Hey family let me tell you my stories for the week. So on wednesday we were tracting and we found one lady and started to teach her, My comp was like only give the first 2 priniciples and we will leave. But as we started we kept going with the entire lesson, but i gave the first vision. And i was nervous out of my mind i wanted to make it perfect. As i started the Nanay started staring in my eyes and i was staring back. it felt different than other times. After the lesson we asked if she had any questions. She told us that as i told her the story of Joseph Smith and the First vision, she felt different, the entire time she was rubbing her arms cuz she had goosebumps. she told me in Tagalog " parang jesucristo kayong dalawa, iba iba mga naramdam ko, salamat salamat" which in english is " its like you two are Jesus Christ, my feelings are very very different thank you thank you." she said alot of missionaries form different religions had visited her but no one made her feel the way we did. She stood up and shook my hand with both of hers with tears in her eyes saying thank you thank you so much. its like your Jesus. she kept repeating it. Anyways we are going back to teach her soon. we couldnt sooner because i was in Bagamanoc, which brings me to my next story. On thursday we had a district meeting and the Zone leader asked if i wanted to go to "jurassic park" i was like freak you know it!!! so i had no change of clothes no toothbrush no nothing, but my camera and BoM. anyways so we start our journey here in Virac. We are riding atop a Jeepney called MR. Suave lol its awesome. This jeepney is beefed up like kinda lifted and big tires and uglier than sin. Ill send a picture, our seat is a water tank like 50 gallons and it has a hose running from it to the radiator because the radiator has a leak, and instead of fixing it or getting a new one they just have this huge water tank on top to keep refilling the radiator lol freak i was worried. anyways its about a 4 hour trip that turned into 6 because we have to trek through the jungle and we get stuck 3 times in knee deep mud, but the trip is beautiful beyond all description. anyways i got sunburned like there is no tommorow. Anyways we worked in Bagamonoc for friday and saturday but we got stranded there because there was no bus or jeepney or boat till sunday maybe monday. so my one day trip turned to four. We finally got a ride atop mr.suave again last night about 6 and went through the most horrible ride of my life sitting on top of coconuts and coconuts sitting on top of me ( coconuts are heavy as all get out too) anyways we got stuck again 3 times this time they asked me to help pull them out they gave us a rope, like a roping rope and tied it to the axle and were like pull! i was like freak thats heavy im not a winch but an hour later we got out of one of our perdicaments. anyways long story short we arrived at Virac at 2 in the morning. Only to realize we didnt have a key to the apartment, so we had to pay 200 pisos to go to san andreas and our driver was all over the road cuz he was so sleepy anyways ya thats my stories of the week. I hope that the roof went on smoothly sorry i wasnt there to help. what color is it. ?i love you and im sending pics to you now i hope your saving them ill send a cd of them soon too. love you guys keep up the strong work elder walker

Jan 25,2009

.Hey dad ,,, yea i teach alot of lessons a week... and yea i eat sea food like everyday too... but its not sea food like you know.. yesterday i ate snails from the ocean. you boil them then suck the hole of the shell and they come out in your mouth.. haha sounds gross but it was really good. The thing i dont really like is called tuyo. its dried fish they cook in oil it smells like death but doesnt taste bad. The bones are the only thing that bother me but yea everything here is eaten with rice, its called an ULAM its just something you put on your plate with rice... anyways dad no baptism yet hopefully soon. but yea But yea thats cool mom is gunna put in... DO you think the roof will last until i get home or does it need it bad?anyways i gotta go dad i love you....

