Two Weeks Left

Dear Mom,

now I'm writing to Joshua,

Dear Elder Joshua Elery Walker,

I have lots of things that I could say about how to get along with unmotivated missionaries, however unfortunately I'm not making the time today to respond to that question... I'll do it later, I just made a note to do so.

I will probably not send you another letter while I'm on my mission, because I only have one more Monday to get things ready for an upcoming event. Alas, I promise to send you letters when I get transferred in a couple weeks. (I haven't stayed in an area more than 6 months before, so it'll probably happen.)

Back to mom

I am more than happy to attend seminary when I get back. It will be fun. I do want to make note than the plane will land in Modesto approx 1 or 2 am Georgia time and I have stuff I'm going to do and will not go to sleep during the flights (another note: I don't really care either, I will attend seminary, I'm not even sure why I want to emphasize that). I will need to figure out what the new scripture masteries even are before then somehow (probably morning of the 15th), I haven't seen the new one's yet, I'm probably already familiar with whatever they are though. It sounds like fun, I'm all for it.

20 minute lesson for Family Home Evening? did family home evening get shorter since I left? they used to last hours didn't they? ok, I guess I might be able to prepare a 20 minute lesson, we'll see...

Did I ever tell you about Franky, from the Bible study group that we go to on a nearly weekly basis? The one who read the whole BoM in two weeks? Well, this past week we had him download "lds gospel library" and he read the entire Pearl of Great Price and the first 36 sections of D&C. We gave him and his parents (the Dad is partly anti-mormon) a Church tour. It went wonderfully. They all surely felt the Spirit. Bill, the Bible Study group leader is going to be a Reverend in a couple of weeks and this Thursday we'll be giving him a Church tour. He's a pretty awesome person too, He's seeking for all things of truth. He told the Bible study group (around 15 people yesterday) that somebody asked him about why he had Mormons coming to his Bible study group, Bill responded something to the effect of, "They come to be with us in the Lord, and why aren't you coming too?" To which Bill was responded, "Uh, I don't know". 

There were two baptisms this past 3 days, one child of record and another sister named Samantha Gordon. It is fun to have baptisms. The only stressful part about baptisms is all the preparation that goes into it. However, both of these baptisms went pretty smoothly, and there were plenty of people we introduced the Restoration of the Gospel to during the time the baptismal candidates were getting dressed following the baptism. 

I prepared a talk on "courage/strength/assurance" using a talk, but I didn't get the talk to take stuff from until Saturday, I read the 5 page talk Saturday night, and didn't start writing the talk (I did jot down notes of things throughout the 2 days prior though) till the first Sacrament meeting on Sunday. I didn't use anything from the talk at all, it was a good talk though, Gordon B Hinkley said some inspirational things about not having fear, I just had a different direction I wanted to take the talk so I didn't use it. I was well prepared before the first speaker finished. I was listening to her talk too, and she gave a good talk. (I made good notes, just had to organize them) I was the last speaker in the second Sacrament meeting and I was expecting to have 20 min left over. There were three speakers, a RC went first, Sister Russell went second (a sister missionary in the ward), and I was to go third. The other two talks together should have taken about 20 minutes. Sacrament meeting should have been finished by the time I got to the pulpit. I asked the bishop as I walked up to the pulpit how long he wanted me to speak being aware of the time, he whispered 2 minutes.. OK. So I gave a 3 or 4 minute talk. I felt super prepared for the talk though. I'm sad I wasn't able to actually give it. I feel like I could have spoken the entire sacrament meeting and everyone would have still been listening intently at the end. Oh well. I'll have to do it again some other time. I feel like my focused studies are getting better and better and I'm becoming more and more acquainted with the scriptures to pull examples from the scriptural events that took place.

I ought to be sending a package home today some time (hopefully). So you ought to receive something of the sort later this week.

I love you all lots!

Elder Benjamin Ray Walker

Old Friends

Ha! The cardboard missionaries are kind of funny idea.

I would love to give a talk at Colton's baptism! I'm more than happy to do that. (topic: baptism? confirmation? both?) I'll ask you about it later. You can just remind me about it later actually. (Thank you).

