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