February 22, 2011

Hey family, how is everything going? Well, things here are great. This was a great week for us in Le Havre. But first, before I forget, I have something cool that I found out this week. It relates mostly to the Walker side of the family, but it is all good. Ok, Uncle Robert Condie, who is the mission president in Germany, or was, I don’t know, but I found out that my companion Elder Hayden knows him. He told me that Uncle President Robert played a big role in his conversion. He told me that Uncle Robert taught him once with the missionaries and how that was when he felt the spirit really strong. So, that was cool. I found out that my companion knows Uncle Robert. We were talking one day about general authorities and I mentioned Elder Spencer Condie. I told him how I was related to him and then he asked if I knew President Condie in Germany. I told him I didn’t know, but I then remembered the letter G & G Walker wrote me for my b-day. They were talking about how they were going to Germany to visit Uncle Robert because he was the mission president over there. So I told him and all is well. So, I thought that was pretty cool that they know each other. Ok, on to this week. Well, last week was good. We were able to get a lot of work done and we found some pretty cool people. Well, this week started off slow, and we got nothing the first couple of days. Then Wednesday came along and we were packed with rendez-vous which was good. Bad part was 2 of them canceled on us but we made it up and got some other lessons with some people. Thursday was about the same. We had rendez-vous but some canceled. It was good in the end though. It was like that all week -appointments canceling every day. But even with all these canceled appointment this was our best week this transfer with all the lessons. A little weird but I am ok with that. We also had 4 people at church, one whose name is Donatien. He has some great potential. He told us he wants to get baptized, but right now he is too busy with his studies. Good news is that there is a school break coming up soon so he will have some more time. He is so spiritually ready to get baptized. He has come to church 3 or more times and he has liked it every time he has come. He is doing awesome and we want to fix a date with him soon to get baptized. So that is really cool. We also found some other cool people. One is named Michael. He is a young guy and he has some great potential. We met him on the bus and we talked. His whole family is very believing. We gave him a Book of Mormon. He told us he has never read the Bible but he wanted to start to read the Book of Mormon. This was awesome. He also gave us his number and we showed him where the church is and it was sweet. We also met a young lady who actually contacted us. We got off the bus and she asked if we knew where she could find the pool. We didn’t know but Elder Hayden started to talk to her about God and religion. We told her about another set of scriptures that testify of Christ. She wanted to see these scriptures so we showed her the Book of Mormon. Joking around she said, "Ah, thanks for the gift. I will just keep this. No, I am just joking." Then we said, “No, you can keep it if you want.” She said, “Really, I really can keep it?” We said, “Yes! We are here to share this book with the world.” So, she took it and she had us sign it also. She gave us her number and told us she will start reading and we can call her. So, that was cool.

So, those are a couple of things that are happening here in Le Havre. Now, this week is going to be fun also. We have a lot of stuff to do. This Thursday and Friday we will not be here in Le Havre. We will be in PARIS. We have to go to Paris to have a big leadership training meeting. It is with all the missionaries in Normandy and Paris. The other cities have it another time, but we will be there to have this big training. This should be fun. Good thing is we are going to Paris. Then next Friday, the 4th I believe, we have to go to Paris again, because we have zone conference. So, we will be there again but I am ok with that. So, this week should be fun and when we get back from Paris we have an exchange with our district leader. So, this week is going to fly by really fast.

Well, I want to apologize. I have been reading some of my past e-mails and I realized that I spelled a lot of things wrong or did something wrong with grammar. So, sorry about that. I need to proofread my letter time and time again. Well, I love you family and I hope you have a great week. Bye!!!!

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TTFN LOVE ELDER WALKER

February 14, 2011

Hey family, how is everything going? Well, things here are good. Some fun things have happened. Well, we have been really busy lately. Most nights we get home and plan for the next day, then, if we have a little time, eat something light and go to bed. We then wake up at 6:30 again and start all over. Well first things first. HAPPY VALENTINES DAY. I hope everyone will have a great day. Well, the French people celebrate it here but it is not too big, but it is good. Well let me tell you about my area. We live in centre-ville or the center of the city. We are about 5-10 min walk away from the ocean which is pretty cool. The average weather here is cloudy with a chance of rain one day and the next day is a chance of rain with clouds. Then the day after that is rain. The next day is cloudy with a chance of rain. Ya, that’s my weather...that’s Normandy for ya in the winter. But we had about 3 days of sun. I couldn’t believe it. I have only seen the sun about 7 times here in Normandy and then we had 3 days in a row...it can only mean one thing. It’s the end of the world....but the next day it rained again. So ya! It is so funny - the sun came out and we were like, “look it is the sun” then 10 minutes later it is cloudy and windy...ya, but you know what - I love it here. I love Normandy. I feel like it is my home away from home. So that is the average weather. Ok, other things, it is not a bad size of a city. I really like it. I think I am going to like it here. They are doing a lot of construction because they are putting in a tram. So the roads are all messed up but what can you do, its life.

