He's Home

From: Christopher Merrill Walker [cmwalker@myldsmail.net]

Sent: Monday, November 21, 2011 3:43 AM

To: Aaron Cox; G & G Walker; Julie Oyler; Julie Oyler Home; Merrill Walker; Shannan Walker

Subject: THE LAST MISSIONARY KID NEWSLETTER

HOMEWARD BOUND

In the quiet misty morning, when the moon has gone to bed,

When the sparrows stop their singing and the sky is clear and red,

When the summer's ceased its gleaming, when the corn is past its prime,

When adventure's lost its meaning, I'll be homeward bound in time.

Bind me not to the pasture. Chain me not to the plow.

Set me free to find my calling and I'll return to you somehow.

If you find it's me you're missing, if you're hoping I'll return,

To your thought I'll soon be list'ning; in the road I'll stop and turn.

Then the wind will set me racing as my journey nears its end,

And the path I'll be retracing when I'm homeward bound again.

Bind me not to the pasture. Chain me not to the plow.

Set me free to find my calling and I'll return to you somehow.

In the quiet misty morning when the moon has gone to bed,

When the sparrows stop their singing, I'll be homeward bound again.

--

PS Remember that I love you

TTFN LOVE ELDER WALKER

This is the email that I read yesterday from my brother Chris. As many of you know, he left to serve a mission in Europe two years ago. He has been serving all over Belgium and France. He has worked hard, laughed lots, grown taller, and learned the most he ever has in two years. He has sent emails, cards and called, but today he has returned home and we couldn't be any happier to have him back with us.

The last few weeks at my house have been cleaning weeks. We have washed walls, carpets, clothes, cabinets, book shelves, beds, bathrooms, blinds, and everything else there was to wash in every room in the house. And let me tell you, the house is clean. We knew we would have a busy week and wanted to make sure we were prepared.

Today started with getting up and making posters to take to the airport. I kept having markers die on me, but in the end we got them complete. We also hung up a banner and balloons outside and were grateful that it was a sunny day. We cleaned last minute things, got ready for the day, checked flight details, and then were on our way to the airport. His plan was coming in at 2:00 and we wanted to be sure to be there.

We loaded up in the car with our posters and balloons and were on our way. Upon arriving at the airport we parked and went in to the baggage claim area. We quickly found the escalators where we knew he would come down and worked on staking out our area. There were families already around the bottom waiting for their missionaries to come. They soon came and we watched as they reunited knowing that it would soon be us. After the other families moved we closed in to stake out our spot. Our family members were arriving and we were all getting excited. We were taking photos and goofing off while we waited for his flight to arrive.

My dad then had the thought they we might be in the wrong place. We were in Terminal 2, but he realized that Chris was coming from Paris, France and that was an international flight. He went and talked to the guy at the information desk and we learned that we were in the wrong place. We quickly gathered our belongings and headed over to the international terminal, which was in the next building over. We all gathered over there and proceeded to take more photo's and wait for him to arrive. We were debating where the passengers came out of and noticed that his flight had landed.

We then staked out our ground and waited for him to walk around the gate. We soon realized that it could be awhile before he came out because he had to go and get his luggage before he could. So we continued to wait. And wait. And wait some more while we also continued to congratulate others on arriving in Utah (we all had to do something while we waited with anticipation). And then we we thought he would never come out, A guy hollered that he could see the missionaries and that they were coming. One mom saw her boy and started jumping and ran forward to meet him. And then, my mom started to jump and run forward to see her own son who had walked out behind him.

Of course, after that there was a lot of running and jumping and most of all hugging. Running up and hugging my brother was one of the greatest things. It was so good to see him and to be able to put my arms around him and know that he was home. I think we ended up scaring Chris though with all of us that were there coming forward to hug him because he was shaking the whole time. Once the hugging was finished we took some more photo's and then proceed to leave the airport and to take him home.

The whole ride in the car he kept saying how big everything is here in America and how small things are in France. It was fun to see his face and watch his reaction as we pulled into the driveway and he walked into the house. He just kept looking around. We all gathered together in the basement and ate and talked. We listened to funny stories and even watched a couple of his videos. But most of all, we were just together until he head to go meet with the stake president to get released.

Once he got home he cleaned out his bags, hung up his ties, and changed his clothes. Then we sat again and talked some more and looked at the stuff he brought home until he decided that after being up for 26 hours that he was ready to go to bed. So we said goodnight and told him to sleep in and that we would see him in the morning.

