Another Week, Another Baptism Date

A Picture of Me on a Bed on a New, Free Couch

Things are starting to blur past me, I can't for the life of me remember what happened last week, I will have to take a look at my notes real quick. 

Okay, we have this lady we have been teaching for over 4 months now, and she would have been baptized by now, but she keeps not going to church, and instead keeps helping her bum friends who live in a city over an hour away. We found that one of her friends sisters is a member and now we have that member and the missionaries in that area coordinating with us and going over to do the service so our lady on date doesn't have an excuse to ditch us and church every weekend. Progress! Whooo!

Us Playing cover Your Assets - It's Fun

I don't know what it is and don't worry about is we are not victims of them, but there have been some major bed bug problems in some of the apartment complexes we teach at, (we are safe! Don't worry) we are protected by the people there and we just have lessons outside. It's just a wonder with how bad it has gotten recently, some of the people we are teaching are just suffering, It really sucks, but we are still safe regardless of when we teach them. 

Another example of us being safe - just last night after a zone kickoff meeting we had. We were driving home and there was what I think was a drunk crazy lady. She was stumbling around on the side of the road. Then when we start getting closer she jumps into the road right in front of us, but we stopped before we could hit her. She was furious, and tried to yell at us, but we being upstanding citizens ignored her and drove away. I am telling you this because just that night, for the closing prayer of our zone kickoff, my companion prayed that nobody would get maimed on the car ride home. This goes to show that the Lord takes prayer very seriously, and that if we ask him within good reason we will bless us accordingly.

My Companion Loves
Putting Cats on his Shoulder

We put somebody on date for baptism. It's a ways away but it is November 9th. What's really cool about this is that it she is in a part member less-active family, but she is so excited to meet with every week, and she has been seeing some great blessings from meeting with us. She knows that it has been from meeting with us.

There was an air show the other day. We heard lots of cool and loud things, but we didn't get to see much though We were busy working and there were big trees in the way, but there was one cool moment we saw a jet fly right over us. It was loud and cool.  They were the Blue Angels.

1Nephi 17:1-3.

This is a little self explanatory

1 And it came to pass that we did again take our journey in the wilderness; and we did travel nearly eastward from that time forth. And we did travel and wade through much affliction in the wilderness; and our women did bear children in the wilderness.

   3 And thus we see that the commandments of God must be fulfilled. And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them; wherefore, he did provide means for us while we did sojourn in the wilderness

More Shoulder Cats

I am grateful that you have read this far into my email, and I would appreciate if you did it again next week, because it will be either just as good or the exact same.

Thanks,

Elder Willis

We Like to Feed the Birds

A Non-Transferable Day

Lamas at the Fair Parade

Wulp, it's that time again, it's P-DAY..... wait a minute, it's actually TRANSFERS!

I am staying here in Airway Heights, and my companion, Elder Ruth, is still my companion. This past transfer has been a blast. I love going on the air base to do service, as well as going to Spokane to do service at a bike shop and at other charities in the community. It's all been fun.

We have been doing the work.  We recently got a referral from Salt Lake missionaries for a guy in our area. To make the long story short, he was not home, and as soon as we started back to our car we started thinking about this guy we have been trying to contact for a long time who lived in the area.

Last Weeks BBQ with the Other Missionaries

So we went to his home. (His name is Rick) After we knocked, he answered the door and invited us in. (which is out of character for him)  After some small talk we found that he had hit a rough spot in his life. Rick found out that his sister got cancer again. He was really struggling. He said that he had been trying to pray, but he felt that it was not enough. He then asked if we would pray for him and his sister..... It was a touching moment, I mean we even hugged him goodbye and everything.

We then did service at the Medical Lake Founders Day Fair. We helped with the Triathlon by registering people and answering questions, but once the race started we just sat around under the shade of a canopy and waited to help some people, but they never came.

A Wall of Those Who Died at Vietnam at the Fair

Today we had a water balloon fight as a zone. One last hurrah before transfers. My arm is not fully healed yet and when I get physically active, it hurts it so it is taking longer to heal.

 As a result, I had to where my sling for the battle. We had a balloon toss along with dodge ball. It was difficult with one arm, but it was fun, I don't know why but most of all the shots I made just bounced off my targets.

I read in the Book of Mormon recently about Lehi's dream. In his dream he speaks about a rod of iron that leads to a tree, but there are thick mists of darkness, so thick that you can't see the tree. The rod of iron is the word of God or in other words. the scriptures. The mists of darkness are pride and the temptations that try to lead us away from the tree, which is the tree of life and represents the love that Heavenly Father has for us. 

The Culprit from My Shoulder Injury. 
It's more than a Foot Drop and the grass below it has a big dip too.

1 Nephi 8:24

24 And it came to pass that I beheld others pressing forward, and they came forth and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did press forward through the mist of darkness, clinging to the rod of iron, even until they did come forth and partake of the fruit of the tree.

We must all press forward without loosing hold of the rod, we must read the scriptures daily so that we do not get lost on our way back to our Heavenly Father.

Thank you all for your support!

Some of the Pleasant People We Don't Talk To

Great Dane - Thinks He's a Lap Dog

 We hello there, it certainly has been a blast here in Airway Heights. we have been doing the work, and I have been healing from my accident 2 weeks ago. It should be fully healed this Tuesday but some dumb accidents have been happening and I keep hurting my shoulder in one way or another. 

It's not that I'm not careful, its more like when a 2 year old wants you to lift them up and they start by grabbing your injured arm and pulling real hard, I don't know why but I seem to be accident prone when little kids are involved.

Let's get down to business...... 

Not that there are huns or anything but we like to be serious when it comes to the work. 

So we have been trying to get a lesson with this guy who works in the hotel of the local casino. He is a super cool dude, but apparently when we knocked on his door he had his headphones on and didn't hear us - we had even called his cell.

