I love this Gospel

Elder Goins is doing great. We have been teaching a lot and he is getting better and better at it. Companionship study is very important in all of this training and learning 

This week was a good week. We are teaching a lot of people and we are helping people come back to church as well. I love this Gospel! It is so much fun to tell people about the truth. While we were siting here emailing home we had this lady come up to us and tell us that we should Google "Joseph smith abortions." She said that we were teaching a lie and that we need to know that Joseph Smith is a lie. Every time someone tells me something like this I think of the thing that Moroni told Joseph Smith:

He called me by name, and said unto me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God to me, and that his name was Moroni; that God had a work for me to do; and that my name should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindred, and tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people (JS-History 1:33).

I thought it was wonderful that Moroni warned Joseph about this and all of us as well.

I gave a talk in sacrament meeting this last Sunday. Someone fell though so they asked the missionaries to help with the talk. We had to be in another ward as well so we decided to do splits and I gave a talk. It was about 20 min long. I got to talk about what ever I wanted. I liked that. So I talked about the restoration. It was fun to be able to share that with so many people. 

I am sorry it is a shorter letter today. My computer died on me 2 times and it had to restart 2 times. 

I love this work. We have lots of people in our teaching pool. 

We are teaching several less actives that are coming back to church which is exciting! I am glad that they are doing so well and have such a desire to come to church. The only problem that we are running into is that we are so busy that we can't teach them a lot each week. This stake we are in has a huge potential to grow and to even have 2 sets of missionaries in it. The members are helping us a lot and I believe that they will continue to help us. 

Zone Leader & New Area

This week has been crazy. They whitewashed my last stake and they told me that about 6pm and I had to leave around 10 AM in the morning. Also Elder Garver went home (he got his mission call to Alaska) so I had to stay with the zone leaders because I did not have a companion any more. So no time to pack or say good buy to anyone, ok I did get the opportunity to say good by but not to as many as I would have liked to.

This new area that we are in is a great area. We are going to do well here. I like our zone as well. My companion is the first companion that has been younger then me in age. All the rest have been older then me. Crazy. He has been a zone leader a long time and is training me how to be a good zone leader. His name is Elder Hammond. Great guy. The past 6 weeks I have been training so it was a little bit harder in lessons, now it is much easier because he can teach on the spot with out having to go though each point multiple times during comp study so he knows what is happening.

Another big difference is that I am now junior companion. I am not used to that. It is good and bad. I can rely on him to make the final call on things to know if that is the best judgement. He has been out for about 16 months and is from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. I asked him if he knew Ryan Burnham and he did not, but it was worth a try.

We gave 2 talks this week in church. I have decided I can't do talks very well any more. Let me explain. I can give talks on things I know about like missionary work or any of the lessons we teach, but when it comes to topics that I don't know very many things about I struggle. This week I have to give talk talk on family history. I am not very good at talking on family history so I changed it a lot to missionary work and got though it, but there is still a good appointment of work I can do. My companion gave a great talk. I did not have to be the last speaker, which is a lot different because for the past 9 months I have always been the last speaker or at least after my companion. It was still a good talk, just not a great one. That was also probably due to the fact that I was sick, but that is a little thing. We are teaching several people and they are coming along. I  really like this calling, because I get to help lots more people then I did before, which is also a hard thing because we are not in our area as much as we normally would be, but the Lord will bless us. 

Something that our mission is trying to do is to give a lot more of the responsibility onto the district leaders. We have a big meeting about how to do that. Eventually it needs to get down to the senior companion and have him bear responsibility about the area. This is the same with bishops. They try to delegate things to the elders quorum president then from there to the home teachers and from there to the family to the fathers and mothers.

That is something interesting about our church it is all about the one. No other organization in the world has as good as set up as we do in this church. It would work great if only people did what we were supposed to.

We are a lot busier then we have been in the past. The first few days we did not even get to work in our area until 5 at night. Crazy. But things are slowing down now that transfers are a little bit behind us. 

Missionary Life

This week was a different week then normal. Elder Garver had to pack because he is going to go home tomorrow. So from 4:00 pm to 10:00 am I will be with out a companion. So I will probably stay with the zone leaders. I have had this happen to me once before with Elder Mansfield. He got his visa and left the day before transfers ended. We also had to work hard so Elder Garver did not get too trunky. haha he has only been out 3 months and he is already going home. (He will be home for about 1 week and then go to the MTC and get trained then he will head off to his mission).

