December 5, 2011

Hey Family! I hope all is going well. This past week was awesome! Zone Conference was so edifying. It was honestly such a spiritual week. Everyday all day we were training and learning and getting to know the missionaries. I loved it. President Castro taught about the Doctrine of Christ and our purspose as missionaries and how they are intertwined. I know that the invitation to come unto Christ is for everyone. Including ourselves. Something that President Castro pointed out that I loved is that we cannot invite others to come higher if we ourselves are not on a higher plane. If we are not close to Christ and are not coming unto Him we cannot affectivly invite others to come unto him. I loved it. Elder Cuartas and I led a practice teaching on not just answering the questions or concerns our investigators have but teachiong them the doctrine behind their concern and helping them build their faith in Christ. We focused on identifying whether they needed faith in Christ, repentance, making a covenant or receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and then leading it to the Book of Mormon. It was fun!

Our last Zone Conference was in San Luis Obispo and on our way their we drove past Buellton and the exit to go to Lompoc. It was exciting. I thought of you guiys the whole drive up as we passed Santa Barbara and Santa Maria.

I love you guys a ton. We are preparing for our Christmas deviotiopnal in 2 weeks and i am so excited! Its going to be awesome! Thanks for all you do. Love Elder Bills

November 28, 2011

Hey Fam!

How is everything going? Things here are so good. We have been so busy! I love being assistant because I have been able to interact with the missionaries so much more and learn from them a ton! I am so grateful for this opportunity. Today we started Zone Conference. We will be going up to Bakersfield for 2 days then to Thousand Oaks then to San Luis Obispo on Friday to end the Conferences. Todays meeting was very edifying. I really enjoyed learning about the Doctrine of Christ from President Castro. He is very loving. I had a co experience where I was led by the Spirit today. A missionary asked a question about obedience. He asked if it was sinning if he followed impressions that he had at 9 pm to stop by a house where they would teach and help people but would ultimatley make them stay past 10 pm. he said he felt like he recieved it from the Holy Ghost and he felt like he helped the people a lot. As I listened intently for President Castro's reply, I was suprised to hear him say, "I think I am going to ask Elder Bills to answer this question. I feel like he has had similar experiences and could help you understand it better." It was a great experience. The spirit led me and helped me speak the things that needed to be said. I am so grateful for the Spirit without him we are so inadequate to do the Lords work. We cant do His work without the Spirit. I love the missionaries in this mission.

This past week we went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders in Simi Valley Thousand oaks and Camarillo. It was super fun! I learned so much from these Elders. It is such an honor to work with all of these worthy missionaries. Elder Cook is one of my good friends who is in T.O and he and I taught these people from China. They barely speak english and it was really hard to teach them, but something that really is amazing to me is that Gods love knows NO boundaries. We can feel of His love for others regardless of race or color. We can, by emulating Christs example, help people feel God's love. The Gospel enpowers us with this understanding. That through Christ, we can return to live with God. That through His sacrifice we are able to become completely clean from error and sin. His love is endless!

I was able to go to the young mans baptism who Elder Snelson and I were teaching. Freddy is his name. It was a special day! Since the first time we began teaching him until his baptism he made incredible changes. He worked hard through opposition to be baptized. I know that the grace of Christ strengthened him becasue he did his part and the Lord was the difference.

I love you guys so much. I hope you gave an awesome week. You all are so great. I love you!! Love ELder Bills

P.s it has been like 70 degrees here. So nice.

November 21, 2011

Hey Family how are you doing? Thank you so much for the email! I appreciate hearing from you. Things are great here! I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve as assistant. President Castro is an amazing person. As well as my companion Elder Cuartas. He is a true servant of God and I am grateful to work with him. He makes me a better missionary and person. That is so awesome that you were able to talk to President Murri! I love the Murris very much. I always saw them as sort of parental figures. When I came into the mission, I was really homesick and nervous and I felt so much love from them and I always new I could trust tem. I am so grateful the Lord sent me to this mission. He knows my needs and he will continue to guide me as I give my heart and a willing mind to him. I hope the Murris are doing well.

I hope all is going well. What have you done to be under the influence of the spirit? What have you done to qualify for his constant companionship? I am grateful for my mission because I feel like this has bcome one of my greatest desires. To have the spirit. Like the disciples of Christ in 3 nephi 19. I was thinking last night and without the Spirit, we are inadequate to do the Lords qwork. With the spirit we can be equal to the challenges that we face in life. I love you ja. Thanks for all you do! hAVE A great week! Love Elder Bills

November 14, 2011

Hey Family! Hope all is going well. This last week has been CRAZY! I got all those goodies from Aunt Carol. She so nice.. So Elder Snelson had a freak accident. We had been talking about what we could do to help some of the missionaries get up and excersize in the morning and we had decided that we could play frisbee so that everyone could be involved and we could at least heklp these missionaries get outside and excersize. So on Friday morning, we went out to play frisbee and as we were playing Elder Snelson and another Elder went to throw the frisbee and as he was running to get the frisbee he tripped on a sandbox. The sandbox was a square so he tripped on one side and his momentum took him to the other side where he smashed his face on the concrete completly shattering his jaw. I sprinted over there and saw tons of blood then sprinted home and got the phone and car. We called the ambulence and he was taken to the emergency. He shattered his jaw. It was an extensive injury. He lost 10 teeth including his front 2. It was so hard to see him in so much pain. He underwent surgery Friday night from 6pm-2am. It was an extensive surgery as well. It has been a crazy weekend. I was with him in the Hospital for about 2 1/2 days. He has been since Friday and he wil be released today at 6. His mom is flying down from Ohio to be with him until he is well eniough to go home. He will have to go home for a couple weeks to recover. But he will definantly be back. I am grateful for the Gospel. Especially in hard times like these. There is so much understanding and hope. The comforting thing is that we were doing it to be obedient and it gives no room to think it is not apart of Heavenly Father's plan. Although we dont understand why this happened, His plan will unfold sooner or later. It will all play out. Although it is hard to see him in pain he is being strong and he is being positive. It has been a new and unforgetable experience. I have learned a lot from this.
As I was with Elder Snelson in the Hospital, it has invited reflection on the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I couldnt help but think how Heavenly Father could give His Only Begotten Son to suffer and die for us. I thought if the pain the Savior went through and It literally is uncomprehendable. It has stregthened my testimony of the goodness and power of God and His son JEsus Christ. Although hard to comprehend, I know that the Atonement is real. I know that the Grace of Christ is an enabling power that one can recieve as he excersizes faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement. I know that it is a sustaining power that comes into our live as we are obedient to the Gospel. Elder Snelson will be so blessed. I know that as he is faithful and keeps his positive Attitude that he will be blessed beyond measure. I know that the Lord is preparing him for something. I truly know that everything happens to us for a reason. We can use the experiences that we have in our lives to bless and lift others. Thanks for all that you do! I love you all so much.
Elder Soza extended his mission so he will be going home with me in February! I was so excited when I heard that. Elder Soza was my follow up trainer and is a ZL in Santa Maria. One of my best friends!

Thanks for everything! I love you all so much. If you need anything PLEASE let me know. I will be in an english ward now ha! Love Elder Bills

November 7, 2011

Family! How are you all doing?? It is so good to hear from you. This past week I will not lie I was looking forward to recieving your emails. My testimony has strengthened for why our Father in Heaven has put us into families. I cannot tell you how much it means to me to have all of your support for this new assignment I will have. I am nervous, however I know that the Lord will bless me and that everything will work according to His time and wisdom. It was definantly a suprise when I had an interview with president Castro last Tuesday. It was after Zone Leadership Council and he asked if he could speak with me. When I went in I was nervous becuase he just kind of paused and looked at me. I didnt know what happened ha. But he extended the assignment to me and said that he had recieved strong promptings that I should be his next assistant. I didnt need to think about it because I trust President Castro. I know he is a man of God and is worthy and sensitive enough to recieve direction for this mission. I definantly have had to rely on the Lord this past week. I was worried at the beginning with what will happen with football and school and if it would affect me at all, but the Lord has comforted me. I do not need to know why the Lord needs me here right now and why he doesnt need me home during January but I do trust the Lord and His will. Wheather it be in a month that I find out why I stayed or in years it doesnt matter, because I know the Lord has a plan for me. I am grateful to be apart of His work.

This past week was awesome! We had 3 exhchanges and it was super fun! I love exchanges and I learn so much each time. On Saturday I went with a district leader Elder Bashien and it was great! It was a very edifying exchange. We were able to focus on the Doctrine of Christ. That it is the ONLY way that anyone can return to our Father in Heaven. Also how our purpose as missionaries is to invite peopl to come unto Christ by helping them recieve the restored gospel (i.e The Book of Mormon, Temple blessings, Priesthood ordinances) THROUGH faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement. It is all surrounded around the Lord. Something that I tried to train him on was becoming a successful missionary. We studied from PMG under this section in the first chapter and it was awesome! With these focuses in mind, it helped our attitudes as we worked and we were edified throughout the whole day! I am so grateful to be able to work with different missionaries. We were in Camarillo all saturday and man, I LOVE IT! It is so beautiful.

