Week 95 - Great Week!

Hey y'all!

Today is going to be a short email, but I just wanted you all to know I've had a great week! Raiken is turning nine this week, and the ward is going to help us throw him a big birthday party :) There is a family with two boys, and they haven't been baptized. They weren't super open, but then one of the boys and I clicked on Star Wars and he said he'd sit down and listen to us! Go Nerdiness! We got to meet with a few more non members as well who said they might be interested! I'll keep you all updated :)

Also, one of our ward mission leaders is a super good taxidermist, and he had us stop by his house to see some of his recent projects. I'll send pictures!

Anyway, stay safe this week everyone! I love you all! The church is true, the book is blue, and Moroni is always on the ball!

Elder Walker

Dinner at the Isaacson's

Week 94 - Richmond

Good morning everyone!

Just wanted to let you all know that I am alive and well. This first week in Richmond has been long, but it has been awesome :) The members here are super missionary minded and within the first few days we got a huge list of referrals that we have been working on.

We went to visit a woman who hasn't been very active, and she was very nice to us. We got to talking and she asked if we wanted to meet her boyfriend, so we said sure. Well, it turns out her boyfriend is not a member, and he wants to learn about the church! So we are going to start up lessons with them this week :)

We were driving to visit some referrals and we noticed a man painting a trampoline in front of his trailer. We decided to stop and offer help, which he accepted. We got to talking while we painted and once we were done, he told us that we were the first missionaries to actually help him with something. He then told us about how he has been thinking about getting active again, and he told us to drop by the next day and teach his son, who wants to be baptized. So we came back and met his son Raiken. He wanted to be baptized, so we set expectations with the both of them about the things they both need to do in order to gain a testimony throughout the teaching process, one of which was coming to church. They both committed to go to church and they actually showed up yesterday! We are excited to be working with them :)

We were out introducing ourselves to the ward mission leaders, and when we knocked on one of their doors, he answered and said we were just in time. He then proceeded to usher us into his car and he drove us to a house. We got out and he introduced us to the owner of the home, who is a recent convert. We were talking and the man asked if we would come teach his family the new member lessons, we said of course. He then told us that his two boys were not baptized and that if things

go well, he would like them to be baptized. We are meeting with them tonight.

A similar experience happened with another ward mission leader. We showed up to introduce ourselves and he took us to a lesson that we were right on time for. It was also with a family where the parents were recent converts. They have a girl that wants to get baptized, but there are a lot of things that make it hard to teach her. The parents expressed that they feel lost, especially about how to teach the gospel in the home. We offered to teach them how to do family home evening, so we are going over tonight to do that.

On transfer day, I got to go to see my recent convert, Dani Goodwin, who was baptized a year ago. She had invited me to go with her to receive her endowment and to attend her sealing. It was an amazing experience being able to see her be sealed to her husband who passed away a few years ago! I am so happy for her :)

Anyway, it has been a good first week of the transfer! I really appreciate all of your prayers and I am praying for you also. I hope you are all seeing success in your efforts to share your testimony

with friends and family. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Elder Walker

Elder Toon and Elder Walker at Easter dinner

Week 93 - New Companion - Elder Toon

Hey everyone!

Just got news for transfers. I've been reassigned to the Richmond Stake. I'm happy because it's only a few miles away from my current area. I already know some people there as well, so it'll be good. My

new companion will be Elder Toon, who I don't know very well.

We had a really good week! Madden got baptized! We're super happy for him :) His brother just got back from a mission in Ghana and was able to baptize him. I'll send pictures. We also got to participate in a wedding, at a tire shop. Our good friend Sandy got married and we are super excited for her :)

Yesterday Elder Remfrey and I dressed up like Nephi and Joseph Smith and talked to the Primary kids for sharing time. It was awesome! I hope they liked it.

It snowed again... in April... I wasn't very happy about that. Luckily it melted quickly. We drove up a mountain today, and we just got done playing pickleball with some other Elders in the District.

