Sister Walker Stays in Boulder City

Hello!!!!

So let me explain a little something called transfers to you... in our mission it works like this:

• if you and your companion are getting double transferred out of an area you get a call the Saturday night before transfers.-
• if you are getting sent to Elko you get a call the Saturday night before transfers so that you can get ready to go Monday morning.-
• if you are training you get a call the Sunday night before transfers.-
• if you are getting transferred you find out on Monday early afternoon.-
• if you or your companion are getting transferred you go to Transfer conference on Tuesday afternoon.

Ok, now that I have explained all of that you can somewhat understand how stressful the weekend before transfers can be. Many thoughts run through a missionaries head such as, "Am I getting transferred, or am I staying here..." "Am I getting a new companion, what if they are lazy..." "Is the work going to continue if I'm gone..." STRESSFUL!!!

Well, lets start my story off here... Every transfer I have found out at least a week ahead of time if I was staying or not... President knows me too well... and I'm a bit sneaky! BUT... Last week, I had NO CLUE what was going to happen. I was SO STRESSED all weekend. I had no idea what was going to happen for my last transfer. As you all know, I really, really wanted to stay in Boulder City but in the back of my mind I was preparing myself to head out.

Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

On Sunday night I received a phone call from the Assistants and of course I knew this meant a training call because this was the 3rd time I had received the "Sunday night call." I'm not going to lie, I was hoping to have an experienced companion for my last transfer because I was getting a bit worn out from training... but of course, I was willing to do whatever the Lord asked of me!!! I asked the Elder if that meant that I was staying in Boulder City and he said he could not tell me! YIKES! I had another slight freak out session then went to bed. I couldn't sleep all night because I was so stressed out. WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN!!!!!! So........ I thought for sure I was getting transferred UNTIL I got a call Monday morning from President. He called and made me promise him I would stay focused because......... I would be STAYING in Boulder City for another 6 weeks!

I'm pretty sure I squealed! I'm creating quite the habit of squealing a lot! He also made me cry. He told me that he knew right away that I needed to train my last transfer. He told me that he had full confidence in me and he told me that if this were his daughter coming into the mission he would want me to be her trainer. He told me that he wanted my legacy to live on in the Nevada Las Vegas Mission and that it was through training this transfer that that would happen. I told him that I promise to make him proud and I WILL!!!!!!!!!!!

Well Folks, lets just say it's a good thing I am in LOVE with Boulder City because at the end of this transfer I will have spent half of my mission here! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE MY COMPANION!!! Her name is Sister Matthew and she is from the Martial Islands... but most recently Honolulu! She is the greatest, most excited, hardest working companion I have had my entire mission. In a trainers meeting that we had on Tuesday morning President told us trainers that the transfer that we spend training should be the most exhausting transfer next to our last transfer. I am the only Trainer going home at the end of this transfer so I said, "ok President, then I'll be double exhausted for you!..." and let me tell ya, after yesterday I am exhausted and SO EXCITED for this transfer! We literally ran from person to person, house to house yesterday to tell EVERYONE we saw about the Restoration of the gospel!

I am so grateful to be serving with Sister Matthew because she is just what I need to go out with a bang! She has the most powerful testimony I have ever seen!!! She is the BEST!!!!!!!!! The Lord does work in mysterious ways!!! He knows that Sister Matthew is the PERFECT companion for my last transfer!

Cami's baptism was perfect! She bore her testimony and simply said, "I know that this church is true. When I went into the water... I felt it. Amen." As she said those simple but truly heartfelt words, her eyes filled with tears and I knew that the Spirit had touched everyone in the room at that moment. And dang, it hit me like a ton of bricks, I couldn't hold back the tears!

Kelsey had her interview for baptism last night and it went great! She is so ready for baptism!!!!!! I am so happy for the decision she has made and that she has stuck to it even without her parents support! I am constantly amazed at the things people go through to be members of the True Church. THE CHURCH IS TRUE!!!!!!!!

Ok, I think that's about all I've got to tell you this week! I love this work so much and I am so blessed to be serving the Lord!

