Transferring

Elder Benjamin Walker is transferring out of the Summerville area this Wednesday. He's really enjoyed his time there. He loves the people:

I'm sad and excited that I am being transferred at the same time. Sad because Elder Parker and I have found many people to teach and 4 of them are getting baptized (I'm certain they will ... 4 different families)... and possibly 6 in the near future as part of their families after they are baptized.

I have to tell you about one of the people that is going to get baptized: Julia.

A little more than a year ago, Julia requested a Book of Mormon and never got it till Elder Winger and I, a couple of months ago, stopped by her home and gave her one. Since then we have been trying to set up a time for us to come over (later we found out it was because the husband didn't want to go into a religion yet), I was finally able to set up a return appointment with her this past week and Elder Parker and I had a amazing lesson with her... she is the most elect non-member I have ever met in my life. I wouldn't have thought otherwise if she told me that she was the Relief Society president of a previous ward. Her only relationship problem with her husband is that he likes to drink alcohol, and she is against it. (She's already living the Word of Wisdom.) She told us that she has been looking for a place to go to church where her children can learn after we had explained a little bit about primary from a prompting. They keep themselves very "clean". They're TV is very very limited because of all the garbage on TV these days. They only have one for the husband.

The husband is part of the Navy and is gone 9 out of 12 months of the year. She told us that she doesn't have very many friends because all of her acquaintances drink. The more we talked with her the more excited she got about coming to church. Satan worked really really hard on her, she had terrible migraines and almost didn't come to church because of how sick she was, but she told me she was coming so she came at the last moment. Her husband told her before he left back to the Navy for a couple of months that she could find a church while he was gone and he'll join it when she gets back. In the midst of our talking to her she told us that she found the church she was looking for. Her 4 year old and 6 year old daughters loved church too and made great friends. She even gave her friend the first Book of Mormon we gave her, so we gave her two more: one to send to her husband, and one for her to keep.

Miracles have been happening in the Summerville ward, I'm just sad that I don't get to stick around to see more of them... I think it was for the best though that you changed it to two elders in Summerville instead of four, Elder Parker and Elder Bennett will do a great job in Summerville. I'm excited about leaving though because I've never been transferred yet besides from the MTC to Summerville. I know that I will be put where I can grow the most and make the biggest difference in South Carolina (or Georgia, or North Carolina)!

The other people that are going to be baptized relatively soon are:
Steven, David, and Lessilie.

They have already told us that they will get baptized for sure, Steven is waiting on a divorce so he can get married and no longer be breaking the 7th commandment. Bro Lange's wife is a member and is strongly encouraging him to get baptized so they can be married in the temple; we had to postpone the date of his baptism though because even though he would have been baptized on that date we set, he's not ready yet; he still has things to learn and come to an understanding of first. Lessilie's daughter has been encouraging her to straighten out the simple things in her life that are keeping her from re-joining the church. They will all be baptized soon... Julia's husband will get baptized after he gets back, and her two children will too when they turn 8 (couple years away). We also have a couple children from a less active family, named Alexander and Elizabeth, that are preparing to get baptized. The daughter picked up reading the Book of Mormon on her own. Steven's adopted daughter will probably get baptized soon too.

I really do love all of the blessings that have come to my brothers and sisters here in Summerville, I pray that I'll be guided somewhere where I can bless more people in their lives later on my mission!


Today I'm packing up my stuff, because I found out Saturday night that I'm being transferred to somewhere else this Wednesday, and my companion and Elder Thayne's companion are now companions in the Summerville ward... they took out two missionaries in the area... it was for the best, I wish that happened while I was still here though, because it would have fixed all of the problems that came up and hindered us being the most effective we can be. They are very excited for it.


It really is awesome that I get to give/help with so many blessings members request. I get to use the priesthood all of the time!


Joshua, you are going to have a great time on your mission ... don't think otherwise. There is so much stuff that happens on a mission that never gets written down, typed, or told to others... it's hard work, but it can be (and should be) and is really fun too.

Missionary Work like a Roller Coaster

Elder Benjamin Walker:

Missionary work is like a roller coaster. There are some really high "high"s and not very low "low"s when you look at the big picture of things; unlike a rollar coster missionary work is on a general upwards path. There are a couple of people in our ward that have are preparing themselves to be baptized. It was just a matter of time before these couple of people got baptized. 

