Monday, August 25, 2014

Pictures!



Hello World!!!!!

i'm in france. and it's pretty wild. so pretty much i cant type on a french keyboard, but that's all good. it's been unbelievable. so pretty much i'll try and get everything said that i need to, but a lot has happened. but i'll just go for it.

Like half the time, I can understand what people say, and the other half I can't. The true french people talk so fast, and I feel like a noob when I try and talk, but that's okay. I'm already starting to understand a lot more, and it's going super great.

The day leaving the airplane was #2CHAINZ. I was so happy to get out of the MTC at that point. We woke up at 4:30 , then drove to the TRAX place to get to the airport. I sat next to Soeur Wallace on the flight to CHicago. Everybody looked at the army of missionaries funny, just walking through Chicago. My first meal outside of the MTC was stinking McDonald's. Haha. On the ride to London, I sat next to Soeur Baggs, and some German dude, I really wanted to talk to him, but I couldn't. Language barrier. Haha. When we landed in London, we literally had to sprint to catch our flight to Lyon. Everybody in the Heathro airport laughed at all the missionaries running. I was talking in an English accent the whole time. We sat next to this French dude on the flight to Lyon. We had to wait in the Lyon Airport for like 2 hours because our bags were left in LONDON!!!!! Not a single missionary had their bags! Some people were pretty mad haha. We then met President Roney. We got a sack lunch, then went to the mission office. It was weird being in France. We all just chilled for a while there, and got interviewed by president. He polished my shoes, what a nice president. Then we went "contacting". It was SO SCARY. I dind't know what to say the whole time. It was pretty much just for getting the courage to say bonjour. I sat next to this guy on the metro, said bonjour, then another guy came and pointed to my plaque, then they both laughed. What a way to start, right? :) So that night we had dinner at President Roneys, then finally went to a hotel where we were staying for the night. It was like 11 at this time. It had been 35 hours since sleeping.
That next morning, I went to do legality. I had to take my shirt off so they could do some xray things. Wethen went tot hte chapel, and got taught by Pres. Roney and his wife. That's when all the trainers came in, and we found out who our new companions were. My new companion was ELDER BRAD NYE!!!!

BRAD NYE!!!!!

I new him before my mission. How crazy is that? He was a runner for Davis, and was fast. So it's cool we're companions. Our zone is called Val de Saone. It's like half an hour from Lyon. I will put up the pictures.
So we've already taught some lessons and gone contacting and stuff. It's kind of scary to go contacting, but it's nice to have Elder Nye next to me when somebody saays something that I don't know how to respond to.

The Lord loves all of you!

Elder Walker

Because I'm so close to the mission office, It'd be cool to just send letters to the mission office. I don't know what the address is..... so find it. haha. Lyon business centre 59 Rue de l'abondance. in lyon. something like that, look it up haha\

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

The Last Week!

Bonjour. Hello. Bonjour.

So I'm finally on the last week in the MTC. In exactly one week, I will be in FRANCE. I leave Monday morning. I go to Chicago, then to London, then to Lyon. Yes (high five).

So this past week was basically just another week in the MTC. Lots of studying, and my french is really coming along. I'm sad that I gotta leave my killer companion, Elder Lythgoe, but that's fine. He's a lil' rat. This week is supposed to be super good, starting tomorrow. Our teachers are finally going to tell us about their missions, we have in field orientation, and we have the departure devotional thingy.

The other day, we gave Soeur Erickson a blessing. The spirit was so thick in there, I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. It was wild. Lately, I've really been getting into Jesus the Christ. I've learned a whole truckload already. It's just like I'm making loads of connections and stuff. Pretty cool.

So Elder Lloyd from my stake is in my building thingy. He is just across the hall from me. He is going to Canada. He is also in the same residence halls place, so that's pretty cool. I also got to see some of my friends this week. Elder McQuivey and Elder Burnett. That was so crazy seeing them. I almost started crying it was so awesome.

