Mission

Daniel Reports In Sacrament Meeting

December 27, 2010 by rickety 6 Comments

Daniel spoke in sacrament meeting yesterday with many family and friends present. For readability his address has been modified slightly. Here is the audio in Ogg Vorbis (13.3MB) and MP3 (14.8MB) formats.

Daniel exiting the chapel after speaking in Sacrament Meeting

Thank you for that musical number, that was wonderful. Well, I’m excited to be here. It’s great to see everyone that came out. One of the great things about my mission is when someone asks me where I went it is a trick question, because I went to Mongolia and Washington and Mongolia isn’t an actual city in Washington, it is a country. Before I was leaving I was talking to my Dad and I was saying, “Hey Dad, in Mongolia we’re going to be teaching English as English teachers. Can you help me with the language? And he said, “I don’t speak any Mongolian.” “No I meant with English, Dad.”

So it is wonderful to serve a mission, like Troy said. I remember talking with him in the MTC and it seemed to me he was fluent in Spanish before I even got there. The Church in Mongolia is progressing well. It’s fairly new there, the first missionaries went in 1992 and since then I was able to witness the first stake organized there. Also the Doctrine and Covenants was translated. It’s amazing to see the people’s lives and how excited they are to learn new things and to fully live the Gospel and receive all its blessings in their lives. So, the Bishop asked me to talk about obedience so I guess I’ll follow that.

There are a lot of different levels of obedience or reasons why we choose to obey and some of those are:

First we are obedient because we want a blessing.
Second maybe we fear we will lose the blessing.
Third is simply out of duty.
And the fourth reason to be obedient is for the love of the person that asked us to do it.

I think the easiest one for me to understand is when we are obedient we receive a blessing. In the Book of Mormon, Lehi was teaching his sons and he said:

…And if it so be that they shall keep his commandments they shall be blessed upon the face of this land, and there shall be none to molest them, nor to take away the land of their inheritance; and they shall dwell safely forever. (2 Nephi 1:9)

So when we are obedient to the laws of God and keep His commandments, God has a blessing promised to us in return for each act of obedience. And it may be that we say our prayers daily, or partake of the sacrament, attend church, obey the word of wisdom. These commandments help us to keep the Spirit of the Lord with us and those of the things that come from it.

Daniel with his brother Jake and sister-in-law Rachel

In one of my areas, I won’t tell you where it is you’ll have to guess, where I was between the two missions that I was serving in. One of the first things one of my companions taught me was if we work hard and continue to go forward the Lord will bless us. And this happened to be in a different area than I mentioned before: it was in Atlanta, Georgia.

With visa problems it kept us from going to Mongolia when we were supposed to so I served in Atlanta for three weeks and this was when my companion he taught me how to tract. And the area there was somewhat slow so we went out tracting. It was about two weeks we were just knocking everywhere and nothing was happening. It was a little discouraging I thought, “Well man I have to do this for two years?” But I soon learned that truly does the Lord bless and reward those acts of diligence.

I remember this one street, it was in a town named LaFayette [Alabama] and the first door we went to there was five people outside and they all wanted to listen. We gave them a Book of Mormon and they were so excited to learn, one of them had actually read half of the Book of Mormon and wanted to come to church that Sunday.

We continued on tracting, we had a few hours left, it was actually a few houses down we got into another house. We were so surprised we didn’t know exactly what was going on we taught the first lesson there and that was a wonderful experience. Also the next door, they let us in as well and at this point we were pretty grateful for the success the Lord had already given us and it wasn’t much later we knocked on a door. There was a Hispanic family, one of them could translate for the other three in there and we taught four people there. Across the street six Hispanic people were asking for copies of the Book of Mormon and the last house we knocked on we shared a message, they had a recent death in the family and they were willing to look for answers and for comfort. So I know that the Lord truly did bless us in that act of obedience to continue to be diligent and to work hard.

