The service we did with that Member family I mentioned early was painting their "playroom" (I put quotations around playroom because they have a twelve year old, a fourteen year old, and an eighteen year old boys live with them. Anyways, that's were they have all their video games, darts guns, a pool table, etc but I don't you would call that a play room if they're teenagers, right?). We had fun painting with them and, at one point, I took a smaller brush and I painted the eighteen year old's face on the wall as a joke. However, he loved the picture a lot and refuses to let anyone paint over that. Haha. Now they have a giant head on their wall.
Yesterday was President Marston's birthday and the Zone wanted to surprise him. The Sisters in Granite Bay had set everything up, like making fruit pizzas and two large posters! All the Missionaries in the Zone met at President Marston's and, with the help from Sister Marston, sung Happy Birthday to him and surprised him! (Though he claims that we only came was to see if we could caught a sneak peek of Transfers. Haha.) we had fun, chatted with one another, and he had the Zone Leaders publicly read out the Transfer calls in front of everyone! Haha. Elder Masima and I are staying together for another Transfer. Then Elder Larsen and Sister Willis from Oroville are coming down to our Zone! Oroville is coming back to me!
I hope you all had a good week! And a good Superbowl Sunday! I can't wait to hear from all of you and I miss you all! I love you all and please take care!
-Elder Paul Willis
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Tuesday, February 10, 2015
February 2nd, 2015- The Seven Week Transfer (Rocklin)
January 26th, 2015 - Zone Blitz Week (Rocklin)
Hey Everyone!
Sorry for the late email! It has been a really busy week! There is was so much work to be done and we had lots more service this week. Which is good, I don't like staying idle.
On Tuesday we ended up doing some service for an Investigator's husband, which was really good for us because he has come to church a couple of times. It was some serious work, like helping arrange some furniture in his house and shoveling dirt outside.he really appreciated it, especially since he had quite the busy day when we there. He was running all over the place! We also helped a member family take down a bed and clean up their garage. It took an hour or two but we were able to do it!
We did another Zone Blitz on Thursday, in the our Ward I served in when I was in the threesome. We did exchanges that day with Elder Gessell and Elder Bergener that day. I spent the whole day with Elder Bergener and we did a pretty good job and I was really impressed in how he does in Missionary Work (this is his third transfer in the field. Elder Gessell finished training him last transfer.). We got to see some old people I knew back in the 2nd Ward and spent some time with them. We met some pretty interesting people and even managed to pick up some potentials for Elder Fa and Elder Acevedo. It was nice change of pace compared to the week.
Today we had a "Missionary Funeral" since one of our Zone Leaders, Elder Corry, is finishing his mission next week and he wanted one. We accidentally missed the service but a Samoan family in the Sone Leader's Ward made us tons of really good food. We were really full from that. We also did volleyball and Elder Nielsen and Elder Johnston brought gear to do something similar to tight rope, but they use webs instead or cords. The was fun and the webbing might have brushed my legs when I fell.
I love receding all he emails that y'all sent me and I'm excited for some the things that are happening out there. I hope y'all are doing all right and I love you all very much! Take care and always looks for the miracles that Heavenly Father gives you everyday!
Elder Paul Willis
January 29th, 2015 - Y'all (Rocklin)
Hey Y'all!
I hope y'all had a good week? Did anyone do anything cool or exciting? Anything new happen to anyone?
We had a good week! We were able to get a few lessons in and we spent a lot of time with members this week. We had some really good dinners with some amazing members who got along with really well. I'm still gnawing at all that candy I received from the holidays and the bag is still half full!! I'm going to be so fat by the end of my mission...
We ended up doing a lot service for the members in our Ward this week. There is an older couple who is moving out of the Ward and we volunteered to help them out every week! We ended moving and fixing some stuff in their garage. Then we helped a Sister and her Less-Active son (who we are teaching.) take down their Christmas Lights and set up a dresser. Believe it or not, the lights only took fifteen minutes or less but it took two days to set up the dresser! We also help a woman in another area move in.
