Going to Des Moines!

Well, I have a temporary reassignment to Des Moines, Iowa until my visa arrives. I’m super excited to get to work; my district is going to Mesa, Arizona on reassignment. I leave on Wednesday at 4 in the morning, so if you’re planning on sending me something, wait till I can give you an address in the field. I hear they just had a lot of tornados there which could mean I’ll be doing service, maybe don a Mormon helping hands shirt. 

Elder Ballard came last night to the fireside, this last three weeks has been nuts with general authorities. He talked about the importance of the Book of Mormon. Recently I had an impression to get a Book of Mormon in English and the articles of faith on a card for the plane. I wonder what will happen.

I’m not supposed to trap anyone on the plane, if they don’t want to hear they can’t just walk away. I can engage if they ask me questions. The first and this last week have gone by really slowly; I just want to leave and get to work. I wish I had more time to write.

Eu vou comunicar com voces de novo, tarde. Eu amo voces!!

Elder Willard

Happy Easter!

My training here at the MTC is complete but...still no visa. I will just hangout here until I get it or get a reassignment.

I barely understand anything being said in portugues and I can only talk about gospel related things in portugues. If you asked me my favorite color or if I saw a certain movie I would have no idea what to say. But if you asked me what a profeta (prophet) is, you would be in good luck.

Pres. Packer came to the MTC yesterday for Easter and talked about the importance of the resurrection and how we could not have the Expiação (Atonement) without a punishment. Also the BYU Men’s Chorus sang for us at our weekly Sunday night fireside. Both were fantastic.

I met Elder Taylor, Sister Huff’s nephew, he looks a lot like her. He was a little upset when I told him about where Alex is going on his mission. He was expecting to hear from the family. But he is totally dope!!

There is a new infield training coisa (thing). In the past the greeny wouldn’t do anything; he would just follow the senior companion like a monkey. Typically you have an hour of personal study, companionship study and language study. Now, for the first 12 weeks of your mission, you have an extra hour of companionship study that focuses on getting the new missionary doing the normal responsibilities sooner. It’s apparently super effective. Super excited for that.

I didn’t get anything from Sister Willard. (She’ll write on Thursday due to transfers.)

Anyway, I love you guys and hope you had a Happy Easter!!

Elder Willard

Conference Edition

Well, I still do not have a visa; I feel like the emails are getting repetitive. This is officially my last week here at the MTC (and yes, I still don’t feel ready).  The language is coming along, but my one weakness is understanding when people are talking. We have about 4 fluent Spanish speakers that totally understand the language, which is a little discouraging.

After hearing Elder Holland’s talk about jealousy and "drinking a quart of pickle juice," I should be happy for their talents and abilities and be happy for my trials and challenges. I've been moved to a new district that is a week younger than me so I reviewed a lot of the same stuff last week. Good for me. My new companion looks like (not to be mean) Sloth from the Goonies...he has a very deep voice and an engineer’s mind. He understands what is being said in the lesson and I just talk.

If I don’t receive my visa this week, I will probably be here ‘til it shows up. There are some missionaries here that have been here for 14 weeks on a 9 week Spanish learning track just waiting for their visa to Argentina or Chile. I don’t want to be that guy. BUT I would be a boss at speaking the language.

Thanks Sister Huff for the DearElder letters, there were great. And could I get Alex's email?

I never can remember what happened over the last week until after the 30-minute time limit is up on the computer. Uhhhh...Sister Willard seems to be killing it in England. I was hoping she would be jumping up and down when she saw me and hope she picked up the line, "Good Scottish grit" from Saturday afternoon session.

I think my favorite talk was Elder Holland’s because it applies to me that most. This MTC experience, learning the language has been the hardest thing I have ever done so when I see people not struggling and bragging about how great they are, I go just a little livid. So for a few weeks now, I’ve been asking for charity and Christ-like love for everyone. So far so good. If I can’t learn to do that, how can I love my investigators?

Terrific conference weekend, I can’t wait till they make some of those into Mormon Messages. We have big Easter Sunday with 3 General Authorities coming, but they won’t say who.....but I have some ideas.

Anyway the Church is true, the Book of Mormon is the truest book on the face of the earth and will bring you closer to God than any other book.

I love you all and look forward to hearing from you.

Elder Willard

A Month in the MTC

Well my companion got his visa and is leaving tomorrow. So now I will be the only one in the district. From 7 missionaries to just me. My teachers will be teaching me solo, so I might get a cool solo sticker on my name tag. We had a missionary here for 12 weeks and a 9 week Portuguese learning track who finally got reassigned to Colorado. His Visa has been at the “ready for pick-up” stage for about 5 weeks (that is what my visa just got to). I may never leave the MTC; I might just serve my mission in the cafeteria at the MTC.

Elder Jensen emailed me and says he lost 10 pounds already. I’m super jealous!!!! GRRR! Our Zone leaders are leaving for Portugal tomorrow as well along with two elders and a sister so our zone is getting pretty small. The new zone leaders are just a week old here at the MTC so they ask a lot of questions and look up to the older guys, which is me now....weird. I’ve only been here for about a month.

I discovered recently that my preacher's license expires Feb. 4 and I started my mission Feb. 29. So my mission will be 23 months instead of 24. I GOT JIPPED!!! Super lame.