I actually think it a high possibility for them to whitewash me out of this area. Right now there is only one missionary that has been in his area longer then I have and he is going home. There are only about 6 other missionaries that have been in their area for as long as I have. It is definitely not very common to stay in one area this long. I like it. I know who are the potential investigators and the members to help with lessons. I know the recent converts that need help and need continued guidance.

The Assistants to the President came to my district meeting last week. That was interesting. They helped a lot in the lessons. That is again a tell tale sign that I will probably get moved, but only the president and the lord will know where I need to be.

We gave talks this Sunday again. 3 talks this transfer. I am now to the point where I have to be careful not to go over my time limit. I did that yesterday. There were 4 speakers and I was originally assigned a 15 min talk and I was the 2nd to last speaker there was still the high councilor to speak. We had about 20 min left of the meeting. So I probably should have done a 5 min talk. I ended up doing about a 13 min talk and I felt bad because I did not notice that all that time had passed. I said sorry to the next speaker. I think he has glad on the inside. haha. Well he gave about a 5 min talk and we ended going over about 5 min. I now need to be able to shorten my talks as well as make them longer. I have always been so focused on making my talks longer that I never really realized that I might have to make it shorter.

Something that I have been studying that I find really interesting is light. The first day Christ separated the Light for the dark. At that point there was no sun or stars or Moon so the light came from Christ. He gave the power to the sun and all light comes from Christ. That is why when he died there was no light according to the Book of Mormon for 3 days, because there was no way for it to even be here. The darkness was thick that you could not even light a fire. I find that really interesting. There was a lot more behind this discovery but this basic version of it. I thought you might be interested. 

You can look at darkness in a similar way.

Same Area :)

I moved someone last week and it took 4 hours. I was so physically exhausted after carrying things down a flight of stairs and up a flight. There was a lot of stuff. Very heavy stuff. Then we still had to go out and work. That was crazy. Thanks for all the food and stuff. I love it.

I also think it is funny that Kelsie called you and that is where all the questions came from. She is a great convert of mine. I really enjoy talking to her and seeing her progress. 

We had another baptism this week. Nataly. She is really cool. I enjoy seeing these people change for the better. I did her confirmation.

So I stayed in this area. That means I will be here for at least 9 months in 1 area. I like that. I am still a district leader, but I am second transfer training. His name is Elder Garver. He is a good elder. He is another trial missionary. I have gotten every trial missionary for the past 5 months that has come in our mission. I don't fully understand what that means. He is really humble and really wants to learn. For that I am grateful. It is so much easier to help and train missionaries when they are humble. I just hope that I was humble when I first came out. haha. 

We went hiking up near the Draper Temple. That was fun. 

So we gave talks yesterday. I was really impressed with how well I did on my talk. [For those of you who don't remember, before Joshua left on his mission he dreaded giving talks.  He would be extremely nervous about them and could hardly eat or sleep in the time leading up to to his talk.]  I shared some missionary stories and I cried. I thought of you Mom crying up while giving a talk. ha ha

Well I am really grateful for the experiences that I get on my mission. I love it and I love seeing how much I have changed and to see how much the people I have taught have changed. I don't say this to sound prideful, but it is good to see what the Lord can do in me and how He can help me change and become something that I did not think I could. Like giving good talks. I could never have seen myself giving a good talk and one where I don't have to read it all from a paper.

We are really studying a lot about the atonement and how much it can help us in our lives. For example, when Nephi gets tied up my his brothers he does not cry to the Lord for the bands to just go away, but that be will be strong enough to overcome it. So to strengthen him and not necessarily get rid of the trials in our lives, but to help us though them. For example, I should not pray that all of my investigators concerns should go away, but that they will be strong enough to over come them when they do come into their lives. Or on a funny note, to pray so that I will be given guidance of how to overcome eating tomatoes, and not that I will never be served tomatoes again. ha ha I will try that.

That is just a simple example of how the atonement can help us not do it all for us. We need to be changed by grace not just accept it. 

Lessons

I will be at General Conference this week Saturday night -- not the Priesthood Session. So look for me. I will be in the back because those are the only tickets that we were able to get.  :)

We baptized a boy named Quincy this last Saturday. He was one of the smartest 9 year old boys that I know.  We gave him a Book of Mormon Story book to read and he finished it within 4 days. Then we gave him the Old Testament Story book and he finished that as well really fast. Finally we told him to just read the Book of Mormon and he is now in 2 Nephi and when we asked his favorite part he told us, "I like the part when he gets tied up on the boat and his brothers are being really mean to him, but then God loved Nephi so he caused the bothers to let him go." I love that kid. His Mom is not returning back to church and his whole family came up here for the baptism. They are not all members including her husband. We also taught the Restoration while they were changing after the baptism. (Ben is that something that you were asked to do by your mission president? Because that is what our mission president told us to do). Something that made it really good was my companion played the piano while I was giving the first vision. It was really good and you could feel the Holy Ghost really strong there.

