Family and Friends,

So I am sure you got pictures, but to start our week off last Monday night we went to Alejandra and Brett's for dinner. It was a good start to my week. These people have a special place in my heart. I know if she reads this on my blog she will give me crap, but they are so awesome. We were able to share some scriptures with them and Brett gave a really good closing prayer. I will definitely be sad when I leave this area. I have been here so long that it feels like home.

This past Tuesday we had the opportunity to do service at St. Mary's dining room. This is a non-denominational house for the homeless. They feed people that cannot support themselves. I don't know exactly how it works, but it was cool to go help out. We were helping because they have this week where they have the California DMV out in their facility to give out Drivers License's/Identification Cards. We helped fill out the forms to get them those cards. They have to go through Identification that makes sure that they are homeless and have never had an ID card and so forth. It was cool to be able to do this. But it always makes me uncomfortable seeing the poverty and especially in that area where I have seen a lot go down.... Luckily that area is not in mine and Elder Payne's area anymore.

So after the service on Tuesday we went down to Modesto to attend the Trainer/New Missionary meeting. I thought this meeting was one of the best ones I have gone to. We talked a lot about finding and the eight new principles that the First Presidency wants us to use. As a companionship we decided to use family history, finding 10 prospective elders, using social media to strengthen members, and offering FHE to families in our ward and having them invite people to listen. It was super cool to see the revelation that our leaders are receiving. It is working. I had a lot of questions answered about training as well. I am doing my best to help Elder Payne be better and as I do this I am getting better. President Palmer is really helping me out and it is amazing the support that I have.

On Wednesday we were able to go back down to Modesto to see the world-wide missionary broadcast. This was amazing. The new schedule that we have is so cool! As missionaries we now have the agency to choose what we do. And this will help us to carry our schedules over to after our mission.

Something funny to mention... So we now have 4 Elders in our ward and one of them loves to have eating contests with me. So Uncle Larry decided to take us to Papapavlo's. And Larry will get us whatever we want because he is just that cool. So Elder Jeong and I went all out. We ordered the Porterhouse Steak, Shrimp Scampy, and Lobster Tail. This consisted of 30 ounces of meat. The steak was 24 ounces. We ended up tying. Because we both finished. But you should look this restaurant up. It is is Stockton, CA. It is freaking nuts. I don't know how I finished it, but I probably gained 10 pounds just eating there. Well, yesterday we went to a members home and they were going to feed us sloppy joes. They said we could eat all that we wanted. Elder Jeong and I looked at each other and just decided it wasn't worth it. haha. So yeah I am trying to lose weight now. I think.

Oh I almost forgot to put this in.... So I had to make some bike repairs this week. 40 FREAKING DOLLARS to replace 2 SPOKES. I was so ticked off. I guess the labor costed 35 BUCKS.... It was so annoying. But it had to be fixed. So I don't know how much money I have in my account now.... It's nuts.

So I wanted to tell you about Andi. She came to church on Sunday. We gave her a Book of Mormon last Sunday and she is already in 3 Nephi. It is super cool. I am excited to be able to meet with her this week. I will keep you all updated.

Spiritual thought this week is Luke 15:8-10. This parable that Jesus Christ gave is one that is definitely overlooked. When we are looking for those lost coins in our lives we need to light the house and sweep first. Then we can diligently search for the lost coin. Something I really like about this too is that the lady was probably so happy after this happened because she found the coin and her house was clean. As we look for these lost coins keep in mind that we need to have the pure light of Christ in our lives to find them. The best way to have this is to develop charity. It is one of the hardest to have, but as we learn in Moroni 7, we can pray daily for charity and we can develop this attribute.

I love this work.

-- 

Love,

Elder Willden

WE FOUND A CAFE RIO!!!!!! I AM SO PUMPED. It was just built and opened last week.

Family and Friends,

I had one of the busiest weeks of my mission so far. So I am trying a new way to write my letter home. I have decided to go through my journal on Sunday night and write down the highlights of my week so I can send them home to all of you. It was really cool last night to see all of the experiences I had last week and I probably would have forgotten to put more than half of them into my weekly email. Everything that I put in this letter will be in chronological order from the beginning of the week until Sunday.

