Dear Family,

I'm sitting in sacrament meeting right now as I'm writing this email home. I have a lot of thoughts from today that I want to share! 

I can't believe I am in my last sacrament meeting as a missionary for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It feels weird! The thought that I will be home for the next church meeting scares me! 
As they were passing the sacrament I thought intently on the Savior and the way that He has been able to effect my life these past two years. I am very glad to say that His suffering for me has not been in vain! I really feel like I've been able to let His Atonement be a continual enabling power in my life as I've had this once in a lifetime privilege to serve for two years. There is something special about the supporting power The Atonement can have on a person. I can remember week after week, coming in for church on Sunday's during my mission. Some of those Sunday's were filled with disappointment, some filled with ecstatic joy, and some filled with feelings of inadequacy, doubt, hope, success, and bewilderment. No matter how I've felt at the time of attending sacrament meeting, the sacrament has been the one thing that has helped me keep going, to keep trying. There is a unique feeling of strength that I've received from making the sabbath day and the ordinance of the sacrament an important milestone every 7 days of my life. Christ spoke the truth when he said "12 And I give unto you a commandment that ye shall do these things. And if ye shall always do these things blessed are ye, for ye are built upon my rock." (3 Nephi 18:12). And "And if ye do always remember me ye shall have my Spirit to be with you." (3 Nephi 18:7) 

The Atonement is a power that can continue to strengthen us as we serve the Lord throughout our days. We can receive that strength and power through the sacrament as we attend church every week. There were some weeks that were SO HARD for me and the only thing that relieved me of the frustration and doubt I felt was from the sacrament. The power of The Atonement has truly helped me change my feelings, will, and thoughts and line them up with what God wants me to feel and want and think. We truly can be built upon the rock of Christ as we continually take the sacrament and use this ordinance to be a stepping stone for advancement in our lives. Isn't that great? That when we may have a week where we feel like we've failed, where we feel like we have no hope, we can come and partake of an ordinance that renews our souls and bodies as we remember the one who is the source of our renewal. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel that can and should be applied at all times in our lives. The sacrament helps us follow that continual process of faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. What a great way to start a new week and to end an old one! And what a great way to end my mission! To take the sacrament as a missionary one more time, to remember all of the memories I've made here, to remember all the things the Lord has taught me, and to remember the One who I have been talking about to other people for many months of my life. 

I am infinitely grateful for my opportunity to serve Christ and to remember Him when I come to church on Sunday's. There is ALWAYS a good reason to be at church and there is NEVER a reason why we shouldn't be in the chapel taking the sacrament on the Sabbath!

Anyway, I have so many thoughts going through my mind right now. I don't even know where to start... This week turned out well for us. We ended up having A few Less Actives at church this Sunday. One of them which hasn't come in a long time. It was a really great thing to see them there and know that this ward is progressing forward as I leave here! I feel like I've been able to make this place better than when I found it. We found out that they will be white washing our area, and closing the sister's area in Ridgeway. So they will have only two Elders here, and they'll both be coming in on Wednesday. I'm making sure I leave them a big long report to read so that they're not completely in the dark on everything like I was when I first got here! 
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Elder Neves will be getting transferred and so will Elder Robinson in Blythewood. Elder Robinson is white wash training and Elder Snelson will be staying in Blythewood  training until he goes home in March! This transfer definitely has been a crazy one. Luckily I haven't had to worry about where I'm going after this transfer haha. I will miss this place a lot. 

Well, I guess that's it. I will be ending my tremendous journey that I started on just two years ago. I can't believe it! I have learned so much. I'll share some things I've learned. 