Well that's really all I can think of. I really love the MTC, it's a super spiritual place, and my testimony has grown so much here. I went to the temple for the last time in two years today, so that was weird thinking about that. But hey, I'm going away so other people can have that opportunity. Totes worth it. Haha. 

Well, wish me luck in France.

Thursday, August 7, 2014

Little Rats

Hello!

So less then two weeks until I'm in France, so that's pretty exciting. I am ready to get out of here. It's a pretty cool place and all... but yeah. I've had enough of the brown walls everyday and the Pit of Despair. But still, I think this week was my favorite one of all. Basically lots of studying, but still.

Everyday I pretty much study until my brain is about to blow up from all the scriptures and French and..... Happiness. :) We've been teaching both our teachers as investigators, and it's really been starting to get so much better.  Elder Lythgoe has really been picking up French so much as well. In the lessons, we can actually speak french decently well, and I understand like ninety percent all the time. We do these things called TRC's where we just go and talk to people who speak french, and that really helps a lot too. But who knows. I bet once I get in France, I'll be in shock about how little I understand.... But that's okay.

My district is so dang cool. We are all best friends. Each week, we draw a paper with a persons name in our district and write them a letter. This week I got Soeur Erickson. I basically just let my brain go. I was just typing whatever came to my head, I didn't really say anything about her for two and a half pages. She was pretty mad about that. I said things like "The dragon of the West eats apple pie summer hummer... Fly the scorpion to the bottom river in the jungle book bear scratching his back... Avatar Aang." 

.......

So she wasn't very happy about that. But it was FUNNY! :) Haha.

This Sunday was the best day at the MTC so far. Since it was fast Sunday, we had a conference thing where all the missionaries in the Provo MTC listen to the MTC Presidency for two hours. I said the opening prayer. I sat up on the stand with them and felt so gnarly. I was so nervous to just say a prayer, but it was still a pretty cool experience. Way to represent the R-Town, eh? Afterwards, people I didn't know told me I said a good prayer, and I was like yeah. I'm famous. Well only like five people did, but still.

Afterwards, I saw..... COOPER CAMPBELL!!!!!!!! MY CHILDHOOD HOMIE FROM DRAPER!!!!!!! We literally shed some tears at that. Oh my gosh the tender mercies!!!! I walked out of the chapel after our Branch's sacrament, and he was just out in the hallway. He asked me what my first name was because he saw my name tag was, so then I told him, then he was like, "Dude. I'm Cooper Campbell!" I dropped my stuff and hugged the sweet living lights out of that boy. I was so happy to see him!!!! AHASKJDF:LSKDJF:OSI I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT HAPPENED! So sick.

I had breakfast in the temple this morning. I good break from the MTC. Haha.

"Don't let your life pass you by." -Andy Bernard
"Alright you little rats, shut your snouts." -Me
"Holy cats." -Elder Lythgoe

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Talofa. Bonjour. France (From Tuesday, 7/29)

Bonjour everybody!!!!

So this past week was just basically a week of a lot of studying. But that's okay, because I like that! Each week gets better than the week before. But I also want to get out of here. No more MTC for me! Only 20 more days till France. (high five) 

So I really love learning about the life of Christ. It's my favorite thing to study. I bought Jesus the Christ, and I started reading it. It's bigger than a gorilla. But I love it. I also bought a little light thing. At night, I hide under the blanket and read it, even thought that's technically against the rules. But I LOVE IT AHHAHAHAHALSKDJ:LIEWPOFJVBSXOFHOEFcn   v  vfv 

I have really just been getting into the motion of things. Get up, study and die, eat, study and die, eat study and die, the RUN MY HEART OUT DURING GYM TIME. What a joy. Elder Otteson and I have been running again. Apparantly the mile here is super slow, so we're going to get it tomorrow. Well, that's the goal. 

I'll put up pictures next week because I forgot to bring my camera to the computer lab thingy room.

I still feel like I'm living in Lord of the Rings. Elder Lythgoes #SWAG levels are overloaded. I'm the king of the rock.

Word.