Day of Service and Transfer

I also participated in the Day of Service and wore a "Mormon Helping Hands" vest. We did a lot of tractor, painting, digging, re-shingling, pressure washing, cleaning, and hauling work for a Boy's and Girl's Club that use an unmaintained Methodist church building that isn't used for church and is in a run down neighborhood. I tell you what, the Orangeburg ward knows how to find great service projects.

I'm being transferred this Wednesday and I'll be a district Leader in another area. Training was lots of fun, I'd be more than willing to do it again any day of the year.

Out of all of the areas I'm sure to come back to visit, I think I might spend a week in Orangeburg. Joshua, you say that members feed you a lot, this past week we had meals every single day, usually lunch and dinner. I could live on the food they gave us alone, and it's almost always all homemade stuff. We've had more member involvement this week (as far as coming to lessons) than I have ever seen anyone ever do. We had an average of 2 members come out with us every day for 1-5 hours taken of their time each.

I look forward to going to a new area. I would have easily accepted staying in this ward for the rest of my mission. The Lord has other plans for me. I love the Gospel, I love the ward.

And without reservation:

I love all of you.

Elder Benjamin Ray Walker

Stay Strong

To tell you a little more about W. and C., they treated us, and the member we brought out with us, to lunch. W. made a delicious homemade spaghetti sauce, delicious homemade Italian garlic bread, and several other great and delicious foods. (I'm sure the homemade sweet tea tasted good too, too bad it's not healthy for anybody.)

The likelihood of me staying in Orangeburg is minimal. Which means my Sunday schedule will be all mixed up a week from Wednesday when I get to a new area probably. That may enable the massive Skype conversation to work out. I'm sure Joshua will figure out his Skyping schedule before mother's day... it'll all work out.

It is devastating to see so many people come so close to "breaking the cycle" and all they have to do is keep the commitments they said that they would keep. If the only people that ever did anything were the one's that made a solid commitment, let's say, half of the time, then the work would move forward a whole lot faster. I might have said this last week, but, If I had a nickel for every family emergency, I'd be able to pay for my mission just from that and wouldn't have had to save up anything beforehand. That all by itself ought to be a testimony that Satan is trying to thwart this very work from moving forward. If this is what we claim it is, which it is. Then of course this is the focus of Satan's hindrance.

Elder Johnson (my current companion) told me this story:

There was a man having a vision and looked over a city and saw that there was one angel to the devil that was in the city and thought to himself, "Wow, this city must be pretty righteous, there is only one devil in it." The man looked a little further and saw an older man secluded all by himself in his little hut and saw lots and lots of big strong tough angels around him and the man thought to himself, "Wow, this old guy must be really wicked, look at all of these angels around him." His "guide" then pointed out to the man that in fact it was the other way around: The city was so wicked that all it took for them to continue to be wicked was a little "poke" while the old man was so righteous that the devil was throwing everything that he had at the man to try and trip him up. As 1 Nephi 3:7 and 1 Corinthians 10:13 say, "The lord will not allow you to be temped above that you are able to bear". How true that is. Thus if you feel opposition in the work you are about, it probably means you're on the right track as long as you aren't the one that is getting mad/angry/etc.

Love you all!

Elder Benjamin Ray Walker

New Family to Teach

Here's my thoughts with Skyping on Mother's Day: I have church that starts @10am, so I'll probably need to be finished by 9 am so I can get to church in time and talk with our investigators (However, transfers is coming up the first of may and it is likely I'll be transferred. When is Mother's Day anyway? I apologize that I don't know.) Ideally it'd probably be best for me to do it between 5am-6am (California time) or right after your church service @ 2:30 (California time) because I don't think that we're supposed to Skype after 6pm here. If I choose to do it in the morning I also realize that both Joshua and I would need to get specific permission. Joshua for getting up before 6:30 and out of the apartment and I for choosing to do that instead of study time (I'm sure I'd get permission for it). I would also need permission to Skype after 6pm if we were to do it in the evening which I may not be able to get, but I will ask. Just 30 minutes isn't enough. I'll use my maximum of allowed time instead of just 30 minutes. (It was either 40 min, 45 min, or 50 min, I can't remember, probably 40 minutes.)

