December 16, 2013

Hey everyone,

Elder Amadi

It was a crazy week!!! This week I got a new companion, had to take over the area and also for some reason my mission Pres. and the Lord think I am ready to be District Leader... I am very excited to learn and grow from this experience I just hope I can help out my district as much as possible! Also it was a fear conquering week! I will send you guys all the picture and you will all see why it is a fear conquering week!!! My new companion is awesome, his name is Elder Amadi!! I love this man already and so excited to learn from him! He comes from Atlanta, Georgia and he is Nigerian! He is one of the coolest guys I have ever met!!!

Speaking of new... We finally moved out of that dump we lived in... so if you have sent anything there recently let me know so I can go by and get it. Other wise from now on just send stuff to my new address, it is

3310 Bermuda isles Circle apt 238

Naples, FL 34109

Well once again things are crazy and I don't have a lot of time so this might be a little bit of a shorter letter.. Our Mission President told us to give you guys a heads up and plan for Christmas calls this week. Me and my comp have decided that we will call 11:30 our time so that is 9:30 your time. Does that work?? Let me know as soon as possible. Also we can either skype or facetime which ever is easiest... With that being said still set up a skype because I am not sure if the members house we are going to has facetime. We will see and I will let you know everything next week so we can all be on the same page and have a good ole time on Christmas. Usually they let us call on Christmas Eve to make sure everything works out but we will see what happens with the new mission pres. I am very excited to see you all on Christmas invite whoever to come see :) 

Well the work in our area is incredible.. I guess. This past week we went up to transfer meetings and when our pres told us who and where we were going he stopped on ours and said Golden Gate taught 29 lessons last week... Who has taught this many lessons in the past week month or 6 months.... I can see that the Lord is definitely blessing me and my companion as we are working diligently. I love this work and can't wait to continue on with it. 

Fidel is doing so awesome. He and his WHOLE family came to the brach christmas party, church and a baptism. That is huge progress!! They are trying so hard to do what it takes to be baptized and I can't wait for the day when they actually will be. They love the gospel and know it is true!! Well I am really really sorry but this is all I have time for today, know I have to go out and teach and we have a bomb night set up so I am super excited!!! Just know everything here is going awesome and I love it some much!!

Dad this one is for you: I AM 100% COMMITTED

I love you all so much and can't wait to hear from you!!!

Peace!

Love,

Elder Williams

Austin's biggest fear

* Before Austin left on his mission we would watch a TV series on all 

of the scary snakes, gators, and everything else in Florida. He truly was

 freaked out most by the snakes. 

Dec 2, 2013

Happy Holidays to All!!

Crazy, it is December! I never ever imagined actually being on my mission for Christmas but now it is finally here. This Christmas is definitely going to be different then all the past Christmas's I have had so it will be a fun and exciting adventure! I never ever thought I would say this... But it actually got COLD this week. Say what?? Yeah thanksgiving morning it was cold! We live in a small house and the floors are all concrete and my feet froze!!!! It was 45 degrees outside, you are probably laughing at me because I think that is cold now days, but honestly I was freezing. Its going to be a rude awakening going back to Utah snow! Inside our apartment it was 60 degrees because in Florida well all the old houses at least there is no such thing as a heater so we just have to suffer through it. But it was awesome to finally stay dry one day! Ever sense, all the mornings have been really foggy which is awesome because it reminds me of home. I get to pretend that there are mountains behind all the fog and half the time I would think about all the foggy days I get to go snowboarding! Well guess its a winter wonderland... hahah not, today is back to its usual hot!!! 

Thank you guys soooooooooooo much for the package!!! It is awesome I love having a Christmas count down. I am still in unbelief that it is December 2 already! This Saturday we have transfer calls so I may or may not be in my same area I will let you know next Monday, chances are I will be staying here!

Thanksgiving was awesome! We have some really cool members in our branch that invited us over for dinner. The picture that you got, we were at our ward mission leaders house. They are an awesome family the had us over for dinner and pie. We played outside with them and there kids it was really an awesome day. I didn't get as homesick as I thought I would so that is always a plus. We also wanted to see Less actives that day because we knew they would be home. Some of them love to see us and some don't, but that's the missionary life. We recently got a super awesome family in our branch the one that sent the picture last Sunday. They also had us over on Thursday night, they are such a cool family and are really helping us out with the member missionary effort in this area. Our branch is small, it is powerful to see that so few people can do such great things and how much they can help in the missionary effort. 

As the missionary life goes it was a great week, a lot of people were out of town for the Holidays so we had to do what we could, which consisted of finding new Investigators. We found a few high school girls that were sitting at a table in the apartment park. These are the more rundown apartments so we knew they would have crazy back rounds. All we knew is that we could help change there life around and they were really accepting to it. It has been fun to see that people are able to change when they are able to notice Christ is really in the picture. We are helping them as much as we can, already they are improving and finding better ways to spend there time. I am excited for them and even a few of there families have wanted to listen to our message. It has been so exciting to see people change. Speaking of Change there is one of our investigators that is going through a really tough time and thought things just were going to work out, well then one day we invited her to come to church and she accepted. She has two little kids and her name is Lisa, she came to church on sunday and now I am excited to see how this week plays out with her!

I am sorry time is so short and it seems like it is everyweek but I have to go now so I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week. Remember the reason for the season! 

Happy Holidays!!!

