Conclusion

Hello hello!

 

Well, it is strange sitting here typing this from England when I know it will be my final email that I send in this country. I can not believe that two years have passed! I honestly can not believe it! I have loved my time here. Every single moment! There has not been one moment where I wished I was somewhere else. It has been, like some may say, the best two years of my life to date. Why has it been the best two years? It is very simple. Because of the marvellous experiences I have had every single day. Not one day has been dull or boring or uneventful. Every day has been miraculous, adventurous, and eventful! I have loved it. I do not know if I can say it more strongly or if I can feel more passionately about this privilege that I have had. 

 

I have learned so many things about people, about myself, and most importantly, about Heavenly Father. He is our Father. He does love us. He does all things for our benefit. Jesus Christ is His son. He also loves us. He does all that He does for us! They both do! They are missionary Gods! Everything they do and everything they are is for others. Their entire purpose is to help us find happiness and eternal increase. And if they are the happiest beings in the universe by focusing on others, should we not do the same? That is the theme I have noticed on my mission. Focusing on helping others (missionary work) is the greatest secret to happiness in this life and the next. Isn’t that great? To know these things? It brings such joy, peace, and comfort! God really does love missionary work. It is what He does 24/7 for eternity. I love missionary work. I have had the privilege of experiencing the joys of it 24/7 for two years. Just because I am being released however, does not mean that I have to stop helping and serving others and sharing what I know brings happiness! I have an eternity to get this right and the sooner the better, so why not keep going with the things that I have learned? Why not serve and love and share as I have been learning to do these past two years? There is no reason why I shouldn’t!

 

I love you all. I hope you can feel of my love of England and of the people here. I hope you know that I do know that God lives. He cares for us. And that if any of you have any questions, you can ask me them and I would be overjoyed to help! In closing, I testify that we are each given exactly what we need. I testify that as we look for the good in situations and change our attitudes to that of gratitude that we will be happy. We can all come to know the truth of all things as we open our hearts. God lives. His Son lives. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is His church. I so testify in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

 

See you all soon!

Elder Walker

Lesson Number 6

Hello friends!

So! Over the past 5 weeks I have been summarizing the main lessons I have learned during my time in England. Well, today is going to be the sixth of the six main lessons. That lesson is the importance of desires. As I continue, forgive me if I get really serious, but I feel like I have to to really get the point across that our most deeply rooted desires are granted to us. Throughout my mission, I have been blessed to see many many miracles. I can’t think of a “normal” day; not one. I have loved every single minute and every single second. Every moment has been simply incredible. Now that doesn’t mean that I have been on a cloud for 2 years, completely oblivious to the world around me, but it does mean that I have felt God’s love and have remembered His goodness to me. There have been trying times. There have been laughing times (lots of those). There have been crying times. Through it all, and no matter what the situation, I have learned to be very careful where my immediate desires are.

For these past two years, my overriding desire has been to serve and help as many people as possible by inviting them to come to Christ. That has always been my main desire. What I have found, however, is that immediate desires can quickly overpower overriding desires. For example, there has been more than once on my mission when it was pouring down rain while we were out working. In the early parts of my mission, it was very easy to think, “If only I could be inside my flat and not getting rained on.” The irony of it was that as soon as I thought that thought, my desires had shifted from teaching people to be inside and comfortable. As a result, I could be sure that for the remainder of the day I would be out in the rain with no success. See how it works? Later in my mission I learned to shift that thought to “If only I could be teaching people instead of just walking in the rain.” And suddenly I found myself out of the rain and into people’s homes! See how that works? Our immediate desires are very powerful. It is no wonder that that old saying says, “be careful what you wish for, cause you just might get it.” Experience has taught me, “be careful what you desire, because you will get it.”

I love England. I love the people here. I still have one week so I won’t close just yet! I have one overall lesson I have learned to share still! that’s next week! Love you all!

Elder Walker

Lesson Number 5

Another warm and friendly greeting!

 

So the clock keeps on ticking even if I am completely unaware! I can not believe that I have been living in England for nearly two years now! It is just beyond me. Anyways, last weeks I shared the lesson of faith. I have continued to learn more about that and would love to share a quick miracle before I move on to the next major lesson I learned here!