As a side note, I thought Mother's Day was the day that we're supposed to serve our Mother in secret? How am I to do so if I am directly contacting my Mother... no no no, rather I will Skype Dad instead and have it indirectly bless Mother without her thinking that I'm actually Skyping Mom. =-)

Dad, do not procrastinate the day of your taxes, for it shall come to pass that they shall be requested of you. For behold, most abominable consequences await those that don't finish their taxes. (If it's the same around the country, the day to turn in all the taxes is today. Hopefully when Mom said, "He's been busy working on taxes." It also implied "and he finished them because he worked so hard on them.")

We found a pretty cool family to teach over the past week. W. and her mother (and W.'s two kids under the age of 3). W. has a background of being an active Jehovah's Witness proselyting (witnessing) for twelve years. Her mother is very doctrinally aware of the teachings of the Bible and choose to be a 7th day Adventists to "keep the sabbath day holy" until she met us and we resolved her Sabbath day concern with a couple things more than "it's the day Christ was resurrected". They are wonderful people and perhaps more sincere and doctrinally in tune than a grand majority of everybody I've met on my mission. I sincerely hope they receive that witness of the Holy Ghost confirm to them the truth of all of these things we have shared with them. They watched part of conference online and attended a ward activity Friday and came to church yesterday. Their road blocks are pre-existence, Authority/Apostasy, then they have questions about Temples and Eternal Marriage from the talks given at church yesterday. She also gave us a home-made loaf of cinnamon craisins (raisin-ed cranberries) bread. They are my favorite investigators right now.

Love you all!

Elder Benjamin Ray Walker

Conference Weekend

Conference was pretty aweome. I thouroughly enjoyed it. 

To answer your questions: We have a live feed of conference into the building, and we started watching the priesthood session at 8pm. Also, I have never heard of the Slamwich game before.

I have more recently (within the past year) developed a love for Elder Bednar and Elder Holland's talks. I was able to watch this one in a zone conference a couple days ago and thought it was good enough to share with you all if you haven't seen it already: https://www.lds.org/broadcasts/watch/ces-devotionals/2013/01?lang=eng&vid=2201224691001. Hope you enjoy it! (That means you need to watch it.)

Alexandria, we had Hawaiian haystacks for a lunch during our zone conference and I thought of you the whole time.

I thought I'd tell you of some of the things that happened this week. One of the lessons we were had we were coming back for an appointment with John and we knocked on the door and his son, James, answered and said that his dad is sleeping. We told James this message was for everybody and he said, "Oh, OK come on in". His mother saw James letting us in and told him to tell us that John was sleeping. He replied, "They said this message was for everybody" and continued to lead us to sit down on the couch. We taught James and Cierra (his girlfriend) and James was really interested in the message. James' mother eventually joined in the room and proceeded to tell us that she read part of the Book of Mormon before. She would then talk to Cierra after talking to us. Five different times at least. James would then let his mother know that he is learning and that if she wanted to have her conversation, that she would have to go to another room to do so. It was hilarious in a respect. I probably would have laughed several times if I watched the lesson and wasn't in it. James' mother said she supported him, then interrupted the lesson, and James would bring it right back on track. The life of a missionary is a fun one. You see things you'd probably never see in any other way.

Over the next few weeks we are going to be seeking out the preachers of other churches, surely one of the hundreds out here will be converted, and then we'll offer to him that we give a talk at his church (because he has the authority to change the time of his church so it doesn't clash with ours). We'll bear testimony and convert hundreds. You just wait! South Carolina is the place to do it if there is any place in the USA to do it. 

Have a great time back in school, work, and seminary! Love you all,

Elder Benjamin Ray Walker

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

This Missionary Work

An idea for what to do in Idaho, go to the "Garden Caves" you'll need a GPS and probably a first aid kit. I think it gives you a coordinates to get to it and a suggested place to park to start walking to it. I believe it is in the outskirts of Idaho Falls. It was a worth while trip when I went on it with my friends. There is year around ice in the cave 2-3 feet thick. You'll need flashlights, water, and have to carry food for lunch too. When you get to the end of the inside of the caves you'll see lots of stalagmites and stalactites. You walk several miles on nothing but wavy lava rock until you reach the caves when you then go down into one of the crevasses (certainly there will be lots of ice around the entrance, I went in July I believe and there was a lot of snow in the entrance then.) You're sure to want to bring something like a sweater or coat for when you actually reach the caves. ... Just an idea ...

The baptism went great... and to make a longer story short, I missed the confirmation my companion was a part of... super sad... I baptized though. That was fun. The baptism on the 30th will still be followed through on, and an excommunicated member I've been working with since I've been here had his council yesterday with the stake leaders and the bishop called to tell us that he'll be re-baptized and that he has a 'soft spot' for missionaries.

