Busy Week

We have almost no time to do anything this week. We completed a bunch of service in our area, helping two families move, working at a different church giving food to the needy, giving blessings to members in the word and trying to do typical missionary work with 4 hours of study....sigh. It’s Great!

It looks like we get to Skype this Sunday, but I can’t remember when church gets out so let me know this week via email. Our trainers had a meeting up in Davenport (about two hours away) so they decided to leave me and another brand new missionary behind and Elder Klc (yes, that’s how it’s spelled, pronounced Kelch). So you can imagine my apprehension and fear with no trainer and no plan of what to do really.

So this is what we did...

We gave a blessing to an Australian CAT employee at a Hotel with mysterious pain in his face. When we left he said, "I feel better already."

I had the opportunity to teach my first two investigators this last week. We taught a 15-year-old guy and his girlfriend, who was a member. He agreed to read the Book of Mormon and take the lessons with parent permission. He is living literally in the hood of Peoria; it is pretty scary.

Also we taught a guy and his member wife the plan of salvation. He didn’t say much, but Elder Klc thought he was very interested. He had questions about authority because he has already been baptized a few times in a few different churches.

We had the car so we got lost a whole bunch in Peoria even with a GPS, a combination of several 6 way stops, and an un-updated GPS.

Had a friendly conversation with a Baptist preacher while he was working on his lawn. He didn’t curse at us or threaten us at all, which is plus.

All and all, our trainers were very proud of us and we got a lot done. Sometimes new missionaries don’t do anything when they are paired up, so they were glad we did so much.

Also I got to eat something very weird. There is a missionary in the ward who served in the Philippines and he invited the 6 missionaries serving in the ward to come over and eat something called Balut (ba-loot).

It’s a partially developed duck egg that has a fetus inside developing for about 14-18 days. You boil it for a while, crack the shell on your knuckle, maybe put some salt on it, and consume the bird and the yoke of the egg. As you chew, you feel bones and feathers of the duck fetus. I will let you know more on Sunday, plus there is a video of us eating them.

Anyway, Peoria, the mission, and the missionaries are all great, I love you and will see you soon.

Elder Willard

P.S. I got my visa.

It's May!

No news on the visa, but that is totally fine with me. I haven’t taught any investigators yet, lots of member visits. We have 1 or 2 recent convert visits a week, but other than that it’s just trying to get into people’s homes. If you live in Peoria, you work for CAT or you’re a doctor. So we have some pretty fantastically wealthy people here with beautiful communities, grand spacious homes, fancy luxury vehicles and are kind of rude to us. What can you do…

There were two interesting things that happened this week.

1. We got a call from our Zone Leaders and said that a man at St. Francis hospital needed a blessing, so my companion and I drove down to find him. After searching through a humongous hospital, we found him with several bandages on his head and a few family members watching him. He had been in a car accident that morning and had gone through the windshield. Most of his scalp had been torn off his head, but had been stapled back onto his skull. Putting our hands on his head was out of the question. My companion anointed him and I sealed it, but during the blessing the man started to mock me. He jokingly talked to me as I was trying to listen to the spirit to see if he was going to live or die, to see what I should bless him with. Halfway through the blessing he began to snore loudly at me and got louder and louder. I wasn’t bitter or upset; the only feeling that I had for this man was sadness. He had come to know that the church was true and had fallen away. Now he began to mock the sacred ordinance that we were doing to help him. But as we left I felt great joy because I knew at least that he was going to be fine.

2. Before we ever leave to go knocking on doors, we kneel in front of the map and pray where we should go. On one such an experience, we kneeled down and I offered the prayer. I paused in the middle to listen and the words "Willow Lake" randomly popped into my head. I closed the prayer and waited for my companion to stand. I didn’t say anything at first because I was scared that I was wrong. As my companion looked at the map, I pointed at the street and said, "I want to go there." My companion, still looking at the map, just smiled and said, "I feel exactly the same way." When the spirit communicates to his servants, it is all the same.

Anyway, it’s hard work, but its good and I know I'm doing the Lord’s will.

I love you guys and will talk to you next week.

Elder Willard

Pictures from Peoria, Illinois

Howard with three Brazilian Missionaries temporarily reassigned to Des Moines. Elder Wilmore, on the far right, flew out of SeaTac with Howard on Feb 29th.

Howard and the wonderful Mission President and his wife.After his first day in Des Moines, he was assigned to Peoria, Illinois.

Trainer, Elder Brinkerhoff, with Howard on his first day.

Working in Peoria, Illinois

Entao, here I am in Peoria, Illinois, where it is beautiful every single day and we don’t have to wear suits if it’s over 70 degrees. I am on a reassignment to the Iowa Des Moines Mission for a minimum of a month. If my visa arrives tomorrow, I still will not leave until the next transfer. But I’m super excited and happy to serve here. There is a lot of church history in Iowa and Illinois and I don’t know if I will get to see the sights, but my trainer and I will try.

We have been whitewashed into our area. That means that neither of us have been here, so we don’t know the members, recent converts, less-actives, investigators, the area, the bishop or anything else about our district. Most of the time we are just trying to figure out where people live which is more challenging than I thought (with no iPhone 4). We trade a car every other week with our district leader, so starting today we have a car! (My butt is sore from the bikes we use.) It’s a gold Chevy Malibu. It’s also very weird to be carrying a cell phone again. I usually forget that I have one.

My trainer’s name is Elder Brinkerhoff from Idaho Falls, Idaho. He is a really nice guy, although I can’t seem to find his humorous side, but we both really like Chinese food. He is about 6-months-old and as they say here on the mission, He's my daddy. We haven’t taught anyone yet except from members at dinner. But I’m excited to get out there and find some investigators. Oh, if you ever see an Elder Fortuna, let me know, he is serving in the Everett Washington Mission and we are having dinner with the Fortuna family tonight. I spoke with Momma Fortuna and I told her I live in her son's mission, she then quickly got to the missionary meal calendar and signed us up for the very next day. We are excited. Everyone is pretty surprised that I live on an island. "There are islands in Washington?!" they say. Good stuff. I don’t think I want to go to Brazil now.

It’s hard to remember what happened over the week. I should bring my journal when I type out emails.

Well I love you all and I know I’m supposed to be here. There is someone that I need to talk to or something I need to learn. Maybe I won’t go to Brazil and that’s totally fine because the only thing that matters is that I’m serving the Lord.

Elder Willard

P.S. Oh, and the temple for our mission is Nauvoo.