Monday, October 19, 2015

Happy Fall Y'all

I hope everyone had a week as good as mine was!


It's Pumpkin Season and Sweater Weather

My 4 Month Mark
Fall Time

First of all it is COLD. It was 39 degrees when we came to the Library this morning. We had frost in our yard and on our car yesterday. How is the weather in Utah? I can't remember it being this cold in Utah this early. When it is hot here it is REALLY hot, and when it is cold it is REALLY cold. Fall is my favorite, I am fine wearing my sweaters and boots, best time of the year!

The Leaves are Turning

The Lord's work is EXPLODING here in Ashland, Kentucky. This has been the busiest week of my mission. It has truly been Miracle after Miracle. After weeks of trying to find new investigators we have 12 new investigators! The Spirit leads and guides us to the places that we are supposed to be and to the people we need to meet.  Sister Farnsworth and I have doing a lot of finding these last few weeks and after finding so many potential investigators, we contacted a lot of them.  We have been trying to be diligent to Our Purpose and always finding and always teaching.  We spend a lot of time planning out our day so that we can meet with as many people as we can.  We have been planning a few half hour lessons here and there to maybe just read a verse from the Book of Mormon or just a quick follow-up visit.  By contacting our potentials, teaching them the restoration, and setting up return appointments with them, we have lots of new people to teach.  We even have a couple of families to teach!  We have truly seen the miracle of following up.


What been really is cool is teaching people the Restoration right then and there when we meet them. Instead of sharing a brief message about the Book of Mormon or Joseph Smith, we have been sharing the whole Restoration! I have seen the miracles of doing this. We met with one of our investigators in our neighborhood, Chris. We haven't been able to set up a real time to teach him before because he is really busy, but one night we caught him home and we talked to him on his front porch. It was AMAZING. We taught and testified of the Restoration, relating it back to him. I recited the First Vision and after he said "That's impressive". I didn't want him to think that I had just memorized that because I am trying to sell him something. I talked about how I came to know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet. I talked about how I have learned about him since I was little but I didn't know if for myself that he was a prophet until I went and asked Heavenly Father myself. The spirit was so strong! I am pretty sure his eyes were watering a little bit. It is so cool because we hadn't planned to go see him, we has planned to see someone else but it just didn't feel right. After going to see Chris we knew why we didn't feel right about the plan we had before, and I am grateful for the promptings of the Holy Ghost. 

While Sister Lively were here, we were trying to find a less active member named Keith. After typing the address into the GPS and having it take us to a landfill, we weren't sure what to do.  We eventually found him a few weeks before the last transfer, and last week he invited us to his daughter's birthday party!  It was totally unexpected but we went for it! Keith has a cute family. His wife's name is Jerose and she is from the Philippines.  She moved here when she was 13 and now she and Keith are both nurses.  They have 2 kids - their 15 year old son, TJ and their 7 year old daughter, Skylee. They are so cute!  Jerose and the kids are not members, and so we were hoping to be able to get to know them and start teaching them.  When we went over for Skylee's birthday party, we got to meet Keith's parents, who are both members, and also just eat and get to know them all a little bit better. It was nice.  Jerose came up to me before she cut the cake and asked if we would come back on Thursday. She asked us! I pulled out my schedule and put it in. We were very excited to see how this next visit would go.

Thursday came around and we had to reschedule.  Something had come up at work and we changed the day to Saturday.  We were a little worried because we know how hard Satan works on people to make things come up and get in the way of meeting with us.  Saturday came around and we were on our way to their house. We were coming from a different way than usual,  so I didn't really know where we were.  I was just following the GPS.  We had the wrong address again ended up getting to their house 30 minutes late.  AH!  I felt so bad. We made it there regardless.  They were very understanding. We were able to have a lesson with them and it went so well!  Jerose was playing such close attention.  She has a lot of good questions.  She grew up catholic and she has always ben very confused why they do the Christenings at such a young age when you don't really know what is going on. We went on to talk about baptism and how, in Christ's church, we are baptized at the age of accountability, or age 8.  Jerose expressed that she had been thinking about this for a long time and that she and Keith have talked about it.  She really feels like this is the direction that God wants her to go.  It was such an amazing lesson!

After we got out of the lesson with Keith and Jerose, we were going to say a thank you prayer.  I stopped the car in front of someone's house.  We were about to say a prayer when a woman came up to our car and asked us if we needed any help.  Sister Farnsworth introduced us and asked her if she might be interested in hearing an uplifting message about Christ.  The woman said, "Sure, go for it."  We got out of the car, and started talking to her about her relationship with God.  We found out that her name was Michelle and that she has 3 kids.  When we started testifying about how we are children of God and that He loves all His children, she started to cry.  Michelle said that she had been having a really hard day and that she really needed to hear that.  We set up a time to come back and meet with her and we are very excited to see her.  I truly have had my testimony grow from following the spirit.  He directs us on where we need to go and what we need to do.  We have been in the right place at the right time so many times, and it amazes me every time!



Our Whole District After Our Meeting

Church on Sunday was full of MIRACLES. Keith and Jerose came with their kids and they stayed the whole time! They sat by us in Sacrament meeting, and they were listening very intently. It was so cool because Mary Lou received the Gift of the Holy Ghost and they got to see that. Mary even commented in Relief Society about how when she got the Gift of the Holy Ghost, everything looked brighter. She said the walls, the floor and every one else looked brighter. It was so cool! She is such a special spirit. It was so amazing that Keith and Jerose were there for that moment! Keith found some people he had known back from when he was active and he fit right it! Jerose was very open to being introduced!  The lesson in Relief Society was, "Feed My Sheep".  We talked a lot about finding those sheep who are lost and bringing them back. It was so cool and Jerose was there, to hear it all. After the lesson, we were taking Jerose to the Primary room to help her find Skylee and Jerose.  We stopped Sister Smith, the sister who gave the lesson, and Jerose gave her a hug and said, "Thank you for that lesson. It touched my heart, because I have been lost." WOW. Is this real life? Sister Farnsworth and I were amazed at this. We couldn't believe it! It just really shows how important it is to get your investigators to church, and to feel the spirit that is there. We are so excited to continue teaching this amazing family!

Granny June and I



My #Ponderize scripture for this week was D&C 1:23 "That the fulness of my gospel might be proclaimed by the weak and simple unto the ends of the world, and before kings and rulers." 
Sister Farnsworth and I After A District Meeting
What I have learned is no matter week and simple I might be, the Lord has called ME to do His work and I have the power and authority to share the gospel with everyone! We can go to the top, to the mayor, to the governor, in other words, kings and rulers. It doesn't matter who you are, or where you are! You can share the gospel with anyone! 

XOXOXO

~Sister Kayla Marie Willis


Get me updated on what is going on with your lives! I need to know who is still alive :)
Sister Kayla Willis
1508 Luci Mae Drive
Flatwoods, KY 41139

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