We are teaching some awesome people right now and we are trying to help them see the importance of church. They have so much potential but they wont come to church. We are trying to figure out what their road blocks are and what doctrine they dont understand. Pray for our investigators that they will at least come to church. I know withiout a doubt if they come once they will feel and see Christs true church and they will be accountable and have a desire to come back.

I love you all so much . Thanks for all you do! Thanks for your examples to me. Please let me know if you need anything from me. I love you all. Love Elder Bills

October 31, 2011

Hey Family, hope all is well. Things are going great here. I love this place. I love the members so much. It is good to hear that everything is going well with you all. We had a great day at church yesterday. Elder Snelson and I spoke in sacrement and then all of the missionaries in the ward taught the 3rd hour. It was awesome. Member missionary work is so important. We HAVE to share the gospel. My talk focused on understanding and studying the Atonement to have a desire to share the Gospel. When we understand better the Atonement, we will have an increased desire to share the gospel. 2 nephi 2:8. We have to let people know about the Atonement. It is not just something that we will recieve blessings for when we pass away and are resurrected, it is a Power that we can use every day of our lives! PResident Howar W. Hunter said that when we recieve any blessing from the Atonement, our desire for the welfare of others will increasingly grow. He said that a great indicator of our pesonal conversion is in our desire to share the gospel with others. I have been so gratefl for this past week and the opportunity that I had to study and focus on this. I am so grateful for the Atonement. We had a lot of awesome things happen this past week! We went to visit an investigator and she had read the first 4 chaoters of the BOM and has a huge desire to learn more pray and go to church. The BOM is key to conversion. I love you all so much. Study the Atonement and pray for opportunities to share the gospel. Reach out to the less actives. I know this is our duty! Love Elder Bills

October 24, 2011

Hey Family! Thanks for all the emails and support. I am so grateful for you all. Grandparents and Aunt Janet! Thank you so much. I wish I had more time to write you all back but please know that I deeply appreciate your love and support and I love you all so much.

This past week was BUSY! We have been super busy with our respnsibilites this week. It has been a change from East Bakersfield for sure. But I love it very much. An Elder we live with was had a migraine for about a week and he was in a ton of pain so we called the mission Presidents wife and she told us to find a urgent care to take him to. We spent about 3 hours looking for a place that would accept our insurance. We finally found a place and he was able to be checked out and got medicine. The Elder is from Mosembiq in Africa and he is doing a lot better. The reason I tell you this is because Elder Snelson and I were talking about how we spent those hours trying to help him and we had to cancel some appointments, but because we were helping an Elder and fulifilling our responsiblity as leaders the Lord made up for the time that we missed. We have recieved 4 referells since that time. It is incredible. The Lord is very aware of the things that we do and He will bless us if we do our part. It led me to think about magnifying any calling we have in the church. If we sacrifice other things to fulfill our respnsibilty and do all we can to magnify our callings, the Lord will make up the difference and bless us in the areas where we need His help and blessings. When we put our trust in the Lord and our faith in Him, i know that we can do things that we, on our own, wouldnt be able to do. We can show that trust and that faith by the good righteous things that we do. It was a good lesson that I learned!

We had an amazing lesson with some investigators this past week! It is a family who we taught. We taught them about the Book of Mormon because we left the daughter and mom to read 3 Nephi 11 1-17. When we got there the daughter told us that she had read the whole chapter! We were so excited. She then told us that she has a bad memory and probably couldnt tell us what she learned. We invited her to try and as she started telling us about the chapter, she was explaining perfect! She explained the whiole chapter so well and at the end of explaining she was like wow! I cannot beleive how much I understood! This was awesome because we were able to see how the Holy Ghost was working with her at that point and how he was bringing things to her rememberence. She had a lot of good questions and we answered them all with the BOM. The lesson went well and the spirit was so strong! There were times when they couldve gotten distracted with things that were around, but they were completely focused on what we were talking about. The Mom at the end seemed doubtful. We asked her what was wrong and she told us she wants to follow the Church That Christ started when he wa on the earth. So we gave her a restoration pamphlet and testified that it would answer her questions. She then looked at us and told us that she had talked to other people from other churches before but she said there is something about you. She looked at us and said you bring such a peace and a comfort when you come and the way that you actually answer our questions is so special to us. She said everything about you boys is glowing, your eyes and everything you say brings a peace. (It reminded me of Stephen in the book of acts 7) She was recognizing the spirit. We then paused and let her words settle and testified that what she was feeling and describing was the Spirit of God. We invited them to be baptized and they said when they receive an answer they will.We invited them to remenber how they felt because that is how they will recieve their answer. We have another appointment with thenm this week.

I love you all so much. Miracles happen! God lives and loves us! Pray for spiritual experiences, look for them , and that is what will happen! Thanks for all you do! Have a great week

Love Elder Bills

October 17, 2011

Hey Family,

I hope all is going well! Things here are great. Last week was a good week filled with finding and working with the members. We are making it a goal to meet all of the members in our area to teach them the Plan of Salvation and invite them to refer us to their friends who are ready for the gospel. We have taught some lessons about the importance of family to a few less active families and we have had some very spiritual lessons. I am so grateful for you all.

I love Oxnard. The weather is beautiful! Last P-day we went to the Camarillo outlets which was fun. We didnt stay too long but it was fun to walk around. It is so fun to be in a place that is close to where you all lived.

Last night we had a very good lesson with an investigator named Freddy. We took our ward mission leader Tone with us and had the lesson at the Church. There was no way that we couldnt have felt the spirit! We had planned on reading with him from D&C 20:37 to help prepare him to accept a baptismal date. When we got in there and started asking him about church, the spirit directed the lesson in a completly different way. We began to teach him about forgiveness. It was an incredible feeling to know that the spirit had completly made known his need at that point and how he was guiding our words and testimonies. Our ward mission leader told of an experience in his life when he needed to forgive and how during that time he felt like he was living in darkness. He couldnt let go of the grudge that he had. He then said when he finally recieved the strength to forgive, it was as if he went from a black an white life to a colorful vibrant life. After tone testified, we read from Helaman 5:40-43. It talks about how the Lamanites were surrounded by a cloud of darkness when Nephi and Lehi were in prison and how they desperatly wanted the cloud to leave from them. When Aminadab tells them that they need to have faith in Christ and repent they do so and the cloud of darkness was disperesed and it was as they were circled about with pillars of fire. It was an incredible lesson that I learned as we taught him. When we dont forgive we will be spiritually blinded. We will have a darkness about us because it is almost impossible to recieve the whisperings of the sprirt if we are holding a grudge and preocupioed with what someone has done to us. When we come unto the Savior, as we recieve power to forgive, our lives will be brightened by the power of the Atonement. I know that it is hard to forgive, but when we come unto the Savior we will recognize actually how weak we are and how hard it can be to forgive, then if we try are best and rely on Him HE will strengthen us and we will be able to forgive. When we rely on the Savior and do all we can, He will do the rest. He will fill in the gaps and help us acheive our goals that allow us to fully live the Gospel and become fully converted. I know the Atonement is real. I know that the Holy Spirit guides us when we are willing to follow and listen. When we teach, and listen with love, we will be taught by those we are teaching and by the Holy Ghost. The Gospel changes lives and it helps us to see the Lords hand in our lives. He lives and loves us. There is no doubt in my mind that we are here on the earth to grow and progress. Everything that we have in our lives helps and and prepares us to return with our Father! We are so blessed!

I love you all so much. This is Christs Church and His true Gospel. I love the Lord and am so grateful for all He has done for me!

Thanks for all you do! You all are such good examples to me! Hope you have a great week.

Love Elder Bills

October 12, 2011

Hey Family! How are things going?? Today is our Preperation day because for the past 2 days we had Zone Leaders Council in Ventura. It was awesome! I recieved so much personal revelation and was uplifted, edified, enlightened, and blessed! President Castro is a man of God. He has been called of God and he wants the best for this mission becuase he loves the Lord and knows that this is His work and we are inviting His children.

