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!!

 

PATIENCE, TRUST AND SOME MORE PATIENCE

"This is the hardest thing I've ever done, but the most rewarding!"

The LDS chapel in XinZhu and Elder Willes in his rain gear

Great week here in Taiwan! :) This week was filled with miracles, spiritual experiences and fun things. Our last p-day (10 days ago) we went to the beach!  6 of us Elders rode our bikes 25 minutes to the beach and threw a football, frisbee, and just hung out.  It was super nice and great to be able to get our minds off the mission stresses for a bit. Also, I will be sending lots of pictures this week so I'm super excited for that! 

Elder Willes on the beach in Taiwan on p-day

We went to the temple today. So great. Everything was in English.  So spiritual and it reminded me of the MTC with a huge group of missionaries going to the temple.  Super cool to go to the temple here in Taiwan and it is an experience I will never forget for the rest of my life.

Today was very hectic. We were supposed to be to the temple at 7:50 a.m. and we live about an hour and a half away.  Our alarm didn't go off so we woke up about 6:00 a.m. We hurried and threw clothes on and left for the temple. Then we left our cell phone on the bus in Taipei so we had to go to all these train stations to try and find it. Thankfully they found it and we are going to retrieve that tonight. We made it to the temple on time and were in there for about 4 hours doing just about everything. We were planning on going to Taipei 101 but we had no time so we just came back to XinZhu. The temple is such a great place. 

We had a lesson with one of our less actives today and we watched this awesome movie on temples and set a goal for him this summer to go through the temple!  He is going to talk to the Bishop this Sunday to start getting prepared!  Awesome, spiritual experience!  His name is Cai4 Di4Xiong1.

Elder Willes with Elder Senkans on an exchange

On Monday, we went on splits with the zone leaders.  Elder Senkans came with me in XinZhu and Elder Westover went to Zhudong with Elder Gibson. Elder Senkans is a great missionary. He is from Latvia and speaks Latvian, English, and Chinese. He said his home mission is Adam's mission so that is way cool! His dad met the missionaries and read the Book of Mormon and was converted and now his whole family are members and his dad actually translated the Book of Mormon into Latvian. A boss!  He has been out about a year and a half and has great Chinese. The last two weeks we haven't found any new investigators but Elder Senkans and I found two new investigators!  Ivy is one and the other lives in Taipei so we referred him to the Taipei Elders. So awesome. Also, Elder Westover found a new investigator yesterday so we are really seeing the blessings of patience. Patience, trust, and some more patience.

Elder Senkans and Elder Willes with Brother and Sister Yu who are expecting a mission call

Last week all the trainees and trainers went to Taipei for training. I got to see Elder Dexter, Elder Dethloff, Elder Hughes, and Sister Smith all again. That was super exciting and they are all doing really great. :) If you haven't seen the videos about Taiwan on LDS.org they are on the front page so go check them out :)

Miracles: Zhou1 Chang2En1 is getting BAPTIZED!  This Saturday! We met with him last Monday and he confirmed his testimony to us. Such a strong testimony for a 13 year old kid. He is super tall too haha almost my height! He had his baptismal interview this week and passed with flying colors so his baptismal service is this Saturday night. I am so blessed to have met him. Elder Westover has been teaching him for about 5 or 6 months and now he is finally getting baptized. This Saturday will be a special one for sure!  Another miracle: Elder Senkans and I invited Habip to read a part of the Book of Mormon, ponder, and pray and ask God if what we have taught is true. The spirit was really strong. We woke up the next morning to a pleasant surprise.  Habip had texted us at 3:00 a.m. saying he did what we asked of him. He thanked us for allowing him to have a spiritual experience and "feel Jesus Christ." We were super excited! :) He has some Word of Wisdom stuff that we are going to try and help him take care of and hopefully he will be getting baptized by the end of May. Another miracle: Elder Westover and I set a baptismal date with Shi2 Di4Xiong1 for the 24th of May!  Such a blessing.  We asked him and he said "Yes, I need to be baptized." Such a touching moment. Elder Westover and I were singing hymns all the way home. Sui2Jie3Mei4 continues to improve and is coming to church for the first time this week!  Also, Lee Jie3 Mei4 and her son came to church again. They love coming to church! They are really busy so we haven't met with them again since our first visit but they always come to church.  The other Lee Jia1 Ting2 has been busy and tough getting a hold of.

