January 4, 2011

Hey family, how is everything going? Well, things here are going good for right now. The work has been a little slow lately but everything should be good soon. Well, we can start off with our investigators... well, it has been sad. We have lost contact with our baptism date and we have not been able to see her for about 2 weeks now. I hope everything is fine and that she just had to go somewhere the last minute. So that is what is happing with her. Our Canadian friend is doing good. He is having a really hard time with his wife right now but he told us on Sunday that by tomorrow or Tuesday everything should be fine. He also told us that he will need our help again to get back in touch with God. So, hopefully everything will be fine with him and I hope that he will always remember that the Lord is always there. We just need to go towards Him. His arms are always stretched out and we only need to reach up and grab a hold. Well, some of our other investigators just got back into town because they were off having fun on the holidays. So, hopefully we will be able to get a hold of them. We had a rendez-vous with one of them today but right when we got here she called us and said she was sick. So we moved the rendez-vous for Thursday at 3. So, hopefully she will be better and we will be able to go over and see her. The work here has started off slow but hopefully it will pick up. It has been a little sad we lost contact with our baptism date but things will move on and hopefully she will be fine and we will get back in contact with her.

Well, besides all that, this week has been good. For p-day we went up to Nez de Joberg again to show Elder Gull around. We headed back up there and when we got there it wasn’t raining this time so we went to the beach and it was cool – freezing - but cool. So we did that then we headed back to the apartment. Well, I can’t believe it is 2011. Where has the time gone? Well, for New Years we didn’t do much. In our mission for some reason it is treated like a p-day. I don’t know why but it is. So, we just stayed in the apartment all day. We tried to go out to the store but everything, and I mean everything, was closed. There was nothing open so we ended up walking around and heading back to the apartment. At 6pm we went back to work. So, that was our New Years. It was fun though and it was good to get some rest.

Well, Sunday I was put in charge of leading church in sacrament meeting. That was fun. It was my first time but I got through it and everything went great. After church is when we had a rendez-vous with our Canadian friend.

Well, that is pretty much all that is going on here in St Lô - not much. This week has been fun with studies. Studies are my favorite time of the day. I love reading about the gospel and the scriptures. Before the mission I wasn’t a big reader. but now I like reading. I still don’t think I can read 7-8 books in a week like my sisters at Lake Powell, but I think I would be able to get 7-8 chapters read of one book, if we were there. Well, during studies I have been reading the Book of Mormon in French. This has been good. It is cool to read it in another language. I still think I get more out of it in English but the French is cool. I have also been reading Jesus The Christ. I love that book. I haven’t been reading this a lot lately but I want to pick it back up. I have learned so much about our Lord and redeemer Jesus Christ. I love learning more about that. I was listening to a talk lately from John Bytheway about 5 scriptures that will help you get through almost everything. The first one was 1 NEPHI 11:17. It talks about how God loves us. An angel is talking with Nephi and asked him a question. He answers with, “I know God loves his children but I don’t know everything.” So, the first one - God loves his children. The 2nd one is MOSES 7:26-33. It talks about how God allows evil but doesn’t like it basically. The 3rd is in ALMA 14:9-13. It says that our work is not yet finished. That is why we are here because our work is not done. OK - The 4th is ALMA 7:11-12. It talks about Jesus Christ and his atonement for us. It goes through listing all the things his atonement covered. So, that is the 4th one about how the atonement is not just for our sins. -- Ok the last one is D&C 101:32-36. It talks about how in time Jesus Christ will answer our questions. So, those are some scriptures that can help us get through almost everything, Jesus Christ can help us get through everything.