Last Sunday we had the Camarillo Stake Conference. I couldnt help but think of you Mom and Dad. Do you remember what ward you were in? What buliding you met in? We met in the Camarillo Stake Center on 1201 Paseo Camarillo. I love it here! The weather is honestly perfect. And Mom its happened, I want to move here! Haha. I love it and I am excited to continue to get to know the members here and those who are waiting to hear the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

Yesterday Elder Snelson and I had the opportunity to do the morning devotional at ZLC. All the Zone Leaders were assigned a talk on pride to study and we led a discussion about it. We put a lot of preperation and thought into it. The participation from the Zone Leaders was awesome! It was so special to be in that room and dicuss how we cann overcome the universla sin of pride. The spirit was so strong! As Elder Snelson and I though and studied about what we wouold share we both were impressed to talk about how service kills pride. We focused on pinpointing three questions. 1) What is Pride and how can we recognize it? 2) How do we have pride as leaders? 3) How can we be stripped of pride? We focused on thes questions and discussing how we can overcome the enemy of unity. We watched part of a talk from President Uchtdorf called, Lift Where you Stand from the 2008 OCT GC. (you should watch it) One thing that President Uchtdorf said in his talk Pride in the Priesthood stuck out to me too. He said "The moment we stop obsessing about ourselves and lose oursleves in service, our pride diminishes and begins to die." I love it! we need to forget about ourselves and serve. That is what I am going to focus on. Serving those around me.

We are teaching a kid named Freddy right now who is doing pretty well. Last night he discovered the Book of Mormon and committed himself to read it daily. We read Ether 12:27 with him and he said, " I think I get it now. If I read the Book of Mormon, my life will be better." Ha it was sweeet! The Spirit testified to him of the truthfulness of it! It is true!! I love the Book of Mormon!

Thanks for all that you guys do. I love you all so much. My adress is 701 Janetwood apt. # D Oxnard, CA 9303. I love you all so much. I am so skinny right now its scary! I have lost over 20 pounds! Its ok though. The Lord will bless me!

Love Elder Bills

October 3, 2011

Hey Family! Conference was unbelievable! I loved it. The spirit was incredible. I was sitting waiting for the last session to start and was overwhelmed with the spirit. It was a feeling of complete security and love. It wasnt just a good feeling. it was an incompasing feeling that gave me confidence and hope. I am grateful for the Spirit and the love of our Heavenly Father. I enjoyed Elder Scott's talk and I loved President Uchtdorf's first talk. I have almost memorized my favorite scripture (alma 32:42) and it is true what Elder Scott said. Memorizing scriptures can help them have more power. I had all my questions and concerns answered during conference. The gospel is true the Spirit is real and Heavenly Father's love is real.

We got transfer calls today. I am going to be white washing into Oxnard! I will be training a new zone leader as well. he has been out for about a year now and I am excited! I am confident that the Lord will guide us as we go into a brand new area together and have a desire to work and work harder than we ever have before. The Spirit will guide us if we have prayers of faith! I had a lot of success here in Bakersfield and I enjoyed my time here. I love the people I met and baptized and I know that it was inspired for me to come here, to meet the people I have and to be with the companions I have. The Lord knows our specific needs and will bless us according to our faithfulness. Thanks so much for all that you do for me! I love you all so much. Mom and Dad thanks so much for your hard work and love. Please always know and remember that I think often of the lessons I learned from you. You are amazing parents. If there is anything that i can do for you all please let me know.

I am sending you some boxes. Sorry about all of the letters in the box. You can throw them out if you want. I just didnt feel good about throwing them away! Could you save my planners? Thank you! I love you all so much! Thanks for your examples.

With all my love, Elder Craig Bills

September 19, 2011

Hey Family! Hows it going? Thanks for all the pictures mom from the trip to Illinois. That is awesome that Hailey is playing soccer! Thats way cool. She will be so good! Its good to hear that everyone is doing so well. I am grateful Dad is working so hard as well.

Things here are going great! We had another great week. We went on exchanges with Elder Cuartas on Friday. He is an assistant to President Castro, and it was such a fun day! We were focusing on using the Book of Mormon in every short testifying opportunity. It was sweet because it helped us really focus and be in the zone to pull out scriptures from the Book of Mormon that applied to their situation. I love the Book of Mormon so much. As we were doing this I felt so much more strength and confidence wheile testifying. I focus was on the Book of Mormon and then we would back it up with our testimonies. So much more powerful! We also were teaching a less active family who had a lot of questions for us, and we were using the Book of Mormon and D&C to answer everything. President Castro has put an incredible focus on the Book of Mormon which I love! My love for it has grown so much these months I have been in Bakes!.

Last night we went to visit one of our investigators named Catalina. She is from Mexicali. We were talking to her about her family and she had told us how 2 of her brothers her parents and sister had all passed away. She wasstill really sad about it and I could tell that it was really hard for her. We asked her if she had ever asked herself where she will go when she dies, or where her family is. She said she had and that she basically thought that we are sleeping for that time until the day of judgement. We read with her from Alma 40:6-12, 21. We explained the spirit world and the love of our Father in Heaven and the love of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. She discovered the Book of Mormon. She understand the Spirit World completely. It made so much sense to her that God will give everybody a chance to hear the gospel and accept it. She was almost in tears when we told her that she could be reunited with her family for eternity. We taught about how important it is to follow Jesus Christ by being baptized and choosing the right. It was a testimony to me of the power of the Book of Mormon and the Plan iof Salvation. I love the gospel and the love of HEeavenly Father.

Thanks for all that you all do. i love you guys so much. Thanks for everything! ! Love Elder C. Bills

September 12, 2011

Family! This last week was so awesome!! We had 2 investigators at church who are so solid! Wendy and Laura. They live a couple blocks from eachother and they both have strong desires to come unto Christ! LAura is a special lady. She really thinks about the questions she asks and the things that she reads. She told us that as she was reading the restoration pamphlet she was reading about the Apostasy and she said she stopped to think about it and she said it made so much sense to her. She was being taught by the spirit because she stopped and took time to ponder. I have learned so much from investigators. It is such an awesome opportunity to be a missionary. Wendy and Laura are going to the RS activity this Tues. I am excited for them!

I had such a sweet experience this past Saturday. We got called by the Zone Leaders in South Bakes to come down to their zone to conduct an interview for the spanish missionaries down there. So we went down there and the woman that I was interviewing was none other than Angela Lopez's Mom!! (I baptized Angela and Her Husband Jose 2 months ago!) I was soo excited! She cam to jose and Angela's wedding and felt the spirit really strong during the service and she wanted to learn more about the gospel. So Angela told us that and gave us the info the her mom, Ines, and we sent it to the ZL's in S. Bakes. And now she is going to be baptized next week! It was the best interview I have conducted! The spirit was so strong. It was interesting, when I first saw her, I almost didnt recognize her. She looked so happy and so full of love. The first time I saw her she looked old and sad. I honestly could see the light of Christ in her. She was so happy and she was so excited to be baptized. Her countenance had changed because she had accepted the Gospel into her life and she is giving her whole heart to the Lord. Such a great example for us. When we give our hearts to Christ, when we are willing to do ALL that he asks, we will be filled with His love, we will be filled with His light.

The gospel is true! I love the Lord. I love the Book of Mormon. It is the word of God. Thanks for all the support and love. Les amo muchisimo!!!! Con amor, Elder C.T Bills

September 5, 2011

This past week was another really successful week. We found a lot of new investigators and we were able to talk to a ton of people! We set a goal to have 55 street contacts and we got 56! We were excited. They are turnin into new investigators as well. We found 8 last week and they are investigators who want to learn and who want to come closer to Christ.

I went on exchanges with an Elder from Edmonton Canada named Elder Orchard on Sat. and it was awesome. He knows the scriptures way good and it is always fun to teach with him. We taught a lady who is really active in her church. She had a ton of questions for us. It was awesome. I loved it. At first she was contentious asking a lot of q's about Joseph Smith and why we talk so much about him. We taught her from the beginning of the restoration and and testified the whole time and kept inviting her to pray and ask Heavenly Father for herself. By the middle of the lesson she had softened up so much and when we were testifying she was looking into our eyes and paying attention rather than thinkingof another question she wanteds to throw at us. When we testified to her abou t the power of prayer and invited her to ask God, it was like she was now expecting us to invite her to ask Heavenly Father. This is honestly the only way to know the truth. When we ask Heavenly Father with real intent with faith that we will recieve we will recieve a witness from the Holy Ghost. I testify that I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I know that anybody can come to know this if they pray. If they truly want to know truth and they truly want to come closer to Christ, they will recieve an ansswer. Our message is so unique and special and it can bless everybody.

Yesterday at church, Jose Lopez taught the gospel essentials class! I was so excited for him. He was super nervous but he prepared so well for the class and the Lord blessed him with the Spirit as he taught. I am so hapy for him and Angela because they are going out of their confort zone in the Church a lot. Jose never wouldve guessed 5 months ago that he would teach a class in church! hA. That is how we can progress in the gospel. When we do things that our out of our comfort zone, we allow the spirit to guide us and we are able to recieve the strength through the Grace of Christ. I know that God lives and loves us. Thanks for all you do!

Love Elder Craig T. Bills

August 29, 2011

HEy Family! This past week was another great week! We found 9 more investigators. It has been really fun and we have been so blessed! We have some great potential right now. It has been such a fun time here in Bakersfield. I love it so much.

