January 23, 2012

Good Morning Family! Its a rainy morning here in Oxnard but it is still beautiful! I hope ou all had a great week and enjoyed all the things you were able to do. This past week was an incredible one to say the least. I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve the Lord. It is a privelage and an honor that I will be eternally grateful for. I feel even more in debt to my Father in Heaven for this opportunity that he has given me. I love being a missionary and I am pretty nervous to come home.

We had the visit of Elder W. Craig Zwick this past week and it was incredible. He is a man of God who emulates Christ and radiates the Spirit of God. What a blessing it was to learn from him. We had a ZLC with him on Tuesday and the most powerful thing for me was how he talked about desiring the Spirit. In 3 nephi 19:9 we read about how the Twelve discpiles of Christ in the Americas prayed to recieve what they most desired and it was the Spirit. This had a huge impact on me. Even though 3 Nephi 19 is one of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon and I have read that verse many times, I learned something that has had an impact on me. As we read it the question came to my mind, Do I show Heavanly Father in all that I do, act, say and feel how much I truly desire to recieve the Spirit in my life? When I pray for the Spirit, do I end my prayer and do all in my power to recieve him by how I act? I know that if I am going to take the Holy Spirit as my guide and be led by him in my life that I will need to show Heavenly Father how much I truly desire his presence by the way I love my life. The most important thing that we can do in our lives is to take the Holy Ghost as our guideD&C45:57,beacuse when we do this, our capacity to love, be kind, be patient and to become like the Savior is increased. I am so grateful for the leaders of the Church. They help us so much. A lot of my prayers were answered with this visit and the things that they said. On Thursday we had a 7 zone zone conference where Elder and Sister Zwick spoke and something that had a huge impact on me was when Sister Zwick said, "Do not limit yourself to what you think is your capacity. Always let the Lord expand your capacity. And He will." I love this. A lot of times we limit ourselves becuase we may think something is too daunting for us or we may think that we cant accomplish something but we are not involving the Lord in whatever the task is. When we invlove the Lord, we will be able to do remarkable things. Things that on our own we never couldve done. I am so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He lives.the Gospel is literally the guidepost to a happy abundant life. I know thatas we do our part and live His Gospel that our lives will be blessed.

This past week we found 3 new investigators! It was a good week and we got a lot done. We have seen some pretty awesome miracles this past week. We have found a lot of really awesome potentials and we are working with an investigatir named Phiyada who is from Thailand. We are having a FHE with her tonight in a members home. Yesterday Pedro and his family came to church and it was a Stake conference and we had a broadcast from SLC. It was wonderful. I am so excited with all the potntial we have right now. The Lord truly prepares His children to recieve His glorious message.

Thanks for all you do fam! i LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH. Have agood week. Love Elder Bills

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.