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This letter came today from Chase's previous companion.  Of course, I cried:)


Hey Mom!!!!!

How are you doing?! I feel as if I haven't heard from you, it's been a while. Especially since Chase is no longer my companion but you know what?! He's still my brother and I love him! 

I want to thank you for the amazing birthday package I received last month. I shared it with the entire zone! You must forgive me for thanking you so late. I'm slowly getting out of the habit of procrastinating. hehehe I promise that I don't do the same with missionary work! =)

Chase and I had our last(Hopefully not, because there are still two other young adults that we've thought together that will eventually be baptized.) celebration as Carisil Lumapas shared he testimony at her baptismal service. The spirit was so strong and so many non-members were there which is great!

I don't know if Chase told you but I get super anxious, stressed, and nervous, when planning an event because I want everything to go perfectly according to plan. hahaha It turned out to be amazing!

I know for a fact that last night Chase and I were reminded to cherish forever the experiences we've had while serving the YSA branch! We were surrounded by so many people we loved.

Thank you so much mom for everything you've done and do for us! I love you! Elder Sully Guerrier =)   

Happy Birthday BAILEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   You are officially 18 olds!  And thank you mom for the money I would be starving without you :D

PICTURES AT CARISIL'S BAPTISM ON OCTOBER 18, 2014:

I am now in Cleveland, Texas.  It is just like Kountze.  We are basically in the middle of nowhere.  We drive a truck and there are a lot of humble country people.  My new companion is Elder Hunter.  He is from Provo, Utah and has been out for 1 week in the field now!  It has been crazy trying to get to know the area and go out and meet people.  It puts being outgoing to the next level!  From what he was telling me, Brandon Davies from the BYU Basketball team grew up for some of his life in his home.  Elder Hunter graduated this year and he played soccer throughout all of his high school career.  He is a good, hard working missionary and we will have a good two transfers together!  

When we first got here to Cleveland we were so lost!  The GPS was a life saver and even with it, it is not always correct.  But, we managed to make it through the week and meet a lot of people.  Don't ask me what their names were again because I couldn't tell you, but that will come over time.  On Wednesday we were able to meet our ward mission leader.  He lives way out in the middle of nowhere and has a lot of land.  His name is Brother Roberts.  He went to BYU and was very good at shotputting and supposedly holds a record there and here in Cleveland.  Everyone knows him and respects him; so he is a great tool for missionary work.  But, while we were there he gave us some of the wild hog jerky that he had from one of the pigs he decided to shoot cause it was in his yard either this week or last week.  It was okay, but at least I can say I have had wild hog now!  All the people in the ward on Sunday warned us that you never know what you are going to eat when you go to the Roberts; so I am excited to have a meal with them this week!

  As Elder Hunter and I were going to throw away all of the junk mail that we receive every week we stopped and talked to a girl on the way.  She asked us a question she said, "Why do people hate Mormons so much?"  We were then able to answer her question by teaching her the Joseph Smith Story.  It was really awesome and she was really interested in learning more, so we set up an appointment for the following day.  We went back by and were able to teach her the Restoration in its entirety and it was a great lesson we then committed her to read 3 Nephi 11, be baptized, and to come to church.  It took a while to get her to commit to it, but we were able to.  By the way her name it Korina.  Later that day we received a text from her saying that she was able to understand it and that it was really good!  Then, Sunday she came to church and really enjoyed it.  After church we read the introduction to the Book of Mormon with her and part of 1 Nephi 1.  She is progressing so fast!  Now I will tell you the back story on her.  She is from Oklahoma.  Her mom brought her down to Houston to live with her mom's boyfriend.  It didn't work out and her mom went back to Oklahoma while Korina just stayed here with her Aunt and Uncle that she doesn't really know.  She is only 16 and she just sits at home everyday and isn't really doing anything with her life at the moment.  But, the Gospel will help with that.  We were also able to commit her to be baptized on 15th of November, so we will see how it all works out.