Jose and Angela, the couple that was recently baptized, are doing well. They are so great! We visited them the other night and we read in the Book of Mormon with them. It was so awesome. The spirit was so strong. I testify with all my heart that the Book of Mormon is true. I cant even describe the spirit that we felt. We didnt do anything out of the ordinary. We read with them in 1 Nephi 18 and we just talked about what we were reading and how it applied to their lives. It was a sweet experience to see Jose making the connection with the scriptures and their lives right now. The Book of Mormon combined with the Spirit is the most powerful resource in conversion! They will progress an come closer to the Savior as they continue to study and apply the scriptures. It is the same with us. We need to reasd, take time to ponder, write down impressions and apply the teachings into our lives. That is how we will come closer to the Lord.

In the 3 Bakersfield Stakes, they just made a huge single adult ward. We are now assigned to cover it. I am excited and it was cool yesterday we were apart of the creation of the White Oak YSA ward. I am excited to work with them and also cover another ward. We will be BUSY!

We have been seeing so many miracles. I have said before, but i truly believe, that we can see miracles everyday of our lives. God is a God of miracles, and if we do our part and seek for them, we will be able to recognize them in our lives and we will be filled with gratitude towards Heavenly Father. We knocked a door the other day and started to talk to thi9s girl and we testified that the Savior lives, and that we can find true hope through Christ, and this girl said, "that is exactly what i need." Then she asked, "what do i need to do to join your church?" There are people being prepared! There are people who are looking for hope and light in theior lives and the restiored gospel will bring them what they need! I love the gospel!

Kevan looks so good in the picture you sent me! He looks big! I love football! Especially BYU football. I am so excited for this season! They are going to do aw2esome! I love you all so much! I know that the Savior lives and loves us. This is HIS work.

Love, Elder Bills

August 15, 2011

Hey family! Thanks for all of the emails. I appreciate them a ton! It is so good to hear from you all each week. It is so funny seeing pictures of Jake and Luke. I dont even know them! They are kinda like those distant cousins that you have heard about but never have met. But I love them so much! The are cuties. I am so happy for KC and Stacy!

Things are going well. We are in the process of finding people to teach. It has been a tough process but I know that the Lord is preparing us for something great. We have been tracting a ton and talking to everyone we see. I feel so grateful to even be apart of preparing people to accept the Gospel later in their lives. We have been trying our hardest to be sincere with everyone and bear a true heart felt testimony with them. We are trying to help them feel the Spirit right away. It doesnt matter what we see in reality, it only matters how THEY feel. As we have been doing a lot of finding I have been thinking so much about the missionaries in the Book of Mormon and the Apostles after Christ's death. I have found great strength in the words of the Lord to Ammon and his brethren in Alma 26:27. He tells them to go forth amongst their brethren, the Lamanites( who were a pretty rough group of people) and establish His word, and he told them to be patient in their afflictions and they would have success. I love this so much. As I was reading it I realized that it is a promise for me and Elder Barrus. We have to be patient during our efforts to find and we will have success. I know this is a true promise form the Lord. I love how Ammon tells how the promise was fulfilled in the later scriptures. (v.30-31) They did have success! They were able to convert the people who were knwon as the Anti-Nephi-Lehies. The Lord will not lie. It is just a matter of if we have sufficeient trust in Him. I love the Book of Mormon. It is true and it is "dripping with significance" (-Elder Neil Maxwell). We need to use it in all that we do because it honestly answers all of the questions that we have in our lives and when we read it with the Spirit we will become even more converted to the Gospel of JEsus Christ. Read it EVERY day!

I hope you all know how much I love you. I am so grateful to have such an awesome fam. You guys are the best! It makes me so happy to hear about Kevan and Kelly at BYU. Keep working hard guys I love you so much. Thanks for everything you all do. Please let allof the Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins know that I love them.

With all my love, Elder Craig Bills

August 8, 2011

Hey family! Its the big day for KC and Stacy! Man what an exciting event. I am so happy for them. It will be cool for them to be in a new ward and stuff. They will have missionaries in their ward! So awesome! Things here are going well. We are in the finding process. Our whole zone is. For some reason all the missionaries just dropped a bunch of investigators because they were not progressing. I know that things will pick up soon if we stay obedient,positive, and happy!

We were tracting a lot yesterday and I had an experience that really had an impact on me. It was with 4 mexican guys in their front yard. One had the biggest mullet I have ever seen ha and another was just laying on una maca ( a hammock). Two of them were drinking too. Usually I will just give them a card an invite them to call it in situations like that but we went up and started talking to them. We started to ask them about their beleifs and stuff and I felt like testifying of the Plan of Salvation. Elder Barrus then testified of the Plan of Salvation and the importance and peace it brings into our lives. When he testified I knew and felt the confirmation that one of these men needed to hear about the Plan of Salvation. I asked one of the guys if he had ever wondered why he is here and what God wants him to do and he said no and that he had never thought about it and the other guys to said they didnt have a ckue. Then one of them pointed to the other and saaid that he told him he diodnt even want to live anymore. We asked him why and he said he has mental problems and doesnt have any hope in his life. I could ho0neslty see and feel the pain he hd. It was so sad! All that I said was of the profound Love EHavenly Fther has for him and that he does have purpose. I testified that he has great importance and worth to iur Father in Heaven and that he could find that if he would open his heart and learn of the Plan. I felt so much compassion for that man. I learned that when we try to help people and when we listen with love, we can say the things people need to hear because the spirit will give us the things they need to hear. We can be instruments if we recognize first the role of the Holy Ghsot and then our role in inviting him into our lives and allowing him to teach. I love the Gospel . I know that like you said mom we need to savor the times when we feel the spirit. We need to remembeer the times when we have and find wehat we did to qualify for his presence. I love you guys so much. Thanks for all that you do for me!

With Love Elder Craig Bills

Wonderful Missionaries

Dear Family of Wonderful Missionaries -
We just spent a lovely day at the LA Temple with your sons. We love them. We
are from the Highland Manor Ward in Bakersfield where three of the four have
served. Elder McCarey and Elder Stoecker and Elder Barrus all worked with the
Barnes family and were able to go to their sealing yesterday. Elder Bills is
currently serving with Elder Barrus in East Bakersfield Stake and so we had the
pleasure of their company for the trip. What great missionaries they are! We
miss them in our ward.

They remind me of the scripture in Alma 48:17 "Yea, verily, verily I say unto
you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto [these young
men], behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the
devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men." They are
that good!

I've attached a picture of the event and I apologize to the Bills family as I
realized later that he was busy taking pictures, too and did not make it in the
picture. (But he still looks great!)

I hope you enjoy your sons ... soon! I heard they are headed home in the near
future. Our son just returned in May so we know your joy. :)

Sincerely,
Bishop and Sister Musick

August 1, 2011

Hey fam! Hope all is well. Things here are great! The weather is HOT and has been kind of humid the past couple days. This past weekend was great! We have struggled to find new investigators for the past 6-7 weeks and we found five this weekend! It was wonderful. I feel so confident in The message that we have. I know it is for every single person that we see. I did a lot of thinking to why we werent finding people to teach and I realized I wasnt doing my part and taking every single opportunity to teach. So this past week we honestly were teaching everyone. It was the best!! This work is incredible. I love it more every day.

I gave a talk in church on Sunday. The Bishop asked me thursday night to give the talk in Sacrement so I didnt have much time to prepare. The person who was going to talk went out of town so I was grateful he had the confidence to ask me. I gave it on Faith. I learned a lot as I prepared for the talk. I was really praying for understanding on what I needed to talk about. There are so many directions to go with the topic of Faith. I felt good about talking about the importance of this principle in our lives and how we develope faith. As I was studying I found a scripture in D&C 8:10. The Lord told the Prophet Joseph Smith that without faith he could do nothing. That is how important faith is in our lives. I have realized that on my mission. Faith really is a principle of power and most important Action. I talked about all we need to have is desire. If we have even a little desire we need to let that work in us enough to act on that desire until it starts to grow into faith. Alma 32:27. This is huge! Desire is such an important aspect. It has to be a true desire though. Then I finished by reading about king lamoni's father and the desire that he had to change his life to come to know the Lord. Alma 22:15-17. I Know thatr faith is vital to having a successful life. I have seen so many people who have little or no faith who are so unhappy. On the flip side I have seen those with great faith in the Lord and they are confident and happy. Faith in the Jesus Christ leads us to do the works of righteousness. It is such and awesome thing to study.

I know this work is the Lords. I know the message that we share is His. I am grateful for the Gospel and my mission. We are having a lot of great experiences as we find and talk to people. Elder Barrus is great and I am learning a lot from him. Thanks for all that you guys do! I am going to Ventura tonight because we have Zone Leaders council tomorrow. I am excited. I love you guys tons!

