WALKING, WALKING, AND MORE WALKING

"I am so thankful for this opportunity to serve my Heavenly Father. I know that as we continue to work hard, be obedient, and do OUR part, Heavenly Father is always going to do HIS part and bless us."

Out on exchanges this week

Hello everyone! 

This week has been a little rough, but I know that if I continue to show my faith and give my best, then miracles and blessings will come. I forgot my journal again so this email will be a little short.

My new area. There are no Chinese members living in this area and this area does not have many natives of mainland China living here. We do not have a Chinese member in our ward. It is definitely harder to speak Chinese in this area because there are far fewer Chinese people to speak with. Elder Zeng has helped me a lot with that. This area hasn't had Chinese speaking missionaries here since last year so Elder Nelson, Elder Zeng and I are basically starting from scratch. We have one referral/investigator, William, who we have been trying to have a lesson with this past week, but haven't been able to meet with him. 

This week has been full of walking, walking, and more walking. We don't have a car in our area, so all we do is walk. On a daily basis, we are spending about 4-5 hours walking around the UCR campus seeking and trying to find people to teach about the Savior. We have run into a lot of ABC's (American-born Chinese, many who only speak English) and some native Chinese people. We will continue to work hard!

Let me tell you a few funny stories to help you all get a glimpse of our new area. :) We had a hobo a couple of days ago showering in our apartment complex pool! We also met this guy on the street, who admitted to us that he has killed multiple people! He ended up being a cool guy, and we gave him the address to our ward building and hope he will come. :) I live about 30 minutes from Eastvale, my first area. Our apartment is in Riverside near the college. 

Church on Sunday was awesome and is always a bright spot. The ward here is super cool! There are no Chinese members in our ward but there are a lot of cool English members. :) We taught Gospel Doctrine class on Sunday about the Sabbath Day and the importance of keeping this day holy and making it different. Since I have been on my mission, I really have recognized the importance of the Sabbath Day. We go to church so that we can partake of the sacrament and renew the sacred covenants we have made with our Heavenly Father at baptism. I am so thankful for the sacrament. 

This past week was Chinese New Year too! We went to a cool Lunar Year Festival in downtown Riverside with the other Chinese Elders. There was a lot of Chinese people there so that was super fun practicing with them. :) I just keep planting seeds. And, this morning for p-day, we went on a cool hike with our zone. 

I am so thankful for this opportunity to serve my Heavenly Father. I know that as we continue to work hard, be obedient, and do OUR part, Heavenly Father is always going to do HIS part and bless us. I love you all have a great week!

Elder Willes  

HEADED TO UCR

"I am excited to give it my all, and help people Come Unto Christ. That is the goal, 

and I have the faith that it is going to happen."

Hello everyone and Happy Birthday to my Dad. His birthday is this week. I love him so much and appreciate his example. Love you BEEF!

Another great week out here in the mission field and this one is my last week serving in Eastvale. I am now headed to UCR (University of California Riverside)! My companions will be Elder Zeng (from China) and Elder Nelson (from West Valley, UT). I already love them and know we will all work hard together! I will finish Elder Nelson's training beginning next transfer.  Elder Zeng finishes his mission at the end of February and will be going home. 

This week was crazy. Before I even started my new tri-panionship, I've been serving in another trio this past week with Elder Yang (from China) and Elder Crowther (a new missionary, most recently from Washington, D.C.).

It's been non-stop rain here with lots of flooding. We weren't not allowed outside to work on Sunday because of the weather. The extra study time is good as I am working so hard on my Chinese, but I'd always rather be out working. It poured all day and there were crazy floods everywhere. Kind of crazy.

The Nature Center gave me this sweet hat. :)

We saw a small miracle this week. We found 2 investigators at 2 different parks this week and were able to teach them both. We taught the Restoration and invited both Evelyn and Brother Zhu to pray. Both, gave really heart-felt prayers in their lessons. We also taught Yi and Nicole this week. We haven't seen them in awhile because they have been in China but they are back now. We had another lesson with Monica and invited her to be baptized. She said she doesn't feel ready but we will continue to pray for her and do our best to help her!