Member work certainly makes things easier in all areas of teaching. They have a friend to go to to ask any questions about the church. They have an example. More people are on top of helping them receive an assignment. They know about all the activities and are invited to them more than once. They have many more visits than just by the missionaries. etc. It's much better that was too for non-members to feel the spirit, I think, from somebody that knows them and loves them a lot more than the missionaries probably do (because we're ever so imperfect) right off the get-go.

This is something that we are putting a larger emphasis on. It is hard to work with members (especially because a majority of the active one's live 30 min away). We are really trying to make that a focus this week.

Missionary work would be so much easier if people had integrity... So many times people tell us to come back at certain times and they aren't home. Then when you finally do contact them again they ask you to come back at another time and it continues until they finally tell you they aren't interested. Honesty is the only answer 100% of the time.

The gospel is awesome. It truly is. I have been making quite a list of things I want to apply when I am home again. It's so much easier than I've made it seem. It just takes a little dedicated time for prayer and time for pondering and studying then re-praying and re-analyzing plans and goals to find out how to apply these principals.

I have recently been in awe of how much God is true on his promise :"Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you." It is said 120 times in all of holy writ that we have, the most common phrase in the scriptures (longer than "and it came to pass"). He certainly means it. He answers us in the fullest extent that we ask him piece by piece; we just can't stop to be comfortable where we are at else we cut off that continuing revelation that we are receiving. There is never a bad time to ask "anything else?", "where do I go?", "what do I do?", "This is a solution I've come up with, is it right? enlighten me to improve it?" In reading the March Ensign this morning I came across a paragraph that stuck out to me that said something to the effect of, "We feel bad when we don't go to the Savior for help, when we see the results that come from our lack of understanding and trust in Christ. He feels bad too, that we don't trust ourselves in His hands. He has them extended to us; When others don't accept our help when we know we can help, doesn't that make us sad for them? I'm sure the Savior is the same way with us."

Love you all,

Elder Benjamin Ray 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

Learn Your Language of the Spirit

I had a point in my life (when I was pretty young I'm pretty sure) where I didn't think meetings could ever be interesting because I became so easily bored. I love meetings now. It is a privilege to hear members of the 70 and Quorum of the 12 speak. They bring the spirit really strongly. The baptism did go well, You'll receive pictures eventually. We forgot to take pictures before the baptism happened so, we're all dressed up in suits.

I find it interesting that Sister Bassett talked about the language of the Spirit. Several months ago I decided to read chapter 7 of Preach My Gospel, which is the language chapter. I read it with the mindset of everytime it said "learn your language" I added "of the spirit." It was a neat study. It gave me good excuse to read the chapter.

Something else I've come to learn while I have been a missionary is that the Lord rewards diligence. I've found that even if we desire something evil, he will eventually reward us with our desire, but there would have always been something better you could have had. The Lord knows best, thus it is a good idea to trust him and seek his will for us.

And now I come unto you again, in the evening of the day, to rehearse unto you the things I have learned from my Father in Heaven. I have searched continually by study and also by prayer that the Lord would give unto me the secrets of kingdom regarding faith. I have read the book long and hard that I might receive even a witness of the governing principle of faith. I have a work to do in the book which holds the secrets of Godliness. I have established a firm foundation in the words of the book; my works have reached that of Jacob chapter 7. I am pressing forward feasting upon the words of Christ and will endure to the end of the month in finishing the book with a constant battle of more than 9 chapters per day. The 20 chapters behind cannot stop this work from progressing, though persecution may rage and mobs may combine; with God all things are possible. I will firm up my foundation of faith, even in Christ, when those earthquakes come upon me, even the mighty winds; they shall have no power over me to drag me down because of the faith in which I will have. The spirit maketh all things known unto me. Wherefore, I shall not fail.

Hmh, I remember that Joshua asked me something in the last email I received as a letter... I don't remember what it was. Maybe I'll write you a letter today Josh to answer your concern. It's lots more fun to add all the scripture references anyway.

As far as your teaching with seminary, mother, I too have come to realize, because of the new way they are teaching the Sunday school classes, that information isn't the goal. Rather participation and the teaching them how to fish for themselves is the goal. Sounds like you are doing a good job though. Praying with all the energies of your soul will bring you the answers for your seminary class that you need. Promise. I've seen it happen a couple of times in other ways for teachers and leaders seeking for what they should share with the people they have responsibilities over.