There is already snow!

I was also asked to give the talk on the Holy Ghost at the baptism and I also had about 2 min to think about what I was going to say. I believe that I did a really good job. I had lots of people say that I did a good job.  I like it when time does not matter and you just move as the Spirit directs. (That is one of the reasons that my role plays and or talks in sacrament meeting don't feel genuine because I am always rushed for time or feel like I have to fill the whole time.)

Robert I agree that lots of the questions that are asked in the church can be answered with "The Atonement." I remember when I was your age we had what we called SMA or Standard Mormon Answers. You could answer any question with the same answer, but that led me down the path that I thought I knew most everything. So just remember that there is so much more you can learn, even from the lesson that they teach over and over and you feel like you have the lesson memorized. There is still more you can learn.

Also, yesterday was the 5th Sunday and I went to the combined class at the end of church. One of our bishops taught. He talked about video games. He went through some video games and was very blunt about what they do in the video game. For example, Grand Theft Auto: he said that this is one of the most common games in the world. This game is a really bad game. He said that first off you are the criminal and never the good guy. You go around killing people, cops, and stealing things. The more cops you kill, the more destruction you make, and the more people you steal from, the more money you make. And what you do with the money is worse. You go and sleep with a prostitute and then you have the option to kill her and get your money back. And it goes on. 

Now this was not the worst game he mentioned but is is one of the most popular games and it is only rated M for mature.  There is only one higher and that is only because they add in gambling games. The bishop told this to all of the adults to warn them that the world is changing. They are in games that any kid can go to the store and buy. There are horrible things that are out there in members homes and corrupting people and people lose the Holy Ghost when they play these games. Read Deuteronomy 11:26-28: things are given for a reason, but Satan changes those things and makes it bad. 

Read D&C 59:6: don't kill.

Last scripture Articles of Faith 1:13: If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report, or praiseworthy we seek after those things. 

I just wanted you to know this as well parents.

A U of U fan we put a BYU flag on it. Our ward mission leader.

I am eternally grateful to my family for the things that you have done for me and the things that I have been taught by all of you.

Proverbs 3:5:Lord with all thine heart: and lean not unto thine own understanding. 

Trust in the

Believe this scripture and live it.

Love Elder Walker

Teaching Lessons

Ben I have found that more people here in Utah have gardens then people in California. I find that kinda funny.

This week we had a lesson with a baptist ordained minister. That was the strangest lesson I have ever had. I am now wondering if that is all the lessons that Ben teaches. It is so different then the lessons that I have taught. We started with a song and I started to start singing with my companion playing his electric piano. He stopped singing half way through because we were sing too fast. Have you ever heard a baptist sing? It is way different then the way that we sing. Then he said the prayer which was normal. We had the lesson, I am not sure how much of it he believed. When I was giving the first vision and talking about Joseph Smith he busted up laughing at me so hard. That was strange. I have never had that happen to me. When I give the first vision I slow down and say each word clearly. When Baptists talk they get really loud and say it strangely. He was laughing at me for about 2 min straight and we were just staring at him as if to say "what did we say". Then as we said the closing prayer he was saying things like "I love you Lord" or "thank you Jesus" and this was during the prayer that my companion was saying. Very strange. I do not know very much about other religions so I don't know what to expect when I have a lesson with someone that is not a religion that I have taught before.

Also, there is a man that we are teaching. He is way fun I loving going over to his house and teaching. He is a nonmember, but lives right next to the church and has never been inside. His wife is a member less active. He now wants to be baptized, but he does not know how he is going to pay tithing. We promised him that he would be ok and would not lose his house if he was to start paying tithing. He thinks he should be able to be baptized even if he does not pay tithing right away. We told him he could not. So, he is now taking classes to become a really good stock trader so he can pay for tithing. He does not really understand how to rely on Christ. He is working on it. He is now a "dry Mormon" or active non Mormon. Last week he had a dream telling him that he was ready and has always been ready. So he now has a baptism date of September 12 and also wants to get his daughter (age 35 or something) to be baptized with him on that day as well.  We have not met her yet, but he is trying to set something up with her so we can meet her as well so she can be baptized. This is a family that I will for sure visit later in my life. I will stay in contact for a very long time with them.