Daniel at home with friends after his talk. L-R: Jake, Greg, Kelsey, Dan, Ben

The next thing I wanted to talk a little bit about is the fear of losing a blessing. In the positive sense if we don’t pay our tithing we don’t get the return. I’ve found in my life, and a lot of people say this, you can’t afford not to pay tithing because of the blessings that come from it.

One of the things that motivated me to talk to everyone is that in the scriptures the Lord tells us that we need to open our mouths and to speak and the words will come to us. On the plane ride to Mongolia we were going from Korea to Mongolia, I had the chance to sit next to a native Mongolian and I was pretty excited about that. We spent three months studying this language and we had no idea if anyone would actually understand us or if they were kidding in the MTC, “Hah you’re going to learn this.” I got to sit by her and she knew English fairly well and as I was there talking to her she asked me, “Well, doesn’t your church not drink coffee or tea.” I said, “Yeah, and I taught her a little about the church, and I taught her a little about the Book of Mormon and things I had learned how to say.

Later we started to exchange words a little bit, she had some strawberries on the seat next to her so I was like, “Well what’s the word for strawberries in Mongolian?” and she’d write it down and that went on I wrote book, ruler, scizzors. She’d write it in Mongolian, but she got confused on the scissors part and I learned how marvelous Mongolian people are they tell ya straight up. I learned that scissors isn’t spelled with two z’s. It actually has two s’s in it. It was humbling for me to learn from a Mongolian that lesson.

I like the the quote that someone has said, “It is better to obey commandments because we fear punishment than to not obey them at all. But we will be much happier if we obey God because we love Him and want to obey Him.” (“Obedience”, Gospel Principles, Chapter 35)

Another command that if you obey, great blessings come, is the commandment of the monthly fast. The fear on that one is that you can break it at anytime, you go down the hall and there’s the drinking fountain and you accidentally take a drink, you’re like, “Oh no!” But the principle of fasting I truly learned how powerful it really is.

Mark and cousin Connie with Daniel

There was this woman, her name was Nyanaa. She and her son were going to church regularly. Her son was baptized and she wanted to be baptized as well. She found out that she hadn’t received her marriage certificate and so years passed and her husband wouldn’t agree to get one, he was kind of a drunk and he kicked us out occasionally when we stopped over there. She truly wanted to be baptized.

About three years passed and it was just about the time that I met her. She explained her situation and my companion and I decided to fast for her. We put a time aside, we started our fast and we were determined to do a full 24 hours. So that it could mean something and also so that the Lord would know that we were willing to sacrifice. And I think around this time the Mongolian food started to look a lot better and I got a lot hungrier. It was probably the most difficult fast I have ever done in my life and I soon learned why those temptations were there.

After that fast Nyanaa was able to get her marriage certificate about a week later and later was able to be baptized. The coolest thing about it was her son was now 17 and was able to baptize her. So I know that when we keep the commandments and also principles like fasting if we are truly serious about it the Lord in return blesses us. There is the scripture in Doctrine and covenants that reads, and this is the Lord telling us that if we don’t keep the commandments it’s not His fault, but it’s ours. He says:

Who am I that made man, saith the Lord, that will hold him guiltless that obeys not my commandments?
Who am I, saith the Lord, that have promised and have not fulfilled?
I command and men obey not; I revoke and they receive not the blessing.
Then they say in their hearts: This is not the work of the Lord, for his promises are not fulfilled. But wo unto such, for their reward lurketh beneath, and not from above. (D&C 58:30-33)

So on these levels of obedience there’s the first few that I think all of us fall into a few times and that’s not a bad thing. I think what we should strive for, or continually work towards, is that we do it out of an act of duty or out of the act of love. There is a quote by Joseph Smith that says, “When the Lord commands, Do it.” That is something that I’ve tried to live by: when you don’t feel like doing something that’s about the time that you should go out and do it.