Love Elder Bills

July 25, 2011

Hey Fam! Thanks for all the emails and especially the pictures of the wedding! Man it looks like it was so fun! The pictures are so beautiful. Everyone looks so awesome and happy too. It was cool to see all the returned missionaries in the pictures. I could feel sdo much love by just looking through the pictures. I love you all so much. Dad, your hair looks way good! It is such a blessing to have such an incredible family. What a blessing to have even another amazing person join our fam!

This past week was good. We worked hard and took every opportunity to teach the gospel. I learned so much this last week. I learned things that honestly have changed the way I think. I was thinking a lot about all my weaknesses because I had set so many goals to be better and to be honest I felt a little bit overwhelmed. I was trying to think a lot about what I needed to do to reach these goals and how I needed to change myself. I realized that I was thinking the wrong way! I was thinking about how I was going to change myself and I had neglected to put my focus on how the Savior will give me the strenght to do so. I started to study more about Grace and the strenghtening power that comes through Christ's Atonement. I realized that I need to make goals prayerfully and rely on Christ to reach them. It will only be after I exort my best effort and do all I can that I will recieve the enabling power that comes through the Grace of Christ. I was thinking about all my weaknesses and I realized if we think about our weaknesses as things that we alone have to deal with we will soon realize that those weaknesses will bring us down and we will not progress. But when we look at weaknesess as things that will humble us and bring us closer to Christ, we will realize that He will make our weaknesses to become strengths. What a blessing it is to have the Gospel of Jesus Chjrist and the true knowledge of our the Lord can strengthen us. The Lord loves us so much and when we rely on Him to make us stronger we will feel the strength that comes through the Atonement. I love the Book of Mormon so much! It brings so much joy to my life.

the work is going well. We are in the process of building up ouyr teachionmg pool . We are doing a lot of finding right now and we are truly trying to find the elect. Something that i have learned is that it really doesnt matter what we say to these people, it only matters how they feel. If they feel the Holy Ghost they will hear Christs voice. The elect hear His voice. Our responsibilty is to bring the Spirit with us, and we qualify for the spirit as we have love and we fill our minds with truth. We have to be virtous and have love to qualify for the Spirit and have him as our constant guide. D&C 12145-46.

I love you all so much thanks for all you do! Mom, thank you so much for the Hymn book. That is perfect!!!! I love you guys so much! Love, Elder Bills.

July 18, 2011

Hey family! Looks like the wedding was incredible! The pictures were great. I am very grateful to have another awesome siter in law. It is such a blessing! It is really so incredible. It was great to see the picture in front of the Temple. So pretty. The weather looked perfect. I am glad everyone had a great time and enjoyed the wedding.

Things here are great! We had 2 baptisms on Saturday, and it was so special! The couple who we baptized was so ready to be baptized. Before the service they were reverent and patient. The Spirit confirmed to me that they were being baptized because of their love for our father in Heaven and that they were doing it for the benefit of their children. I was so grateful to be apart of their baptism. Elder Barrus gave a great talk and I was able to baptize Jose and Elder Barrus baptized Angela. Jose offered the closing prayer and it was a humble heartfelt prayer. The biggest blessing from the wholde teaching process up to baptism is the confidence that I felt in them that they were doing all they could to prepare themselves to be baptized. They made sacrifices set goals and the blessings followedf and they continue to follow the changes they have made in their lives. The gospel is true, the Atonement is real, and it is evidence in those humble seekers of truth who honestly try to come unto to Christ with all their hearts and with all their strength.

I have been focusing on searching for Christlike attributes as I read the Book of Mormon and it has enhaned my study of it. It has been so exciting to look for how the prophets of the Am,ericas were applying the teachings of Christ into their lives and in turn blessing the lives of others. In Mosiah 29:39-40 I found a Christlike attribute that stuck out to me a ton! Mosiah wanted to respect his peoles agency and he let them choose who would be the judges of the land rather than haveing a King. I love in the end of v 39 it says the people were grateful for what they had been intrusted with and in v 40 it says how much they l;oved Mosiah. The chirstlike attribute of trust is shown here! I love it! The book of mormon is true!

I love you guys so much~! Thanks for all you do. Thanks Johnathon for the talk! I love yall so much! Love Elder Bills! Mom could you semnd a sopanish hymn book with La Familai Lopez typed on the front??

July 11, 2011

Hey family! Things are going great here! We have a wedding this Thursday! Our investigators are getting married then they are going to be baptized on Saturday. I am really excited. These people are awesome. When we teach we never have to tell them what to do. The spirit teaches them everything! They make goals for themselves right during the lessons. They have come so far since we first met them! Their names are Jose and Angela. So awesome! The baptized will be at 6 p.m.

Yesterday at church we got a tap on the shoulder at sacrement and it was a man I baptized in Santa Paula named Joauquin Gaytan.(he has a facebook Kevan. You could look him up!) He came up to see us. I was shocked! It was so awesome though. His whole family was there. He has such a strong testimony. He is so solid. He has learned so much. It was such a blessing to see him and how much he has grown in the gospel and how much direction it has given him and his family. They have so much confidence in the gospel. His wife, Liliana, was baptized about a month ago and she is so happy! It was a blessing to be able to see them and see the fruits of our work in Santa Paula. It reminded me of D&C 18:15.

I am staying another transfer with Elder Barrus. I am excited! I am learning a lot. Could you guys send me some talks on Humility? I have the one from President Uchdorf, but I would really appreciate some talks about humilty! President Castro is so awesome!!!! He has such a strong spirit. I have had two meetings with him and each time I have lefty with a desire to become more Christlike! He knows the scriptures so well. I know he is called of God. I love this work. I love the Book of Mormon so much.

I hope you all have fun this Friday! I love you all so much. Thanks for all you do! Love Elder Bills

July 4, 2011

Hey family! I have no time to write because since we went to the temple we have a half PDay. But things are well. I recieved revelation in the temple which was very needed and it helped me out a lot! I love the temple. It is incredible. I love the gospel. It is incredible. The temple has such an incredible spirit. I will write more next week! I am going to ventura tonight for zlc tommorrow morning. I am excited to meet President Castro. I love you all so much! Love Elder Bills

June 27, 2011

Hey fam. Hope all is going well. President and Sister Murri leave this wedseday. President Castro and his family will be here on Wed. I am excited to meet President Castro. It was sad saying bye to President Murri but we will see them again. They became like family. It really is cool. I have complete trust in them just like I do my own family. They are special people. There homecoming will be on July 31st in the Foothill 1st ward in the Logan East Stake at 11 am. The chapel is located on 1459 East 1500 North.

This past week was good. We had a baptism on Saturday! It was great. I love baptisms. They are so special. It is cool to see the power of the Priesthood in work. The weather is still really hot here. I had a couple of sweating attacks. . It is getting old haha.. It has been about 100 here. But I love it!! We have some baptisms in July so I am really excited!!!

I have really tried on my mission to read my Patriarchal blessing every week. Sometimes if I can ill read parts of it more. But i realized this morning the importance of doing that. I was studying about the Atonement and its relationship with obedience. We can qualify and recieve the blessings of the Atonement through our obedience to the gospel. That is how we apply the blessings from it and that is how we are able to recieve eternal life. D&C 59:23. My patriarchal blessing talks a lot about obedience and avoiding sin. I was pondering about this during my studfy and I realized it says so much about obedience because it is teaching me how I can apply the atonement in my life so that I can return to Heavenly Father. I am grateful for my Blessing and I invite all of you to read your as much a spossible.

I love you all so much. Thanjks for everything! Love Elder Bills

June 20, 2011

Hey Family! Thanks for all of the emails. You guys are the best. This past week was great. We put another woman with a baptismal date. HEr name is Lourdes and man! She has made soo much progress. It has been incredible. When we first taught her, the 2nd lesson she broke down and said she didnt know if God existed. She said she felt lonely and she was having troubles qwith her son. We invited her to read Alma 22 and pray and ask God if he was there. After we left that day she called us on the phone and was crying and said that things with her son were way bad and she was just asking for help. I had no clue what to say just because I had never raised any kids ha but I told her Heavenly Father knows exactly what she needed. I invited her to pray right when she got off the phone with me and then read that chapter. So she said she would and honestly from then on she has progressed so quickly! She read Alma 22 twice that night and she said literally from that chapter she recieved comfort and a confirmation that God is real and aware of her needs. She has come to church twice and has a baptismal date for July 9th. Honestly the converting power of the gospel is so powerful. When we set her with a goal to be baptized, she was baring her testimony to us about how many changes she has seen since we started teaching her. She has come so much closer to the Lord in these past weeks. I know the Gospel is true. I know that Jesus Christ knows us perfectly and personally. I love the gospel.

