Spuds 5/17/2010

Well howdy everyone,

Oh boy, what a week. We went to the spud factory last Monday which was awesome! You might not think that a spud factory sounds that exciting but it was. This place puts out over 3 million pounds of potatoes a year. Crazy amount of spuds.

On Tuesday I went to Big Jud's for the first time up in Ashton. If you have never been to big Jud's, let me just tell you, it lives up to it's name. Those burgers are HUGE! And that is an understatement. What a great experience.

My companion had to have surgery on Thursday on his foot. He wasn't allowed to move around so we had to stay in on Thursday. I hated that. I was so antsy; our apartment hasn't been as clean as it is now from Thursday.

Friday we went to Zone Conference. This zone conference was the best one I've been to yet. The theme for this conference was charity and love. President Colton gave such a great talk and the assistants gave an awesome training. I was asked to play the organ, which I do at every zone conference, but this organ was the oldest thing I've ever seen! I had no idea how to play it. The buttons were all different and it was way smaller than usual. I did my best though and it all worked out.

My favorite part of zone conf. is at the end when we sing "How firm a Foundation". We sing all 7 verses of that song every time as the closing hymn. The words to that hymn are so powerful and so motivating. I encourage you all to read those words and think about how the song applies to you. You will find new great insights to life.

We finally got a baptism date set! Caroline Clemens is her name; she has a 2 year old Son and raises him all on her own. She is 24 and just recently went through a terrible divorce. Get this, she is a Seminary graduate but has never been baptized. She grew up in a foster family that encouraged her to go to seminary. Don't ask me how it is possible for her to attend seminary for 4 years and never join the church but here we are. She has had a really rough life and hasn't ever felt genuine love from anyone before. We explained that although she hasn't felt love in her life, there is one who has always loved her and that is Jesus Christ. She went silent and then said that she never looked at it that way before. She said that our persistence has meant more to her that we will ever know because it shows how much we care about her. We taught her for the second time on Saturday and she accepted a baptism invitation for the 12th of June.

Yesterday was Stake Conf. This time was different though because it was broadcast from Salt Lake. We got to hear from Elder Grow of the Seventy, Sister Johnson of the Relief Society General Presidency, Elder Robert D. Hales, and lastly President Monson. This broadcast was for all of south eastern Idaho, 72 stakes I think. I really enjoyed hearing what these incredible people had to say to us Idaho people. My favorite part was listening to Elder Grow's talk. The majority of his talk was about President Phile of the Colorado Springs Mission! Elder Grow talked about his conversion story.

Well that's pretty much all the updates. I hope you all have a great week!--

Peace and Love,
Elder Walker