That is where somewhat the struggle for me came on my mission. The language of Mongolian was really difficult for me to learn and I knew that I had been called as a missionary and it was my duty to teach the people and I really wanted to share how I felt, but it was hard to explain things and especially when they would talk back it was hard to understand them. I remember working so hard and praying really hard that the Lord would help me learn and communicate and share my testimony with these people. At the times when I thought I couldn’t go farther or was about to give up that’s when I felt a peace or a warm feeling and the Lord really blessed me to experience the gift of tongues and the language would come easier. At those times I would recognize it wasn’t me learning a foreign language, it was the Lord helping me and using me as a tool in His hands. So when we do all we can to fulfill our duty, to do what the Lord has asked of us, He promises in return that He will help us accomplish that. I truly know that the Lord does do that, He fulfills His promises and we can trust in His hand to guide us and to lead us.

Now there is the act of love. I think Jesus Christ was the perfect example. In the book of John He talks about how, he came to do the will of the father and he said,

For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. (John 6:38-39)

Jesus Christ had His free agency. He didn’t have to come down and he didn’t have to suffer for us, but I believe and I know that He did it because He loved us. He wanted what was best for us and with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ working together all of us have the chance to return back to Heavenly Father and to bask in their love.

Through obedience to the Gospel and through living its principles we can receive all the blessings that Heavenly Father has for us and wants to bestow upon us. I truly learned to love the people in Mongolia and also in Washington. It is amazing that when you serve someone that love develops more in you than I think they even realize.

The people I was able to work with have taught me so much and my companions as well and all the leaders in my mission were inspirations to me and I always strived to become more like them and to also be more like my Savior, Jesus Christ.

I know that through study of the scriptures we can learn knowledge that can help us to be more obedient to God’s commandments. I truly know that Christ lives and He loves us and that Heavenly Father has made a plan for all of us and we can learn it through the Book of Mormon, and through coming to church, and all the things, all the commandments God has asked us to do.

These things will help us become more like Him and have more peace and happiness in this life. I’m grateful too for my family and all the support they gave me throughout my mission and I’m grateful too for my friends. I’m grateful that my Dad was able to help me with English a little bit. It turned out that I needed it a lot more than I thought.

And I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Daniel's sister-in-law Adalaide, with his nieces Aurora and Cassandra

Thank you to Paul and Megan for helping to transcribe Daniel’s talk.

Elder Daniel Willoughby

December 24, 2010 by rickety Leave a Comment

Elder Daniel Willoughby, son of Richard and Jill Willoughby, has returned home after successfully serving in the Mongolia Ulaanbaatar and Washington Kennewich Missions. He will speak December 26 at 3:20 pm. in the Kaysville 14th Ward, 9 W 550 S., Kaysville.

A week by week account of Daniel’s mission is here.
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Missionary Dan Epilogue

December 15, 2010 by Susan 2 Comments

My guest writer is Susan Mathews Hardy, the mother of Elder Nathan Hardy, one of Daniel’s missionary companions. Susan wrote a letter to Daniel’s mission president, timed so that Daniel will receive it from President Greer on the night before Daniel returns home.

Thanksgiving Morning
November 25, 2010

Dear President Greer,

I know you will be sitting down soon with Elder Willoughby as he leaves the mission field. I wanted to take the time to tell both of you thank you: thank you to you for following inspiration to pair my son with Elder Willoughby; and thank you to Elder Willoughby for being an exemplary trainer. Elder Willoughby taught Nathan to “be the best missionary you can so God can work miracles though you.” He taught Nathan that missionary work is real and very rewarding.

Nathan wrote to us this week, “it takes two to ‘kill’ a Willoughby” because “he is a really good missionary! When I talk to the other missionaries who came out with me, I feel very blessed that I had a trainer who taught me good habits. Your trainer sculpts your view of missionary work and it’s hard to break bad habits that your trainer teaches you. I will miss Elder Willoughby when he goes home in 3 weeks.”