Well, the members here are awesome too. They are really getting into the mission work. There is always someone available to come teaching with us if we need to have someone. We also have one Soeur Porrier who is awesome. She invites friends to learn more and everything. She is so nice also. Every once in a while she will make some food and put it in the fridge in the church for us. She will send us a text or call and say, “I left some food for you at the church.” So, Elder Hayden and I are ok - we will not complain. We also have one member who loves Utah. She goes there every year or something like that. It is kinda sad though, she has a BYU bag. I told her she needed to buy a U of U one. So, hopefully it will go well. Well, the work here is going great also. We have a couple amies (investigators) who have some great potential. One named Donatien who is a student about 30 years old who has great faith. He told us he wanted to be baptized after he is done with his studies. So, that will be cool. He is so ready on the spiritual level and he promised to come to church next week also. We have another one named Festus. He has been investigating the church for some time and he wants to get baptized - but he lives with his girlfriend so, we need to work on that. We have another one named Françoise who is awesome. She didn’t believe too much in Christ and she didn’t believe her mom believed either. But, not too long ago her mom died and she found a bible with her mom’s testimony in it. I was about how she always believed in Christ and she knows that the scriptures are true and everything. So that really touched her alot and I think she has some great potential. So those are just some of the people we are working with.

I have a story - I never thought a 2 year old girl could make me feel so low in my life. We were at a member’s house and they have a little girl. I have some fun stickers on my name tag so I showed them to her. She took my name tag and started looking at them. This is the name tag that goes on your pocket by the way. She grabs it and she breaks it almost in to two. It was like it broke my heart. I was depressed for the next 3 days. Just joking! It is all good though. I fixed it with a little super glue and I have an extra one as well. So it is all good. Well, Elder Hayden and I are great. We are getting along and everything is going well.

This week I have found some old general conference magazines. I have been reading those this week. They are back from 2002 and 2003 so they are good. Well, I love you family and hope you have a great week. Next week we are planning to do e-mails on Tuesday because we can do them for free at this other place. To do them here it is about 4 Euros an hour. So, next week the e mail will be on Tuesday probably. Well I love you family. Have a great week
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TTFN LOVE ELDER WALKER

February 7, 2011

Hey family, how is everything going? Well, thing here are going great. Le Havre is great also. It is a lot bigger then St. Lô and Coutance, but I have to say that I do miss them though. I really did like it even though it was small. Well, things are going great with Elder Hayden and me. We have been working hard and getting along. The travel here was fun also...NOT. JK- no it was good, long but good. I did get a good work out though lifting the luggage up and down, on and off the train, and the bus. Elder Gull and I drove to Caen and after he left with our Zone Leader and drove to Paris. I jumped on the train then. I took it to a little town called Bernay where I had to hurry and get off the train, find my bus and get on. I only had about 7 mins but it was good. I made it. Then I took the bus to Rouan where I met my companion Elder Hayden. We took a train to Le Havre. On the train Elder Hayden pulled out of his bag a...can anyone guess? A Dr. Pepper....Oh yes, he said he got it for me. It was so good. The last time I had a Dr. Pepper was in Brussels and before that back in the states. It was so good. I really enjoyed it. I had the chance to get some before when I was in Anger but it was expensive. It was like 2 euros for a can so we never got any. But I may be getting some here maybe. I will see if I can resist. Well, that was my travel. It was good. The next morning though my arms were dead tired and sore. I never thought that moving so little an amount of things would be such a big work out.

