Family and Friends,

I had a great week this week...I was a little bit sick this week, but it ended up being a really good one! On Tuesday we hosted interviews with President Palmer. Afterwards he asked what are plans were that night and Elder Stewart and I had overbooked ourselves so President decided to come out with me to one of our appointments and Elder Stewart went out with our Branch President. I was a little nervous teaching without a companion and having our mission president with me, but it went super well. We had a lesson with our recent convert Josh Nardini. We taught him about obedience and serving in the church. It was actually super good that President was there because he helped Josh feel really good about what he was doing. I was also able to get information about my recent convert Andi...President said that he saw her a week before that and said she was doing super well! I can't wait until next May when she is eligible to go through the temple!

We have really been trying to implement family history into our proselyting efforts. It has been slow, but it always surprises people when we bring it up. A lot of people aren't interested in it, but even if they have little interest it is always good because the Spirit of Elijah works like that. They will get hooked lol. I have been taking my pedigree chart out and showing it to people and they think it is really cool. We have a lot of family history appointments this upcoming week. So we are going to keep going with it and see what happens. I have noticed that with a lot of the perspective elders we are working with, family history seems to catch their eye. And in due time they will want to go to the temple and get these deceased family members' work done. It is awesome how the Lord works. Family is so important to His eternal plan.

Light The World came out this week! It is a great opportunity to do missionary work. And it Utah I would definitely recommend to do social media missionary work. Go to mormon.org and share the video! Imagine if every member of the church shared the video! How many people do you think would see it? Do not make an excuse like..."oh someone else will share it..." I am inviting all of you within the circle that this letter hits to go online and share the light the world video on any social media account that you have. It is a wonderful way to share the Christmas spirit and to show people that Jesus Christ is so important. We can be His light to the world!

We picked up a new investigator just yesterday named Joyce! We have another appointment with her tonight so pray that it goes well! Juan Lopez, our recent convert came with us to the appointment last night and he did so good! In our last lesson with Juan he expressed that he wants to go on a mission. Halfway through the lesson we did a question and answer on what a mission is like. He said that the biggest reason he would want to serve is to be a good example to his children we he is older. Before he shared that I had talked about how my Dad was such a good example to me by serving a mission and ever since I was little I wanted to serve because of that. I was so happy to hear about Juan's desire. Elder Stewart also shared a powerful testimony about why he served and it just brought the spirit there. Juan will be such a good missionary if he goes next October!

I showed up to church yesterday and they assigned me to speak I didn't have any time to prepare, but I gave a talk on the plan of salvation. I told a story from my childhood that went like this:

 When I was little my father bought a boat so that we could make more family memories and become closer. I was so happy when we got this boat, but when we finally started taking it out none of my siblings including me wanted to do anything... For me it was a little bit more extreme; I would not even get into the water. I thought that there were sharks in the fresh water lakes...I recall a time that we were out on the lake and I was feeling very brave. I had convinced myself that I could get in the water and then get right out. Well I started my descent into the water and fear overcame my body. I was hanging off of the edge of the boat only holding on the the dock handles of the boat. I was eight years old and did not have the strength to pull myself back into the boat. I was embarrassed, scared, and felt like I was going to fall into the water. In my eight year old mind I could picture the sharks underneath me that were just waiting for me to fall. To make things worse I could hear my Dad telling everyone that we were going to start the boat and head off. As I was hanging there I could remember that I did not want to call out for help because I was going to be embarrassed...but I was also very scared and almost in a shocked stupor. When finally I heard what I wanted to hear. My Dad asked, "Where is Kolton?" I timidly spoke out and said I was hanging off the boat. Although, I think that my Dad knew I was there. After my Dad had heard me call out he saved me from my biggest fear and in my eight year old mind a very real struggle and trial. My Dad grabbed me and lifted me up back into the boat with my family. I felt safe and comforted despite the mocking I got from my family. I was so thankful my Dad had the strength to help me get back into the boat.

I told this story to represent the effects that we have from the fall of Adam. Obviously there were no sharks in the water, but for effect I have kept them in the story. Due to bad decisions we make in life we can find ourselves hanging on the side of the "boat" helplessly because we do not have the strength to get back in. We can also be hesitant to call out for help because of the embarrassment that we feel from putting ourselves in these situations. We need to remember that we can all find ourselves in these situations, dangling helplessly looking down at the worldly sharks that can destroy our souls. But we need to remember that like my Dad in the story we have a Savior. Jesus Christ can help us as we struggle through personal trials. He will not come to our aid without us seeking for His help. He has the strength because of the Atonement to help us back into the "boat." "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." (1 Cor. 15:22)

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

-- 

Love,

Elder Willden

Family and Friends,

This week was pretty awesome except my throat has started to flare up because of the cold weather. My new glasses came too and I think they are super sick! Thanks Mom. And Corie for doing the shopping for me. I also very much appreciated the letters that came this week. I don't know about other missionaries, but the hand written letters is what I like most when I get them. They are the best!

