IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT GOES ON IN THE WORLD...GOD'S WORK WILL PRESS ON

Brother and Sister You2 with Elder Willes and Elder Westover.  They are heading out on their mission to the Taipei Temple. They are such a great couple and example in our ward!

Another great week. There were many miracles we saw this week. It started out with zone meeting which was super cool. President and Sister Day were there as well as Cai4 Hui4Zhang3 (our Stake President). It was really cool and the spirit was really strong. There was one thing that happened this week that was rough. We were at the school exercising one morning and our phone got stolen. We set it down right by us but when we were done the phone was gone. Someone stole it and it has been really hard to contact our investigators this week but we still had a great week!

 

We had lunch with Thomas this week. He bought us steak and it was soooo good. It was really cool hearing about him meeting you all! He loves you all so much! He had such nice things to say. He also showed me all of your videos. Thank you! It was good to see you all :)

 

I ate yellow watermelon this week. It's regular watermelon but it is yellow.  It is super super good.  Haha sorry that was random. We also went to Shi2 Di4 Xiong1's work place and they had a huge TV with the World Cup on.  He asked us to stay and watch it with him but we were like sorry we have a rule and we can't. It was hard not too.

 

Yesterday at church the miracles were present. Shi2 Di4 Xiong1 finally came to church! It was so cool! He loved it and said he felt really really peaceful and happy. He has a baptismal date for 7/5/14 and is looking like he is going to be able to reach that date. We are working with him and the ward to develop some relationships so he can have lots of members helping him with his conversion process. Also Zhou1 Chang2 En1 came to church, but his little brother slept in and we didn't get to meet with him and but we will try again this week. I still can't believe a 13 year old recent convert and how much he can influence with his family. He is so great! 

At FHE with Habip and his wife Yayi

Also Habip and his wife came to church! The Sisters are meeting with his wife and she is progressing towards baptism next month which is really exciting! In sunday school Elder Westover said, "translate for Habip" so I translated all of sunday school for Habip and it was super cool! I don't think I did too bad. Translating is really hard though but it was fun!  Also, we had 4 less actives at church which was really really exciting! We are working with less actives to prepare priesthood holders to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood. It's an exciting time to be a missionary and one of the Lord's representatives.

 

Last night we visited our investigator Cherry. We met her 3 weeks ago on the street but lately she has been too busy to meet with us. Last night we were able to teach her the first lesson. She is super golden! The spirit was really strong. A funny moment: When I was sharing the first vision, midway through she stopped me and said I was speaking like a poet which apparently is a pretty good compliment!  Haha I said thank you and then I started over so she would understand. After we shared the first vision she asked, "How can I know these things are true?" She is such a prepared soul! We shared how praying about it, specifically the Book of Mormon, she will know that these things are true. We shared the remarkable promise in Moroni 10:4-5 and invited her last night to pray if these things are true and we are excited to follow up with her. Elder Westover and I have a really good feeling about her and feel she is going to get baptized! She has a baptismal date set for 7/12/14 so please keep her in your prayers :)  Huang2 Di4 Xiong1 [starts his mandatory military service soon] we feel like isn't ready right now. We are just going to read the Book of Mormon with him and try to help him quit smoking before he leaves for the army. He will get baptized in the future! He is super great.

 

Also this week a girl in our stake got her mission call and we were able to watch her open it. She got called to Korea! Isn't that crazy?? She is going to learn Korean. Super super cool.

 

The work is moving forward. It doesn't matter what goes on in the world. God's work will press on and we are seeing miracles every day. We also found a cute little family. We prayed right before we would find a couple. Right after this prayer they were the first people we talked to and we have them set up for this coming weekend! Lee3 Jia1 Ting2 (family) They seem really great!  A mission is such a cool experience and one I'm treasuring right now. I am so excited for Nate and Jake to have this experience. Happy Father's Day to everyone out there! Specifically you dad! I love so much and am so grateful for your example. Love you! Keep tearing up the golf course haha

I also just want to tell you how grateful I've been to work with Elder Westover. He's such a boss. Such a great trainer and I've loved my time with him. Such a blessing! 

