18 February 2013

Letter to all:

This week we had a neat experience.  We were walking in the street and
someone greeted my companion.  It turns out that my companion was
teaching him 5 months ago in his last area when he was starting his
mission and they only taught them one lesson.  But they already had
their answer that the church is true so they are really close to
baptism.  The only problem is that they are super busy right now
because they are opening an office, but they are hoping to be more
relaxed in March - I hope so.

No investigators showed up to church on Sunday and the assistance of
the ward was very low.  It’s a little disappointing to work all the
week and have no one show up, but we just got to keep working hard.

That’s all for this week.

Elder Willden

11 February 2013

Letter to all:

Baptism!  Finally Gabriela got baptized.  Sadly her mom didn't show up for some reason, her mom is less active and her brother is preparing for a mission.  She wouldn't let me take a picture of her but I got one, luckily.  

This week we found a lot of new investigators, 25.  Sometimes it’s hard to keep track of everyone.  But now we are going to drop a lot because they still haven't come to church.  We taught a new investigator our - first lesson with him was Saturday and the next day he showed up to church.  That was awesome, why can’t everyone else do that!?  It is always a challenge to get people to church; people come from 30 minutes away while others that live on the same street of the church don't show up.  It’s kind of sad.

My companion and I are getting along really well, working hard, I've been really trying to push myself to be more outgoing because I've been held back my whole life, it’s one of my main goals this year to overcome my timidness.

We should have 2 baptisms the end of this month, I’ll let you all know what happens.

Elder Willden

4 February 2013

Letter to all:  

This week was tough: I’ll be honest.  We have 4 people so close to baptism but they didn't show up to church.  We had a baptism set for this week but it fell through.  We are working even harder, contacting even more but the big problem always is that they don't want to show up for church.  We just have to keep pressing forward. 

 I was feeling disappointed when we came to church and waited for the investigators to come but they never showed up.  But the lady we baptized the 5th of January Maria Eugenia bore her testimony.  It was simple, short, but very powerful, I almost cried.  She is amazing, she activated her son, is working on activating her mom, and she always comes to church and gives us references.  Even though she is a new member she really understands the gospel more than many members because she shares the gospel.  

That experience was tender; I truly felt God’s love when I heard her testimony and it animated me to keep working, looking to baptize people like her, prepared by the lord.

That little 3 wheel car is a taxi, I frequently went in these in my last area, they have normal taxis too but it just funny to me that this is a taxi.  The river (called aguas aigrias) is super clear and you can see bubbles that come from the earth into the river.  Kind of interesting but I thought the water was going to be cooler.

Have a great week, love you all!

Elder Willden

28 January 2013

28 January 2013

Letter to all:

This week we taught a super positive family we gave them the movie Together Forever, later we brought a member family with us and we taught the plan of salvation and about eternal families.  The dad asked us is there really away to be with your family forever?  And Ii bore my testimony that yes, that families can be together and that there is someone on this earth that has the authority to do it.

A member shared a scripture in Matthew 16:18 I believe that talks about how God said he would establish his church on Peter and gave him power to seal things on earth as well as in heaven.  Tonight we are going to bring them over to the member family´s house and have a family night with them.

We have a baptism ready for Saturday and a few others for later in the month.  This month should be a great one.  Tonight we`ll get a call and see if we are going to train, I think I´ll train again its almost sure.

Elder Willden

Mormon 9 :22 

For behold, thus said Jesus Christ, the Son of God, unto his disciples who should tarry, yea, and also to ^aall his disciples, in the hearing of the multitude: Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature;

14 January 2013

14 January 2013

Letter to all:

This week went by very fast!  We had some really great lessons on Sunday, 3 in particular.  The first we contacted a family and it turns out the missionaries passed by before.  The dad is a truck driver in all Central America and Mexico. He said he´s talked with missionaries in almost all of the countries he´s visited....the lord really wants him to get baptized!  They had doubts about how we ¨worship Joseph Smith¨ and about coffee, but we taught them and at the end their doubts were taken away and they remained very positive after the lesion. 

Another lesson as well was when we went contacting on Sunday, we met a woman named Mari Bell (normally its spelt Maribel but they write names weird here and have American names).  She had always wondered why there were so many churches; we taught her the Restoration and put a baptismal date for February 9th in a contact.  The lord really did guide us to find her, we were able to help her out with this big question she has always had. 

Our third lesson was  with Gabriela a 13 year old, we brought a member with us who shared with her 2 different stories from his life that really helped him/her understand the importance of dedicating some time for the lord and the strength prayer gives us and how the lord sends other people to answer our prayers.  

I know that prayer is truly important for us, as we pray we speak with God, the all-knowing.  He has all of the knowledge that exists and if we want to know something or we need help in something he has the answer.  We just need to learn to ask with a true heart and learn how to listen to the manner he speaks and answers us.

Enos :15

The pictures are from a statue we went to visit.

Bye!

Elder Willden

Video of Where Jonathan is currently serving!

Elder Willden's sister was just in Nicaragua on a visa run and drove through the town Jonathan is serving in!

Nandiame, Nicaragua

Thank you Vanessa!

Ok here is the video of where Jonathan Willden is serving RIGHT NOW http://vimeo.com/58682759music credit to The Lower Lights