Conference and a Christian Pastor

This week was great!  So conference weekend was so uplifting!

Saturday we went to a member’s home and watched both sessions.  Elder Mariner went downtown for the Priesthood session.  So I went with Elder Sehestedt to one of his stake centers to watch it with him and his investigator Hunter who is getting baptized on the 14th.  Then Sunday we went to a member’s house who fed us waffles with ice cream on top for breakfast and another member’s house for lunch and the afternoon session.  We got to watch it with our investigator Brian.  He is my favorite investigator.  Now I know what you’re thinking, either "that’s not nice to have a favorite" or "You like him because of his name..." Which I do but that’s not why.  He asks such good questions.  He is logical and wants to know why things are the way they are which is exciting because we use scriptures and he knows that it makes sense.  He doesn't ask questions just to get us confused.  

This week we are starting discussions with two couples.  I am nervous and excited.  One is an evangelical pastor and his wife.  They seemed really cool.  Another is a Christian pastor and his wife.  I should have a good week, if not some good stories for you.

Tomorrow is transfer calls and I find out if I am getting transferred or what is happening.  No one knows what will happen.  The Presidents Assistants told us that this transfer is going to be like none other.  I can see Elder Mariner and I getting split and one of us taking 1 of our 3 stakes and the other one taking the other 2 and both of us getting new companions.  But I really have no clue.

Easter Sunday is coming up and I am excited!  Oh yeah, our mission had 194 baptisms this month.... We were 6 away from our goal of 200!

Well I love you,

Love,

Elder Willis

This week in SLC

This week in Salt Lake.... It has been such nice weather! Yesterday it was 73! Today.. It is 33 and snowing.  Love it.

This week has been so busy.  We had 5 baptisms this weekend!  They went great! I was so happy to see them enjoy the blessings of baptism.  It was so cool to be that busy in one weekend.  We are up to 165 as a mission this month.  Other than that all is good here.  I am nervous next week is transfer week and I have been here 6 months.  We will find out next Tuesday what will happen.  We are no longer in a threesome, sadly.  I liked it.  We were last week and it was so fun working in 6 stakes with 3 people.  We were busy all week.  

I love you guys and miss you.

Love,

Elder Willis

2 weeks worth of emails

March 12^th email

I can't believe it is already Monday again.  This week has flown by.  We had a filling week though.

This week we didn't have any baptisms but I feel like we did a lot of work.  One day we went to Seminary into one of the classes.  Here they have it in a building next to the school and we got to just go in during the day to a class.  It was cool.  We tried to get the kids excited about missionary work and get them to invite a friend to learn more from us.  We have found that the key to our success is the high school age kids.  They aren’t as afraid to share the gospel as the younger ones and they aren't worried about ruining a friendship over an invite to learn more when they know they won't ruin that friendship like the adults.  It was good.  We also have been trying to teach this kid who is on the church basketball team and not a member.  This week we found out all these kids are on the church teams and nonmembers but no one has told us about them.  It was a little frustrating.

The other day we went to a building for lunch because a member said they were having their child’s birthday party there and we could come and eat.  A kid there was so funny, he was like 10, and came up to me and said "Hey, can missionaries have girls on the side?" and I told him no and kind of laughed.  He asked me "So you can't kiss them or flirt at all?" and I told him no again. He told me "Man, that’s a joke!"  I don't think he gets why you go on a mission.  He is a member too.

We have 2 baptisms this coming weekend hopefully along with 4 the following weekend.  I love helping these people with their problems and trials.  I spoke in church yesterday and asked for help to find investigators, I hope you would find a friend to invite to learn more about the Gospel! :) Missionary work is so exciting if you let it be.

I love you so much! And miss you guys a lot.

Love,

Elder Willis

March 19^th email

This week was a good week! :) I baptized a boy named is Dawson!  I bet Dawson will like to hear that.  He is 12 and autistic.  It was a cool experience to do and I felt so special that he asked me to do it for him.  I think I might have set a record for number of times I had to baptize him... I had to do it 7 times until he was completely covered.  He kept either putting a foot up (even though I was stepping on them so he couldn't as easily) or not putting his whole head under the water.