Last letter from Cantanduanes

Hey mom yea the resort was tight. only us 8 missionaries were there. the only ones on the island. and i would love to go there on my honeymoon haha depends on my wife i guess.. You shouldnt be afraid of speakin to people. i konw its your biggest fear but its something you can get over. in dads letter i told of how i had to lead the area. Ive always been afraid of being a leader, but yet ive always been called to leadership positions in sports or church. somehow people pick me. But prayer is the biggest part of my life when i feel scared or inadequete i know that Jesus felt the same feeling that im feeling at that very moment and he is more than willing to help us get over it. all we have to do is ask in faith knowing he will be there to lift us up at our times of need. Dont be embarassed i bet they were suprised at how much you knew. and if you dont get the job oh well. its not the end of the world. i love that you tried though mom it makes me so happy to know you did that. you better get used to public speaking cuz when i come back i guarantee you have to speak at least to the high council. haha but youll be fine... anyways thats so cool tess is getting her patriarchal blessing. i know it will make her happy. and she will find out all she needs. she will be able to get married whether in this life or the next she will have the opportuinty... dads sounds like he has been real tired.... But the work here is good , im getting transfereed to a differnt area so i wont be on my little island anymore. it broke my heart to hear i was leaving. I love the people ive come to know here. The member families we visited about every day i grew to love they helped me so much in the language and were always so nice. I hope ive helped someones life here. O on saturday we went to the little family i told you about in my very first letter the Deletorre family. He had alot of questions about the church and especially how he could know it was true. He was kinda skeptical about the Holy Ghost. It was my turn to teach about the Holy Ghost and i wasnt prepared i had never taught it before in Tagalog so i was nervous as all get out. But i prayed for help. and to know what to say. As soon as i started i stuttered over my words and was like FREAK but i got the prompting to bear my testimony on the spirit. So i did, i have never felt the spirit as i did right then. it was so strong i couldnt hold back tears and i knew that Rolle, the dad, felt it too. When i finished he said "wow you really know this is true dont you, you really have read and prayed about it huh?" i knew then that instead of teaching him about what the holy ghost was i was the tool to let him feel what it was. It was an amazing experience. I want that family to join the church more than anything and it broke my heart to know i wouldnt get the chance to teach them again.but hopefully i was able to plant a seed, or rather hopefully i was a tool in the lords hand to someday bring them to the full knowledge of the Gospel. anyways yes this week has been full of great experience. from leading the area for the first time, to testifying of the truthfullness of this gospel. IT was all around a good week. One that i can store in my mind for those tough weeks to come... Anyways mom and family i love you and hope your doing well. all is well here in San Andreas.... i love you and miss you.... ill try and send pics if i can.... i have some with my little friend Junell he is 6 and the kid that teaching me the language lol... i freakin love him.... anyways ill write you from my new area on monday i love you -Elder Walker

hey mom sorry i wasnt on earlier.. we went to a resort for our p-day activity! it was amazing! it only cost like 10 bucks... we had a bamboo hut out on this white sand beach, the beach itself is in a cove with mountains surrounding it . its freaking amazingly beautiful! i loved it. we had a blast, we cant swim that sucked cuz the water was bluer than blue it was gorgeous. The resort is called Twin rocks. It has these two huge sets of rocks out in the middle of the cove . huge waves crash against them at high tide it was freakin sweet. they have a diving board off this like 7 foot cliff into the ocean it was sweet. only we couldnt use it... we just played games on the beach and sat around talking and one of the elders played the guitar and sang. way cool! i loved it. The resort has huts for rent to sleep in and stuff and a huge nice nice swimming pool it was sweet.... anyways.... yea thats why i wasnt on the internet earlier i was enjoying missionary life here on Catanduanes.... This week was new years and we had fireworks right above our house cuz they launched them off from the building behind ours... one went off too early and hit our roof! it was sweet cuz we watched them from the roof. anyways yea those are my stories for the week. nothing much else... My comp might get transfrered next week so ill probbly be with a philipino. but who knows... anyways i hope you guys are going to the temple. but yea i gotta go mom. nothing much to write this week about the work except its tiring... i love you guys and i miss you i hope you are having a good new year... tell cowan i said whats up and lana too.. he sounds amazing.... i gotta go mom i love you --- Elder walker

pics from Kell

Hi! This is Tess. Mom and I were able to instant message with Elder Walker tonight. It was a lot of fun. He sent these pictures and we just wanted to share.

The pigs are Kell's next door neighbors. :)

view from the roof of Kell's house.

Tracting

an area they walk by to go tracting

Hey mom. yes i got the box and loved it... im on like day five now or so... but im not at my house on my island im on the mainland now. cuz we have zone conference so ill have to open the rest of my presents on saturday. umm elder kimball is on the very most south side of the naga misson i dont know what its called... and no ill have pants made here mom. dont send clothes or shoes cuz i can get them here for about 8 bucks for some sweet stuff so dont buy stuff like that ok... but thanks so much for offering. also thanks for the box of stuff it brought tears to my eyes i loved loved loved it! i kinda wish i could be home for christmas but after this one only one more! haha.... anyways ask dad about the families we found i wrote him a letter about them. so so so humble, one of them is cooking for us this weekend, coconuts rice and shells i think, crazy they are cooking for us and arnt even members we barly met them the other night... they live in the mountains kinda.... but the other family, the deletorre family , oh my favorite. just because they are my first family and they are so stinking cute. they have a adorable little girl and they are only like mid 20s or so so soso humble i love them...... im so happy dads likein church. that makes my day, especially cuz the dads on my island are all inactive but 2 and all the dads in general all drink or have problems. Because there isnt much to do on the island. they have to drink, but anyways about calling on christmas, im thinking about using the internet like a webcam so you guys can see me. there is something called skipe or skype on the internet, elder hardy is telling me about that is cheap or free. so look into that and let me know ok? it probably wont be christmas day but sometime/ Or do you have along distance plan ? if you do i can just give you the number of a member and have you call her. but we have to arrange a time and im not sure how to do that. ill ask elder hardy and let you know next monday. i hope your not to worried about me mom you sound worried, im OK everything is fine and going smooth. im on the Lords errand and he wont let anything happen to me. I keep having dreams of being home and huntin with dad. i pray everyday that nothing will happen to any of you cuz i cant wait to be back with my family again. But dont worry mom im fine. Another feeling i had was to tell you to get to work on the 2 year supply and food storage. it was weird just a feeling . but i think it would be a smart idea. so if you have an opporunity to get a little here and there Do It ok? ..... Um dont worry about putting to much money in my account. like 10 every once in a while is good mom. OK? thanks ! i hope the pic. your putting up is the cool one by the way!. anyways mom thanks for the package and i look forward to the next one.. ill try and send pics tommorrow cuz we have nothing else to do so maybe.... anyways. ok mom i love you tell the girls i said hi. thanks so much for the package it was amazing! Mahal Kita - elder walker