Well family, I love you and hope you have a great week.
TTFN LOVE ELDER WALKER

December 29, 2010

Hey family, how is everything going? Did everyone have a great Christmas? I hope that you all did and that you all had a fun time. Well, Christmas for me was great. A family invited us over to their house and the cool part is they live right on the beach. So, Elder Gull and I went to the beach for a little bit and got to check it out. It was pretty cool. The weather was nice so we got to see out a ways, but it was cold, very cold. Then we had lunch at their house and it was pretty cool. Well, that was our Christmas. After, we went home and had the best part of the day. Calling home and talking with the family. It was great to call and talk to you. I am glad everything is going great and it was great to hear your voices. It really was the best part of my Christmas. Well, New Years is coming up so HAPPY NEW YEARS! It is so weird to think that it is already 2011. Were has the time gone? I remember when it turned 2010 and it just feels like it just passed in the blink of an eye. I am shocked! Well, time must go on. Well, this week has been really slow and kinda bad. We have lost contact with our baptism date, Katylen. I saw her last Tuesday with Elder Hall and we haven’t seen her since. She said she was coming to church so we went to pick her up. We got permission from President Staheli to drive her. So, we went to her house but she was not there. So, we called her - no answer. We finally went to church without her and it was great. I had to give a talk. I gave it on un refuge contre Satan or a refuge against Satan. It went well. Well, after church we went throughout our day and at night I decided to call her, but once again no answer. So, I called her on Monday...nothing, and Tuesday...nothing. So, we haven’t seen her for a week or even heard from her. So, I hope everything is still ok with her. Then with our investigator from Canada - we haven’t seen him in awhile either. The last time was last Thursday. We found out that he caved in and drank some alcohol and smoked also. He said that he is trying to recover from that and he is still praying, but that was the last time we saw him. So, we are hoping he is doing awesome also. Well, besides that, the rest of our amies have been out of town but they should be back soon.

Well, besides that our week has not been too much out of the ordinary. We do have another rendezvous with our old baptism date, the mom and the daughter. So, hopefully it will go great. Well, this has been a great year for me and the mission. I have really grown to love the Lord for all that he has done for me in my life and the life of my family and friends. I have learned a lot about this gospel also by having the chance to study it everyday. This has truly been a great year for me and it isn’t even over just yet. We had our interviews with our mission president, President Staheli. He encouraged us to fix goals for ourselves, for this new year coming up, and to look back at our old goals and see what we have accomplished over the year. So, this year was great but next year we should make it an even better year. Elder Ballard said this about setting goals, “We need to set goals and learn how to master them. If we don’t, when we get to be a ripe old age looking back on our lives, we might realize that we only reached a part of our potential.” Those are not the exact words but close enough.

So, I encourage you all to fix some goals and push for them this next year and make this year even better then the last.

Well, I love you family and I hope you have a great day and an awesome New Year. I love you!

TTFN LOVE ELDER WALKER

December 22, 2010

Hey family, how is it going? Well, we all know what time of year it is so Je vous Souhaite un Joyeux Noël et une Heureuse Nouvelle Année or Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. So, how is everything? Did everyone have a great week? Well, things here have been fun. On Sunday we had to cancel church. This is the first time I had to cancel church on my mission. The reason why is because there is a lot of snow! Our branch pres calls us and tells us he can’t come so we started making call to all the members. A lot of them couldn’t come either so we had to cancel it. So, we stayed home, did our studies and we did our deep cleaning on our apartment. Well, Sunday night we went up to Cherbourg for a little exchange and on Monday it was our p-day. We went to Nez de Jobourg which is on the coast and it has these really beautiful cliffs. It was awesome, really cold, but awesome. There was also a beach that we found so we decided to go out running on it. The bad part was that it started to rain and by the time we got back by the car we were soaking wet. It sucked! Well, it was funny though. I took some pictures but not too many because it was raining and freezing cold, so that was fun.

Yesterday we had a bad but yet good day. We were driving to go to the train station and there was a turn so we slowed down. We were not going that fast but there was black ice on the road. We were supposed to take the turn but our car didn’t want to. Well, we ended up hitting the wall on the right side of our car. It was not that bad though. There is just a little dent above the right side front and back wheels, but besides that everything was fine. Well, that was fun! The rest of the day thought was great.