  Other than that, we haven't really had many people to teach because the Elders just baptized the few people they were teaching; so we are working on building up a teaching pool which should be easy to do considering the fact that there are a lot of nice people here that are willing to spend a few minutes to learn about Jesus Christ.  We also met another guy this week who came to church, but wasn't interested in taking the lessons.  His name is Ronnie.  He is an older guy and this guy loves Jesus.  He invited us into his home and I have never seen more crosses on a wall than this guy had.  His house was kind of a mess though and he offered us some water so we took it.  We watched him take out the ice with his hands that were all grimy and set it on his semi-clean counter then proceeded to grab the cups and set held them at the side of the counter while he moved the ice over the semi-clean counter into the cup.  It was sick!!!!  And, he filled them up with water and handed them to us.  Both of us only took one sip haha.  I couldn't take it!!!!  But, we had a good conversation about Jesus then he tried to show us that we can't have anymore of God's word (about the Book of Mormon), but also tried to say that we could receive revelation.  It was really frustrating because he didn't even know what he was talking about so we couldn't have a good conversation about the scriptures.  Then, he told us that he wasn't interested in learning more, but would come to church and we just closed with a prayer and left.  Its interesting because after this was when we talked to Korina.  He actually showed up to church though and said that he enjoyed it.  He was an interesting guy.

Overall I am doing great.  I love this area and I love this ward!  The ward is amazing!  They are so loving and caring and they look to help the missionaries.  I love y'all and hope that Bailee has a fantastic Birthday week!  And that we all have a fun safe week!  Love y'all!

Elder Willden

Sorry for the late email.  We have been busy trying to say goodbye to everyone we need to.  Obviously from that you know that I am getting transferred.  This is going to be the hardest move for me yet.  I love this place and all of the people I have been able to meet.  They are simply amazing.  Just before we came to email we were at the Stewart's house (The Patriarch and his wife) and they gave us some cake and ice cream and then they gave me a Texas Belt Buckle as a departure gift.  They have had a profound affect on my life and I will always remember them and all they have taught me.

  This week has been a good week though.  Carisil wasn't able to be baptized this Sunday because she had to work and Warren was going to be out of town (the person baptizing her).  So, she will be baptized this week.  We were going through the baptismal questions with her this past week and she answered those questions the best that I have ever heard them answered.  She knows the doctrine and she lives what she knows.  Now here is the bad thing.  This transfer they are taking YSA out of our area and moving it to another set of missionaries.  Therefore neither Elder Sully and I will be the missionaries working with her the rest of the week.  But, we will both be at her baptism.  I was pretty mad about that when I first heard it, but I am dealing with it.  All will go well and she will be baptized and continue on in the church.  She was saying that she is planning on going to BYU Provo or Idaho in January so I am sure some how or another y'all will be able to meet her.  

  Ken Jones is still doing well.  He and his wife fed us dinner yesterday and it was really good!  We were also able to talk to his wife about the church.  It was awesome!  She has been researching the church and has loved what she has found.  We talked about the church welfare system and many other programs of the church.  Then we started talking about Joseph Smith because she had seen the Joseph Smith Movie.  And, it evolved to the Golden Plates and how we got the Book of Mormon and we were able to read many powerful passages out of the Book of Mormon with her that describe what it is all about.  Like 2 Nephi 25:26, Mosiah 3, and etc...  It was just a great conversation and hopefully now the Elders will start to work with her and she will get baptized in the near future.  Ken Jones continues to read his scriptures and progress though.  

  Jamie and Andy didn't make it to Stake Conference this week.  They said they didn't have enough gas and that they are trying to make it last because they don't have any money for a few days until he receives his pay check.  They did say that they are excited for Sunday next week to take the sacrament and etc...  But, they have been reading a lot lately, they are in Alma 2.  I hope all goes well with them and that they will continue to read their scriptures and go to church and pray to our Father in Heaven and I know that if they do, they will become some of the leaders in the church.  They have good hearts and bright minds and as they develop their talents and skills, I think that their children will follow their example and that their kids will be a light and beacon to those around them of the Restored Gospel. 

