December 28, 2015 - Merry Christmas!

Hola familia y amigos,

Wow, this week was full of a ton of things. It was Christmas and Elder Fasshauer´s last week, so a lot of things happened.

On Tuesday, we had our mission Christmas party where all of the mission got together to eat lunch and watch the First Presidency Christmas broadcast. It was really nice to see all of my old friends.

Elder Williams is in the second row from the top in the middle.

On Wednesday, we visited Jecksel. Her dad isn't letting her go to church because she needs to take care of her little brother. We are praying that her dad can change his mind and let her go so we need some prayers in behalf of Jecksel.

We also taught the Word of Wisdom to Pilar that night. She was already living it, so no problems there.

On Christmas Eve, we taught Julio a little bit and his family. They were about to leave so we weren't able to spend too much time with them.

That night we stopped by the houses of a lot of members, recent converts, less actives and investigators to wish them a merry Christmas. It was a lot of fun, and we ended the night eating dinner with the Orellana family. We had to be in the house before 10 and the Orellana family eats dinner at about 10:30, so they made some food for us at 9 so we could still eat dinner somewhere on Christmas Eve.

On Friday everyone was either drunk or sleeping... we did get to teach Pilar. We talked about what Christmas is all about, and she already knew it. She is doing really well, because she is making these changes in behalf of her relationship with Christ, not us.

On Friday, they also called to tell me that I will be training. Right now I am with Elder Covinos on an interchange, and tomorrow we go to the office to pick up our new companions. It will be an interesting experience.

Yesterday, we taught Pilar, and Julio, and the Alberto family, and Elder Fasshauer said goodbye to everyone. It made me think back to Elder Boelter and when he was finishing the mission. It's crazy how fast time flies. Elder Fasshauer was a great missionary and he is truly converted to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Elder Fasshauer and Elder Williams

That´s pretty much it for this week. Oh, I also got to talk with my family which was wonderful.

A four-way Skype with the entire family.

This week we did a lot of walking and it was hot outside. I feel great knowing that the Lord knows the sacrifice we offer Him. He knows that it is hot outside and that no one wants to hear us, but He also knows that we work anyways because we love Him. that was what I gave to the Savior this week as a Christmas present, thousands of steps on a hot road with His name upon my chest.

Love,

Elder Williams

December 21, 2015 - Tarantula Hunter

hola familia y amigos,

en esta semana muchas cosas pasaron.

On Tuesday, we taught J and a friend of hers. Her friend´s name is A. She was wearing black clothes and she had black makeup but she was really nice, and told us that she remembers giving a drawing she made to a missionary. She heard our message and she really liked it, so we are going to pass her on to the other missionaries in our zone to see how she does.

On Wednesday we taught Pilar with Brother Cabezas from the ward. Pilar is a reading machine. For some reason the investiagors always love to read the book  Gospel Principles, and she has been reading that and the Book of Mormon non stop. We taught her the Plan of Salvation this week and we put her with a baptismal date for January.

On Thursday, we did an exchange with the zone leaders. Elder Huarca was just made third companion to the zone leaders because of wierd special changes in another zone, so Elder Huarca went with Elder Fasshauer and I went with the zone leaders to their sector. We did a lot of walking, but we got teach with a young man who just got his mission call to Antofaghasta Chile. It was cool to be able to work with Elder Huber and Elder da Rosa. They get along really well, and they find the way to enjoy the work that we do even if there aren't immediate fruits.

On Friday Elder Huarca and Elder Fasshauer had to go to the temple (it's what all the old missionaries do before they leave), so I was with the zone leaders teaching in my sector. We taught M and D. They are a young family that is really receptive. The dad is a rapper (regatonero) so he has a couple of life style things that he might have to change, but they are a really nice family.

Elder Fasshauer pretending to eat Pilar's kitten

Elder Fasshauer got back and we went to our ward Christmas party. Pilar came. There were invitations to Robinson and Philosiane and Julio, but they didnt show up. It was a lot of fun, and we got to share the Church´s "A Savior Has Been Born" video with the whole ward and invite them to share it with their friends. Internet hasn't made it into all of the homes of the members in this ward, but we know that some will be able to do it.

Ward Christmas party.

On Saturday we found some new people. We found Yiseña. She said that she doesnt believe in Jesus Christ, but the Book of Mormon sounded interesting to her. She doesnt believe in the Bible or in prophets, but she said she would read to Book of Mormon to see what it has inside. I'm ok with that! I trust in that book!

