Well, I got another companion on Wednesday. His name is Elder Rush.  So we worked together all last week and Elder Martinez is heading out for surgery today.  Elder Rush is a visa waiter.  He will be going to Angola, Africa once he gets his visa.

How are ya'll doing?  I am doing terrific.  This week like I said I got Elder Rush.  So, I have been double training this week.  Finishing up one and starting the other.  I know that the Lord is helping me because I have never been this tired in my life! 

 Anyways, I was dissapointed that Rodrick decided not to get baptized yet, but am excited to keep working with him.  The plan was for Elder Martinez to baptize Natalie and for me to baptize Rodrick so once Rodrick is ready, I will be the one dunkin him!  haha.  They really loved the gift ya'll sent them!  Thank you so much for putting that together so quick.  It was awesome! 

  Jacob Davila is going to be getting baptized this week and I will be the one performing it.  He is awesome and I am glad that I got to work with him.  He has come so far so quick, it is awesome to witness the gospel change people! 
  Anyways, Elder Martinez will be going in for surgery tomorrow.  He is a great Elder and I pray that everything will go well. 

  I was reading in Moroni this morning in chapter 7 verse 48.  It tells us that those who have the gift of charity are true followers of Christ and when they see God they will look like him.  I find that really profound and seek to have charity everyday.  I am not very good at it, but am getting better every day.  I love ya'll and hope ya'll have a terrific week!  

Love my mission!  Love the work!

Elder Willden

John 8

Elders Rush, Willden and Martinez

Chase

Natalie's Baptism


Note from Elder Willden's mom:
I am missing my boy a little more than usual today!  These pictures bring joy and tears.  I feel there are no words to express the depth of this work in serving God's children throughout the world.  I love this work!  So happy to have a son engaged in it even though I miss him so much that it hurts some days.  Could not be happier for what he is doing and learning.  I feel love for those he loves and I do not know them.  Any work that evokes these kinds of feelings is God's work.  

How are ya'll doing?  I am doing good.  This week was a good one.  The picture I sent ya'll with the family is Natalie and Rodrick.  They are doing really well.  Natalie is totally ready for baptism and Rodrick is still saying he isn't sure about it; so we will find out how he feels on Wednesday.  

Elder Martinez is getting ready for surgery.  We have to go to down town Houston again this week for his Pre-Op.  He is doing well though, he is happy that he doesn't have to go home for the surgery.  

We saw Vicky this week.  She is not doing too great.  I think it is because she has been trying to quit smoking for so long and hasn't been able to kick it; so she is getting down on herself.  We are going to introduce a stop smoking program this week to her and hopefully this helps her kick it.  

Jacob is doing great.  He really likes all of the things that have to do with the church and enjoys learning about it. 

Elder Martinez are having a hard time finding people that are ready to be taught; so if ya'll could pray for us to find people that are ready, that would be great!  

I love ya'll and hope that all is going well at home.  I am loving serving the Lord!  My clock keeps ticking though, so I will put in the best effort that I have whilst I am here.  Love Ya'll!

Elder Willden

Galatians 5

Elder Willden with Rodrick and Natalie
they are scheduled for Baptism on Sept. 22, 2013

Biking in Humble, Texas

Hey ya'll.  This week has been a great one.  

Natalie and Rodrick are getting ready to be baptized on the 22nd.  They are so ready.  We had a lesson with them on Sunday and Natalie said the closing prayer and thanked Heavenly Father for sending us missionaries and for the "Mormons". It was awesome.  We also showed them the font in our church and practiced baptism with them.  I am really excited.  Anyways, Elder Martinez and I are doing well.  But, he has to get surgery next transfer and his mom will be coming down to take care of him after, because he has a problem with his eye.  He is doing okay though.  

Jacob is doing great!  We pushed his baptism back a week to saturday the 28th, so he can make sure that this is what he wants to do; and so he can come to church one more time.  He is awesome though. He has already finished reading 1 Nephi and is half way through 2 Nephi.  

