HIGH and LOWS

Hello everyone!! This week has had many highs and lows. I know this is missionary life and I will stay focused on the positive and enjoy every moment I am here! 

Let me tell you about my companions. The three of us are the only Mandarin speakers in our mission. In fact, we cover the Riverside Mission, Redlands Mission and Rancho Cucamonga Mission although they that mission might be getting some Chinese Elders. It is lots of driving and I am always the driver. Elder Zeng and Elder Yang cannot drive. They are both from mainland China. Elder Zeng's English is really good. Elder Yang is improving and works really hard on English! He can't speak very well but he can read really well for some reason. My companions are so awesome. Elder Zeng joined the Church 6 years ago and he and his mom are members. Elder Yang joined the church 5 years ago and there are 7 other extended family members of his that are also members of the Church. 

So last p-day (Monday) was Halloween. We were not allowed to go proselyte. I wanted to go out so bad to find investigators. There were so many people out! Instead, we had a zone activity. 

Tuesday was the first day of November... that is crazy. We had our weekly zone meetings in the morning and some more studies after lunch. We went finding at a park that night and talked with this one guy from China for a really long time! He had us sit down with him and basically teach him a lesson. I was really excited and then we asked him if he wanted to hear more and he said that he didn't have any interest. That was kind of a bummer. We also visited the Li Family and had a lesson about encouraging them to do member missionary work. They are so awesome.

We continue to work really hard to try and find more investigators, but haven't yet seen much success. We met three guys playing basketball at the park named Frankie, Joseph, and Johnny. They weren't Chinese but we talked with them for a while about the Gospel which was cool. We got their contact information and referred them to different missionaries so that was pretty cool! We had English class that night. English class is the best. I love it so much!! 

Thursday we spent most of the morning at UCR. On the way to UCR, Shu Jie Mei called us. She said that she wants to learn about Jesus Christ and our Gospel, but her family doesn't want her to meet with us, so she cancelled our lesson. It was super sad. I was so excited about her! 

Friday we went to UCR again for most of the day. Finding at UCR is really fun. This past week we found a really cool new investigator, Pan Xia. She is a Material Science major and is super smart!! We had a lesson with her yesterday which I will explain more about later!! We ate dinner that night with Sunny, and older member from Taiwan. She is so awesome. It is kind of sad... She has a 17 year old dog that is blind and deaf and runs in the wall sometimes. But our visit was great and we invited her to try and read from the Book of Mormon everyday and she agreed! We had 2 new people at English Class on Friday night! Both of them are students at UCR, and have interest in learning about the Church. Also the Taiwanese couple came too, and they are awesome.

Saturday we had our weekly blitz. This week I was with Elder Jackson, one of our zone leaders. He is a really great missionary. We worked really hard and made I think we made about 17 contacts in 90 minutes and got quite a bit of referrals which was cool! We had the Stake Conference Adult Session that night which was awesome. Elder Zwick from the Seventy was there and he is so so cool. 

Sunday morning we had Stake Conference. It was so cool. The was the best Stake Conference that I have ever been to. President and Sister Mullen spoke, the Redlands Temple President and his wife, and Elder and Sister Zwick. So awesome. I was really grateful that I could go and learn and feel the spirit. We also had a lesson that afternoon with Pan Xia. She is great, but kind of has some doubts and believes in "Science." We will continue to try and help her though! We also had a lesson with Evelyn. It was a hard one for me. We talked with her for a while about the Book of Mormon, faith, and prayer. At the end of the lesson, we invited her to continue to pray and read, everyday. She said that she doesn't need to, and already feels like she has a good life and then she told us that she doesn't want the Gospel right now. I know that someday she will accept the Gospel. 

This week has had many highs and lows but I am so happy here and grateful for the opportunity to serve my Savior, Jesus Christ, and represent Him. I love you all have a great week!! 

Elder Willes