  We were able to teach Alex this week as well and she is doing fantastic!  She prayed about if she needs to be baptized or not and received the answer that she needs to.  We committed her to get baptized two weeks from this last Sunday, so hopefully the new Elders will be able to carry that out.  It is amazing how if you ask a specific question to God with real intent having faith that you will receive that....every time you will receive an answer.

  Overall everything is doing great here in Channel View and will continue as Elder Sully carries on the work here.  I really love this area and all of the people in it!  I love my mission and everything I have learned, and I love y'all!

Elder Willden

Elder Sully and Willden at Zone Conference

Some of the Zone missionaries at Conference

Elder Willden, Debra and Berlinda

Elder Willden and the Webb Family

Elder Willden, Warren and Carisil

General Conference was LEGIT!  I really enjoyed all of it!  I packed up all of my notes that I took during conference in an envelope and  will be sending them to y'all.  I really loved all of it.  One of the ones that stuck out to me was by Lynn Robbins.  I love how he explained that we need to stand for what we believe and never give into peer pressure.  And, I loved how blunt D. Todd Christofferson was when he explained that truth is truth!  Overall, I was spiritually filled and it was an awesome conference!

  We have been working with Carisil a lot for the past week.  Carisil will be getting baptized this Sunday!  We were having a lesson with her and she exclaimed that she didn't feel like she was ready to be baptized.  As we asked some more questions and read a few scriptures she told us that she didn't feel worthy of being baptized right now.  We then asked her the question, "Would God want you to feel that you are unworthy or tell you that you are unworthy?" She then replied as expected, "no"  we then added the following question, "Then who would put that into your mind or want you to feel that way?" then a moment of silence passed by with tears and she replied, "Satan"  we again sat in silence for a few seconds as tears continued to flow.  We then told her that as we make good steps in our lives Satan will do everything he can to pull us down, we need to blot his voice out and listen to the encouraging voice of the Spirit.  It was awesome!  We then re-invited her to be baptized on the 12th of October and she said yes.  We are super excited for this baptism!  Thank you for all of your prayers in her behalf and the prayers for my companion and I, so that we could have the Spirit in order to teach.  

  Erika still has yet to talk to her parents.  We think because her parents are very strict she is afraid to bring anything up to them.  We recommitted her to talk to them and it was a solid commitment so we will see if she kept it sometime this week.  But, she continues to read and pray and keep all of the commitments that we leave.  

  Ken Jones gave us a call today and told us that the Spirit told him that we were hungry and needed some food, so he made us some sandwiches.  We were able to go over to his house before we came to email and eat them with him.  He used to work at a sandwich shop and those sandwiches were like professionally made.  We sat down and talked for a bit and he showed us some of his Kung Fu stuff haha.  We were also able to talk about General Conference, because he had watched all of the sessions.  He really enjoyed it and it was fun to talk about all of the different things that we learned.  Ken is a character and I love the guy.  He calls us his sons :) haha.  

  We haven't been able to see Jamie and Andy too often this week.  They are doing well though from what we know.  They still struggle, but the Lord always strengthens them.  I can't wait until they are able to be sealed in the temple!  That will be a special moment.  And I will most definitely be coming out here to Texas for that occasion:).  

  It was a great week!  All is going well in Summerwood!  We are going to be going to MLC on Tuesday and will be doing Zone Meeting on Friday in the meantime we will also be planning a baptism.  Our schedule is packed!  But, we like it that way.  The mission is the best thing ever!  Also, President and Sister Drake are doing just great as far as I know.  They seem to have everything down now and are driving and influencing the mission for good.  I LOVE Y'ALL!

