June 6, 2011

Hey family, how is everything going? Things here are going great. Well, the transfer e mail came and I have some news. There have been a lot of changes this time in our mission. Well, here is what is happening with me. I am staying a district leader, but not in Le Havre. Yes, I am leaving. Can anyone guess where?......I am going to PARIS.....but not just Paris - I am going down town Paris as in the center of Paris itself. If you had a map and found the city center that is where I will be. Well, this is where I will be living:

Les Missionnaris
Elder Christopher M. Walker
11 rue des Roses
75018 Paris
France

It should be fun! My companion and I are white washing Paris 2. That is we will be both new and without knowing the area or the ward. My new companion is named Elder Robin Dick. He is from England. The cool thing is he is my bother in the mission. Elder Caywood, my father (trainer), trained him and now we are companions. It should be great and I am excited. It will be fun to work in Paris. Well, I will write my big email tomorrow. I love you and hope you have a great day.

Love Elder Walker

May 31, 2011

Hey family, how is everything going? Well, things here are going great. We had a fun week this past week. Well, this past week I had to do an exchange with the elders in my district and we were running out of time because the transfer ends soon. We didn’t have time to do a full exchange with both elders so what we did was we had district meeting first. Then I worked with one elder for part of the day and then I worked with the other for the rest of the day. I worked with Elder Ingram first who is really cool. He is one of the funniest people I have met. Then I worked with Elder Able, one of the biggest U of U fans I have met, it was sick. I like them both. They are both really hard workers. So on Tuesday I had the awesome chance to work with them. Well, this past week we had an awesome rendez-vous with one of our investigators, Françoise Daniel. It was so cool. We have not seen her in a while so it was good to see her again. Well, last time we left her with Alma 32 to read about faith. Well, she came to the rendez-vous having read it and had a whole new meaning of faith. She also had some great questions. She was able to understand more clearly the definition of faith which is found in Alma 32:21. “And now as I said concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.” It was so cool. You could just tell she understood it. At the end of the rendez-vous we asked her to pray. In the past she wouldn’t do it, but this time she did it without even saying anything. It was very spiritual. We could all just fill the spirit very strong. It was a great meeting. So that was an awesome rendez-vous. Then on Sunday we tried to pass by a less active/part member family. The wife is a less active and the husband is not a member. In the past they told the missionaries that they do not want to see them again and that they don’t want us to come over. We decided to pass by anyway and they let us in. It was the husband at first. He let us in and talked to us. Then the wife comes and said, “Did you tell them that we didn’t want to see them anymore?” She sat down anyway and towards the end they both were participating in our discussion and where happy we came. It was so cool that they let us in and then that they were glad they did as well. They were a cool family. I was glad that we got to go over. Well, our investigators are doing well. Donatien, the one we wanted to set a baptism date with, is going back to Gabon, Africa for a couple of months. He needs to find an internship. If he doesn’t find one then the school year that he just finished does not count. So, he is going back to get one. His family is in Gabon as well so he will get to see them. He will be back in September for another year of school, so it should be good. His friend, Joseph, is doing awesome also. He is so elect and has a lot of faith and really counts on the Lord.
Well, transfers are coming up soon. We will find out on Saturday what will happen and next Wednesday is the actual transfer day. I would love to stay another transfer in Le Havre. I love this place. The members are great and I love the investigators. This is just an awesome place. We don’t know what will happen but we are guessing that I will leave because I have been here for 3 transfers, but you never know. We will find out. Well, thanks family for all that you do and for your love and support. I love you and remember to stay bright eyed, bushy tailed, and eager to excel. TTFN LOVE ELDER WALKER