 

Have a great week everyone!

 

Elder Willes

THE STRESSES OF A MISSIONARY SWEEP AWAY WHEN I READ THE BOOK OF MORMON

Elder Willes and Elder Westover
"Elder Westover was pretty good for not having much golf experience."

Hello everyone! Another good week here in Xin1Zhu2. First off, congrats to Joni on her baptism last week :) Wish I could have been there! Awesome you got to meet Thomas and his wife. They are so great! Glad they could have a good time. Thanks for welcoming them!

Jake and Nate with Thomas and Mary Chen

Thomas and Mary Chen are members in Taiwan who are in the ward William is currently serving in.  They were recently sealed in the Taipei Temple.  Thomas is an enormous help to the missionaries.  Thomas brought us an amazing video of Elder Willes taken a few days before we met them.  Both are converts to the church and the only members in their families.  Thomas has been a member for 18 years and learned about the gospel for 1 year before being baptized.  Mary Chen was baptized 1 month after the missionaries found her at a stop light while she was on her scooter.  She said she had been waiting and waiting for someone to talk with her about Jesus Christ.  We feel so lucky to have made these new friends.  We are so very grateful!

Today, p-day we went golfing! A member took us to the driving range. Not gonna lie I still hit it pretty well. Haha the workers were trying to fix Elder Westover and my swings but we had no clue what they were saying so we were just like OK! It was so fun. The member (who took us) and I had multiple short game competitions (to the flags etc). Wu3 Ba1 Ba was a super good golfer. That is the member. He was really great at golfing and super consistent. Dad heard you shot a 49 this week! Way to be! Nate and Jake I hear you are improving too. But I will still take you on in a few summers :)

The golf driving range in Taiwan
"So fun." 

This week we had sort of a downer week with our investigators. A lot of our investigators just aren't progressing and Shi2 Di4 Xiong1 and Huang2 Di4 Xiong1 both didn't come to church. Shi2 DX has a new baptismal date in July. Also Huang2 Di4 Xiong1 we don't know if he is going to get baptized because he is still smoking and he enters the army in 3 weeks. We have a goal to find new and prepared investigators this week so please pray for us that the spirit may guide us in finding those prepared people.

 

This week we had 2 pretty cool (funny experiences). One was when I was on exchanges with Elder Illu. We saw a couple moving a bunch of things from one house to the other. We asked if we could help and they said we could. That is super rare here.  People don't let you serve them. But it was a cool experience. We carried a bunch of wood and stuff for like 15 minutes. We then talked a little bit about the gospel. They didn't really accept our message but we feel like we planted seeds for future missionaries! The other is super funny.  Elder Illu was on the phone so I just started talking to this random college kid and he said he was about to go to a choir/singing performance. I asked if I could hear his voice and he just started singing to me.  His voice was really good. It was just funny because he sang a full song to Elder Illu and I.  It was hilarious.

 

Anyway, probably the coolest thing that happened this week was with Zhou1 Chang2 En1. He came again early to church in his white shirt and tie. He was ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood this week! So he passed the sacrament for the first time. It was really cool watching him do it and he says he really likes it. He is such a stud. A 13 year old kid who every week comes to church by himself? Unreal! He brought his 12 year old brother too! (Zhou1 Chang2 Ding3) He told us he wants to hear the missionary lessons like his brother so we are going to meet with him this week! We are super Excited. Chang2 En1 and his example is really having a strong influence on his family. Really cool to watch.

 

Habip is still doing super good. Coming to church and just being great! Love that man!

 

You remember the You2 Ba ba and You2 Jie3 Mei4 they sent a picture to you of me and Elder Senkins with them? They had their missionary farewell last night. It was a Sunday night testimony meeting and brunch kind of thing. I had duck and that was pretty good! Anyway they are going on their mission to Taipei at the temple! They are super excited. Such a spiritual meeting. Their testimonies are so strong. Such great examples. The people here are great. 

