Monday, March 26, 2018

Family and Friends,

I had an amazing week this week! Even though my bike gave me more problems it has been a pretty good one. We have been working diligently to get the paper area books transferred into the phones. It is such an annoying job, but when it is all said and done it is going to help so much in hastening the Lord's work! Having the phones has definitely been an adjustment. Before the mission phones were used as a crutch or something to use when you were bored. But as Elder Ballard has said we are learning to make the phone our slave and not be a slave to it. I am so glad I get to learn these principles while I am serving the Lord. It was also a good week because we were able to have interviews with President Palmer! He motivates me to be a better man. I am so glad I was called to serve here at this time! 

We were able to teach Ronald last Monday evening and we hope to teach them again tonight! It was awesome because his Mom said that she would think about getting re-baptized and join in on the lessons. We also invited his sister to join the lessons for tonight so we hope that we can teach her too! I am happy that I get to work with this wonderful family! They are awesome. 

We were out this week with Brother Black and we were going everywhere. We were trying to contact all of our referrals/potentials. Well, Brother Black asked us if we could go to Mia's. We decided to drop by because we hadn't been in awhile. It turned out that she was going through a really hard time. She got hit by someone in her car and they hit and ran. So she didn't know how she was going to fix her car. Brother Black being the goat and all asked if she needed a blessing. She did not know what it was so we explained it and she wanted one. It was a good opportunity to help her recognize the priesthood has been restored. She ended up getting her car fixed. We hope to meet with her this Wednesday!

We had another Temple Prep class with Andi! We taught about the histories of Temples. It was great because Andi has a lot of questions! We showed one of the new Mormon messages to help Sister Abbott teach. It has been great to see her testimony grow. I can tell that she is nervous and does not know what to expect, but she will do great!

An update on Tiffani. So we are going to start teaching her twice a week because her baptism is coming up. This week we were able to teach her about prayer a little more. It was cool because this was one of her biggest concerns. We answered a lot of her questions. I really like teaching about prayer. Because we really do have a loving Father in Heaven who wants to hear from us each day. And it is through the Savior Jesus Christ that we are able to pray to Him. We hope that she is developing a positive relationship with God. 

I am excited to tell everyone that we found Jim Wiggins! He got transferred to a facility in South Stockton. Which is still in our area. A little more sketchy, but we love it down there;) Jim told us that he missed us too so that felt good! 

Lizzette is doing so good! We have been working with her and her top goal is marriage and Baptism. She went to a relief society event this week without us knowing. Which is the best thing as a missionary because you know that the ward is doing their job! She enjoyed it so much. She still has so much opposition, but she is plowing through it. Her best friend kinda flipped when she told her she was going to be Mormon and she said that was the first time she felt solid defending the church. She knows that it is true. She has a lot of questions about the Temple so we are going to be teaching her that this week! 

I have been so happy with the joy my mission is giving me. Anyone who is contemplating a mission JUST GO! It is the most selfless, happiest, hardest time of your life. And you come to find out that God is really there. You feel it everyday as you talk to His children. I know that this church is true. I know the Savior lives. He is our Redeemer and our Captain. He knows each of us very intimately. I love Him. And I love this work. 

Love, 

Elder Willden

Uncle Brad's and Aunt Krislyn's family sent St. Patrick's Day Package! 

This shirt is completely worn out!

Monday, March 19, 2018

Family and Friends,

Well, Roy was baptized this past Saturday! It was a wonderful experience seeing him progress and be so willing to follow the example Jesus Christ has set for us. We were able to invite Juanita, Roy's wife, to the baptism and she came! It was just a good, spiritually uplifting experience for everyone. Lizzette even came to the baptism. I will mention the results of that later. But we were super happy with everything that went on this weekend. Roy will be getting the priesthood next week. It has been nice to have this success because the ward is getting more motivated to do missionary work. Funny story from after the baptism. So President and Sister Palmer wanted to take us to lunch so President asked Sister Palmer where she wanted to go. She said Taco Bell lol. Well... What happened was we went to Panera instead, but Sister Palmer said I am the king of Taco Bell!! I was so honored. She wanted to try Taco Bell because of how much I like it. I love Sister Palmer hahah. But also a side note. I met one of Chase's coworkers at Panera. It was weird, but kinda cool. He took a picture and said he was gonna send it to you. 