Well, our last night in Coutance was pretty cool. We went over to our branch president’s house where we were talking about our investigators and after he looked at the clock and said, “Do we have time? Yes, I think we have time.” Elder Gull and I were like “time for what.” He said have you ever been to Uncle Scotts? We said “no” so he said lets go for dinner. So, we go - then I remember what it is. It is called Uncle Scotts the Country Restaurant. It is like an Applebee’s or a Stake house. So he took us there and I think it is an American restaurant. Due to the fact that when we got there, there were American flags and American signs all over. So, we went there for dinner. He ordered a big, big hamburger for each of us. When we got it, it looked so disgusting, but when you ate it, it was good. After though, you felt disgusting. But what can you do, right? He took some funny pictures with my camera while I was eating. We also took a funny picture where they told me to put ketchup on my face to look like I was a messy eater. I will see if I can send it. I am a little scared though, but oh well. Nothing I can do about that. It was good and really nice of him to do that.

Well, things here are good. We have a nice apartment - not bad - I like it. The city Le Havre…. Well, if you look at pictures it is really beautiful. And it is actually, but right now there are no leaves or anything because of winter. But ya - it is beautiful and will look better shortly. Now beautiful is not the first word I would use to describe this place. There is only one word I can think of and it fits in 6 letters. It starts with a GH and ends in an ETTO or in other words the ghetto. Yes, it is a ghetto, but I like it. It reminds me of Charleroi in Belgium. I like it. We still have a branch here but a little bigger, about 30 members, not bad. We have a good building so it’s cool. Well, Elder Hayden is cool. He is from Austria. He was born in Africa and moved to Austria where he was raised. So, it is cool. His main language is German, but he speaks really good English. He also speaks really good French. He may not be able to understand everything but he speaks really well. A lot of people are shocked because this is only in his 2nd transfer. He is really spiritual though. He has been a convert for about 2 years and he is 26 years old. He is really cool though and I think this will be a great transfer with him. I am excited.

Well, I had some things to write, and I wrote them down in my planner but I forgot my planner today. So, I will have to tell you next week. Well, I love you and hope you will have a great week. I love you all and I know that if you stay close to the lord, read, pray, go to church, and keep the commandments, the lord will take care of you and everything will be great. I was reading a talk by Elder Joseph B. Worthlin in the 2008 General Conference in Oct. His talk was called “Come What May and Love It.” It is a really good talk and you all should read it. I think it would be really cool. Well, I love you family. et que Dieu vous bénisse. Je vous aime.
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TTFN LOVE ELDER WALKER

February 1, 2011

Hey family, how are things? Well, things here are good - just trying to get everything ready for transfers. We did find out that they are sending a senior couple here to Coutance. So, we have to also get the apartment ready for them. So, this should be fun. Well, I also found out that my transfer day tomorrow will be fun as well.......ha right..... Let’s see what I have to do. I have to drive to Caen, then I take an hour long train ride to another place, I forgot what it is called. Then I have to take a bus to Rouen where I will meet my companion. Then another hour and a half train ride to Le Havre....It is going to be a long day. It is also going to be fun to carry everything from train to bus to train. But, when I get to Le Havre, Elder Hayden will be there to meet me so that will be good. So, pop quiz. Where is my new companion from? Any guesses? Well, I found out that he is actually from Austria, which is pretty sweet. I have no clue as to where that is but, oh well, I am excited. This will be his 2nd transfer and I have heard he is really spiritual and try’s to follow the spirit the best he can and he is a really hard worker. So I am excited to get to see him and see how he is doing. It should be a great transfer. I guess the work is going really well there. They had 6 investigators at church and they are teaching some part member family so things should be good. I was able to talk to him a little and we are both excited to get to work.

Besides that I have to say that this week, once we got the e-mail, kinda slowed way down for us. Because there won’t be missionaries here for about 4 weeks, we had to tell all our investigators. We also had to clean the apartment and then we couldn’t really do anything. We tried to see our investigators but they were not home. We can’t see the members so there is not much we can do. But we have a rendez-vous with one of our members, the branch pres., tonight. It will be our last one so I hope it goes well. So, I have to say that I love vacuum bags. They are the best. Just put everything in, vacuum all the air out and throw it in the luggage. So, they are nice. Oh, I almost forgot, Elder Gull and I are leaving. So, I am going to Le Havre and Elder Gull is going to Soisson. Soisson is just north of Paris. So, it should be fun for him. His trainer served there and told him some things and he told me he never wanted to serve there - now he is. Things should be good for him though and I think he will like it. He is with a francophone so he is excited for that. I think he will have fun.

