Papers Sent……
Walker met with our Stake President, President Layton, on Sunday the 3rd for his Missionary Interview. Everything went well. The interview lasted a long time. Pres. Layton commented on how spiritually mature Walker is and was really impressed by him. <3
Since Walker’s availability date is June 10th he told him to text him on February 10th (the earliest you can submit your papers is 120 days out) and he’d press the submit button and send everything up to Salt Lake. Everything is electronic now. The process for everything is so much faster now.
Something ‘interesting’ about Feb. 10th is that I got a notification from FamilySearch that morning telling me it was my relative’s bday. When I logged in to see who it was it was my Great Great Grandma (and Walker’s 3 times Great Grandma) Elizabeth Taylor Goodman Merrill’s. This is meaningful because it is her husband, Byron Merrill, who was the last person to serve a mission in my family 112 years ago. They both were very devout members. They loved the Gospel and were pioneers whose families settled in St. David, Arizona.
When Walker was filling out his papers a few weeks ago I looked up who the missionaries were that had served in my family. Byron was the last and I pulled up his picture. As I was looking at a photo of him and his wife my heart flooded with joy, pride, and happiness. It moved me so much I started to cry. It took me by surprise! It was completely unexpected. But as I looked at the two of them, I knew that they know Walker, they are near, and they are so VERY proud of him!
This pic was taken while he was on his mission. He was called and served in the Central States Mission in 1907.
This is him in 1909 at the Louisiana Conference. He’s on the front row second from the left.
And to top it all off, Feb. 10th was the day we got to see Pres. Russell M. Nelson here in Arizona. I can’t help but feel the Lord is truly aware of Walker and our family right now. <3
This Missionary stuff is pretty new to us. I mean, 112 years since the last person served in my family and Walker will be the first on Jared’s side. We are definitely learning as we go along. We all feel like modern day pioneers that’s for sure!
One advantage we have now is technology. Walker sent us this…..
His response made me laugh and melted my heart! He’s not one to get overly excited or even use exclamation points in texts. He was being funny and doing it for his Momma. ( I love myself some emoji’s and exclamation points! 😛 ) He said it took him a long time to type all those! Haha!!! It was the BEST response I could have gotten!
It’s really moving forward. I’m a big ball of mixed up emotions! I “may” have been eating my feelings since he met with the Stake President. LOL! I feel proud, nervous, excited, going to miss him like CRAZY, grateful, in awe, happy, sad, anxious, humbled, eager to hear where he’s going, and on and on….
We’ll find out in the next couple of weeks! Stay tuned!