Elder Hardy (left) and Elder Willoughby

We knew that Elder Willoughby was special and that Nathan was blessed when we heard that Willoughby had had the experience of serving in three mission fields. This realization was confirmed each week as Nathan wrote home.

Elder Willoughby taught Nathan humility (to pay tribute to those who had gone before). From Nathan’s first letter home: “We can definitely tell when the last missionaries in our area worked hard as well. If it’s God’s will and if people can become just a little more converted by the Spirit, I’m sure we’re going to bring 5 people into the church this transfer. (Maybe 7, but less likely). My trainer told me that never happens and that the last Elders must have been really hard workers.”

Elder Willoughby taught Nathan to work hard. From a recent letter, “I hope my new companion is willing to work hard like Elder Willoughby and I did. A lot of missionaries are lazy. My motto is GOY BAR – get on your bike and ride. Missionary work is really that simple. If you’re willing to just leave your apartment, God puts people in your path to teach.”

Elder Willoughby taught Nathan to value the Spirit. “It’s a lot harder out here to keep the Spirit with you all the time than it was in the MTC. But, we’re praying a lot and trying to keep it.”

Elder Willoughby taught Nathan to serve. “Some people choose to schedule doing tons of service projects for people doing yard work and everything. This is a great use of time because it softens people’s hearts and makes them listen to you a lot more. They see that you’re really dedicated and they don’t understand why you’re out there just to help people. This curiosity leads people to conversion.”

Elder Hardy and Elder Willoughby with a couple

Elder Willoughby taught Nathan to give investigators their space, to let the Spirit work a little longer in their lives. “We are pretty laid back, we never push anyone too hard; we just befriend people and invite the spirit into their lives.”

Elder Willoughby taught Nathan to attribute miracles for what they were: miracles (to recognize God’s hand in his life). “I’m not sure I ever told you guys about the story of the bike lock. We really felt like we should tract this one area and we rode way out there and then we were locking up our bikes and we realized we didn’t have the key so we couldn’t lock them up. We looked everywhere including in the lock and our backpacks and everywhere and we were so disheartened because we knew we needed to tract right there right then. We looked at each other and I said let’s check the bike lock again; we did and it was there. We were both shocked, because we had just seen it wasn’t there. We had, no doubt in our minds, already checked there. Both of us. We said a thank you prayer. Those things happen every day. I couldn’t write all of them cause it would take too long and it kind of takes away from how special those experiences really are.”

Elder Willoughby taught Nathan to not concentrate on numbers and that it is OK (and even better) to relax while working hard. “Many missionaries push people hard and take themselves too seriously as a missionary, focus on the numbers, and get stressed out. Elder Willoughby and I don’t. We never get stressed out. Many people have this determined attitude going from appointment to appointment as fast as they can. We ride fast often, but we kind of lollygag a little in our travels and go ‘hey lets go down this street to get to the next appointment.’ This may seem bad—it did to me at first—but I realized that if you keep your mind clear, then it’s a lot easier for the Spirit to guide you. Every time we feel like taking a different way, even when it means we might be a minute or two late to the next appointment, we do it; and every time it’s been inspired. We end up doing more work than those people who are tense because they have to take breaks. We lollygag a little sometimes, but we work from sun-up to sundown; we ride our bikes like 20-25 miles a day; and we teach A LOT of lessons. I love it. It’s fun.”

Elder Willoughby and Elder Hardy prepare for a baptism

Elder Willoughby prepared Nathan for being forgotten by those at home. “This is the first week of my mission that I haven’t gotten any letters at all. It’s funny because Elder Willoughby told me that somewhere between 4 and 6 months everyone forgets about you and stops writing. I used to get like 2 letters a day and now I haven’t gotten one in a week so it looks like his prediction is coming to fruition.”