I did remember who the Hanson family was the first time Bro Jensen (uncle -ish) mentioned him to me 3 weeks ago. It was fun time spent with them. [The following pictures come from them].

On Friday night, we went to Natalie's uncles house to have dinner with his family and the missionaries happened to be there. 

Elder Walker gave a great message from Alma 5 regarding leading by example and lifting people like Christ does- it was a great Christ centered spiritual thought. We are very proud of Ben, he is a great missionary! It was really nice to see him.

I am pretty sure mother that I've sent you that talk early in my mission... if I didn't send it, then I wrote to you about it, or I told you about it. I think you just forgot, good luck remembering it the second time. =-) (love you mom). I didn't read that article, or even see it, in the Ensign yet. If I were to guess, it was given 10 years ago at some fireside and they finally printed it in the Ensign. (That information can be found at the end of the article.)

Joshua, I'm going to write you a letter today and answer all of your questions from your various letters you sent me in in one letter, including the question from last week about reincarnation. I think it's interesting that I came up with many of the same questions earlier in my mission, but I discovered the answers since then.

I am having so much fun with Elder Sato he is a spectacular missionary! He is a very humble person. We have near daily occurrences where Elder Sato has what I call a "language barrier" where Elder Sato says, "yep...ok...uh huh..." then afterwards I ask him if he understood anything and he says, "uh, no I didn't understand any of it". It is very funny when this takes place. I get to teach elder Sato how to drive this transfer too. He's got a Japanese license but not a american one. It'll be fun to do that.

We had a ZTM (Zone training meeting) meeting a MLC (mission leadership council) and other cool stuff take place this week. They all went very well, and I had lots of fun with them.

Unfortunately for reasons that I'll tell you after my mission, my time is spent today. Love you all! see you later,

Sone Conference and Investigators

From Elder B. Walker's Mother: Ben, funny thing happened with your new missionary plaque.  It has you returning home in November instead of October.

No problem mother...

and no worries about the plaque, I don't mind at all. Who knows, 25 years down the road I might start thinking I received a transfer extension.

So, some interesting things about the conferences (notice plural) this week.

Zone conference went great. We have them every other transfer (once every 3 months). Ya, I provided a training, it is normal for that to occur. (For the Zone Leaders to provide a training for their zone). I would have been surprised if I wasn't assigned one to do. The theme of the zone conferences had to do with using the Book of Mormon. My training was to use the Book of Mormon to confirm the message of the restoration. The stake president visited for a little bit, President Squires, he's a good stake president. In his stake mission plan he's helping the members bring friends to church, so we, as missionaries, can find new people to teach at church. That's where the four baptisms are coming from in our ward on the 7th of Sept.

So, on Thursday night we received a call from the assistants (to President Cottle) that Elder Anderson (of the quorum of the 12) is going to the Columbus Stake Conference that weekend and that he wants to have a mission conference with our mission on Saturday. It was a last-second mission conference with Elder Anderson. That is pretty cool. I drove the most consecutively I've ever done in my life without switching with somebody else. it was a 4.5 hour drive from where I'm at to Columbus Stake center. That pretty much took up our entire day. Something funny that Elder Anderson told us:

He shook hands with Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin after a talk in his ward he gave (years ago) who shook hands with some old lady (many more years ago) who shook hands with Joseph Smith in the streets. So, let me take that one step further: I shook hands with Elder Anderson who shook hands with Elder Wirthlin who shook hands with some old lady who shook hands with the prophet Joseph Smith, Jr. He spoke of patience, he told us that our mission is a difficult one, he told us to memorize 10-15 passages in the New Testament to quote to people, he spoke about how no effort is wasted, and gave some examples, Friday night he visited with a non-member friend he hadn't seen in over 20 years and gave two missionaries an apostle referral to go see them and took his picture with them individually to email his friend to let him know who the two missionaries were that are going to see him. (we also got a group picture with Elder Anderson btw.) It's been fun. 

