February 12, 2017

This week was a lot of fun. On Thursday and Friday I got to go on exchanges with one of my former companions. We went to his area which is part of a huge city, there were so many people to talk to! It was a very different feeling from the small town that I have been in for the last few months.

Here is a picture of the baby you sent a blanket and some cloths too. They said that the cloths you sent are the ones he wears the most. There is a tradition in Chinese culture that if someone gives a baby some cloths and the baby wears the cloths a lot the baby will grow o be like the person that gave the cloths. or something like that. I still don't completely understand all of the little traditions and things here. Every week we will go serve this family and they will feed us lunch after. They have a bunch of chickens and they want to start selling them so on Saturday we spent a while running around their back yard trying to catch chickens so we could weigh and label them. Chickens are a lot faster than I thought they would be.

There was a lot more that happened this week but Like every other Monday I forget what happened as soon as it is time to tell everyone else about it.

I hope you both have a great week and I hope that you know that I love you!

February 5, 2017

Hello Mom :)

Those classes sound like they would be great, thank you! For housing you can sign me up for pretty much anything. I would prefer something like Heritage halls that has a kitchen but anything would be good.

This week was pretty average as far as the work goes, nothing supper exciting has happened. We have one investigator that committed to quit smoking cold turkey yesterday. We have another new investigator that has been getting really into the Book of Mormon and always has great questions about it when we see him, we are excited to see where things go with that.

After your email last week I realized that I have been really bad at sharing about the spiritual side of things and how I personally have been changing. I'm sorry about that and I will try to do better with these last few weeks. This week I learned a little about faith, fear and change. I've always learned that real faith will be manifest in our actions and in preach my gospel we can read the fear is the opposite of faith. This week I connected the dots and realized that while faith will lead us to do something, fear will lead us to do absolutely nothing. So when we have an investigator that isn't changing or if we aren't willing to change and repent, most of the time it is because our fear is greater than our faith. This week I was considering how we can overcome that fear in our self and how we can help others overcome it. Moroni 8:16 says"perfect love casteth out all fear" so after reading that I decided that if we have a perfect love for God we wont fear change and we won't fear doing the things that he asks us to do because our love will lead to more faith and there will be no more room for fear. Sorry if that didn't make a ton of sense, I don't have a ton of time to type it out all nice so it might be a little scatterbrained.

one other thing I forgot to mention last week is that there was a change made to missionary schedule so our study times on normal days are different and our P-day is now 8:00-6:00 in stead of 10:30-6:00, so that is why I have been emailing earlier these last few days.

I love you and I hope that you have a great week!

Elder Wills

January 29, 2017

Hello again!

I can't think of any real specific times I have had a prayer answered this week but I have had a few cool spiritual experiences. In October 2015 there was a talk given about ponderizing that I came across a few weeks ago. I realized I had almost compleetly forgotten to do it at all the last year or so, so I restarted it and I have noticed a change in my attitude toward scriptures and my overall attitude. Scriptures have become a lot more meaningful and I have then been able to get a lot more out of my personal study.

Last Friday I had my last zone conference. All but one of the Elders from my MTC district was there. I haven't seen them much since starting my mission so it was really cool to see them again. At the end of the conference our mission President asked us all to get up and share out testimonies. It was really cool to listen to the other Elders and see how they have all changed over the last two years.

Thank you so much for being willing to help me with school. I think what you had suggested would be great:) Thank you!

a few years ago I remember hearing a talk, I'm pretty sure it was general conference, where someone told a story about a girl and her dad. The dad was not active and the daughter asked why. He responded that he already knew it all and there was no one left in the ward that could teach him anything. The daughter then told him that we shouldn't ask what church can give us but we should ask what we can do to serve at church, then church will become more meaningful. Does that sound familiar at all? i think it would be really helpful to a few members here but I cant find it.

I love you both and I hope you have a great week!

Elder Wills

January 22, 2017

Hello!

This last week was pretty eventful. A few weeks ago we were given a new program to use to teach English class that was made for people that had just started learning English. Last week we had four people show up and all of them are pretty much fluent. So we quickly went over what we were suppose to learn and then we just talked a little and gave them all a chance to practice. There was one girl that is from Brazil and she was telling us about her home and how her city is known for the biggest street party in the world. As she was describing the party I looked over to the other side of the room at a 22 year old male student who was staring at her with wide eyes and his mouth open, literally drooling. My companion and I both laughed pretty hard at that.

