Santiago Chile

Santiago Chile

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Jan 26 - I'm stayin here

hola familia y amigos!

changes are today, but Elder Huraca and I are both staying here in lo campino. actually, all of the elders in our district are staying here, so we got pizza today to celebrate!
Pizza party


District class
on Monday we had an awesome lesson with Anaiz, oscar, and the familia pino. we met in the pino home and taught about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Anaiz said that she read the book of mormon and received her answer that the church is true! she also said that she is going to get baptized. we are now working with them so they can pick a day to get married. the thing that is awesome about Anaiz and oscar is that they both love the church. the members greet them, and they feel comfortable there. they have lots of friends in the ward that live close to them as well, so that helps a lot. another thing that was awesome was that the pino family during the lesson testified a lot. I would like to give the invitation to all those that read this letter to allow the missionaries to teach in your home. members and non members. I think there are a lot of members who think "when the missionaries call me, I will let them teach in my home" or "when the missionaries find investigators they can bring them to my house." I would say that the missionaries in your ward would love you to help them find people by inviting your friends over to hear the missionaries in your home. invite your friends over for a family home evening or for dinner and invite the missionaries as well. they can share a message with you and your friends that will strenghten your relationship and bless your lives.

on Tuesday I was on an intercambio with elder Sierra from colombia. we taught a mother and a daughter (Luisa and Daniza) for the first time. we taught them about the restoration and we invited them to read the book of mormon. on Saturday we received a call from Daniza who told us that she read the whole book in two days. we have an appointement with her on tomorrow, so we are a little excited to see what happens.

on thursday I was in the sector of elder Fischer for another intercambio. in that sector they use bikes. I got to ride a bike for the first time in the mission!!! I didnt take a picture though which is a little lame, but I´m sure I´ll do it again soon.

on Saturday Yunia had her baptismal interview and she got baptized this Sunday.


her family from the south of Chile (Valdivia actually) came up to see Yunia and her boyfriend Smit get married and then get baptized this sunday. we didnt go to Yunia´s wedding because it was outside of the mission, but the baptism was great. there were a lot of people there, but unfortunatly, Yunia´s family was really busy and Yunia actually had to leave right after her baptism and didnt get to stick around for the talks afterword. she was really nervous right before her baptism but when she came out of the waters she was smiling  a lot and wasnt worried at all.

Im so thankful that I have the chance to serve a mission here in Santiago. I really am learning to love the people here. Chile really is the best. I know that the this church is the church of Jesus Christ, and that it is the only church that contains the power of God for the salvation of God.

Love,

Elder Williams

Jan 19 - water and exercises

hola familia y amigos!

this week was a lot of fun! on wednesday we had a zone conference that was a lot of fun. in our mission we are focusing in on and changing the mission statement of our mission. we are focusing on reactivation, retaination, and conversion. this means that we are helping people join the church, stay in the church after they join, and lastly, help those who have fallen away to come back. it is a wonderful way to focus on hastening the work of salvation. after the talks about that we got to watch the movie meet the mormons in spanish! it was awesome, but it felt wierd to watch a movie that was longer than an hour in the mission.

that night we taught some less active people that wanted us to give a blessing of health to their dog. we told them that we couldnt because the church hadnt received revelation about blessing animals, so they were a little upset.

on thursday we taught nicolas who is a less active member. he was really involved in the church when he was little, but now he hasnt gone in a while. on Sunday he went to church and tons of people said hi to him and greeted him after a lot of time outside of the church. on thursday we met with him and had a good lesson with him. Nicolas is a lot of fun, and he loves to spend time with the missionaries and he is really starting to look like he´s ready to make some changes in his life, so we will see what happens there.

on Thursday we had an awesome lesson with Oscar and Anaiz. we had it in the house of a member and we taught them about marriage. we taught them about the law of chastity and that sexual realtions should be between a man and a woman within marriage. they both committed to getting married at the end of the lesson! we are so excited for them. they have the homework of praying to find out the date of when it should happen. Oscar said "Id be fine with doing it tomorrow", we will see what happens there.

