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