Peter is New District Leader in "Campo Limpo"!

Hey family,                                                                                          Dec 28, 2011

It was good to Skype Wednesday and Sunday with you all for Christmas!

So I’ve been transferred!  I left my old area and right now I’m in a completely different city in Juníai, in area Campo Limpo.  I also got my first American companion!  Elder Merrick Reynolds.  He's pretty legit, the first companion in the field that gets my jokes and subtle sarcasms.  Also he listened to the same music as me before the mission, metal, rap and all that crap.  So he's cool.  Anyways, this new area is prettier than any other I’ve passed by, with a lot of trees and cool looking stuff.  But the problem is that it's the hilliest area on the mission.  I think the Lord wants me to slim down these next few months.  The hills look like the hills in Switzerland and Austria...  So yeah...lots of walking!  Last Monday I told everyone that I was leaving and they got all sad.  A little girl started crying and got really sad and gave me her favorite picture of Michael Jackson.  I'd send a picture of it, but the internet sucks right now.  Anyways I’m the new District Leader of two sisters and two elders.  Now I have to worry about two more areas.  Anyways, I love you guys!  Keep up the missionary work and remember the prayers!

Elder Periquito Williams

Hey Family

Hey family!                                                                                                            Dec 13-11

So it looks like everything's all certain with Skype, I just need to find a place to Skype.  Anyways, at 1:00 pm next Wednesday the 21st we'll be skyping.  I don't have your guys' name.  So just add me and send me an email telling me what your guys' Skype name is and I’ll add you.  Also if 1:00 rolls around and nothing happens keep updating this email that you guys are using because I’ll be sending an email saying that there's a problem.  I might appear a little bit late because this next Wednesday isn’t a PDay so I’ll be working and all sweaty that day.

Anyways, how’s stuff?  I actually didn’t open the cards yet.  I was waiting on those.  I’m already on my last box of cereal though.  This week the zone leaders have been training me to become district leader and Friday I interviewed three of their investigators for baptism.  It was cool!  One of their baptisms was freaking weak; we spent an hour and half just talking about how he's following the devil for not being baptized.  Anyways, he ended up not being baptized, and he knows that he's not following God's will.  It looks like there's gonna be a lot of changes here on the mission.  We found some kid that wants to be baptized this Sunday also.  You guys should pray for him, Alex Junior.  His situations a little bit complicated.  He lives in a very bad neighborhood, his parents are druggies and his neighbors sell drugs, and drink a ton.  But his grandma is good.  Anyways, Christmas should be good. 

The bishop here is fine now, he's recuperating fast.  Also tell John that he can marry someday, but that he better not leave the area because I want to play “Smash” after the mission.  Tell Cassan that she's in trouble for not being able to Skype,  But that she can write me a Biiiiiig email instead.

Love you!

Elder Williams

Ah-Ha...Annie's been hiding peter's letters....

Hey family,                                                                                                         Nov 30, 2011

Annie didn’t send you guys the letter from last week so I copied it and pasted it.  Then I'll write the letter for this week.

 Thanks for the emails!  We baptized Rosalina!  It's cool; I learned that we actually saved a life to save a soul.  The day we found her she was thinking of committing suicide because of the depression that she has.  That day we found her she accepted baptism, and that Sunday she went to church.  I could tell a new light came into her eyes and she was happy again.  It's always cool to stop by and interrupt her reading the Book of Mormon.  Anyways, we have another baptism coming up this Sunday.  This one was a cool thing also, she was already going to church with her boyfriend in another ward, and we wouldn’t have ever found her if our zone leader didn’t do a contact on the bus. 

Skype should be sweet; I think it'll be me and Elder Lucas Rodrigues again.  He was the Argentinean that you guys saw last time we Skyped.  I doubt that Keenan's gonna Skype though, he's in the states right now right? 

It's cool to read that thought about reverence.  This ward that I’m in has a ton of it, which is going to be good for the people we're bringing to church.  Last Sunday I got the book that we're gonna study next year in Sunday school about the teachings of the prophets.  It's about George Albert Smith.  It's sweet.  It gets me thinking about personal development.  How we all need to get to the point of one of the apostles and prophets in our faith and progress before we can get to the point of Christ.  This is in part as to we have these books of the prophets.  Anyways, our bishop got in a bad accident driving some quad and almost died.  But he should be alright.  You should put his name in the temple because the temple's closed here.  Bishop Álvaro.  Which reminds me, the other day we went to the temple with our baptism to show her around and everything but it was all closed for maintenance and whatnot.  It sucked, but she liked it anyways.

Anyways, love you guys!