So, that has been our week. Yesterday we went with the elders from Cherbourg to Mont Saint Michel again, and it was good. We got in for free so that was really nice. I didn’t take that many pictures though because I have already been there, but it was fun to go again. So, lately I have been getting ready for the move. We are going to have to clean up our apartment again because we kinda got it a little dirty with everything while we were getting packed, but it is ok. So, that is our week - just trying to get everything ready to go tomorrow. Well, that is all that is going on. I will probably go back to e-mails on Monday again. I will have to write and tell you all about my first week. It should be fun and I am way excited. Well family, I love you and hope you have a great day and week.

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TTFN LOVE ELDER WALKER

January 29, 2011

Hey how is it all going? Well I got some news about transfers. Well here ya go. I am leaving, and Elder Gull is leaving also. They are closing our companionship here in coutance....Ya I am actually going to Le Havre with Elder Hayden. If you have seen pricnes bride when they are climbing the clifts before the sword fight. Those clifts are actually in Le Havre. So that will be cool. I will also become a step father in the mission becasue Elder Hayden just left his father or tranner and this will be his 2nd transfer so I will be his 2nd comp. So that will be cool. Well here is my address:

Les Missionnaires
Elder Christopher Walker
49 rue Jules Siegfried
76600 Le Havre
France

Well I love you family and I hope you have a great day talk to you probably tuesday. By --TTFN LOVE ELDER WALKER

January 25, 2011

Bonjour Family! Comment ça va? Well, things are going great here. It has been a good week with the work. Well, not the best but all you can do is try even harder the next week. Well, this week we were able to see all, but one of our investigators, but it is alright. It was Richard, the Canadian, who we were not able to see this week. But the good news is that we have called him every night to talk to him and help him stop smoking. Our other investigators are doing very good. The mother and daughter team is doing well but are in the middle of moving at the moment. I believe that they have to be out by the 28th, so hopefully everything will be good. They said they are too busy for us to go and see them but maybe we can go and help them move and do some service for them. I hope everything goes well with them and things will go great. They said they are going to stay in our area which is pretty big, but hopefully they will stay so that we can still teach them. We also have another investigator, Sonia, who just left for 15 days so we won’t be able to see her for some time. She went to St. Nazaire to help with her sister who is pregnant and about ready to have a new born. So, she is there to help her out. So, she will come back after transfers.... We will talk about transfers in a min. So that is the news about them so far. We also have a sweet African, Adolph. We taught him last Friday and he told us that he was not going to get baptized again unless the spirit tells him to get baptized. So, we are working on that. He reads everything we give him and he has started the Book of Mormon from the beginning, and that is sweet. Things are going good for him. We still need to find away to get him to church. So, hopefully we will be able to do that. So, that is what is going on with our investigators.

Well, let’s talk about transfers for a little moment. Transfers are next Wednesday. So, things are coming up. We will find out this Saturday if we stay or go. So Saturday we will find out and I will write a quick e-mail and tell you what is happening. I can’t believe this transfer is already over. The time has just flown by....question - does anyone know how to slow down time? If you do, can you please tell me? JK. But ya things are going good and this transfer just flew by.

Ok on to other things. This week our Branch President/DMB took us to go see Mont Saint Michel just for a moment. His wife was gone so he quickly drove us down there and we took a couple of pictures and then he drove us back. It was cool. While we were there we decided to run up the stairs of this place. There are a ton of stairs and they are steep. By the time we got to the top we could barely catch our breath, but it was fun and we had a good time. There is not much else that has been going on here. Things have been good. I have been reading Jesus the Christ a lot lately. I started it a while back then I just slowly, very slowly, read it and kinda stopped. But now I picked it back up and started reading it again. It is a really good book. I love reading it and learning more and more every day. I also have been reading the Book of Mormon, in French, which is going great. It has helped a lot with the language also. The reading has been good. I find new words all the time. Right now I am in Alma 55 which talks about all the wars going on. I just read where the 2000 stripling warriors just came into the story so things should be good. I have also made it a goal to study out of Prechez mon Evangile (Preach my Gospel) everyday. It has been great. I love it! I learn new things everyday that help me become a better missionary and a better person. It is a great book and it is not just for missionaries, but for the whole family. It is made for everyone one so that is one thing I like about the book. We can all learn from it. Learn more about the gospel, how to study, recognize the spirit and much more. It truly is a great book.