Now an update on Lizzette! So she came to the baptism on Saturday and LOVED it. We had a lesson with her on Saturday evening and she was telling us that she thinks she is ready. It was such a sweet surprise. She also told us that her boyfriend has been more supportive and she is going to invite him to church next Sunday! We taught her about the Atonement of Jesus Christ for our lesson. It went so well. At the end we were talking to here about things she needs to do to prepare herself for baptism. We told her about how our church does free marriage ceremonies and she got really excited. So we will see what happens with that. I am just so excited for her and the choices that she is making. Missionary work is so joyful. The Lord loves each of His children and wants them to be found. I will keep you updated on Lizzette, but please keep her in your prayers. 

We had dinner at the Hansen's again this Friday! Our lesson afterward with Tiffani went really well! She committed to be baptized on April 7! We are so excited for her and their family. Tiffani is such a good person and this is really going to bless her as well as her family. Please pray that everything goes smoothly as we prepare for April. She is nervous... But that's normal! 

We were able to join Andi in starting her Temple Prep classes this week! It was such a neat opportunity to see how much she has grown in her gospel knowledge. She will be going to the temple on May 12. And I think I have received approval to go to that so I am soooo excited. Andi is nervous, but she knows that this is the right step forward. She is working really hard to be ready for it. She is such a good example to the people around her. We have been inviting her to come out teaching with us and she connects so quickly to our investigators. It is nice to have someone there that these people can relate to. I am so lucky to be able to associate myself with all of these wonderful people! 

We are excited for this evening because we are going to start the recent convert lessons with Ronald. We invited his family to sit in as well. So hopefully that can happen. He has a sister that is not baptized and his mother needs to be rebaptized because when she was baptized she was not confirmed. So we will see how it all works. We hope that we can help them all get on the right track! Ronald seems to be doing really good. He will be getting the priesthood next week! 

We have an amazing opportunity to start proselyting on Facebook! With that comes planned times to get online and invite others to Jesus Christ. It has been super weird... We have to get super creative on ideas to try and find. We have already been finding success on getting in contact with people. It has been so nice to have contact with so many people at once. It is also such a great opportunity to learn how to use technology better so when I make the transition here in a few months it will be a lot easier! 

I have been thinking about agency and integrity a lot this past week. President shared a lot of insight on the meaning of integrity during zone conference. He talked about how he taught primary children in the past and he was able to ask them what integrity meant. One of the kids answered, "it means doing what you said you would do, when you said you would do it." Another said, "it means not only doing what you said you would do, but doing it even when no one else is watching." This touched my heart that 9 year old children would give such a doctrinally sound answer. I love this gospel. I am thankful to be able to be a missionary. I love you all! 

Love, 

Elder Willden 

Random peacock on the road

Elder Nelson and I❤️

Elder Nelson and I again

Rainbow

Ronald's baptism

Roy's baptism

Monday, March 12, 2018 

Family and Friends,

This week was super good! We were able to facilitate the baptism of Ronald Escobedo. It was awesome seeing how much family he had there that has not been blessed by the gospel yet. We were able to talk to them and they were able to witness Ronald make covenants with Heavenly Father. I will send pictures later.

We have a baptism this weekend for Roy! We are really anxious to get all of this done. It has been such an amazing time on my mission. Roy's wife is a member that has been a little less active. We hope that as she shares this experience with him that she will feel a desire to become more committed. I will make sure to take pictures and continue to keep you all updated with what's going on.

