April 6, 2015- Conferencia y Feliz Pascua

hola familia y amigos,

this week was very spiritual for us wasn't it? we had conference and Easter and it was just the best.

on Tuesday i had another choir practice to attend, and it sounds like we are going to be ready for the conference with elder Oaks when he comes. that same day something funny happened to us, that Im pretty sure happens to almost every missionary in south america. we knocked a door to visit a person we had an appointment with and a little boy answered and he said "my mom´s not here". this little boy was about two years old. we were pretty sure that no mother would leave their two year old son completely alone. we asked "are you here alone". he said yes. we then said "ask your mom when we can come back". he dissappeared for a second and came back and said "she says 5 oclock". I just love little kids.

We had a lesson with M that day. he had been working all day and was falling asleep on us. he also didn't go to conference this sunday when he said he would. we are trying to see if his interest can become conversion so keep praying for him. 

on Wednesday we had a zone conference. it lasted the whole day, but we learned some awesome things. we talked about the importance of ministering because it is impossible to transfer faith from one person to another. we also talked about the my family pamphlet. the mission president asked all of the 80 missionaries there who had their pamphlet complete. there were only two that stood up, and I was one of them, and it turns out the only two in the mission that have it completed. thanks mom for sending me the info!

we had another awesome lesson with C C, and R, and we invited a nearby member to come with us, K. it was a great lesson. we are really working so our investigators have a testimony of the book of mormon. we had K share his testimony about the book of mormon and R committed to reading it and praying about it. 

on Friday in the morning we visited the bishop who expressed to us his concerns about the families and marriages in the ward. he expressed to us that baptisms were not that important to him, so that´s something that a missionary never wants to hear, but we received a list of people to visit to help them with their families and marriages so we can help him out. being a bishop would be hard, so we are going to help him out. 

Conference weekend was the best, and easter too. my companion hid easter eggs for me!!!! he is the best! I shined his shoes for him while he was in the shower. we went to conference and it was awesome! we got to watch it in english, because our mission president wants us to hear it in our own language. we were also able to set up a room to listen in french, and the Haitians from the stake could here conference in their own language as well. they were all very happy to hear that there will be a temple in Haiti. they were thrilled, and very thankful that they could listen to conference here in Chile like they would in Haiti. actually, we had a Haitian investigator named J that came to conference. he arrived late, but just in time for the talk when they mentioned the growth of the church in Haiti. we asked him how he liked the conference, and he said he wants to come to church next week as well. awesome!

I really love the themes in conference of the resurrection of our Savior. I love how Elder Holland explained our desperate need for a perfect being to literally Save us. I am so thankful for my Savior Jesus Christ. I know that here in the mission I too am a unprofitable servant and that it is the Lord that is directing the work here. it is after all that we do that we see His graceful hand reveal His blessings. I know that He lives, and that this church is His. the restored gospel is what brings us to Him, and we work hard so other people know it too.

love,

Elder Williams

March 30, 2015- We are Tired and Happy

hola familia y amigos,

to describe this week I have to quote the missionaries from the TV show the district "Iv'e never been this tired, but yet, I´m just really happy". We are very tired, and we are very happy,

on Tuesday we finally found someone to give us lunch in the ward. we are paying a less active sister to make us lunch everyday, so we don't have to cook anymore. we are very happy now. in the night we had our weekly coordination meeting with the ward mission leader, and we have to plan a ward family home evening to prepare the ward for the visit of an apostle (who is going to be Elder Oaks). 

on Wednesday we got to meet N and F. they are investigators that the other missionaries had been teaching before. we finally found them on accident. my companion was knocking doors and found them in a different house than the one that we have knocked 4 times to find them. they are really awesome. they told us that two weeks ago they just set the date to get married, so that will be cool. we are working with Fabian so he can get an answer about the book of Mormon. they are both really nice.

on Thursday we had interviews with the president. they went well. interviews with the president are very relaxed. we talked about cleaning the chapels for about 10 minutes and then we talked about my reading of the book of mormon. it´s nice to not have to worry about more serious things in interviews with the president.

