iorana familia y amigos,
today I am writing here from Easter island! this is the island in the
middle of the ocean that has the giant head sculptures everywhere. I arrived
Monday late at night. it was a little scary to travel solo. I was alone for
about 6 hours which is never what a missionary wants. Elder Macedo, Elder Swan,
and Elder Espinoza (my new companion) picked me up and we went to the
house.
Elder Espinoza is from Puerto Montt. he is Chilean. he is very awesome.
Before his mission he was in a metal band, so we got right to talking about
that. this is his 4th change in the mission, so he is still pretty young. he
lives very close to the volcano that just erupted in the south of chile, but
his family is OK.
the next day was our pday and we went on a tour of the island. they ride
bikes here, and there are a ton of hills, so the bike is kicking my butt real
good here on the island. we visited the beaches here and we took pictures with
the Moai (Moai are the giant sculptures).
later that day, we met up with some investigators and we went fishing with
them. they fish different here. they dont always use poles, but pbc pipe that is
about the size of a can of wheat and they wrap fishing line around it. we didnt
catch anything, but it was awesome.
on wednesday we did a service project. we helped this one lady cut down a
tree in her back yard. we do a lot of service projects here. I got to meet
A on Wednesday. he is an investigator that has been going to church for
years, but he still hasn't been baptized. he´s an older man, and he is rapanui
(native to the island). he is awesome and always goes to church, but he is
missing a testimony of joseph smith.
wednesday and friday nights we taught english. on thursday we had a regular
day, and we got to be missionaries. the island is very different. the people
here are a lot more laid back. they are very relaxed here. the contacts we do
are a lot longer because they want to talk for about 10 minutes before you can
invite them to hear the gospel. its not like santiago where everyone is busy all
of the time. it is very different here.
on Friday we had a bike trip with the young men from the branch. biked
aroung the island and visited these awesome caves. there are a lot of young men
that are investigating the church here, so we came with them. after that we came
back to the church and we cooked oi oi which is a rapa nui dessert (its like
sweet stuffing).
on Saturday we had other service projects and we got to play soccer that
night. soccer isnt allowed in santiago but here we have permission. we played
for a while with some islanders, and some recent converts. I scored 4 goals, so
I was a pretty happy camper.
on Sunday I got to know the branch. there are about 25 people that go to
the branch. we dont have a branch president because they are in the process of
calling a new one, but it appears that they will call one of us missionaries. I
got to give a talk on agency, so that was fun, and I got to present myself. it
is an awesome branch here. they are all very close.
Sunday afternoon and night. we had lots of appointments of people who
wanted to give us food. we visited with a less active named M who gave us
emanapadas and a peruvian investigator who made us arroz con leche. it was a crazy
week.
I feel very blessed because I get to be part of those who fulfill the
scriptures that say that those of the house of israel that are scattered over
the islands of the sea will be brought to the truth. I am very happy to be here
serving my Lord and Savior. It is a completely different mission here in the
island, but I am doing my best to adapt and help the people here come unto
christ.
Love, Elder Williams
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