Other than that I was able to see how the Lord prepares people and if you’re obedient and diligent you can find them.  We found this girl this week, or she found us.  She has been going to church with grandpa every other weekend in another stake but lives with mom the other weeks in our stake.  They want to keep her records in our stake so they want to baptize her in our stake.  She is getting baptized next weekend.

Another instance of this is that we had a lady walk into church last week and said she wanted to get active again.  The relief society president found her and said she would love it and they talked a little bit and they lady said to her "I hope it isn't a problem that I am not a member..." The RSP told us that her jaw almost dropped because I had asked her like 2 days before for people to go teach.  She and her councilors almost did jumping high fives she said because they found someone for us.  I love the way the Lord guides people to what they need in their lives if they are having an open heart and a contrite spirit.

We have 5 baptisms this coming weekend! :) And one of them has parents and a sister who aren't members yet and I know that when they feel that spirit at the baptism they will want to learn more.  I am so excited to see these brothers and sisters of mine make covenants with their Heavenly Father.

Oh yeah, I have 2 companions for time being! :) I love it.  Our 3rd is Elder Sehestedt.  His companion was waiting for his Visa and he got it this week.

New Missions

Wow this week has been great!  So I can now tell you that there are 2 new missions opening up.  We are loosing 3 zones to create the central mission from ours.  We also are parenting it.  It opens in July and then should be fully functioning on its own by December.  Its so exciting that this is happening.  That means there is so much work in the valley here that we need a few hundred more missionaries.  When this happens we are told that each companionship will have 1 stake here and if they have more they will only have 2.  :)  No one knows for sure yet who will be staying or who is going, when it opens we will loose like 80 missionaries to go there and to train, but by December we will be recouperated back to normal.

 

So this week we also had a stake conference and Elder Dan Clark came we got the front row reserved for us and our investigators.  It was so sweet.

 

We should have a baptism or 2 this coming weekend, :) and also we are planning on about 5 this month! :) Our investigators are doing well, they love the Gospel and see how it effecting their lives and they love it. 

 

Nothing too exciting happened this past week.  On Wednesday we are going to the temple, and instead of it being just our district we are going as a mission.  We get to spend like half the day there with a chapel session and then everything and get to be united as a mission, we are excited for that to happen!

 

I love you guys.

 

Love,

Elder Willis

A couple pictures from this month.

Helping others come closer to God.

This week flew by! I can't believe it is already Monday.  I had such a good week. It was packed with good things.

This week something happened that was cool.  During a lesson we were teaching to a boy that was baptized 2 weeks ago I asked him, “What made you change your mind and want to be baptized like your brother and sisters?"  He was shy but told me that he had a dream and he saw himself being baptized.  He told me that is why he wanted to get interviewed in case he wanted to get baptized in the future.  And when he realized he knew all the answers he told us he was ready.  The Lord prepared him and I am so thankful.

This week also we started teaching a girl with divorced parents.  She goes back and forth between her mom and dad’s house and she always goes to church every other week and goes to young women every week.  She just missed her opportunity to get baptized.  So we showed up and her dad told her he wanted her to at least listen to one lesson from us and decide if that was something she wanted.  Of course she did.  She told us she wanted to be baptized. 

Transfers were last week.  I am still in my area! :) I love the members here.  We have been working with them here and helping them to share the gospel with their friends.  We ask to come and share a message with the families.  Like a family home evening, and when we go over we have a fun lesson and ask who they know we can share it with.  I love it!  It gets them to be excited about sharing the gospel.

Other than that this week has been good just helping people come closer to God.  I love it.

Love,
Elder Willis

Quick letter

This week flew by!  It was so fun. This week we started teaching this lady. Her name is Alex.  She has had a rough life. She was LDS and then had a divorce and left the church and converted to Judaism.  She was driving past the Temple one day and saw the Star of David on one of the buildings.  It sparked her interest so she stopped and went and looked.  The sister missionaries talked to her there and invited her to learn more.  We got a referral on our phone.  She is interesting and hopefully will come to church with us this week! :)

That's all that really happened this week exciting.  Little things happened but nothing too eventful. 

Sorry I dont have time to write a long letter today.  It will be better next week.

Elder Willis