And thus we see....

...that Mormons are and always will be the most photogenic people in the world...

It's been a proven fact since 1830.

THE GOOD 

Tiffany has like infinity faith. Satan tried so hard to stop this baptism from happening, but Tiffany laid the spiritual smackdown on him. Here's a funny story about the baptism- there was a baptism for a different ward on the same day scheduled before ours. We asked the sisters in charge of that baptism to leave the font full for ours, and they said, "oh, of course!" We had planned on arriving at the baptism an hour early. We stopped by a potential investigator on the way, but he kind of talked for ever, so we didn't get to the church until half an hour before the baptism. Right as we walked in we met the guy in charge of the font. He had just emptied it...and we almost freaked. So we turned on the water full blast and it actually filled in time...but it was freezing. I think Tiffany almost went into cardiac arrest.

Elder Watkins and I sang "Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy" during the service. It wasn't awful. My voice didn't even crack.

THE BAD

Nothing bad at all happened this week.

THE UGLY

I look like a goof in that picture. I'll need to work on that.

Life is great. Serving a mission is definitely hard work, but it's wonderful. The Spirit is the most wonderful gift God has given to us in this life. When we have faith in Jesus Christ, repent of our sins, are baptized, and receive the Holy Ghost, we have the Spirit to be with us. As we continue to have faith and repent, the Holy Ghost is our constant companion. It brings joy and peace to our lives. It cleanses us of our sins. It changes our nature so that we are more Christlike. It gives us a foretaste of eternal life. I know that by the power of the Holy Ghost, all men may come to know that Jesus Christ has restored the fulness of the Gospel to the earth through the prophet Joseph Smith. How great is His mercy for doing so! I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of all men, and that as we come unto Him, we find true joy.

May the Lord bless you all,

Elder Gillie

Day 83

Another good week in the books! Things are looking good in the South San Francisco ward. We have a baptism this weekend! And if all works out, we and the sisters in our ward will have a baptism on each of the next four weekends! The members are super awesome- we rarely have lessons that aren't member-present lessons.

Other than than, everything's about the same here! It gets foggy pretty often, and it's starting to get kind of chilly. But really it's not too bad. As far as weather goes, we have one of the best missions.

We fount out Boyd K Packer might be coming to our mission for zone conference.

Oh, and we found two more investigators this week who are likely to accept an invitation to be baptized. I'll tell you about them. 

We found Analee through a referral from a couple weeks ago. She met the Chinese sisters in San Bruno a while ago and said she'd like to learn more. We met with her on Monday and taught her the message of the Restoration, and she loved it! She said she's been looking for peace and happiness for 5 years, and she feels like God has led us to her. We're like, "no way, we feel like that too." Hopefully we'll see her tonight and set a date for her to be baptized.

Karina also came from a referral from forever ago. She's been hard to reach but we finally got to teach her on Thursday! We actually taught her at her son's football practice at a high school. It was a little hard to teach there, but we weren't too close to the game. We were freezing our fannies off. When we invited her to be baptized, she said, "oh yeah, i was planning on doing that if I felt that it was true." Holy surprising response! We feel she's pretty close to setting a date as well.

Life is all good, my friends. God knows us individually and is guiding us each day.

Elder Gillie

Week Nine in the Field!

All is well in Zion...psych! But lots of things are well. I'll give you the good, the bad, and the ugly.

THE GOOD

We baptized Lona's socks off on Saturday! Here's a picture-

And here's a funny story about it. I was ending the baptism prayer as per the usual, and I said, "and of the Holy Gh-*voice crack*-ost, amen." And I was a little flustered, so I kind of dunked her pretty hard. It was funny though. We laughed, and she was really really happy. She was confirmed the next day and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. Concerning the awesomeness of these blessings, she said most reservedly, "It's great." Future relief society president right here, ladies and gentlemen.

We met with Nguyen yesterday after church. It was our first lesson with her. She had heard about the church from her brother who met with missionaries in some far off land. We started by teaching her a little about God and Jesus Christ, and told her that when she learned about our message, she would want to be baptized. So she asked us, "How long do I have to wait until I can be baptized?" How about that? She's getting baptized on the 30th of this month. It's pretty neat. In the last month, the Lord has brought 3 of his children to us who were totally prepared to accept the Gospel. How blessed we are!

We went to the Oakland Temple Visitors Center with Tiffany on Thursday, and she loved it! We watched a movie about Joseph Smith, the prophet of the Restoration. It was called "Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration." It reminded me of how good the Lord is for calling a prophet in these days, and for giving us the Book of Mormon. I almost got emotional during the scene where he was martyred, but then I punched myself before things got out of hand.

THE BAD

It hurt when I punched myself.

THE UGLY

Satan can be a dirtbag sometimes, telling people that "There cannot be any more Bible" and that the Lord "has already done his work." I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God just as the Bible is. Why would anyone not want more of God's holy scripture? Sheesh.