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

Be Bold, New Mission Boundaries

Yesterday was our ward conference. It was amazing. The spirit was very very strong. It had a conference atmosphere in our ward meetinghouse. I felt the "burning of the bosom," "enlighting of my mind," "still, small voice," and "peace to my soul" on several occasions yesterday during the 3 hours of church.... I made a mistake to not make a point to write down my impressions... and I can no longer figure out how to describe the atmosphere of the spirit and the things I was inspired to do I cannot remember, except for wanting to memorize D&C 64:33.

One of the things I am learning very fast with Elder Johnson (have I told you he's from Pleasant Grove, Utah yet?) is to be very bold. That kind of boldness that you had mother with that lesson you took part in over a year ago.

I am going to type up two examples of some conversations I had with some people in the last two days:

(outside in an apartment complex in the dark)

There was this guys we met that wasn't actively interested in learning about the gospel and he said, "I come and go, I'm not always around."

I said, "Great! that'll work perfectly, you can come to church and go after it's over." (I thought it was very clever).

(There is a family (of 2 non-members, 2 active members, 2 recent convers (also active), and other active kids) that we eat dinner at almost every sunday after church.)

One of the non-members has never gone to church and has no excuse to not go. I invited him to come to yesterday's church service last Sunday and he gave a without a doubt "no" response in a sarcastic "yes" answer (he's a jokester). Yesterday, as we were having dinner with them after talking for a couple minutes about him not coming to church when he said he would, his response was that he had something to do (which was to sit on the couch). Somehow in the conversation he brought up that he wanted us to make him dinner and I told him something like "I'd love to, but we don't make time to spend with people that don't keep their committments." He further asked us what day this week we wanted to go out to eat with him at 12pm. We told him a day that would work. (That is a big deal by the way, I don't think he's ever done that before.) He asked us how much time we had to eat and I told him, "Usually we keep our meals under an hour" and my companion added "...but we can spend a little more time afterwards if we teach a lesson to somebody". It was really funny, and he very well may accept to be taught the gospel after the lunch he is taking us out on on Thursday. Unfortunately, I may not be in town because of one of the exchanges that I'm going on.

Oh, I have to say something about the weather here. Almost every other day, or every other two days, for the past 2 weeks have flip flopped from about 70 degrees one sunny, no cloud in sight day -- to raining all day at 40 degrees with no sky in sight the next. That's South Carolina for you.

Robert, I am excited to read your talk. I really am. My heart already warms as I think about what you probably said.

Love you all lots,

Elder Benjamin Ray Walker

P.S. We heard an early announcement, because it's affecting out mission, that 48 (I think) new missions are going to be opened up as of July 1st. One of which is the Georgia Macon Mission (it was disolved right before President Holm was the mission president). So there is a possibility that I will be in another mission on July 1st. I don't really want to. But there will probably be a couple missionaries that end up being part of that mission as this one splits. And combines with broken off portions of other missions.

Snow 'til Noon

I forgot to bring my planner where I made some notes of things to say. Of the things I can remember: It snowed yesterday. That was kind of cool. Snow stayed on the ground till about noon, sometime during church. That was fun. About time it snowed on my mission. Apparently everything shuts down when it snows. Nobody knows how to drive on the snow, even with just an inch or two or three, they shut down several schools less than an hour north of us. In Idaho or Utah, I can't imagine school being shut down for anything. I have thoroughly enjoyed the time I've been able to spend with Elder Johnson thus far. He's from Utah somewhere. We are emailing from a member's computer today, and we recently just finished playing basketball with Bishop and his son and a less-active member, whose computer we are using.

I'm glad to hear about my friends back in Modesto that are preparing for a mission. That is awesome. I'm excited that Ryan is now finally on his mission. He's been waiting a while for it now. He's probably long been ready to go. Collin and Jessica will both be great missionaries too. Collin is leaving with the Taylor boys... hmm... who are they again? I don't remember who the Taylor boys are. 

I've had some great studying about the Gift of the Holy Ghost and I am amazed about how much I have learned about it and I've realized that I should use the Gift of the Holy Ghost better as a teaching tool for what investigators should look forward to when they are going to be baptized. It's been a really good study. It's a lot easier to study when you are specifically looking for something when you actually study.

It's time to depart. love you all!

