1-20-14 Same Door Slammed In Our Faces Three Times

Family!

Y'all are a bunch of trouble makers! Starting fires, ignoring permit laws, inviting people to your Mormon temple thing, heretics!! Just kidding, giving you a taste of the Baptist love we are feeling down here. 

This past week was great. We had our zone meeting which was coupled with interviews with President Durrant which was great, he is an amazing man. The trainings we gave went well but we have a small zone so it was a bit dead. And our zone just got smaller with the transfers. Elder Porter and I are staying together but we had quite a few changes in the zone and we lost a companionship so we only have 7 in our zone, oh well. 

As for excitement this week, we had a Muslim/Indian guy come out and go off on us about how he loves God but doesn't understand why we limit God by thinking God needs missionaries. He got really close to my face and he didn't smell too great either so that was fun. 

Then we were tracting in an apartment complex and this man opened the door and slammed it right in our faces, opened it again and thanked us for waking him up, slammed the door again too hard so it bounced back open, then slammed it shut successfully the third time. He was not a happy camper. We met some rude people this week, just a part of life though. We had our service hours cut down to four a week again so now we get to do a lot more finding, it's a positive. We've been putting most of our efforts into finding lately, hopefully we can find some solid investigators soon. Other than that, not a lot to report, just having a good time doing the Lord's work. I love you all, have a wonderful week!!

Love,

Elder Williams

1-13-14 Missionaries Aren't Weirdos

Hola familia,

 

Tracting! That about sums up the extent of our week, it was pretty slow. We played volleyball on Monday last week which was fun, not much opportuntity to play basketball around here, we don't have the most stellar athletes in our zone... But that is okay! We make due with what we have. 

We did an exchange this week with our district leader, Elder Carey, and his companion. Elder Carey came to Rowlett with me and Elder Porter went to Rockwall with Elder Osborn who is in his first transfer and worked him hard. Elder Carey and I tracted all day in the the cold mist, it was nice but we jsut got out and worked and I tried to give Elder Carey some ideas to shape up his district meetings which have been lacking a bit in... well everything. So that was fun, Elder Porter almost lost it with Elder Osborn, he's an odd one. 

We met with a man named James this week, he is a Catholic but very open to discussion. We had a great chat about the origins of the Book of Mormon and also some of the commandments like chastity and the word of wisdom. He said that he was pleasantly surprised while talking to us because he was expecting us to be weirdos but we turned out to be normal people with good Christian values, what a surprise. 

And I got to contact a few people in Spanish this week. I know enough Spanish now to get a referral for the Spanish missionaries, woooo! That's about it for the excitement this week though, just plugging along. Just got a haircut, yaaaay!

 

To answer mom's questions:

 

1. I need a new small storage container to carry my oil around in.

 

2. Elder Porter and I hate each other. (only kidding, he is great!)

 

3. No I haven't had any other singing opportunities besides in the shower or in the car.

 

4. Basketball, at least good basketball, is not really an option at this point.

 

5. See my description above about the week.

 

Sounds like things are going well at home. All the temple news is exciting, keep up the good work! I miss y'all and you're always in my prayers, have a good week!

 

Love,

Elder Williams

1-6-14 Happy New Year! The Work Goes On!

Hi everyone,

 

Happy New Year to you all as well! I hope it's a great one. This is the one year where I get to spend the whole year as a missionary, it's exciting! I'm glad y'all made it through skiing in one piece and that things are so exciting back home. I can't wait to hear how the temple tours go and the about the cultural celebration. Maybe it is a good thing I'm not there to be in it and Chase is because he definitely got the dancing ability between the two of us.

 

This last week picked up a bit since the holidays are coming to an end. This weekend has been freezing though. The humidity makes the cold go right through you down to your bones and then the wind starts blowing, it makes knocking doors and adventure. We had Missionary Leadership Council this past week and they changed up all of our zones. Now each stake is it's own zone so the zones now have a mixture of Spanish and English missionaries. We lost six companionships and gained three so we our zone is small now, only 8 companionships. Should be fun though. 

