Elder Kolton William Willden

Another great week!

Did it feel like this past week was in fast forward to anyone else? Well we have been having a lot of problems with cockroaches in our apartment and so we had to go talk to our complex management. It was so fun... haha and it was also fun going home every evening, turning the lights on and having cockroaches scatter everywhere. We are in the process of removing them from our apartment.

I woke up Thursday morning and had a sty in my eye... haha. It was so irritating and I felt like it was the worst sty I had ever had. Well, when I woke up Friday morning my eye was swollen shut and had some weird fluids around it. Come to find out I had pink eye. I was lucky enough that it was caused from allergies though because it went away very quickly. I will send pictures of the development because I thought it was just a sty so I took a picture, but then the next day it was huge so I took another!

Soo... We had something very disappointing happen this week. Shawna sent us a text explaining that she had counseled with her kids and they decided to join a baptist church. This was devastating. As we were thinking about what to say to her it kind of just went to the back of our mind. Luckily we got to see President Palmer this week and ask him about the situation. He said something that changed my perspective on it. He said to send her a text and tell her that when she has questions to contact us and we will answer any questions or concerns she might have. He then went on to explain that since she attended an LDS sacrament meeting and felt the spirit that was there; she will have questions about why it feels different in the baptist church. So I will keep you guys updated on that.

Brett and Alejandra are progressing! Thank you so much for the prayers they have definitely been a blessing. They had not been to church in awhile, but we invited them again and they showed up. Brett is the investigator and he is actually very spiritually smart! He had a lot of good insights, even one that really changed my perspective on Enos. We were teaching the gospel principles class on Sunday on Charity. It brought Enos up at the end and how he was first praying for himself to be cleansed of sin and wrong doing and then he prayed for the Nephites, his brethren, and then he prayed for the Lamanites, his peoples enemy. This was a good example of charity because he prayed for people that the Nephites did not necessarily like. This is what Brett commented: He said that Enos prayed for his sins first because without cleansing himself first he could not have perfect charity to pray for the Nephites or the Lamanites. This was very cool because I read a scripture this week that backed this up very well. In Alma 60:23-24 (Go read it). It talks about cleansing our inner vessel before we can cleanse the outer vessel. I really thought that that scripture connected with the story of Enos and what Brett said. They committed to come to church next week. And Alejandra replaced her tea with plain water. This is making me so happy because they are a great family and deserve the best.

We have another investigator I failed to tell you guys about last week. (I think). Her name is Vierra Turner. She is the nicest lady I have ever met. She has a son named Steven that is a recent convert and that family has been through a lot, but they are very blessed. Vierra was going to meet with us and the Bishop to have dinner this past week, but it did not work out because Vierra was having health problems. Pray for her and her health as she continues to meet with us.

Simi Pomana is doing great and will be my very first baptism! We got to go talk to him yesterday and he is super excited to get baptized. His Dad who is also named Simi keeps me updated on BYU football. Ha. I heard about the loss this weekend and I am very disappointed, but not surprised. I really hope BYU turns it around. (I say that every year). Keep little Simi in your prayers as he continues to make good decisions in his life. As we were at their house the other night I was able to share the scripture Helaman 5:12. He is starting his foundation and it needs to be built upon The Savior.

My spiritual thought this week is actually from Helaman 5:12. I did not hear about this chapter a lot growing up. As you read what I talk about I invite every one to go read this chapter. It was such a cool thing to read about. Helaman was talking to Nephi and Lehi (his sons) about what they needed to do in their lives and they went out and did it. Not only did they leave and go spread the gospel, but like the Sons of Mosiah they brought many to the fold. It says in this chapter they brought 8000 souls to the fold. That is a lot of people. After this they had, like many prophets before them, been thrown into prison. This story is so cool because they had an experience like Alma, Amulek, Shadrac, Meshac, and Abidnigo, and Abinadi all at once. While they were there they were literally in a pillar of fire, as their faces shone like unto Abinadi's, and as that was happening the prison was quaking. And as this was happening many Lamanites witnessed what had happened and were converted to the gospel. To be exact the number of Lamanites were 300. And they went out straightway and preached the gospel. What a cool story. I hope it effects your life as much as it helped me.

I love each and everyone of my family members and hope they have a very good week.

I love the work so much. Love,

Elder Willden