Seis De Mayo (May 6, 2013)

Also, mom, mom, and grandma, Happy Mother's Day! But, of course, I'll tell you again on Sunday! I am excited to call and I look forward to hearing all of your voices! I want to cry just thinking about it! So yeah. I guess, just expect me to be a mess on Sunday! (Also! Tell Joshua I said Happy Late Birthday!!!!)

 My testiomy on each must have only been maybe a couple sentances each, but as I sat across from him I could feel the burning in my heart from the Spirit testifying to me, as I testified to him, that I know that these things are true. I felt the power of the Spirit work in me as I spoke. And of course I cried. After I finished I paused, wiped away my tears, and took a breath: "Wow!"

     My mission president smiled. "That's not 'wow', Sister Willis. That's your testimony. ...You didn't know you had that kind of testimony did you?"

     I shook my head, "I guess not."

     I love my mission! Even though it's tough, I love it! 

Missions have a way of shaping missionaries, but, I have also learned that you really can't be shaped unless you let Heavenly Father shape you. You have to hand everything over so that He CAN shape you. In short, when I come home, I hope that I have no heart, no mind, no might, and no strength because I've given it all to our Father in Heaven. People often ask me what I'm going to do when I get home and I never know what to tell them, I'm here and this is where God needs me to be. I love you all and I encourage you ALL to stand up this next fast sunday and to bear your testimony on one of those five things.

     I love you all and I thank you for your prays, your letters, your love, and everything else!

 

All My Love,

Sister Willis

 

I can't think of a good subject line... (April 29, 2013)

She's doing much better now and I'm sure things'll be good from here out with her health. ALSO! I'm pretty sure God knew I was getting down because of being shut in so much,  so He's blessed us with FIVE investigators this week! ...Did you read that? FIVE! - F. I V. E. - !!!! That's more than I've EVER had! And in a week!

It's stressful! But, so long as the Spirit's there it's not overwhelming. He REALLY does a good job at keeping me in check! He's such a great guy!

When we opened his door, the stench of alcohol poured out of the apartment. Brother Beall pulled open the door and we knew in an instant that he was drunk. His hair was disheveled and his eyes were pierced with blood. We talked for a little bit and learned that not only was the man drunk. He was totally wasted!

     As we stood there talking there was really nothing more we could do but to testify to him. And as we did we could both feel the Holy Ghost working in us. We testified with a power we had never felt before and of things we'd never testified of before.  

     "Brother Beall, have you been drinking?" He denied and we told him not to lie. "The thing is," he said sheepishly, "the devil made me do it."

     We testified like crazy! We talked about the covenants he made at baptism and how he now has greater responsibilty.

     Sister Marlow testified. She spoke with great power and authority and as I stood there watching between my companion and the Lord's son, I felt the Holy Ghost. I remember thinking 'Wow, my companion is totally speaking by the Holy Ghost!'

     I could see the guilt on Brother Beall's face. He looked at the ground and would not make eye-contact. Brother Beall told us that things had been hard for him and that that's why he started drinking.

     ....And then it was my turn.

     "Brother Beall, yes, things can get hard. But the Savior died on the cross for you. He suffered more than any human would ever have to suffer. Jesus loves you. Do you know that? He loves you! And when you drink you are telling Him that you do not love Him! Do you understand what he did for you? He suffered so much because he loves you. Do you understand? He loves you SO much! And there is nothing -NOTHING that you are giong through that is too hard. The Savior knows what "too hard is" and you don't. You HAVE to stop drinking. You HAVE to stop!"

     We testified again and made Him promise we'd come to chuch. "Look at me, Brother Beall," I said. "Look at me. ...Do you promise you will go to church tomorrow?"

     It took him a while but he did, straight in the eye he told me.

     "Brother Beall, I am a representative of Jesus Christ and when you lie to me you are lying to Jesus. Do you promise you will come?"

     For a long time he was silent, his blood-shot eyes unblinking.

     "I promise I'll go."

     The entire time I could feel the Spirit, bearing me up. Almost as if I was not standing on my own legs.

     "Okay, I trust you. You have just promised us and Jesus Christ that you will go. I trust you."

  I love ALL of you and I think of you often! All of you! Thank you for your letters and your emails and everything! You guys are amazing! I hope you all have a fabulous week! I'll be thinking of you and praying for you! (The other sisters got a flat tire today on their way to pick us up. So yeah! It was fun! Anyway. I love you!!)

All My Love,

Sister Willis

Crazy Week! (April 22, 2013)

Boy do I have an update for you! This has been a CRAZY week! Good things and ...not so good things.

But also, maybe a little clarification. I LIVE in a barn and I WORK at the Visitor's Center. They both don' mix. (hopefully that makes sense) We work a LOT at the Family Tree Center and it's been WAY good! We get to call people over the phone and have lessons (we invited a guy last week to be baptized and he said YES!) and we get to talk to people over chat too (we invited a boy from England to be baptized too!) so yeah, LOTS of missionary opportunities!

