Dec 14 - Changes

hola familia y amigos,

cambios were this week and I have changed sectors. I am now in the zona of Quilicura. I am in the ward lo campino. My new companion is elder Huarca from Peru. He has been here for about 3 weeks so we are both pretty new here in the mission. Elder Huarca has been in the mission for about a year now, and he is great. he is very nice.

Im not going to lie, I was a little bummed that Im not going to spend Christmas in Simon Bolivar. I have a lot of friends in that ward and I had been with elder Muñoz for a lot of time, so it hurt a little bit to uproot what I had established after 6 months there. 

This week we did have a lot of time to work in the sector which was a little lame. the reason is that on Wednesday I went to the doctor to see about my big toe which was hurting a little bit. I had an ingrown toenail and he chose to operate on it right then and there, so I had to be off the ground for two days. we were in the apartment for two days straight which was really boring, but I definetly learned more about the scriptures in those two days. 

We also had a lot of holiday concerts. when your companion is a talented violinist you get invited to play a lot of christmas activities. on Friday and Sunday they have a huge program in the temple gardens here in Santiago where the youth of Santiago dance, play music, and they even flew in Marvin Goldstein and Amanda Joyce from the united states to play the piano and sing. it was a lot of fun. Elder Muñoz was playing in the orchestra on friday and sunday because saturday we were at our ward christmas activity where he was also playing. 

On Sunday I said goodbye to the recent converts and investigators. it was really sad to say goodbye. We stopped by Luis and carolina, Lucila, Lucas and Ivonne, and then Felipe came with us to the temple concert. I am going to miss a lot of people from that ward, but I am excited to be here in Quilicura. Ive heard great things about this sector, so we will see what is going to happen. apparently there are two baptisms scheduled for this Sunday so that will be fun. 

so you know, Elder Muñoz is still in Simon Bolivar. the other elders that were in the hospital are there too. they operated on Elder Lefalle´s shoulder and he was in the hospital until friday with elder Birch, but they are back in the apartment, but they cant really leave because Elder Lefalle has to rest.

Something cool that happened this week was that Luis and Carolina went with elder Muñoz and Elder Saldivia (we were on an exchange) to a lesson with jorge and katherine. jorge and katherine arent married, so they taught them about the law of chastity which went really well. they want to get married, but with Katherine´s husband it is going to be hard to work out the divorcement. It make take a little while, so keep praying for them. anyway...the cool thing that happened in that lesson is that Jorge has been without a job for a really long time, and he mentioned that to Luis who talked with his boss, and now Jorge is working in the same place as Luis! Jorge was really happy and he and Luis get along really well now.

I am so glad to be a missionary. Im glad that the lord has blessed me with the chance to see people change. I have done nothing to cause a change in these people. it is the spirit of God, Christ, and his atonement that changes these people, and it has changed my life to see these people demonstrate their faith and act in accordance with the commandments of God.

Love,

Elder Williams

Dec 8

hola familia y amigos,

this week was a ton of fun with a lot of traveling. Elder Muñoz is a very talented violinist, so in this time of the year with christmas concerts and church activities he is in high demand. yesterday we traveled to the city of Quilicura where we had a huge concert with a missionary choir and lots of musical numbers to celebrate christmas. it went really well. it was a lot of fun because it was an opportunity for the people of Chile to see the missionaries in a different light. usually we knock on their doors and talk with them in the street, but this time we were singing for them. 

I want to talk a little bit about some of the new people we have been working with. Jorge and Katherine are a couple that live in our sector. one day we were walking in the street and we saw a man walking his dog. we stopped and talked with him and he said that his wife was a member of our church and that she hadn´t gone in a while. we stopped by a while later and we met his wife Katherine. we have met with them a lot this week. their family is going through some hard times financially because he is without a job. before, Jorge didnt think much about god, but now he wants to learn how to communicate better with him and serve him. he is doing really well and went to church yesterday.

We had a lesson with Mario, the less active guy who is heavenly involved in the catholic church. it was an awesome lesson because we were going over what he read in the book of mormon and my companion asked if he had ever felt the spirit when he read the bible. he said yes. he said there is a specific chapter in Juan that he loves. we then asked him if he feels the same when he reads the book of Mormon. he said that he feels like that a lot when he reads the book of Mormon. He then realized that if he feels the same spirit with the bookf of Mormon as he does with the bible, the book of mormon is true. he has been trying really hard to get an answer and he finally did!

today we went bowling with the assistents to the president. one of them is going home and is really good friends with elder muñoz so we got to spend a little time with them. I bowled a 64. It didn´t go too well for me.

on Wednesday I was in an intercambio with elder Saldivia. he is from Angol in the south of Chile. it was a ton of fun. the ward mission leader in the ward was really awesome. we were talking with a lady outside of her house and he all of a sudden came around the corner and interrupted us saying to the lady "you have to listen to what they are saying, you have to do it". then he gave us two bottles of water and walked away. 

this week it has been really hot. I think that because of the heat I still havent realized that we are in the christmas season. I hope that you all take the time this christmas season to reflect on our Savior Jesus Christ. I highly recommend a video that the church has made recently called He is the Gift. you can find it on youtube this month.

Love,

Elder Williams

Dec 1 - Turkey Day

hola familia y amigos,

this week was a lot of fun. I dont have a ton of time to write, so Ill just state the big events from this week.

we had a nice thanksgiving here. we at a big lunch of pansito, mashed potatoes, and hamburger patties and juevos. we hung up some stalkings too (old missionary socks). we also bought a pie and ate it.

on Monday night we taught a new guy named Ivan. he is a 7th day adventist. we talked with him and he basically was trying to convince us that we were wrong because the sabath day should be on saturday. he was really nice about it, but he wasn´t very open to listening to our message.

on Tuesday we had an awesome service project. we have been teaching an older couple where the husband is less active and his wife isnt a member. Francisca y Ariel are very friendly. the other day we saw Francisca in the street and she told us that she needed help with a service project. she a had a lot of old clothes that she was trying to get rid of. the thing that was really cold was that we found another man whose wife is a member who has not been able to find work who sells clothes in the ferria (farmers market). we told him that there was an hermana that we were going to help by moving some clothes that she didn´t want anymore, and we were able to give him the clothes so he could sell them in the ferria. as a result of the service project we were able to help two families at once and then teach the two families later the same week.

on Friday we stopped by the house of a less active man we have been teaching. Mario was baptized at the age of 22, and after he got married to his wife, he stopped going to church becuase she didn´t like it. He now is 70 years old, and he works as a financial secretary in the catholic church. it was interesting because we were teaching him this week and he has had some problems with asking God specifically to know if the book of mormon is true, and he said "something I dont understand about the bible and my church is how my wife and I aren´t going to live together forever". we were able to testify to him that yes, families can be together forever, and that he could know for sure if he prayed to god and asked him. we explained that if the book of mormon is true, the doctrine of eternal families is true as well. I am so thankful for the book of mormon. it really is the keystone of our faith.

sorry the letter is so short, but please know that I am doing well, and that I love you all.