Just like Moroni 7:48 says when we are serving we can be filled with God's love. The BoM is so awesome! I'm in Ether now. I feel so peaceful when I read the BoM. The stresses of a missionary sweep away when I read. 

If you could pray for Sister Hammer. She is a sister in our zone (district) who got hit by a car while riding her bike. She broke her collarbone and had to go home. She is in Utah now. Just keep her in your thoughts and prayers.  Elder Westover and I got our packages and my big one came! Thanks so much. The food is super tasty. Loved the Ensigns! 

Anyway I hope you all have a great week! Love you all so much. Mom, you're the best. Love you :) Jake have fun at camp! Nate and Dad keep being studs.

 

83,000+ are hastening the work of salvation right now! Pretty cool thought!

 

Elder Willes

DUNKED!

Habip was baptized!!!

Another amazing week here in Taiwan. The baptism happened. It was so wonderful. The picture: Habip is right next to me and Habip's wife is next to him. The guy next to her is our member who performed the ordinance. They've built a great relationship and made Habip feel right at home. The baptism was so special. I said the opening prayer and then introduced Habip from the pulpit. I spoke in Chinese and then Elder Westover translated into English for Habip. Really cool. Seeing him go under the water was picture perfect. Elder Westover and I didn't care we were going to get soaked when he came out of that font so we gave him the biggest bear hug ever. It was so incredible. Habip said he felt like he was flying. Then this cute little girl did a violin solo. So, so cute. We then had a member give a talk and it was super funny because he did his talk in English for Habip and Elder Westover was at the pulpit translating the talk into Chinese for the congregation. Haha super funny just because it was switched from language to language. Habip bore such a sweet testimony. He is so strong in the faith. 2 weeks with no smoking and doing great. We are going to show him the website Mamoo and Boppy sent to me to keep helping him. 

After, Habip was just bawling. He just said he was so happy. It was so incredible. The spirit was so strong, and I wish you all could have seen it. His confirmation on Sunday was just as good. Another member confirmed him.  Our member typed up the blessing in English so Habip could understand it. The spirit was so strong. I can't believe how blessed I am to be in Taiwan serving the Lord and second baptizing a TURKISH man IN Taiwan?? Haha so crazy, but so incredible. This church can bless anyone!

 

Apart from that, this week nothing crazy happened. No other investigators at church. Still working hard with 

Shi2 Di4 Xiong1 and Huang2 Di4 Xiong1. We had to drop Sui2 Jie3 Mei4. So sad. It's OK she will get baptized one day.

 

This week we went on splits. Elder Nasman came to xin1zhu2 with me.  He is from Finland. Crazy huh? It was really good. We had 6 other lessons which was really cool!

 

Haven't started Phase 2 in language! They haven't sent it to me yet but I should be getting it pretty soon I hope.

 

So blessed to have Elder Westover! I know I say that so often but he has helped me so much. He is so obedient and firm in the faith. We only have 3 weeks left together and we are going to make the most of it. We hope to have a few more baptisms together so please pray for Shi2 Di4Xiong1 and Huang2 Di4Xiong. They both are struggling with WoW [Word of Wisdom] but both have great desires and faith. They are our only progressing investigators right now.

 

We met a mom too! She said we could come back and teach her and her kids. Her husband has no interest but she seems great. We sang for her and the spirit was definitely there. 

Today for P-Day we went to the dragon boat festival. Super cool! All these dragon boat races. Really incredible and super fun! I will send a picture.

 

The Dragon Boat Festival
It was super cool and there were so many people there.

Zhou1 Chang2 En1 wore a white shirt on Sunday! He looked super shuai (good).

 

Lastly, I have really been working on prayers. In Preach My Gospel, President Hinckley gives a quote of how when we pray we shouldn't just order groceries and then be done. We have to intently pray. That's what I've been focusing on. It's helped me feel the spirit more abundantly. A mission is super hard...getting rejected all day.  But it is so rewarding as it was seeing Habip enter into the waters of baptism. I love this work. Nate and Jake have an awesome summer :) You two deserve it! Mom and Dad love you both so much! Megan good luck! Have a great week everyone!