Dog Bite & Most Spiritual, Motivational Week

Written by Elder B. Walker's mother: "We received a notice from the Orangeburg Safety Patrol advising you of your rights as a victim of a crime.  I was somewhat confused. (Thought at first it was from Modesto.)  Went through a whole series of unlikely scenarios even though I KNEW you were fine.  Took the opportunity to speak with President and Sister Holms anyway.  What wonderful and kind people they are, and they had very, very, very kind things to say about you.  He told me a great story about his mission when he was bit by a dog -- policies were a little different back then, and his mission President told him to quit complaining and get back to work!  (I think he said that the dog took a whole chunk out of his behind, and that even the memory of the pain is still excruciating.)  Sounds like you will be fine and that everything is taken care of.  Actually, I was impressed that you didn't tell us, but you know your mom, she likes a good story.  (But she also worries -- probably best not to tell until later.)"
Just a small bit of advice.  Make sure that the owners of the dog are OK.  Forgiveness can go a long ways."

I think that is interesting that they sent something home for me about that. I was never going to tell you about it, just send you some pictures that I took of it after it doesn't hinder me any more.

First of all, president told me to tell you to not worry... don't worry Mom, I'm fine.

Since the beans have been spilled, I might as well tell you about it. In fact just this morning, a bruise from it finally showed up on part of my arm that has caused the most torment from the bite two weeks and two days ago. It seems to me, when deep puncture wounds take place, (the other one being the bike pictures you saw that jabbed my leg,) when the bruise finally shows up, it finally makes it to the downward slope of annoyance and pain and means it's pretty close to being healed now. Anyway, that particular home is a less-active's home that is a fairly new move-in and we've been trying to see them for months, but the roster has no phone # and they have three mean dogs that have an invisible fence that they can't pass that won't let us to the door. Well, one of the days we went to go see them and the dogs were probably behind the back of the house asleep, because they didn't wake up until we were almost at the house. We never were able to contact the member at the home, and the owner of the dog isn't the member at the house... so we decided that we are going to send them a letter today in the mail, maybe that will entice them to do something. There was also a big hassle to make sure the dog that bit me was quarantined for 10 days. Which the safety patrol police people didn't make sure happened from the get-go. So there was an annoying hassle with figuring out all that stuff out near the end of the 10 days (and they were closed over the weekend). They closed at 5pm Friday and open at 8am Monday... I called 4:59 Friday and they were already closed. and Tuesday the following week was the ten day limit. That was messy. I only called about everybody on Monday. Every person I talked to forwarded me or gave me another number to call because they said they don't deal with that stuff. I probably talked to 15 people last Monday trying to get somebody to do anything other than give me another number to call or send me to the phone book. It all got situated out eventually though. No rabies. If you are curious where it hurts, the muscle that you use for pullups hurts, I can't do a single pullup because of it, even hanging hurts... however, pushups & handstands apparently don't use that muscle because those don't hurt it at all. So whatever that muscle is, that's where the dog pucture bit me a couple weeks ago.

So, now that that story is out of the way. I want to let you know that these past two days have been among the most spiritual of my entire mission. My motivation and commitment, and drive to do missionary work has peaked very high (I don't want to say "peaked" because that sounds like it is now going to fall, which it isn't, I'm going to maintain this progression.) I have seen a lot of miracles and I am very very impressed with all that the Lord has in store for those. "The Lord requires so little, and in return gives so much." Just being obedient with all of the little things makes an enormous difference in missionary work. Our ward had a fireside last night and presented its ward mission plan with a bunch of other stuff. It is very good, and the members are getting all over missionary work too. This is a marvelous ward to be in. ... I intended to say a lot more about this stuff, so I'm just going to copy and paste what I sent President Holm and add it in here. I spent too much time talking about my dog bite that doesn't matter:

"President, the last 2 days have been among the most spiritual and motivational for me for my entire mission. I mean that sincerely. The week started slowly but as of Saturday afternoon blessings have been poured, literally poured into my desire to be an effective missionary. I can sincerely say that out of all my companions I have learned/changed/grown the most while being with Elder G--. We both have a great desire to do the Lord's work, and we're both willing to put all other things aside to do so. Our companionship study as of this morning is going to be tons more effective for teaching and preparing to teach investigators. We are developing a "game plan" that we'll probably share with you down the road assuming we finish it before either of us leave. (Or maybe we'll finish it later, who knows?). I am motivated, I am hungry for the gospel, to learn, to teach, to find, to work with members. I finally have the right mindset for most of the things associated with missionary work.  

