March 25, 2013 - No bike crashes this week!

Howdy! (no one here says that if you were wondering, just the real hicks)

So it sounds like things are going really well at home. mom is writing, dad is training and beating people up, chase is stepping it up at basketball and still as cocky as ever, not sure about the deacon's secretary thingy . . .  kidding. anyways, it's great to hear that everything is going well back home! thanks for the cookies mom, you successfully ruined my healthy streak, but don't worry, i finished the cookies and am back on it now.

so this last week was pretty good, we taught more lessons this week. out investigator pool is still low but our less active work is going up and we are getting people back to church! i didn't crash on my bike this week as far as i can remember so that's an improvement.

we finally taught a lesson to this guy we found on my second day, his name is huge buff tan baller steve. he played basketball for a junior college and in europe for a bit so that's pretty cool! we taught him the restoration and we'll see where that goes. there is a nine year old boy we have been teaching since i got here but he isn't going anywhere because he doesn't have the support from his parents he needs. we went over there this week to teach and knocked on their door and their little 4 year old girl peaked out at us so we thought they knew we were there but they kept us waiting for a few minutes and then we heard the dad talking by the door and he opened it to come out and apparently didn't know we were there because he said "oh shoot!"( only the other word) and his eyes bugged out and got all huge and it was just really funny.

we have also been teaching a less active family who has an 8 year old son and he accepted the invitation to be baptized! not exactly a convert baptism but still awesome for him! there is this one guy we met on the street and we've talked to him a few times now and he is a really strong catholic but likes to learn about other religions and we gave him the book of mormon and doctrine and covenants and he had questions for us and knew specific sections and probably knows it better than we do now, we have to study up!

we were also visiting another less active family and didn't have anything planned really but the message we ended up sharing about general conference and prophets was exactly what they needed to hear and they want to watch conference now, it was amazing to see the Spirit direct us to say exactly what they needed.

oh and the coolest thing that happened to me this week was probably that I had the opportunity to ride in a boss 302 mustang. go look this car up, it's amazing. it was built for racing and it was just flat out awesome.

not much else to say here, we are just going to keep on working our butts off and we know that we'll see success!

Love you all! oh and transfers are coming up soon so i will keep you updated if i get a new address.

Love

Elder Williams

March 17, 2013 - Elder Williams best quote this week, "The days feel like they take weeks but the weeks feel like days. Of course I still haven't been gone long so maybe I’m just making stuff up."

Hey there family of mine!!

So it has been a great week and i'm doing well. that's pretty crazy about loren! i'm glad he is okay though and it's amazing the little things that we do differently each day that make all the difference in the world. they are right when they say that the Lord works by small and simple means. i'm glad you got the pool fence up, that'll help. it sounds like everyone is doing great back home!

Another week has flown by. the days feel like they take weeks but the weeks feel like days. of course i still haven't been gone long so maybe i'm just making stuff up. This week we had a big follow up training for all of us new missionaries and that was fun because i got to see all my buddies from the mtc. president durrant is hilarious. he loves squirrels and has a whole presentation about them that links back to obedience, i'll have to tell you the whole thing sometime. we had two exchanges this week. the first one was on wednesday and i stayed in our area and tried to lead the way. we got everywhere successfully, but we did quite a lot of tracting because i don't know tons of people in the area still. my companion for the day was a good kid. the second one, i went to plano 5th and 7th ward and that area is HUGE. and the bike i got to ride was a bit too small for me, but i made it work. i'll send a picture.we met a guy named kevin that they have been teaching and he was quite the character. he was chewing tobacco and spitting the whole time and i just about threw up. we ended up having a really great time. on friday elder merrill and i visited a  less active mother and daughter who are a bit older. i told them that mom really loves castles and knights and all that fun stuff and she assumed that mom and her are exactly alike. she is really nice. yesterday we had dinner with some nonmembers and it went really well. the food was delicious first of all, and then we taught them the restoration and they asked tons of questions to clarify and also asked about temples and then explained about their church as well. they were really nice, wonderful people who truly believe in Christ and it was refreshing just to have people listen to us instead of telling us to take a hike. we don't think they will go anywhere but they want to have dinner again sometime to learn more so we'll see.

Some funny stuff that happened: we were riding along yesterday and the big power line poles are right in the middle of the sidewalk or barely off to the side, it's ridiculous, but at one point there was a pole on one side and a support cable on the other side and it made a gap that looked like it was big enough to ride through. elder merrill made it. i wasn't so lucky. i was so focused on the pole that my handlebars caught the cable and it dumped me into the grass next to the sidewalk so chalk up another crash for me. then later in the day we were talking to this man who was walking( who was a stubborn punk) and the conversation was nice but you could tell he wanted us to get lost. elder merrill was contemplating it and another support cable snuck up on him and he tried dodging it but ended up going over the handlebars. he rolled and popped back up though, took it like a champ, so i had a good laugh about that. aaaand we were knocking a street and tons of people have "no soliciting" signs up and this man looked out the window and knocked on his sign and we just waved back but didn't leave. he walked away so we eventually left and as we were walking to the next house he came back out and started yelling at us and telling us that there was no soliciting in the neighborhood. we told him that we were simply sharing our testimonies of Christ and he said " bull $#%^" (censored for content) and told us that we were disturbing the peace and that we needed to get out of here and went back inside. and we kept on knocking doors so it was great! my lungs are doing just fine and i'm getting into better shape now so no worries, i'm doing fine. still no baptisms though, sorry chase.

I love you all and miss you tons!

Love Elder Williams

Hey everyone!

