12-29-13 Strange Encounters and False Doctrine

FAMILY!!

So my family is up in Utah having a great time skiing . . . life is good.

Well life is good here in Texas too. We had a bit of a rough week teaching wise, most of our investigators were tied up with Christmas stuff all week so we did quite a bit of tracting. 

We had dinner with an investigator Christmas night and she told us that she didn't really think the church was the right answer for her but she may still meet with us. That was Destiny, the one I told you about on Skype. So that was a bit disappointing. Our week just kept moving downhill from there, we did so much tracting. That's all we did on Saturday actually and I about lost it. We knocked into this weirdo Pentecostal guy who got in my face and told me I can't work my way to Heaven and then we had this lady open the door and invite us right in. We went and sat down with her fiancee who was the epitome of Southern Baptist. He started off by stating that he probably knew more about the Mormon Church than we did. He proceeded to tell us how he has been to Salt Lake City multiple times and went off on how there are five versions of the 1st vision and quoted different scriptures that he completely took out of context and a whole bunch of other nonsense. He was absolutely ridiculous. We were trying to just keep calm and answer his questions and that lasted about ten minutes and then we just bore our testimonies and left. This guy was.... something else. So that was fun. It was just ridiculous. But we saw a miracle on Sunday. A woman just walked into church. Stuff at home had been hectic so she went for a walk and was prompted to come inside and we got to meet her and share the Restoration with her and she said it was the first thing that has really made sense to her in a long time. It was amazing, nothing short of a miracle. So it was a great way to end our week. Not much else besides that, we're just working hard and moving forward.

Elder Porter is from the Riverton-Draper area and he was curious to know if mom knows anyone by the name of Linn Pierce and if there are any Garsides in our stake back home? And yes I got the Kalai CD, thanks! That is awesome that he signed it himself!

That is about it. Well I hope y'all have a great week and enjoy the snow, be safe and don't break any bones!

Love,

Elder Williams

12-23-13 Twas The Day Before The Night Before Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!

 

This past week has been quite the event, let me tell ya. It has been full of spiritually uplifting experiences, crazy people, and goofing around of course. We have been doing a lot of tracting whenever we don't have lessons and we have found a bunch of new investigators in the last few weeks, what a blessing. 

As we were out tracting one day we knocked on the door of a lady who probably had the worst attitude I have ever seen. She came out to tell us that God and Jesus have fallen off their pedestals because the country is going to pot, her dog just died, and the apparently she just got out of the hospital because something her house did to her which was sold to her by a scam artist and that there is no hope for the world and especially no hope for herself. We were both just in pure shock at her poor outlook. Then we were tracting at night and this creepy black cat kept following us around and crossing our path, it was odd. Tracting brings lots of interesting stories.

 

I also got to go on an exchange with my trainer, Elder Merrill and that was fun, it was just like old times except I wasn't a new little missionary anymore, we had a bunch of fun. We also had a big Christmas meeting with all of the English speaking missionaries in the Dallas area which was excellent. We played sports and had some great trainings and goofed around and all that good stuff. Then this weekend we set a baptismal date with one our favorite investigators, Destiny Villapa, and she came to church as well. We also had a baptism on Sunday and got to drive down to Plano to teach an old friend of Elder Porter's, I'll explain more when I see you. Speaking of which, I will get to Skype you all on Christmas. We are going to get on around 2 p.m. Texas time, so translate that to Arizona time please! I will set up a Skype account that day and call you with the info to make sure we get it all worked out. We get to talk for about 40 minutes again, like Mother's Day. Can't wait to see y'all!!

 

And last thing, could you make a copy of my mission call and send it to me. I'd just like to have it to read every once in a while.I love you all, see you Wednesday!

 

Love,

Elder Williams

12-16-13 Play Chicken With a Duck

Subject: Re: 12-16-13

FAMILY!!

 

Well we had another great week. We did a lot of finding and found 6 new investigators and taught a lot of lessons, it makes the time go by quickly. Elder Porter and I are getting along well, he played basketball in high school and is into sports and all that good stuff, right up my alley. We have been working hard, doing a lot of tracting and meeting a lot of interesting people. 

 Rowlett is such an odd place. It is country, it's not country, it's old and new, it is just weird. The people are unusual too, our ward is rather interesting for us, especially since both of us missionaries are fairly new. It is going to be a good transfer though. Our baptisms will happen this upcoming weekend, finally. It has been cold consistently, it usually sits around 40-50 most of the days. We are enjoying the Christmas time around here, but there aren't nearly as many good Christmas lights as there are back home, kind of disappointing, but that is Rowlett. This morning we were driving and played chicken with a stubborn duck who wouldn't get out of the road so Elder Porter went and chased it away.

 

As for the Christmas call, we still aren't sure where we will be for Christmas to make the calls so I will let you know when I know more but I'm looking forward to it. I got the three packages and it is looking more festive in our little 10 by 10 bedroom. Christmas just doesn't feel quite the same out here but no worries, it'll be a great one.

 

I'm glad everyone at home is doing well. Sounds like the temple open house will be quite the experience, I wish I could see it. Take some pictures and send them if you can.

 

I miss you all, enjoy the Christmas season, talk to you next week!

 

Love,

Elder Williams

12-8-13 Cold and Colder!

Family!!!

 

Well I love y'all, it is great to here from you as always. This has been quite an eventful week. We taught a lot an had an exchange and found some new investigators and almost had a baptism until the weather went wacko on us! To answer your question mom, it was about 70 most of the week until Thursday it dropped to about 50 and then we woke up Friday morning to ice on everything and sleet coming down, what in the world? It was a shock for me, we bundled up and went tracting In it, it was awesome! People told us to stay warm as they slammed the door in our face, so kind. The cold spell is still here but the ice has cleared up and it is around 40ish now, it was crazy! The umbrella can wait until Christmas though. 

We were supposed to have a baptism this weekend but the weather ruined that. On Friday we had to spend most of the day indoors and I about went nuts, it was awful! We spent the day with some other missionaries but  it was pretty lame, let me tell you that. So Elder Berentzen just got transferred today, he is going out to east Texas that lucky guy. I loved serving with him. My new companion will be great though, his name is Elder Porter, a zone leader from a different area. Not sure but I think I get to drive now... Crazy! So that was most of my excitement this week.

 

Sounds like all is well on the home front, good to hear. I would write more but I don't have too much time, I love you all, have a blessed week!

 

Elder Williams

12-2-13 Email Exchanges from a Lovely Ward Member, Lynne Barber

Hi Cindy,

I wanted to let you know that I saw your son last week … he had called to see about me making some T-shirts for his whole team.  They turned out really cool … and I need to ask him to send me a group picture! J

He looked GREAT and seems to be doing really well … I knew he’s make a great zone leader! 

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday,

Lynne

From: Cindy 

Sent: Friday, September 20, 2013 12:08 AM
To: Barber Lynne
Subject: Re: Pictures of your son and Elder Smith

Hi Lynn,

Jeff had you send these pics to his office email and he just forwarded them to my email today.
THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH!!! 
How kind of you to do this!!!

Elder Williams looks WONDERFUL! It warmed my heart to see him in the different situations.

Thank you again!

Cindy

Cindy Williams
Elder Hunter Williams Mother

---

From: Barber Lynne

Sent: Wednesday, September 04, 2013 6:21 PM
To: Cindy and Jeff Williams 

Subject: Pictures of your son and Elder Smith

Hi Cindy and Jeff,

It was great talking to you this evening.  I’m sorry to have interrupted music lessons. 

The first pictures are of your son’s birthday dinner and the last one was “breakfast for dinner” as requested on this past Saturday evening! J   The two across the table are the two youngest of my four grand kids.    

Your son is such a fine young man.  We’re so lucky to have him in our Ward and hope that he gets to stay around awhile longer.  He’s such a great companion to Elder Smith and the other new Elders that he helps. 

