Elder William Willes Taiwan Taipei: THE BLESSING OF STICKING THINGS OUT

Elder Willes

Well, week number 2 is down! What a week. Sorry this will probably be a bit shorter because I sent some personal emails. I appreciate all the dear elders and emails I got from everyone. :)

It means a lot to me.

This week was pretty hectic. We had to go get x-rays at the BYU Health Clinic. It's a requirement for all Taiwanese missionaries. It was pretty cool to walk off campus haha :) We also had to get blood drawn which is always interesting. The language has been picking up tremendously.

We teach investigators almost everyday and my Chinese is improving.

I memorized the missionary purpose in Mandarin so that's pretty cool. Both of our "investigators" are our teachers too so that is sort of awkward, but it is good :) They both served in Taiwan, Taijung and teach us a lot. They come every day ready to teach us and we know that is a sacrifice and we are extremely grateful for them. One of my companions was homesick this week and Elder Warner and I gave him a blessing. That was a way cool experience. He felt God's love for HIM and it was awesome being able to exercise my priesthood.

On day 10 here, Sunday, I was prompted during sacrament meeting to bear my testimony

so I did that ALL in Chinese. Such a cool experience. The first thing I said was sorry my Chinese is bad (dui bu qi wo de zhong wen bu hao). My companions also bore testimony and I was very proud of them! I now have the missionary purpose memorized in Mandarin and we say that every morning at 7:00 a.m. as a district. Our district consists of two trios and is awesome. We learn and grow together. It has been great. One of the districts in our zone heads out this week and it's bitter sweet. They're great examples and I will miss them. All are Mandarin speaking and going to New Zealand, Taiwan, California, and Australia. They are gonna be great!

The devotionals here have been awesome. The Sunday devotional was so spiritually uplifting. A story was shared about an Elder Lebron. He looked just as thug as his name. He was in a gang and then he was converted. He eventually went on a mission to Argentina and almost went home due to homesickness. The mission president convinced him to stay and gave him a new companion Elder Bills (I think Craig Bills' brother). They worked hard and baptized like 20 people in a month or something crazy like that. Then the speaker called these elders out of the audience and they came up and bore testimony. They are both RM's and got married in the temple. Such a cool story seeing the blessing of sticking things out and putting faith and trust in the Lord. Sunday night we watched the Joseph Smith movie. The spirit was so strong. Even the big tough Polynesian Elders had tears in their eyes. Joseph Smith endured so much, but continued to have faith in Christ and spread the Gospel. He is a huge example of how we need to share our faith with others. Sunday was such a cool day!

The Tuesday devotional was awesome as well. Elder & Sister Evans (from the Seventy) came and taught us. Sister Evans shared a cool story. They were serving as Mission President in Japan and she felt hopeless because she couldn't speak Japanese. She was unable to communicate and help missionaries find people to teach. She prayed and prayed and got an answer that she would help someone come unto Christ. She learned how to say good morning in Japanese and one morning she said that over and over to people on the street hoping an opportunity would arise. One person replied back with his own "good morning." He was fluent in English and was an inactive member of the Church. She got his name and referred him to the missionaries. They taught him and now he is active. He was also sealed to his deceased wife in the temple. I loved these stories.

Every Sunday we walk to the temple and that is sooooo cool. The temple truly is the house of the Lord. Every p-day we actually go in the temple. I'm going in like 4 hours and am WAY excited :) I encourage everyone to find time to go the temple because of the peace and joy we can feel there.

Sorry I'm out of time. I sent some personal emails this week (which I'm so grateful for!! I can feel all the love and support). Mom and Dad thanks for everything. I have the testimony I have in large part because of your examples. Jake and Nate I love hearing from you two! Puts a smile on my face every time I hear from you!! Miss and love you guys! Hope everyone has a great week

filled with the spirit.

Love,

Elder Willes