We are always looking for people to talk to, but every time we do they're not even in our area! However, we did help this one woman when we were biking the other day. We found her trying to hitch-hike on the side of the road and she was pacing frantically. We stopped by and offered our phone to her so that she could call someone. She said she didn't know anyone around and that she was trying to hurry to a Community thing because she was kicked out of her previous place and everything was falling out of place. She was panicked and nearly in tears, so we called a member, who said he was busy but as, soon as we said someone needed help, he dropped everything and said he was on his way. When we told her that we got her a ride, she began crying, hugged us tightly, and thanked us. She explained that she was just kicked out of her room by another woman, has no else to go, no job, and questioned if God was listening. We talked to her for the whole time until our member came, the. Gave her a Book of Mormon, told her to go to Mormon.org, and helped her into the car.
Not much happens in Rocklin but we are always looking for opportunities like this. I still love being a Missionary and I'm still working hard.
I hope y'all are doing well and I hope to hear from you soon! Take care and I love you all!
Elder Paul Willis
January 12th, 2015 - I Can't Think of a Title (Rocklin)
Hey Everyone!
I hope you had a good week! Is everyone keeping busy and still finding
sometime to rest? Anything cool or exciting happen this week?
We had a fair week, had some downs but was made up ally by some really
good highs. Last P-Day (after I sent my email.), Elder Johnston, whose
an assistant, and I found out that we each wrestled back in high
school. We ended up wrestling for a few minutes! We started by the
stage in the gym and we ended up in the middle of the gym. He beat me
of course but he said I was good (considering the fact that I haven't
wrestled over two years while he wrestled for all four years of high
school.). Not going to lie, it felt really good to wrestle and I think
that it was something that I needed.
Wednesday was pretty good. We had a Zone Meeting on that day and, to
my surprise, Elder Benedict was there! Apparently, halfway though the
transfer, he and companion had sudden transfers and he became a Zone
Leader for Chico! (Now, nothing bad happened between him and his
companion, I knew his companion and he's a good guy. What happened is
that one of the Gridley Zone Leaders and Chico Zone Leaders got
permission to go home early. So Elder Benedict became the new ZL in
Chico and his companion is the ZL in Gridley.) So the Assistants were
doing exchanges with Chico and Elder Benedict came down! It was great!
I really missed that guy.
Later that day, we went over to one of our investigator's house. We
had received a text earlier and she asked if we could give her a
blessing. We accepted happily since we weren't able to have a lesson
with her in weeks. We headed over to her place right after we finished
Zone Meeting. When we got there, we were greeted by her husband, who
let us in and took her up to see her. She looked really sick and I was
amazed with the great care and diligence of her husband as he took
care of her. We explained what a Blessing was and the importance of
faith. I noticed that her husband was also listening, which was good
since he's deciding if he wants to investigate or not. We have her the
blessing and we felt the spirit really strong there. Later, she sent
us a text saying that she didn't that it was what she just needed.
We had President Interviews last Friday and it went really well. I got
a really great man for a Mission President and I love him a lot. I'm
very grateful to have him in my life.
I'm doing good here and am love serving my mission. At times, it's
hard but there's nothing more rewarding then this. I know that there
are blessing in store.
Love you all!
Elder Paul Willis
I hope you had a good week! Is everyone keeping busy and still finding
sometime to rest? Anything cool or exciting happen this week?
We had a fair week, had some downs but was made up ally by some really
good highs. Last P-Day (after I sent my email.), Elder Johnston, whose
an assistant, and I found out that we each wrestled back in high
school. We ended up wrestling for a few minutes! We started by the
stage in the gym and we ended up in the middle of the gym. He beat me
of course but he said I was good (considering the fact that I haven't
wrestled over two years while he wrestled for all four years of high
school.). Not going to lie, it felt really good to wrestle and I think
that it was something that I needed.
Wednesday was pretty good. We had a Zone Meeting on that day and, to
my surprise, Elder Benedict was there! Apparently, halfway though the
transfer, he and companion had sudden transfers and he became a Zone
Leader for Chico! (Now, nothing bad happened between him and his
companion, I knew his companion and he's a good guy. What happened is
that one of the Gridley Zone Leaders and Chico Zone Leaders got
permission to go home early. So Elder Benedict became the new ZL in
Chico and his companion is the ZL in Gridley.) So the Assistants were
doing exchanges with Chico and Elder Benedict came down! It was great!
I really missed that guy.
