I LOVE ENGLAND!!!

I think that I was supposed to be born in England 'cuz I love it so much! Oh well - I'll just have to settle for visiting as often as I can.

We have terrific and incredible friends that opened their doors for us to stay with them:

We saw incredilbe sites: (lots more besides these but I didn't have room for more)

Bodium Castle

Canterberry Cathedral

St. Mary's Church in Winchelsea

Battle Abby

Guilford High Street

Buckingham Palace

And Generally Just Had Fun!!!

London Temple

So - of all of the wonderful things we saw, and all of the wonderful photos we took - this is my favorite! I love the London Temple.

This is what it is all about - isn't it? Our connections to England come because of Gyle serving his mission there. My life is so much richer because of wonderful relationships with absolutely incredible people that I love dearly - relationships that have resulted because of Gyle's service on his mission. I love the Gospel! I love my England friends! I love knowing that these long distance relationships will be eternal.

Having Fun In England

Just wanted to hurry and post a few photos of Gyle and Tyson in England. These photos were taken on Saturday the 18th. They are having a blast and I'm currently getting ready to leave for the airport to fly over to meet up with them. Oh how we love England! This is Tyson and Gyle in front of the HM Victory, used during the battle of Trafalgar in 1805.
This is Gyle in front of his old flat where he used to live as a missionary ... that was a LONG time ago. (giggle)

Here is Tyson in front of the home where Charles Dickens was born.

Chelsee Mission Update October 16, 2008

Chelsee still sounds just as enthused and excited about serving as ever! Here's some highlights from her most recent letter:

• For Family Home Evening, our family prepared a "Greenie Package" for Chelsee. She loved it. This is what she said, "Sister Egan loved it too!! We had a bit of a peanut fight in our car! Um... yeah, those things don't vacuum up too well!" (she's talking about the packing peanuts)
• Exciting news: "Katrina and Rodney were baptized and the baptism was fabulous! It was incredible to see them come out of the water and shine!"
• A little road trip: " Sister Egan got permission from the AP’s to attend a baptism in Vegas so she and I went up to Vegas on Saturday to go to a baptism of an 83 year old and her grandson. Another beautiful baptism and it goes to show that you are never too old to accept the fullness of the gospel."
• Chelsee got to see the Las Vegas Temple for the first time and thought it was beautiful.
• She says it got cold over the weekend and that she's going to have to get some warmer clothes to make it through the winter. (winter clothes were NOT on her packing list) However, I can promise it was not any where near as cold as Rexburg!!! (smile)
• She and Sis. Egan picked up 4 new investigators over the weekend.
• Loved her Zone Conference
• For Preparation Day, they visited "Oakman" which is a little ghost town / cowboy paradise / mining town.
• She claims she's happy and healthy and loves sharing the Gospel.

Way to GO Sis. Walker!!!! Keep up the great work!!!

Homecoming Dance at Castle View High School

Tyson, with date and best friend, Kelsey.

Recently Kelsey's older brother lost his life in a tragic car accident. He was 22 years old, returned missionary, married just 2 months, very involved in the music department at BYU and an awesome brother! This all happened the day that the high school play was to open with Kelsey and Tyson as leads. Castle View really showed great support! They were willing to cancel the show for Kelsey's sake, but Kelsey wouldn't let them do that. The cast opened with an announcement that all performances were dedicated to the memory of Michael Hess. They had three performances and then Tyson accompanied Kelsey on her flight to Utah for her brother's funeral, attended the funeral and accompanied her on her flight back to Colorado and held three more performances after that.

One testimony builder through all of this is that the school asked Tyson to share with the cast and the faculty just what we as Latter Day Saints believe about life and death. Tyson has come away with a greater testimony of the Plan of Salvation and of the love of our Savior who blessed this wonderful family with such great peace and understanding.

We love you Kelsey!!! You're amazing!!!

Amazing Letter - Chelsee's In Arizona

Hello, Hello, Hello!!!!!!! I am FINALLY HERE!!!!!!!