Well, that is about all that is going on right now. Things have been hard this transfer but hopefully we can get thing going here in Coutances. We have set some goals to do better with the work and hopefully things will get going. Well, I love you family and hope you have a great day and a great week. Je vous Aime

TTFN LOVE ELDER WALKER

January 19, 2011

Hey family, how is everything going? Well, this week has been great. We were able to fix more teaching appointments this last week and we were able to teach our investigators and everything went great. Well, we were able to see the mother and the daughter and things are going good. The daughter comes up to me all the time and asks me when she is going to get baptized. The mother still wants to be baptized so we are trying to get her ready. They are having some problems with their papers to stay here so they are working on that. I guess they have to move. They said that they will be staying somewhere in our area but we don’t really know quite where yet. Hopefully we will know soon. They came to Eglise (church) last week which was good and after we had a branch meal and they were able to stay for that, so that was good for them. At church we also got a new councilor. We now have one councilor and I think that is what we are going to have for some time because we really don’t have a lot of people. It was really weird to sit down in front again with the members looking towards the stand instead of towards the audience. It was cool though. The not so cool part was we had to give another talk in church. They had no speakers for last Sunday so Elder Gull and I gave a talk. It wasn’t the best but it worked. I just used one of the talks I used when I was in Charleroi. So, I was good, just touched it up a little. The bad part is next Sunday, not this one coming up, but the one after, a missionary is assigned to give another talk. So, that should be good. Maybe we can make a deal with our branch pres and get out of it. No, just joking. So that is what happened on Sunday.

Well, on p-day or Monday or Lundi, we went to Omaha Beach again with other elders who haven’t been. And it was really cool. We were able to take a tour this time with an American and a Flemish guy. It was awesome! They went through and explained the graves and some of the stories of the soldiers that lost their lives. We also found out that Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., the son of President Roosevelt was laid to rest there. We got to see some other cool graves of people as well. It is an awesome spirit when you go there, just this feeling of peace. It is really cool just to go and see. They asked us also if we wanted to help them with the flag ceremony. They take down and set up the American flag every day. So, that was sweet. We were able to help fold the flag and we got a group picture of us with the flag, it was so cool! We also met other American people there. It was so weird to here English, and not just English, but American English one could say. A guy walked passed us and just said, “Hey guys, how’s it hangin.” Oh, that is so American. I love it. I miss good old American English. But it was really cool. Another cool part was that the cemetery is owned by America. So, we were on American soil. It was our home away from home. It was soooo cooooool.

I also was able to go on an exchange with my MTC companion, Elder McQuay. It was cool to talk with him again and work with him. He is our district leader now so that is good. He does a great job. It was cool because Monday we were on American soil together. It was also a year to the date of the last time we were on American soil, which was cool. On our exchange we have also been in France a year to the date, which was cool as well. It was cool to work with him again. We both had a great time.

Well, this past week I finished this book called, “400 Questions about the Life and Times of Jesus Christ.” G & G Walker gave it to me for Christmas. It was a really good book about, well, the life and times of Jesus Christ. It was written by Susan Easton Black, a BYU Teacher. She wrote a book that answered the questions her students asked her about Jesus Christ. It was a really good book and I was able to learn a lot about the culture and times. I liked it a lot.

So, those are some of the things that have happened. About our other investigators - we have our Canadian guy, who we have been working with. We saw him Sunday and we have been helping him with his smoking problem. We made a plan to call him every night to see how he is doing and so far things are not going too bad. He smokes about 2 cigarettes a day but he has stayed off the alcohol which is really good. So, things are going good with him. We have dropped the lady that had the baptism date. We have not been able to get in touch. We still try though, just in case, but all we can do is move on. We haven’t been able to get a hold of the guy that we gave the Book of Mormon to either, but hopefully things will work out. We also have this African guy who is awesome. We went over there and he has read everything we gave him and he told us that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. He wants to come to church. The only bad part is how to get him to church. He doesn’t have a car and he lives about a 30 min drive away. So, we have a little problem but we will find a solution and everything will be good. So, that is our investigators for the moment, but hopefully things will get better.

Well, all in all it has been a good week. We have had fun and have had a great time. Well, I love you all and hope you have a great time this week at work or school. Well, I love ya --
TTFN LOVE ELDER WALKER