William and his companions outside the Provo Temple.
I've been here a month?? That is so crazy! Only 5 weeks to go. :) Just so everyone knows I am feeling a lot better! No more sheng bing (sick person)!
There were a lot of awesome things this week. I was able to memorize the baptismal challenge and use it in a lesson! It was cool. The Lord has blessed me with memorizing and retaining passages and I'm so grateful for that.
Here are a few cool stories I want to share this week. Last Saturday I felt prompted to put my consecrated oil in my bag and bring it to class. I didn't know why. On Monday, Elder Warner wasn't feeling good and asked Elder Dexter and I to give him a blessing. Since I had my oil we were able to promptly give him that blessing :) and he was strengthened and able to help out when we gave our lesson!
Also, Sunday was just AWESOME! The best day here so far! I said goodbye to
Elder Gnautavai & Elder Pilli as they go off to serve in Canada and Florida. We had a devotional Sunday night. We were all told that President Holland (Elder Holland's son) would be speaking to us. On top of that we heard that it was Sister Holland's (Elder Holland's wife) birthday and that she would be in attendance. Everyone following along? Anyway, we weren't told that Elder Holland would be there, but we figured he probably would be. The choir was singing Praise to the Man with another choir and we were all excited for that! Then like 10 minutes before the devotional began Elder Holland walks in. I was like WHAT. Everyone just stood up and the spirit was so strong. It was so cool. Then all the missionaries starting singing happy birthday to Sister Holland. It was awesome. She loved it. Elder Holland introduced his son, President Holland, who is the President at UVU. Elder Holland said that he was just there to support his son and didn't say much. I thought that was cool. President Holland talked about Joseph Smith. All of the hardships Joseph Smith endured are unreal. He had such great faith. Pres. Holland also talked about how when Martin Harris lost the 116 pages how angry Joseph Smith was with him. He related this story to show we are all human, but that we need to strive to not be angry with anyone on our missions and because of this the Lord will bless us. Joseph Smith wasn't a scholar. He had very little schooling. He could NOT have made up the translation. The way President Holland described this story was so cool and the spirit was so strong! When we sang Praise to the Man the spirit was unreal. I sang with the choir. After the devotional we watched Legacy which was awesome. Made me so grateful that we live in this dispensation and grateful for Yue Si Si Mi (Joseph Smith).
Elder Gnautavai & Elder Pilli as they go off to serve in Canada and Florida. We had a devotional Sunday night. We were all told that President Holland (Elder Holland's son) would be speaking to us. On top of that we heard that it was Sister Holland's (Elder Holland's wife) birthday and that she would be in attendance. Everyone following along? Anyway, we weren't told that Elder Holland would be there, but we figured he probably would be. The choir was singing Praise to the Man with another choir and we were all excited for that! Then like 10 minutes before the devotional began Elder Holland walks in. I was like WHAT. Everyone just stood up and the spirit was so strong. It was so cool. Then all the missionaries starting singing happy birthday to Sister Holland. It was awesome. She loved it. Elder Holland introduced his son, President Holland, who is the President at UVU. Elder Holland said that he was just there to support his son and didn't say much. I thought that was cool. President Holland talked about Joseph Smith. All of the hardships Joseph Smith endured are unreal. He had such great faith. Pres. Holland also talked about how when Martin Harris lost the 116 pages how angry Joseph Smith was with him. He related this story to show we are all human, but that we need to strive to not be angry with anyone on our missions and because of this the Lord will bless us. Joseph Smith wasn't a scholar. He had very little schooling. He could NOT have made up the translation. The way President Holland described this story was so cool and the spirit was so strong! When we sang Praise to the Man the spirit was unreal. I sang with the choir. After the devotional we watched Legacy which was awesome. Made me so grateful that we live in this dispensation and grateful for Yue Si Si Mi (Joseph Smith).
The other story is about the devotional yesterday (Tuesday)! Sorry I keep talking about these but they are so powerful! Mamoo and Boppy can testify of that! The speaker was
Elder Perkins of the Seventy and he served in Taiwan and is the former mission president of the Taiwan, Taipei Mission! His daughter is also serving in my mission! I was like are you kidding?? It was soooo cool! He talked about qualities we need to have as missionaries such as patience, love, diligence, virtue, humility, temperance, and charity! I have been struggling with patience this week as well as charity. This talk inspired me to improve not only on those two characteristics, but all of them. I felt like it was exactly what I needed to hear. After the devotional my companions and I went and thanked Elder Perkins for his message. We talked in Chinese with him and that was pretty neat as well.
Elder Perkins of the Seventy and he served in Taiwan and is the former mission president of the Taiwan, Taipei Mission! His daughter is also serving in my mission! I was like are you kidding?? It was soooo cool! He talked about qualities we need to have as missionaries such as patience, love, diligence, virtue, humility, temperance, and charity! I have been struggling with patience this week as well as charity. This talk inspired me to improve not only on those two characteristics, but all of them. I felt like it was exactly what I needed to hear. After the devotional my companions and I went and thanked Elder Perkins for his message. We talked in Chinese with him and that was pretty neat as well.
I am seriously loving this work. The MTC is awesome and I've learned to not waste a second because we are on the Lord's time. As a companionship we set goals this week which were outside of our comfort zone. We taught lessons to our "investigators" about the creation,
pre-earth life, keeping the sabbath day holy, and the sacrament. It was hard to learn all that Mandarin vocabulary, but we were able to get our points across. This week has been incredible. I wouldn't choose to be anywhere else. Not even the Marriott Center Thursday night for the big BYU game. :) My faith in Christ is growing and I've realized I can't do this on my own. I need Him in all things and He is there for me. This week I was released as district leader and that was bitter sweet. I liked leading my district, but Elder Warner has the reigns now. The older district leaves in two days for Taiwan. So now we are the oldest district in our zone! Crazy! Also we have a new member in our district Sister Kwan. She was fast tracked but didn't get her visa so she's with us for awhile. She lived in Taiwan and tells us cool things about our mission! She's also fluent and bang zhu (helps) us with the language!
pre-earth life, keeping the sabbath day holy, and the sacrament. It was hard to learn all that Mandarin vocabulary, but we were able to get our points across. This week has been incredible. I wouldn't choose to be anywhere else. Not even the Marriott Center Thursday night for the big BYU game. :) My faith in Christ is growing and I've realized I can't do this on my own. I need Him in all things and He is there for me. This week I was released as district leader and that was bitter sweet. I liked leading my district, but Elder Warner has the reigns now. The older district leaves in two days for Taiwan. So now we are the oldest district in our zone! Crazy! Also we have a new member in our district Sister Kwan. She was fast tracked but didn't get her visa so she's with us for awhile. She lived in Taiwan and tells us cool things about our mission! She's also fluent and bang zhu (helps) us with the language!
Well, I'm out of time. Hope everyone has a great week! Mamoo and Boppy thanks for the McDonalds gift card. I can't wait to use that at the airport in a month. ;) Steve and Lisa thanks for the package! Those donuts were gone in the blink of an eye. Also thanks to the Horgesheimer's for sending me and my comps yummy caramel apples. I really appreciate the dear elders and emails from everyone. It means so much. Love you all!
Wo ai ni men!
Elder Willes
Wei Zhang Lao
Not as good as "mom's spaghetti"…but spaghetti
Elder Willes with Elder Rob Woodall (going to Korea). Elder Woodall is a friend
of William's from preschool and from California. William and Rob haven't seen
each other in about 15 years.
Elder Willes and Elder Pilli (a friend from BYU) before Elder Pilli left for Florida.
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