April 26, 2010

Hey family, how is it going? It is going great here in Charleroi. Well, these past couple of weeks have been great. And guess what, we have a baptism date for May 29 and we are also setting two more baptism dates this week. It is awesome. Well, the work here has been great. It was funny, my first Sunday in church I was sitting there having a good time. Church was almost over and we had sacrament last. It was almost over when the first councilor gets up and says “we have a new missionary in our ward and his name is Elder Walker.” At this point I knew exactly what he was thinking and I was like oh no! This is not good. He asked me to come up and introduce myself. I was thinking to myself, yep I was right. I knew exactly what he was thinking. Well, I got up and I introduced myself and I bore my testimony. It was all good in the end though, so I was happy about that.

Well, my French is coming along. I am able to understand more and more everyday and I know that the Lord is helping me with that, because without Him, there is no way. Ok, maybe there would be a way, but it would take FOREVER! Oh well, I will take the help where ever I can get it. Well, everything is going great; I am almost done with the Book of Mormon again. I finished it December 17, 2009 and now I am in 3rd Nephi, so I am getting there. I have also started reading the New Testament, and that is a pretty good book also, it is great.

Well, this past week was good. We had ZONE CONFERENCE. Charleroi usually goes up to Brussels for the conference but this time all of us went to LILLE, FRANCE for our conference. We had one of our area 70’s come and talk to us, it was a great meeting. After, we just came back to Charleroi and got to work. It is awesome. We have an investigator who is just awesome. He is going to get baptized. He committed himself to read and pray. We come to visit him and he has questions, and they are good questions. When we teach him he loves it and he keeps reading. He is just elect. We are also teaching a leader of a church, like a pastor, ( I don’t know how to spell it, so don’t laugh.) Oh well, it is awesome. He wanted to know about the Book of Mormon, so he just starts reading it, and as missionary’s, we are ok with that. We asked him what time his church was and it is the same time as ours, so we were a little sad about that. But he said he could have another teacher cover for him and he is coming to our church next week. It is so sweet.
Well, I hope everything is going great for you all and hope you are having an awesome week. Just remember to stay bright eyed, bushy tailed and eager to excel. Oh, and another thing, DON’T BE A RUM DUMB as grandma Condie said.

Well, I love you all and have a great week LOVE ELDER WALKER THE BELGIUM/PARIS MISSIONARY

Photo's

Here are some photo's from the cave they went to and the tour that they took with the member. His name is Patrick Natus and he loves to work with the missionaries. He loves taking them out to different site all around Belgium.

April 29, 2010

Hey family, how is it going? I hope it is going great. Well, Charleroi is great. I miss Brussels though, that was a great city, but I am sure I will grow to love Charleroi. Well, my new companion is great. He has been out for a long time. He goes home in about 2 1/2 transfers in August. He is cool though. We have six elders in the same apartment but there is a twist. Two of the elders live down stairs in one apartment and 4 elders live in the top floor apartment. I live on the top floor with Elder Siminson, Elder Receiver, Elder Broadway, and me, myself and I. It is pretty cool.

Well, not much has gone on here. We have been doing a lot of area book work because it was a big mess. On Sunday, yesterday, I had to bear my testimony in church because I was the new missionary in the ward. It was pretty fun going up there with the little French I know. It went good though. People liked it, so that is good. There is a member here in Charleroi who was baptized about 5 years ago and he loves the missionaries. He works with the missionaries like every day. He works with different companionships. It is way awesome. He is an awesome member. In fact, he took us, Elder Broadway, Elder Winkler (pronounced VanClair), Elder Crump and I, and we went to go see a cave and take a tour. Then we went around and looked at a lot of cool things in Belgium.

So, that is what we did today. It is awesome. We have zone conference this week. It is down in Lille, France so we are going to have to go down there. Well, it is more of a mission conference and half of the mission is going down there and the other half is going to Paris, France. We are going to have one of the area 70’s come and talk to us about some things. I am looking forward to it. So that has been my life the last week. I packed and moved to Charleroi. It was really weird, I was on the train all by myself to go down to Charleroi but I got here safe so that is good. We then did some pass backs and area book work. It is kinda funny, Elder Broadway is a Paris missionary and I am a Belgie missionary. It is funny to see all the different things each mission did. They have their ways and we had our ways and some of them are clashing together, but it is all good.
Well, the mission work is going great. The French is coming along slowly but surely. I can understand a lot more then when I first got here, so that is always good. The work is great! I love it out here serving the lord, it is a blast. This transfer is going to be fun, being in a new area and it is going to be great.

Well, I hope everyone is doing great. I love you and hope you have a great week and a great time with work and school. I love you all and remember to stay bright eyed, bushy tailed, and eager to excel. Love ya tons TTFN LOVE ELDER WALKER

April 12, 2010

Well, last Saturday was the big day. We found out if we are staying or going, because missionary’s come and they go, living the life of the usual missionary serving the lord. So, what do you think is going to happen to me? Am I staying or am I going? Nobody knows. Come on, take a guess, parce que (because) I know. Well, ok, I guess I will tell you.............I am...................LEAVING............but I am staying in BELGIUM! I am going to go to...................................