This week, on Friday afternoon, we drove to the Jurupa Chapel for another "Family History Training." I am so grateful for family history. I am so grateful for the temple and the sacred work and ordinances and covenants that we can perform in the temple for our ancestors. On Saturday we had a transfer breakfast at President Jorgensen's home. He is our Stake President. We spent a lot of that afternoon Seeking With Faith, and trying to visit referrals. 

Sunday was another awesome Sunday. Since it was the 4th Sunday of the month, we had a Chinese Sacrament Meeting. Elder Crowther bore his testimony, and we heard talks from Brother and Sister Zhang. I also said the closing prayer. It was awesome! 

Yesterday, on Monday, I moved most of my stuff to UCR, and then we went and worked in that area for most of the day. Elder Zeng, Elder Nelson and I walked and walked and talked to lots of people seeking for people ready to hear about the Savior. I am super excited for this new opportunity to work at UCR. I am excited to give it my all, and help people Come Unto Christ. That is the goal, and I have the faith that it is going to happen. Love you all have a great week! 

Elder Willes

MIRACLES WILL COME

"I know that as long as I have faith, and give my very best, miracles will come."

Elder Willes and Brother Xu

Hello everyone!!! This has been a crazy week. The best part of the week is that Brother Xu was baptized yesterday! Words cannot describe how happy I was and how strong I felt the spirit during the meeting. I am so proud of him, and love Brother Xu so much! I also learned this week that I will be getting transferred to UCR full-time! It is kind of a bummer leaving Eastvale because I love it here so much and feel like we just got the work rolling. I will be in another trio with Elder Zeng and a new Chinese speaking missionary who comes to the mission tomorrow. I move to UCR [University of California Riverside] one week from today.

We had another lesson with Brother Xu about obedience, temples and family history. All good stuff. He is ready. We changed his baptism date from Saturday to Sunday so that more members would be able to attend. On Tuesday
we had our ZDM meeting [once a transfer our zone gets together] where we received training on studying the scriptures, keeping an active journal, and "The Doctrine of Christ." The day finished off right with dinner with Tony and Tina, a Chinese couple in our ward. We had hot pot!!!! This hot pot one was a littleeeeee bit different though. I had frog, the 1000 year-old egg, lots of tofu, conch, and some other traditional Chinese foods. It was a fun adventure.

Frog or tofu anyone?

One of the coolest experiences I had this week was with Alan. On Thursday, Alan stayed and worked with us for the day. He left on his own LDS mission this week. Alan is a convert to the church as of about a year ago and is the only member in his family. His family does not support him, does not support his faith, and does not support him in his decision to serve a mission. Even with all of these challenges, Alan's faith and testimony are so strong and he is super prepared to go and serve the Lord. I am so proud of him! I gave Alan a priesthood blessing before he headed out on his mission. I felt the spirit strong. It was an amazing experience for me.

Elder Willes and Alan - Love this guy!

We had English class this week. That is always fun. We also met with Brother Miao to discuss the work in Eastvale. We had another lesson with Monica and taught her about the Restoration. We invited her to pray and read the scriptures everyday and she said she would! When we invited her to be baptized she told us she wasn't ready to commit to that yet. Please pray for her!

Friday morning we had more service at the Roubidoux Nature Center. It is nice being out and serving. Saturday morning we had our weekly blitz. Elder Yang and I went out together and contacted 7 people. We were able to get a referral for the Elders in this area! That made me happy. Brother Ding invited us over for lunch with Brother Xu. The Biehn family fed us this week. The members in Eastvale are amazing.

Sunday Brother Xu was DUNKED!!!!!!! Such an amazing day. We had 4 investigators at church that day too! Directly after our church meetings,  Brother Xu was baptized and President and Sister Mullen came which was special. We had an opening song and prayer, and then Sister Li gave a talk on Baptism. The Li family are such great examples. After Brother Xu was baptized Elder Yang and I taught The Restoration in Chinese! That was fun. Brother Xiong gave a talk about the gift of the Holy Ghost. Brother Xu bore his testimony. Powerful and something I will always remember. He said, "One of the reasons why I joined the church is because I want to teach my children the Gospel." Wow! So amazing. Brother Xu is so awesome!