I taught that lesson and spent that night with elder Tibbits because elder huarca had to give a baptismal interview, so that was fun too. 

on saturday we did a temple tour. there are sister missionaries in the temple that do a tour of the
Smit and Yunia, they are getting married this thursday and then yunia is getting baptized this sunday

Yves and Marie berlin, they are from haiti and marie berlin is going to get baptized next month. yves is a recent convert

juanito really liked the temple. he got baptized about 3 weeks ago

Elder Cifuentes from guatemala, he is one of our zone leaders

all of us juntos
gardens around the temple and explain the restoration of the gospel. it was a lot of fun. we brought Smit, yunia, juanito, yves and marie berlin. it was a lot of fun. we were a little worried because marie berlin doesnt speak a lot of spanish, but the zone leaders came with us and 4 other hatians, so there was still a lot of fun had. one thing that is awesome about the temple tour is that the people can enter the temple up until the desk. it is awesome because they can really feel the spirit of the Lord, and they all really want to come back to do baptisms for the dead.

Sunday was the best sunday I have had in the mission. marie berlin, cius (the neighbor of yves), Anaiz and yunia all came to church. also, anaiz got to here an awesome sacrament talk about how the gospel blesses families which is one of her main reasons for why she is looking into the church. Anaiz met the bishop, the ward leaders, her son went to primary, and she got to see the baptism of a young couple who elder Tibbits and Elder Adcock had been teaching. it was an awesome sunday!

I feel so blessed to be serving a mission,and I invite all of those who are on the fence about serving a mission to know that it is the best experience of my life. it is helping me become a better person because it reminds me daily of my need for my savior Jesus Christ. I know that this is His church and His gospel.

Love,

Elder Williams

Jan 12 - hot hot hot

hola familia y amigos,

this week was a lot of fun because we participated in a lot of intercambios so I got to hang out with other missionaries. on wednesday I was with Elder Fischer from Argentina. we stopped by and tought some Haitianos english. we invited a member from our ward who is also from Haiti to bear his testimony about the church with them. it is hard to have haitians go to church because they dont understand what is being said. also, they believe firmly in that they need to have a shirt and tie to go to church. if they do not own a shirt or tie they will not go to church. it is something very important in their culture. there was a very strong spirit in the room when the member testified it was awesome!

we stopped by city hall that same morning set a date for a couple that wants to get married. two of the haitians that we are teaching are not married. actually, about 5 of our investigators arent married which is almost all of them, so we are going to have to pass by city hall quite a few times.

on Thursday we taught a woman named Felicinda. we had taught her a couple of times and the last time we invited her to read the book of Mormon and ask God to know if it is true. when we stopped by on thursday, we asked her how her reading went and she told us that when she prayed to know if it is true she felt this burning in her chest and she felt that it was true. we are working on a baptismal date with her because we need to teach her boyfriend as well and they need to get married, so it is a long road with her.

we had an awesome lesson with Anais and Oscar that same day. she committed to reading the book of mormon and baptism if it true. we are going to teach her tonight so we are excited to see if she has received her answer.

on Thursday I was in an intercambio with elder Tibbits. he also serves in the same ward as me, but in a different sector. he is from Colorado and he is awesome. hes only been out for like 4 months, but he is a great missionary.

we have been teaching a young man named Nicolas. a lot of missionaries have stopped by his house. he is a member of the church but he hasnt gone in a really long time. he is really awesome and he actually went to church with us this Sunday. he was greeted by all of his past friends in the church that he grew up with in primary and everything. it was really awesome to see the love that this ward shows towards everyone.

in Sunday school at church another haitian member shared an awesome story that I want to share. Ricardo was living in Haiti and working in a governament building a couple of years ago. he was a member of the church, and to him and two other young people in his ward was given the option to serve a mission for 2 years for the church. he wasnt sure what he should do, but he prayed and he felt he should serve the mission. another girl from his ward decided to do the same, and the 3rd person decided to keep studying and working in Haiti. Ricardo and the other girl left Haiti to go the the MTC and one month after they left the earthquake happened. everyone that worked in the building where Ricardo used to work died. one of the people that worked with Ricardo was the friend from his ward who chose not to serve the mission. it was cool to here Ricardo bear his testimonio about the mission and how his service literally saved his life.