First Letter from Cantanduanes

Hey dad! that story is awesome, i wish i could of been there so bad. I miss hunting. I arrived in naga on thursday morning we had breakfast at the Miss. Pres. house. it was really good. Then we had interviews and got our assignments. My new area is The island of Cantanduanes. Its about 2 hours off mainland Philipines, by boat. Its more expensive out here but beautiful. I dont know when i can send pictures, hopefully next monday. You guys are probably sleeping right now. and its only sunday for you i think. But yea its beautiful, but so so so poor. No one lives in a nice home. I mean NO ONE most most homes are bamboo with palm leaf roofs. We are lucky we live on the second floor of a concrete house. But most people live horribly. Its very very saddening. at the same time it makes me miss home. i cant speak the lanuage as well as i would have hoped for , but i am startin to pick up on being able to understand natives. The MTC does not prepare you for this i can say that much. They speak really fast, and slur alot of words together. My new companion is Elder Hardy from Sandy Utah. he is a genius he got a 35 on the ACT, so yea i think the language came pretty easy for him. Im just havin trouble knowing what to study and stuff... but ill get it. um we eat rice every day , and stuff on top called an Ulam, which just means a topping of rice. Like sardines or dried fish or pork or adobo, stuff like that..... Anyways. yesterday at church they asked me to bear my testimony and tell a little about myself. it was easy though . cuz there is only 8 people in our branch ha. we meet in this meetin house real small hard to describe. but when we go work we walk or take a Tricy or Jeepny, to where we are goin then walk back. ITs crazy how many people they fit on a Honda trail 70 motorcycle. 7 at least if they are going far, because they have to make the trip worth their while yea its crazy. ill take a pic and send it. But last night we went to a place about 5 KM away and taught a few people, one Guy committed to go to church it was cool. ITs sad here though, there isnt anythin for people to do so the Dads are always drink thats pretty much all they can do so they never want to go to church. but everyone for the most part is nice... While you walk down the streets people yell out HEy Joe , or Hey man or stuff like that. they are just bein kinda rude cuz we are american and they think we ahve more than them.... Oh yea me and Elder Hardy are the only two americans on my island! so everyone stares at us like we are 8 foot tall monsters or somthin. haha.... But anyways family. How is everyone doin. It feels wierd bein here i wont lie. i miss home and america. its hard. but it will be worth it. Tell tess congrats again i wish i could have been there. tell des to keep goin to church and thinkin about the temple. i miss you guys and cant wait to hear from you. write me alot ok! oh and if you can send like a thousand boxes of macoroni and cheese they dont have it here.and send like snacks like you did when i was in the mtc to i NEED SOME haha... but if it costs to much dont do it i can manage. but anyways im sitin in an internet cafe cost me 40 pesos for an hour so like 90 cents. haha thats another thing, i get 6700 pesos a month to live off of. so like 134 bucks a month haha... but it apparently works out.... but there arent any shops to buy clothes on Cantanduanes so i have to wait until next transfer. for pants and stuff... but oh well. i did my laundry today by hand haha you would be proud mom. oh ya i take bucket showers , WOW its cold but kind of refreshing. It gets dark here at like 530 so pretty much i have to wander around the jungle in the dark till 9 good thing my comp knows his way around..... Oh yea the day i met my Mission president he said he was puttin me on the island cuz he could feel my leadership skills and knows i am going to be a great leader, i dont understand how people see this stuff ive always been in my eyes and ordinary person. but i guess if people think this stuff its because i was raised right and had amazin parents, and a dad who knew how to treat and teach a son. , ive realized over the past 2 months how much i have learned from you dad and how much you have taught me, ive learned everythin i have ever needed to know from you. its makes me so happy to know how wonderful my family is. and i cant wait to get back and share my stories with them. .... anyways family i need to go.. i love you all and miss you... i think i only et like 45 minutes to talk on christmas and i dont konw how im gonna make the plans for that but ill let you know.... Magandang hapon and kita kits mamaya