Elder William Willes Taiwan Taipei: I PULLED A TIM TEBOW AND KNELT ON THE SIDEWALK

"I am so grateful for each wave of missionaries. Sometimes the fruits that you see on your mission seem so small. Some miracles go unseen for a time, but God is preparing souls! I am reminded of this constantly on my mission."

Stinky tofu - I can't wait for Nate and Jake to try this stuff

A big bowl of little fishies to eat

Friends and family ni hao!

First off, congrats to Haley on her engagement! Super, super cool.

My parents have been keeping me updated on the return of my friends. I'm really grateful for great friends who paved the path by making the decision to serve a mission two summers ago. Literally, all of my high school buddies are home now. I'm really happy for them to be honest. I can see the light in all their eyes and they all look so happy. So, I'm happy too!

I'm also so grateful Nate has had the chance to go to Fiji. Such a cool experience for him and it looks like he is having the time of his life. I am so proud of him and I think this experience is preparing him for his mission. So sweet!

This week here in Taiwan has been good. We are still busy, busy plugging away on interviews with the President. On Monday after interviews I went on exchanges with Elder Griffin the Tao Yuan Zone Leader. We got back to our area really late and I only had time to go to our 8:00 p.m. member lesson with Brother Huang2. We set a goal to get 3 member referrals this week. Our mission has really been focusing on working better with the members to help us find people to teach. We had such a spiritual lesson with Brother Huang2 and we just kept asking for referrals and he gave us 8!! His brother, wife's sister, 2 buddies he plays golf with, and 4 LA's to visit. It was such a miracle! Finding through members is what Elder Stewart and I call a hidden gold mine!

The next night Elder Stewart and I decided to go and visit one of the LA's on the list - Brother Guo1! We knocked on his door and surprisingly he was there. He was so surprised because missionaries haven't visited him in years. We met with Elder Guo1 and had a really spiritual lesson. There was a little bench outside with only enough room for 2 (E. Stewart and Brother Guo1 sat) so I pulled a Tim Tebow and knelt on the sidewalk. He opened up and shared how missionaries had previously saved his life and helped him a ton. I am so grateful for each wave of missionaries. Sometimes the fruits that you see on your mission seem so small. Some miracles go unseen for a time but God is preparing souls! I am reminded of this constantly on my mission. Hopefully Brother Guo1 is coming to the baptism tonight!

Elder Stewart and I were out finding one evening this week and found the coolest girl ever! Her name is Sister Gu3. She has never heard of Jesus Christ or really any principles related to Christianity like baptism, the Atonement. It was so cool teaching her about Jesus Christ and these principles. When we taught baptism and how it was a restart to life and that she could become freed from sins she was like, "Woahhh hao3 cool!!." The gospel is pretty sweet. She said her first prayer and in it she said, "God I'm just really really grateful. I can feel that you are watching over me." We then asked her if she believed God was listening to her prayer? She said yes! Sister Gu3 has become our new investigator! The spirit was strong and Elder Stewart and I gave each other a big hug after saying goodbye to her.

Two days later I was able to go on exchanges with my college buddy Elder Hughes. Such a great guy. We met with Sister Gu3 and had a great lesson showing her around the chapel and teaching her more about Jesus Christ. She set a baptismal date in September and we feel really good about her! The Lord blesses us more than we can imagine. We all just need to open up our eyes to see these blessings sometimes.

Sister Wang2 (Jessica) is being baptized tonight. So excited. It will be a great service and she is so excited.

We picked up Elder Nixon from the airport yesterday. He and I were at BYU at the same time. He went home because he broke both wrists here on the mission but he's back now and it was so cool seeing him back on the island!

I will have another temple day this coming Wednesday so I will get to email you in 4 days but then it will be a couple of weeks. The good news is I will be able to email you about the baptism soon. I love you all! I pray for you and feel your prayers for me every day.

Love,

Elder Willes

I got this picture from the Xin Zhu Elders. This is Brother Hong2 who we baptized in Xin Zhu while back. He is doing great! I also talked to Habib on the phone the other day. He is also doing great.