EIGHT MONTHS!

Holy shoot, TODAY is my 8 month mark. Say whaaat?!

Ok, so throughout the week I keep a list on the iPad of things I need to write y'all about. So let me begin.

My companion says I sound like I served in Spain. My Spanish is really "proper" as she put it. I don't speak with a "zeta, y por eso she said I sound like I SERVED in Spain. Like I learnt Spanish there, pero never developed the full accent. Pero ta bien :)

OH YEAH, I SAW ERIC TROTT! How's THAT for a small world! He literally lives around the corner from our house, and we walk by his house like 6 times a day. Hahahaha Tiny tiny world...

Guess who's about to be baptized! HENRY! We've been teaching him since my first week here, and he always said "When I get baptized, I want to be sure I'm going to be doing this forever. I don't want to get baptized, then not live up to it." He is literally the best person in the world. Good, through and through. Last week in a lesson, he said "I was thinking about the date you extended me for baptism, and I think I need more time." So we extended another date, and he said "Yep. I'll be baptized on that day!" Well, all of this is in Spanish, pero he's so excited to be baptized. He's already doing missionary work! He's bringing a friend to church on Sunday. HE'S MAGICAL!!

Remember those bikes we got? We got them fixed! There's a member down the road who fixed them for us, all we need is helmets, and we won't be late to lessons!! :D

Oh... Let me tell you something... We went to Chuck-a-rama. Hahahahahaha! So when you hear that name... You think of something like a kid's toy store, or Chuck-e-cheese, right? Wrong. It's the most confused place on the earth! You walk in and it's like Golden Coral (trough style). Stop and listen, and there's cheesy instrumental music (like elevator music) playing WAY too loud. I came to the conclusion that Chuck-a-rama is the Walmart of restaurants. The food was good (or as good as an affordable buffet can be). I just remembered all of the times we went to the restaurant when we were kids, we always went to those kinds of places. That's all one can afford when you've got 8 kids to feed! Hahah

Oh, but it was worth it going there. A man came up to us and gave us $20! It sure is hard serving in the Utah Provo mission... Hahaha So many people are sooo helpful and generous :)

So yesterday when my companion and I were walking to a stake meeting yesterday, President Keele stopped us to ask us a couple things. So my companion is speaking in stake conference, then... he asked if we could come to dinner with them soon. We were discussing a day that we could do dinner with them, then he suggested a date and said "We'll have the Krasnos with us, so how does that day work for you?" WHAT?! I am SO excited! I can't wait to see them :D :D

So my companion and I had some free time, so we did some praying. We both saw the same neighborhood in our minds, so we went. There is NOBODY in this area. Well... seemingly... We asked the members, and the only person people knew was this Ecuadorian family (and Ecuador is next on my countries list. #1 Argentina. #2 Ecuador. EVERYBODY from there is AWESOME!) So we contacted this man... AND GUESS WHAT.

He's atheist. For real.

He's also a mason.

WHAT?! I tried to research that in my past life, and I STILL never learned what that is...

Pero, he's super cool and scary (not like we can't feel the spirit there, it's just his way of expression is intense), so we're going to go back :) We both feel like he DOES believe in God, he's just angry about things that have happened in his life, so it's easier for God not to exist.

We were talking about atheism with a member, and he said "Gracias a Dios, soy ateo..." Hahahahaha He's from Brazil, pero he speaks all sorts of languages. It's awesome.

Pero this week was EXHAUSTING. It was really hard. My feet are starting to realize I'm walking everywhere, and they're a little upset. My ankles are sore too. Weird...

But Luke, guess what! Remember that one time when you said "Flex your calf muscle" and I started laughing and said "I WAS!" and it was funny because you couldn't see my calf muscle? I CAN SEE MY CALF MUSCLE! Score. My back is killing me, but my legs are glad I'm walking :) Hahah

Creo que no tengo mas to say...

I miss you all a lot!

LOFF YOUUUU ALL!