Anyways, Bobby had to drop us this week.  His wife essentially told him to stop meeting with us or get a divorce.  He told us that he will keep working on her.  I am going to miss meeting with him.  We exchanged information and he asked for our home address; so he might write ya'll a letter or something.  Who knows?...  

We also met with Charles this week and he is doing great.  We committed him to live the Word of Wisdom and he was totally fine with it.  He wants to get baptized, but has to wait until he is off probation.  

Conrad was at church also this week.  He had to leave early because his knees were giving him grief; so we will see how he liked it later this week. 

   I am doing well and loving the work!  I love ya'll and hope all is going well at home!  And Happy Birthday LUKE.  Hope you had a good birthday.  Love ya'll!

Elder Willden

Hey Everyone.  This past week was a great one.  Elder Martinez and I are working hard.  We taught many and had many amazing experiences.  We taught Natalie and Rodrick.  They are so awesome.  We watched the restoration video and then they started asking questions and we talked about temples for a little bit.  We taught them about how families can be together forever and how they can be sealed in the temple.  They loved it.  They are progressing really well.  They will be baptized on the 22nd of September. 

   We have also been working with a guy named Conrad.  I am not sure if I have mentioned him or not in past reports, but he is an older man with a handle bar mustache, and has a lot of Japanese videos and loves weapons.  haha.  Anyways, this week we went over and read some of the Book of Mormon with him because he has been having a hard time comprehending.  It went really well.  The Book of Mormon is an amazing book. 

  We have been working with Jacob Davila again.  He has been sick for a while and we haven't been able to get in with him, but we finally got in and taught the Plan of Salvation and he came to church.  He will be getting baptized on the 22nd of september as well.  He is a great man. I am so excited for him. 

  Bobby is doing great.  He finally got work situated to where he will now be able to come to church this coming Sunday.  I think I mentioned that he wants to meet ya'll haha.  I was thinking maybe ya'll could just come pick me up at the end of my mission and we could drop by his house before we left.  He would really like that!  haha.

  Yesterday morning I was reading at the end of Mormon in the Book of Mormon.  Those last few chapters are amazing.  I love ya'll and hope all is going well at home.  Love my Mission, Love the Work.

Elder Willden

John 8

Hey this week was a great week. We had a great experience last week. We were out riding our bikes in the heat. It was so hot and sweat was just dripping down both of us. I finally decided that we needed to get some water, so that we could keep going. We road into the closest gas station and were locking up our bikes, when a Blue Bell truck pulls in right in front of us. A man stepped out and said, "Hey Elders, I want to give you some ice cream." I know that our Heavenly Father knows everything that is going on in our lives and he will help us.

  So we have been teaching this couple and we met with the husband whose name is Juan this Wednesday. At the end we gave him the Restoration Video and commited him and his wife to watch it. Then, on Friday afternoon we got a call from him and he told us that he and his wife watched the video and then he watched it a few more times and they decided that they wanted to come to church this Sunday.  And, they actually came and it went really well! 

  We have been working with Natalie and her husband Rodrick quite a bit.  They really like our church and love coming.  It is amazing how quickly they are progressing.  Charles is also doing well.  He reads and prays about the Book of Mormon and knows that it is true.  Once he gets off of probation he will be able to come to church, so we have to wait until September.  Bobby is also doing well.  He wants to meet all ya'll after my mission.  haha.  He is working on Sundays at the moment and promised us that once his schedule calms down; he will be at church which should be in the next week our two. 

 I love ya'll and hope all is going well.  Love my Mission and Love the Work.

Elder Willden

This week has been a special one.  I have gained a very strong testimony in the work that all of us missionaries are doing.  I will start out with the negative to get it over with though... We went to try David this week and his kids answered the door and told us that he didn't want to talk to us anymore.  It was sad, but God is a true believer in Agency.  He wouldn't have let 1/3 of our brothers and sisters in Heaven choose to follow Satan if he didn't. 

