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