Hermana Willis

Bike. This one was actually too far gone, but the guy who fixed up my companion's gave me one. HE GAVE ME ONE. He has a million bikes, but it doesn't make me appreciate it any less! Hahah

Hna Abellán y yo :)

This dog... I'm in love!!

HOLY WEEK...

MUSICAL PROGRAM. I've never been so stressed IN MY LIFE. Headaches galore, tense neck and back... I FEEL SO GOOD now that it's over :) :) I know it's selfish of me, but I'm SO relieved that the singing video didn't work. I'm sure it was ok, I just don't want you to hear me sing. Hahaha I'm so glad you got a video of me crying in Spanish. How darling, right? Hahahaha The program went well, and it looks like President might want to do it throughout the mission. SHOOOOTT. You mean I might have to do it AGAIN?! Rats. Hahaha

Hna Abellan and I went to Chili's. A member forgot they signed up to give us dinner, so they bought us a gift card. Going to restaurants makes me trunky. Just a little something for you... Hahaha

FUN FACT: Our branch president looks like Sylvester Stalone/Rocky. It makes me happy :)

The song I played for I had to learn in a week and a half. I can't thank mom and Sister Shirley ENOUGH for teaching me how to learn a song, and making me practice. The last two pages of that song are rough, and THE DAY OF the program, I was FINALLY able to play the song without stopping. I made mistakes, yes, but they would have been noticable if I had stopped to correct them. That, I learned from Sister Shirley. YOU'RE THE BOMB! :)

There's a family here who I just LOVE. They're all super Mexican, but the best part is one of them reminds me of Mike LaFontaine A LOT. I literally feel at home when I'm in their house. It's awesome. We did service with them (yard work!!). Did I even express my love for yard work? We were ripping out shrubbery and all that glamorous stuff. I just love dirt and grass!! Haha :)

Oh yeah... Funny story. So one of the English wards asked my compaion to do a special musical number in their ward. We thought it started at 12, so we get there at 11:45ish and walk in as they're... SINGING THE INTERMEDIATE HYMN. It started at 11. Hahahahaha BUT! We sat down as the next speaker got up to speak. I sat down, looked up, and then looked at my companion with eyes bigger than my face and said "I KNOW HIM!" I looked at the woman who was sitting on the stand who had already spoken and thought "OH MY GOSH, I KNOW THEM BOTH!!" So I pull up LDS tools on my iPad and search their first names (because he said them in his talk) and sure enough!! Ryan and Ashleigh Di Lello. Ring a bell? Then I whipped out Facebook to see if I was right, and AS SURE AS THE SKY IS BLUE, they were on SYTYCD. The LDS ballroom couple on So You Think You Can Dance. And let me tell you, THEY ARE AWESOME. As in, real life humans. SO nice, and at least HIS talk (I didn't get to hear hers) was AMAZING. So I got to talk to them a minute, which was awesome. I'm speaking in their ward next month. NO PRESSURE, they're just world traveling professional ballroom dancers. THEY'RE ONLY FAMOUS PEOPLE. Hahahahaha

OH OK, it's miracle time. Now's the best part. ARE YOU READY FOR THIS?!

You're not... Because I wasn't either. Anyway... proceed with the miracles...

Yesterday when I was basically waiting in line to talk to the Di Lello's, a member of the ward was talking to us, and he got emotional and said something to us about how "There's somebody, somewhere waiting for you. Somebody is hurting and only needs you to find them." I always knew that, but the way he said it struck me. Then we went on throughout our day. On our way home from a stake meeting, we walked by a house where there was a family going inside, speaking Spanish. We made note of the address and planned to come back. We went to dinner, went on with our day, then...

We were leaving our house to go contact that family when we passed a big box that said "FREE", surrounded by BIKES. We knocked the door and asked if it was the bikes that were free. GUESS WHO GOT A BIKE!! It needs a lot of help, but we're going to fix them up today and hopefully buy the things (locks, lights, helmet) so we can stop being late to appointments and stuff... :) TENDER MERCY! I was literally JUST thinking that day about how nice it would be to have a bike.

