Elder Bednar's Visit from lds.org (Katie Pic)

The following story was posted on www.lds.org about Elder Bednar's recent trip to Europe.

When Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles arrived in Reading, England, for meetings with members, leaders, and missionaries, he knew he could not visit every person individually. The sheer number of members in Reading makes that impossible. Nevertheless, as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, he understood fully his commission to bless the lives of members, both collectively and individually.

“The ministry of a member of the Twelve is always to find individuals,” he said, “following the principle from the Book of Mormon, ‘one by one.’ An Apostle is always searching for the ones the Lord sent him to find . . . to lift, to bless, to do something to help an individual or a family.  When meeting with a group of members, of youth, or of young single adults, it is not that there is an audience of fifteen hundred; there are fifteen hundred ‘ones.’”

Questions and Answers

Elder Bednar listens to a missionary, then directs him to gospel doctrines and principles that may help him find an answer.

That is why Elder Bednar chose a question-and-answer format for meetings he held with missionaries, stake leaders, and young single adults. But the question-and-answer sessions did not involve Elder Bednar asking the questions; instead, he invited the members to ask him questions. Then, with love, he taught them doctrine and principles that would guide and assist them. Teaching in this way, he could call on individuals who most needed his counsel, even though everyone benefitted from the instruction. Elder Bednar was able, through the guidance of the Holy Ghost, to reach out to the ones the Lord had prepared and placed in his path.

Sincere Questions

At Elder Bednar’s invitation, missionaries, like members, share their thoughts and ask questions.

In an interview the day after one of the meetings, Elder Bednar said: “Anyone who was in the meeting with the young single adults last night would have been impressed by the authenticity, the openness, and the genuineness of the questions asked. My heart just reached out to several of those young people because of what they were asking and the sincerity with which they were asking.”

Answers Often Come “Line upon Line”

During the interview, Elder Bednar explained that “much of the world anticipates big results quickly. But the Lord builds a sure foundation and incrementally builds upon that foundation line upon line. If we go back to the early days of the Restoration, there were many converts in England. That pace is not the same now; it is slower. But in many of the areas where the missionaries are serving the converts continue to come one by one and learn line upon line; they are being retained. So there is steady growth.”

Goal Is to Help

Elder Bednar explains that one reason for meeting with local leaders is to become better acquainted with their needs.

When Elder Bednar comes as a member of the Twelve to visit an area of the Church, he explained that “obviously, we bring points of emphasis from the First Presidency and the Twelve.  But my question to the Area Presidency is, ‘How can we best help you?’” He said that approach helps formulate what takes place during the meetings held in the area.  My heart yearns to be of assistance in some way so that the members will have the fortitude, the faith, the courage to keep pressing forward.”


Acting Rather Than Being Acted Upon

A missionary choir uses music to invite the Spirit into the meeting with Elder Bednar. Sister Willard and Sister Housley on the far left.

Elder Bednar expressed: “Worldly influences would hinder use of our agency afforded through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  But we are agents who can act, and that affects everything in terms of how we live the gospel in our daily lives. It affects how we pray, how we study the scriptures, how we worship at church. There is a difference when one goes to a sacrament meeting essentially as an object waiting to be acted upon—‘Feed me, give me something’—as opposed to worshiping in sacrament meeting as an agent where you are acting—asking, seeking, and knocking.

Hooray for the Work!

Happily for us, moves are now on Wednesday, which means we'll find out tomorrow whether we stay or go! Sister Housley thinks there'll be a change...I don't know, I want to stay here till I die (mission death, not real death), AND the Primary Program is this week! I can't miss that! That's pretty much our feelings summed up. Supposedly we get five new sisters this time, so there'll be plenty of training opportunities, especially for Kernek and Johnson. They need children badly :)

As far as this week goes, some big news: Portland's "hypnotist who fell over" and made international news with a phony concussion is, in fact, married to the Primary 1st counselor. David Days is not a member, but he runs all the Road Shows, hypnotized half the branch the night he fell over, and just let the press run with the story until telling them the next day it was just a setup! What if the hypnotizer was out of commission--would the people still be in a trance? Now we know. He's filming a reality show at the moment, a sort of mockumentary on hypnosis, featuring at least one lady turned Martian who went to bed and woke up in the same trance. Never a dull moment here in the Promised Land :)

Other news:

Naomi came to church and brought her 7 year old, who went to Primary, got a part in the Program, and promptly burst into tears when it was time to go home. Best Sunday yet.