Before my mission, I wasn't as sure as I am now on the reality and divinity of the Savior. The only thing I was sure of was that I had received an answer and call from God in my prayers to head out on a mission. Now I can say that I know Jesus Is the Christ, the LIVING son of God. He was called by God our loving Heavenly Father at the time where we had not experienced the life we experience now. He was foreordained to be the One who would die for us all. He and Heavenly Father love us so very much, watching over us, and cheering us on as we make the decisions we are supposed to make in this life. I know that the doctrine of Christ is true. The process of having faith, repenting, being baptized, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end are principles infinite in wisdom but also simple enough for us all to follow and understand. I know that this true gospel was taught by the Savior when he was on the earth, and that his church made these teachings the core of it's purpose. After ancient times, Heavenly Father reached out in love to all of us and called Joseph Smith to restore that pure doctrine in its fullness to us. Joseph Smith was really called to be a prophet of God, and he restored Christ's church as it should be. Joseph was simply a disciple of Jesus Christ, and he was able to be a great miracle worker for our Savior in bringing this great gospel back to the earth today. Today we have living prophets and apostles and they are men who love God with all of their heart, might, mind, and strength. I've met an apostle and other general authorities of the church on my mission and those leaders ABSOLUTELY have a conviction of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Restoration of it, and they are men who have love and compassion for the whole world. They are great examples to me on what a follower of Christ should be like. I now know with a surety that exceeds any other confidence I have that these things are true. They are facts. They are special truths that God has shown me through prayer, thought, and experience. I would not trade these precious convictions for anything in the world. They are of great value to me! I will treasure them forever. I hope that all who read this know where I stand in my convictions and that I fully intend to honor them by living my life the way that God would have me live it. 

Hopefully this wasn't too long haha! I can't wait to see y'all in just a few short days. It will be a long awaited day that I know I finally deserve to get! I am so grateful for my opportunity to serve these past two years! I hope that the years to come will only get better. 

Love y'all and see you soon! 

Elder Sean Bills

Dear Family,

Well this week had some weird stuff happen, but we had a good week! I can't believe that this next week will be my last FULL week as a missionary! It still doesn't seem real that I'm going home. I don't really know what to talk about it yet. I'll probably make this week just like any other week and that's how it should be. 

We are still having a lot of success with Eric. He's been coming to church and doing the things he's supposed to! He really enjoyed church this week. We're meeting with him again this Tuesday to go over the a Gospel of Jesus Christ. He had some good questions about the sacrament and so I'm sure he's excited to get some answers to his questions. He's a great dude. 

Another amazing thing that happened this week was that UNCLE TOMMY CAME TO CHURCH. Uncle Tommy is an investigator that has been seeing the missionaries for literally a decade. He's never come to church before. We usually do service for him once or twice a week by moving firewood inside so he can use it for his wood stove. He's an older guy so he can't do it himself. I have been inviting him since the beginning of the month to come to church to hear me give a talk. He finally accepted the standing invitation of about 8 or 9 years to come to church! That is proof that you should never give up on anyone no matter how long you've been working at them! God works in his own time, and people commit on their own time. Never give up on someone even if they haven't progressed in 25 years! There is always a chance for them to change and inviting them as often as possible will give them more of a chance to change! There's always hope with people! I was so happy to see him I hugged him! Haha. He's an awesome man and he's come a long way in life. I will definitely miss him. It was one of my personal goals to get him to church before I went home and I'm so glad that he came!!!

I'll attach the notes and points that I went over in my talk from Sacrament Meeting. Everyone really enjoyed it, especially the poem I read and what I said about Procrastination and decisions. I think it went really well and that I was able to get my point across very clearly! 

This week was a good one, and I'm excited to go through MY LAST WEEK. It'll be a party! Every week is! :) 

Love y'all 

Elder Sean Bills

The Simple Truths I've Learned on My Mission

Thank you for the opportunity to let me speak to you before I leave my mission. I never thought that this day would come! I've always felt like I'd be a missionary forever. These past two years have been the best of my life and have taught me many things. I know that previously the topic of "Plain and Simple Truths" was talked about today. I would like to focus on that topic as well and give you my personal knowledge of certain simple truths that the lord has taught me while I've been able to serve Him. I know that as we all serve the Lord in many different ways, we can be taught plain and simple truths personally, that will remain treasured up in our hearts for the rest of our lives and in the life to come! 

Every failure brings a seed of equivalent success

2 Nephi 2:11 - "11 For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my firstborn in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility."