Love,

Elder Williams 

November 25, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

This was a good stinkin week! I had so much fun and got to learn even more about patience! Everyone is always talking about time, and how fast it goes. It really seems like Yesterday me and Will were falling asleep on the couch or better yet when Will was born. Everything seems so recent! Yet it was a year ago that I was going snowboarding for the first time of the season and we were getting ready for the holidays and doing all the Family fun activities that the holidays bring. I'm gonna miss those but at the same time it will all just fly by and I will be back there in no time at all! Can't believe I have already been gone 4 months!

Well enough of that!! What a week we had here. It all started with wednesday at district meeting we talked about Christ like attributes. We Listened to a talk that Sister Dalton gave on Virtue. What she said is so true, "Through the strength of the Lord I can do all things". That is about as true as they come! I know we can do all things through the Lord. She made so many great comments on virtue and how one virtuous person can change the whole world. They also mentioned that the word Virtue comes from the latin word "strength" that is about as true as it gets too, if we are virtuous we become unstoppable and satan will have no power over our thoughts. Thought I would just share that with y'all! 

There are so many missionary experiences to share and not enough time to do it! But let me just start with how awesome Saturday was! Saturday morning we have an amazing lesson with a girl named Jessica, we found her at an Eagle court of honor a few weeks back. We were suppose to meet with her last weekend but her sister passed away, so this weekend we met up with her and really just tried to comfort her. We talked about the plan of salvation and she loved it. She wants to do whatever she can to come closer to Christ and be with him again. We felt the spirit so strongly and we could tell she was feeling it to so we invited her to baptism and she accepted! Heavenly Father works in mysterious ways. She has been around the gospel before but never wanted to know what it was all about, then we met her and her sister passed away. As sad as that is the gospel can really comfort people in times of trouble. I know that Heavenly Father put us in her path at this time for a reason. After that amazing lesson we have the chance to go to a Hawaiian/Asian Luau. It was so much fun. The luau was on the beach so yet again we have to get permission from the president and he let us go. He is all for letting us do fun thing if we have a purpose and are working diligently. The luau was a blast, so much good food and tons of people there to contact and find. We came out of there with two pretty solid potential investigators. It was definitely worth our time. Then right after that we got to continue our fun! Fidel being the most humble man in the universe invited us to go with him and the family to a Hockey game. Once again we have to get permission but they still let us go. It was one of the most fun things I have been able to do so far. Spending time with Fidel is wonderful, he is an incredible man and is trying so hard to overcome so much. This past week he went free from all his worldly things and addictions. It is incredible what he has done and I can't believe how much of a changed man he has become! I love this man with all my heart I just hope he continues on the right path and will eventually enter in to the straight and narrow gate! Saturday was a super good day and I am so grateful that I got to have the experiences that I did. 

Being the week of Thanksgiving I am sure everyone is getting ready for there parties they will be having. I know I am we have so many members that want us to come over and have dinner with them. Everytime I think of thanksgiving I always remember going to Grandma Beus house, sleeping, watching football and then going to the gym after! I am definitely going to miss that this year but it alright there are other things to be done. I guess I had better say a few things I am thankful for... Mom I loved your first one, we all need to be thankful for the small things in life such as taste and smell!  Although there are millions I will just say a few! I am thankful for thanksgiving, I always knew it was a day to think of thinks to be thankful for but never completely realized the meaning, now I am so thankful that we have it so we can look back at all the thing Heavenly Father has given us! I am thankful for this mission I am on, I thought I was a mature person back home but I was so wrong I am thankful that I have this time to realize who I want to be and what I really want in this short time we have. I am also thankful for the plan of salvation, I teach it everyday but it is amazing to know that I will be able to be with my family forever! I guess in General I am thankful for this gospel and how true it is. I have a super strong testimony of how it is the root of all happiness and with out it we wouldn't know what true happiness is. And last but not least I am so thankful for my family and all the support you guys give to me! I couldn't do this without you guy being there for me 110% of the way, you all have played a significant role in who I am today and I can never thank you enough. 

Well as of right now that is all I have time for so we will see you soon and have a wonderful thanksgiving! When you all go to grandmas house remember I am still there celebrating with you guys. Dont forget to make sure you tell grandma, grandpa, aunts, uncles and cousins that I am grateful for all they have done for me. Especially tell Levi Thanks for me! 

Love you all so much!!!!!,

Elder Williams 

October 21

To everyone I love,

Who would have guessed?? I really am an eagle scout huh?? Hard to believe that it really did happen but I guess pictures are worth a million words! Mom how does it feel to know that both your boys pulled off a last minute eagle scout!! HAHA at least we both got them! But really I am excited to know that I got it and everything went well and I actually have an award to look at when I get home!

Its funny how many things are already changing back at home! I can't believe Jill is married and Kristen is getting married! Wish them both the best of luck for me! Also I miss my nephews, they are growing up so fast. Last I can remember is will was fat, he sat around all day, and ate as much as mom would let him! Roger on the other hand doesn't surprise me. When I left he was still a crazy little kid! I love hearing about them and all the growing up they will be doing over the next two years! Don't worry about me being skinny fat! It seriously is all muscle ;) I think this is the first time in my life you can tell that I have muscle and you can't be skinny fat and have a 6-pack! yeah first time I have had one of those. The working out... Should have done that a long time ago!

