Monday, September 24, 2012

Hello!!!
Whats up family?! Hopefully everyone is still doing pretty good. Sounds like you got some pretty busy weekends ahead of you. That's great to hear about Matt and Helen. It's about time they get married. I was thinking I would probably be home before they got married. Haha just kidding. So I'm guessing they are getting married in the Gila Valley Temple? I wish I could go to the temple. I miss going to the temple it's an awesome place. Hopefully I can go to the Baton Rouge Temple soon that would be sweet. So my foot is fine now. It's like back to normal. But right when it didn't hurt anymore I got sick. I have been a little sick for these last couple days. Just a pretty bad cough and stuff. It reminded me of when I was sick when I went into the MTC and then I was sick for like a week straight. That was horrible. But nothing much really happened this week just normal missionary work. Friday and Saturday we helped one of our members neighbor build a fence. I'm pretty sure I can do any kind of construction work now. We did go back down to Laplace yesterday to do service again. I think we should be done doing service down there. We have done over 700 houses now so I'm pretty sure there isn't anymore houses left for us to do. It's been a great experience doing service down there for the 3 weeks. Well it wasn't too great while I was down there working but now that it's over and I look back on it I know I will never forget that experience. So that makes it 3 weeks I haven't been to church yet. We went and saw a member the other day cause she said she misses us so we went over there and she was like you better be at church really soon because our branch is going crazy without having normal people there. I just thought it was funny it's true though. We only have a couple people in our branch that our normal. And then us and the sister missionaries are the only normal ones in our branch. I like our branch though because everyone is so crazy. So right now I'm in Abbeville again. We our like best friends with the Abbeville elders. We are hanging out with each other every chance we get. So we spent the night with them the past couple nights. It's been fun. They are pretty cool. So I'll be hanging out with them again today. So this might be a little shocking to you but guess how much I'm weighing now?!!! 175!! Haha don't worry it's not fat. I work out every morning and then I drink a big protein shake. So I have put on alot of muscle since I have been out here. I just wish I could put muscle on this easy when I was playing sports in high school. It's whatever though. Anyways nothing else happening around here with me. I'm still making it through each day which is a good thing. I love you and miss you all.
 
 
Elder Tyler Drake Willis
 
 

Monday, September 17, 2012

Hello Family!!
Sounds like everyone is doing fine. That's good to hear. I'm doing pretty good. This week was a little different. I really can't even remember what happened this week. Like while I'm sitting here typing I'm trying to figure out what has happened this week. I'm trying to go over each day and see what happened each day and see if I can tell you guys anything interesting that has happened this week. Yeah so this week was a weird week I guess cause I can't remember anything. I guess the weeks are just flying by that I can't remember anything anymore. Lets see just a normal week I guess. Thursday nights we teach a bible class for anyone in our branch that wants to come. We have been doing that since I have gotten to Opelousas. It's so fun teaching people from our branch because they are just so crazy and funny. Just stuff they say is super funny. Friday night we had to go down to Laplace so we could help with the hurricane again.We stayed down there Friday till Sunday night. Another weekend of hard working. I think we have done over 600 houses now. It's nuts.  I feel like a construction man instead of a missionary now. I'm pretty sure I'm a pro at it now. Maybe I'll become a carpenter when I come home.  It's just engraved in my brain now. When I lay down to go to bed after working in my mind I see myself tearing down sheet rock and ripping up floors. So we were there again on Sunday doing service. I can say I went 2 Sundays without going to church on my mission. Haha and I can say I worked on Sunday too but it was for something good. So about my broken toe. I just broke the last 2 toes on my left foot. It's really not even that bad. I mean I have to limp sometimes but I don't tape it or anything. I just toughen up and go about my day like I normally would. It still hurts but there's really nothing I can do about it so I just don't let it bother me. I'm just so used to broken bones that it doesn't even phase me. I hear from Mitchell alot. We write letters to each other about every week. It sounds like he is doing good but learning the language is pretty tough. I'm glad I'm not learning a language. So right now I'm in Abbeville. I was good friends with Elder Peterson and his comp and they were from Abbeville.  Elder Peterson got transfered but me and his other comp are still cool with each other. So we went and spent the night over at their apartment. And we are just gonna hangout with them for the day. So yeah nothing crazy really going on right now. For the past 2 weeks it has been kinda slow just cause we do service all the time. Well can't wait to hear from you guys again. You will be in my prayers.
Love Elder Willis