that night M, a priest from the ward, came with us to visit some people. we visited C and C and we helpèd them with their my family booklets. it turns out that M is actually a family history specialist, so he really helped us out too. M is going to be a great missionary. that really is the best preparation for the mission--leave with the missionaries.

on friday we did a service project for a brother in our ward. he is an accountant in tax season, so we volunteered to help him out, and we cleaned out his patio and killed more than a hundred spiders in the process. 

we also had a lesson with M and G, our ward mission leader came with us. it was an awesome lesson. I love to hear members testify in the lessons, because it shows that the missionaries aren't the only people who know that these things are true.

on Saturday we taught english. about 6 people showed up, so it was a little class, but we are going to publicize more, and hopefully more will come. we mainly taught about pronunciation, and how to introduce yourself, and it will get more advanced later on.

on Sunday only R went to church. M wanted to go to church and see the baptism there was that day, but there were some serious personal problems that got in the way so he couldn't see it. this sunday MB got baptized. I started the teaching with Elder Huarca, and it was cool to see her get baptized. R stayed around to see the baptism as well, so that was awesome. 

this week truly was a lot of fun, and a lot of work. we are excited for conference this weekend, and we invite all of you to participate. we hope that you also share thanks to Him video that is on the church website in all of your Facebook, twitter, and google plus feeds or what ever social network cites there are these days.

Love,

Elder Williams

March 23, 2016- Miracles

hola familia y amigos,

this week was a lot of fun, and we really saw the hand of the Lord guiding us this week.

on Tuesday I went to the office of the mission in the morning to practice a musical number because an apostle is going to come 19 de abril to visit our mission and then visit my stake. I got to see Elder Muñoz there because he will be playing the violin. it was awesome to see him. he goes home this transfer and he is starting to freak out a little bit. 

when I got back from that we were knocking a lot of doors, and we decided to stop by a recent convert´s house. we knocked the door, and a new face appeared. her name is R and she is the sister of the recent convert. she just arrived here from Peru. we taught her with the recent converts, C and C and it went really well. she has a baptismal date set in May, and we invited her to church this sunday.

on Wednesday we had district class, and we ate lunch. I ate some lentejas that really did a number on my stomach, but everything turned out ok. that day Elder Farnsworth and I fasted so we could find more people to teach. in the evening we taught E who has two sons who are not members of the church. they have listened to missionaries before, but they just don't have the desires to go to church so we will see what happens there. the two sons who are twins are G and I.

on Thursday, I had an interchange with elder Cifuentes in lo matta. we spent most of the day in a part that was a little dangerous, but nothing happened. when we arrived though, there was a fight that was going on in the street, and when we came home that night it was still happening. when the people in the street fight here, they usually just yell swear words at each other. they don't really fight, they just scream at each other all day. Elder Cifuentes basically taught himself kreol, so he teaches a lot of Haitians. I felt like I did at the beginning of my mission because I did not understand what was happening in the lessons.

on Friday we performed an act of service. we were coming back from working to eat dinner, and there was a little girl who was talking with the guard at the apartment door. she said that her hampster fell, and the guard asked if we could look into it. we followed the girl to this giant box that was next to a park. it was the container of an underground generator. there was a little hole in the box that the hamster had climbed into and it had fallen about 12 feet into the room of the generator. Elder Farnsworth and I opened the trapdoor on top, and I climbed in and chased down the hamster in the dark, and we returned it to the little girl. We felt like super heroes!

on Saturday in the morning we taught a less active member, and her son walked in who isnt a member of the church, and for the first time in his life he listened to us. his name is M and he is 22. is really awesome and smart, so we hope he will be there next week.

on Sunday M, one of our investigators with a baptismal date came to church, and R came too! we were so happy. the Lord really blessed us for our Ayuno (our fast). we feel so blessed this week. Sunday in the afternoon we had members that came with us, and we taught 4 new people with members. it was the best Sunday I have seen in the mission. 

the Zone leaders have set up goals for members of the zone, and this week we completed all of them, so we will get a chocolate bar on Thursday to reward us. YES! CHOCOLATE!

this was a great week, and we can testify that the Lord is in charge of this work. we would fail miserably if it was just us working, but the Lord really revealed his hand to us this week.