So we took the bikes back home then set out again to contact that family. And wouldn't you know it, the mother was sitting on the front porch watching her two children play. We asked if we could come talk with her and she said yes. We got to know her a little bit and then asked if it was ok if we prayed and shared a message with her. She said yes! We started by talking to her about how much God loves her. We asked if she believed God loved her, and she said yes. We asked how. She began to cry as she watched her unusually small 3 year old throw leaves in the air, laughing hysterically. She told us about how her son was born at 5 months, and then spent his first 5 months of life in the hospital. She told us about how hard it's been with his health, but how she doesn't "believe" God loves her and her family, but she KNOWS. Her husband came out and started listening to us. We shared a video about eternal families with them, and about half way through the video the kids (8 year old daughter and 3 year old son) came to watch it too. The whole family was able to feel the spirit, and they said we can come back and teach them more. The spirit was SO strong with that family, I really really think they're one of the reasons Hna Abellan and I are both here. I feel like they're so prepared! I can easily see them at their baptism, and later at their sealing. They're such a special family!

Another little miracle happened earlier in principios class. We were learning about the life of Christ, and at the end of the class we were asked to read the portions of the chapter about the atonement and think about it, then share thoughts or something we learned. Everybody was sharing their thoughts, so I wasn't planning on sharing what I learned from it, but the Spirit was spiritually hitting me in the face trying to get me to share it. So the SECOND there was a break, I raised my hand. The one thing that jumped out to me when I was reading it is when it said that God's spirit was even withdrawn from Christ in His suffering. He suffered EVERYTHING, and not only did He suffer EVERYTHING, but He had to do some of it ALONE. We only have to suffer for ourselves, while He suffered for EVERYONE. He did it alone. Completely alone. And because He did it alone, we don't have to. We sometimes feel alone, but we're not. Because of His sacrifice, we NEVER have to suffer alone. The class ended, and a less active woman who was sitting next to me got up and hugged me because they were getting ready to leave. I hugged her back, but then went to let go of the hug. She held me tighter and started crying. She said "What you said... Thank you so much for what you said. It was EXACTLY what I needed to hear..." I barely met her the night before, and the Spirit was able to get me to say what SHE needed to hear. I didn't know why I needed to say it until after I did, but Heavenly Father knew what she needed, and used me as a way to touch her heart. WOW.

So yesterday was full of miracles. I'm so grateful that after the most stressful week of my life (worse than finals week), I was able to witness aaaalll of those huge miracles. AMAZING.

GENERAL CONFERENCE IS ALMOST HERE!!! I can't wait. I likely won't go again. Because of the huge amount of missionaries, we will probably only be able to go once on the mission (as opposed to 2, like it was before). I went last October, so I probably won't go again. But that's ok! I got to hear ELDER HOLLAND'S talk IN PERSON, so I'm content :)

I love you all so so so much! Mom, I'm writing you a really long letter for Mother's Day (I'm starting it now, so just imagine what it'll be when I finish!!) It makes ME cry when I read it, so you'd better stock up on your tissues NOW, because a letter for a mom such as YOU isn't a little something. I love you so much!

Keep on keeping on, family. Y'all's the best there's ever been!

Hermana Willis

I'M OK!!

So here's the deal... transfers are hard. OVER IT. Until I have to leave again, I'm sure... Hahahaha I'm in Orem now (Adam, where do you live? I'm going to avoid that area at all costs... Haha) So first of all... My first day my companion shared this scripture at dinner, and it punched me RIGHT in the kisser! I LOVE IT!!

It's Acts 20:
3 And there abode three months. (I served in Spanish Fork for 3 months)
22 And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem (Orem), not knowing the things that shall befall me there:
23 Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. (It's going to take some getting used to, and it'll be hard)
24 But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. (I'm a SERVANT. I can't complain! My life isn't mine; I gave it back to its rightful owner a long time ago. This is what makes happy. And if I do it right (with focus and effort), it will always bring me happiness.)
31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears. (I'm spending 18 months in this work, full time. The plan is to wear out the term "full time," and to literally do it all the time.)
36 ¶And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down, and prayed with them all. (Getting ready to leave, saying goodbyes, last visits)
37 And they all wept sore, and fell on Paul’s neck, and kissed him, (Well... I'm the one who cried, but whatever.)
38 Sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, that they should see his face no more. And they accompanied him unto the ship. (Transfers are hard on the missionary and the members. Leave them on a good note (with a prayer!) reminding them why you were there in the first place.)