Anyway, I gotta go, but I want to thank everyone for all you do. Remember to share your testimony with those around you. You never know who you might help by doing so. I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

Elder Walker

(Elder Walker is going to miss Preston, and I believe he will be missed as well - One of Mom's favorite pics)

Madden

Week 92 - Conference Week

Hey y'all!

It's been a pretty good week. We have Madden's baptism this weekend, so that will be awesome! We had exchanges this week which allowed Elder Nombrado and I to work outside of the focus ward. We got to go to all of the outlying areas of the Stake and follow up with all the ward mission leaders, at least the ones we caught home. We had zone conference this week, which turned out pretty well.

I really enjoyed Conference this weekend. It is always great to hear from the prophets and church leaders. We had a few awesome families that let us come watch Conference with them. In between sessions we had time to rope the dummy that Elder Remfrey got for his birthday. One of the guys we watched Conference with had a drone with a camera on it, so he video taped us.

Anyway, sorry for not writing much this week, we got busy today. Thank you all for your support and prayers, it helps a lot.

Love you all!

Elder Walker

Week 91 - The Work Continues

Hello Everyone!

This week was full of ups and downs, but definitely more ups! We started off the week by going on exchanges with the AP's. We got to spend the day up on USU street contacting and talking to students. I was definitely missing Preston by the end of the day.

We've had a pretty good week! We've been getting a lot of help from the members in our focus ward, so things are picking up! We were getting a bit down because we have been running out of ideas to find new people. We met with President Keller though, and asked him for suggestions and we had a really good talk and I think we have a pretty good idea on a new direction that we can take the area.

This week was Elder Remfrey's Birthday! He's 21 now, so that's awesome for him. He got some interesting birthday presents, including a roping dummy that one of his recent converts made for him. It's pretty fun, we're going to practice roping today! The Willard family had us over for a Birthday dinner and it was awesome! Super good stake and some awesome company :) We actually managed to do the dishes! People usually don't let us do them. So that made us happy.

We had "fake" church again at the Lowder home. I was assigned to give a talk on the spirit. It was super cool :) I think it helped their family out a lot too. It's awesome to see them come together in a

spiritual setting.

Today for P-Day we're going roller skating! I've done it like once in my life, so we'll see how that goes.

Anyways, I'm loving it up here in Preston. This really is the work of the Lord, we've been seeing miracles and I can't wait to see the miracles that come this week! I love you all and I hope you are doing well :)

Elder Walker

Week 90 - No Email (A Lot of Work and a Little Play)

Bowling with the Lowders

Week 89 - No Email

Week 88 - Miracles in Preston

Good morning everyone!

I hope you all have had a good week so far, this week has had a lot of miracles here in Preston.

First off, everyone managed to get transferred safely, quickly, and orderly, so we are now all set to go for this transfer. On Tuesday we were able to start up dinners in the Ward again. A while back, missionaries had decided that they didn't want dinners, and so this whole time I've been in Preston, we haven't been eating dinners with members. So we've finally worked something out with the Ward and now we get to meet with members and get to know them over dinner. Yes, I'm counting that as a miracle because the families around here cook way better than Elder Remfrey and I. Also, now we will be able to get to know the ward better.

On Wednesday, we drove out to Winder to visit with a family that has been very hard to schedule appointments with. We have been having a hard time catching them home, but Wednesday night we dropped by and everyone was there!  That night they were super happy to see us, and all twelve of their kids were going crazy trying to steal our name tags and iPads. We ended up compromising by taking selfies with them. Anyway, the Mom said we could start up lessons again starting on Monday, so we said okay and we were about to leave it at that, but then she's like, "Oh! Today is Wednesday! How about you come back tomorrow night? We can just start right away." Which leads us into Thursday's miracle!

Thursday night we came back over (the first time they haven't cancelled a lesson! For me at least) and they were super excited to see us again. They have been taught a few times by previous missionaries, and so we decided to review the Gospel of Jesus Christ by using stepping stones. That managed to keep the twelve kids somewhat focused. At the end, we extended the invitation to be baptized to 6 of the twelve children, and now they are all on Date to be baptized the 1st of April! And no, that is not an early April Fools joke. So now we just have to have a refresher of the lessons and help them get to church. We are super excited for all of them!

