It's gettin hot

hola familia y amigos!

this week has been a ton of fun, with a lot of cool stories to share.

first, I want to talk about one of the families that is part of our ward. the familia chandia is so awesome. the mother of this family has a calling in the stake, and her husband was recently released as the president of the young men in our ward. they are both converts to the church. this week we have been working with them to find the people that are ready to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. we left them with the commitment to pray about who, from their neighbors, they could invite to participate in a Family Home Evening. they followed through with their commitment and this friday, they are going to invite him. we are so thankful for the awesome members that we have in our ward.

on Thursday, we saw another demostration of the awesome members that we have in our ward. Angelica, who is the family history specialist, helped us have an activity in the chapel where we taught investigators and recent converts about how to use family search and the importance of family history. it was a great experience, and we are excited to go to the temple with Luis and Carolina this week, or next week.

on wednesday, we were knocking on some doors, and we came across a woman from Peru. because she was alone, she preferred that we passed by the next day. on Thursday we stopped by her house, and she let us in. Nancy (that is her name) told us that about 6 years ago she was baptized in the church, but that now she was living here in Chile, and she didn´t know where it was. she has had some problems getting used to Chile. she has no family here, she has 6 children, and she hasn´t been able to work. she said that she felt completely alone and that she had been prayin for help. she said that after we had knocked on her door, after I had asked her if there was anything we could do to help her, and after we left, she began to cry because she knew that we could help.

on Sunday we saw miracles. the previous Sunday was fast sunday, and I had been fasting for miracles to happen with the missionaries in our ward. the previous Sunday, an investigator that hadn´t come in a lot of time all of a sudden appeared and wanted to be baptized. she lived in the sector of the hermanas. the new elderes in our ward, who arrived with nothing of investigators found a man who´s whole family are members of the church and who will be baptized the following sunday. last week, nobody of our investigators was in the church. what happened is that our blessings just arrived a little bit later. Lucas and his Mother, who we have been encouraging to return to church, both came to sacrament meeting! after that we met a man who recently moved into our ward with his son. when talking with him he saidc "yeah it great that I found you guys because my son is investigating the church and wants to get baptized" its crazy how the lord works. I will never understand how, when, or through whom blessings will come, I just understand that I will always give thanks for them.

Another cool thing happened in the baptism that the hermanas had this Sunday. the hermanas asked us after sacrament meeting if we had started to fill the font. we thought that the hermanas were going to be in charge of it, but we thought wrong, and we had to walk briskly to the apartment to find the keys to the font. we were really worried because the font needs 3 hours to fill, and we only had an hour or so until the baptism. we were freaking out, and when we had opened the font door we saw that the font was already filled. it turned out that the last baptism, the drain had not been working, and the water was still there. it was cool because even though the water was cold, there was still a baptism.

before I finnish, I just want to bear my testimony about the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that the mission is the hardest thing I have done in my life because it is the most important thing I have done in my life. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true. I know that the restored gospel is God´s plan for us to truly find happiness and a remission of our sins. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith is a prophet who had the power and authority of God to restore his church and gospel to the earth.

Love,

Elder Williams

Gettin Hot

hola familia y amigos!!!!

this week was a ton of fun with intercambios, lessons, new people, and heart break.

on Tuesday we met with Lorena. she is doing really well. She recently found a new job, so she hasn´t come to church in a while, which is a bummer, but I just wanted to share something cool that happened with her. throughout all of my life I have heard of people that call into radio programs and win things, but I always thought it was fake, because who actually wins those things. We stopped by Lorena´s house the other day and she told us that she won a guitar from a Radio station. she was really excited to show us, and we were really suprised because it was really random. I know this story doesn´t have much to do with the work of salvation, but its just something cool that happened.

that same day we met with Mario. Mario, a man who has trouble remembering things, told us that he preferred that we don´t teach him anymore. he feels that what we are doing is pointless because he will not be able to remember it after we leave his house. we were a little bummed about that, and we tried to tell him, that we do not feel like he is wasting our time, but he insisted.