Elder Williams

Ok, here’s the other letter:

Hey Family!                                                                                                                        Dec 7, 2011

This week we baptized Tatiane, and we've got Francieli for this Sunday.  I was looking today at all the baptisms I’ve had on the mission and it looks like I’ve baptized almost all women.  Not like that’s a bad thing, everyone needs to get baptized, but it's showing the kind of people that I’m attracting.  Yesterday I was able to visit my old area because I went on a division with the zone leaders to help out the missionaries that are there now.  They've been having problems finding people to teach, so we went there and found some for them.  I'm learning a ton here on the mission, it's awesome, and I’m loving this area!

Anyways, for this Christmas we will be able to use Skype the Wednesday before.  So it'll be the 21st of this month, let me know when will be the better time, and we've got to find a place here that has Skype.   You guys are 5 hours behind, so probably 6-ish my time, 1-ish your time.  It's going to be sweet.  Also I learned that I don’t have any self-control. I got your Christmas package two weeks ago, and I’ve already opened everything.  Thanks by the way, now have a lot of cool stuff to go with my suit!  Also I got the bottle right when my old one broke.  The only problem is that Brazilians have a culture that if you eat something in front of them you have to offer some to them.  So I've got to eat all my stuff when they’re not paying attention, because it's us 4 there.  These pics are of me switching soccer teams to Corinthians, of the baptism of Rosalina, Tatiane, and kid that I’m helping get baptized for my zone leaders.  When I got that shirt, I entered the house of an investigator and within 5 minutes of knowing him, he gave me a new shirt so I switched teams.  They don't sell this shirt anymore and it was given on the 40th anniversary of the forming of the team, so it's pretty cool.  Anyways, hope you guys like the pics!  Love you!

Elder Williams

   

Rosalina's Baptism

Tatiana's baptism

  Peter got this soccer shirt from one of his investigators

Peter Wrote Two Letters!

Hey family,                                                                                                                                Nov 16, 2011

Thanks for the email!  I got transferred again.  Me and my new companion are opening a new area here.  We're still figuring out who everyone is.  We got lunch all figured out, and we should have one of the members give us some food tomorrow.  Yesterday in the area was eventful.  We're living in the house of our zone leaders.  They're cool, they were in my zone when I first got here and we played soccer a ton together.  My new area seems to be good.  It looks like the Lord has been preparing many people here.  We found many people that accepted baptisms and are very receptive.  I’m sad to have left my old area though.  The people we baptized there are super strong in the church and it was good to pass by there to say goodbye and whatnot.  Anyways, the mission rocks.  Yesterday in Lunch on of the zone leaders through a plate at me when I was half expecting it, and so we ended up breaking it in the house of the members, leaving a great first impression of the new elders here.  It's ok though, I’m American and he's from Argentina, so they just blamed on the fact that were strangers here.  Also me and my companion got lost yesterday, and we didn’t get back until 10:30.  We were walking around some ghetto and I think someone started following us, but we lost him and found our house.  We called our zone leaders but one's new and the other's got 1 month here so they didn’t help us out too much.

Anyways, 9 or 10 bucks for sunscreen is nothing.  It's 35 Reais so it'd be about 27 bucks here.  It sucks.

When you guys get your mission call, I’ll teach you guys some teaching techniques.  It's cool how truth in general works.  Using truth in relation to psychology and truth about the gospel are interrelated.  Like using techniques of working with the emotions of the investigators, so they are ready to feel the spirit when we talk about the first vision.  (It all starts the moment they see us.  It's legit!)

Anyways, I’m excited to see you guys this Christmas, I’ll let you guys know when I can Skype and whatnot.  I’m thinking of sending a package home also of stuff that’s taking up space in my bags here, so I’ll throw in a present also.  Anyways, thanks for your support and all that you guys are doing to continue the work of the Lord there in the states. 

Love you guys!

Hey family,                                                                                                                           Nov 24, 2011

This week was good, we managed to find a woman that will be baptized this week, and I’m pretty stoked!  The Lord has blessed this area and seems to have prepared many people.  The ward seems to be pretty sweet also.  Our area is huge and we don't live in it, so we have to walk 20 minutes just to get to work, I feel like I’m losing weight, but it's not really showing.  Yesterday we played soccer a good part of the day and I’m super tired.  Anyways there wasn’t enough time to write emails, so the president let us write today.  I learned these past two days that excitement/enthusiasm is an attribute of God.  Unfortunately it's not my strong point, but it's something that everyone needs to develop, it's because of un-enthusiasm that many relationships go downward and many people leave the church.  Anyways, the mission's sweet. 

Love you guys!

