Good and Bad News

27 May 2013

Letter to all:

Well I have good news and bad news...

William and Marissela got married Sunday.  We started the activity with their wedding so all the people would come.  They got cold feet right before the wedding and didn't want to get married.  We talked with them and said a prayer and they calmed down and decided to get married.  I was really worried for a second, but the spirit guided us to say what they needed to hear and that Satan doesn't want us to get married because he knows it’s a step towards the salvation.

The activity went great, we all enjoyed ourselves, laughing and having a great time.  Many investigators came to the activity.  Sadly none on our side came to church Sunday so that was a bit of a bummer.

William and Marissela didn't get baptized Saturday because he smoked on Monday, a bit of a head ache and a disappointment but I know they'll get baptized soon, hopefully next Saturday.  Wednesday there's changes, and I'm very sure that I'll be changed, so I'll miss the baptism sadly.  Man - that happened in my last area too.  But it has been a joy teaching them and helping them grow closer to God.  The number of people you baptized doesn't matter (even though it's nice to see baptisms) what matters is that you do your best and you strive to bless people’s lives without tire.

We had interviews with the president.  He gave me a few counsels:

1. Don't allow your companion to disobey.

2. Trust more in the Lord wherever or with whomever the Lord sends me he does it because he wants me to have success.

He also shared Alma 37:34 with me a great scripture; we can never tire doing good, if we continue doing good we will find rest in our souls.

I shared that scripture with a less active lady named Marta yesterday.  We were in divisions with members this day and we had just taught an investigator near her house and we had an appointment on the other side of the city.  For some reason (the Spirit) I felt that right now we needed to go and visit her.  When we showed up she said that she really needed a visit in that moment because she has been passing many trials lately.  Her husband doesn't stop drinking, and her son.  Her daughter is rebellious and there have been recent deaths in her family. Brother Solis (that was with me) helped a lot.  He shared about how he used to drink a lot, and how his wife fought 10 years to get him to stop and to finally be baptized.  He shared how his wife was so persistent and it finally payed off.  3 years later she passed away, he was broke, but he still considers himself to be a blessed man.  The Holy Ghost truly guided us to visit Marta.

Well next week is the mission activity; all of the missionaries are going to Granada.  They gave us permission to write next week on Tuesday so nobody go crazy if they don't get emails on Monday – haha!!

Have a great week!

Elder Willden

20 May 2013

Letter to all:

Well this week was decent compared to past weeks.  William and Marisela continue well, they are happy for their wedding and baptism on Saturday.  And after the baptism we have a ward activity so it should be awesome!  I have seen a big change in them.  Pray and fasting has been a big help.  They were about to separate 2 weeks ago.  We told them they needed to pray long and hard about it.  And I prayed and prayed for them, and I fasted too.  And things changed, sometimes we don't have enough confidence in prayer and fasting but it has truly been a testimony builder for me.  An honest prayer with faith will be answered!  I am way excited for them, I'm going to be so happy on Saturday.  

We have a  new family we are teaching with a date for June 20th.  She found an old torn up Book of Mormon in a family members house and read it and she said she really enjoyed reading it.  Then we gave her a copy to read.  We met her spouse yesterday and we taught about the restoration and the Book of Mormon and we put a baptismal date with them.  So we'll see what happens.  

Wednesday we have our last interviews with President Monestel.  The 29th there's changes, so I should be going off to another area.  We went to San Juan del Sur again...my companion is proud to be an Argentinian haha.

13 May 2013

Letter to all:

Well this Sunday William and Marisela came to church, that´s the 2nd time now.  One more time and they can get baptized, and they need to get married, too.  So hopefully all goes well with them.  I´m truly excited for them, I hope they can get baptized the 25th.  Last week they were going through big problems and were about to separate.  We taught each of them separately this week and I’ve been praying a lot for them so that the family could stay together.  They showed up to church and seem very happy.  In the last class the topic was on families and how each person has their role in the family.  I think that will help William a lot.

Talking with the family on Mother´s Day was great!  I can only call one more time on the mission!  I can´t believe I have already been out on my mission more than a year now.  May 9th I hit the one year back.  Before I know it I´ll be back in the house at the end of April missing the mission field.  I got to enjoy it while I can!  

I hope all is well with everyone, have a great week!

Elder Willden

May 6th and April 29th 2013

6 May 2013

Letter to all:

This week we have been working a lot with the members.  We are doing an activity in the ward, "best ward missionary" - they get points for working with us, bringing investigators.  We give them a number of points and we'll be adding it up all month long and the top three get a prize.  It's working alright.  A few more are motivated now to work with us. Then the 25th of May we are going to do an activity.

We have a family night with William and Marisela in a member’s house.  It went well but the members invited an aunt that just wanted to go against us.  She started talking about how it wasn't necessary to prohibit coffee.  Then William told her, "What you have is an addiction".  It's was funny, not to lie.  But it felt good to know that my investigators are already growing testimonies and defending church values.  Sadly they didn't come to church this week.

But 2 investigators did come to church this week, Santos and Fatima.  So we'll see if we can get those 2 progressing more.

Today we had a fun P-day.  Usually we hardly do anything but today we had some fun.  We saw a sloth and some monkeys.

Today is May 6th...almost one year wow!  Time flies!

Bye!

Elder Willden

29 April 2013

Letter to all:

This week we did a service project, we made a kitchen...well a kitchen Nica Style.  We went into the woods and we cut down some trees and nailed them to the side of her house and we put some tin on top and plastic on the sides and bam!  A kitchen.  Construction is easy!  We found a stick bug when we were looking for some trees to cut down.  The other picture is of the construction project.  In front is Elder Inoke, from Utah.

We have a new investigator named Hector, well not new, I taught him when I was with Jonny 1 time but then he told us the next day he was leaving for Costa Rica we were bummed, but now he's back!  He is very positive, and has tons of questions.  He truly is looking for the truth, because he has noticed how there are so many churches but they all teach differently.  But sometimes I fear he wants to know too much too fast, so we just focused the other day on the need to ask God if it's true.  The other day we put a baptismal date with him for May 25th, but sometimes he works Sundays, but we'll see if he can reach the goal, he is willing to learn and to change.

With William and Marisela, they came the last Sunday and they liked it a lot, but we found out the other day that he has a bigger problem with drinking than we thought.  Today we are going to have a family home evening with them in a member’s house.

Elder Willden