October 25, 2010

Bonjour famillie vous allez bien. Allors cette semine etait chouette! Nous sommes fair le contacting le port de port, et tout le chose com ça. I have no clue what I was doing. I just wanted to go off talking about nothing for one sentence. So, how are you all doing? Things here have been good. It was a long week and a slow one at that. And, I have to let you know that I hate this country and its stupid grèves (strikes). It is killing the mission work for us. We only have 3 lessons last week and this week. We got a call from the Zone Leaders and they have had to cancel interviews, cancel all the exchanges and all the activities we have. Apparently there is supposed to be a giant strike this week because this is the week when they sign the thing for the retirement. And this week they will be closing everything. Nothing will be open. There will be no trains or anything. So, it looks like we will be spending some time in our apartment. Oh, I got some news. Our companionship of 3 will be over tomorrow. A visa waiter is coming in and he is getting trained in Nevelle, Belgium. Elder Berrett who was in Charleroi the same time I was is coming down here to Angers. So, Elder Ellis and Elder Berrett will be companions and Elder Brady and I will be companions. Good thing we have a 4 man apartment so we have enough room. It will be cool. We are hoping he will be able to make it through tomorrow with the strike going on and that there will be a train to get him here.

Ok, well this week was good. We had to go back to Nantes for Elder Ellis and we got everything worked out for him that day. It was a long day. First we had an exchange with Elder Crump and we had to go to Le Mans to pick up Elder Ellis. Then we had to take a train from Le Mans to Nantes for his legality thing. Then we had to catch another train to Angers. So, we spent the whole day on the trains. We were worried because there may not have been a train with all this going on, but it all worked out. So, we were grateful for that. Oh, this strike thing is so funny. We were on the bus and we drove past a fire station. The firemen were outside painting it. They painted a sign saying, “Non a cette réforme; tous ensemble” (which means “no” to this retirement reform) and all together we just laughed. Then they stormed the beaches of.....wait not the beaches, the Castle of Angers. I was going to say the beaches of Normandy but that was a long time ago. No, they stormed the castle here and they had big signs and banners and they were all freaking out. We all just laughed.

Besides that, there hasn’t been much going on. We didn’t do that hot this week but next week with the strike hopefully over, we are hoping for something better. Well, I am doing good. Everything is going fine, just working hard and staying alive. I do hope this strike is over soon because transfers will be coming up soon. I hope we will all be able to move around with the trains and everything.

Well, here are some pictures of the zoo we visited last week. Oh, and also, when the people stormed the castle. Well, I love ya family! I hope you have a great week. bon journé et je t'aime

LOVE ELDER WALKER

October 18, 2010

Hey family, how is life going for everybody? I hope it is all fine and dandy. Well, things here have been fun and not so fun as well. So, let me tell you about the life of a missionary in Angers.

Well, Monday was good. It was our p-day and we didn’t do much. We went bowling again and had a good time. Then after that we had FHE and the person who was supposed to bring the games was late. It just so happened that I had Phase 10 with me so we had to teach them how to play. It was ok. I went around helping everyone. My companions were playing and since I was helping everyone, I turned them all on my companions, it was great.

Well, Tuesday there was a big Grève (strike) going on because of the retirement age. They raised the age from 60 to 62 and everyone freaked out. Well, that was going on. There were a lot of people walking the street and they were pretty angry. So, we decided to go check it out in normal clothes because they are mad at the government and it wouldn’t be smart to dress up like a government person. So, we checked it out and we decided that we should go back to the apartment because it was bad. So, we had to stay in our apartment all day long. That was so boring.

Wednesday we had nothing special, just district meeting with the zone leaders. That was about it. Now, the best day had to be Thursday. Oh what a day, what a day. We had to go to Nantes for Elder Ellis’ medical visit for his French legality. Well, the strike was still going on. Well, I mean it is still going on even today. Since it was going on we had to catch an early train that got us to Nantes around 9 – 9:30am. Well, we get there and we need to buy stamps for the medical thing. Now theses stamps are expensive (sorry I can’t spell.) Well, they are a lot of money. They cost 340 euro’s which is about 470 dollars.....ya expensive. Well, before that we got pastries and they were very good. Elder Ellis put the wrapper in his pocket and when we got the stamps he put them in his pocket. Well, we were walking to the medical place and there are garbage cans along the way and Elder Ellis throws his pastry wrappers away. But, not just his wrappers, but his stamps as well. We eventually get to the place and we cannot find the stamps. He then realized that he threw them away. So, we went back checking every garbage can we passed along the way. But, they had just emptied them right after we left - so we never found them...... so, we just threw away 340 euro’s worth of stamps. How fun! So we had to call president and it was ok. We told the medical place and now we will just have to go back and get some more to give to them. I think we are planning to go back tomorrow which is Wednesday the 20th. Then, because of the strike there were no trains going back to Angers until 5pm. We spent the whole day in Nantes. It wasn’t bad and we even went to a cool castle that was there. We also did some contacting for the elders there. So, that was a fun day spending the whole day in Nantes - Oh ya.