Here's a talk Joshua can read: "An Appeal to Prospective Elders" ~ Boyd K. Packer. I might have mentioned this before, but there is also a talk that Elder Scott gave that I'm going to send home towards the end of my mission that I want Joshua to watch and take with him on his mission (if he leaves before I get home) after you make a copy of it on my/any computer. My mission president said it's "really hard" to get a hold of (in other words, you won't be able to find one) but I requested a copy and so he's going to make a copy for everybody to have one. 

Weather update:
Saturday it rained all the day long. It's the most I've been out in the rain for a while. This past week there also there was a tornado warning. I've had two of them since I've been here. The one last week shouldn't have even counted as one, but the first one I remember it being pretty windy.

He's enjoying life. Write hime or comment here when you have a chance! He'd love to hear from you!

Coming up on Leap Year Day

"I have heard/seen what hard conditions others have chosen to serve a mission with and it's humbling to me that I am so blessed. It really is. We have a great family. I see families every day go through hard times. We are truly blessed! Don't take it for granted."

"I have been learning to listen to the spirit better and acting on It's promptings. It is fun to see what comes of following the spirit when prompted to do so. Nothing bad ever happens, it's just the natural man that scares me into not doing it all of the time."

"This last Thursday was our zone conference. At the very end of the zone conference, we watched a talk that Elder Holland gave to the MTC missionaries in Provo a year and a couple months ago. It was a very good one. He talked about the new method of Preach My Gospel rather than the old way they did stuff by memorizing the stuff to say... it was a very good talk. Very good. I asked Pres Holm for a copy of it. He's going to distribute it to those that want in in a month or so. I'll send it home for Joshua to watch before he goes out on his mission. It's very inspirational and energizing and leads to much self evaluation and rededication."

Is your mission a bit hard?

"Hard to me means: I don't feel like I can handle it. So no, it's not hard at all. It's nice to be free of all worries of normal life stuff. There's no, 'what am I going to do with my life?' because I already know: I serve a mission!"

How do you keep a study journal?

I bought the biggest heavy duty binder I could find. I've got tabs from A to Z. I have normal lined paper, reinforced lined paper, sheet protectors, note cards, and an index to say what A to Z tabs mean. 

A is full of District Meeting notes. We have a District Development Meeting (DDM) almost every week.
B is full of zone conference notes, transfer meeting notes, or other mission conferences notes.
C has every other meeting: stake conference, ward conference, who knows... everything else meetings.
D is nothing yet.
E is Preach My Gospel (PMG) Chapter 3, Lesson 1 notes. Everything to do with the restoration: relationships with God, Holy Ghost, depictions associating with Dispensations, prophets, Joseph Smith, Atonement, how Christ set up his church, etc).
F is PMG Ch 3 Lesson 2. Everything with Plan of Salvation.
G is PMG Ch 3 Lesson 3. Gospel of Jesus Christ.
H is PMG Ch 3 Lesson 4. Commandments.
I is PMG Ch 3 Lesson 5. New member lessons, temple, Priesthood, etc.
J is PMG Ch 3 Lesson plans
K is Book of Mormon reading. Insights, summary, analogies, etc. Ex: Ch 47 of Alma you can compare Lehonti to us on top of the hill being tempted by Satan (Amaliklah) to try to get us to lower our standards. The hight of Lehonti being the standards he holds.
L is nothing yet.
M is every random topic not in PMG lessons. Last days, trials, being a 'doer', angels, authority, diligence, judging, scriptures, significance of doing everything "In the name of Jesus Christ", trust, voice of Spirit, word, Law of Moses, purpose as missionary, presence of God, Charity, Children, fear, foundations, God-like potential, parenting skills, miracles, sin, etc. That's what I have so far.
N-V is nothing yet.
W is quotes or handouts, or stories, songs, poems.
X is activities
Y is companion's letters to me before we're not companions anymore.
Z is miscellaneous. Questions I come across, answers I find, ways to greet people, object lesson, other in sights.

For those of you who don't really have the time to write Elder Benjamin Walker, but would still like to ask questions or whatever, write them on the comment section of the blog and I'll get them to him and write his responses on the blog when I get them.