McDonald's in Taiwan

Ice cream Taiwanese style.  Tons of fruit and shaved ice.  Delicious!

Our ward members are great.  They are always willing to drop anything to Pei2Ke4 (accompany) us to our lessons.  They are amazing.  I am so blessed to be a missionary.  I love this experience with all my heart.  It is what everyone says: It is the hardest thing I've ever done, but the most rewarding.

Mom, I got the birthday boxes.  Sorry I couldn't wait to open them! There is awesome stuff in there. :)  Love you!!!  Also, I got some birthday cards this week. I haven't opened them yet but thank you all!

Elder Willes with a living turtle that was just "chillin' in our chapel."

Much love,

Elder Willes


A few of the links Elder Willes references in his letter.

Elder Holland in Asia.

https://www.lds.org/prophets-and-apostles/unto-all-the-world/gospel-light?cid=HPTU042214727&lang=eng

What working in Taiwan looks like.

https://www.lds.org/prophets-and-apostles/unto-all-the-world/zhu-ching-suns-story?lang=eng

Also, it is not too late to send off a quick birthday card to Elder Willes.  Letters are like solid gold to missionaries!

I JUST FINISHED EATING SOME PIG INTESTINES! YIKES!!!

Hello! Well, I just finished eating some pig intestines. Yikes that stuff is....ewwww!   I got most of it down though!  I also had clams this week. Not too bad. Pretty good actually.

This week has been full of ups and downs. We had a tough week of finding and weren't able to find any new investigators. We taught some good people though. We had lessons with Tu Jia1 Ting2 as well as Yang2 Jia1 ting2 which is actually Lee3 Jia1 Ting2 instead.  It is so great teaching cute families. The mom from the Tu family came to church. Her husband doesn't have any interest and her son is so, so. We are trying to find friends to go and invite him to church next week which is pretty exciting. Lee3 Jia1 Ting2 is great. They have two cute little girls and their parents are great. The dad is Buddhist and the mom doesn't have a religion. We taught them the first lesson and talked about the Book of Mormon. We invited them to pray as a family and start reading the Book of Mormon. Both these families are really busy but we hope to be able to meet with them this coming week.

All the missionaries from our zone (about 50) got together with the Mission President in Zhu Bai (I think) and Elder and Sister Wilson from the Area Seventy.  They spent all day teaching us how to use the Book of Mormon in our teaching. We read Chapter 1 of 1st Nephi and broke each verse down.  Those verses have so much to do with the Restoration of the Gospel.  This is a challenge for Nate and Jake: Read 1st Nephi Chapter 1 together and talk about each verse and how it relates to the Restoration.  So cool! Truly remarkable how many parallels there are!  Also, we were told to prepare a 3 minute talk and a memorized scripture in English on repentance. They picked four random missionaries to speak and of course I was one of them haha. It was good though. The scripture I shared was Mosiah 4:3. It is great!  The Spirit was strong that day and we were all motivated to use the BoM in every single contact. I also met Sister Peay (Kyle's cousin) She is in our zone and we talked for 5 minutes. It was cool making that connection.

We had a tough week with investigators at church. No investigators except for the mom from Tu Jia1 Ting2 family came to church. They were all super busy with tests and other things. We are excited for the upcoming week. We are hoping to have about 5 or 6 investigators at church. We also watched this video about how to better involve the ward. Elder Westover and I had this great idea to do a huge, BBQ tailgate and do it with the 3 wards in our district.  Just have everyone bring food and "tailgate" at our church parking lot. Super excited. We are hoping to plan and stuff and have the event the beginning of June. The goal is to have our ward members bring tons of friends and then us missionaries do the job and preach the word :). We think it will be really great and will help encourage ward members to invite friends. We need our ward members as missionaries.  We need them to accompany us to our lessons. We need them to invite people and befriend our investigators. Elder Westover and I are blessed to be a part of a great ward.