Dana, and her three kids came to church yesterday for the 3rd or 4th or 5th time (lost count), and they're going to be baptized on the 7th. They are a good family. They are lots of fun to teach too.

We stopped by one of our investigators we hadn't seen in a while and her husband's funeral was that day (he died sometime between the time that we'd seen them before); Italia greatly appreciated us stopping by and sent us home with lots of food. She's got deep roots in Catholicism.

We had a fun exchange with one of the priests in the ward too, we were able to teach a couple of lessons with him.

(hmm, anything else?)

~probably~

Love you all,

Elder Benjamin Ray Walker

Baptisms and Life

Law of Chastity for Joshua:

We don't actually have a standardized way that I've ever seen with teaching the LoC to younger baptismal candidates. I definitely would use simplified language though. Here's probably a direction I'd take it:

Do you understand why your parents won't let you watch certain movies? They talk about bad things and they sometimes do bad things, the swearing is part of it, but sometime they show or do other bad stuff too, that's part of the law of chastity. Don't look at bad pictures. I did a quick search of lds.org and came up with this: Chastity and Modesty

Seems to teach it simply pretty well.

It might be something worth while to give the parents to and have them teach their children the LoC (to a greater extent than we do) using that link above as a guide.

Dana and her family are awesome! They are definitely going to be baptized. A lady named Kelly that I found a while ago came to church today and thought it was great. I taught the gospel principles class. I'm more than willing to teach any class any day of the week. I wanted to be called on to give a talk yesterday too, which I didn't get to give. I thought the bishop was going to surprise us on the ward program with the opportunity to speak to the ward. He told us he's going to assign us to speak eventually, but didn't tell us when.

It's fun to go on exchanges we get to organize a lot more of them because of my assignment.

It's fun to help organize the mission meetings we have, and to address my ideas to the mission leadership. As President Hinckley once said to those close around him, "I want a lively debate, but after the decision is made the debate is over." I offer some good debates sometimes.

Steak lunch ($60 slab of meat, provided, we cooked), steak dinner (surely also expensive but provided), 5/6 bowls of cereal for breakfast, then an eating competition to eat a large 3 patty burger, a large drink, and a large plate/tray of fries under an hour, all back to back. I didn't eat the rest of that day. I got my picture taken though and put on the wall. (1/3 of the pictures on the wall are missionaries that served around the area in the past. lol) The next day during lunch time we tracted into somebody moving, we helped, and they happened to own a restaurant, and called and ordered free food for us that we drove over to and ate. Then we were given a large dinner. I weighed myself immediately after the large burger and fries and drink that I ate, and I think I lost weight... The only reason that I can think of is that I'm not riding my bike as much so I'm probably losing muscle. I probably broke the word of wisdom on eating too much and not eating meat scarcely this week, but I still lost weight, that's good right?

Tomorrow we have a zone conference. Should be fun, I helped with a lot of the organizing of it.

Here's a fasting insight for you.

In Isaiah 58:3-11 the lord comes to us and says, "here I am" I'm pretty sure that's the only place in the scriptures it does it that way

A Georgian Macon Missionary

So it looks like I'm going to be a Georgia Macon missionary as of July 1st. We had our transfer calls last Saturday night, the last one before the transfer and I'm staying here in Evans, GA. I am probably one of few that had a trainer that was part of that mission. That probably doesn't happen very often: Mission dissolves, dissolved missionary trains, trainee joins same mission re-opened two years later.

I have three investigators that I taught in Orangeburg get baptized since I've been here, and more are on the way, is what I've heard. That is wonderful! It lightens up my days.

My companion's b-day: Elder Swenson's 20th birthday was last Saturday. He enjoyed his birthday. We attended another child of record's baptism that day. 

Over the past couple days, be have been soaked through several times. [This would be the Tropical storm Abigail.] The good thing about rain here, is that it's warm rain. I prefer warm rain over freezing cold rain, and I'd rather looked soaked due to rain and sweat, than just sweat. So, overall, rain=good, except when it gets all your stuff wet, or when you feel bad going into people's houses soaked.