Anyway, we talked for a little bit and she told me the story of why she was in a cast (she had been making the sisters dinner and nearly sliced her index finger off!) Anyway, it was icky and we talked about other things too. BUT. As I was standing there the room started spinning and it suddenly got WAY hot in the room! I set my bad down, hoping that it would help with the pressure, but it didn't. The room kept spinning and I could see a thin dark cloud starting to cover my vision. The only thing I could think was "NO! I can't pass out! Not here! Anywhere but here!" I tried sitting down to see if that would help. When they asked me if I was alright I shrugged it off and told them that I'd be fine. So we talked a little more and Sister Marlow pulled out her hymn book so that we could sing a song to the sister. She pulled out my favorite hymn and it took every ounce of everything to get thorugh the first two verses. I HAD to stop before we reached the last verse. My brain and heart were pounding and I could feel the sweat start to bead out of my face and arms and everything. My lips felt like ice and my body was starting to shake. I pushed the hymn book away, shrugged off my coat (which felt like a million pounds) and flattened myself on the ground. My companion was at my side in a second and so was the other sister. (They did a really good job at keeping calm while I was just on the floor freaking out and trying not to pass out!) I heard the sister ask my companion to get her some alcohol, which she did. The next thing I knew, was that an oxygen tube was going into my nose! She told me to lie still and to breath through my nose. I felt terrible! All I wanted to do was cry! Which I did. A lot! I'm pretty sure that it was only my will power to NOT pass out that kept me from passing out. We sat there for the next twenty minutes as my color started returning and I felt a little better. Anyway. WAY embarassing. I feel MUCH better now and the sister mentioned to us that it was probably the altitude. She said that her mom ALWAYS has to have oxygen on her because of that very reason. But who knows. Maybe I'm just weak sauce!

 

Anyway. I think it's funny now. Don't panic or anything! I'm really fine! I've been taking it easy for the past couple of days and I'm sure things will be great! Anyway. I'll be sure to update you more in letters and such!

Update (April 15, 2013)

Howdy Y'all!

SOOOOOO.... I GOT TRANSFERED!! Yup. I'm in Park City now at my vistor's center. And it is snowing like the dickens outside! Crazy weather!

I'm not sure if this next bit falls under "best" or "worst" (and I know Zach will love to hear it!) but ....WE LIVE IN A BARN!!!! Like a serious, tractors in the barn, mud all over the place, we have to climb a ladder to get to our beds, kind of barn! And there's even a horse on the side (whom everyone calls Scruffy)! Isn't that funny?? I just can't get over it! And its WAY different area wise because in Sandy you were lucky if you even HAD a back yard! Here in Park City EVERYONE has like thrity acers just sitting around. It's HUGE! I feel like it's been a giant road trip since I got here! 

I have gained a HUGE testiomony of my Savior, of the great apostasy, and of the vital imprtance of the priesthood on the earth, and the restoration of the Church and of the Book of Mormon. This Gospel is the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me! That's ever happened to the WORLD! And it's our job as members of the Church to go out and flood the earth with the knowledge of this Gospel! How great a work this is!

Love Like Rain (April 8)

First off, thank you all SO MUCH for your birthday wishes! It was a good day yesterday! Although, with my companion's brithday RIGHT after mine it more feels like we've both had THREE birthdays instead of just one! So yeah. Obviously it's been good!

So yes. Conference was AMAZING! And watching it as a missionary really changes things! You see things differently, you think about your investigators, and about how this can help them. Did anyone else notice how each of the speakers spoke as though they were speaking to people who were not yet members? Anyway, I thought it was like that, which I loved!

Also, WE WERE ON TV YESTERDAY! We only watched a small portion on KSL. We had to R.U.N.N.O.F.T to make it to the next session so we didn't see the whole thing. But yeah. Nearly EVERYONE in the stake (which is most everyone we passed on the street) was saying things like "I saw you on TV!" and "You're famous!" We had a LOT of cars just pull over (against traffic) just to tell us that they saw us! It was fun!

Sending ALL my love in the raindrops! (or, in case it's not raining there, I'll send it in the sunshine!)

Sister Willis

Dear Everyone! (April 1)

Okay, so I DON'T have a whole lot of time! Easter was good! We went to three different sacrament meetings and sang in two diff

erent on-the-spot chiors. Crazy good stuff! So, we haven't had any new investigators and we had to hand James and Jun off to the Chinese Elders since they're now going to a Chinese ward. They didn't get baptized on their date, but I have every ounce of confidence that that WILL get baptized! And soon at that!

