I'M HEADED TO HEMET ... ENGLISH SPEAKING

Elder Willes and Elder Jensen with Bao Jie Mei who has returned to her home in China

Hello everyone! This week has been another great week here in Eastvale. I love Eastvale and I especially love the Chinese people who I teach and serve with here. On Saturday morning, I received a phone call from President Hammon and was called to be a Zone Leader. I will be serving in the San Jacinto Zone, and my companion will be Elder Sorensen. I am very humbled and excited to have this opportunity! I am very sad to be leaving Eastvale and will really miss serving the Chinese people, who I have come to know and love so much! I am just going to work my hardest down there. I am going English so please pray that I don't lose my Chinese! I guess like most good experiences in our lives, this is very bitter-sweet.

Last Monday after our p-day finished up, we stopped by Rocky's house to visit him. He answered the door and let us in! We had the opportunity to teach him about the Restoration and picked him up as a new investigator! It was a great lesson and we were pretty excited about our visit. This week we also taught Shanon about the law of tithing. She is progressing quite well and we are just trying to work with her in order to set a baptismal date. Please pray for her. We had another lesson with Jacky. It was really great and he will most likely be baptized this next Sunday, August 20th. Please also pray for him. 

Jacky and Elder Willes

Thursday morning we drove to Lake Elsinore and finally got to meet with Evangel again! We taught Evangel and her daughter Blair more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and it was awesome! Evangel still has very strong faith and we are excited to continue to help her! They took us out to lunch after our lesson and that was pretty fun!!! On Saturday morning we had a super awesome lesson with Johnson, his wife Suzy, and their daughter named Katy. We tracted into them a couple of weeks ago and they came to church last Sunday! It was a great lesson and it is so cool to see the way the Lord helps us to find people who need and are seeking Him.

Other info from the week - On Tuesday morning we had our weekly "DLC" and "DDM" Meetings. I gave a training on receiving revelation through the Book of Mormon. It went pretty well, and I felt the Spirit really strong! I am also happy to report that Elder Nelson and I won the "Clean Car Award" for the 2nd Straight Time!!!!!!! #Back2Back :) Haha that was awesome. English class continues to go really well. And on Friday morning we had some good old service at the Jensen Alvarado Ranch again. That was pretty fun! 

Sunday was another amazing Sabbath Day!!! We had 3 investigators come to church. Jacky, Shanon, and Apple all came to Church! It was so awesome and I felt the Spirit really strong as I got to worship with all of them! The Lord loves these people and so do I. After church, we drove to Riverside, to have another lesson with Louise! She is doing so awesome! She has read all of 1 Nephi in one week!!!! She is progressing very well, and will be coming to church next Sunday. Overall, another super awesome Sabbath Day!

I've had another pretty great week here in the CRM. I hope you all are having a super good week wherever you are. I am excited for this new opportunity this upcoming transfer. Please pray that we can find those souls in Hemet, CA, that are ready so that we can help them come to know the Savior, and Come Unto Christ. Love you all have a great week!

Elder Willes

ENDURE TO THE END

Hello everyone :) This week has been another super awesome week here in the California, Riverside Mission! We have seen so so many MIRACLES, and the Lord continues to bless us everyday. We are so excited to continue to work hard and to labor in the Lord's Vineyard. The most amazing miracle is that Bao Jie Mei was baptized!!!!! From beginning to end it has been such a special experience. More details on that to come! 

Miao Di Xiong, Elder Willes, Bao Jie Mei and her daughter Grace

Monday Night Bao Jie Mei called us, and said that she would be going back to China on Saturday, August 12th. It was a little later than expected, and she expressed her strong desire to be baptized. On Tuesday night we had another lesson with Bao Jie Mei and we taught her about the word of wisdom and the law of chastity. It was another pretty great lesson!!! That same night, we met with Miao Di Xiong to discuss Bao Jie Mei's situation. 

After contacting President Hammon about the situation with Bao Jie Mei quickly leaving to go back to China, the most important thing that President Hammon requested was that she had fellowship, and could attend Church in China. Otherwise, she wouldn't be able to be baptized at this time. That night, we found out that Bao Jie Mei lives in a smaller city in China but we could still email one of the church leaders in China and figure out if there is a Group of members there near her small city. Miao Di Xiong told us that it wasn't likely, but we could still try. That day, we fasted for Bao Jie Mei. We knew that she was so prepared, and had faith that she could be baptized on Sunday. 

On Wednesday Miao Di Xiong called us, and told us that they DO have a Group of members in Bao Jie Mei's City!!!! It was a Miracle. Once she gets back to China, she will be able to attend Church!!! We have met with her everyday this past week to finish teaching her. 

