August 5, 2019

This past week has been good. I'm pretty much over the cold that I had. We've got some smoke that's starting to move in, so that is probably not helping--but it's not too bad yet. We've been going by a lot of our people and trying to get back in contact with some of them. We did have a really good lesson with someone who was having a hangup with the fact that we build so many temples (weird I know). But we weren't really getting anywhere with it, so we sat down with him and re-focused him on the Book of Mormon and whether or not it was true. He seemed to accept that a lot better: we read Moroni 10 with him, and he seemed a lot more at peace with it. Otherwise, this week was pretty much a business-as-usual type week. We did get to do some service--so that was nice. On Saturday one of the people from Naches that we were working with got baptized, so I got to skype into that--that was pretty great. Elder Barlow and Elder Perry were both there and I got to talk to them for a little bit. 

     That's good that my bike finally sold. I was just talking with the other Elders about when it might sell when I got your email. We were talking with a guy that day who had a pretty sweet bike that I would love to work on when I get home. It was kinda funny how it all happened. We've got transfer calls next Saturday, so I'll know if I'm getting put in a leadership position, or if I'll be training--both of which are pretty likely. I'm pretty stoked to see what all will happen this coming transfer.

That's good that things are doing well at home. 

Thanks for the email,

Love,

Elder Walker

Rattler from a snake

Putting together creative District Meetings

Omak

August 12, 2019

Soooo, big things are happening this transfer. I'm getting sent back to Yakima, which I'm super stoked about. I'm getting sent to a neighboring ward to Randall park, where I was before. I'm also getting put in as a district leader. I don't really know much about who my new companion is; his name is Elder Williamson. He is a fairly new missionary, I'm pretty sure. I'm really excited to be back in Yakima. I'll be able to hopefully visit some of the people I taught last time I was there. Elder Raymer is also going down to Yakima as a Spanish missionary, so that'll be awesome. There is one new missionary who will be trained in Yakima, so there is a slight chance that I'll be serving around Elder Ison, but we won't know until transfer day. I hope he'll be there with all of us. 

     One of my old zone leaders, who was serving up in Oroville which is a neighboring area, is going home this transfer. He is going to the mission home today, so he left in the morning traveling down there. It was kinda weird seeing a missionary go home. It was the first time I had witnessed that. Elder Cook was his companion and we were together in Yakima. He is staying with us until transfers happen, so it has been so sweet.
     We had a big magic tournament this morning with a bunch of the Priests from the ward. I did fairly well and took second. I would have taken 1st but it was all very unlucky how it happened.  It was a lot of fun though. We had the Omak Stampede that has been going on this past week. It is a huge thing around here. Basically 3-4 days of rodeo, carnival,  and lots of people. For the most part, we tried to steer clear of all of that. We did go down there and get some fry bread. We were told that we had to get it. It was pretty good. There were so many people there though it was super crazy. 

     That's good that Stake Conference was last week, I have really grown to love Stake Conferences--I always get a lot out of them.
     That's exciting that Abby is pregnant. I talked to her last week, and she was almost in tears telling me; then she hung up really quick because Jamie walked in. It was kinda funny. I'm glad that dad got his car finally. It looks pretty nice. I'm glad that Jamie has been doing so good. Hopefully, this next school year treats her good. 

     Hope everything is going good. I'll keep praying for Y'all and especially Abby. 

Love,

Elder Walker

August 19, 2019

     Things have been going great this past week. Transfers happened on Wednesday. We drove down to a little town called Quincy to meet up with everyone else and then drove to Yakima. All in it was about 6 hours of driving--which wasn't great, but it wasn't too bad. 

     It is really weird serving around so many missionaries again after being in 'Banishment' up in Omak. I'm really enjoying Yakima though. We have church in the same building as the Randell Park ward, so I got to see a bunch of people from that ward on Sunday, so that was sweet. Elder Ison isn't in our zone, but he is In Naches being trained by Elder Barlow. It's really funny how that happened. I hope he's doing good. The area is kinda struggling from what I've heard, but Elder Barlow should be good for him. 

     These past few days have been crazy. We've just been running around trying to figure out what's going on and who is being taught. Me and my companion are both brand new to the area, so we don't really know anything about it. I kinda know the area geographically but not the people. I was really happy because some of the members who were super awesome in Naches have moved into this ward, so that was awesome.

     That's good that things are going well. Kinda sucks that Abby isn't feeling great. It's good that James is so awesome though. Sounds like an exciting week. I'm sure Jamie's excited to be back at school. Lots of feelings spinning around there. Glad BYU is going good. Lots of thing are happening it sounds like. 

     Elder Bird was in this ward right before he went home, and I thought the reign of terror was over but guess who was visiting in the ward yesterday...Yep, but that should be the last time I have to deal with that, and it wasn't too bad. I was doing a lot of thinking about all of that recently, and I thought it was kinda interesting how that all happened. I was with him for 3 transfers and he really tore me down, but after that, I was with Elder Chidester for 3 weeks and he really re-built me after that. 

   I did get my supplements. I've got a big stash of all that stuff on my dresser. 

Thanks for the email, 

Love,

Elder Walker 

August 26, 2019

     This week has been a roller coaster of stuff. On Tuesday we had our Mission Leadership Council meeting. That was pretty good. It was very insightful. We learned a ton about how we can help people have spiritual experiences. We're doing something called a 'transfer focus' which is basically a specific focus that we do with role plays and memorization. This transfer is all about how we can help people have those spiritual experiences that will really assist with their conversion. 

     The next few days were really slow and kinda discouraging. Not a lot was happening and nobody was home or answering their doors. We were really having a hard time getting things done. Things got better throughout the week. We finally had a lesson with one of the people who was being taught before we got here. It was an older lady named Dawn. Her son and his family we recently baptized and are super solid. They had a really rocky time figuring out if they wanted to join the church. They were being taught in Selah while I was in Naches, so I heard a lot about them before. They are super awesome. They really helped Dawn get on track and keep meeting with us. 

     Life as a District Leader + missionary is stressful but good. All the people in my district are super dope, so I don't have to deal with a lot of drama. We've got our temple trip coming up in a few weeks so we're all pretty stoked about that. We've also got Zone Conference next week which will be awesome. 

     That's good that things are going good back home. I'm glad that Abby is figuring out all her stuff now. That's good that Jamie is doing good: staying busy and out of trouble. Good luck with BYU and all that jazz. 

Thanks for the email,

Love,

Elder Walker