One day this week we were doing our companion study when our intercom system started to ring, someone was at the door and wanted to talk to us. When we got down we found a pair of Jehovah witness missionaries waiting for us. It was pretty funny to see there reaction when they realized they had contacted the two white missionaries from america. It was  a little odd to be on the other side of a contact like that for once.

On Thursday we were told that we had to go pick up my new companion. so there were three of us together for a few days and then Elder Mccusker left to his new area just a few hours ago.  My new companion is Elder Cai. He is fro Taiwan and he just came straight from the MTC in the Philippians. He is pretty cool and I hope the two of us are able to work hard together.

On Friday The mission president, his wife and three sets of senior couple missionaries came down to our area. This has never happened before so we thought that maybe we would be getting sister missionaries this transfer. It turns out that they all just came down to take a little vacation. So nothing big changed like we were expecting but it was fun to see them all. I think the branch was also a little excited to see them all at church. One set of the couple missionaries got here a few hours before the rest of them and got in a little car accident. nobody was hurt, the cars were just a little scratched up. So we had to run over and help them translate with everyone involved and then we got to go spend the rest of the evening at the police station filling out different accident reports.

I got the package with the quilt a few weeks ago. I'm rally sorry, I thought I already told you. We tried to drop it off on their doorstep without them noticing but the neighbors dog made a lot of noise and tried to attack me when we got close. so it wasn't exactly supper sneaky but they seemed to really appreciate it. Thank you :)

Thank you for emailing me again and I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Wills

January 15, 2017

Hello!

Thank you for the emails again this week :) It looks like you week was pretty fun. This week was  a little slower than normal. All but one of the lessons we had scheduled for the week canceled last minuet of stood us up so we had  a lot of time to be outside finding. unfortunately we didn't have a ton of success with that either. But next week should be better :)

This morning while eating breakfast I came across a pretty cool article in the Liahona that I would recommend reading when you have time. It is from July 2009 and is titled "Always make the effort"

This weekend the Mission President, his wife and both of the senior couples in the mission are coming to visit. The didn't say why but I think that next week this area is going to get some sister missionaries.  They have made a lot of trips down here lately which is supper uncommon so we think something is going to change.

I really don't have a lot to report on other than that....

Really random question: does our family still have a membership to the YMCA?

I love you both and hope you have a great week!

Elder Wills

January 8, 2017

Hello!

This has been a pretty good week. Winter here lasted about two days. It got cold enough that I wore a long sleeve shirt one day. But its back to supper hot and humid already. Its odd to think that somewhere in the world it is cold enough to snow.

The branch we are serving in was created about twenty years ago but in the last twenty years home teaching has never been done, not even once. so since I got here we have really been working with the two priesthood holders in the branch and this last week we were able to get some home teaching done! It was supper cool to see and we are already making plans to visit the rest of the active members with them this week.

Because out branch is so small the missionaries get to talk a lot. Saturday night at about 10:20 we got a call that we both need to speak in sacrament meeting. We didn't have any time to plan because we had to go to bed and Sunday mornings we usually have to leave pretty early to get things st up for church. I don't think Mine was the best talk I have ever given but my companion mad about half of the branch cry. His talk was supper good.

We have two investigators right now, brother and sister. They are about 11 and 13 and they are two of the greatest kids I have ever met. They have already read half of the book of Mormon and they absolutely love it. Unfortunately their parents think they are to young to make any big decisions and they said they need to wait until they are 18. We are planning on bring the branch president with us next time we visit them. Hopefully that will help.

Other than that nothing to exciting has happened and I don't really have anything to report on. But thank you for the email and thank you for helping me with all of my school stuff. I hope you both have a great week!

Elder Wills

December 18, 2016

Hey!

For skyping could we do it Monday morning 7:30 my time? I think that would be the evening of the 25th for you.

Thank you for sending that package a few weeks ago, It has been a ton of fun opening one every day. I think one of my favorites has been the taco seasoning. It made us both laugh.

This month our entire mission has been participating in the 25 day Christmas challenge thing but it has been modified a little so that we could do everything as missionaries. Today one of the things I need to do is "Remind my parents about emergency preparation." So, there it is. You have been reminded. 