Remember that I love you! Make good choices, don't do drugs, and go spread the gospel! I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love, ME!

Elder Walker 2-15-10

St Anthony is going to get Translated

Hello everyone,

So this week wasn't as exciting as last week due to the fact that we didn't have any Apostles come speak to us. We have had a great week though. Saturday concluded baptism number nine. Trevon E was finally baptized after lots of prayer and fasting for his parents to soften their hearts. Trevon asked me to confirm him a member of the church which, if you knew him, was a huge honor. Treven was more prepared for his baptism than anyone else that has been baptized since I've been here. I will never forget the first time I met treven nearly 12 weeks ago and I asked him why he wanted to be baptized, his response was more profound than I think he realized at the time; he told me that the reason he wanted to be baptized was so that he could have the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost to protect him. Keep in mind that answer came from a 10 year old.

We've been teaching this man who is 75 named Robert Terrell from Colorado. He just recently moved here to get married to his 4th wife after loosing the past 3 to cancer and sicknesses. He has been so prepared throughout his life to receive the restored gospel. I can't even describe to you the experiences that he has had that have led up to this point of him meeting with us. He has experienced more heart ache and more sorrow than any one person I have ever met, yet he has keep looking forward to see how he can make the future better. The reason he married his current wife was so that he could give her a better life than the one she has had with the death of her husband due to illness. That goes to show the kind of man Robert Terrell is. Well we met with him two days ago to teach him for the 3rd time. While teaching him we got on a conversation about how the world is today. He spoke up and said, "it's going to be up to the Mormons to save this world from corruption and I'm ready to join them." That was way cool to experience someone recognizing the power of the church. We have set up to go to Idaho Falls with Robert and his wife Rose to the temple visitor center. He said I'll agree to go on one condition; I get to take you out to dinner at Chuck-a-rama. Anyone who knows me knows that I am so excited for that! I would always have my birthday dinners there when I lived in Utah every year until I moved to Colorado.

We also set another baptism date with Aaron Boots. This is the first time he has committed to a date since he started meeting with the missionaries three years ago. He will be baptized on the 27th of this month. He was super emotional when he accepted the date. Aaron is going to be such a diligent member of the church.

I love this work. I know that I am on the Lord's errand. I am the Lord's missionary and will bring the world his truth.

Peace and Love,

Elder Walker

p.s. this stake has seen 9 baptisms in 10 weeks... That is remarkable

Sis Walker 2-11-10

I LOVE MY MISSION!

That's really all I have to say!

So this morning I was starting a fire in our gas burning fireplace and I was starting it with some pocket matches... well, I had the gas up to high so when I stuck the match in there it went... POOF... I only singed a good chunk of hair so I gave myself a little trim and now you cant even tell!!!! My comp. told me I am no longer allowed to start fires! I agree!

Last week I discovered a new recipe! I bought myself some frozen chicken but I didn't have anything flavoring for it so I went on a hunt... in my search I saw the otterpops in the freezer and thought I would try that. I placed 5 pieces of chicken in a cake pan, cut up the otter pops, two orange and 1 pink, and placed it on the chicken and then cooked for an hour at 375... YUM! Who woulda thought??? It was almost as good as mom's orange juice chicken! I'm so creative!!! Haha!

Earlier this week we left our condo only to realize that I had locked the keys inside... Yes, the condo keys and the car keys. Oh and it was raining like crazy outside and probably only 40 degrees. We called our landlord's three different numbers... no answer... so we decided we best get walking because the Lord's work isn't going to get done by standing around waiting for a phone call! An hour later our Landlord's wife called... they were at the hospital... but they had received our message and they were sending a key with one of their daughters down to their other daughters house! We finally got the key a couple hours and a lot of laughs later!!!!!! We were happy to get inside and get dry clothes on!!!!

Um... what else! We have Cami's baptism this weekend! We only have 20 pages to go before we meet our goal in the B of M!!! Kelsey's parents both gave her permission to be baptized so she is FOR SURE getting baptized on the 20th.