Elder Willden

We were able to go on two exchanges this week.  One was on Tuesday and I was able to be with Elder Larsen who has just got out on his mission.  It was really fun to work with him and see the amazing testimony of new missionaries.  He is also a Spanish missionary so I am sure he enjoyed getting away from Spanish for a day.  We were also able to do another exchange on Saturday and I was able to go with Elder Rust who was in my first Zone in Baytown.  It was really fun, and that is where we took the picture of the church with the painting on the side of it.  I was able to learn so much from these exchanges.  After the exchange on Saturday night I was pondering leadership and I realized something....  That Ammon went into the land of the Lamanites not to chastise them for their unbelief, but to serve and when the opportunity would come, to teach them.  I feel that, that is so important, that we as leaders need to first serve and love those we are over and when they come asking us questions or anything in those types of matters then we teach them and help them understand the greater light and truth.  I love the scriptures and how they relate to every situation in life.  

  Ken Jones is doing fantastic.  He was confirmed on Sunday and after church he was interviewed by the bishop and will be on the fast track to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood and will be receiving a calling quickly.  He and his wife will start feeding us hopefully every week so we are excited for that! :)  His wife has started talking to us more often and hopefully from feeding us she will become open to listen to our message.  Ken will be receiving the Aaronic Priesthood though the week after next because this week we have General Conference (which I am stoked for) and the week after we have Stake Conference.  Ken continues to progress leaps and bounds and will be a great asset for the church. 

  Andy and Jamie weren't able to make it to church this Sunday due to Jamie's Dad coming down to help them out with something.  Also this week they didn't have money for the light bill and supposedly there electricity was turned off.  Hopefully everything has worked out for them in that regard.  Andy has been reading a lot about his Priesthood and studying it.  Jamie said he has been changing a lot in the past week!  Over all they are doing well and the ward is taking care of them.  

  We haven't heard from Erika yet.  She wasn't able to talk to her parents on Sunday night because they got home late and were tired, but she told us after our lesson on Friday that she would be talking to them about it that night, so when we meet with her this week I will let y'all know how it went.  She continues to read and pray and keep all of her commitments with the exception of coming to church due to her situation.  I will keep y'all updated on her though.

  Carisil is doing GREAT!  She read 1 Nephi chapter 3 and learned a lot from it and we were able to teach her the Plan of Salvation.  She is really putting an effort in coming to know if what we are teaching her is true.  We will continue to work with her and I know that if she keeps this up she will be baptized on the 12th of October.  

  Yesterday as we were driving back towards our area coming from the church we decided to try by Dante's.  If y'all remember him Elder Hoyt and I taught him way back when.  But, we stopped by and he had a few of his siblings over and we had a little discussion with them and we taught them about the Atonement.  We went through the whole process of how Christ did it.  Afterwards they had lots of questions about the Sacrament and etc...  It was so powerful.  The spirit was so strong in the room that you could cut it with a knife.  It was amazing.  When that happens I feel that our mouths are being filled and the words coming out of our mouths are the spirits.  

  I am doing really well.  I continue to survive and Elder Sully and I have a really good, fun time together.  I love y'all and would invite every single person who reads my email today to read through the last and greatest thing Christ has done for us in Mathew chapters 26-27.  And after you read those two chapters to get down on your knees and thank our Father in Heaven for sending his only begotten son to save us from our sins.  I love y'all and hope y'all have a great week this week!

Elder Willden 

#missionarywork

Painting on church in Houston area

Elder Willden cooking hamburgers

p-day kite flying and soccer game

**Tell Tayson Congratulations for me.  And chastise Dalton and Cayman and Tayson for not emailing me!  haha.

In the middle of the picture of Ken Jones's baptism is Bishop Love (who baptized him)

Ken Jones's baptism

Ken is a Kung Foo Master

These are some crazy looking mushrooms growing outside of the church

At church I let Andy and Jamie's kids draw on my whiteboard and Jamie helped them draw this haha

