The baby looks great and I’m glad the vacation went well.

So we mowed someone’s lawn this week for service. I took some before and after pictures. It was really exciting and was fun to have grass flying everywhere and all over us.

We also got to participate in a dance festival that was held for all the youth that live here. Over 1,800 of them had prepared for six months working on dances to where they performed three times. Once on Friday and twice Saturday. We were ushers for the shows and were also able to be part of the youth conference on Saturday morning. At the end of the show while all the 1,800 youth were on the field singing “How Firm a Foundation” we walked out with white flags on both sides of them. There was about 80 missionaries that walked out in two lines of us on both sides of them and it was a very powerful effect on the crowd.

There was many non-members that danced in the festival and many that attended to watch. In youth conference we were the main event and the youth stood and cheered as we came out on the field. We recited the “Standard of Truth” in unity and powerfully. Afterward President Belnap spoke followed by Sister Cook, First councilor in the General Young Women Presidency.

We also had many opportunities to talk to the youth between performances and youth conference. That was a great and lots of fun to get to know them and for them to interact with missionaries. Overall the festival was really fun and a great influence with everyone that went. Even though it took two days from normal missionary work, we got a lot of missionary work done among our own church youth and non-members that came. They say that a movie of the whole event will be made, but it probably won’t be out till September sometime. Hopefully all missionaries will get a copy.

I talked to Sister Cook after youth conference was over because she told of her experience while she was in Mongolia. Her husband was the first mission president there. She talked about a very tall, sail looking building in Mongolia that had a poor foundation and couldn’t be used (all the missionaries there called it the “taco building” — see picture). She went right along with the theme of the dance festival of “Firm Foundation.”

As she was talking I showed missionaries near me a picture of the building which I just still happen to have on my camera (no worries, I have made picture backups). I showed Sister Cook too and she was excited to talk to me about Mongolia. She told of how she had just been there and how the members and missionaries have been stepping it up. Their goal is to have a temple there and they are still headed in that direction. And many other things did she say unto me. It was wonderful to hear about it.

It was a great week and we look forward to meeting our new president on Thursday. Thanks for all the support.

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.

This was an eventful week. Not quite as much happened this week. We had our last Zone Conference with President Belnap and the spirit there was wonderful. The new President is coming and will be here by the beginning of July. It looked like you all had a good hike.

We also had the opportunity to go the the temple. It was awesome and I really enjoy going there. There is always a special spirit there. I think, Dad, since Sarah and Derek moved back to Utah, we might need to plan a different temple trip… ha ha. I really am impressed with your phone and camera. I counted four churches in the zoomed up picture of the valley. Seems about right for Utah. Happy Fathers Day, I am very happy that you are my Dad and I love you.

Have a great time going to the Redwoods and good luck with the new baby if it comes. Thanks for the package Mom! All the elders in the apartment and I started the little workout it has and we were really excited.

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.

We had a busy week knocking on doors and hearing lots of anti-Mormon claims, having an offer for help if we ever think we are in a cult, and another yelling at us to leave him alone. At the same time we had an increase of new investigators, great lessons taught, and lots of experiences where we knew we were following the Spirit. It was truly an awesome week and left us with a stronger conviction to work harder and to do what the Lord would have us do.

I don’t think I remember a week where we talked to as many people that had negative views of the Church. We usually don’t run into as many, but this week was different. Gratefully we know where the Church stands and were able to answer questions and respond to them in a Christ-like way. The main issue that they had and what it came down to is they don’t believe in a prophet that can receive revelation. So we told them to pray to know about the Book of Mormon and that will help them to know God works through prophets today.

While we had some opposition, it was out weighed by the amount of success. In district meeting we had a focus on finding new people to teach. It is a mission-wide focus this transfer, so we set a goal as a district to find 20 new investigators. All of us were excited and had the faith that the Lord would help us. It was the next day my companion and I got out of a lesson and it was pouring rain. We ventured out into the rain when we saw a young man walking towards us and talked to him. He said he had time right then to listen to us and invited us to his home, which was close by. We were grateful to find him as he was very willing to listen.

