November 16, 2015 - Nix the Hicks

Hola familia y amigos,

Well, the transfers were announced Thursday night, and they told Elder Hicks and I that we are both staying in Cerro Colorado. We got a call on Sunday afternoon though from the assistants to tell us that Elder Hicks got transferred! This morning we went to the mission office, and Elder Hicks took off to another sector, and now I am with Elder Fasshauer from Lima Peru in Cerro Colorado. We were kind of bummed because Elder Fasshauer and Elder Hicks were on their last change, and they both got transferred to a new sector where they don't know anyone. Oh well. Elder Fasshauer is really nice, and he isn't looking trunky, so we are going to be able to work hard his last change

I left my old agenda and journal in the house, so I´ll try my best to remember what happened this week. 

N and K, a part member family, had their oldest son baptized this Sunday. We have been working a lot with them so k gets baptized, but she still needs some more time. Their son, Benjamin, is 8 years old, so it is a ward baptism, but he wanted Elder Hicks to baptize him. We told him that usually other members do it, and that he should pick someone else, but he wanted elder Hicks to do it. Yesterday was his baptism, and we had some investigators that came to see, so it turned out really well.

We found an awesome family that is really religious. they let us come in and they were really receptive to the message. It was nice to find them after a week of not finding anyone. We´ll see how it goes with them.

We are still working with R and P. They weren't able to come to church this week, and because of the baptism, we couldn't visit them yesterday, but we are planning on passing by with a member to visit them this weekend.

We found another new person named P. He was very formal. He was very impressed because we arrived with shined shoes, and exactly at 11:00. Just goes to show that the little things count. he really likes serving the community, but he lives alone. We hope that he understands that the best thing to help his fellow men is the gospel, and we hope that the members will help us out with visiting him.

I'm still walking around a little lost here in the sector so it is going to be fun to open this sector with Elder Fasshauer.

Just want to end with my testimony about repentance and prayer. I always heard leaders and people in church talking about daily repentance. I understand how it works now. I repent everyday as I set goals to become more like Christ, and I track my progress when I study the scriptures and pray to God every night. there is nothing more beautiful to me than repentance, and I am so grateful for God´s plan that has given us the conditions of repentance of man in this state of probation. I am thankful for the Lord Jesus Christ who lets me be cleansed from my sins.

gracias por todo,

Elder Williams

November 10, 2015 - Play Ball!

buenas tardes todos,

Sorry for writing today instead of yesterday. Every 6 weeks, our P-day changes to Tuesday so we can go to the temple. The temple was closed today so we played baseball instead.

Elder Hicks and Elder Williams playing baseball!

This week was a ton of work. We walked and talked and prayed and preached a ton. 

On Tuesday, we got to teach M and F. They are recent converts from Haiti, so I got to use my Haitian skills from Quilicura. That night we also got to teach N and K. K is not a member and N is getting reactive in the Church after a while outside of it. They have a son named Benjamin who is 8 and is getting baptized this week, and they have two little identical twin girls who are both one year old. We helped K focus on asking God what He thinks she should do instead of her following some of her associates that are putting doubts into her head.

On Wednesday, I got to go to my first district class in 6 months.It was fun to see everyone. I didn't recognize too many missionaries, but Elder Huarca is in my zone, so I got to catch up with him a little bit! That was fun. Elder Hicks gave an awesome class about not setting low expectations for ourselves. It was awesome!

District Class

On Thursday, we met with a less active sister named R. Elder Hicks had been visiting her a while to help her come back to Church. We gave her everything we got. Scriptures, prayers, phone calls, a member to pick her up, and she still didn't come to Church...no!!!!! that's just the way it is sometimes in the Lord´s vineyard. We also taught an investigator named P. She hasn't been going to Church but she has read until 2 Nephi in the Book of Mormon. We gave her a blessing of health and she said that she felt really good afterwords, and that might be the answer she was looking for. We got to reiterate that this week, when we teach her with a member present.

On Friday, I got to go on my first interchange in 6 months, so that was fun. I went with Elder Huber (who lived beneath me in BYU actually). He is my zone leader. He is a really great missionary and he loves to talk with new people. We got to teach some awesome people in his sector, including a young woman who´s name was Vaitiare (which is Rapanui for white flower).