This week has been a lot of fun. On Friday we were doing weekly planning when we got a phone call from President Teh and he said that we was coming down for the weekend and wanted to take us out to dinner. It was supper unexpected. It takes about 7-8 hours to travel from our area to the mission home, we are the furthest elders away so this area never gets any visits from anyone, let alone the mission president. On Sunday he came to church and I got to translate for him. He has pretty sophisticated English so it was a bit of a struggle translating a few things he said. My favorite line I attempted to translate was "Missionary work is the lifeblood of the church." My companion started laughing in the congregation when our President said that because he knew I was clueless as to how to translate that. In the end it ended up going all right though. After church on Sunday they came to inspect our apartment and I also had to renew my temple recommend so we ended up doing that in a really small spare room we use as storage space and a changing room. It was an interesting experience. It all ended up being a ton of fun and I was really glad we got to spend a little time with them this weekend.

This next week is going to be really packed. We will be going on exchanges, we are going to a zone conference, our branch has a Christmas party and we already have a bunch of lessons set up for next week. It should be a lot of fun.

I hope you both have a Christmas week! I love you both!

Elder Wills

January 1, 2017

Hello!

I didn't actually know that my release date was changing until about 5 min ago. I don't really know how that is going to work because we will still be a week away from the end of the transfer. But I still have a while before I need to worry about that....right?

Dad, It was fun to hear about your experience with the ward choir. It made me smile :)

Do you have any more solid Ideas for what we will be doing as a family when I get back?

This week we saw a pretty cool rainbow and sunset. I thought I would include pictures.

I'm sorry, we didn't do a ton this week so I don't have a lot to report on right now... But I hope you both have a great week and I hope you both know that I love you!

Elder Wills

December 11, 2016

Hello!

This week has been pretty good. It was the last week of the transfer and my companion and I will both be staying here for the next one. We are both really excited about it.

Last Monday was the first time I have set a baptismal goal with an entire family. That was supper exciting and we are really excited for them.

A little latter in the week we were knocking on doors and we had one lady that come to the door with her eyes closed and looking like she was about to pass out. After opening the door she fell to he knees and started bowing down to us and worshiping us. It was a very interesting experience.

On Friday we went on exchanges. I was with Elder Parker from Australia and the most exciting part of the exchange was probably when he crashed his bike. Thankfully he is alright, he crashed pretty hard. 

On Sunday we had the primary program. It was a lot of fun to watch.

Thank you for all that you have done for me and I hope that you have a great week!

Elder Wills

December 4, 2016

Hello!

Mom, the list of characters you sent is exactly what I wanted, thank you so much!

We got the package this morning just before leaving the door. We have a little Christmas tree that we set up all of the presents under, My companion is getting excited for it too.

This week was pretty good. Lately we have been working a lot with the branch to make sacrament meeting a spiritually uplifting meeting and this week we saw some huge improvements. We are both pretty excited about that.

One day this week we were out at a little fishing town during dinner. We got some fried rice and then went out on the rocky beach to eat it while watching the sunset. It was absolutely amazing. I got a few pictures but the computer I'm using won't register my camera, I'll have to try to send them again next week.

While tracting this week we had a man reject us with the excuses of "I'm a vegetarian."  I had to try very hard to not laugh.

Last Monday My companion convinced me to do a crazy workout with him called Murph. To start off you run a mile, do 100 pull ups, 200 push ups, 300 squats and then run another mile. After the workout I was feeling pretty good but later that night when I was sleeping my muscles all cramped up. I have never been so sore form a workout before. Thankfully I have mostly recovered by now ;)

Dad, I remember when I was at BYU you sent me a document of your Dads story for a project I was doing. Is there any way you could email that to me? Or any other cool family history stories. I think it would be fun for language study to translate a few stories into Chinese and then I could learn  little family history too.

Thank you both for all of your support and all that you do for me. I love you both!

Elder Wills

November 27, 2016

It looks like Utah was a lot of fun. Over her for thanksgiving we had some pizza for dinner and then lots of missionary work after that. It was pretty fun.

we have a stray dog that lives in front of our apartment that missionaries have named Chester. Sometimes we will run into him while we are in the city, this Monday he found us and then followed us around for the rest of the night. 