I have been thinking about our mission vision a lot lately..."We are one with the Savior in doing the will of the Father." I have found this to be very profound. It is such a simple and sublime phrase, but if you dig into it you can never hit the bottom. A lot of scriptures from the Book of Mormon and trace back to this phrase...a lot of what we do here in life traces back to this phrase. President Palmer did not come up with this by himself. He held a mission council on what the vision would be and this is what came of it. It also is not just a mission long vision it a life-long commitment. Sometimes when the mission is hard and I feel tempted to just take a break I don't necessarily just think of the mission vision, but I feel that it has been ingrained into my very being. We cannot just dive into being perfect...and none of us will attain that status in this life. But we can TRY...we can STRIVE. I recently studied the hymn, "More Holiness Give Me." Every phrase in that hymn I attached to a scripture from the Book of Mormon. We can always try to get better in the little things....Until we truly can become, "More, Savior, like thee." 

We had a special training this week that is going on here in the northwest area of the church. I really liked the re-emphasis on the rescuing of Melchizedek Priesthood holders. 50% of them are less-active in this area of the church. These are men that have served missions...have served in bishoprics... It was cool how Elder Rasband and Elder Ballard chose the parable of the prodigal son to teach this principle. As I have studied this I realized that we have all strayed from home at one point in our life and it is our duty to help those that have. No matter how far they have gone away. We can also be in the position of the jealous brother...why be jealous? God loves each of his children perfectly. We should rejoice when someone fixes the things in their life that have been contrary to his will. I cannot wait to go out with the Branch President to rescue these Brothers.

We found a new investigator this week! His name is Vini. He is just graduating high school and we are super excited to teach him. We taught him a very quick Restoration lesson and committed him to read the Book of Mormon. It was awesome when he told us that he would have a lot of questions next time we came back. That is how you know when someone is interested. We are very short on investigators right now. We hope to find some more in the coming weeks. Tyler, unfortunately, has kind of drifted off and we have not had any contact with him in awhile.

Please keep praying that someone from our pool of potentials or someone that we find will be ready to hear the gospel. Thanks for your prayers and support I love you all.

-- 

Love,

Elder Willden

Monday, November 13, 2017

Family and Friends,

This week was very good! It flew by too because we only have 5 weeks to do all of our exchanges. So we were on two exchanges this week. It was nuts. And we are trying to tie down the loose ends from moving. Something funny that happened this week was we were helping some of the Sisters move into their new apartment and they were on exchanges and one of the Sisters there looked super familiar. I asked why she looked familiar and she said that she knew me. I asked from where...she told me she went to the same elementary school as me. I thought for a minute and as I was thinking I could see the smirk on her face and I was like....awwwww crap. I don't think I had a very good track record in elementary school, so I had to ensure her that I couldn't even remember half of what happened back then... lol. It was so weird. Life is hard when your a G.

We had a zone conference this week and Elder Stewart and I had the opportunity to do a training on effective door and street contacts. This was not just in front of our zone, but it was in front of half the mission. It was a little bit nerve racking... But it was good to learn from each of the missionaries there. We decided to really focus the training on the new missionaries in the mission so we talked a lot about the fears that stem from talking to people. We shared the scripture 2 Tim 1:7 and trained on how God gives us the spirit of a sound mind to help those recognized the truth of the restored gospel.

Now I am going to dedicate a paragraph to food. If there is a wingstop down up in Utah you need to go try it. It is so good. I think I might like it better than buffalo wild wings. I have gone there a few times in the past couple transfers lol. Also another story about me being picky and Satan ruining my life. We went to a members house for dinner. His name is Jake and he is in the branch. He said he was going to cook us a vegan meal. So I thought it wouldn't be that bad, but.... we showed up and he said he was making these things that were basically jack fruit tacos. I still was thinking oh it won't be too bad. We sat down and he presented what he called a garlic mayonnaise and some red onions. I was devastated. Luckily I did not have to eat that, but I did have to eat the tacos. I basically had a chile sauce, spinach, and jack fruit taco. Wow it was disgusting haha. I think our member felt bad because he said he had never made it before...but yeah it was one of the weirdest things I have eaten.

Good news! We got to go to the Temple this week! So I will be sending some pictures soon. It was a great experience. We went with Josh and Paige. It was so amazing to see Josh take these six names that he had a be baptized for them. I know that his ancestors were waiting for him to join the church so that they could make those covenants with God. I also took a name and I prayed that the man I was being baptized for would accept the ordinance. I did not receive a straightforward answer to my question, but the way I felt after I came out of the water was more than enough for me to be satisfied with what I did. The Temple is such an amazing place.

On that note, something else that happened this week that was cool is that we got a call from the Ceres Elders and they told us there was a teenager who was asking about family history specifically. We were able to call him and let him know that he could come down to Turlock to do some genealogical work. He came down that night and we were able to find a lot of ancestors of his. Hopefully he continues to come to the family history center. We have an appointment with him on Tuesday. I can't wait to see what happens with that. But it has really shown me that family history is important.

I am sorry I can't write more. We are running out of time. Just know I had a great week and I am praying for all of you! 