I was studying from a quote President Hunter gave that said when we experience the blessings of the Atonement in our lives we cannot help but have a concern for the welfare of others souls. I was really thinking about that and I started reading in Enos and it is so true! Enos recieved a remission for his sins, experienced the blessings through the atonement, and immediatly after he had a desire for the welfare of his brethren. Our understanding of the atonement is the Key to feeling true love and charity for others. Charity is the key to inviting others to come unto Christ and inviting others to come unto Christ is what part of our respnsiblitiy and will lead us to exaltation.When I have felt an increased amount of love for others it has been because I have understood that Christ individually suffered and died for these people. I am so grateful for the Atonement. The blessings are inumerable. I love Jesus Christ.

Thanks for all that you guys do for me. It is so hot here! On Tuesday it was almost 100! I love the heat though so its all good. I love you guys a ton! Hope all is well. Congrats Kimmy girl on doing the Trek! You are awesome!!!! I love you all so much!!! Love Elder Bills p.s i got the pictures and camera chip mom. Thanks a ton

June 13, 2011

Hey family. This past week was awesome! So busy! We wore suits all week! Every day ha. We had Zone leaders council tuesday and then district meeting wed, then we went to another District meeting thursday and did baptismal interviews friday and Saturday! So busy but so awesome! I love this wiork. Our Zone is doing sooo awesome. In may we had 7 baptisms as a zone and we hve already had five this month with one next week and 4 on the 25th! It is awesome they ar working hard and being positive. I have seen a lot of changes in the attitude of the missionaries since I have been on my mission. We are using the fundam,entals of PMG now and have been for awhile but it has changed a lot about the way I and other missionaries do missionary work. It is more of a focus on teaching the people and specifically to there needs and foocusing on revelation recieved through the Big 3. Prayer, The book of Mormon and church attendance. I love it. It has helped me to seek for discernment in teaching and really trying to receive inspiration while we are teaching. It is aweosme to see how the Chruch is continually looking for ways to imp[rove missionary work. The leaders of the church are inspired. Itestify of that. I know it without a doubt.

We had an awesome week! We had 7 investigators at sacrement and also 5 less actives that we have been working with. We have been having so much success. We have these investigators named Jose and Angela who have been so prepaered. We invited them to be baptized on the 16 th of july and they accepted. They are already making changes without us even inviting them to do so. We taught them the Plan of Salvation on Saturyday and we were talking about our purpse here on the earth. As we were talking about it Jose said he thinks he needs to be a good father and husband but he felt like it would be hard since he has had a hard past. But then he told us that he hadnt drank for three weeks or smoked for two and he gave his ipod to his cousin because it had a lot of bad music on it. He said that he didnt feel comfortale doing those things and going to church at the same time. Angela as well has made changes. She took out her lip ring and is so positive and happy! I got choked up when they told us that they had started to make those changes. I felt the spirit confirm to me of the converting power of the gospel that comes through the Spirit. Christ changes people. They are starting to take steps to align their will with the will of the Father. I am so grateful to be apat of this work and to see the changes people make as they allow the Gospel to becoms apart of their lives.

I know that the Preisthood has been restored on the earth and that the ordinances that are performed in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are accepted by our Father in Heaven. The Book of Mormon has blessed my life more than I ever though it could. I truly know it answers all of the questions that anyone could have. Any heart felt question that we have it answers. I love this Gospel. I love it so much. I am so grateful for the blessings that come through obedience to it. My Mission has changed my life! I love you guys so much.

Love, Elder Craig Bills

May 23, 2011

Hey Fam, Hope all is going well. Things are going good here. We had a good week last week and we saw some cool things happen. Elder Skovran and I have done these two things to help us find wherever we go the whole transfer and we have seen some cool things. We call them mini miracles and the open door approach. Whenever we get out of the car or visit someone after we visit the person we walk and look for someone to talk to or we look for an open door to knock. This past week we found 4 new investigators from these two things. It has been really cool! I was on exhcanges a couple weeks ago and we knocked this open door and set up an appointment with this lady and we have taught her twice and she came to church yesterday with her 3 kids! It was so awesome. It has been a stimony builder for me that miracles are all around, we just have to look for them. When we seek blessings from Heavenly Father he will bless us! We have a little boy with a date for June 11th. His family is recent converts and they are so solid. W are really excited and he is so smart! He writes notes on the things he readsfrom the childrens BOM. We have some really good potential we arwe working with. The work here is awesome!

Last night elder skovran and I Spoek at a Bishops youth fireside about Patriarchal blessingsa. Itwent well. I am so grateful for those blessings in our lives. Honestly I have recieved so much strength and direction from mine. It has been cool to see as I have been on my mission I have seen some of the blessings that it talks about in my blessing take place. I am developing habits that will bless me and helpme for the rest of my life. I am truly developing a foundation for my life and the direction I want for my family and for myself. It is such a good time! A sacred time!

2 nephi 26:24-28 The lord wants to bless all of his children with His goodness. It is pour respnsibilty to spread this goodness with those we love!

I just got a call from Juoquin Guytan A man i baptized in Santa Paula, and he told me his wife is being bapotized this saturday and he will be baptizing her! I am so happy. I honestly felt so much Joy! There is nothing better than seeing the fruits of missionary service. I love this work so so much! I love you guys so much thanks for all you do!

Love Elder Craig Bills

May 16, 2011

Hey Family Hows it goin? Thanks for all the emails and support. Things here are going great. Last week we had 2 baptisms in the district! We had a baptism on thursday and it was a great experience. I love all baptisms. They are awesome! I feel the spirit so strong every time and I feel a conviction from the spirit of the truthfulness of the Church and the Priesthood authority. We had Zone conference last week and one thing that President Murri invited us to do was to teach the Doctrine of Christ to the members. So Elder Skovran and I have been doing it. I had exchanges right after ZC and I was with an english missionary. We taught this couple the Doctrine of Christ from 2 Nephi 31. It was sweet! They felt the spirit so strong. She honestly just sat and looked at the Book of Mormon and said that thoe scriptures we read helped her a ton with her testimny of the Book of Mormon. She and her husband were so excited to share the gospel and we set up an appointment for the other missionaries to go and teach their friends. It was so cool! Then we went to a less active guy and taught him the doctrine of Christ. He gave us 2 referells. It has been a huge testimony bulder for me of the power of the Doctrine of Christ. I realized this week as I was studying it that the Doctrine of Christ are the principles of the Gospel because they point us directly to the Atonement and how we can apply and use it in our lives. If we will study the Doctrine of Christ and l;earn how to apply it in our lives, we will understand more how to apply the Atonement in our lives. It has been such a blessing to learn more of its importance. So i invite you gys to study the doctrine of Christ. 2 nephi 31, 3 nephi 27, alma 7 11-15. I love you all so much! Thabnks for all you do. Love Elder Bills. I dont need anything mom. I am all god. Thanks for all you do !

May 2, 2011

Hey family! Hows everything going? Thank you all for the emails! I appreciate your support a lot. Things are going great here. I love my new area. The ward is awesome. Its a spanish ward and the Bishop is such a great man. We had a wonderful testimony meeting yesterday. I really enjoyed how our members kept referring back to their testimonies of Joseph Smith and the importantance he is in our lives. I know that our testimonies of Joseph Smith are vital in our continuing conversion in our lives. He is a prophet of God and in fact was prepared for the amazing work he did! We had 3 investigators at church yesterday. We had these 2 old ladies named Adela and Rosa there. They havent been to church in 50 years!! It was a MIRACLE to see them there. We were so excited. Right when we walked in with them the best thing that couoldve possibly happened did. Their fellowship came right up to them gave them a big hug and took them to sit with her family! It was awesome! Missionary work is not 100% affective withou tmember help. We didnt do much. The members were so great! I am so grateful for the testimonies of the memebrs of this Church. I am so happy to be apart of it. During the week while we were teaching them we had a cool experience. We had taught them about the Book of Mormon and as they were looking at the picture of Christ when he appeared in the Americas they were like little children. They were smiling so big like touching the picture and describing what they felt about it. It was definantly a spiritual experience for me. Jesus Christ is the savior of the world and loves us so much! I saw and recognized that everybody has a testimony of Jesus Christ on this earth. It is just up to them to rediscover it. After the lesson Rosa told us somthing way cool.. She said that everytime she sees elder Skovran speak and bare his testimony since the time she met him she has seen a light around him. She said she feels something different that she has never felt. Then the member that was with us told us that she had a similar experinece with a missionary as she was being taught. We dont know what it was but we know that the spirit is with us always as we love these people and do all we can to help them. I love being on a mission.

Eldwer Skovran and I have a lot of goals that are helping us become more Christlike. We are really trying to love everyone and aviod judging people at all costs. I know that goals are essential in becoming more like Christ! I love this gospel so much. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know that Christ lives and loves us. This is His true chruch.