Last night was a super cool experience for me. We went to visit the Lowders and we were visiting for a bit and then their daughter decided that she wanted to have testimony meeting at home. So she set up a pulpit, equipped with her karaoke machine for a microphone, and we sang hymns, opened with a prayer and we all bore our testimonies. The spirit was so strong, and it was so amazing to hear the testimonies that the parents had. During the middle of the "service" a scripture popped into my head. "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Matt. 18:20. It was such a sweet experience and I just want to attest to the truthfulness of that scripture. I know without a doubt that our Savior is mindful of us, and cares about us. He wants to be with us, even if it's during an impromptu testimony meeting that at first we were calling "fake church". It doesn't matter, as long as we are worshipping him, he will be with us. I can testify of that in name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Anyway, it snowed again last night, so Elder Remfrey and I are going to go shovel driveways real quick. I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

Elder Walker

Week 87 - Preston for Another Transfer!

Hey everyone, so I don't have too much time today, but I'll give you as good an update as I can.

So good news! I'm staying here in Preston! I'm really happy about that, I was worried they would move me out, but I haven't felt like my work here is done. They combined a few areas in our zone, so we have 2 less companionships now, which will allow us to help the other companionships out more. So we are pretty excited about this transfer! It also means I'll get to help dehorn and brand cattle! I was afraid I was going to miss that.

As far as this week goes, we went up to check on things in Mink Creek and the Ward mission leader told us that our investigator's husband (the one that fell off the roof) was getting his cast off that day (Thursday) and that he was determined to drive himself to the basketball game that night. He figured that was a really bad idea because he was all hopped up on pain medication and would basically be drunk driving. The Ward mission leader was super sick, otherwise he would have taken him, so he asked us to go offer to give him a lift to the game. We went up there and he was super appreciative, and his wife was amazed that we would offer to do that for him. So yeah, they love us even more now and we got to see the basketball game, so win win. Oh, it was Preston vs. Blackfoot, Mom! Just thought you'd like to know. My mom graduated from Blackfoot, for those of you who are a bit confused haha.

Let's see, we got to help out with some more flooding this week, we ended up staying in one basement till one in the morning, getting the water under control. (Yes, we got permission from President)

Elder Remfrey also got to baptize someone from his previous area! It was a great baptism, and the spirit was super strong! She roped us into singing a special musical number, and it didn't turn out too bad. It was a country song, "Changed" by Rascal Flatts, so we had to get a piano arrangement and tone it down a bit. I think someone took a video, so I'll send it and y'all can make fun of us if you want.

Anyway, I gotta get going, but thank you all for your help and support. I wouldn't be out here if it wasn't for all of you! I want you to know I have a testimony of my Savior, Jesus Christ, and that I

wouldn't want to be doing anything else right now than serving him. I've had my faith increased in so many ways, and I know that through Christ we can do all things. So keep being the great people you are and continue to be examples of true Christians!

I love you all!

Elder Walker

Week 86 - Preston Life

Hey everyone!

Sorry I didn't write last week, I have repented and will now try to do better! We have been able to see a lot of awesome miracles this week, hopefully I don't leave any of them out.

So Valentine's Day was pretty awesome. For dinner we went down to Smithfield on our way to Hyde Park and ate dinner with a family that Elder Remfrey had taught. They were awesome and they cooked crawfish for us. It was my first time eating crawfish, but it turned out to be pretty good, it was more interesting than anything haha. Afterwards, we did a blitz for the Hyde Park sister's area because they have been struggling with finding new people to teach. So Elder Remfrey and I

had a list of people that they wanted us to contact. First door we knocked on, there was a family that was working on reactivating, the mom was not a member and she told us that she wanted to be baptized. That was a really cool miracle and the sisters were super happy! Oh, also, I got to stop by and visit the Wamsleys, my first senior couple on the mission! It was awesome, they are doing well and they are going to take us out to lunch sometime so that we can catch up more.