On Friday we went on exchanges with the Eastvale English Elders. Elder Gulbranson came to our area to be with me, and Elder Nelson went to their area. That morning, we had another lesson with Bao Jie Mei. It was a great lesson and she expressed her strong desire to attend the Temple, and help her husband and friends learn about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Sunday was so awesome too!!! We had 6 total investigators come to Church. Bao Jie Mei, her daughter Grace, Apple, Jacky, Shanon, and Ada all came!!! Directly after church, we had the opportunity to attend Bao Jie Mei's Baptism!!! I had the privilege of baptizing her, and it was a special experience. The Spirit was so strong, and I know that Bao Jie Mei will be an awesome member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She bore her testimony and said that she will Endure to the End!!! Truly we saw a huge miracle this week.

This week we also taught and had another good lesson with Ada! She is doing awesome. We taught her the Plan of Salvation. Please pray for her, and all of our investigators that we are teaching! We also got to meet with Guns and Anna. We finished the Plan of Salvation with them, and they really loved it!!! We visited Jacky at work who made sushi for us. We taught Shannon. We had a home visit on Thursday with the Su Jia Ting in our Chinese Group. They are awesome! Jacky called us later in the week and told us he wanted to be baptized on August 20th!!!! It was so so so cool!!! Much of Saturday we spent out doing some good old Seeking with Faith. It was a good day.

Elder Nelson, Jacky and Elder Willes

 

Sunday afternoon, because Elder Nelson got sick, Elder Gulbranson and I went to visit Louise Lee, a referral that we had received a couple of days ago from some other missionaries. We taught her about the Restoration and she really enjoyed it!!! She is from Taiwan, and accepted a baptismal date for September 17th!!! Please keep all of our investigators in your prayers.

Sorry this email has been so long, but we have seen so so many Miracles and I wanted to share them with you. We are so so beyond blessed and I am so grateful for this amazing opportunity to Represent our Savior, Jesus Christ. I am excited to continue to work hard, and help people truly Come Unto Christ. Love you all have a great week!

Elder Willes

TALK TO GOD

Elder Willes and Elder Nelson

黃色的西瓜

Monday, July 31, 2017

你們好!!! 這裡是魏長老. I hope you all are having a great week at home. This week has been another pretty great one here in the Eastvale area! We have seen many miracles this past week and we are excited to continue to work hard! Here is how my week went down. 

Tuesday was a great day!!! That morning, we drove to Riverside, to have a lesson with a referral from a member. Sister Dietrich, a member in Riverside, has a daughter, who has a friend, (still following?) that is from ShangHai, China. We went, and taught her the message of the Restoration and it was a great lesson. Her name is Rono. At the end of the lesson, Rono said a prayer for the first time ever and I felt the Spirit really strong. It was really cool! It is amazing to see someone realize that we can really talk to God. That afternoon, we also had a lesson with Apple. We contacted Apple on the street about 2 weeks ago, and scheduled a time to meet with her. She is from Taiwan! It was a really great lesson. We hope that she will be coming to church this Sunday!!!

We had a lesson with Echo and Joanna Zhou. Joanna is actually a former investigator that we had to "pause" a while ago, because we couldn't meet with her. She came to our English Class this week and we taught her and her friend Echo too! We taught them about the Restoration. At the end of the lesson, Echo said that she wanted to pray about our message to decide if it is the right thing for her to do. Please pray for them that Heavenly Father can answer Echo's prayers and that she might recognize that answer!

This week I gave a training for our weekly DDM on the role of the Holy Ghost in Conversion. The Spirit was strong and helped us all o learn that day. Our English class is going well. It is pretty awesome and a great help to us in finding. We are doing our best to get as many people as we can to attend. We also went on exchanges this week with our Zone Leaders. Elder Williams and I spent the day together and we were able to pick up one new investigator for their area. We also had a lesson with a man named Skylar. It was really powerful. At the start of the lesson, Skylar was smoking a cigarette, and not really paying attention. A little bit into the lesson, he dropped the cigarette, and started paying attention, and answering questions. It was really cool to see the Spirit of the Lord work on someone. Such a cool experience!

Saturday was another pretty awesome day. That afternoon, we went to Guns's house, to have another lesson with him! We finished teaching Guns about the plan of salvation. Guns is very involved in his current Christian church, so please pray for him and his family that they can continue to learn and progress! That night, we had another lesson with Jacky! We taught him more about Jesus Christ, and His life. We were able to put him on date for baptism, for August 20th! Please pray for him, that his work will allow him to come to church on Sundays, so he can be baptized on that date!

Sunday was another awesome day. We only had one investigator come to Church. Bao Jie Mei came to church, and it was awesome! She expressed her strong desire to be baptized, but sadly is going back to China this next week. We know that whether now or in a future time, Bao Jie Mei will accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a good Sabbath Day, and I was grateful for the opportunity to worship my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

This week has been awesome. We are really excited to continue to work hard, and to labor in the Lord's Vineyard. I love the Lord, and I love His work! Love you all hope you have a great week!

Elder Willes