My Dad and His Lasting Service - Missionaries -

Scott's oldest daughter, Natalie, has a son, Max, who is serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is 18 1/2 years old, never been away from home, and has gone from living in Utah to living in Florida (with his family), to spending time now in Fresno, CA, with a companion (probably several over the next 2 years), without family contact except for letters and 2 phone calls a year (Christmas and Mother's Day). It's quite an undertaking for the family and the missionary, and my personal belief is this is quite the maturing coming-of-age transition for any 18 year old, more for the missionary than for those they hope to convert to Mormonism.

I write Max every week - although I don't know him well, I feel strongly that I should be communicating with him. My letter, that he'll receive tomorrow, is this:

Something pretty cool happened to my mother yesterday, and I thought I would share. As you may know, my father passed away on July 5, 2016. He and my mom are our next-door neighbors, and Grandpa and Grandma Weaver lived across the street from them. That is the main reason we bought our home – to be able to care for both sets of parents as they aged. And we’ve been able to. My mother is now 81, and she’s doing pretty darn good, able to live alone just fine, but she sure does love having us next door – as Grandpa visits with her, takes care of her yard and her house, and I cook for her, listen to her, and we both enjoy sharing time with her.

Well, my father was a branch president at the MTC in the early 1980s. He was there for three years. He served the young men who were going to English-speaking areas. He had them for three weeks, and he had a lasting impact on many of them, particularly those who came into the MTC not really prepared for serving a mission or sure they even wanted to serve. One of these missionaries, JE, has stayed a family friend all of these years.

My mother received a Facebook message a couple of years ago from a man looking for “Elder Walker who served at the MTC in the 1980s.” Mother mentioned my father had, but then she never heard back from this man. Then Friday night he messaged saying he didn’t get on FB very often, and was glad it was Clyde (my father’s first name), and wondered how he was and how to get in contact with him. My mother told him Dad had died. And then this is the message (I’ve edited for length) my mother received back:

Time goes by so fast. I wish that I would have checked these messages more often.

I thank you for sharing. I truly am sadden to hear of your loss. I have called so many phone numbers over the years trying to find the right Clyde Walker. After reading your loss I found and read the wonderful tribute of his life and I realize that this is the right ELDER WALKER. As a Branch President at the MTC he worked with our group. Our leader/teacher was ill and Elder Walker stepped in to take care of us. He played a vital role in my life as a young new missionary. I had a hard time making the decision to go and leave a girl that I had been dating for 3 yrs. Elder Walker had such a strong and wonderful spirit about him. He truly was inspired and helped me to find the faith to be a missionary. I served a faithful mission that blessed me with a foundation for my life and family. A foundation of faith and understanding far more powerful than I could have ever imagined.

He told me that the Lord would bless my life with a wonderful bride when I finished serving as a missionary, if I would put my faith in the Lord. He was right.

The lord did bless me with a wonderful faithful wife. She is teaching gospel doctrine now and is a principle of North Ogden jr High. We have 4 kids, 2 girls and 2 boys. . .

I want to thank you for your wonderful husband and the life altering influence that he had on my life for generations to come. He taught me to have faith and love.

I owe this legacy to my MTC father Clyde Walker. I really wish that I could have shared this with him. The time will come when I will be able to give him a proper thank you. If I may say through you...I love you Clyde Walker! Thank you!

Isn’t this beautiful? The work of one man – he was just doing what he knew was right, which was serving his Father in Heaven, and yet all of these years later, one young man remembered my father’s love, and cared enough to share! We never know!