Take care and have a wonderful evening,

Lynne Barber

PS … I don’t want to forget to tell you that your son says to tell you that he loves you VERY much! J

12-2-13 Email message from James Tabor, a Great Investigator

(James Tabor is a very nice investigator who loves the Elders. Elder Williams served in his area and Mr. Tabor took him and his companion to dinner often.  He has been extremely kind to our missionary! ~Thus saith the Mom of Elder Hunter Williams)

Elder Williams seems to be enjoying his new assignment. As we say in Texas "he is now in high cotton". Rockwall is much more affluent than the area in Allen where was serving. He did seem to enjoy his stay here. This area of Allen is the older part of town as opposed to the newer area. Just between their apartment and my home is a very low income area, but he seemed to enjoy it here and I know he now is in a nicer area. But we all need ministering to.

I hope you guys had a nice Thanksgiving. My grandsons really enjoyed the football game they had with Elders Payne and Smith. We probably will be losing Elder Smith after this weekend.

I really have enjoyed taking the guys out to dine. One thing we Texan pride ourselves on is our hospitality.

Hope you are looking forward to a great Christmas Season.

Regards,

James Tabor

12-1-13 Deep Fried Turkey!

Family!

 

I almost exploded on Thursday because we ate so much. We had lunch with one family and dinner with another and I almost died. Not really but I was stuffed for basically the rest of the week. All the food was great and they do something awesome here in Texas. They deep fry their turkeys and it is the way to go! It takes less than an hour and the turkey stays all juicy and moist. Definitely the way to go! We knocked doors for about 2 hours during the day and didn't meet with much success but that was expected. We did have a great weekend though because we got to teach an investigator and help her move which allowed her to  meet a lot of ward members, it was great and she is hilarious and has made it her goal to "break" me because I am shy and in a shell apparently. So it's fun, her name is Veronique. While we were helping her move we noticed that the drivers side door of our car and trunk was open and that there was a police officer over by it so we went to check it out and apparently the owners of the house we parked it in front of complained that it was blocking their driveway (it was maybe an inch in the driveway, maybe, they were old geezers of course) and the officer came to check it out and said the door was open when he got there and that he popped the trunk and he was running our backgrounds and had called a truck to come tow our car! So we got everything cleared up, nothing was missing but it was weird! That was my excitement for the week.

 

It sounds like thanksgiving at home was great, I missed it, didn't quite feel like a holiday out here but that's okay. I'm glad you all are doing well and that life is good. Congratulations to mom for becoming national presidente of her writing group and tell Chase to quit growing, and Jordan too. I love you all, have a great week!!

 

Love,

Elder Williams

 

P.S. So apparently we have to get messenger bags (side bags) instead of backpacks. All the missions are changing, getting ready for computers, I think. So that would be a great Christmas present. I think CTR may have some and I know of another brand called Timbuk2 that makes a good one. Black would be a good color. If Jordan wants to do some looking around, I would appreciate that.

Testimony of Being Obedient to the Small Things The Lord Asks of Us - Wait 10 Minutes For Weather to Change

Dearest Family,

It's cold!! They have a saying here in Texas that if you don't like the weather, wait ten minutes and it will change and it is true!! Most of this week was fairly nice, probably in the low 70's. On Friday it was humid and warm and gross and then it completely flipped on us and Saturday and Sunday were cold and rainy and cold! Down in the low 50s I think with a very cold rain/mist, good stuff. Besides the weather, we had a great week. 

We taught more lessons and are seeing some progress in our investigators. Two little kids we teach, Rylee and Cade Jankowski, passed their baptismal interviews yesterday and will be getting baptized on the 7th, we are excited! They are awesome, makes the mission worth it. 

Also I drove the car this week, the first time I have driven in 9 months! We went on an exchange with the assistants to the president and I got to stay in our area and drive us everywhere. I was pretty nervous at first but it came back quickly, we are still in one piece, no worries. The exchange was fun, I got to work with Elder Sorensen, he is going home at the end of this trasnfer, he is a stud of a missionary. So we had a fun time there. 

Other than that it has been a fairly normal week, just moving on along. We serve at a food pantry and the lady who runs it, Rhonda, has an eight year old daughter named Abigail who became my little helper and Rhonda asked me if I was planning on getting married before I was thirty because if not, Abigail would like to be in the running. We had a good laugh over that. 

Oh and on our way into the library a man stopped us right in the middle of the walkway and asked us to pray with him, so we did, it was pretty cool. We also had the chance to give a blessing to another nonmember and she said that it made her feel a lot better and we will be seeing her again this week. 

Lastly, I gained a testimony of being obedient to the small and simple things that the Lord asks of us. It's easy for us to do the big things that may get us recognition or a reward, but I think the Lord truly cares more about the little things that we do to show Him we love Him and will serve Him like reading our scriptures and praying.

It was great to hear from everyone, I'm jealous of all the temple happenings that I am missing out on! It sounds awesome!! I'm so excited for you all. Yes mom, I will check on my medicine. To Jordan all I have to say is that it sounds like you will need some serious humbling when I get home but don't worry, I will bite that bullet and do what I can.

Well I love you all and am grateful to have such a wonderful family at home.  

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Love, Elder Williams

P.S. If you have any Christmas requests, get them in fast. Also, I made need my umbrella back, I probably jumped the gun on sending that home... 

"I Love the People Here!" -- Anti-Mormon Literature Drives Away the Truth

Hello family!

So many questions to answer this week! Well things are going well here in Rowlett, we are working hard and doing all that we can to move the work forward. We had a solid investigator drop us this week. At our last lesson he was really interested and loved what we taught about the three kingdoms of glory and then we went back to see him and he did a total 180. He told us that he liked us but he just thought we were a cult and we tried to ask him why so we could defend ourselves and he just avoided the question. Some of his friends must have given him some anti-mormon info because it was a drastic change. So that was fun, we have been running around trying to find new people to teach but we are confident that things will turn around, just a little trial of the faith. 

Elder Berentzen and I are getting along really well, we are a lot alike. Last night I got a call from Elder Smith in Allen and while I was talking Elder Berentzen fell asleep on the couch so I threw a pillow at him and ran upstairs and he came up and told me I scared him to death as I tried to play dumb. Well when I got up he attacked and we had a good wrestle all around the room (not hard to do since we have a little 10 by 10 room) it was evenly matched. So that was fun. We are both zone leaders, we are over 2 districts and have 20 missionaries to take care of, it's a lot of fun. 

Nothing too exciting has happened but I love the people here. We did have two investigators show up to stake conference though, that was awesome! 

Bishop Hawk huh? I always knew he would get there some day, he is a great guy. How is Rand doing by the way? Sounds like things keep changing back home, coming back will be a shock. I'm glad you are staying involved with the missionaries, I feel the blessings from that out here. The Church is really trying to become more missionary minded as a whole and I am truly grateful for it. As it says in Doctrine and Covenants 15:6, the thing that will be of most worth to us is to preach repentance.

I'm doing well out here, my asthma is good, clothes are good, health is good, it's all good! I'm glad things are going well back home, it helps me to focus on the work out here. I love y'all, have a great week!

Elder Williams

General Conference Jeopardy and Paper Towers Able to Withstand the Winds and Rains of the Devil.

Happy Monday everyone!

Week 2 down in the new area, I'm really enjoying it. We did have zone conference this week but the assistants to the president were in charge of it. We practiced teaching the new member lessons and played general conference jeopardy. We also participated in a tower building activity. We were given 50 sheets of paper and a roll of tape and a glue stick and we had to create the tallest tower with an excellent foundation that could withstand the wind and rains of the devil( spray bottles and a hair dryer). The one that we helped build ended up being the only tower still standing after the attacks, no big deal. The conference was centered around building firm foundations on Jesus Christ and we came away spiritually nourished.

