03/28/2011 Busy Week

Hello everyone!

This past week has been crazy and extremely busy. Tuesday morning we left for Pocatello and didn't get back until Thursday afternoon from the leadership training meeting. Our training went really well. We received some great compliments from it afterward and President Colton told us we trained exactly the way he wanted. We focused a lot on the preparation necessary to receive revelation and looked a lot to the Prophet Joseph Smith as an example to how we should prepare ourselves to receive greater revelation. We may not have quite the experience as the prophet but we are promised that if our heart is prepared, God promises answers. Moroni 10:4 teaches us how to be prepared.

Friday we had a zone leader council for several hours and made plans of how to implement the trainings we received and "make it rain." When Elder Scott was in a stake meeting the discussion was how to get word out to all the members of the stake; they discussed several metaphors of gardening like trenches and rivers when Elder Scott said, "brethren, we need to make it rain." President Colton likes to use this example when talking about sharing what we know with the missionaries we serve.

At this zone leader council President trained on Jacob 5. I now love this chapter because we learn the importance of laboring with the Lord. We particularly studied ch. 70 to 77 and learned that the servant that is talked about is the Prophet Joseph Smith. These verses are all about this last dispensation and how we need to labor with Joseph to gather zion before the earth is destroyed by fire. As I ponder on this I assume that the servant can also be known as President Monson and the allegory is the same. Our dear prophet is laboring to gather the elect preparatory to the second coming of the Messiah, we too must labor with him and fulfil our purpose of inviting others to come unto Christ. We are so blessed to have a prophet to labor with and to know the secrets of our God. I love to state to others that I have been called by a prophet of God to share what I know; I know that my message is true.

Saturday was a payday as brother Rob House was baptized. His wife was baptized back in September and has been trying to get baptized since then. He's had a smoking habit that he couldn't kick but finally was able to do it with many prayers and fasting. He has already been interviewed and will receive the Aaronic Priesthood the Sunday after next. Elder Rudd and I were able to travel to Poky to see 2 baptisms that we helped with. It was really great to see people in Pocatello again.

All is well in Idaho. We received a few inches of snow last night! I thought is was all going to be gone finally but I was definitely wrong.

I hope you all are doing great and that you love life. Keep smiling!

--
Peace and Love,
Elder Tyson Rigby Walker

3/28/2011

Here are some pictures from the past week:
The picture on the tredmil has a sweet story attached.
The baptism of a family Elder Rudd and I taught in Poky
The baptism of Brother Rob House

The former Sister Wardell who I saw at the Visitors' Center last night. She's doing well and is planning on going to LDSBC in the fall.

Elder Owens and I being legit.

Prayer 03/21/2011

Hello Everyone,

We have successfully moved into our new house. I wish I took pictures that I could show you all how awesome our new place is but I forgot. We are having the zone over today for a BBQ in our backyard.

I'm not sure if you've seen the new videos called "Mormon Messages" maybe online or if you've purchased the DVD at Deseret Book. It is a collection of videos that contain messages of hope and inspiration from the Apostles and our Prophet and even some members of the Church.
These videos were created originally for youtube but are now available on DVD. I invite you all to search them out on youtube or purchase a copy. These videos are fantastic! I've used them in nearly every teaching appointment since I bought it last week and have seen success from doing so.

Tomorrow we leave for Pocatello to go to a 3-day leadership conference at the Idaho State University institute building. I'm pretty excited for this conference because they are all usually pretty good and I learn a lot. For this one Elder Owens and I have been asked to give a 2 hour training on revelation through prayer. I learned something about prayer in an experience we had while preparing this training on prayer... interesting isn't it?

We have been praying and pondering on the topic for several days now and several times we tried to put the training together but nothing would come. We had these ideas so we wrote them on the board but then they wouldn't make sense or we would forget where we were going with it. I received this prompting on Saturday to call President Colton and ask him for some advice to which he said, give me a couple days to think and I'll get back to you. Now mind you, we are leaving really early tomorrow which leaves us with today to prepare the training. This morning President Colton got back to us and asked us to focus on the revelation part more so than the prayer part. With that advice we grabbed the white board and all our notes and study material and sat on the ground to draw up the outline. The ideas flowed and the outline came with ease. We finished everything in an hour. The Spirit completely took charge and guided us on what to train the missionaries on. The lesson I learned is that the Lord is mindful of us and only answers prayers on His time and when He does, it's perfect.