Fidel and the Family Halloween Party

What a week it has been! Its hard to think of anything to say when the time is going as fast as it is. I feel like I just told you guys what is going on down here but yet another week has come and gone. I seriously don't know what to say. I'm looking back in my journal and come to find out this was the week of misery, our air conditioning broke... Right now in Utah that might not be a big deal, but in Florida where is it still 90 degress everyday it sucks to have not a/c! On Tuesday night we came home and our thermostat said 95 in our house... that was the worst night of sleep I have ever had! But enough with that we made it as fun as we could and thankfully our a/c is back up and running!

The highlight of the week was definitely Thursday night! We went on splits with the ward members, usually when we do this it is just stressful and people don't show up. But this week was different, we went to a members home where we taught two investigators, Nate and Lisa, and the lesson was incredible. I basically started the lesson and let the members relate to the investigators and they just hit it off! It was difficult to get much of the lesson in but I know they felt the spirit and that is all that matters! The good thing is Nate and Lisa read over all the pamphlets and Book of Morman so they already knew EVERTHING!! That was such a good lesson and I am so happy they got to feel the spirit they way they did! They are awesome and hopefully everything goes so well with them! 

Fidel, at the Naples Pier

As for Fidel and his family, they are solid! He had problems with word of wisdom but we are working on them know and he is doing so good with it! I can tell that it is hard for him to deal with that, he has had a lot less energy this week and had seemed really down. But I am happy that he is doing it! Also this morning we went and cleaned a house with him, I think that he wants to move into that house sometime in the future and thats why they are cleaning it. And sense we are getting kicked out of our apartment next week and have no where to go he wants us to go move in with him. We will see what happens there. I am not sure if we are really getting kicked out or if they just want us to move as soon as possible. Anyways Fidel is the Man he really is! He took us to the beach last week and he is taking us again this week! oh man the beach is so beautiful I wish I could actually get into the water but I know that can't happen. 

I really had an incredible week this week and can't wait to start the new adventure that is in front of me (this coming week) but before you know it, it will all be over with and I will be writing you another email having no idea what to say! I hope everything back home is going super and you are all enjoying this time you have away from me, because I can promise it will be short! Have a wonderful week and remember that you can do all things through the Lord! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Williams!

November 4, 2013

Hey Ya'll

Holy Cow it snowed!!!!! That absolutely blows my mind!! The weather here is starting to cool off. Now it only feels like 90 degrees instead of 100! HAHAH cold right? I have to keep telling myself that its November other wise I think I am still in August! Makes the time fly by, I guess! 

This week was one of those learning weeks that everyone has to have! Our week started out so good between Monday and Tuesday we had taught 8 lessons and had seen 3 less actives! We thought it was going to be a bomb week and we were just going to tear it up. Well then the Lord had to humble us. Like always! Thursday and Friday were not such great days. Our numbers were just the same as usual but for some reason the days just seemed long and nothing was going the way we wanted it too. So what does a missionary do? He gets on his knees and pleads and wonders what is going on. and what he needs to learn. On Saturday me and my comp both started talking about this and what we could do so that we could finish out the week strong, we came to the conclusion that it is all about the attitude! Saturday and Sunday our numbers were the same, only one thing changed and that was the attitude. Yesterday I was so spiritually fed and I know it was because I had that change. I have decided that the whole rest of the week and for my mission I am going to do my best to put forth a good attitude. No one wants to be around someone with a crappy attitude and if I have a bad attitude then this will be near impossible to do! I am so happy that I was able to have that experience this week. I felt like the Lords investigator and it was definitely a learning and growing week. Its so wonderful to see how Heavenly Father will put us through trials and hard time so we can learn and grow, during the trial we never realize why it is happening but once it is all done and over with we see how much we have changed and how we have become someone who Heavenly Father can be proud of.

Well enough of that you guys want to know how the work is going. Mom I guess I do make it sound like we commit people to baptism every week. We try to! I have One actually baptism! But its not staying like that for long, on Friday we are baptizing a young girl named Megan. She is awesome and I am so excited for her. She is so smart. At first we had a hard time with her processing things and understanding and we could tell that something was wrong or something wasn't happening. Then one time we went there for a lesson and she was completely changed. After that lesson Elder Halford and I talked about it and we both agreed that it was she finally read the Book of Mormon and prayed about it. Its crazy awesome how much a simple 10 minutes of reading and a 30 second pray can change someones life. I love it. Nothing else I would rather do than see how a simple act of faith can change the life of someone forever. So yeah Megan is super soild and so excited to get baptized on Friday. And then there is Rocky!!! I can't brag about him enough! First off he is getting baptized on Sunday so thats way cool! But listen to this.. His first fast Sunday ever, what does he do? Well during testimony meeting he says if you go up there I will go up there! Oh my goodness the kid is awesome, so I went up. Right when I get done he stands up and goes in front of everyone and just pours his heart out! It was amazing. The kids makes me speechless. To think that two months ago we thought he was some thug who would never listen to us. And then all the sudden you have this kid who has the biggest heart and is just awesome. I will forever remember my time in Golden Gate. When I first got here I was told that this was one of the harder areas and less successful areas of the mission. Well in three months we have three baptisms and so many more who right there ready to enter into the kingdom of God. This work can be done, it all starts with a good attitude and obedience to the Lord! 

