November 21, 2011

HOMEWARD BOUND

In the quiet misty morning, when the moon has gone to bed,
When the sparrows stop their singing and the sky is clear and red,
When the summer's ceased its gleaming, when the corn is past its prime,
When adventure's lost its meaning, I'll be homeward bound in time.

Bind me not to the pasture. Chain me not to the plow.
Set me free to find my calling and I'll return to you somehow.

If you find it's me you're missing, if you're hoping I'll return,
To your thought I'll soon be list'ning; in the road I'll stop and turn.
Then the wind will set me racing as my journey nears its end,
And the path I'll be retracing when I'm homeward bound again.

Bind me not to the pasture. Chain me not to the plow.
Set me free to find my calling and I'll return to you somehow.

In the quiet misty morning when the moon has gone to bed,
When the sparrows stop their singing, I'll be homeward bound again.

--PS Remember that I love you
TTFN LOVE ELDER WALKER

November 14, 2011

Bonjour Famille, how is everything going? Well things are going great - just living life as a missionary, working hard and having fun. We have had a good week. We have also had a couple of miracles. The work is starting to pick up...This week we have fixed two baptism dates with our investigators. One - his name is Luis and he is half French and half Portuguese. He came into the visitor center one day and we started to teach him. Then we went on an exchange with the zone leaders and Elder Tehaai fixed the date with him for Dec 3rd. Actually, Luis is the one who fixed the date for the 3rd so we are going to work with him and try to get him ready by then. He is good though. He told us that he wants to change his life so he came to learn more about Jesus Christ. He is pretty cool. We will hopefully see him this week to get him ready for the 3rd. The other baptism date is a guy named Juan. He is from Ecuador and is now here in Paris. He is pretty cool. We taught him a while back in my 1st transfer in Paris. Then he left on vacation and had work and then it was just complicated. But we got a hold of him and started teaching him again. We fixed a baptism date with him for the 3rd of December also. So things are starting to pick up here. So those are a couple of miracles we have had here. This week also we had my last zone conference and we had Elder Kopishkie of the 7O’s come and speak to us. It was such a great conference. All he brought was his scriptures and at the first of the meeting he told us to write down a question. Then after we wrote it down he told us that we just set the theme for the conference. He promised us that if we pay attention and think about that question that it would be answered in this conference. So then he just talked for the first part. We talked a lot about the spirit. Then after the lunch break he talked about desire, and what desire really is. It was good. After the conference my mind was finished. He blew my mind out of the water. It was good and he talked about how god answers the desires of our hearts and he asked us what we each desire. He asked, “Have you ever desired to know what your mission president sees for you or what God sees for you in the future?” All in all it was a great zone conference and I will have to go back and look at my notes, but in the end he was right! My questions were answered. He told us also that we can do this at church. If we have a question and write it down on a piece of paper and then go to church and think about the question, ponder and listen carefully. That question will be answered. The answer may never be said by someone, but it will be answered never the less. So it was a great conference. Well, so that was the highlight of our week. Our investigators are doing all great also. Our mother, Graciela, is doing great. She reads 3 chapters in The Book of Mormon every day and she even went to church when she was visiting her husband down south. She is doing great and she even told her daughter that she will be baptized. Cherif, our friend from Egypt, is doing ok. We haven’t seen him in a while. He came to English class though, but we haven’t seen him this week. We will call him and see how he is doing. Things are going great though. We have been getting some new investigators and things seem to be going pretty great. So we are happy about that. Well family, I love you and hope things are going great. Well, after this I will only have one e-mail left. The mission has been a life changing event that I would never trade for anything in the world. I met new people and friends from all over the world - from America to France to South America to Africa to Egypt to China. I will never forget the stories and the times I have had - the good and the bad. I have learned a lot about our Lord and Redeemer and I still have much to learn. It is a lifelong process. This has been something that I know has changed my life and I want to thank you all. All my family, friends, members - everyone. If it weren’t for you and your testimonies I don’t know where I would be in my life. You all have played a major role in my life and it is something I am truly grateful for. Thank you! You all mean a lot to me and I wouldn’t change it for anything. You all have been a blessing in my life. I will never forget this place and the great times I have had serving the Lord. It has truly been the best two years. Well, next week will be the last e-mail. Then I will shortly be seeing you. I love you and I will talk and see you next week. BYE

