Conference with Elder Zwick

We had a great week! I think I forgot to tell you that yesterday we had a special mission conference with Elder Zwick and Mike Hemingway, director of proselyting worldwide... It was intense. All about iPads and using them properly. We have been working with our family of six pretty closely this last week. They came to our stake conference but all they talked about was ward councils. I felt confident though at the time that if the spirit

was there they would be able to feel it and they could get a completely different message. I hope that worked. We have organized for the family to come to the temple for a tour tomorrow and they are really excited. They're recent convert nephew will be helping them get there and we are stoked! The dad called us the other night and said he was reading in the Book of Mormon and as he finished a chapter he got the impression to call one of his nieces and invite her to meet with the missionaries. 

She responded that she would be open to learning so he called us at 9:50 to set something up. The niece's boyfriend then called our investigator and asked what the church's name was and where the church could be found and if they could go on Wednesday nights. As you can imagine, we were pretty excited about that too and we made it clear that he was acting under the inspiration of the spirit. They'll be baptized a week from Saturday! Other than that there's not much worth mentioning. We knocked on an old man's door the other day and as we were talking he fell backward for no apparent reason. We helped him up and went on our way. We are going to have 10 companionships together for a giant p-day activity today so there is going to be some intense volleyball! We received instruction that we can read emails from home any day of the week so feel free to send on.

Love you guys!

Elder Willard

Teaching Families

Well, we just came back from a very vigorous workout at a boxing gym owned by a member. I learned a lot and it was so much fun! The same Elder Richards that I was with in Palm Bay is in the area so we spent some time with him and his companion at the gym. The instructor says Elder Richards is really good and he learns quickly. It’s kind of funny, he would never hurt anyone or anything, not even a fly but he would be good at it.

We had the awesome family of six come to church again and they even brought two other kids with them that they were babysitting. They are so awesome! We read Alma 20 to 24 at a little scripture study thing while the kids were at mutual and he had the best insight. Lamoni's father had everything but he still said I will give away all my sins to know God. Just so prepared! We can't wait to baptize his family. Everybody knows them and they are really friendly.

We have a little pull up bar thing in the apartment and I use whenever I go through the door way and now I can do 5 in a row. We found an old record player in our apartment. For the longest time I just thought it was a table and we have all this Christmas music from MoTab that we can play on it. It's pretty awesome. Everything is going well and we are having success, take good care.

Elder Willard

Loving Belleview

February 9, 2015

Well, we had a pretty decent week, involving a lot of driving off road and through 4-wheeler trails in a Chevy Cruze. We have this awesome member named Rosa who is always helping the missionaries out with food and soap and stuff. I feel jealous for whoever got to teach and baptize her family because she doesn't know everything but she knows what she knows and she is determined to live it. She is converted. Anyway she has been struggling with transportation until recently when she fixed her truck and now she wants to come out with the missionaries twice a week. She has already come to 3 lessons and she does so wonderfully. She has a lot of life experience so she can relate to almost anyone we're teaching. She is a real champ and is bringing people beside her family to church with her.

Our family of six is still on a roll! We met with them yesterday and read from the Book of Mormon. We discussed the "for the strength of youth" pamphlet and bobby said the funniest thing. We talked a little about dating and marriage and he said he wants his oldest daughter whose only 14 to marry a Mormon boy! When we closed with a prayer the girl whose 10 said "thank you for letting us have the Mormons over," Bobby corrected her after and said "they are the missionaries, we are the Mormons." AHHHH!!!!

Anyway, Belleview is a wonderful place and I am so glad to be here.

I love you guys all so much, stay safe and stop letting Marnie grow up!

Elder Willard

After Howard's Wedding

February 2, 2015

Hey everybody, thanks so much for all the new email. I really love the pictures and everything. Good luck to the happy young couple! We had a great week! We had 9 @ sacrament and a lot of really awesome returning members. We had so much to do with the families here and we are so excited for this week. Sorry I don't have a ton of time to email unfortunately. Thanks for everything and I love you all!