I got my patriarchal blessing on Friday and it was awesome. I will have to send mom and dad a copy; its pretty long. Growing up you always hear of the really interesting stuff in patriarchal blessings, but mine seems kinda...boring? Don’t get me wrong, I love it and it’s full of stuff that I needed to hear and study.

I saw Elder Zinkand and he seems to be doing fine. But I don’t know who got his blue suit; it’s flashy and kind reflective…he looks like a peacock. His mission president is probably going to tell him to burn it.

Anyway all is well, just struggling with the language and hoping to leave soon to O Brasil!

Love, Elder Willard

P.S. Watch the second session of conference very carefully... ;)    

Serven da Lord

Entáo (so), it’s hard to remember what happened this week. Our pesquisador (investigator) Monica agreed to be batizara (baptized), but was wondering why again because she had been baptized at a baby in the catolic (catholic) igreja (church). She asked this all in Portuguese; I have no idea how I understood her. Loco! We had to be bold and tell her straight up that it didn’t count because the Catolic Igreja didn’t have the correct Sacerdócio (priesthood) autoridade (authority). Didn’t think she wanted to see us again, but we expressed our love for her and she agreed to be baptized in trés semanas (3 weeks).

Sister Willard’s experiences get me excited to get into the field, but as of today I still do not have a visa, so I probably will be here for at least another week. It is totally fine because I still need to get my patriarchal blessing, and I’m getting it this Friday at 3. Super excited!!!

Classes are going pretty good when the whole district is just dois (2) pessoas (people). Between me and Elder Marley we have maybe 6 teachers that have no one else to teach por que (because) all the missionaries (missionarios) either go straight to Brasil or are only here for a few days. It’s good though; I’m not very good at the language so it’s nice to have the attention.

There was a reporter that came up from Sáo Paolo from a big newspaper and interviewed Elder Marley and myself and a few other Portuguese speakers at the MTC and she quoted me on some stuff I think. Entáo I might be in a newspaper somewhere!

Anyway it’s really tough but worth it. D&C 18:10 The worth of souls is great in the sight of God. Serven da Lord.

Elder Willard

Second Week at the MTC

So the language is getting super difficult; I feel like I'm not keeping up with the rest of the district which is lame. Elder Royster will be leaving the district to Brazil tomorrow because he got his visa in the mail. So out of the seven original members of the district, now it’s two--with me, as the senior companion, and Elder Marley who is the district leader. We will probably will receive our visas this Thursday and leave for Brazil next Tuesday.

I haven’t seen Elder Jensen for 9 days, it has officially been the longest we've been apart...for like 18 months. Weird.

I get to go to the temple every week on Monday but I keep forgetting to bring my names!! This morning I forgot my recommend!! But I'll figure it out.

If anyone has any address to friends or relatives and would like me to write to them please email them to me. Mom if you could have Frazier talk to Josh Klett about getting an address from Brandon that would be great. I will write him a letter today and send it to him when I get the address.

How’s the pole barn? How are my brothas? What’s Marnie been doing? Has Katie been using the fundamentals of missionary work?

Eu sei que o livro de Mormon e verdaderio, Eu sei que a ingreja e verdaderio. Jose Smith e profeta de Deus ao restorado ele ingreja em terra. Em nome de Jeus Cristo, amem.

Elder Willard

Welcome to the MTC!

Well the MTC is fantastic and the myldsmail account has very long functionality and I only have 30 minutes to send emails (which is tough) but here we go.

My Personal days are on Monday, which is the only day that I can write and send emails. If you want me to receive something quickly, use www.Dearelder.com because I can receive those everyday. Elder Jensen is my companion which is totally crazy, but he is leaving tomorrow for Brazil because he received his visa on Thursday. I have a fantastic district with very strong members of the church, but almost all of them are leaving for Brazil because they all got their visas on Thursday with Elder Jensen. So it will be a whopping 3 people in the whole district and all 3 of us will be companions. So I could be here for 2-3 more weeks which is totally fine. I really love the MTC and learning Portuguese extremely quickly. I can pray, testify, get to know someone and express my feelings to an investigator--all in Portuguese. On the first real day at the MTC they asked us to prepare a lesson from the Manual all in Portuguese!!!! It was extremely tough but we did it and it went fine. We have a fantastic language teacher, Irma (sister) Jacobs who is a native to Brazil and served her mission there, too.

It has been the longest 5 days of my life, but everyone says wait till Sunday and everything will speed up. 16 hour days are pretty tough. If you’re going on a mission be prepared to work, work, work, work, and work! But it’s extremely rewarding. I’ve never prayed more in my life, especially to learn the language...but there is a strong spirit in everything you do. I'm doing my best to think less of myself and dive into the work and put all my focus on the investigator. When you get dropped off at the curb a veteran missionary welcomes you and he is called your host. My host said that the MTC is the happiest place on earth and I'm starting to believe him. Everyday my testimony is reaffirmed and strengthened about the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know he lives and that the atonement is everlasting and infinite. I love my Pai Celestial e filho, Jesus Cristo.

Love,

Elder Willard

P.S. Mom, do you remember watching a youtube video with a Coldplay song and a black lead vocalist...he spoke last night at the fireside here at the MTC, Alex Boye!

He was amazing!!

From Mom: Megan Duckworth shared that video on facebook. Here is the link.He was in the news last week because he sang the National Anthem at his own Citizen Swearing-in Ceremony.