Transfers are on Tuesday and again, I am praying like crazy that I don't get transferred but I'll do whatever the Lord wants me to do!

I LOVE THIS WORK!!!!!!! Make good choices, don't do drugs, be happy and LOVE LIFE!!!!!!

Love, ME!

Elder Scott - Tyson's Mission Conference Experience

Elder Scott

Hello everyone,

It is now official, the St. Anthony stake has now been redone and is starting new. We sustained 5 new bishops, lost 4 ward mission leaders, got a new ward, and now have new ward boundries for 9 of the 11 wards... pretty much the most exciting thing that has happened around here since the Teton Dam broke in '76. This change had been the topic of discussion in every house we have gone to. We were told what the boundries were going to be before they announced it to the stake due to our investigators and their fellowshippers. So now that the word is out we have been trying to re-pair our investigators with families that can take them to church and such. Pretty much chaos.

Saturday was definately on the top 5 of my most spiritual experiences. Elder Richard G. Scott is an amazing man. We left for Idaho Falls on Friday night to stay with some Elders down there so the drive would be shorter for us in the morning. We got up around 5 to get ready and to drive the rest of the way to Pocatello to be seated and spiritually preparing at 7. We had the whole mission in the Alameda Stake center in Pocatello, roughly 190 missionaries. It was quite funny actually because we would look down to our scriptues to read a few verses then look up to see if Elder Scott had come in yet, then down to read some more verses. Finally Elder Scott came in around ten to 8:00. The whole mission just stood up in silence as Elder Scott walked with Elder Snow and Elder Hammond to the stand with President and Sister Colton. Elder Scott asked us to shake hands at the start so he could get out quickly to a meeting at noon. He asked us to tell him our name and where we were from. I learned something about Elder Scott that day. Number one he is shorter than I thought, and number two he has more qenuine love than any other person I have ever shook hands with. We all sat back down anxiously awaiting his message. To be honest, I didn't care too much for what he had to tell us. Not to make that sound like I was disregarding the message of a Prophet, its just that he was talking about marriage and getting married in the temple and such. My thoughts are that I have 21 months left before I need to think and/or worry about that. During his talk he brought up one of the Sisters who is learning English. He asked her a few questions and then said,"as an Apostle of Jesus Christ I bestow upon you the gift on tongues." My favorite part was the last 10 minutes when he bore his witness of the Savior. He said, "Elders and Sisters, I have been talking to you as Elder Scott, I am now going to talk to you as an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ one of the 15 who holds all keys of the priesthood in the Kingdom of God. Me as Richard G. Scott doesn't mean anything, I am nothing, but what I represent and testify of means everything." at that point the Spirit just filled to room, He, the spirit, was preparing us for a testimony of our Savior given by Elder Scott. I don't remember everything that was said other than his last sentence that I will never forget. He said, "I bear solemn witness that he lives... I know Him." I will never forget those words that were spoken by an Apostle of the Lord.

So let me just tell you transfer information with a little story of how I found out about transfers... Our zone leaders called us last night around 9:45 which is weird because they never call to give us transfer information, they usually just send it out in a voicemail. So Elder Dangerfield says, "well Elder Walker and Elder Call, I have bad news." We were thinking alright well one of us is getting transfered, that's cool. Then he proceeds to tell us that President has seen it fit to white wash St. Anthony or to transfer us both out. I was like yeah right, you're joking, why did you call us. He then said that we wished he was joking and that we are number 3 and 4 in the baggage line. Oh at that point I lost it. I was like are you kidding me! We just got new ward boundries and all of our investigators don't have fellowshippers yet, I am calling president, there is no way they can take us both out of here! Finally after getting me heated for 5 minutes Elder Lagazo our other zone leader gets on to tell us that they were joking, they just wanted to see how we would react to that. Let me just tell you something, I have been in theatre for a very long time and I have not seen/heard anyone be as convincing as Elder Dangerfield was last night. I still get heated thinking about that mean joke. Long story short, Elder Call and I are staying in St. Anthony for another transfer. I am very excited and thankful for this opportunity. I know that there is still work for me to do here and I am ready to get it done.

well I love you all so much. I hope you know how much I really appreciate you. I am loving each day more and more as a missionary. This is such a great opportunity to stay here once again. I look forward to telling you about the growth that will happen in the next 6 weeks here.

peace and love,
Elder Walker

Sis Walker Feb 4

Hello Family!!!!!