I will plan on calling you guys between 3-6. Sorry ha we arent even sure where we are going to call! We have around 40 minutes to call. I cant wait to here from you guys!! I love you all so much Love Elder Bills

April 25, 2011

HEy family! Well this past week was very awesome! I am so grateful to be here in Bakersfield> Our area is really cool. It is probably the most ghetto place in the mission but I love it. I am in a spanish ward and we are working hard! Elder Skovran is really a great missionary and he is working really hard and still trying to improve, He goes home in 5 weeks but he is still going strong. I have learned a lot from hima and his spanish is way good. We saw a lot of miracles last week. A lot of really incredible things happened. We have an investigator who is was golden! She has been so prepared! I Love the gospel so much. We have something that EVERYBODy needs to have. The hope and assurance of Christ and His atonement. The Gospel is the way to live! As we talk to peopleit is apparent the difference of those who have a strong faith in Christ and who live the true teachings of the Gospel and those who dont. I have realized this past week that those who are truly living the gospel are accountable for their actions. They dont make excuses for mistakes they make but are always willing and ready to progress and become more like Christ.

The zone is really cool! We have 16 people with a date right now as a zone and thats more than we have had for the past 4 tranbsfers! We have a lot of cool Elders and we have some Hermanas as well. This Saturday there will be 2 baptisms. Elder Ray is in the zone and he has a baptism this saturday! I love you all sooo much. I love the gospel. I love JEsus Christ. Keep me informed on KC Kelly and Kevan and wehat they are doing!! Love Elder Bills

April 18, 2011

Hey family I hope all is going well! Things here are great. I will be going to East Bakersfield tomorrow morning to be with my new companion. I am excited. I will be Zone Leader and District Leader. I am happy to be able to serve in a big city!! I am going to miss Shafter a lot. I have learned so much here and i have met so many wonderful p[eople. I was driving home last night after I said goodbye to some members, and I was filled with gratitude to the Lord for this opportunity to be on a mission. I am so grateful for the things I have learned and realized during this time. I cant imagine what I wouldve done without it. I have realized by pondering and thinking about the things that mean most to us, and as we ponder the blessings that we have recieved, we can be filled with gratitude. I know that it is key in our lives and is a way that we can strenghten faith and love in our Father in Heaven and give us a greater determination to serve him.

This past week we worked a lot with our investigator Adi, who is progressing well towards baptism. It really was a good week and we worked hard. This last transfer with Elder Manning was great. We made a goal at the beginning of the transfer to teach 100 lessons and yesterday as we added up our numbers from the transfer, we taught 100 exactly. It was awesome to see that we reached our goals for the transfer! The district had a good transfer as well. We as a district had 4 baptisms this past tranfer! We found a really cool investigator a couple weeks ago named Bill. He is 78 years old and is a korean war vet. He recieved the purple heart for hisbravery. He went in with a company of 145 men and only 3 survived. Him and 2 others, and 1 of the others he carried out to saftey. Pretty incredible! He came to church yesterday and loved it! It was sweet to see him there and he got along great with everyone. I am excited to see how things go withhim. I am so grayeful for you guys and I hope you are al doing awesome!! I love you guys so much. and am so grateful for all you do! Have a happy Easter and remember the true meaning of it! Here is a thiought from elder holland my president sent me,

An Easter thought from Elder Holland in April 2009 Conference:

“Now I speak very carefully, even reverently, of what may have been the most difficult moment in all of this solitary journey to Atonement. I speak of those final moments for which Jesus must have been prepared intellectually and physically but which He may not have fully anticipated emotionally and spiritually—that concluding descent into the paralyzing despair of divine withdrawal when He cries in ultimate loneliness, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

“The loss of mortal support He had anticipated, but apparently He had not comprehended this. Had He not said to His disciples, “Behold, the hour … is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me” and “The Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him”?

“With all the conviction of my soul I testify that He did please His Father perfectly and that a perfect Father did not forsake His Son in that hour. Indeed, it is my personal belief that in all of Christ’s mortal ministry the Father may never have been closer to His Son than in these agonizing final moments of suffering. Nevertheless, that the supreme sacrifice of His Son might be as complete as it was voluntary and solitary, the Father briefly withdrew from Jesus the comfort of His Spirit, the support of His personal presence. It was required, indeed it was central to the significance of the Atonement, that this perfect Son who had never spoken ill nor done wrong nor touched an unclean thing had to know how the rest of humankind—us, all of us—would feel when we did commit such sins. For His Atonement to be infinite and eternal, He had to feel what it was like to die not only physically but spiritually, to sense what it was like to have the divine Spirit withdraw, leaving one feeling totally, abjectly, hopelessly alone.

“But Jesus held on. He pressed on. The goodness in Him allowed faith to triumph even in a state of complete anguish. The trust He lived by told Him in spite of His feelings that divine compassion is never absent, that God is always faithful, that He never flees nor fails us. When the uttermost farthing had then been paid, when Christ’s determination to be faithful was as obvious as it was utterly invincible, finally and mercifully, it was “finished.” Against all odds and with none to help or uphold Him, Jesus of Nazareth, the living Son of the living God, restored physical life where death had held sway and brought joyful, spiritual redemption out of sin, hellish darkness, and despair. With faith in the God He knew was there, He could say in triumph, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.”

I invite you to focus time each day in your study this week to the Atonement–to the true meaning of Easter. I testify to you that Jesus Christ is indeed the Reason for this season of the year. He lives, our wise, kind heavenly Friend. He loves and loves us to the end.”
I hope you enjoyed your zone council meeting this past week and that its focus will continue to bless you as you continue your service in the CVM, whether you get a new companion tomorrow or whether you continue to serve with your current companion.

I love yiou guys so much!!!!!!!! Thanks for everything Love Elder Bills

April 11, 2011

Hey Family! I hope all is well and everyone is happy! Happy birthday Jake and Luke! 1 year old! No way! Time flies. We have been so blessed the past few weeks as a family. It is hard to say goodbye to someone we love and care for so much, however I know that it was Grandmas time and that Father in Heaven was so pleased with her life and the many people sh blessed with her spirit. I have felt an immense amount of love from the atonement this past week. I havent felt alone at all. The blessings of the atonement reach far beyond than recieving a remmision of sins but we can recieve a physical strength from it. I know the Atonement is real. I know that Jesus Christ our Savior loves us and is so eager to heal us. I have recieved strength from the Atonement and I know ALL that will come unto Him with faith that he can heal, can and will be healed, physically, spiritually, and mentally. I love Him so much. I feel comfort to know how Happy G MA is!

This past week we truly saw miracles. Our district is great and working hard! I am so happy for them and what they are doing and I am learning SO muchj from these Elders. This past week E;der Manning and I saw miracles. We have an investigator named Adilene Rojas who is so humble and receptive. She cant read so we use a lot of pictures and examples with her. We taught her the Book of Mormon the past week fromt the pictures in the front and we talked about how it will bring her closer to Christ. The spirit was strong! During the middle I felt to have her pray with us right then and there to know if the BOM istrue. So we knelt down and she offered a sdimple heart felt prayer. After we let the spirit testify to her and didnt say anything. We then asked how she felt and she explaind a calm peaceful feeling and we asked her if she felt the love of god. She said of course! We explained that was the spirit testifying of tyruth and she almost started crying. Elder Soza was with us and he gave a powerful testimony. It was so awesome! We sether with a baptismal date and she excepted. The spirit was so strionmg. The lord blessed us so much. Simplicity helps the spirit testify when truth is taught. We also have an investigator named Yessie. She has talked to missionaries her whole life bcuz she grew up in Idaho. We taught her 2 weeks ago abhout the BOM and invited her to pray abou it. We went by last week and got to know them more and we then I felt like we should read the testimony of the witnesses. So we did and she said. I just received my answer. I kbnow this is true.! We were kind of caught off guard ha but we put her with a date too. The spirit was strong and now we are working with her to get married to gher boyfriend! The spirit testifies of truth and just like Elder Bednar said sometimes it comes so fast!

I love my mission and I am so grateful for the gospel. It is true. I know it. I am so happy! I love the Lord JEsus CHrist, I know he lives and loves us so much! The Book of Mormon is the tool to bring us unto him! I love you all so much. thanks for all you do for me! With all my love

Love, Elder Bills

April 4, 2011

Hey Family! Conference was incredible. I have never felt the spirit so strong in my life. I am so grateful for this Church, all that it does for us as a family and how we are strenghtned by the testimonies of our leaders. Conferences have become my favorite time of the year. As I was watching and listening I felt the love of Heveanly Father so much. As I was thinking about conference, I realized how incredible our leaders are. To me, it is a testimony that they are true followers of Christ. I was thinking about how so much prayer pondering, fasting and thought and study went into all of the talks. They are sure of their responsibilty and commitment to Christ. They share their insights with us because they love Christ and they love each and every one of us. They do all of this so that we can learn ways to develope the attributes of Christ and to make the most of our life here on earth. They love us and through them we can learn how to come unto Christ with a full purpose of heart. I loved conference. I realized how love is the crowning attribute and the most important thing we need to develope. Elder Richard G. Scott's talk was the most loving talk I have ever heard. I realized that he is just a regular man just like us. But he has lived his life in a way to develope and have the attributes of Christ especially Love and Charity. I realized that it is so posible to develope these attributes and become like Christ. He spoke with the love that I imagine Christ would speak. It was huge for my testimony and desire to become more like Christ!