I am thoroughly impressed with our Heavenly Father. He literally puts everything out on the table for us to use to be effective missionaries. It just takes the tiniest bit of inspiration for us to figure out how to get it from the paper, into action. Well, just to let you know president, it's being put into action here in Orangeburg; conveniently enough, the ward is being put into action at the same time. I have been very excited to do missionary work. I am very excited to do missionary work.  

"Fast and pray hard for this next transfer president. I caught a glimpse of this work moving exponentially. I know we both have absolutely no authority over the matter, but Elder G--'s and my personal hope is that we both stay here for another transfer. We know you are inspired though, so do what is the best for the Lord! 

"I love being a missionary! I would like to say that again. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! 

~Elder Benjamin Ray Walker
and we love you too president" 

btw: I'm supposed to make sure you send packages "priority mail" or I may not get it for a couple months. The mission office is no longer calling everybody regularly letting them know they have a package they can't forward so we can tell them what meeting to send it to. Apparently it is very time consuming.

Sincerely,

Elder Benjamin Ray Walker

Goal Setter, Hitter and Exceeder

This week was a pretty good week. I have begun the process of being a master goal setter and a goal hitter, and also a goal exceeder.

It really does help me be a lot more focused to have goals to work towards. It takes a lot of pondering to figure out a method to make goals and have them organized and ready for review and fulfillment with them almost always at the head of thought. That was the hardest part for me to figure out so that I could actually set the goals and follow up on them.

Out of all of the places I will want to visit when I come back to South Carolina, my favorite will be in the middle of nowhere, in Orangeburg. The last entertainment anything was just closed. They just had the only movie theatre with 4 screens in Orangeburg County close because nobody wants to go the the movies. The members are awesome and I intend to spend time with some of them offering my service where I can help. There are a couple retired members that have experience with a lot of traits and they always keep themselves busy doing some other project. Bro Paul Ross and Bro Larry Odum especially. I look forward to coming back eventually.

There are many investigators that we are working with that are occasionally coming to church. Now they just need to figure out where they are at in life and act on the invitation to be baptized. They have all felt the spirit and they all know that this message is true, they are just scared of the required change of themselves. Isn't that all of our issues? We're just afraid of change? I think it's a big part of what prevents us from obeying all the commandments asked of us. There are a lot of borderline investigators that are inching their way towards the gate of baptism that leads to the path with the iron rod to the tree of life.

Our ward is awesome. They just finished the draft of the ward mission plan and the method they intend to implement it with the whole ward, and I think it's inspired. I'm expecting lots of miracles this year.

I have found that studying with a purpose, or with a question in mind makes a more meaningful study. Thus I am going to ask a question of you both that you are both obligated to help me with that will require the manageable task of a minimum of 16 thousand words each (or 24 thousand together will do). Here's what you can enlighten me on:

We often have investigators that tell us all of their life problems or experiences just to have somebody listen to them over the course of 30 minute intervals without us getting a word in. Many of those stories are very interesting, they usually aren't even boring, but it's not the best use of time. We also have investigators that like to go on a lot of tangents, people that ask questions that sort of are aligned with the lesson but not really and they won't accept a simple answer that we can pass by them to get back to the lesson or an answer like "if you get a testimony of the Book of Mormon, you'll get a testimony of that too, because it will fall into place." With some of the investigators, if we tell them we will answer their question later down the line, they still expect us to answer it by the end of the lesson which doesn't always happen because their question doesn't even apply to them or their salvation at the moment, and it would take an entire lesson to answer the one question. What do you suggest?

(Note: I have ideas on how to handle those kind of situations, and I've tried some of them and some work better than others, but I don't want to mention any of them to put words in your mouth to prevent you from getting some other answers that may help with teaching.)

Help Investigators Find Their Own Answers

I need to apologize mother, Joshua sent me a letter to forward to you that I didn't do last week because I wanted to write a letter to the family too that I didn't have time to write. It'll get it to you eventually. I just need to add something of my own to it.

I appreciate you reminding me once again to help investigators find their own answers. I get caught up sometimes about just giving them answers. It sounds like you get to have a great scripture studying/pondering time for seminary. I think it was an inspired calling for you because now you are more evidently setting the example for Robert and Monica ... and Dad, and ... nope that's it ... nobody else lives at home anymore, for them to receive their own revelation on life's various situations.