Later that day, we went over to one of our investigator's house. We
had received a text earlier and she asked if we could give her a
blessing. We accepted happily since we weren't able to have a lesson
with her in weeks. We headed over to her place right after we finished
Zone Meeting. When we got there, we were greeted by her husband, who
let us in and took her up to see her. She looked really sick and I was
amazed with the great care and diligence of her husband as he took
care of her. We explained what a Blessing was and the importance of
faith. I noticed that her husband was also listening, which was good
since he's deciding if he wants to investigate or not. We have her the
blessing and we felt the spirit really strong there. Later, she sent
us a text saying that she didn't that it was what she just needed.
We had President Interviews last Friday and it went really well. I got
a really great man for a Mission President and I love him a lot. I'm
very grateful to have him in my life.
I'm doing good here and am love serving my mission. At times, it's
hard but there's nothing more rewarding then this. I know that there
are blessing in store.
Love you all!
Elder Paul Willis
January 5th, 2015 - Happy new Years! (Rocklin)
How is it going, Everyone?
Happy New Year and I really hope that you all had a good winter break! Surprisingly, New Years wasn't that crazy here and I slept throughout the whole night. There was an hour were our neighbor kept blasting music but it stopped right before we headed to bed. There was very little people going around town.
We didn't have many lessons this week but we were able to pay so e visits to members since everything has finally calmed down and everyone is back in town. Rocklin is looking slow right now but it also feels like everyone has a relaxed feeling about them. There are tons of blessings towards everyday given to us by Heavenly Father and he has helped me out a lot throughout the week.
One of the families invited us over for a Ward New-Years Party on Saturday. We came over an hour and a half early to help them get ready. We spent most of the time watching one of the kids figure out how to work their new can opener. Haha. Other than that, they made tons of food. They made crepes, buttermilk syrup, nachos, homemade salsa, and tons of other food. Many people who came over brought lots of sugary food also. There were members and non-members at the party, which was a great opportunity for us. We were able to make closer relationships with the members of our wards and we got to know the non-members there also.
We went to a restaurant this week which is owned by a Less-Active woman in our Ward. She hasn't been coming to church because she's working all the time in order to pay for all her children's schooling but we heard that she takes good care of the Missiomaries if they ever end up at her restaurant. We wanted to go in order to see if there was a time we could stop by and visit and we wanted to help her out with her cause. We were able to help a waitress out as she moved some tables and the owner kept sending food (which we didn't even order.) to us. To top it all off, she even paid for our entire meal! I left a big tip for the waitress and the owner, though.
I'm doing well here but I'm always praying that all of you are doing extraordinary well. I love you and and I miss you all very much! Have a good week!
Elder Paul Willis
December 29th, 2014 - Christmas Week! (Rocklin)
Hey Everyone!
I hope you all had a good Christmas! No matter what the weather was
that day. You know we had snow here... Oh, wait, no we didn't. No why?
Because we love in NORTH CALIFORNIA! Where it's cold enough for snow
but won't give us the beauty of it! Again, why can't we have snow but
with the same temperature of summer? We need a Swinter.
Anyways, I had a good Christmas. We did some Caroling on Tuesday at
the Christmas Street in town. That was so much fun and an Elder and I
carried on Jingle Bells for a good while. In Christmas Eve, President
Marston had invited our Zone to go over to his house and spend the
evening with him and his family. There was snacks and socializing
going on, but a few Missionaries had taken the time to play some games
with President Marston's grandchildren, like Signs and the Cup Song.
Afterwards, we all gather together and sung Silent Night and had a
Zone Picture taken. On Christmas Day we spent sometime with a Less
Active Family and played some games with them. I then got to talk to
my family and I really enjoyed that! Overall, it was a good Christmas
season.
Other than that, it's been a very busy week. Events kept popping up
and it was really hard to find people to teach because everyone had
family in town or were away. Got to meet lots of cool people from
visiting some family members!
I want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers! I really
appreciate them and love them very much! I hope you all are doing
really well and having a good Holiday! Take care and I love you all!
Elder Paul Willis
I hope you all had a good Christmas! No matter what the weather was
that day. You know we had snow here... Oh, wait, no we didn't. No why?
Because we love in NORTH CALIFORNIA! Where it's cold enough for snow
but won't give us the beauty of it! Again, why can't we have snow but
with the same temperature of summer? We need a Swinter.
Anyways, I had a good Christmas. We did some Caroling on Tuesday at
the Christmas Street in town. That was so much fun and an Elder and I
carried on Jingle Bells for a good while. In Christmas Eve, President
Marston had invited our Zone to go over to his house and spend the
evening with him and his family. There was snacks and socializing
going on, but a few Missionaries had taken the time to play some games
with President Marston's grandchildren, like Signs and the Cup Song.