THANK YOU FOR THE PUNCH, PAUL. I love you, too. This is one of my favorite chapters in the NT now. It's awesome.

BUT, Heavenly Father knew I would need extra friends at transfers, so he EVEN let me see Elders Straub and Stevenson. I love them. They're like my brothers. I'm so glad I got to see them. It helped that I got to sit by them and cry instead of sitting by myself and cry when in the transfer chapel. Hahah TENDER MERCIES!!

Anyway, we're in a walking area, and I LOVE WALKING. I do miss the luxury of a car, and my upper back REALLY doesn't like walking, but I love it. I've wanted to be walking/on a bike since the beginning of my mission, and I finally am! Yesss :)

OH YEAH. So I get here, and my companion tells me all about this big event that our branch is putting on (by "the branch," she really meant her. She's organizing everything. SHE'S AWESOME.) We're doing the restoration pamphlet in music form. There's a song and testimony for each point of the pamphlet. It's going to be AMAZING!! Well, most of it is. There will be a cello, HARP!, flute, piano (obviously), and lots and lots of voices. I'm playing Savior, Redeemer of my Soul which an Elder is singing, and we'll be accompanied by the flute. It's going to be brain blowing. I'm also going to be the testimony of the restoration/first vision/BoM, AND my companion and I are doing a duet for the last song about God answering prayers. I'm really nervous about that one, because we're splitting it, so I'm singing some parts solo... Did you know that I've never preformed before? Singing? Piano, easy. Singing? I'm going to faint. Haha There's two parts to that song, and I already know the song, so it just made sense for me to sing it with her. But dang, I'm nervous! Haha Everything except for the song I'm playing for will be in Spanish. It's going to be huge; potentially 200 people in attendance. And President McCune is coming with his wife, too. SHEESH, make me nervous why don't you!! Haha It's going to be really amazing though. It's on Friday, so we have all week to stress about it :)

I gave a talk in an English ward and most of my talk was reading the excerpt from Strengthened by the Storm about a special blessing (Bertha being healed). I've never made so much of a fool of myself! Hahaha I was crying the whole time. That's one of my favorite stories ever. Every time I read the verses in James, I always think of it :) :)

Dad, yesterday when we were at the house of an investigator, she asked us to help translate her IRS notice and Social Security statements and things, and it really bothered me that I didn't know what ANY of it meant IN ENGLISH. So I'm going to need you to teach me everything about taxes and stuff when I get home... I hate not knowing things... Hahaha

YES! The Keele's live in our area. My second day here we were meeting her at the chapel for something and when she walked in she said "You're here?!" I looked at her and said "...yep...?" She realized I didn't know who she was and said "Oh, you probably don't remember me. My husband was your dad's mission companion." Then everything made sense and I remembered her. She is amazing! She's come to a lesson with us, and is always always there to help. I love them! I hope I get to see the rest of the family.

Ummmm....... I don't know if I have anything else for you... I'm hoping that Spanish Fork will be having baptisms soon, because I want to see the people I taught get baptized! I love them so much. I really hope the sisters who took over our area are doing ok. We organized the heck out of our area book, and I left them a short explanation for every person we were teaching, so other than the overwhelming-ness of taking over someone's area, I think they should be ok... I love that ward! Hah But our stake and branch here are AMAZING. Heavenly Father keeps blessing me with amazing companions and areas, so I don't know what I'm going to do when that changes... Hahaha

OH, by the way my new companion, Hna Abellan, is from Barcelona, Spain. YESSS, another native speaker!! :) Haha

I LOVE YOU ALL. Don't worry when I send depressing emails at transfer time... I will always be ok and get over it. No stressing. Hahaha

LOVE LOVE LOVE,

Hermana Willis

Helping an Hermana in the ward set up her 3 year old's birthday party. IT WAS AMAZING. I've never had a party HALF as awesome as that. Hahaha She's going to do my wedding. I already told her :) Hahaha

This is me with my favorite Argentine investigator, and Argentine dog. I'm going to miss themmm!!!