So, Christmas is coming up. Santa is loading his sleigh it should be great. Hey, guess what? Guess where I will be having Christmas? I will be having Christmas in a cabin on the beach next to a fireplace....oh ya! It should be great. A family invited us over and they live right on the beach so, it is going to be fun. I am excited.

Well, our investigators are doing well. Some of them have left because of Christmas and gone on holiday. Besides that they are doing well. Our baptism date is still going strong. She is having some doubt but she is coming along. Our Canadian is great also. He wants us to start teaching his kids which will be awesome. We have a rendez-vous with him tomorrow, so it should be great.

Well, I got a new companion today - Elder Ryan Gull. He seems pretty cool. I haven’t gotten to know him that well yet but he seems like a cool guy. He just came from Charleroi and Patrick so it was cool to talk about Charleroi and the work there.

Well, time is short. I love you and hope you have a great Christmas. Oh, and I can’t wait to call home!

TTFN LOVE ELDER WALKER

December 15, 2010

Hey family! Well, to start off I just have to say I love you. I am just thinking here now about all that you do for me while I am on a mission for the Lord. So, how ya’ll doing? Things here have been great. We had mission conference at Versailles last Wednesday. It was great to see the whole mission and all the missionaries. It was also good to see old companions. Well, it was great. They made this huge slide show with pictures throughout the year of missionaries and it was funny. Some of those pictures - I will get a copy and will have to show it to you. Well, it was also very cool because we took a huge mission picture with everyone in it and then we played a white elephant game. I sent in this 5 color changeable highlighter and I ended up getting a 100 French blond jokes. I have to admit some of them are pretty funny. It was a good conference though. When we left to go home that is where things got fun. We were there for about 4 hr and when we came, there was no snow. When we left there was about 10-12 inches on the ground.... Yea - everything was closed and nothing was working. So, we had to walk to the station after because the buses were not working; then when we got there the metro wasn’t working. We needed the metro to get over to the train station. We finally got on one that worked. Oh boy, Oh boy! That was fun. It was pretty much the only one that worked in Paris. That metro was packed tighter then a can of sardines. At one point I was smashed up against the window with a box of Restoration DVD’s in my stomach and millions of people pushing me. I looked like a pancake on that window. I have to say that that was the most uncomfortable ride I have ever had. Well, because everything was late and because of the snow we missed our train. So, we had to catch the later one. We didn’t get home till about midnight. The bad part is that we had to get up at 4 that morning to catch the train to Paris. What a day. It was still fun and it was a great time.

Well, this week we have some miracle stories to tell. One was today about an awesome lady who has been sick for a while. Well, we saw her today and it was awesome. We told her about the restoration of the church and she just accepted it. She just had an open heart. At the end we asked if she would be baptized and she said YES! So, we fixed a date for the 15th of January. It was awesome and she is so cool. She is also coming to church on Sunday. We had to get permission from our president to drive her there because she doesn’t have a car and it is a half an hour drive. So, we did that and now she is coming to church.

Another one which was so cool - we ran into someone from Canada. When we found him he was in bad shape. His wife just left him and he has been drinking and smoking cigarettes and weed. He was bad but we had a 3 hr appointment with him and at the end he told us he wanted to change. He hates his life. We taught him about prayer and how about God is always there for us. Well, we prayed with him and then we gave him a blessing of comfort. At the end we were just talking about how he can fight the temptations. We told him not to even have it around him. Well, he takes us into the kitchen where he gives us a bottle of red wine, a bottle of Jack Daniels whisky, a package of tobacco, and his weed. We left his house with all his drugs. Now don’t you worry, we threw it away. Well, we come back the next day and you can just tell by looking at him that he had changed. He told us he is doing a lot better and that he has not even had the temptation to smoke or drink. His wife came over the night before and he told us in 10 years he never saw her face look like that. She was proud of him right then, that night. And, she is also helping him become better. It is so cool. I am so happy for him. We have another appointment with him tomorrow, and it should be great.

