Simon Bolivar

Hola Familia!

I am so excited to write to you because close to a million things have happened this week. I was catching up on reading emails and I dont know if I will have time to write back to all of you. 

As most of you know, I finished up my time in the CCM. It was so fun. I feel really privileged to have attended the CCM in Chile. the CCM only holds about 100 missionaries, so every missionary is pretty close. I had the privilege tambien to get to know the president of the CCM really well. I am going to miss it there. I had awesome instructors and I learned a ton from them.

On tuesday I woke up and I went to the mission office of Santiago Norte. There I met my mission president, President Essig. President Essig has about a week left as a mission president until we get a new president. nevertheless, I really enjoyed my beginning interview with him. He is really focused on his missionaries acting and becoming like Christ. 

I also met my missionary trainer. His name is Elder Boelter. He is from South Jordan Utah. He has been out in the mission field for a long time. in fact, I am going to kill him (mission slang: I am his last companion). This is his last transfer, so I get to receive the maximum amount of missionary knowledge possible because he has the maximum amount of experience. Elder Boelter is way awesome. 

later on Tuesday I arrived in my sector. the sector is called Simon Bolivar. right away I put my bags down and we went straight to work with appointments. One of our investigators is Fernando. He is not a member, but his wife is. He loves soccer a lot, and we talk about it every time we visit him. Soccer is huge here in Chile, especially when we beat esapana! today there is a game against hollande, and if we win, we've been advised to stay inside.

The people of chile are so nice. they speak so fast, but they have so much patience with me. They love to ask where I am from, and they love it when I tell them Im from Washington because they think I live near the White House. Everyone I have met here has been really nice. Unfortunately, I didn;'t know that taxi drivers dont like it when people close the taxi doors hard. I was in a rush to get in, and I closed it a little too hard, and he kicked me out of the taxi, and left me with some new vocabulary. 

It was all good though, because that night I got to go to a noche de Hogar, and the family was so nice! We watched a mormon message with them and expounded more upon it, and they fed us these fried cakes called picarones.

I also had my first meal from a member. We had mashed potatoes and carne. It was really tastey.

on Friday we had more nuevo misioner training with the president. It was nice to see my friends from the CCM again. they are mostly serving in country areas in Chile. I am more in the city. Its kind of like a suburb where Im at. It was also refreshing to hear some english. Its beginning to feel wierd when I hear words in English. Spanish is coming slowly. It is hard to understand because de verdad, the people of chile talk so fast. tambien they have different words.

I had my first Completo the other day too. Where have completos been all of my life. they are seriously so good. one of the recent converts in the ward, hermana zuniga, sells them on the weekend. we had a noche de hogar at her home, and she made me one. it was tan rico. 

The members here in mi barrio (ward) are awesome. I got to know a lot of them on Sunday. They are very involved in helping the missionaries with the work of the Lord. My first Sunday was awesome because we had the baptism of Hermano Fernando that day. The chapel is on the second floor of the church which is kind of cool. there were some great talks given and it was great to sing himnos en espanol. I didn't understand much of what was said, but I really did feel the spirit. if there was a sentence to sum up this week that would be it: I didn't understand much, but I felt the spirit. 

That afternoon a peruvian family made us lunch. arroz y pollo con inca cola! (shout out to momma Williams). That night we had a member, Nacho, join us. we visited investigators and Nacho did a great job of sharing his testimony. it was so strong, and he was baptized 5 months ago.

I know that this church is true. I know that the gospel of Jesus Chist changes people. it helps us become more like our Savior. It helps us find happiness in this life, and it guarantees that we will be able to live with our loving Heavenly Father for eternity.

Love,

Elder Williams

My last week

hola familia!

It has been another awesome week in the CCM! I have done a lot this week and because of the way my preparation days work out, I wont be able to write a full email for a couple of weeks, but I think I will be able to send a fax of a hand written one next week while I am checking in at the mission office of the Chile Santiago Norte mission! This is my last week in the CCM and I have learned a lot.

we have had the chance to go street contacting a lot this week. It has been a lot of fun talking with people and getting to know them. Its amazing how the gospel of Jesus Christ can help everyone and bring everyone even more happiness to their lives. We got to go out contacting on Saturday and it was raining really hard outside, but we still managed to talk with some people that were huddled under a bustop. 

