Elder Adam Walker:

Aug 20, 2008
It sounds like it has been a great week. That lady that called you was here and she told me that she was going to call you. They served a mission in Ghana Africa, where grandpa and grandma Tucker served, they were really nice people. It sounds like Elder Smith's Mom is going to call you this week sometime. She wants to know you or something. Alec Fulmer got his mission call, and you will never guess where he is going! haha Charleston West Virginia, I can't believe it. That will make 5 of us Rexburg kids here in this mission. So that will be great! 4 elders and 1 sister. It's a small world. Especially when you are from Rexburg. But everything is going great here. Justine's baptism went awesome last weekend, she was so happy and it was great! This weekend we have another baptism and I am going to baptize her. So that will be great. You will probably hear about a lot of baptisms this transfer. We have set a goal to get at least 5, hopefully more, we are going to be working really hard, but now that I have a companion that knows a little bit about what he is doing, we are going to be rolling, our goal is to lead the mission in baptisms, tough goal but we can do it. I have been learning a ton and things are great. Thanks for getting that book for me, that will be great. I might end up giving that one to Justine cause she wants the Doctrine and Covenants but she just can't afford it right now, so I will probably give her that one. Our ward isn't too willing to spend anymore money than they have too, I have been trying to get them to order some of those triple combinations. Everyone hated my old companion come to find out, its kind of sad, every house that we go to, we find out that he got on their nerves all the time and that's why some of them were giving us a really hard time and not working with us that well. But now that we have two missionaries in this ward that no one can dislike, we will be stylin! haha at least I hope they don't dislike us. Sounds like Rexburg is just booming as usual it will be weird to see it when I get home. Time is flying out here, it won't be long and I will be on that plane but as for now, we have work to do!! Hope you are all awesome and it is good hearing from everyone!
Thanks for everything! Elder Walker

Aug 27, 2008
First off dad, I want you to know that last Saturday I tasted the hottest hot sauce that is on this side of the Mississippi river and the second hottest in the United states! HOLY CRAP IT WAS HOT!! It's a missionary tradition here in Elkins and we had a district meeting here so that was pretty much initiation day. I was sick and was hesitant about trying it, but I did and needless to say by the time I had chugged a half gallon of milk to try to stop the burning (which by the way didn't help) I didn't feel much better after haha in fact, I think it might have made me feel a little worse. But I am still alive along with the other missionaries that tried it. But overall it was HOTT!! If we ever make it here into this town after I get home, you will all have to be sure to try it.

This transfer is going so much better, Elder Smith is awesome and we have managed to actually get some quality work done here and it has been great. It has been an awesome week here, I have learned a lot and time is flying. We have just been teaching a whole bunch of people and trying to get them committed to baptism. We are teaching a blind guy right now and he is awesome. He wants to be baptized but he doesn't think coffee is bad and says that God told him it was okay for him to drink it, haha he is an interesting guy but we are working with him. His name is Frank. We also have a lady named Kathy who loves us missionaries and she keeps having us over so we can give her the history of our church, she is a huge history buff, haha now that we have talked to her about the history of the church she thinks that it could actually be true!, (what a coincidence huh?) and then of course we have Jack Chandler as his wife and daughter who are really interested and have been awesome investigators. Then we have a 9 year old girl that can't wait to be baptised, her mom is just really anti-Mormon so we have been working with her to see what we can do. Hopefully, her mom will come around and we will be able to baptise both of them. In fact, remember the guy that we were teaching that died? It's his granddaughter. We have quite a few more people that we are teaching but those are our strongest people that we are teaching. Its great!

I can't believe how fast summer has gone, the leaves are already starting to change here. I am personally glad summer is almost over here, it has been so dang hot and humid, I have been praying for it to cool down. It is still 80 degrees or higher everyday, but the humidity seems to be dropping so that is the best part about it. The package was great mom, thanks alot! The brownies got a little smashed but they still tasted awesome! I froze most of the cookies and I eat a couple everyday. I really have to watch what I eat out here, cause I seem to go on sprees of eating too much. I gained 5 lbs in the MTC and now that I have been out here I have lost 5 so I am staying pretty even right at 195 lbs. So I am doing good. I'm not starving myself that is for sure. When you send my next package can you send me some of that gel that I like, one of the missionaries that is in a town right next to mine saw it and freaked out, cause he has been looking all over for it. haha his mom sends him the wrong stuff every time so she doesn't know what it is. So he wanted me to ask you if you would send it to him.

