WE WORKED OUR TAILS OFF THIS WEEK AND I SWEATED LIKE CRAZY

"I feel a great responsibility to magnify my calling and work the hardest I can, even when I am super tired."

TRANSFER 4 - WEEK 3

Another good week here!  We worked our tails off this week and I sweated like crazy.  It's still super humid and hot here, but yes it has been cooling down a little bit. 

This week we went on exchanges with our district leader.  I went with Elder Tsai4.  He is Taiwanese.  It was cool because it was my first time doing missionary work with a Taiwanese missionary.  He is great. Taught me so much. These Taiwanese missionaries sacrifice so much. Elder Tsai4 and his sister are the only members in their family. His family doesn't write him too much either. It just makes me so grateful for the support system I have back at home.  It means so much to me.  Elder Tsai also bought me ice cream and made me breakfast. He is great!

Elder Tsai4 and I eating some peach ice-cream

Out working in a rainstorm and getting soaked 

The Chen2 Family.  They are recent converts of about a month.  The daughter loves to play the piano so I gave her my Chinese hymn book so she can start learning to play the hymns. :)  They are a really special family!

Things with the comp Elder Nelson are great. We have a great relationship and have a lot of laughs together. We are enjoying this work together and never have any arguments, which is really great in a companionship. This week I read a lot and learned a lot from the Book of Mormon. In 2 Nephi Chapter 4 I loved reading about Nephi and his example. I love how he forgives himself and fully trusts in God. It really hit me hard. Just knowing that making mistakes and having weaknesses is part of Heavenly Father's plan. We just need to trust God, and do our part to improve. It really opened up my eyes. 

Also, we have a really cool member, Mike, who Elder Nelson found the week before I got here. He has been a member for 10 years, but moved to Zhong1 Li4 about 5 or 6 years ago. He didn't know where the church was so he went less active. He saw the missionaries and flagged them down. They invited him to come back and gave him the address and he has been coming every week ever since! He helps us Pei2 Ke4 with lessons all the time. He is getting the Melchizedek Priesthood in about a month and a half and should be going to the temple next year!  Super super cool!  Miracles like that are found all the time here on a mission. 

This week we also went on splits with two 18 year old priests from our ward. They both have submitted their mission papers and are waiting for their calls. They went out finding with us for a few hours. They were both really nervous, but loved it! I went out with a kid named David. He actually went to BYU Idaho last year. He was scared at first, but by the end he even started approaching people!  When we were about to finish we decided to say a prayer and see if there was one more person we needed to talk to. The 2nd person we talked to after that had a huge pit bull, but he was so nice!  We taught him a lesson and gave him a Book of Mormon. It was really great. Heavenly Father really does answer all of our prayers. 

David is on my right and Lin2 Guan4 You 4 is on Elder Nelson's left

Our investigator pool is still small, but we had 3 investigators come to church!  Brian is doing great! He still won't set a baptismal date, but we had a really spiritual lesson and shared the plan of salvation. He loved it. He loves singing but is really tone deaf.  It is awesome hearing him sing at church.  He came again on Sunday so that was great! Also our investigator Andy Huang2 Di4 Xiong1 came as well!  He has a baptismal date for 8/30. He needs to change his job and stop drinking tea for that to happen. He has met with missionaries for about 4 months. He came to church for the 2nd time and loved it!  And then an eternal investigator (over 5 years an investigator) Wei4 Yan4 came to church. She can't get baptized though because her husband won't let her. 

Out for a steak dinner with a member 

Anyway this week should be another great one as well!  We have a lot more set ups that we hope will become progressing investigators. We met a really awesome kid last night his name is Ace. He is like 21 and is really cool. I just pulled him over at a traffic light. We had a lesson with him. He really has good interest!  We hope to meet with him this week.

Dragon Fruit - It is delicious!

I love being a missionary. I feel a great responsibility to magnify my calling and work the hardest I can, even when I am super tired haha. Elder Nelson and I are excited for the progress of the area as well as the people we are starting to work with.  Love you all!  Enjoy the last week of summer while it lasts. :)

Elder Willes