Sunday was a lot of fun. This is because we got to sit in on the latino meetings. your first four weeks in the CCM, you go to church where your sunday school and priesthood meetings are taught in english, but after those first two weeks, you sit with the latinos in their meetings. That was especially a lot of fun for family home evening that night. there is a tradition in the CCM where on the first sunday the Latinos have in the CCM, the gringos help teach them english. It was the best. for the first time in my CCM experience I felt like a pro at something. 

Yesterday, we did even more street contacting. We got to talk with 3 really cool people. One of them was a student at a nearby University. He was really nice, and said that he had a friend who was Mormon who had already given him a book of Mormon. We also met a student who was from South Korea who also spoke spanish really well. Another person we met was this very nice lady who was taking her baby on a stroll. We talked with her and she said that her baby was a little sick. We told her we would pray for that baby that night, and we truly did. Because we are still in the CCM, we cannot teach these wonderful people in their homes, so instead, we fill out a referral and send it to the church office so other nearby missionaries can teach them the gospel. It is a huge blessing to be in the CCM de Chile because here in Chile we actually do things like street contact. Its the best! by doing it, Ive really discovered how the Lord blesses you with energy as you work. 

As for what happened today, we had a crazy time playing soccer. the park we usually play at has been acting wierd and as a result we have been able to play soccer at your usual spot in a while. I dont know if the change in location (we hav now moved to another nearby field) has made soccer a bit more intense but you can feel something in the air. Today especially, it was Gringos and Brazillians vs. the Latinos, and we won! 

Today was also our preparation day. It was our last preparation day in the CCM, so we had a lot we needed to do. We went and got haircuts, mailed packages, bought ties, obtained dulces from supermarket, and we even had time to stop by the distribution center.

The rest of this week is going to be pretty busy as well. Tomorrow, Elder Lynn G. Robins from the seventy is visiting the CCM. We will get to hear from him for an hour. That will be very exciting because I have heard he is really good at speaking with missionaries. Also, on Thursday we will get to go to the temple for what may be the last time for about a year. On Friday, we get to something really cool. Only the gringos that have been in the CCM for 6 weeks get to do this. we get to go proselyting with missionaries from the Santiago Sur mission. I am so excited!!!!

Sunday and Monday we will have a lot of campo orientation meetings then it will be off to Santiago Norte! If you havent been able to tell yet, I am pretty excited. I have a learned a lot in the CCM. my testimony grows everyday about the importance of this work. I know the Gospel is true and I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is God's true chruch on the earth today.

Love,

Elder Williams

Feliz cumpleaños a mi

Hola familia!

First off I want to start out with a shout out to the best twin sister ever. Happy Birthday Melanie! 

Its been an awesome week in the CCM. last week we were playing soccer with the latinos in the morning. We are blessed to have two professional soccer players in the CCM, one of which is elder Cifuentes. Elder Cifuentes is very good at kicking the ball hard. he got paid to kick it that hard in Argentina. when we were playing the team that I was on was waiting on the sideline because the other two teams were playing. the keeper on one team asked me if I could switch out with him for one second so he could check on another player who had hurt his knee. I stepped into the goal and not even 10 seconds later elder Cifuentes comes up with none of my defenders in site and kicked the ball with all his might. I stopped it! with my face! Im pretty proud that I can say I've stopped a shot from a professional soccer player, and in the future I won't mention how I accomplished the task.

there was an awesome land mark this week in the CCM. it was my first fast sunday in Chile. here in the CCM we start fasting after lunch on saturday. I felt so blessed this Sunday as I was fasting. they work you hard in the CCM and it can be difficult to stay on top of things and stay happy. this is why I love church, especially the sacrament. through the atonement of Jesus Christ, we don't have to suffer through our afflictions alone. we are never alone because of the atonement of Jesus Christ. 