Friday was a normal day. We did some good missionary work so that was fun. Then Saturday - oh what another day. Along with the strike which was still going on there was another big movement with a lot of people. We had a rendez-vous in the morning so we had to go in non pros clothes. We went in jeans and shirts. He wasn’t there which was disappointing. When we came back we ran into the movement. WOW! Let me tell you, there were thousands of people and we were in the middle of it. There were cars with big speakers yelling, very angry people! We just said, “Well, time to go!” We were trying to run away and get out of that mess. Well, that whole day was also spent in the apartment doing nothing. Ii finished the Book of Mormon again though. I have finished it now on DEC 17, MAY 17 and OCT 17. Every 5 months – fun. I didn’t plan it like that but it turned out that way - cool huh. Well, that is what we did.

Sunday was good - going to the good old church in France. It was fun and I like this ward so I am happy. Now yesterday was also a good day. We took a one hour and a half bus ride to La FLéche to visit the ZOO! It was so cool! They have white lions and white wolves, which are my favorite animal. The Arctic Wolf which is called Loup Blanch. They also had some really cool monkeys and polar bears. The cool part is that you can get so close to the animals. I mean you can get close! I forgot my cord to my camera so I will have to send some pictures next week. They were cool. It was a way cool zoo to go and see.

So, that has been our week. Fun and also not fun with the strike that is STILL going on...yea well, things are great. I love you and hope you have a great week. LOVE ELDER WALKER

October 11, 2010

Hey family, how are you doing? I hope everything is going great. Well, we had a great week this week. Monday we went bowling and it was very fun. I was about to go and it was my first round of the game. The ground was a little sticky and I am one of those bowlers who puts one leg behind the other when they bowl. Well, the ground was sticky and I went to put my foot behind me when my foot got stuck on the ground. So, now I have no balance. So, I just fell flat on my face and began sliding down the lane because at this point the lane is all slippery. Well, I slid down the lane flat on my face. Fun huh?! But, the good news is I got 9 out of 10 pins, so that was cool - painful but cool.

Well, the other big things that have been going on is the work here in Angers...I mean it is on fire! Last transfer we just contacted all day and now we have rendez-vous everyday and so much other awesome work. We still do contacting and I forgot how weird it was to contact with 3 people. But it is coming back to me. Well, Saturday, just another funny story, we do what we call “ping pong and pancakes.” This is where we play ping pong and eat pancakes if you couldn’t guess. Well, we had a lot of investigators there which was awesome, but we also play basketball. When we were playing I got elbowed in the face and cut my lip open. It was awesome! We were just playing in our pros clothes when the stake president comes out and just looks at me. At this point I was sweating and I didn’t look very good. He just comes up to me and says, “Oh, are these the new sports clothes?” We just laughed, then he took the ball and played with us a little, so that was good.

Well, I don’t have much time on my e-mail. I got a little screwed over with that so, this e-mail will be short. I just wanted to let you know that everything here is going great and that I am still alive and kicking. Not just that but I am hip hop and happening. Well, I love you and hope you all have a good week. I love you. You guys are awesome! I love you so much. Well, take care and TTFN LOVE ELDER WALKER
PS - THE GUY IN THE PHOTO IS AN AWESOME RUSSAN DUDE NAMED DIMITRY. HE IS AWESOME

October 4, 2010

Hey family, how is everything going? I hope you all had a great week and a great weekend with conference. I hope you were able to see some of it. I was able to see some of it over here. I saw the Saturday morning session at 6 pm here on Saturday night. Then, Sunday morning we watched the priesthood session and then the Saturday afternoon session. Then we were able to watch the Sunday morning session live at 6 pm. We were not able to watch the Sunday afternoon session because it was from 10pm to midnight. So, we couldn’t watch it. I am actually listing to it right now while I am on the computer at lds.org. It is awesome. It is still not the same as watching it however, and I will not be able to watch it at all. But, oh well, I will just have to wait to read it.

