t has been an incredible week! We worked very hard, we worked very hand in hand with ward members and leaders to provide great experiences at church yesterday and things flowed well! We have a great ward here and they help us out alot. They are so happy to have President Jensen leading this mission. He is very good at working with members. It is definately more effective. I will be training for sure this Wednesday! I get my new companion, and the best part about transfers is actually that my boy Elder Haderlie will be my district leader! I am more happy about that! We are going to be having a great baptism this weekend. My new companion will be coming in at perfect time. We did have some really wonderful lessons this week and we also used mormon.org to show a video to show our new investigator and it worked great! Tell everyone about mormon.org!! Those videos reach people. So a fun story to share, after we were visiting the fella who is getting baptized this week we were riding away on our bikes. I saw a kid running I decided to speed up and ride alongside him so he wouldn't have to stop running, and then I gave him a pass along card.  I wasn't looking and I hit a bump and flipped over my bike! hahaha no damage or injuries but Elder Williamson got a kick out of that. Another Elder in my district a big ole fella gave me a hug bear on Tuesday and when he pulled me in his name tag got jammed into the back of my head and well I started bleeding, haha I got a little beat up this week but it was nothing serious thank goodness. We have a really great program we are using while training now, it goes over the essentials of PMG and it is great!  We have extra studying in the morning and it is designed to allow missionaries to be able to train after 12 weeks. The future of this mission and work depends on these new missonaries. I will do all I can to make sure I set the example for this new misisonary. I have lots to improve on though. I love yal! Have a great week!!

 

Love,

Elder West :D

I have been slacking horribly on getting more info to yall! This week has been incredible! I was reading in the white handbook about how we are supposed to share spiritual experiences when we write back home, so this week we have had some of the best lessons I have ever taught. They have been great, and I have seen how the Lord will work with someone when we don't. It's miraculous! For example, we met this really sweet sister and she was interested in us coming back so we set a return appointment. When we came back turns out her mom had brought over a preacher and she was totally antied. She was really confused, but we were able to clear up alot of the lies and misunderstandings. We taught her about the Restoration and the importance of the Book of Mormon, then we left. We gave her about a week or so before we came back.  When we did she was interested and wanted us to come back. When we did, we read a little from the Book of Mormon and we were impressed to ask her if she believed it was true, and she said YES! The Lord has been working with her and now basically she and two of her children are planning on being baptized Sept. 17! We also have this other really good fellow who is an older gentleman, and he is doing fantastic, he keeps his commitments, already paid fast offerings, accepted and is living the Word of Wisdom. He excells in faith. He is such a nice guy as well. We also have been praying sincerely for a solid family to teach and it happened yesterday. A few weeks ago we followed up with a potential investigator we saw on our records and it was a part member family. They said they weren't interested,  but Elder Williamson commited the husband (less active) to pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true. Anyways about a week later our ward mission leader ran into the wife at the store and was so excited that the husband had actually prayed out loud for the first time since they have been together. She read the Book of Mormon in 3 days! She knows its true and that Joseph Smith is a prophet. She really wants to come to church but wants her husband to come with her. We went by yesterday with our mission leader and the husband said that he wants his wife and kids to take the lessons. His wife began to tear up with joy! :D We had a less active part member family call us Saturday and tell us they want their two children baptized as well!  Basically what this is for me, is a strengthened testimony of prayer. We have been praying and actually wanting these things to happen and the Lord has given it to us. Really we did nothing except be obedient and share our desire. Great things happening here! This is the Lords work and He is in control.  I might be training in the next transfer which is next week, or in the next 2 transfers. I am kind of excited for that, a little nervous. I love yall, hope its a great week for each of you!

 

Love,

Elder West ~

It's been another great week! We have been working hard, had a great stake conference, we only had one person we are teaching come, but he LOVED it! Best service he had been to ever he said. I was able to go on splits with the District Leader and learn a few things. It was real good to get out of Nashville for a day. Actually, it turned into two because I locked the keys in the car when we were heading back.  I had to stay another night and wait for Elder Cox (our senior missionary over the cars) to come and give us the spare. haha good times! All outa time yall! Just know this, it's been a great week! We should have some baptisms coming up soon. Maybe not this transfer after all, but definately the next! Love yall! Take care!

Have a great week,
Elder West~

This has been a wonderful week! We have three incredibly amazing people who are preparing to be baptized on Aug 27th. They came to church yesterday for the first time and they loved it, we had testimony meeting of course and one of them got up to share her testimony! WHOO HOO!! We are so excited and thrilled to help them prepare. We have been working hard, praying hard all week! One of our investigators who we though was way solid, got totally antied right after we met her, two methodist preachers or something like that came over and said all sorts of lies about the church, and she told us but it left a bad impression on her, we talked her through them all, but she still was affected by it. It is so sad that so many people would cruely criticize the church, although it is completely true. The Lord's work will still definately get done though. I love yall! Have the gosh darn best week ever yall! :D

This has been a wonderful week! We have three incredibly amazing people who are preparing to be baptized on Aug 27th. They came to church yesterday for the first time and they loved it, we had testimony meeting of course and one of them got up to share her testimony! WHOO HOO!! We are so excited and thrilled to help them prepare. We have been working hard, praying hard all week! One of our investigators who we though was way solid, got totally antied right after we met her, two methodist preachers or something like that came over and said all sorts of lies about the church, and she told us but it left a bad impression on her, we talked her through them all, but she still was affected by it. It is so sad that so many people would cruely criticize the church, although it is completely true. The Lord's work will still definately get done though. I love yall! Have the gosh darn best week ever yall! :D

Hey-O

Hey everyone! Yesterday was a sad day, Elder Foster went to Tallahassee and left back home this morning. He was a great example and tons of fun to work with. Elder Williamson will reap the rewards of his and our labors. :D We have some people with a baptism coming up that we are hoping will come to church. That is a hard step for people to make. Our bishop, Bishop Solomon, an incredible man, gave the lesson yesterday and did an incredible job. He talked about patriarchal blessings, and invited all of us to read ours again. I did that this morning and I got so much out of it. So many great blessings for each of us in store, So...read yours! ;D I met this super sweet hispanic lady the other day, and I wish so much that I knew how to speak spanish so I could share the gospel with her in a way she could understand. I was reading this morning about the people in 3 Nephi 6, this was right after the gadianton robbers were coming and attacking everyone, but the nephites won, they took the remaining robbers prisoner, and taught them the gospel and invited them to make covenants to be in peace, those who did were then shortly after given land by the nephites so they could live, so although these people were being killed by these robbers when they covenented they forgave them and they helped them. I found it to be so miraculous at how forgiving the nephites were to them, and later on in the same chapter is mentions those lamanites who were converted to the truth, that although most people left the church and it broke up, those converted lamanties remained true and steadfast and immovable. Willing and diligent to keep the commandments of the Lord. What an example! Are we always willing and diligent in keeping the commandments of God? Lets try and do better. Let us be willing to give up and sacrifice those things we might want to do, in order to do the Lord's will. Lets live a more consecrated life. Lets show the Lord we love him. I love Him and I pray all will love Him. Have a great week yall! :D love yall!