Christmas is Coming

I love that chapter [Alma 14] I use it a lot when people want to know whey there is suffering in the world. When ever I teach that I cry. I feel there pain and I want to do the same for people here just take away all there pains. Then think about all the people that God has to let them feel the pain. How much he loves all of us and all the pain that he has went though because of other peoples choices. 

This week was cool we baptized a kid form Korea his name is Dohyung Kim (AKA Jade). It was really cool. His friend baptized him. Very spiritual moment. We also confirmed him the next day and a Korean said the confirmation. The confirmation was in Korean so no one understood it.  I could still feel the spirit. We then taught a class of 12 and 13 year old in church about how to be more efficient in missionary work. I keep thinking of Robert. Jade the kid that was baptized was also 13 years old so he was Robert's age when he was baptized. I think that is cool. Happy birthday Robert you are now 14 years old and have more responsibility. Do you know what all of it includes? Ask Ben to show you in the Doctrine and Covenants. He is very knowledgeable in the scriptures. 

Christmas has been changed a little. I will get about 1 hour to Skype home. and I will not be able to visit people in our mission anymore. :( Our mission president said not to visit people outside of our area. 

Elder Kolpakov will be going home in 2 days. That is crazy to me. Also this week is transfers so me and Elder Mansfield might not be together. That would be bad. He is such a good companion and we are really getting the work moving in this stake. I don't want things to be switched up, but that is how missionary work goes sometimes. I already have a family that we are going to Skype at soon we have to figure out a time that we can do that.

Well this week has been great. 

Love, 

Elder Walker

Facing the Lord

It is really cold here. About 9 degrees in the morning and in the day it gets up to about 15 degrees. Very warm. Haha. I love it anyways. It helps people feel compassion for us so it is more likely that we will be able to go into people's homes and teach a message. It also causes people to be home more so we are not knocking on so many empty doors. That is nice.

This past week has been an interesting week. We had talked to lots of return missionaries that are less active and it makes me sad to see that. There was one person who was an AP on his mission and he went less active and has a difficult time believing in God. He still reads the Book of Mormon and watches conference and lets his wife and kids go to church, but he is struggling so much. It is sad to see that backwards progression. There have been lots of those people here. We have apartments in our area. It is different than most of my other areas. We get to see families that have strange relationships (gays lesbians). We try to get in and teach them and most of them used to be active members and they just went astray. It is different. They now want nothing to do with the Church.

We have an investigator from Korea and he is an exchange student and wants to be baptized. He will be baptized this week. I am really excited for that to happen. He is having another foster kid who is 16 do the baptism. That will be a neat experience. I am excited. We are doing well in this area. I learned a lot from our mission president this past week. We had a mission leadership training meeting and it was very inspirational. I loved it.  There are huge changes happening in our mission. He is changing a lot of the things of our last mission president. Our mission was a little unique because we were so close together we could do workouts together in the morning. Now that is gone. We also used to have district lunch about 2 times a week and that is gone as well. He just went through the whole mission and changed everything. Lots of missionaries are mad at him for the changes. I think it was necessary to make those changes. He told us a principle:

Are you facing the lord?

Now I am going to try to explain this, but it will be hard.

If I were to line people up each facing one direction (so you were looking at the back of a person's head) the first person is Christ. The next is the prophet then the mission president then zone leader then district leader and finally the missionary. (The missionary is not facing anyone). Do you see the picture? 

So now if I were to turn the zone leader and face the mission president. That would symbolize him back talking the mission president or not taking his advice. 

Now a huge problem arose. We have a leader who does not like what the mission president said. It causes so much contention in the rest of the line. Do you now see who we have to face? Not the Lord, but those we have stewardship over and the ones that the Lord is facing. We need to go in his direction and not the opposite way. 

I hope this all made sense. I wish I could draw a picture. 