Elder Berentzen and I are having a lot of fun and working hard at the same time, it's awesome and the time is flying by. We are teaching a man named Tony Casarez, he is amazing. He has been investigating for three-ish years and is living with his girlfriend and her family (all members) so we had a lesson with him on Saturday and basically just called him out and asked what his plan was for marrying his girlfriend. He is such a good guy, he knows she will say yes, he is just afraid to ask the question. He said it should happen by the end of the month and the weekend after he proposes they will get married and he will get baptized so we are so excited! We have a great teaching pool here, I'm loving it. We also started playing basketball with the Elder's Quorom president and doing P90X for exercise in the mornings, it's awesome!! We had a slower week lesson wise but we made a lot of really good progress with our investigators.

t sounds like everything back home is great! Chase, know that you are in my prayers, I'm rooting for ya! And I'm super jealous that you will get to be in the cultural celebration for the temple, that is so cool! I can't wait to see the temple when I get back. Keep me posted on the new Bishop,  . . .  my thoughts are  . . . Brother Hawk! Anyways, I love y'all, have a blessed week!

Elder Williams

P.S. Also for Christmas I will accept multiple chocolate oranges... and if you could send back my umbrella with the package, that would be most excellent!

The Week is a Blur of Tracting and Teaching

I guess these guys are standing on the wall. They're pretty tricky in Texas you know. 

(Sorry, the computer wouldn't let me rotate this picture.) 

Hey Everyone,

Well this week flew by in a blur, being transferred is always exciting. I ride passenger in the car so basically I never know where we are and fall asleep a lot but hey it is a nice break from the bike. My new companion and I are getting along really well. We both like basketball and sports and we both have some nerd in us so it has been a lot of fun. He is from Logan, Utah and is the youngest of 6 kids and he is a cool guy. Just a smidge taller than me. The new area is great, we have a great teaching pool and some awesome ward missionaries, I'm really enjoying it. There are a bunch a Spanish speaking missionaries really close by that we see a lot and it makes me want to learn Spanish sooo bad. I'm picking up on little things though and maybe by the time I leave I will have a minimal grasp of the Spanish language.

So we were tracting this week and we met this man who was definitely drunk and kept telling us how wonderful he thought we were and that we were just great, it was pretty funny. Church was good but the sacrament was a little rough. They picked an opening hymn that no one knew so it sounded like a bunch of dead people moaning and mumbling trying to sing this song, my companion and I almost busted out laughing. Besides that though, it was a great Sunday. 

We are teaching a man who has a hole in his throat, like the ones that smokers have, and when he talks he has to cover it up and it sounds robotic, it is a bit unnerving and the sad part is that there was no need for the doctors to cut that hole in his throat, poor guy.

I wish I could remember more but like I said, this week has been a blur. To answer some of your questions mom, that girl we baptized is happy as can be and her step dad and two younger brothers are all heavily considering getting baptized now as well. They are doing wonderful as far as I know! 

As for what I want for Christmas, there is an artist named Kahli (not sure about the spelling, pronounced kuh-lie), he is a Polynesian singer who has some great church music, I think the album is called "A Pauper's Carol". I would enjoy that. Besides that not too much. A few pictures of the family would be great, maybe a tie or two, but other than that it doesn't matter too much. I'll let you know if I have any better ideas.

I hope Chase feels better! I miss that little guy!

Happy Birthday to Mom this week!! I will try and get her present sent off today.

That is about it this week, I love y'all, until next week!

Elder Williams

We had ourselves a baptism!

This has probably been the craziest, fastest, and most enjoyable week of my mission. We had ourselves a baptism! Jalisia was baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday in Sacrament meeting and she asked me to baptize her! It was amazing, the whole baptism was a miracle. We found out that it was going through on Thursday so Friday we were scrambling to get an interview in, sign permission slips, make a program, not to mention other planned activities. One of her young women's leaders ended up being able to help out a ton because her plans somehow were cancelled which was a miracle.

Then Saturday morning we had to get up early so we could go to the church and fill up the font and when we got there we didn't have a key to get to the water valve that fills up the font or a key to the library to get a tv but luckily there was someone down there cleaning the building that had a key to both and then tons of people showed up!! The whole day was a miracle. The Lord truly had His hand in this one.

Friday night we carved pumpkin with ____ family for the trunk or treat which was fun and then we figured out why they are at "spiritual warfare". Every time ____ tries to read the Book of Mormon or come to church, she starts to get very sick, Satan is really working on her. She knows that there is something to the church, she just has a lot of fears and apprehension about seriously investigating because she has grown up hearing that the Bible is the only book we need and that Mormons are a crazy cult so it is understandable that she is freaking out. I think they will get baptized eventually.

Elder Smith and I both had the prompting to have them watch President Uchtdorf's talk "Come Join With Us" I hope they read it.

We had the trunk or treat on Saturday night and it was fun. We had 11 nonmembers there, two less active families and two part member families there, it was sweet! We had some good chili and my pumpkin won the best carved pumpkin contest (I carved the superman logo). Right after the event ended it started dumping rain and we were trapped at the church until the zone leaders picked us up and took us around the rest of the night. Elder Smith dropped his camera in the parking lot and didn't notice. Luckily Sister Barber went to look for it and found it soaking wet at like 11, Elder Smith was going to have a cow. We put it in a bag of rice and it still works! So that was most of my excitement this week, it was awesome.

So I am being transferred to Rowlett, it is about 20 miles southeastish of Allen and I will be in a car! Not too sure how I feel about it yet but it I think I will enjoy it. I'm going to be a zone leader with Elder Berentzen, he has been out for 15ish months, should be fun! My new address:

2106 Randi Road

Rowlett, TX 75088

Elder Smith is staying here and his new companion will be the new district leader. I'm pretty excited, packing stinks though. Well that's about it for me. It's good to hear that things are going well at home, I hope Myra is okay and that things continue to move forward with the company. You are in my prayers, I love you!

Elder Williams

Some Mission Pictures in September and October 2013

Elder Smith & Elder Williams

Must  be hat day in Texas.

Elder Smith's Birthday. Veggie cake? Uhh yum?

Elder Williams looks like he thinks it's pretty cool.

10-14-13 Ate Gator & knocked on 250 doors this week! It's been tougher than a fight between two pigs wrastlin' in a gunny sack for the last smidge o' slop!

Well howdy y'all!

This week has been tougher than a fight between two pigs wrastlin' in a gunny sack for the last smidge o' slop!

Not really, just wanted to use my Texas vocabulary because I know you all despise it! Anyways, this was actually a great week. We have been working with a less-active mother and her three nonmember children and we set baptismal dates with the two younger kids for December 7! Success!!! In one aspect at least. 

We have been tracting a lot more lately and on Tuesday some of the Sisters challenged us to a tracting contest to see who could knock the most doors and get the most return appointments. They did well, knocked 70 doors and got 4 return appointments. The Lord decided they needed a little humbling though because He helped us knock 200 doors and set up 7 return appointments in 1 day. They were supposed to buy us lunch for our victory but some members ended up swooping in as we were buying our meal and paid for everyone, those lucky Sisters. We ended up knocking about 250 doors this week total and we picked up a new investigator, a good week! 

It has been overcast these last few days so people have been pretty grumpy. Yesterday we got more dirty looks than I have ever had before, people are a bit ridiculous at times. The 40 day fast is going really well, the work is picking up in the area and it is getting our ward more involved in the work. I love serving in Allen. The people are usually nice, our ward is good, the missionaries here are great, and the blessings are abundant. 

 James Tabor, our 74 year-old substitute teacher investigator took us out to dinner on Saturday to a place called Razzoo's Cajun Café and we had ourselves some 'gator!! It came out on this huge platter of fried everything: catfish (okay), shrimp (I'm allergic), pickle chips (ew, honestly?), fries (yumm), hush puppies (corn bread balls), and of course, deep fried 'gator! It was quite the experience but probably only a one time thing. It was great. 

Other than that it has been the same old stuff. Elder Smith and I are really starting to get  along well, he's just a big goofball. Obedience level must be high and I help others with that. We are having a good time.

Maddie's wedding sounds like it will be quite the event, I wish I could be there. Could I get their address so I can send them a congratulations letter? I hope things work out for them!

So I'm doing well, we are just chugging along out here. The weather is getting cooler, I love it. And mom, I'm good on the white shirts, they just needed a little tender love and care, don't worry about sending any! 

