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

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.