So after I emailed you all last week I was able to go to dinner at the Turner's. Instead of Vera feeding us it was Steve. I don't know if I have told you all about Steve, but I can tell you more when I get home! He is a vegan and his testimony is based on the Word of Wisdom. He is a convert of almost a year now. Well he fed us some pretty weird things. I was not able to take a picture because I had forgotten to grab my camera. He fed us Asian rice with tofu and some weird vegetables. Then he brought out this grain stuff with lentils and this stuff he compared to bamboo. It was wild. I forgot to mention that the first thing he gave us was a banana thai pepper shake. That definitely got my stomach going to start the night off. That next morning sucked....let me tell ya.

I don't think I mentioned this in any previous letter home, but we met a guy named Lorenzo awhile back. He had called us over to his car while we were looking for Manuel. Well, he asked for a Book of Mormon and asked if we would come by some time. We were so excited because that kind of thing never happens out here. The Lord has been blessing us with these kind of experiences especially this week. So we were actually able to see Lorenzo this week. Twice. We went over with Brother Roberts both times. We were able to meet his wife Shirya (I think that's how you spell it). Shirya really wants to be baptized. She already has a testimony. She has definitely been prepared to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Lorenzo is more hesitant and wants to get all the information before making a commitment. It has been a super good experience teaching this family. They have two kids and are trying to save money so they can live a good life.

Another person we met last week, but that has followed into the current week is Sherriane Weatherby. This lady is the typical religious black woman haha. She is always saying, "praise Jesus!!!" and "praise The Lord!!!" She will also throw up the peace sign whenever she talks about Jesus. I love it man. The enthusiasm about Jesus out here is definitely a sight to see. She is not progressing yet, but she is a new investigator and we are excited to teach her. She was a former that was super confused about the curse of the dark skin in the Book of Mormon. She has since resolved those concerns and is ready to move on.

We have been able to go out with a lot of members this week and get the ward more involved in missionary work. It has been a good experience for me. We have a ward missionary named Brother Black that is awesome. He is retired and can go out with us whenever we need him to and he has a simple and strong testimony. We went with him to a couple of potentials houses with him this week. Well, funny story. We had gone in for the night and I was on my bed writing in my journal and Elder Payne was putting in work in the bathroom. Then.... the doorbell rang. This area has already scarred me for life so I was freaking out. I go to the door and look out the peep hole and all I see is a figure at the door. Our doorstep light was out and so I did not know who it was. So as this is happening the person on our porch kept ringing the doorbell. And then did a knock sequence that is known out here to be a gang knock. I was FREAKING out. Elder Payne is a new missionary and he hasn't seen anything go down so he was just like, "open the door it'll be fine." So finally I gave in and I was standing behind the door I told Elder Payne if he thought it was sketchy he would tell me and I would ram the door. Well Elder Payne opens it and it is Brother Black at 10:15PM bringing us eggs. I felt bad, but at the same time I was like...What just happened??

This is one of my favorite things that happened this week. And these people aren't even in my area. I was able to see Brett and Alejandra 2 times this week. I was really happy to be able to see them. One of the times I get to see them is at church and I had a super cool spiritual experience. I got to give Alejandra a blessing and it just confirmed my testimony that we are tools in God's hand and that he really does care about all of his children. So they brought Taco Bell to our appt. the other night. That was super nice of them.

So yesterday we were able to teach this super awesome referral. Her name is Andi. She lives up in the gated communities on Brookside Rd. Well, we never have any work up there because a lot of their hearts are hardened towards the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She recently had a friend pass away and it has been really hard for her. She is not comfortable with the way she is living right now and she really opened up to us. She is legit investigating. Before we met her she had looked up videos about us and everything. One of her concerns is that if she joins the church she will be "alone." I don't think we are ever alone in this journey, but that is a concern we will have to put to rest. It was super cool to answer questions most people don't ask us..."What is the underwear you all wear?"...."Why are blacks not respected in your church?" She said she didn't believe those things, but she wanted to know what we would say. So we were able to tell her our Bishop is African American. Haha. We are so excited to teach her the Plan of Salvation. She told us she couldn't handle it yet when we tried to teach it, so we are waiting. Please pray for her. She says that everyone thinks she is crazy for investigating the church. Even her husband. So she needs prayers.