Elder Sully and I had a fantastic week.  Ken Jones was able to be baptized and Andy Ramirez was able to receive the Priesthood and will be baptizing their son AJ in October.  With Jamie and Andy's problem last week, I was really bugged at why every single time Andy and Jamie take a good step, it seems like they just get knocked down.  While we were at church this Sunday we were able to talk about them with the ward.  The ward has really been able to step in and gain their trust.  They were able to provide them a washer and dryer, and they were also able to help in transportation.  Andy and Jamie have really been able to bond with the ward.  And I realized that these things happened to them, so that they could form relationships with the ward members.  It was a very humbling experience for me and helped me realize that my ways are not greater than God's ways and that as we continue to push forward that we will be shaped and molded into the men that God wants us to be.  Throughout this past week I have been reflecting on my mission.  The ups, the downs and the things I have learned.  I never knew that this is what it would be like, or who I would become.  But, I know that if I hadn't chosen to serve a mission, I would have had to learn these things the hard way and over a long period of time.  I love the Lord and will thank him everyday for him choosing me to be one of his servants. 

  Ken's baptism was fantastic.  While we were filling up the font Ken walked up to me and he said, "I feel like I am about to die."  We were able to talk about baptism a little more deeply and talk about the Apostle Paul's explanation of baptism.  That we we are baptized we die as to our old selves and bury it away and we rise up a new man with Christ.  It was an amazing conversation.  Afterwards we were able to go take the picture y'all saw and we started the program, we had two talks, one on baptism and one on confirmation.  Then, there was a special musical number done by the missionaries and while they were singing I went and changed into whites, because Ken is so big that he needed a spotter in case Bishop wouldn't be able to pull him up.  He was baptized and after the baptism when they shut the curtains or whatever they call them, Ken just stood there and told Bishop and I that it was so easy and he felt wonderful and saved.  Ken's wife was also there (she has never met with us because she hasn't wanted to), but she was touched by the spirit, because she was crying during some of the talks and the hymns.  Hopefully we will be able to teach her and bring her into the fold as well.  But overall the baptism was a definite success.  

  We have still been working with Erika.  She wants to come to church and get baptized so bad, but her parents are totally against it.  She told us this Sunday that her parents rejected her request to come to church again and that she was going to have a discussion with them later that night, so I will fill y'all in on the details with how everything went.  We definitely don't want to go against her parents will though, so we will see what happens.  We were able to teach her the 10 commandments though with all the signs.  It was a good lesson and she continues to progress.

  We have also still been working with Carisil.  Carisil is doing fantastic.  We invited her to pray about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and she had a dream!  She comes to church every Sunday and is keeping all of her commitments.  She was also able to come to Ken Jones's Baptism.  It was a good experience for her.  Elder Sully was with them for most of the time since I was spotting and this is what he told me that she said.  She was just so confused at why the Catholic church had her baptized while she was a baby and she said that she feels like that wasn't even her decision.  She is also excited for her baptismal date which will be for the 12th of October.  

  Elder Sully and I have been really blessed to be able to work with all of these people who continue to progress and want to learn more.  The Lord is truly hastening his work.  This morning in my studies I really wanted to learn a lot.  So, I prayed fervently and asked Heavenly Father to enlighten my mind.   I was able to read Moroni chapters 6 and 7.  Chapter 6 is a powerful chapter where Moroni explains the mode of Baptism and Joining the church and he talks about how the church should be run.  I love how in verse 9 that it says that the meetings should be run by the workings of the spirit.  I also loved Chapter 7 where Moroni writes down the words of Mormon.  Mormon was a powerful teacher.  I love how he explains that if there are no miracles performed then it is because you have no faith and if you have no faith then you're basically in trouble.  I also loved how he explained that If we will have faith then we will have hope, then he tells us what we should have hope in verse 41.  Then, he explained that if you have faith and hope you will be meek and if you are meek then you will have charity and I love how he says that those who are filled with this love are true followers of Jesus Christ.  Let us all be true followers of Christ having faith to perform miracles, filled with Hope of eternal life, having meekness and recognizing who provides all, and having Charity towards all of our Father in Heavens children.  I love y'all and hope y'all have a great week!

Elder Willden

Elder Sully and I had Zone Meeting this week and we dressed up for a part in it that I will describe to y'all in the email.