Elder Willoughby taught Nathan how to be positive through the opposition of being dropped. He also taught Nathan to spend his limited time with the people who are progressing. “We’re working hard. In the past couple weeks, like 10 of our investigators have dropped us or we have dropped them. Then, two were baptized. So, our teaching pool is a lot smaller, so we get to do a lot more tracting which is nice. It’s nice also ‘cause we get to focus our efforts on new people and finding the elect ;).“

In recent weeks and the weeks ahead, Elder Willoughby will reflect on what good he did in the mission field. Most elders reflect on the converts that they have. However, I think that one of the most important things that Elder Willoughby has done is being an extraordinary trainer. He has left a legacy of “sons” and future “grandsons” that will carry on what he has taught them. What he has taught the next generation will result in more conversions than is humanly possible for one elder. His influence will grow exponentially.

With tears of gratitude in my eyes as a mother, I say that I count one of Nathan’s biggest blessings in the mission field is to have been trained by Elder Willoughby. Thank you to both of you for seeking to be Heavenly Father’s hands and seeking to follow the Spirit.

Sincerely,

Susan Mathews Hardy

Missionary Dan Returns Home

December 14, 2010 by rickety 3 Comments

Our first view of Daniel

After two years and 47 days, Elder Willoughby finally returned home from his mission. There were several families there to greet him. Bryson and Aurora held up the Welcome Home Elder Willoughby sign that was generic enough to be used for four missionaries.

At the airport were Daniel’s parents, his three brothers and sister and their spouses (and fiancée) and children. Also Daniel’s Uncle Mike and cousin Christopher; Aunt Susan and cousin Shauna; and Jill’s cousin Julie.

Waiting for Daniel: Jill, Susan, Aurora, Bryson, Sarah, Shauna, Adelaide, and Cassandra

Daniel and Shauna

Daniel meets his nieces for the first time

We all went home to enjoy a delicious meal. But first Daniel headed over to the stake center to be released by President Thredgold. I asked President Thredgold if I could take a picture. He said, “Is this going to end up on Rickety?” Well, of course! Later that evening Daniel stood by his Welcome Home Dan sign, all l lit up in wonderful Kaysville — home.

Daniel and his stake president, President Thredgold

Missionary Dan Email #35 from Vancouver, Washington

December 7, 2010 by rickety Leave a Comment

Daniel (right) and companions with Bayarsaihan

It was really fun to see Bayarsaihan. We ate some buuz and played with sheep ankle bones. I was happy to be able to still speak Mongolian well. Some of the time I couldn’t understand her, but she could understand all the things I said.

With that to start off the week it was great. We have four investigators that are making lots of progress. I realized about a day ago I won’t be around much longer to see them. It is a strange feeling… I love being a missionary and doing missionary things. It is a very simple and joyous work to do.

Love, Elder Willoughby

Daniel and companions at Portland Temple

Daniel (left) and companions at Portland Temple

Elder Daniel Willoughby is serving in the Washington Kennewick Mission. After flying home next Tuesday, Daniel will be released from his mission.

Missionary Dan Email #34 from Vancouver, Washington

November 30, 2010 by rickety Leave a Comment

Daniel in Vancouver

Mongolian Found!

I was happy to receive a call on Thanksgiving day from Bayarsaihan. She is a native Mongolian that met her husband at BYU Hawaii and moved to Vancouver several years ago. I knew that she lived here, but despite all my efforts to contact her, I was never successful.

She was told by a missionary serving in her ward that I would love to talk to her. On Saturday I called her and talked for 10 to 15 minutes in Mongolian and she invited us to her house to have some buuz (Mongolian food). I was so happy that I was able to understand still and that I hadn’t lost it all with the 8 months of not speaking to a native.

Today is very exciting because we are going to her house and enjoying some food and my companions get to see how wonderful the culture is. It truly has made me very happy. I look forward to meeting more Mongolians in Utah as I hear there are many there.

