I am so thankful that I’ve gotten to learn from both of them.

Another week in the books! Pretty nuts. This week went by so fast. It seemed like everyday we had only two or three things on our schedule but they took basically all day so it made the week go by really fast. We got to do some service this week which is always nice. Elder Whittaker and I and some other guys helped this older lady dig a ditch. She runs a small farm all by herself and she is about 75 years old. It was pretty cool to be able to help her out with something that will make her life easier. We also got to help out at a camp for 11 year old boys who are involved in Boy Scouts. We got to teach them about missions and what it is that we do and how they can help people get closer to Jesus Christ. It was also a really awesome experience to get to try to influence the lives of those 11 year old boys. One of the wards we cover had a neighborhood fish fry so that was pretty awesome to go to. They had some halibut, salmon, and rockfish from Alaska and it was so good. We of course had some really good lessons this week as well. The one that stood out to me the most this week was with this couple named Steve and Crystal. They actually cancelled our scheduled lesson but called us at about 9:30 on Sunday night and asked if we could come over and give them a blessing. 9:30 is past our curfew but we couldn’t tell them no and we couldn’t find anyone else and so we went and briefly visited with them and read from the scriptures and then gave them each a blessing of comfort. It was really cool to be able to do that and to tell them things that obviously touched them. I could really feel the Lord helping me to know what to say to bring peace into their lives. God is so good. This week is the last week that I’ll have President and Sister Palmer as my mission president and wife. I’m definitely really sad about that but I am so thankful that I’ve gotten to learn from both of them. I’m also excited to learn my last 4 weeks or so from my new mission president and wife, President and Sister McBeth. What’s cool is nothing really changes. We keep doing the same things and go out and work hard everyday. Here is to another good week!

I know that God loves all of His children no matter what color they are, where they are from, or what they are doing in life.

Transfer calls came this week and so I found out I will be finishing out my mission in the same area with the same companion, Elder Whittaker. I’m super excited to keep serving with him and to be able to continue working with the people we have been working with. This was a pretty awesome week. We had two baptisms this past weekend, Sydney and Jon. Sydney is a 10 year old girl who we have been working with for a while. Her baptism was so awesome. Most of her family isn’t super religious except for her mom so it was cool to see them come and support her. I could tell that they were touched by the spirit that was present there. Jon is in our young single adult ward and he is just awesome. He is in his mid-20’s and has really changed his life so much in the past year. A year ago he was addicted to drugs and alcohol and now he is free from both of those addictions and has found Christ in his life. It was such a blessing to be able to be apart of both of their baptisms and conversion processes. I know that God loves all of His children no matter what color they are, where they are from, or what they are doing in life. I wanted to share something briefly from what I studied this week. I was studying about the correlation between faith and repentance. And so I was reading about a guy named Enos in the scriptures and wanted to share a few of those verses. It says: 

“4 And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens.

5 And there came a voice unto me, saying: Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed.

6 And I, Enos, knew that God could not lie; wherefore, my guilt was swept away.

7 And I said: Lord, how is it done?

8 And he said unto me: Because of thy faith in Christ, whom thou hast never before heard nor seen. And many years pass away before he shall manifest himself in the flesh; wherefore, go to, thy faith hath made thee whole.”

I thought that was really cool. Enos prayed and prayed and repented and wanted to be forgiven of his sins. Although that was necessary and important that’s not why he was forgiven. It was because of the faith that he has in Christ. The action of repentance is a way of showing our faith but if we just pray and ask God to forgive us without any meaning behind it or without believing He will forgive us, He can’t forgive us. It is so crucial that we develop our faith in Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for us. I know that’s true. I hope y’all have an awesome week!

Something that has really been on my mind a lot lately is how well God knows us and our needs.

Somehow it is the the last week of another transfer. I have interviews with my mission president tomorrow so maybe he will give me some hints about where I might be next transfer but if not I’ll get the call on Saturday! I’m excited to see what this next transfer has in store for me. This week was a good week. We got to go to the Jordan River Temple Open House one last time before they dedicate it which was pretty special. We went with Tucker and his family. Tucker also came to church on Sunday for the first time and he was really excited about being there. We went to the church beef ranch and fixed fences for several hours and that was cool. So it was a good week. Something that has really been on my mind a lot lately is how well God knows us and our needs. I know that God is aware of us. Sometimes we need someone to reach out to us when we are going through a hard time and sometimes we are the ones who need to reach out to help someone else. We don’t know what people are going through. We don’t know where their mind is at. But God does and He loves all of us and so he will help us know to reach out and what to say to someone if they are struggling. Sometimes bad things happen. That’s life. We should never let the bad things that go on in our life define us. Every challenge we face or obstacle that comes our way can be used to propel us to new heights. I know for me it is natural to act tough and like I’m doing well even if sometimes things aren’t good at all. We can’t be afraid to be weak. Recognizing our weaknesses will only help us defeat them. Mental health is important and should be treated just as seriously, if not more, as our physical health. And speaking from personal experience as someone who has battled depression at times and has definitely battled a lack of self-esteem, I know the best way to overcome that is to ask God for help, as well as some close friends and family. God made you to be you and you are good enough. If you’re good enough for God you should be good enough for yourself.