We had an awesome meeting last Tuesday. It was interviews meeting, then a Zone meeting, then a special meeting (due to this stake of missionaries leaving the mission), then a pre-mission fireside meeting, then a fireside. It was a day full of great stuff! I thoroughly enjoyed it. I could do that every week. The missionary that was sitting next to me commented to me after all the meetings that she was impressed of my attentiveness throughout the entire block of meetings. Looking back on it, I was pretty aware the entire time what was going on, I never zoned out. That is something that I could not have done at the beginning of my mission. I could probably sit through entire 10 hours of conference back to back and never miss a beat now. That's pretty amazing if you ask me.

Love you all,

Elder Benjamin Ray Walker

Conversions

Mother, I really appreciate when you include your different spiritual insights. It's the best part of the emails I get to read. I've told Alexandria several times, and you and others probably a couple, but my favorite kind of present or gift I like to receive is not cookies or candy, or even truffles, it's the spiritual insights from the scriptures, from life experience, and from talks or other conferences that really hit a home run for me.

Yesterday we had two more cool experiences. First of all we attended a baptism of an eight year old child of record. She invited everyone she knew to the baptism and there were almost 100 people there, half of them non-members. She was very excited for her baptism. It was very evident how excited she was for it. When she was actually baptized (the second time, first time she got water up her nose and her foot came out of the water), it was similar to the baptism I told you before when he yelled "I'm home! I did it! I'm finally home! I made it back!" Except little Mekenna's declaration going up the steps of the baptismal font was "I'm baptized!" Same spirit, same excitement. 

Later on in the evening we found a person [with] whom we had a very sincere lesson. The spirit was most certainly testifying of the truth in that lesson, and now he's set a goal to be baptized too! Hurray!

Did I ever tell you about a man in Orangeburg? He was baptized, along with a couple other investigators that I taught in Orangeburg. Also a couple more people I taught there are preparing to be baptized too! Hurray! The gospel is awesome!

I consider myself a professional biker. We probably bike more in the hot humid heat than anyone else in the entire realm of people in a 20 miles radius... and we do it in church clothes, frequently with backpacks on.

I want to tell you about the conversion story of a member I taught with who is actually from around Fresno, CA. She bore her testimony to us in front of her friend she helped us teach this week as she was visiting.

Her first name is Jenelle.

She had taken many anti-Mormon classes growing up in the different churches that she's been in. When she was in the army during basic training (which is apparently really stressful) there was one particular guy that seemed to always be calm and at peace despite the hectic and stressful environment. She mentioned something of that effect to him and he told her that he was "Mormon". She didn't talk to him for another several weeks after that. But it stuck out to her the more how calm and peaceful he looked. One day he was reading a book and she asked him what it was. "It's the Book of Mormon! I can get you one of you want." "sure..." was the response. He said that he'd get it to her in a week. He came by that night and said, "I prayed about it and God told me to give you one right now, so I'll give you mine" (note: the military Book of Mormon is a conveniently really small red book to be able to fit easily in one of their uniform pockets.) That's weird, but ok" Jenelle replied. She then over the rest of basic training would read the book when nobody was looking, she'd slide it partway out of her pocket and read it like she'd be embarrassed if anyone saw her reading it. Afterwards when she was assigned a battle buddie and went somewhere else, someone walked up to her when she wasn't paying attention and asked, "Is that a Book of Mormon?" Jenelle replied, "No, what? No, I wasn't reading the Book of Mormon." He replied, "Yes you were I know what a Book of Mormon is." Jenelle said, "No I wasn't I was ... [and made up an excuse]" He said it's "OK, I'm Mormon too." Then her battle buddie said, "Ya, and I'm Mormon too." They talked about the church for a little bit and her battle buddie told her to read Moroni 10:3-5 and then get on her knees and pray to ask if it was true. Jenelle said she would, so she set an alarm for 3 am so she'd get up when no one else was (this would be in a barracks that she'd be able to do this). She decided that if anyone woke up that she'd pretend that she was looking under her bed for something. She asked sincerely and felt "an overwhelming blanket of peace and love" and knew then that the Book of Mormon was true. She then decided that she should find a church building and attend a service. She went to the library and looked up online for the time that the service started, found the address, but didn't find a time. Her library computer time was almost up. She said to herself, "Well, this prayer thing worked last time, it'll work again right?"