Don't read the Book of Mormon, and DEFINITELY don't pray to find out if it's true. That's how they get you.

Sometimes I have Elder Holland moments where I want to bang my fist on the table and get my point across in very large words. For those who don't listen, the reason why they don't is because they haven't read and they haven't prayed. You have to do those things. If not, it's like Satan is sitting on your shoulder and will not let you go. Offend him first, and you'll be free to receive revelation.

We ran into a super racist lady who said that "yellow people are taking over the world,” and that "Muslims have a lot to answer for."

We also stopped this old guy who said that the American Tea Party is the next Nazi regime or something (Sister Housley had NO idea what he was talking about) and how he was atheist and started yelling at us for imposing our beliefs. We tried to walk away, but he tailed us, positively spitting with rage, saying, "You are going to hell!" Sister Housley was like, "You are following me." A bunch of teenagers busted out laughing behind us, and I cracked up all the way to the library. My biggest concern was how an atheist believes in hell. Confusion.

It's so fun to be a missionary. It's weird to think that we're approaching my 4th moves already. As a sister, you get about 12 moves? Is that right? Every month and a half...whatever, I was never good at math. The time you serve the Lord with all you've got is extremely short. I feel like time has really picked up these last weeks--my stack of filled planners will be pretty tall in no time. It's fun to get to the point when you know that your companion is furious when no one else can see it (typically during a teach with a waster), or when you know everyone's names in the branch, or when you've got your favorite TAs mapped out. I have a few favorite places I love to go for “tea,” and your whole day can be so much better when that happens. I know the Lord is in this work and He wants it to go forward even more than we do. He's doing a great job :)

Love from,

Sister Willard

Elder Bednar Arrives!

Thanks to some heroic pday antics in Yeovil, we ended up emailing today instead! If it's short, I apologize.

Highlights of this week:

PETER: Is our baptismal date. He's 18, tells us about his no longer existent love life, and has come to church twice in a row, the second time after no sleep. Turns out he knows the Withreads and the Walkers AND between Sundays the YSA made him come to their FHE, Institute, and almost got him up to Reading to see Elder Bednar, but his mum wasn't given enough notice for that one. Shame. Pretty much the greatest thing I've yet seen on my mission is his willingness and their total osmosis of him into their group of friends.

PDAY: Yesterday was so fun! The six of us went bowling at an arcade three games in a row, and the rule was that if you got a strike, you had to do a dance move in the lane. So Elder Paraso made us all look bad after breakdancing, Himelright gave up because he just kept getting strikes in a row, until he tried to slide on his gunky rental shoes and biffed it across the foul line...oh man. Then we played some English pool--same concept as American, just played on a smaller table, with littler balls that are only yellow and red. I didn't do too shabby, either. It was so fun to just bond with our district and hear about their lives. I'll be sad when Johnson leaves after this moves just because our dynamic has really turned Salisbury around.

BEDNAR: Sleepover Friday night at Winchester (I had to relay Tangled again) and we got up super early to catch the train. Me and Housley were in a musical group that sang Hark All Ye Nations, and we got the first two rows. Elder Bednar came in, looking a lot older than usual, and we were so excited. We didn't even open the overflow, there were that few people. The whole mission was there, even those from the Channel Islands, and they don't even get Zone Conference. Three HOURS of question and answer--I learned so much about faith and learning by faith, priesthood keys, how to avoid priestcraft and blasphemy, how to get out of the way of the Spirit when teaching, and how to invite investigators' agency, rather than making them objects to be acted upon (calling them every day to see if they're still coming to church). He bore such a powerful testimony, and I realized I knew the same things he did. I've got a testimony of the same things he does! And I haven't even SEEN anything! Pretty much felt like I got hit by a train and was still bouncing off the walls after it was over. Highlight of the mission so far.