Sorry I am bad at sending my scripture each week but this week it is part of Enos 1:15- "...Whatsoever thing ye shall ask in faith, believing that ye shall receive in the name of Christ, ye shall receive it."

I love you all!!

Elder Williams

10-7-13 General Conference Rocks! There is Power in the Simplicity of the Gospel!

Subject: Re: 10-7-13

Happy Monday!

 

Well conference simply rocked my socks. I enjoyed all of the talks that were given. A few highlights for me: 

• Don't let something good distract you from what is best.  
• Men and women are equal in importance but different in their roles, responsibilities, and attributes and it is meant to be that way. 
• Sometimes we simply have to drink the bitter cup and be strong.
• Meekness is not weakness.

I loved hearing from our inspired leaders. WE watched most of conference with some of our favorite members, the Sterrett family and Sister Barber who you probably hear a lot from.

 

This week was a bit slower in our area. We had quite a few investigators push away from us which was unfortunate. They just don't seem to understand what we are offering. It is frustrating at times but I know that the Lord's ways are higher than my own. We did make progress with James Tabor. He is a 74 year-old substitute teacher we have been working with for a while. We have had many deep gospel discussions lately but we finally just got to the root of the problem: Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. We challenged him to read and pray about it and he accepted. We went to watch a session of conference at his house and found out that he had either been listening or watching the other sessions as well, a very good sign. There is power in the simplicity of the gospel.

 

I spent a day in a car on exchange with an elder in my district and it actually made me more appreciative of my bike. Being in a car is a bit boring, especially when the one driving listens to some weird music. Not bad music but weird instrumental stuff. He is a good missionary though and we had a fun day. Most of our appointments dropped but we had the chance to go into a million dollar home, it was gorgeous. Elder Smith held down the fort in our area except he let the other missionary get a flat on my bike so I had a fun time fixing that when I got back. Punk. We also went on exchange with our zone leaders and Elder White came with me for the day. He is going home just before Christmas and he is trunky trunky trunky, it made me trunky too! He is an awesome missionary though, he converted at 19 and came on a mission, he is great.

 

The most spiritual thing that happened this week was conference but we still had a good week. Thank you for the package, it was amazing and the pants fit perfectly, I love them! The shorts are great too!

 

Everything sounds great back home! Congratulations to Chase for being a stud on the football team! Is he going to try out for the basketball team this year? How tall is he now? I'm proud to say that I may have grown a centimeter! But I now weigh 178, my legs are thick! Thank you Mr. Bike. 

Well I love you all, have a great week!

 

Love,

Elder Williams

9-30-13 Howdy! 72 hour work week! 40 Day Ward Fast! Miracles and Valuable Lessons Learned! PREACH MY GOSPEL and Ward Members Are Key to Missionary Work! Three-Step Program!

Howdy!

 

Well another beautiful week has gone by here in the wonderful Texas Dallas Mission and we are exhausted. The Zone Leaders threw us a challenge to work a 72 hour work week. Typically due to studies and meetings, we missionaries will be out proselyting for about 50 hours a week so we turned it up a notch! We did our studies outside in parks, ate lunch on the road, stayed out late, and either ate dinner with nonmembers or brought investigators to dinner with us. We ended our week having worked a total of 75 hours and 50 minutes! And to add to our increased efforts we started a 40 day fast in the ward where 40 families each fast for one day each, 40 days in a row and this was our first week and boy did the Lord bless us in so many ways. We doubled the number of lessons we taught, found 8 new investigators (2 families and an individual), and were strengthened daily by the Lord. As Elder Andersen of the 12 would say, "It's a miracle!" 

We are incredibly excited and we want to keep working harder to bring the restored gospel to the good people of Allen. One of the families who became formal investigators was the one I talked about last week, Kala and Val and their children. The ones that call us Batman and Robin. We showed them a short film on the Joseph Smith story and testified of the truthfulness of it to them and they said they would come to church to check it out and read the Book of Mormon. They are a wonderful family, might as well be Mormon! ON Saturday they texted us saying they might not come to church because the family was at spiritual warfare with themselves and we haven't heard from them since but we are praying constantly that the Spirit will testify of the truth to them and give them peace of mind about joining the church. I will keep you updated on the warfare. 

We also taught a less active mother and her nonmember children the restoration and the  youngest son, about 11, asked where we came from, a perfect lead into the Plan of Salvation which we will teach next week. The Lord truly blessed us with many miracles this week and I learned a valuable lesson about working diligently towards worthy goals and waiting for the Lord's timing.

 

In answer to Dad's question about how we do missionary work, we use all tactics that he mentioned in his email to find but something we are really pushing in the ward is getting the members more actively involved in finding. Preach My Gospel tells us that the members are our best source for finding new investigators and it is true. 

We have come up with a three-step program for our ward where:

1. The members get to know their neighbors, 
2. Then learn how to invite them over for Family night (i.e. games and a treat), 
3. Then they prayerfully set a date when they will have someone over to hear the missionary lessons. 

We are kicking it off this week but we feel very confident about it and we know that the members really are our best source. We need them. If all the members were actively finding, we would have about 200 people searching for the elect instead of two 19 year old missionaries. Sounds like a good plan to me!

 

Other than that it sounds like all is going well on the home front! I am proud of Chase for being a stud at basketball and football but probably more so for his diligence in reading the Book of Mormon. Keep up the good work bud! How tall are you now, 6' 2"? It sounds like y'all are having so much fun, I'm glad to hear it and can't wait to join in on the fun when I get home! I love you all so much!

 

Until next week,

Elder Williams

9-16-13 Batman and Robin spend time with a lovely family

Family!!

Hey! So we survived transfers, Elder Smith and I are here in Allen for another 6 weeks. Our district has gotten bigger, we picked up another set of Elders and Sisters so there are now 12 missionaries in the district. The only problem is that the Elders live almost an hour away and are closer to other districts than ours, I'm going to talk with President about it.

 We had a good week this past week. An update about the guy we found riding our bikes, we taught him the first lesson and committed him to be baptized on October 12. Unfortunately he is 22 so we had to pass him off to the YSA missionaries. He went to a YSA activity on Saturday and church on Sunday, he is looking solid but we won't get to teach him anymore. That's okay though. 

I don't know if mom got the picture of Elder Smith and I on the couch with 4 kids but that picture was sent from a nonmember who loves us. We tracted into their family when Elder Hoopes was here and have been developing a friendship with them and now they tell us how they stick up for Mormons and how we totally changed their perspective on us. Well we had dinner with them on Saturday and the littlest boy loooves batman and I wore some of my batman dress socks and they know I love batman too so now they call me batman and Elder Smith robin, it is awesome!! Kala (the wife), and Val (the husband) and the two of us talked about all sorts of things and we ended up showing them pictures of all the different temples and we hooked them, they looked at all 150 of them that night. Kala was concerned that we would get transferred so we went back on Sunday and they were all happy to know we were staying and we showed them part of President Monson's talk where he tells the story of lighting the field on fire and while her kids were playing Kala and us had a huge discussion about the church and she kept talking about how her church is failing and everywhere she turns she sees Mormons, she is ready and there family is basically Mormon anyways. That is the best thing that has happened in a long time! So that is my highlight for the week.

Well I am doing well, I am tired all the time but I love it, I can't believe it has been 7 and a half months since I left. I miss you all and love you, have a great week!

Elder Williams

September 9, 2013 "Never worked so hard in my life." - Healing by the power of the Priesthood. - Miracles

Note from the Mom.  In this email, Elder Williams states that he has never worked so hard in his life as he is on his mission. These missionaries must be absolutely exhausted because Hunter is one of the most hard working individuals I have ever known. I have no doubt the Lord powers them on. Coach Burns was Hunter's Varsity B-ball Coach. The man was dangerous and almost drove the boys into the ground.