Love,

Elder Williams

March 9, 2015- Crossing the Street

hola familia y amigos,

this week we had cambios and I have to say they were a little weird. I got transferred to the sector Lo campino 2. I was in Lo campino 1, so i literally just crossed the street, and I am working in the sector of elder Tibbits. elder Tibbits went to another zone, and his companion elder Arce went to my old sector. Elder Arce and I just switched! I got a new companion whose name is Elder Farnsworth. i actually knew him from my time in simon bolivar. he was in the same zone as me for like 4 months, so I already knew him a little. he is awesome. he has been here for about 7 months, and he is from Chandler (basically phoenix) Arizona. he likes to play rugby.

what else happened this week? we taught Y and B on Tuesday. they told us that they didnt want to go to church or make changes in their lives, and they told us that they wanted to search on their own for a little bit. it broke my heart a little bit, but hey, in the future they´ll make the right choices. 

on Wednesday I had an intercambio with elder Tibbits in his sector (which is now my sector!) and it was fun. we taught a new person named M. he came to church on sunday because it just interested him. he seems pretty cool, so we will see where that goes. 

on Thursday we had an awesome lesson with R. R is a haitian who we have taught, but hes had some doubts about Joseph Smith and the book of mormon. last week we printed out Joseph Smith history in Kreol and we brought it to him and asked him to read it and pray. today we taught him, and we verified if he had read or if he had prayed. it was so awesome he looks at us and says. "yes, i read it". I asked "did you pray to know if Joseph Smith is a prophet" he said "yes", then I asked him "what was your answer"? then he said "its true. he's a prophet and the church is true". he then accepted a baptismal date. he had declined 3 dates before that night, but he said YES! we were so pumped!!!!!!!!!!

on Saturday they called me while I was in a lesson to tell me that I was going. that straight up wrecked me. I wanted to stay in the sector so bad. we spent saturday and Sunday visiting the investigators and converts and members to say goodbye. on Sunday we gave a little farewell talk (the missionaries that were leaving the ward). now I look back and it was all in vain. so many tears shed for nothing! but hey, i get to see the people I love for even more time, and I will be in this stake when the apostle visits.

on Sunday we taught J and L again. the lesson was so awesome. they were asking questions about if baptism was necessary and at one point they asked "there are so many churches, and we just want to know what the right one is". F, a recently returned missionary came with us and he testified and everything. we watched the movie the Restoration with them and the spirit was so strong. they committed to reading the book of mormon, and praying to god to know if it is true. it was awesome!!!! good way to finish my time in that sector.

on Sunday night, the P family invited me to their house, and we had a family home evening with them and O and A  it was a lot of fun, and O and A gifted me a tie. I really do love that family, and i am so happy because I will still get to see them!

I am excited to work and see how it goes here in Lo campino 2. it is a little fancy here. there are parts here that look like the united states. there are a lot of ward leaders here, and there are a lot of ethnic people here too. there are arabs, haitians, africans, peruvians, colombians, gringos...everything.

I am so thankful to be serving the Lord. I love Him. I owe Him everything. 

Love,

Elder Williams

March 2, 2015- Apostol

hola familia y amigos,

this week was a lot of fun, and it is starting to cool down here a little in the morning so we are pretty happy.

on wednesday we were working in the night time, and we invited a young man from the ward to come with us. his name is M. we had a ton of appointments that night, and all but one fell through. M. was very nice about it, and we decided to pass by the house of R. M is Chilean and R is Haitian, so it was cool to see R and M interact because Haitians dont usually talk with Chileans.

on thursday I had another intercambio with elder Tibbits. we taught a less active woman who had many dogs in her house. we also made tacos for lunch. we have been having to make lunch for ourselves these past two weeks, and we are starting to run out of ideas.

in the period of about 2 minutes that day, 3 lessons fell through. I was visiting a person that we had an appointment with and while they were telling me that they couldn't meet with us, two people called me to tell me the same thing. that was a little lame.

