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.
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Love,
Elder Willden
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