Guest Blog: Missionary Letters by Elder Dog Walker

I've been asked to Guest-Blog since Mom was feeling a bit tired ever since we've had a camp out in our backyard and a lot of other fun things we've done this weekend. I just wanted to explain another mission thing that I've done during the mission. I guess I probably should've told you who the mission president's name is. His name is President Happy. He's President Happy because he's always happy to hear about my mission and to know how it's going. Every week, my mission president was always expecting me to write a letter to him every week after Sunday to tell him about how the mission is going and see if there's any suggestions he has for me to make my mission feel like it's a very good opportunity to do. I just wanted to show you a few letters that I've sent to President Happy.


7/13/14
Dear President Happy
I know I haven’t written a letter to you much, because I accidentally left the last letter 3 days before I remembered to send the letter to you. Anyway, I guess I should tell you that my mission is still going great, even though I accidentally let Heavenly Father down by missing half of the day at Granite last Friday, because it was celebrating three special events at restaurants. It was 7/11 at 7-Eleven where you get a free slurpee, 72nd anniversary of Krispy Kreme’s where you get a dozen doughnuts for less than 75 cents, and Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-Fil-A. I wanted to go to all these events and I kind of thought they were more important than the mission. I apologized to Heavenly Father about that and I promised that I’ll do better next time. They weren't upset with me at the seminary, but I was upset with myself. I should be a more dedicated missionary.
Anyway, I wanted to point out that I’m in choir at SLCC and there’s a choir performance coming up in the Assembly Hall. I have a feeling that it’s on Pioneer Day and the performance call time is at 6:00 in the morning. That means I’ll have to go to bed really early and try to get some homework done before the last minute. Maybe I should pray that I’ll manage to get everything done before the last minute. I hope to hear back from you soon.
Sincerely,
Elder Dog Walker
P.S. 5 weeks left until Sister Teach comes home! :)


4/28/14
Dear President Happy,

I'm writing a letter to you this time on the day after Sunday. I know that I still need to tell you about my mission, but I was just thinking that I should tell you that I'm almost done with the Spring semester at SLCC. I'm on Finals week and I'm working on trying to make sure that I'm catching up and getting good grades before it ends. The end of the Semester is supposed to be next Friday. I can't wait to take a break from that and just do a little more hours in the seminaries, if I can.

Anyway, I know that there is Fathers and Sons camp going on in May, but some of my brothers are doubting that they'll be able to come, because they have a baseball game and they have Scout-A-Rama going on in that weekend. I'll be a little disappointed if I never got to go, because I was thinking that I could bring wolf-em sticks that a couple of friends of Sister Princess's have invented on their own. I think they're cool and I wish they could've been made when I was in Boy Scouts, but that's okay, Sport could use them in Boy Scouts when he starts doing it. The mission's still going good and I'm hoping I'll have more hours to help in the seminaries once the semester is over.

The other cool thing that happened to me this week was that I got to sing in the Tabernacle for an institute choir concert last Friday. It was very amazing to be sitting in the choir seats and singing so beautifully. They even recorded it for some reason I guess I will find out later. I wish you could have heard us. Mom said her favorite song was I Believe in Christ.

Thanks,
Elder Dog Walker

5/5/2014

Dear President Happy,

It's the last week of the semester, and I still have to study for the final exam in my math class. Even though I'm studying, I still have a feeling that I haven't studied enough to get a good grade on the exam on Wednesday. My mom suggests that I pray more and that I won't doubt about taking the test so much and think that I'll fail it if I've worked hard and done my best to prepare. 

Anyway, I have a question for you. My parents have been telling me that there are some parts of living at home on my mission where I have to avoid things that aren't missionary appropriate. They say that I'm not released from my mission even though I come home from it. Have you ever heard of this YouTube comedian named Julian Smith? He films some videos that some people would find hilarious. My mom, however, thinks that they're not funny and she thinks it's not missionary appropriate. She says that these videos he makes are mean-spirited and rude.

I just wanted to ask for your opinion. Do you agree with my mother when she says that Julian Smith is a mean comedian? If you do, then I understand and I'll stop, even though there's got to be something that would give me a laugh-out mood. Do you have any suggestions of laugh-outs that are appropriate for a missionary? If you do, then, where will I find them? 

I hope to hear back from you,

Sincerely, 

Elder Elder Dog Walker

6/10/14

Dear President Happy,

I enjoyed that Priesthood meeting with Bishop Burton talking on Sunday morning before the Sacrament meetings began. So I thought I could tell you about my thoughts of the talk. I thought it was amazing that he could tell us the story about President Hinckley's challenge on the membership of the Church. I liked it when he was saying how Church membership is increasing. It made me feel like that we are making great progress on how we can get a lot of people around the world to accept the fact and know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the only true religion in our world today. 

I like to point out that it really is true and I know that if we live righteously, we'll live for eternity with our families and our friends. I'm hoping in the future there will be more members of the church, like it'll probably lead to 1 billion members. I'm hoping to hear back from you and to know of what you thought about the talk in Priesthood meeting. 

I also talked to the missionaries and Brother Scott White about doing some splits. They will call me soon. I am off this week from my mission since all the seminaries are closed until next week, but I am going to go to the temple tomorrow, I hope. I have never been to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple before so I am a little nervous, but I think it will be okay.

Sincerely, 

Elder Dog Walker

I hope you have enjoyed these letters that I have been writing and sending to President Happy. I hope it makes all of you happy to hear that my mission is going really great. :) By the way, after today, there are about 3 weeks left until Sister Teach comes home from her mission! :) I hope y'all are excited for that!