I hoped you liked that story. I am so thankful to be serving here in Chile, and I know what I am doing here is the work of the Lord

Love,

Elder Williams

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Jan 6 - Sorry for the Delay

hola familia y amigos,

sorry about sending my email a day later. our zone had interviews with the president yesterday and our pday was changed to today.

Melanie isn't the only one with penguins in her mission!

this week was a lot of fun. we had an awesome new years eve. we had permission to hang out with the members and investigators from 6 oclock until 11 oclock. it was a ton of fun. we spent most of the night with the Mendoza family. Cecilia and Juan are recent converts, and we hung out with them for a little bit and then we ate a ton of meat. i got a little sick because I ate so much meat. there is a big hill next to Quilicura where they launch fireworks, so we got to watch a cool firework show from the window in our house. 

this week Juan got confirmed which is awesome. he is fulfilling his goal of reading 1 chapter a day in the book of mormon and it is going really well for him. he is such a humble guy, and he always has a smile because he is really thankful for the gospel. on Sunday he completed one month without smoking, so he was pretty happy about that.

on Friday, we met with the haitians that we are teaching and we taught some of them english. usually we rely on a member from the ward to translate for us, but we want to start helping them learn spanish so they can communicate with the people here in Chile.
on Friday, we also met with Oscar and Anais. Oscar is a less active member who came to church last week. My companion and I noticed that he was sitting alone so we talked with him. he said that he hadnt gone to church in a very long time, but that he wanted to come back. we set up an appointment with him and we visited with him and his girlfriend Anais. they are both very nice. they have a son named Augistin who is 3 and they have a new baby girl named josefina who is 5 months old. Oscar and his son came to church this week, and we introduced him to another member, hno pino. hermano pino invited Oscar and his family to a family home evening with them, and last night Oscar, his family, the pino family and us went had a family home evening. we shared a message about the happiness that the gospel brings to families, and Anais really liked what she heard, and she shared that she had been worried about all of the bad things in the world and how they could affect her family. the Pino family was awesome. they all testified of the blessings of the gospel and they were very nice and loving to Oscar and his family. it was the best!!!!

this week we have also done a ton of service. there was a family in the sector of the other elders that were moving, so we helped them move everything that was in their 3 story house. it was a lot of work. we had to move book cases and a couple of couches from the roof because they didnt fit the stair case.

we also did lots of little service project stuff. one of our investigators is pregnant and we stopped by and helped her clean her house. we also had to clean the church building. it was about 5 hours of washing windows for my compnion and me.

This week was a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed it. Im glad to see how the gospel blesses the lives of the people here. I often wonder what other people think of the missionaries when they see us. sometimes they look at us wierd when we eat, or when we are playing sports on Pday. we are people too. a lot of people think that we are only here to talk about Jesus Christ. we know that if you want a message about Jesus Christ you can go on the internet, or ask anyone. what we share with the people is not only another message about Jesus Christ. We share His gospel. we share the only way to receive eternal life and peace in this life. it takes more than listening to receive blessings from God. we share with people what they can do to receive all of the blessings of God. it is such a blessing in my life to share that with others!

Love,

Elder Williams

Saturday, January 3, 2015

Dec 29 - Happy New Year and Merry Christmas

hola familia y amigos!