I've been learning a lot about trials and the purpose of trials, not necessarily because I've had a ton or anything, but because a mission is good prep for them in the future, and we keep finding people, members and not, who've seen the positive results of their own trials in life. It has a lot to do with becoming like God--if we want His patience, we have to have frustrating days. If we want His power, we have to experience weakness to overcome. If we want His compassion, we have to get picked on and beat up and ignored. These all serve a purpose. Although many still exercise their agency and choose bitterness, rather than the teachings of Jesus, that's up to them.

Weymouth is the promised land! I feel so successful, even on days when we're dropped by everyone, because I know that I'm fulfilling my purpose as a missionary to INVITE, to make plain the will of God and how it affects people, to testify and show them what the Spirit feels like. I'm grateful for the opportunities to be here and to have heard an apostle in such an intimate setting and recognize that we don't need him to answer our questions. We have the scriptures. We have General Conference. Write down the questions you're struggling with, and go into Conference with them and watch them all be answered, right in a row. I know the Lord is here in England, touching the hearts of His people. We're just going to collect them :)

Speak to you on Thursday, and moves say that maybe Housley is moving!

Love from,
Sister Willard

You're Giving Me Wrinkles!

Another week in beautiful Weymouth...although we can't really say that, because although the sky is blue in the morning and nothing could possibly happen, twenty minutes later it's torrential rain and everyone is running inside in flipflops. England! You don't know what you want! It's frustrating for a missionary who, after preparing with raincoat and umbrella, is totally sunburned by the end of the day or gets her shoes soaked from a passing car. Weather like a six-year-old girl.

This week we found some new investigators and taught Peter. He's 18, tells us about his love life when we see him in town, and wants to be hip. He came to church with us and knows a few of the youth. Bit distracted, but he liked the meetings and when we asked him to be baptized, he said, "Sure, if I'm free." It's so weird to find so many noncommittal people...I feel like we should threaten them with hellfire so they'll recognize that this is a BIG DEAL. Happily for us, a miracle occurred in the form of Peter's nan declaring that she would disown him if he ever became a Mormon. He called us about it and said he still wanted to meet with us. We told him that he needed to find out for himself if it was true--I think family issues really hit home the fact that this is a lot bigger than a social scene or something nice to do. No more sitting on the fence, Peter. I sure hope he gets baptized :)

Other weird happenings:

-The most awkward teach yet was law of chastity...my first time as well, and she had a few hangups we needed to resolve. Unfortunately for us, our member was Mike from the branch (headed on a mission shortly), and she asked him to please leave the room. He hid in the loo until we said it was okay to come back (some fifteen minutes or something...sooooooo awkward.)

-Leigh got her mission call! She's off to the Birmingham mission and she's so excited. No trouble with visas or jet lag or post or anything!

-New family moved into the branch from Kalamazoo, Michigan. Answers to prayers! We keep hoping that active families will move in to beef up church. We stopped by her place and someone answered the door. She asked if we had been requested. We told her we were from the church--she turned around and yelled to Elouise, who shouted through the window, "Tell 'em to take a running jump!" Jo cracked up laughing, and I was like, of course they're hostile. Sheesh.

-2 new branch missionaries, Mike and Tom, and we've used them both to great effect. Tom is a really good fellowshipper, and Mike is a really good teacher, which makes for one killer companionship. Our goals include more branch activities so we can implement more member missionary work.

-Another battered Mars bar--there are recipes online, and you can definitely make those at home with Snickers, Milky Way, 3 Musketeers, and anything else you want to batter...try it out! They're delicious!

Nothing too crazy to report. The big debate on is who is the bad cop in this companionship--if you look at Alma and Amulek, Amulek talks about hell and really scary stuff...I think we trade off, depending on how the day has gone. If I've been spending too much time with less-actives who keep making idiot excuses, I'm more inclined to say things like Amulek. It's not overbearing--it's just speaking from the energy of heart, especially if we've been visiting them a lot and there's no progress. Some just need straight boldness, and some need to feel special. I don't really care about the latter people because this church is not interested in babysitting its members. "Lovest thou me? Feed my sheep." Faith=action=evidence of God's love=faith=action=evidence...