Well, conference was awesome! It talked a lot about following the prophets and trusting the Lord and it just was awesome. I have learned to love conference a lot more then I used to. I took a ton of notes. I will just have to remember to read them and look over them to review what I have learned. It was a very good conference. We were all talking about the 2nd coming just before it started and then we hear all the talks on trusting the Lord and following the prophets. They just didn’t seem like their same old joyful selves. You know, the way they usually do. So, we were there and we were thinking, “something is up, something is going to happen and they are going to ask us to do something.” We were all kinda freaking out. I did get to watch it in English and from my own opinion I think it is a lot better in English than in French. You just don’t have the same voice and their attitudes. I was grateful to watch it in English.

Well, this week has been great. The work here is starting to catch on fire!!!! It is awesome!! We wanted 6 new investigators during the entire last transfer. We got 0. This transfer we have 6 just in 2 to 3 days. Oh ya, and we asked this guy if he would be baptized and he said yes! We didn’t fix a date yet, so the next time we can fix that. But I do have to say that the work here is picking up and it is awesome.

Well, do you remember the guy Joan that we baptized? Yeah, he hasn’t been back to church and wasn’t there the Sunday after his confirmation. He was not there this week either. Sucks! Right? No, life is good! He is just really busy. He already told us he wouldn’t be there and that he won’t be back till the end of October. The reason why is because of his job. He works with guide dogs and they are holding this big huge convention thing. So, it is taking up all his weekends, but we still see him during the week. So, don’t worry too much. It’s all good.

Well, transfers went well. It is a little weird to get back in the motion for contacting with 3 people, but it is all good. We go to a park every once in awhile and we just split up kinda. We stay close but we just go contacting. We will have a Book of Mormon tower and just stand by it. We talk to whoever wants to learn more. It is pretty cool. We have also got this new center for young adults in our ward. It will be good to start working with the young people in our ward.
Well, things have been good here I was going to tell you some stuff about conference but I forgot my notes. I can’t remember it all so next week I will be good with that. I hope you all liked conference and hope you all learned a lot of good things and loved it. It was really good and I am glad I got to watch a little of it. I don’t have much time because we have to be in Centre Ville at 5. So, sorry we don’t have that much time this week. I hope you all have a great day and a great week. I love you and hope you have fun. I am still alive so it is all good! LOVE YA LOVE ELDER WALKER

September 27, 2010

Hey family, how is it all going? Well, I got some transfer news and to tell you the truth, Elder Ellis and I did not see this one coming. Well, I am staying in Anger with Elder Ellis but we are also getting a new Elder in our companionship. His name is Elder Brady. He is in our District but is moving from another city. He is in his 3rd transfer, so it will be cool. You have me, in my 7th elder, Ellis in his 5th and Elder Brady in his 3rd. We are the only companionship in the mission with 3 missionaries. We have a lot of missionaries I guess on visa wait to come over. So there are a lot of missionaries that will come in, well, whenever they can. Some missionaries think that we will get one in our companionship and they will just make us into two companionships. That would mean that one of us will be training....fun. Well, that is the transfer news. We have a very young district. We have Elder Crump and I who were in the MTC together in our district. Elder crump is our district leader and he is also training, so fun for him. You then have Elder Ellis in his 5th transfer, Elder Smith in his 4th along with his companion who is in his 4th, and then you have Elder Brady who is in his 3rd and the greeny. So, we have a young district - how fun.

Well, on to this week. Life here has been good. We have been working hard and having fun. We have had a couple of mangez-vous (dinner appointments) with members this week. So, that has been real nice to go over and talk with them. A couple even tried to invite their friends over to have dinner with us. Awesome member referrals! This last Saturday we did a big district activity where our whole district came to Angers and we built a Live de Mormon tower. We then went on our way contacting. It was great. We got some good contacts and people who were really interested in the Book of Mormon and our funny tower that went along with it. Then we also went out to get a kabob for lunch. It is a sandwich and really good. There was someone who they stopped and talked to and we taught him after lunch. During the middle of the lesson some guy comes up and starts as he says; “just talking and sharing ideas” or in other words, trying to bash us and tell us that we are wrong and all the Christians are wrong and everything. The cool part was that guy we were teaching started to defend us and the Book of Mormon. He doesn’t even know us and he was defending us and telling that man what the Book of Mormon was. It was just awesome! We were all in shock, just thinking WOW! We have a rendez-vous with him next Saturday, so that should be awesome.