On Sunday, Pilar, Robinson, and Philosiane came to church, but Julio didnt come! We got to teach Robinson that night. We taught him the 10 Commandments. We've been really working hard so Robinson could get baptized this change, but his boss has him working a lot (because they really exploit immigrants here) so we haven´t been able to teach him as much as we wanted. He is progressing well, and maybe its better that he has more time to really savour what it is that we are teaching him.

This morning, we went with Mauricio to go hunt tarantulas. It was a lot of fun, and now we are going to have a bbq with the zone leaders because it is Elder Fasshauer´s last pday!

One of the tarantulas from the hunt!

I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. I know that what happened 2015 years ago is something that can change our lives today. I know Christ lives. I know that because when people sing His name and of His birth, I feel something different. 

love,

Elder Williams

December 14, 2015 - Pilar, FHE amd Soccer

Hola familia y amigos,

This week was a ton of fun, and a lot of things happened!

On Tuesday we got to do a service project for the Church here. There was a ton of garbage in front of the church´s gate, so we cleaned it all up. It was really hot and there was a ton of dust, but it was a good time.

The next day, we had interviews with President. Mine went really well. President talked to me about Easter Island a lot, and thanked me for my service there. He asked me if I had gotten used to Santiago, and I said right away "yes", I was trained here in Santiago. It took me forever to get used to the Island, so returning to Santiago was like riding a bike.

We taught Pilar on Wednesday as well. She is doing awesome. She has come to church 3 times, and she is in Alma in the Book of Mormon. This week the goal is to put her with a baptismal date, so we´ll see how it goes.

On Thursday we were walking a lot and teaching new people. We have found a lot of new people, but they arent really accepting the message. It is difficult to set the tone in the lessons. There are a lot of very evangelical people in Santiago that love to talk about Jesus. When we begin to say our message they love to share their feelings about the Savior, but they dont really want to learn too much more about Him, or how to get closer to Him.

On Friday we got to teach Julio. He is the father of a young man named Juan Carlos that we taught last week. He and his family are Peruvian. They are all really receptive. they invited us to try Peruvian tamales. They were so tasty!T hey also convinced me to try rocoto, a Peruvian chile, and when I tried it I almost vomited because it was so hot!!!

On Saturday, we had our ward family home evening. It was put on by the missionary work organization. We did a skit about the Book of Mormon. We told the members to invite their friends to the activity. One family brought an investigator....that was a little lame. But on the bright side, Pilar came and she got along really well with everyone and she really enjoyed it.

On Sunday Julio and Pilar came to church. Robinson didn't make it though (I dont know what happened). All of the meetings were awesome and the members were really friendly with them. They all introduced themselves and sat next to them. A brother in the ward gave an awesome talk about the Atonement that the investigators understood because it was so good. Julio and Pilar stayed for all 3 hours!!! It was awesome.

Sunday afternoon, we went and taught robinson. he graduated from chilean high school on friday so we gifted him a neck tie. he was super happy. we taught him the word of wisdom. hes going to have to stop drinking coffee which will be a bit difficult, but he can do it. he is reading the book of mormon, and it looks like he´ll be getting baptized in a couple of weeks. its been hard to teach him, so we sat him down and told him that we want to pass by and visit him more but with shorter visits and he said he was ok with it.

after Robinson, we got to find a Peruvian family that we had taught about 3 weeks ago. We found them again and we had an awesome lesson!!! The father of the family gave a kneeling prayer at the end it was so good! We explained the Restoration and they understood. we were so pumped!! The Spirit was strong and they committed to reading!! Yes! I love the gospel!

It was a nice way to end the week with a lesson like that and it made me think about the importance of praying in your heart. I prayed earnestly in my heat that the Spirit would carry the words of my companion to the hearts of that family and the Lord heard my cry. The Lord always hears our cries, and it is our responsibility to recognize His answers. He loves us, and He wants to help us.

love,

Elder Williams

December 7, 2015 - Hot, Hot Hot

Hola familia y amigos,

This week involved a lot of walking in the sun, but there were some awesome miracles that happened.