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TTFN LOVE ELDER WALKER

Homecoming Announcement

November 7, 2011

Hi family and friends. how is everything going? Are you doing great? Well things here have been great. We have been working hard here and we also have been walking a lot too. I mean a lot...but I guess I should be good at that. I mean after all, my name is Walker, and the definition of a walker is a person or a thing that walks or likes to walk......Ya, I don’t think it is the 2nd one - liking to walk. Ya – no, I think I am more of the person who walks instead...No, it is all good, good exercise also. This week has been good, but like I said, we have been doing a lot of contacting trying to find new investigators. We have found some great potential investigators but we will have to see them again to see if they are really interested in our message. We have had some really great first lessons, but we will see where they will go. Well, a cool thing that has happened this week happened yesterday. Yesterday, Claire, our investigator who got baptized last week, received the Holy Ghost. It was awesome. The spirit was so strong there. After the meeting I asked her how she felt after receiving it. She told me that it was a spiritual confirmation that being baptized and becoming a member of the Church of Jésus-Christ was the right choice and that it is the true church. It was so cool. Her testimony has grown so strong and she will be a great member of the church. That is pretty much all of the big things that have happened this week. There was something big last week that I forgot to talk about. It is that Elder Gonzales of the Presidency of the 70’s came and spoke to us for a zone conference. It was pretty cool. He talked about la foi et trouver les gens or in other words Faith and finding people. It was great and really spiritual. Then this week we have Elder Kopischke from the 70’s also coming to talk to us. So it should be good. I am looking forward to that. He is also I believe in the area presidency over Europe so that will be cool. That is pretty much what is going on here. I love the work, I love my companion, I love our apartment - it is a fête chaque jour, I love being a missionary and I love you! What more can I ask for - not much. Thanks for everything. I hope you will have a wonderful day and week and I will talk/see you soon. LOVE YA!!!!!!

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TTFN LOVE ELDER WALKER

October 31, 2011

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

So, how is everyone doing? Well this week has been great!!!!!! Our investigator Claire got baptized! Oh yaaaah!!!! It was a great baptism yesterday. It was so good! Well let’s start off at the start of the week though. After the call last Sunday saying she wanted to be baptized, we said we would have to see her every day and we did. It was so cool. We also had some great members with us who came and helped out a lot. Probably if it was not for the members I don’t know if she would have made it yesterday. The members helped out so much. They gave her a friend at church, helped her stop smoking, and change her life. They helped her with questions when we were not around. They did so much and I am so grateful for them. It was so cool to see someone change their whole life and turn it around. It was also cool to see that happen in a week. Every day that we saw her you could tell something was different and that she had a testimony of the gospel of Jésus-Christ. It was a cool experience that I am glad that Heavenly Father gave me. To see someone change like that for the better has strengthened my testimony that I know this church is true and that with the Lords help you can get through anything. Then Sunday, yesterday, was a great day. We had a lot of people at the baptism and it was great. We were scared that there would not be a lot there because it is fall break, but we had a good turnout. What was also cool - her friend from Georgia, USA came to baptize her. He got here in France around 11:20 Sunday morning then at night we had the baptism. So he was pretty tired after a long flight and then a long day. It was all good. It was a beautiful day and we all felt the spirit. So that was a pretty cool thing that we were able to have this week. Another thing that happened was Monday night president called us. This was around 9:30 at night telling us, “Oh by the way elders tomorrow you will have a mini missionary with you. So you will have to come to Versailles tomorrow to pick him up.” We told him we had a rendez-vous at that time and he said well you have to come. So we worked it out and he ended up going on a 3-way exchange with us and the 2 companionships in Paris - Lilas. It worked out and it was all good. So we had a mini missionary with us for 3 days. It was good.His name is Marc and he is from Evry, which is just south of Paris. He was pretty cool. He helped us out a lot. He is very, very shy but he had a good testimony and helped out in the rendez-vous. It was pretty cool to have him with us. So that was our week. Things are going pretty good for us.