Even though missionary work is pretty hard, we find ways to have fun. Last week after writing emails we went bowling as a district, and probably had too much fun. It's weird how after being a missionary for only a couple months, I'm so easily entertained. I wonder why that is.

Dang, we are cool. COOLEST REDHEAD SISTER MISSIONARY EVER!!! MY AWKWARD BESTFRIEND!!

Oh, and Sister Urich says hi.

Bless you all, Malachi 3:10 style.

Love,

Elder Gillie

Excellent Week

Hello everybody!

Real quick, I realized that my sister-in-law is posting my letters to Facebook. So if you want to keep receiving this email from me anyway, go ahead and just send me a short message telling me.

Life is super swell right now! The work in San Francisco is going great, and my companion and I get to be here for all of it.

Thing That's Good No. 1- We have a BAPTISM this weekend! Lona Kwan is following the example of Jesus Christ and getting dunked by someone holding the Priesthood authority of God this SATURDAY! She's progressing super well. Even though she's way quiet and pretty timid, it seems like she's finally comfortable with being at a new church. She loves the Gospel, she loves the Book of Mormon, and she loves her new church family. She asked if I would baptize her on Saturday and if Elder Watkins would confirm her on Sunday. Wahoo!

Thing That's Good No. 2- We have another investigator, TIffany, getting BAPTIZED! She's getting baptized on the 23rd. This is old news...(olds?)... but it's still good. Her boyfriend has some doubts about "that Mormon thing" but he's starting to get more into religion. In fact, he's even planning on marrying Tiffany pretty soon. Gadzooks! She loves church, especially Relief Society, and she's way way cool. Just a couple more weeks for her!

Thing That's Good No. 3- We got fed 6 days this week. I weighed in at 161...11 pounds more than I had back in August. I guess that's good, because I need to store away energy for the frigid San Franciscan winter.

Thing That's Good No. 4- We got amormon.org referral for a woman named Nguyen this week. We stopped by her place on Saturday to meet her, but she wasn't there. Right as we were about to leave, she arrived at the door, just getting home from school. So we introduced ourselves, talked a little about what she knew about the church, what she was looking for, etc..., invited her to church and scheduled to meet with her the next week. Here's a cool story- She's pretty much the exact same person as Lona. Lona referred herself through mormon.org because she was interested in learning more about how God could bless her life, just like Nguyen. We met her at her doorstep right as she got home from school, just like Nguyen. She's a 20-year-old Asian girl who goes to City College, just like Nguyen. Seriously, the deja vu was hardcore. She came to Sacrament meeting yesterday and really liked it! We're gonna baptize her...she just doesn't know it.

Thing That's Good No. 5- We finally got in touch with Brother Starks. He wasn't answering our calls or texts and we got worried that he was having second thoughts, but all is well. I totally invited ourselves over for dinner this week, and he gladly obliged. His wife is making dinner for us tomorrow. (this is where I pump my fist in the air.)

Spiritual Thought- In the MTC we watched a talk by David A. Bednar called "Character of Christ." It talked about how to be Christlike, all we really need to do is to think about others when we'd rather think about ourselves. Here's an example to make that more clear:

Let's say it's 8:00 in the evening. Elder Gillie is teaching a lesson to a potential investigator, and he's really tired. Natural-man-Elder Gillie thinks to himself, "I'm tired. Let's just get out of this lesson as quick as we can and go home." So he and his companion quickly run through the message of the Restoration through Joseph Smith, set a return appointment, and go home. 

If Christ were in that situation, he would say to himself, "Oh, I sure want this potential investigator to be happy. I know that the Gospel will make him happy, so I'm going to help him come closer to his Father in Heaven." Notice how His desires are centered on helping others be happy, not on his own appetites or wants. He showed an example of this in the Garden of Gethsemane when, after having suffered the Atonement, he lovingly healed the soldier's ear.

Cool application of Elder Gillie's spiritual thought- If you're ever feeling lousy, just turn your thoughts to helping someone else be happy. You don't have to wash your feet with your hair, but just think about what you can do to help them just a little bit. Then go and do that, 1 Nephi 3:7-style.

I know that the message that we missionaries share is true. Jesus Christ has revealed the fulness of the Gospel to His servant, the prophet Joseph Smith, and commanded that it be declared to everyone on the earth. I know it is true because of the witness that the Holy Ghost has given me. Christ is beckoning all men to come and hear His message, because He knows it will bless every person who heeds it.

I love you all tons, and sometimes I remember to pray for you.

Love,
Elder Gillie

Some Pictures From Elder Gillie

I just realized that I didn't get recent pictures posted! Here are a few from his last letter. I will also track down some pictures from his time at the MTC and post them with his letter tomorrow.