Love,

Elder Williams

Nov 25 - enfermito

hola familia y amigos,

this week was a lot of fun, but it was a little rough because Elder Muñoz was a little sick. Elder Muñoz had a fever and was caughing a lot.

we spent a lot of this week trying to find people. because Lucas and Felipe got baptized we no longer have investigators that are progressing, so we are hitting the streets.

we came across an hermana this week whose husband is a member of the church, but he hasn´t gone to church in a very long time. they are named Francisca and Ariel. we have passed by many times for their house because they were a referral that we received from a member in our ward. they didn´t really want us to come into the house before but this week we found francisca walking in the street and she said that she needed a service this next week. we passed by her house the next day to coordinate the service project and share a quick message. they were  both taken aback when we said we didn´t require recompense for the service. we told them that we are here to serve them and help them with their relationship with Christ. they were really surprised that we were so dedicated to serve them.

that same day we were following up on a contact in the street. I had one address written and my companion had another. we stopped by the address of my companion. we contacted the joven that answered the door, and we asked him if we could share a message with him about Jesus Christ. he said yes, and we came in! Manuel was his name, and he was super awesome. it turned out that the contact who gave us his address lied, because the address number that I had didn´t exist and he didn´t live with Manuel. it was a bummer that the contact lied to us, but we found Manuel and he was awesome.

on Saturday we were searching for menos activos in our sector and we found a man named Washington Jimenez. he is a lawer here in Santiago, and he is super nice. we knocked on his door, and he immediatly said, "come on in". that is a sign of menos activos. he shared with us that he saw some things in the church that he didn´t like, so he stopped coming. it is something that we here a lot in the church. our job as missionaries is to remind these people the reason why they went to church in the first place. the reason is: without the proper ordinances performed by the priesthood authority of god, which is only found in the LDS church, a person cannot receive eternal life. Washington was really friendly and we are excited to work with him more.

this Saturday Lucila Palma went to the temple to do baptisms! we were so pumped. she went with a young single adult from the ward. we couldn't find a third adult man to go with us, so we couldn't go to the temple with her, but she told us she really enjoyed it, and now she is working with a sister in the ward to prepare the names of her mother and other family for the temple.

I hope you all have an amazing thanksgiving this week. I am so thankful for all of your prayers, letters, and packages that really do help me. I want to give a special shout out to my Mom and Dad who have been such a great help to me. Thanks Mom, thanks Dad.

Love,

Elder Williams

P.S. another quick shout out. word on the street is that Bothell High School football is cleaning up. keep it up cougs.

Nov 17 - Lucas y Felipe

hola familia y amigos.

This week was a lot of fun, and it was a lot of work too.

on saturday we had two service projects in the morning. we had to prepare a house for painting and then we had to go to another house and paint a living room.

I really want to focus this email on what happened on Sunday because it was an awesome day. we had stake conference this week so we had to get up extra early to go to the stake center to attend the priesthood meeting. we ran into a problem in the morning because we couldn´t find Elder Muñoz´s glasses. we searched everywhere in the house. while he was in the shower, I said a prayer that I could find them. right after the prayer finished, a thought came into my mind to check behind the curtain. I had already checked there and it would be highly unlikely that his glasses would have passed through or over the curtain, but I still checked. as I looked a little bit more in depth than the first time, I found them.

we then went to stake conference. it was awesome because the temple president of the santiago temple was there and he gave a talk about the importance of temple work to reactivate church members and insure that recent converts stay in the church. it is so true. this week Lucila got her temple recommend and is planning on going to do baptisms this next week. Luis and Carolina have already done them, and are now going on a regular basis.

another miracle that happened was that the water heater for the baptismal font wasn´t working. we grabbed a member from the stake who is a handy man to help us work on it. we were there for an hour trying to figure it out and nothing happened. we decided to say a prayer, and when we finished the member moved a valve just a little bit, and tried again and the water heater started to work. it was awesome to see two miracles about prayer happen in the same day.

after stake conference we saw the baptisms of Lucas and Felipe. Luis did all of the baptisms and he might get to do the confirmations because this sunday Luis received the Melchezidek priesthood. Felipe was really happy. when he had the chance to share his feelings about his baptism to the congregation he said that he was "thankful to God for a new life". Lucas thanked his mother, sister,and brother in law for all that they did, and for the first time in his life, according to his mother, took his sister by the hand. it is amazing to see how much that family has changed.

Felipe gave me a big bear hug after his baptism. Felipe and his father Victor do karate, and Felipe is really strong. every time I shake his hand he squeezes as hard as he can and I can honestly say that he has the potential to break my hand. Felipe is a goofy guy, but after his baptism he was so reverent and so happy.

later that night we taught a new man named rodrigo. he was a contact in the street about 2 weeks ago that we found again in the street. when we talked with him this week he told us that he had been waiting for us. we had set an appointment with him, and we had went last week but we found a business where he said his house was (it happens to us a lot when people lie to us). it turns out that there was a hidden house next door where he lives, so we stopped by yesterday to teach him. he told us that he feels lonely and that he wants to rekindle his faith in Christ. We told him that the gospel of Jesus Christ is here to help him.

I want to give my testimony to all of those who feel alone, depressed, or feel that their faith is dwindling. I know that Christ is our Savior. I know that he has provided a way in which we can combat the trials in this life with His help, power, and love. there are many ways in this life to dull our pains, but Christ is trying to communicate by means of his servants, like me, that the only way to find peace and salvation, eternal life and hope, is through the gospel of Jesus Christ. this gospel as been restored perfectly by a prophet of God. this gospel is found within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. if you want to know if it is true, come unto Christ, exercise your faith, and start to learn it, then live it, and I promise you will love it.