As far as how the work is going we've been working a TON with less active members! And I LOVE it! I feel like my purpose for being here in Salt Lake is to totally strengthen these center stakes of Zion! And, for some reason or other, I always feel WAY more comfortable teaching less active people than I do with investigators. Maybe it has something to do with having their salvation in my hands and all that. But yeah. It's good!

...I'm trying to think of what else I can say. Hmm. Transfers are coming up on April 10th so there's always that possibility of being transfered. I am WAY OOBER excited for Conference! We're going to go to a family in the ward's house and watching it on their HUGE flat screen. (I'll have to send you pictures of the couple! They're like one of our favorites!). Also, did I mention that my companion's birthday is on the 8th and mine's on the 7th? So yeah. WAY fun! We're going to do all sorts of fun things next weekend! But I am WAY excited for conference!

So we've had a lot of crazy things happen to us -crazy good and crazy bad. Like yesterday, I talked to this woman and she walked up to me, put her hands on my shoulders, looked me in the eye and said: "I HATE Mormons." So yeah, that was weird! But we just brushed it off and kept on going. Later on that day, we ran into several people who were OOBER happy and nice and although few of them wanted to listen to the message, they were very curtious about it. We're currently teaching about six less active members and it's in the works to start teaching more of them. So yeah. Gotta love that!

Other than that, I'm not exactly sure what updates I can give. The weeks are SO full, but when Pday comes around I can never remember all of them... Anyway. I love you all SO MUCH!!! I hope you have a GREAT rest of your week and I hope you think of me as you share the gospel with all your friends and coworkers, etc.

I love you ALL dearly!

All My Love,

Sister Willis

P.S. Happy Early Brithday Jacob!!!

So Amazing! (March 25th)

This week has been SO AMAZING!!! I am SO EXCITED!! The jist of all my excitement comes from what happened last night! Here's what I told my mission president:

 

"Last night was a BIG testimony building experience. My companion and I (along with a member) were able to teach our investigators [Jun and James -that chinese couple] and put them on date. The lesson revolved around our Heavenly Father's Plan for His children and how that plan was the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We talked about baptism and how that was opens that gate on the path back to our Father in Heaven. They understood it's importance and desired to be on that path and to have that enabaling power of the Holy Ghost to keep them on that path. The spirit in that lesson was incredible! My companion and I were SO excited and the member (a young woman who will be leaving on her mission at the beginning of May) felt that same excitement for her own mission! "This is real!" she kept saying. "This is what it feels like to be a missionary!" I loved it!" We have a lesson with them again on Wednesay and we'll have it at the church building by the baptismal font. Aaaand, they don't know it yet, but we're going to drop by tomorrow night and teach them another lesson. I am WAY excited! They are SUCH amazing people!

 

ALSO! Riiiight after that we had a few minutes left of the night and we were driving and the member looks out the window and says "I feel like that house is poking out at me! I feel like we should stop!" So, of course, we did! We pulled over, literally jumped out of the car, and literally ran to the house and up the porch steps. We knocked on the door and a woman answered. She said that she was just getting ready for bed and we told her that we shared a message about Jesus and about how families can be together forever. By the looks of it, the woman was not a member. She said that'd be good and said that would could stop by tomorrow night (now tonight!) and it was WAY good!

 

Also, I can't rememeber if I told you about Yoko. Yoko is the less active woman with the desk. Anyway, we taught her on Thursday and it was amazing! She's been praying and reading her scriptures and she's been taking notes!! She has this binder that she writes notes in and all the things that are happening. I love her so much!! I comitted her to continue reading the Book of Mormon, only this time, she's going to share the stories with her son! She was excited about that and said she'd do it! We'll get to teach her again Thursday and I am SO excited!

 

We've been working a LOT with less active memebers! Yesterday we had a lesson with a young girl who has never been active and it was WAY good too! She was SO sincere and SO desiring to know more and to have that strong relationship with her Father in Heaven! Tonight we have a lesson with a less active family and we had another one Friday! I told my companion the other day that if I never got a single baptism but reactived a lot of people I would be totally and completely happy!

 

I love missionary work! I love my mission!

 

Oh! That reminds me! I haven't heard from Jessica yet and it's driving me bonkers! How is she doing?? Did she write you?? Did she email?? What's going on!?

 

Anyway, I hope you are ALL sharing your testimonies and reading the Book of Mormon every day! I just finished it last week and I've started again and I'm hoping to finish before the next transfer which is just a couple days before my birthday! So yeah, I figure if I read at least twenty pages a day I'll finish. Haha. Yikes! Wish me luck!

 

Hmm.. I feel like I have SO much to say and yet I can't think of anything else! I guess I'll just send this one out there and then send some pictures right after. If I think of anything else to say I'll shoot out another email.

 

So yeah. Rules are I can email anyone I want so long as their not in my mission boundaries. So... you should email me back! I miss ALL of you tremendously!!! Like. It's ridiculous!!

 

I'm sending all of my love in the sunshine!

Love, Sister Willis