All in all, it was a great day! A day full of joy and love. A day where I got to see my brother, who I am so proud of and love, come home. A day I wont soon forget.

My brother . . . as studly as ever

My Three White Dresses

My Three White Dresses

My mom bought me a white dress, not red or pink or blue. She said it was a special dress like very other few. There has been just one before, a dress now put away, that I wore some time ago upon my blessing day. As a little baby clothed in my first white dress, my dad held me in his arms, there to name and bless.

So pure and clean was I just then, with time to grow and learn about the Father’s plan for me. My glory I must earn.

Now I’ve reached the age to judge the wrong road from the right, and I am here to be baptized in this dress of white. So once again I’m free from sin. The path is clear to me. I’ll grasp the rod and hold on tight, I vow with certainty. Just as mud would stain my dress, sin would stain my soul. The key is to repent or bleach, for whiteness is my goal.

And if I try my very best, then richly blessed I’ll be, wearing inside God’s holy house white dress number three. So today I make this pledge: I’ll strive to choose the right. Through this sacred baptism ordinance in my second dress of white.

Today I put on my third white dress. I walked through the halls of a building I have dreamed about being in. I made covenants with my Father that I have been longing to make. I had my eyes opened up a little more to what this gospel is all about. Today I went to the temple.  Today I received my endowment. And through it all I enjoyed every moment.It was a fabulous experience that I will never forget.  

 

My young women leader gave this song to me one Sunday long ago, but it has been a favorite ever since and one that touched my heart and continues to do so. 

What Heaven See's in You

http://youtu.be/C8TNpZOdYA8


It is wonderful knowing that I am a daughter of God and that one day I can return to live with him again. The temple is an amazing place and I can't wait to go back.

Friday's Fabulous Find

Life is crazy my friends. Crazy busy when it is filled with laughter, friends, work, church, music, and love. But it is a good kind of crazy. One that I love and wouldn't trade. Yes, it means that some things don't get done and that I will always have a someday list filled with items that I might get to one day. But, through it all I find that living life to the fullest is the best way to do it even if it is crazy. And part of living life to the fullest for me is experiencing new things. It is discovering what is out there that is good in this world and enjoying it while I can. And that is why I like Friday Finds so much. It gives me an excuse to go and find new things and to try new things. It gives me an excuse to discover.

And just what did I discover this last weekend, you ask? Well I discovered two very enjoyable things that I would like to share with you. The first one is a restaurant. Now I had been to this place before, but I had never actually eaten there. I had only had a glass of their signature lemonade. Which was delicious and I enjoyed it at the time.  After that one time being there I have wanted to go back and Friday gave me a reason too. Which is why when my friend suggested we go there for dinner I was happy to agree. The restaurant is called the

Blue Lemon
Location: 55 West South Temple, SLC (they have on in Highland as well)
Hours: Mon - Thurs ~ 7am - 9pm, Fri and Sat ~ 7am - 10pm
Phone: 801-328-BLUE
Website: http://www.bluelemon.com/Home
Description: Gormet food with a twist
Price: decent, like Olive Garden

This restaurant has a variety of dishes that one can choose form. You can go for a fresh salad, a sandwich or a gourmet entree'. They also have a variety of sides which includes soup and fries. Plus they have a bakery with delicious looking treats as well.  For dinner I choose to get the Artichoke and Tomato Chicken.  And oh was it good. Not only was it served rather quickly, but it looked great and tasted even better. I also had a taste of my friends Butternut Squash Soup and will definitely be going back to get it for myself one day. Overall, I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this place. The food was delicious and the waiters were friendly and attentive.

My second Friday find came right after dinner when we headed over to Abravanel Hall for the concert that was preforming that night.  The concert we saw was The King's Singers. Now, I have not really listened to them before. I had heard some of their songs but I don't own any of their music and I had never been to a concert of theirs. After having spent the night in joyful awe, I have them on my list to see again. Needless to say, I enjoyed the show. The Utah Symphony did an amazing job and The King's Singers surpassed my expectations by far. I loved their rendition of the story Wind in the Willows, and their performance of Over the Rainbow. I will definitely be buying some of their music. If you would like to check them out and see what they are all about visit their website at http://www.kingssingers.com  You can also check them out on iTunes. I truly recommend that you do. But beware, you just might fall in love with their music too.