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!

The 13th Week in South Carolina

Portions of Elder Benjamin Walker's most recent letter:

I'll tell you one of the many many things that have happened on my mission. (I'm really not very good at writing them down, I'm bound to forget all of them except this one because I've typed it up.) Last Thursday we were tracking a couple of neighborhoods and 3 out of 5 people we talked to was interested enough to make a return appointment with us to teach them more at a better time. (A very successful tracting period of time.) Well, one of the houses we knocked at, we were speaking with the husband about the church. Somewhere in the conversation we brought up mormon.org and his wife (who we found out was having her 4th baby the following day) yelled from the midst of the house "I'm pulling it up right now!" (Yes, she was eavesdropping on our conversation.) Anyway, to make a longer story shorter, right before the door shut as we were leaving she exclaimed to her husband excitedly, "We're going to be Mormon!" Can you imagine what joy it brought us as missionaries to hear her say that? a lot... We haven't reached the return appointment date yet, I think it's tomorrow or Wed, because of her recovery of bearing another child probably. What awesome people there are out there in the world ready to hear the gospel! Just this morning members called us and asked us to teach their friends the gospel over dinner... Investigator! Unfortunately, they aren't in our ward boundaries so the Oakbrook missionaries will get to baptize them into the Oakbrook ward and probably teach them most of the gospel too, even though the fellowshippers are in our ward, unless conflicts arise and the bishops of both wards say otherwise. 

Elder Parker, my companion, has put out a focus on contacting all of the members in the ward, active or not. I think I have gotten to know the ward a lot better, even though I already know them pretty well. 

I've gone on several exchanges (exchange = swap companions for a day) in the last few months. It's been fun to go into new areas and meet different people. One of the things that Elder Parker did is collapse the boundaries between the missionaries in the Summerville ward. Now the whole ward boundaries are free-for-all amongst us 4 missionaries. Haven't run into a problem yet. I think it's better this way anyway; it seems to be more effective.

His study journal, which he had first brought up on January 23, 2012, he mentioned again, saying:

I have discovered that my method of how I keep my study journal (binder) works really well. I hope I have it stuffed full of insights and other things by the time I get home. I bought the largest and sturdiest binder they had to sell.

I've asked him on how exactly he keeps a study journal, so when he writes me back I'm sure to have the information that I can put up here to inform each of us how to create such a useful tool.

New Companion

Elder Walker's received a new companion whose name is Elder Peter Parker. I'm sure the poor guy has heard every Spiderman joke possible. Elder Parker is also the district leader for their four missionary district. Elder Thayne also has a new companion, Elder Bennott. But Elder Walker is still in the Summerville area, and enjoying it quite a bit.

The lessons that we have had though have been pretty good ones. We had done a good job at bringing the investigators to a point where they know enough and have felt enough to make a decision on whether they want to progress or not. 

I have still enjoyed just about every aspect of my mission. We truly are blessed as missionaries who have devoted two years of our life to serving the lord. We really are. Sometimes it amazes me how much we are blessed when I see the way other people are living their lives.

In the 11th Week in the Field...

Elder Walker reported a bit of service, enjoying the life of a missionary, saw a new part of South Carolina and also experiencing crazy weather like the rest of America.

Thursday night we walked/pushed a very agile man in a wheel chair back to his house because he was lost and trying to find it all day. Saturday night we stopped by his house (about 8:50pm is when we stopped by) and committed him to coming to stake conference (yesterday). Well, nobody would answer their phone probably because they were in the adult session of stake conference that occurred Saturday night. So we called lots of people Sunday morning and finally found a ride for him to be picked up at 9am for the 10am session of stake conference. What makes matters worse is that he didn't have a phone . . . and did I mention that he's in a wheelchair and lives a long way away? Anyway, it all worked out. 