Fidel is the mystery man. We thought he was going to be super positive and willing to obey the commandments. Ever sense we started talking about the Word of Wisdom and trying to help him he really doesn't want anything to do with us anymore. He still comes to church every week and knows it is true but doesn't want to take that leap of faith and give up the coffee. We asked him if we could just come over and have a short lesson with him and the family, he just turned us down and didn't want any of that. We hope we can keep a relationship with him and keep him coming to church, that way he can feel the spirit and hopefully one day in the future give up those worldly things and come unto the gospel. It makes me sad to just talk about it because I love and care for him so much and I want him to enter into this awesome gospel. But we think we know why he won't do it, because he won't read and pray everyday like he needs to. He needs all the help he can get spiritually and that is where it will come from but he doesn't recognize that yet. Maybe one day he will see how much happiness this gospel can bring.  

Well this letter has been long enough and you have heard about all the excitement that happens in the Golden Gate Estates! Before I go I want you all to know that it is all about inviting. I know in Utah most people have heard about Mormons before but as the prophet has said we need to invite everyone. If we are inviting we are doing our part and Heavenly Father will bless us and be proud of us. I hope this week you will try to find someone that you can invite to go to church or to read the Book of Mormon. We may invite 100 people and they all may say no. But if we are inviting then we are giving people there agency and the Lord will take care of the rest! I love you all so much! I hope you have a fantastic week and remember attitude is everything!

Love, 

Elder Williams 

November 12, 2013

Hey Y'all!!!

 

Just so you all know I am not dead. We had our PDay today because our Mission Pres. likes us to be out on Holidays. So we got to teach all day yesterday and today we have our pday. I expect that whenever there is a holiday on a monday we will have pday the next day!

 

I don't even know where to start and what to tell you guys! Well I guess I could start by telling you guys that it was an awesome week. We had a baptism on Friday and on Sunday. Friday we had a baptism for Megan. It was super awesome, she is so awesome and I am so grateful that I had the chance to change her life forever. If you think about it there is no greater work than this. Every single day I get to go out and help people realize how happy they can become and much there lives can change. When we first met Megan we were not planning on teaching her, the main focus was on the Mom. Over time the Lord showed us that we were teaching the mom to get to Megan who was the one that was being prepared to recieve the Gospel. I love how much the Lord helps us find those who are ready. If we are looking we WILL find! 

 

After the Baptism on Friday we got to have a super exciting thing happen. The whole time this event happened I was thinking my Family could be watching the same thing I am. Yup that's right on Friday night our Mission Pres. let us watch the BYU basketball game against Weber St. this was so fun! He let us watch it because my compainon brother is on the team. Its not going to happen all the time but I think we are going to be able to watch the BYU vs Utah St game on the 30th. It was way fun to just sit back and enjoy a game. Our Mission Pres told us to call him and ask for permission to do it and he said the only reason I am letting you do it is becasue you Elders are obedient and working hard. Our Pres is all about having fun and doing awesome things if we are obedient and working our hardest. 

 

Sunday was an awesome day! In church some exciting things happened. First off I had the chance to comfirm megan in sacrament meeting which was super awesome. Its was awesome to be there with her! That was just the begging to a wonderful day! Also in sacrament meeting it was the Primary Program... We all know how good of a singing voice I have! HAHA Well me and my comp along with the branch President got to sing a childs infront of everyone! Good thing I took that singing class back in 9th grade. I wish I remembered what they said haha. But it went really well and everyone said it sounded great! But people always say that, so who knows how it really sounded. Then Sunday night we had a baptism for Rocky!!!!! He is so stinkin awesome. I could sit here and brag about him all day, but that won't do justice! He had more people at his baptism then I have ever seen at anyones! It was crazy, it just goes to show how great the kid really is. He has the biggest heart I have ever seen. He is already getting involved in missionary work. He wants to be a missionary. But he is first working on him family. He committed them all to come to church and start learning about what we teach! Ahhhh this kid is super steller! Then after his baptism on sunday we went out and talk to some potential investigators... Well the lesson went extremely well and... we committed them to baptism! The dads name is Eddy and the mom Alexa, they have a 1 year old baby and they just love the gospel. They will have a hard time with the work schedule but I know that with the Lord they will be able to do it and he will make it possible for them to be able to fullfill there desires!

 

Sorry time is short and that is all I have time for but just know this was a super awesome week and I love the mission. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else right now!

 

Love,

Elder Williams

November 18, 2013

Hey Everybody,

 

Seems like it was not that long ago that I was emailing you guys!! Mom sounds like your trip to sunny Califonia was a blast! Just so everyone knows it is still way hot down here I can't tell a difference between November and August! Its crazy how close Christmas is, everyone keeps talking about it! Down here in Florida everyone basically skips thanksgiving and goes strait to Christmas. No one here has thanks haha... All the time I ask people what they are thankful for and it seems like no one can ever reply becasue they skip straight to Christmas. But thats okay I love the Christmas spirit and there is no better time to tell people about Christ then at Christmas time. I have always wondered how general authority's say that the best Chritmas they have are while they serve a mission. I think I am starting to realize why. Because for two Christmas's I really get to focus on the real meaning of Christmas and get to share it with other people. I hope we will be able to get the attention of people and share the wonderful message of Christ! Quick Question how is Levi doing?? I think about him a lot and always pray for him? Blake and Jana wrote me and I have been meaning to write them back but time is just so short on p-days!