Well, we also did the same old, same old contacting stuff we do every day. It is something that needs to be done so that’s why you have us. I am now (and I can’t believe I am saying this) but I am officially OLD! I am no longer a teenager. Goodbye teenager childish years and hello to the adult childish years.....I mean you always have to have a child in you somewhere. It was a good day. It does fill weird to think that I am 20 years old but what can you do. It was good. I did some fun missionary work. Also Soeur (sister) Staheli called me, the mission president’s wife, to wish me a happy birthday, so that was cool. Elder Ellis was nice and bought me a pastry for my birthday.

Oh yah - on Tuesday we had a member who works with us, he is way cool, anyway, we go to the church and he had lunch for us. Guess what we ate.....it was a real French meal....we had ESCARGOT or in other words SNAIL.

It wasn’t the first time I had eaten snail. I had some in Utah but I don’t think they are that bad. They taste like chicken, just rubbery and chewy, but they were good. We also had shrimp. One problem, when we left we left some of the stuff in the kitchen. When we came the next day the whole room smelled like fish. So, we had to air out the whole relief society room. It was good though, it did not smell like that at church. So, that is good.

Well, I wanted to thank you all for your wonderful birthday wishes and your hopes that I had a great day - so thank you. And thank you for the wonderful gifts and cake also. I have not made the cake yet, but maybe today I will because I want some American food or dessert. So, thank you! I hope you all have a great week and know that I love ya. TTFN LOVE ELDER WALKER

September 20, 2010

Hey family, how is everything going? This week has been great. We had a baptism! Hooray! Well, it was a great day! We have had a rendez-vous with him all this week. Every night we had a rendez-vous with him and his wife. Then, on Friday, Elder Hass came down from Paris to baptize him on Saturday. That night we all went over to Joan’s house and had dinner with him and his wife. Then we watched “Special Witnesses” with him. Saturday morning we got up and headed over to the church to get everything ready. When we got there, there were people showing up and we didn’t even know who they were. We found out that there was a big stake meeting at the same time as Joan’s baptism. Because we meet in the stake center everyone came here. So, we were freaking out a little because they were here and taking up everything, but eventually it turned out to be ok. Joan showed up and we were able to take pictures with him before the baptism. When the time came Elder Ellis and I were asked to be the witnesses to the baptism, so that was a cool thing to do and the baptism was great! Everything went well the first time and there was a great spirit there in the room. Then, yesterday was his confirmation. He showed up in his wedding suit. He had class and he was looking good for the confirmation. We asked him about it and he said it was a special occasion so he wore that. He was looking good. Then, when the time came for his confirmation, there was a great spirit in the room. It was awesome!!!!!!

So, that was the baptism. It was great. A funny thing happened though when we interviewed him last Wednesday. The interview was great. The zone leaders came down from Nantes do the interview. Then, after the interview, we went to the store across the street to get something to eat. When we came out of the store Elder Ellis said, “Bonjour” to some guy and the next thing we know the guy says, “You fascinate me.” Our zone leader’s face was priceless and I just started to laugh. I could not help it. Good thing the other zone leader was there to cover me. Well, Elder Ellis says, “Sorry sir, I don’t understand. Can we help you with something?” That was the wrong question to ask him. Let’s just say that is when it got weird. He starts going off on how we can help him he said this as he pointed his finger to all of us; “Man, Man, Man and Man. There are four of you and you are always together.” Then he went off on other things. Eventually our zone leader says, “Look, we are not gay.” The guy goes off saying; “That is not a problem is it?” Then he went off on other things that were not good. Well, we told him that we had to go. We got in the car and locked the doors. Then Ellis asked, “Was he hitting on me?” We just all started to laugh. He said he knew it, but he just wouldn’t accept it. He just kept telling himself, “No! This is not happening again!” I guess when he was in his first city and was at his first rendez-vous, it was with a gay guy and he liked him also. Well, we all had a great laugh about that. It was pretty funny.