Just an update on Lizzette. So she is doing really good working through her concerns. I hope that she continues to work through the opposition that is fighting against her constantly. She told us in her last lesson that she is constantly getting nagged about her investigation. But she continues to come to church and she is still reading the Book of Mormon as much as she can. It has been such an example to me of persevering trials. Please pray that she can continue to listen to promptings of the spirit.

We had dinner with the Hansen's this week! We were able to have another lesson with Tiffani. She committed to be baptized last week and she committed this time to pray about a date. We are really excited to teach them because it would greatly benefit their family. Tiffani's biggest motivation for joining the church is the hope that comes from it. She shared that with us as we were teaching her. She said she would much rather be with her family forever than anything else. I have learned that the family is so essential and important in God's eyes. 

Please pray that we can continue to find new investigators. We have been working very hard trying to contact all the referrals we have been getting. The Brookside ward is the best area in this mission! I am convinced;).

I have been reflecting this week on an experience I had early in my life. I have been able to share this with an investigator who was struggling recently. I remember when I was about 12 years old I was complaining very much about going to church. It was one of those days that I just was not feeling it. We were driving to church as I kept on pouting and Dad stopped the car and asked me a question I will never forget. He said, "Kolton, do you believe that the church is true?... Do you believe that what we are doing is true?" This question scared me and very well caught me off guard. I didn't know what to say. This made me ponder that day and search in my heart what was true. I have never really talked about that experience before, but after that I just knew I could never stop on my journey back to my Heavenly Father. I remember that question my Dad asked me when I feel like something might be too hard or when I feel doubt. We always need to reevaluate our conversion. I know this church is true and as we evaluate our personal commitment it should not be hard to keep the commandments. I am so thankful for a Dad that allowed me to learn and grow independently. But that was very much interested in my life and what I was doing. I am also thankful for a Mom who loves her children unconditionally. I have some very good role models.

I love this work. 

Love,

Elder Willden 

Monday, March 5, 2018

Family and Friends, 
> 
> This week has flown by. It was a very short, exhausting week. We have been busy with the new smartphones converting all of our paper records into the phone. On top of that Elder Kessler and I are very busy with the work here in the Brookside ward!
> 
> To start off I am happy to say that we will be having a baptism this Saturday! Ronald Escobedo our 11 year old investigator is ready. We are very excited because we have a lot of investigators who are progressing that will be able to attend it. They will not only be able to see a baptism, but they will be able to feel the spirit as well. It has definitely been an exciting week preparing for all of this. 
> 
> Our investigator, Roy is also preparing for his baptism on March 17th. He has been attending church and doing everything he needs to do to make that goal. We taught him the word of wisdom and he said he was going to throw all of his tea and coffee away. We have been dealing with a lot of addictions to coffee so this was a relief when Roy was able to do it so quickly. He has kept his commitment to live that commandment. And God will bless him for doing so. Also, funny story we have to go out to another building to get to priesthood opening exercises on Sunday. So we saw Roy out in the parking lot and we were wondering what he was doing... We went and asked him and he said he was reading. He said he had to catch up because he fell behind. Well when we asked him where he was at in the Book of Mormon he said, "I'm in Omni, I have been trying to read a chapter before I see you guys every time." A chapter to Roy is a whole book hahaha. We have only been teaching him for 3 weeks and he is in Omni. It's wild! We hope that all goes well these next couple of weeks. Please pray that every thing will go okay!(:
> 
> We picked up a new Investigator this week! Her name is Tiffani. We go over to their house every Friday to eat dinner. Her husband is a member! So we were able to teach her the Restoration this past Friday and she understood everything. It seems as if she already believes everything... We are just there to let the Spirit teach her and help her become converted. At the end of the lesson we felt prompted to invite her to be baptized. She said that that was something she has wanted to do her whole life, but other churches wouldn't let her. God has been preparing her and this family. We are excited to see what happens.
> 
> I have some very good news! Elder Stewart is in Stockton lol. Unfortunately he is not in my district, but we still get to hang out on Mondays and play ball! Also I got to see Elder Spikes this week. I found out that he is coming to Utah after the mission to attend UVU. He is so funny haha Utah might burn down. 
> 
> I have an update on Lizzette. So she is doing very well. She came to church on a broken foot this week. She is reading the Book of Mormon like crazy so it is only a matter of time until she is converted. I hope haha. She is an amazing lady. She reminds me a little bit of Andi. We were teaching her this week and she offered us iced tea. (she committed last week to live the word of wisdom and she had told us in that lesson that she was doing a good job on it) So at the end I had to be a debbie downer and let her know that iced tea wasn't good either. She was so bummed hahaha. But she said she was going to give the rest to her boyfriend. We will see how that goes... Please pray for her to receive the answer she needs.
> 
>  The smartphone rollout is happening this week. So this should be a big week for me and my companion. We are giving them out zone by zone. We have to set them up and help the missionaries set up their accounts. It's going to be so hectic. We have 6 total technology specialists and 6 zones to hand them out to. Its going to be amazing when we get all of this done. 
> 
> Brother GOAT (Brother Black) has been coming out with us almost 2 times a week. He is just the greatest missionary ever. I wish everyone could be like Brother Black. He is 74 and still loves to get out and do work! What a man.
> 
> I guess I can give an update on myself. I am doing so good. The Brookside ward is home to me. Seeing everyone here change and grow has been a blessing from the Lord. I know that he sent me here for a reason. Before my mission I was looking at the mission map and I saw the Delta that came into Stockton. I thought it would be so cool to serve there (I did not know how sketchy it was). I remember looking up pictures of Stockton and saying to myself... "Thats where I want to be." And it's funny now because I am in that exact area and have been for over a year now. What a blessing. I didn't even know that there were so many people here that I promised before this life that I would come. That has been confirmed through the Spirit to me. Some people I meet here I already know and love. It's crazy. God knows us. 
> 
> I love this work. 
> 
> Love,
> Elder Willden