Love,

Elder Williams

Nov 10 - Elder Nelson

hola familia y amigos.

this week was awesome!!!!!!!

lets start with a sad story first, and then I will tell the awesome cool things. on Tuesday, Elder Muñoz and I were walking in the street talking with a lot of people and they really weren´t that interesting. nothing was happening, and we were on our way to lunch when we decided that we would talk with a man that was waiting in a nearby doorway. we talked with him. he said his name was Mario he was 28 years old and super awesome. he let us come in and we shared a quick message with him, we said a short prayer, and we set up another day to come by. he was really nice and interested in what we had to say. about 30 minutes later after the lesson we had with him we were waiting for our lunch which was pushed back a little bit, and we saw Mario biking towards us. he got off of his bike and with a frantic look said "Elderes I have been looking for you guys for the past 30 mintues" we thought he was going to say "I read what you left me and I want to get baptized" or "come to my house right now I want to learn more". instead he said " I talked with my dad, and he doesn´t like you guys, so could you please not pass by our house again?" that was a little bit of a bummer, but asi es la mision

yesterday we had a conference with Elder Nelson. it was so awesome. he talked about the importance of using the guide to the scriptures, (which doesn´t exist in english) he and his wife also taught the importance of knowing who we were before we came here to the earth. we have to know that we were valiant as spirits before we came to this earth, and that we did many great things before we came here. there is power in knowing that we did great things before we came to earth because our ideas of what we are capable of increase. Elder Muñoz and some other missionaries performed a musical number and it was really awesome! We were sitting in the front row and Elder Nelson was right in front of us. its a good idea to have connections with the musicians entonces.

Guess who I ran into at the Elder Nelson Conference! (Hermana Todesco - from Woodinville)

this Sunday something awesome happened. my first week in the mission I met a man named Santiago. he is 60 years old and from Peru. I have knocked on his door 10 times and talked with him many times and I have never been able to share the gospel with him. this Sunday he came to church with us! we stopped by in the morning and he and his wife came to church with us. it was cool to see that after 5 months of nothing that all of our door knocking paid off. we had a lesson with him yesterday and he told us that he felt really good in the church and that he wants to go every week. he had a lot of questions about the bible that we helped him answered and he said to us that "I just want to find the church where God wants me to go". 

today our preparation day we went to the park. there is a huge park in our sector that is closed monday, but our pday was changed to tuesday so we got to go. 

we talked with a lot of people this week, and got a lot of doors slammed in our faces, but we are doing well, and we are happy!

Love,

Elder williams

Nov 3 - Temple

hola familia y amigos!

this week was interesting. we weren´t able to spend a ton of time in the sector, but we still had a lot of fun and a lot of the spirit.

this week was cambios and I am staying here in Quinta Normal with Elder Muñoz. I will be completing 6 months in my ward and 4.5 months with elder Muñoz at the end of this cambio. Im growing up so fast!

this week I had to do some identification stuff. I had to go and wait in a lot of lines and receive stamps and papers so I can stay here in Chile legally. it was cool to visit a different part of Santiago to do it. it was really funny to be in the large waiting rooms (similar to the DMV) and see hundreds of bolivians, peruanos, and argentinians. I saw a couple of gringos, and there was a silent recognition between us that was like "hey we are from the same country".

We were also out of the sector because my companion is practicing for his musical number with elder Nelson that is coming next week. just a heads up, I think they are going to change our pday to tuesday next week, but Im not 100% sure.

BIG NEWS! Luis y Carolina went to the temple and did Baptisms!! it was the best! they went with our ward mission leader, and Carolina said it was the greatest experience of her life. she said she really felt the spirit during her baptism, and felt it even greater for the people that she was serving in the temple! Im so pumped for them.

the other day we were teaching Felipe, and we were talking about tithing. when we finished talking about it, we asked him if after his baptism he would pay tithing. he said "if it is a commandment of God, I will do it". that got me so pumped to be a missionary. here is a young man that in completely changing his life because he has faith in Jesus Christ. Felipe is one of my heroes.

Lucas and his mom Ivonne are doing well. we have almost finished teaching Lucas what he needs to hear before his baptism, and now we want to focus more on growing his testimony. its amazing how much the simple things help. read the scriptures, pray, and go to church, and you´ll be ok, your testimony will be strenghtened, and the spirit will be with you.

I know this church is true. I know that it is Gods kingdom on the earth, and I want to serve my Savior for the rest of my life.

Love,

Elder Williams

Felipe la lleva

hola familia y amigos,

I hope you guys are excited for Halloween this week, because I dont know if Halloween exists here, but I´ll keep you posted.

this week we started off with a little service. this little turned into big service, because we didn´t know what we were getting ourselves in to. one of our investigators, Bridget, asked us to paint her ceiling. we thought "oh we just have to roll it with paint a couple of times and we´ll be good". we were wrong. we had to prep it first because there was some water dammage, and then we had to move all of her furniture, and use sand paper to scrape away old paint, so we were covered with dust.

we had a lot of lessons with Felipe this week. Felipe is the bomb. Felipe comes from a rough background. his mother and father abandoned him, and he now lives with his father who adopted him. he struggled in the past with alcohol and drugs, but is trying to turn his life around. he talks about how he wants his body to feel less "toxic". its a great privilege as a missionary to testify that through the atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ, he can be cleansed from the mistakes that he has made in his past. he is reading his scriptures, and he always has great questions about what he has read.

on Wednesday we used the cookie mix that I got from my package to make cookies for the Chandia family. they really like them, and they told us that they had stopped by the house of their neighbor every day to invite him to a family home evening, but he was never in the house. that was a little bummer. we are also doing this thing in elders quorum where we give a book of mormon to the other guys there, and they get to give it to a friend, and then the following week, they get to gift the book to another member of the quorum so they can share the book of mormon with one of their friends. this week the man who was sharing his experience about gifting the book of Mormon shared about how he offered it to his friend, and his friend refused it, and wouldn´t evern let him explain about the book. the quorum was a little bummed about the story, but its great to know that the members here are still willing to work with the missionaries.

On Saturday, Lucas invited us to a little family get together for his birthday. we arrived and the family was making completos. it was nice to spend time with his family, and also share the gospel with them afterwords. both Lucas and his mother Ivonne went to church this sunday which is so awesome! its the best to see people in church!