Well, transfers are coming up. They are on the 22nd. Well, here is the news. I am staying here in Coutances/St Lo with Elder Gull. Elder Hall is leaving and going up to Namur, Belgium. I don’t know Elder Gull that much. I just know that he is the same age as Elder Hall, but that is about all I know of him. So, it looks like I will be having Christmas in Normandy which is always cool. I like it here. It is small but I can still have fun. Apparently we are also getting sisters in our district next transfer. So that will be cool to have sisters in the district again.

Alright, so next week is Christmas. Now about calling home – well, I don’t really know how it is going to work because I am trying to figure out if I call or you call and what times. I don’t know what times Elder Gull has either. Well, I know it is coming up. It is next week. There is a good chance I will be buying a calling card to call you but if not I hope you can call me. OK THIS IS WHAT YOU NEED TO DO. DAD AND SHANNON; MOM AND DENNIS - I NEED YOU TO EMAIL THE TIME THAT IS BEST FOR YOU BECAUSE I AM FREE ALL DAY BASICLY AND IT IS GOOD. I JUST HAVE A LUNCH WITH A MEMBER. I NEED YOU TO TELL ME WHAT TIME IN YOUR TIME - AS IN THE TIME IN UTAH - NOT MINE. 2 O’ CLOCK IS THE LATEST I CAN CALL SOMEONE BECAUSE 2 O’ CLOCK THERE IS 10 PM HERE. SO, ANY TIME BEFORE 2 WILL BE GOOD. CAN YOU DO THAT AND I WILL TRY TO GET BACK TO YOU NEXT WEEK OR SOME TIME THIS WEEK.

Well family I love you and am excited to talk to you next Saturday. I love you and hope you have a great day and week. TTFN LOVE ELDER WALKER

PS - here is a district boy band picture.

December 7, 2010

Hey family, how are you all doing? Well, I have to say this week has been fun, cold, and a little sucky. Well, let’s get on with the story. It has been fun because a member, our ward mission leader, took us to Saint Malo. It is a very beautiful city on the coast. Well, we went there and it was cool. The whole city is kinda like a castle fortress thing. It was built to keep out pirates so that was pretty cool. They also have this place where you could get the biggest ice cream I have ever seen.....and this is where the week started to suck. I am going to give you a little advice - never go 3-4 days without eating anything healthy and only eating junk food. Friday I had some bad food so I was not feeling very well. Well, Saturday came around when we went to Saint Malo. Our ward mission leader wanted to get us a treat. So, we go to this bar restaurant thing. The next thing we know he is gone and when he comes back he said he had already ordered. Well, they came out with two slices of the biggest cake I have ever seen, and it was all chocolate. So, we start eating, and I am still not 100 percent from the day before. Then a couple of minutes later they come out with this huge bowl of ice cream. Well, we eventually downed as much as we could. That just made me start feeling worse. Well, Sunday came around and after church we had a branch meal with the whole branch. It was pretty good. After the meal they bring out this huge bowl of chocolate mousse, which was awesome by the way. Well, after that we started our fast for fast Sunday. So, that is all that we ate Sunday. Monday when we broke our fast, we broke it by eating brownies......bad idea....and now let’s just say that Elder Hall and I are not doing/feeling too good. Ya – that’s a bad on our part.

Well, besides that things are going great. Our two investigators with the baptism date - well for right now they don’t have a baptism date for the moment. The mom is going through a rough spot and needs more time. But hopefully they will be doing a lot better soon. They want to get baptized so that will be a good goal to push them toward. We also had a rendez-vous with another investigator here in St Lo who is awesome also. We went over there and we asked if he had read in the Book of Mormon and he said yes and explained everything he read. His son also read it and joined in on the rendez-vous. That is freaking awesome! And he wants to join in next time also! Oh ya! It will be so cool if he is there and wants to join in again. They are doing awesome. We have another investigator who we think would have a baptism date and everything, but she is still in the hospital. She has an appointment with the doctors tomorrow, so hopefully that will go great.

