Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Hey!! 
I'm bummed to hear about the football game. I was waiting all weekend to find out what happened. Yeah I looked at the website to watch it but you need an account. So I'll use your guys account and maybe watch a little bit of the game. Well at least Jaden still has another year. I'll be home for his senior year. When I get home tell him I'll take him out and go train with him to get him ready for the football season. Anyways this week was a pretty good week. The weather was nice again. It was really humid this past week so it was a little warmer. The weather is so weird here. I have no clue when it's going to be warm or cold now. I'm sure it will start getting cold now though. So here's something crazy that happened....someone was telling us how a Grandpa and his little granddaughter were out walking one night and they got shot and killed. And it was right over by where I live. Pretty scary...it's so messed up down here. I think that's why Hurricane Katrina happened..to wipe out all the wicked. But there probably needs to be another hurricane like that. But I guess that's what I'm down here for so there doesn't need to be another hurricane! The work here is still pretty slow...we aren't really teaching anybody right now. Last week I was telling you about the guy we helped move into his apartment..well we still haven't heard from him. He probably went online and read alot of anti-stuff. Everyone down here always reads the bad stuff about mormons. I think we will just go over to his apartment and knock on his door or something. This past week we got some names some people in the ward wanted us to go see what their situation is. So this one guy we go to served a mission and everything so we decided he might be a good one to go see. He answers the door and we talk to him for a little bit and we tell him where the church is and he says you probably won't be seeing me there. I was like how come? He was like well...I'm gay...we kinda just stood there for a while because we didn't know what to say. Finally I was just like well.....there is a website the church put out for gays you should check it out. It was probably one of the more awkward times on my mission. But that's about it for this week. Yeah I heard about the typhoon in the Philippines..that's really sad. I guess it was the biggest typhoon ever? I don't know. I'm pretty excited for Thanksgiving to come up. We have a couple appointments so far. I think only 2 will be fine enough for me. Haha Um...I'm pretty sure I'll be able to skype for Christmas. It's a month away. I guess Mom is just so excited to talk to me :) I'm sure there is someone here that will let me skype on their computer. Well yeah not too much has happened this week. The work is really slow on a bike. You dont get as much accomplished. Anyways love you guys.
Elder Willis :)


Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Hey!!!
So nobody said anything about Dad's birthday so I don't know if you guys are trying to test me but I'm pretty sure yesterday was dad's birthday! Happy late Birthday!! Hope you had a good one. Anyways that's great to hear about Jaden's game. I was anxious to find out how they did.  I'm sure Jaden is excited about that. I bet he will be pretty nervous. That's pretty cool we both played in the state championship our Junior year. Just tell him he will probably be really nervous at first but after the first couple minutes it will feel just like a regular game. Tell him to play that game harder than any other game he's played that season. I can't wait to find out what happens on Monday. Anyways my week went pretty good. I'm pretty comfortable in this area now. I'm starting to like it a lot. They people here are so much different than any other people in the state. The whole area is pretty much dominated by african-americans. I hardly ever see any white folk. This past week the weather was pretty bad. It was super windy this week. I hated it. Trying to ride your bike in the wind is so hard. It got pretty cold at night too. I think it was the first time this year I have worn my long sleeve shirt. My short sleeve shorts are getting worn out but the long sleeves are pretty much brand new still. But I will probably wear them a lot this winter since i'm not in a car. Well this past week there was this guy named Julius that was moving some furniture into our apartment complex so we asked if we could help. So we helped him and everything then the next day or the day after I think he came up to us and was like "Hey I've been trying to find you guys because I  want to know more about what you guys do"  So we talk to him a little bit and give him our number and he says he wants to learn more. He is trying to fix his life up and wants to start going to church. So we're excited about that. Hopefully we can teach him. Then we are teaching this other guy named Russell and he wanted to come to church and we told him to be ready at 8:30 so we can come pick him up with a member. He said he would be ready and we go over there on Sunday to pick him up and he didn't answer his door. I was pretty upset. I shouldn't be but it's hard not to at this kind of stuff. So those are really the only people that have potential. Still pretty slow in this area. The members feed us here alright. A little bit better than in Covington. So yeah the branch there is a lot of blacks. No the branch president is white. My comp is from Ogden, Utah. I guess I forgot to tell you that? The other 2 I live with are from Draper, Utah and the other one is from Mesa I think or one of those towns over there. He went to Desert Ridge High School. They are all pretty cool. We all get along really good. So yesterday for pday I got to see Elder White and my other buddies from the Denham Springs zone. They all got permission to come to New Orleans. So we went to the Stake Center and we played a lot of basketball. It was cool to see all those guys again. Well I cant really think of anything else. Nothing crazy has really happened. Well I love you all. 
Elder Willis :)


 His dream car :)


Book of Mormon Musical in New Orleans....People thought they were in the musical when they saw them on the street.



This is the view from his area....it it downtown and across the river

Monday, November 4, 2013

Hey Family!
I hope everyone is doing good. Sounds like the Football team can have a pretty good chance to win it all. Tell Jaden he better work his tail off these next 2 weeks. I hope they can win it all. I never got a chance to win a state championship so I hope Jaden will at least be able to win one. That would be cool. So I'm sure you have been wondering where I got transferred. I got transferred to New Orleans :) Yeah it's pretty sweet. The part of New Orleans I'm in is called Algiers. It's like right in the heart of New Orleans. It's one of the worst parts of New Orleans too. I'ts really sketchy everywhere. My companion is Elder Smith. He's from Ogden, Utah. He has been out like 3 months. He's pretty cool and we get along really good. We live with 2 other Elders. I like living with other Elders. The mission is funner when your around other missionaries. I'm in a bike area again. I don't mind it because it will keep me in shape but sometimes it's nicer to have a car. Plus the weather is starting to get colder and it will not be fun to bike in cold weather. So I'm in the West Bank Branch. It's a pretty good sized branch though. It kinda reminds me of the branch I was in in Opelousas. The branches down here in Louisiana are ran a lot differently than other places. I like this branch though. The people are very friendly here. Most of the branch is African-Americans. Which I kinda like. I love seeing black mormons for some reason. There is not much work in this area either. This area hasn't had a baptism in like 2 years I think. But I think the work here will be a little better than the work was in Covington. So the weather here has been pretty chilly lately. There was another big storm that came through but it ended up just being really windy. There was hardly any rain. So all I know about Elder White is that his companion is Elder Stewart. I don't really know anything about him but he is really short and wears glasses. He will probably email me and tell me how his companion is. So my first night here we went and visited a less active guy and when we left we went outside and there was 5-6 cops busting some kids for something. Welcome to Algiers. Then the next day we go to the library and some lady comes in and was like there was a bike that just got stolen outside. It wasn't our bikes though because we lock them up. But this area is pretty bad. I guess I need to be careful down here. We actually live in a pretty bad area too. We are pretty much surrounded by the projects. It's scary. There are a lot of houses and buildings around here that are still boarded up from Katrina. It's crazy. It honestly feels like I got transferred to a different mission. I'm seeing a whole other side of the mission now. New Orleans is for sure the craziest place I've ever been. I can't wait to bring you guys down here someday and see how you guys feel about this place. I know mom will probably be too scared to get out of the car in a lot of places. Haha. Well that's about it. I can't really think of anything else. Remember you guys are in my prayers. I love you/
Elder Willis :)