Near the same area, but a different day, we had an early lesson which made us miss some study in the morning. We tried for our next appointment, but she was leaving soon so I had the thought to go study near where all the mailboxes are located in the trailer park. It was close by so we did and after 20 or so minutes a lady came to mail her letters. We talked to her and she shared how she was about to go to an addiction recovery program that day and was terrified. She mentioned the program suggested learning and getting involved with religion. She was a recovering opium addict and had come along way by herself. As we shared how Jesus Christ suffered and knew how she felt she was comforted. We also testified of the help that is available through the Church. In tears she said she knew we were there at that time for a reason and we had truly helped her that day. We thanked the Lord for guiding us on where to be for her.

Then Saturday we put together 20 names of potential investigators or people that said we could come by later. We had fun with it and were having a great time trying to contact them. We made a wrong turn on our route which brought us to some names we planned to contact much later. We decided to do it then, getting a return appointment with one family, and met another man outside. We were able to teach him on the street and leave him with a Book of Mormon. He had just recently become very interested in religion. Another great find!

The Lord truly blessed us and the district as the week ended, we managed to find 17 total new investigators, which was a huge improvement. I have great elders in my district.

We too had great lessons teaching progressing investigators with many of them asking great questions during the lesson, opening up opportunities to teach. We challenged a couple to baptism and they were positive, just not willing to set a specific date. The ward is great and I am happy to serve in it.

They had us speak Sunday and the Bishop stood up afterwards to correct false doctrine. Just kidding… He encouraged the members that they can trust us with their friends and we have a great calling and mantle as missionaries.

Each day is crammed with experiences that I could share that it is just a testimony that the Lord knows how to do His work. I am glad to be a servant for Him. Thanks for everything you do for me family!

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.

Photo Credit: prentz

There was a lot of changes this week. It took about ten minutes to drive to my new area, so it’s close to where I still was. It is a great area and my new companion is Elder Derges. He was originally born in Russia and was adopted by an American family that lives in Missouri when he was 13. He has a little bit of an accent, but that’s all you can tell about him being Russian. He works hard and we get along great. We live in an apartment with two other elders, Elder Zollinger and Elder Draper. Elder Draper was a waiting for a visa to go to Mongolia, but wasn’t able to go. We enjoy talking with each other.

My address:

12608 NE 72nd St. B 14
Vancouver, WA 98682

The ward is great and was very friendly. We have been fed very well and members come out with us almost every night. We have a young man preparing to go on a mission and he spends Mondays with us up till dinner. We took him tracking and he did great on his first door.

I figured I’d be permanently assigned to this mission. It is a good place to be. I’ve learned many things. It would be awesome to get to go back to Mongolia some time after my mission. I guess I’d better get saving.

We had fun going out when it was pouring rain on Sunday morning. We got soaked and were dripping wet. The locals say it is very unusual that it is raining this much in June.

I was surprised to become District leader, for only being in the mission for three months. We had a training meeting on Friday so I’ll get the hang of it. The elders are great in my district and I look forward to learning new things from them.

Thanks for the pictures, Dad, they looked great! The things you did in city council was awesome too. Keep up the good work. I don’t know about having a pink computer… seems like… well… the paint job was nicely done. Good job Adelaide. Thanks for the continued support and letters.

Jake and Mom, Elder Draper would like a Mongolian General Conference CD and my new companion Elder Derges would like one in Russian. That’d be great if you’d do that.

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.

Photo Credit: fetopher

The move looks like it went well. The pictures look familiar because my companion and I have helped a few people move in and out of the ward. I too am also moving, transfer calls were Saturday and I got a call to go to Walnut Grove ward. It is in the same zone and close to where I already am. I’m really sad to leave this area, but I’m excited to learn more and new things from the next one.

We had a fairly normal week with nothing too exciting happening. We challenged two more investigators to be baptized, but they both had similar concerns. They said they’d already been baptized, so we taught about authority etc. They both have been reading from the Book of Mormon so with a matter of time they’ll be baptized.

The hike we went on was way fun! It was called Horsetail Falls, which had three separate major falls. The biggest one was right next to the road where you parked. Next, was the one where you could walk behind and next to and the last one we went to was the triple falls. It was a good adventure and really refreshing.

