HEYO

Well this week was full of miracles I'd like to share.

First, just barely, Elder Herdt and I got a park right next to the office. Free, too. That's pretty cool.

Also, this last Tuesday, we were contacting, and it was like 20 minutes before we had to go in. The roads were pretty dead. But there was one man in the road, and of course we went head hunting and contacted him. Him name is Djamel, he is from Algeria. Well we fixed a rdv with him for the next day, and we taught him the Restoration. He understands and speaks french just fine, but he can't read french. Well we saw him again on Thursday, gave him a Book of Mormon in Arab, and he read a little bit out of the introduction in Arab for us, and he prayed for us in his native language, Kabil! It was crazy, literally so cool. He accpted a soft engagement for baptism. We are planning on fixing a date with him tonight. So that's a miracle, plus he's free all the time! Also, last night we went to go visit a less active. We were going to give her cookies, because Elder Herdt can cook a mean batch of cookies, but she wasn't there. Well we decided to start ringing all the people in her building, and while we were doing that, a lady stopped by and was like "Ring that one for me"! So we did, and then she asked what we were doing in the middle of no where. Well we explained, gave her the cookies, and then she was like, "I live in Villefranche too! Why don't you come over this night when we are doing Christmas things"! Elder Herdt and I were like "Well... I think we can fit time in for that". So that was pretty crazy. Haha. 

We helped Danielle paint her apartment twice this last week with a member named Mario. It was pretty fun, she just loves all the missionaries. We plan on having a "Get down to business" lesson with her this Saturday. I hope it goes good. I'm sure it will. :) We also ate at Mario's one night. Well let me tell you. I almost blew up, he fed us so much. We ate with the Assistants, and it was just crazy. I've never eaten so much in my life. It was literally more than I eat even on Thanksgiving!

Oh yeah!

DAVID ARCHULETA IS COMING!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited haha. It's in like three weeks. I'm so stoked. Also, there is this thing called the He is the Gift initiative. I encourage you all to check it out. Use the thing #SharetheGift because it needs to get big. I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I love you all.

Peace

Elder Walker

Yo.

Well Quoi de neuf.

Elder Herdt and I have been going hard in the paint. He is the complete opposite of Elder Swenson. He is young, hip, and full of love. Haha. He is 18 and from Syracuse. He's been out for about 8 months. I've already learned so much from him. It's weird because with my other companions, I didn't get to speak my mind as much, but with him, we talk about 50-50, so that's good. I'm starting to realize what it means to be a successful missionary. It's weird because I'm always just super tired and want a nap, but at the same time, I don't want to get off the roads. It's weird that I'm so happy. Haha I sound like I'm from The District. Haha. "Teach him the Restoration". Kimmie would get a good laugh at that.

I am going to be destroyed when I get transferred. I don't want to leave this place. I love it so much. I love Villefranche and the people and everything! This morning, we met with an old ami of about 7 months. It was weird because we just saw him in the area book, decided to call him, and he was like sure. He has already taken a lot of the lessons, but he says that he wants to get baptized, but because he works for the Catholic church, it's hard for him. We will continue to work with him. Of course. :) And Danielle is going well too. We had a family night at the bishops home last Thursday, and Danielle went too, and she loved it. Her main problem is that she thinks her catholic baptism is valid. But that's okay, we will continue to work with her on that and keep seeing her. I was so excited when she was going to get baptized, but I learned that it doesn't matter what I want, it's the Lord's will that matters. :)

Well hippy hop, I started reading Jesus the Christ again! YAY! I love it. Haha. I have a testimony of this church, and here it is. God lives, and we are his children. He loves us. :) I know that Jesus Christ is out savior. I know he died for us and is resurrected, so that we can be happy and live with God again. :) I know he lives. The Atonement is real, and anybody can be forgiven for whatever they've done. I know that the Book of Mormon is true as well. I've read it, prayed about it, and received my answer. The power of the Priesthood is real as well. We have a living prophet today.

Well. I love you all. Don't forget to pray. :)

Howdy Do

Hello!