Another funny thing that happened this week. Elder Payne and I were preaching by the way and there was this man laying on the ground. Elder Payne approached him and this dude went to shake his hand and I could tell he was just hammered. It looked like he was high on something too. Well, he kissed Elder Paynes hand passionately....then tried to lick his hand. I could not help myself. I started to laugh. Well this guy was just out of it so we started riding off and he was like "Stop!! I love you guys" and Elder Payne stopped lol. He came up to Elder Payne again and started stroking his bike and saying that it was beautiful. The funny thing is... I wasn't even surprised. Hahah. I am glad he didn't try to mack with my hand....

My spiritual thought this week is on patience. I was reading in D&C 101:36-38. It was talking about being patient and let your soul possess your body. That is why we are here is to overcome the natural man. I have really trying to work on this as trials come and go. And I invite you all to read these scriptures and find strength in your trials.

I love the work.

I love you all.

-- 

Love,

Elder Willden

Family and Friends,

These past couple weeks have been some of the hardest, but most rewarding weeks on my mission! Training a new missionary and having that responsibility has been a blessing for me. I absolutely love doing this. It is sometimes hard, but God knows when you can do something. It is up to you to have the attitude and will power to push through. So Mom had some questions for me this week that I will answer in this letter home. So the questions were: Who is in your teaching pool? What is my ward like? Do they help? And describe my companion.

So our teaching pool... We lost 5 investigators from the change. The ones you guys are familiar with that we kept are: Vera, Uncle Larry, Charmaine, and Manuel. So to update you on these, Vera is doing really well. She expressed to Elder Payne and I that she wants to be baptized. She started reading the Book of Mormon for the first time. We are so excited to see where it goes. We are going to try to set her baptism for the 8th of March. She just needs to get over the hump of coming to church. Pray for her that she will feel peace and comfort as she decides to come to church. Uncle Larry. He is doing good. Still not progressing as much as we hope. He has been making some New Years resolutions and I felt the prompting to invite him that he does not have to join the church, but to just come to church and worship our Savior. He agreed. But he did not make it to church this Sunday. I guess he wasn't feeling it or something. We will see what happens next week. Moving on to Manuel. Manuel dropped off of planet earth. We cannot find him. We have tried and tried. And it breaks my spirit because I know how bad he needs this. I have grown to love him and I hope he reaches back out to us.

The investigators who were added to our pool are: Ralph, The Cheeny's, Katie, and Jason. We have been over to Ralph's and he is a minister at UOP. (University of the Pacific) He is super cool and we have an appt. with him soon. We haven't been able to set anything up with the others yet. We actually picked up a new investigator this week named Eruch. He already attended church and we have been through two of the lessons. We are excited for him and his progression.

The ward here is great! We have increased to 800 members in this ward. Only 200 are active or semi-active. So we have a lot of work to do. The ward here is helping so much more. The Weston ward was struggling in their missionary efforts. We now have a lot of ward missionaries and we are creating a new ward mission plan right now. I am so excited to turn this around through Jesus Christ. People are drawn to Jesus Christ and His Atonement.

So funny story for the week. We went to this house that Elder Lamm and I visited awhile back.Well they fed us and told us to come back. Well while we were there the first time they talked a lot and asked a lot of questions about weed. Well when we left he ended up telling us that he was licensed to grow and that he has a lot of weed. When we went by the next week he took us to the backyard. This man had 40,000 worth of weed in his backyard. It was nuts... Haha weed is just the California flower man. I will forever have the smell of weed in my nostrils.

Spiritual thought this week is 2 Nephi 31:19-20. It talks about enduring to the end and looking to Christ through trials. I loved these two verses. I invite you to read it and pray about it. And ask yourself how you can invite the Spirit of the Lord into your life.

I love the work.