There is still tons of rain and yesterday was about the only break we had from it. They say it gets extremely green in the summer so I’m looking forward to it.

I did get my [debit] card and activated it. We usually eat with members for dinner and then Sister Bloom, who we live with, bought us food for our lunches. Now that I’m being transferred to an apartment we’ll have to cook lunches probably again. They have tons of blackberries here, they are almost like weeds. Soon we’ll be able to pick them while we are going around tracking or something.

Thanks for all the great emails. I’ll let you know my new address when I get it. You can all look forward to talking to my current mission president when he returns home at the end of the month.

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.

Today we are planning on going on a hike, so I don’t have much time to write. The garage and the wedding looked like they went well. The beans looked good too, Dad. There is a lot of changes going on.

We had a great work week, finished off with two investigators coming to church. One stayed for the full three hours and she had a lesson on the Priesthood in Relief Society. Probably the best place for her to hear about it. It was awesome. We are hoping for her to be baptized soon. Transfer calls are this Saturday, so you can never predict what is going to happen. I would really like to stay where I am.

I received a letter from Otgon Bat. She was an investigator that my companion and I found and taught in Mongolia for about a month then I was transfered. She was baptized after I left and wrote to me how she was planning on going to the temple. She was way excited about all aspects of the church and how her youngest son is now in kindergarten. She had been paying her tithing faithfully and now has a job where she doesn’t have to work on Sunday and can attend regularly. Her testimony has grown so much it was a wonderful blessing to hear from her.

Well, got to get going, I’ll send some pictures of the hike 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.

I included a bonus feature movie this week. It should be on Dad’s blog soon and worth a viewing. It shows the wonderful weather of Vancouver, Washington. This week was great! We met some new people that expressed interest in the church.

The man with the bird is from Moldova. He speaks Russian and Romanian and also English. He always likes to feed us when we come over and we’ve eaten some interesting stuff. Nothing I can’t handle… :) So he showed us his birds in his backyard and it was neat. The other photograph is of Elder Harris and I. The last one seemed to apply to missionary work somehow so we took it.

The best story is of Ryan. We were riding home on our bikes at the end of the day and we passed up someone jogging on the street. We decided to stop and talk to him and he asked us a few questions, but not that much. We were going to give him a card so he could call the number etc, but he said well you can just stop by later my apartment is over there etc.

It was awesome we usually ask if we can come to their house later, but with him we didn’t and he asked us if we’d like to come over. So weeks passed with us trying to contact him. He was busy, but with our efforts we finally met with him. He was really receptive and we also seemed to become instant friends. We told him how we like to hike on Tuesday and play basketball and he’d be welcome to come. So the next day he texted us and said that he was going surfing and that he had some hook-ups to where we could go for free. I’ve always liked surfing so I thought about the offer :). We talked to him and explained we can’t go surfing. Anyhow it was really cool to have someone be interested in being our friend and interested in the gospel.

We also met with Moriaa, another person we just happened to stop by and talk to. He was in a hurry and said he just lived around the corner and is always outside. So we went back later and tracked the houses there and asked his neighbors until we found him. He only really has free time on Saturday so it took about three weeks to finally contact him. He was very prepared for the message we taught. We basically taught how churches became corrupt over time to us and led perfectly to the Restoration. It was truly a great lesson and the Spirit was strong. The Lord blessed us greatly to find these people and we’ve been getting busy.

I’ve been here in the area about six weeks now and its incredible to see how the work has progressed. It has required lots of effort, but I think we’ll have some baptisms really soon. We’re excited to see how it all turns out. I don’t think I need anything. Our new mission president comes near the end of June. Happy birthday Paul! Thanks for all you do family!

To Dad:

I really like telling people about your conversion story. People here, when we say we’re from Utah, normally are like, “Oh… they’re all from Utah…” or “Is that where all Mormons come from?” kind of attitude. So I jump in real fast and say well my dad is from England. I also say, his plan was to come to America, find a wife and then go back to England, but he only got half the deal, my Mom wanted to stay in America. They always laugh at that.

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.