Wednesday, July 25, 2012

July 25, 2102

Hello Family!!
 Well I have 20 min. to write and Im not a fast typer so hopefully I can get in a lot of stuff.           Well Im still surviving the MTC. Im still doing fine dont worry about me..I still havent even got homesick yet!!! Which is pretty amazing I think.   I am ready to get out of here though. Its always so crowded and there are so many people.   I cant wait until it can just be me and my companion in Louisiana. It should be fun.   Im excited. I think Im getting tired of the people in my district too! haha! I mean they are still fun to hang around and stuff but some of them are really annoying and immature. I think Im the most mature out of the whole group and Im not even that mature either haha! Well I finished the Book of Mormon yesterday! That means I read the whole thing in 12 days!! And some days I didnt even get to read it cause we have class like 6 hours of the day! I think my favorite thing to do here is teach the fake investigators. I think I told you guys about it before but they get people to come to the MTC and act as investigators. We dont know if they are actually nonmembers or real members. I think its so cool to teach people the gospel! At first when I started teaching I couldnt teach at all! Me and my comp were horrible at teaching., but I committed my self to start studying the lessons hard and now I can teach them so good and I can help the investigators needs through the lesson. Its really cool when you teach by the spirit. After every lesson I just feel so good and Im always like man I cant wait to get to Louisiana and teach real people... but yeah there are somedays when I get a little discouraged cause Ill think of home or something but its not too bad.Iit only happens sometimes. most of the time Im perfectly fine and having a good time. Yeah I havent really gotten any letters yet.. I got one from Maryssa like the first day and I got one from Reed! Mostly just all the dear elders from you guys which I look forward to and enjoy. Now I know why missionaries always look forward to letters. Tell Jaden to tell everyone to start writing me! I like getting letters and stuff! ok so heres the important part. im leaving tuesday morning!!! i have to leave here at like 3 in the morning. we have a layover in Dallas. which is pretty cool. We have a layover from 9:35 to 12:00 which will be like 7:35 to 10 in Heber time! So I can call you guys anywhere between like 8 and 10! Just send me a dear elder in the next couple days and tell me when a good time to call you guys will be! And whose phone number to call! Yeah and then we get to Baton Rouge at 1:30! Its going to be hot!! Im looking forward to it though! I think Im going to buy an extra phone card at the bookstore just in case! They are like 3 dollars. so just let me know when to call you! and be thinking of things to ask me cause I got lots of stories so far!! Well thats about it. My time is almost up. I cant wait to hear from you guys! Hope everyone is doing well. I miss all you guys but Im doing fine. Im learning so much here. Its great! Well talk to you later! Love you!

Love Elder Willis

Friday, July 20, 2012

July 18, 2012

We finally got a letter & email from Tyler.  We have been anxiously waiting to hear from him.  Here are some of the things he wrote in his e-mail and letter:
In his letter he wrote that everyone at the MTC was so friendly.  He is enjoying the food and especially the Fresca.  He probably is excited that his mom is not there to tell him to control himself with the sodas:)  His MTC companion and his roomates are all going to Louisiana.


This is the e-mail:
Hello familia!!
Hope all is well. im doing very good. i actually think i might be in love with the mtc!!! its so fun! (well most of the time) i honestly like this place. its super busy though. this is pretty much my schedule: eat, class, study, eat, class, study, eat, class, study, sleep. haha im getting in the groove of it though. the first couple days here were super slow. but now the days just zoom by. i cant believe i have already been out a week. its crazy. yeah my companion is elder ackerman from idaho. he is pretty cool. he is alot like me too so that pretty neat. so on friday i decided to start the book of mormon over again and i really want to study it and sincerely read it the best i can. and right now im already in alma!!! yeah i think the book is amazing. i cant put it down. im always reading it. every chance i get im opening it up and reading it. i made a goal to try and finish it by the time i leave the mtc. hopefully i can do it. ive already learned so much from it. and learned so much from all the classes here. one thing that i like the most here is that the mtc pays people to come in and act as fake investigators. they are actors and we dont know if they are actually members or not. so me and ackerman get to teach investigators alot. we usually teach like twice a day to people almost everyday. i love teaching people. you can feel the spirit so strong when you teach and the spirit helps you teach too. its awesome. this one time we were teaching and i didnt know what to say but the holy ghost put words in my mouth and i just started teaching about what i needed to say. it was an awesome experience. i cant wait until i can get to louisiana and teach people for realz... well nothing really that exciting here. just learning alot and working out. just trying to get super big :)haha jk. but yeah you guys dont have to worry about me cause im doing fine. today is pretty boring cause we dont do anything. the temple is closed for like 2 weeks so we just sit around doing nothing. and the gym is closed for 2 weeks too so im pretty bummed about that. i did get to play like 2 times already though. not to sound cocky or anything but during my gym time im definetly the best basketball player thats here. well nothing really else. im having fun with all the guys too.  well hope to hear from you guys soon.

 
Love Elder Willis

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Mission Call & Leaving for the MTC


July 11th 2012
I forgot to put a memory card in my camera and Jaden had to take this picture at the airport right before Tyler left.  I know it is not the best picture but he still looks good to us!
I have started this blog to keep everyone informed about what Tyler is doing on his mission. It is not quite set up like I want it to yet so keep checking back.  I hope to include pictures with his letters each week.  I told him to send me at least 1 picture each week with his e-mail.  He said he would try.....:)   For the 1st posting I wanted to show the video of when he opened up his call.  I haven't figured out how to do it....Oh well.... We had a big map on the wall and before he could open his call everyone had to make a guess as to where he was going.   Makenzie guessed Hawaii,  Jaden guessed British Columbia, Tyler picked Ireland, Mom picked Brazil....that is a story in itself...I had a dream that it was Jaden opening his call and it said Brazil....Dad picked Equador,  Matthew picked Thailand. Tyler's  friends guessed all over the world.   We were surprised when he said Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission.  I know that is where he is supposed to be.  In his patriarachal blessing it describes his mission and when people tell us about his mission and that area they use the same words.   He reported July 11th.   Funny....11 was his number in Basketball....he wore that number for the last 4 years!!   His "farewell" was the 4th of July weekend  here in Heber...There was a breakfast, parade & fireworks....what a way to spend your last weekend in Heber for awhile.  Tyler did a very good job with his talk and the special number was awesome....it was the song "One Voice".   He got set apart Tues. night....that was a special night.....you could really feel the spirit....then we got in the car and headed for Phoenix.  We picked a hotel close to the airport as his flight left at 7:40.    Got up and headed to the airport and was hoping to find some missionaries that were leaving with him  We saw 2 other missionaries.  They both had someone flying with them...I wished Tyler had someone flying with him....but we thought there would be more missionaries flying up there by themselves.  Oh well.......I told him the hardest part of his mission just might be saying goodbye.  I thought it was pretty hard.   I was proud of him...He walked a little slow down to the security gates & Makenzie & I kind of followed him and watched him go through the security.....he never looked back.    We wanted to stay until his plane said departed....we had hoped to get a glimpse of the plane leaving but never could.  It was a long ride home......We will miss him but we are so proud of him and his willingness to serve.  We are excited to hear of his adventures and to share them.   One other thing.....Matthew sent home a tie while on his mission.  It was the tie he wore to the MTC on his first day.  He said he never wanted to wear that tie again and so sent it home.  Tyler decided to wear the tie on his first day.... Maybe Jaden will wear that tie also:)