Elder Peter Williams

The Water's Warm... (Read both letters)

Hey family,                                                                                                                         11-8-11

So this week was good, we found a ton of people that have potential to be baptized soon.  It's cool to see how the Lord gives things to those who show that they are worthy of something.  Anyways, this year has been pretty bad for our whole mission.  We haven’t been baptizing too many people as we should be.  Our President is trying to figure out why.  What I've been seeing and hearing is that there are many missionaries that are slacking off, or they don’t have the right desires. 

Anyways, something pretty funny happened to me the other day.  I got a letter from a sister that was from the MTC in São Paulo.  She said that we never spoke, but that every time that she passed by me I always had on a serious face.  She knew my name and where I was serving.  She was wondering how I was doing and everything, then topped it off with a picture of her and the sisters from her mission.  It was pretty funny;  me and my companion had a good laugh.  Anyways, It was a good thing she was wearing a dress, or I would have thought she was a guy…  I saved the letter and the picture to show you guys when I get back.

I started bleeding on top of my nose cuz I was getting a pretty bad sunburn, so I bought some sunscreen.  Sunscreen here is freaking expensive, 35 Reais for 50SPF! Anyways, how’s the renovation going?  You guys finish the inside yet?

I always like hearing stories of inactives heading back to church, it gives me hope for some of my friends at home.  Also, I’m freakin stoked still that Nick got baptized, it's legit.

Anyways, I love you!

Elder Williams

PS, tell Kyle good work and to write me… Freak, I can remember dropping him off at the MTC... goes by quickly!

Hey Dad,                                                                              11-8-11

Thanks for the message, it was very good actually!  We've had a lot of inspiring messages from our president.  He's very spiritual.  We're finding a ton of people that will be baptized soon.  The Lord is blessing us with people to teach that are ready to be baptized.  My companion  and I had a talk and he's working on his homesickness.  As a result, we're knocking on more doors, increasing our contacts, and as we say in Portuguese "commanding the fire"! (He will be too busy to be homesick!)

The mission rocks, I’m learning a ton too.  Our District Leader got an emergency transfer.  One of the Zone Leader's went home early, so he’s been replaced, and for this last week of the transfer we're “district leaderless”.  I think I’m gonna get transferred, but I don't want to. I love this area, it rocks!  The members help out a ton now that we're getting their trust.  The baptisms have made them believe in us!   One lady here made the best food I’ve ever eaten here in brazil!  She also made us two cakes and homemade ice cream… so the wards getting a lot more involved with us!   Anyways, life’s good on the mission.  

Love you dad!

Elder Williams

Hey family!                                                                                                         11-2-2011

That’s so cool that Nick was baptized, that punk.  Tell him good work!  And that I hope he goes to Brazil on a mission someday!  It's also cool that Sam and Cassan will be heading to Hawaii, I'll certainly head on over there when I get back, and swim and surf and stuff.  In regards to the statement on the news about gas pumps being the dirtiest item to touch for bacteria and germs,  I think there’s a ton of things I've touched here in brazil that are WAY dirtier than ANY gas pump handle!  (I’m just building up my immunity for the end of the world.)  My new companion keeps talking about home and stuff and it's starting to make me homesick, luckily I think we'll be transferred.  He's starting to be a buddy more than a working buddy, so it'd be better if we were separated so that we both could work unhindered.  The mission's awesome, I’m learning a lot!  It's such a great blessing to see how much the Lord helps us out with our goals and our desires, so that we can become more like the Savior.  I know what you mean about reverence, there was one guy here that says everything on his mind.  I was sitting with him on his second sacrament meeting, and all meeting he was telling me about how irreverent everything's going.  Telling me that it was like we were in a bar or convenience store.  And because of that, he has doubts that this is the church of Christ, and didn’t accept our invitation to be baptized.  Reverence is something SO important.  Anyways you should let me know Keenans email address and not his mailing address. 

Im not too sure what I want for Christmas.  I bought a guitar btw.  It was super cheap.  So now I have something to do other than sleep and play soccer on P-Days.

We had our two baptisms last Sunday and Mateus got way soft and didn’t get wet, But he should be baptized soon, just some more work.

Anyways, I love you guys keep up the prayers and the missionary work on your end and i'll keep it up on this end also.

Elder Williams

Baptism of Karine and Lourdes

Wow! Another Letter from Peter (to Dad)...

