THIS IS THE LORD'S WORK. I SLEEP IT, LIVE IT, AND LOVE IT!

TRANSFER 4 - WEEK 2

"I love finding!  A lot of missionaries don't like contacting on the street because it's hard, but I love it.  It's a great challenge and I love boldly telling people that this is the only true church on the earth."

This one was a good week. Filled with challenges and trials, but we were able to see some pretty cool miracles this week.

 

Eat Fresh
Elder Willes looks like his week was filled with challenges and trials.

We have a recent convert family who is so great. I will try and get a picture with them this week.  The Chen2 Family got baptized the week before I got here. They had us over for lunch last week and we had sushi, clam chowder, pumpkin soup, and tons of fancy food haha. They are great.  They have a cute 10 year old daughter and the dad already has the Aaronic Priesthood and blessed the sacrament this week!

We found this long field on our way biking out to the  Chen2 Family's house.  They are recent converts.

We also went on exchanges with the zone leaders this week.  Elder Nelson went with Elder Westover :(  [William's trainer] and  I went over to Tao2 Yuan2 with Elder Clyde and that was fun. We had a cool service opportunity where Elder Clyde and I went to a nursing home with lots of old people.  We talk to them and sing hymns for them. The youngest person in there had to be like 80 years old. Haha they were all super old. It was really cool though being able to make people's day. Service opportunities don't often come in Taiwan. 

We also had a weird experience. Elder Nelson and I were talking and undoing the locks on our bikes one day and this lady was walking by us and it looked like she was intently listening to what we were saying and trying to understand English.  So I asked her if she spoke English. She did speak decent English. We told her about our English class and she was really interested. Then she starts rattling off about how she really wants to marry a foreigner and that is what she hopes for. Haha it was really weird so we were just like well have a great day!  Bizarre. A mission is filled with funny stuff like that all the time. 

We were also looking for a house where a former investigator lived and we got lost.  This really nice guy took us to the right road. It took him like 30 minutes to lead us back to where we were supposed to be. Then he gave us a bag of fruit. He didn't have interest in the gospel, but he was really nice. It's cool seeing the light of Christ in people even though they might not know it is the light of Christ. 

This week we found 4 new investigators.  3 of them are ok. They have decent interest, but it will be a process. One of them is great though!  His name is Brian Ye4 Di4 Xiong1. He was a referral from English and we met with him and first asked him what his expectations were of meeting with us. He said he wanted to learn English. We were like ohhh boy. But we stayed with the plan and taught a great lesson on the restoration. His countenance changed as the lesson went on. He started asking great questions. When we shared about the apostasy he asked, "How are we supposed to receive direction if we don't have a prophet today?" We then told him that Heavenly Father has called a prophet in these latter-days. We then invited him to read Alma 40 in the Book of Mormon. He did and loves the Book of Mormon already!  He came to church on Sunday too!!  He brought tea with him but he loved church. I asked him after how he liked it and he said he loved it and learned a lot.  We also had 3 less actives at church so that was great. One of them sat by Brian in sacrament meeting and Guan1 Xin1 cared for him. It was so great! I was so grateful that he was able to come, because these last 2 weeks have been hard. 

'This is like a straight up American Mall.  We eat here sometimes.  We are actually ending our p-day a little bit early because we have 4 set ups tonight!  We are really excited and optimistic for this week.'

We have a lot more potentials that we are setting up to meet with this week. We are actually ending our  p-day a little bit early because we have 4 set ups tonight!  We are meeting with a family tonight; the Xie4 Family so that will be great. As well as a girl named Sun and a guy named Liu2 Di4 Xiong1. We are really excited and optimistic for this week.  Just pray that we will be able to know what to share with all of these potential investigators and that they will be touched by the spirit. 

One thing I've learned on my mission is that everything is according to Heavenly Father's will. Through patience and diligence He will ALWAYS bless us. That is a shi4shi2 (fact). 

Elder Nelson is great. We have a great relationship. He is a really humble missionary and really reminds me of Josh Cardell from the Africa trip. He says really humble prayers and is a righteous guy. It's cool being from he same graduating class as him. I love him!

There is also a lady in our ward that reminds me of you mom! Their family is great. They have a son who is serving a mission in Scotland! She gave a talk this week and gave lots of shout outs to us missionaries because they remind her of her son serving. They are a great family! They have another son who has his papers in right now and is waiting. Then an 11 year old son. They all speak really good English. They remind me of our family. Mom, Dad, Nate, Jake you are awesome! 

Last week I read a little bit about William Willes who I am named after.  He is a great missionary.  A really good example.  I was touched by the spirit as I read about his faith, experiences, trials and how he relied on the Lord in those trials. 

I love D&C 42:6 spreading the good word with the sound of a trump. I love finding. A lot of missionaries don't like contacting on the street because it's hard, but I love it. It's a great challenge and I love boldly telling people that this is the only true church on the earth. We see miracles every day through finding. Plant lots of seeds. It's crazy to think the church in Taiwan is only 65 years old. The members here are so great! This is the Lord's work. I sleep it, live it, and love it. Sorry for the rambling, I just am loving it out here! In my personal reading I came across 1 Nephi 22:5 about the Lord being our shepherd. I love that scripture! He's just waiting for all of us to take action and come unto Him. 

Sorry for the long email this week. Have a great week everyone. 

"This work is true. It makes sense. It feels right and will allow us to be able to gain eternal salvation 

with our families."

Love,

Elder Willes

Wei2 Zhang3 Lao3