It was hard recieving the phone call from President Murri about Grandma. It was really hard. It was unexpected! I didnt think she was close to passing away. I was on exhanges with Elder Soza at the time and we were just about to go into an appointment when I recieved the message. It is hard to lose someone who is so close to you and someone who has been apart of your whole life! As I have been thinking about the Plan of Salvation, it has brought me so much comfort and hope. After I found out about Grandma, I was praying very hard to just recieve strength and literally I was filled with comfort almost immediatley. I felt a hope rush through me. I am SO grateful fopr this plan of Hope, Happiness, and salvation! As I have been thinking about Grandma and this Plan, I have been filled with joy at thinking that she will be reunited with Grandpa Haacke. I imagine the reunion was sweet! Grandma Haacke was such an incredible example to me and to all of us. I have thought a lot about the memories I have of her. As I have thought her Christlike attributes have jumped out at me. She was so full of Love, Charity, Service, Faith , Hope. I was thinking about how before my mission she gave me and Jeff $20 to go to taco bell! We went and got some and came back and ate it with her and just talked. Her love was so deep for her family. Justhaving us there with her, I know she wouldnt have wanted to be anywhere else. During conference I was thinking of when we would go to her house and watch the second session of conference with her. Simple memories of her have helped me find comfort and hapopiness this past week. Thinking back, I was always so comfortable at her house and I lioved beong there. I have realized the reason for this comfort and feeling so comfortbale in her home was becasue of the Spirit that was always in her home. She was always radiating with it. Christs countenance truly shined through her. I love her so much! She lived such a great life and she was and is a great example! We should have such an immense hope through the Plan of Salvation and the Atonement that we live our lives according to Gods will so that we can be reunited with our family for eternity. I am so grateful for this gospel and for this plan. Heveanly Father loves us. I know he does. Jesus Christ lives. I love you guys so much! I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to testify of this plan of hope. The past couple of days have made my testimony so much stronger of this plan! I know that Grandma is free of pain and happy.

I love you all so much! Have a good week and I will continue to keep tyou in my prayers! I love you guys more than anything!!! Have fun in Lompoc! Love Elder Craig Bills

March 28, 2011

Hey Family. Thank you so much for all of the support. I am so grateful for you all! This past week was great! The district had a great week and they are working hard and having fun! I am happy for them! We had a great week last week. We taught 24 lessons and are really searching for the elect! We set 2 with a date last week and Satan is already working so hard on these people. One of them, the day after we set him with a date, got a job with crazy hours working everyday like 12 hours a day! Its crazy! We will see what will happen but please pray for our success! Obviously the will of the Lord will be done but it still is hard to see stuff like that ha. This week I was really trying to keep in mind my favorite Psalm, and probably my favorite scriptures from the Bible. Psalms 23. It is incredible and it brings comfort and strength to me as I remember it,. I would invite you to read it and apply it into your lives. I know it will bless you.

I dont have much time left to email but I just wanted to tell you a little bit about some of the things I studied this morniong. My study was centered on the Plan of Salvation mainly the three kingdoms of glory. It was a very spiritual uplifting study! There was so many things that stuck out to me. The Lord in his great love has seriously prepared the way for us to make it back to him IF we abide by his commandments. With obeduience to every law there is a blessing attached to it. We have been blessed with so much in our lives and we need to do all we can to be obedient to His commandments. I was studing aboiut the celestial kingdom and how Heavenly Father will only permit those who deserve it to dwell in the Celestial Kingdom. But something that was really interesting that I learned ios that we need to be living by the Celestial law here in mortality in order to be prepared to dwell in His precense. We need to understand that every day is a judgment. Our thoughts actions and words. We have the choice to live the Cestial law or the terrestial or telestial law here. We must always choose the Celestial. I loved in D&C 132 19 20 it states how we can become gods. I was thionking about thta. Do we really understand all God has prepared for us? I think if we truly did we would live a lot different! Thats just some food for thought. We should always have an eternal prospective! I love you all so much! The Lord loves us so much! Thanks for all you do! Love Elder Bills

March 21, 2011

Hey family! Thank you all so much for all the cards and letters for my Birthday! I appreciarte it so much. Thanks for the ties aswell they are so nice. This past week was good. We have been searching hard for ways to help investigators be baptized and to develope testimonies. One thing that we have been trying to really focus on is helping them DIscover the Book of Mormon for themselves. The book of mormon combined with the spirit honestly is the most powerful source for teaching. As we have been thinking of how we can do better on this we have realized that at times we just give them the answer. We dont let them think or ponder. So we have been resisting the temptaion to tel;l them and we are asking questions that will direct them to discovering the book of mormon. It has been a blessing!!!! I have felt the spirit a lot more this week during lessons because it has been the investigators discovering and understanding the Book of Mormon. I was doing the same today for myself. Really trying to discover the Book of Mormon during my personal study. I was looking at the questions of the soul in PMG and thinking of a specific inv. that we have. I started toi study foir the question how can i find peace and joy? I started reading in Mosiah 4. As i was reading I realized sopme very important things. The book of mromon teaches us exactly what we need to do in order to find happiness and come closer to Jesus Christ. If we ever feel like it doesnt that means we are not studying it with spiritual eyes. I really loved verses 11-12. They basically consumed my study. From these scriptures King Benjamin tyeaches us EXACTLY how we can use and apply the atonement of Christ in our lives to find joy, and what we should do if we want to recieve continual joy in our lives. He gives the pre reqs in v 11 and then follows up in v 12 with a promise. I know that we can find true happiness peace and joy through the atonement. The book of Mormon teaches us these things. My testimony was strenghtened of the Book of Mormon this morning and I truly discovered it. I invite you guys when you read to truyl discover it. Really read with spiritual eyes and I promise you WILL feel a confirmation from the Holy Ghost again and again that it is the most true book on earth! I love the Book of Mormon So much! I love you guys so much! This past week our district did awesome and worked way hard! Thanks for all the support. You guys are the best and I love you so much! Love Elder Bills

March 14, 2011

Hey Family, I hope all is going well back in Provo! Today has been a good day. I cant beleive that I am 20. Time flies. This past week was pretty slow but we found an awesome Investigator named Daniel. We had an appointment with this one lady but it fell through. So we were walking trying to find someone to talk to and we walked past this door that was open and we went and talked to this guy who let us right in. We talked to him about hope and how Christ truly brings us hope. We shared with him ether 12:4 and we talked to him about the direction he wants for his family. He said he wants to help them have a good life and not go in and out of prison like he did. It was a great meeting and then we left with a kneeling prayer and he offered it. It was a heartfeklt humble prayer. Then we came back the next day and we taught him the restoration. He had read the pamphlet and and the book of mormon and he was so into it and was asking questions and really involved. So we put him with a date and have been working with him to progress towards this goal. It was a good experience. I learned that we go to places for specific reasons. We didnt plan on visiting his area but the Lord directed us to him. I am so grateful for the Holy Ghost. What an amazing gift that we have been blessed with. I was reading the talk by Elder BEdnar about the Holy Ghost yesterday and he said somethuing that really stuck out to me. He said we need to invite him into our lives with the same gentleness that he works with us. I loved this because we need to be reverent and respectful to invite him into our lives. As we remember Jesus Christ in all that we do, and as we invite the Holy Ghost into our lives through our actions, words and thoughts we will recieve the Holy Ghost. The lord has provided us with so much to return with Him and the Holy Ghost is the consant guide that we MUST have to return with Him! I love the gospel so much. We are so blessed to be members of Christs true church. I am so grateful for you guys and all you do for me. I am loving my mission. These times have really blessed me so much. I cant even begin to explain how I feel about the Lord and this time he has given me. I am so grateful for the love and patience he has with me! The Lord truly loves us so much. I hope Kevan has a great week with spring ball. I have been pushing our car in the morning for the past 2 weeks to try and get my legs a little back. My body is so sad. Its alright though. I kniow the Lord will bless me with strength when I get back!!!! I love you all so much thanks for everytthing you do for me. Thanks for all the happy birthdays too!!! KC Kelly Dad KEvan Cousins, what were some affective things you did to help your district meetings be spiritually uplifting and a time where you really reciueved revelation? I Love you all siosososo much! Con mucho amor y un abrazo grandisimo! Elder Bills!!!!