Yesterday we had a lesson with one of our newer investigators. Laura is a very religious woman who loves to study the bible. she is married and has a son who is 2 years old. Laura loves to study the bible and has studied in the past with Jehovas witness, but when we knocked on her door she said, "I dont know anything about the Mormons". we had already taught a lesson with her, and yesterday we stopped by to follow up on her reading. she told us that she was reading the bible, and that she read a scripture that says that if an angel preaches a different gospel, it is not of God. the message of the restoration and how Jospeh Smith saw angels was something that she took to be as false. she told us that she felt like we were not of God. In this moment I was extremely thankful for the book of Mormon. the book of Mormon is the evidence of the restoration of the gospel through the prophet Joseph Smith. We told Laura that in order for her to know if this is the same gospel that Christ taught, and if Joseph Smith really is a prophet of God, she needs to read the book of Mormon, and ask God to know if it is true.

I am so thankful to be here in Chile as a missionary. there are many difficult times here, but there are so many precious moments when people are touched by the spirit, and they change. I am changing everyday here, and it hurts, but I love it because I know that Christ is making me better than I once was.

love,

Elder Williams

It's gettin hot

hola familia y amigos!

this week has been a ton of fun, with a lot of cool stories to share.

first, I want to talk about one of the families that is part of our ward. the familia chandia is so awesome. the mother of this family has a calling in the stake, and her husband was recently released as the president of the young men in our ward. they are both converts to the church. this week we have been working with them to find the people that are ready to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. we left them with the commitment to pray about who, from their neighbors, they could invite to participate in a Family Home Evening. they followed through with their commitment and this friday, they are going to invite him. we are so thankful for the awesome members that we have in our ward.

on Thursday, we saw another demostration of the awesome members that we have in our ward. Angelica, who is the family history specialist, helped us have an activity in the chapel where we taught investigators and recent converts about how to use family search and the importance of family history. it was a great experience, and we are excited to go to the temple with Luis and Carolina this week, or next week.

on wednesday, we were knocking on some doors, and we came across a woman from Peru. because she was alone, she preferred that we passed by the next day. on Thursday we stopped by her house, and she let us in. Nancy (that is her name) told us that about 6 years ago she was baptized in the church, but that now she was living here in Chile, and she didn´t know where it was. she has had some problems getting used to Chile. she has no family here, she has 6 children, and she hasn´t been able to work. she said that she felt completely alone and that she had been prayin for help. she said that after we had knocked on her door, after I had asked her if there was anything we could do to help her, and after we left, she began to cry because she knew that we could help.

on Sunday we saw miracles. the previous Sunday was fast sunday, and I had been fasting for miracles to happen with the missionaries in our ward. the previous Sunday, an investigator that hadn´t come in a lot of time all of a sudden appeared and wanted to be baptized. she lived in the sector of the hermanas. the new elderes in our ward, who arrived with nothing of investigators found a man who´s whole family are members of the church and who will be baptized the following sunday. last week, nobody of our investigators was in the church. what happened is that our blessings just arrived a little bit later. Lucas and his Mother, who we have been encouraging to return to church, both came to sacrament meeting! after that we met a man who recently moved into our ward with his son. when talking with him he saidc "yeah it great that I found you guys because my son is investigating the church and wants to get baptized" its crazy how the lord works. I will never understand how, when, or through whom blessings will come, I just understand that I will always give thanks for them.

Another cool thing happened in the baptism that the hermanas had this Sunday. the hermanas asked us after sacrament meeting if we had started to fill the font. we thought that the hermanas were going to be in charge of it, but we thought wrong, and we had to walk briskly to the apartment to find the keys to the font. we were really worried because the font needs 3 hours to fill, and we only had an hour or so until the baptism. we were freaking out, and when we had opened the font door we saw that the font was already filled. it turned out that the last baptism, the drain had not been working, and the water was still there. it was cool because even though the water was cold, there was still a baptism.

before I finnish, I just want to bear my testimony about the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that the mission is the hardest thing I have done in my life because it is the most important thing I have done in my life. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. I know that the restored gospel is God´s plan for us to truly find happiness and a remission of our sins. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith is a prophet who had the power and authority of God to restore his church and gospel to the earth.

Love,

Elder Williams

Gettin Hot

hola familia y amigos!!!!

this week was a ton of fun with intercambios, lessons, new people, and heart break.

on Tuesday we met with Lorena. she is doing really well. She recently found a new job, so she hasn´t come to church in a while, which is a bummer, but I just wanted to share something cool that happened with her. throughout all of my life I have heard of people that call into radio programs and win things, but I always thought it was fake, because who actually wins those things. We stopped by Lorena´s house the other day and she told us that she won a guitar from a Radio station. she was really excited to show us, and we were really suprised because it was really random. I know this story doesn´t have much to do with the work of salvation, but its just something cool that happened.

that same day we met with Mario. Mario, a man who has trouble remembering things, told us that he preferred that we don´t teach him anymore. he feels that what we are doing is pointless because he will not be able to remember it after we leave his house. we were a little bummed about that, and we tried to tell him, that we do not feel like he is wasting our time, but he insisted.

on Wednesday I received an awesome package from my Mom. the best thing about packages is sharing them with Latino companions because most of them have never eaten american food before (mainly beef jerky, peanut butter, and cliff bars). there were some photos in the package that reminded me what my body used to look like before the mission...before the empanadas and completos...

on Thursday we had intercambios. I was with Elder Vasquez de Lima Peru. we had an interesting lesson with the daughter of a recent convert. she asked us questions about conspiracies about the twin towers, and the iluminati for about 30 minutes. there are a lot of people here who believe in stuff like that.

on Friday there was another intercambio with a new missionary from Brazil. I understood almost nothing of his spanish. its funny because when gringos are learning spanish they don´t talk much, but brazilians if they don´t know how to say something in spanish, they just say it in portugese anyway, and no one knows what they are saying.

We are super pumped because Luis and Carolina recently got their temple recommends to go do baptisms. we will be hearing more about that in following weeks. something awesome that happened is that we had a lesson with Lucas the other day about the word of wisdom and how we shouldn´t have piercings, and in the middle of the lesson Lucas took out his earings. it was awesome! Lucas is so awesome!

We recently had a lesson with a new person we found named Laura. she has a lot of faith in god, and after teaching her about the restoration (even though her son peed his pants in the middle) she felt the spirit and said, "I want to know if its tryue, so Im going to read your book and pray about it". music to a missionary´s ears.

thank you for all of the prayers, packages, and letters that are always coming my way. I am trying my hardest to help the people here in Chile come unto Christ, and I know that I am changing for the better because of it. I know Christ is our Savior, and that though the plan of his gospel we can be happy forever!