Hey Dad,                                                                                              10-26-11

Thanks for the email.  It's steadily getting hotter and hotter and the days are getting longer and longer.  They have day light savings time here as well.  Daylight savings sucks as a missionary, sleeping an hour less!  We're gonna have three baptisms this Sunday.  It’s going to be my first baptisms since becoming senior, I’m pretty stoked.  My new companion arrived sick.  He almost had pneumonia.  So I've decided I’m gonna swim a ton when I get back home.  The desire to go swimming has been growing more since I’m away from the water.  I still get the butterflies in the stomach effect when I think about the swim meets I used to compete in.  So I’m gonna train a ton and swim for BYU or something.  It's cool that you missionaries had a radio station when you were on your mission in Indonesia.  We should probably get that going, but everybody here knows what we do, so they probably wouldn’t really listen a whole lot. Never-the-less, I would be cool to give the first vision and then invite everyone to be baptized over the radio! 

It is so true that everyone in the world could be drawn to into the gospel if the wards and branches would do a more active part in missionary work.  If members of the church were unified with the missionaries, the growth would occur a lot quicker.  That's what we're trying to do here in my area.  We are trying to know what both “hands” are doing.  Anyways, time to write the other family members, love you dad.

Elder Williams

Peter's Guide on How to Win Over Contacts...

Hey family,                                                                                                                                     10-26-11

Thanks for the letter mom and family, this week's gonna be great.  My new companion didn’t go to the temple last week because of transfers, so he complained and we went again today.  We should have three baptisms this week (Pray for them, Lourdes, Karine, and Mateus).  The house is looking way legit.  It's looking like the house of Carlos Martins (the 4th most richest guys in the world), he lives in this zone so I went over there to eat lunch (he’s a member).  It was sweet.  Some security guy let us in.  Anyways, I’m super jealous that you guys were all there Texas together, I've never been there yet.  It's cool the Mal has her own nickname (roller-blading mamma) in the neighborhood.  Good job Mal!  Congratulations to Sam for graduating boot camp!  Here I've been learning that a lot of missionary work is like acting, but acting with the spirit.  It's kind of like what I said to you that one day:  If you’re not happy, act like you are and you'll be happy!  It's the same thing with this missionary work.  If we act like we're doing a “big deal”, the Lord can use the Spirit through us with our confidence and give deeper meaning to our messages.  It’s so true that the mission prepares us for life!  It's teaching me how to persuade people to do what I (and the Lord) thinks they should do.  Under the influence of the spirit, just use your mind, use some teaching, meeting, finding, 'buttering-up' skills and your set  I’m nowhere close to getting them all mastered yet, but I got a good idea of what to do now, in another language too.  Sweet huh?  Well I’m gonna go take a nap now, I love you guys a ton! 

Elder Williams

PS. Go to the temple a ton…it rocks!

More Pictures from Peter!

      Peter and his Companion after the Temple!

  

Campinas Temple

(cool pic!)

Hey family!                                                                                                        10-16-2011

So when we planned our Pday sacrifice, we didn’t know that we were to go the temple today.  Soo next week we should sacrifice our PDay.  The temple was awesome.  I’m pretty blessed to have gone this many times in the months.  I got some sweet pics of it.  Hey so we got a call yesterday, and we found out that my companion will leave on an emergency transfer.  I don’t know what happened in the other area. One of the elders there must have fought with each other.  Anyways, Elder Lima will arrive tomorrow and I'll say goodbye to Elder Madeira.  Elder Madeira was awesome.  Elder Lima is pretty legit as well though.  He was in my zone last area and we had some divisions together.  So we know each other already.  Anyways, something that’s probably pretty cool for you guys to hear is that your guys' prayers helped Edinei a ton.  He returned back to his wife and is trying to stop smoking now and will probably end up being baptised!  But he's not from our area, but its not that big of a deal.  Anyways, can you guys pray for Loudes and Karine (Kareeney)? They will be Baptized this 30th but Karine is having some problems in the lungs and will have to have surgery.  Anyways, I should probably get going, we have to teach someone early today.

Love,

Elder Williams

Peter wrote really quickly tonight!

Hey family!                                                                                                                         10-14-11

Thanks for the email!  It’s probably a good idea to put in the blinds in my room.  It'll be good for when I get back and sleep for three days or so.  Hey so tomorrows my birthday, cool huh?!  We got a cake lined up and everything.  Also we should be marking a ton of baptisms tomorrow.  So last PDay was a holiday so I couldn’t write and yesterday we were doing a service project, which was basically just cleaning trash up.  And remember that I won’t have a PDay next Wednesday.  We're starting and doing a ton of crazy goals and ideas that should help out this area.

Soo, my whole zone found out that I’m sleeping in baptism clothes every night, some started to laugh at us and others are seeing the wisdom behind it and are starting to do it as well.  Pretty soon I reckon that our whole mission will start sleeping in the baptism jump-up suits.  Pretty cool huh? 

So I should get going, we have to work today still.

Oh and they don’t have ukuleles here in Brazil, but I'll gladly accept any kind of money =].