Monday, February 26, 2018

Family and Friends,

We received transfer calls last night! I am happy to inform you all that I will be staying here in the Brookside ward with Elder Kessler as my companion. I am so stoked to be here in Stockton and I hope I get to finish this journey out here. Everyone asks me if I am sick of it out here, but to be honest there is no where else I would rather be.

This week has been super good! We have a lot of people that we are working with. I will try to give an update on most of them, but I apologize because I forgot to take notes from my journal!

Vera has been pretty good! We took Andi over there again this week. The lesson went pretty good, but we are really struggling to get her to church. She is such a sweet lady and I hope that we can help her to feel comfortable. We will be teaching her again this Wednesday so please pray that we can be able to teach with the spirit!

We had our second lesson with Roy this last week! He is doing super good. We taught the Plan of Salvation! It went super good...we brought one of our members that helped us to testify. Roy really understood what we were teaching and he came to church on Sunday. We have a lesson this week on the word of wisdom and we hope it goes well. Please pray for us that it will go good! 

We taught Lizzette this week about Temples and Tithing. It went alright! The doctrine was completely new to her so she is processing it. We invited her to pray about it and let her know that if she does the Spirit will let her know that it is true. That's the way that things go in the gospel... If we do not understand why something is done the way it is we can go directly to the source which is God. We can pray just like Joseph Smith did. And God will answer our prayers.

We are preparing our Investigators named Ronald for his baptism Saturday after next. It will be a great opportunity to get our Investigators out to see one. He is 11 years old and has been ready to be baptized for awhile. He comes to church every Sunday and his Grandpa is very active in the Church. There are a lot of unbaptized persons in their home so we are going to see what we can do about that! It would be good if we could teach the whole family!

We are working very hard and have a lot of things that we are doing. This is pretty much the busiest that I have ever been on my mission. But it's also the hardest part knowing that it is winding down. I know that I am going to miss this so much and that is why I need to keep my head down and stay focused on the work. It is so crazy how fast 2 years goes by. 

I miss you and love you all. 

Love, 

Elder Willden 

Juan came to Stockton because he is moving to Mississippi!