On Saturday, we had tons of lessons planned and they fell through. that´s just the mission. We talked with a lot of new people though, and we found an awesome family of Peruvians. They were pretty impressed that in my family we also drink hot chocolate and eat panettone during Christmas. They were really nice and humble and they accepted our invitation to go to church!

On Sunday, tons of people came to church. A lot of the converts, and two of our Haitain investigators came. The Peruvian family didn't show up, but we are going to verify with them. There were a lot of less actives that came,  including the family of a perspective elder we´ve been teaching. Next week, I am going to play the piano in church. They don't have a piano player here!!! We sing acapella.

Sunday night we did divisions with our ward mission leader and the second counselor.The two of them are awesome and are always willing to work with us. I love member missionaries. We taught R and P. They are the two Haitians that came to church today. The first counselor came with me, and we taught them about baptism, and Hermano Hugo committed them to being baptized! They are set for a date in a couple of weeks, so we´ll see what happens. The members really are the key to helping people progress, and it meant the world to R and P to know that there is a whole church full of Chileans who are willing to help them out.

Today we played baseball and I jammed my finger (after hitting two home runs) so it hurts to type, so I'm going to wrap this up.

I am so glad that what I am teaching is true. I know it is true because the Spirit has told me countless times. Sometimes I feel sad as a missionary as I share the most important message in the world with people that don't want to or can't listen. I beg that each of us can listen! LISTEN! The Spirit is talking with us, and we must hear. It is a still small voice that only the humble can hear. We are dedicated to finding those that have been prepared by the Lord to hear His voice. We are doing everything we can to help them hear. I testify that those who are members of the Church can be the friends, mentors, and instructors that teach our lost brothers and sisters how find the truth and hear His voice. please, listen and then help others do the same.

Love,Elder Williams

November 2, 2015 - Renca la lleva

Hola familia y amigos,

New sector, Renca.

Well, this week was crazy..,. I am now writing to you all from Santiago, Chile.I am now in Renca which is a sector that is pretty metropolitan. Estoy con Elder Hicks (from Memphis Tennessee). His companion, Elder Garcia, was the missionary that replaced me in the island. Elder Hicks has one full change left in the mission, and I'm pretty old, and the real changes are in two more weeks, so we don't know if we will continue together.

Elder Williams and Elder Hicks

Okay, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday was me and elder Adams teaching everyone we possibly could and make sure that they were doing well before I left. We took a lot of pictures and I feel very pleased with the progress that we've seen on Easter Island. The other day I was praying and asked God how he feels about what I did on the Island and he told me He was pleased. I wasn't perfect, but I was obedient and I served well.

On Wednesday Elder Garcia arrived, so we had a couple of days to train him and show him how the Island is. He´s from Peru, and he is really tall. He went to military school, and he is a very obedient missionary. 

On Friday, I left. It was weird to be on a plane alone. I got to contact a cool Chilean couple. They had a recently born baby, so I pulled out some pictures of Christopher and we got to talking (the dad worked for Deloitte, so we talked about accounting for a little bit).

I got to Santiago late Friday night, and Saturday because of all of the Halloween parties we couldn't teach anyone so we did a ton of contacts. It was fun to be walking in dusty streets again.

I feel really blessed for having served on Easter Island. I learned and changed a lot. I learned how to love on that island. I noticed that the contacts I did with the people in Santiago were different because I wasn't doing it for numbers, but for love. the people could feel it as well.

I'm excited for what lies a head, but I am far from trunky! I am excited to be serving the Lord Jesus Christ here, because He is my king, and I will serve Him until the day I die.

Love, Elder Williams

Elder Williams on Easter Island!

October 26. 2015-ka oho mai koe ki Santiago

iorana korua,

This week was definitely an adventure, and many things happened that are great for the Island.

On Tuesday we went and visited Luis Chavez. He doesn't have any family here, so the church is basically in charge of him, and since we do almost everything in the church, we are in charge of him. We had to go to his house and bring him his clothes and food and stuff because he is now in the hospital.

That afternoon, we visited M who is working in her camping hotel. It looks like she´ll be finishing that job at the end of this month, so she´ll have more time to hear the lessons and progress towards baptism. We also ran into a Finnish tourist who said she wanted to grill us about Joseph Smith. We left quickly after hearing that.

