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!