It's cool to see the seeds of former missionaries manifesting themselves in the people we're teaching...sometimes people feel the Spirit so powerfully and you think you've got a solid branch president of the future...and then they run away. Then they refuse to act. We as missionaries can do everything we know how to do to bring the message to their hearts, but if their hearts are cold and closed, we can't get anywhere with them. Then comes the lonely work of calling people to repentance. There will be lots of people on the other side who knew, who refused to act despite the Lord intervening and sending His messengers. Then will the real numbers manifest themselves, and the once fruitless missionaries will be instruments in God's righteous judgments. And who knows? Years after the missionaries leave, someone may seize that seed of faith and act anyway. We don't know. But God does.

The Church is either true, or it's not. The question is, what will you do when you find out that it is? What will your friends think when they get to the other side and discover that you knew this the whole time, and never told them? Those are some powerful things that I'm reminded of, being here on this mission. I hope that the little work I do here will still yield forth the work Heavenly Father wants finished here on earth. It's an act of becoming like Him when we make His purposes our purposes, and His work our work. It's the easiest way to get everything that we want in the end.

Thanks so much for everyone's post! Stay happy and at all times proclaim the Gospel. If necessary, use words.

Love from,

Sister Willard

Good Morning, darling!

It's British to say darling here. Also love and sweeties. So weird.

Weird week, although there was one big miracle: we knocked into this lady named Jill on Portland, and she told us that she wasn't interested initially. Then Housley made her start crying on the doorstep (she keeps doing this) probably because it's not common to find super friendly people in this country. We gave her hugs, and then she practically begged us to come back and talk about God. She's in the midst of moving and getting divorced and such. We went back and talked about the Plan of Salvation, and she was so sweet and so receptive, even while her husky Shadow was trying to get everyone's attention. She told us that when she was seventeen, she used to go out knocking with the missionaries--the last sisters Weymouth ever saw, thirty-something years ago. Crazy, right? Jill even went to chruch regularly, before there was a chapel! We invited her to church the following day and agreed that she would give us a lift.

On Sunday morning, we walked through the rain to her place, and she answered the door with, "You didn't get my text, did you?" After Shirley and Scott flogged us for church, we realized no investigators were coming. Jill just said she had so much work to do, and I couldn't keep the disappointment off my face. So, stranded in the rain ages away from church, we got a lift from the Walkers and an invite to tea to quell our sad feelings. I went up to the stand at sacrament meeting to conduct the music, and right before we started, in walks Jill, soaked from the rain. She told us she got dressed in a big fat hurry because there was something whispering to her, "What are you waiting for?" She dashed to church just in time. And Steve was there, and Jo from Exeter, who came to spend Sunday and Pday with us! pretty much the raddest Sunday ever, especially after a hard week.

Weymouth is the promised land. We've been finding such cool people--people who knew missionaries from years ago, people who have friends that are members, people who've been waiting for a reason to turn their lives around. We're so excited for this place to explode. The students all go back to school in a couple weeks, and we're excited for the seafront to get back to normal. 

Our district is so delightful--we determined on our weekly conference call which comic book character everyone was:
Elder Himmelright=The Incredible Flash
Elder Paraso=Green Lantern
Elder Day=Nightcrawler
Elder Johnson=Spiderman
Sister Housley=Rogue/Storm (one vote for Jubilee, who she thought was sooo lame)
Sister Willard=Jean Grey

We've been setting goals as a district to just think more positively about the work and to improve our desires, and already we're seeing some huge improvements. Negativity really can affect the whole district, and when we had trunky elders as well, it's no wonder why the areas felt dead. Thus far we've had tons of district fun and unity (amazing, since we haven't had a single district pday) and there's a big sense of camaraderie when there was ill feeling before. We've got four weeks before moves, and likely Elder Johnson will leave his greenie area at last. I'm pleased to announce that I've been here 4 whole months today! Only 14 left--have to get working!

Love from,
Sister Willard

Silly Rioters

Big news! I totally got my package on Tuesday--President asked us to email home the day after pday to tell everyone that we were okay and safe from the riots in London...I figured my family was intelligent enough to realize that London is HOURS away from Weymouth, so instead I printed off the tracking confirmation and showed it to Parcel Force. The mail guy didn't give me a come-get-your-parcel ticket on the 27th like he should've, so we tracked it down the old fashioned way (drivers' license and everything), and I am pleased to announce that the BYU Book of Speeches has transformed our comp studies into really fantastic discussions and I don't feel totally isolated from BYU :) Also all the music helps us study, I have a Pez head on my desk, and I won't be so pink now that I've got some good American sunscreen! Happiness and joy all around. Now we have to buy a gallon of mayo and make some ranch...

