April 22, 2013

Hello family!

What the heck Hayden and Caleb?! (Mission calls: Hayden Fowles is going to Hawaii, and Caleb Brough is going to Australia.) That's awesome! Wish them luck for me! And yes I got the package, thank you, you're the best!!!

So anyways it's been a slower week here, our investigator with a baptismal date dropped us last night so that was frustrating but that's just how life goes. On the other hand, Elise is progressing like crazy and is talking with her parents about baptism this week, so that's awesome!! Other than that we really don't have much. We do less active work a lot which is always good to try and get people back to church but they are frustrating because they don't come to church like they said they would! Ah well. We are doing a lot of finding right now so hopefully we rustle up a few investigators here soon.

Bike news for this week: First Elder Johnson crashed and put a double loop in his chain which we had to take to the bike shop to get repaired but they did it for free and everything was great. Then two days later Elder Johnson put on a long sleeve shirt which I thought was crazy because it is getting warmer here (like 75-80, not too bad yet, but still) but it turned out to be inspiration because he crashed again hard. His bike was fine but he destroyed a sleeve on the shirt and a tie and got some decent scrapes, nothing too special but he didn't mind complaining about them and updating me about them every 5 minutes, I loved that. So we went home get him cleaned up and as we went out again I stopped so I wouldn't get hit and he didn't and so he smashed into my rear derailleur on my bike and jacked it up so I had to buy a new one, but it wasn't too expensive so no worries. I am completely fine, no cuts or scratches so please don't stress too much mom haha but that was about the extent of our excitement this week. 

Something really cool though, Elder Christofferson is coming to our mission May 4th and we get to have a meeting with him!! So that is exciting news, but that is about the extent from Texas this week.

Aaaand that about wraps it up, I love you all and good luck with your braces Chase! Hopefully you don't brake off as many brackets as I did!

Elder Williams

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April 15, 2013 Texasism - word for the week "tiffed"

Sounds like everything is going really well back home, the finances are in order and everyone is happy and healthy! 

So this week was quite the week. We had some big zone interview/training which went really well and gave Elder Johnson and I a lot of really good ideas to find new investigators! We talk to everyone we ride by but that isn't very effective so we are going to start giving tours of the church and heading up a scripture study class with the sisters that cover the other ward in our building. We are going to make fliers and signs and hand them out and do all sorts of good stuff, but I need to study up a lot to get prepared! 

Elder Johnson, he's a great kid! He's got a good heart. Last night we were able to go to the baptism of one of Elder Johnson's investigators from his last area which was wonderful, hopefully we have one of our own soon!

So regarding Elise and Errasmo, Elise came to church yesterday and is still really excited about everything! She has told the Kendrick's (the family that is friends with her) that she wants to be baptized, she is just nervous of what her parents will say so we haven't been able to set a date yet but she will definitely be getting baptized, we just hope the Lord's timing will allow that to be sooner than later. As for Errasmo, he didn't make it to church this week, he had family in town and he cancelled our lesson but we are going to keep at it and make sure he stays on track for his date which is May 11. So that's the rub on those two. As far as other investigators we really don't have many but we'll see what this next week brings!

So today we got a call in companion study we got a call from a member in our ward saying that there was a man down at the church who was looking for people to talk to so we went on over and talked to the guy! He is a Blackfoot native American and he is living out of his car at the moment and is very humble. We taught him the restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon to read and he said he would read it and be baptized on May 25th, but we'll see if he is really serious about it or just wants a hand out so he can get some gas and get out of town because he said he is traveling back to Montana where he is originally from. We're meeting with him again tomorrow so we'll see where that goes!

So the weather out here is pretty crazy, all the Texans say that if you don't like the weather in Texas just wait 10 minutes and it will change. It's kinda true, April is their rainy month so we have had a few storms which are fun to ride in but most of the time it is about 75 degrees with some humidity, but it is getting hotter. It was 88 today so the warm is starting to come! Texas is a pretty great place to live money wise though! There are some homes here that cost about 600,000 that would be over a million easy back home, maybe y'all should move here! But since the ground is full of clay they have some weird foundation problems, I'm sure dad would understand more about that.

As far as any funny stories this week we haven't had too many, we've just been really busy running around trying to teach people! I think I crashed again on my bike, it is becoming a weekly experience. I've played ball a few times out here last transfer but there hasn't been much time for that lately so I'm getting rusty, I can feel it. Other than that I'm doing really well and just trying to enjoy being a missionary! 

I would say the Texas word for this week is "tiffed", a synonym for ticked off. 

Anyway, I love you all and pray for you every night!

Elder Williams

Oh and yes I saw the pictures, they are great, Chase should let his hair grow out, the look suits him! (Picture was of Chase at Disneyland with a Star Wars Wookie hat on.) 

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April 8, 2013 - Hunky Doory!

Hey ya family!

wow it sounds like everything at home is just all hunky-doory( totally butchered that but i don't care!) mom is about to bust it out big time, chase is getting those grades and the ladies too i'm sure, and dad is doing a bit of missionary work and keep the house all ship-shape since i'm gone!! and ash and cole are awesome as usual and grant and tiff are doing their thaaaang, sounds awesome!! Keep the updates coming, i love all you guys!