 

Two days ago, Elder DiPeri and I went out to find people to teach first thing in the morning and quickly ran into a man named Anthony. He let us in and then told us that the day before he said a prayer to God asking to be guided to the true church. He even wrote the prayer down and showed us! It said something like, “July 12th will be the day I turn my life to God. I want to give up all my addictions. I want the best for my family. Please guide me and show me the way. Give me a sign to join your church.” And now the very next morning he meets two missionaries on the street! He was blown away! Even more, he found out that morning that his partner was pregnant with their second child! It gave him an even greater motivation to change and he is now making so many changes in his life to do what he knows he should do! MIRACLE!

These kind of miracles happen all the time as a missionary. We come to know in a very real way that we are guided. Such guidance has come to me throughout my entire mission, but one time in particular that I remember was when I lived in Oldham. When I arrived in Oldham, I was not exactly sure why I had been moved from Newcastle-Under-Lyme right when everything was going so well! I soon found out. Within days of being in Oldham, my companion and I were guided to prepared people and soon found ourselves teaching over 90 people! Some were Hungarian, some were Czech, some were Romanian, and some were English. It was the busiest time of my mission. All day every day we were going from appointment to appointment, teaching families. Teaching in different languages the best we could and seeing miracles! Everything was just great! We even had 16 people that we were teaching come to church in a single week! We were having a blast! Well within one week from when we had 16 people at church and over 90 people to teach everything seemed to fall apart. Of the 90+ that we had been teaching consistently, 70 of them dropped almost instantly. All 16 of the 16 that came to church decided not to come back. A baptism that was scheduled fell through days before. We were in absolute agony! Why was everything going wrong? Were we doing something wrong? That was perhaps the hardest part, not being able to identify what was causing these things to happen. I remember one Sunday I sat in sacrament meeting just trying to pinpoint exactly what I was doing wrong to cause so much of a drop so suddenly. I was really thinking hard and nothing was coming! Then a sudden thought came to me. Words found in the scriptures that Job said, “the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.” Now I am not saying that the Lord took away those people from attending his church. But I learned the lesson. Everything is Heavenly Fathers’. I understood that I needed to be humble and malleable and to be patient in His timing.

I love you all and hope that you too can learn patience and trust in His timing!

Elder Walker

 

Lesson Number 4

Hello!

 

Another wonderful week has gone by! More lessons have learned and my love of missionary work has gotten even stronger! I know you are all busy, so I won’t rattle on forever. Last week I spoke on the third major lesson I have learned as a missionary. This week I will speak on the fourth. This week there is nothing complex about what I learned. It is quite simple in fact. The simple lesson is on the power of faith. After I left Liverpool I went to the Newcastle-Under-Lyme ward in the Newcastle-Under-Lyme Stake. This was the same stake where I began my mission and going back there really got me excited! I had seen so many miracles in that same stake already and truly came to expect miracles daily. Within days of my arrival, I received a powerful spiritual experience that reminded me to refocus on the power of faith. With my faith focused on seeing miracles and sharing miracles, we went to work. To keep it very simple, we saw daily miracles. REAL miracles. The kind of miracles that just blow your mind and teach you so specifically that faith truly does lead to miracles. 

 

Not only did I learn how powerful faith is, but I also learned that faith is a catalyst to everything in life. Not just a catalyst to missionary work, but literally to everything. We do the things we do because we believe that something will happen as a result. Whether it is having the faith in a television remote to turn on a television or getting out of bed because we believe the sun will rise, faith leads to action. It really is a motivating force in our lives. Can you see how having a true faith in the most loving, most powerful, most caring being in the universe can lead us to do many good things and to become our very best selves? Faith is a catalyst to action. Faith in Jesus Christ is a catalyst to perfect action.

 

I love you all!

 

Elder Walker

 

Lesson Number 3

Hello friends!