As a missionary, I've given a great and diligent effort in working to help the people I was assigned to serve. I have seen some large disappointments at times. These disappointments were very heart wrenching to me and my companions. We would care so much for someone and do all that we could do to help them make the commitment to be baptized, but opposition would stand in our way and sometimes it wouldn't budge enough for that goal we had for them to be a reality. Luckily, when failure is present, The Lord will always bring a seed of equivalent success to you with it. That seed may be simply be a lesson learned for the next time, but it will come. The lessons I've learned from opposition will be invaluable to me in my life in the future. I would advise everyone here today to take with them a great lesson from all opposition in their lives. Take failure as an opportunity to grow stronger and ask the Lord for strength to try again. If you are going on the right path in your life, God will always help you keep going when you may fall down. He will do this until you finally have succeeded in whatever you may be righteously pursuing. 

All individuals have the agency to choose 

2 Nephi 2:7 - Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself.

It was hard to learn that everyone had the choice to receive the message I was sharing or not. Elder Bednar gave great insight on this recently in a worldwide missionary broadcast. He said that you may bring the Holy a Ghost unto the hearts of those you teach, but not into. In the end, it will be their choice to let the Spirit into their hearts. It is only my job to facilitate an environment that enables the Spirit to operate on the other person. 
Preach My Gospel: Remember that people have agency to choose whether to accept your message. Your responsibility is to teach clearly and powerfully so they can make a correct choice. Some may not accept your message even when they have received a spiritual witness that it is true. You will be saddened because you love them and desire their salvation. You should not, however, become discouraged; discouragement will weaken your faith. If you lower your expectations, your effectiveness will decrease, your desire will weaken, and you will have greater difficulty following the Spirit." We all have agency. 

Luckily, in accordance to the law, I always know I can make a good choice over a bad choice. This is something I did not fully understand before my mission. I didn't think twice about my decisions and I had the tendency to justify why I wouldn't make the right choice at times. Now I understand that I have the agency to choose either way no matter my circumstance. 

Keeping commitments is the first thing repentant souls do

Keeping missionary commitments prepares people to keep sacred covenants with the Lord. Covenants are so important to keep. 

The truth that I've learned in many situations with different people, is that keeping your sacred commitments to the Lord is the key to enduring to the end. Not just your baptismal covenants and temple covenants, but your personal commitments you make with the lord on a daily basis. The commitments should be goals that help you become more Christlike in your life. Elder Larry R. Lawrence: "The journey of discipleship is not an easy one. It has been called a “course of steady improvement.” As we travel along that strait and narrow path, the Spirit continually challenges us to be better and to climb higher. The Holy Ghost makes an ideal traveling companion. If we are humble and teachable, He will take us by the hand and lead us home." We may not be perfect, but God's ultimate goal for us is our progression. God does not require us to be perfect today, but He does require our progression. As we let the Spirit guide us in what we can personally improve on, we will be able to live the last principle of The Gospel of Jesus Christ, Enduring To The End. 

At the beginning of my mission, I was prompted by The Spirit to make a personal commitment to the Lord to strive to study Preach My Gospel every personal study session that I was able to have on my mission. I've gone through that book over and over and over. The blessings I've seen from reading this book every study session have blessed me in so many ways. It helped me apply the important principles that were needed to be an effective missionary. 

"As we strive to keep our covenants, our feelings of inadequacy and imperfection begin to fade, while the ordinances and covenants... Come alive" - Linda S Reeves 

When we keep our covenants, we are exercising our ability to choose and our faith.
 
There are miracles in this church today

Moroni 7:35-37 35 And now, my beloved brethren, if this be the case that these things are true which I have spoken unto you, and God will show unto you, with power and great glory at the last day, that they are true, and if they are true has the day of miracles ceased?

36 Or have angels ceased to appear unto the children of men? Or has he withheld the power of the Holy Ghost from them? Or will he, so long as time shall last, or the earth shall stand, or there shall be one man upon the face thereof to be saved?

37 Behold I say unto you, Nay; for it is by faith that miracles are wrought; and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men; wherefore, if these things have ceased wo be unto the children of men, for it is because of unbelief, and all is vain.

