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