Skydiving and loving it!

                            A few days before entering the MTC future Elder Willden went skydiving!

25 May 2012

25 May 2012

Letter to family and friends:

The MTC is great; the days are going by much faster now than before.  The language is coming along yet I still find it difficult the fully teach what I desire to teach to my ''investigators"/teachers.  One investigator we are done meeting with and now we have another who we just committed to baptism and we'll get another one next week to teach.

My companion Elder Valdez and I get along well he's going to Panama, we are both into cars so that's good, and he's from Texas so that's always a plus.  The other companions in my district are great as well, we all get along very well with each other.  Elder Anderson is leaving on Tuesday though; he'll be going to the Spain MTC.  Most likely I'll be in a trio since he's leaving which I’m excited to have a trio.

The food in the MTC is just okay, I eat as much as I want because I figure that I'll lose it all anyway when I get to Nicaragua.  All of the Elders and Sisters in my Zone are great!  The branch presidency is great also.  Every time we see President Tyler he will teach us something great.  Just the other day he taught us about commandments and that “commandments” in Hebrew means a pattern, and to keep commandments, “keep” means to build a wall around.  So we need to build walls around the commandments and keep them sacred and they are something we want to protect.  It would be nice to study Hebrew and 1800 English so I can better understand the meaning of the scriptures, the scriptures come alive when you know the meanings of certain words.

I can't wait to get out there in the field!

Thank you all for your prayers and support!

-Elder Willden

Friday, 18 May 2012

Hello Family and Friends!

 

This last week has been very busy!  We have given 4 or 5 lessons to our investigator and on the 4th I think we committed him to baptism.  Now we found out he will also be our teacher and our teacher now will also be an investigator, so they'll switch off doing different roles throughout the duration of our teaching experience.

 

We are learning a lot of Spanish!  It's overwhelming but it makes me very excited!  I am getting very excited to get out in the field and Speak Spanish in Nicaragua, yet I need to be here in the MTC and learn more.  There is much to learn.

 

 Elder L. Tom Perry came to the Tuesday devotional and spoke about the Anniversary of the Priesthood.  May 15, 183 years ago the priesthood was restored.  It was great to have him teach us about the priesthood and what a great blessing it has been in our lives.  The spirit you feel is so great when an apostle of the Lord teaches you directly! 

 

My branch president is President Tyler.  He used to work with Grandpa Willden.  He is a great man, every time he comes to do a visit the district we are in awe because of the knowledge he has to share!  He knows a lot about the gospel.  The zone and district are great!  All the guys are great and we are all beginning to be great friends already.

 

I must go now.  Good luck everyone!  Until next week!

First Letter:

9 May 2012

Dear Family (friends to!)

As soon as I got there they had me go through different lines and get several different things for the MTC.  Then we (the "host and I") dropped off my luggage and went straight to class and met my companion.

My companion is Elder Valdez from McAllen, Texas.  He's short, Bryan ha ha.  In our room is Elder Anderson from Springfield, he has the same suit as I do.  Then there is Elder Turner.  We graduated together it's kind of cool to have him in the same room. 

Elder Valdez is going to Panama City, Panama Mission.  Elder Anderson is going to Madrid, Spain Mission and goes to the MTC there in 3 weeks.  Elder Turner is going to Canada Spanish speaking.  We are all going all over the world!

Later in the day we went to workshop where we group taught investigators with about 30-40 elders and sisters.  It is very interesting to see what a difference it makes in a discussion with the spirit present.  We would share all this information out at them and it wasn't helping.  As soon as we found their problems we could address them and simply teach them gospel truths to help them come unto Christ. 

Thank you for all your love and support, it means a lot to me.  It would be so hard without a great and wonderful family cheering me, supporting me, and praying for me.

With love,

Elder Willden

Saturday, 12 May 2012

 

Hi!

 

My P days will normally be on Fridays at the MTC I don't have a whole lot of time to email today but I'll send a longer one next week.  These first days have been tough but good.  We have been completely immersed in Spanish.  It is hard but it's exciting because i know i will learn a lot in these 9 week here. 

 

The branch we have is great, a lot of cool guys and we also have 4 sisters in our branch.  Also we taught our first investigator yesterday and today, we are teaching him again.  I don't think he is a real investigator but it's good practice.  It's difficult to teach a lesson with broken Spanish. 

 

I hope everything is going well back home.  I'll write more next week I promise!

 

Elder Willden

 

P.S. If you want to send me any treats or anything that would be great!  I think i have everything I need I'll email if I find I'm missing anything.  Oh and the detergent idea Sarah had was a great idea!

And Elder Willden is off and into the MTC....

I'm going to the MTC!

Hello all!

This is Jonathan.  I am making this blog so it is easy to get my information to either email or write me.  This blog will contain all my weekly emails.  My mother will be updating the blog for me and post updates on Facebook.

I am very excited to serve a mission, especially in Nicaragua!  Thank you for all of your prayers and support.  I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God.  This is why I am serving a mission!  I am going because I want the world to know what I know, I want the world to feel the joy i feel in my life.  I encourage everyone to read the Book of Mormon and take Moroni's challenge and sincerely pray about the truthfulness of it.  If you do this with an open heart you will be told it is the word of God!

Goodbye all and thank you! See you all in two years (some of you longer)!

-Elder Willden