Elder Porter says that he doesn't know the people you mentioned mom, I guess the world isn't that small. 

We had a follow up lesson with Destiny and got her back on track, she recommitted to reading the Book of Mormon, praying, and coming to church and she did on Sunday so things are looking up. We are now also teaching this young Hispanic guy, probably our age, who seems like he is totally ready to change. It is funny how the Lord provides you with teaching opportunities. They always seem to come from other sources, not directly from the work we do (which is mainly tracting). Most of our solid investigators right now are referrals. The Lord is blessing us though, that's for sure.

 

One funny story for the week. We live with the Hoyts, an older couple in the ward who are quite unique. Anyways, Brother Hoyt is starting to lose his marbles a little and he says some weird stuff that Elder Porter and I end up laughing at for hours. He is also hard of hearing and he mumbles whenever he speaks. With that as a backdrop, we were sitting in sacrament and all of a sudden we see him going up to the pulpit to bear his testimony and he mumbles through a strange story that some how includes having the Lord with you which we have heard before and is just a strange thing, then instead of closing with "In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." He just mumbles "thank you" at the end of his story and walks down. Elder Porter and I almost lost it. We were sitting there shaking for about ten minutes trying not to laugh. He is just the epitome of an old grouchy guy who is a colorful character.

 

So that's my story for the week. Transfers are in two weeks. I don't think anything will change for us but you never know. I hope we stay another transfer together, we are working hard and having a great time.

 

I love y'all, hope you have a great week and I hope you set some goal for the new year!

 

Love,

Elder Williams

12-29-13 Strange Encounters and False Doctrine

FAMILY!!

So my family is up in Utah having a great time skiing . . . life is good.

Well life is good here in Texas too. We had a bit of a rough week teaching wise, most of our investigators were tied up with Christmas stuff all week so we did quite a bit of tracting. 

We had dinner with an investigator Christmas night and she told us that she didn't really think the church was the right answer for her but she may still meet with us. That was Destiny, the one I told you about on Skype. So that was a bit disappointing. Our week just kept moving downhill from there, we did so much tracting. That's all we did on Saturday actually and I about lost it. We knocked into this weirdo Pentecostal guy who got in my face and told me I can't work my way to Heaven and then we had this lady open the door and invite us right in. We went and sat down with her fiancee who was the epitome of Southern Baptist. He started off by stating that he probably knew more about the Mormon Church than we did. He proceeded to tell us how he has been to Salt Lake City multiple times and went off on how there are five versions of the 1st vision and quoted different scriptures that he completely took out of context and a whole bunch of other nonsense. He was absolutely ridiculous. We were trying to just keep calm and answer his questions and that lasted about ten minutes and then we just bore our testimonies and left. This guy was.... something else. So that was fun. It was just ridiculous. But we saw a miracle on Sunday. A woman just walked into church. Stuff at home had been hectic so she went for a walk and was prompted to come inside and we got to meet her and share the Restoration with her and she said it was the first thing that has really made sense to her in a long time. It was amazing, nothing short of a miracle. So it was a great way to end our week. Not much else besides that, we're just working hard and moving forward.

Elder Porter is from the Riverton-Draper area and he was curious to know if mom knows anyone by the name of Linn Pierce and if there are any Garsides in our stake back home? And yes I got the Kalai CD, thanks! That is awesome that he signed it himself!

That is about it. Well I hope y'all have a great week and enjoy the snow, be safe and don't break any bones!

Love,

Elder Williams

12-23-13 Twas The Day Before The Night Before Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!

 

This past week has been quite the event, let me tell ya. It has been full of spiritually uplifting experiences, crazy people, and goofing around of course. We have been doing a lot of tracting whenever we don't have lessons and we have found a bunch of new investigators in the last few weeks, what a blessing. 