This week we also were able to go with the Wards to teach their investigator Anthony. The lesson that we taught was the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a great lesson, and the spirit was so strong. We

didn't know Anthony, but we were able to follow the spirit and discern a lot of his needs and concerns, which allowed us to help resolve them. At the end of the lesson we invited him to be baptized on the 11th of March and he accepted! We are excited for him, and also for the Wards. It was cool because it was yet another testimony builder that the spirit really is the teacher, not us!

Thursday was a sad day. It was Elder Sloan's last day in the mission, so we took him out to lunch at New York Deli. I'm going to miss that guy, he helped a lot of people out here in the Logan Mission. Now he's back in Medicine Hat, Alberta Canada. Later that day, we went and did a blitz for the Preston South Stake Elders, they have also been struggling with finding people to teach. Elder Remfrey and I didn't end up finding anybody on our list, but we found a dog that was massive and his head was bigger than mine. Of course Elder Remfrey made me take a picture with my head right next to it. The blitz was a success though! Two companionships were able to find the South Elders

a few people to work with, so it ended up being a great night. Oh, I also nailed a deer with a paintball slingshot while we were driving out to Mink Creek, but that's not really important haha.

Friday we had exchanges with the Smithfield Central Elders. I took Elder Hansen with me and we worked the Preston 3rd Ward, which is our focus ward. We had a few cool miracles in the trailer Court while we were knocking doors. First, we ran into a really nice guy who wasn't a member, his name is Joe. We talked with him for a bit, and he said that we could come back this week, so that's what we are going to do. We are hoping that it goes well and that he wants to hear more.

Second, after that, we ran into a non-member that wasn't so nice. He was actually pretty rude to us, but we asked him if we could do anything and he said we could shovel his backyard. So we went out back and got to work. After about 45 min he came out and apologized and said that we really didn't need to, he just asked us to because every other set of missionaries that ever stopped by always offered to help, but they never would and so he just thought that we would be the same way. So he softened up quite a bit and we were able to talk to him about his family. He has 7 kids and it turned out that he is originally from Oregon. He and his family aren't members and long story short, he is talking with his wife to see if she'd be alright with us coming over to teach them! The blessings of doing service!

On Saturday, we got to go down to Smithfield and witness the baptism of a girl that Elder Remfrey had taught while he was there. It was a very well attended baptism and the service was amazing. Elder Remfrey was super excited. Afterwards we ate dinner and then we dropped in on the Wests, who are from my home ward. It was super good to see them and I was glad to find out that brother West was in fact not dead (long story) which was awesome! Then we drove out to Mink Creek and

jump started our investigator's truck.

Yesterday, we had the opportunity to speak in the Clifton 2nd Ward, and we enjoyed it a lot. After sacrament meeting, a woman came up to me and asked where in Oregon I was from. I told her Amity and she got excited. She went on to tell me that she was a convert and that some of her non-member relatives lived in Amity. I asked who and it turned out to be the Davis family. Their son Dallin was one of my friends throughout high school and for a while I spent a good bit of time trying to get him to take the missionary discussions. She said she was going to contact them and tell them about me, so hopefully that opens some new opportunities for them!

We also found out yesterday that Ashley Willard got her call to Brazil for her mission! The Willard family will now have two missionaries out at the same time! Please pray for them :) They are an awesome family and they have helped Elder Remfrey and I feel at home while serving here in Preston (I know, not as crazy as Brazil). Anyway, congrats Ashley!

So yeah, that is what happened this week, it's been a good one! Thank you all for your support and prayers. I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

Elder Walker

Week 85 - No Email

Week 84 - Jesus Christ is the Center of Everything

Hey guys! I decided to start my email earlier today so I could write a longer and more in-depth account of the week.

So as far as the 3 children that we were supposed to meet with last week, their grandpa is sick and about to die, so they left town for a few weeks and we will not be able to meet with them until they get back. So that's a bummer but it's definitely understandable.

Last night we heard from the Wards (our senior couple) that they found yet another family to teach, and they will be going over on Wednesday to do that. Things are going well as far as finding is concerned here in Preston.