-- 

Love,

Elder Willden

November 6, 2017

Family and Friends,

We started our week off with a move. We moved to Turlock! I am happy with it because we are now living in a super big apartment. The only bad part about it is we don't have a washer and dryer now to do our laundry...so we have to pay for it. But hey after seeing Boston and what he has to do in Vanuatu I don't feel so bad for myself.

Halloween was pretty dang...boring. We actually moved on Halloween and then had to be in at 6. So not to make anyone feel bad or anything....;) There is a running joke about how I have been a zone leader for about 6 months. And as zone leaders we pick up packages for the missionaries in our zone. Well, I still have not picked one up for myself (one of our district leaders picked up my sweaters). Elder Stewart got a Halloween package and he opened it and Sister Stewart hooked me up fat! Haha so I was able to get a Halloween package Mom. Don't worry about it;).

We have been working at the college a LOT lately. We have handed out so many Book of Mormons and gotten so many fake phone numbers it is ridiculous! We actually have a potential investigator from the college though. We will be meeting with her and a friend this week at the college. Hopefully there aren't any ulterior motives lol. It has been really rewarding to help these college students recognize that we are regular Christians who believe that there is MORE. I love bearing my testimony of the Book of Mormon and how that extra witness allows me to gain more and more faith in my Savior, Jesus Christ. The change of my heart from the beginning of my mission has definitely surprised me. I used to just "share" the Book of Mormon. But when you love the Book and you want someone to read it. You really want them to study it out and find the Savior in it. It makes the conversation very personal. It makes those that you are talking to feel the conviction in your heart and ultimately the spirit telling them that this Book is special. God definitely loves all of His children. I am enjoying my mission so much. No matter how hard it gets I can always feel the presence of the Savior.

We had a mission leadership council this week that I thought was one of the best meetings I have been to on my mission. We started off by counseling about our mission and what they need. And then we read 3 Nephi 19. Just like a family scripture study back home we went around and read 2 verses each. We stopped after 2 verses each time and talked about them though. I thought that this chapter showed 3 things: Our relationship with our Savior and Heavenly Father, The power of secret prayer, and it has a lot of symbolism about our day today. I have been studying that chapter a lot lately. I invite you all to read it and to think about how it applies to you today. One of my favorite things about this chapter is that in the chapter before Jesus Christ had commanded the Nephites to pray to the Father in His name. Well, that night..."immediately"... they started to gather the people for Christ's return. They started praying to the Father in Jesus Christ's name the very next day. And what were they praying for? The Holy Ghost. Now...Jesus Christ had made a promise that if they asked in faith that they would receive and if it were right, Heavenly Father would bless them with whatever they asked. After they prayed for the Holy Ghost and after a very significant visitation from the Savior once again. These people received what they desired most. I love this chapter. I love the things I am learning about my Savior. I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon and what it contains. I know that it is true and that if you read it everyday you can find peace from all of your trials.

We had a district meeting this week about stress. I have dealt with stress my whole mission believe it or not... But what I have found helps most and what was reaffirmed to me in that meeting is that prayer and scripture study along with studying hymns help me most. Before my mission I did not touch a hymnbook. And I wished I would've. These prayers are very influential and powerful. I love them.

I am thankful for all of you and for your prayers have a great week! I know I will!  

-- 

Love,

Elder Willden

October 30, 2017 

Family and Friends,

This past week has been a super good one for me! I did not take any notes to write this letter so I hope that it is not too jumbled.  We had a pretty good week. But there were a lot of downers that happened too. We ended up losing one of our investigators that was on date. Alexis has decided to part ways with us because she will be getting baptized Catholic to marry her boyfriend. It is sad, but I know that she has felt the spirit and knows that the Book of Mormon is true. We know that one day she will decide to join the church.

Another update on another investigator... Due to some things that have come up Tyler might have to wait a little bit to be baptized. We are working closely with President Palmer to get this one sorted out. Tyler has had a hard past so we will see what happens. Please continue to pray for Elder Stewart and I to find some new investigators. We have been working super hard and we know that the Lord will bless us for our efforts, but prayer would be appreciated!

Some good news is that transfer calls were this week and I got the news that Elder Stewart and I will be staying together. Same assignment, same area, but different apartment. So we have spent the day cleaning and packing. We are moving from Ceres to Turlock. I can't wait for this transfer. It is going to be fun. Due to this past transfer being 7 weeks we will have a 5 week transfer. So it will go by super quick. Time is something that I am very concerned about right now. I feel as if it keeps getting faster and faster and there is nothing that I can do about it...

Elder Stewart and I will be going to the Oakland Temple again this week! We will go on Thursday with the branch. Josh will be joining us for his first time and I will be able to take some names that I have found on family search the past several weeks! It's going to be a good week. 

I am sorry this letter is so short. I did not take notes and now my mind is blanking. I guess I can use this time to say I really enjoy hand written letters... Just a subtle hint. lol

Have a great week! I love you all!
-- 

Love,

Elder Willden