Now what we all need to do is to follow our leaders, even if we do not understand. Our mission president said that he even does not understand why he is doing this. He said it was Revelation from the Lord! That is cool to be able to see inspiration happen in our mission. Now my job is to support him the best I can and I need to support the Lord's decision on everything.

Rumor in our mission is that we will all get iPads at the beginning of the new year! I hope it is true. 

Cool thing that also happened. So Dad, you said that I might cover the prison in my mission. It is in my district and I ate lunch at the Serving Time Cafe (a restaurant on the prison ground and run by inmates). A doctor that works there payed for us and said that anytime we go in we say his name and they will put it on his tab. He said to do it as much as possible to show the inmates that work there an example. That was cool. He was a very nice guy and the food there is about $8 for both our our costs combined. I love that place. No we will not abuse it Mom we will be respectful of him and his kindness. It was still really cool. 

I love my mission. It is a wonderful time to be a missionary. We have so many resources that we get to use. I love my mission. I could do this the rest of my life. The joys are so great and the spirit is so strong. This is the most righteous I have ever been in my whole life and I love it! I still have lots to work on, but I know that will the Lords help I can over come all! and I mean all!

I love you family. Have a happy Christmas! 

Robert keep being the kind kid I know you as even as you grow up 

Monica keep these great times in your life a memory.

Ben keep doing a great job at inspiring many people.

Alex and Bj I love your example for us. I remember when I was studying in your house. Alex and you were reading the scriptures and how much you loved them. Keep it up

Mom I love your letters and the example of a great Mom and the willingness to follow Christ in the responsibility he places on your shoulders. (example when your shoulder was frozen and did not move that did not stop you from going to the temple and from cooking us dinner and every day things [Ed. note: or directing the choir]. I was thinking about that in the temple a little bit ago and I felt your pain) you are a great Mom even when you need help to get dishes off the top of the shelf.

Dad I think of you often. Last night me and Elder Mansfield were talking about scouting and the love that both of us had in going on trips with our fathers. I see so many people that do not have fathers or fathers that don't do any thing with them. I am so lucky to have you as my father.

Thanks family for being so strong in the faith. It helps me a lot. I see many families that have one person that does not go to church or does not believe in Christ or many other things. I am grateful that I was born in this world with this family and this life. I can't thank you guys enough. 

Beginning of the Christmas Season

I am doing really good. This week we were tracking and knocked on this door and a guy answered it. He was from Alabama. He had lived in Utah for 5 years and had never talked to missionaries. We went in and taught a lesson. It went really well. He loved the Book of Mormon. He said  "I have always wanted one!" He told us to give him time to read it. We are going back tomorrow. That was cool. I do not get very many teaching opportunities to teach from cold door tracking. We had been working so hard this week and we were blessed. The total amount of doors we probably knocked on to find that one guy is 200+ doors! We are teaching many people and doing great work. Things are looking up here. I love it!

My companion is legit. He is a powerful teacher and really diligent in the work. It makes things so good when your companion works hard with you. I see some missionaries really wanting to work, but have a hard time because their companion doesn't want to do anything. I have been blessed in all my companions that I have had. They are wonderful. 

I remember when Russell came back and I did companion study with him and Ryan. [Editor's Note: Russell Fischer left for his mission the same time as Ben. He came home for about a month so he could have surgery. During that time, he took Joshua and Ryan Burnham and helped them further prepare for their missions.  It was a great experience for all of them.]  That feels like so long ago. Time is strange on a mission. Things out side it seem so far away, but everything on it seems to go so fast . 

We have a nativity in our Stake. it is kinda like the one in California. About 15000 people come to it. It is a great opportunity to have people invite their neighbors to something that will help them come closer to Christ, especially near Christmas. It is cool. I will be there a lot this next few days just talking to people.