Selfies with Elder Terron and my compi when we found out the sad news x(

My favorite lady about to ride away to Lehi... Meehhh :(

Our kitchen. I'm finally living like a poor missionary!! :D

This is when we were taking EVERYTHING out of out apartment (I say apartment... it was really just two bedrooms and a bathroom of the upstairs of a member's condo). Hna Morla found one of her WD bags and made me take a picture with it... EVEN THOUGH I LOOKED LIKE DEATH. I didn't wear makeup, and had been crying on and off all day. PICTURE TIME! Hahaha So yes... Tell WD I said hello :)

Transfers: when the heart of Hermana Elisabeth Willis is forcefully removed from her being in a physical and emotion sense.

Email #1: Sorry, was that too dramatic? Well... LET ME TELL YOU. The two stakes Hermana Morla and I cover are going to be the other sisters' area, and Morla and I are BOTH leaving. I literally want to go back to sleep and die... Is that normal? I'm not being overly dramatic, right? Well, we have to pass all of our investigators over to the other sisters, and get the freak out of our apartment. BAH. I love this area and this ward so much, and we have baptisms coming up. I can't wait to come back for these baptisms. That's the only little spark of light I have right now... BAH. So just like it happened last time I was transferred, my brain won't think about anything else, and I'm a zombie... Hmm. I don't like this.

Last time I went to the temple, Adam and Morganne were going in when I was coming out. I didn't get to see them, but they saw some of the sisters in my district.

Ummmm.... what else... Oh! The package. It was amazing. I loved it. Aaaand I'm still sad though.

Also, I saw that John Gullet passed away. I literally almost cried when I read that. PLEASE tell every member of that family that I love them, and they are in my prayers.

I love you all! Say a prayer for me... because... I'm havin' a hard time with this whole transfer thing. Meh.

Love!!!

Hermana Willis


Email #2: Debby Downer---->Soy yo


SORRY MY LAST EMAIL WAS SO DEPRESSING. Let's try this again.

I LOVE Spanish Fork, and I am so grateful that I was able to serve here, even though it was only for 3 months. I've grown A LOT here, and yesterday I even felt really really confident in my Spanish (which doesn't happen)! This last week here has been amazing. We saw MIRACLES yesterday. So many! The whole zone was fasting for the area, and by the end of the night, we had 3 new investigators JUST YESTERDAY!! Our goal for the week was 2, but by the end of the week we had 4!! We've met 2 less actives in restaurants this week, both of them wanting to come back to the church. We have two investigators on date for baptism, potentially two more, and things were changing in the ward. Everything in this area is looking up, even if I don't get to look up with it! WHICH IS STILL GOOD. This ward doesn't need me. The Lord knows what He's doing. I just need to not be selfish and think about what I want. I often do... But if I got what I wanted all the time, I wouldn't have come to Spanish Fork in the first place! I'd probably still be in Eagle Mountain. So I know Heavenly Father knows what He's doing. It's just hard for me to see it when all I see is now, and He sees all.

Man, mortal life is hard :\

Mom and dad, thank you for being the best parents ever! The mission is teaching me that change is inevitable, but my family is always my family, no matter how many times I get transferred from the places I love A LOT. Now if you remember me at all, I get attached to places and people REALLY easily, so just add a missionary tag and mantle to that (added measure of charity, being able to love people like Christ loves them), put me in a place where I work closely with these people for THREE months, and then make me leave REAL QUICK. It's just super hard. But I'm sure I'll love my next area almost as much as I love Spanish Fork :)

Thank you all for being the best people on the planet :) :)

I love you all so much!!

Hermana Willis

Birthday package!! I loved it. A LOT!

I'm going to miss this view. Bahhhhh :'(

Happy birthday/baptism day!