So this week has been pretty exciting. Well, today mostly, because I get a new companion. I haven't met him yet, but he'll be getting here in Lyon in about 2 hours, so that'll be fun. I have been helping out with all the missionaries coming through the Lyon Gare with their suitcases. There is a two hour break right now, so I have time to write emails. This internet cafe is full of missionaries right now. 

So my new companion is named Elder Herdt. I don't really know much about him, but I've heard really good things about him, so I'm really excited.

So here's a story. We were going to eat at Brother Mejeans home this coming thursday, and we invited Danielle to it. She is so excited. In fact, she called Bishop Jubault and said thanks for the invite! Well because we have the best bishop in the world, he played it off like a champ, and instead of eating at Brother Mejeans, we're eating at Brother Jubaults! Bishop and I had a pretty good laugh at that. Haha. 

It's so weird seeing some of these missionaries go home. On Saturday, I went on a mini exchange with Elder Adams. He is my role model. He is such an amazing missionary. I almost cried saying bye to him, because he's going home. He helped me set goals to become a better missionary, and helped motivate me. I'm going to work on being the best missionary I can be!

Well... Loves. 

Bye.

Elder Walker

Well, it was an adventure. (Nov 3)

What a week y'all.

So I road tripped to Bordeaux this week. It was pretty awesome. The new Elder is named Elder Bleak. He grew up in Kaysville, but lived in Boston the last two years. But anyways, here's a story. So we show up to Bordeaux at like 8, then want to have dinner. So we go to this place called Halal Fried Chicken. Long story short... My bag got stolen with the keys to the car and the apartment and my camera. Sooo now I have no camera. But anyways, they had to send the spare key to the car to Bordeaux in over night shipping, so we stayed in Bordeaux an extra day. Luckily, it was the Elder Kearon conference, so that was cool. We left the next morning, went back to Lyon, the stayed in the Office Elders apartment because there was no spare to our apartment. The next day, we went to Villefranche and had a member help us find a place that could take off our lock and replace it. SO that was an adventure. But no more camera for me. :(

Anyways, Danielle didn't get baptized either. She started having doubts, so we decided to postpone it. But I'm still confident she'll get baptized still. If not this week, then next. But Dan still got baptized, and it was a really cool experience getting to baptize him! I think that the other elders will send pictures to me this week because I don't have a camera, so I can send them next week. :) That was a really cool experience, and it was a good lifter-upper after a really tough week. 

Well, please keep Danielle in your prayers.

Word.

Elder Walker

Oct 27th

Well guess what. Adventure is out there. That's right.

So tomorrow, we had a mangez-vous planned with some members and a lesson with a potential, but guess what. That's not happening. You wanna know why? I'll tell you why. Well there is this Chinese elder arriving tomorrow, and here's the thing. He has to go to Bordeaux. I think that's how you spell it. Anyways, it's across the country. Well usually the AP's would drive him, but they won't be able to, they're already at Bordeaux. And President can't, and so I HAVE TO DRIVE HIM ACROSS THE COUNTRY!!!!!!!!!!! Holy cow. That's kind of exciting. 

Also, my first baptism is this week! Danielle is sooo excited to get baptized!!! Well the last rdv with her was super heated actually. She was having doubts getting baptized, and it was super intense. We gave her a blessing, and immediately after, she said she was getting baptized! The power in the priesthood is real. That is now the third blessing I've gave in french. It was such a spiritual experience. And the sister's ami, Dan, is also getting baptized. TWO BAPTISMS FOR ONE WARD on the same day. MMHMM. Well usually we have members baptize and confirm, but Dan wants me to baptize him, which is weird. But I'm still excited. He is a refugee from Congo. Also, his friend, Diogene, was ordained an elder yesterday. He was contacted in the metro with Dan, so that's a pretty cool story. He was actually confirmed a member by Elder Anderson himself. And I got to stand in the circle when he was ordained, so that was super cool. 

Elder Kearon from the 70 is coming on Thursday, so that's exciting.

My hair is growing back.

Speaking of miracles, I'm really starting to notice all the small things the Lord is doing everyday. I am starting a miracle journal. Don't forget to take a moment at the end of the day and think about with the Lord did for you. I promise he did more than you think.