on Wednesday I received an awesome package from my Mom. the best thing about packages is sharing them with Latino companions because most of them have never eaten american food before (mainly beef jerky, peanut butter, and cliff bars). there were some photos in the package that reminded me what my body used to look like before the mission...before the empanadas and completos...

on Thursday we had intercambios. I was with Elder Vasquez de Lima Peru. we had an interesting lesson with the daughter of a recent convert. she asked us questions about conspiracies about the twin towers, and the iluminati for about 30 minutes. there are a lot of people here who believe in stuff like that.

on Friday there was another intercambio with a new missionary from Brazil. I understood almost nothing of his spanish. its funny because when gringos are learning spanish they don´t talk much, but brazilians if they don´t know how to say something in spanish, they just say it in portugese anyway, and no one knows what they are saying.

We are super pumped because Luis and Carolina recently got their temple recommends to go do baptisms. we will be hearing more about that in following weeks. something awesome that happened is that we had a lesson with Lucas the other day about the word of wisdom and how we shouldn´t have piercings, and in the middle of the lesson Lucas took out his earings. it was awesome! Lucas is so awesome!

We recently had a lesson with a new person we found named Laura. she has a lot of faith in god, and after teaching her about the restoration (even though her son peed his pants in the middle) she felt the spirit and said, "I want to know if its tryue, so Im going to read your book and pray about it". music to a missionary´s ears.

thank you for all of the prayers, packages, and letters that are always coming my way. I am trying my hardest to help the people here in Chile come unto Christ, and I know that I am changing for the better because of it. I know Christ is our Savior, and that though the plan of his gospel we can be happy forever!

Love,

Elder Williams

Conference!

hola familia y amigos

how was your conference weekend? I absolutely love the messages of the prophets and apostles. I watched all but two sessions in spanish. I understood most of it but there were moments where the only thing I recognized was the peace that spirit brings as the servants of the lord speak. I was really impacted by the talk by president Ucthdorf about is it I that has betrayed the lord. i hope we always remember the importance of self reflectance and that we do not look to speedily to find fault with others because usually the fault lies within ourselves.

it was so cool that there were talks given in different languages. the chileans were super happy when they announced a talk in Spanish! it was truly a historic moment

Lucas, one of our investigators, came to the conference. he really like it and felt good during the conference. here in chile the priesthood session starts at 9 at night, so Lucas actually fell asleep during that one, but other than that it was great.

Lucy, a recent convert also came. she really enjoyed the conference. when the missionaries first met her she couldn't read. she has now read until Jacob in the book of mormon and has understood everything. it was great for her because she was able to listen to the words of the prophets in a setting that was a little bit easier for her to comprehend what was communicated.

in the beginning of the week we had a lesson with a man named Pedro and his two daughters. we entered the house and his two daughters were watching tom and Jerry, but we turned off the TV and shared a message with them. Pedro was really excited about the blessings that his family could receive. he is raising his two girls solo. it is very difficult to raise Children here in Chile. the things that happen in the street, in school, can be so much worse than what happens in the united states. the assurance that the gospel can unify a family and protect it from the challenges of the world is a promise that I am so glad the lord has promised.

we also had a lesson with Lucas and his mother the other day. Lucas' Mother is a member of the church but has not gone for a very long time. she hasn't gone because there were some people that did not treat her well in the church about 25 years ago. because of this bad experience, she has distanced herself from the church and often said that she doesn't want to come back. in the lesson that we had with her and Lucas, we shared the plan of salvation. something inside of Yvonne, Lucas' mom, clicked and she rememberd how happy she felt to see her daughter, son in law, and Lucas in a church activity the other day; smiling, laughing, and being together as a family in the church. she said that she wanted more of that. we told her that her family can be eternal with the restored gospel of jesus Christ, and she told us that she wants to come back to church.