Well hello there,

 

So another week has flown by, time is passing very quickly out here, we only have one more week left in the transfer. I am more tired than I have ever been in my life. The Lord has to be sustaining me because I have never worked so hard so consistently in all my life. I'm just glad it is my choice and that I don't have Coach Burns on my back all the time. 

Being a missionary is great, I feel a sense of peace and accomplishment. A lot of people have been asking what I am going to do when I get home but all I really tell them that I don't think about it much because I am serving the Lord and I know He will guide me as I give myself to Him. It's quite comforting. 

Elder Smith and I are getting along better lately. Things were far from bad before but it's starting to feel more like a friendship instead of a "I'm stuck with this guy I better be nice" type of thing. 

This week I did something that I never thought I would on my mission. I went to the Allen High School varsity football game in their $60 million football stadium that is ridiculous on all accounts, it was amazing. Now I will let you know that I did have permission from President Durrant to go and we went with an investigator so don't worry, it is legal. We actually had quite a few positive contacts from it and had a fun time as well. We were with some other missionaries and I ticked one of them off because he wanted to stay the whole game but I made us leave. I told him that we are missionaries, not high school students, he didn't like that very much but I think he respects me a little more for it so it worked out.

On Saturday we did some service for one of our favorite people. We raked his leaves and helped him build a dog house. The only problem was that it was outside at the hottest part of the day. I'm getting quite the tan. Earlier in the week we were at dinner with some less active members and Elder Smith ate way too much of a blazing hot sauce and just about died, I found it humorous. 

We are teaching a recent convert mother and son and the mom was pretty sick and experiencing vertigo like symptoms for a few weeks and asked for a blessing at the beginning of the week. Elder Smith anointed and I gave her a blessing and a few days later she was completely better. Just a testimony builder about the power of the priesthood. 

Oh and we talked to this guy who said that Christ never talks about faith, that he has seen the original scrolls of the bible and the plates that the Book of Mormon are on and that our leaders are manipulating and lying to us and apparently he is going to live forever. We confounded a few different times and he just kept making up more stuff, it was so weird, and he was a walking contradiction. That was interesting.

 

Lastly, we had quite the miracle yesterday. We were fasting because we needed some extra help with the area and we were supposed to be having dinner with some members and investigators that night. Well the investigators ended up cancelling so we were a bit sad all day but, on our way to dinner we were riding and this car flew by, the man waved at us and then parked at a house. We were just going to ride by because he was fiddling with things in the car and got about 10 feet past it and then we both just flipped around and went and talked to him. It turns out that he has LDS friends and had stayed with them for awhile and loved it, he thought the family was amazing and they gave him a book of Mormon. Their Bishop offered missionary visits but he said he wasn't ready yet. Well for the past week he felt like he was finally at a point to talk to someone and thought about going down to the church and we just happened to ride by! He is now ready to talk about the church, he has been reading the book of Mormon on his own and wants to meet with us! We were freaking out, it was amazing. His name is Aelias (like Elias in the bible), what?? It was quite the miracle, it made our week.

 

It sounds like things keep on keeping on at home, that is great. Nicely done with the toothpaste Chase, I hope Mom made you clean it up. I love you all and hope you have another great week!

 

Love,

Elder Williams

A lovely member in Allen Texas sends greetings from our Missionary.

Monica Burns, an earthly angel living in Allen Texas, sent this to the Williams Family. Elder Williams sends his emails from computers in the local libraries and the library was closed today on p-day (short for Preparation Day.)

---

Good Morning Cindy!

It's Monica Burns.  Just wanted to let you know that the library is closed today so the missionaries can't email. However, they WILL be able to email tomorrow. 

By the way, your son bore a beautiful testimony yesterday!  I hope that my boys grow up to have such strong testimonies as your son does!  Good job on the teaching and training!  We sure enjoy having them in our home!  They stopped by last night on their way home to use the restroom and get some water and joined us for scriptures.  We made them a bit late getting home so we threw their bikes in the truck and took them home.  I hope they didn't get in trouble but it was really great to have them with us!  We have 8 children and are down to the last 2.  Our boys are 10 and 12 and it's so good for them to see the missionaries and listen to stories from home and listen to their testimonies!!  Our last 2 girls went back to college a couple of weeks ago and it was so nice to have a few more bodies in the house!!  Thanks for sharing your son with us!  

Happy Labor Day!

 

Hope you have a good day!

Love from Allen, Texas!

Monica

August 27, 2013 - Stalker Guy - Dog Threats - Not so secret Admirer, Baptist Preacher's false directions - What a crazy two weeks!

Hallelujah for working internet service!

 

Hey everyone, thanks for all the birthday wishes!! I find it ironic that the one day I really want to read some emails that the internet isn't working but that's just how it goes. Well first of all I had a great birthday, I will send some pictures home of our little celebration. The members took great care of me and gave me some presents too. We played basketball and had a great day, even though Elder Smith beat me 1 on 1 for a talk in church on Sunday. He had some extra motivation because he doesn't like speaking in church and he is a half foot taller than me but still, on my birthday? Tough love I suppose. It was a great day though!

 

As for the last two weeks, they have been eventful! No baptisms unfortunately but last transfer there was some random joe who pulled over Elder Hoopes and I and told us we needed permits to solicit and all this nonsense. Well Elder Smith and I were tracting and this guy found us again! He and Elder Smith got into it and he threatened to call the police on us and we told him to do it! So he did and sounded ridiculous describing missionaries to the police and when they showed up they let us go again. So we thought things were settled but the next day we were taking a get well card to one of our favorite part member families and this guy found us again and started yelling at us again! He is ridiculous, we are going to just ignore him from now on. Oh and we contacted this 30 ish year old lady and she kept going off about how attractive I was, it was a bit creepy... And we had another guy threaten to set dogs on us. And a Baptist preacher who told basically told is we are going to hell. So yeah, we have had a good 2 weeks. Oh and we had the 2013 Texas Dallas Mission Olympics and Elder Smith and I took gold in the free-throw shooting, represent!

 

On a more spiritual note my talk yesterday went well and we made some progress with teaching people. We had an investigator at church on Sunday finally. And I conducted my first baptismal interview last Friday which was a very humbling and spiritual experience. Aaaand there is a lot more to say but I really don't have the time to say it. I love you all, thanks again for all the birthday wishes and I'm glad you are all doing well! Happy Birthday to Cole, and Heather and Jordan! I'm getting behind on all these cards I need to make!

 

Oh and I have now gained 10 pounds in my legs from the biking and I have either grown or my pants have shrunk because they are shorter than they used to be. I could use another pair of slacks and I also need a new pair of black nike gym shorts like dad has, mine are getting a little beat up. I love you all!

 

Elder Williams

August 19, 2013 - Elder Williams Birthday - 19 Today and already served 6 months!

Today is Elder Williams first birthday - EVER - away from the family. (Tough on the Mom for sure.) Here is a chain of emails. NONE FROM HIM. The missionaries in his mission use the public library computers on P-Day to write home. This day, the computers were out. What a day for this to happen. How blessed we are to have a lovely Sister in Texas, Monica Burns, caring for our missionary!

* * * * * * * * * * *

Hi Williams Family!

     My name is Monica Burns.  Your son is serving in our Ward here in Allen Tx.  I spoke with him and his companion Elder Smith just a few minutes ago for your sons birthday.  They told me the internet was down today at the library so I offered to send a note for them to their families to let y'all know.  The Mission President won't let them come to a members home to use  a computer.  They doubt they will be able to email later this week so you probably won't hear from them until next Monday but they don't know for sure.

      So your son told me to tell you that he loves his birthday pkg., he is doing well, and...Happy Anniversary! 

     If there is anything you would like me to convey just let me know and I will be happy to do so!  We love you're son and think he is a great missionary!

p.s.  We are doing our best to take care of the Elders here so don't worry!!   I have a homemade Dutch Apple Pie in the oven for him right now for his birthday.  He told me he didn't really care for cake.  :)   I ask all the missionaries when they get here what they are allergic to and when their birthday's are. We try to do a little something for them if their birthday is while they are in our Ward.   

