Elder Kolton William Willden

Family and Friends,

To start off my letter this week...Transfer calls came! I will be staying in the Brookside Ward. This will be 8 months in Stockton! How crazy is that? Well, I really have enjoyed it out here in Stockton. I little on the sketchy side, but that's okay. The Lord has blessed me so much to be able to stay and to get to know the people in Stockton. They are very nice people and love supporting the missionaries. I am very sad to see some of the missionaries I really love leave this area.

Something great that happened this week.... We found MANUEL! Elder Jeong and I were on exchanges and we found him @ his house. We rolled up and he was walking into his house. And when we got up he gave me a hug and told me that he had missed me. He explained that he had been in Modesto for a month. I asked him if he was married... jokingly. And.... He said that he was married. We have an appointment with him on Wednesday! I am so pumped for that. I will keep you updated on if he is getting baptized.

Another investigator that is really progressing in the Gospel of Jesus Christ is Andi. She is the one that lives up in the gated communities. At first everyone was telling her that she was crazy including her husband. But now things have changed to where this weekend we invited her and one of her friends to dinner. They came and Andi brought her husband. It was crazy. We were on the phone with her the other day and she was telling us that she has been switching off reading the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, or the Pearl of Great Price. She also said that when she has breaks at work she will listen to hymns or watch bible videos. She has only been investigating for 3 weeks. It is crazy. We have an appointment with her this Tuesday so please pray for her.

So last week I told Sister Palmer that Bailee might be getting engaged and she said to keep her updated. So last Tuesday I was still heated because Bailee did not tell me about it. And we saw President and Sister Palmer at a baptism here in Stockton. So I went up and talked to Sister Palmer and I was telling her how Bailee was now engaged and that she did not even tell me. She was so nice about it telling me it was going to be okay haha. Then President was like, "Get over it." and then he went on laughing about how I can't control those things. President is so funny. It made me laugh. I love President and Sister Palmer.

So something funny that happened this week. While Elder Jeong and I were on exchanges we obviously found Manuel as previously mentioned. Well to celebrate I drank my very first Monster energy drink. My family knows me and they know that this probably was not a good idea... It was not. I was up talking until 3:45AM. I was so tired the next day. Technically it was not disobedient because we were in bed with lights out. But my body would not let me sleep. It was NUTS.

My spiritual thought this week is on a talk by Henry B. Eyring. It is called Mountains to Climb. I really like the beginning where he talks about how he prayed for a trial. And he then continues to explain how he had the hardest trial of his life come from that experience. He later explained how trials later in life were a lot harder than that. I don't know how to explain the full talk so I invite you to go listen to it.

I love the work.

Love,

Elder Willden