That Sunday night we had the privilege of hearing from the president of Santiago Oeste mission. we sat in the front row because my companion elder Stephens is going to that mission. I was trying really hard to undertstand him. I was able to clearly understand his wife who spoke beforehand, but for some reason I could not understand the president. he was from brazil and I thought it was because of his accent. halfway through his talk I hear a familiar two words: Elder williams which was then followed by a frase of words that I didn't understand, but that frase ended with a slight increase in the pitch of his voice. this indicates that he was asking me a question. I had no idea what he said, and I asked him to repeat and he did and it was still unclear, so I just said what the latinos behind me whispered was the answer. I was really confused why I didn't understand him until I was talking with the brazillian missionaries. apparently, he was speaking as much portugese as he was spanish so it was nice to know that Im not a complete failure at Spanish.

Yesterday was Elder Stephens birthday. there is a tradition at the CCM that if it is your birthday, herman Doll, the presidentes wife, brings you cookies and the CCM sings happy birthday to you. I was fortunate enough to enjoy that same experience this morning. first, before hermana Doll got there, the brazillian elders sang me happy birhtday in portugese. then hermana Doll arrived and it was sung in spanish. its been a great birthday so far.

I forgot to mention something funny that happened yesterday. We taught a lesson to our teacher and we thouught, wouldn't it be great if we did it in the garden of the temple (because it was a 3 minute walk away)? we wanted to show our investigator the importance of an environment that is welcome to the spirit, an environment that is tranquil and quiet and peaceful. We thought the temple garden would be perfect. when we arrived, there were tons of workers with leaf blowers and when we sat down away from them, behind us in the trees was a man who had just started up his pressure washing machine. needless to say, we had to relocate, and it was OK because the rest of the lesson went great.

One more thing, yester day we got to go on the street and contact people. It can be a little scary when you don't know how to speak the language, but according to my brother Evan, you can't let those doubts (which do not come from God) impede you from sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with every person you meet. my companions and I met a woman named Rosa. she was sweeping the sidewalk across the street from the CCM, and we talked with her. apparently we weren't the first ones to do so because she informed us that she had an appointment with the missionaries this Sunday. she was extremely nice and she said that she has never been approached by missionaries from the CCM before. she thinks we are good jovenes, but she said she never met any of us. I told her that I was sorry that was the case. I told her that new missionaries can be afraid to speak the language, but I told her that that shouldn't be the case. I told her that I was here in Chile not for myself, but for the people of Chile. I told her that we are hear to share the truth of God with her and bring more happiness to her life.

I love my mission here in Chile. Im excited to share the gospel of Jesus Christ, because through that gospel we can live with our families forever, we can return to live with God, we can find peace in this life. anything is possible through Jesus Christ. I am honored to be his representative. I only hope that I can strive to attempt to fill that title.

Love

Elder Williams

Half way there and living on a prayer

hola familia y amigos

sorry for the Pday changes and the delayed responses to your emails. I'll try to catch up on most of them in the 45 minutes I have. This week is my 3rd in the MTC so I am halfway done with the MTC. We learn so many awesome things here, and the members of my district are awesome. I couldn't survive the MTC without them.

last week during Pday, we were able to stop by Mcdonalds, and that was a great experience. Elder stephens was very happy we got to go because he loves Mcdonalds. I am so thankful for my trio companions elder swan and elder stephens. I needed to learn a ton of things from them before I go out into the field.

Soccer has been more difficult recently with the latinos joining us. an elder from Brazil that played on the youth brazil team and an elder from argentina who also played on a pro team are both at the MTC. apparently, brazil and argentina don't get along too well in soccer, so the games have become a little more intense.

