I Love This Place so Much!

Madi had her baby yesterday!  A little girl! We haven’t seen her yet, but we were pretty excited for her!

Yesterday was such a good day! Saturday night I prayed that someone would just feel the desire to go to church and go.  On Sunday, an investigator, Nelli, just showed up with her three kids! We had stopped visiting her about a month ago and for some reason she just decided to go to church, even though she had never gone before! Also, Hermana Aracely Cornejo, who has gone to church for three years but never stayed the full three hours, stayed the full three hours! Tonight we are having a noche de hogar with them and with the bishop! Also, Magdalena went to church and loved it! And a couple who are both menos activos just showed up at church as well, because they decided they want to come back.  I’m so grateful Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers!

Hermana Emilce is doing so well.  The other day we went and read the Book of Mormon with her and it was amazing because she understood everything! The first time we taught her she told us how hard it is for her to understand and we had to explain a lot.  But, as she has worked so hard to come back, the spirit has really worked within her and now she understands everything! It was so incredible to see.  I know that when we draw closer unto Christ, He draws closer unto us and gives us His spirit in abundance.

This week was good, time is going way to fast.  I love this place so much, I’m still in denial about going home, I know that my Savior lives and loves me.  I’ve come to know Him and love Him so much and I’m so grateful for this time I have to be His representative.  

I hope you all have the very best week. 

Love you tons!

Hermana Willes

It Was a Really Good Sunday!

This week was really good, like always! Time is absolutely flying!  Hermano Fernando received a calling! He’s the secretary in the Sunday School Presidency! And Hermana Emilce gave her first class yesterday in the Relief Society! It was a really good Sunday!

Both Madi and Magdalena are doing really well, the ward is really helping us with them so much!

Sorry this is so short, the internet took forever to load! But I know that my Savior lives and loves me and I’m just so happy to be a missionary! 

I hope you all have the best week!

Hermana Willes

WE ARE GETTING SO CLOSE!!!!

Time is Literally Flying!

This week has been crazy.  For starters, I gave my last testimony in my last zone conference!  I’m still in denial about it.

We also had a baptism! Antonela Rejas! Her Mom is active and her Dad is less active.  Her Dad is so great and I think it really helped him, he looked so happy! The spirit was really strong! I always love baptisms.  Antonela is so sweet and was so happy to be baptized.

The daughter of Hermana Emilce, a menos activo, was baptized as well.  Hermana Emilce was so happy. I know it’s going to help her so much to stay active in the church! Also, yesterday she received a calling, teacher in the sociedad de socorro! I just love her so much.

Madi is doing really well. She went to church yesterday with Hermano Carlos.  She has lots of questions, but they are good questions and she is really interested.  We think this week she is going to have her baby, which would be so awesome! She’s ready to give birth!!

We also found a great new family, Oracio and Givovanna.  They went to the baptism on Saturday, before we had even taught them a lesson, and really liked it! They are a young couple with a baby and are golden! 

We also started teaching Hermano Fernando’s younger sister, Magdalena.  She’s super great and is preparing to get baptized on the fourth of July!

We’re seeing so many miracles I can’t really keep up, but I’m so grateful! Time is literally flying! I love Bolivia so much and I love my Savior.  I am so grateful for the privilege I have to be His missionary! 

I hope you all have the best week!

Hermana Willes

Pictures of the baptisms...

CONGRATS SARAH!!!

CONGRATS SARAH!!!!!!!!!!  (Lundy’s sister Sarah received her mission call this week to the Nicaragua Managua North Mission) That’s pretty much all I can think right now! I’m so excited for you! haha, the mission is so great, you are going to love it so much.  There is nothing better! I cannot wait to speak Spanish with you!

This week was good.  We went to Santa Cruz on Wednesday again for our leadership meeting.   I just love that city so much! It’s always good go back!

We are visiting a menos activo who is changing so much, Hermana Emilce.  She’s going through some really hard things, but yesterday the ward was really able to help her and it was so nice to see! She is so great.  Tonight we are going to have a noche de hogar with her and the bishop and Madi y Carlos!

We also contacted the wife of a menos activo in the street the other day.  It was so awesome! We left the house a little earlier and she was the first person we found in the street! I love when that happens!