"God, if you really want me to go to your church I need a really specific answer right now!" Nothing came on the computer but when she looked up, two LDS missionaries walked in the door. She scoped them out for several minutes and finally walked up to them and asked, "Are you missionaries?" "Yes" they responded. "I don't want to talk to you all I want is for you to answer my question. When does church start?" They responded, "9am, but may I ask you something else?" Jenelle said, "...Ok, fine what do you want?" Missionary: "We could give you a church tour on Saturday, would you like that?". Jenelle said, "Oh, actually I would, that'd be great."

She was taught every lesson all at once that Saturday and they were going to schedule the baptism the very next day (because she already made preparations to live the Word of Wisdom and the other things you need to do before baptism) The mission president advised them to give her a least a week so that the ward can know who she is. She was baptized 8 days later on the next Sunday. She then became less active then received a calling to be a ward missionary a year before she was active again then for two more years she was a ward missionary. She was just recently released from her calling when I met her this past week. 

Cool conversion story right? I had to type fast.

Love you all

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

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

Baptism, Soon to be Training, Testimony

The baptism of Abigail went well. She's nine years old and I am super impressed with her commitment to Heavenly Father. There was great nurturing of her seed of the Word of God and her faith is unmistakably devoted to God's will for her. She probably knows more about the gospel for going to church for the last 3 or 4 months than I did at that time when I was nine. I'm very impressed with her.

Since I've discovered that you'll probably find out anyway because there is probably a letter like the last one you got that is going to come to you, I'm training a new missionary as of Wednesday Feb 13th here in Orangeburg; and I'm really excited for the opportunity to do so. (So Joshua, if you have any questions or suggestions about training a new missionary, I'd love to hear from you.) I probably won't have time to write any letters today. There is a lot of stuff to do... members always want to take us out to eat or make us dinner and with the time crunch with Elder Gonzalez leaving, it includes lunch too.

We are doing a pretty good job at involving/inviting members to do missionary work with us. The ward has developed a great relationship with the missionaries and they are praying regularly for "the missionaries" in our ward and for missionary opportunities for themselves.

Side note: next week is some sort of holiday, the library will be closed then. So expect a delayed email or perhaps an email sent on Tues.

I don't know why I'm all of a sudden out of things to say. I always have so much I want to tell you about right up until I start typing it all, then I forget everything or sum it up in a single sentence.

The work is definitely hastening. That I've been a witness to even in my isolated location of Orangeburg, South Carolina. It's a good thing the Lord's in charge concerning his work; you'd have to be a pretty good planner to figure out who goes on a mission or receives a calling when and where in the entire world to be the most effective about spreading the gospel to all nations, kindred, tongues, and people.

You are a good missionary mother! Keep it up.

I had previously always thought it was odd that sometimes that you (Dad) wait till the last minute to start packing for your week trip to Albuquerque. I have since learned that it really doesn't take that long to pack. If you do it enough times, you know exactly what you need where to get it and how to pack it.

I don't know why I'm out of things to say, but I am.

I'll just bear my testimony then:

I have come to realize in my life that the spirit influences righteous actions as long as I'm striving to do my best. Whether it is in planning for the next day, tracting, making phone calls, or visiting LA, former investigators, or presenting ideas to the ward council, etc, as long as it persuadeth men to believe in Christ and inviteth men to do good, it is from God (thanks to Joshua: Moroni 7:16 and surrounding verses). I know that this work is divinely orchestrated for our benefit. I have gained a testimony that no matter the circumstance, honesty is right 100% of the time and being a good example in difficult circumstances is always the right thing to do. I'm very grateful that the gospel blesses my life so much. Blessings are predicated upon the obedience of the law that God has established. It doesn't matter if you're living in a cardboard box eating bugs. When positive changes in life are yearned, pray earnestly for direction, then follow through with that direction, such as being worthy of a temple recommend including paying tithing. I know the gospel is true. Or I would have figured out I'm wasting my time and left the mission already. Ha! The Holy Ghost has manifested to me these things and witnessed to me of their truthfulness.