This past week was a very good week. We invited a lot of people to repent and a lot of them accepted the invitation to repent and be baptized, but not very many of them are following through and actually coming to church, they are working on it though, I'm sure they'll come around eventually. We had an interesting day on Saturday and on Sunday (yesterday) the 19th and 20th of Jan. I should tell you about it sometime. I will say this though, we spoke to Elder Gibbons of the 70 on Saturday. And we solidified two people that have chosen to be baptized in February  You'll probably figure some other things out about issues that came up from some pictures that I took that I probably shouldn't give you but will anyway because by the time you'll get it it'll be all over with.

Love you all,
Elder Walker <-- which one is it? (hint: my middle name ends with a 'y')

Sorry my email isn't very long

Baptism and Investigator

The baptism here went well. The tie is very nice also. I don't know how you find such good ties, but the ones you have sent me are great ties.

I'll send you the envelope with the different pictures in it, I'll try to put something a little bit stiff in the bubble wrapped envelope so that the memory card doesn't bend and get damaged (remember that case that holds the memory card? it's still with you.) You'll probably enjoy the videos, you will just have to turn up the sound a lot. Also, for the Christmas skit that I was a part of, the Elder recording couldn't figure out how to record, so he missed the first couple minutes, the last video comes to a halt, because that is where my camera battery died.

I received three letters from Joshua, one forwarded from you mother, another that I will forward you from him today with the memory card. I received them all on the same day too, that was kind of cool. If you dear-elder-ed it the same day that Joshua had his preparation day (Monday?) then they traveled together and got here both at the same time.

We had a crazy lesson this past week with someone that has come to church 3 times now. He received a gospel principles book the first week he was at church and we've been continually asking him to read and pray. So he did read; he read the gospel principles last then first couple chapters. (Last chapter: exaltation, first couple all hint at exaltation). So I called him Thursday morning to confirm for our Friday appointment and he told me what he had read, that it presented "ideas that I had never even considered before" and requested that our topic of our lesson be on "The Nature of God". We brought a great member with us (Bishop Ross's father) and the lesson went great. It started with him saying "I hit a brick wall when I read that" and "It sounds utter blasphemous, but I'm sure you'll tell me otherwise" to ending the lesson with "Ok, I'll give it a shot to find out if this is true". It was an awesome lesson, completely had nothing to do with what we ought to be focusing lessons on, but it sure was still lots of fun, I hope we don't ever have a request of a lesson like that again though. That kind of doctrine too soon can easily go the wrong direction before they have a solid testimony of some of the more basic principals. We were talking about it later though, and we decided that he's going to figure the doctrine of exaltation out sooner or later, so it might as well be from the right source, the gospel principal book. Then, yesterday, we had stake conference broadcasted to our building and he was at church and the first speaker was President Baughman, the South Carolina Columbia Temple President, the second speaker was the stake patriarch, and all of the talks after it had a connotation to exaltation too. It was an awesome stake conference and I'm really glad he came. The different topics for the many speakers tended to be exaltation, temples, or patriartical blessings. Unfortunately many other people we have been working with that really needed to hear some of the things that were spoken about didn't. Specifically people that we just had temple lessons with and were working toward the temple and other people that we had recommending to go and get their patriartical blessings.

Mother, what a great privilege you have to serve as a seminary teacher. It helps to focus personal study when you have an objective behind studying.

P.S. Monica, I'm unbiased too, you're gorgeous. As a caution: Don't let others take advantage of you. =-)

Love you all,

Elder Walker (ooo now you are going to be confused because I didn't tell you which 'Elder Walker' I am)

Terrific Sacrament Meeting

Hello my missionary Mother,

It still gets cold here, don't put up South Carolina's weather too much, it actually snows here once ever 2 or 3 years. Modesto doesn't ever have snow. That's pretty funny about Joshua's and Robert's suit jacket's getting mixed all up. I can't remember if you already sent me Joshua's mission office address, would you send me it again? Not the MTC address, the mission office, he'll only be there for almost 2 weeks. Please and thank you!

Yesterday we had a terrific sacrament meeting; great testimony's were given. Brother Holstad was one of the people giving a testimony and he spoke of one of his testimony builders of the priesthood. He was in Salt Lake City and was very very sick, he got on the plane to fly back to here and took himself off of the plane before it left the airport because he didn't think he could make it. He talked to the airport people and they got him a hotel room and another plane ride the following day. He was sick all night long, once again, he got to the airport the next day and didn't think he could make the flight, then he saw a group of brand new missionaries that were headed to Korea and he stopped them and asked for a blessing. Brother Holstad said they parted like the red sea. They were scrambling for the oil and words to say and Bro Holstad told them that he had oil and that he had the words if they needed it. They gave him a blessing. Brother Holstad got on the plane and the closer he got to South Carolina, the better he felt, till the plane landed and he felt all the way better, just exhausted, but no longer sick at all. it was a great testimony. He also spoke of a the time he went to temple square and he was looking for the temple and could find it because of all of the other tall buildings around it till they were almost there. He compared ourselves to temples in the midst of all the rest of the world and said "but it is us that makes the difference. We stand in holy places." I really enjoyed his testimony. There were several other great testimonies that meant a lot to me, but that was the only one I wrote parts of down.