We finally were able to meet with the Familia Mendieta! I just love them so much, they are so prepared! Hermano Patricio is traveling this week again, but we are going to give him mensajes mormons so he can watch them while he is away!

Anyways, I love love love Bolivia and my Savior! I just want the time to go as slow as possible, so I can enjoy every minute! There is nothing better than being a missionary! 

I hope you all have the best week!

Hermana Willes

I Know that the Gospel is the Plan of Happiness

This week was cambios and I stayed in Senac with Hermana Rivera! I’m so happy. I love her and this ward so much! 

We are seeing so many miracles with the menos activos thanks to the ward.  They are going out and visiting them and it’s been incredible to watch. I feel like we are seeing so much progress en cuanto de la retencion  (sorry I don’t remember how to phrase that in English).

Yesterday in church we had a really big miracle.  About half way through the sacrament in walked a menos activo, Carlos, and his pregnant wife Madi, who isn’t a member.  With Hermana Duckardt we had found them once and tried to visit them but we could never find them since.  But they just came to church and stayed for the three hours and we are going to visit them this week.  It was such a tender mercy.  Hermano Carlos told us that Madi had been the one who wanted to go to church and that she is really interested in the gospel.  They're really great!

We haven’t been able to meet with the Fila Mendieta this week, but on Tuesday we have a cita and I’m just praying it all works out! I just love them so much!

Fernando is doing soooo well.  He’s going to institute and working with the bishop and is so active that he almost doesn’t have time for us! He’s always doing stuff with the ward and it always seems he has been a member for longer than a month! We are working with him on sharing the gospel with his family as well.

I’m so grateful to be a missionary here in Bolivia and to represent my Savior.  I know my Savior lives and I know that this is His work.  I know the church is true and that the gospel is the plan of happiness, because it has brought me so much happiness! I love you all!  Congrats to my cousin Sammi on getting married! 

Have the best week!

Hermana Willes

I Know My Savior Lives and Loves Me

Well, the sad news first.  Andrea didn't get baptized.  She told ust that she feels like she needs to be confirmed first in the Catholic church and then see how she feels.  It was really sad, but I know that we taught her everything and that we did our part.  I know that someday she will get baptized, because she is just so great.  And she told us she wants to keep going to church and everything, so it's only a matter of time!

We are also working with a menos activo, Emilce, who is doing really well. For the past two weeks she has gone to church for the three hours and yesterday she even brought all three of her kids--two of who are menos activo and another one who isn't a member! It was incredible! She's really great and is determined to return to the gospel!

The Familia Mendieta is doing well.  Hermano Patricio, the husband, gets back this week so we will be able to teach them together.  Hermana Macarena couldn't go to church yesterday beause she traveled, but when we taught her the restoration she just loved it.  She was so attentive the whole time.  I just feel the spirit so strongly when I enter their home.  I can feel how prepared they are to receive the gospel! 

We are also working with another menus activo, Hermano Luis.  It has been amazing to see the change in him.   He goes to church in his suit and stays for the three hours and reads the Book of Mormon and just looks different in his face.  I have come to love him and his family so much.  It has taught me so much about the atonement and the power it has to truly change us.

I know my Savior lives and loves me.  I love Him so much and am so grateful to be his missionary, teaching His gospel.  The power of the atonment is real and if we just come unto Him we can be free of all our burdens. 

I love you all and hope you have a good week!

Hermana Willes

I Know That Christ Lives

Mother's Day Skype

Hermana Willes Sharing her testimony in Spanish

This week was kind of tough, but I know that this next week is going to be awesome!

Andrea postponed her baptism to this week.  Her family is really catholic and they have been putting some pressure on her.  But yesterday at church she told us that she is going to decide for herself.  The ward has been soooo helpful! Some of her friends gave her a priesthood blessing and they have all made sure to share their testimonies with her.  Tonight we are going to have a noche de hogar with her and the bishop’s family.  I know it will really help! She is just so wonderful, we have been praying so hard for her and I know that it will all work out this week!

We also started teaching a family that is so wonderful! They are a young married couple, with one son and anther one on the way.  We felt the spirit so strongly, they are such a special family.  The brother of the Dad, Patricio, is a member of the church and lives here in Tarija.  Patricio works in a small town outside of tarija for two weeks and then comes home for two weeks, so we are going to send the missionaries there to teach him so that they can progress at the same time!