A few really spiritual experiences happened this week. One night I was going through a list of our former investigators and there is one who I felt like we should visit. He was apparently really, really close to baptism about 2 1/2 months ago and then decided he didn't want to be baptized because he couldn't quit cha2 (tea).  So, we visited him and he opened the door and invited us in. He was in hospital clothing and a tube was in his throat. He told us through hand signals (he can't talk) that he has throat cancer and they took muscles from his thighs and put them in his throat. He can't talk, can't eat, and can barely move. We were heart broken but we asked if we could give him a priesthood blessing. He first said a prayer in his mind and the Spirit was so strong even though we were just sitting there in silence. Then Elder Westover and I gave him a blessing. The Spirit was so strong. We are praying he will start relying on the Lord to get through this trial. We are going to go visit him on Wednesday. His name is Ye4 Di4Xiong1. 

We also gave two other blessings. One to Sui2 Jie3 Mei4 and a less active's kid. (The mom was crying and really touched and took us straight to her friend's restaurant and bought us fried rice.)  Both have been sick. Sui2 has Parkinson's disease and her body is in ok condition. These were both really cool experiences. 

Our district had two baptisms this week that we went to. The Sisters and the other set of Elders. Really special. All us missionaries sang Abide With Me Tis Eventide at the service. It was special. Seeing how happy these 2 new converts were was remarkable. We are excited for our other investigators to have these same blessings. 

Shi2 Di4Xiong1 had tests this week so we met with him once and are meeting again later this week. Habip and his wife are slowly coming along. We invited them to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know it's true. They have a great desire. They both came to the baptismal service which was great! Cheng2 En1 we are worried about. He didn't come to church and we hope we are meeting with him tonight and talk about his baptism.

This week definitely had its ups and downs but Im so grateful Im serving here in XinZhu and have great faith for each and everyone of our investigators. Mom the Easter pics were great :) Dad thanks for the random facts especially the weather updates.  Elder Westover and I love them. Nate looking buff!! Way to be blessing the Sacrament. Jake you are turning into a man too! What's goin on? Also nice work with passing the Sacrament again :) Love you all so much! I am so blessed I have such a great family. Have a great week everyone! Doing great here! Can't believe in a week I've been here a month. Woahhhhh

Love,

Elder Willes

I FELL OFF MY BIKE THIS WEEK

Sorry for the delay in sending my email again. We went to get some food at an all you can eat buffet of meat and ice cream. :) So delicious! Dad that's sweet the Gophers won the NIT. Crazy that baseball is already starting and Mom we got the package 2 weeks ago and ate everything. :) Thanks so much! You are the best.

The meat buffet - put your meat in a hot pot and cook it

Anyway to answer some questions. We have English class at our chapel. We watched all sessions of General Conference. There was our whole district, which is 10 missionaries, in a little room watching all of the sessions in English. So grateful for that. It was so great hearing people called of God speak to us! It was my favorite Conference without a doubt. Hard not to get emotional seeing all of those faithful Latter-day Saints in the Conference Center full all the way to the top. So awesome! We all stood up and sung with the choir and congregation which was cool as well.  Also, I could have sworn I saw Liza Pugsley and the Palmers singing in the choir before the Sunday session? Was that for real? If that was them that is way cool! 