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas. i had a great Christmas here and an awesome skype conference call with my family and my favorite sister missionary!

this week we had a wonderful christmas present with the baptism of Juanito!!!!! he has made a lot of changes to get baptized. he quit smoking and since he quit a month ago he hasnt picked up a cigarette.





on Tuesday we had a mission christmas party. all of the missionaries came and we were accompanied by Elder Ceballos from the seventy and his wife. they gave wonderful talks about the Christmas season. after that, we got to watch the first presidency Christmas broadcast. following that we were treated to a Christmas lunch with pastel de Choclo (which here in Chile is a big deal).

on Wednesday we had a zone class where we exchanged gifts and I got a harmonica. my secret Santa was my companion. I had to buy his gift in front of him and lie and say it was for me, and then buy a tie as a cover. he figured it out when we were buying it but he played along until the Christmas party.

in the night time we spent it with Cristopher who is a recent convert. this Sunday he got the aaronic priesthood which is pretty cool. We ate antecuchos and seviche (antecuchos are like shiskabobs) and it was awesome. the niece of Cristopher was there so we got to see her open up her chrsitmas gifts. Christopher actually gave my companion and I a gift. I got a tie, and Elder huarca got a soccer ball.

that was pretty much it for the christmas time stuff. we have been working hard this week. we have been teaching these haitains a lot. yves got baptized recently and now he and his wife want to get sealed in the temple so we are trying to help his wife get baptized. a problem that we see here a lot in Chile is that a lot of people live together and are not married. we see it in almost all of our investigators. 

I love teaching the haitains. they are such a humble people that always have time to listen to God. they live in humble circumstances. there are no chairs in their house and when we teach them we all sit on the floor.

we had lunch with a family from our ward who during Christmas asked for 4 copies of the book of Mormon that they were going to gift to their neighbors. when we ate lunch with them the following day they told us that they were going to follow up with them on their own and then invite them to a family home evening. it really warmed my heart to see a family that takes the work of salvation so seriously and acts of their own accord.

I am so thankful to be a missionary here in Chile. I am not going to lie, there were some melancholy filled moments this week with all the Christmas stuff, but i testify that the most important thing about Christmas is Christ, and it is him that I serve.

Love,

Elder Williams

Dec 22 - Christmas is upon us

Feliz Navidad!

this week was definitely an adventure as I was getting accustomed to a new sector. I am in the barrio lo campino here in Quilicura. the ward is divided into two sectors one which is very wealthy, and the other which is a little more dangerous. I am in the more dangerous sector, but dont worry it is all pretty calm here. Elder Huarca hasn´t been in the sector for a long time either so we are asking directions from a lot of people, but we are enjoying life here. Elder Huarca is the best. he is a lot of fun, and never gets mad or anything when things dont go according to plan. he usually just laughs stuff off. that is one of the things I like about him. there are a lot of houses in our sector and there are also a lot of apartment housing called blocks. most of our investigators live in the blocks.

something really interesting here about this sector is that there is a very large population of Haitians that live here. we have had to learn a little french to communicate with them. they are a very religious people so they usually let us in to teach them about Christ.

this week I go to meet Juan which is an investigator who is progressing really well toward baptism. Juan lives with his aunt Cecilia. Cecilia is a recent convert to the church and she cooks lunch for us almost every day. we eat lunch with her, juan, and the other missionaries in the ward tuesday through friday. Juan is awesome. he has smoked his whole life, but it has been about 3 weeks that he has smoked. he is doing really well, and is very excited to get baptized.

This weekend we had another christmas concert in the mall here in Quilicura. before it we were doing contacts and passing out He is the Gift cards to the people. I got to see Elder Muñoz there which was really awesome.

we are going to spend Christmas in the house of a recent convert. I will explain more about the traditions of christmas here next week in my next letter, but basically christmas is celebrated in the night of the 24th. the kids await the viejo pascuero and actually try to catch him in the street.

I hope you all have a great holiday season, and enjoy the time with your families. 

Love,

Elder Williams