I love my ward so much, the members are all so great!  I’m so grateful to be here in Senac as a missionary! I know the church is true and I know that Christ lives! 

I hope you all have the best week!

Hermana Willes

Hermana Willes and Andrea

 Hermana Willes, Hermana Rivera and 

members of the Senac Ward

 Hermanas serving in Tarija

I Love Bolivia!

This week was super crazy, but that’s ok! Andrea is so ready to be baptized this week! I’m so excited! Her birthday was on Friday and the ward was really good about wishing her a happy birthday! I’m just so excited for her to get baptized!

We also found a really great new family! We haven’t actually taught them yet, we are going tonight, but I’m so excited to teach them! We found them looking for a reference and we knocked on the wrong door.  It turns out the brother of the Dad is a member of the church and the Dad was so receptive!

Fernando is doing really well, this week he will be getting the priesthood and is just super happy to be a member of the church! 

This week I was able to go to Santa Cruz for a day (I flew there in the morning and flew home that night) for a leadership conference and it was so great to be back there! I just love Santa Cruz! and Bolivia! I’m so grateful to be a missionary and to continually draw closer to my Savior! He has been so kind to me.  I can’t even put into words my gratitude for Him and all the very many blessings I have! 

I love you all so much, have the best week!

Hermana Willes

Fernando's Baptism

Fernando, Hermana Willes and Hermana Rivera

Fernando was baptized! He is so wonderful and his baptism was so great! In one of our visits this week to him he told us that he is praying every night that he will stay faithful after his baptism and not fail Heavenly Father! He is so sweet!  The ward really welcomed him and they have done so much to make him feel welcome! He told us it made him feel so good that so many members went and were preoccupied for him. I`m so grateful for such a wonderful ward!

Andrea is doing really well as well.  She’s super excited to be baptized on the ninth! Tonight all the young adults are having a noche de hogar in her house, which should be really awesome! 

We also started teaching an old investigator, Viviana.  She had surgery a while back and so we were never able to find her and so we stopped teaching her.  But we stopped by on Saturday to invite her to the activity at Andrea’s house and on Sunday she went to church! It was such a big miracle!

We also started teaching another investigator, the wife of a member.  She’s really sweet and hopefully this will be her moment! She has been going to church for three years, but still hasn’t decided to get baptized!

I’m so grateful for my mission! Time is absolutely flying by, I can’t even believe how fast it is going! I just want it to slow down! I love this gospel so much and am so grateful to be a missionary!

I hope you all have the best week!

Hermana Willes

This Week Was So Uplifting

Wow!  This week was so good! We had a lot of conferences, but it was so uplifting! We had stake conference and Elder Baldarama came and spoke and it was so awesome! Both Andrea and Fernando were there and loved it!

Fernando is doing so well! He is getting baptized this Saturday and is so excited! He went to a baptism on Saturday and kept talking about how excited he is to be baptized.  He is just so humble.  He told us that before we taught him he had problems with the word of wisdom but when we taught him the story of Joseph Smith and showed him the scripture in James, he decided to ask Heavenly Father to help him not drink anymore.  And he hasn’t wanted to drink since that day! He always talks about the general conference talk that the spanish elder gave where he talked about being baptized at like fifteen and still being faithful in the church.  He says he wants to be like him.

Andrea is also doing really well.  She had school all this week and so we couldn’t see her a lot.  I was kind of worried, but then last night she told us how she is always talking with the members and she even went to a church party in the stake without us knowing! I’m so grateful for the ward members that have just taken her under their wing and become her real friends! She decided that she will get baptized the ninth of May, for her birthday.  She`s just so great!

We also started teaching Elizabeth, the friend of a member.  She is super great, she went to general conference with her friend and we found her there.  Turns out she already knows the bishop and a bunch of members!

We are just seeing so many miracles in our area.  I’m so grateful! I love this ward and this gospel and I know that Christ lives and truly does know us! I’m so grateful for the scriptures, they really do teach us all we need to know!  

I hope you all have the very best week!

Hermana Willes

I Just Love This Ward So Much!