Friday Frights

This last Friday was full of Friday Frights instead of Friday finds. Although I did find out something new about myself, and that is that I absolutely love scaring high school kids.

I found out this little tidbit about myself this last Friday when I went to my cousins house to work in the haunted house that they were putting on. Now I know what some of you are already thinking...how cool and scary can a haunted house be when it's put on in the neighborhood right? Especially when it is put on by people like me. Well, let me tell you...it was plenty cool and plenty creepy for those going through it.

My cousins started putting on this haunted house a few years ago for their family. Back then it wasn't much, but served it's purpose well. In the continuing years they have decided to put it on again. This year has been the biggest yet. It went through the backyard, through the house, through the front yard, through the garage, and up through the attic. And every part of the way was creepy and spooky and full of hidden haunts and then full of all of us ready to scare.

Going into this I was a little hesitant. I mean, scaring teenagers? could it really be all it's cracked up to be? and could we really scare them?  Turns out that the answers to both of those questions is yes. and oh, what fun it was. It all started growing on me after I arrived at their house and saw what the had done with the place. It was fun to see how they transformed their home into a haunted house. After getting the grand tour and checking out all of the spook traps and sound effects, i had a feeling that this was going to be fun. and then, we started getting ourselves scary. Lets just say that make-up, hair, and clothes can all be used to make one look haunted, dead, and just plain creepy. Masks are fun as well. Well, after we were all ready and the teenagers had all arrived and been watching the creepy episodes of Supernatural, we decided to take our places to scare and get the show on the road.

 

I took up my post in the attic and awaited my first visitors. I was a little nervous about what to expect, but after hearing our first victims screams as they were going through the yard and the house I was feeling more confident about our abilities.  And by the time they got to me, I knew that we had succeeded and that they were creeped out. There I sat in the dark rocking back and forth in my chair singing ring around the roses just waiting for them to come around the corner. And oh what fun it was to hear their screams again when they did and see them rush to get to the next room.  Needless to say, I found it highly enjoyable and couldn't wait to hear the next victims screams. Good thing we had more people waiting their turn and got to do all over again many times.

Friday's Fabulous Find

As you have probably noticed, I never got around to posting the Fridays fabulous find from over a week ago. Which means that you get that Friday find and the Friday's find we just had in the same post.

The Friday find from over a week ago comes from an interesting store called Unhinged. It is a small store located in Sugarhouse right on 2100 south. I went there with the intention of having the store be my Friday find. And although the store was pretty neat on its own and I enjoyed the time I spent there, I felt like what I purchased was the true fabulous find. This is what I purchased:

This lovely treasure is a diary book. It is made from an old Peter Pan book that was falling apart. So instead of throwing it away they saved the pages they could and added in some blank ones, giving you both parts of a book and a place to write, draw, and dream. This store had a basket full of different books like this. I first inspected them out of cuiousity because I was seeing book titles that I liked. I soon found out what they were and had to get one. When I found Peter Pan I picked it right up. I love the idea of having pieces of a favorite story mixed in with the reality of mine. It makes me want to keep dreaming and living as much as they did in my everyday adventures. And even though I may never fly to Neverland, I still believe that I can learn to fly.

This last weeks Friday's Fabulous find is a little bit different. For you see, I didn't go anywhere to find it. I didn't go to a new store. I didn't go to a new restaurant. And I didn't buy anything new at all. My Friday find is a skirt that looks like this

A skirt that I found in my very own closet. There is something you should know though. I did not find this skirt looking like it does now. I found by going through my closet and pulling things out I no longer wear. I put a bunch of stuff in the DI pile, but there were a few things I thought I could make into something better. One of them was an old brown dress and one was a shirt that I had never worn. I looked at the two items for a moment and decided that they would both be much better if they were combined to be one instead of two. So on Friday night after work and after I had gone toy shopping, book shopping and food shopping, I got to work to make me a skirt. I cut and stared and thought and sewed and cut and thought and sewed, and cut and sewed. Then I stared some more and thought some more and sewed some more and that skirt is what I ended up with. I think it turned out rather cute and wore it to church today with a red shirt, some chunky jewelry and cute brown high heels. Needless to say, I felt cute in it too. So, if you are ever cleaning out your closets and come across some old clothes you never wear, it just might be worth it to think about what you could turn them into before you throw them out. They may just turn into a Friday Fabulous Find.