Yes we will be spending thanksgiving with a member family.  So, I still get thanksgiving dinner!  And, no Elder Rush hasn't gotten his visa.  It is going to be a while we think...  Anyways, thanks for the email love you!

Elder Willden

This week was a great week.  Elder Rush and I had many spiritual experiences.  One of them being, on Friday night we were out biking and all of our appointments had fell through. We weren't sure what to do , so we said a prayer and Elder Rush had the prompting to go try one guy that we have been trying for over 2 weeks and haven't been able to teach him. We then headed over and knocked on the door and he let us in! Right when we got in he proceeded to tell us that he was not looking to join our church and never will and that he was catholic and would stay that way.  He just wanted to know what we were sharing and the differences in religion. We then began to teach him the Restoration. I have never felt the spirit so strong in my life as we were able to recite the Joseph Smith experience to him. Afterwards I began to cry as I bore my testimony on this wonderful experience. Then, we asked him how he felt and he said that he felt really warm in his heart. After the lesson we invited him to be baptized and he said he would if he came to know that the Book of Mormon is true. I was amazed to see the mighty change that had happened as we taught with the spirit, and were guided by the spirit. 

  Grecia is doing great!  She has decided to stay here.  She is still looking for a job though.  And, Deward is also doing great!  Sorry I don't have much time today.  I hope y'all have a great thanksgiving, I love all y'all! 

Elder Willden

Note from the mom: 

Well, he seems to be working and loving it...short and sweet as usual.  Sure am grateful for our missionary!!!

This week was a great week.  Elder Rush and I had a lot of success as we trusted in the Lord.  Wednesday night we had appointments booked the whole night.  We were so excited to go out and have a full night and see our recent convert and a few investigators.  Then, one canceled, then the next canceled, and finally the last one canceled.  We had no idea what we were going to do.  I was really frustrated that they canceled and dissappointed.  We proceeded to go out and try some investigators.  We went and knocked on the first door of one that we haven't been able to see in a long time and he answered and let us in and we had a powerful lesson.  And, then that happened again, and again.  What I learned from this is that sometimes we have plans.  And, sometimes they completely fall through.  Sometimes when this happens we get dissappointed like me.  But, instead of doing that, we should look to God and trust that he has greater plans.  Eternal plans that will benefit us eternally.  So, when our plans fall through, we should continue to press foward and have faith that it is part of God's plan for us. 

We were able to get in with Rodrick this week.  He is doing well.  He comes to church every Sunday.  We will continue to work with him and I know that he will eventually put in the effort and receive an answer.  We also got to see Deward!  He is doing really well.  He works a lot and is not able to meet with us very often, but we had a very powerful lesson with him and he is coming along well.  We also saw Juan and Anne.  They are doing great!  Juan told us that the next church he sets foot in is the one he will stay in.  And, they commited to come to church this week, so y'alls prayers for them would be much appreciated. 

Anyways, I am doing great and loving the weather as well as Elder Rush.  I Love y'all and hope y'all have a great week!

Elder Willden

The following is an email letter that came to me on November 13, 2013 from a lady in Elder Chase Willden's ward in Humble, TX.  Elder Rush's mom received this as well:


Hello!

We had the privilege of having your sons in our home for dinner a few days ago and I just wanted to let you know that they are doing well and they are wonderful missionaries. We had a fun time talking about the perils of riding a bike in a trench coat, as they had been stuck out on their bikes during some big rainstorms over the past few days. 

Thank you for raising your sons to be servants of our Heavenly Father. They are great examples for my children in a time and place where that is difficult to find. We have seen a lot of wonderful things happen because of the missionaries in our area over the past several months, and your sons are part of that. They work very hard and I know it can't be easy for them, but they are happy. 

I've attached a photo of them with my 3 year old daughter, Addie. She enjoyed talking their ears off throughout the evening. 

Please let me know if we can do anything here to shorten the space distance between your families and these Elders!

Cassidy Allen

Wow!  We really miss this guy!!!!

How y'all doing?  I am doing really good.  Looks like I will be staying here in the Crik for 1 more transfer!  I love it here and will be sad to leave.  
Anyways,  We haven't been able to see Rodrick in a while because they have been really busy.  We hope that he is doing okay.  We did see Gracia and she came to church!  She said that she really liked it.  But, she just told us that she is looking for a new job that pays more or she is going to have to move back to New Jersey.  So, pray that she will be able to find a job to support herself.  Hector.... we were not able to get in with this week.  We keep missing him.  And, same story for Austin, but we set an appointment with him for thursday; so hopefully we can get in with him.  And, Deborah just hasn't been home because her family has been having to take care of her.  So, we haven't been able to get in with her. 

This week was a little slower, but I know that as we continue to work hard the Lord will bless us.  Elder Martinez won't be coming back after all.  He is going to be sent to a different area on tuesday.  Elder Rush hasn't heard anything about his visa in a while now; so we are not sure when he will be leaving yet. 

 I have been learning a lot as I have been reading about King Benjamin this week.  He was an amazing teacher.  I love his profound words in Chapter 3 verses 8-11 when he talks about the Savior and the Atonement.  I continue to learn and grow in the knowledge of the scriptures and am loving serving our Heavenly Father's children.  

Before I close, I wanted to talk a little about Juan and Anne.  We were able to teach them the Plan of Salvation and they loved the part about Adam and Eve and the scripture in 2 Nephi 2: 22-25.  It went really well and I am excited to continue working with them.  One thing that I love as a teacher is when you are teaching and something just clicks in the person's head, like a light goes off.  It is the best feeling ever and Juan and Anne had many of those in our lesson.  I love y'all and hope y'all are doing well!

Elder Willden

After an exchange with the Zone Leaders we took all the crazy stuff missionaries have left in our appartment and put it on!  haha.

How y'all doin?  I am doing really well.  Elder Rush and I had a really good week!  At the start of the week it was really slow and on Wednesday night I got down on my knees and prayed and asked Heavenly Father why it was going so slow and why we're only able to have 2 lessons in the past two days?  And, I received the answer that His ways are not our ways and He was teaching me that I must always seek his guidance and always lean on him.  I accepted that and was humbled and the rest of the week went great.  Heavenly Father strengthened us and blessed us immensely.  

We were able to teach Hector again this week.  He is doing great we committed him to baptism and to a date and he stated that he feels confused, but feels like he has finally found the light.  We are excited to continue working with him.  

We also met with Gracia this week.  She is doing great, but she hasn't been keeping her commitments.  We taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ as outlined in Preach My Gospel in Chapter 3, Lesson 3.  She really liked it and committed to read at least one verse a night.  She is also working at a job where she has to work Sundays; so she isn't able to attend church.  We committed her to go and ask her boss to let her off on Sundays so that she can attend church.  She said that she would do it next week.  So, please pray for her as she does this.  

We have also now started teaching a young man named Austin Mansfield.  We were out riding our bikes one day and felt prompted to stop and play some basketball with some guys outside and afterward we got down Austin's information.  We stopped by and he was really excited to see us. We had a powerful lesson.  We are excited to continue working with him.  

We also got in with Deborah Gibson, if y'all remember her?  We haven't taught her in quite a while.  And, she has finished stem cell and she stated that she didn't have any problems while she was going through it and she recovered extremely quickly. She said she thinks it was because of our prayers for her.  We are really excited to continue teaching her. She is awesome.  

And thank y'all for your prayers for her because a miracle was performed.  Anyways, I am doing great and continue to pray for y'all every night.  I love y'all!

Elder Willden

PS. Kolton and Luke, those were awesome costumes haha.