I Love Being a Missionary

This week was a good week. Three new investigators and 16 lessons that we were able to teach. It was great! Especially for whitewashing. I showed some missionaries about Robert liking the girls attention more and they laughed. Funny.

Grandpa emailed me a letter and he used crazy works that I had to look up. This is what he said:

Grandma just told me I should send this to all our currently serving missionaries so they will read the antepenultimate paragraph.  (I hope you read the penultimate and the ultimate as well.)  In fact – you can read all of it.  Love each of you very much.     Grandpa Bean.  

We went to Temple Square this week and we loved it. It is a great opportunity to go up there and to be able to see the temple and all of the work the pioneers did and the spirit that is up there. Wonderful. I love being a missionary up here. 

Riding a bike it lots of fun. We get to see the area from a different perspective. Also my companion has fallen off of his bike about 5 times kinda funny. He is never injured seriously yet. 

I love being a missionary. We get to see people change their lives and we get to be a part of it. I am so glad that I get to be in the work of salvation. We also had stake conference this week. We learned all about the temple and how important it is to go to it as much as possible. 

My companion is learning the lessons and he is going great. He is an interesting person. 

We had a good experiences this week. Things that happen that are amazing and come out of nowhere. We had an investigator that has investigated for a long time. She accepted a date yesterday after reading 3 Nephi 11-- great chapter by the way. We read it and she said she wants to be baptized and we invited her to be baptized on Nov 8th. She said yes! Yay. I love seeing people so overcome with the Spirit that they change and want to come unto Christ. That is why this work is in a way easy because all we have to to is be ready and follow the Spirit.

I have been studying about service and the importance it is in the gospel. We need to serve everyone no matter what their circumstances and the places they are in their life because God asked us to. So I make my companions bed a lot because he does not like to do it. I also do other minor things that I don't think he even knows about, but that is ok I will keep doing it and he might see and recognize the importance of serving.

Quick week, Slow days

So I became a District Leader. I sent a letter about 4 days ago to Ben and you. It explains more info. This week has gone by fast, but the days go by slowly with all the things I am learning. I am studying harder then I ever have before. I thought I was doing a lot of work at college, but this is so much more. I am learning to enjoy the talks on Sunday and I met the guy that made LDS.org and Mormon.org.  He gave a fireside last night and he gave a great talk and suggested for us to help members like you to use your Facebook to spread the gospel. He gave a story of several people that converted due to Facebook.

I like going to the temple. I can go every Monday. Tell Ryan not to eat the pancakes or the waffles they are horrible. I think we could have killed someone with one of the waffles. At least there are other options to eat from. 

I don't really know what else to say. So much happens it all becomes a blur, but I still have some time so it will be random things I remember. So our sisters are really cool. I have 6 of them. I thought that was normal until I noticed some districts with no sisters. Every bed this week will be filled and they are going to start to put more people into a 4 person dorm. It is getting really crazy here. The line for food can be a 15 min wait and we only have 30 min to eat. 

About my companion: He does not like to talk much, but he can explain things simply. I on the other hand give too much info that they don't need to hear. We are getting so much better then the first day and I thought I was prepared before I came. Tell Robert and Ryan to read the Preach My Gospel a lot. I have read it probably like 5 times, some parts 20 times like the first lesson. I have only taught the first lesson so far and 1/2 of the second one.

My time is spent so I hope you all are happy. I love you Mom, Dad, Monica and Robert.

Elder Walker.

P.S. I know you will do well with the seminary kids you are a good teacher.

Just for the readers to know, Elder J. Walker is at the MTC right when all these new missionaries are reporting in as a result of President Monson's announcement in the October General Conference 2012. The church sent out an update on the missionary response to this announcement. It's entitled "Response to Mormon Missionary Age Announcement Remains Enthusiastic and Unprecedented."

First week in the MTC

Written by Elder J. Walker's mother: So, funny thing this morning, (pay attention Josh).  Robert went to put his new suit jacket on this morning and found a card with money in his suit pocket.  The card wished him well on his mission.  Turns out Joshua took Robert's suit coat (looks just alike, but a size off) and left his with Robert.  Pretty funny.  I will mail it to the MTC tomorrow morning.  I will also call the MTC to figure out the best way to have Josh mail Robert's suit back to him.  :-) So Josh, did you notice that your suit didn't fit quite right?

I did notice that I had the wrong suit this morning lol that stinks. At least I have another suit. I forgot several things like pj's and other miscellaneous things so if you have not sent that mail yet; I need a t-shirt and a notebook and another pair of shorts. I sent a letter. I am surprised it has not gotten there yet. 

I have learned a lot like the answers to hard questions that investigators might ask. For example: What if my family will disown me if I join the church? I have not taken very many pictures but I have taken some. Yay. I have been tired the whole time I have been here. I get 8 hours of sleep and we are almost always in bed on time. I did not know how much time you would spend in the classroom. I like the food; people sometimes complain about it, but I think is is good. (Tell Ryan that he thinks it will be bad because of his brother's letters).