On Friday we had a nice lesson with R. We aren´t too sure what happened this week, but we ran into a lot of people that had some hard hearts. R´s brother was there and he was listening to us when all of a sudden he asks "I don't want to attack you or anything but isnt true that Joseph Smith had 40 wives?" How is that not wanting to attack us?! We explained it to him, and he started to raise his voice and say that God only works through His Spirit to talk with men in these days and not prophets. We let him rage a little bit and then we explained the Book of Mormon and he calmed down. The same thing happened to us on Sunday with some other Haitians we had been teaching. We testified that Joseph Smith was a prophet and one man bore his testimony that he wasn't. That was interesting. The cool thing is that we had a Book of Mormon to show him that there is an evidence that Joseph Smith is a prophet. He didnt agree to reading it, so I guess he will never know (unless he repents).

On Saturday we had lesson with Pilar and the family of the 2nd counselro in the bishopric.It went awesome.

The best part of this week was Sunday. Everyone that we wanted to see in the chapel came. Pilar, Robinson, Philosiane, and Alejandro and Dea came! I was so happy!!!! I bore my testimony I was so happy!!! I had been fasting that they would make it.

That´s pretty much it for this week. That which I do not write is my companion and I walking in the street in the sun. Thank you all for your letters and your prayers. I want to finish this email with the following story:

Friday morning we had left to do some contacts in the morning, and we went to go contact a reference. We talked with the lady and she was very nice. She told us that she belonged to a Pentecostal faith and that she was just fine. We showed her a copy of the Book of Mormon and testified that God had called a prophet in these last days. She asked "there are prophets in these days? How can I know that?" I bore my testimony and offered to see if we could explain to her how she could know. I felt the Spirit carry every word I said to her heart, but then she said "no thanks". That just killed me. Here I am with the greatest message in the world, the name of Jesus Christ on my chest, testifying that today there is a prophet of God on the earth and this daughter of God says "no thanks". I hope that she will receive the gospel later in her life, but I cannot help but feel sad to see a heart that will not open up to the Spirit. this message changes lives!!! Why is it that we dont listen? I know that in some ways I am no way different from that lady. I still have rooms within my heart that I need to open up, but my invitation to all of you is that you listen. I will do the same. God wants to speak to us. He does it through the scriptures, through prayer, through men and women that have been given the authority to speak in His name. we need to open up to them to let Him in.

Love,

Elder Williams

Presenting Elder Fasshauer from Lima, Peru.

November 23, 2015 - Happy Thanksgiving!!

Hola familia y amigos,

This week was a lot of fun and a lot of work, so we are happy to be resting today on P-day. 

On Monday night we had a nice family home evening with K and N. We invited Hermano Francisco and his wife Paolo to come with us. K still hasn't committed to getting baptized because she is facing a little oppression from her mother who is Catholic. Paola shared her conversion story which involves her father who was Catholic and wasn't too big on having her get baptized. Paola shared that as her father went to the chapel for the first time to see a sacrament meeting he started to cry. Paola´s dad was really impressed with the Spirit he felt there and ended up really supporting her decision. It looks like the story helped K.

Tuesday we taught J. She is a young woman who is 17. We asked her how her reading went and she had read up to 4th Nefi in 3 days! She told us that she thinks the Book of Mormon is true because it was answering her questions about how she should treat her family as she read it. She is willing to get baptized, but didn't come to church this Sunday because she was visiting Temuco. We are hoping that her parents also give their consent so she can get baptized

We had to enter the house early that night because there was a soccer game, so Elder Fasshauer and I made arroz con leche.

Wednesday we had an awesome lesson with P. Hermano Luis came with us. He is a member of the stake High Council, and he bore his testimony like a champ. P committed to going to church but he didn't show up on Sunday. We´re not sure what happened. We called and he said he couldn't make it, so we´ll see what happens this week when we verify with him.

On Thursday, we taught a family we taught last week. We stopped by in the morning and taught the daughter of the family and the grandmother. The daughter is named Andrea and she´s about 27. The grandmother was super Baptist. The grandmother didn't let us get a word in and she kept interrupting us. Andrea, realizing that we had been trying to say something raised her voice and said "Grandma, youve got to let them speak and show some respect to them, their Jehovah's Witnesses!" Elder Fasshauer and I ended up laughing pretty hard from that.

We found a family of Haitians on Thursday as well. We taught them the Restoration and one of them accpeted a baptismal date for December 13th. We ran into her on the street the next day, and she said she had read the Book of Mormon and felt it was true. We stopped by her house on Sunday and her family told us that she had moved to another part of Renca that is outside of our sector....that´s how it goes sometimes, but we still need to find her address to pass the reference.