Cambios were this week and I STAYED IN SENAC!!!!!!!!!! I was so happy when we got the call! I just love this ward so much! But Hermana Viera and Hermana Mamani both went to Santa Cruz and now I’m with Hermana Rivera from Honduras! She is hard working and super fun and I’m so grateful to be her companion!

Andrea is doing so well.  Yesterday she fasted all by herself.  We’re preparing her for the 25 of May and I’m so excited! She’s so great, it’s like she’s already a member.  The ward has been so helpful, inviting her to all the acivities and making sure she is always included in church.  I just love her so much!

We also had a really big miracle, we found a family! The Familia Carlo have three kids and they are so wonderful.  We found the mom, Fani, contacting in the street and went the next day and taught all of them.  They have so much faith and are so humble.  

Fernando is doing really well too.  He told us that every time he reads or prays he can feel his faith growing and that in the conferencia general he felt that as well.  He’s so humble and good.  I just love him!

We have so many miracles in our area, I really can’t even believe it.  I’m so grateful to Heavenly Father for all of the miracles He is giving us! To be honest, when I first left Santa Cruz and came sent to Senac it was hard—I missed Santa Cruz-- but now I’m so beyond grateful to be here! 

Also, one funny story.  My companion has a curling iron and I haven’t had access to one in sooo long and I was over the moon to be able to curl my hair again! So, Sunday morning I started to curl my hair and when I pulled the curling iron away, with it went my hair! So now I have a chunk of hair in the bottom that is shorter than all the rest! Oh how I love Bolivia!

But really, I am so grateful to be a missionary.  I just can’t say that enough! It’s the hardest thing, but also the best.  I’m so grateful for my Savior who died for me and who has walked with me every step of the way.  I know He lives and because He lives we all will too! 

I love you all, I hope you have the very best week!

Hermana Willes

Conference was so Amazing!

WOW. Conference was so amazing! All four sessions in English. Yay! I felt like every talk was exactly what I needed to hear and they were all so amazing.  Honestly, some of my favorite memories of my mission so far are general conference-- cramming with all the gringos and watching and singing the songs in English.  There isn’t anything quite like it and I’m so grateful for the blessing of general conference in my life!

Andrea couldn’t go to general conference at the stake center, but she watched it home with her family! She is just progressing so much! She told us she is always sharing the gospel with her friends and talking to them about Christ, because it is always the solutions to their problems.  She is such an example to me of someone really converted! I just love her so much!  We are meeting with her tonight to set her baptismal date.

We also have another investigator, Fernando, who is also so great.  He is really humble and really just wants to do the right thing.  He went to two sessions of conference and told us that the thing he loved most was when they talked about baptism! He’s just so wonderful! He has as baptismal date of April 25!

We are seeing so many miracles in our area! We found some great new investigators this week who are so prepared to hear the gospel and already know the members! And, we even had a member from another ward bring a friend who lives in our area! I’m so grateful for all the miracles Heavenly Father is giving us! 

I’m just so grateful to be here in Bolivia as a missionary! I love love love my ward and all the members and I just love Bolivians! I love my Savior and I’m so grateful to be His missionary! I hope you all have the very best week!

Love,

Hermana Willes

All the gringos crowded into a room listening to conference in English.  

Love that Missionary peeking in on the right!

Another short email...

This is going to be another short email.  We only have a minute today because yesterday myldsmail wasn’t working! 

Andrea is still doing well! She told us she is going to go to all of conference and last night we had a noche de hogar with her and the bishop’s family! it went so well! I just love her so much!

Also our investigator Fernando accepted a fecha for the 25 of abril! He’s so great! 

I’m so grateful to be a missionary and so grateful for the opportunity we will have this week to watch conference! I hope you all enjoy it! 

Love you all!

Hermana Willes

Gotta Love Bolivian Internet!

March 23

Sorry this email is so short, gotta love Bolivian internet!

But, Andrea is doing so well! She went to a baptism on Saturday and really loved it! The ward is working really hard with her and she is just so great!

Also, we are working with a new family, the Familia Cornejo, the mom and two of their daughters aren’t members but they are wonderful!

The Familia Gira is doing really well. Their mom is listening to us now too, which is such a miracle!