Afterwards, we all gather together and sung Silent Night and had a
Zone Picture taken. On Christmas Day we spent sometime with a Less
Active Family and played some games with them. I then got to talk to
my family and I really enjoyed that! Overall, it was a good Christmas
season.
Other than that, it's been a very busy week. Events kept popping up
and it was really hard to find people to teach because everyone had
family in town or were away. Got to meet lots of cool people from
visiting some family members!
I want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers! I really
appreciate them and love them very much! I hope you all are doing
really well and having a good Holiday! Take care and I love you all!
Elder Paul Willis
December 22nd, 2014- 2 days 'Till (Rocklin)
Hey Everyone!
How is everyone doing? Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Does
anyone have any exciting plans this Christmas and/or New Years? Anyone
family or close friends coming out to see y'all?
It's been a very busy week. We had a Zone Christmas a Devotional on
Thursday and I got to see Elder Moseley (and, to my horror, brought me
three bottles of Coca-Cola. Haha. He knows that's my favorite drink.).
It went really well and every Zone had to prepare two musical numbers
for the Devotional. We sung the The Spirit of God and sung the second
verse in Tongan! That was a lot of fun!
Oh, my new companion, Elder Masima, is really cool and I like him a
lot. He's from Tonga and he's teaching me some Tongan. I like him a
lot and were are going to have fun for the next seven weeks! (Yes,
it's a seven week transfer.)
Friday we had our Ward's Christmas Party. Elder Masima and I were
helping out a lot since the woman in charge had lost a lot of her
help. The Missionaries played as Shepherds in a little play and helped
set up and take down. We had a lot of fun and saw that many of our
members brought non-members to the event.
On Sunday, after Church, a family took Elder Masima and I over to a
street called "Christmas Street." All the houses were high,y decorated
with many lights and it was tons of fun. We took many pictures and had
tons of fun with the family that took us.
Today we played Rugby for an hour at the park next to the Stake
Center. It was a ton of fun and it looked like everyone enjoyed
themselves. The field we played on was really muddy and a lot of us
ended up on the ground (there were moments where I purposely slid I
order to get the ball. Haha.). Nobody got hurt because we were all
playing smart.
I want to thank all of you for the packages you've sent in. I really
like the gifts in them and I can't wait to open the others on
Christmas Day! Thank you so much!
I hope you all have a good week! Merry Christmas and I love you all!
Elder Paul Willis
How is everyone doing? Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Does
anyone have any exciting plans this Christmas and/or New Years? Anyone
family or close friends coming out to see y'all?
It's been a very busy week. We had a Zone Christmas a Devotional on
Thursday and I got to see Elder Moseley (and, to my horror, brought me
three bottles of Coca-Cola. Haha. He knows that's my favorite drink.).
It went really well and every Zone had to prepare two musical numbers
for the Devotional. We sung the The Spirit of God and sung the second
verse in Tongan! That was a lot of fun!
Oh, my new companion, Elder Masima, is really cool and I like him a
lot. He's from Tonga and he's teaching me some Tongan. I like him a
lot and were are going to have fun for the next seven weeks! (Yes,
it's a seven week transfer.)
Friday we had our Ward's Christmas Party. Elder Masima and I were
helping out a lot since the woman in charge had lost a lot of her
help. The Missionaries played as Shepherds in a little play and helped
set up and take down. We had a lot of fun and saw that many of our
members brought non-members to the event.
On Sunday, after Church, a family took Elder Masima and I over to a
street called "Christmas Street." All the houses were high,y decorated
with many lights and it was tons of fun. We took many pictures and had
tons of fun with the family that took us.
Today we played Rugby for an hour at the park next to the Stake
Center. It was a ton of fun and it looked like everyone enjoyed
themselves. The field we played on was really muddy and a lot of us
ended up on the ground (there were moments where I purposely slid I
order to get the ball. Haha.). Nobody got hurt because we were all
playing smart.
I want to thank all of you for the packages you've sent in. I really
like the gifts in them and I can't wait to open the others on
Christmas Day! Thank you so much!
I hope you all have a good week! Merry Christmas and I love you all!
Elder Paul Willis
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