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Hey!!
Sorry this letter was late I've just been so busy with everything lately. Hope everyone is doing fine. I'm doing pretty good. What a crazy week holy cow. This has been a pretty long week. We have been in Laplace still everyday. We have been going down there everyday since Tuesday and have been working. It's hard work I'm not going to lie. We start working at like 8 in the morning and don't get done till about 6 or 7 at night. Just non stop work all day. But today and tomorrow they gave us a break because it's transfer week. I'm not getting transfered. My companion are I are still staying together for at least another transfer. We get along pretty well I think.  He is pretty cool. So yeah we have to go back down to Laplace on Thursday and start working again. Probably be down there until like Sunday night I think. We have all the missionaries from our mission down there working. I see Elder Petersen all the time. He is in my zone so that's cool. We talk to each other all the time too when we see each other. So far we have already finished out over 300 houses. There is still a ton more houses to work on. Some of the houses we work on our so bad. There was this one house we were doing and it still had water in the house. We had to pull up the carpet and the carpet was still soaked. It smelled so rotten in there. And the crazy thing is that the guy who lives there has been sleeping in his house. He sleeps on his wet and molded bed. It is so disgusting. Like just standing in the house makes me gag. It's pretty intense. And it's Louisiana so it's like 90 degrees working indoors so it's so hot.  I thought I sweat pretty bad in basketball games and stuff but compared to working down here it's not even close to how much I sweat down here working. Yeah and we were cleaning out this lady's cupboard and I was pulling stuff out and I pull out this cup and its just full of cockroaches...it was pretty nasty. So on Sunday we had to do service again in Laplace so we all met in the chapel and had a short little sacrament meeting. It was a little different because the Laplace chapel got flooded so it was all gutted out and everyone was in their working clothes but the spirit was still there so that was a neat experience. So I had a little incident this week. But it probably won't be a surprise to you at all. haha. So on Friday we actually stayed in our area because we told a family we would help them move. So we did service for them all day. So we were helping them move and everything. We were moving a freezer for them and carrying it into their house. It was such a heavy freezer and there was only 3 of us carrying it. So we decide to set it down for a second and they just drop it and it drops straight on my foot. It hurt so bad. So the freezer just smashes straight on my foot. I thought I would just walk it off so we keep on working. It continues to hurt for the rest of the day and my companion tells me we need to call Sis Wall and have it checked out. I was like no I'll be fine. But he calls Sis Wall anyways. So we go get it checked out down in Laplace where the doctor is and the whole time I was just thinking crap my foot is going to be broken and they are going to send me home. I was like no they can't send me home. So I was freaking out. It ends up that I only broke one of my toes :) so it's not that bad. I have just been taking pain pills and taking it easy for the last couple days. So yeah tally up another broken bone for me :) (note from Mom:   Tyler has broken more bones than anyone else in our family.  It seems like when he gets hurt it's something broken-never strained or bruised :))   I'll be fine though. haha well nothing else really going on. I love you and miss you!
Elder Willis
 
 
 
Hope you enjoy the pictures!!
 

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Hello Everyone!! How is everyone doing? Still sounds like everyone is doing pretty good. I'm doing fine. I can't write very much cause we just got back from a town called LaPlace down over by New Orleans. All the missionaries are down there helping out with the hurricane victims. It's pretty crazy down there. The hurricane really tore it up down there. It flooded pretty bad too. So the rest of this week we have to go down there everyday and help out the people. We pretty much just tear down all the molded and wet sheet rock off their walls and tear up the carpet and tile and stuff. It's hard labor but it's really rewarding with all the blessings. The people have to throw away everything they had cause it all got destroyed in the flood. So along the street there is just all kinds of furniture and trash that people had to throw out. And then there are other people that go along the street and try to find stuff for themselves from the trash piles. So yeah it's pretty messed up down there. I'll take pics and then send them in the next email. So yeah my week was pretty boring. On Tuesday we had to be in a member's home and we had to stay in the home until Thursday. So it was super boring. 3 days without doing anything. It went by super slow.   So this week I went to a chinese restaurant and it was interesting. I ate some frog legs...those are pretty good. And I tried some sushi....that wasn't good at all. So yeah I'm just trying everything down here. Well I don't have really anything else to say. I got to wake up early and get back to work. haha. I love you all and miss you but I'm doing fine.

Elder Willis