So, I'll just start at the very beginning with lots of details! I got to the travel office Tuesday morning nice and early at 5 a.m. all bright eyed and cheery faced! Ha, right! It was pretty hard saying goodbye to Sister Riddle. She was just one amazing companion! However, we talked about all the parties and such we would have after we get back because she will be going to Utah State. Luckily there weren’t any tears. In fact, the only time I ever cried in the MTC was when I watched the Joseph Smith movie. Holy cow, you’d think I had ADD or something!
ANYWAY, we got to the airport around 7, me and 14 Elders. Can I just say I have never felt so protected and so respected in all my life. They carried my luggage, waited patiently while I went to the bathroom, when we walked around they all surrounded me so that nothing could happen to me. I LOVED IT! By the time we got on the plane, I felt wasted... haha! Not that kind of wasted... I was SO stinking tired. I was in the very back of the plane sitting next to an Elder and so I figured I would just take advantage of that time and get some sleep. I slept the whole way to Vegas. After I woke up the nerves kicked in. I hadn’t felt that nervous in a long time! Mostly I was just super anxious to meet President and Sister Christensen and my new companion.
So, we finally get to the baggage claim area where President and Sister Christensen are waiting for us at the bottom of the escalator. The second I saw them, the nerves stopped and I felt so much peace. I LOVE the Christensen’s. They are so warm and friendly and I felt right at home when I was with them. Sister Christensen talked to me about Colorado and told me that Karen Westbrook called and told her to take good care of me!!! President gathered us all together talked to us about keeping our eyes in the right place…. If you’ve ever been to the Vegas Airport, you know that there is SO MUCH PORN! Oh my HECK! It was everywhere. The Elders were awesome though and we just kept talking and making eye contact. We got our luggage and headed to the Mission home which is about 10 minutes from the airport.
The mission home is beautiful. We had breakfast together and had some instruction from the AP’s, President and Sister Christensen, the travel folks and the secretary… etc. So much information! We each had a chance to meet with President one on one and talk about concerns, medical stuff, and on, and on, and on…. Then we loaded up once more and headed to the church where we would be meeting our new companions.
They had us line up in the hall and as soon as the other missionaries started singing Called to Serve, we went walking into the chapel. It was SO powerful!!! They did their transfer conference stuff and then… dun, dun, da, dun… we met our trainers.
My Trainer is Sister Egan from north Potomac, Maryland... about 15 minutes out of DC. I LOVE HER!!!! Oh my, she is Incredible! She reminds me so much of Kelsey Hess. She is about 5’3, dark hair, blue eyes… you’ll get a picture! We have so much in common. I was so relieved after meeting her. I feel so comfortable being taught by her and I know that she will do an incredible job as a teacher. She is solid! Oh and drum roll please… we are serving in Kingman, ARIZONA!
After the conference we loaded up once more and drove 2 hours to Kingman. I went over the Hover dam which was super cool. Ok, so Kingman… Welcome to Radiator Springs. Kingman in right off of Route 66 and reminds me of the movie CARS. I really thought we were driving into Mexico when we got here. There aren’t many Mexicans but it looks so much like a little run down town in Mexico. The people here are super poor. Most everyone lives in trailer homes, don’t own a computer, have giant weeds everywhere, but, a lot of them have nice cars. There is very little grass here so when I see it, I get quite excited! Kingman is known for Meth busts. There have been several homes that have blown up from Meth explosions. CRAZY COOL!!!!! But, oh my, the people here are awesome!
Tuesday night, Sister Egan took me to meet some people then we went home and planned and got ready for bed. I can now say that I have never felt So tired in all my life. I crashed the second I hit my mattress. It helps that it is a pillow top mattress and it was so comfy. We live in a little house with 2 other Sisters, Sister Foulk from Jersey and Sister Liao from Taiwan. Mom, you thought the houses on College avenue were trashed, you should see our house! It is pretty darn cool though! And hey, it has running water, a swamp cooler, 2 couches (patched with pieces of suit coats), and a good sized kitchen! It is home! Did I say that I love this yet, cause I do!!!! Oh yeah, there are dogs everywhere. I have never seen so many dogs in all my life!
We are currently teaching 4 people with baptismal dates. We started off the day yesterday trackting. Let me tell ya, it was super hot, I was super sweaty but, it was super awesome! We met a lot of people who just wanted to talk, they weren’t really interested but they were friendly and wanted to hear a little tiny bit of what we had to say. We have one potential investigator out of that. Sandra is from a Catholic family, so she believes in God and wants to know more about our church. We will be going back on Sunday to teach her the first lesson. After we went trackting, we went and taught some lessons.
There are quite a few “eternal investigators” here. They are pretty awesome but they have had the lessons several times and just aren’t progressing. The ward doesn’t want to “drop” them though so, we will continue going back each week. One of the girls, Heidi, has been meeting with the missionaries once a week for about 5 years. She is just super content with life and doesn’t see the urgency in getting baptized. We went and taught the last lesson to Katrina who is getting baptized next week. She is awesome. She was living with her boyfriend who is less active and the missionaries found them and started teaching them. They decided that she needed to move out and continue getting taught. She has a 12 year old son, Rodney who is getting baptized also. He is the coolest kid. He has had open heart surgery and brain surgery. He is so into the church. Katrina’s boyfriend has two sons who are also taking the lessons, they are being taught by the Elders, along with Rodney, and they are going to get baptized too! So cool!
Then we went over to meet some former investigators. Jim is a cool guy and he reminds me a lot of Uncle Bill. He has a problem with smoking but he believes that the church is true and he has a testimony of the Book of Mormon. He just feels guilty going to church because of his smoking problem. He is pretty awesome though and we will keep working with him. We also saw Traci and her son’s Eddy who is 6 and Jarren who is 9. Traci and Jarren are getting baptized next week also. Traci is IN LOVE with Glen Beck and she thought it was the coolest thing in the world that I have met him.
We had dinner with a family that just move into the ward. They have a 6 month old baby and they are excited about missionary work. Oh by the way, Sister Egan and I cover 2 wards. I think there are 6 wards in our zone… maybe… We also went and saw Mary who is a recent convert. She is 14, her dad was excommunicated a long time ago but he is supportive and he LOVES the missionaries. Her mom left when she was really little. We talked with them for a while. Evidently, we are sorta like his family counselors. I also met the ward mission leader and we stopped and talked to quite a few people to remind them about Conference this weekend. Oh boy, it was a long day yesterday but it wasn’t long enough! There is so much work to be done here! The members are great and they are so supportive of missionary work!
I am so excited to be in Kingman, Arizona. Crazy that I’m not even in Nevada but I’ll go where the Lord needs me! I love being a Missionary. I will just continue moving forward, and enduring till the end! I am SO grateful to have such an incredible, patient, loving companion. I couldn’t have wished for any better! Sister Egan is a HUGE answer to my prayers! I will send pictures soon!
I love you all SO INCREDIBLY MUCH!!! Remember who you are, what and who you represent and most of all, remember that I love you and that the Lord loves you! Read your scriptures, ponder, pray and you will find any answers you are looking for. This weekend, go to conference with questions in your heart and I promise you that as you listen to the words of the Prophet that your questions will be answered. The church is amazing and I have seen it change many lives. I know that it has changed my life and I know that if you endure it well, it will change yours. Make good choices, don’t do drugs! God Speed!- Sister Walker!