I've been listening to talks (I've obtained quite a collection) and one of the talks I have says something to the effect of a 5 minute vision of heaven will teach you more about heaven than you can get from all of the scripture about heaven. If we aren't seeking the spirit to be teaching us, then we are missing out on a lot of revelation. He said it a lot better than that, but you get the jist of it.

I completely understand if you cannot write us both a letter every week. Let's not tell Joshua that if it comes down to it, he'll have to miss out on a couple weeks of email. Ha ha ha just kidding. If it comes down to it write him a letter instead of me and just cc it to me. It's kind of weird to have a brother on a mission too. It'd be weirder if I saw him as a missionary. I'm going to see him a total of >3 hours over the next 2 years, how odd. I wonder if we can have a duel Skyping adventure on mother's day, that would be pretty cool.

An investigator we've been working with will be baptized this Saturday.

Love you all! learn lots Monica, stay helpful Robert, keep being a dad Dad, keep being a mom Mom.

Whenever I receive the other memory card back, I'll send you the one I currently have with pictures and videos and past Christmas stuff.

ta ta for now.

Elder Benjamin Ray Walker

Funny Moments

In talking about Elder B. Walker's younger brother, Elder J. Walker, and comparing the differences between their experiences leaving to report at the MTC.
Let me add a couple of things that also turned out differently between Joshua and I. Joshua doesn't need to find the bus that goes to Temple Square, then figure out which way is the east gate to drop off luggage (I think it was East). Instead, he gets to drive to there with a cousin. I also had Elder Fisher traveling with me to Utah, that was kind of fun.

I enjoyed church yesterday, it was very enlightening. Both talks were awesome, and I had a great scripture referencing time, the 2nd hour we talked about the spirit world in our group of 5 people 2 of which was our investigators, 2 was Elder Gonzalez and I, and Brother Chipman, who was subbing for the gospel principals teacher.

When I saw you all Tuesday [when he was able to Skype us for Christmas], I think Robert asked for some funny moments. Well, Sunday evening, we had some:

First of all we knocked on some doors 8pm. On the first door we knocked on, the person didn't have windows, a peep hole, or anything to be able to see us on the porch, they kept asking us who was there and after answering "church people," after answering missionaries for the fifth time through the door, they apparently still didn't know who we were, so they told us that they were calling the police, I replied, "ok, sounds good" and wondered off to the next house. The next person we spoke to (at the next house) we had this discussion with (I can't completely remember, but this was basically our conversation):

Us: "Hi we're missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We'd like to share..." (cut off)
Him: "Do you know what day it is today?"
Us: "We sure do, we actually have a..." (cut off)
Him: "It's Christmas day today, you couldn't have picked a worse time to go around knocking on people's door talking about the 'good news' " <slam>

The next person we talked to on the next door we had a great 5 min discussion with him and he told us what a great time of the year we chose to go out to share about Jesus Christ, and we scheduled a return appointment. We headed back to the car after that because we decided that that guy was the person we were prepared to find on this particular street and we watched a police officer pull onto the street and shine some sort of giant flashlight or spotlight on and around our car as we walked towards him. After he saw us he headed our way and spoke to us. We confirmed that we were probably the reason that the police officer was there and we directed him to the house that called him and we told him that we were going to continue knocking on houses the rest of the way down to our car.

Next house we knocked on was the one directly across the street from the house that called the police. The person told us how rude we were knocking on his door on Christmas trying to share about Jesus Christ and told us that his neighbor called him (same one that called the police) and that we need to go apologize to that person. Ironically, the police officer was talking to the person at the first door the same time we were talking to the mean neighbor both on their porches at the same time. I don't think the neighbors recognized that the police officer and us missionaries were talking to them both at the same time. It was pretty funny to me in the moment. It was really obvious which people we talked to on Christmas that were prepared and that found Christmas as an excuse to send us away. It was kind of fun... once again the library is closed, so I need to cut this short.

Love you all

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