Sorry this is so ridiculously short! But, I love you all so much and I’m so grateful for the atonment of my Savior! I’m so grateful He died for me and that through Him I can be cleansed and strengthened!

Love,

 

Hermana Willes

The Savior Has Been There Every Step of the Way

Another really good week in Senac! 

Andrea is doing so well, she is just so sweet! I always love teaching her because the spirit is so strong! We are praying really hard that we will be able to meet with her family too, so that they will all be able to be baptized together! We are also working with her to gain a strong testimony of Joseph smith, she still has a few doubts.  But the members are being so great and helping her so much! 

We are also teaching a family, the Familia Somoa.  They are a young couple with a son who is four.  The hermana, Ivet, is so sweet! she loves loves it when we talk about eternal families and she went to church yesterday and the members were so welcoming! it helps that she has a  lot of friends who are members! 

The stake is working really hard with us to help us work with the members. we have the goal to find two new families everyday, with the help of the members.  It has been really awesome to see how the stake has caught the vision of the prophet and I know Heavenly Father will help us reach all of our goals!

I’m so grateful to be here in Bolivia, epecially in barrio Senac.  The members are so wonderful and I just love them so much! I’m so grateful for this opportunity I have to be a representative of my Savior.  He has been so incredibly kind to me, I can’t even believe it.  He really has been there every step of the way and has given me the very best mission. I know He lives and loves us so much! Love you all! 

Have the very best week!

Hermana Willes

I Love Senac!

Another really good week here in Senac! We worked so well with the members this week!

Andrea is progressing so well! She is so wonderful! Everytime we teach her it just blows my mind because she gets it all so well! We had to postpone her fecha porque it turns out we won’t have church the 29 for her confirmation because it’s elections and then the next week is conference so today she is going to tell us between the 21 and the 11! But, she told us that everytime she reads or prays or goes to church she feels a burning in her heart, a good feeling.  I just love her so much!

We also have another investigator, Hilda that we are working with.  All of the members know her.  It was really funny because we went to visit her with her friend, Hermana Margarita, and at the end of the lesson we were talking about all the members she knows and Margarita said "and who ended up sharing the gospel with you?" and she pointed at us and said "they did". She told us she wish she had heard about the gospel sooner! 

Anyways, things are going really good here! I love Senac, it is such a good ward! The members are so awesome and we have been seeing so many miracles with menos activos! it has been incredible to see! We are still working with the Familia Gira to stay the three hours, but this week we are going to work super hard so that they stay!

Thank you all so much for the support and love you all send me! it means so much to me! I hope you all have the very best week! I know the church is true and most of all I know that Christ lives! 

Love you!

Hermana Willes

The People Here Have Taught Me So Much

This week has probably been one of the craziest of my whole mission, but it was also one of the best! Transfers were this week and Hermana Duckardt left.  It was really sad to say goodbye, as always.  But,now I’m in a trio! haha my new companions are Hermana Mamani from La Paz and Hermana Viera from Honduras.  They are both really great--we have a lot of fun together. Everyone always asks me when my new companion is going to come and then makes a billion jokes about the three musketeers or something when they find out we are in a trio! They combined our two areas and so now we have a lot a lot of work! But I’m so grateful for it! 

We have one investigator, Andrea, that is de oro! she is the friend of the son of the stake president, who got home about five seconds ago from his mission and got right to work! She’s already gone to church two times and has accepted a date for the 28th to be baptized.  Everytime we teach her she is so accepting and so willing to pray and read and go to church! I just love her so much! We are working on meeting her family and teaching them too!

We are also working with a lot of Menos Activos and have seen so many miracles with them! One family, the Familia Gira, has come to church three times for sacrament meeting.  We’re working with the members to help them stay for the 3 hours the next week! 

This is totally random, but next time you are in a sacrament meeting be grateful random dogs don’t just wander in! Yesterday in sacrament meeting a members' dog had followed them to church and would not leave the chapel.  And then it started barking during the sacrament prayers before they could finally get it to leave! But, that is not the first or last time that will happen in my mission! 

We also did family history this week. I have gained such a strong testimony of family history.  I know there are so many people waiting for their families to search them out and take their names to the temple so that they can be an eternal family! 