Miracles do happen I see them every day. I love the things that we do for God as missionaries and I love being able to recognize the miracles that happen to us each day.

Also I think you would get a kick out of this. last week I was saying that I really still don't like giving talks. Next week, I will be giving 2 talks in 2 different wards. I think God is trying to tell me something.

Questions for Brother, Elder B. Walker

[Elder J. Walker's questions and response to his brother's Elder B. Walker's email home.]

Eddie

I also gave a talk yesterday, but I had time to prepare. I can't believe that you only are 155 pounds Ben. I am bigger then you now. It will be strange when we stand next to each other after my mission. I don't think I have gained any weight lately. I am still about 170. I think that is because I am now on a bike a lot more often. Me and my companion race sometimes. The max speed I got to on level ground is about 35 MPH. That is fun when you are going the same speed as the cars next to you.

We had 2 baptisms this week, Eddie Woodson and Mike Pearson. Mike read the whole Book of Mormon in 3 weeks. That was before he was baptized. He was the most prepared investigator I have ever taught. I love those people where they are like unto little children because they are so willing to learn and accept new ideas.

Mike

Ask any of the elders in your area Ben if they are from Sandy, West Jordan, Riverton, South Jordan, Draper, Kearns, or Hairmen. Those are the only cities in my mission.

Also Ben, we have a ward and a branch in our area that I have never gone to their Sacrament Meeting because we have had no work there and we have had to be at other sacrament meetings instead due to investigators. So I know very few people from that area.

Most of the kids in Utah have already started school. It is strange to think that I don't have to worry about school for a long time.

Mike's Friends

We have a lot of work in this area. When I first came into it we have 1 person on date and 2 lessons with a member present a week. I remember struggling because we were working so hard to get those people and nothing was coming. Then about 3 weeks later we would get calls from people and tell us that they have a friend that wants to learn about the gospel. This happened quite a lot. Eddie was a media referral and Mike's girlfriend's Dad called us and told us that he has someone that wanted to receive the lessons. We now have 10 lessons with a member present a week and 4 people on date to be baptized even when we already baptized 2 people on Saturday. This is a valuable lesson to me because it shows me that I can't do it by myself. We have to rely on the Lord to help us as we do His work. (This was the topic of my talk yesterday). It says in Preach My Gospel page 97 that "No man can preach the Gospel without the Holy Ghost." It also says to not rely on yourself, but on the Spirit. How much can we do by ourselves? Basically nothing. We would not be here if we only relied on ourself.

Mosiah 2:21-24

 21 I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.

(side note if we serve him with our whole soul we would still not profit God anything. We are so small compared to God, but we have the potential to become like him)

 22 And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.
 23 And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him.
 24 And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever; therefore, of what have ye to boast?

We do have the potential to become like him. D&C 76:58: "Wherefore, as it is written, they are gods, even the sons of God—"

Russian New Member

That is my lesson for the day.

Also I have 2 questions that I have been thinking of this past week I want someone to help me answer them:

1)  D&C 76:74: "Who received not the testimony of Jesus in the flesh, but afterwards received it."

This is the people that will go to the terrestrial kingdom, but why if they except it in the spirit world do they not get to receive the celestial glory only because they did not receive it in the flesh? So does that mean when I teach someone and they don't receive it that I have condemned them because I taught them and they were not willing to progress?

2) What is an intelligences? Abraham 3:22: "Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones;"

Is it like the dust of the Earth? like our physical bodies were created? Did we think for ourselves while we were intelligences?

Just some questions that I don't know and was wondering if you could find the answers for me.

Word of Advice, Please?

It definitely snowed a lot this week. We got the car grounded 3 times because of how bad it was so I had to walk in the snow. I actually kinda like it though, it does make everything look so clean. Also, the baptisms were very cool. My first 2 baptisms! Yay! I gave a talk on Baptisms. I am going to keep all of the programs of the baptisms that we perform. We now don't have very many investigators because 3 of them are moving and 2 of them got baptized. It is crazy the work that is going on here.

First, I might be switching missions because they are splitting our mission in July! There is going to be a Salt Lake City East Mission. So the mission will be changing drastically. I know that one of the BYU-I teachers will be our new mission president. (I can't remember his name. You can look it up online. [It's John C. Eberhardt]). That is cool. Also, we had a talk from a member of the 70 (Elder Clayton) he told us before it came to the general public. I really like talks from general authorities. I was also able to go to the temple this week. The Draper temple. It was strange being there because I was there with you guys not that long ago, but the Elders in my district know so much about the temple. Have I told you I love Elder Maddy? (In the pictures of me at zone conference I was probably sitting next to him). I hope I am going to be able to stay with him through the next transfers. (They are this week).