L to R Elder Yang, Elder Willes, Brother Xu and Elder Zeng

The Elders with the Li family - They are so good to us.

Elder Willes with Sunny at church

This week has been incredible. I am excited to get to UCR and hopefully continue to see miracles everyday. I know that as long as I have faith, and give my very best, miracles will come. This work is the greatest work on the earth today. I am so grateful to be a part of it. Love you all have a great week!

Elder Willes

BLESSINGS ON BLESSINGS

"We taught a lesson in our car. The spirit of the Lord can be felt anywhere."

Hello from CA!!! This week has been so awesome! I have really felt Heavenly Father's love for me and His hand in progressing the work here in Eastvale. I am so excited to tell you that yesterday Brother Xu had his interview for baptism. He was found WORTHY and is going to be baptized on Saturday!!!!!!! I am so stoked for him. Brother Xu will be moving back to China in February and taking with him a testimony of the Savior and the Gospel. I love him. 

Elder Willes and Brother Xu 

My week started great with another lesson with Brother Xu about the plan of salvation. Teaching these principles just never gets old. Blessings on blessings. We are so so so excited for him this week!

Tuesday we had our weekly DLC and DDM meetings in the morning. Elder Zeng gave a training on the Book of Mormon and it's role in conversion. It was awesome! That night, we had a lesson with the Chen Family. They are wonderful. We invited them to pray as a family and Brother Chen offered an awesome prayer!!!! It was super cool. They are a great family and would be so blessed with the gospel in their lives.

We ate lunch this week at this AMAZING Thai food place, Little Buddha. It was super good. We will be going back for sure. We also had a day exchange. Elder Zeng went with Elder Drebot, and Elder Yang and I worked in our area with Elder Jackson. We had another lesson with Brother Xu on Wednesday afternoon. We taught him about the Atonement and the last couple of parts within the plan of salvation. We drove straight from there to another lesson with Yan Ni. Yan Ni is another referral that we have picked up this last week. We taught her about prayer. Yan Ni is Christian and believes that she has already been baptized. We will continue to teach her and hopefully she will be touched by the spirit with further understanding. 

This week Brother Xiong invited us for a hotpot dinner at his house. It was amazing. 

On Thursday and Friday morning we had a service project at the Roubidoux Nature Center. We did some work inside and we got to watch a live snake feeding. It was scary and crazy!!!! I took my companions out to Cheesecake Factory that night for dinner with a gift card. Ahhhh I have missed that place so much. It was amazing!!!! 

Brother Miao continues to help us. He is so awesome. A great missionary to our little Chinese saints here. We also taught  Lisa Liu, another new investigator that we picked up this last week. We taught her about the importance of families, going to church, and shared with her The Family: A Proclamation to the World. It was pretty cool! We also had another lesson with Monica. We shared with her a little bit about prayer. It went pretty well!!!! We had a lesson with William, an investigator. We taught him about the restoration, in our car!!! The people that he lives with don't allow visitors, so we taught him in our car. The spirit of the Lord can be felt anywhere. It was awesome. He said the closing prayer and said that he felt different and better!! Wow. I am so grateful for these opportunities to teach the Lord is blessing us with.

Saturday we had a Chinese Ward Activity. For the activity, everyone brought things that they don't need or want, and exchanged them with others. We got a sweet hot chocolate maker and a quesadilla maker. Sweet!!! 

Sunday was awesome. It is usually the best day of the week. We had 2 investigators at church. Monica and Brother Xu both came to church. Brother Xu had his interview for baptism and was found WORTHY!!! He will be getting baptized on Saturday :) We are so excited!!!

This week has been awesome. I love this work. Love you all have a great week!

