Elder Brandon Wallis

Between moving, transfers, and General Conference it was a pretty slow week, but we were able to set up a lot of stuff for this next week! We're keeping our fingers crossed that we can get some more people on date for Baptism. We have 7 that we could potentially get on date, that have either had a date before and need to reset it, or have progressed enough to where we can extend an invite. Open with prayer, spiritual thought, TESTIFY AND INVITE THE SPIRIT!, then INVITE THEM TO BE BAPTIZED while the spirit is really strong. Works more often than not. Getting them to progress and keep commitments is where people tend to struggle. We did commit Jennifer (the Wilson's daughter who's 28) to come to church this Sunday! We have some members that are going to pick her up. May Wilson (the mother) said she would come the following week. Mike Wilson... we have to figure out his work schedule. He has a testimony, he has to act on it though and ask for Sundays off. Keep your arms crossed and heads bowed praying that it'll work out! There's a few other investigators that we're starting to be able to meet with again, they've become more receptive and willing to have us over again. That's been pretty cool. The Scotts are a returning to activity family and we're teaching 3 of their daughters. Ages 8 and two are 9. They are on date for the 26th of this month! They seem pretty solid, two of them have some autism, and the lessons can be pretty interesting and hard to keep their attention. But they are learning and want to be Baptized. They also committed to come to church on Sunday. Janice Rivera is a less active that we teach and she's been doing pretty well. She really struggles with the spiritual side of the Gospel. She tries to live the Gospel but has a hard time believing that it comes from God. BUT she knows that it's a good thing. She has two twin sons that are 7 years old. They're awesome. We teach them as well and they've been absorbing a lot of it. They come to Church pretty much every Sunday now. Jonathan and Justin have asked if I'd Baptize them! I was so touched. I can't remember when their b-days are, hopefully I'm still in this area!!! Other than that, not a whole lot else has happened. We have several people that we're hoping to pick up as official "new investigators" this week. We've talked to them before and have their info. We'll see how it goes.

General Conference was the BOMB!!! I've loved every General Conference on my Mission. can you believe that I only have one more??? That blew my mind. In a way I'm kind of sad. Dad you're right, something about being on a mission and watching General Conference, you seem to get so much more out of it. A couple of my favorite parts were President Uchtdorf's talk on Gratitude, and President Packer's talk... his was a powerhouse! Did you catch his round about way of saying that he's seen the Savior? That gave me chills. President Uchtdorf gave me a lot to think about... Am I only grateful during times of happiness and ease? Or am I also grateful for the hard times that make me grow and mature? In hindsight I'm grateful for my trials because I learned from them and grew, but what about when I'm experiencing them? So I've been trying to change my attitude of picking when I'm grateful depending on my blessings, to having a attitude of gratitude, just like President Uchtdorf counseled. Right away I've been able to see a difference. Generally I'm more happy and I'm able to not only endure trials and temptations but enjoy almost relish the challenge because God knows what my limits are and will only give me tribulations that will help me. IF, I have the ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE. I know that we have modern day Prophets. There's no way that this Church could be false. There's too much good in it... it is PURE TRUTH. Like I've told some people on my Mission, why would I come out here for two years to tell people a lie? Why would 15 million people be so firm and steadfast in a lie? It is only through Jesus Christ that people are able to be this steadfast and immovable. Above all my other goals in life, my first priority is to be able to call myself confidently, a Man of God. The Gospel is where I have found the most joy in this life. So naturally, this is where I will stay. There is so much I have to learn, there's an infinite amount of knowledge if we use the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I love this Church, not because I think it's a good church or because of the people, I love this Church because it is Jesus Christ's Church. By continuing to progress in this Gospel and sharing our testimonies, we can all become truly converted to Christ. It is that point that I am striving to get to, where anything we do in this life is a conscious decision to do good and to bring us closer to Christ. This is my testimony and my witness of the Savior, that He lives, He loves us, and wants us to use His Atonement to return to our Heavenly Father. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I love you all! I hope you enjoy the other pictures that I've been uploading! I hope you have an awesome week. Stay safe, stay healthy/get healthy.

Love,

Elder Wallis