Fort Jackson experience
 
Having an attitude of faith and hope will make miracles happen

In your mind, fear and doubt cannot be present at the same time as faith. We must consciously choose to have an attitude of faith instead of fear or doubt. There's a poem that I love reading from time to time to remind myself that I can always choose to have faith and be success conscious, even if my circumstances are pushing doubt or fear onto me. 

"If you think you're beaten, you are. 
If you think you dare not, you don't
If you like to win, but you think you can't, it is almost certain you won't. 
If you think you'll lose, you're lost 
For out of the world we find, 
Success begin's with a fellow's will-
It's all in the state of mind. 
If you think you are outclassed, you are,
You've got to think high to rise, 
You've got to be sure of yourself before 
You can ever win a prize. 
Life's battles don't always go
To the stronger or faster man,
But soon or late the man who wins
Is the man who thinks HE CAN!" 

Elder Neil L Anderson: "Faith in Jesus Christ is a gift from heaven that comes as we choose to believe and as we seek it and hold on to it. Your faith is either growing stronger or becoming weaker. Faith is a principle of power, important not only in this life but also in our progression beyond the veil. By the grace of Christ, we will one day be saved through faith on His name. The future of your faith is not by chance, but by choice."
We can always choose to have faith in our Savior Jesus Christ. It may not be the easier choice, but it will bring us eternal joy as we choose it. 

Having an attitude of faith is a choice that we can make everyday. It will always be an option.
 
Experience about Mt. Pleasant and my companion. 

His attitude 
He went home because he couldn't take it anymore. Had 2 months left. 
New companion, white washing. 
We prayed to know what our duty here was in the area and we had a great attitude with it no matter our circumstance. We had success. 
Elder Kopishcke: "follow the principles of Preach My Gospel regardless of your circumstance" 

The last two I would like to speak about, are very important to me personally. They are procrastination, and decision.
 
Procrastination brings trouble

Procrastination is a widespread problem in the world today. I have seen it with so many people. Sometimes I see it in myself. Although they may feel like they are trying their best to be confident and make sure they're ready for the next step, they are in reality, putting off the choice to follow Christ until tomorrow. 

Elder Donald L Hallstrom: Many of us place ourselves in circumstances far more consequential than embarrassment because of our procrastination to become fully converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ. We know what is right, but we delay full spiritual involvement because of laziness, fear, rationalization, or lack of faith. We convince ourselves that “someday I’m going to do it.” However, for many “someday” never comes, and even for others who eventually do make a change, there is an irretrievable loss of progress and surely regression.

Procrastination will cripple your life. Amulek says this in the Book of Mormon: Alma 34:33-34 "33 And now, as I said unto you before, as ye have had so many witnesses, therefore, I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed. 34 Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world.

The symptoms of procrastination: 

The habit of putting off until tomorrow that which should have been done last year. 
Spending enough time in creating excuses to have done the job. 
Refusal to accept responsibility of when it can be avoided. 
Willingness to compromise rather than put up a stiff fight. 
Compromising with difficulties instead of harnessing and using them as stepping stones to advancement. 
Planning what to do if and when overtaken by failure instead of burning all bridges and making retreat impossible. 

If you feel like you have those symptoms, make the choice to change right now to change for the better.  It is something I have learned and that I know will bless your life. For years I have seen procrastination ruin the lives of those I have wished to help. Please help yourself and choose not to procrastinate. It will be hard to do avoid procrastination every day, I even struggle with it sometimes. But if procrastination becomes a habit for you in your life, Heavenly Father will not be able to help you the way you need it. 

Talk about people and their problems. 

Decision is the antidote to procrastination

Alma 30:8 "8 For thus saith the scripture: Choose ye this day, whom ye will serve." 
Indecision is a form of procrastination. We need to decide TODAY if we are willing to follow God or not. 
Decision is the medicine that many need in order to cure procrastination. It is a principle that frees the soul, empowers the personality, and lifts our spirits out of the ruts of sin that we can find ourselves in. My greatest lesson that I have learned from the Lord is that I must decide every day, to live on the righteous path and to follow the Savior's example. When I make this decision daily, I do not forget to do what is right, and I do not procrastinate repenting of my sins and shortcomings. 