This week has been a great week! Phil’s baptism was incredible! There was a great turnout! Jammie, Phil’s recently baptized wife gave a combined talk on Baptism and the Gift of the Holy Ghost… lets just say, she is ready to speak in Stake Conference. The talk was phenomenal!!!! They are so excited to go to the temple in a year and I can’t wait to be here for that!

We have an investigator, Kelsey, who really wants to get baptized on the 20th of this month but she is only 17 and her parents aren’t too keen on the idea. But get this, before we even taught her about fasting, she asked us if we would join her in a fast for her parent’s hearts to be softened. I guess she had learned about fasting in Seminary… at any rate, we had a fast yesterday and I really feel as though things are going to work out! Kelsey is another one of those really mature teenagers whom I feel so privileged to be teaching. I feel like she teaches me more than I teach her!!! I love it!

We are getting so close to our goal in the Book of Mormon with Cami!!! We are almost done with Mosiah! I have noticed a couple of things as we have read, 1. her understanding of the gospel has increased, 2. her family is growing closer together as we read together 3. her reading skills are picking up quite a bit! I just love the Book of Mormon!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cami’s dad is now sitting in as we read and contributing quite a bit!!! We are getting Cami to enjoy primary and she even attended the Activity Day’s activity this past Tuesday!!! This girl has come a LONG way and she is doing so great! We are excited for her baptism next weekend!

The Carranza family, the family with 6 daughters, is doing great! We have had some really fun lessons the past few weeks and they are also coming a long way! Tomorrow we are going over to teach them about the Wise Man and the Foolish Man and we are going to do a little object lesson… lets just say it includes lots of sand, a rock, water and a popsicle stick house, or two!!!! A family in the ward invited them over for FHE this past Monday and they had a blast! They are getting so close to baptism!!!

We are teaching a girl, Tamika, who just moved here from Chicago a few months ago! I LOVE HER!!! She is as black as black gets and I’m pretty sure she had some Baptist upbringing! She is great to teach. I’m not sure how committed she is yet but she does her reading assignments and asks really great questions in lessons… we’ve just got to get her to church!!

I LOVE BOULDER CITY!!! I would love to finish off my mission here but of course, I will go wherever the Lord needs me! I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!! I love the happiness I feel at the end of every day! I love the strength my testimony has received. I love having the Spirit with me at all times! I love meeting new people! I love serving others! I love seeing families accept the gospel and work toward the temple together! I love baptisms! I LOVE THIS WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for all of you love, prayers and support!

Make good choices, don’t do drugs, be happy and go out and baptize someone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love, ME!

Elder Walker Feb 1

Family,

I just passed up my three month mark a few days ago, my second transfer is almost over, and we just concluded our 8th baptism in the St. Anthony Stake in two months. Where has the time gone? Like I said in the last e-mail, every week seems to go faster and faster.

We just got an e-mail from President Colton telling us that Elder Richard G. Scott of the quorum of the twelve and Elder Steven E. Snow of the presidency of the seventy are going to be at our mission conference this Saturday. Elder Call and I are going to drive down to Idaho Falls on Friday night and stay with some Elders there in Iona then we'll go with them to Pocatello Saturday morning for the conference. I'm really excited for this conference; it'll be one that I will always remember.

Saturday night when we were talking with President Crapo (in the Stake Presidency and who we live with) he said to us that they are going to make a big change in the stake that will give us some work to do. We tried to get the information out of him but he wouldn't tell us; he said that they would be announcing it in church the next day. So the big news is that the St. Anthony stake has called a stake meeting this Saturday night for all 10 wards in which they will be changing all of the ward boundries and adding a new ward. They will be releasing 4 bishops and calling 5 new ones (one for the new ward). When we saw President Walker (the stake president) we asked him, jokingly, when are you going to update our area book for us? We are going to have to take a three inch binder that is full of teaching records and ward information and move them all to their appropriate wards. That is going to be super fun...