 

Well the weekly report is going to be great! How could it not be great I get to serve the Lord all day everyday! Did you know that the muslums are crazy?? We were trying to find some lost members and a door that we knocked on has a muslum lady! She tried to preach to us and tell us we were all wrong and messed up, well then when it came time to leave she wouldn't even shake our hand! They are pretty weird. But she is a daughter of God so Heavenly Father loves us all the same. I just hope one day she will reconginze the truth. This week I realized why I was called to and English speaking mission. I cannot figure out how to speak spanish at all. I really want to learn but I don't think it will ever happen. I went on exchanges up to the spanish missionaries and tried to talk with some people in spanish... it was a disaster!! Therefore the Lord knows me best!! Lets go ahead to Friday! It was on of the best day I have had on the mission (it feels like I say that all the time) But it was super awesome! I feel we were just going from appointment to appointment and that is the best when you are a missionary! We got to teach so many people and that was sweet!

 

Saturday was just an average day! Until the night, Elder Halford and I figured if we are going to be successful we need to find more investigators, at the sametime we were wanting to have some fun so we made the best of both worlds! We aren't allowed to tract at all so we just have to street contact people and pray that someone will listen. We decided to go to the local store and sit in front of them and pass out card and help as many people as we saw. Well of course my comp wants to make a compition out of this so we each got 3 card and tried to see who could get them out first... I lost... Oh well I will do better next time! Up until about 10 minutes ago we haven't heard from anyone... As we sit here in the Library we get a call from someone we don't know... come to find out it was one of the people we handed out cards to so hopefully something will come from it and I will be able to tell one of those unbelieveable missionary stories!

 

Sunday was a whole day in itself! We were still trying to get Fidel coming to church even though we stopped teaching him. He decided to come and see what it had in store for him. It was the first time he stayed for all 3 hours, He loves sacrament meeting but usually leaves once that is done. Sunday he stayed and in sunday school our ward mission leader knew what he had been struggling with and just changed the whole lesson for him. It was incredible. He has been having problem with so many things and he has been getting really down on himself but we all helped cheer him up and showed him that it doesn't have to be like that! I think in that lesson he decided to change his ways. He road home with us and told us that for this entire week he is going to be clean from all the worldly things. I pray so hard that he will be able to do this and recongnize the change it will have on his life. I think that this could be the turning point for him. He has hit rock bottom and now the only way is up! Sunday night we stopped by and gave him a pie and he told us that sense he made the desion things have been going better already! I hope that we really can do this and he sees the blessings it bring. I love this man and his family so much!

 

Hopefully you guys all get my pictures that I sent! What a wonderful time it is to be a missionary and how blessed we are to be at the stage of life where we can spread the gospel to everyone! I hope everyone has a great week!

 

Love,

Elder Williams!!!!

 

 P.S the picture is of Rocky and his family at his baptism!

October 7

Hey everybody,

 Sounds like you guys had a good week. I had a great week here in Florida!! Its getting to the point in the mission where I have so many blessing come my way that I don't know which ones to write about. 

Maybe I don't have tons of blessing coming my way but I am just learning to realize all of them. I know that through out my life Heavenly Father gave me many blessing, but I never took the time to realize how much he really did for me. Every single day the Lord is blessing us, for instance I never would have thought a blessing could be something as small as members giving us food. But that truely is a blessing from God. I hope that back home you are all taking the time to realize the blessing he is giving us. I know you are all probably going a million miles an hour, thats just how are family runs, but I encourage all of you every night to realize the things he has done for you in the day. Just like the song "Count your many blessing, name them one by one" I have found that as I do that out here in the mission I see how happy I really am and it helps me to contiue pushing forward. 

Conference was amazing!! There is nothing better to a missionaries ear than hearing the words of the Prophet but it was so fun to listen to what the Lord wants us to hear and do for the next 6 months. I felt like the main message of the conference was about three things. First truly converting yourself to the gospel, second members doing missionary work, and third families. They all really stuck out to me. But I love how much they talk about families because thats what this gospel is. It is a family orianted gospel. Satan tries his hardest to tear down families because he knows he can get many of our Brothers and sisters in doing so, I think he is doing that more than ever. I personally feel that is why we had so much councel on families and how to build and maintain a strong family realationship. The answer on how to have a strong family was clear to me. Have a gospel centered home. Teach and understand the reason for family scripture study and family prayer. Now we have heard this word the question is will we act upon this. Our mission pres in his email to us this week said now are you going to change and do better or will you continue to be yourself. I know this is councel from our leaders who have recieved this revelation from God.

As far as missionary work goes, it is going awesome. Our main investigator is Fidel, I knew going into this week it would be hard because they drink coffee, achohl and tea. But we had to teach them about the word of wisdom. I was nervous as to how they would react. It went so well, they have already stopped drinking those things and are well on there way to coming closer to Jesus Christ. I think this was a miricle and definitely a blessing from God. Also this week we set a baptism date with a young girl named Megan, she is super ready and I hope all goes well before her baptism on Nov. 2! 

I don't think there is much more to say about this week. I love you guys and pray for you always!

Love, 

Elder Williams

Sept 16, 2013

To Everyone I love,

Right now I'm not exactly sure what I am going to say... It feels like just yesterday I was writing you guys and told you everything I had to say! You could say this was a fast week. Out here days seem like weeks and weeks seem like days so I honestly don't remember what happened this last week. Good thing I have most all of it in my journal. That's why it is important to keep a constant journal.