Love,

Elder Williams

Conference!

hola familia y amigos

how was your conference weekend? I absolutely love the messages of the prophets and apostles. I watched all but two sessions in spanish. I understood most of it but there were moments where the only thing I recognized was the peace that spirit brings as the servants of the lord speak. I was really impacted by the talk by president Ucthdorf about is it I that has betrayed the lord. i hope we always remember the importance of self reflectance and that we do not look to speedily to find fault with others because usually the fault lies within ourselves.

it was so cool that there were talks given in different languages. the chileans were super happy when they announced a talk in Spanish! it was truly a historic moment

Lucas, one of our investigators, came to the conference. he really like it and felt good during the conference. here in chile the priesthood session starts at 9 at night, so Lucas actually fell asleep during that one, but other than that it was great.

Lucy, a recent convert also came. she really enjoyed the conference. when the missionaries first met her she couldn't read. she has now read until Jacob in the book of mormon and has understood everything. it was great for her because she was able to listen to the words of the prophets in a setting that was a little bit easier for her to comprehend what was communicated.

in the beginning of the week we had a lesson with a man named Pedro and his two daughters. we entered the house and his two daughters were watching tom and Jerry, but we turned off the TV and shared a message with them. Pedro was really excited about the blessings that his family could receive. he is raising his two girls solo. it is very difficult to raise Children here in Chile. the things that happen in the street, in school, can be so much worse than what happens in the united states. the assurance that the gospel can unify a family and protect it from the challenges of the world is a promise that I am so glad the lord has promised.

we also had a lesson with Lucas and his mother the other day. Lucas' Mother is a member of the church but has not gone for a very long time. she hasn't gone because there were some people that did not treat her well in the church about 25 years ago. because of this bad experience, she has distanced herself from the church and often said that she doesn't want to come back. in the lesson that we had with her and Lucas, we shared the plan of salvation. something inside of Yvonne, Lucas' mom, clicked and she rememberd how happy she felt to see her daughter, son in law, and Lucas in a church activity the other day; smiling, laughing, and being together as a family in the church. she said that she wanted more of that. we told her that her family can be eternal with the restored gospel of jesus Christ, and she told us that she wants to come back to church.

We also had a lesson with Mario the other day. Mario is very faithful because he is very humble. the accident that he had a couple years ago left him the ability to only remember 50% of what happens to him. the other day we were talking about baptism, and he told us that he wants to be baptized. we set a date to do it, but he told us that he probably would not remember to do it. he then said that we need to share this message with his family so they can help him. We are very excited to help Mario develop his faith in Christ because he is very humble. God gave him his life back to him after his accident, and now he wants to give his life to god.

something crazy happened the other day. we were walking in the street when all of a sudden someone yelled the first name of my companion. we turned around from the door we were knocking and a man jumped out of his car and gave Elder Munoz a huge hug. elder Munoz could travel to his house in less than an hour from our area. Elder Munoz ran into his cousin who was working around here. we got a little taste of trunky because of that.

I want you all to know, like we have heard from the recent general conference, that I know that Joseph smith is the prophet of the restoration. because of what this man did, salvation is now available to all those that ernestly seek it. the power and authority of God that will bring about our salvation, eternal families, happiness, and purpose in this life is found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know this church is true

love,

Elder Williams

September 29

hola familia y amigos

this week was an awesome one. I have learned a ton this week, and I also had a lot of fun!

first I want to start off with talking about some of the people we found this week. the first person that I want to mention is Mario. Mario was a person that we found in the ferria about two weeks ago. he said that we could pass by his house anytime, but during that two weeks, we were spending a lot of time in the southern part of our sector, so we weren't able to pass by. anywho, on tuesday we were in the neighborhood, and we decided to stop by. he let us in and we talked. he told us that about 6 years ago he had a terrible accident and it was very difficult for him to remember things, but he did remember us. we were really short on time when we stopped by so we shared a little bit of our message and how it is centered on Jesus Christ. Mario told us after "when can you guys come and teach my family this message" needless to say we set up an appointment with him to teach his family.

another person that we found this week was a woman who watering her plants in the street. I stopped by to complement her on her garden and she told me "its good to see missionaries again. I haven't seen you guys in a while". it turns out that missionaries had taught her and her son in the past, and had stopped coming because they both left at the same time. her name is Yolanda and she has a lot of love for her children.

this week was a ton of fun because we worked hard this week. we knocked a lot of doors, had a lot of lessons, and talked with a lot of people. the more I think about my efforts as a missionary I think about where my talents and ability to work come from. they come from God. they were taught to me by parents, teachers, coaches, challenges, books, music, and much more. i have learned in the mission that my success has nothing to do with me. it all comes from God. without Christ i know that I am nothing. 

now I want to talk a little bit about Lucas. I have talked about Luis y Carolina before but it turns out that Carolina has brother named Lucas. Lucas is awesome and we stopped by to teach him and his mother who is a member of the church but hasn't gone in a while. we taught about baptism and the spirit was so strong. Lucas now wants to be baptized so that his family can be eternal and that he can be closer with God. it was awesome to talk with his mother Yvonne because she never expected that she would see her family in the church, but now that her daughter was baptized and that Lucas has the desire to do so she is really excited to have an eternal family and start going back to church.

on Saturday we had our 18 de septiembre activity. it was seriously so much fun. we were there the whole day. we played soccer and talked with the members. we had to wait a while to eat the chicken that they were barbequing but it was so good, and definitely worth it. it was a really big turn out, and we almost ran out of chicken, but we finished the activity with one pollo left. after we ate there were a ton of dances that members of the ward prepared. one of the investigators that we have, Lorena, brought her group of folk singers and she sang with them for the activity. it was so cool because a lot of people were wearing authentic clothing and dancing. it was great.

on Sunday Elder Mu;oz played the violin for all of the hymns in church. it was really cool, and the ward loved it. most of them haven't heard a violin in church before so they thought it was really cool. I got to lead the music, so that was a lot of fun.

I should also talk about the other missionaries who arrived. Elder Lefalle is from Misiones Argentina and has about 20 months in the mission. he is super funny and really nice. he has never done anything or said anything that would make someone angry. the other elder is elder Birch. he is from Syracuse Utah. he has about 1 year in the mission. recently he was in the hospital because he had a really bad bike crash but now he is ok. he is really funny, and he loves Chilean culture and the people, so naturally, the people love him back.