Zone Conference

Thanksgiving dinner was great. We had tons of food and pie. And then we had more food and pie. Followed by some more pie. Then we just had some pie. The next day we had Zone Conference. President had all missionaries at Zone Conference for the first time stand up and had their companion introduce them. It was fun introducing two.

I bore my final testimony to all the missionaries there and enjoyed the things I was able to learn. I was asked how I achieved success throughout my mission and how was I able to do it. I said simply, “1. Rely on the Spirit and the Lord 2. Work hard! There is no substitute.” It was great to be seen as a great missionary to others, even though I have so many things I can improve on.

Teaching

We continue to work and find people to teach. We set a date with Phillip for his baptism on Jan. 15. That was very exciting to see him make that step of commitment. His dad and step mom are Mormon and call him on the phone and follow up with the lessons we teach him. He was referred to us back in September and has been very busy, but now is making great progress.

I am also happy with the progress my companions have been making. I need to get them to a point where they can take over the area and be each other’s first companion past their trainer. It is such a crazy situation, but has been going great.

Temple Days

As it so happens my zone’s temple day is next Tuesday and I’ll be going to the temple again the following Tuesday in Kennewick with President and Sister Greer before my flight. I am really looking forward to spending some extra time there. It will be a great time for reflection.

I know this is the work of God and that it continues forward. He truly loves all of His children. Thanks for all the support and good luck with the wedding plans.

Love, Elder Willoughby

Elders Willoughby, Mendoza, and Powell at Thanksgiving

Elder Daniel Willoughby is serving in the Washington Kennewick Mission. If you want to communicate with Daniel, write in the comments or use one of these addresses.

Missionary Dan Email #33 from Vancouver, Washington

November 23, 2010 by rickety Leave a Comment

Elders Willoughby, Hardy, Powell, and Mendoza

The baptism of Roberta was great. The Spirit was strong and everything went very well. Roberta has such a sweet spirit and the ward has done great things in making her feel welcome.

My new companion’s name is Elder Mendoza. He is from Sandy, Utah and is lots of fun. Elder Hardy was able to come to Roberta’s baptism so we got a pictures of all the missionaries I trained in a row. It was neat to see how much Elder Hardy has already learned in his short time away from me. He is working hard and has had great success.

Elder Powell and I are adjusting to having an additional companion, but so far everything is great. I too am doing good, it wasn’t as overwhelming as I thought it would be, but definitely gives me plenty of things to do. Elder Powell has stepped it up a lot and Elder Mendoza has a great desire to learn. We continue to do all we can to bring others to Christ.

The family sounds like it is doing great. Thanks for the continued support and emails. Unfortunately I spent too much time trying to figure out my camera and things that I can’t write much more. Until next week!

Love, Elder Willoughby

Elder Daniel Willoughby is serving in the Washington Kennewick Mission. If you want to communicate with Daniel, write in the comments or use one of these addresses.
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Missionary Dan Email #32 from Vancouver, Washington

November 16, 2010 by rickety Leave a Comment

What a great week. We finalized Roberta’s (by filling out her baptism record we found out how to really spell her name) plans for her baptism this weekend. She is no doubt the most excited person to be baptized that I have ever taught.

To tell us the result of her interview she decided to have a little fun. We all sat down and she looked at me and looked at the other Elders, winked at Elder Powell then at me. Then waited for about 10 seconds, started twiddling her thumbs then jumped up and said, “I passed!” We gave her high fives and congratulated her. It was funny.

Yesterday, we helped her move around some furniture. We moved things this way and that way, back and forth, left and right. It took about a hour. You know… the average furniture moving process. We also enjoyed raking some leaves which we planned on doing sometime during the week, but found a break in the rain so we worked in our proselyting clothes. It is refreshing to do some service for others.

We had transfer calls on Saturday and this coming Wednesday is transfers. As I expected I’ll be staying with Elder Powell to continue training him. Three Elders in my district are being transferred so I’ll be able to meet the new ones and get to know them.