Just kidding I have some more time. We had an amazing week! I have a new companion named Elder Jurges who has been out for 6 months. The families we are teaching are doing phenomenal and we are so excited for them to get baptized! The mom told us they were on a date night on Friday and she had to keep kicking her husband under the table to get him to stop reading the Book of Mormon. He knows it's true and he's told us a couple times now he wants to be a member. I am super bummed about the Seahawks, but that's okay our investigator family are all patriot fans so I'm excited for them. That's so great that the wedding worked out and I'm excited to meet my new sister in law! Hopefully she'll be present when we skype in May!
We're having a good time here in Belleview!
Elder Willard

To the Temple!

Brother Herzog: the regional representative for public affairs in the Southeast United States for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

We went to the temple last week and it was amazing! We have to go super early in the morning but it is totally worth it!

The Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing is a crazy place full of million dollar cars that we got to go see for free because a member works there. Sick!

I'm sorry to say that on Sunday night January 25th 2015 at about 8:27pm I was pulled over going 60mph in a 45. The cop wrote me a ticket for violating a traffic sign and it's going to cost me $166. My bad.

On the other hand we had the absolute best Sunday ever. The miracle family of 6 came to church and the kids got really involved and they had a great time. Our familia Latina came to church. A friend of ours going to the army came for the first time. A long time investigator on the edge of being dropped came as well! We were running frantic the whole time but everyone showed up on time and it was a really amazing sacrament meeting. This ward really is amazing.

My companion is being transferred on Tuesday. He's been here for 6 months. We said goodbye to everyone he loves. He is a hard-working missionary and he'll do well wherever he goes.

We are going to play volleyball today with the other missionaries and I am super excited about that. I'll see if I can get some pictures to send you guys.

I love you all so much, have a great week!

Elder Willard 

Busy Working

Beloved brothers and sisters of the Willard family, we have had one of the most blessed week of my mission. We have been the busiest I have ever been. There is nothing I could attribute this success to other than the lord's hand in our work. We received a media referral with a bible request. We delivered a bible I had purchased for $5 at "the rainbow bible book store" and also showed a Book of Mormon. We explained the difference as we taught the restoration to him and his two older daughters 14 and 12. We were invited back Saturday to meet the wife and mother. We brought our young men president and his daughter who are part of one of the greatest families I have ever seen. She is about the same age as one of the girls. The lesson was one of the most surreal, spiritual, and powerful lessons i have ever been a part of. He went through the reading assignment that we left him reading verses that he didn't understand and those that he had marked. He had read 3 other chapters in addition to 3rd Nephi 11 we left him.

They had met with his nephew who only a year and a half ago joined the church and who lives in our area. They have similar backgrounds and beliefs and he was able to answer many of the questions he had. After a near-perfect lesson the family of 6 committed to be baptized March 7th. The father of the home said the kneeling prayer at the end to ask if this is the way his family should go. He called us after the lesson to ask what chapter in the Book of Mormon he should read because we had neglected to leave him a chapter. This is the most prepared family I have ever heard of. This has been one of the most exciting and inspirational weeks for me. I am so grateful to be here in Belleview with Elder Langston.

The only problem now is that he the father of the family has a big Patriots tattoo on his arm...

We have been taken care of in every way you could think of. We did some farm style service. Picking up rotten fruit and branches. We have had a member meal every day this week. I still have $70 on my mission card of the original $140 for the month. We are getting so many referrals and exciting teaching opportunities here I can't even stand it.

I love you all so much, stay safe!

Elder Willard

The Best Area

Hey everybody we had another fabulous week, we have a family on date for baptism in February and we were busy as could be every day. That’s the way we like it. We are keeping on our investigators and they are keeping their commitments it is really encouraging. We have had some really cold nights and I think the cold really can compare with back home because for some reason it doesn't dry out as much. The humidity remains and that makes everything a little colder. We are going to the temple here in a few days so we are looking forward to that. There’s this old guy in our ward that's only here for the winter and he drives in a really unsafe manner but he has offered to take us to the temple at 7 in the morning. Personally I would rather drive but hopefully, prayerfully we'll survive.

We are being taken care of in every need here in Belleview. It really is the best area that I have served in so I’m excited about that.

Thanks for the e-mails. I love you guys,

Elder Willard