 

Elder Willes

PIG'S FOOT... JUST AS YUMMY AS IT LOOKS!

Wow another week done.  The time is flying.  My family doing family history on my birthday?...what?  Dad way to be with those names! 45? Nice work! Congrats Nate on the swoosh. Super awesome :) Jake you will get it next time!  Mom way to be an awesome DJ.  haha  That is hilarious.

This week was a great one. Consisted of 2 exchanges. One was with Elder Lllu and he came to my area. We found a great new investigator. We approached him and he didn't want to talk to us but I felt like I should show him the questions of the soul we use  when contacting and asked him which one he would like to obtain an answer to.  He said he really would like to know where we go after we die? Elder Lllu flipped to Alma 40 and taught that through Christ we will all be resurrected and taught about this life's purpose. It was super cool and we exchanged numbers with him. The next day he called us and said he would like to meet!  Elder Westover and I took him to the chapel and gave him a chapel tour. Spirit was really strong and we set a baptismal date with him for late June. Then we met with him again and taught the first lesson. Funny sidenote: Our member was there at the church and we all sang I am a Child of God and he was singing SO loud.  I was pinching my arm so I would not laugh haha so funny. But the lesson was really great and he is know reading the Book of Mormon and praying. He also came to all 3 hours of church on Sunday :) He's super great! His name is Huang2 Di4Xiong1.  Keep him in your prayers!

As for Habip he is doing great. He passed his baptismal interview on Friday and has been 5 straight days with no smoking. He is set to be baptized this coming Thursday. We are really excited for him :) Such a golden investigator with such a great testimony. He calls Elder Westover and I his brothers. Haha he is so great and we love him so much.

Shi2 Di4 Xiong1 didn't come to church but we aren't worried about him. He hasn't drank coffee or tea the last few days and is really excited be baptized on 6/14. He's really great.

Exchanges went great with Elder Gibson in his area Zhu dong. I was able to pass off Phase 1 of my Chinese which was exciting.  I'm now working on Phase 2 which is like everyday Chinese vocabulary.  2000 words or so and then after that it's Chinese characters!  Really exciting.  Elder Westover has helped me a lot with my Chinese.

Elder Willes and Elder Gibson - "His Chinese is amazing!"

Rain this week was insane. Everyday just a literal down pore.  No big deal though. On exchanges with Elder Lllu there was a mini earthquake. Kinda scary 10 seconds of shaking.  Elder Lllu was so calm and just kept reading scriptures. Sure enough it stopped and he was like, "There's always earthquakes here." It was interesting.

Also, a member had us over for dinner and I had the wonderful opportunity to eat pig foot. Umm it was ok haha. Just a pig's foot. you know..

Pig's Foot...just as yummy as it looks

Another cool experience was Elder Westover and I were at the church one night making calls and a member just stopped by and said hi. (The one who fed us pig foot) and then all of the sudden 6 random college students walk up and asked if they could learn about our church. We were like of course come on in! They came in and our member started teaching them about the deeper doctrine and they were really confused haha he stopped for like 1 second and I testified what he said was true and then Elder Westover and I took over and taught the first lesson. The spirit was strong and we gave them all a copy of the Book of Mormon. They don't live in our area but they said they would go to English class and read the Book of Mormon. It was a really cool experience.

This week was another great one. Zhou1 Chang2 En1 our recent convert is doing great. Brought his brother again to church. In the summer his little brother should have time to meet with us. Our other investigators are all slowly improving. We try our best to make daily contact with them. Keep Habip in your prayers. His baptism is this week!

Love this work. So blessed to be one of 83,000+ serving the Lord. Growing closer to Him each day. I've been really working on feasting on the words of Christ not just reading them. I am in the process of actually experiencing the Book of Mormon which has been great.

The big huge burger Elder Willes had on his birthday

They went to a member's house and baked the cake we sent for William's birthday..."Yummy"

Elder Willes' 19th birthday and P-day last week!  Happy birthday William!!!