Those are our investigators at the moment. Things seem to be going great with them. I just hope that they can hold on. Well, this week there has been a ton of snow and it is weird because it does not snow here in Normandy. We talked with a guy and he said he had lived here for 46 years. He has never seen it snow this early in the year, as in December, and has never seen it snow so much. There had to be a good 10-12inch of snow here. Everything was closed down. We were lucky when we went places that we never got stuck in the snow. There were many times though when we had to help people going up a hill. We were going somewhere and there were a bunch of cars that could not get up this hill. So, we made it up, parked the car and ran down to push people up the hill. It was great fun.

Well, my time is up family. I hope you have a great day and I love you all. TTFN LOVE ELDER WALKER

More Funny Boy Band Pictures

Looks like Chris is having fun over in Normandy. These pictures just make me laugh.

December 2, 2010

Hey family, how is it going? Sorry my email is a little late. The place where we do our emails was closed, so we had to wait to do them today. Well, things here are good but it is freakin cold!!!!!!! Oh my, is it cold. Normally it does not snow here in Normandy. But this year it already has been snowing and we have gotten a lot. It just actually started to snow here in St Lo yesterday but up in Cherbourg, which is right on the coast, they have got over 8 inches. It has been snowing all around St Lo but we finally got hit yesterday. I am ok with the snow but it is not just the snow, it is freezing. It was -7°c the other day. You also have to include the humidity and it goes straight to the bone. There is also a wind that feels like it is coming from the Arctic. It was bad, on Sunday we were out going door to door and we had been knocking on doors for about 3 hours from 3-6 pm. Around 6:15-6:30 we could not feel our hands and our faces, nor could we feel anything else. It started to hurt every time we knocked on a door. Eventually we just had to stop and come back inside. It was bad, but very funny.

Well, this week, besides the cold, has been great. Ok - I guess we found this one person who is just awesome and she wants to read the Book of Mormon. She believes in a life after death and she loves what we have been teaching her. We had a very good appointment. She then got sick and couldn’t come to church and we had asked if we could give her a blessing. She didn’t want to see us when she was sick. So, that kinda blows but it is good. She is so cool she could get baptized in 3 weeks, which is awesome. Let’s just hope that she gets better soon. She has a doctor appointment on Wednesday, so hopefully it will be good. Our other two baptism dates - well they are not.. let’s say.. doing the very best. We had to move the baptism date back and we have not been able to see her for a long time. We have an appointment with her today and hopefully they will be there so we can teach them. We were going to teach them about Modern Day Prophets, so hopefully it will be great and they will be awesome.

We have been doing a lot of contacting lately. We have knocked on every door in one whole little town. It took us a couple of days but we have finally done it

Well, this past Monday we had the elders from Cherbourg come down and we went to a place called Mont Saint-Michel. This is a very famous place. I guess there a lot of people that know about it in America. Well, we went there and it was beautiful. It is this church/monastery on an island. You should look it up on Google if you can. It is awesome. We went there with the elders from Cherbourg and took a tour of it. When we were there we ran into 3 members of our church, one from Costa Rica, one from Pennsylvania, and the other one was from L.A., but she lives in France now. It was cool. We got to talk to them and two of them didn’t know we had a church in their area. We told them we did and gave them the numbers of the elders in their area, which was really cool. When we were there Elder Easton had a great idea to take “boy band’ pictures. Ya, they are funny and I think they are cool. I will try to send you one in the email. Then we came back and did a little exchange and did some work.

Next week I think the email will be on Tuesday because we have our mission conference on Wednesday. This is where the whole mission is going to Paris or Versailles. it will be cool to see the whole mission. There are still a ton of missionaries I don’t even know. It should be a good time. We are asked to bring a 5 dollar gift and we are going to play a white elephant game, so that will be chouette.

Well family, I love you and I hope you have a great day. Thank you for your support and love. It really helps me get threw a hard day. Well, I love you again. TTFN LOVE ELDER WALKER

P.S. Sorry if my email is a little weird. I am a little tired. LOVE YA