We also had a lesson with Mario the other day. Mario is very faithful because he is very humble. the accident that he had a couple years ago left him the ability to only remember 50% of what happens to him. the other day we were talking about baptism, and he told us that he wants to be baptized. we set a date to do it, but he told us that he probably would not remember to do it. he then said that we need to share this message with his family so they can help him. We are very excited to help Mario develop his faith in Christ because he is very humble. God gave him his life back to him after his accident, and now he wants to give his life to god.

something crazy happened the other day. we were walking in the street when all of a sudden someone yelled the first name of my companion. we turned around from the door we were knocking and a man jumped out of his car and gave Elder Munoz a huge hug. elder Munoz could travel to his house in less than an hour from our area. Elder Munoz ran into his cousin who was working around here. we got a little taste of trunky because of that.

I want you all to know, like we have heard from the recent general conference, that I know that Joseph smith is the prophet of the restoration. because of what this man did, salvation is now available to all those that ernestly seek it. the power and authority of God that will bring about our salvation, eternal families, happiness, and purpose in this life is found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know this church is true

love,

Elder Williams

September 29

hola familia y amigos

this week was an awesome one. I have learned a ton this week, and I also had a lot of fun!

first I want to start off with talking about some of the people we found this week. the first person that I want to mention is Mario. Mario was a person that we found in the ferria about two weeks ago. he said that we could pass by his house anytime, but during that two weeks, we were spending a lot of time in the southern part of our sector, so we weren't able to pass by. anywho, on tuesday we were in the neighborhood, and we decided to stop by. he let us in and we talked. he told us that about 6 years ago he had a terrible accident and it was very difficult for him to remember things, but he did remember us. we were really short on time when we stopped by so we shared a little bit of our message and how it is centered on Jesus Christ. Mario told us after "when can you guys come and teach my family this message" needless to say we set up an appointment with him to teach his family.

another person that we found this week was a woman who watering her plants in the street. I stopped by to complement her on her garden and she told me "its good to see missionaries again. I haven't seen you guys in a while". it turns out that missionaries had taught her and her son in the past, and had stopped coming because they both left at the same time. her name is Yolanda and she has a lot of love for her children.

this week was a ton of fun because we worked hard this week. we knocked a lot of doors, had a lot of lessons, and talked with a lot of people. the more I think about my efforts as a missionary I think about where my talents and ability to work come from. they come from God. they were taught to me by parents, teachers, coaches, challenges, books, music, and much more. i have learned in the mission that my success has nothing to do with me. it all comes from God. without Christ i know that I am nothing. 

now I want to talk a little bit about Lucas. I have talked about Luis y Carolina before but it turns out that Carolina has brother named Lucas. Lucas is awesome and we stopped by to teach him and his mother who is a member of the church but hasn't gone in a while. we taught about baptism and the spirit was so strong. Lucas now wants to be baptized so that his family can be eternal and that he can be closer with God. it was awesome to talk with his mother Yvonne because she never expected that she would see her family in the church, but now that her daughter was baptized and that Lucas has the desire to do so she is really excited to have an eternal family and start going back to church.

on Saturday we had our 18 de septiembre activity. it was seriously so much fun. we were there the whole day. we played soccer and talked with the members. we had to wait a while to eat the chicken that they were barbequing but it was so good, and definitely worth it. it was a really big turn out, and we almost ran out of chicken, but we finished the activity with one pollo left. after we ate there were a ton of dances that members of the ward prepared. one of the investigators that we have, Lorena, brought her group of folk singers and she sang with them for the activity. it was so cool because a lot of people were wearing authentic clothing and dancing. it was great.

on Sunday Elder Mu;oz played the violin for all of the hymns in church. it was really cool, and the ward loved it. most of them haven't heard a violin in church before so they thought it was really cool. I got to lead the music, so that was a lot of fun.

I should also talk about the other missionaries who arrived. Elder Lefalle is from Misiones Argentina and has about 20 months in the mission. he is super funny and really nice. he has never done anything or said anything that would make someone angry. the other elder is elder Birch. he is from Syracuse Utah. he has about 1 year in the mission. recently he was in the hospital because he had a really bad bike crash but now he is ok. he is really funny, and he loves Chilean culture and the people, so naturally, the people love him back.