Well, real fast, our investigator Cherif from Egypt - things are hard with him. I don’t know what we are going to do but we will still try to work with him. Graciela is doing great. She left to go out of town this week to go see her husband down south. She couldn’t come to church but she is still progressing and things are going great. She will get baptized soon - not sure when but soon. So that is all that we have right now. So that is how things are for us. This week is going to be spent doing a lot and a lot of contacting. So we have a lot of things to do this week...right! Well, it will be good. We need some new investigators so everything is great. Well, I love you and take care.

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TTFN LOVE ELDER WALKER

Official Release Letter

Parents of Elder Walker,

Your son, Elder Christopher Merrill Walker will soon complete his service as a full time missionary in the France Paris Mission. His scheduled release date will be November 22, 2011.

At this time we wish to thank you for your invaluable support of his mission through your letters and prayers. We feel certain you are anticipating a joyous reunion. Upon his return he should report immediately to his stake president in order to give an account of his mission, receive timely instruction, and receive his formal release.

During his mission, Elder Walker has served faithfully, has demonstrated an extraordinary attitude, testimony, and spirit, and developed qualities which exemplify the very best in the performance of missionary work. He has treated the various responsibilities he assumed here as a sacred trust. By his faith, humility and devotion to duty, often in the face of adversity, he became an effective teacher and witness of truth. The great personal qualities which he discovered and enhanced during his mission will be a source of strength to him and to all with whom he associates throughout his life.

Elder Walker will be remembered with fondness and love by many friends and members of the Church in France, as well as by his missionary companions. His life has been enriched by learning the French language, by living in a foreign culture, and especially by serving others.

It has been our privilege to serve with him, observe his spiritual growth, and enjoy close association through personal interviews, and his weekly letters and accompanying reports. He is a fine young man whom we love and for whom we wish the very best.

Sincerely,

Franck Poznanski
President, France Paris Mission

October 24, 2011

Hey, hey, hey how is everyone doing? Well, this week has been great. There have been a lot of things happening and a really cool miracle that took place. Well, this week started off great. We had a great family home evening with the young adults and Clair even came. She loved it. We also saw her on Wednesday and gave her a blessing to help her quit smoking and to answer her questions. It was a great rendez-vous. She is so cool. Well, she came to church on Sunday and then I went on a split with a member and we taught her. It was a great rendez-vous with her. She was taught about a year ago and she was almost baptized. Well, we committed her again. We said we know you know this is true so will you go home and pray for a date that the lord wants you to be baptized. She said she would. Well, we go throughout the day and just contacted and contacted. Towards the night I get a phone call and it was Clair. We were on the metro at the time and I asked how she was doing. She said or so I thought; “I am sick.”....then the phone cut out. I was in shock. I was thinking she was fine earlier today. Is she sick of us? Well, when we get off the metro I called and asked how she was and she said fine. I am fine..whoo…there goes that worry. Then she said "I was calling to ask you if...if we could actually fix a baptism service for next Sunday".........WHAT??? I was in shock! She said that she felt that it was time and she needs to get baptized. I told her I would have to make some calls. So, I called around to see if we could and I got a “yes.” So, I called her back and told her yes but that we will have to see her every day to get her ready. She was ok with that. Then I told her that everything needs to stop…the smoking, the coffee drinking and the tea. She said; “no problem.” It was so cool. She asked in the rendez-vous earlier if her friend from America who is a member can come and baptize her. We said of course. It is so cool. She remembers a lot from the last time she was taught. We have a lot of work though. We have to go over a lot of things and make sure she is ready. So, we have a lot of work and we also told her this week will probably be hard. We told her to just remember to rely on the lord and he will help you get through anything. So, we will be working with her to get her ready and we are praying and will try our best for her. So that is our miracle for this week. It is so cool. Graciela is also doing great. We have a rendez-vous with her tomorrow and we want to ask her to be baptized. We have asked her before but there is something that is stopping her from doing so. We don’t know what it is but we will work on it and hopefully find out what it is. She is doing great though. Our friend from Egypt - I am not too sure about. He is having a hard time right now and I don’t know what is going to happen. We will keep working with him to help him out. We will try our best. Things are going great here though with Elder Tehaai. We are having a great time. We are doing a lot of contacting though but things are great and we are having fun. Well, I love you and hope you have a great week. Take care and remember to rely on the lord and he will help you. --
TTFN LOVE ELDER WALKER