Hola mis pollitos!! I love you guys.

Mommy, when you said "white" birthday, my first thought was "IT'S BEEN SO WARM!!" 40's-50's. It's even been in the 60's!! When it hits the 70's, I'm going to have water withdrawal... I miss swimming and being in water. But guess who WAS in water on my birthday?! ISRAEL WAS!!! Birthday baptism! He's such a miracle! His family came from California (his mother is a convert of a few years), and the room was FILLED. So did you know that not every building has a baptismal font?! Only the stake centers do here. It's crazy. So because it was on a Sunday, and each chapel has like 11 wards who meet there, we had to come at 7 in the morning to fill up the font for 3 hours. We did studies and makeup and stuff... In the bathroom of the church. Hahah It was awesome. The baptism was amazing. We've been teaching him since January, and since before he stepped into the chapel with his auny's family, he was ready. Every time we taught him, he didn't have any doubts about the truth, always prayed, kept commitments, and was progressing from day 1. He was just such an amazing person to work with. And after I told him that my birthday didn't exist on his baptism day, everybody ended up singing me happy birthday anyway after the baptism. Haha I LOVE THESE PEOPLE.

Last night when we were at the big Mexican after party (I hope that doesn't sound offensive... They were really Mexican, and it was a big shindig!) the zone leaders texted us and said there's been stuff going on in the zone and we all needed to meet at their chapel that night. I thought about it for a second and thought "No, this isn't about the zone... IT'S A BIRTHDAY PARTY." So we went, the ZL's met us outside and were all "So there's just been some stuff going down in the zone that we wanted to talk to y'all about..." We were in the gym at this point. They stopped in the middle, and one of them stomped twice, and the curtains opened, and I saw the most beautiful birthday thing in the world. There was a humongous Reese's PB cup with a candle on it. I just love these missionaries so much! They silly stringed me to death, then they sang at me. I LOVE THEM.

So there you have it. I LOVE things again. Yaaayyy!! :)

Umm..... I'm forgetting other things to write... BUT! Thank you all for the birthday wishes and thingies... It was awesome. Actually, the most part of the day was awful (I was feeling reaaallly un-good), but by the time of the baptism, it didn't matter if I felt good or not, it was BAPTISM time! I'm 21 now though! Que weird. I was thinking about everything, and I really don't want to turn 22... I've always wanted to be a big kid, and I LOVE it, but I like 21 and want to stay here. Do you think Heavenly Father will honor my request? I think it's reasonable... ;) Hahaha I'll send you pictures! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!

Hermana Willis

This is me and Alexito. He's the son of the high counselor over our ward. His dad came up to me and said "He has something he wants to say to you." I squatted down so I could hear him, and he wrapped his arms around my neck and said "Happy birthday!" I LITERALLY ALMOST CRIED. Sweetest kid on the earth, right here!

Israel and his brother and sister.

ISRAEL'S BAPTISM! I love this kid, he's such a boss!!

It was pretty packed! :)

Transfering Spanish hymn books, Gus Gus style :)

This is the wonderful Shawn Soto. He's a mini general authority. He's 14, but he can quiet the whole congregation in sacrament meeting (EVEN THE KIDS) when he speaks. His voice commands the winds. Hahah

Shawnsy and me. He made me TRES LECHES for my birthday! We're best friends. He tried to write happy birthday on it with food coloring and a tooth pick, but he failed HARD. Hahahaha

Me and my favorite ladies :)

This is the Sueng family. They are such a miracle! They were baptized before I got here, but I'll send you their amazing story another time. Buuuut they bought me a piece of cake for my birthday. Hahaha I LOVE THEM! They're like my 2nd parents here in Spanish Fork.

These are the best missionaries ever. I love them! The banner says "Feliz Birthday" :)

These are the best people in the world. And the Elders standing next to me are the ZL's. They got me with silly string. My compi isn't in the picture, she was taking it :(

Me and Hna Sablan. She's my favorite human ever :)

We just liked this sign... It sounds like a dance move or something!