CHARLEROI, BELGIUM

97, rue de Montigny
6000 Charleroi
Belgium

There is my address. I believe that this is the address. That is what our paper said, so I hope it is right. Well, that is my story, so have a nice week. No, just joking! Well, this week was great. Oh, just to tell you, my new companion is Elder Broadway. He is from England, so it will be pretty cool. He seems like a really nice guy. Ok, back to where I was.

On a dark rainy night in Brussels there was nobody....wait, sorry wrong story. Ok, well this week was great. We had a couple of rendez vous (appointments) fall through, but it was still a great week. In the other ward, Brussels 2, they had three baptisms this week. They are really nice people and they have such a strong testimony. So, that was a great experience. Oh, I lost my name tag, my white handbook, and my mobile card for the metros and the bus last Saturday. So, I have been doing what missionary’s call afro riding. That is where you have no pass. Good thing I am leaving on Wednesday to go to Charleroi. I will have to order a new name tag. Good thing I have two at the moment, so I still have one.

Well, not much has happened this week, but I think you will be proud of me. You know how you always say when making dinner "we have to have a veggie with it" and I am always like no we don’t. Well, this week I can’t believe I said it, but I said "we need to have a veggie with our meal..............Ya, I know, I can’t believe it either.

Well, Saturday we played football (soccer) and a lot of amies (friends) came. It was great. We had a fun time and then tonight we have the family home evening that we have every family night. We have a little lesson and play a game and then we all talk to the investigators. Well, that is my week. It is going to be fun in Charleroi. I heard they go bowling every Monday, so that will be cool. I will miss Brussels but I will go were ever the Lord wants me to go. I will still come up to the Brussels chapel for zone conference. So, that is cool. Well, I love you all and have a great week. TTFN, LOVE ELDER WALKER

Photo's from Belgium

Chris sent home some pictures of Belgium and his adventures over there so far. He really seems to like being over there serving the Lord. We don't know where any of the pictures are taken or who anybody is, but I hope you enjoy them just the same.

Easter and Conference Weekend

Hey family! How is everything going? Sorry for not e-mailing yesterday. It was a Belgie holiday and everything was closed, so we couldn’t do e-mails. Well, everything here is going great. Transfers are coming up. They are next Wednesday, April 14. We will find out if we will be staying or leaving this Saturday. But if I stay or if I go, I will do whatever the lord wants of me.
Well, the work here in Brussels is awesome. We had a baptism last Friday and this Friday there is going to be 3 baptisms in Brussels. It is so cool. The work is just on fire. We don’t have any baptisms yet but we have a couple of people that have dates, so it is way cool. It was awesome, on Wednesday we had a work day and I went with elder Ferguson who lives in Bountiful. He went to Woods Cross though, but I worked with him for the day. They passed us an investigator because he and his companion are going to France (yesterday, Monday the 5) to show the office elders in Paris how to run the mission. Oh, just to let you know, Elder Ferguson and his companion were the old office elders for the mission before it changed. But we went to go teach this kid. He is only 12 years old and he read the whole restoration pamphlet and told us what he learned. It was awesome! He is only 12. So we gave him a Book of Mormon and he said he was going to start it that night, it is so cool.
Well, conference was this last weekend. I hope everybody liked it. We were able watch everything but the Sunday afternoon session. Let me tell you how the whole thing worked out. Saturday at 6:00 PM was the Saturday morning conference. So we watched it at 6 at night because of the time difference here in Belgium. On Sunday morning we watched the priesthood conference then at 2 we watched the Saturday afternoon conference. Those two were recorded. Then at 6 PM we watched the Sunday morning one live but the afternoon session would have lasted till midnight, so we couldn’t do that. So we will have to wait for it to come out, then we can read it.
Yesterday was p-day. It was awesome. We went and just looked around Brussels. We saw a Japanese tower, a Chinese pavilion, the king’s house and some of the other tourist attractions. It was pretty awesome. Thanks to the holiday, we have to do our shopping and e-mails today, but oh well.
We have been seeing an inactive lately who was baptized about 2 years ago. We play chess with him and at first he said he didn’t want anything to do with the church. Now he will read anything in the Book of Mormon we ask him to. He loves us. At one point in time he was the best chess player in Belgium. Now he teaches lessons. He is a pro chess player. It is awesome. Elder Caywood and I, with his help, actually tied him. It was awesome.
Well, those are just a couple of stories we have. I love the mission work. I love being out in the field following the spirit and the lord. I have just found great happiness in serving the lord. Thank you all for all your love and support. Like President Monson said, the two most important words in the English language are “Thank you”.

Well, family and friends, I love you all and hope you had a great general conference, a great Easter and a wonderful experience learning about the savior. Well, I love you with all my heart and I want you to know that I know this church is true! Have a great week. TTFN LOVE ELDER WALKER