It's so good to have a companion again

Elder Atkinson is way cool! We had a blast this week  

The work was way good this week too. Here's what went down-

On Saturday, Alex was baptized! I'm attaching a picture of us. The service was was way way nice. The Spirit was was way way strong. He's a special kid and he'll do great in the Gospel.

We had some way cool miracles too. On Friday night we had an appointment with somebody whom we had met on the street just a couple days before. We went by but nobody was at home, so we headed back to our car. At the entrance of the apartment complex we ran into Melanie and John, who were just heading in for the day. We talked with them and asked them if we could come back and teach them more and we set an appointment for two hours later. At 8 we went by and taught them and they are way prepared! Melanie is looking to draw closer to God, so we will gladly help her. They accepted a baptismal date fur April! Woohoo!!

Church was awesome on Sunday. I'm not usually wowed by lessons in Elders' Quorum, but this past Sunday there was a great lesson on repentance and it reminded me of how desperately we need repentance. If we do not repent of our sins, our testimonies grow weak because of sin...so repent! As soon as possible!

This Week Was So Good That I Liked It A Lot

Let me tell how great and terrible this week was.

Monday was cool, we went for a sweet bike ride in the hills and got some sweet pictures. Also we looked very manly.

Tuesday was nuts. We went to a missionary meeting and as soon as we got there, President Meredith pulled my companion out for a couple minutes. And then a couple hours later Elder Parker told me was getting transferred to Oakland to be the new assistant. :/ That was way sad because he is one of my favorite people ever. That night we went back to Union City and did some good work, we have this family we tracted into a month ago and we've taught them 3 or 4 times and haven't had a great lesson so far. Tuesday we taught the mom the Restoration and it was one of the most powerful lessons I have ever taught. When we shared the first vision and the Restoration, the Spirit was just screaming like that scary book in Harry Potter 1. We asked if she believed that Joseph Smith was a prophet and she said, "yeah, i know he is" and we set a date for her in April. Later in the car Elder Parker and I were talking about the lesson and we both felt like when we bore testimony, it was because we KNEW the Gospel would bless her life and not that we just believed. So that was cool.

Wednesday was a bunch of goodbyes. Thursday was a blur. We taught a lesson in the morning and then the Assistants came to pick up Elder Parker and that stunk. I spent the next couple days bouncing from companionship to companionship trying to get work done in the area. Also spent about 8 hours of proselyting with a member of the ward as my companion, and we got some good work done, found some good potentials and such.

Friday was cool. We helped a guy move. 

Saturday was great, we did weekly planning and it took me like two hours. Planning is so much easier when you're by yourself. Sunday was pretty cool. Daylight savings was not pretty cool.

Last night was Why I Believe and it reminded me Why I Believe.

My new companion starting tomorrow is Elder Atkinson! He is another one of my favorite people in the mission. We worked together a bit back when I was in Antioch.

Cool story- Prayer works! It works even better when we're committed to act on the answer we receive. Often times our prayers become a list of "send me this, this, and this and help this person do this, this, and this." One way we can make our prayers more effective is to ask "Heavenly Father, how can I help this person do this?" and then ponder what you can do. This week I've made an effort to have more effective prayers by asking Heavenly Father to show what I can do, and he answered my prayers while I was still on my knees. 

So do that.

Have a stellar week!

Elder Gillie

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Week 5 of the 13th Transfer of My Mission

I now have less than 6 months left...what is this I don't even...

This week flew by! On Tuesday we had exchanges with Hayward 1st and Union City Chinese. I got to go to the Chinese area, and I was all like, "heck yeah, bout to tear it up since I speak Chinese" and then I ended up spending all day standing awkwardly beside my companion while he talks to people in Chinese. Turns out I don't actually know Chinese. Also Hayward was cool because we got an impression to go by a recent convert who stopped coming to church a couple weeks ago. It was so cool because she was way excited to see us and we were able to figure out a little about her concerns.

There will not be a baptism this weekend like we thought, but it will be next weekend. Hopefully we are both still here since transfers are next week.

Our good friend Diana whom we've been visiting for a few months finally came to church yesterday, and it was awesome! The Sacrament service was magnanimous. Also resplendent. 

The Gospel is true. If we just exercise our dang faith we'll feel Christ's love!

Have a great week...expeditiously.

Elder Gillie

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.