Here is what I've read about decision in a book recently: it says "procrastination, the opposite of decision, is a common enemy which practically every man must conquer. You have a brain and mind of your own. Use it, and reach your own decisions."

2 Nephi 2:16 - 16 Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself. Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other.

We have the power as human beings to make decisions on our own. We need to make decisions promptly in our lives and create a habit of quick, righteous decisions in order to know that we are following Chrjst's example to the best of our ability. 
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I challenge everyone here to decide today to make s change that they know they need to make in order to follow the Savior on the road to discipleship better. If you don't know what you should change, pray that The Spirit will prompt on what you can improve on, and then take action quickly and act as if there is no turning back. This is the only way we can obtain salvation. 


Testimony Truths
God lives
This is His restored church 
The Book of Mormon is God's word for our day
The church is an organization inspired by God to bless His children
God loves me
Repentance is something to live everyday

​I'm holding up fine. We've both recovered and we're basically back to normal. The bruise on my arm wasn't that noticeable actually so I never got around to take a picture of it. Sorry! But my head is fine now. The swelling went away after a few days and now I'm all good!

Answers to your questions:

1. What gospel principle or doctrine has affected you the most this past week?

Probably diligence. Diligence was important this week because we happened to run into some
bad luck with the randomest things!

For example, we went to a guy's house to pick up some dog cage for a lady that we were doing service for. We stood at his door forever trying to see why he wouldn't answer the door! He finally cracked the door open (and he had about 6 dogs inside barking away) and he told us to go away. I tried asking if he knew the lady and I tried telling him why we were here and he would just keep going "WHAT??"  He couldn't hear anything.... I was screaming at the top of my lungs in his ear and he still didn't hear me. I asked him if I could write down what I was trying to say. He said yes. I wrote it down in my pocket notebook that I carry around for a lot of stuff. And he grabbed my notebook and took it inside!! So I called his house phone, his wife answers and says "y'all need to come at a different time. Now isn't a good time" I pretty much gave up on trying to communicate at that point because she couldn't hear me either. I asked if I could at least get my notebook back and she said "Not right now, He just fell and dropped it on the floor" ...... Yeah my luck was bad this week. Something weird like that happened every day. hahaha

But by the end of the week we were still going out, and trying our best despite the weird stuff that happened. I am glad that even though we've had bad luck were still hopeful and we're still trying our best! Even if something great doesn't come out of it, I really don't care because knowing that were still going at it as hard as any other day makes me feel good about what we're doing!!

Diligence will always be a principle that you can rely on no matter what your circumstances are!

2. What tender mercy have you seen this past week - not including the car accident!

The tender mercy that I've seen this week would be the fact that our district was able to pull together and get 22 member present lessons! It was awesome. I've never seen anyone get that many before. We all contributed to it and worked hard at it and we're feeling really successful right now.

3. What are some of your New Year’s Resolutions or Goals?

I set the goal to have a baptism before I go home. I'm working really hard at it. I know if I try my best that it will happen! I've set up a plan of what I'll do to achieve the goal and I'm trying my best to put it into action everyday.

Please get dad to send me the hard drive ASAP. Pres. Turner came out with a new rule that starting next week we can't have any photos or videos of anything on our iPads. And we can't use the camera anymore... I don't understand it but I guess there was some missionaries being stupid so I need the hard drive so that I can pull everything off of my iPad.

Love y'all!

Elder Sean Bills

The phone rang about 30 minutes before we were expecting our Christmas Skype session with Sean. I was very excited when I saw the call was from South Carolina, but the minute I heard his voice I knew something was wrong.

"I've been in a bad car accident mom and we are on our way to the emergency room."

Here's Sean's account:

How am I not dead?

Dear Family,

So this week was one of the most insane weeks of my mission.... I don't think anyone could have predicted anything that happened!

This week was pretty normal up until Christmas. On Christmas Eve we had a great time at the Adams' house. They fed us dinner and then we hung out with them for a little while. They were even kind enough to make what we always eat for Christmas Eve. Crab Legs! I was super excited. Brother Adams makes the best shrimp and grits I've ever had too.