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

Investigators' Micracles

I always enjoy hearing about the things that are happening at home. I have never felt any kind of remorse or discouragement for hearing about what is happening at home while I'm here, so keep the family news coming. I know why I'm on a mission, and nothing is going to distract me from it.

This is and excerpt of what I emailed President Holm:

We had a pretty good week. P. and B. both have outstanding faith. They are our investigators on date for December 29th. I must tell you their miracle display to us of their faith. Here's two of our little miracles for the week:

B. is a person that moved out here to Orangeburg because this is where his parents are and they opened up their home to him to live in for a time. He was just separated from his wife/baby's mother and gets to see his 2 year old daughter every weekend of so. B. came out here having just lost his job and two days later gets a job. His dedication enables him to drive three hours each way (6 hours total) to work every single day. As such, it wore on him pretty fast so he decided that he's going to stay out there for a week so he doesn't need to travel back and forth so often. Last Saturday night is two weeks before his baptism and we needed to teach him the Word of Wisdom so he can start living it before this week is over. B. is such a strong individual; he handed us his cigarettes and lighter and we swapped him for cinnamon toothpaste (which turns out is the same one he's used before and apparently works pretty well). He is a very strong individual and came to church yesterday and brought his two year old daughter. 

P. is in a similar situation-ish. He is leaving for 5 days this week as well, and he's also being baptized the same time B. is. Once again, we hadn't taught him about the Word of Wisdom yet. So, yesterday we saw him (he's out of state by now) and he told us of concerns that had been brought up to him from his old pastor, his friends, and family. They anti'd him. Good ol' P. though knew just what to do when he heard all the anti stuff; he went to mormon.org and read lots about it and watched a bunch of the videos. Problem solved. Then he just wanted to confirm what he understood with us. One of the things that his family/friends told him is that we would trick him into quitting his job so he would be a pastor of his own church for the Mormon church. He said, if that's true, then I'll do it, but I want to start the church back in my home in India. What a great guy... We also taught him the Word of Wisdom which we all know he's struggling with, and committed him to live it over the time that he'll be out of state. They are both so trusting in the Lord; they'll both surely be blessed for it.

I hope the package gets here by Tuesday night. Wednesday is our Christmas Zone Conference and we will receive the packages then. They can forward all mail to us that is "priority mail"; the packages that aren't priority wait till we have some sort of meeting large enough that either the assistants to the President or President himself attends.

We have been having lots of fun here in Orangeburg. The bishop is great, the ward is great, the people are great, our investigators are great. God is great, the Christmas season is great, Elder Gonzalez is great, and y'all great too (<-- that's southern talk for "you all are great as well" with emphasis on "you all").

Oh, by the way I didn't answer your question last week: I did receive the memory card, thank you for it. It's even twice the size of the one that broke. I'm probably going to send some stuff home that I ought not carry around with me, being dead weight, because I'm not going to use it on my mission, but rather after it.

Let Robert know that he would astound me if he reached my height by the end of my mission, and frankly, it's impossible to be my height without being able to grab the basketball rim. So if he wants to be as tall as me, he needs to grow in jumping capability and be able to touch/grab the gym basketball rim. It's a prerequisite to added height.

I love you mother, father, sisters, brothers!

Enjoy the new car Dad!

Elder Benjamin Ray Walker

Surprise Talk

Elder Walker's family received a letter from his mission president informing them of his call to serve as a District Leader. He began his service as District Leader when he was transferred to Orangeburg.