(Hey dad thanks! Now I feel good 'n old. Hey so when are you gonna share some ideas with me? What are some other things that you guys did on the mission? I bet you guys never slept in baptism clothes. Anyways, I think I’m gonna start swimming hardcore when I get back home. You should start practicing right now so that you can be up to me level when I get back. Anyways, love you dad! )

Love you guys!

Elder Williams

 

Peter sacrificed his P-Day today for the Lord. He will write again next week.

OOPS! Here is another letter from Peter to read...

Hey dad thanks for the email!                                                Oct 5, 2011

I liked your garden analogy about growing in the Lord’s garden.  It was pretty sweet.  So it's true I’ll admit, I can feel myself changing, but I'd imagine it’s for the better.  It's crazy what a prayer or two can do if you really poor the heart and soul out.  This last general conference was rockin'.  I really liked the talk by Packer that discussed memorizing scriptures.  It reinforced the necessity of memorizing scriptures.  So I changed what I was doing;  I’m going to memorize them in English I think.  This way it'll help me out after the mission as well.  I am certain that all the apostles and prophets memorized the Book of Mormon and since they gave that perfect example, why shouldn’t we do the same? 
The house looks freakin good!  Mom sent me some pictures and I really like what I've seen.  Maybe if you guys start later than sooner on the outside landscaping I can help when I get back.  But I got some pretty crazy plans to get into a regime when I head back.  One thing that I’m learning here is the importance of making goals.  A lot of members don't recognize the importance of goal setting.  So for this Elder Madeira and I are visiting all the members and setting goals with them, the paper is called “Plan of Action with the Lord”.  We're doing this with the intention of having them make contacts in the street and having a goal of their own baptisms here.  If they find someone and go with us every time to teach  new investigators, I think it'll be really effective.  (Pass it along with the missionaries there if you want).  Anyways, yeah, about goal setting: I’m finding it really important to make goals.  And I’ve got a ton of plans for when I get back to develop talents and be prepared to fulfill my patriarchal blessing.

One book you should check out that I’m reading in my spare time (I can’t read it during personal study) is "Invoking the Powers of Heaven".  It’s pretty sweet.  And the usual standard works and stuff.  How’s the workout regime going?  Did you build up those muscles to the same size of mine when I left?  Good luck.

Well I gotta go.  Love you dad!

Elder Williams

We are Trying Out Some New Things!

Hey Family                                                                                                         Oct  5, 2011

First of all check out on YouTube, "Como Dançar em uma Balada" - his name is 'Albinomatheus'.. yeah he's our baptism this 15th...  Second of all check out, "Ukulele Weeps”  by Jake Shimabukuro"  That is going to be me when you guys send me an ukulele!

Anyways thanks for the letter.  This week was good even though nothing was really new.  We made some goals and had some crazy ideas; one of them being that we will sleep in baptism clothes for this month!  We need to show the Lord that we want even our subconscious to focus on Baptism!  I'll send a picture and stuff.  Also, this 19th I won’t send an email so be prepared.  I’m going to sacrifice a P-Day to the Lord.  Also we want to Baptize a Pastor, so can you guys pray a ton for us?  (Me and Elder Madeira that is.)  Also we had to abandon Edinei, But I know your prayers helped him decide not to kill himself.

Anyways, conference was awesome!  We watched it all in our stake.  I watched it in English with the other American missionaries.  I really liked the talk by Elder Cook (the 70) when he was talking about looking up. 

But yeah my health is good, the vitamins are helping a lot.  I've got to make this letter short too, I’ve got a lot of random emails this week.  But I love you guys!  Keep up the good work on the renovation!

Elder Williams

Bowling for Baptisms!

(Elders P-Day)

  We will be sleeping in our baptism clothes...we've had 15 baptisms so far!!

What More Can be Said...

Hey family,                                                                                                         9-28-11

Thanks for the email.  This past week I've been thinking a lot about a talk from the Prophet last conference about gratitude.  I'm sure you guys remember this talk.  My companion found it and we've listened to it many times in Portuguese this last week.  Gratitude is an attribute of God, and I’ve decided that if we're not grateful, we cannot live with Him.  President Monson said that ingratitude is condemned in the scriptures and so on the other side of things, those that are grateful are greatly blessed.  We need to be more grateful in our prayers, and speak with God from the depths of our hearts about all things that He gave us that we should be grateful for.  It's legit.  Thanks family for your support!