Anyways, I hope you all have the very best week! I love Bolivia, the people here have taught me so much about my Savior and His love.  Through them I have learned about His love and kindness.  I am so grateful to be a missionary and to come to know my Savior more everyday! 

Love,

Hermana Willes

Hermana Willes and Hermana Duckardt.  

The city of Tarija, Bolivia is behind them

The Trio!

I'm so grateful to be His missionary!

Well, my last carnival in Bolivia! Crazy.  We just studied in the house and cleaned! It went by a lot faster this time!

Anyways, we’ve had a lot of miracles these couple weeks! Hermana Duckardt and I are really focusing on the miracles everyday that Heavenly Father gives us! There are always so many!

We’re working with a menos activo family that have gone to church two weeks in a row! Only to sacrament meeting, but still! It’s a huge miracle, because they haven’t come to church in years!

We are also working with another huge family of menos activos and little by little they are letting us teach them.  They are great too, a huge family of basically woman and their kids! 

Sorry this is so short, these past two weeks are kind of blurred together and I don’t really remember much! I promise next week will be better! but I love you all and I’m so grateful for the gospel! If there is anything I’ve learned on my mission is how much we need the gospel.  It blesses us and protects us from so many heartaches! I love my Savior! Without Him there really is no way to be happy or make it through! I’m so grateful to be His missionary!

Love,

Hermana Willes

Tarija, Bolivia Missionaries

There Really is Nothing Better than a Chapel full of Missionaries talking about Christ

This week went by so fast! I swear time just keeps going faster and faster! We had a lot going on this week, a conference and family history! All the sisters in Tarija do family history for two hours twice a week and it is literally the best thing ever! I love family history! I’m so blessed to have such wonderful ancestors who accepted the gospel and are such examples to me!

The conference was also so wonderful! I got to see so many of my companions and it was so spiritual.  We talked a lot about humility and the doctrine of Christ.  There really is nothing better than a chapel full of missionaries talking about Christ!

We’re still working with Jeni, our duena.  She is so sweet.  It’s really hard for her to understand the scriptures and so she always prays that Heavenly Father will help her understand and remember them better.  I just love her so much!

This week is Carnival, so I won’t be writing next week! But I love you all and I’m so grateful to be a missionary here in Bolivia, representing my Savior.  I came down here thinking I would be serving Him and helping Him, but really all He has done is bless me more and help me change and grow.  I love Him so much and I know that His gospel is true! 

Love you all!

Hermana Willes

I'm so Grateful for the Members Here!

Another week here in Senac! Slowly things are improving in the area!

We started teaching our duena de casa (landlord), Jeni.  She’s really sweet. She told us how she wants to believe in God and she doesn’t really know how to do that, but she wants to try.  It was so cute when she told us about praying, she was really proud of having tried and even told her daughter she has to start praying too! She hasn’t accepted a baptismal date, but we’re praying she will soon.

On Tuesday we went to the market that’s in our area and set up a table with juice and talked to everyone.  It was so fun! We met a lot of great people and were able to get a lot of references for other areas!

The sad part of this week was that we realized we are probably going to have to drop Hermana Lourdes.  She keeps all the committments except for going to church, but she just doesn’t understand why she needs to be baptized.  We’ve explained it and even prayed with her and we both felt the spirit so strongly, but she just won’t accept it.  We both left our last lesson knowing we’ll probably have to drop her.  It was so sad, but I know Heavenly Father will lead us to more people!

I’m so grateful to be a missionary and to be preaching the gospel! I’m so grateful for the members here, who are so incredibly faithful and who have all taught me so much! 

I hope you have the very best week!

Hermana Willes

Just a funny little part of  Lundy’s email to Steve last week that we thought we’d share.  He told her about the Superbowl outcome and asked her if anyone there knows anything about the NFL.  Her response:

That's a bummer about the superbowl! You will appreciate this though, here the people buy a bunch of American used clothing without knowing what it says usually and the other day my Bishop had on a Vikings shirt! I laughed so hard and when I told him that you are a huge fan, he got so excited and he was like “ Hermana, are they a good team?" and I told him “ No Bishop, but my Dad still likes them for some reason!” That's pretty much the only time I’ve ever talked about football with a latino!