I'm glad you opened your letter to me about giving talks. Guess who gave a talk yesterday? I was asked 5 minutes before sacrament meeting if I would give a talk. Among greeting people and being excited for many of our investigators that ended up showing up these were my notes by the time I reached the pulpit that I wrote down on a sticky note:


Temptation
Amalickiah story
Alma 47:18
1 Ne 4:31 vs 1 Ne 2:16
1 Ne 4:6
overcoming temptation
Hel 3:29
Alma 17:11 -> Alma 26:16
Alma 57:21
Hel 10:4-5 -> 3 Ne 7:18
3 Ne 17:3

I also ended up reading part of Matt chapter 4 right before 3 Ne 17:3 and I announced my talk title at the beginning of my talk as "temptation and trials and how we can overcome them". I ended up giving about a 20 min talk... it was a little sketchy and would have been loads better had I had 30 min preparation, but it was still pretty good.

Bishop Ross is our bishop. He is a very busy bishop but found time to come out with us to two lessons Saturday night (both of which came to Sacrament meeting). The lessons went great and one of them is half on date to be baptized and the other will be baptized. B– is someone we met Thursday and is the person on date to be baptized. The day before he lost his job and drove out to Orangeburg to live with his parents for a little while, the week before he got separated and his 2 year old daughter is stuck in the middle of it. We talked to him Thursday and spoke to him for about 10-15 min standing outside by his truck. When we first saw him he was depressed, when we left he was uplifted and thinks, "This might be the thing I am looking for." He told us Saturday night with Bishop that immediately after we left he "got very very emotional" and "knows that God does care about him" and no longer, if he ever did, believe in coincidences.

Bishop, then at church, found two other people he didn't recognize at church, one of which came on her own from a recommendation from her co-worker from the Aiken ward and ended up knowing the Relief Society president 40 years ago. The other person was Lee: Lee is a newspaper journalist writer and our investigator. Bishop was so hyped up on the Spirit because of the great missionary work he took part in from the night before that after we introduced him to Lee at church he took it upon himself to give him a church tour during the Sunday School hour. A good number of less-active members came too! If we keep up this rate of progression, then we'll end up being really good servants of the Lord by the end of the transfer: the day Joshua leaves.

Well, I brought my journal, so I'll continue my other entree that has been a draft for a long time now about Elder Bedner, just remember, don't quote me quoting Elder Bednar, in case I didn't quote him verbatim or in the context he intended it to be in.

Forgiveness

I do a 15 mile mile bike ride every day. Had I been home, I'd probably have gone with them. I've gotten really skilled on a bike now and haven't crashed yet. I'll keep it that way. Everyone else I know has at least once. (Elder Mcguire has crashed at least 8 times).

Hmmm I had some spiritual thoughts I was going to (and still intend to) send you... but my mind has drawn a blank and I can't remember the ones I was going to say... anyway, this saturday another person I have taught is going to get baptized, not in our ward though, but that doesn't matter. Also, not in our ward, another family I've got to get to know quite well on several different occasions had their two twin sons baptized two days ago on their 13 birthday. Their anti-mormon divorced mother wouldn't allow them to get baptized until just two weeks ago when she consented to let them do so. Hurray!

That is wonderful to hear that grandma and grandpa are seeing the sights that Christ walked. That is fun. I had a thought this week as I was studying some of the things that Christ did that it would be cool to see the places that have great significance like the tomb he was buried at or the Garden of Gethsemane etc.

Oh I remember one of the things I was going to say. It was about forgiveness... When I was thinking of it earlier it turned out much better and inspirational than it is now that I'm actually typing out what I remember by the way. I also only have 5 min left before the comp kicks be off, so I need to hurry. So heaven is full of people that are forgiven and who forgive. "I, the Lord will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men" (D&C 64:10). When Christ says that we are commanded to forgive ALL men, that includes ourselves. Ourself is sometimes the hardest person to forgive. As Christ showed us with the women who was caught in the act of adultry who was sentenced to be stoned by the law of Moses, we will be forgiven on condition that we sin no more, no matter how serious our crime. (Except denying the Holy Ghost which most of us won't even be able to commit anyway.) We know we have repented and been forgiven when we "confess and forsake" our sins.

I'm sorry to say I can't finish my thought because I'm out of time... alas, I'll write you another thought next week if I remember one that sticks out to me.