 Love to your family,

 Sis. Monica Burns

* * * * * * * * * * *_

WOW Monica!

I just jumped onto my computer to see if Elder Williams had written yet. I was so excited to see if he got his birthday package. This is his first birthday ever, away from our family.

How can I even express to you how grateful I am for your email?

How grateful I am that you are making him his MOST FAVORITE PIE!

How grateful I am that you take such good care of all of our missionary sons that are serving near you!!!!!!!!

The best I can do is to return the love by taking care of the missionaries here in Gilbert Arizona.

As a mother, I sit here with tears running down my face so humbled that you taken your time to assist and serve our son in all these ways.

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!  Our family will sing your praises in our family prayer this evening.

Much love and appreciation,

Cindy Williams,

Elder Hunter Williams Mother
Catalina Ward,
Arizona, Gilbert Greenfield Stake

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Oh Cindy,

It is our pleasure!!!   

When one of our daughters was on a mission that was my greatest hope  that she would be taken care of by her Ward families and it would help her not to be homesick.  I, like you, can only repay those who were so kind by taking care of these young men and women here in our area.  

We love the missionaries!!

We have 2 sets of sister missionaries in our area now.  They texted me this morning for a ride to the Stake Ctr. to play basketball with the Elders for P-day.  They had made chocolate chip cookies for Elder Williams birthday  today.  Hopefully he's had a good day!

I contacted the family where he is having dinner to let them know it's his birthday just in case they didn't know so maybe they can sing him Happy Birthday or something.

I hope the pie turns out.  It's been probably 5 years since I've made it.  Yikes!

Please let me know if there is anything else we can do for you!!

Love,

Monica

* * * * * * * * * * *

Again, I thank you, Monica. How wonderful that you let the family where he will dine today know that it's his b-day. Sounds like he had a good one thanks to you!

Isn't the Gospel of Jesus Christ amazing. If you and your family ever get to Phoenix, you have a place to stay at our home.

Much appreciation and love,  Cindy

August 12, 2013 - New Comp, Testimony, Door Slammed in Faces, You Tub - Missionary Ballers

Hi everyone,

 

We had a rough week this week but we planted a ton of seeds. My new companion is Elder Smith, fresh from the MTC. He is about 6' 6" and makes me look like a midget but he is skinnier than me so I've got him there. He is from St. George, Utah. He played basketball and he has a good desire to serve the Lord but has a lot of growing up to do. We get along well enough, he's willing to contact people and he teaches when it's his turn, it's just a little scattered but will come together. So he's basically just getting the hang of being a missionary. We have some work to do.

 

We didn't teach too many lessons this week and our teaching pool is shrinking but we have been planting a lot of seeds and I can see how much I have changed. This past week there were two instances where I found myself explaining our beliefs, correcting misconceptions, testifying, and using scriptures and historical information to defend our faith and to teach some very well versed and religious people who I couldn't have held a candle to a few months ago. The Lord was working through me and giving me the knowledge that I need, especially since I have to take more responsibility for teaching than ever before. It's amazing what the Lord can do and both of those people are now committed to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it is true. We also met a man who presumed to tell us that he believed in God and Jesus Christ and when we told him that we believed the same he childishly exclaimed that they our God and his God are different and that he wasn't talking about it further and shut the door in our faces. He showed us! Oh and another man driving by slowed down enough so he could make direct eye contact with us and then flipped us the bird so we just waved and went on our way. It just goes to show that there are great people and very silly people in our diverse world.

 

I'm glad everything is going well back home, I pray for you all everyday that the Lord will bless and keep you. I love being out here and seeing what the Lord can do with my life and I'm so grateful for the support of you all, I love you! And congratulations on starting school Chase, I'm sure you are loving it. And one more thing, there is a video on youtube called missionary ballers or something like that, it's gone viral. Well that video was made by some missionaries in our mission a few months ago. Apparently it's pretty funny, check it out!

 

I love y'all

Elder Williams

August 5, 2013 - 6 Months, Cancelled Baptisms, Goodbye to a Favorite Companion, Dickie's BBQ, Mack's Donut Shop

Happy Monday everyone!

 

Well transfer calls came Saturday night and Elder Hoopes got the boot! He is going out to east Texas, he has a 6 hour drive ahead of him today! I'm jealous, I want to go out east so bad! But the Lord has other, better plans of course. I'll be staying in Allen for another 6 weeks and I will be training again and taking another crack at being a district leader! So it'll be another interesting transfer. Some more bad news this week though, our baptism was cancelled because the family had a melt down and things just went crazy and now the girl and her two younger brothers are in Oklahoma with their biological father. It was tough to see what happened to the family but the Lord's ways are higher than my ways so I will just trust his judgment and keep on keepin' on. We have another incredibly solid investigator named Ashley Bergstrom  but she can't get baptized because her husband is incredibly anti and she is trying to save up the money to get a divorce and once the divorce is over then she is on board for baptism so I will keep you updated on that. We also taught Jakob Yandell again this week (he is the boy who was supposed to get baptized a few weeks ago) and he told us that he still wants to be baptized whether he has to wait two months or two years to do it, so that is encouraging. So we had a rough week but the Lord also blessed us with many great things so we will continue on! I am sad to see Elder Hoopes go though, we have gotten really close and I love the kid to death. He's going to do well out in east Texas though.

 

This week we had the chance to eat at Dickie's BBQ and it is fantastic. I was so stuffed after dinner. We had ribs, brisket, sausage, potatoes, baked beans, and apple cobbler with ice cream to top it off. I have never felt so fat! It was worth it though. The Johnsons are the ones who took us out and Sister Johnson is a real grammar Nazi and she is also a country girl, what a character. Her husband's name is Chuck and she would end almost every sentence by saying ,"Right Chuck?", it was so funny for some reason. We also ate at Mack's donut shop and they may just be the best donuts ever, no joke. There is too much good food out here, I'm bound to get fat if I ever get off my bike!

 

Well Happy Birthday Ashlee! I love you, hope it's a great one! And it seems like the last 6 months have flown by, I'm running out of time! I'm enjoying it out here and wouldn't want to be anywhere else! I love you all, have a great week!

 

Love,

Elder Williams

July 29, 2013 - Pancake Contest Winners, Flooding Toilets and Baptisms!

Subject: Re: 7-29-13

Hey Everyone,

 

So I don't have very much time today but I had a good week. I went on another exchange and got to ride in a car for a day, it was amazing. We went to this place for service and there was this little girl there that was from Iran and she was hilarious and made us wallets out of comic book clippings, they are great. We were also tracting at the end of a night and were invited into this guys house and apparently he works for and advertising company and started giving us all these crazy facts and figures and numbers to give us "more ammunition" for when we try to teach people. He was making the craziest faces, probably one of the weirdest experiences I've had. 

I forwarded some pictures of Elder Hoopes and I participating in a pancake eating contest at our ward's pioneer day breakfast. We competed to see who could eat three pancakes the fastest. Elder Hoopes beat me unfortunately but I took second! It was fun but we both had already eaten 5 pancakes and like 10 sausage links so we were hurting afterwards. 

Oh and this morning Elder Hoopes was in the bathroom and I was just doing some sit-ups and all of a sudden I hear him start saying "stop it you stupid toilet!" so I went in and made him open the door and the toilet was flooding. Luckily I knew how to turn the water off so it wasn't too bad but we spent most of the morning mopping it up. So that was exciting.

 

Well this upcoming weekend we will be having a baptism for Jalisia Martin, she is 15 and has been investigating for awhile but her parents finally decided to let her get baptized so we are super excited!! We are still teaching a small pool of investigators and are searching for more which is always the hard part. This week I gained a stronger testimony of prayer as I really payed attention to the Lord blessing us with answers to our prayers in many different ways. Oh and transfer calls are on Saturday so I'll keep you posted on that!

 

Well I love everyone and I'm glad things are going well, talk to you next week!

 

Elder Williams

 

Oh and mom do you think you could send me some iron on patches? My black pants have a few holes in them that I want to fix.