Little by Little this Area is Picking Up!

This week was really good, little by little the area is picking up!

We have an investigator, Hermana Lourdes, who is so wonderful. Hermana Duckardt always laughs because everytime we talk or visit with her when we're walking away I always say "Hermana, I just love her soooo much, I want her to get baptized so much!" She finally went to church on Sunday, the Relief Society president went and picked her up.   Turns out their husbands are really good friends, so I’m praying that her husband will start listening to us too! He’s super catholic, like everyone here in Tarija.  But poco a poco.

We also started teaching a menos activo, whose husband and kids aren’t miembros.  She’s really great, really wants to come back to church but feels guilty for how much she has fallen away.  We talked about the Savior’s atonement and the story of the prodigal son and it went really well.  I know she’s going to come back and bring her family with her!

The ward I’m serving in is so great, seriously.  The members are so willingly to help us and the ward council is amazing.  I’m learning so much. To be honest, I’ve never been in a ward that functions so well in my whole mission.  It’s really nice haha.

Heavenly Father was so kind to me this week, as always.  I’m always amazed at how far He will go to help me and answer my prayers.  He never leaves me alone and for that I am eternally grateful.  I love you all so much. 

Congrats, Sammi on the engagment! 

I hope you all have the best week!

Love,

Hermana Willes

I'm not in Santa Cruz anymore!

Well I’m not in Santa Cruz anymore! I was transferred to Tarija, which is a different apartamiento than Santa Cruz.   It’s at the very bottom of Bolivia—by the Argentina border.  (Tarija is 14-15 hours away from Santa Cruz!  It resembles Argentina more than it does the rest of Bolivia.) It looks just like Utah, with mountains and real houses and cars!  It was really hard to leave Santa Cruz after a year there, it honestly felt like leaving home all over again, but I’m learning to love Tarija too! It was sooo hard to leave Hermana Garcia.  We got to the point of being sisters and so it was sad to leave her.  But she’s here in Tarjia too, so I’ll get to see her sometimes. The members here are sooo great and my new companion, Hermana Duckardt, is really awesome too! She’s from Argentina and we live with two other latinas.

Yesterday in church we had a menos activo go to church for the first time in years! He’s an RM and his wife recently came back to activity and their daughter is eight years old so he has goals with the bishop that he will be able to baptize her.  In consejo de barrio, the bishop made plans to help him make friends through fishing trips and playing football, so he feels comfortable with the  ward.  It was awesome, I was super impressed.  They are so great, so nice and a really wonderful family!

We don’t have any investigators, but we have a lot of plans this week to find people and get to work.  It can only get better! I know that as we give it all we have, the Lord will lead us to the people He has prepared for us.   It rains here A LOT—even more than Santa Cruz, but that’s ok, there’s pizza!!!

I’m so grateful to be a representative of my Savior Jesus Christ.  There is nothing better than being a missionary.  I`m so grateful for the gospel, because it is designed perfectly to help us become like our Father in Heaven.  I know my Savior lives and that my Father in Heaven hears my prayers.  I’m so grateful for the both of them. 

I love you all and I hope you have the best week!

Hermana Willes

Missions: The Best Thing in the Whole World!

This week in Steve’s email to Lundy, he told her about a new Babolat tennis racket that is coming out that has sensors in it and keeps track of shot power, strokes and serves etc. You can sync it with your phone so that you can analyze your tennis game.  (We’re pretty excited about it at our house:)  Thought we’d share Lundy’s email response to him…

“Sounds crazy about all those cool new things, especially the tennis racket! It’s so weird to think about all the new inventions.  One of the new gringa hermanas told us there was an iphone six and it blew all of our minds.  It gets really easy to forget that stuff exists when I haven’t even had a microwave in over a year!!"  

Well, this week was nuts! Cambios are this week and we got pulled out of our area a little early. President is pulling all the hermanas out of the outer rings of Santa Cruz to close a bunch of areas partly because of safety but mainly because more misisonaries are leaving than are coming and so we won’t have as many misisonaries until abril.  I think they are going to put almost all the hermanas in the first couple rings.  They just decided to pull us out early and we are staying with Hermana Romero (mi hijta!) and Hermana Johns in the centro until cambios on Tuesday. It was really sad to leave Guapilo.  It was a really good area, but I know Heavenly Father has lots of plans for the both me and Hermana Garcia! 