This week has been so crazy--we've really been tearing it up, and it turns out I like to extend baptismal dates right on the street. You never know when someone will say yes. (You don't say it like Elder Calhoun--you explain it, bear testimony, and invite.) Our goal this week is to get another baptismal date. Yesterday, we had five investigators at church and Shekinah was finally baptized! Hooray! We got her all dressed up and the entire branch stuck around because there would be food afterwards--unfortunately, the font had been struggling with temperature, so they ended up with less that three feet of really hot water. Her dress kept ballooning up because it wasn't deep enough--after the first attempt, everyone was like, "No, no, you have to do it again!" and pretty soon the whole thing felt like a rodeo. I guess everyone was so stoked for the first convert baptism in two years, they just wanted it to happen over and over again...we called it good after three tries, and we ended up back in the chapel for the coolest confirmation ever. The Spirit was so thick in the air. There was definitely a sense of relief from everyone that she finally got the Spirit to help her out. The best part was that she was found later in the loo comforting a very emotional investigator and doing the dishes and putting up the chairs after the food. She's already a superstar member! Carter and Lang definitely got a good one--we called them up afterward and they were like, "No WAY!" I'm so happy for them--eight months without a baptism is rough times for sure.

We're so excited for how Weymouth is taking off. We're rarely going into the other towns because we feel like Weymouth and Portland have some really fantastic things happening. We've been finding tons of new investigators and the branch keeps telling us about the missionary experiences they're having--I really hope that after we leave they keep the spirit of missionary work with them and double their membership like Salisbury and Reading did. (Speaking of Reading, Elder Bednar is coming and we have yet to hear...but President wants us all transferred while he's there, so we'll see.)

Pday today. It's been a tiring week, but really rewarding to end off on a baptism. We're finally going to ride some rides down on the Esplanade (we asked the Zone leaders--they said it was okay.)

In other random news:
-The riots were started because the London police gunned down a black drug cartel they'd been watching for months--all the racial groups in the East Boroughs went crazy, looting and setting fires in Manchester and Leeds and Birmingham...some even came down to Bristol, and a nine year old kid was stealing liquor out of a broken shop window. It looked really bad (this is what we've gathered from people on the street) and then it started raining and everyone went home. Wimps. Keep your eye on the news and President will tell you when it's time to panic.
-I made a map for the Book of Mormon cities and we played Amlicites with a bunch of GI Joes. Best comp study ever!
-We covered up some grafitti on Portland with a giant colorful MORMON.ORG in chalk.
-Do Jehovah's Witnesses not wear colors or patterns?
-I ate a battered Cadbury Egg and it was DELICIOUS. We've got a deep fryer--I don't see why WE couldn't do it--
-Twill be my fourth month on Saturday! Crazy, huh?

Thank you for everyone's post--missionaries have got the mail itch, and when your district leaders forget your mail from mission hq, it makes you grumpy. I'll make sure and call to remind him next time. Keep staying happy and positive--study the scriptures in the morning so you can remember it throughout the day, sing lots of hymns, pray all the time, be obedient, and follow the prophet. These other shenanigans don't have any prophets to follow, unless you count global warming, the Pope, Greenpeace, Tories, enconomists on TV, or a faraway council of pastors. How depressing.

Born-agains are the meanest people we find on the street. (They always quote Rock of Ages--when you can't quote actual scripture, there's a big hole in your religion.) Wizards, witches, and atheists are the nicest. I think the Spirit World will have people who learn a lot faster than others, and it won't be the people you think.

I love being a missionary! Everyone needs to hear this message, and if they won't accept it in this life, at least they can't say they didn't know in the next :) And for those that DO, well, so much the advantage for them.