I am so glad to be serving here in Chile. I learn a ton of things everyday. I am learning how to become more like Christ. I am also learning to have fun in the mission. the message that the missionaries share is a message of happiness. I would like to bare my testimony that I know that christ sufferred for us so we don't have to. we can find true happiness in this life through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Love,

Elder Williams

18

hola familia y amigos

this week was so crazy because the 18 of september is the independence day of Chile. what does this mean? PAAAAAARRRRTTTAAAAAYYYY for the people here in Chile, for the missionaries its still a little party but a lot of walking. 

bueno the last pday Elder munoz and I explored a park in our sector and a cathedral. (hence the photos of a park and a cathedral). it was interesting in the park because we were walking down a path and saw that people were taking pictures. we noticed that there was a woman who was posing in front of the camera with a tan shirt with a dragon on the back. we could only see the back of the shirt, and we realized that the shirt wasn't a shirt, but it was her skin, and the dragon was a tattoo, so we decided to turn around and walk the other way to avoid the topless model. we are sure that there is an iappropriate photo on the internet somewhere with a topless model with a snake tatoo and two very frightened missionaries turning around in the background.

the rest of the week was walking and eating. because of the 18 of september, a lot of people are out of town, so it was really hard to find people. the people that were in town we all drunk. when I say all were drunk, I mean all were drunk. we spent a lot of time visiting the members and recent converts because there wasn't a lot else we could do. 

we had lunch with the bishop and his family for the 18. everyone eats steak on this day. we started off by eating choripan. it is basically a hotdor but with chilean bread and sausage. I didn't know this before the mission but everyone here loves mayonaise and coca cola. when you are at any meal, there will always be mayonaise and coca cola. the food was so good, and then we got to watch the bishop dance the cueca with his daughters. the cueca is the dance of the region of santiago, and almost everybody knows how to dance it. it involves a handkerchif and stomping and it is danced in pairs. you gotta google it. 

this week is transfers. Elder Munoz y yo are still in the same sector, but we received two more missionaries for our sector. our sector is gigantic, and we are so thankful for these elders that have arrived. they will work in the southern half of our sector. we now have four people living in a tiny apartment. its going to be a lot of fun and a little messy I imagine. one of them is from Argentina and the other is from syracuse, utah. 

Elder Munoz and I are really excited for this week. we are ready to hit our sector super hard. recently we have been thinking a lot about obedience. I have learned that obedience should not be a result of fear for the consequences of disobedience but instead an expression of our love for the savior. that is the great and grand commandment "thou shalt love the lord thy God". I am so thankful to be here in Chile serving the Lord. I have seen lives change here as people have opened their hearts to receive the blessing of God. I am one of those people. I am changing everyday. I am learning every minute I am here. it is my hope that the Lord Jesus Christ and the blessings of his gospel will always be your focus throughout your journeys on this earth, as He and his path are becoming mine.

Love,

Elder Williams

Paintin

hola familia y amigos

¿como están? ¿bien? ¡Que Bueno! this week was a ton of fun for reasons that will soon be explained.

primero, I want to talk about something interesting that happened the other day. we were visiting the elders quorum president from our ward on Tuesday. when we left his house we saw man that was about to enter his house which was located next to the house of the elders quorum president. we said hello to him, and he turned around and said "Elderes, I need your help" immediatly we went to him and started to talk. his name was Juan and he began to say that he needed help to stop drinking. he invited us into his house and we talked to him. he told us that he had tried many times and that he needed something that could help him feel good, or in his words "make me feel like Im young and happy again". we shared a scripture with him, and we set up the time for another appointment to meet with him, and we left.

I share this story with you all because I want you to know that the commandments of God are a protection for us. there is a way to have true happiness in this life, to have a hope for a life with our famililes and God for after this life too. this way is the gospel of Jesus Christ. a part important in this gospel is obedience to the commandments of God. we forfeit blessings from god that include, knowledge, peace, joy, and love when we go against the commandments of God. Juan has personally seen that drinking has destroyed his life, and he feels that it has crippled him. We will teach Juan repentance, so he may conquer this weakness as he calls upon the aid of Jesus Christ. it is through Christ that we are saved from sin, death, challenges, confusion-- Everything.

about the hermana Lucy this week. she was nothing but smiles this week. she told us that she felt like a voice had whispered to her during her baptism and that she felt very content with her decision, and that her Padre Celestial felt content with her decision as well. Lucy is amazing because when the missionaries first found her, she could not read hardly at all. now she is reading 3 to 4 pages of the book of mormon everyday and understanding everything. it is amazing to see the miracles that have happened in her life as a result of her actions of faith in Jesus Christ. the other day we witnessed the first steps of her grandson Lian during the lesson. it was cool to feel like part of the family and share that special moment with Lucy and her family.

for those of you who dont know, the 11 of september here in Chile is a day of protests and molestation. we had to enter the house at 6 o clock because it is very dangerous in the streets in the night of september 11. don't worry, my companion and I are safe, but there were a couple of mattresses and buses that were burned in the middle of the street.

we are now getting ready for the 18 de septiembre which is the day of independence for Chile. it lasts the whole week, so we will see what happens there. Im expecting lots of empanadas and completos so Im going to be a happy camper!

Big shout out to my sister Hermana Williams who is officially in Osorno sharing the gospel with the people and evading snow and penguins in the street. MUCHO AMOR A LA HERMANA WILLIAMS

Love,

Elder Williams

Saturday was the worldwide day of service for the church. half of the missionaries from the mission wore their street clothes and went to curacavi to paint the buildings in the main street of the town. it was super fun, and there are photos. there was a ton of paint on my hands after it and it looked like my hands were bleeding the rest of the day. it was soooo fuuunnn

the email

hola familia y amigos

This week was a ton of fun, but I wasn´t able to spend a lot of time in my area because we were in the office a lot preparing a musical number for a conference with elder Viñez from the seventy. 

on tuesday we received a call in the morning that my companion and I were supposed to rehearse a musical number with some of the sister missionaries in our mission, so we headed to the office. Elder Muñoz plays the violin and another hermana plays the piano. the other sister missionary and I sang nearer my god to thee. it was super fun.

we returned to our sector after that and had a lesson with Luis y Carolina. something that we do here in the mission is we reteach the lessons to converts right after they are baptized. we left the lesson and the spirit was really strong. 5 minutes later we were walking along and we heard a shout. it was Luis y Carolina and they were running after us yelling at us to stop. we stopped and when they reached us they handed us a bag of pansitos (little bread). in Chile the people are so loving that they will run to you just to hand you a bag of free bread. sometimes I don´t feel worthy of the love that I have recieved here from the members and from the people I am teaching. Im just a 20 year old gringo that can hardly speak spanish, but to the people here in Chile they see me as a true messenger of god. 