Elder Willes 

2017 IS GOING TO BE AN AWESOME YEAR!

"As I watch our investigators and my companions look towards God, even when they act alone, 

it is so cool to see. Makes me feel so grateful. My companions, both from mainland China, have taught me a lot about being thankful. They are so far away from home and don't have the blessing of faith that carries 

through most of my family for generations. Yet, they are super happy and grateful 

for whatever blessings they do have. Elder Zeng and Elder Yang are both so awesome."

HAPPY 2017! Wow that is crazy! This is going to be an awesome year :) I am super excited.

The best part of the week is that Brother Xu continues to progress and act in faith. We are really excited for him! He basically has quit smoking and is on his way towards baptism :) He is currently on date for January 14th!!! Please continue to pray for him. 

We started teaching Sister Liu this week. She lives at Brother Ding's house. Brother Ding has, I think, 5 families living with him right now. It is awesome for us, plenty of people to teach. :) A great blessing. Sister Liu is eager to learn. We taught her about the plan of salvation and it was a great lesson! We invited her to be baptized and she accepted a date for February 11th!!!! Isn't it so wonderful to see the strength the Lord can give to each one of us to do really hard things when we choose faith and obedience?

As I watch our investigators and my companions look towards God, even when they act alone, it is so cool to see. Makes me feel so grateful. My companions, both from mainland China, have taught me a lot about being thankful. They are so far away from home and don't have the blessing of faith that carries through most of my family for generations. Yet, they are super happy and grateful for whatever blessings they do have. Elder Zeng and Elder Yang are both so awesome.

We continue teaching English class and I love it. There aren't a ton of people coming right now because it is winter, but it is still super fun and a good contact for us and the Chinese community here!!!

Our English class is REPPIN' the Y

Thursday afternoon we had our weekly planning session and that night we had another lesson with Brother Xu. We talked a lot about prayer and the scriptures, and read with him a chapter from 1 Nephi. He was confused about Lehi's vision so we helped him with that. He is so awesome! 

We invited the Chen Family to meet with us and Brother Miao. We taught them about temples and eternal families. This knowledge is a huge gift the Lord has given us and you can imagine that they really loved learning about this. This past week, we invited Brother Chen to be baptized on February 5th. He isn't quite ready to make that commitment. He says he wants to, but wants to learn more first. Please pray for this family! 

Saturday morning we had our weekly blitz and I went out with Elder Parson. He is a Spanish speaking Elder from Brigham City, UT. He is awesome. We talked to a lot of cool people! Since Saturday Night was New Year's Eve, we drove to the church and had a zone activity there. It was pretty fun! We played basketball and chair soccer. 

New Year's Eve Zone Activity

Sunday was awesome, as usual. :) We had 4 investigators at church this past week! Brother Xu and the Chen Family (Brother Chen, Sister Chen, and their daughter). We were super happy. After church we went to visit a referral, Sister Xu. She has a Christian background which is very uncommon with the Chinese people. We picked her up as an investigator and are praying she will continue to have a desire to learn about Christ!! Also, yesterday we had the opportunity to attend a baptism for some other missionaries in our zone. I love baptisms. Elder Yang and I gave opening and closing prayers and Elder Zeng dunked him!!!!! His name is Rafiel. Super cool guy. The spirit was really strong! Last night, we went around visiting less-actives and wishing people a Happy New Year. We also visited one of our new investigators, Sister Liu. She is super awesome and has a strong desire to learn and grow. Please pray for her and all of our investigators so that they can come to know their Savior. 

This week has been awesome. It is amazing how on your mission, you really come to see the Lord's hand in your life and in the work everyday. I am really coming to know my Savior and will continue to grow closer to Him everyday. I am so grateful to be a missionary. It is the best work out there. 

Alma 31:34-35 is super cool. 

"O Lord, wilt thou grant unto us that we may have success in bringing them again unto thee in Christ.

Behold, O Lord, their souls are precious, and many of them are our brethren; therefore, give unto us, O Lord, power and wisdom that we may bring these, our brethren, again unto thee."