Elder Walker

'We Sometimes Need to Show a Little Faith'

We had an amazing week. As you know I was whitewashed into this area. (Don't know why but I think it had to do with the last missionaries). It is really hard to be white washed in because you know no one and no one knows you. So the first week we taught no one. The next week we taught 1 person and now we have 5 people on date to be baptized in December! This week has been a huge blessing week. We are teaching so many. My area is projecting 1/2 of our zone. It is truly a blessing from God that we are able to find and teach so many. One of the kids' names is Jade. We had a lesson with him about 1 hour ago. He is going to be baptized on December 14. He is Korean and speaks a little English. We watched the Restoration video in Korean. I could almost quote it in English because of how many times I saw it. That was a cool experience to have. I can't wait until he is baptized. I still get to teach people that are not from America here. I think God sends people here to Utah so that they can hear the gospel and take it back to where they came from. 

We are also teaching a person named Ben. We took him to Temple Square on Saturday and he loved it. It is fun because we get taught as well because the sister missionaries lead out in the discussion. I love that opportunity that we get to go down there. We have so many experiences that happen each and every day that just testifies of Christ and of God's love for everyone. Especially on the hard days.

I am learning so much more then I thought I would on my mission. One of the best things that I am grateful for the talent that I have developed is the ability to make friends. It is so much easier for me to go up to someone and introduce myself and make friends. I also believe it is easier to do that in Utah when you have a name tag on (maybe I will make a name tag and where it around after my mission 'Hello my name is Walker') lol, it is also a lot easier to make enemies, but they are not mad at me but the church. That is another blessing I have God's protection and help even from mean people. I don't feel the least degree of anger towards them any more. I am just sad that they have such a hard heart. There are very few mean people here in Utah so that is good. 

A good story to go along with your faith proceeds confirmation from God. 

It is in the Old Testament about the ark of the covenant. They had to take it across a river and the water was too deep. God told them that they had to get their feet wet and walk in there with the Ark of the Covenant before he would stop the water. (Joshua 3). So they had to show faith then God would do his thing. He will always help us if we show a little faith. Same thing happened to Nephi when he had to go in the city to get the plates. He had tired everything he could but he had to show more faith and God helped him by providing the way. 

Relating it to us we sometimes need to show a little faith by trusting in our feelings and getting baptized even if you might not happen for you the same as everyone else. 

Remind me sometime to relate the Butterfly Circus movie to this. We watched it at zone conference with our mission president.

One of the Most Eventful Weeks

So much has happened this week. It was probably one of the most eventful week of my whole mission. Crazy right? A lot of it I will not talk about because it involves other people, but something that did happen is I got news from my former companion that a excommunicated person that I was teaching and loved very much in my last area just died. (I was at his funeral this morning that is why I am emailing so late.) That was really sad. Question that I have been pondering and one I can't find. What happens to those who die and who are excommunicated? I heard that you can't do baptisms for the dead for them so what happens? 

I can't believe that Sean is back! Every one that left for their mission before me is almost back. That is strange to think about. 

I have had so many meetings my last week I have been to a total of 27 hours of them this week including church. Crazy right? Every day of the week I have had something. I like meetings a lot more then I did before my mission. I think it is because I know that I can learn so much more and I realize how much I do not know. 

We found a new investigator this week. That was fun. His wife is a recent convert to the church with a really strong testimony of the gospel and every lesson she cries and tells him how much she wants him to be baptized and then sealed in the temple. He is on date to be baptized on December 7 and he is working really hard to get there. 

We are finally finding work in this stake. It is difficult to get work started in a stake when missionaries have both got pulled out of the area. We had to start from scratch. I believe that the rewards are greater when you have greater struggles. That is why I am thankful for my mission. I have grown so much and am growing so much more then I ever have. (and no Mom I am not taller than Ben) unless Ben shrunk. Haha. I love my mission.

Two more things I need for my mission. First I would love a shoulder bag. All the missions have been required to get one instead of backpacks. My companion got one that has a wast strap so when you are riding a bike it does not go in front of you. I would love one like that. I need the shoulder bag no later than the new year. 