Hasta Luego

Elder Benjamin Ray Walker

Best Baptism

How I am doing:
Awesome; Amazing; Excited; Outstanding; Incredible; Magnificent; Undaunted; Inspired; Talented; Busy; Blessed; Taken Care Of; Making Friends; Being Grateful; Heading to Guidance; Listening to Spirit; Making Goals w/ Deadlines; Overcoming Uncomfortable Situations; Increasing in Bravery and Dedication; Recognizing Opportunities;
yep, that pretty much sums it up.

So a lady's baptism was the best baptism I can remember going to. (I'm sure mine was good too, all I remember about mine is that the water was cold after the first 3 inches.) There were 60 people there at the baptism (plus two sister missionaries that was requested that they watch over Skype from Salt Lake, they speak Japanese and helped with the teachings), about half was related to her in some way. This sister had many of her less-active or non-member children and grandchildren (and great-grand) there attending the baptism. The members were great, it was funny to watch. One member asked her grandchild after the baptism, "So are you going to be baptized too?" His response was, I don't know, maybe. =-) Her family came from mostly South Carolina, but some flew from across the nation others drove that were closer than that. It was a good day. Lots of stuff happened...

I guess since my time is running low, I better answer your question better before time is up...
I am doing wonderfully. I love it here in Goose Creek. We have a wonderful ward. It is lots of fun getting to work with so many military people. Because of various missionaries that got their VISAs to go to Argentina our districts combined and we have ten missionaries in our district now (part Spanish) my companion is thew district leader, the zone leaders are in our district too. We have more than 1/3 of our zone in our district. Funny to think about. We also get an apartment to ourselves and a car for a total of about 3.5 weeks (1.5 weeks remaining). It is different being in a 2 pack instead of more than 2; It's helped me to be more productive I think because there aren't Spanish missionaries around anymore to bug and listen in on their Spanish planning. I still get to bug them because they are in our district (before they weren't) but not to the same extent. ha ha ha I'm just kidding, me? being a nuisance to others? never... (no, we are one big happy ever changing (because of transfers) family). We have lots of work to do and I'm having lots of fun carrying it out. Elder McGuire is pretty awesome too!

ta ta for now,
I'm signing out.
Elder Benjamin Ray Walker

Baptism and Military

Because I'm not biking everywhere anymore and get to use the car, I have felt that I'm not putting all of my energy into the work any more and have felt a little lazy (even though we are not and are very productive with the car), I'm just not physically straining myself anymore while being soaked and carrying a heavy backpack several miles on a bike at the same time. I haven't been able to use so much of a car before. Glad I get to. Pretty soon our ward (Crowfield), and other wards: Summerville, Oakbrook, North Charlston, are going to be split and create a new ward... that will happen in about October or late September. I hope it doesn't effect our ward by taking members out, ours is the smallest geographically in the stake (probably mission just including the areas that don't have miles and miles of nothing but forest), our bishop thinks from looking at a map that we are not going to loose any members but instead gain some... we'll see, they are adding another ward afterall.

I just found out that one of my investigators I was working with who we all knew was going to get baptized in Greenwood was baptized! hurray! Way to go Elder Ah Kuoi (one of the elder that took over there in Greenwood).

Still we have a super duper solid baptism that is going to happen this upcoming Saturday at 5pm. hurray! She's from Japan, mother of the stake relief society president. Yep, it's going to happen. Later that Saturday night at 7pm our stake is having a celebration for their 40th anniversary for being a stake, then after that we are going to watch President Monson's 85th b-day party at 9pm on the BYU channel (6pm your time).

We have a busy week ahead of us...... lots of appointments and lots of other things planned in too. This ward is a very unique ward. Last Monday I took a tour in the Air Force Base, Navy Base and also commissary (sp wrong, it's the military food store). There is a focus to work with lots of military people (mostly Navy in Goose Creek) here. It's fun, I go to the Brig (navy prison) once a week to talk to a LA member there, and I get to teach navy people at the navy chapel each week. It's different working with military, because we can't proselyte on base, they have to come to you (through members typically). Fun stuff!

Sincerely,
Elder Benjamin Ray Walker