So we had another good week. Sorry for scaring you mom, just trying to keep it real, i'm perfectly fine though, don't worry. I'm pretty much over being sick, Aunt Vicky sent me a little package full of antioxidant stuff which are actually working well so tell her thanks for me and that she's awesome for sharing the gospel with one of her students. now I just have to get in better shape. I got Cole's letters and i sent some as well, tell him not to write back yet because I'm going to send another today. That's no good about baby Myra but i'm glad she is doing better. sounds like dad and chase are really turning it up a notch with their exercise, that's awesome, keep up the good work. i decided i'm not eating candy or dessert anymore(at least this week) so we'll see how that goes so if you send me anything make sure its healthy snacks, gotta keep my figure in check.

As far as my schedule out here it's pretty busy. We get up at 6 each morning and exercise for about 45 minutes. half the days are push-ups pull-ups and sit-ups and the other half are sprints jump rope and plyometric stuff so i'm trying to stay in pretty good shape, i'm still working on getting my breath on the bike though. After we work out we get ready for the day and eat breakfast and its usually just a bowl of cereal and some toast. We have personal study at 8, companionship study at 9, and some days an additional hour of study as well. Then we eat lunch and get to work. We don't have many investigators, one or two to be exact, so we do a lot of tracting and contacting. At least an hour or more a day. We usually have dinner with members and then we are back at it until about 9. Then we get home, plan, write in our journals and get to bed by about 10:30 each night so that's my schedule almost everyday.

Some eventful things that happened this week: my bike slid out from under me while turning on a rainy day and a took a shot to an unpleasant place from my seat. There was a big storm that blew in right as we were headed home one night and we got soaked on the ride home.

Elder Merrill and I sang in sacrament yesterday for some missionary's homecoming talk.

We had a few doors slammed in our faces. That's about all I can really think of.

Some cooler spiritual experiences: we are teaching a two less active girls and we taught an amazing lesson on repentance this week. the spirit was incredibly strong and testified through us, it was really cool. the most amazing part was seeing the change that came over the girls during the lesson though. At the beginning they were just kind of listening but by the end they were giving us their full attention and volunteering answers and it was great. We also have picked up a new investigator named Errasmo. we met him in a parking lot and have met with him once since then. he is incredibly humble and is looking for change and strength in his life and we know that what we have to offer him is what he needs.

Oh I also got to participate somewhat in a bible bash and that was interesting. A member came with us. We were teaching a husband and wife and the husband seemed to be somewhat receptive to out teachings but the wife was getting seriously bent out of shape and was asking for all this scriptural proof and would hold up her hand in our faces to tell us to stop talking while she looked stuff up. It was not a very spiritually uplifting experience but it helped me see how some people are much more prepared to receive the gospel than others.

Aaaaand we broke a few of Elder Merrill's records this week. We contacted 80 people in one day (the average is between 20 and 30) and contacted a total of 267 people this week (usually about 140 a week) so that was cool.

A few things that i need. The conference Ensigns from the last two conferences and my copy of Jesus the Christ which should be in my room in one of the drawers in my black side table.

Well that's about all i've got, I love you all and miss you a ton!

Love
Elder Williams

Here is Hunter's most recent email. I must admit, my heart froze when I read about the M-16 and knives on the front room table while he was teaching a missionary discussion. Oh, the worries of a mother. Big sigh . . . I'm sure thankful for prayers and a Gaggle of Guardian Angels. ~ Cindy

---

From: "Hunter Williams"
Sent: Monday, March 4, 2013 3:17:13 PM
Subject: Elder Williams Mission Update March 4, 2013

Family!!!!!

Hey I'm doing great, sorry I don't answer a lot of questions, I don't have tons of time but this week has been great.This is a picture of the first house we lived in.

I went on my first exchange on Saturday and it went really well, I liked the other Elder I went with. It's been a busy week, we contacted like 180ish people but didn't really see much come of that. Plano is a hard area because everyone here is pretty well off and somewhat set in their ways. And they are all middle aged white people too. We see the most success with the minorities to be honest. Their hearts are softened and seem to be more humble and ready to turn to Heavenly Father.

One of our investigators is a former gang member, he's a pretty cool guy, he looks a bit rough around the edges but would probable be baptized by now if he wasn't on parole...anyways, on Saturday I was able to go to my first baptism. Elder Merrill said I could count it as mine but I was only there for one lesson so I'm still debating it. His name is the same as mine and he's eight, so technically it isn't a mission baptism but it still counts for us. So that was really great to experience.

So we went to a less active member's house yesterday and he let us and we taught a sweet lesson but we were pretty nervous at first because he had an M-16 sitting on his front room table, a bunch of knives on the other, and some alcohol by the TV. The lesson went well though and he is a nice guy, hopefully he'll start coming back to church!

We had this one lady who told us that all religion is bad and that it is the cause of all wars and is manipulative and that all the leaders take all of our money for themselves and don't help anyone, it was quite interesting.

Another lady came out and told us she believes Mormonism is a cult and that we need to believe in the Trinity and she is so sad that we have been kept from the truth our whole loves. Pretty interesting stuff. I love it though, it just strengthens my testimony because I know that we are out on the Lord's errand and that we will suffer much persecution but if we are diligent and faithful we will prevail.

I'm so proud of Chase! Keep up the good work buddy, you're going to blow me away when i get back probably. So I eat with the members a lot and its really not that different, no awesome BBQ recipes yet. In Plano there isn't much of an accent but they say y'all which I'm picking up and they also say fixin' to, like I'm fixin' to make dinner or something. Besides that it's the same pretty much. I did get your package and I'm grateful everything is going well at home! I love you all and miss you a lot but I'm love being here! Even though Texas is flat, no mountains or anything, not even hills.

Love y'all!!

Elder Williams

Oh and tell Cole I wrote him back so it's his turn to send a letter the lazy bum!

Elder Hunter Williams and Elder Mason Trudeau in the MTC, February 2013