Also Saturday I received a call from President Greer and he told me about how 18 new missionaries were coming this transfer to the mission. He mentioned how it was quite the load and then went on to ask me if I’d be willing to train another elder for the remaining time on my mission. He said, “We’ll try to maximize your talent before you leave.” I have never heard of something like it, but told President I would do it.

I’ll be with Elder Powell and train him as well as train a brand new missionary to the field in a three-some. So basically train two at the same time. I thought for sure there would be no surprises, but you never know what is expected. I don’t feel like I am any different from any other elder who would be able to train, so it must be something President wants to happen.

The mission at this point has many new missionaries. It’ll be another adventure, a new situation I’ve not been in before and we’ll figure it out as we go, trusting the Lord to help us. Luckily Elder Powell is doing well and we are planning on doing more splits with members to double our efforts each evening. So counting up responsibilities I’ll be on triple duty. I am very humbled by it and I know the Lord will help me as I do the best I can. The Lord will be doing most of the work. I have always liked new missionaries and I am excited to meet my new final companion.

I liked how the stake went over to being online missionaries. President Greer received a letter a month or two ago encouraging missionaries to encourage members to go online. I have never had the chance to really look at Mormon.org, but we encourage members every time we see them to go on the website and make a profile.

I can see great things happening from it. As we have been tracting each week, it tends to be that we find people to teach, but they drop off over the next 2 to 3 weeks. So it isn’t completely ineffective, it just doesn’t work too well. I counted just the other day and since I have been here we have found and then dropped or been dropped by 30 investigators. The people that continue to meet with us from week to week either have really good Mormon friends or they were member referrals in the beginning. So I can say that Mormon.org is a great approach to finding people! Good job Dad at being there already.

Thanks for all the support. I am doing great and look forward to coming to the wedding and feel lucky to not be apart of all the planning. Ha ha take blessings where you can get ’em. :)

Love, Elder Willoughby

Elder Daniel Willoughby is serving in the Washington Kennewick Mission. If you want to communicate with Daniel, write in the comments or use one of these addresses.

Missionary Dan Email #31 from Vancouver, Washington

November 9, 2010 by rickety 2 Comments

We had a fun trip last week to Multnomah Falls. It is a big water fall and water certainly falls there. We hiked to the top and looked over the gorge. My companion and I ran down in half the time it took to get up. My legs were sore till about Saturday from that because of the impact of running downhill. It was well worth it.

Raberta is going to be baptized on November 20th. She is really excited about that and so are we. She is loving everything about church. We are also teaching someone named Hope. Its always a nice joke to say, I hope she’ll be there.

Our week was spent doing some service for a member that was moving and teaching many people that we have been working with for awhile. We are striving to find more people to teach and have been doing more tracking, asking members to help, and talking to people on the street. I always enjoy meeting people on the street and talking to them. I have found that is when people are more open to letting us come to their house. It has been the main source of finding new investigators.

There were two to three members that wanted to feed us for Thanksgiving. It was first come first serve on the sign up sheet. It is crazy that it isn’t that far away. We are going to have Zone Conference the day after and I’m excited about that.

Elder Powell is learning quickly and he took the lead more this week. He is learning the area very well and it has been more of a focus for us this week to teach him all the knowledge I have of the area. I’ve never been in an area this long and it was amazing to see how many people I’ve actually taught, talked to, and know where they live. I have the location of every street in my area memorized and can give step by step instructions to any place from where ever I am.

The investigators we have been working with for a while I can name off their address. It is cool how that kind of thing just comes. Anyhow this is the knowledge that we are working on getting Elder Powell to know so that he can lead his new companion around. It’ll be an exciting month ahead of us.

I hope all is going well, I know that the Book of Mormon is true!

Love, Elder Willoughby

Elder Daniel Willoughby is serving in the Washington Kennewick Mission. If you want to communicate with Daniel, write in the comments or use one of these addresses.