We had Zone Meeting this week and for Zone Meeting we decided to focus on the New Mission Standards that we came up with in MLC on tuesday and to set some Zone Standards and to bring unity to the Zone because there are a lot of new missionaries.  We had an activity where we had sticky notes with a missionaries name on each one.  And we had each missionary come up and grab a sticky note and they would have to act out that person.  It was so great and it created a feel of bonding within the zone.  Afterwards we had an awesome activity.  So what we did is we set up a room with chairs like it was an airplane and we had airplane noises.  And, we created a bunch of tickets, and each missionary grabbed a ticket.  Elder Sully and I dressed up and we made it like they had just gotten on a plane and the plane was taking off.  Then, the plane had its engines go out and we crashed.  And, in a sense every missionary died.  On their ticket it had an A or B.  If they had an A they went to spirit paradise, if they had a B they went to spirit prison.  Elder Sully and I were the teachers in spirit prison and we had a good discussion on our new zone standards, while we had some sisters who are leaders talk to the missionaries in spirit paradise about the same things.  After that we took all of the missionaries to Judgement.  We had each missionary bring their area books and we made them think about how they were doing and if they were doing all that they could.  Then, we had them look on their ticket and it had either a 1, 2, or 3.  If they had a 1 they went to the Celestial Kingdom, if they had a 2 they went to the Terrestrial Kingdom, and if they had a 3 they went to the Telestial Kingdom.  I was able to speak to the missionaries who went to the Telestial Kingdom and we had a good discussion on a few of the mission standards while the other groups went over the other standards for the mission.  After that we all came together and talked about what the other groups talked about and had a solid discussion.  It was a really good meeting and the missionaries seemed to enjoy it and learned lots!

  Andy was able to get Confirmed this Sunday.  They were doing great!  Jamie got sick though and they had to leave church early when Andy was supposed to receive the Priesthood yesterday, so they will have to do it next week.  Earlier today we received a text from them that their car got repossessed.  So, we called them and Andy wasn't able to go to work due to not having a ride and they are just sitting at home right now.  I am so worried about them.  Satan has attacked them hard.  They have no money to get their car back and they don't know what to do.  We called their home teacher and let him know, so hopefully the ward will do something to help them or the Lord will provide a miracle.  It seems like every time they get up on their feet, they keep getting knocked down.  I know that this will strengthen them, they just need to keep pushing forward.  

  Ken Jones came to church this Sunday and is super pumped to get Baptized this coming Sunday.  He has progressed so much.  We had to do the stop smoking program with him last night so that he can be baptized this coming Sunday and he was all for it, and simply said that he just has to do it.  We will be finishing all of the lessons with him Wednesday and he will have his interview that night.  I have never had an Investigator progress so quickly.  He was totally prepared by the hand of God.  He has been telling us lately how much he wants to help out in the church and how he wants a calling to work for the Bishop kind of like his Secretary or something haha.  We are really excited for him and his decision to follow the example of our Savior Jesus Christ.  

  So we have been working with Erika on getting baptized on the 21st and as she was going to come to church this Sunday she broke it to her parents that she wants to get baptized into our church.  Her parents freaked out and she wasn't able to come to church.  We are going to have to set up an appointment with her and see what we are going to be able to do with her whole parent situation.  We think her parents were letting her meet with us and everything just because she wanted to explore and get to know other faiths, but they didn't think she would actually want to get baptized, so we are going to have to work out all of those details this week.  

  We also are now teaching another YSA named Carisil.  One of our members invited us to come over to his home to teach her.  She is catholic, but she has some friends that are part of our church so she started going to YSA activities then she decided to start going to church and now she is meeting with us:).  We were able to teach her part of the Restoration.  It was great because every time she had a question she would just ask.  We had a great lesson with her and will be teaching her again tonight and will be inviting her to be baptized so this should be exciting!  

  Right now we are getting a larger teaching pool and they are all people that have a great potential to be baptized.  The Lord has blessed us so much lately.  Thank you for all of your prayers, they are truly bringing people who are prepared into our paths.  Missionary work is the best!  I love y'all and hope all is going well back at home.  

Elder Willden