Anyways, on the other hand, I've gotten in a bad habit here of burning everyone that is stubborn or doesn’t want to listen to our message.  Sometimes it's definitely necessary to call someone out when they’re doing something wrong or something, but other times I need to have more tact.  For example, yesterday I was walking on a division with some kid from my ward, and I told him to make his first contact with some old man that was walking down the street, because he looked sad.  We found out why he was sad, when he started telling us that the Book of Mormon is false and that it's written in the Bible that anything that is added or taken from the book is from the devil.  The problem was that he was saying this to start a fight and not because he wanted a question answered.  We tried to talk him down but he wouldn’t listen to anything we said.  I said three things that two of which I probably should have kept my mouth shut.  First I told him "He is filled with sin, and that the Lord sent me to call him to repentance." which was followed by, "the problem is that you are too proud to listen to my words.  So when you’re heart is more humble talk with us."  Afterwards he changed the subject and started talking about how his church is from God and that ours is from the devil.  So I told him "Brother, I know that you are wrong, I know that God established His church calling Joseph Smith as Prophet.  I tell you these things so that at the last day when you meet the bar of God, He will tell you that he sent me to tell you these things, and that my garments will be clean of your blood."  I don't feel bad about that last comment.  The problem was that I said these things because I was angry with him, probably wasn’t that good of an idea. 

Since we've started marking people for baptisms we’ve marked 8 people and it's being really effective, but we need to be extra attentive to the spirit so that we can know whether to mark them for baptism or just get their addresses.  Yesterday we started something new again and started walking around with Book of Mormons in our hands to grab the attention of people in the street.  I have a sweet program planned up of visiting another church here and watching their meetings.  The plan being that we talk with the current pastor and say something like, "we have a lot of questions about what you believe, can we pass by your house one day and you can teach us more about this stuff".   This would set up the scene that we are humble and we don’t want to bible bash.  The day we would visit he would teach us and establish a healthy relationship, that Mormons are normal and that we are serving him by going to his church and letting him teach us.  After some visits he would become interested and we start talking about things that are simple but would show that we have authority and power to talk about these things.  And in time they become baptized and we baptize his congregation; of course doing these things following the spirit.

Anyways, I’ve started memorizing the Book of Mormon in Portuguese.  It's pretty awesome to have a long project like this, it should take about a year and a half to finish.  It's cool though, because I know that the Lord will help me with this if I work hard, Just like he helped me learn Portuguese from reading the book of Mormon.

Also for that Christmas package you’re thinking about... If you can find a ukulele that is really, really cheap, I would really like one =].  We get the ensign by the way, but it’s in Portuguese, if you want to send a copy in English you can.

You guys should check out on YouTube something along the lines of "The Voice of Ancient America", I don’t know if they have it in English, but it’s a documentary about the people here in America that proves that they had the same gospel here back in the day.  And it proves it without talking about the Book of Mormon until the end.  It's by BYU and it’s a little bit old.

Anyways, I love you!

Elder Williams

Hey...Keep Up the Prayers!

Hey family,                                                                                                         Sept 21, 2011

Thanks for the email!  Tell Keenan that the Provo MTC is better than the MTC in São Paulo; I was going crazy the 4 weeks I was there.  The same thing will probably happen to him that happened to me, which is better. 

I had to laugh when I read that everyone in our family and extended family has a demanding/leadership calling; they could probably blame me for that; I've been praying that you guys could have opportunities to share the gospel.  Make sure to tell them to get in contact with the missionaries.  Especially Chris (in Texas), he could be of great help in having his “branch-like” ward grow.  I’m learning a lot about the importance of missionary work in the ward by the way... everyone in the ward needs to be unified with their organizations and with the missionaries in their wards. 

Anyways, thanks for the prayers! President and Sister Tanner are good and are returning this Tuesday to continue the work.  Only 4 weeks of surgery and recuperation on his leg.   It shows the power of fasting and prayers.  Cool huh?

I was freaking out when I read about the sharks in Mosquito Bay!  I felt tingles throughout my whole body...  Knowing that I was swimming with “giant, man-eating” sharks... Freak!  Don't go swimming there when you guys visit again on your boat trip in November!  And I’m freaking jealous that you guys are going, by the way!

Congrats on the new washer and dryer!  We don't have a dryer here.

We started a new program here in my area of inviting people here to be baptized on the streets.  You'd be surprised how many people accept the invite.  We found some of God's prepared people.  And the people that don’t accept will have a seed planted, i.e., they will start to wonder if their baptisms are valid.  Also, we have a ward mission leader of “gold”.  He was a stake president in Brasilia and has a ton of ideas to help us out.  I'll have to bring back home some of the activities, projects, and programs he's come up with.

Anyways, keep up the prayers, I need them, the people here need them, and the ward here needs it.  I'm realizing how new on the mission I really am and how much more I need to learn.  Sooo the more prayers the better.