the following day we performed the musical number and the zone conference was awesome!!!! Elder Viñez was super great. we talked about the role of the atonement in our lives as missionaries. I have learned a lot here in the mission how important the atonement of Jesus Christ is. we don´t have to be perfect, we can commit mistakes and still find peace and hope through the atonement of Jesus Christ. I constantly have to repent every day in the mission because it is not possible to be happy and imperfect without Jesus Christ and his atonement to help me out. I am so glad that he loves me enough to take all of my burdens upon himself so that I can look to him in any moment and he will help me. Who does a thing such as that. who has that much love. HE has that much love and he wants us to be joyful in this life, and all we have to do is look to him.

a couple days ago we were walking in the street and Elder Muñoz knocked on a door. an old man answered it and told us immediatly that he felt like he had met us before. we told him that there had been lots of different missionaries that had walked the same streeets that we had, but he told us that he felt like he had known us before this life. we entered his house which was full of artwork and sculptures that he had done. Osvaldo, se llama, is an artist, and it was awesome to teach him about the plan of salvation so that he could know that we existed before we all came to the earth. we all lived with our heavenly father as spirits before we were born. Im excited to teach him again.

Thank you for all of your emails, prayers, and pictures. please keep them coming. 

Love.

Elder Williams

Rain, rain, rain

Hola familia y Amigos,

por favor perdonanme because I left my camera in the house this week, so I don't have any photos, but tons of awesome things happened.

first, I wanted to mention a couple of things from the past week that I forgot to write. number one, my companion is super awesome. before the mission he studied music and he plays the violin. he brought his violin with him to the mission, and 2 sundays ago he played in church while the other missionaries sang. it was super beautiful. it is a huge blessing to have a companion like Elder Munoz who loves to sing and loves music. Iove singing with Chilenos. they love to sing (despite wheter or not they can do it in tune). 

I should explain what our ward is like here in Quinta Normal. the ward is called Simon Bolivar. the chapel is two stories tall. the sacrament hall is in the second floor with the gym and kitchen, and the first floor has all of the classrooms. there are 6 missionaries in our ward. 4 are hermanas and the rest are us. our ward has about 150 in it that assist regularly, and is super awesome. it is also very cold in the chapel in the winter. I never used to wear sweaters underneath my suits or gloves in the church, but now it is necessary.

I want to talk about a person that we met the other day. his name is Alejandro, and he is a ninja. we were in the neighborhood, knocking doors, and he answered, and told us that he had actually been baptized when he was 8 and then after that didn't go to church again. he told us that we could stop by a couple days later, because he was a little busy, and while we were setting an appointment with him, he told us that he attends a martial arts class. fast forward 1 week later, and we stopped by his house and he answered the door in ninja clothing. he had been training, and he was wearing those cool footsy ninja pants that have a split toe like a turtle. He is super awesome, and wants to learn more about why we are here in this life.

also, the past Sunday we were returning home from a church meeting when Luis, a recent convert to the church, called us and asked us if we could give his wife, Carolina, a blessing. we arrived at his house and saw that Carolina was in a lot of pain because of a headache. we placed our hands upon her head and gave her a priesthood blessing. after the blessing Luis was dissapointed because nothing miraculous happened immediatley. the next day we got a phone call from them saying that Carolina had been able to go to sleep, and when she woke up the next morning she felt really good, and had a lot of energy. she said that she felt that the lord had blessed her for her faith. for those of you who are reading who are not members, a priesthood blessing is What Christ and his apostles did when they were on the earth. those that hold the priesthood of God can place their hands upon the head of someone who is sick and leave them with a blessing of health. this power or priesthood of God was restored through the prophet Jospeh Smith.

on Thursday we did something super fun. there is something here called Ferria, which is basically a farmers market but huge and takes up the whole street. this week we set up a stand with tons of fliers, pamphlets, DVDs, and books, all of it for free. it was super fun. we talked with a ton of people, and got to experience part of the culture here. it smells a lot in the ferria because you have stands with vegetbales, fish, and fruits. you can buy anything in the ferria. I mean anything. I walked by a stand that was selling Billy Joel CDs. that was fun.

on Friday, we helped an hermana pick Oranges off of her tree (because Gringos are taller than chilenos). it was super fun, because her son Kevin was on the roof of the house helping us and throwing oranges and us too. la hermana gave us a huge bag of oranges too, which we shared with the people we met in the streets.

On Friday night we had a family home evening of our ward. my companion and I were in charge of the refreshments. we didn't know what to do, so I decided that I was going to make pancakes with M&Ms in them. it was a last minute idea, and I thought it would fail. I forgot that Chileans have never eaten pancakes. THEY LOVED THEM. we now have a problem because they think that I can cook...Luis y Carolina invited us to their house on Sunday to teach them how to make pancakes.

On Saturday it rained a ton. that made me miss home a little (shout out to all of my Bothell Cougars out there). we had an activity in the church that night where the different age groups in the church had prepared food, presentations, and dances from different south american countries. when we arrived we were in the second floor of the church, in the gym. all of a sudden, the ground started to shake, and I thought that there was a car that was driving beneath or something, but the shaking didn't stop, but kept going for about 15 seconds, and it got more powerful. it turns out that there was a 6.4 earth quake that happened nearby. my first Temblor in Chile. Im officially a missionary here! there was a huge earthquake here in 2010 and the people are still sensative about it, so when the temblor happened, people started to scream. there are some pretty harsh memories from 2010 that are still lingering in the back of peoples minds, but don't worry, everyone is ok from the earthquake here.

Final thing, yesterday we received two free empanadas from some members in our ward, and we left them out on the counter during the night. this was a mistake because I forgot that sometimes we have a visitor at night. there is a cat that loves to squeeze himself through a slit (and I mean a slit) in our sliding glass door to sleep in our "warm" apartment. we woke this morning to empanada crums on the floor. I was angry. I love empanadas.

Thank you so much for your emails, pictures, prayers, and all that you do

Love,

Elder Williams

It's getting hotter

Hola familia y amigos,

I hope you are all doing really awesome! shout out to Evan and Lizzie On Their anneversary! 

This week WAS crazy. Elder Boelter Went home this past monday so I Was in load of the sector Abebooks web have. This has-been the hardest week of my life. my companion elder Munoz has-been Heavily Involved in my survival this week. he is from Chile and Does not speak much English, drank His goofy personality and patience, is just what I needed.   