July 22, 2013 - Packages, Tony Stark, Jokes, BYU vs. Utah State

by Elder Hunter R. Williams

Hello!

Thank you for the package!! I have enough granola for weeks and the cookies are great. Funny story about it though. Elder Hoopes and I were both expecting a package and when it came they just put a slip into your mailbox and say come get your packages from the office so we squealed like little girls and headed for the office! We were about to walk in and conquer our long sought after prizes only to find out that the office had closed 15 minutes before we got there and we had to wait until today to get them. We were depressed and slumped back to our apartment but we survived the weekend and now we are both happy as clams so hooray!

Oh and funny story, we were knocking this street and we rang the doorbell at this house and it didn't seem like anyone was coming so Elder Hoopes cracked a joke but someone ended up coming to the door so he went straight into a door approach and I still had the joke on my mind so I'm afraid I just started laughing in the middle of his contact, I felt so bad but he just makes me laugh. So yes, we are enjoying ourselves.

I know you all were excited about the baptism but unfortunately it has been postponed because Jakob's dad wouldn't give permission for him to get baptized but he does look like Tony Stark so that takes the sting off a bit. Jakob was almost crying when we met with him again but we'll keep him going on the lessons and  coming to church and eventually his dad will understand that he is really committed. This week was also our first week without investigators at church, it was sad but we're taking it like men.

On a happier note, we have been teaching the Martin family for a bit and they have finally decided to let their 15 year old daughter get baptized! We think the family will follow close behind. Her baptism should be on August 3rd, we are praying that nothing will get in the way of this baptism. So that was a great pick me up after Jakob's baptism was cancelled. The weather has also been amazing here, it hardly feels like summer but I have a feeling that August is going to come with a vengeance.

We had an exchange this week with the zone leaders and they it was great. I was able to learn a lot and have some fun too. We went on a jog for our morning work out and let me tell you, jogging is quite different from riding a bike. I was a little sore to say the least. That night we went to our ward's youth activity, glow in the dark volleyball. It was cool, they brought a bunch of black lights and glow in the dark paint that and a glow in the dark volleyball that didn't end up working so well but the concept is really cool and would be amazing if it was done right. Some of the kids invited nonmembers, hence why we were there. It was very unorganized but still fun, we played for a bit and then ended the night by sitting on the stage as the crowd sat on the floor and taught them the Restoration. None of the nonmembers were really interested but it is great to have a more missionary minded ward that is at least willing to try!

We had a really great week, I love Elder Hoopes, he is hilarious and he is now trying to convince me to go to Utah State instead of BYU so we can hang out, he's a goofball. Well happy birthday to Chase and it sounds like the rest of the family is doing just fine, still as crazy as ever though. So for my birthday all I want are those cds I've been asking for and there is another artist named Kalai who has some really great stuff. Also maybe a book with lots of motivating missionary/church stories or a book that has lots of quotes from or about church leaders would be awesome. And a few ties. Aaaand the Joseph Smith movie, the full length one that is the dramatization of his life, NOT Praise to the Man which is a documentary type thing that shows scenes of the movie but has people talking over it.

I love you all, until next week!

Elder Williams

June 15, 2013 - Baptisms and Basketball

Sent: Monday, July 15, 2013 1:21:22 PM

Hi everyone,

Well another week has gone by and our work slowed down a bit but that's how it goes at times. We had an exchange this week and Elder Hoopes switched areas for the day with another missionary and we had a pretty good time. His name is Elder Beverley, he's a great kid but he does not talk at all and since I just love to talk you can understand that it was a very quiet day but we had some interesting experiences. I think I've mentioned Jakob Yandell before, he's 16 and wants to be baptized so bad. Well his baptism is scheduled for the 20th and we found out that he needed to be interviewed a week in advance so that night we met him at the church and taught him the Law of Chastity, Law of Tithing, and keeping the Sabbath day holy all in about 25 minutes and then sent him over to the zone leaders for his baptismal interview which he passed. Then on Saturday Elder Hoopes and I went over to get the written permission from his parents and had to address a plethora of concerns and answer many questions but we should get their permission soon. Things are looking good for him, we can't wait for the baptism this weekend. He also brought his nonmember girlfriend to church, he's a missionary already!

Last week we had dinner with the Empey family and Brother Empey is a walking vault of spiritually uplifting stories and he can do a perfect impersonation of Donald Duck, impressive. We also play basketball on Saturday mornings with investigators and they are hilarious to watch. They remind me of the kids who come down to basketball tryouts and everyone knows that they don't have a chance of making the team except them. They are a lot of fun and their family should get baptized eventually.

Other than that, not much happened this week that I can think of but it was still a fun week. It's good to hear that things are going well at home and that y'all are surviving without me, I know it must be hard without my dry humor and dashing good looks but you'll manage. And for Chase, read 10 minutes of the Book of Mormon and 10 in preach my gospel. And Happy belated birthday to Tiff and Happy early birthday to Chase! I love y'all!

Until next week,

Elder Williams

July 8, 2013 The Lord blesses when we ask in faith.

Happy 4th of July last week!

It was weird not having our family BBQ but we survived. This has been a really great week, we had a lot of success and saw many miracles. 

We found 4 new investigators and taught some great lessons.The Lord really does bless us with the things we ask for if we ask in faith. One night we ran out of plans with 45 minutes left in the night so we just stopped and said a prayer, asking our Heavenly Father to put someone in our path that would listen to our message. We began to ride along and we stopped these two guys and they wanted to be baptized!! Okay not really they weren't interested but the next girl we talked to was very interested and we were able to briefly teach her the restoration and gave her a Book of Mormon to read. Then about five minutes later we ran into another guy who also listened and accepted a Book of Mormon and by the time we finished talking to him it was time to head home. It was incredible to see what the Lord can do if we simply have faith. 

Then this weekend we were tracting a street and it was Elder Hoopes' turn to knock the door so he did and the lady wasn't very interested and tried pushing us away but I wasn't letting it go that easily so I asked one more question and that lead to her stepping out onto the porch and talking for 45 minutes with us. At the end of the conversation she basically asked us for a Book of Mormon and gave us her number so we could call her and set up a time to come by for dinner! Amazing. She did say reading the Book of Mormon made her feel like she was having an affair with the Bible and me being the joker I am said that it was the best affair she could ever have.... It was a joke but probably not the most Christlike thing I've said haha.

As far as how I'm coping with all the responsibility, I'm doing pretty well. I was pretty stressed earlier but I've just handed it all over to the Lord and am going to do what He guides me to do so I'm not too worried anymore. 

Elder Hoopes and I are getting along really well and I think I'm doing well enough as a trainer... Whenever we see an attractive girl Elder Hoopes always calls her a "fiery dart" because it is the devil trying to distract us, I love that kid.

Oh and lastly we inherited an investigator named Jakob Yandell. He plays football at Allen High school (look up their football stadium online, it's huge, $60 million) and he went to a scout camp and received a Book of Mormon and instantly knew it was true! He is incredibly solid, he wants to serve a mission and can't wait to be baptized, he's awesome! His date is set for July 20th and we are beginning to teach his family as well, I'm loving it.

My new address is 301 South Jupiter #1406, Allen, TX 75002. I was wondering if you could send me a big box of nature valley granola bars and maybe some homemade cookies or something too if you wouldn't mind! 

Other than that I'm doing really well, thanks for the love and the prayers, see you next week! Oh and unfortunately the Allen library computers won't let me send pictures so since I have two memory cards I might just start sending one home so you can get all my pictures and use the other one and then switch after you send it back. 

And tell Chase to pray about the Book of Mormon when he finishes it and then start studying preach my gospel and read the Book of Mormon again! 

The scripture I am memorizing this week is Mosiah 2:41.

I love y'all!

Elder Williams

I love you all!

June 30, 2013 - "We talked with over 200 people this week."

Hey family!

So I don't have too much time today, it is really busy! First things first, tomorrow I'm being transferred to Allen 3rd Ward. I don't know the address or too much about it, I just know that I'm being double transferred, training a new missionary, and I'm the new district leader there. It's going to be a fun week. I will send a letter with my new address when I know it.

