THE RAIN CAME DOWN THIS WEEK!

RAIN!

After the rain comes the rainbow!

This week we also had a small earthquake so that was kinda crazy.

"Salvation ain't cheap!"

The rain came down this week. Oh man. I got so soaked.  It was ridiculous. But we worked our way through it and the rainbow happened on Saturday. Xu2 Qiu1 Chen2 DX was baptized. So cool! 

Elder Willes, Xu2 Qiu1 Chen2 DX, and Elder Tan

Xu2 Qiu1 Chen2 DX (at his baptism), Elder Willes, and Lin2 Zhi4 Ren2 DX (a recent convert)

I was able to baptize Xu2 Qiu1 Chen2 DX.  We really worked hard at inviting all the members, investigators, and LA's to come and support him. We had tons of people there and it was such a great service. The missionaries sang, "I Need Thee Every Hour." Ahh I love that song. After the musical number Xu2 Qiu1 Chen2 DX got dunked! I gave him a big old hug after and he was so happy. He was really worried about sharing his testimony in front of everyone because he's kinda shy. I just told him to follow the spirit, say a prayer in your heart, and the Lord would help him to know what to say. Oh man he gets up there like a boss and just starts teaching everyone. He bore a great testimony of how prayer, reading the scriptures, and coming to church was how he developed his personal testimony. He shared in Alma 37:36-37 about how he's realized he needs God in his life. He talked about how he was just filled with the Holy Ghost. He said, "There is no other way to describe how I feel right now besides being filled with the Holy Ghost." It was really special. He's awesome!

Diamond, the sister's investigator, who I interviewed for baptism was also baptized.  Such a stud!

Also happy birthday to Nate and mom! You guys are awesome! Eat lots of cake for me :) Love you both tons! 

It's been really cool being a district leader. Our district is so special. Everyone works so so so hard. We see so many miracles in our district. I just love being able to witness all these miracles! Our district has had a baptism for like 5 weeks straight. Also our district is leading the entire mission for the past 1 1/2 months in all key indicators (baptisms, investigators, lessons, people at church, etc.) So sick!! 

I had the chance this week to go on exchanges with an Elder that is kinda struggling. He is having a hard time enjoying the work, feeling the Holy Ghost, and trusting himself. I prayed a lot that I could in some small way help him. We had a great exchange. I honestly don't remember much of what I told him.  Instead I focused on following the spirit to strengthen him and help him. We got soaked together haha but we had some cool miracle lessons on the street. We also had a member visit and this lady told us her dad had fallen down the stairs a week ago and passed away because of the accident. This Elder and I were able to strengthen her and helped her to try and trust in God and His plan to overcome this challenge. So overall it was a super cool exchange! 

We also have a sweet new investigator from Germany.  His name is Patrick. He's a referral. 

We also had Xiao1 JM come to church again. She is progressing really well. Just scared about baptism and the poor lady still has seizures every day. 

We also have two other new investigators who are awesome. Ding1 DX and Wei2 Wei2. Brother Ding1 is awesome. He's been meeting with the other elders but they found out he lives in our area so we are excited to start meeting with him. He came to church! And Wei Wei is the same story. Her parents oppose but she set a baptismal date for 6/19 on her 20th birthday! So pray for these two! 

The work is going great. I'm loving it. I am often so tired but just like Elder Holland said, "salvation ain't cheap!." Thank you everyone for the prayers and all the support. Love you all so much!

Elder Willes

Go Cougars!

Elder Willes with his trainer Elder Westover and the 2 elders that William has/is training Elder Tan and Elder Jensen


We went to the Taipei zoo for p-day

ENJOY THE JOURNEY - LIVE THE GOSPEL

TRANSFER 9 - WEEK 2

"Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth.

O then despise not, and wonder not, but hearken unto the words of the Lord, and ask the Father in the name of Jesus for what things soever ye shall stand in need.  Doubt not, but be believing, and begin as in the time of old, and come unto the Lord with all your heart, and work out your own salvation ..." Mormon 9: 21, 27

Elder Tan and Elder Willes

Hello from Taiwan! Hope everyone had a good week in America. This week was another great week here. My first district meeting, as district leader, went really well! I led a discussion on following the spirit and everyone shared personal experiences of theirs while following the spirit. It was really spiritual and really cool! We had a great week with our investigators as well! 