 

Another week has gone by! And what a crazy crazy week it has been! This week has been full of emotion and ups and downs! On Friday, my companion and I said our farewells to our dear mission president, President Preston, and his wife, Sister Preston. They have completed their 3 year assignment and returned home. We will miss them so much, but we are so grateful for lessons that they taught us on choosing the right! The lessons they taught us on being a disciple and learning to do the right thing because we want to, not because we feel like we have to, will bless my life forever. I am so grateful for them! Even as we said goodbye to them, our new mission president and his wife arrived! They are called President and Sister Ulrich. They come from Sandy, Utah and are just the kindest, most energetic and enthusiastic people ever! In the last 5 days, my companion and I have spent most of each day with them and have already learned to love them and to trust them. They truly are inspiring! I look forward to spending another 4 weeks with them!

 

Now, back to the lessons I have learned here. This week is lesson number 3 and is a continuation of the past two weeks. Exactly one year ago, I was living in Liverpool. Liverpool was very different and unlike any place I had ever lived. Different cultures, different accents, and different missionary work! The work in Liverpool was always exciting because every day brought its own surprises. As I lived day to day, I felt more and more confident that I knew what I was doing. Perhaps, I became a bit too confident. Feeling like I could take on the world and feeling like everything was too easy for me, I began to boast in my own skills and in my own accomplishments. I started doing things my way, thinking that my way was the best way. Maybe I did not consciously make the decision to do things the way I wanted all at once, but slowly, pride began to creep into my thoughts and worked its way into my actions. Within days of this incorrect assumption, everything fell apart. I found that for the first time on my mission, I had hardly no one to teach. I was confused as to why I was not having success. I ran over every possible solution in my brain and could find nothing. After all, I was doing everything skillfully and with great confidence. The problem was, however, that the confidence was more in myself than in God. Finally after nearly 1 month of having no success, I was humbled to the point of genuine, sincere prayer. I truly wanted to know what was going wrong. I received a simple, but powerful answer. The answer was to humble myself and to do things His way, not mine. To make a long story shorter, I repented- I changed my ways into His ways and saw immediate success in great measure. In thinking back on that experience which lasted in full over 3 months, I have learned that humility is the concept that allows us to improve and to learn. It allows us to see what we may really become. In short, humility is happiness.

 

I know that when we trust more in ourselves than in God we will not be happy. I know that when we trust in God more than in ourselves we will be happy.

 

I love you all!

 

Elder Walker

 

Lesson Number 2

Friends!

 

And the weeks just get faster and faster. But that’s what happens when you are having fun! As promised last week, I will continue sharing the major lessons I have learned during my time here. The second lesson I have learned is one that seems quite negative at first, but has actually greatly benefitted my life.

 

Before my mission, I like to think that I was a pretty easy going and care free kind of person. Looking back, however, I have found that I was not! This realizaton first dawned on me when I was living in Blackburn. Blackburn will always have a special spot in my heart. When I arrived there, I was very anxious to do as much as I could. As the scripture says, I was “anxiously engaged.” What I did not understand about this scripture and mindset is that being anxiously engaged does not mean being impatient when results don’t happen immediately. For 4 months I worked as hard as I could to see the results I felt I should see. These results did not happen as immediately as I had hoped. In fact, I was being so preoccupied with what I felt should happen that I did not notice the good that was happening along the way. I only saw one thing- the end result of what I thought should happen; nothing else mattered.

 

With this mindset I soon became uphappy with the results. I soon found that nothing seemed to be working and felt that my efforts were near useless. Nevertheless, I countinued to work as hard as I could, always with the end result in mind. Finally, one night, I realised that I was very unhappy. I realised that something was wrong and that I was not meant to be feeling like I did. So, what did I do? I humbled myself, and prayed sincerely to my Heavenly Father to know what to do. The answer I received was very clear and distinct. It came from Alma 26:27.

 

It reads, “Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites [or Blackburnites], and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success”

 

I took courage and began to work with a new mindset. With the mindset that I would continue to be as anxiously engaged as possible, but with a new sense of patience and understanding. I did so and within weeks, miracles happened! What was the lesson I learned? I learned that patience truly does yield success. This applies to everything in life! Be patient! Sometimes trials come! Sometimes we have challenges where no immediate solutions seems clear. Just remember to be patient. You can not always control circumstances around you, but you can control how you react! It will all be ok. I promise. This lesson is one that I learned line upon line and precept upon precept; one that I am very grateful for. I hope you all take note and choose to be patient! I love you!

 

Elder Walker

 

Intro: Lesson Number 1

Hello friends!