If you feel prompted to reach out to someone or stop and talk to a stranger, do it! It can make the biggest difference in someone’s day and often times their life.

This week went by really fast even though it was a bit of a longer week because our Pday got moved to today instead of yesterday. It was a good week though! The work is really picking up. We had some pretty cool miracles. Last Sunday, our landlord asked us if we could teach her Sunday school class while they were out of town. We were teaching about the importance of having a testimony and how to gain a testimony. The lesson went pretty well but the miracle that came from that lesson was so cool. There was a girl there who had just recently started coming to church but felt really nervous being there because she felt like her testimony wasn’t strong enough. So the lesson was perfect for her. She approached us afterwards and asked if we could start meeting with her and so we had our first lesson with her on Thursday and she told us she wants to get baptized so it was just overall a really cool experience. God is so good. Another cool miracle also happened on Thursday. We were trying to come up with something to do for the last 30 minutes of our night and we felt like we should go to the institute building, which is just a building where they have religious classes and activities for college aged kids. So we went and were just walking around and I felt a really strong prompting to stop and talk to this kid. There were a bunch of high schoolers there playing ping pong and pool but he was just standing outside the room by himself and so I went up and introduced myself and started talking to him. After about 10 minutes of talking to him it was very obvious he was struggling and just needed to talk to someone and God blessed me with the opportunity to be the one to talk to him. If you feel prompted to reach out to someone or stop and talk to a stranger, do it! It can make the biggest difference in someone’s day and often times their life. God uses us to help strengthen and uplift all His children. Pretty cool if you think about it. I know God loves us and is going to help us overcome our trials if we let him and we can be a source of hope and happiness if we follow those promptings we receive. It’s pretty weird to think I only have 8 weeks left. This has been my life for the past two years but I’m excited to come home and I’m excited to finish strong! Until next week!

We had a wonderful dinner and a discussion about the ways that our prayers can affect the lives of others.

I received this email this week:

Hi There - we have always loved having the missionaries over for dinner, but until our own daughter went on her mission, we never realized how important hearing any little details about their missionary life is. So we asked them for your emails, and took a picture for you!

We had a wonderful dinner and a discussion about the ways that our prayers can affect the lives of others.

Thank you for raising such wonderful young men, and especially for the sacrifice of sending them to serve the Lord for two years.

Have a great day!

The Willsons 

God has helped me so much to help me become a better follower of Christ and there really isn’t a better feeling than that.

This week was crazy busy. On Tuesday on the elders in our mission got to go to the Jordan River Temple and help set up chairs for the dedication that was on Sunday. It was a pretty awesome experience and surprisingly fun. It was really good to see some of my mission friends and spend some time with them and it is always awesome to spend some time in the temple and feel the spirit there. We had a couple of really awesome lessons this week as well. We are teaching a girl in the YSA Ward named Jen and she will be getting baptized this weekend which will be pretty special. In our lesson this week we talked a lot about humility and changing our heart. There is a scripture that we read that I love so much that I want to share. It says, “And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?” That scripture has helped me so much throughout my mission. I am constantly trying to pray and ask for God to help me change my heart so I can better follow Him in my life. God has helped me so much to help me become a better follower of Christ and there really isn’t a better feeling than that. I know that through the atoning love and power of Christ we can really do all things. We can change. We can come back from anything. I know that’s true without a doubt.

It reminds me of Indiana a lot so it feels a little bit like home.

I hope everyone had a happy Mother’s Day! It was really nice to be able to talk to my family and it’s crazy to think that was my last Skype of my mission. I am so happy to be back in Tooele. It is so much fun serving out here. It reminds me of Indiana a lot so it feels a little bit like home. I love serving with Elder Whittaker. It is super nice to have a companion who has a strong desire to work hard and so we got a ton of stuff done this week! We are teaching some really cool people right now and I’m excited to keep serving and working here. Our area is also huge! Our area covers from north to south about 40 miles so we do a decent amount of driving. Most of the area in the middle is just sagebrush and desert. There is a tiny town called Faust literally in the middle of nowhere that has a total of three houses in it and funny enough we are teaching one of the families so we get to drive there every week. About 5 miles south of Faust is a little town called Vernon that we also cover and we got to go down there for dinner twice this week. The church owns a ranch down there and so at the end of the month we are hoping to get to go down and help work on the ranch which will be so much fun. We also cover a Young Single Adult Ward so this is my third area of my mission covering YSA. I love getting to teach people my age and just see them make such big life choices to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ in their life. We have three people we are teaching right now that should be getting baptized soon so I’m super excited to continue working with them. Tomorrow all of the elders in our mission get to go work at the Jordan River Temple so that should be a cool experience. Besides that I don’t have too much else to share for this week. Again I’m really excited to keep serving and working hard with Elder Whittaker here and to see what comes from it!