Tyson's Senior Photos

Can't believe Tyson is 18... Also can't believe that we're doing all of the "Senior in High School" projects! (My 'Baby' is growing up!!!) Here's Tyson's senior photos... (wish they were larger but this is as big as the computer can save them)

Chelsee Mission Update

Chelsee's latest letter reports that:

1. Her foot is doing well. She's not limping anymore, even though the muscle is still pretty tight.

2. The food at the MTC is "yucky"

3. Her favorite thing at the MTC is the Resource Center... this is where she calls investigators and talks to them on the phone.

4. She has been able to sing in the choir for Tuesday Night devotionals.

5. Chels says, "I love, love, love learning here. It comes so much easier than ever before!"

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Chelsee flew to Las Vegas on Tuesday, September 30th! We'll be anxious to receive her next letter or email to find out all about arriving, meeting Pres. and Sis. Christensen, her new companion, housing, etc...

Rotary Club Student of the Month

This morning Gyle and I had the privilege of accompanying Tyson to the Castle Rock chapter of Rotary Club. Tyson was chosen as the Rotary Club Student of the Month... the first one for this school year!

What an honor to watch as Tyson was presented and as he shared with the club members his involvement in school, community, church and his own piano business.

CONGRATS TYSON!!! We love you and we're sure proud of you!!!

Chelsee's Missionary Photos

Just wanted to share Chelsee's Mission Photo... What a cutie huh???

We actually had these photos taken the day that Chelsee left Colorado. Britnee really wanted Chelsee to have a missionary photo shoot... and thankfully Britnee was persisitent enough to make sure it got done. Britnee made the appointment for the sitting and voila... we now have some great pictures of Chelsee. (Thanks Brit!)