So this week was pretty interesting, i have to pull out a map everytime we go somewhere because i'm still getting the area down but no worries, i'm going to know it better than home soon!!

So Errasmo, one of our investigators, set a baptismal date!! we are so excited and are going to keep on him to make sure he sticks to it. he is a really great guy, i know he'll get there. our other solid investigator is Elise, she is pretty much a golden investigator so we'll be baptizing her as sooon as possible. 

we talk to basically every person that we ride by and so far we met 191 people this last week who weren't ready but that just means we are getting closer to the one who is! we had a potential investigator call us and tell us he wants to meet with us, so we are pumped about that!! the work here is slowly building, we just have to be patient. i get the feeling that i'm going to be in plano for a couple more transfers but who knows what the Lord will do!

So Elder Johnson and I are getting along well, it's definitely a different style than when Elder Merrill was here, but it's going to be great! he has a strong trestimony and he is really bold which is good and he likes to talk. I'll send a picture of us.

This week we had a few funny things happen to us. one lady we talked to really didn't like us. she was from palmyra so she though she knew everything about the church and thought that we are very unfair to women and that we think of them as second class and that a women can't go to heaven without a man (which is technically right if you want to go to the top and a man can't get there either without his wife but besides the point) and kept telling us we needed to go see the pageant that is put on there before we do any more missinary work so that was fun. we think we met some drunk people too, they were nice. we do service at elderly homes on wednesday and this week we played bingo and it was snooseville but still good to be able to serve. 

we went to a pancake breakfast before conference sunday morning with a less active and they ended up kicking us out for conference which we didn't know would happen, then we went to the normal church building and i had to ride awkwardly in the back of his van and conference wasn't showing there either so we were lied to!!! but we made it to the stake center and it was good so no worries.

so conference was probably the best thing ever. all of the talks were amazing, but i think my favorites were Elder Bednar, Elder Packard, President Uchtdorf in priesthood, President Monson (all of his) and i don't know who else but I enjoyed them all!!!! and utah is getting another temple, shocker, but it was a really good conference and it flew by! i missed being at home in my pj's but i still loved it. and they talked a ton about missionary work so get on it!! i want to hear about some baptisms!!

and yes mom, they won't be letting us call home this year, they think it makes us too homesick.....

just kidding, i'll let you know about all that stuff when it comes time.

well that's about it for me this week, i love y'all!!

Elder Williams

April 1, 2013 Best Missionary Week Ever!

 Mi familia!

So this was the best week yet i think! We didn't teach as many lessons as last week but we had some really cool things happen! during personal study on thursday we got a call from a girl in the 8th ward and she had a friend who has gone on vacation with them a ton and prays with them all the time and has even gone to seminary a few times and now she wanted to meet with the missionaries that night!! we taught her the restoration and she just accepted everything and committed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and to be baptized when she was ready!!! that night on our way home we got a call from brother kendrick, the dad of the family, and he said that after we left Elise(the friend) said she felt really good and peaceful and loved what we shared!! it was a miracle for sure! then on friday we were tracting an apartment building and met a lady from nigeria. she basically believes everything we do and loves the mormon religion's values! she believes in reincarnation though, but we can work with that. she read the second to last paragraph in the introduction and the last verse of Moroni and loved it and committed to read it, so we will see where that goes! then on sunday we had another miracle. a guy we have been seeing for about 5 weeks came to church and brought his 3 kids! he loved the service and we are making a lot of progress with him. i was able to give him a priesthood blessing earlier in the week and he is really coming along great! easter here was really good, both sacrament meetings were wonderful and the lessons in class were great too! the 8th ward choir is really good, i wish i knew what some of the songs they sang were. elder merrill and i visited a member on thursday and they convinced elder merrill to try to catch an apple in his mouth and he did! i'll send a picture if i can.

So as far as transfers go, elder merrill got the boot and i'm staying, so my address is the same still. elder merrill is going to be a zone leader of our zone so he isn't going too far. he's only been out 7 and a half months, he's a stud. i'm going to take over the area as senior companion and my new companion is elder johnson. i'll meet him tomorrow when we make the transfers. he has been out a transfer longer than me so we are still both fairly new. so that's the exciting news about that!

so chase i was wondering if you wouldn't mind letting me have your old ipod shuffle? if you guys could load it up with church music and send it to me with a charger, that would be awesome! if not could you send me a few cds? there is one titled Lead Thou Me On by Vocal Point which is amazing, as well as some motab and apparently there is a really good band called the National Tribute Band? if you could find a way to do any of that, it would be amazing, but no worries if that is too much work!! I was also wondering if you could send me super hero stickers and some batman dress socks if there is such a thing! i'm trying to embrace my inner kid a bit.

well that's about it! i'm glad you are all doing so well, I love y'all and miss you a ton!!

Elder Williams

P.S. i have doctrine and covenants 4 memorized mom, i actually did that the week before you sent that to me! funny stuff.

Elder Williams, Elder Merrill and the Ellis Family

Elder Merrill Tossing an apple into his mouth.( He actually caught it !)

Great bumper sticker!

ONLY IN TEXAS!