Our investigator Xu2 DX is almost 2 weeks clean from drinking tea and coffee and he passed his baptismal interview!! As long as everything goes to plan he will be getting baptized this upcoming Saturday night! He's a 25 year old guy that is so excited to come unto Christ. He really wants to get baptized because he wants the gift of the Holy Ghost. Super sweet. We are pumped for him! Keep him in your prayers. I also had the opportunity to do my first baptismal interview as district leader. It was such a cool experience. I interviewed Chen2 DX, the Sister's investigator. He's a guy in his 60's who has such a fire for gospel learning. He was just preaching to me and bearing testimony the whole interview.  It was awesome. So he got baptized 2 days ago on Saturday! His baptism was really cool. Even President and Sister Day came. I also will be doing the Sister's other investigator's interview tonight. Diamon is his name. Super cool guy in his 20's. Keep him in your prayers so he can be able to overcome his challenges and be baptized. 

All of our other investigators are doing really well. Our 17 year old investigator Isabel is so cool! We met with her and read with her in 3 Nephi 27 about baptism. The spirit was so strong. She told us in her other church she didn't feel the spirit that much, but she feels that ever since she met us and has been reading the Book of Mormon her relationship with God is so much better! Isabel has set a baptismal date for the middle of April! 

My English teaching/speaking/grammar is pretty bad so Elder Tan and I are going to work on some role plays where he, who just got to Taiwan, practices teaching in Chinese and I teach in English.  We will see how that goes and if it helps!  Isabel speaks English.  She is from the Philippines.  She texted us yesterday and her parents, who are Catholic, aren't very happy she met us and has been reading the Book of Mormon so keep her in your prayers as well. We are going to try and get to know her parents this week. 

Our RC Lin2 Zhi4 Ren2 DX is such a BOSS. Oh man.. We couldn't find a pei2 ke4 (member accompanied lesson) and all the sudden he calls us and he's like "I want to go and do missionary work with you guys today! Do you have any lessons I could help with?" We were like, "Yes!! Yes we do!" He's super, super cool. His testimony is so strong. He received the Aaronic Priesthood yesterday and is looking forward to temple baptisms with us in April! 

Lin2 Zhi4 Ren2 DX and Elder Willes

Our ward also had a cool activity this week where all of the missionaries in our zone taught members how to do missionary work. We did role plays, practices, etc. Then we all went on splits together and went street contacting. I took Lin2 DX and our Bishop's daughter who is 19 yrs old and we went out contacting. We knelt on the sidewalk and asked Heavenly Father where we should go. We started contacting and I felt like we should turn around. The first guy we bumped into was a Christian and we were able to teach him a lesson and give him a Book of Mormon! We had 4 lessons on the street. So crazy! There was this one guy who said he didn't believe in God. Then Lin2 DX said, " Before I didn't either. But once you come to church and feel Christ's love you will KNOW that God is there and cares about you.! "  He is a natural missionary. It was so fun!

Our companionship

Probably the biggest miracle this week was with our other investigator Xiao1 JM this week. She is the woman we met on the street during Chinese New Year whose mom had recently passed away. Xiao1 JM is in her 40's, lives alone, has seizures everyday, and is really sick. But she came to church! In fact an hour early! She was all dressed up and looked so happy. It was so cool. In gospel principles class the teacher had her introduce herself. Xiao1 JM talked about how she had never been to church in her life and how she woke up Sunday morning feeling so nervous and almost backed out.  But then she prayed and got this overwhelming feeling that she needed to go to church and how glad she was she could come! The teacher had all these little slips of paper with life problems on them. She wanted everyone in the class to grab one of these slips of paper and then discuss how prayer could help us overcome these challenges. Xiao1 JM was the first one to grab a slip of paper. She returned to her seat and read it to me and the paper said, "sicknesses." Xiao1 JM just started crying. She shared with the class how she has never prayed for herself because she feels selfish even though now she is very sick, but she knows this experience at church is a sign God loves her and cares about her. We talked in class about how according to our needs God will bless us. So so so cool. Mormon 9:21, 27. 

"Behold, I say unto you that whoso believeth in Christ, doubting nothing, whatsoever he shall ask the Father in the name of Christ it shall be granted him; and this promise is unto all, even unto the ends of the earth.