Oh, and guess what? Last Tuesday, Elder Ellis and I where potato farmers for someone in our ward. They called us up and asked if we could offer some service. We said, “Yes” and when we got there they taught us how to be farmers. We farmed potatoes! It was pretty fun. I liked it. Oh, and yesterday we went to a catholic church. It was weird. I have never been in another church for their services or mass. We stayed for a little bit then we just left. It got a little too weird for us and we didn’t want to stay. It is pretty cool here, they have a lot of old churches and they are really cool to go into and see them.

Well, time is short family. I want you to know that I love you and hope that you will all have a great week. Happy Monday to you all. I love you and TTFN LOVE ELDER WALKER

September 13, 2010

Hey everyone, how is it going? je spare tout le monde est bien. Well, this week has been fun. Tuesday there was a strike thing going on so we were stuck in our apartment for a little bit. We headed down in the morning to drop off our car at the shop because it was time for service and other stuff like that. When we got to Centre-ville the roads were closed off and there was a bunch of people. So, we went back to the apartment and headed back down by foot. When we got there we wanted to take pictures off the thing but as we were getting close we both felt like we shouldn’t be there. So, we turned around and we got a little French pastry before reaching our apartment. It was good. Wednesday was one of our most packed days and I also found out some great news about Angers. Well, first of all, we had district meeting then we had a really weird rendez-vous with a person we found going port a port (door to door). It was just weird but we left a live du Mormon avec elle and hopefully she will read it (Book of Mormon) with her. Then we went to a less active family where there was a bunch of construction on the road. So, we ended taking this small one lane country road and luckily it leads us right to their house. Ok, now this is where the good – no! No! No! Not good but GREAT news comes in. We found a GOLF COURSE!!!!! You should have seen my face when the less active members showed us. I was so happy. Big wide eyes, open mouth, couldn’t speak. I felt like I was in heaven. We so wanted to go today but people came to our apartment a couple of days ago and needed us to be home today. They where workers and needed to fix a couple of things. We saw them today and they told us they couldn’t come so we spent a lot of time in the apartment when we could have played golf.

Well, Thursday, we dropped off the car in the morning and I about had 4 heart attacks on the way over. One - Elder Ellis almost side swiped a car, two - this old lady on a bike about ran into us, three - a couple of times we went the wrong way around a roundabout and four - we also used an intersection as a roundabout. But, don’t worry, everything is fine. Then, later that day, different story, we were contacting in Centre-ville when this group of kids came up and two girls asked if they could recite a poem to us. So, we said ok....then they took our hands got down on their knees and started quoting a poem to us. I couldn’t help smiling and Elder Ellis just kept a straight face. Then, after they both got up and gave us both a bisous (a bisous is how they say hello and good bye in French. It is where you kiss someone on the cheek.) The mission has asked for elders not to give or receive these and the sisters can only do it with girls. Well, they both gave us a bisous. Elder Ellis was a little shocked because it was his first time getting bisoused. I was a little shocked thinking what in the world is going on but it was not the first time someone gave me a bisous. Some old black lady, who was really nice, in Brussels gave Elder Caywood and me one. She also took Elder Caywood’s gum from him. We just both laughed.

Now, I don’t want anyone to freak out but I did have some beers on Wednesday. It was over at the less active member’s house. BUT DO NOT WORRY! IT WAS NON ALCOHOLIC BEER. It still tasted horrible. I can’t imagine drinking it all the time.

Well, this past Friday I had a workday or an exchange with Elder Smith. He is the one from the Roods home ward. It was great to talk to him and get to know him. We had a great time together. Then, when we changed back Saturday morning, I had to drive all the way from Cholet to Angers. It was good! Just put in some music, nice, calm music and Elder Ellis fell asleep. I drove home. It was about an hour drive, so it was not too bad.

So, that has been our week in Angers. We don’t have that many amie de l'élise so we are doing a lot of finding. We go here and there doing port to port (door to door) contacting on the street. We still have our baptism date set. It is for this Saturday and we have a rendez-vous with him every day this week. So, hopefully he doesn’t get sick of us but he is so ready. It is so cool and I am so excited for him. His name is Joan and he is awesome. We also want to ask this 12 year old kid who comes to church every week. He has done everything to be baptized. So, we want to ask him why he isn’t baptized. Then, ask if he would like to be. His mom and his brother are already members so; it should be easy, maybe, hopefully! Well, that is pretty much the life of a missionary in Angers. Things seem to be going great. Well, I love you and hope that you have a great week this week and have fun at work or school, where ever you are right now. I love you and hope you all have a great day. LOVE ELDER WALKER