So we have this investigator that knows everything she needs to know for baptism but just won't get baptized. She has been on date 4 times and keeps falling through. (She came to another baptism). She is such a great person. Any advice? I think that she might be getting too close to us. That part confuses me. We are supposed to love our investigators, but they are not supposed to love us too much. That is harder to do than you think.

She has lots of friends in the Church so it will not be a problem that is is not converted to the church. But it is still a challenge. Any advice Ben?

In Utah, we get desserts every day. Once we got 4 desserts in one day because when we go tracting and run into an active members home they always offer us dessert and they don't accept no as an answer. I think I will be a lot heavier when I return than when I came out :( Not good. My companion has gained 15 pounds in 3 transfers. Again. Not good. Lol. We eat so well some weeks I love it. I think when spring comes and it gets above 40 degrees then we will start to ride bikes and that will help a lot with that.

One funny experience that we had was eating at a Tongan (maybe Samoan) family's house for dinner. The first 3 plates that she brought to the table were covered in Meat. It was so much food. They made us eat most of it. By the time we were done I could hardly move, I don't think I have ever eaten so much meat in my life. (I feel like I was breaking the word of wisdom by not eating meat sparingly.) Then they brought out dessert for us. 

One of them was actually from Modesto. That was cool, he was inactive and in the other stake but it was still cool. Most people know where Modesto is. That surprises me a lot.

I love tracting. We meet so many funny people and I have had some of the shortest conversations of my life tracting. Example: "Hi." Cut off he said, "Not interested." Door shuts as I start to ask, "So who do you know that we can share this Gospel to?" To get a referral. I think it is crazy the things people say to us. 

Another example: "Do you really think that we were made in the image of God?" We said, "Yes." He goes on and said, "I don't thing God would have to clip his toe nails do you?" Then he rambles on talking about how ridiculous the Mormon Religion is. That was one of the funniest conversations we had at a door. I just wish that they would open there hearts a little so that they would understand a little better the things that we could bring them.

Letter to mission president: 

2 Diligence. I am going to strive to work this week! I am going. This week, we need to find [people to teach] and diligence, I believe, is what will help us the most to succeed in this aspect of the work.

3 This week in PMG, I studied the restoration through the prophet Joseph Smith. I learned that there is a lot more in that section then I thought there was. When I teach it now I know that there is more then just the vision even though that is the most important part.

4 This week to strengthen my companionship with Elder Maddy I did his dishes so much throughout the week

5 This week the most spiritual experience I had was the baptisms we had. They were wonderful. We had an investigator show up to one of them and I think that was a tender mercy of the Lord. They had great talks that helped her with her concern. I love being a missionary so much even with all the hard work.

Don't expect this long of letter ever again. We had extra time given to us today to type.

Love Elder Joshua Walker.

P.S. Good job Robert on the talk! I can just imagine you giving it. Just like your testimonies.

Word of advice (activate less active members).

First Week in the Field

My companion's name is Elder Maddy. He is so cool. We have on date to baptize 1 person and 4 others that should get baptized and will it is just a matter of when. I am serving in Sandy, Utah; it is 1 mile by 1/2 mile. Not very long at all and my companion has served all 8 months in this area. He knows every house and half of the people. lol. It is really cool, so many miracles happen. Example: We were on the last lesson of the day. It was a non active member. We knocked on the door and he did not answer so we went back in the car and I put it in drive. Then my companion told me to hold on and we said a prayer. I prayed for someone to teach. When we opened our eyes that person whose house we were at was right in front of our car. It was so cool. He really wanted to talk to us too. He has a bump on his chest and thinks it might be cancer because he smokes. We gave him a blessing. It was so cool. 

There has been so much that happened. It snowed 7 inches yesterday. Crazy to drive in. We live in a member's house and she is an old lady we call Grandma. She is funny. Also I showed up and I was told that I would be giving a talk in our church this Sunday. You know how much I love giving talks. It went so much better then I thought. I have already learned so much. I wish I had more time to type. I think I will send home my journal when I am done and you can read though that. It has a lot of good stories in it that I can't write.

By the way the average number of baptisms is 30. That's so cool.

Now some advice to the family: Read the Book of Mormon with a question in mind. It always gets answered if you diligently are seeking for it.