Also on Tuesday we had DDM and a fun district Christmas party afterwards. It was really fun and I made my chili for it.

So on Christmas we were supposed to be eating breakfast at Bishop's house at 10 AM. Elder Neves and I were both excited to go through the day because we had a lot of families that wanted to have us over for Christmas. It was really foggy outside that day which has been the usual. The weather has been so up and down that there is always fog in the morning. We were on a small street called Roundtop Road and we were at the stop sign that crosses Highway 34. I looked both ways and when I looked towards my right, Elder Neves was looking that way too. I started to drive across the road and as soon as I pulled out onto the highway, Elder Neves went "WOAH WOAH" and the moment I looked to my left a car slammed right into my door. I literally was only able to see a frame of time before she hit us. It was a white Nissan Maxima and she didn't have her lights on and so I had overlooked her when I looked to cross. The speed limit is 55 and she was probably going a lot faster than that, because most everyone drives way over the speed limit on that highway. She slammed us, my window shattered, my window airbags went off and we went rolling across the entire highway. There was a bank on the side of the highway that had about a one foot dip that we jumped. We barely missed a couple of trees and ran over a metal sign, and then rolled more into a person's yard. I only remember a couple frames of the wreck. Right before we got hit, right when we were hit, when we rolled over the sign, and when we had stopped.
Both of us sat there for a second and just groaned really loud hahahaha. My door was completely smashed inwards. I tried opening it but it wouldn't budge. Elder Neves and I crawled out of his door and then talked to the people who lived there and they asked if we were okay. I went over to the lady that had hit us to make sure she was okay. She just had a cut on her arm from her airbag going off. She was pretty calm for the most part. I called the vehicle coordinator and President Turner and the mission nurse and so we went through that whole ordeal. We did all the paperwork for the wreck and then I got a ticket for not yielding the right of way. Oh well. I'm glad that no one got hurt.

So I've never been slammed so hard in my life before... It hurt. Especially the airbags!!!

We went to the ER with the Blythewood Elders and I had a CT scan and an Xray for my head and my elbow. Turns out that we were both totally fine! I have a minor concussion and my elbow has just been stiff. Elder Neves has some bruising on his legs, but that's it. Elder Snelson gave me a blessing before we went to the ER and that helped a lot too.

I would just like to say that there is absolutely no reason why I wasn't hurt anymore than I was. If you look at the pictures of the wreck you'll understand that I was insanely lucky that I walked out of that wreck. This wreck put a damper on my Christmas but I am so grateful that I was protected somehow in that wreck. In my patriarchal blessing it says that I will be protected in all the things that I do, and I thought that just meant that I'll probably smooth through life without getting into a bad wreck or something like that. But I definitely can tell that was fulfilled in another way in the fact that I came out of that crash.

We recovered so quickly too. Yesterday afternoon I couldn't sit around in the apartment any longer and so I told Elder Neves we were going out to work. WE biked about 4 miles and tracted for about an hour or 2. We were able to teach 2 lessons and get 3 return appointments with people. I've got a minor concussion and both of us are sore all over but I felt like we could try our best to work in our circumstance. I didn't want to be sitting around for much longer, I was going crazy!!! Haha

I am very thankful for the fact that I came out of the wreck okay and that I have recovered quickly. It was a hard day, but I got through it feeling happy and hopeful for the future. Unfortunately, we don't know when we'll be getting a car again, but we will have to work with what we have now.

I'll make sure to send pictures of the wreck!!!!

Love you!

Elder Sean Bills

We are so very grateful that Sean, his companion, and the woman in the other car only had minor injuries. We are also so grateful for the members that have been checking on them and making sure they are ok. We feel very strongly that the Lord protected and watched over them. Knowing how fast the woman was going and from the pictures, it is inexplicable how they, especially Sean, were not more seriously injured or worse.

These kinds of accidents don't always turn out this well, and we will continue to express our gratitude for his safety and protection.

It was so comforting to see his face and hear his voice when we were finally able to Skype with him in the evening. After we had a family prayer together, we asked him to please stay safe for the next 38 days until he comes home!