Lately there have been a lot of bikers riding through the town.

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We found a little town on the top of the mountains where only native Taiwanese people lived.  When we got there there was a wedding going on. I have noticed a few times that some Taiwanese culture is very similar to southern america. When we got to the town I felt liked I had just stepped into south america. The cloths, music, dancing,decorations, food and even the native people all look like they are from south america. I think there is a good chance that the Taiwanese are descendants of Hagoth from the book of Mormon. It really is supper interesting.

That's about all I have for the week but thank you for the pictures and the email. I love you!

Elder Wills

November 21, 2016

Hello again!

How have you all been this last week? Do you have any fun plans for thanksgiving?

To be completely honest not much special happened here this week... Actually, We have a member that owns a lot of chickens and he has a lot of problems with wild dogs eating them. So he asked us to help him design and then build a chicken coop to help protest them. All we had to work with were zip ties, bamboo and a few sheets of metal. Not the most beautiful thing I have ever built but it should get the job done.

One other thing that I was wondering if you could possibly help with. Is there any way you could find some kind of document online that has the 3,000 most common traditional Chinese characters listed in order of how commonly they are used and also includes a simple definition and pronunciation of the character? I know, its pretty specific but I think it would help a lot with my language study if I could get a hold of something like that. But if you can't find anything like it I'll still be fine, so don't worry about it to much if you can't.

I'm sorry I don't really have anything else to say this week, hopefully next week will be a little more exciting. I hope you have a great week and a great Thanksgiving!

November 13, 2016

Hello!

So the new area I am in is 恆春 (hengchun) It is the southernmost part of Taiwan so we are surrounded by the ocean on the east, south and west. It is a supper beautiful place. Last p-day we went to a beach with a few friends and there were a bunch of people surfing. My companion is from southern California and loves surfing. He got me really excited about it and now I have decided I need to try it out some day.

The last area I was in had about 80 people coming to church when I left, one of the biggest wards in our mission. The branch I am in now had about 15 active members, the smallest in all of the country. Because there aren't very many I've already been able to meet most of them. There are  a few pretty cool members but overall the Branch is a little lacking in Faith, we are really going to be working hard on helping the members get excited about missionary work this transfer. Last week we had two baptisms so that should be a good start and hopefully got a few of the members excited. One of the men that got baptized is 93 years old and always has one of the biggest smiles ever. He is great.

On Wednesday we were on our way to lunch when a man pulled us over and started talking to us. He said he knew the missionaries a while ago and that he really needs help later in the night. So we set up to go visit him as soon as we were done with our dinner. He is living in a hotel owned by his brother so we talked to him for a few minuets in the lobby and then he asked if we could go out back to the parking lot so he could show us something. He told us that he made a promise a few years ago that he would help God build a church and now he finally has all of the resources to do it. In the back parking lot he had a huge pile of toys, remote control cars and boats mostly. He asked if he could store the stuff in our church and he said that by selling these he would be able to save up enough money to build the church. Before we could respond he told us to follow him across the road to the land he bought to build our new church. The land he "bought" was a public park in between a bathroom and a Taoist temple. Next to the bathroom he had chained up a stray dog to protect the area from tourists. He also said he needs our help because he is spending all of his time maintaining and cleaning the bathroom so he doesn't have any time to build our church. At this point we had to leave because our English class was about to start and we told him we would talk to him later. Then half way through English class he walked into the church with his 200 pound dog because his dog really wants to learn English. I asked him if the dog could wait outside which he wasn't to happy with but in the end did agree. He came back in to class to learn and spent the entire time correcting all of the other students, he said he has graduated from Harvard, Yale and Stanford... At the end of class we asked if there were any volunteers to say the closing prayer and he jumped up right away and said that he could do it. Right before starting he told us that he is Taoist so he prays a little differently. His "prayer" the consisted of him standing at the front of the class yelling at everyone because our society has become a slave to technology. He had to stop this rant twice to check his phone. Finally I was able to calm him down and everyone else in the class basically ran to the door as soon as class was over. We thought that would be the last time we would see this man but just an hour or two ago he called me because these bad people have locked him up in a mental hospital and he needs us to get him a bible.... I might have more to report on this story by next week....

anyway, thank you for both taking the time to email me again this week. i love you both and I hope you have a great week!

Elder Wills