As important as this work is to me, it is even more important to the Lord because we were all His before. I am just helping to bring them AGAIN to Christ. We are trying super hard to find the elect and help them come to know this wonderful Gospel is true AGAIN. Love you all have a great week!

Elder Willes

A WHITE AND WET CHRISTMAS IN CALI

"I had the opportunity of confirming Brother Ning, as a member of the Church! I was super nervous, 

especially to give this blessing in Chinese, but it was amazing!!!!! I couldn't really memorize the Chinese words so I prayed and studied so hard this week that the Lord would help me and He did. The spirit was so strong and I was so grateful for the blessing of teaching this amazing man."

A white and wet Christmas here in Cali

Hello everyone and Merry Christmas! This week has been absolutely incredible. Brother Ning was baptized on Christmas Eve. Truly a Christmas Miracle. It was a white and wet Christmas here in Cali. I love that guy so much. He is seriously the best and will be an amazing member of the church. We have found a branch for him in China and he will be a great strength there. I had the opportunity of confirming him in sacrament meeting on Christmas Day!!! It is truly one of the happiest Christmas Days I have ever had and one I will never forget! 

The Skype call with the family, ahh man, that was so awesome! Love you all so much. I have the best family. That is awesome about Will and Cynthia's sealing. I am super happy for them. I've had a great week here in California. Last Monday we had a FHE activity at the Miao's house. Jessie, their daughter, recently came home from her mission in Hawaii and she shared some of her experiences. Pretty cool. The Miao family is a great blessing to this area. I love that family.

Tuesday we had our regular DLC and DDM meetings in the morning. We also went on splits with former Elder Merriman and his little brother! They know William. Elder Yang and I went with Elder Merriman's little brother to have a lesson with Brother Xu. We taught him about the law of chastity. We are super excited for him!! 

On Thursday we had our Christmas devotional with the entire Northern-half of the mission. That was fun. We started off by reading scriptures, and then President Mullen spoke to us for a while. We also watched a slide show of our mission which was fun. We then went to the Mission Inn Christmas Lights. This was super fun! Not really like good old Temple Square, but still great. :) We also met a cool Chinese family at the lights, and invited them to English class! I am always looking for any opportunity to share the Gospel.

Friday we had another morning of service at the Nature Center. We cleaned garbage out of the river again, and tried to move this huge log that was blocking the river flow. Elder Zeng went with the Zone Leaders for the day, so Elder Yang and I taught our English class. We had a little Christmas party with our English class and Sophia brought a ton of food which was awesome! We shared with them the Christmas "Light The World" video and sang Christmas songs. They loved it! 

On Saturday Brother Ning was DUNKED!!!!!!!! We got to the church early, and set up the Relief Society room, had another short lesson with Brother Ning, and filled up the font. It is super hard to describe how happy I was. Actually hard for me to put into words. We had an opening song and prayer, and then a testimony from Brother Xiong. Then Brother Ning was baptized!!!!! After the baptism, Brother Jiang shared a message about the Holy Ghost, and Brother Ning bore his testimony!!! Such a happy day for me. I love that guy so much! I am so excited for you to meet him. I told him we would come and visit him in China after my mission. 

Sunday was incredible!!!! We got up early so we would have a few minutes to open presents. :) THANK YOU SO MUCH for the packages and letters and love and prayers. They are a huge boost to me and my companions were so grateful. Thank you for remembering Elder Zeng and Elder Yang. During sacrament meeting, I had the opportunity of confirming Brother Ning, as a member of the Church! I was super nervous, especially to give this blessing in Chinese, but it was amazing!!!!! I couldn't really memorize the Chinese words so I prayed and studied so hard this week that the Lord would help me and He did. The spirit was so strong and I was so grateful for the blessing of teaching this amazing man. In the afternoon, we ate lunch with the Li Family and visited another family in our ward. Then I got to Skype with the fam!!!!!! In the evening, we went caroling with other missionaries. Christmas was so so so awesome!! I am so happy. 

