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"Seeking With Faith" - You've got to find them before you can teach them!

Hello everyone! This past week has been another great week. Sorry for no email last p-day. I moved back to UCR on Monday and then we immediately went to work to find some people to teach here. Elder Yang and I are ready to kick off another transfer together. We have really been working hard and the Lord definitely has blessed us over the past week. I have seen lots of small miracles. This past week, we were able to find 3 new investigators and we even had an investigator come to church! We were super excited about that. Here is how my week went!

Monday evening we hit the ground running. I dropped off my stuff and Elder Yang and I headed out and spent that evening out and about doing some good old Seeking With Faith. We have been talking to a lot of people and have seen a lot of miracles from being willing look for those who might be seeking and ready! Tuesday we had Zone and District Meetings and the rest of the afternoon (you guessed it) we spent on campus doing some more Seeking With Faith. You gotta find them before you can teach them.

Wednesday was super awesome! That morning we worked with Feeding America, and got to sort through a bunch of food. I have really learned to love giving service and love the blessings it brings into all of our lives! That afternoon, we were able to have a lesson with 2 new investigators we found this past week, John and Lan Huang! We first met Lan on Monday night on campus, and also her friend Cindy. We set up a time to meet, and Lan brought her boyfriend John to the lesson! We taught them about the Restoration and it was a pretty great lesson! Wednesday night we also had a pretty great English Class and 2 people came. That is one of our goals in the coming weeks to build up that program again on campus.

Elder Steiner from my old Jurupa Zone. He is a stud missionary.

Elder Roper and I. He is also a friend from my old Jurupa Zone and is a super great missionary too!

Thursday afternoon we spent a bunch of time again out and about doing some good old Seeking With Faith. That afternoon on campus, we contacted a man named Ge ShaoKui. He invited us to come by his home later that evening and to teach him! When we went to see Ge ShaoKui at his home, we began teaching him about the Restoration. It was a great lesson until we got to the Book of Mormon. That was a real stretch for Ge ShaoKui and he then objected  to the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. He told us that he wasn't interested in learning anymore. It was really sad. I expressed to him that we are here to find and help people that are prepared and that perhaps he was simply not ready at that time. It was sad, but I know with all of my heart that the Book of Mormon is true!

Friday we spent a lot of time doing some Seeking With Faith as well. That night after our English Class, we had the opportunity to meet with YiHang Yuan, who was a former investigator from when I was last in this area. We taught him about the Restoration again and he accepted an invitation to be baptized on March 11th! We are super excited for him. Please pray for him! It was a very spiritual lesson and I feel grateful to have been able to teach him again..

Saturday night was super super cool. That night, we had the opportunity to visit the one and only HANK!!!!! Ahh man I love that guy! He is doing so well! Hank is currently preparing to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood and to enter into the temple as well. He currently is serving as a Ward Missionary in the University Heights Ward and it is the coolest thing to see his growth. He is an incredible member of the church! Tina, Hank's wife, now lives in the Bay Area because of work, but it sounds like she is doing awesome too!

Elder Willes and Hank

Sweet potato and rice soup :)

Sunday was another great day! YiHang Yuan came to church!!!!! He only came for the first hour, but we were really happy to see him there. During second hour of church, we attended the Temple Prep class with Hank, which was super awesome! That afternoon, we spent some more time Seeking With Faith and also hanging up a bunch of fliers on campus for our English Class. 

We are really excited to continue the work of the Lord here in the UCR Chinese area. I love my mission. I love the Lord. I know that because of Him, each and every one of us has the opportunity to repent and to become clean. Love you all have a great week!

Elder Willes