Love you!

Elder Williams

Being "Senior" Is Hard...But Worth It!

Hey family,                                                                                                         Sept  14, 2011

It's cool to see that Keenan is coming into the field soon.  Pretty soon I can write letters to him in this language (which he won't be able to understand for 7 more months!).  Anyways, “Costa E. Silva” is going good.  I'm learning a lot here, being senior is tough.  I've never been so stressed in my life until now, but I can also see the blessings of the Lord more easily.  Sometimes I wait for my companion to do something or to call a shot, then I realize that it's really actually my responsibility... strange.  I’m still not use to it, but it's cool.  Luckily Elder Madeira's humble enough to patiently wait while I think and figure out plans. 

Yesterday we were walking on the street and we found this 70 year old man chopping down this stump of a tree. He had about 11 blisters on his hands so we offered to help him out.  The guy started at 9 in the morning and was going at it when we found him at 4 in the afternoon.  It was a lot of work and we didn’t finish.  I got like 7 new blisters on my left hand now;  It's awesome!  It reminded me of the church farm where I worked digging holes for 8 hours straight!  Anyway, we got some good compassionate service in.

I completely forgot that it was 9/11 Sunday.  It's stupid almost every Brazilian here thinks that our government paid the terrorists to knock down the towers!  They hear propaganda and believe it to be true.  Anyway, I forgot to mention that last week (7/9) was basically the 4th of July for Brazil here.  So it was really hard to find a place that was open to use the internet.  A lot of Elders here didn’t use the internet that day because they couldn’t find a place open. 

I like the new razor and food!  The backpack is good too.  I finished one box of cereal already and am halfway through another.  I think I’m gaining a lot of weight again.  And the vitamins are giving me lots of gas.  So I’m nice and healthy now.  The rash is still here, though.   I’m using a little bit of cream and I'll try using more.  Lots of times I forget to use it.

The house is looking good!  I can't wait to use the new TV downstairs.  The carpet's looking comfy also.

Anyways, thanks for the prayers, I love you!

Elder Williams

I Got My Birthday Package...Very Early!

Hey Mom and family,                                                                                                     Sept. 7, 2011

Thanks for the email and package!  It arrived already, it was crazy fast.  Last package took about a month, but this about 2 weeks.  So I celebrated my birthday early yesterday.  Thanks for the razor and food.  The backpack and shoes were good also.  I’m sending some pictures also of a desert my companion made and my new hairstyle.  É chique.  Anyways, how’s the renovation coming?  It seems like things get complicated each day, it's too bad I can’t help.  Things here are good.  I’m learning a ton as a Senior.  There are some nights that I’m soo tired that I can't remember some things I’m doing very clearly.  But that’s how I know that we had a good day.  There's not a whole lot of walking here which is also good.  I’m trying out different things and ways to work every week to see what’s effective and what is not.  Last week was one of those weeks that were bad for numbers, but we found a lot of people that were ready to be taught.  This week is proving to be good for numbers and is proving to give a lot more people that are ready to be taught.  It's cool to be doing things in my own rhythm and to do things in the ways that I feel is more appropriate.  The new president here is cool; he's got a lot of experience.  But keep President and Sister Tanner in your prayers also so that they can become better in health and head back here soon.  Every missionary in the mission is fasting yesterday and today. 

It's cool that Sam is doing well in Air Force training; just like I taught him J!

The other day we had a history lesson about music here.  There’s this sport/fight called capoieida here that’s like dance fighting.  The music that is used to do this dance turned into a part of religion called macomba.  Basically it is a form of black magic.  Anyway, we met a guy here that creates black magic music.  It's cool to learn about it, but at the same time we have to be careful to not make him made so that he doesn’t send an evil spirit to come and scare us (ha).  I took a picture of a CD that he gave us that has some of his music in it.  So anyways, we have something to listen to at home…

Thanks for the prayers!  I should be going.  Love you!

Elder Williams 

Hey Dad!                                                                                                                                             Sept  7, 2011

Pois é pãe... teu português é bom.  Está praticando?  Tem que praticar para que você pode me entender quando eu volto para casa. Tá?

Yeah,  good luck understanding that one!  You understanding this is about how well I understood what you said in you last email of sportuglish (Portuguese and Spanish).  But yeah the language is good, I’m thinking only in Portuguese now.  I still haven’t had any dreams in Portuguese though.  But maybe it’s because I’m soo tired that I don’t remember any of my dreams.