Megan, I'm sure your farewell was awesome. You are going to be such a good missionary!  I'm praying for you :) Jia1 You2

Have a great week everyone!

Elder Willes

WELL, I GUESS I AM 19 YEARS OLD! SUPER WEIRD!

Happy Birthday Elder Willes!  (pictured with a decaying rat)

Well, I guess I am 19 years old!  Haha super weird!  First off I just want to thank everyone for the birthday letters. I got a lot of mail.  It made me so happy and I can feel everyone's love and support so thank you all so much! 

Today is p-day and my birthday.  To celebrate we are going to go to BIG City to eat.  It's like a huge mall!  I will take some pictures. Should be good. Except for today it is absolutely pouring down rain. You are right dad, looks like rain everyday. This past week it rained about everyday too.  I am always dripping wet.

This week was another great one!  I am so blessed to be able to serve.  I started reading Jesus the Christ and am really excited to learn more about Christ from reading this book. Elder Westover is great and follows up with me and asks how my reading is going and I tell him what I learn. What a great trainer. :)  Also when I got to the MTC I started over in the Book of Mormon and am now in 3 Nephi 19! I love the BoM and invite everyone to read it everyday.  Just like Joseph Smith said we can get closer to God by abiding by its precepts than any other book in the world. I learned how to say that in Chinese this week!

Elder Willes skyping last week!  A huge thank you to Thomas, a member in the ward William is serving in, who helped the missionaries Skype home.

We met with Habip multiple times!  He is having a tough time quitting smoking!  We told him we could give him a priesthood blessing and he wanted one. I had the opportunity to give this blessing and it was so so cool!  The spirit was strong and he was just smiling after!  He still hasn't quit smoking but has cut down so much!  To about 5 a day.  Keep praying for him.  We still have faith he can reach his date this upcoming Saturday night!  He is amazing and has such a deep testimony of the Savior, Jesus Christ.  He also went on the temple tour in Taipei with the ward and absolutely loved it!  He said he had such good feelings there and in a few years he really wants to come to Utah to see the Salt Lake Temple!  Keep praying for him. I am so blessed to be able to teach him.

Another miracle:  A few weeks ago I pulled up on my bike at a red light and started talking to the guy next me. I asked him if I could talk to him on the side of the road for a minute. He said yes and Elder Westover and I taught a lesson. Turns out he didn't live in our area. He lives in the Sisters area. So we referred him to them and they have been teaching him!  He's been to church the last two weeks and is getting baptized on June 1st which is his birthday!  Super cool :)

Another miracle: We had a really important lesson with Sui2Jie3Mei4 scheduled. We had to find a pei3Ke4 (member to accompany us) because we couldn't be with her and another sister member because that's against the rules.  We called everyone and nobody could go with us.  20 minutes before the lesson we thought we might need to cancel.  We said a prayer and thought of Chen2Di4Xiong1, a member in our ward.  He got in a car accident 15 years ago and can't really move his right hand and has trouble walking. We felt good about him and called him and he said he could help us!  We rode our bikes to his house and (because he doesn't have a scooter/car) we then all walked together a 20 minute walk to Sui2Jie3Mei4 house! I had tears in my eyes seeing how willing this member was to help us. He has trouble walking and has a really bad limp but he didn't complain at all and was so happy. :)  To top things off we set a new baptismal date with Sui2Jie3Mei4 for 6/14 and the spirit was so strong. She still is very nervous to come to church but we are working with members on that who may be able to help her. Wow, what a tender mercy!  I love this work of salvation.

Also, we have four new investigators!  One is a little 14 year old kid (referral) who seems great. The other 3 all live together. We knocked a random house and three college guys with their shirts off and beers in their hands opened the door. I thought oh boy.  But they let us in and we taught about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Turns out they are Christians. They invited us to come back and we taught the first vision to them the next day.  They were much more reverent and were intently listening and had great questions. The spirit was strong and gave them all a copy of the Book of Mormon!  So cool to be able to teach them.  Zhu2Di4Xiong1 and his brother Zhu2Di4Xiong1 haha and their friend Hong1Di4Xiong1.

