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!!!!

February 28, 2011

hey family. Thanks again for all of your emails and Love! I hope you all are doing great in snowy Utah. Its sunny here but kind of chilly. This past week it got really cold!! Well this past week was a great week. We saw a lot of blessings and we had a lot of spiritual experiences. We were focusing on really talking to everybody we saw this week. EVERYONE! It really helped a lot. We are focusing on finding the elect and helping them to know and gain a testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We found 8 new investigators this week. As we were talking about the week last night and reviewing our goals for the coming week I realized that the Lord had blessed us for our diligence. We talked to everyone and went out of our way to talk to people and help them, and we felt the blessings from it. I am so grateful to the lord and all taht he does for us in this work.

This week we had a cool experience when we were knocking. But it started the night before while we were planning. I planned to knock at a specific time of the day and when i planned it in, a specific street came to my head to knock. So i wrote it down and we wwenty there the next day. I didnt tell my companion about it but I had been thinking about it throughout the day. So when the time came we started knocking and I turned to my companion adn asked him if he beleived that we were going to find someone. He shrugeed his shoulders and said maybe haha. Then he asked me and I said I know we will find someone and he just laughed and we went to the next house. So the next house a mom opened and she had a bunch of kids running around and we told her who we were and what we were doing. She let us right in and we taught the whole family of 6. The dad opened up to us and told about his gma that was dying and we talked to him abiout the plan of hope, happiness, and salvation. It was such an incredible experienc efor me. To know that when we act on the impressions we recieve however small they may be, the lord will bless us. faith is powerful. We must have faith in the spirit and the promptings we recieve. I am so grateful for the Spirit in this work. Without him, we would do nothing and we would be walking into houses without any hope.

We also found a kid named felix. He is 22 and We knocked uinto his house and his mom let us rtight in, but then went staright to his room to get him. He came out and she left but he stayed there. We began to talk to him about the Lord and he told us he wasnt religous and wasnt really into that "stuff". I had a striong impression to ask him what his purpose was in this life. So I did. He gave an anwser like work sleep eat. Then we began to testuify and tell him there was a purpose and the book of mormon could teach him that purpose. So we gave him a BOM and came back 2 days later. He was really excited and I could see a difference in him. He said he had read and explained to us what he had read. I asked him why he read and why he wants to meet wioth us. He said to us, Welll when you asked me what my purpose was here, I have really been thinkin asbout that and I think that there is more to this life than just work and I think This book can help me find that purpose. The spirit was strong and I was so grateful that I acte don the impression to askl him that in the 1st lesson.

The spirit in active in our lives when we invite him and when we are willing to qact on the impressions and promptings we recieve! I know this is the work of the lord and we are apart of His work and glory to bring to pass the eternal life of man! I love you all sosososo much! Thanks for all you do Love Elder Bills