May 23, 2011

Hey family, how is everything going? I hope everything is going great. Well this week was a great week. We had to go to Paris again for our leadership training last Thursday. It was great...we got totally rebuked and chastised. We got “owned” as one might say. We had a big training on walking circumspectly. It was a great meeting. We were told to walk circumspectly and be fully obedient. We also talked about F.O.D. which stands for Foreign Object Debris in the aviation world. It means anything that is foreign to a jet engine that can destroy it. It also causes a lot of damage worth a ton of money. So we talked about F.O.D. in missionary terms and what things can be debris for us. They don’t even have to be big things president said. They can be little things like rolling up your sleeves if it is too hot, not buttoning your top collar on your shirt, chewing gum in public and a lot of little minor things that can easily be over looked. They can also very bad things. So we talked about changing the meaning of F.O.D. to Faith Obedience, and Diligence. So we had this huge talk on being obedient to the max! Don’t do anything that is not in line with even the tiniest of tiniest things we have been asked to obey. Then we talked about the talk by Elder Todd D. Christofferson, "As Many as I Love, I Rebuke and Chasten.” It was given during the last General Conference in April 2011. It was a great talk. They gave it to us and we were asked to read it and study it. It is a great talk. It may seem a little harsh, but it is totally worth it to study it and apply it. So this was our little training. I loved it! We also talked about what a BYU president once said. He said, “If you put me in a prison with walls so high and dig it so deep with walls so thick with no window, there is a slight possibility that I could get out. But, if you draw a circle around me with chalk and make me give you my word that I will not leave, there is no way I could get out. I would die first." So, we also talked about giving our word. We gave our word when we came into the mission. We gave our word that we would be obedient. So, this was our whole training. It taught a good message. It was one of the last trainings of President Staheli. We will have a zone conference next month and that will be the last time we will have training by him. Then we will have President Poznanski. So, that was a fun day. Then we had some time before our train so we got another BOOBOOS. Our whole zone pretty much got one. My new one is black with red, gold, and green around the neck. It is pretty cool.
Well, that was that day. Another fun story happened this past Saturday. There was a huge demonstration here in Le Havre for the G8 conference. They had 20,000 cops and a ton of protesters and people who just like to destroy things....So, we had two options - stay in the apartment all day or go to a referral we received. So we decided to go to the referral. Well, we took a 30 min train ride and then a 15 min bus ride. We end up in a place called Doudeville. The referral lived in Galleville. So we went to the city hall and asked how to get there. They said it was 5km away...so we start walking - and walking. We walk about 3 km and end up in this little town. We knocked on a door to see if we were still heading in the right direction and a lady told us “no” and we had to turn around. We had to go this other way. Well, we finally get there and we couldn’t find her place but there was a little ville right next to it so we walk there and couldn’t find it either. So we finally see a sign that said Doudeville 6 km so we walked back that way and we walk about 2 km and guess where we were? We were in the very place where the lady told us to turn around. We were only 2 km away and here she told us to turn around and go this long way. Well, we finally get back after a 4 hour walk. We walked about 15km which is 9.4 miles.... we get back to the city sun burnt and dehydrated. We ran into a grocery store called Carefour and bought a ton a water and just drank. We also found out that there was a bus at 1 o clock. Well, we missed that and the next bus was at 5, so we got to relax for a little bit and wait for the bus. It was a very fun and long day with very sore feet. Now the burn is gone and we have a great tan and a very funny tan line.

Well I love you family. I hope you have a great week. I love you!

TTFN LOVE ELDER WALKER

May 17, 2011

Hey family, how is everything going? Well, things here are going good? Sorry if this e-mail is a little short, I don’t have much time. Well, things here are going good. We have had to do a lot of traveling here. Tuesday we had to go to Amien for Elder Whitecar’s legality so we spent the night there. On Wednesday we came back. Then Thursday we had to go to Paris. We were able to spend the night in Paris with the zone leaders there. On Friday Elder Whitecar went up to Belgium to get his Belgie legality. I stayed in Paris for the day to work there and it was awesome. I loved Paris! I worked in the visitor center and it was really cool. It was very fun. I also got to see a lot of missionaries there I have never seen before so it was cool to get to know them. Then we had to go back to Le Havre the same day. So, we got back late and then on Sunday we had to go to Caen to have a district conference. It was fun to go. I got to see the members in Coutance again and all the other people I met. We also found out that this will be the last Conference because the district is splitting up. Caen, Rouen, and Le Havre are going to be in the Paris Stake. Allençon will be in the Angers Stake and Coutance and Cherbourg will be under the mission, so the mission will watch over them. That means that the Caen district is no more. It is a change but pretty cool. A lot of the members are excited so hopefully it will be great.

Real fast - investigators are good. W didn’t fix a baptism date with Donatien but I will have to tell you about that the next time. Sorry this is short, I have one min. left. I love you and hope you have a great week.

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TTFN LOVE ELDER WALKER

May 10, 2011

Hey family, how is everything going? It was great to talk to you on Mother’s Day. It was the best part of the day. I am truly grateful to have a family like all of you. I love you all so much and am truly grateful for your support and your love that you give me.

So how was everybody’s day? Well, this week has been a good week and we had some great rendez-vous. Yesterday we had an appointment with one of our investigators, Donatien. It was probably one of the best rendez-vous I have ever had. He was telling us that he told the lord that he would always follow him. Then he came to France to do studies and go to school. Then he met the missionaries. He had wanted to get baptized for a long time but things just kept coming up and he would get too stressed out. He would want to wait because he wanted it to be calm and relaxing. So we put off the baptism date. Then Sunday came around and he wanted to talk about baptism so we fixed a rendez-vous for yesterday. Well, we go to his house and he told us that he wants to get baptized and he cannot put it off any longer. He told us that every time he was almost ready Satan was trying to stop him. He told us though that he wanted to get baptized ASAP. YA BOY! He then shared his testimony and it was so strong. I know that he knows that this is the true church. It was awesome and it was just one of the best rendez-vous I have had on my mission. So, Thursday we are going over and giving him a baptism calendar and everything. It is great! I am so excited! He is so ready to get baptized and he will make a great member.

Well, so that was our good news of the week. We also had a couple of other rendez-vous and they were great also. This week is also going to be lots of fun. We have to go to Amiens for Elder Whitecars legality. We will be gone tonight and tomorrow and then Thursday we have a district meeting in Rouen. So, we will be gone then as well. We are going to be all over the place this week. Next week we have to go over to Paris to have a leadership training....So much traveling. I am going to be sick of trains by the end of these two weeks.