We had a lot of really good new investigators and we had a really good lesson with Marita.  We were able to bring a member.  We taught the restoration and the spirit was really strong.  I always love teaching the restoration.  I’m praying really hard that Marita goes back to church.  The members love her, so we left her in good hands!

We also had  a noche de hogar with Roxana and her husband and so many members came! It was so great, at the end she said "I really hope this isn’t the last time you all come and visit me!”  It just goes to show, how important it is to visit others and make them important.  The members are so important to the work!

Anyways, I hope you all have a great week! I’m so grateful to be down here in Bolivia preaching the gospel.  Best thing in the whole world! I know The Church is true and Heavenly Father is our Father, who loves us more than we can understand and who is always always there!

Hermana Willes

She loves being a missionary!

Everyday I Realize How Much I Need My Savior

This week was another week full of miracles! On Monday,  in the micro we met a menos activo who lives in our area, Hermana Asunta.  We started visiting her this week and she’s wonderful! She and her daughter are the only members in her family. Her husband, other daughter, and grandkids aren’t members so we’re going to work on them as well! 

Also, the husband of Hermana Roxana, Hermano Erwin, went to church yesterday! That was a huge miracle.  He hasn’t accepted a fecha yet, but poco a poco.  We also had a huge miracle with their son and daughter-in-law.  Hermana Garcia and I had sent the reference of their 

house to the mission, but it’s in the other mission and the missionaries hadn’t stopped by.  They have been attending our ward here, and I was just praying so hard that the missionaries would find them so that Julia could be taught and baptized.  On Sunday, the son came to church and he told us that he had found out what ward he is supposed to go to because he ran into the missionaries in the street and talked to them! it was such a reminder that this is the Lord´s work and He takes care of everything!

We had miracles everyday this week and I’m just so grateful to be a missionary down here in Bolivia! I know that my Savior lives! I feel like everyday I realize more and more how much I need my Savior.  I’m so grateful for Him and the sacrifice He made for me!

 Love you all and hope you have the best week!

Hermana Willes

Lisa's Favorite :)

With Hermana Ortiz

Hermana Willes and Hermana Garcia in their apartment

Celebrating her 20th birthday

With Hermana Garcia

Having Fun!!

reunited with Hermana Feddock

Hermana Willes and Hermana Zapata

Hermana Willes loves Hermana Cladera!

Hermanas at the 50 year celebration

Hermanas

Hermana Willes and Hermana Cladera

Hermana Lainez loves her BYU shirt!

Hermana Willes and Hermana Adams (MTC Comps)

Thank You!

Merry Christmas! ok a week late, but still! Thank you to everyone who sent me birthday wishes and Christmas wishes! Seriously, thank you all so much! 

This week was really good, all over the place, but good.

First, the bad news.  Ricardo didn’t get baptized.  That was super sad.  He wants to move to Çhile and work and so he told us he is going to postpone his baptism.  It was crazy.  But, both Hermana Garcia and I felt the spìrit tell us that we had done all we could, that we had given it all we could.  He told us he is going to get baptized in Chile with his wife and daughter, so we’re praying that really does happen!

We finally got Hermano Ismeal to go to church! His wife is a less active who we are working with and por fin he went to church! He said he liked it and he made a lot of friends! They are both great and I know that if they listen to the spirit, he will get baptized and one day they will go to the temple.

We also found a new family-- a mom and dad and their two kids.  We’ve only taught them once, but they are awesome! They all listen to us, super attentively and ask really good questions.  They accepted a baptismal date for the 31 of enero!

Anyways, this week I will hit my one  year mark in the field.  It has gone by so fast! It has been both the hardest and best year of my whole life.  I’m so grateful for the decision I made to serve a mission because it has changed me so much.  I’ve come to know my Savior and to understand His atonement and to truly understand what it means to live the gospel and not just talk about it.  I know my Savior lives and loves me and is my best friend.  I’m so beyond grateful to be His representative and to share the gospel with the people of Bolivia! I don’t want to be anywhere else!

I love you all so much and I hope you have a great new years!

Hermana Willes