This week was great! We were able to have a lot of success in our work and we had a lot of fun things happen. I can't believe this transfer is already over! They had to shorten it a week because of Christmas and so that means that this next transfer will be 7 weeks long! I'm glad that my last transfer will be the longest. We got transfer calls on Saturday night and we found out that everyone in our district will be staying! So I'm glad that I can finish out my mission with my friends here.

We were able to find some more people to teach this week. We went tracting more than we usually do because I wanted to help Elder Neves get used to doing it more often. We were able to find 3 new investigators through all of the knocking we did. It was great. We did a really great job of setting specific goals for what we wanted to do in certain areas before knocking, and then we prayed to ask if those goals could be met in the time that we had. It's something I've done on my mission for a long time, and I always love to see when it works and the Lord helps us hit our goals. We set a goal that we would teach a lesson, place a Book of Mormon or a pamphlet, and get a return appointment from someone. The first door we knocked on we met a lady that was sick, but she gave us a time to come back. Then as we were walking down the road we saw a man sitting on a park bench. We went over to talk with him and he was visiting from Connecticut because his uncle had died and he had attended the funeral. We taught him about the Plan of Salvation and gave him a chapter in the Book of Mormon to read. We gave him a copy and then we got all of his information so that the missionaries in his area could stop by and teach him. He was open for us to do that and so we were able to hit all of our goals in the most interesting way possible haha! We have been blessed for our focused goals. When you set specific goals and do your best to hit them, you most likely will.

Other than that we all had a great week. We had our Christmas Zone Conference and I really enjoyed that. I always enjoy hearing from President and Sister Turner. It was a good meeting. We were also able to get together as a district to go caroling around neighborhoods in Blythewood. We handed out the church's Christmas initiative cards tied to candy canes and people really enjoyed it. We are going to go to every companionship's area and Carol around to see if we can find more people to teach through it. So far it has been a productive thing for everyone!

I can't believe this will be my last transfer! It has all gone by so fast. I'm looking forward to making every day just a normal missionary day right up until I go home. I would want the end of my mission to be just like any other day I've experienced these past two years. They all have been full of hard work, fun, and great learning experiences. I wouldn't have it any other way haha.

I hope everyone has a great week! 

Thanks for the package momma! I loved it. Also everyone loved the key chains you sent out. They were all really appreciative of them. 

Love y'all! 

Elder Sean Bills

I'm so glad you got to see everyone from home! I bet it was super fun. I'm jealous y'all went to Max's donuts. I talk about that place with people all the time hahahah.

This week was really fun. We were able to do a lot of stuff for Christmas. We went to an interfaith market and had a booth there for the church's Christmas initiative. It wasn't as big as the flea market last year but it was still pretty fun! I'll include some pictures of it. I talked to some really good people too. There was a booth next to
us about Islam and I talked to the guy there for a good while. He even gave me a free copy of the Quran so that was way cool. There were a lot of church members there too. It was a good experience. Sister Adams helped us out a ton and gave us some stuff to decorate the table with. She's pretty awesome.

We also has our Ward Christmas party on Friday night which was way fun. I really enjoyed talking to everyone and it was a good activity to have for some people to be fellowshipped. This transfer is actually going to be a week short because of the holiday. So transfer calls will be this Saturday. I'm obviously staying with Elder Neves, but some people in our district might be transferred. We'll have to see. We were also able to get a bunch of referrals from members and also from a few investigators and so we are contacting those and trying to
find some more people to teach. So this week ended up being productive
and fun!

Love y'all!

​Elder Sean Bills

My Thanksgiving was good. We ate at the Luke's and then at the Hunter's. Brother Hunter is the ward mission leader in Blythewood and he invited us to come along with the Blythewood missionaries. It was pretty fun. I ate a lot of turkey haha. 