On Wednesday, we got a call from a guy named Lr. It turns out that about 3 months ago I did a contact with him and his mom, and I had left a card with my number on it. He wanted to see if we could help him with English. We stopped by to get to know him. He was really nice. He wasn't too interested in the gospel, but his mom was, so we are teaching his mom while we help him with English a little bit.

That night, we had an awesome meeting with R. The best part about it was when Rp arrived. We had invited him to come to the meeting (because he is the Young Men President) and he actually came!!!!!!! He hasn't come to a meeting in a while. The Spirit was really strong and we had some great ideas to help the members stay in the church for their classes. We were also talking about having a Ward Choir and changing the church schedule and having the classes first. We are pumped.

On Thursday we had really awesome lessons. We taught J about forgiveness. He is running into some problems with his sister M. M is R´s wife. J doesn't want to go to church because he wants to avoid problems with M. We had an awesome lesson, and he said at the end he was going to go to church. He didn't end up going. We visited him again on Sunday to see why he didn't go to church and he told us that he had offered to throw a birthday party for an orphan here on the Island who had no one to celebrate with. We were thinking "that´s a pretty good excuse". Now he understands that he has set aside the problems with M and focus on God.

We taught LP as well. he is doing great. We taught him about el sacerdocio de Melquisedek (I don't know how to spell that in English so I put it in Spanish) and he is going to start getting ready for it. On Sunday, he had an interview with my companion (the second counselor) and he committed to paying tithing. He is doing really well considering that about 6 months ago he was on the street drinking.

We also taught S and her family that night. They all prayed to know if they needed to get baptized. No one received an answer, so we explained to them that we must ask with faith. That means that we might need to ask more than one time. We invited them to do it again, but to ask in a kneeling prayer in an environment without distractions.

On Friday, we got rid of a giant mound of dirt and plants that was at the entrance of the church, and we turned it into a little flower garden with a stone wall. The things we have to do here in the Island are awesome.

That same night, we had a ward family home evening in the church. We got there early to await a sister from our ward who was going to help us make pizza for the treat. She didn't show up, so I made the pizza on my own. It turned out good, and the ward loved it. P, the construction worker who is visiting from Santiago gave the message. he talked about baptismal covenants and taking the sacrament which was amazing because he has been less active for more than 20 years!!!! The island has really changed him. Friday was his last day here, so the activity was a goodbye party family home evening. Lots of investigators and converts came, so we were way happy. President called us during it to talk to us, and he called right when everyone was laughing during the games party of the family home evening. He was a little concerned but we explained to him what was happening and he was okay. 

President called because he was concerned about the branch. I, our Relief Society President called him this past week and told him that he had let us hanging out here in the Island. He hadn't been calling us or sending people to check on us and that he had left the missionaries doing everything. She had also complained that M was doing too much in the church and that because of all of the church stuff we, the missionaries, didn't have enough time to do missionary work. The President called us to give us some counsel. It is true that we feel that President isn't communicating enough with us, but that part about M doesn't make sense. He has given one talk and he doesn't come to any meetings. We are still working hard though. We had a baptism while the Relief Society President wasn't here, and she hasn't been on the Island for the past month. We called her the next day to tell her that if she has concerns about the branch she needs to talk to us and Brother Tuki. If she calls the mission president it looks like the church is a disaster. We´re still trying to clean up the results of that phone call.

On Saturday, we helped M prepare her first talk in sacrament meeting. We are asking her to speak about forgiveness to help J and m who were both going to be in church this Sunday.

Sunday morning we found out that there was an election for the Rapanui. They are determining if they are going to allow the national parks association in their island or not. According to Brother Tuki, if there are elections, the church can be let out early so they can vote. We thought that we were going to only have sacrament meeting, but Richard announced after the sacrament that the meeting was over. M was there with her mouth open thinking "i thought I was going to give a talk today?" we tried to change Brother Tuki´s mind, but he wanted to end, so we did.

The election was crazy, we didn't even go near the city center because there were people protesting so the Rapanuis didn't vote. It was crazy. they had the cops there and everything. If you want a real political thriller, research Easter Island.

Sunday we taught C, a less active member, and we taught T. He isn't listening to his parents and doesn't want to study or work or anything. We taught him that laziness doesn't come from God. We hope that our message got through.

That's pretty much it for this week. This week I learned a lot about patience. Sometimes you just need to kick back and watch the Lord work at His pace, instead of interfering with your pace. I know that this is His work and that He is in charge. I think Him for His spirit that guides us in our paths as we do His work.