I did go to the temple not the SLC one. It was too far to drive over there. Good job Robert on catching the fish. I stink at that. I sent you a letter about my companion's name and other things so don't get mad at me like you do Ben. lol.

I teach too much of the lesson when we do it to the fake investigators I need to work on that. We taught a lesson the second day. I was not prepared to do that. Tell Ryan to practice on people and get good questions to ask. If you can think of any questions that would make the investigator think more send that next week. They say I am talking too much and not giving enough time to the investigators so I need good questions to ask. I am sorry about the room I was not thinking about that. Just leave if for Ben to clean up I had to clean up his stuff when he left and put it in boxes. Just kidding, that is too long to wait. So I will be here for 3 weeks and the next group to come this week will be here for 12 days. so they are going to leave before me and I got here first. That is strange. 

I love you family,

Elder Walker

Letter to Elder B. Walker

A letter about Joshua Walker receiving his mission call to his older brother Elder Benjamin Walker who is currently serving in Columbia South Carolina. They haven't been able to see each other since October 2011 when Elder B. Walker left to serve. They won't be able to see each other until January 2015 when J. Walker returns.

Hi Elder Walker


It's Josh. I am going to tell you about my amazing week I had. So I opened my mission papers and I am going to… wait, before I tell you you have to know the background. So 2 weeks ago [Editor's Note: Friday, November 9th - it just seemed like two weeks to Josh], Mom told me that the bishop said that my papers are in the mail. This was a Friday; I was hoping that it was going to be really fast mail and come by that Saturday the next day. It did not. That Sunday, I learned from my bishop here that my mission papers are NOT in the mail. So now I have one bishop saying that my call is on the way and the other saying that it is not. Now I am sad. I do not know when it is coming if at all this week. I knew there was no chance it was coming on Monday because mail does not travel anywhere on holidays. I checked anyway. On Tuesday, I go help the bishop with his meeting and now he tells me it is on the way and will be here Wednesday or Thursday; I was hoping Wednesday. It did not come once again. Finally, after a week of waiting, I get it on Thursday. Yay! I called everyone or texted and told them that I was going to open it that night at 5:40 because Dad's home from work and my last class ends at 5:30. Ryan also got his call on the same day I did.

When we opened it we did it via skype like you did. There were a lot of people crammed into the schoolroom that I could see though skype. The Burnham’s, the Remington’s and others that I don’t remember. On my end there were my roommates and my FHE sisters and Alex and BJ. I opened it and It said___ (this is the part you are waiting for) I am going to ___ (O wait, I have to read the Whole Thing like you did. I actually did not do this, but I am going to type the first part Just so you have to read my whole letter before you just quit reading after you hear where I am going.)

November 13, 2012
Elder Joshua Elery Walker 

Dear Elder Walker  (this means me not you) 

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Utah Salt Lake City South Mission.

I am going to enter on January 2, 2013 and will teach in the English language.

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I did not expect that at all. It was really fun to open it and I think that I will have a great time the most unexpected thing is that I will be leaving in a month and a half. School ends in a month so that means that I will only have two weeks at home before I leave. I am going to get a lot of the things I need when I go to Utah for Thanksgiving. And I am going to get my endowments at home in the Oakland Temple maybe with Ryan.

Other news, not as exciting because it doesn’t involve me. Just kidding

Ryan got his call to Oklahoma and he reports to the MTC on February 20th. He wished it was sooner and not so far away. He said, “It's just like Ben and Sean. Ben got to leave Sean all alone. And Sean got to wait several months before he gets to go.” Ryan has been waiting a while for his and has been kinda lonely at home.

Back to me.

When I tell people where I go I get this all the time, ”So I have a relative that lives there his/her name is ________ you should find him.” I don’t even remember the name 2 minutes later and they expect me to remember it for two years. Lol.

Also, I heard that Kevin Pilcher has the same mission as I do. That’s cool. I would really like it if I got him as a companion. [Editor's note: this has now been confirmed, but Kevin does not report to the MTC until February 13th].

Scriptural insight from my Premissionary class:

I just pasted my notes I took in class.

What does gospel mean? Good news. The second sentence in the bible dictionary under "Gospel." It is what the angel said to the shepherds when Christ was coming.

It is also what an amazing missionary (Alma) in Mosiah chapter 18 said to 400 + people and baptized them all. He is a good inspiration for missionaries

Moroni 7:13: "But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God."

Every good thought comes from God so when you open a door for someone, the thought to do that came from God.

Alma 26:22: "Yea, he that repenteth and exerciseth faith, and bringeth forth good works, and prayeth continually without ceasing—unto such it is given to know the mysteries of God; yea, unto such it shall be given to reveal things which never have been revealed; yea, and it shall be given unto such to bring thousands of souls to repentance, even as it has been given unto us to bring these our brethren to repentance."

If you do the first 4 things it tells you to do in the beginning of the verse then you will have things given to you that has never been revealed and you will be able to bring thousands to the gospel.

Good missionary scriptures.

P.S. If you cheated and skipped to the part were my mission call then you are in trouble. Also I wrote a lot again. I normally don’t do this, so don’t expect it.