Some fully trained missionaries that were serving in Rancagua are visiting the MTC this week to get some medical tests. its cool to hear from them about what the mission field in Chile is like. they are very nice elders.

on domingo, we had church and sundays are the best at the MTC because we don't have class. we get to listen to broadcasted devocionals from the Provo MTC and they are awesome. we also get to have FHE every other sunday night. after it, herman Doll makes us cookies!

on monday it was so cute. me and my companions were walking back from class to our room. missionaries live on the third floor of this building and chileans that are visiting the temple from far away stay in the bottom two floors. we like to attempt to communicate with them. when we were walking up the stairs to our room, we saw this mother holding the hand of this cute little girl who was trying to hop her way down the steps which were about a third of her height. when she looked up and saw us she said "los misioneros"! it was so cute, and my companionship realized that we are now missionaries, the same missionaries that I looked up to when I was little and wanted to be. it is such an honor being a missionary.

Today was another pday. we walked to a new mall, and while we were in a shop so elder Stephens could get a futbol jersey, I was talking with a man who was working there. when we were planning our day out last night, I really wanted to place a book of Mormon. I grabbed one before we left for the city, and when I was in the soccer store the worker there asked "why are you all named elder". I took that as a signal. he was really nice and he said he loved Jesus Christ, so I handed him the book of mormon: another testament of Jesus Christ. we got his number as well to follow up. it was really cool!

I want to keep this email pretty short because there are a lot of emails I need to respond to.

Thanks,

Elder Williams

 mcdonalds!

 ​where we play football

Subject: Gooooaaaaallllllll

hola familia!

I can't believe I have already been out for two weeks. Its crazy! Im really starting to enjoy the MTC. the more time I spend here, the more time I realize how wonderful a mission can be. this week we are finishing up meeting with our progressing investigators. their names are Carla and Pedro. they are teachers from the MTC that act like investigators from their missions. it really helps us to practing teaching in spanish. One of the most important things to understand when you are in a lesson is that even though you can't speak spanish, you can still speak by the spirit. Im so thankful for the spirit.

Last night we had an assesment where our teacher picked a couple of elders from our class to teach a lesson in front of the whole class. he picked Elder Smith and Elder Horlacher. they are both awesome missionaries, but Elder Smith believes he has a hard time speaking spanish, and because of that he doesn't consider himself a good missionary (he tells us that frequently). they started the lesson, they got to know the person, and then there was a moment of silence. after that pause elder Smith opened his mouth and asked "what would you think if I told you families could be together forever". I have seldom felt the spirit that strong,  and because of that question, elder Smith and elder Horlacher were able to teach a man about how he could be with his family forever, and how the gospel of Jesus Christ could strengthen his family. 

I know Im only in the MTC and that the people we are teaching here are just teachers pretending to be investigators, but the Lord knows that we need the practice, and he is merciful enough to give us the spirit to help us teach our lessons. Miracles happen here in the MTC. I know it.

Ok let me tell you more about what has been happening here. recently there has been an increase in the amount of chilean bread provided to us at meals. it is now placed on the tables fresh and warm out of the oven. as a result our will power to resist the main source of weight gain for the members of the chile MTC has taken a major hit. I haven't gained any weight yet, and I will try to stay strong. I like talking about the food here at the MTC because lets face it. the free time that we do have is with meals. for breakfast there is lots of warm bread and there is cereal with yogurt. chileans don't really believe in cold milk either. its almost always hot. for lunch and dinner its a lot of potatoes, pasta, fish, and pig. Im not sure how to say pork or ham in spanish so when the lunch ladies ask us what we want we usually just say "oink oink". also, all the desserts here are the same. they are always some type of jello of pudding.

Today we said goodbye to the latino elders that arrived with us. the latinos only stay for two weeks. last night we took some pictures with them and said goodbye. there was also a great devotional that was given sunday night by the mission president of Sanitago south. I understood about 75% so I was pretty proud of myself. Elder Swan, Elder Stephens y yo said goodbye to our roommates Elder Torres and Elder Ore. they are both very funny and we will miss them a lot. 

because the latinos are leaving, we have been playing something called gringo ball. every morning we play soccer, but now that the latinos are gone, the gringos actually have a chance to hold onto the ball. we ran over to a nearby park and played on a court there, and I actually scored a goal! scoring a goal in soccer has been one of the goals in my planner for the past week and a half, so it was nice to check that one off the list.

sorry that the Pday schedule is a little crazy, but my Pdays should either be on tuesdays or Wednesdays here at the MTC. today we are planning on going to a new mall in santiago where it is rumored that a McDonalds is located there. my companions are craving big macs so we decided we should go. 