I am so glad to be serving here in Chile. I learn a ton of things everyday. I am learning how to become more like Christ. I am also learning to have fun in the mission. the message that the missionaries share is a message of happiness. I would like to bare my testimony that I know that christ sufferred for us so we don't have to. we can find true happiness in this life through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Love,

Elder Williams

18

hola familia y amigos

this week was so crazy because the 18 of september is the independence day of Chile. what does this mean? PAAAAAARRRRTTTAAAAAYYYY for the people here in Chile, for the missionaries its still a little party but a lot of walking. 

bueno the last pday Elder munoz and I explored a park in our sector and a cathedral. (hence the photos of a park and a cathedral). it was interesting in the park because we were walking down a path and saw that people were taking pictures. we noticed that there was a woman who was posing in front of the camera with a tan shirt with a dragon on the back. we could only see the back of the shirt, and we realized that the shirt wasn't a shirt, but it was her skin, and the dragon was a tattoo, so we decided to turn around and walk the other way to avoid the topless model. we are sure that there is an iappropriate photo on the internet somewhere with a topless model with a snake tatoo and two very frightened missionaries turning around in the background.

the rest of the week was walking and eating. because of the 18 of september, a lot of people are out of town, so it was really hard to find people. the people that were in town we all drunk. when I say all were drunk, I mean all were drunk. we spent a lot of time visiting the members and recent converts because there wasn't a lot else we could do. 

we had lunch with the bishop and his family for the 18. everyone eats steak on this day. we started off by eating choripan. it is basically a hotdor but with chilean bread and sausage. I didn't know this before the mission but everyone here loves mayonaise and coca cola. when you are at any meal, there will always be mayonaise and coca cola. the food was so good, and then we got to watch the bishop dance the cueca with his daughters. the cueca is the dance of the region of santiago, and almost everybody knows how to dance it. it involves a handkerchif and stomping and it is danced in pairs. you gotta google it. 

this week is transfers. Elder Munoz y yo are still in the same sector, but we received two more missionaries for our sector. our sector is gigantic, and we are so thankful for these elders that have arrived. they will work in the southern half of our sector. we now have four people living in a tiny apartment. its going to be a lot of fun and a little messy I imagine. one of them is from Argentina and the other is from syracuse, utah. 

Elder Munoz and I are really excited for this week. we are ready to hit our sector super hard. recently we have been thinking a lot about obedience. I have learned that obedience should not be a result of fear for the consequences of disobedience but instead an expression of our love for the savior. that is the great and grand commandment "thou shalt love the lord thy God". I am so thankful to be here in Chile serving the Lord. I have seen lives change here as people have opened their hearts to receive the blessing of God. I am one of those people. I am changing everyday. I am learning every minute I am here. it is my hope that the Lord Jesus Christ and the blessings of his gospel will always be your focus throughout your journeys on this earth, as He and his path are becoming mine.

Love,

Elder Williams

Paintin

hola familia y amigos

¿como están? ¿bien? ¡Que Bueno! this week was a ton of fun for reasons that will soon be explained.

primero, I want to talk about something interesting that happened the other day. we were visiting the elders quorum president from our ward on Tuesday. when we left his house we saw man that was about to enter his house which was located next to the house of the elders quorum president. we said hello to him, and he turned around and said "Elderes, I need your help" immediatly we went to him and started to talk. his name was Juan and he began to say that he needed help to stop drinking. he invited us into his house and we talked to him. he told us that he had tried many times and that he needed something that could help him feel good, or in his words "make me feel like Im young and happy again". we shared a scripture with him, and we set up the time for another appointment to meet with him, and we left.

