, is where the testing of church tours first occurred before going worldwide. Apparently, in the Columbia South Carolina Mission they are doing another test:

Something else the church has done is started a test program in my mission to have members write a letter to a friend telling them something to the effect of "because I care for you so much I want you to be a part of this church". This isn't with me, but one set of missionaries are doing this in my mission. 

There are a few things that every missionary is warned about and what everyone home wants to know about. The food. Sometimes you eat some odd food and sometimes you eat some really amazing food. But this is what Elder Walker has to say about the food so far:

We handed out a dinner sign-up sheet for everybody to feed us four missionaries (four in the ward). It was my idea, and so we carried this idea out. The second meal I had with a family was a very very southern meal, it couldn't have gotten more southern. They cooked gritts with other weird stuff, it was edible. The other meals I ate were pretty good. I have discovered other ways to prepare meals via my companion and the other two missionaries in my apt. A lot of it tastes pretty good, I'll have to show you when I get back.
yall'd enjoy it (I've done been speaking southrn)

He informs us that so far he hasn't had much of a problem understanding people. "Most people are normal." Also, his missionary work seems to be going well so far! Which is a really fantastic thing to hear about:

Yesterday was a long day, I biked more than 20 miles. That's ok though, it was good for us. We did make 61 contacts yesterday. (Yes, that's a lot, about 30 a day is what we are supposed to be doing) 

We committed a family of three (mother and two children) to be baptized this upcoming Saturday the 26th of November, they have been progressing investigators for 6 months now, and they committed to baptism last Sat the 19th, (they have been on date 3 or 4 times previously though, but I think this one will be ok). 

So that's all for today! Please write him! He's truly love to hear from you and write to you as soon as he can.

First week out of the MTC

Elder Walker at the Provo Temple

As you all may know, Elder Walker left the MTC last Monday. Just before he left, he mailed us a CD of his mission pictures that we received on Saturday. He even labeled most of them. I'll be including a lot of them throughout this post (but mostly at the end of it), as we have also received an email from him today as it's his P-Day. Thus, here are snippets of his email:

Well, I don't know where to start. There is a lot to tell.
Lets just say that there were miracles to other people that happened and that I wrote some of them down. These are three people that we've met for the first time. To quickly summarize three of them:

One:
One guy was declared dead at a hospital and saw an angel.
Probably won't get baptized by proper authority, it was a street contact and we never saw him again.

Two:
One guy's daughter ran away from home last week and he is in very humbling situation right now (might get baptized someday).

Three:
Another guy that almost died due to anxiety/asthma attack because of some bad things he did and was sorry for and saw the hand and wrist of Jesus Christ in a dream who told him that everything would be ok (this was 4 years ago). Since then he has turned his life completely around and has much knowledge about Christ but his sources aren't good source as he knows a lot of wrong things about our church. (For instance: he thinks that we have been commanded to have at least 5 kids.)  But he's very receptive to everything he hears all he wants is proof of one of the things Joseph prophesied and after he'll do the research on him and believe us if he find out that it came true. The problem with this guy is that he's trying to figure things out the wrong way. But he treated us like heroes. He welcomed us into his house having never seen us before very excitedly knowing exactly who we were even though he'd never met missionaries before. He was baptized in another church though as that was one of the first things that he did after he got over his anxiety stuff, he found a church (he went for any church) to baptism him.

Elder Walker pointing to South Carolina

It seems he's still doing great! Apparently it's colder than he expected and is thinking of getting gloves and another cheap suit. But he says his bicycle works great! Which is good considering how much he'll be using it. He mentions that he'd love to get mail. Well, he sort've implies that. But he could be speaking to the family who hasn't written him a letter this past week. Whoops. In anycase, he ends his short email telling us he doesn't have a whole lotta time before the computer kicks him off and then says:

Well, I'm off to the mall, then store for food then I'll be writing letters all day. . . . literally, I get to write to everybody. . .

Elder Lash, Elder Phillips, Elder Hansen and Elder Walker

Elder Walker's District 

Elder Walker's District at the Provo Temple

Elder Phillips and Elder Walker at the Provo Temple

Off to South Carolina

Elder Walker has just arrived in Atlanta, Georgia on his way to South Carolina. We know this because he's just called home. He informed us so our mother wouldn't keep worrying about him. It's really great that the missionaries can contact their families to inform them of their safe arrival. My mom was really quite surprised and happy. We were hoping for at least an email. But a phone call was certainly great. See, traditionally there are two times a year when missionaries can call home. Christmas and Mother's Day. Today was apparently an exception. Love it.

However, he also wanted to tell us that the mission home address has changed since the point when he first received his mission call.

