6 October 2016

Today was a very happy day for the Walker household. At 1:07pm Elder Walkers plane landed in Eugene and he made his way along with the other passengers to the main terminal where the family and few friends were waiting, some patiently and others not so patiently.

Of course mom got the first hug, she has been talking about this moment for almost two years now. Tears were welling up in her eyes as he walked toward her, and as you can imagine, she couldn’t wait anymore and rushed in for the first hug. By the time dad moved in for hug number two Elder Walker’s face was a light shade of purple, once they were pulled apart dad got his hug. A few handshakes and quick hugs later, not to mention about a thousand pictures we were on the way to the stake center for the final testimony and the official release with President Ennis.

It was so nice to hear the testimony and words of wisdom Elder Walker has learned and gained over the past two years. There were several references to hunting and fishing analogies on both sides of the table, several commitments made, invitations extended and received and it was done. Our once Elder Walker is now Shane again, when he was asked to remove his name tags to signify the release he asked “that’s all there is?” to which the reply came “yes, that’s all there is.” He hesitantly removed the name badge on his suit coat, then the one on his shirt pocket, looked at them both for a few seconds before putting them both in his coat pocket. And it was done, no longer a missionary on the outside but forever changed by being a missionary on the inside.

Welcome home Shane