-- 

Love,

Elder Willden

{for the following pics Elder Willden wrote:}

I cant caption. It is time for us to go.

-- 

Love,

Elder Willden

Well it was a short one this week.  Sure love and miss this young man.  

He looks tired to his momma, but sounds happy:) 

Friends and Family,

I had such a great week this week. My new companion is Elder Payne. He is from Weatherford, TX. He is 20 years old and he is very excited to be serving in California. This has definitely been an experience that has helped me grow. I have had to kick it into high gear now that I am responsible for someone else's well-being. I am so happy to be where I am at this time in my life. What a great experience this is.

I am sorry to hear about Uncle Steve's passing. My condolences go to the Bandis family and I hope they find peace and comfort in the Plan of Salvation. It has definitely gave me a new perspective on the fragility of life; seeing all of these family members passing on. But I know that they have work to do. God's plan is the greatest plan.

Not having a car is great...lol. Nah it kinda sucks. But on the positive end we have so much more time to find people. It has been a great experience talking to everyone here in central Stockton. I have had the opportunity to gain some people skills I would've never developed if I had not come on a mission.

I don't know why, but I am having a hard time on what to write. Maybe because I started this so late... Umm. Elder Payne and I have been teaching a lot of new people because we have so much new people.

I guess I will just bear my witness of Jesus Christ and the restored gospel:

I know that this church is true. I know that God knows us each personally. I have had the greatest experiences of my life out here on a mission. God has personalized my mission to test me and to help me grow. I know that Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon and ultimately sealed his testimony with blood. That is so amazing. How great a work. I love this gospel. I love the people here in Stockton.

I am sorry for such a short email. I will make up for it next week.

-- 

Love,

Elder Willden

Family and Friends,

Wow... This week was awesome! We got our transfer calls. Here are the details: Our ward now has two sets of missionaries, we lost our car and will be riding bikes, and I will be training a new missionary. HOLY COW. I don't know if I am ready for this, but President Palmer assured me that I would be okay. Elder Lamm will be serving in the boonies. It is an area called Jackson. It will be weird not being with him, but I am excited to start this new transfer with someone different. I forgot to mention that more than half of the area we are serving in is foreign to me... It is going to be a blast.

So now for the bad news... We are losing Brett and Alejandra in this process. They will still be in our ward, but we will not be going to South Stockton anymore. More bad news. Manuel who was supposed to be baptized last Saturday dropped off of the face of the planet. We have not had communication from him for a week. This really really bummed me out. Elder Lamm and I still have no idea what is going on. But it could just be that his phone is broke. We will see what happens.

This week felt really slow and felt like we were in no mans land because our area was changed and we were getting ready to move. We went to dinner with Uncle Larry this week. He is a great guy, but he is the most stubborn dude I know. My new companion and I will be chipping away at him hard. Anyways, we went to this restaurant called Dave Wong's. It is a Chinese restaurant. It was super dang good. They had amazing ribs. When Larry takes us to eat he goes all out.

We went to Brett and Alejandra's for New Years Eve. It was a good time. We had these confetti poppers and we popped them off before we left. Also they gave us some good Martinelli's. We also had this ginger bread house competition. And yours truly won so I am a champion.

Spiritual thought for the week is something that will go along really well with New Years and making resolutions. I got this calendar out here on the mission and something it says for January is to instead of making a ton of resolutions, stick with two and respect them like it is a commitment you make with a friend. You should respect the commitments you make to yourself more than the ones you make to peers. Focus on those two commitments and roll with it. This also ties in with something I thought a lot about this week. A couple of people talked to me about making decisions and how we know when the spirit is telling us to do something or not. I feel as though the spirit is not going to push super hard towards something if both decisions are good. We have our agency. That is the beauty of this life. When we want to do something we can do it. The spirit will then confirm that what you are doing is right. So when we make decisions in this New Year, make sure that the spirit confirms to you that what you are doing is right. Look to Christ in all you do and you will be blessed.

Thank you all for your prayers and please continue to pray for me and my new companion. And our investigators.

I love this work.

--

Love,

Elder Willden