 

Another week has gone by! More lessons have been learned, more laughs have been shared, and a lot of food has been eaten! Ah, the life of a missionary really is great. As I reflect on my experience here and remember the lessons I have learned, I have come to see exactly what I was meant to learn with each experience. I find it strange that looking back, I can see so clearly exactly what I was meant to learn, but during the actual experience I never knew what I was meant to be learning. As I have reflected and cherished, I have noticed one overarching theme from this nearly 2 year experience along with 6 major lessons. Over the final 6 weeks of my time here in England, I would love to share one of those lessons each week, leading up to and culminating in the overarching theme, which I will share to close my time in this beautiful country.

 

The first major lesson I have learned here is that of the power of love. Exactly what is love? Is it merely a flippant word that we toss in at the end of a rude joke? Is it merely a thing we say to people we supposedly care for? Or is it more? Is it an actual substance of something or some sort? While I may not know all the details and all the answers of exactly what this word means, I have come to understand through personal experience that it does mean a few things. It means caring for and carrying for. It means reaching down to lift up. It means empathizing, sympathizing and understanding. It means having compassion for. It means feeling what they feel. In short, it means and implies an actual power. A power or motivation to serve others. To say it even more straight forward, it means love is the motive. Love is, or at least should be, the motive of everything we do. When we act with love as our motive, we allow God to guide and direct us. With His help at our side, we can be certain that our decisions will work together for our good and for the good of those around us. Any time I found myself confused, bothered, or flat out worn-out, I always asked myself this question, “Why do I do this?” Every single time I came to the same conclusion in a matter of seconds, “Because I love these people.” 

 

Think of the things you are willing to do for those you genuinely love. For your family. For you dearest friends. Some may say they would die for them. But the real question is, would you live for them? Would you serve selflessly for them? This is the true test. Love is the greatest motivation on this planet. If we are to become who we want to become, we must make it our task to love more fully. As I close, just ponder this question. What if love were our only motive? What if everyone on this planet acted out out of pure love?

 

I love you all!

 

Elder Walker

 

Be humble!

Here is this week’s post!

 

So it has been a couple weeks since you have all heard from me! Don’t worry, I am still alive and well. I hope that you have all been enjoying your summer weather! Assuming you have been having summer weather that is. Here in England, we have had a couple of great days! But that is about it. But hey, do I complain? I do not! Why? Because I am a missionary! As missionaries we learn so many lessons about missionary work of course, but about life generally as well. One of these lessons that I have been thinking a lot about lately is attaining the attribute of humility. What is humility? Humility is the ability to be humble. What does it mean to be humble? It means to be meek, teachable, and temperate. So to acquire humility is to acquire the ability to be meek, teachable and temperate. 

 

At some point in our lives, most of us hit this stage where we begin to think we know everything. This age is usually (as parents attest) around the time of teenage years. While it may be a fun joke that teenagers know everything, it can be quite damaging if we actually begin to believe this little anecdote. We do not know everything. In fact, we do not know most things! It is pride to think so, the opposite of humility. Pride is destructive and should be avoided like the plague. And why would we want to be prideful anyways? Why would we want to cease learning, growing, and changing? Why would we not want to become happier and healthier? Why would we not want to love more fully and be more fully in control of ourselves? Who wants to lack any degree of happiness? I surely don’t! And I do not believe that you do either! The antidote to these problems and restraints is to be humble. Humility is happiness. I have learned that here as a missionary. I hope you will each choose to be humble! It is a choice! I love you all! Have a great week!

 

Elder Walker

Baptisms

What a wonderful week! Recently, Heavenly Father has been pouring out miracles upon so many of our friends here! He has been giving our investigating friends such miraculous witnesses that are personal to them- witnesses that allow them to know that this is His church. For this post, I would just love to tell you all about a few of the recent converts we have been blessed to work with. I promise, by the end of this post, you will love them like we love them for who they are and for the decisions they have made.