Don't forget to pray for me to stay motivated and do my best please.

Oct. 20th

Hello.

Haha.

Well this last week was pretty baller. I feel like Elder Swenson and I are finally getting work done together. Like serious work. Haha. So I met this guy named Sebastian the first week here, and he was the first person I ever legitly contacted and placed a Livre de Mormon. Well, we met with him forever ago, then haven't seen him since... Untill last week! I saw him in the road, and introduced him to Elder Swenson. He has a dalmation. I want a dalmation. We saw him like three other times in the road within like two days, and apparently he lives like one minute away from us! Well the first time we met him, he said he didn't think drugs were bad, and he basically had every problem that somebody could have. Well, we visited him a few days ago, and he said he wanted to give up drugs because he realized how bad they were! AND yesterday we visited him, and he said that he wants to live a chaste life now! Well, that was a big miracle. I really see the good in him, and I believe we can help him.

Yesterday we were porting, and we met this girl that was interested because she thought we were polygamists and stuff. And so we're meeting with her this week too. Basically, everybody thinks that Mormon's are polygamists if they've heard of Mormon's at all. It's weird.

And also, we found a family to teach! We brought them cookies, and they invited us in and OH it was so good! I'm so excited to teach them!

My hair is starting to grow back, so that's fun.

High five.

Elder Walker

October 13th

Well hi.

So the other day I was giving myself a haircut, and then I made a mistake, so then I had to cut it all super short. I buzzed it to 10 mm, so that's kind of different. I am never cutting my own hair again.

I gave my first blessing in french, and it was insane. It was for a guy from Armenia named Fabrice Ozaga. We had to drive out like half an hour to get to his home, and he lived in a pretty sick part of France. It's always my favorite when I get to drive along the countryside. We visited him because the Stake President asked us too. He was excommunicated because he wanted his name to be removed or something like that, but now he wants to get baptized again, but he feels like he can't do anything for the ward. It was one of the most spiritual experiences I've ever had. 

I'm started to really just love the ward and everybody I meet sooo much, I can't really explain it. Like, the ward is just super nice! There is this guy in our ward named Mario who took this homeless guy from the streets and let him live with him. His name is Collins, and now the Sisters are teaching him. 

Danielle is super prepared for her baptism. She is so excited haha. It's always a good time teaching her because she always gives us something to eat. And it's always super proper and french and I wait till' she starts eating because I have no idea if I know to start from the inside or maybe the bottom or perhaps the left corner of the meal. So that's fun.

Elder Swenson and I changed the tires on our car today. So that's fun.

When it rains here..... It rains. And it hasn't stopped raining for a few days now. It's a good time, contacting in the rain when there's one person on the street. 

I love you all and miss you all. 

Word.

Elder Walker

October 6th

Hey guys. What's up. 

So Danielle is greener than green for her baptism. It's going to be on November 1st. We have taught her with the Bishop, a member of the Stake Presidency, and we watched general conference last night at the Stake President's house with her. OH MAN SHE IS SUPER COOL. She's like 60, and is just super prepared. Haha. It's really built my testimony teaching her that it's the spirit that converts. And it's super essential to bear simple testimony frequently when teaching, because the spirit comes in testimony.

We have the best ward ever here. The members are great. We have this member who invited one of our investigators chez lui, and she stayed at his home for like 5 hours and got to be really good friends! We didn't even know this was happening, so when we found out, our faces were blown away. 

I feel like the french is really coming. The session at President Benesars home was in french, and I could understand it. It was awesome. My favorite speaker was the Jorg dude, with the two dots over the O in his name. It was short, sweet, and to the point. Recently, I have been super obsessed with keeping things simple. Like, keep the truths down to what they are. Like, God lives, he is our father, and we are his children. Jesus Christ is our Savior. I love to keep it like that. I guess that's just my way of teaching. 

Well, my testimony is getting stronger by the day. It's strange to think that only a few months ago, I was chilling with my family, and now I'm here in France, stopping scary looking people in the streets and testifying of Christ... Speaking french. Haha. I love this Gospel lots.

This is God's church.

Elder Walker