The Baptism went really well. I was sick and felt like I was going to puke all day. But I made it and it turned out really well. We had 4 missionaries here for support and everything seemed to work out really well. Everything is going Awesome here and the work is moving forward~! faster than ever and the same with time.... its going ridiculously fast. Love you all and hope you are all doing great! Elder Walker

Sept 3, 2008
It sounds like everything is going great at home and it is starting to cool off... here it is still scorching hot and so very, very humid... Yesterday it was 95 degrees. It was not fun at all. I will survive though. It is supposed to cool down here in a couple weeks so hopefully that will happen. But other than the heat everything is going really well. We have taught a lot of people this week and got a lot done. Today we have interviews with pres Thornock in Clarksburg, so that will be nice. The only bad thing is that we have to drive 75 miles to get there. So we are going to spend 150 miles of our 1300 that we get a month. The missionaries that live about half way between Elkins and Clarksburg normally drive us there and that is only like 30 miles to their house, but their car is broken down so we have to pick them up and then drive the whole way... bummer I know but its okay. Before I forget Brantley wants some Gel, I gave him your email, maybe you got an email from him today I don't know, I cant remember his address but I am sure the one on the blog is right. haha he is addicted to it. And something I could use is an oil vial and some oil. I have looked in all the deseret magazines and distrabution magazines that we have access to but I cant find one in there. I'm sure you could find one in Rexburg haha so if you could do that I would appreciate it.

The Chandler family is coming along awesomely! We took the bishop to their house yesterday and their family really liked him and the bishop let them actually know that he cared about them and that he was there for them so that was really, really good. Taking members to investigators houses is a huge help, because people can see that there are people that live pretty much right next door to them that are members and that they are half normal. We don't have horns and we only have one wife. People have some pretty radical ideas out here that is for sure. Some people that we talk to would actually join our church just because of polygamy... but since it has been abolished, they don't want to join, (weird people I know), the sad part is the people that say that are normally married to their first cousin, and they probably just want to marry 3 or 4 more of their cousins that just haven't had the opportunity to be married. haha you would be surprised how many people actually have married their cousins out here. I thought it was just a joke, but they really do. I think West Virginia is the only state that it is legal.

My name has already gotten around the mission as Tucker jr. (his cousin) (don't worry it's not a bad thing haha) when I go tracting I don't let people push us around and just say, 'I have my church, I am not interested.' Most missionaries just say alright have a good day (which is lame) but I push the point and ask them all kinds of questions, sometimes it makes them mad because they find out that I know more about their church than they do. Its great! Most missionaries hate tracting and say it is pretty much a waste of time. But I have proven that wrong and it is an awesome way to find people to teach. You just have to be bold, know your scriptures, and make sure the person you are talking to knows that you know what you are talking about (be confident). Arguing really is pointless, and we did get into a couple arguments this last week, but sometimes you just can't help it, sometimes with some people. haha don't worry, I am being careful and haven't hurt any one's feelings. So we are doing good. I love the Scriptures and everyday that I study them I find that the gospel of Jesus Christ is absolutely true, many say there are flaws, but there isn't, its perfect; The people are not but the Gospel itself is perfect. I have learned so much being out here and my testimony has enlarged dramatically. Tomorrow is my 3 month mark already. Crazy huh? I just can't blink my eyes anymore, I miss too much stuff that is going on, its unbelievable. It sounds like Alec Fullmer is coming out to the same mission that I am in right now. I think he will get here in December, that will be #5 from Rexburg that are in the mission right now. There is a whole lot of us.

One more thing, (Elder Smith is still typing so I will write a little more), the blind guy that we are teaching and had a baptismal date doesn't want to be baptised any more. He can't get over the fact that drinking coffee is against the Word of Wisdom. We are going to try to talk to him when we get home tonight, and hopefully we can help him understand the importance of it.. but we will just have to see. He is awesome, he is 75 years old, blind (one hundred percent blind, can't even see shadows) and he walks at least 10 miles a day, many times down the side of the main road. It's amazing how people's senses work when they have a disability like that. So yeah that is pretty much what is going on here in Elkins right now. Nothing to exciting and we are all still alive so that is good!

I love this work and the work here is going awesome. I love you all and hope everything is going great! Elder Adam Walker