Let’s start with Amanda. Amanda is a recent convert of about 4 months now. She is a part of the Trifecta (the perfect trio of recent converts- including Sarah and Mel also). Amanda met the missionaries on the street. Initially she thought they were really weird, and still does, but allowed them to come only because she was too nice to say no! That kindness led Amanda to feeling of the goodness of the Gospel and to making a life changing decision. For Amanda, it all happened very quickly! Only over a matter of weeks! She is a stalwart pioneer and does so much to help her friends and family to see and understand the goodness the Gospel offers. She is the member missionary of member missionaries.

And then there is Sarah. Sarah was met on the street outside of Tesco on a early March afternoon! She also thought the missionaries were very strange! But she allowed us to come and see her. Sarah quickly found the relevance of the Gospel in her life and was baptised in late March. As she has continued to learn and grow and keep her covenants, she has been blessed with added courage and strength. She is so much different than the first time we met her! And most importantly, she continues to learn and grow every day! Oh, and if you ever need an honest, straight forward answer, Sarah will give it to you.

And then there is Mel. Mel was introduced to the missionaries through Amanda! A fact is that after our first lesson, Mel NEVER wanted to see us again. She even declined a return visit! But over a short period of time real life miracles happened to her that could not be explained through any other way than the existence of a Father in Heaven who loved her. We soon saw her again and not too long after that Mel took the steps she knew she needed to take! Having been baptised for three weeks now, she is preparing to be a missionary next year! Miracle!

Kate and Kiri are just the most incredible Mother-Daughter duo. They met the missionaries at their doorstep and began to meet with them more regularly. They were baptised in March. As they progressed in the Gospel they faced and overcame EVERY challenge that could be thrown at them. I have never seen two people go through so much in such a short period of time. But they held hands, put their heads down, grit their teeth together, and pressed forward into the Saviour’s church! Fasting in faith was such a huge part of them receiving their witness! They are super and I know that no matter what trials they face, together they will overcome!

Next is Ken and Levie. These two are just saints. Levie is from the Philippines and Ken is from England and they are both simply incredible. Ken met missionaries on the street days after he prayed to find the true church. He nearly instantly recognised the missionaries as the Lord’s servants and received a witness through the power of the Holy Ghost that he had finally found what he was looking for. Levie, on the other hand, was not so quick to agree. As Levie was continually taught, it came to the point where she decided that she would not be baptised unless she felt that God told her to. Ken prayed with faith that God would provide his wife with the witness she needed so that he could be sealed in the temple with her and their little boy for all time and eternity. After a couple weeks of faithful prayer, Heavenly Father provided. Levie received a witness in the middle of the night, through a dream, that she would indeed be sealed in the temple to her family. She awoke crying and awoke Ken to tell him she wanted to be baptised. Ken was baptised three weeks ago and will have the privilege of baptising his wife this weekend.

Paul is one of the most faithful people I have ever met. He met missionaries on the street and was not very sure if he believed anything they said. Because he was kind, he agreed to meet with them again. After a couple lessons, Paul told the Elders that he just couldn’t believe it. They invited him to church and he accepted. He came to church and enjoyed it, but just couldn’t believe it. Later that day, however, Paul received an undeniable witness that God was real. Paul came to know in a very real way that what the missionaries taught was truth. He contacted the missionaries instantly, told them of his witness, and asked for baptism as soon as possible. He was baptised just days ago.

Can you see the miracles that we experience daily? Can you even begin to understand how much joy we feel when our good friends make good decisions that we know will bless them forever? More importantly, do you understand that these experiences with God are not limited to a select few? That you can receive your own witness just as soon as you sincerely and humbly ask? I hope that you do understand that! I hope that you do understand that these friends of ours have had their own experiences, wherefore they know! You can too!

I love you all!

Elder Walker

Tired

What another great week! Every week I am more and more convinced that what I am doing is a good thing. I love seeing people change and seeing people grow and learn and accomplishing the things they have always wanted to accomplish! What a treat it is to be here in England! Recently, I have been having something strange happen to me. I have been feeling tired! For any of you who know me, you know that I am a very energetic person and that it is very unusual for me to be very tired. And so, it has been something of an annoyance to me to actually have feelings of fatigue. Whereas before I had to go to sleep just because I knew I should, I now go to sleep because I literally can not move come 10:30 pm! I have been wondering why I feel this way and asked my companion. He shared the following story with me. As you read it, I hope you come to feel and understand just how much these two years have meant and do still continue to mean to me in this foreign country I can now refer to as a home!

