TRAINING (Monday, March 12, 2018)

"I visibly saw a light coming from YiHang Yuan, and I know that he is in the process of changing his life around. It is such a neat thing to see. The power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ is real! I know that to be true."

The look of a happy and busy missionary

Elder Willes and Elder Maughan with matching ties

Hello everyone! This past week has been another pretty great week here in the CRM. Transfers came again this past week, and I was told that I am training! I am pretty excited about that. [Mom note: The CRM hasn't received a new Chinese speaking missionary since Elder Crowther, who came in November of 2016]. My new companion's name is Elder Johnson and he is from Utah. He is visa waiter and is waiting for a visa to Taiwan. I pick him up on Wednesday. President Hammon also told me the CRM is getting a missionary from Taiwan next transfer. [Mom note: Elder Yang, Nathan's current companion, goes home in April. Elder Yang has been transferred to an English speaking area.] 

Elder Yang and I were able to find 1 new investigator this week and Wang GuiLi and YiHang Yuan both came to church! Definitely a highlight. They are both doing super well and we are praying for their progression in the Gospel! 

Tuesday was a super awesome day! That afternoon we taught Wang GuiLi again! Some background on her... Wang GuiLi is from Harbin, China, which is super Northern China. She is so awesome. Her husband is going to school at UCR and we first contacted her walking on campus. We taught her about the Plan of Salvation and it was an incredible lesson. We really focused on the Atonement and repentance, and the Spirit was so strong. On campus that day, we finished the lesson and invited Wang GuiLi to offer the closing prayer. During the prayer, she asked for forgiveness for not being kind to her husband that morning. It was one of the most spiritual prayers I have ever heard! While I've been on my mission, I have never seen anyone grasp a Gospel principle as quickly as Wang GuiLi did. That day she was completely ready to learn and hear about the Atonement and repentance. The Spirit really taught her, and it was such a blessing to be a part of that! Please pray for her, that she can continue to progress. We are very excited for her. 

We have been walking a lot over the past week and we have met some really cool Chinese people! Any free time we have, we Seek with Faith. I am always surprised at the people who are ready and the conditions that we may find them in. Often those circumstances don't seem likely, but the Lord knows who is ready and then we just need to have enough faith with actions to contact them.

We had another lesson with Jason Ti. We showed him the General Conference talk by Elder Christofferson from the October, General Conference. Elder Christofferson spoke about our need to align our hearts and actions with the Lord's. "If we yearn to dwell in Christ and have Him dwell in us, then holiness is what we seek. ...The doctrine of Christ expresses what we must do to receive atoning grace. It is to believe and have faith in Christ, to repent and be baptized, and to receive the Holy Ghost, “and then cometh a remission of your sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost.” This is the gate, our access to the Savior’s atoning grace and to the strait and narrow path leading to His kingdom.

“Wherefore, if ye shall press forward [on that path], feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life."" 

Jason said to us that he knows that what we share is true, but that he is not willing to act upon his answer. Super sad! I love him so much. He has taken so many steps forward but has really slowed down. We had to pause him and told him that we will not be meeting anymore, which was sad and hard. I know that when we have the faith to pause people, Heavenly Father will put those who are prepared to accept the Gospel, in our path. It was super sad, but I know Jason will accept the Gospel one day. He is such a great guy.

Friday night we had another great lesson with YiHang Yuan! He is doing so well. We taught him the Law of Chastity and the Word of Wisdom, and he accepted to live them! Random fact, Yihang Yuan is a straight baller at the piano. The guy seriously is a beast, and makes my piano playing skills look bad haha. He currently is on date for April 1st, and we are super excited for him! 

We had another Weekly Blitz. Elder Egbert and I went out together in the pouring rain, which was fun! We tracted a bunch of houses, and that was pretty cool! That afternoon, we had the opportunity to meet with John Yang, the recent convert who was baptized in this area a couple of months ago. We taught him the importance of the temple and family history. That was super awesome! We also attended the Saturday evening session of the Riverside Stake Conference. That was super cool too.

Elder Willes and Elder Egbert

After Stake Conference

Sunday was so so awesome! Both Wang GuiLi and YiHang Yuan came to Stake Conference! It was so awesome. After the meeting, President and Sister Hammon came up to talk to YiHang Yuan. I visibly saw a light coming from YiHang Yuan, and I know that he is in the process of changing his life around. It is such a neat thing to see. The power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ is real! I know that to be true. That afternoon, we had the opportunity to meet with Will Xue, who we street contacted this past week. We taught him the Restoration, which was pretty awesome. Please pray for him as well, that he may know the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon! That night, we had the opportunity to visit Hank! Hank is doing awesome. Please pray for him. He is thinking about receiving the Melchizedek Priesthood and going to the temple! Pray for Hank!

Elder Yang, Hank and Elder Willes

This has been such an incredible week. I am super excited to train, and we are going to work hard! Love you all have a great week!

Elder Willes