Notes from home and Christmas jammies. Thank you!

This week has been amazing!!!!!! I am so happy. This is such a blessing that I have to represent my Savior during this special time of year. Love you all have a great week! 

Elder Willes

A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE

"Lots of opportunities to give service this week. Imagine Elder Zeng, Elder Yang and I trying to set up 

Christmas lights. It must've been a sight to see!"

Elder Willes, Elder Zeng and Elder Yang

I love these people (thank you to Sister Miao who sent these pictures home)

Hello everyone!!! This week has been incredible. We have been working hard with Brother Ning. He is actually moving back to China on Christmas Day, so we moved his baptismal date to December 24th. I am so happy to say that last night Brother Ning was found worthy to enter the waters of baptism on Christmas Eve!!! He asked me to do the confirmation in sacrament meeting on Christmas Day. :) We are so excited!!!!! Truly a Christmas Miracle!!!!! Continue to pray for Brother Ning please. He is such a great man. I love him.

Brother Ning and Elder Willes
I gave Brother Ning my tie and he wore it to church on Sunday

This week we started teaching the Chen Family. A family is a rare thing to find so this is such a blessing. The Chen family is a referral from the Li Family. They are super awesome and we are excited to continue to work with them! We also had some powerful lessons with Brother Ning this week. On Friday we taught him about tithing, chastity and the word of wisdom. He is so prepared and we are so grateful for him and for his love of the Lord. We also taught YoYo and Perry this week after English class. They are not keeping their commitments well and aren't really progressing. We will continue to pray for them. It is amazing to see the difference in someone's countenance when they are progressing and seeking out God.

Tuesday we had Zone Conference for most of the day. We drove to the mission office, got our car inspected and our area book inspected too. The entire Jurupa Zone then received training from President and Sister Mullen and the APs. On Wednesday we had service in the morning. We helped the Jiangs set up their Christmas lights. Imagine Elder Zeng, Elder Yang and I trying to set up Christmas lights. It must've been a sight to see! 

Things are really progressing here in Eastvale! We are working so hard and the Lord is really blessing us. We met with Brother Miao this week to talk about missionary work in our area. Brother Miao is the best. There is much to accomplish here and there are many people who need this message about the Savior. I am so grateful to be a missionary. I am grateful for the priesthood. I was able to give Sister Phillips, a ward member who helps with English class, a blessing this week after class. I love being able to help others in some small way.

On Thursday we helped the Li Family in the morning get medical insurance for their son Thomas. We also went to UCR, and found out they are having a "Christmas Break" so there wasn't really anyone there :( That night we had a lesson with Brother Xu. We taught him about the restoration of the Gospel! It is amazing to really think about the Lord loving us enough to give us the full Gospel back on the earth. We invited Brother Xu to Church on Sunday and he accepted our invitation! 

Saturday was crazy! We had a service project in the morning at Mt. Roubidoux High School and gave presents to kids and sang carols with them. We then drove all the way to Menifee to visit a referral, his name is Brother Qi. He is super cool! We invited him to church and he said he will try and come! We will go back again this week. We also had another lesson with YoYo and Perry. We finished the Plan of Salvation with them and talked about the Restoration. We also taught Brother Xu about the word of wisdom! He has a little bit of a smoking problem but committed that he will try to keep the word of wisdom! I know the Lord can help him. Please pray for them!

Sunday was so awesome. My day started off right by eating rabbit. Haha tastes kind of like chicken, not too bad. We had 5 investigators at church! YoYo and Perry, Brother Ning, Brother Xu, and Sister Li. They are all so awesome. Brother Ning also was found worthy to be baptized this coming week!!! We are so excited for him!!!! We also had a white elephant activity with all of the Chinese members which was way fun! I am so grateful for Heavenly Father and the miracles we have seen this week! They are everywhere. Look for them.

Shout out to my big bro Will. He gets married this week. Congrats to Will and Cynthia.

Love you everyone hope you all have a great week!

Merry Christmas!

Elder Willes