 

 

“As I jumped on board my flight from Miami to Salt Lake City, I paused for a moment to catch my breath. Seated near the front of the plane was an excited young man, probably 19, sitting with his parents. His hair was short and his clothes new and sharp. His suit was fitted perfectly and his black shoes still retained that store bought shine. His body was in good shape, his face clear, and his hands clean. In his eyes I could see a nervous look, and his movements were that of an actor on opening night.
He was obviously flying to Utah to become a missionary for the Mormon Church. I smiled as I walked by and took pride in belonging to this same Church where these young men and women voluntarily serve the Savior for two years. With this special feeling, I continued to the back where my seat was located.
As I sat in my seat, I looked to the right and to my surprise, saw another missionary sleeping in the window seat. His hair was also short, but that was the only similarity between the two. This one was obviously returning home, and I could tell at a glance what type of missionary he had been.
The fact that he was already asleep told me a lot. His entire body seemed to let out a big sigh. It looked as if this was the first time in two years he had even slept, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was. As I looked at his face, I could see the heavy bags under his eyes, the chapped lips, and the scarred and sunburned face caused by the fierce Florida sun.
His suit was tattered and worn. A few of the seams were coming apart, and I noticed that there were a couple of tears that had been hand-sewn with a very sloppy stitch.
I saw the nametag, crooked, scratched and bearing the name of the Church he represented, the engraving of which was almost all worn away. I saw the knee of his pants, worn and white, the result of many hours of humble prayer.
A tear came to my eye as I saw the things that really told me what kind of missionary he had been. I saw the marks that made this boy, a man. His feet – the two that had carried him from house to house, now lay there swollen and tired. They were covered by a pair of worn-out shoes. Many of the large scrapes and gouges had been filled in by the countless number of polishings. 

His books – laying across his lap were his scriptures, the word of God. Once new, these books which testify of Jesus Christ and His mission, were now torn, bent, and ragged from use.
His hands – those big, strong hands, which had been used to bless and teach, were now scarred and cut from knocking at doors.
Those were indeed the marks of that man. And as I looked at him, I saw the marks of another man, the Savior, as he was hanging on the cross for the sins of the world.
His feet – those that had once carried him throughout the land during his ministry, were now nailed to the cross.
His side – now pierced with a spear. Sealing his gospel, his testimony with his life.
His hands – the hands that had been used to ordain his servants and bless the sick were also scarred with the nails that were pounded to hang him on the cross.
Those were the marks of that great man.
As my mind returned to the missionary, my whole body seemed to swell with pride and joy, because I knew, by looking at him, that he had served his Master well.
My joy was so great, I felt like running to the front of the plane, grabbing that new, young missionary, and bringing him back to see what he can become, what he can do.
But would he see the things that I saw, could anyone see the things I saw? Or would he just see the outward appearance of that mighty elder, tired and worn out, almost dead.
As we landed, I reached over and tapped him to wake him up. As he awoke, it seemed like new life was entering his body. His whole frame just seemed to fill as he stood up, tall and proud. As he turned his face towards mine, I saw a light about his face that I had never seen before. I looked into his eyes. Those eyes, I will never forget those eyes. They were the eyes of a prophet, a leader, a follower, and a servant. They were the eyes of the Savior. No words were spoken. No words were needed.
As we unloaded, I stepped aside to let him go first. I watched as he walked, slow but steady, tired but strong. I followed him and found myself walking the way that he did. When I came through the doors, I saw this young man in the arms of his parents, and I couldn’t hold it any longer.
With tears streaming down my face, I watched these loving parents greet their son who had been away for a short time. And I wondered if our parents in Heaven would greet us the same way. Will they wrap their arms around us and welcome us home from our journey on earth? I believe they will. I just hope that I can be worthy enough to receive such praise, as I’m sure this missionary will.
I said a silent prayer, thanking the Lord for missionaries like this young man. I don’t think I will ever forget the joy and happiness he brought me that day.”

 

 

If being tired is the price to be paid to serve in the way this man did, then I am gratefully exhausted and hope to continue to be so! Sorry its so long, but I just hope you felt something of how I feel as you read this story! I love you all!

 

Elder Walker