In my study of prayer I learned a lot about the preparation that takes place prior to and during a prayer. We learn of the preparation of the Prophet Joseph that took a significant amount of time prior to him actually entering the sacred grove to plea with the Father. We learn of Job of old who was taught about the preparation necessary prior to asking the Father, "...prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands toward him." And of course we know of Moroni who exhorts us to prepare for revelation, "...ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ..." I've learned that receiving answers or help from our Supreme Creator we must prepare ourselves prior to even asking in the name of Christ. The question is do we explain this to people when we invite them to pray to know if the Church is true? Do we understand the significance of prayer and the commandment to pray often? I know that I can rise to a new level and apply myself better.

I love what Elder Scott says in regards to prayer. He explains that Heavenly Father is the Grand Creator of all things both in heaven and in earth and yet He invites you and I, as insignificant as we are, to call Him Father and have a personal relationship with Him. Elder Scott then concludes by stating that He will listen and answer our prayers.

I'm excited to let you all know how the training goes this week. We're the last part of the conference and will present on Thursday.

I hope you are all doing great and are loving life. All is well here.

--
Peace and Love,
Elder Tyson Rigby Walker

3-14-2011 Crazy Week Ahead

Hello Everyone,

First off we are officially moving houses tomorrow so please discontinue letters to the current address and either send to the mission office or direct to the new house.

What a great week! This transfer we are packed with exchanges going on 2 a week. This past week I was able to go with a new missionary and with Elder Rudd. Both exchanges were awesome for different reasons. The first was wonderful because Elder Starley has a huge amount of love for everyone and wants more than anything to be the best missionary he can be. For the exchange I prayed and asked Heavenly Father that He would allow us to set a baptism date so the exchange would be one that Elder Starley would always remember. Not only did Heavenly Father allow us to set a baptism date, he let us set two! We were following up with a new investigator on his reading and praying when he asked us to come in because he had a couple questions. When he asked his questions I could see the wheels turning in his head as we answered questions about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. One question led to another which led to another until finally he was taught the whole restoration lesson. When we were about to conclude his girlfriend came in and asked us a question about life after death and she was then enticed to ask more questions which led to teaching all about the plan of salvation. Normally I would never teach all of 2 lessons but they were soaking in everything we taught them! Their questions would lead to the next principle of the lesson and we couldn't teach fast enough to what they were gathering. At the end I nodded for Elder Starley to invite them to be baptized and they both accepted a date for 16 April.

The exchange was sweet with Elder Rudd. Usually an exchange takes some time to get to know the missionary and learn quick how to teach with them but since I already served 3 transfers with Elder Rudd we just hit the pavement and went to work. It was a weird feeling serving with him in a different area other than Poky but great for the work we accomplished. I'm going to be sad to see him go in a few weeks.

Elder Owens and I are constantly running like crazy and giving trainings right and left. We are preparing a training for next week that President Colton asked us to give at a leadership conference in Pocatello on Revelation through prayer. We are responsible for training roughly 75 missionaries for 2 hours! Yay. Try balancing that plus a training for the zone on Thursday on obedience then a training for our district leaders right after, a training for a district meeting tomorrow, planning and preparing a zone blitz for Saturday, packing and moving house tomorrow, exchanges Wed and Fri, plus teach the gospel in 4 wards.... Welcome to the life of a zone leader. Funny thing is I love every second of it!

The Gospel is true. I'm so excited for conference in a couple weeks to hear the council from our Prophet (and also to take off the suit jacket until October). The work is moving forward. I love this great standard of truth!

--
Peace and Love,
Elder Tyson Rigby Walker

3-14-2011

This is what happens when you give 2 missionaries a Subaru and the snow melts which causes muddy roads... not a good combo. haha!

March 7, 2011

Hello Everyone,

I can't believe it is Monday again and here I am writing about what has happened this week.

The work seems to be picking up since this week we were able to set 2 baptism dates and tonight we're going to set another. The first was an awesome experience for a guy that is going to be leaving for England to serve a mission next month. We challenged him to memorize the baptism invitation and told him that for this lesson we were going to be inviting Brother House to be baptized and when he felt the Spirit tell him to extend the invitation to go ahead and do it. Austin was way nervous but he did invite when he was directed and invited Brother House to be baptized. Brother House accepted and will be baptized on the 26th. I think this experience did more for Austin than any mission prep class or study of baptism. It's neat to see the lives of even active members change as they are involved with the Spirit and act on His promptings in regards to missionary work.