On Friday we were walking and knocking all day...and it was really hot, but we helped a young less active man from our ward recognize that he needed to repent, and we set up an interview with him and the Bishop. according to the Bishop it went really well with him, and it might be just what he needs to get going on the mission.

on Saturday we had a ton of appointments. Almost all of them fell through and we were walking

On Sunday, I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting about missionary work. We had a lot of appointments on Sunday as well and a lot of them fell through. We were tired and hot and a little short on ideas, but we kept going and we found a new family to teach! They were a Peruvian family and they were really interested in the Book of Mormon. We´ll see how it goes with them.

I just want to finish with what I shared in my talk this Sunday. I want you all to think about the first Sacrament Meeting that was held in this dispensation. How did the people arrive? Were there full time missionaries that invited them to come? No, there weren´t. It was the Smith family and their family and friends and neighbors that they had invited. How did they come to church. They listened to friends and family that invited them to "come and listen to a prophet´s voice". The church was built upon member missionary work, and we need to remember that. We need to invite our friends and families to come and listen to a prophet´s voice, and to remember the Lord Jesus Christ as we take the sacrament.

Love,

Elder Williams

p.s. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

December 2. 2015 - Conference

Hola familia y amigos,

Sorry about not writing until today. On monday we had a conference with a Setenta ( an Area Seventy) that came to visit, so our p-day was changed to Wednesday. There a million things that have happened so let me try to explain them.

Last week we went to go and play soccer with the zone, but we got lost and couldn't find the chapel where they were playing so we spent our p-day walking around in the sun. Lame.

On Tuesday I was in an interchange with Elder Da Rosa. He is from my group so it was cool to catch up with him. We taught R that night and we invited Hermano Francisco to come with us. We taught R the law of chastity. He felt bad because he didnt know it was a sin, and he wants to change. Hermano Francisco gave an awesome experience about how the law of chastity has blessed his family, and how now he is sealed with his family.  It was an awesome lesson!

On Wednesday, there was a meeting for all of the district leaders. I went, and we all brainstormed ways to have more baptisms in the mission. A lot of companionships are really struggling with the fundamentals of missionary work (contacts, studies. baptismal invitations). We talked about  a lot of good ideas, and part of the conference was when President released a missionary from one of the branches from his district in front of our eyes. It was like a public execution.

On Thursday we went and taught J . We invited a young man from the ward to come with us. It was a nice lesson, and  is progressing really well. Her dad didnt let her go to church last week, but it looks like this week, she`ll be coming!

On Friday we had district class. It was the day after Thanksgiving so I bought a cake that we all shared as a district. That night I got to give my first baptismal interview. The zone leaders had a baptism, so I came to do the interview. The investigator, Lenin was really prepared and did really well.

On Saturday we found a ton of people. We did come contacts and every other one we found people to teach. We found a young Peruvian man who named Juan Carlos who seems really promising. We also found a family that seem pretty receptive to us, but they are going to have to change a lot of things.

On Sunday we had very little people at church, but Pilar came!!!!! She is an investigator that has never come, but she made it and she liked the church.  All of the talks were about tithing so there are a couple of doubts we have to go over with her, but we were so happy to see her that while I was playing the sacrament hymn when she came in I kept messing up because I couldnt stay focused.

We taught M Sunday night. He is a former investigator who has gone to church about 20 times, but doesn't want to get baptized. Elder Hicks dropped him before I got to the sector, but we stopped by to get to know him, and he seems nice. He was talking a lot, and we couldnt get a word in, but when we testified of the love we have for him and how much God loves him, and the Spirit entered the room, he started to listen. The Spirit`s good at getting people to listen.

On Monday we had a conference with Elder Krasnoselsky from Argentina. He gavve an awesome talk about wanting success. Iif the mission is going to baptize more we need to want to baptize and ask God to give us the chance to do it, and then do it. I learned a ton, but that was the highlight.

That night we had a family home evening with a less active family and a non member. We just asked them the following questions "why did you join the church" and "why do you believe in Christ". Every one finished crying and the Spirit was way strong. Questions are super powerful.

Yesterday we taught P, and it was such a spiritual experience. When Elder Fasshauer shared his testimony of the Book of Mormon he cried. HE NEVER DOES THAT! It was incredible and we are looking forward to the answer that Pilar is going to receive when she asks God (she committed to doing it last night).

That`s pretty much it for this week. Sorry for the delay in sending out my email. I am thankful for all of your prayers that are coming my way. I feel them. I really do. I know that this is Christ`s church. I know that my calling is a calling of power and consecration. I am changing every day here in the mission to become every day more a representative of Jesus Christ.

Love,

Elder Williams