MY PRAYERS WERE ANSWERED THAT RAINY NIGHT

Elder Willes and Elder Huntsman

Hello family and friends,

WOW! This week was arguably the most hectic week of my mission. With new missionaries coming on island, Transfer Meetings, and our Mission Leadership Meeting all in the same week, things were crazy and very busy. I am so so so tired. Holy cow. Fortunately we made it through the week. Mom, the typhoon was not that bad. Just lots of heavy rain and gusting winds.

Last Sunday was great! Zheng4 JM, Hong2 DX, and Guo1 DX all came to church. That was so exciting. Zheng4 JM is progressing really well. I am hoping that things will slow down in the office the next few weeks so we can have more time to meet with our investigators. That will be good!

On Monday night we had the coolest thing happen! Do you remember we met a cool lady on the street two weeks ago, Sister Zhong1? When we taught her about Jesus Christ and how He can bless her life, she started crying. The last two weeks she has been too busy to meet with us. But on Monday night she called us and she told us she wanted to meet with us right then. It was pouring rain, with the typhoon coming in, so I asked her, "Are you sure?" She's said, "Yes. I will come to your chapel."  About 20 minutes later she called us and told us she was lost. So out in the pouring rain we ran trying to find her. Finally we found her about 5 minutes away from the chapel! We brought her back to the chapel and we were just praying there would be a member there because we needed another male to help us meet with her. My prayers were answered that rainy night. Luckily there was this unexpected member at the church and he said he would love to help us out! So cool. We had a great lesson with Sister Zhong1 and she has very real intent to read the Book of Mormon so we are super excited about her! 

Elder Jensen (previous companions) and Elder Willes

Everything went well with Transfer Meetings. Those meetings are pretty special and really cool. New missionaries coming into Taiwan and heading throughout all of Taiwan is special to be a part of. Also at our Mission Leadership Council Meeting this week (a meeting with all the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders), President Jergensen asked Elder Huntsman and I to train on Baptism. Elder Huntsman and I spent a lot of time thinking, discussing and praying about what we should do. We got the idea to email all of these missionary's parents and asked them to email us a picture of the missionary's baptism. Then we put these all together for a slideshow. It was so cool to see everyone's face when their picture was on the screen. The spirit was so strong. Elder Huntsman and I then trained on overcoming the hesitation to invite everyone to baptism. It is a gift we hope many can have. We talked about using the Book of Mormon when teaching and encouraged the missionaries to share personal experiences about baptism. Lastly, we had President Jergensen pray for our mission and that was so powerful. We really hope each companionship in our mission can baptize one person a month. We are excited to see the results from this training. The meeting was so spiritual. I just can't put into words the feelings and promptings that came through the Holy Ghost that day. 

Another cool thing happened this week when we were at the church. I saw Yang2 DX from my last area in Ban3Qiao2. Yang2 DX is a 20 year old kid. I ate lunch with him about 6 months ago and we talked about missions and I really encouraged him to go on a mission. Today when he saw me he told me he had decided to go on a mission. Chahoo! So so cool! So he turns in his papers about the same time Nate! I am super pumped. I learned from this little tender mercy that most often our efforts when serving and helping others don't always bring forth fruit right away. Some times it takes a little time. But if we have faith, do our best, and then wait and endure, God will bless us and sometimes we get to see some of the fruits of our efforts. 

Elder Willes with Yang2 DX

This week was one of the harder weeks of my mission. Stress levels were high, it was crazy busy, and overall exhausting.  I'm grateful God helped me and that everything has gone well. There is a quote that has been in my head all week, "God gives tough battles to tough soldiers." This week was tough but I'm learning and growing more each day and I want to do everything I can to continue to serve God with all my heart, might, mind and strength. D&C 58:4 God gives us trials because He trusts us. They help us grow! I am so grateful for my mission. I still have a lot to learn and I'm still hungry to learn it! I am super grateful for Elder Huntsman. He is such a stud and I love working with him. Enjoy Conference. I can't wait until next week when it makes it's way here to Taiwan.

Love you all! Have a great week.  

Elder Willes