As we were out tracting one day we knocked on the door of a lady who probably had the worst attitude I have ever seen. She came out to tell us that God and Jesus have fallen off their pedestals because the country is going to pot, her dog just died, and the apparently she just got out of the hospital because something her house did to her which was sold to her by a scam artist and that there is no hope for the world and especially no hope for herself. We were both just in pure shock at her poor outlook. Then we were tracting at night and this creepy black cat kept following us around and crossing our path, it was odd. Tracting brings lots of interesting stories.

 

I also got to go on an exchange with my trainer, Elder Merrill and that was fun, it was just like old times except I wasn't a new little missionary anymore, we had a bunch of fun. We also had a big Christmas meeting with all of the English speaking missionaries in the Dallas area which was excellent. We played sports and had some great trainings and goofed around and all that good stuff. Then this weekend we set a baptismal date with one our favorite investigators, Destiny Villapa, and she came to church as well. We also had a baptism on Sunday and got to drive down to Plano to teach an old friend of Elder Porter's, I'll explain more when I see you. Speaking of which, I will get to Skype you all on Christmas. We are going to get on around 2 p.m. Texas time, so translate that to Arizona time please! I will set up a Skype account that day and call you with the info to make sure we get it all worked out. We get to talk for about 40 minutes again, like Mother's Day. Can't wait to see y'all!!

 

And last thing, could you make a copy of my mission call and send it to me. I'd just like to have it to read every once in a while.I love you all, see you Wednesday!

 

Love,

Elder Williams

12-16-13 Play Chicken With a Duck

Subject: Re: 12-16-13

FAMILY!!

 

Well we had another great week. We did a lot of finding and found 6 new investigators and taught a lot of lessons, it makes the time go by quickly. Elder Porter and I are getting along well, he played basketball in high school and is into sports and all that good stuff, right up my alley. We have been working hard, doing a lot of tracting and meeting a lot of interesting people. 

 Rowlett is such an odd place. It is country, it's not country, it's old and new, it is just weird. The people are unusual too, our ward is rather interesting for us, especially since both of us missionaries are fairly new. It is going to be a good transfer though. Our baptisms will happen this upcoming weekend, finally. It has been cold consistently, it usually sits around 40-50 most of the days. We are enjoying the Christmas time around here, but there aren't nearly as many good Christmas lights as there are back home, kind of disappointing, but that is Rowlett. This morning we were driving and played chicken with a stubborn duck who wouldn't get out of the road so Elder Porter went and chased it away.

 

As for the Christmas call, we still aren't sure where we will be for Christmas to make the calls so I will let you know when I know more but I'm looking forward to it. I got the three packages and it is looking more festive in our little 10 by 10 bedroom. Christmas just doesn't feel quite the same out here but no worries, it'll be a great one.

 

I'm glad everyone at home is doing well. Sounds like the temple open house will be quite the experience, I wish I could see it. Take some pictures and send them if you can.

 

I miss you all, enjoy the Christmas season, talk to you next week!

 

Love,

Elder Williams

12-8-13 Cold and Colder!

Family!!!

 

Well I love y'all, it is great to here from you as always. This has been quite an eventful week. We taught a lot an had an exchange and found some new investigators and almost had a baptism until the weather went wacko on us! To answer your question mom, it was about 70 most of the week until Thursday it dropped to about 50 and then we woke up Friday morning to ice on everything and sleet coming down, what in the world? It was a shock for me, we bundled up and went tracting In it, it was awesome! People told us to stay warm as they slammed the door in our face, so kind. The cold spell is still here but the ice has cleared up and it is around 40ish now, it was crazy! The umbrella can wait until Christmas though. 

We were supposed to have a baptism this weekend but the weather ruined that. On Friday we had to spend most of the day indoors and I about went nuts, it was awful! We spent the day with some other missionaries but  it was pretty lame, let me tell you that. So Elder Berentzen just got transferred today, he is going out to east Texas that lucky guy. I loved serving with him. My new companion will be great though, his name is Elder Porter, a zone leader from a different area. Not sure but I think I get to drive now... Crazy! So that was most of my excitement this week.

 

Sounds like all is well on the home front, good to hear. I would write more but I don't have too much time, I love you all, have a blessed week!

 

Elder Williams