Lets start with the Bible bashing that took place this week. I honestly could help but laugh at the guy, it was so hard to keep a straight face most of the time. So anyways we met with J-Witnesses and they believe the weirdest things in the world it honestly sad. I asked the one guy if he thought he was going to Heaven (they believe only 144,000 go to heaven) he answer was no. I thought then what the heck are we here for. That was one of the saddest things I have ever heard so I asked him if he thought he had a chance to go to heaven and he said no way. Crazy right!! I guess they think God only love 144,000 of his children, they honestly have no common sense on things either. If you have the chance to meet with them, DON'T they love to waste your time. We will definitely never meet with them again it was just a waste of a day. Now on to he happier notes, I guess obedience does bring miracles its happening everyday. Mom you asked if the mission pres. was loving! He is loving but in a very business professional kind of way, he is intimidating to talk to just because everything has got to be perfect. He is the kind of guy that pulls you into his office and says do you really want to be here. It honestly can be scary at times but I guess that is good because it keeps us 100% obedient. And the work here is way more successful than it has ever been before.

This last week our zone set a mission record on new investigators found and as for me and my companion we didn't find any... They all found us! One family has been so kind to us they didn't really want religion because in the past people have tried to push it on them before but they said for some reason they wanted to talk to us, so we talked and got to know them share a little message and we go back to teach a lesson later this week. We found more people and those are stories for another time if they continue to work out. But this week we found 11 potential investigators and 5 new investigators which is big numbers. I think I have been mentioning a lot about past investigators and this was a weird week because we didn't get to teach them much just small visits. Kathy and David are hard right now becasue Kathy got a mouth infection and started a new job so lots of stress and pain in there part, but they are still praying and reading all the time so that is awesome I love it. Jill on the other hand I think is starting to avoid us. Which is so sad because she was awesome. Everytime we have and appointment with her she is gone but if we just drop in randomly they are there. I bet Andy and Carson can relate to this. It sucks because you want so badly for them to see the progression they have already made and realize how wonderful the gospel is but they just can't quit see it in there lifes yet. But they will see it when the time is right. And thats what president is stressing all we can do is invite people to come unto christ they have the agency to choose. He seriously wanted us to invited hundreds and hundreds of people while we are here in the mission feild.

Saturday was an adventure in its self... we knew that it was gonna be a hard day because we are running low on miles for driving the car. And one of the appointment was way to far to drive, it was 15 miles out into the middle of the everglades. So we had to bike... Lets just say my legs have never hurt so bad in my life. But it was good, we biked around 38 miles on saturday and made it a crazy day. Saturday night we had the Adult session of stake conference, it was soooooo good. If we all remember the new thing is Hastening the Work and he laid down the law. It was a Elder Holland talk. BOLD and to the point. He basically told members they have to do so much more and if they aren't giving missionaries referrals then we can't teach them lessons and eat dinner with them becasue that time is to golden to find someone else who needs the gospel. President is BOLD and I love it. Then Sunday at stake conference they gave us the number of the stake and they are crazy I can't remember numbers but the percentage of members attending sacrement meeting were 28% thats just incredible. Way to low. That is like our focus now to get less actives back in church and referrals from members. At stake conference we sang. Oh was it amazing there were so many people crying there eyes out and it sounded incredible. I actually don't think I am that bad of a singer... But we all know that aint true. Thats what I get for thinking. Anyways I sing all the time. Every morning night and whenever I get a chance to sing I do it.

I love that story you told about Rindee and the kids, because the same thing happened to us. Last Monday as we were leaving the Library to go play some basketball, we couldn't find our keys anywhere and we started to look everywhere. So we decided we won't be able to do this on our own its just not possible. and so we did what missionaries do, we prayed! At this point we had pretty much figured out they were somewhere in the Library so we pulled the place apart, looked under the keyboards where we were sitting and on the floor. Everyone was helping us look, except on guy. After about 10 minutes of looking we asked the one guy who wouldn't help us if we could look under his keyboard... low and behold our keys!! He had been there the whole time and sat next to us so we didn't think they were on that desk. I don't want to make any assumptions I am just happy that Heavenly Father helped us find our keys and we could continue on our way.
  

 Me and my companion are like two peas in a pod. We work so well together and have basically the same exact intrests. He loves sports so thats always good for me. We have both agreed that if we were back home we would have definitely have been friends so thats always good to have a comp that you like. I must say me and him are both dedicated to getting big. We wake up at 5:30 to get ready and go to the gym and we stay there till 7. You guys would never believe that I would be one to work out on a daily bases. In the month I have been here doing this it has shown up big time. I actually don't look like a bean pole anymore.

I have not been golfing yet although I have been dying to go. Its just that we have so little time and on P-Day we have other things that we have to do and want to do. But we think we will go out in the next couple of P-Days. Basically on P-Days I play basketball. OH I almost forgot... wanna know something gross, Im gonna tell you anyways. We all remember how I smashed my toe in my basketball shoes right? well yeah I keep doing it and my toe nail has decided thats enough. So yeah I don't have a toe nail on my big toes anymore. At times it hurts like crazy but I got used to it and know its getting better.

