REPENTANCE BRINGS GREATER FAITH

Week 3
September 7, 2016

"Repentance brings greater faith." I cant wait to share it with the people of California! It is so awesome 

to have the opportunity to help people change and invite them to come unto Christ.

Elder Willes, Elder King and Elder Bennett (all friends from home - temple walk)

I officially am 1/3 of the way done with my MTC experience! I have learned so much and my testimony has definitely been strengthened since I first got here 3 weeks ago. Here are a few bits from my last week.

On Thursday I had my second lesson with Li Feng. I pretty much teach him every day now which is such a blessing for me. I taught him about the Book of Mormon and committed him to pray about it. It was a super cool experience and the spirit was definitely there during the lesson. We were also able to teach some new incoming missionaries about the concept of "how to share scriptures with your investigators." I was terrible at teaching the class all in Chinese but I hope they could kinda understand and I think they learned how to do this. 

Friday we had service in the morning and then it was Murph Day again!!! We also played zone kickball which was fun. That night I had another lesson with Li Feng. I taught him about prophets and he asked a question and I needed to explain General Conference. It was scary but the Lord is blessing me and the Holy Ghost helped me get my point across. 

Saturday we had our first TRC. TRC is where we go and teach two 15-20 minute lessons to people that are either recent converts, or act like recent converts. I taught two different lessons both on the importance of the Book of Mormon and I was so happy with how they went. I loved it. After TRC I had yet another lesson with my investigator. This time, I taught with my former companions/roommates (I'll tell you more about that in a second) Elder Nelson and Elder Holderness. It was a great lesson about the Restoration and Joseph Smith. 

Elder Shakespear and Elder Willes

Sunday was crazy! We had branch counsel meeting in the morning and a morning devotional where we were able to hear from members of the MTC Presidency. Right after this meeting, President Newell (my Branch President) comes up to me and said, "We have decided to make a change. This is your new companion." He then introduces me to Elder Shakespear!!! He is from Smithfield, Utah and has been here one week less than me. He is going to Taiwan and although we still don't go to class together, we get to plan, study, and teach together which is so awesome. He is very obedient and works hard on his Chinese. So me and my new companion went to Priesthood and then on to Sacrament meeting. It was the BEST! Chad Lewis, a former BYU football player and NFL player, a friend of Uncle Dan's who I've met before, spoke to all of us. He shared many cool experiences from his mission (he served in Taiwan and spoke Chinese too) and it was the coolest thing ever. He also shared some amazing stories about his football career and bringing people to the Gospel through sports. After the devotional, Chad Lewis took all of the Mandarin speaking missionaries in the back and met all of us all, gave some advice, and took a picture with us!! He is such a cool guy. 

Monday was our (Elder Shakespear and I) first experience teaching together. It was great! We taught about the Atonement and the Spirit was definitely in the lesson, which is so important. 

We also had another lesson with Li Feng. We have been teaching a ton lately, which is super good. We taught him a "review lesson" to make sure he was understanding the concepts that we have already taught him. Li Feng didn't really have any questions, which means that we are teaching clearly!! 

Last night's devotional Elder D. Todd Christofferson came and spoke with us!!!! My first MTC speaker from the Quorum of the 12. :) It was amazing. He taught so simply and clearly about repentance. One thing he said that really stood out to me is, "Repentance brings greater faith." I cant wait to share it with the people of California! It is so awesome to have the opportunity to help people change and invite them to come unto Christ.

This morning we got to go to the temple which was so great as always. 

To appease my mom I'm answering a few of her questions. I am technically still a solo missionary because I continue to go to class alone still.

Love you all have a great week!! 

Elder Willes