We both got the boxes thank you so much momma!!! Elder Neves really appreciated it too. He noticed the shirt you sent him was long sleeved and went "how did your mom know I only wear long sleeves?" And I was like "I don't know she just does that sometimes" hahaha

Elder Neves' training is going really good! For training we go through the 12 week program that the church has for new missionaries. Last week we focused on the topic in PMG called "Teach People, not Lessons" and this week we are focusing on teaching the Plan of Salvation and also watching a bunch of missionary training videos that they have. Other than that we just practice teaching, read stuff out of PMG, and stuff like that. There are specific things that the training program asks the trainee to do every week and so this week I think he's supposed to take the lead in teaching the Plan of Salvation. Which will be good because I can think of 2 appointments that we will have this week where we will most likely teach it! 

This week the biggest principle that I've been able to teach about would be the Atonement. We were able to find a couple more people to teach, and also a few less actives that want to come back to church. We met this one less active who has been in the dumps for awhile and he has lost mostly everything that he cares about in life. He talked about how he knows that the gospel would be the only thing that would help him out. I gave him Alma 34 to read and I felt really strongly that we will be working with him for a good while and that things would get better for him. We are going there this week to help him clean up his yard and house and also for a lesson.

I would say I've been studying the Atonement a lot lately. I've been reading a little bit of the "Infinite Atonement" and the scriptures and insights have been really good for me. My favorite scripture that's stuck with me lately would be 2 Nephi 2:8 which says:

"Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah, who layeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise."

Love y'all

​Elder Sean Bills

Hey mom and dad,

This week ended up going really great! Parker was baptized and confirmed this weekend. It turned out to be a really great experience for his whole family and we had a good turnout from the ward. Parker's step dad came to the baptism and church too. He isn't a member and has told us he hasn't really been interested, but Brother Luke gave him a church tour after the baptism and he enjoyed church too. I think something good will come out of it in the future. 

Parker really enjoyed his baptism and he's looking forward to continuing to come to church. We are going to start working with his older brother Bubba to receive the Aaronic priesthood because we aren't sure if he has gotten it yet. 

The ward has been extra supportive and they are working with us to help their family out as much as possible. The ward even donated white shirts, ties, and slacks, to the 3 boys for church and the baptism. They loved it!

We also got a car!!!!! So we don't have to bike as much anymore haha. And we will have more time on our hands to see people. 

Elder Neves and I are doing great. He's really coming out of his shell now. He is improving everyday and we are enjoying our time together all the time. 

This week turned out to be awesome and we are excited to get out there and find some more people to teach! Love y'all!!!

Elder Sean Bills

Hey family,

We had a lot of changes made this week that's for sure! I had a great week.

My new companion is Elder Neves! (Pronounced Kneeves) he's from a small town in Wyoming called Burlington. I picked him up right out of the mission home on Wednesday and we've been having a great time since. He has definitely been shell shocked this week. He's not used to all of the trees and humidity that SC has. He's a little quiet at times because he's probably still shocked out of his mind haha. He is really loving his mission though. I like being with him. I've given him a lot of information on everything that we do and he's been doing pretty well at soaking it all in. We've been able to have some success in teaching and finding this week and so I'm glad his first week on the mission was productive!

After I picked him up we were able to knock some doors and then see some people with a member. The past few days have been really great too. The only thing that went wrong this week was that our area book planner apps broke and we lost all of the information on our area from this week. We had to spend most of Saturday re- entering everything once the issues were fixed. We also have been seeing Parker a lot this week too! He is set for his baptism Saturday. They announced it at church and he is really excited to get baptized. We taught him and his brothers 3 or 4 times this week and that has been great practice for Elder Neves. He was a little nervous with teaching at first, but we've practiced teaching during studies and so he gets more comfortable with
teaching everyday.

They had a stake youth activity in Saturday night that members wanted us to go to because there have always been a lot of non members who come. We were able to get 4 referrals from some of the youth in our Ward and so that was a great end to our week too!

We also now have sisters in the Ridgeway Ward. They're pretty cool and they're trying their best to get stuff done right now. It's been hard getting places because the other elders used to give us a ride to the grocery store and to meetings and stuff like that before. We are supposed to get a car this week but the AP's haven't let us know what day. Hopefully it will be soon.

This week went really well and I'm excited for Saturday. Elder Neves and I have been doing good work and I think it'll continue to go that way!

Love y'all!
Elder Sean Bills