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.

The Jergensens and the Blickenstaffs (the President of the Taichung Mission).  We had meetings with them this week.

The assistants from the Taichung Mission with Elder Willes and Elder Stewart

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

"Learn of me, and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my Spirit, 

and you shall have peace in me."  

Doctrine and Covenants 19:23

Well, another one bites the dust. Another week in the books.  The weeks are just flying by right now! 

Church last Sunday was really cool. We are finally starting to get better relationships with the members of our ward. We have been meeting with 4-5 members a week and really just stretching out to serve and love and get to know them. It is helping and has been awesome! During Sunday School the teacher talked about how when we as humans create things or find hidden treasures we don't like to share with others. We tend to put ourselves ahead of others. But God created all things, the Earth, the sun, the sky, and even us. All for us. He has already given us so much because He loves us. I really liked that little analogy. 

This week has been a crazy busy week. President has started doing interviews throughout the mission and while he does interviews we've been doing a training on how to get more member referrals. We've already seen some great results from missionaries getting more member referrals.  Elder Stewart and i received 4 referrals this week and that was HUGE! 

After one of the days of training in Xin1 Zhu2 we drove President to Zhong1 Li4 to do a second baptismal interview for an investigator. And that night was English class. Both Xin1 Zhu2 and Zhong1 Li4 are special places for me having served in both of these areas.  I was able to have a happy reunion at English class in Zhong1 Li4 with some awesome people. Ahh it was so nice. The people here mean so much to me.  I love to see them happy and progressing. Sean, the LA we found on the side of the road, we taught him and loved him and he came back to church. He is doing great and working 6 days a week now. He's pretty much engaged and plans on getting married in the Portland, Oregon, Temple early next year! I told him I would be there. Also, our Ward Mission Leader Wu2 Zhao4 Wei2 was there and he brought me my favorite chicken ji1 pai2 and lemon drink. Super nice of him. I saw the Liu2 family.  Their son is serving a mission in California. Also, I got to see my RC Lai4 Ma Ma! She was so excited. She asked if I could give her a hug. I told her no but that next year I could! It was so good to see her. All this stuff probably sounds weird reading it, but for me it meant the world to reunite with my brothers and sisters. It was such a happy night! Alma 17:2-3. So so cool! I will forever be grateful to God for allowing me to meet such wonderful people and be His tool in blessing people's lives. 

Elder Willes with his previous Ward Mission Leader Wu2 Zhao4 Wei2 (notice the chicken and lemon drink).  

Elder Willes and President Jergensen with William's recent convert Lai4 Ma Ma

Liu2 Family with Elder Willes

Our LA Sun1 JM is doing great! Coming to church ever single week now! We set a goal with her to take her to the temple in September so that should be really exciting. She has a desire and the Gospel is bringing a light back into her life that was lost for over 10 years. She's gonna make it! 

One time we were waiting for a lesson in the chapel.  We had 5 minutes and I thought that maybe we could go find for those few minutes. In that 5 minutes we brought in a couple who had interest in checking out our chapel and the sisters gave them a tour. We also met a potential family that lives in Ban3Qiao2! So make every minute count is the lesson I learned right there!

Lastly, our investigator Wang2 JM was still sorta struggling at the beginning of this week with her testimony of Joseph Smith and the Restoration.  In my studies this week, I read D&C 18:2-4.  I know the spirit has told Wang2 JM multiple times that these men were and are called of God. She told us when we met with her yesterday that when she prayed about it she heard the voice of the spirit that told her it was all true! CHAHOOO!!!  In our lesson I shared that scripture with her and we went out in the chapel hall and showed her the picture of the 12 apostles with Jesus, the 12 apostles right now and a picture of President Monson and Joseph Smith. As I testified to her that these men have all given their lives to help bring people to Christ and how they are called of God I had a realization. This whole week I've been pondering what does a prophet mean to me? Why are they so crucial and important? It clicked in that moment --- we follow these men because they are the most Christlike examples. We follow them because they follow God and lead us to God and Jesus Christ. As we asked her for like the 10th time if she believed these men are God's spokesperson and prophet on the Earth she paused and looked down. And then said Xiang1 Xin4. Believe!  It was incredible! Elder Stewart and I were so excited. The spirit is the real teacher. She is so filled with real intent that the Lord through the Spirit in HIs own time manifested the truth unto her. Her baptismal interview is tonight and her baptism should be next Saturday night! Super super exciting!

Scripture of the week D&C 19:23 "Learn of me, and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my Spirit, and you shall have peace in me." When we strive from Sunrise and Sunset to become more Like Christ He will change and help us! The church is true! Love you all. Thanks for the prayers. The thumb is like 100% now. I even played basketball this morning. Life is good. My companion Elder Stewart is a boss and I love him!

Elder Willes

Last P-Day was such a blast. Elder Stewart and I went to an amusement park called Liu2 Fu Village. Such a blast. It was nice to have a break and get on some roller coasters.