 Anyways, now to the positive.  On wednesday we had run out of things to do so we were trying to think of somewhere to go and we decided to go visit this Part-Member family, the wife(Claudia) being a member and the husband(Jacob) isn't.  When we got there they let us in and we were planning on sharing a short message with them.  Then, Jacob just started asking all these questions about our church and eventually allowed us to teach him the restoration.  The spirit was so strong and he fully committed to be baptized.  He was really sick this sunday and wasn't able to attend, but Claudia did.  

And, this Sunday Natalie was supposed to be gone on vacation with her husband who recently got home.  And, we got a text from her saying that they were coming right in the middle of sacrament.  We hadn't even met her husband yet, but he came too.  His name is Rodrick.  When they got to the church it was the beginning of sunday school so we took them to class.  Then, at the end of church Rodrick told us that he really liked it and wants to continue going and meet with us.  And FYI, Natalie's baptism date is the 1st of September. 

  So, Dad asked me how I am doing.  Well I am doing great.  I am always tired it feels like, but through the grace of God I am always able to keep running.  I have been doing a lot of my studies by topic lately and this morning I studied Christs name in the Old Testiment, I AM.  I came across my favorite chapter of all the scriptures John 8 when Jesus Christ declares that he is the Light of the World.  I can't read that scripture without bawling my eyes out!  haha.  So, yes I am doing really well. 

  Dad also asked the question what places am I seeing.  Well, I am in the Ghetto kinda.  Its not as bad as Pasadena, but you see things that you would never see in Utah.  People, if they are bored, will just go outside and walk.  I thought that was a little weird.  But, there are a lot of humble people and it is amazing when you hear their stories.  We got our miles cut in half from 1000 to 550.  So, we are riding bikes a lot more. 

  Dad's last question was what do I do on P-day.  I clean the appartment...  My companion doesn't like doing it; so I do most of the cleaning.  We get groceries.  And, then we either play B-ball or write ya'll.  So, ya that's what happens. 

  Love ya'll and hope ya'll have a great week.  Love my mission, love the work.

Elder Willden

  This week has been a fantastic one.  I was talking to Elder Martinez today and found out that he is really good friends with Lindy Hyatt.  Anyways, I will talk about the downers first and end with an uplifting and terrific message. 

 We haven't been able to get in with David he has been really busy and hasn't been able to talk with us.  So, hopefully through prayer Heavenly Father will open up some time to where we can see him.  Now that the downer is over, let's talk about the terrific stuff. 

 So, Natalie is doing Great!  She is coming to church and the ward loves her, she will answer questions and purpose questions in sunday school and relief society.  It is awesome.  Her husband gets home this week, so we will begin teaching him as soon as he gets here. 

    We are also now teaching an older hispanic couple that we tracted into, Bro. and Sis. Castillo.  When we first met them they were not interested at all, in fact they wanted us to just leave; but we insisted that we just leave them with our first message, The Restoration.  The lesson went so well and they invited us back and are wanting to learn more! 

    We gave a Blessing to Pat Hosea this week because she got in a car wreck and when sunday came around she was healthy enough to come to church!  So, she is now doing really well.  We also saw Billy this week.  And, he hadn't read anything from the Book of Mormon, so we read the introduction with him and the 1st chapter in 1 Nephi.  Hopefully when we see him this week, he has read and prayed. 

   I don't know if I have mentioned Charles yet, but he is one of our investigators.  He is a tall old black man.  He is super nice and loves Christ.  He is also on probation right now, but he is almost done.  We went over and he had read the introduction of the Book of Mormon and the first two chapters.  It was awesome.  He said he prayed and he knows it is true.  So, now we just need to teach him all the lessons and wait until he is off probation. 

   We also had a lesson on Friday with Nicole and James.  Elder Roundy and I had been working with them, and we haven't been in since.  But, Nicole's mother was there and she was a preacher.  And the whole time her mother was saying all this bad stuff about us and we didn't even say a word because Nicole was defending us.  After the lesson we invited her mom to pray with us and she declined and after the prayer we left.  I thought it was so awesome that someone who hardly knew us would defend us from their own family.  

Anyways, this week was a good week.  The work is moving forward.  I love ya'll.  Love My Mission and Love The Work.

Elder Willden