We also met with Shi2Di4Xiong1 and he is slowly trying to quit drinking tea and coffee. His date is 6/14!

Elder Willes eating pot stickers...yummy!

There are lots of interesting Chinese dishes but Elder Willes currently lives near a Costco which sells a good old pepperoni pizza.

This week was really great. Stake conference was wonderful. President Day was there!  He spoke and invited everyone to invite people to meet with the missionaries.  Really powerful. The talks at Stake Conference really focused on missionary work and getting everyone to act. There were a lot of people. Probably about a full chapel and full overflow back home. Really cool seeing faithful Latter-day Saints around the world!

Have a great week everyone!

Love you all and thanks so much for the support!

Elder Willes

APPARENTLY THE RAIN HERE IS ACID RAIN?

It was so amazing skyping you all! Such a great experience! Happy Mother's Day mom. :) Love you!  Nate and Jake you look like studs!  Way to be!!  Dad way to hold in those tears man. :)  Haha the time flew but I'm grateful I got to see my wonderful family! 

This week was another great one. Habip is coming along great. We met with him 4 times and actually went and did SOME service with him.  A recycling project. His testimony is growing so much. He is so ready for baptism.  Habip does have a pretty big obstacle with smoking. He has smoked every day for the past 10+ years. We know that he can do it!  He reads the scriptures every day and prays and his faith is so great. The ward is having a temple tour next week and he is going with them to see the temple. He said he really wants to go to the temple. His testimony is so great. It isn't a coincidence that we are teaching some random guy from Turkey in Taiwan. This is through the Lord and through Him we are helping him experience the fullness of joy this gospel can bring. :) His wife came to church too and is great! She still doesn't know the church is true, but prays and reads every day. She wants to be baptized too! They are awesome. Their faith is remarkable.

Our other investigator Sui2 Jie3Mei4 really wants to be baptized but is so, so, so scared of her family being mad at her. She hasn't come to church yet but she told us she would tell her family about her desires to be baptized this week. :) Also Shi2Di4Xiong1 is progressing. His faith is great but he is struggling with tea and coffee. We are trying to meet with his family to get his wife on-board and we think we can meet with them next week!

Finding and contacting has been super hard lately. We haven't found many new people who are prepared for the gospel. We met a new guy Hun1Di4Xiong1 who seems pretty good and we are meeting with on Saturday. This coming week is Stake Conference in ZhuBei and I'm stoked!  I am going to see a big group of LDS Chinese members gather together! Can't wait!  Also, today we went to an all you can eat barbecue meat place. You cook the meat on this heater thing.  It was super good. Also they had all you can eat ice cream. :)

Elder Willes, Thomas (a member of the church who facilitated the Skype call and is a tremendous help to the missionaries), Elder Westover and Jake.  We thought it would be brilliant to stream William up on our TV screen so we could see him more clearly.  Instead, we found the 4 of us huddled tightly around our little computer screen.  Pretty funny!  It was a fairly good connection.  Amazing technology.  We did lose Elder Willes  for about 5-8 minutes while a connection was reestablished.  Not a big deal except that he announced he had only 30 minutes to talk with us. 

It's really weird I have been in Taiwan for 6 weeks! Time is flying out here and before you know it June 26th I think I will have a new companion.  That is the next transfer date.  Elder Westover turned 20 this week! We went to a tepanyaki place to celebrate! Super good steak, rice, and vegetables.  About 4 bucks per person which is pretty expensive here! Also, at Family Home Evening we celebrated both our birthdays! Our cute ward made us a cake and sang to us in Chinese and English! Super awesome.  Our ward is great. Our bishop is really diligent and helps us with our lessons.

The family waiting for the HIGHLY anticipated call!  

