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