O then despise not, and wonder not, but hearken unto the words of the Lord, and ask the Father in the name of Jesus for what things soever ye shall stand in need.  Doubt not, but be believing, and begin as in the time of old, and come unto the Lord with all your heart, and work out your own salvation ..."

She loved church! Oh man there was just too many miracles this week. 

Also, Tang2 DX got a calling and guess what it was?? He's a ward missionary!! Chahooo. Such a stud. Oh man. We also had 4 LA's at church. Bishop also gave a great talk in Sacrament meeting.  He shared a quote I really liked, "It's not about if we are active in the church, it's about if we are active in the gospel." I know President Uchtdorf said the best way to experience the gospel's joy is to live it. So I invite all of you to enjoy the journey. Live the gospel. Be optimistic. God loves us! The church is true! 

And today is p-day so we're going to the zoo!!

Good food just never gets old

Love,

Elder Willes

HE WILL PROVIDE A WAY

Elder Willes and Elder Tan

Hello everyone!  I have a new companion. I am training Elder Tan who is from Fort Worth, Texas. Both of his parents are converts and he was a visa waiter who has been serving in Seattle, Washington for the last two transfers. He's stoked to be here and I am stoked to have him here!  Elder Tan is sick. We get along great :) and we are excited for the upcoming transfers together. 

Elder Tan is adjusting to life in Taiwan and his Chinese is getting better everyday! He didn't speak any Chinese before the mission. He took American Sign Language so when we saw a group of deaf people on the train he had a little conversation with them in ASL. It was super cool!  

This past week was busy with trainings and transfers.  Elder Jensen and I were late to the transfer meeting because we missed the train.  We made it just in time and luckily Elder Tan was the last missionary to introduce himself so I was the last trainer called. I'm also a district leader. I'm excited to lead district meeting, help everyone, and do baptismal interviews. I think I have 4 of those this week! We also have 4 Elders in our apartment now and so its pretty fun! 

Elder Willes and Elder Jensen outside the big beautiful chapel

I had a pretty cool experience reading the Book of Mormon. I was reading today in 1 Nephi where Nephi is about to build a ship. I thought about how that story applied to me. Nephi was probably really surprised that the Lord wanted him to build a ship. I reflected on the times on my mission where the spirit has prompted me to do crazy things. ex: take someone's pack of cigarettes, flip the bike around and talk to someone on the street, be bold with LA's, asking insightful questions and then the light bulb moment for me hit. Whatever the Lord commands us to do He WILL provide a way for us to accomplish it. It's His will. We just need to be listening for the spirit and He will lead and direct our life. Super cool! 

Elder Tan and I saw some pretty cool miracles. We were out finding and we met a 17 year old girl, Isabel, from the Philippines. She is Catholic. We sat down with her on the street and taught her the about the Restoration in English. I realized that my English is terrible. I started teaching about the Book of Mormon and couldn't teach in English.  I was saying things like, " The Book of Mormon is in the American Continent an ancient scripture book." I couldn't do it. But, Elder Tan has been in Seattle for 3 months and taught the rest of the lesson like a boss and then asked her to pray about what we shared with her on the spot! She did and the spirit was super strong.  Isabel ended up coming to all 3 hours of church! It was super cool! We are also hoping to meet with her this week. 

Xiao1 JM is awesome! We met with her and she's already read so much in the Book of Mormon. She's really sick and has seizures every day and even had one in the middle of our lesson. Really sad. We hope she can come to church this Sunday. She's also scared of baptism but she's progressing really well. Keep praying for her!

We are going to the temple with our RC's this week. The ward forgot to ordain Lin2 DX to the Aaronic Priesthood so he will have to wait until next month but we have 2 or 3 that will be going so that will be exciting! 

Our investigator Xu2 DX is quitting coffee right now! If all goes well he will have his baptismal interview this weekend and baptism next week! Pray for him that he can do this! He is really awesome. Comes to church every week, progressing really fast. Everyone thinks he's a member because he wears this super shuai4 suit. Anyway the work here is awesome. Hope everyone back home has a great week! Church is true!  Love you all!

Elder Willes

Our recent convert Lin2 DX came to a fireside with us Sunday 

All four of us studying

Our apartment now has 4 Elders living here now 

Lin2 DX

My first McDonald's breakfast on the mission.  It was SO good!

We had a lesson with a less active member.  My eyes were so sensitive to the sun.  They were hurting so bad.  It looked like I was crying the whole lesson.