Thus, I just want you to know to no longer send letters to the MTC. He's no longer there. Send them to:


Elder Benjamin Walker
South Carolina Columbia Mission
110 Oak Park Dr #B
Irmo, SC 29063

But it was really great to hear him on the phone. He sounds like he's really enjoying life. Pray for him! and send him a letter! He'd appreciate it! from anyone!

The Second Week of the MTC

Elder Walker is extremely lucky having 6 family members. If we each write him a letter once a week, well, let's just say that he gets letters. Though this may tapper off as the weeks go by. However, he has sent us a few hand written letters in return.

He starts out writing about his mission and his trip and such and how he's supposed to write us a letter as soon as he arrives at the MTC. So he did, but just hadn't sent it yet. In anycase, this was sealed inside one of his letters:

It's classic Elder Walker. This is the kind of humor he has. If you don't get it, think about it for a little bit. In order for that note to be sent to us in his letter, the envelope wasn't sealed yet. He could have taken the stamps out himself. I guess he really wanted us to write him back.

The next letter we received looked like this:

It's tiny. And every other line you have to use a mirror to read because he wrote it backwards. We're lucky he didn't write it in cursive. He's actually extremely talented in writing backwards. It looks exactly like his forward letters and words. Though it's extremely hard to read. When it's tiny. and backwards every other line. He's funny that way. :)

In Elder Walker's most recent E-mail it seems he's doing fine. In fact, I'm pretty sure he's doing more than fine based on his words. Here are some excerpts:

I can eat ice-cream every day, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I found the ice-cream container on the first Sunday I was there ... if I wasn't constantly looking for it I wouldn't have found it.

Apparently the ice cream machine is in the back corner of the MTC cafeteria. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to find it as soon as he did, so he hadn't shown it to his companions as of last week. They've probably all found it by now though.

To my 17 year old brother he wrote:

now for the good news: when you go on a mission it is going to be lots of fun, you will enjoy it a lot.

Then there is Elder Walker's description just of how life is in the MTC:

Every meal is a buffet of good food ... not really a buffet though, just lots of different places where they prepare different plates of food and you can go wherever you want to get whatever variety of anything you want any time. I hope you understood all that ... and I've replaced my love of drinking milk with chocolate milk ... it's much better, and still all you can drink. in the cafeteria, with my card I get a 100% discount on everything. (big surprise there). and a 40% discount on everything in the store (which I have probably 40 dollars in getting a variety of colored pens and stamps and blank white paper and larger envelopes (for the blank printer paper). I am still sure that I made the best decision I could have made in the first 20 years of my life: to go on a mission. 

I have got to tell you about all the food we have gotten. Over the past week we, four people in a room (two companionships), have received 5 different types of cookies with a minimum of 6 for one type and 20 for the max. We have received enough brownies to provide everyone with their full share of desserts if we were to have a party at the Remington's. We have received a Pumpkin cake, cupcakes, frosted cookies, muffins. and lots and lots and lots of candy. all together including everything we already ate and gave away (as we got more today I later found out) we have received 30-50lb of junk food. I took a picture of what is left that we didn't give away as of this morning. 

Then he goes on to thank different people for different things:

I never thanked Uncle Donald for picking Elder Fischer and I from temple square ... would you call him and thank him for me? some friends of mine and Russell's visited us while we were at Uncle Greg and Aunt Debbie's house and Uncle Donald left during that time. Uncle Donald and Aunt Louise gave be a box full of cookies Tues night .. how nice of them. 

So he's really thankful for Uncle Donald, Aunt Louise, Uncle Greg and Aunt Debbie for the things they've done for him. He wants us to make sure they all know that.
And, of course, he thanks the editor if this blog for the absolutely amazing work I'm doing by saying:

Thank you for hosting my mission online for me, you are such a nice sister, I told my friends that you are doing that and that they should look at it to find out about it.
Did I mention that you were very nice to me? I realize that doing all of that online is a lot of work to do, thank you for doing that for me.

He's also really grateful for the DearElder.com site where you can type up a letter and it gets sent to him immediately. For those of you who has never used it you go to the site and create a free account. Then you write to the Elders and Sisters on their missions. It's a lot less expensive and in some cases it's even free (especially at the MTC).  So I'd recommend you use it to write Elder Walker unless you wish to write a handwritten letter.

Until next week everyone! Keep Elder Walker in your prayers along with all the other missionaries in the world!

In the MTC

Elder Walker wrote us the other day!! We were all really excited. My mother was somewhat upset over the fact that he hadn't written us, but then we received his e-mail thus he was forgiven.