It rained a lot this week and apparently the rain here is acid rain (due to heavy pollution)? People believe it makes you go bald!  So, when it rains everyone is wearing a rain hood.  Me included :) The Chinese culture is so cool. I wish you all could see it.  Everyone here has scooters instead of cars. Really interesting.  Anyway, I'm so blessed to be a missionary and am loving this work. No greater joy than seeing investigators and less actives take that leap of faith in coming to church. So grateful for my trainer who has taught me so much! I appreciate all the prayers for me and our investigators. Love you all and have a great week!

I LOVE THIS WORK! SO REMARKABLE!

"Obedience, Faith, and Trust in the Lord really does bring blessings."

Elder Willes, Zhou1 Chang2 En1, and Elder Westover
Zhou1 Chang2 En1 is 13 years old and a very tall Taiwanese young man.  He was baptized Saturday,  May 3rd, 2014.
He has been investigating the church for 6 months.
"Hands down the coolest thing I've seen on my mission!" -Elder Willes

This week was truly remarkable. The baptism went great! It started out pretty hectic because as we were filling up the font  the water pressure was super low so we were worried it wasn't going to be filled up in time. Some members came and helped us and we figured that out. Then Elder Westover had what is called a "pocket puke."  We have our planners and pamphlets in our shirt pockets. When he leaned over to feel the water temperature his planner and pamphlets all fell in the water so I had to hold him while he was reaching down and pulling things out haha. When it was all said and done everything worked out great. :) 

Zhou1 Chang2 En1 asked if I would introduce him at the pulpit so before the baptism I introduced him and that was really cool. I love that kid so much. Then four of us missionaries sang Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing which was super cool. We had no time to practice so it was a little rusty, but the spirit was so strong. All of Zhou1 Chang2 En1's family came. He has a less active mom, less active sister, and the rest are non-members. Cool seeing all of them! The baptism was great. Elder Westover performed it and the spirit was so strong. When they got out of the font I asked Chang En how he felt. He said hen3 hao3 (Very Good)! He had a huge smile on his face and he was super happy. Then yesterday at church a member confirmed him and he received the Holy Ghost. Standing in that circle and participating was truly a blessing.  Seeing this 13 year olds faith is truly remarkable. His family didn't come to see him get confirmed, but he was so happy :) He is going to be such a great missionary in 5 years! Hands down the coolest thing I've seen on my mission!

Zhou1 Chang2 En1 and his family with Elder Willes and Elder West over

 

Habip is doing fantastic. He and his wife keep praying every day. He reads the Book of Mormon in Turkish every day because we were able to get one for him! We asked him to pray about baptism and we followed up with him yesterday at church and he said he had a good feeling and a great experience! He is super great. His testimony is great. You can see that spiritual light in his eyes and desire to follow Jesus Christ. We are hoping he is able to be baptized on 5/24/14! We haven't taught the word of wisdom yet and we know he smokes so pray for him that he will be able to overcome that! He came to the baptism.  He and his wife also come to family home evening every week!

 

Shi2Di4Xiong1 is doing good. He has great faith in Christ. We taught him about the Word of Wisdom and he has struggles with tea and coffee, but said he would try his best to stop. He didn't show up at church yesterday when he said he would. We are a little worried, but not too much. We are trusting in the Lord that he is doing great! He is also shooting for a baptism on May 24th as well.

 

Sui2 Jie3 Mei4 is great. She didn't tell us this but she called one of our members who has accompanied us and met with her and told the member she is worried her family will get mad if she goes to church. She hasn't come to church yet, but she reads and prays every day and has a great testimony. We are praying for her to talk to her family about this! We know that when she comes to church her testimony will be solidified. It's just right now taking that step and coming to church.

 

Ivy has been busy and unable to meet. We are hoping to find a time this weekend though!

 

Lee3 Jie3Mei4 came to church again!  3rd straight week! Her son had a fever so was unable to come. They are great! We invited them to pray about baptism and are praying for them to gain to a desire to find the time to meet with us haha. They love church but their time during the week is super busy! 

Bless the Yu's for taking care of Elder Willes

 

Overall an amazing week filled with miracles! Obedience, Faith, and Trust in the Lord really does bring blessings. I love this work! So remarkable!

 

Have a great week everyone!!