Also tell Robert that Elder Kolpakov bought me a present and it was a chess game. I have played it once. I won, but it was close. That is our p-day game. 

I would love to be in a class with Ben and Sean teaching it. That would be so cool. 

Have I told you all the service opportunities I have had? I have fixed a tiller, made a fence, put in sod for many people, I have put in dry wall and have done mudding for them as well, mowed hundreds of lawns and hundreds more of leaves raked up. OK probably not a hundred, but too much to count, I have put in insulation for a house (fiberglass), fixed someone's electricity in their house, have dug lots of holes for miscellaneous things. I have put stucco on a house, painted a whole garage (that one hurt my neck because I did the ceiling). Fixed a sprinkler system. (kinda put in a new one actually) I have tried to fix a printer and a weed wacker unsuccessfully, but worked hard on it. Have fixed a table and made it look really nice. The holes where the screws were stripped so it would not stand and there were missing pieces. We made new holes and made it look way nicer then it had been. I have picked up apples and also peaches (sound familiar) from the ground. I love those opportunities to do this. I have learned so much from all of it. I was able to do a lot of it because of Dad and the things we did together like putting up the light above the fireplace or fixing the sprinkler system. There were more then one baptism that came because of these things that we did. 

Love Elder Walker. Have a great week everyone!

Temple Visit

This week was interesting. We had a week filled with appointments but the people do not always keep appointments. We have a whole bunch of investigators it is just hard to meet with them because of things going on in their life. It is nice to know that we we have people to teach.

We got to go the the temple. That was a lot of fun. I don't think that I have ever been at the temple at night before. It was cool to see the lights of the temple and be able to go at night. We had about half of our mission in the celestial room at one time. And the celestial room is not that big. That was also fun. 

We have transfers this week again. I have been with Elder Kolpakov for about 6 months. That is four times as long as I have had any of my other companions. We hope that we will stay together next transfer as well. my companion is going home on December 17 so this will be his last transfer. He is going to get married almost as soon as he gets home. 

I cant think of what really happened this week. I normally remember because I write in my journal at least 2 times a week but I did not get the chance this week so I don't remember what happened. We are baptizing a boy named Ayden this week. That will be fun. We also picked up 2 new investigators that are Russian. It is interesting the mom has married an active member from here. She moved and is now going to church with her son for 1 year. She wants to be baptized, but lies to us about coffee her husband said that she is badly addicted to it. She lied to Elder Kolpakov that and said that she was willing to be baptized and did not drink any coffee. They were speaking in Russian so I did not understand neither did the husband because she was speaking Russian and he does not speak Russian. It is a little strange situation that we are working on.

It snowed yesterday in the valley. We had to ride our bikes thought it. That was fun. For some reason my hands get really cold so when I shake people hands it kinda startles them.  

Interesting Times

This week was really interesting. We were supposed to have 4 baptisms but on the day of their interviews they freaked out because the zone leader told them that their uncle could not baptize them because he was not worthy (I still have not really met the family). Read last weeks email and I explained it a little better. All of the kids want to be baptized but the mom will not let them now. We went by the next day with the Spanish missionaries that were doing the teaching. She told us that she was going to call the cops on us if we did not leave. It is sad to see the family suffer because of this incident. I am pretty sure that the family will eventually get baptized. This was the most interesting thing that happened this week. A 12 year old girl will be baptized this up coming week. Her name is Nevada. She had met with the missionaries for a long time. She goes off and on for this long. Now she is finally ready for her baptism. That is exciting. 

Ben will be a great help for you in your lesson preparations for seminary. I would use him as much as possible. It will help him to keep studying the scriptures in order to help other people and not just himself. I found out that a lot of returned missionaries will read for about 3 months then it goes away. I believe that is because they are used to doing it for the benefit for others and not themselves. It is almost like why it is easy to help your neighbor fix their sprinklers but not your own. If that makes sense.

Also tell Ben to write me. I love his letters that he sent on his mission. I think that FHE tonight will be a good one.