Well this past week was super slow in teaching. We didn't teach too many lessons but we did set another baptism date! There is this boy who has been taking the lessons for quite a few months. He has such a desire to recieve the Holy Ghost and to be baptized. It's been really hard to see this 10 year old with such a desire to come unto the Savior but that his parents wouldn't let him. At one point Trevon's Mom mocked Elder Call's testimony. We have prayed and prayed for their hearts to be softened. We dropped by last Monday night to pick up some CDs that I left when we knocked on the door Jenine (Trevon's Mom) answered and said, "so we've decided that we want Trevon to get baptized on the 13th of Feb". We are so excited for him and for his parents to have realized the importance of this day. Trevon has asked me to give the talk on the Holy Ghost at his baptism and to confirm him in church the next day. So family, please pray that I don't get transfered because I would hate to have to tell him that I wont be at his baptism now that he finally has a day.

Mom: Happy Birthday on Wednesday!!!

Have a great week everyone!

peace and love,

Elder Walker

Sister Walker 1-28-10

Hello my favorite People!!!

Boulder City is still 100% incredible! On Friday evening we went over to have a lesson with our investigator, Phil, who had just got home for a week and a half road-trip through the mid-west, including Nauvoo. Anyway, after telling us about their trip, Jammie, his wife, said, "So, Phil do you have something you would like to tell them..." After a minute of hesitation, Phil said, "Well, I have decided I am going to be baptized." WE HADN'T EVEN CHALLENGED HIM FOR BAPTISM YET. I squeeled, of course!!!! So then we said, "Ok, how does Feb. 13th sound?" and he said, "Wait, why do I have to wait so long, why cant we do it next Saturday?" I am pretty sure that it was at that point that my eyes filled up with tears. So, Phil is getting baptized on Saturday! YAY!!!!! And that my friends is what we call the power of members.

Phil is really good friends with a lot of members and they have been there for him every step of the way, answering questions, being there to study when we could be there, etc. I LOVE MEMBERS!!!

We are in Mosiah with Cami. We have to get to page 265 by the 13th. AND... We received a phone call the other day from a man, Jason, who is a recovering heroine addict whose wife is a member and kicked him out a few months ago because he relapsed. She told him that he needs to be reading the Book of Mormon every day and so he decided that he was going to do that. SO, he reads a chapter every day and then calls us every evening and explains what he read and then we add our 2 cents! We are also meeting with him every couple of days to have a lesson!!! OH BOY, I am REALLY going to get to know the Book of Mormon in the next couple of weeks! I LOVE IT!!!

We have anther new investigator, Kelsey, who is 17. She is attending the Las Vegas Arts Academy where she is friends with a lot of LDS kids. She has been attending seminary up there for the past year and just decided that she wanted to take the lessons. Her fellowshipper is a great kid who is preparing to leave on his mission in March. Anyway, when we had our first lesson on Monday, she told us that she has already read the entire Book of Mormon and she knows it is true. So, we are going to set her for baptism on Saturday... then quickly go through the lessons... that was easy!

Did I tell you that Maria May got her mission call to Ft. Lauderdale???? Dad, you will have to fill her up with referrals!!! She goes into the MTC the day that I fly home. Anyway, she is receiving her edwoment next month and President just told me that I will be able to go!!!!!!! I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!! What a treat! That is what this work is all about! Teach, Baptize, Temple!!! Yay!!!

Well, I think that is just about it with the exciting news!!! Oh, so it keeps raining. Last week we had CRAZY rain. I'm sure you saw some of it on the news. It was a pretty big deal! We had floods all over the place! I loved it! Lots and lots and lots of puddle jumping... and wet, pruny feet!!!

I LOVE THIS WORK!!!

I love you all so much! Make good choices, don't do drugs, be happy and remember that Sister Chelsee Walker LOVES YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!

Love, ME!