Well family, I love you and it was so cool to talk to you the other day. I hope you have a great day and I will talk to you later.
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TTFN LOVE ELDER WALKER

May 3, 2011

Hey family, how is everything going? I hope everything is great! Well, so how was everyone’s week? Well, this was the first week of the transfer and to tell you the truth it kind of was horrible. Wednesday was transfer day and we had to go to Rouen to be with Elder Ingram. We did this because we cannot be alone on transfer days. So we get up at 5 in the morning to head over to Rouen to get there by 7. Well we get off the train because we didn’t want to go to Pairs. Good news and bad news about that. First good news. The good news is that we didn’t go to Paris but bad news is our cell phone went to Paris without us.....Ya we left our phone on the train that was going to Paris. Ya - not good not good. So this whole week we have not had a phone and we still don’t have a phone to this minute. Let me tell you a couple of things. MISSIONARY WORK IS VERY HARD TO DO IF YOU DONT HAVE A PHONE! It reminds me of the old days when they didn’t have phones. Well, it is very hard because we can’t get a hold of our investigators or anyone. Good news is that we should get it back today though. Luckily, the elders in Paris found it and gave it to Pres. Staheli and he gave it to our branch pres. So, we should get it today. So it has been fun without a phone. It is very hard though to work. We can’t fix rendez-vous or get a hold of our investigators, but all should be well.

Friday was also a good day. We had a country night at our church were a member was teaching them how to line dance, it was great. They also asked us to make a chili for the night. So we found a good recipe and made some American chili for our country night. A lot of members really liked it so that is really cool. It was a fun night.

This past week there was an 8year old who got baptized. It was pretty cool to see that. Well, got to go family. I am excited to talk to you on Mother’s Day. Hey - Dad and Shann - what time is best for you to call? Please let me know. I love you.

TTFN Love Elder Walker

April 26, 2011

Hey family, how is everything going? I hope everyone is doing great. Well, Happy Easter. Did everyone have a fun time and a great Easter? Did you all do something fun - like go Easter egg finding? Well, we didn’t do much here. In church though we did have 9 investigators there, which was really cool. In church we didn’t do anything big. We had a couple of talks but I didn’t really pay attention, because I was stuck between to investigators who kept talking, but it was all good. We did however have the Easter bunny come. He didn’t come to our house but apparently he went over to a members house and hid chocolate bunny’s in there garden. They had a note that said, “Give to the missionaries”. So that was cool.

Well, we didn’t do much this week. We had a good meeting with some of our investigators though. We have this one investigator who lives here that moved to Canada. He is back for a couple of weeks however, so we went to see him. The cool part is he is deaf, but he can read our lips. Another cool part is that he was a mute and couldn’t talk, but he taught himself to talk. He is really cool. He is an artist and he told us before we leave that he will draw us a picture of Mont Saint Micheal or Etretat. He is cool. He has come to church for a long time as well. We finally had a rendez-vous with the investigator who we wanted to set a baptism date with. We went over there and he told us that he may be leaving to go back to Africa for 3 months to do an internship. So that was some sad news. He is also really stressed out because of school. I hope that everything will go well with him and everything will work out with his internship. HIs friend, Joseph, who he brought to church, is doing awesome. He even brought a friend to church which is more awesome. We have been teaching Joseph. We taught him about the Plan du Salut (plan of salvation). It went well. He had some good questions. Some questions got in to some deep doctrine, but we fixed it and it ended up being a great rendez-vous.

The work is going really good here in Le Havre. Elder Whitecar is really excited to be staying another transfer together. We have some great investigators and things are really going strong here. So, funny story or stories. Elder Whitecar and I are wondering were president has sent us. There has been some weird stuff happing to us. First, we had a less active live in this one part of town. So, we go there. While there we found a drunk guy who ends up stealing my plaque and the only we could get it back was to give him a BOM. We finally got away. So we go back a couple of days later...might I say bad mistake on our part, but we go back and we ended up having a drunk prostitute start hitting on Elder Whitecar. She put her arm around him. So, then we hurried and just got out of there. It was so bad. So, we don’t get to far away when we stopped and we were talking. Just then a bird poops right between us - we just ran. That place is cursed I tell you, cursed. We decided to never go back there again. Next time we don’t know what will happen. There have also been a lot of other things that have happened this past week. We were walking and we heard this shatter sound - like a window breaking. So we turn around and saw this guy steal a purse out of a car. He then walks right between us and he meets his friend that was in front of us. They start walking off. We were following them and then they saw us. They ran and when we found them again they didn’t have the purse. They ran into a part of the city where we dared not be going. But I mean it was in the middle of the day and he breaks a window and steals a purse! He walked right by us and these other 5 people and we were just in ahh! We didn’t do anything else after that. There are some weird people here man - weird people. This place is funny, but I love it. Well got to go family and friends. I hope you have a great week.

Lots of Love - ELDER WALKER