This paragraph is just about random cool experiances that are coming to my head so stay with me. Who would have thought that I would see my first wild alligator before my first wild snake!!! Well saturday when we were biking going full speed crossing over the canal my comp slames on his brakes and tells me he sees a gator so I got pictures and it was awesome. Just a baby one though, the mom has to be close so we are on the look out to find her and get some good pictures. Just about two minutes ago we got news that we have permission to move out of our house and into an apartment!!! This is huge and so exciting because of all the scary things happening there and all the horrible bugs we have! I am so happy right now. Now we actually eat something without it being infested with ants and coch roaches!!

Not much more to say. This week I want you guys to remember to always put the Lord first in everything you do! I promise it will make life so much easier. Always say yours prayers no matter what you are doing. And always find time to read your scriptures its amazing what can really happen when you put him above everything else! I have a strong testimony of this church and I love this gospel its the most true thing on this earth. I love you guys so much and keep up the good work you are doing back home.

Love your one and only Elder,

ELDER WILLIAMS

Hannah who they Baptized 9/7/13
*with the looks of this picture he really is getting bigger.
His pants did not look that way when we sent him.
Guess he might be needing a bigger size!

September 9

Hey everyone,

 

We didn't get P-Day until tuesday, so that took the whole day and every wednesday we have district meeting that take a large portion of the day, then to make it even better thursday is planing day so we don't get out of our house until after dinner. That makes for short time to teach people. But when we do teach we do a dang good job of it. I guess I have to start off with some sort of highlight right? Well lets put it this way I have already been out one month on the mission... Time flies.

 

But my real highlight of the week would have to have been saturday. On my month mark I had my first Baptism. It was a girl named Hannah, she was the "golden investigator" he story starts just before I got here. But she referred herself to the church headquaters and from the get go she had everything down. Her first time a church she bour her testimony and right then and there she knew the church was true. So the teaching part was easy for us. Anyways as golden as she is she still had to work through some hard things. The Baptism was awesome her family who is non-member showed up and the spirit was so strong.   It was awesome.  

The rest of the investigators...... Thats a different story! So Jill and her family, I don't know about them... They were super solid at first, but we can't get them to church and that's a problem. Everytime we have appointments with them they end up not being there. But we still have faith that the Lord will help them with whatever is happening in there life. On a happier thought there is this guy named Wesner he is a minister for a Haitian baptist church, he knows that this is the true church and he is looking for a way out of being minister so he can join our church, but its hard for him to tell the people he cares so much about that he is going to leave them for another church so he hasn't done it yet. This week we left such a spiritual message with him and it was so strong at the end he, HE asked us for a priesthood blessing so that was amazing. I pray for him everyday to get help. We are visiting him tonight and hopefully we can figure something out. In between Wesner and all the other investigators we have, there is on family that just blows my mind. They are the freaking best.

 Kathy, David and Kayla they are so sweet. On Saturday we went over to teach the second lesson and the lesson went so well. The spirit was so strong so we invited them to be baptized on the 28th and they all pretty much said yes. But they don't know about the 28th they are going to pray about it. It was so awesome, when I started talking about Christ and the example he set for us they started crying and after we talked about the holy ghost they were definitely crying...  Kathy calls herself our mission mom. Because on sunday and in days past they have cooked for us and they feed us it is so good. David is from belize and he told us that a month ago he would never let Mormons in his house, but he said what I have learned about mormons is so far from what you guys are teaching us and it was incredible. Plus everyone knows me I don't really like sea food... well thats gonna change because he made us some sea food and man oh man was it good. They treat us like kings and its amazing they are the best family I have met while I have been on my mission.

 

On sunday we were in church and over heard the score to the BYU game....... MIND BLOWN how did they do that? My companions sister married Daniel Sorenson BYU safety so his is so interested in it and you know me I just like me college football. Also somewhere I heard Oregon beat up Virgina... But I don't know forsure. 

Now about the Florida life. Anyone who wants to live here... rethink that thought. I guess if you lived on the beach it would be cool, but down here in Naples (the richest zip code in the nation, just the rumor) you have to pay minimum 100 million to own a house on the beach. Those houses are crazy I guess, we will take a P-Day and go see these houses. But where I live and my area I could never live. It is always raining and if its not raining your probably going to get struck by lighting. On friday night we were at a missionaries Birthday party and it rained harder than I have ever seen it before. Honestly crazy when we drive home we have to turn on our hazard lights so people can see us, and the roads are always under water. And the lighting is nonstop. Its makes the night look like day because it is so consistent. I love it but at the same time when you live in middle of the woods with bears, the lights are out and lighting like crazy... its scary. But other that that its good down here. It is way green. Trees everywhere so if you are trying to find a store you better know where it is because you won't see it from the street.

 

  Keep reading daily and pray always I promise it will help. And Will stop growing. You look like a different kid with the bottom teeth in. Love you all, enjoy the week and most of all, have fun and keep smiling!!

 

Love,

Elder Williams

 

P.S. This computer is ancient and sucks so pictures don't send on it. I will just have to fill up my SD card and then send it home so you guys can see all my pictures. Half of them are dumb but all have stories behind them.

 

 

August 26, 2013

Dearest Family,

Holy Cow this place is awesome I don't even know where to start! My trainer's name is Elder Halford he is from Orem, UT pretty cool kid played basketball and everything so we get along pretty well. My area right now is called Golden Gate, it is near naples and it is the furthest south you can get in this mission! My backyard is the Everglades crazy right! Well with that being said I bet everyone is wondering how my first experiance with snakes is going... I know that the first thing I thought when I was told I was headed down south! Lets be honest here, Im not afraid of snakes at all... Just kidding. My first snake encounter came at a members home, he actually hatched them right in front of us so they were little baby snakes. So that wasn't to bad. When I first asked about the snake down here my companion said it not the snake you need to worry about its the bears and panthers. 