I share this story with you all because I want you to know that the commandments of God are a protection for us. there is a way to have true happiness in this life, to have a hope for a life with our famililes and God for after this life too. this way is the gospel of Jesus Christ. a part important in this gospel is obedience to the commandments of God. we forfeit blessings from god that include, knowledge, peace, joy, and love when we go against the commandments of God. Juan has personally seen that drinking has destroyed his life, and he feels that it has crippled him. We will teach Juan repentance, so he may conquer this weakness as he calls upon the aid of Jesus Christ. it is through Christ that we are saved from sin, death, challenges, confusion-- Everything.

about the hermana Lucy this week. she was nothing but smiles this week. she told us that she felt like a voice had whispered to her during her baptism and that she felt very content with her decision, and that her Padre Celestial felt content with her decision as well. Lucy is amazing because when the missionaries first found her, she could not read hardly at all. now she is reading 3 to 4 pages of the book of mormon everyday and understanding everything. it is amazing to see the miracles that have happened in her life as a result of her actions of faith in Jesus Christ. the other day we witnessed the first steps of her grandson Lian during the lesson. it was cool to feel like part of the family and share that special moment with Lucy and her family.

for those of you who dont know, the 11 of september here in Chile is a day of protests and molestation. we had to enter the house at 6 o clock because it is very dangerous in the streets in the night of september 11. don't worry, my companion and I are safe, but there were a couple of mattresses and buses that were burned in the middle of the street.

we are now getting ready for the 18 de septiembre which is the day of independence for Chile. it lasts the whole week, so we will see what happens there. Im expecting lots of empanadas and completos so Im going to be a happy camper!

Big shout out to my sister Hermana Williams who is officially in Osorno sharing the gospel with the people and evading snow and penguins in the street. MUCHO AMOR A LA HERMANA WILLIAMS

Love,

Elder Williams

Saturday was the worldwide day of service for the church. half of the missionaries from the mission wore their street clothes and went to curacavi to paint the buildings in the main street of the town. it was super fun, and there are photos. there was a ton of paint on my hands after it and it looked like my hands were bleeding the rest of the day. it was soooo fuuunnn

the email

hola familia y amigos

This week was a ton of fun, but I wasn´t able to spend a lot of time in my area because we were in the office a lot preparing a musical number for a conference with elder Viñez from the seventy. 

on tuesday we received a call in the morning that my companion and I were supposed to rehearse a musical number with some of the sister missionaries in our mission, so we headed to the office. Elder Muñoz plays the violin and another hermana plays the piano. the other sister missionary and I sang nearer my god to thee. it was super fun.

we returned to our sector after that and had a lesson with Luis y Carolina. something that we do here in the mission is we reteach the lessons to converts right after they are baptized. we left the lesson and the spirit was really strong. 5 minutes later we were walking along and we heard a shout. it was Luis y Carolina and they were running after us yelling at us to stop. we stopped and when they reached us they handed us a bag of pansitos (little bread). in Chile the people are so loving that they will run to you just to hand you a bag of free bread. sometimes I don´t feel worthy of the love that I have recieved here from the members and from the people I am teaching. Im just a 20 year old gringo that can hardly speak spanish, but to the people here in Chile they see me as a true messenger of god. 

the following day we performed the musical number and the zone conference was awesome!!!! Elder Viñez was super great. we talked about the role of the atonement in our lives as missionaries. I have learned a lot here in the mission how important the atonement of Jesus Christ is. we don´t have to be perfect, we can commit mistakes and still find peace and hope through the atonement of Jesus Christ. I constantly have to repent every day in the mission because it is not possible to be happy and imperfect without Jesus Christ and his atonement to help me out. I am so glad that he loves me enough to take all of my burdens upon himself so that I can look to him in any moment and he will help me. Who does a thing such as that. who has that much love. HE has that much love and he wants us to be joyful in this life, and all we have to do is look to him.

a couple days ago we were walking in the street and Elder Muñoz knocked on a door. an old man answered it and told us immediatly that he felt like he had met us before. we told him that there had been lots of different missionaries that had walked the same streeets that we had, but he told us that he felt like he had known us before this life. we entered his house which was full of artwork and sculptures that he had done. Osvaldo, se llama, is an artist, and it was awesome to teach him about the plan of salvation so that he could know that we existed before we all came to the earth. we all lived with our heavenly father as spirits before we were born. Im excited to teach him again.

Thank you for all of your emails, prayers, and pictures. please keep them coming. 

Love.

Elder Williams