Sunday morning at about 4:30 our fire alarm went off. Normal mornings when our alarm goes off we all get up and go to the table out in the front room to ensure that people get out of their bed for a morning district prayer. Elder Hancock got up, walked around the apartment to make sure there was no fire in the halls or anything, turned off the heater, so we all went back to bed (some didn't even get up). Well it went off again, and again and again, about every 2 min. After that we finally were annoyed enough to look thoroughly for a source of setting the smoke alarm off and had turned on the lights we discovered that lots of smoke was in the apartment but still no fire (not black smoke, more like kitchen fire smoke, but everywhere) and you could smell it everywhere... there wasn't any smoke in our room though.
Elder Thayne called president and he basically said, "what are you calling me for?" Then he called 911 we had 3 firetrucks, a police car and two ambulances show up pretty fast, we went around to all of our neighbors and rang the doorbells and knocked but nobody got up until the firetruck stopped outside the building, lol. We weren't knocking frantically because there wasn't any fire to be seen, but it's still funny nobody got up. The police told Elder Thayne on the phone that we could go ahead and pack important things into our bags and then to wait outside till the firetruck got there. Elder Winger, as he is
leaving this upcoming Wednesday (two days), had everything already sort of organized for what he wanted to take and packed up everything in like 3 minutes and took it outside, it was pretty funny to think about later. Turns out there had been lots of dust that was sitting in the heater part and caught fire and spread throughout the apartment making it fill with smoke. It didn't come into our room because our door was closed and our vent was closed. One reason we thought it wasn't the heater was because Elder Hancock had turned it off the very first time the alarm went off, it was just blowing the smoke around of the already burnt stuff after that. The first picture I took was about 5:10am Sunday morning. 

Today, a member of our ward took Elder Winger and I to a plantation, his favorite place in all South Carolina, because he didn't want Elder Winger to go home without us first going to it. He had a membership so could take one person for free and paid for the other one of us. What a nice guy. Anyway, but that's why I didn't email this morning, I was at the "Middleton Place" plantation from 10am to 1pm ish. Lots of history about slaves and stuff. I took lots of pictures from there. lots and lots. 

The weather here has been very strange. We have had days in the last week that broke 80 degrees and other days where it's been very cold. The weather fluctuates a lot here. This is probably the warmest January this place has had in a bunch of years considering last year it snowed 7 or so inches around Christmas.

10th Week in the Field

Many of you may know, especially if you are a returned missionary, once you set a baptismal date, Satan does all in his power to make sure it doesn't happen. Sadly, my brother has been discovering this.

So a couple of things happened in the last week. Three people who were on date to be baptized dropped off... after we put them on date we never saw them again. (Two different households.) That's a bummer. But we got one more on date for Feb and will probably get a few more before the end of the month on date (hopefully).

Elder Walker also learned something he wished he knew before. So for all you future missionaries:

I finally figured out how to make a study journal, that is something that I was never taught how to do, but wish I had been. I thought it consisted of a notebook that I took notes in, it's not. I've planned it all out for how I'm going to do it and it's going to be in a huge binder that I'll buy today. it's going to make my study a whole lot more effective and memorable as I will never have to use a different method for the rest of my life.

The rest of his email talks about how his life is:

Today a member, who doesn't live in my ward (his son does though) is going to take Elder Winger, Elder Hancock, Elder Thayne, and myself to Charleston. Apparently I'm told that when people come to South Carolina, that Charleston is the place to go... so, we're going today. 

Last week our table broke, did I tell you that before? I think it was a week ago yesterday. Elder Thayne sat on the table and the entire table top came off. So we've been either eating on the table held up about a food by a cinderblock or we've been eating off of the pedestal that used to hold up the table top. I didn't get the picture, but there was a time when it looked like Elder Winger was praying to the food on the pedestal. I took one of him eating his food off of it though. Reminded us of the Rameumptom. We put wood glue on it last night that a member gave to us and tried to use the tabel today because it said to let it dry for an hour or over night... the glue was still wet and the table pedestal fell off when we picked it up. We'll probably buy gorilla glue to glue it down today again. 

Well I'm not sure what to tell you... In my first 3 letters to Elder Sean Burnham, I've told him to send me letters in spanish... and he has been progressively making more and more of his letters sent to me in spanish. his last letter was completely in spanish. I think he leaves the MTC within a few days if not already. he gave me his mission address. I bought a small english-spanish spanish-english dictionary last monday for 65 cents to help me decipher his last letter. It's amazing how much spanish I've forgotten. [Elder Walker took Spanish in junior high and high school.] Elder Burnham is sure learning a lot really fast though. He started his last letter something like this (yes, it was in spanish) "I'm writing this entire letter in spanish. Good luck translating it! ... especially because my spanish isn't perfect." Well I did it, and I'll keep my almost close translated versions with his spanish versions for easier translations of his next letters later. 