Im so thankful to be here at the MTC. Im thankful that I get to be a missionary, a representative of Jesus Christ. I didn't really understand what that meant when I left, but I am beginning to understand that my role here is to act like Christ, to love the people of Chile like Christ, to teach and lead the way Christ taught and led. All I want is to practice and learn as much as I can here, so that when I enter the field, I will be able to share with the people of Chile the way to have joy in this life, that same way being our path back to our Heavenly Father,

 

love, 

Elder Williams

Picture 1: Left to right. Elder Williams, Elder Stephens, Elder Swan

Picture 3: left to right. elder torres and elder ore

last Picture: us saying goodbye to elder torres and elder ore

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Subject: soy un misionero

Hola familia,

I am very excited to write to you. I can't believe that I am actually a missionary and am writing letters and having p-days and stuff! a lot has happened since Sunday. in the morning we wake up and we have personal study, breakfast and then ejercicio. the latino missionaries love playing soccer so that's what we do almost every morning. It is very important to be good at soccer here because if you aren't, you miss out on a lot of opportunities to spend time with the youth and share the gospel with them. on our way to soccer every morning we see lots of dogs. they don't belong to anyone and they have fleas so we don't touch them. we almost saw one get hit by a car multiple times because he likes to chase them.

For those who have never been in the mtc, know that you spend a lot of time in a classroom, so its not really possible for me to tell of really interesting things that happen throughout the day. you spend about 8-10 hours a day in class and it can be rough. We find relief in hanging out as a district outside of the building at our "spot". *o el punto. we also teach investigators that are teachers that act like non members. we are working with pedro y carla. it is rough teaching in a language you don't know, and part of me wishes that it were possible to dedicate 2 weeks to just learning spanish and how to teach the lessons and then having investigators, but it is important to always practice.

Also here's a crazy thing! I ran into hermana todesco from our stake! she had a meeting in the MTC because it was in her mission and I got to see her.

I went to the temple on Tuesday. It was very nice but very packed. we fit 100 missionaries in a room meant to seat 80 and it was very packed, but the chile temple is beautiful. I have a roommate in the MTC who will go to the temple for the first time today and he is very awesome. he is from argentina and his name is elder torres. he speaks english very well and we love to joke with him a lot. he is a convert and he is the only member in his family. He left behind a very good job to come here to chile, and he is such a great example to me.

I feel like I didn't tell you too much about my companions on Sunday so I will do so now. elder swan is from farmington Utah. he has the best laugh you will ever hear. he went to hood college in maine on a swim scholarship. he is about 6 foot 6 and always has a smile on his face. elder stephens went to BYU with me and he is awesome as well. he is from sacramento california and he used to run for BYU's cross country team. with two collegiate athletes as his comps, guess who is usually the last one to arrive at the MTC when we run back from the parque :)

today, wednesday, is Pday, but I've heard that it can change from week to week, but I don't know. on P days we get to go outside the MTC (or the prison as we like to call it) we went to liders which is a grocery store. on our way there, elder stephens ran into his best friend who is serving in Santiago sur. after that we went to the market and some elders got some treats. after that elder swan and I went and got a hair cut. now we are back here in the MTC writing.

The MTC is a lot of work. it is very stressful if you and more importantly your companion do not know how to manage time well and plan. I would say that the greatest problem we have our district (except for the hermanas) is that we have not yet realized who we are supposed to be as missionaries. somos representivos de Jesucristo. we are still learning that it is not about ourselves, but it is about helping our companions, other missionaries, and our investigators. we shouldn't have time to be worrying about ourselves

Just so every knows I am doing much better health wise. I came down with a cold last week and it is almost completely gone.

Also I have an hour to write on Pdays, so I will try hard to write as much as I can and respond to as many people as I can.

Love you all lots,

Elder Williams

P.S. Happy birthday to Evan and Phil