we had a nice lesson with O and A. they are going to Talca this weekend so they didn't go to church. on thursday night we taught them the 10 commandments with the family of M. it was a fun time, and the mom of the family made bread for us!

on Friday we had another good appointment with Y and we invited a different young man who is also named M to come with us. it was awesome when M came because Y and her sister B said that it was amazing to see a young man like M who wasn't in the street smoking drugs like all the other boys his age. it was the example of M that stood out to the investigators, so I would say to the young men and young women within reach of this email: your example is the greatest testimony you have, and dont be afraid to go with the missionaries to show it to people who want it.

on Friday night there was an elders quorum activity, and oscar came to it. they taught about temples and the class was really awesome. O really wants to get sealed with his family, he is just waiting to get married first so Acan get baptized and then they can go to the temple.

this week was a rough week to find people until saturday and sunday. we were working hard the whole week, setting up appointments and calling people, but a lot of people didnt have time for us or didnt open the door (even though I clearly see they are watching TV inside!) but on saturday morning we found P. he was the second door we knocked in the morning, and he came out with his big tattooed arms, and we started talking to him about that, and he said "do you want to come in". naturally we came in and we taught him the restoration and he said he would pray and read, so we will see what happens there.

on Sunday we stopped by a reference we received and we found L and J. they are a young couple that arent married, and they have 3 kids. they were busy working on their house, but they still let us come in to share our message. they are a family with a lot of faith, and it was awesome to teach them. I remember J saying "all I want is to be able to live with God again" and L said "what I want is to be with my family for the longest time possible." the lesson was awesome and we hope that they will be around for the next appointment we have with them.

no one came to church today...bummer, but next week will be better. we found out that in our stake an apostol will come in april, so we are excited about that and hoping that we wont get changed this cambio. also a missionary recently returned in our ward, so it was fun to see his face when he saw his old ward after two years. (he looked very scared. I wonder If i will be like that when I get back).

I am really learning to love the mission, and I am working hard to demonstrate my love for the lord. I love my savior Jesus Christ. He has heard my cries thousands of times and I hope that he is pleased with my service.

Love,

Elder Williams 

Feb 23, 2015- Qualquier Intercambio

hola familia y amigitos,

this week was a lot of fun. on Wednesday we had a zone conference that was a lot of fun. we are really focusing on how to work better with the leaders of the church here in chile. we had great classes on how to help those members of the church who haven't gone in a while and how to help those that have recently converted to the church stay in the church. we got back that night and had a lesson with M. Manuel is the only member of his family who is not a member of the church. he almost always goes to church, but he still feels like he is missing something to get baptized. we are going to try to work with him so he can receive a testimony of the book of mormon so he knows the church is true. he understands a lot of what we teach because his son often teaches him when we arent.

on thursday I went to the sector of the zone leaders. I spent the day with Elder Cifuentes from xela guatemala (where my dad served), and it was a fun time. we visited one of his investigators, R, who is trying to quit smoking. the sector of elder cifuentes is very flite or in other words ghetto. it has one of the most dangerous apartment complexes in the mission. dont worry mom, we didnt go in there, but we were close. 

in the morning we made a ton of pancakes because we needed to eat a big breakfast. why did we need a big breakfast? because we gave blood that day. there is a member of the church who needed blood to give to the blood bank, so she could take some of her type out, and she asked that the missionaries donate blood. we did it. i wasnt the biggest fan of the experience, but I got free juice and cookies out of it.

right after my interchange with elder cifuentes I went right a way to an interchange with elder Tibbits in his sector. I was there with him, and we ended up walking a little bit because we were trying to find a reference he received. Elder Tibbits and I had  a lot of fun. we are both very similar in personality.

saturday was a great day. we worked really hard friday. we spent all the morning and afternoon looking for new people to teach, and no one let us in. no one set up an appointment with us either. ooohhh it was so much fun. I like talking with new people. its fun to here their stories and see a glimpse of their lives. we taught R at night but he doesn't feel ready to set a baptismal date. he feels like he will need lots of time to be sure, but we are hoping that as he prays to know that the book of mormon is true, he will be able to feel the reassurance from God that this is the right path for him.