We had a cool miracle out in Mink Creek earlier this week. We drove out there to correlate with the Ward Mission Leader and he told us that Brother Olson (the guy who fell off the ladder) would be coming home this week, and that in three weeks he would have all of his casts off and all of his pins out and starting to be back to normal. That's a miracle! When he first was admitted to the hospital, he was told that he would be there for at least 12 weeks. It will be half of that in three weeks, and he should be able to baptize his wife at the end of the month! I love the power of Priesthood blessings!

As we were leaving, he told us to drop by a non-member on our way back. When we got there, Strawberry (the non member) answered the door and was very nice to us. Instead of our normal door approach, we felt prompted to immediately offer to shovel all of the ice off of her walkway and driveway. She gladly accepted the help and as we worked, you could tell that it touched her. When we were done, she brought us hot chocolate and we talked with her and got to know her a lot better.

Long story short, she loves us and we are going over for dinner on Tuesday and she wants to hear the lessons!

Anyway, that was pretty much it for the week. We saw a ton of deer and turkeys out in Mink Creek, Elder Remfrey almost managed to rope a turkey, it was pretty awesome. I'll see if I can send the video.

I just want you all to know that I have a testimony of this gospel, and of our Savior Jesus Christ. He is the center of everything. Without him, nothing would have purpose. I love being a missionary,

and I am truly grateful to everyone that has helped me be out here serving the Lord. It's crazy that this transfer is already half over, I only have three left after this. I'm going to do the best I can with

the time that I have left. I hope all is well back home, I pray for you every day. Keep being member missionaries!

I love you all!

Elder Walker

Elder Walker, Sister Lowder, Elder Remfrey

Week 83 - Baptism and Breaking Ice - New Companion Elder Remfrey

Hey everyone! Sorry I don't have a lot of time this week, so I'll just share a few highlights.

Our senior couple found a family of 3 that hasn't been baptized! So we have an appointment on Friday with them. Hopefully it goes well! We are also meeting with a family tonight that has 3 children that want to be baptized, so we should be having a lot of work this week.

Robert was baptized on Saturday!! He is awesome, I'll send pictures. That was one of the best Baptisms that I have been a part of. He had a ton of support and there were a lot of non-members there as well. We are hoping to see if anything comes of it.

We had more snow this week, so we spent time yesterday breaking ice off of our landlord's roof. Anyway, gotta head out, sorry for the short email, I love all of you!

Elder Walker

Robert

Week 82 - No Email (but Pictures from Sister Lowder at a Church Ball Game)

Week 81 - No Email

Week 80 - Great Work in Preston!

Hey y'all! (Sorry, can't help it, I'm in Preston)

Hope everything is going well back home! Things have been going well out here in Preston. It's been a while since I wrote last, so I'll try and give a good summary of what's been going on.

So Preston is quite the place. A land of cowboy boots, cows, farms and people that were able to star in Napoleon Dynamite. It's been a good experience so far, it feels a lot like home. For such a small town there is a surprising amount of people to teach. We have had a baptism every weekend of the transfer except for this last weekend and  we have another one coming up this week. Those who have been baptized so far are Skyler, Miguel, Seth, and Stetson. They are awesome and we are super excited that they decided to take such an important step! This week, Deborah Olson is getting baptized! She is out of our focus Ward and has been taught by the Ward missionaries in Mink Creek, but today we are going to go have a lesson with her and prep her for her baptismal interview. It's super cool to see wards find and teach their own investigators! So that means y'all can do the same!

Well, we have to head off to the lesson now, so I'll have to cut this short. I just want you all to know that I have a testimony of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We have been studying "The Living Christ" a lot lately and it has deepened my understanding of Christ so much. I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to be a messenger for Him. So I invite all of you to open your mouths along with all the missionaries serving in the world and let your friends and family know "that Jesus is Living Christ, the Immortal Son if God.... He is the light, the life, and the hope of the world. His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come." I promise that as you hear testimony of him, you will see your words work miracles in the lives of others, as they feel the spirit testify to them that what you say is true.

I love you all, thank you for the support that you give me. I wish you all the best this week and I hope you are successful in all of your righteous endeavors.

Elder Walker

Week 79 - Happy New Year! - New Companion Elder Zinn