Love 

Elder Williams

P.s. President called me earlier this week to tell me that I am going to Santiago this week, so my time in the Island is now over. they are buying my ticket, and I should be in Santiago before Halloween.

October 19, 2015 - Bob the Builder

Iorana korua,

Well this week was a ton of work, but the work was different. It was more physical than spiritual beause it was the last week for the construction workers that are here to fix the church and they needed our help. Don't worry though, we still helped some souls as well.

Another beautiful sunset on Easter Island

On Monday night we had a family home evening with R, L M and P. P is one of the construction guys that is working here. He lived in Paraguay for 35 years, so he taught us how to speak a little Guadní. Manga ru!

On Tuesday we had a nice lesson with C. He is a less active man we found. His wife is really Catholic but she lets us teach her. We taught them about Jesus Christ. They have a lot of experience with the missionaries, so we were looking for a different way to get into their hearts. We shared a video about Jesus Christ and talked about how they have the responsibility to teach the gospel to their son. We asked them if they prayed as a family or if they were reading the scriptures. They realized they weren't. They said they would, and like that they can start to feel the Spirit entering their home! Yes!

We taught the law of chastity to T this week. He is a different T (not Jake´s brother) and he is living with his girlfriend. He was really receptive and he said he was going to talk about marriage with her. T was awesome!! He told us "yeah! I could get married after my baptism!" We had to explain to him that it doesn't work like that, but we were pleased with his enthusiasm.

We also found out that Ivan (Jake´s dad) has a cancerous brain tumor, and it looks really bad. Please pray for him.

That same night we had an awesome lesson with M. She was there, her two non- member friends were there, and also  R and L were there. Mega lesson about baptism, and now C., M's  friend is thinking about getting baptized! We´ll see what happens.

On Thursday, the construction workers rented a car and they invited us to visit the Island with them. We went with them and changed our P-day to that day. Today we will be working all of the afternoon. There are some awesome photos from that trip.

Elder Adams and Elder Williams on their P-day

One of the photos from the car trip around the Island

Saturday morning, we did a ton of yard work at church. The church looks so good right now. The construction workers repainted and we mowed the lawn and everything. It looks great!!!! We had a great lesson with J that night. He told us that he loves receiving us, but he can´t go to church anymore because his sister, a recent convert, has been fighting with him a lot. He told us he wants to get baptized, but not while his sister is fighting with him, so we need to help them resolve the problem! Whoa! We aren't too sure how we are going to do it, but the Lord and the Spirit will be involved heavily.

On Sunday, we had a nice lesson with the P family. They are a less active family that haven't come to church in a while. They are going to come to the family home evening tonight and they said they´d come to church next Sunday.

This week, I've really seen the importance about a testimony of Jesus Christ. It is a lot easier to teach people the gospel when they already have a desire to follow Christ. I think in the lives of my investigators and in my own life I haven't always been able to tell the difference of knowing about Christ from being converted to Christ. They are two completely different things, and I invite you to think about what could be that difference.

Love,

Elder Williams

October 12, 2015 - 26

iorana korua,

 

Whoo, this week was a lot of fun and we were busy little guys. On monday we went to Vinapu. That is where all of the toppled Moai are. In the 1600´s and 1700´s there were big wars on the Island and something they did to kill the enemy's energy and power was to topple the Moai. Until about 1960 all of the Moai were toppled, but the restored them with time. In Vinapu there are a lot that are still toppled. That same day we ran into an ex- branch president from the Island. We found him compeltely high and drunk on the street. He couldn't find his house, and he didn't know where he was. Moral of the story -dont mix pain meds with alcohol.

Toppled Moai in Vinapu.

Elder Williams at Vinapu

On Tuesday morning we got a call from President Videla. There was a sister from our ward that went to visit the temple but she didn't have a recommend so we had to rush to the chapel in our PJ street clothes to see if she was paying tithing. That was a classic island church moment. On Tuesday, we also went to visit M. She´s been working a lot managing a campground. While we were talking with her, we saw this Korean guy pass by us with his groceries and he did a double take. He drew nearer to us and was smiling and freaking out a little bit. In broken English, fragments of Spanish, and a translating app he told us that he was a less active member (or old investigator-I'm still not sure) from Korea and he had lost contact with the missionaries. He was really impressed that there were missionaries here, and he was seriously really happy to see us. He said that he is going to go back to church. M later told us that after we left he gave the beer he had just bought with his groceries to the campground because he didnt want to drink it anymore. That was cool. We also met a British woman who called our church "utterly redicuolous". it was cool when she said it because it sounded like a Harry Potter spell (Ridicuolous!)