Do you remember Travis Stevens? He's the one who had the tragic experience of his 13 year old son passing away. Because of this experience his life became chaos and he wasn't baptized on his first scheduled day in January. We finally met with him after several weeks last night. In the lesson I felt impressed to ask him if the Book of Mormon is true and to my surprise he said that he knew it was. I then went to the introduction and pointed out that if he knew the Book of Mormon is true then he would also know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, that Joseph Smith is His revelator and prophet, and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord's kingdom on the earth. I believe this expanded his understanding and his testimony because then that led right to him setting another date to be baptized for April 2nd. He told us that his only concern at his point is that he isn't quite sure of what all the commandments are that he commits to live when he is baptized. That is an easy concern to overcome in the amount of time we have to teach him. I'm so happy for him and his decision to become a member of the Lord's kingdom. I learned that although we weren't meeting with him for several weeks the Spirit was still working on him and still teaching him truth. Our Heavenly Father never lets us alone. He really loves us and will continue to do His part.

All is well here in Idaho Falls. We might be moving houses again this week due to some location and contract issues so please send letters to the mission office first then next week I'll send out my new address. Thanks for all the prayers and support. The Church is true and the standard of truth has been erected!

--
Peace and Love,
Elder Tyson Rigby Walker

February 28, 2011

Hello Everyone,

This week was crazy as every first week of the transfer is. Transfers were successful this last Wednesday and Elder Owens made it here. We received 2 new missionaries to the zone which makes over half of the missionaries in the Idaho Falls West Zone 6 months or younger in the mission. We are currently leading the mission and I think it's because of the new missionary fire that we have which includes the desire to go and work. We ended this transfer with 17 baptisms in the zone which is incredible for 10 companionships.

Elder Owens is pretty sweet. He's from Mesa, Arizona and has been on his mission one transfer less than me which makes him only my 2nd companion that's been out less than me. He's athletic like most of my companions have been which I like because it helps us focus on the only thing we have in common, our purpose, rather than worldly commonalities.

This past week I finished "To the Rescue" the biography of President Monson. What a wonderful book! I encourage all of you to read it if you haven't yet. President Colton put it this way, "reading 'To the Rescue' is a life changing experience." I agree with him. I learned so much about our prophet and the great example he is to us. Two great lessons I learned from reading this book: 1. The Spirit re-confirmed to me that President Monson is a prophet of God, like He did when we participated in the solemn assembly nearly 3 years ago. He is the one who has been chosen for God to reveal his secrets to for the world. 2. President Monson made this statement, "whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies". President Monson is a perfect example of this, he wasn't anyone extraordinary or famous but he was prepared from the beginning to fulfil his sacred assignment as a prophet, seer, and revelator. Elder Scott said this when he came to the mission, "the Lord often calls un-ordinary people to do extraordinary things." President Monson is a perfect example of this statement.

I am so thankful that we have a prophet on the earth today. Isn't it great that we know clearly, as clear as black and white, what God's plan for us is? We know this because he has again reached out in love and chosen a messenger to give us constant revelation. The windows of heaven are not closed but are ever open, we should declare this to the world!!! In every interaction with people that I meet that are not of our faith I always tell them 2 things, one that God loves them, and two that He has called a prophet. I am here in Idaho because the true church of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth and I have been called by a living prophet; I know my message is true. How great is my calling!

We haven't experienced any new baptism dates this week but we're planning on having set a few by the end of next week. Thanks for the prayers and the thoughts. I really appreciate them all. I went to the temple on Wednesday with Elder Durnall before he left. It was nice to remember the prayers for the full-time missionaries in the world. It's an interesting experience to be prayed for specifically in the temple. I realized this will only happen again in my life if I am in a temple presidency or the prophet. I can tell you that those prayers are answered because I feel the power of heaven each day I invite others to come unto Christ.

I challenge you all to let someone this week know that we have a prophet on the earth and what this means to you. I promise you a deeper testimony of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ as you do so. Let me know what experiences you have this week as you take this challenge.

--
Peace and Love,
Elder Tyson Rigby Walker