Well, all is well. Hasta luego! En dos anos! O madre dia! 

Con amor, (Elder Sean Burnham always ends like this, not sure what it means)
Elder Benjamin Walker 

The Beginning of a New Year

Sent by Elder Walker, Monday:

We had four investigators at church yesterday! and they are all really solid (solid = interested in learning more). However one of them is on parol (parol might be spelled wrong, means like probation) so he can't get baptized any time soon. However we set 2 1/2 other people on date that didn't end up coming to church for Feb 4th, but we talked to one of them Sunsay night, and they just had a busy/bad day but they are still interested and still on date. So, by the end of next week we'll probably have 5 people on date. 

Yesterday, and Friday night I rode out to Dorchester with a member to see a member referral. Yesterday I rode in a convertible (in the middle of January). Summerville has very dramatic weather changes, one day it's super hot and humid and three days later it is ice cold and humid. Yesterday was a hot day and last week was a cold week. Anyway, I got a picture of my companion, Elder Winger, and I in a convertible, I've never rode in one before I don't think.

This week Elder Winger was gone somewhere else for Wed and Thurs. Wednesday, I went in a trio companionship with Elder Hancock and Elder Thayne, and Thurs I worked with Elder Hansen in my area (both days were my area, the trio was both mine and their area (because we're both in Summerville, west and east Summerville)). Yes, this is the same Elder Hansen that I knew at the MTC. How 'bout that. it was lots of fun both days.

 Here's a few photos he sent us as well!

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!)

December so far

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The sign Elder Walker saw and drew for us.

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

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

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

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

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

Thanksgiving Weekend

Elder Walker had a very filling Thanksgiving weekend. The best part was that this past Saturday they had 3 baptisms. A mother and her two children. He was really excited about it. He was able to confirm the daughter. What a great thing to happen over Thanksgiving weekend! He then shared how his Thanksgiving was:

I had plenty of Thanksgiving. I had 4 meals on Thurs. (four entire blown-out meals ... there was no room for desert and it was over the space of 5-6 hours) it was supposed to be five, one of the times conflicted. We were invited to a lot more though but turned them all down. We also had a Thanksgiving meal with a family yesterday right after church. We have a lot of food in our fridge right now. 

I participated in a turkey bowl game with the ward (football game) (yes, we had permission to) it was lots of fun and it was a little bit painful for me. I was pretty sore the next day.

Elder Walker has been in the Summerville area for the last few weeks. There are four missionaries in that area, but he and his companion have the west side of the city including St. George City Northwest. Soon after he had arrived in South Carolina a few weeks ago, his mission president and the wife wrote us to tell us how great of a person he is. They sent us two photos! Here's Elder Walker's words describing his travel to South Carolina:

President Holms and Sister Holms with Elder Benjamin Walker

When I stopped in Atlanta, Georgia it was a huge airport so I had to use a subway train to make it to the place where we boarded (and called you). After we got to Columbia, SC, our mission president was there to meet us. All 13 of us, how nice. We went with him to his house I think (just to let you know I wrote this stuff down in one of my journals so you can have more info on it later if you ask nicely). His house seems to be a little bigger than our house except the space is much more efficiently used up. One room has four bunk beds in the one I stayed in. There are 3 other rooms for missionaries 2-3 beds each in them, not including their master bedroom. The next day we went to the forest outside the temple (there is forest everywhere) which resembles the sacred grove, then talked to the new temple president for a couple of minutes in the waiting room of the temple. Then we went out to eat at a southern place and Pres. Holm made a referral out of the waitress (he showed us all how it's done) and now I'm here.

He also shared a bit about their apartment:

We borrowed a carpet cleaner from a member. My companion loves that thing. The carpet still needs to be replaced but it looks a million times better, that's right, 1,000,000 times better!

He seems to be doing fantastically. Keep him in your prayers this Christmas season! If you'd like to send him a Christmas package you'll have to send it by the end of November or the beginning of December so that he can receive it at his next transfer meeting which is a week or so before Christmas. The address is the same as the normal mail address.

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