We Made a Castle

So since we missed his appointment, we decided to knock on other doors in the apartment complex, and the last one we knocked on  - a nice lady answered the door. We told her that we missed an appointment so we decided to knock on her door instead, and she let us right in. She had dated a member a long time ago and was uninterested in converting, but that did not stop us from having a pleasant chat with her. She even said we could come back again.

We got a referral for somebody's neighbor in this maze-like apartment complex. After much trial, error and turning around we found the right place. We knocked on the door and the guy who answered was young, but he smiled and said come right in Elders. (I don't know if you know but when you just meet somebody and you know they aren't members, but they know our missionary titles it's a little unsettling.) They turned out to be a nice family. A young couple who just moved in and the man whose name is Josiah was a S.E.R.E candidate for the Air Force (a S.E.R.E is a man who trains people on how to survive anywhere on the world - the ultimate wilderness survival guide) After some small talk we found them quite knowledgeable in the Bible and they went to a church regularly, but unlike most people we meet like that they asked actual sincere questions (usually we get Anti-ed by people like that) After a while they said we could come back but Josiah was about to head off to his 6 month training, but we can still teach his wife who is more than happy to talk again.

Sunset from the Canada Fires

There is a part member family who just decided to have their 12 year old daughter get baptized, so now we are having lessons once a week at their home. And this girl loves meeting with us. She is super excited to learn more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and her mother is very helpful and encouraging about the whole thing. Despite how awesome it is, there are still some distractions in the lessons, like two massive dogs that love attention and will not leave you alone if you ignore them. There is also a son who loves to give complicated examples of what we are teaching. (It is impolite for us to tell him to be quiet, but he seriously needs to stop!)

Another Sunset

I gave a talk in church yesterday, and I was very nervous about the usual; will it be too long?  will it be too short? will they like it? or did I do good enough?  But after thinking

 about it for a little while, I was giving a talk on faith, and I had no faith that it was going to go well, so I prayed silently for the help and confidence that I needed to deliver a successful talk I prayed for more Faith. 

In my talk I quoted Omni 1:6 

6 "For the Lord would not suffer, after he had led them out of the land of Jerusalem and kept and preserved them from falling into the hands of their enemies, yea, he would not suffer that the words should not be verified, which he spake unto our fathers, saying that: Inasmuch as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall not prosper in the land."

Ghost Dog

In this scripture I explained all the impossible and crazy circumstances that Nephi and his father Lehi went through, and it was by faith they were able to go through with any of it.

 The many promises of the Lord were a comfort to them in their trying times, and in my hour of need I was also comforted, because with faith we can do anything with Heavenly Father's help.

Many and much thanks for your support and reading my emails, to show my gratitude I will send you some pictures of me.

Well Well Well? I'm not

Me in a P-Day Sling

Sorry for the negative title but some bothersome things happened last week, but like the proud Eagle Scout I am,  I was prepared for each situation, except for the bike crash...

In my cruel ways of keeping suspense, I will tell you about the bike ride last and go forward with the earlier part of my week. 

It's been hot! So I bought some nice white short sleeve shirts for proselytizing, and the day I bought them we ended up finding a cool new person which I will mention later. So we were late and we had to run 2 miles to get back to our apartment so we could get our car and make it to our appointment on time. Did I forget to mention the temperature was in the lower 90s... We were in black slacks and a tie, it was a little uncomfortable... We were soaked in sweat when our ordeal was done. This mission is so fun. 

My Companion Loves Cats

The guy we found is one of the people the Book Of Mormon is addressed to. It talks a lot about it in Mormon 8 where the Lord makes a promises to the Lamanites if they repent of their sins and come unto Him.  One of the cool things about all the Lord's promises is that we are entitled to them so long as we keep his commandments. You should go and take a look at the select promises that are made and pray and ask the Lord what you can do to receive those blessings as well. 

Another one of those things that have been happening here are allergies, I don't know if I'm still sick or if I'm just dying because there is a very cuddly cat in my lap, it doesn't help that it's spring either but I take medication for this sort of thing, and I fear that its one of those situations where you don't notice what you had until it's gone. Kind of like the Holy Spirit, when you are baptized into the church you are later confirmed by the laying on of hands into the church. Then you receive the gift of the Holy Ghost to be a constant companion throughout your life, so long that you are worthy of it. 

And Now The Bike Story. 

Me - Rockin' the Urgent Care Look

I had to take my bike wheel off for better travel during transfers a few weeks ago, and my bike does not have disk breaks, (they are nice breaks) so I have to take off my front breaks so my bike can fit in the car, and once we got home I could not figure out how to properly put on my breaks so I went around with just my back breaks, it was all good until this point. 

It happened like it was last week. There we were headed towards service. My companion and I usually bike through a movie theater parking lot, and right next to it is an undeveloped section with a steep hill. I don't like to go on that part of the hill because I only have one break (it's scary).

So I biked towards a gutter system that has a ramp which usually runs down into the cement or grass. The one I went down was about a foot in the air...  I was not prepared for that drop. My front wheel went down and hit the ground hard sending me over the handle bars. I landed on my head. My helmet saved me a headache and a broken neck. I rolled onto my left shoulder and that's what caused what the doctors call a major contusion (or a major sprain). 

Zone Conference

In the end I was alright, no broken bones or bike, it would not be so if I was not obedient to my mission rules and had not worn a helmet. I know that the Lord sometimes gives us hard to understand rules or commandments that do not make sense. But I know that if you follow his commands he will bless you and (like me) when you get into trouble it wont be as bad as is could have been.

Thank you for making it this far in my email, I know I've become quite the journalist since my mission started, and I am aware that it is a lot for some people to read.

He Took a Bite Out of It