I had sent him a handwritten letter to him with poems written by Russell Elkins when he served his mission in Guatemala. He collected it all after his mission and had it published as My Mormon Mission Poems: A Witty Poem a Week for 2 Years. I sent Elder Walker two of his MTC poems as follows:

When we say grace in the MTC
We always put one hand on our cup
This act may seem irreverent
But keeps others outta yer 7-up
The cafeteria food can be tough to eat
Yes, yes, even the fruits
To keep us from having food fights
They make us wear expensive suits

Once upon a time
In the MTC cafeteria
Arose a loud crashing sound
Among the elders’ mass hysteria
Someone dropped his food
The room cheers and it roars
The crowd gets even louder
If things bounce twice or more
When it comes that time of night
When I kneel down to pray
I ask my Father in Heaven
To help me not drop my tray 

In Elder Walker's e-mail back to my family he responded with a poem of his own that I'm suitably impressed with:

Those poems about the MTC:
Incorrectly apply to me
All this talk about the juice
Makes me want to make a truce

We all do pray
but I must say
It's not the tray
It is our day

I've got laundry!
I've got pants!
but the one thing I can't do is dance!

I've got suits!
and I've got ties!
I've got to watch for Satan's lies!


(if you count the syllables for the first two poems on each line, you'll be more impressed) 

Elder Walker also wrote a little about his travel to the MTC with his friend:

At both airports I was at with Elder Russell Fischer, there were more than 8 groups of people (1-4 each) that came up to us and knew that we were missionaries even though we didn't have our nametags. This was word for word what they each said, and what we responded:

"Coming or going?"
~Going, we report to the MTC tomorrow.
 ... Are you excited? ...
~Absolutley!
... Where are you going? ...
~I'm going to South Carolina... I'm going to Las Vegas.
... Oh, that's where I went on my mission ... (two different people told us that, one to each of us)
OR
... I have a brother/sister/cousin/etc. that lives there his/her name is: ___. When you get there look them up ...
OR (like once)
... Oh, I've never been there before, but I've heard it's nice, you'll do great elders. 

Elder Walker's certainly kept his sense of humor. He informs us that he's working hard and enjoying it. He's learning more than he ever thought he could and he's been keeping up on his goal to memorize 2 scriptures a day for his whole mission. At the moment he's average for the past week has been above 2 a day, but he honestly has no idea if he'll be able to stay ahead of it because of his schedule.

And that's really it for week one. Keep him and other missionaries in your prayers. Until next week!

Happy 19th Birthday!

Today's the day Elder Walker reports to the MTC. It's also the day where 19 years ago he was born. In honor of such an event, I thought I would put up a couple of photos of him throughout the years as he's been growing into the great man he's becoming.

This was a multi-combined birthday party years ago for Elder Walker and several of the other boys in the photo.

The footsteps of the temple.

The latest birthday cake for the combined party of Elder Walker and Elder Burnham.

Last time in several years these young men will have their birthdays together.

P.S. Letters to a missionary at the Provo MTC and other places are free through DearElder.com

Goodbye, Elder Walker!

Elder Walker with his parents.

Today was the day my brother was set apart.

My siblings woke up earlier than early in order to make a special breakfast for my brother. They made him pancakes with strawberries, raspberries and whipped topping along with freshly squeezed orange juice. They weren't even home when he ate it because they left for seminary. We met them at the church building after everything was ready to go.

My aunt and uncle, our bishop with his son, another very recently ordained Elder and our family all fit into the Stake President's office. Before my brother was set apart, the Stake President asked if any of us had advice to share with him, recognizing the fact that a setting apart goes very quickly.

First the Bishop stated that he's known Elder Walker for so many years that he doesn't remember the exact number. He just knows that Elder Walker was once a lot shorter. But that it's been great to see him grow into the man he's becoming. He also wished Elder Walker to remember the great support system he has.

Elder Walker and the Stake President.

Then my mother mentioned something my Grandfather once said. That as a missionary you're teaching others something they already know, but have forgotten. Teaching them the gospel should give them a sense of coming home.

My father then informed Elder Walker how so extremely proud he was of him. He continued, expressing his love for his son. One that he's so glad and lucky to have. He knows that Elder Walker will be a great missionary.

Then, the youngest in the room, my youngest brother who's really close to the oldest brother, said, "If you'll be as good of a missionary as a brother, you'll be a great missionary. And baptize like 50 thousand people."

The Stake President concluded with how, before his setting apart, we are already praying for the him. But, once they're set apart, they have numerous members throughout the world kneeling down in prayer for the missionaries.

We then drove Elder Walker and Elder Fischer to the airport and sent them on their way for the next two years. They'll both be great. We wish them the best of luck and will always keep them in our prayers.

Elder Walker and Elder Fischer waving goodbye.

P.S. If you'd like the address of a missionary in order to write them, please contact me. I have a list of them that would love to hear from any of you.