It Was weird at first to stop by the houses of our investigators sans Elder Boelter, it felt like someone WAS missing becuase Elder Boelter HAS Such an awesome personality and present, people are thankfully goal inside letting us Their homes.

Because elder Munoz is new here in this sector, I Was in burden of getting us from house to house to the chapel to the grocery store to our apartment in one piece. I got lost only 2 times, so I'm going to call That a win.

this week aussi WAS pretty rough with our lessons. ; many of our investigators Were Either sick, out of town, or nowhere to Be Found. We were walking in the street a lot, and I felt like We Were not really helping the kingdom a lot. I want to share a story about how though the Lord works in mysterious ways. We Were in the southern portion of our sector on Tuesday and stopped by We had 4 or 5 houses and HAD beens not reliable to teach a lesson. I felt terrible. We Were stopping by to see if door Reviews another person WAS the home When We Heard someone scream "Elderes!" we turned around and saw one of the miembros from our ward That Was try trying to carry her daughter to her house agatha All which WAS 2 or 3 blocks away. Agatha WAS standing goal unresponsive and having trouble breathing WAS. Quickly we ran over and Agatha Helped carry to the house and Then We left thinking "That Was really wierd." A couple days later we Passed by to see how That House WAS doing the family, and the mom Told us "I am so thankful for you two. praying to god I Was That Would he send me someone to help me carry my daughter to the Then I saw house and you two around the corner. "  

To me it is evidence That There is more to being white a missionary than just numbers. We had-been walking in the street for hours with a lesson, and Because Of Abebooks web Were reliable phrasal preposition the right time in the right place to help this hermana and her daughter.

This week has-been the hardest of my life, I have never seen aim So Many miracles. I have Learned what it means clustering to pray this week. I remember walking in the street one day praying to God That Would he bless my companion and I with the Opportunity to share the Gospel. We Were tired and thirsty and HAD Walked a tone already, and when to door we knocked on Reviews another After about 5 HAD That We Were Rejected us ble to teach a lesson.

I will never take lightly the Opportunity to Teach After agian this week. I have Learned this week what my purpose as a missionary is. Focused as we are missionaries in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Faith, repentance, baptism, the holy ghost, and perservering Until The End. we teach lessons to people so They Can Understand more about this doctrine of Christ, so That They Can develope the faith to follow this pathway to god, the only pathway That Ensures happiness in this life and hope in life after death.

Realization this really hit me when we HAD meeting for all of the new missionaries. this meeting WAS annoncé to us Wednesday night and it WAS to take up all day Friday . We had tons of appointments HAD Planned for That Day and I remember thinking "what the president is doing. going to teach We Were a tone today." I Know That now our president Videla s'intitule of God. the meeting was exactly what I needed. I Learned a tone, and I got to see my friends from the CCM. I Was Edified so much from His inspiration to Have That meeting at That Time.   

Thank you all so much for your prayers, your emails and your faith in our Savior Jesus Christ

Love,

Elder Williams

Gone Gone Gone

hola familia y amigos

this week has been absolutely crazy. this is the week of cambios where companions change to different parts of the mission. I am staying here in Quinta Normal. Elder Boelter left (Ill talk about that in a little bit), and I received a new companion. His name is Elder Munoz. he is chileno which is awesome. this will give me a ton of practice with my spanish. he is from a city that lies in the mission santiago west so he is actually serving pretty close to home. he is very funny. every missionary that knows him loves him. 

Im going to start at the beginning of the week. in order to train me better Elder Boleter put me in charge of the cell phone this week. Im not going to lie. it is so hard to talk to Chileans. it is even harder to talk to them by telephone when you are walking briskly by a busy highway. There are some telephone calls where I answer talk for 2 minutes and then I hang up and elder boelter asks me "what did they want". usually I respond "I have no idea but they said ok todo esta bien when they finished so I think the problem was resolved".

A mission is a lot of fun, but it is also really hard. I keep on thinking about how a sword is made. the blacksmith has a giant hammer and anvil and he sticks the steel in really hot fire and hits the sword a ton. i Think it has something to do with getting rid of impurities or something like that. I feel like I am sword in the making. Im in hot fire, and Im getting hit a lot by big hammer. but hey, one day Ill be able to pierce people with the spirit of the Lord!

Wednesday we had lunch with la hermana feli. she works at a restaurant so she is a really good cook. we stopped by her house to get the lunch, and we ate a ton. we were stuffed. we then got a phone call from la hermana Abarca. she said that we were scheduled to eat lunch at her house that day. she said that the food was getting cold and that she had prepared it especially for us. she also sounded a little angry with us. if there is one thing missionaries do not want, it is members that are angry with them. we told her that we would come and eat. We had to eat two lunches and Elder Boelter didn't have room in his stomach to do it. I had finished all of my Lentejas and he still had half of his giant plate to go. Aqui in Chile if you don't eat all of the food they give you its rude. I was so full, but Elder Boelter was worse off. that was when I got the idea to ask the hermana to please bring us more tomatos. she did it, and when she left the kitchen Elder Boelter scooped his food on my plate so I could eat it. It was so funny. we were laughing and trying not to throw up, it was hilarious.

Friday, Elder Boelter went to the temple so I was in an intercambio con Elder Nelson. Elder Nelson is from Provo Utah and he is going to be the next assistent to the president. we visited some of his converts when he was here in my sector. we also taught Lorena. Lorena is suffering from a lot of back problems recently and it has been hard to meet with her, but we were able to do it the other day. We found out that her son Camilo who lives in the south of Chile is also going to be living there. Lorena is awesome. She really wants to follow Jesus Christ, and she knows that Baptism is the way to do it.

Firday night we received a third companion. Elder Call was serving in the Robinson Cruso island but he goes home with Elder Boelter, and he needed somewhere to sleep, so he spent time with us. he actually spent two weeks here 6 moths ago in the same sector. he is awesome and really nice. it was fun to be in a trio like back in the old days in the CCM. 

This weekend there were a lot of trunky thoughts. having two missionaries that are finishing their missions at the same time is not easy. it was hard to keep my thoughts focused when we stopped by families from the ward last night to say goodbye. they all said something like "that is so great that you get to see your family again and hug your mom, and hang out with your old friends". I was sitting there thinking "Hey, there are still some of us here that have 1 year and 9 months left!"

I am so glad to be serving a mission here in Chile. I am learning a ton about my Savior Jesus Christ and about his Gospel for all of us.

Love,

Elder Williams

almuerzo con la familia estica con Elder Boelter y Elder Call

​clase de distrito!