July
10th
I
had an excellent week this week. To start
it off last week we had dinner at a Filipino families house. She
made me some lumpia and adobo chicken.
Then
when we were talking I told her about how mom’s side of the family is and they
took us downstairs and hooked us up with rice and soy sauce and shampoo and
everything!! She told me I could have pancit
noodles too if I wanted to make some and when I said yes she gave me a sad
face... she said “unless you want me to make it for you!!” That topped it off. I was such a happy boy all week eating
chicken and rice for lunch.
We
didn't teach much but we did find 2 families this week to teach. Both of which only speak French so I need to
brush up on my French plus we have to bring a fellowshipper because I don't
know any gospel words. It will be fun
teaching them.
So
in our new mission we had a conference last week and found out a lot of things
new. Not only do we get new planners and
the 2 new SLC missions are the only ones who get them right now but it has so
much for us to do... and so much for the ward mission leader and his
missionaries and this mission secretary to do.
The month of July here is called the Month of Perfection. I don’t know if you have it there too but the
wards have to contact every household (members, nonmembers, less actives, …everyone)
within each ward boundary. They have to find out who lives there and
about them and report. It will be good
for us.
We
found out we will not be using bikes in our mission. We will soon cover 1 to 3
wards. If we had bikes then we would get
way too much work done and not be able to talk to as many people who are out
and about.
We
also no longer get to go to the temple once a transfer. :( I am sad about that one. We now get to wake up at 630 instead of 6!
That’s a plus.
So
this French family is so cool! She grew
up on the Ivory Coast. Well, actually
both families did. One is a mom and a
son(14) and a daughter(7) and they love learning about the Gospel. So much so, that they ask us to come back
every day. It is great! We showed her the Restoration DVD last night
and she told us that she believed he was a prophet and would be baptized after
she talks to her husband. Her son said the
closing prayer and he prayed to know that the Book of Mormon was true and that
what we came and taught him about were messages from God. I love this family even though we have to
have an interpreter. But I know the Lord
puts people where they need to be. Out
of the whole stake the ward they live in have about 4 people who know how to
speak French fluently and went on missions where they spoke french whether it
was Africa or France or Canada. They all
love to fellowwship these families. Fellowshipping is the key too. I learned that on my mission. Every investigator and new member needs a
friend, a calling, and home and visiting teachers. This is so essential because without a friend
they don’t know anyone when they come to church. Without a calling they have no need or don’t
feel as important when they come to church.
And without home teachers there is no Gospel being brought into their
home by someone else. I love seeing them
converted to the gospel instead of being converted to the missionaries. So if you are ever asked to fellowship a
family or anyone don't turn the missionaries down, step up and do it. It is so much fun! It may seem a little more work but when you
do the Lord's work everything in life seems to work itself out in your own life. In fact, maybe you could ask the missionaries
if you can help fellowship someone. I
feel like I should challenge you to do that.
I know the Lord will also put someone in your path who needs you
specifically if you pray for an opportunity to share the Gospel with someone
you know.
I
love you so much.
Love,
Elder
Willis
June
17th
I
found out last night that tomorrow morning I will be transferred back to
Murray... Sad. But I am getting a
son! Elder Willis is going to be a
Dad! Tomorrow I go to Murray to a new
stake, right next door to my last stake and my first stake, it’s like in the
corner. I think that there are still
people in Murray that need to see me.
But I get to go and get my son from the mission office tomorrow
also. I am excited to do that and serve
others.
Other
than that my week went great! The work
here in this area is picking up and I am happy with it enough to leave it with
Elder Conley and the new companion he gets.
Oh
so yes we had a run in with the cops this week.
We came to the church on Saturday to use the restroom. We felt inspired to walk around the building
for a minute. Then we felt like we
needed to go in a few rooms, so we went in the library and then the family history
center. As we went in the family history
center it was dark and we walked in the room as Elder Conley came in behind me
a guy popped out from behind the door and booked it out of the room and down
the hall. We didn’t know what to think
at first so we looked around the room to see what he was doing. Nothing was gone but we found a lighter and
some spit on the ground. We thought this
was fishy so we took 15 to 20 minutes searching the building to make sure he
left. As we were leaving we saw him
walking and walked back in the church so as we followed him a cop drove by and
stopped in the turn lane and looked at us so we flagged him down and told him
what’s up. He called for backup and 2
more cops showed up by the time he got out of his car. They went with us into the building holding
their guns. We showed them where we
found him the first time and he searched the rooms all around it. He found the guy hiding in a dark room in a
corner behind some chairs and he pulled his gun and started yelling at the guy.
"Freeze! Get your hands up. They put him in hand cuffs and interrogated
him. The guy kept lying to them. (We were in the hall listening with a bishop
who was in the building also) so the
cops started making fun of him too "Oh we have a fibber" and all this stuff, it was kind of funny. Then they searched him and found some cigarettes
and stuff but nothing illegal. He
wouldn't tell them what he was doing or why there was spit on the ground. They said they thought he might have been
doing heroin or spice some other kind of drugs.
They kept him in hand cuffs and called his dad and his dad asked the
cops if they could charge him with something and send him to jail and they said
no and made the dad come get him. He was
like maybe 18 or 19. But yeah so this
took an hour or so of our Saturday to protect the Lord's house.
Other
than that I am excited to start a new adventure back in Murray.
Love
you guys!
Love,
Elder
Willis
July
24th
My
green companion’s name is Elder Elliot. He
is from Oregon. The great NW is doing great
things to me I tell you! We are in the
Murray, Little Cottonwood stake which has Fashion Place mall in it. We go to the food court for lunch sometimes. Other than that the week has been great we
found some people to teach and to share the gospel with.
We
found a family this week. They have 2
kids, ages 8 and 5 years old, both boys.
I am so excited to teach them.
They were literally prepared. The
Spanish Elders tracted into them and they have a quad already from the father’s
friend and then the mom asked for her own too.
They pray and read every night and everything. They asked us where they needed to go to
church before we could even invite them!
It was so great to see a family so ready to receive the Gospel of Jesus
Christ into their lives.
We
are on bikes now and I still have my red bike. "Bullseye" is what I
call him after like the horse in Toy Story.
We live in this member’s house and he is like the nicest guy you could
ever meet. He always asks if he can do
anything for us and is always asking to go on splits with us or do anything for
us.
I
am back in the same district I was last time I was in Murray. Elder Jackson is my district leader again, it’s
crazy but it is so fun.
I
love and miss you all.
Love,
Elder
Willis