Love from,
Sister Willard

On the Royal Mail

The U.S. Postal Service is rad. Which means the Royal Mail isn't--as it is, I haven't gotten a package yet; if we're not home, they drop a collection page and we have to take it to the parcel pick-up which is open like 2 hours of the day on Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and the 14, 15, and 21st days of the month, unless it rains, then it closes 15 minutes early, unless the lady at the front is wearing a horrible pink cardigan, then they'll leave the door open to invite more people in...government institutions are a giant fail. So, long story short, I haven't gotten a package yet. The question is, did he send it to the flat, or to the mission office in Surrey? That's the best way to get things to me, but it does take a while (have to wait for the ZLs to pick up our mail and pass it along.) But don't give up hope? If anything, call somebody and I'm sure they can tell you where it is...?

If you want to Google my flat, the front door has a number 2 on it (I think it's white with a black letterbox), and it's a stony wall set in with a stucco two-story next door...it's the last flat before you turn into Longfield Road. It looks like a British crackhouse turned crazy cat lady from the 70s and isn't much different inside. Makes for some good stories. (They showed a picture of our toilet at zone conference in demonstrating what NOT to do...that limescale was THERE when we moved in! Hopefully in six months they'll be able to swap the flat.)

So in crazy happenings; we're setting up another appt for Shekinah to be interviewed (shame we have to do it again, but whatever), and we met this new guy named Scott--he's 28, comes from money, and has realized that his life has come to naught through his own poor decisions and he wants to make things right. We began to talk about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and he's really struggling with the concept that it's not too late for him. So I talked about baptism, how it washes away every guilt, regret, or stupid thing you've ever done. He looked at me, ha;f stood up and said, "Can we do that now?"  I was like, are you serious? And he was just so excited for this to happen. He said, "I can't believe how I'm feeling inside." (Bit uncomfortable at how he stared at me). "How are you doing this?" I could just feel the Spirit talking through me (no idea what I said, it was probably testimony or something) and his mind was just short-circuiting. It was so cool to see a wealthy kid like that come out and say it's too late to turn around until he hears about the Atonement. We're so excited to see him progress...it'll take a lot more teaching until he knows what he needs to, but it was definitely the highlight of our week.

Other cool/weird happenings:
-Sister Housley was bit by a pointless, fat Jack Russell terrier. But it was a dog nonetheless. It's like rite of passage for a missionary.
-She was also divebombed by a seagull. The fourth time she's been pooped on (we just figured Exeter was bad luck). At least it wasn't in the middle of a teach.
-My wallet fell out of my bag on the bus (not hard to happen; these tourists do NOT know where they're going, and the drivers always slam on their brakes) and Shirley went down to the depot and rescued it! We thanked her profusely, and she was like, "What are friends for?"
-Youtube: Epic Mealtime. Mission correlation was detoured as Joe Walker showed us what he was doing.

Weymouth is the Promised Land! We keep teaching Olympians on the street, finding people who were taught by elders years ago and in other places, and I think most of my positivity is coming from the fact that we spend zero time with RCLAs. To some degree our responsibility is to replace the less-actives with those who are willing to come to church and fully participate--or at least plant some seeds there. Maybe it's just Weymouth, but we have got some straight-up crazy people, super hostile folks, and the biggest wasters you've ever seen. It's hard to say whether they're progressing or not, but considering how a bunch are avoiding our calls and such, I think we are successfully making them feel guilty? Question? The Church is meant to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. It's rare that we come across jerks, but it does happen. The nicest people we've met are Muslims (who we can't teach), White Witches and Warlocks, members of the AntiChrist church, and Jehovah's Witnesses (I think they appreciate how difficult knocking can be.) For all those who say, "We already ARE Christians! We are just fine, thank you," it's hard work to convince them how much more there is.

As Paul says, "We glory in tribulation" and "we must partake in the affliction of the gospel" and in D&C "we waste and wear out our lives in the bringing forth of them to the truth"--I love that. Eliza R. Snow said, "Think not when you gather to Zion the saints here have nothing to do...the Church is meant to refine us, and that is through hard work and struggle." It sounds depressing, but it's as depressing as a mission is. If we could all come out of fifty years' church membership as men or women of God as much as these RMs are, I think the Lord's grace is sufficient for us.

Anyways, I shall have to go! But I love you all. Keep on fighting the good fight and keep the faith, and you'll feel happy despite the awfulness around you. It will just be for a small moment in the end. I've got less than 15 months left! I've got so much to do!

Love from,
Sister Willard