On Wednesday it rained a ton. I got a little sick because it was changing temperatures a ton and the rain was off and on.

On Thursday, we got to meet with T. It had been a while since we had seen her. She´s been really sick, but she was able to come to church this Sunday. Thursday night we were finally able to visit R and M. They are the only complete Rapanui member family here on the Island. We were a little concerned because it had been a couple of weeks since they had gone to church, but they started off saying. "we just taught our youngest daughter how to pray, listen!" They came to church this Sunday so we were pretty happy with that.

On Friday we did a service project for DJ best´s mom. DJ best is the most popular DJ on the Island and everywhere we go his music is always playing. That night we had an awesome lesson with S and Hermano Tuki who came to teach with us. The spirit was so strong, and they really listened to him and his testimony. S went to church on Sunday for the first time.

On Sunday we had 26 people in church. It's been a while since weve seen that, but the most awesome part was that there were 14 Rapanui natives that came. We've never seen that many in the church at one time. It was awesome! The testimonies were great. Elder Adams bore his testimony in Rapanui. I bore my testimony about Christ, and I would like to end with that. 

I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I know He is because His Spirit told me. When I read the scriptures I get goosebumps when I read about His life, and I feel that they are not just stories, but they are really divine evidences that He is the Christ. I love Him, and I am trying to convert myself to him every day.

Love,

Elder Williams

October 5, 2015 - Conference Party!

iorana korua,

Wow, this week was definitely an adventure!

On Tuesday, a giant box arrived at church with my name on it. It was from Cecilia from Quilicura and it was a giant box full of food. She had called me about 3 months ago asking if we had food. I told her we did, but I guess she wanted us to have more! We don't have to grocery shop anymore! Thanks Hna Ceci!

Tuesday night, we stopped by M´s house. L´s been bothering her a lot recently and she is thinking of moving to another apartment because (and I don't know if Ive mentioned this before) because she lives 2 doors down from him. Ly was there to talk with her as well. Ly is doing great since her experience last Sunday. She and Richard have gotten back together again!

On Wednesday, we helped the construction workers in the church clean the windows and we had a nice appointment with L P. He is getting involved with the church again. He is doing really well, and he went to 3 sessions of General Conference this week!

On Thursday, we were doing research on something called Ana tehe tama. J, one of our investigators told us that he would read the Book of Mormon if we could tell him what was the story behind Ana tehe tama. We spent the whole afternoon in the library, asking old people and trying to find out the story. We are pretty sure that there is no story because we have asked everyone and no one knows. 

On Saturday we got into Conference mode. We were in the church the whole day because we were in charge of renting the projector, the internet connection, and opening the church. The first session, M came, but she couldn't stay for the second session.  We were the only ones watching the second session, so we watched it in English! 

Saturday night, we had a completo (hot dog) party before the Priesthood Session so people would come. It didn't work too well, so we had 25 completos for 6 people. We ate well that night.

On Sunday, we saw more people in the church to see conference. We invited a lot of people and we even had a lunch during the sessions so people would come. We still missed a lot of people there. The power got cut during the first session in the morning so don't ask me about the last 3 talks of that session, because I haven't heard them.

Sunday night we had a nice lesson with Cl, I, J, and M together. It was about obedience. Many of the people present in the lesson weren't present in Conference, so we talked about what the Prophet had talked about-keeping the commandments. Elder Adams said something really cool. He said "we cannot justify our own sins". That was a response he gave to the statement that "its easier to be obedient as a missionary than it is for a normal person".

Maybe it is hard for us to keep the commandments, but we still need to try. We need to focus on Christ and His Atonement so we can do it. The sins that have caused me to stumble in the past do not affect me now because I have learned how to use the Atonement of Jesus Christ to change me. I learned to trust in Him as I read the scriptures, as I fasted, as I ´prayed and repented, and as I listened to my parents, friends, and family bearing testimony of Him. I know He can change us, but we need to take the first step, and call out for Him.

Love,

Elder Williams