Thanks for the email.  The pictures you sent of us in Panama were good too.  I’m not too sure what I was doing in some of the pictures; it looks like I was sleeping.  But yeah, I got your other email about the rash.  It's steadily spreading, so I’ll start adding a ton of cream.  I used it once before on something that looking like some sort of a worm that was on my hand and it went away the day afterwards.  The magic cream works wonders.  Anyways, my health is good; I gave the cold I had to my companion so all is well.  I got the package yesterday that mom sent me.  I totally wasn’t expecting the package to arrive so quickly, but I have the vitamins so I should be good now.  As far as energy goes, in this new area I’m totally fine.  In Monte Mor where I was, we walked a lot, but here there is more of a condensed city so things are a lot closer, hence less walking.

It's cool that everyone was there to visit you guys the other day.  It's going to be cool to return home and have everyone living close.

How’s the house coming?  It sounds like you could really use my help.  Too bad... I can't... I’m in Brazil=].

The new area here is great!  I’m learning a ton.  It's crazy how much more I can understand the spirit when I became the Senior.  It's got to be your guys' increase in prayers.  One thing I’m learning is that a lot of what we need to do to have success is to do what feels “right” and what makes logical sense.  Right now I feel like the correct action to take is to do something completely different than what I was trained to do the past 5 months.  But somehow we seem to achieve the numbers needed while helping others come unto Christ in a more efficient way.

I see what you mean about the world going downhill.  I see it every day.  It's a sign to me that every single member needs to not only reinforce their testimonies but they need to fight back as well.  I’m learning about the importance of church callings and how we can use every single calling that we have—whether it’s being a bishop or a part of the church cleaning crew—to have missionary opportunities.

Anyway, all is well here. I got my package of food from mom and luckily nothing was eaten by rats, I just have to hide it all from my companion J!

Alright I love you dad!  Keep up the good work!

Elder Williams

                         Peter reading scriptures

              Peter and his companion

          A Black Magic CD given to Peter and his companion

         Peter's Birthday Cake made by his companion

Being Sick has Hidden Blessings...

FYI to the reader:  Peter's Birthday is October 15.  If you would like to send him something, call me (Kathy) for the information to do so.  It will take 4-6 weeks for him to get a package.

Hey family,                                                                                                                         Aug 31, 2011

(Freak!)  It's strange to think that I probably know by sight the guy that died at the Shell Gas station.       --I wrote Peter and told him that a gas attendee was shot at the Shell gas station across from the old gas station that Peter worked at before his mission.  And that the man with the gun was trying to shoot his girlfriend and missed--        It makes total sense, though, to hear that he was shot by mistake because everyone usually loves the gas pumper.  I never had any fear of working there because of this. 

My Portuguese is coming.  I wouldn't call myself “fluent”, but I’m definitely comfortable to make it through life at this point.  I can now bare testimony with heart and with as much examples as I'd like to use and teach without any problems. 

Being Senior is really difficult, but I like it a lot.  Before I felt like I was constrained to do things that I thought were right because I wasn’t calling the shots.  But now I can do things in my own way, and the way the Lord would have me go through inspiration.  This last week because of the simple principle of organization and planning we had a lot of success.  I learned that being diligent today will prepare a day of success two weeks later.  This is really how the Lord's work, works.  This past week we had a meeting with our new mission president, President Pizzirani.  He's really cool.  He was an area 70, bishop, stake president, and mission president of Brasilia.  So he's got a lot of experience.  He's one of those presidents that has a lot of teaching skills, but also has a lot of christlike attributes.  Anyway, he taught about planning and goal setting.  Goal setting is really the only way to have success in this work, in school, work, and life.  He used a lot of experiences as to how he became a very successful businessman because of goals (he owns 5 planes).  Anyway, pretty cool huh?

This past week I've been pretty dang sick, some sort of flu.  I've got a lot of mucus in the throat and so I've been coughing a ton and it's been hurting a bit.  The problem is that I can't keep my mouth shut as a missionary so it's being really, really slow to heal, and there have been many nights when we return home and I physically can't speak.  The past week I sleep about 5-6 hours per night because of it.  But on the other hand I think that this week has been one of the better weeks I've had.  Not because of numbers but because of the many people that we met that are ready to hear the gospel.  I like to think that the Lord gave me this sickness so that I can show Him my determination to work. And because of this I noticed that my testimony has grown a lot, and when I bare testimony, I can feel the power behind my shaky voice.

It's strange to see Ashlee married.  I never really thought that we had the potential to be married now...strange.  It'll be cool if everyone moves back to Oregon before I return.  Then, when I get back, everyone can come visit my return!  It's cool that Annie’s pregnant again.  If the baby's a boy at the time I return he'll look just like James did when I first left for the mission and I'll be really confused!

Anyway, thank you for the 'ever-prayers'; keep them up!  Good luck with the renovation!

Love you!

Elder Williams