"I have felt so much peace about Grandma passing away. Although it is hard, I have felt the Savior's love
so strong. This past week I had a little index card where I wrote, "This week is for Grandma Marchant"
and I put it in my shirt pocket everyday. Grandma was clearly looking out for me and we finished the week
with finding 6 new people to teach, a lot of people progressing quickly towards baptism,
and also a baptism! What an amazing week."
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| Smokey skies from the fire in Riverside |
Hello everyone! This past week has been another amazing week here in the good old California, Riverside Mission. So many miracles including the baptism of Joanna Ma yesterday! What an incredible experience that was. Seriously it was one of the best days of my mission. I love Matt and Joanna and their family so much!
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| Elder Maxwell, Elder Willes, Joanna, Matt, Mark and Elder Crowther at Joanna's baptism |
On Tuesday we helped a lady who has been coming to English Class for a really long time, Grace Chen. After, we were able to teach her a lesson about prayer! We shared 2 Nephi 32 with her and it was a great lesson. She agreed to pray everyday. We also taught Wen, and he is doing great. Wen is still on date for baptism on August 26th. Please pray for him that he can reach that goal!
2 Nephi 32:9 But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul.
After another great English Class on Wednesday morning we had another lesson with Joanna. It was such an amazing lesson. Joanna is so prepared to accept the Gospel! Matt and Joanna told us that they wanted to buy a house in Utah so that their son Mark can grow up to be like us and serve a mission. That was so powerful and I felt the Spirit so strong. They are the best! In the afternoon we also had another lesson with Sara Guo. She is doing great, and loves her new calling in the Nursery! She is still reading from the Book of Mormon and praying everyday!
Thursday morning while doing service for a non-member in her yard, we had an Elder that had an allergic reaction from getting tree sap in his eye, so we took him to the ER. He is doing much better now and we are grateful for that! We also had a great lesson with two other new investigators from this past week, Mr. Li and his son Owen. Mr. Li and his son Owen are the family members of a former investigator that we taught, Bruce Li. Bruce is still in China, but we were able to teach them. They are a great family and we are excited to continue to work with them! Matt and Joanna took us out to lunch this week and we got her baptism all organized.
Saturday was awesome. Although Elder Crowther was sick this past weekend, we still had a great day! We taught another new person from this past week, Linda Du. Linda called us, out of the blue, two weeks ago and said that she was looking for a church. She found our phone number through us placing a pass-along card on her door. We brought Sister Zhang to the lesson, and taught Linda all about the Restoration! We invited her to be baptized, and she said that she doesn't feel ready, but we are excited to continue to help her Come Unto Christ! We also visited a referral out in Fontana, where we taught two high school exchange students from China, Teresa and Violet. We invited them to be baptized, and they said yes! They accepted a baptismal goal for September 9th, and we are super excited for them! Another incredible miracle!
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| Elder Maxwell and Elder Willes |
Sunday was so amazing! We had 7 non-members come to church, 4 of them being people that we are currently teaching. Joanna, Linda, Sophia and Isabel all came to church! Our Gospel Principles class was packed. It was amazing! Right after Church we had the opportunity of having Joanna's baptism! It was so amazing. Matt baptized her. I love them so much! Joanna bore an incredible testimony, and the Spirit was so strong. It was one of the most spiritual experiences on my mission. I was so happy! Sunday afternoon, we also had another amazing lesson with Sophia and Isabel. They accepted a baptismal invitation for August 22nd! We are praying for them, that they can achieve this goal. They are headed back to China on August 24th, and so we are going to do our best to help them to Come Unto Christ.
I love the Gospel with all my heart. What a blessing and a privilege it is to be a part of the Lord's Work. My mission has changed my life forever, and I am so grateful and excited for the remaining time that I have left to work hard, be obedient, and sprint to the finish line in order to bring my Chinese brothers and sisters into the Gospel fold. :) Love you all. Have another great week!
Elder Willes
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