WOW crazy right, you will see in my picture that I literally live in the jungle I feels so weird.

Austin's backyard

 But I really do love this area. To get from Tampa to where I live it is a good 3 hour drive. I fell alseep. Man the humidity is... nothing. I actually love it the only time is sucks is about 1-3 in the afternoon and the sun is some how out. By the way the sun is never out. It rains every single day without dought. The mornings are beautiful and sunny, then by 1 it starts to rain. Yeah we are in the lightning capital of the nation. I have never seen the sky light up so many times in my life. It has come close a couple times but I guess thats normal for down here. My closest experiance so far is about 200 yard away from me. We were getting in the car to go to a dinner apointment and holy cow it was crazy loud I jumped way high. And the rain that another story, in about five minutes you can have inches of rain over the roads. It gets to the point where you have to stop and pull over or go about 5 mph to get anywhere safe. We try to stay dry but it doesn't work very well. I bet your all wondering how much I bike... never! I actually got on a bike for the first time yesturday to go to an apointment. We are a full car area. But our miles are running short so my comp keeps telling me this week is going to suck because we have to bike everywhere. That would be all fine and dandy if I had my bike. It doesn't get here until wednesday because they ship it strait to our house. The bike I use right now is for about a 12 year old kid. Its way to short! just Imagine a 6 foot kid riding a bike that is made for a little kid. But I guess whatever you gotta do to spread the lords work.

Right now we have 7 solid people who will most likely be getting baptized in the next month and 3 more pretty good investigators that I think will get baptized. Mostly a bunch of families which are basically gold pots down here if you find a interested family they all listen and love the gospel so that in its self is amazing. When we went tracting for the first time I was super scared that everyone would reject and be super mean about it... Its the exact opposite everyone is super nice here. They all listen to you for a little bit then offer you water and finally tell you they aren't interested. But you do have a few people who tell you to get off there property or they will shoot you... Haha so funny! We were tracting in what we call the estate which is homes because most our work is done in apartments. The people there aren't so nice they really don't want to listen to you and just want you to leave oh well sucks for them if they don't want the best message they will hear in there lifes... just kidding we still love them. 

  

I hope everyone is continuing to Read, Pray and write in your journals daily! I know it will bring many many blessings. Our mission president is really cracking down on the obedience rules like super hard. He calls people in and ask if your in or out if you show any sign of not wanting to do this he says pack your bags. We are on a strict obedience policy because we hadn't been having much success, now that we are being obedient we are seeing many wonderful miricles happen. He doesn't want this to stop so its gonna be hard to do it but we really have no choice.

Our big message is mostly to the members right now. We are pushing the hastening the work. So as my family I hope you guy will always look for ways you can become more involved in finding non-member. You can watch the videos that are put up on the internet to see more about it.

I love you guys so much and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Williams

August 14, 2013

I am so excited to finally get to Florida. When I think about it, I feel like I shouldn't be leaving the MTC so soon but I am way excited to know that next week at this time I will be where the Lord wants me to be. . 

Class was awesome. I never really thought I would come around to the whole learning in a small class room but my district is amazing. We learn so much together I am so blessed to be able to lead them. I don't really do a ton to lead them, they probably think the only thing I'm good for is getting their mail for them. They all love me when they have mail and are mad when they don't. I found out I love to talk. When me and my two companions go teach lessons I usually end up doing most the talking. But that could also be that they are both pretty shy. It is honestly hard to get a discussion done in 20 minutes. But its still way fun. Our progressive investigator Shawn  has come a long way sense I last talked to you! I guess we have done alright because he is going to try and be baptized on september 14. Isn't that awesome the first person we teach we have a baptism. I guess you could say its not going to be that easy in the field but I am still way excited. 

I thought I would let you know that as of right now I am doing my laundry haha guess who didn't bring soap... ME! oh well my companion was nice enough to share with me so I guess I owe him some soap now! 

I honestly have no idea what we do here on p-day because usually everything is scheduled for us. We do get to go to the temple later today and I am way excited! 

I guess now is probably the time to tell you about the two devotionals we have had. They were amazing on Sunday night we watch a previously recorded talk by David A. Bednard! It was so amazing. He talked on Characters of Christ. It was awesome to explain what that means I guess the most simple way to put it is too turn out word when other turn in. To make more sense act as Christ would. When Christ was about to be crucified and the guards were coming to get him, peter cut off the guards ear, Jesus knew he was about to die but didn't care he healed the ear of the guard even when he has other things that were more serious and pertained to him. We all love that about Christ he always giving charity and turning out to help other rather than turning in and worrying about his problems. I know I am striving to be have characters of Christ and I hope you will to! He gave us a Challenge and I want to offer the same one to you. Take a blank Book of Mormon and underline all the time Christ or any of the prophets were showing Characters of Christ. I am excited to learn new ways to become more like Christ and I hope you are always working to become more like him. Time is really short now so I will Quickly tell you about the next devotional it was last night and Elder Richard G. Scott gave it, on communicating with God through pray and how important it is to pray always. I have two quotes I will leave with you. "You can't rush an effective Prayer"   "Pray even when you have no desire".

I love you guys so much.

Love,

Elder Williams