I sent a box home today of stuff that I don't really need or things I want to save so hopefully that arrives safely. As far as my clothes go, they are holding up well, I might need some new shirts by the end of the summer simply because I swear. A LOT. I could use a few more ties though, maybe some brighter colors like red and yellow or something if that's possible.

The meeting last night was great but someone told us it was only an hour so we were an hour late to our dinner appointment. No worries though. As far as I know we won't be doing any of the Facebook or electronic stuff yet, it hasn't been introduced to our mission yet. We tried Church tours but I'm not sure what they will be doing differently now. I only know as much as you all!

The work here is okay. Our best investigator is moving soon and we haven't had much other success but we did talk with over 200 people this week.

Sorry I can't tell you too much more but I have to go pack! Those pictures are awesome, it looks and sounds like the family is doing well! I love you all!

Elder Williams

June 24, 2013 Transferred to Allen 3rd Ward - District Leader and Trainer.

 Hey family!

So I don't have too much time today, it is really busy! First things first, tomorrow I'm being transferred to Allen 3rd Ward. I don't know the address or too much about it, I just know that I'm being double transferred, training a new missionary, and I'm the new district leader there. It's going to be a fun week. I will send a letter with my new address when I know it.

I sent a box home today of stuff that I don't really need or things I want to save so hopefully that arrives safely. As far as my clothes go, they are holding up well, I might need some new shirts by the end of the summer simply because I swear A LOT. (Note from the Mom . . . I'm pretty sure Elder Williams meant he "sweats" A LOT.) I could use a few more ties though, maybe some brighter colors like red and yellow or something if that's possible.

The meeting last night was great but someone told us it was only an hour so we were an hour late to our dinner appointment. No worries though. As far as I know we won't be doing any of the facebooking or electronic stuff yet, it hasn't been introduced to our mission yet. We tried Church tours but I'm not sure what they will be doing differently now. I only know as much as you all!

The work here is okay. Our best investigator is moving soon and we haven't had much other success but we did talk with over 200 people this week.

Sorry I can't tell you too much more but I have to go pack! Those pictures are awesome, it looks and sounds like the family is doing well! I love you all!

Elder Williams

Check out the size of this leaf! Things do grow big in Texas!

June 17, 2013 -----Working HARD!

Family!!!!

Well let me tell you something, this was a pretty great week because we worked our rear ends off! We did over 6 hours of service, picked up 3 new investigators (a family), have a baptismal date and that investigator came to church, aaaand we talked to over 180 people! I'm exhausted and that's the way it should be!

On Tuesday we took one of the priests from 8th ward out with us on the bikes all day and worked him hard. He slept well that night, I guarantee it. I think we gave him a good taste of the missionary life, hope he enjoyed it! And on Saturday we were riding down the street and heard this grinding noise and there was a truck pulling a trailer that lost a tire and was completely riding on its rim or axle or whatever it is. We kept riding and about a hundred yards down the road we found the guys tire! So I picked it up and we rode back and gave it to them and introduced ourselves. They were a bit preoccupied to listen but it was a funny sight, site,? to behold.

Lately we have been working with a Hispanic single sister and her inactive 14 year old daughter and this week we made some real progress with them! The mother dominates the conversation and this really annoys her daughter but we were able to get her daughter to open up a bit and actually taught some of a lesson and the daughter seems to be improving by degrees, hopefully we can get her back to church. 

The investigators we found this week are really great people, they are good Christians and were very willing and open and we had a great discussion with them and they are going to read the Book of Mormon and get baptized if that is what God tells them to do! So this week went pretty well. We didn't teach a ton of lessons but we still made good progress and were blessed for our diligence.

It sounds like everything is going well back home! I'm glad Dad and Chase had fun on their trip made it home safe. Thanks for the letters, they helped a lot and I really enjoyed them. Sounds like the event Dad is coordinating should be a really good one, keep me updated!

Well I love you all and I hope you have a good week!

Love

Elder Williams

Burned a Bridge with a Muslim Gentleman 6-10-13

This picture will be on Hunter's missionary plaque on display in the Catalina Ward Building for the next 19 1/2 months. Yup, I said 19 1/2 months. He has been serving for 4 1/2 months--and yes I can tell you exactly how many days--but hey . . . I bet I'm not the only Mom that has a handle on the time our son's and daughters are away.

Here is his most recent letter.

MOOOOOOOMMMMYYY!

Hey mom. So that the CD is titled "Lead thou me on" by vocal point, I'm sure you can find it online! And the other one it the "The Work" by the Nashville Tribute Band. Those are awesome.

This has been a good week for us even if our numbers stink, but that's okay! We were supposed to have a baptism this Saturday but it didn't work out, that was depressing but we did set a date with one of our investigators. His name is Orlando Hill, he's a sassy black Methodist who is just awesome. He didn't come to church on Sunday but he promised he would be there next week.

We experienced a bit of a miracle this week as well. we keep track of how many people we talk to each day and we were having a rough week, there were a few days where we talked to maybe 5 people... But on Saturday I set a personal goal to talk to 50 people and asked Heavenly Father to help and we talked to EVERYONE. And there were times where we would just ride into huge groups of people too. We ended the day with 53 contacts and we met our contacting goal for the week which was great.

Elder Johnson and I did pretty good on the bikes this week, no incidents or anything. We also got more rides from members because it's starting to get a little toasty now, but everyone time we took a member to a planned lesson the investigator always bailed on us or wasn't there! That's frustrating. We also spoke with some Muslims this week and I will never talk to them about the gospel again, they are un-convertable. Plus Elder Johnson pretty much told them that Mohammed was a big fat liar so that bridge is burnt pretty well. Transfers on the 25th so I'll let you know if anything changes. I think I'll still be in Plano though. And the scripture I'm memorizing this week is Helaman 5:12.

I hope dad and Chase have fun on their trip, that will be awesome! I love you all!

Elder Williams

New Record: 1,448 People Spoken With This Week!

Elder Williams says this is a weird beaver thing with a rat tail, called a Nutria?

Happy monday everyone!

Sounds like Arizona is still being its usual hot, sunny self. The weather here hasn't been too bad, I don't think we've broken 90 yet, they say it might be a cooler summer which would be great! The humidity stinks though, I've never been so sweaty in all my life! Elder Johnson keeps making comments about how hot it is and I always tell him he hasn't seen an Arizona summer. Pretty sure he'd shrivel up and die.

This week has been good. We had a goal to find 1400 new investigators for the month of may and it came down to the last night but we ended up finding 1448! It's new mission record, no biggie, and Elder Johnson did contribute a few investigators to that number! On Saturday there was a big stake youth missionary conference thing so they had 22 missionaries come down and each of us missionaries got two or three of the boys and we went out and taught with them and they did really well! I took my two to a new investigator we found and we taught him the restoration and set a baptismal date for July 13! It was a soft commitment though, we'll see how it goes. This week we have had the opportunity of meeting a few different black people and they all had some serious soul power, let me tell you! Talking to them was great. They are so awesome. Oh and we were able to provide some service at a huge Baptist church and the people we were serving with were trying to invite us to their congregations and kept offering us tea which we politely turned down. They were good people, just a little misplaced in their faith!

I do have a question though. What is the definition of a Christian? People I run into our here all the time tell us they are Christian and when we tell them we are too they always say that we aren't really Christian or that we are different but they won't elaborate on why. So I'm just curious to know how the world defines a Christian!

As far as the picture goes I can try to take a different one but those are some staunch guidelines mom. I'm not sure if I'll hit all of those but I'll try! And thank you for the package!! We loved the puzzles, especially Elder Johnson. Those socks are great! Unfortunately I can't really wear them all that much because they are a little loud but I love them anyways! I'll try and send the hand canvas thing back as soon as possible. And as far as my meds go I'm doing just fine, I was going to refill them next week, hopefully that's okay?

Anyways, I love you all, have a fantastic week!

Love

Elder Williams