Conference was the best. I learned so much and felt the spirit so strong. Super cool seeing Elder Aidukaitis and Elder Zwick speak. They both spoke to us at the MTC just a few weeks ago so that was awesome. Also the music director, Brother Eggett, is the MTC choir director. So that was cool seeing him lead some choirs. Some of my favorite talks were President Eyring when he talked about heroes and the Priesthood. That was great. Also President Uchtdorf when he talked about gratitude.That was really humbling for me. Missions are hard and it made me sit back and be grateful for everything I have. A very awesome supportive family who I love so dearly, as well as extended family, great friends whose examples are outstanding, a great trainer who loves me and is very hard-working and obedient, and a great ward to help us build up the Kingdom of God here in XinZhu. I also loved Elder Holland's talk on Saturday. I love that man. He is so bold and he speaks so strongly. When he said he is more sure this gospel is true than more sure that he was standing there and the congregation was listening, wow that was so awesome. Conference was great! Went by so fast and I wish it was longer.  I thought about the fam at home playing some Conference bingo and watching together. You all are so great. :)

This week was great. We had two lessons with less actives who ended up coming and watching general conference. It was great seeing them come to listen to the words of our living Prophet of God. There was probably about 40-50 people that came to watch Conference. Also we had some miracles this week. Two days ago we were knocking doors and we met a lady and her 13 year old son. They said we could come back and teach them the next day. We taught the first lesson and they committed to come to church next Sunday so that is very exciting! Her husband doesn't want to meet with us but he doesn't oppose them meeting with us. So we are excited for Tu2Jia1Ting2. Also, we have a lesson this coming Sunday with a family of four. We met the mom on the street and shared pictures of our families and how the Gospel has blessed our families so much. She was touched but she didn't know if her husband was willing to meet. She said we could call him and we finally got a hold of him and he said we could meet with them next Sunday so we are excited for this opportunity as well. :) That family is the Yang2Jia1Ting2 family. They seem really special.

We had exchanges this past week. I went to another area for a day and a half with Elder Clark. He is a stud with great Chinese. We got three new investigators during that exchange so that was cool! His area is known as the "golden area" with prepared people all over. We are excited for him and his companion who work in that area. We had lessons this week with Sui2Jie3Mei4 and Shi2Di4Xiong1. They are both great. We are trying to get them to pray and read every night. We are praying that they will start keeping commitments and pray and read in order to feel the Holy Ghost. We are excited for them!  Thank you so much for your prayers on our investigators behalf. Mom, Dad, Nate and Jake that means so much to Elder Westover and I. We feel the love and we are doing our best to help them come unto Christ. Cheng2En1 is progressing great. He is a great example and seems pretty set for his May 3rd baptismal date. He is such a great example. He came to conference too which is great. We are just continuing to read the BoM with him to increase his testimony. Stoked for him!

Random things: I had pig's blood this week which was interesting and not too gross actually. Getting used to the food here which is good. Lots of weird meats with rice, vegetables, and fruit. We enjoy Costco muffins almost daily haha. I also fell off my bike this week. I was waving to this guy and just biffed it. Didn't hurt at all but it was a little embarrassing. ;) People always tell me I look like Brad Pitt. Elder Westover and I think it's hilarious.

Elder Willes making Zhuabing - "awesome tortilla things"

Anyway that's about it for this week. We are working hard and so excited for what the future is going to hold. Our Turkish investigator, Habip, is coming along great too. He's been reading the Book of Mormon and praying every night and we've seen how happy he is when he hears about Jesus Christ and the restored gospel. He said he and his wife want to visit us in a few years in America so you might get to meet them. :)  Great, great people.

The people here are awesome. The language is coming along. I've been taking phone calls now so that's interesting. I am on Lesson 2 (in PMG) on Phase 1 so that's good. Thank you all so much for the prayers and support. Jake way to be looking like a stud the first day you pass the Sacrament! Nate way to be blessing the Sacrament and looking all muscular! Dad thanks for all the interesting Taiwan updates. Elder Westover and I love them. Mom thanks for all the pictures. Awesome you got to meet Sister Smith's mom!  I love you all so much and miss you.  I am so blessed to have a great family who are all great examples to me.

Elder Westover and Elder Willes

Mom could you maybe send the piano sheet music via email for Come, Come Ye Saints by Paul Cardell? Elder Westover and I want to try and make an arrangement and sing and play it in Sacrament Meeting. :) That would be so awesome! Thanks so much! Love you all and have a great week!