yesterday just O and A went to church which is great! but we were expecting more. yesterday we were knocking in the apartments in our sector, and we finally found a new investigator. his name is P and he is also from Haiti. he wants to go to the united states, and he also wants to learn english so we will try to help him with that as well. it was a little funny how we found him. usually we just try to knock the doors that have evidence that someone really is home. this means an open window, or the door itself is open or there are lights or music or TV inside. we looked up on the third floor of the building and we saw a very angry dog that was growling at us. it went and hid at the end of the hallway, and i decided that I would try to knock the door at the other end of the hall. as i got closer it started to growl and look at me but stayed there. I knocked on the door, and P came out, and let us in as the dog was getting closer to us. not even a mean dog can stop the work of the lord.

I learned a lot this week and I had a lot of fun. it was weird to be out of my sector for so long, and I was missing elder Huarca and our investigators while I was away. I am so glad to be a missionary. I am really learning to love the mission. there are some lame parts, but they just make the sweet parts sweeter. I know that this is the work of the Lord, and I am doing all I can to serve Him.

Love,

Elder Williams

Feb 16, 2015- Renca la Lleva

hola familia y amigos,

this week was a ton of fun, now let me tell you why...

on tuesday we had a very fun day. we were working hard in the morning talking with lots of people and we made completos for lunch. I think when I get home I am going to open the first completo shop in Seattle, because I make pretty good completos.

we found out shortly before lunch that my previous zone leader, Chad Newey, who recently finished his mission, was long boarding at his house and fell, and ended up in the hospital in a very grave condition, so the mission president called a mission wide fast for Chad Newey, who we have heard is now doing better.

we also taught a new young woman named F. She is 20 years old, and we talked to her a couple of weeks ago, and she told us that she used to meet with the missionaries. we stopped by her house this week, and we started to teach her, and we asked her how long she had been visited by the other missionaries and she said "a couple of months and then 1 month after my baptism". that is something funny that happens in Chile, the people sometimes forget to tell us that they are baptized when they first meet us. we hope we can help F come back to the church and enjoy the happiness that the gospel brings to those that live it.

on Wednesday, I had an intercambio with elder Sandberg. Elder Sandberg is from las Vegas nevada. he is a convert to the church, and it turns out that I actually know his girlfriend from EFY. we hit it off and worked hard that day. we found a less active member family with a lady who would not stop talking to us. Chileans love to talk, and Missionaries love to work, so it is difficult and requires patience to find a way to leave the house of a talkative chilean.

we met with R that night. he is a Haitian man that we have been teaching. he is awesome. he says he wants to come to church and read the book of mormon so he can understand more, because he likes how he feels when we teach him. we invited him to be baptized which he accepted, but he doesn't feel ready enough to accept a baptismal date, so we are working on that with him. I love the reaction of people when we invite them to be baptized. the faith of the people here is strong, and they often accept the invitation to be baptized, but when we suggest that they set a goal to be baptized in 5 weeks, they usually reply "that fast?". its a fun life being a missionary.

we were in a trio with Elder Tibbits untill his new companion elder Arce arrived. we visited C that day and her daughter F taught us how to take blood pressure.

on Friday we left with some haitain investigators to help them get a marriage date. it turned out that one of them is illegal because she has been here more than 4 months, so we were in the centro of the city the whole morning waiting in lines and wading through red tape. we have to go back at the end of the month to help them finish.

Saturday we cleaned the church building and we taught E. E is having a hard time keeping the sabbath day holy. she owns a little market and she feels like she cant close it on Sundays to go to church. we are trying to invite her to exercise her faith and know that the lord will bless with what she needs, but she still isn't ready to take that step. prayers for E.

Sunday, R came to Church! it doesnt look like he understood everything that happened, but he said he liked it. he only stayed for the first hour, so we will talk with him later this week to see if he liked it.

that was pretty much the week in a nut shell. thank you all for your letters, and prayers. I hope you all had an awesome valentines day, because I spent mine with a peruvian man.

I want to share my testimony that I know this church is true. I know Jesus Christ is our savior, and I am trying every day to serve him to show my love for Him.

Love,

Elder Williams