Gaining weights a good thing??

Hey Family,                                                                                         Aug 27, 2011

It's good to hear that the renovation stuff is going good. Tell Dad that he might need to go a little bit harder on the bike before I get home and "school" him (I’m still planning on some sort of a triathlon when I get home).  This reminds me, I have this goal to gain as much weight as I can here on the mission, so I’m eating tons of rice, beans, noodles, and meat.  I think it’s coming along nicely.  The problem is that the weight is going straight to my stomach, so I’m building a sweet gut.  I can shovel in about 2 or 3 filled plates for lunch and about the same for dinner.  Anyway, (because of this goal of mine) I ran out of money and have to starve a bit this week to have enough for bus trips.  Last night our investigator made us dinner and spilled some hot sauce on my companion, so he gave him a sweet polo shirt.  Which reminds me, I forgot to tell you, this same guy bought me and my old companion some rugby polo shirts that are about 40 "reais" each (so he's progressing fairly well).  Anyways, he busted out this type of fruit that grows here.  It looks like a giant peanut but smells disgusting inside (like poop).  But it tasted alright.  I don't know what it is in English but in Portuguese its 'jatobá'. 

It's cool to hear about Houston giving a talk last Sunday.  He's a good guy.  I could tell that his testimony was really strong.  It's cool that he's gonna get hitched soon.  It's cool to see how effectively a mission can change someone.  Lately I've been thinking a lot about the Apostleship and the first presidency (current and that in Christ's time).  It's something cool to think that men as powerful as them had problems that they overcame.  I was reading in "Jesus the Christ" about Peter and how before he became an Apostle (and probably during the beginning part of his Apostleship) he was a bit of a "punk".  In that he seemed to have some pride and other qualities that people inherit here on earth and how he overcame these unrighteous qualities.  Anyway, I was thinking about how, even though it seems very difficult to overcome some un-Christ-like attributes such as pride and anger, it isn't impossible and the reward is also great (i.e. the constant companion ship of the Holy Ghost among other powerful spiritual gifts).  However as I’m learning, this can only come through prayer and the savior.  Anyways, food for thought. 

On the next package of missionary food, make sure you include some pictures of the renovation and also of the Medford Temple.

Alright I love you, keep up the good work.  Thanks for the prayers!

Love, Elder Williams

PS. My companion showed me a sweet short video yesterday.  It was a talk from Elder Holland at General Conference with clips from different films about the Savior.  It should be on YouTube, you should check it out.

My Best Week Ever!!!

E aí familia!                                                                                                                        July 20, 2011

This week has been one of the best weeks here on the mission.  My Portuguese is improving a ton and I I’m starting to get the whole talking on the phone thing down.  The week before the Mission President increased the standards of what we need to do and called it the Standard of Excellency.  Being the minimum that we should be doing we should try and exceed but it's been very difficult.  My companion is great, he's teaching me a lot about a mission and how it works.  I also learned that my old companion is what we call here a 'fubeca' or in other words a slacker.  Being new here I’m trying to figure out the best and most efficient way to run things and my old companion didn’t teach me the correct way, which resulted in a lack of efficiency and a lack of progression in all areas.  Anyways, my companion now, Elder Barbosa, knows exactly what to do and how to do it, and teaching me not what he's doing but where he learned it; which is from Preach My Gospel.  To all people preparing for a mission, Preach My Gospel is the most effective thing to do (apart from going to the temple often).  Anyways, I just got done playing soccer for 3 hours again.  My companion played on a professional team before coming here on the mission and is teaching me a bit about soccer as well.  So hopefully I'll be a little bit better at soccer when I return.

Anyways, tell Annie that "kankle's" are disgusting and that she should get better soon (sprains are no fun!).  Actually she wrote me an email so I’ll write her and tell her.  Good luck with the singles ward!  I have a lot of emails to write in this hour so I got to get workin, but I love you and keep up the good work with the renovation.

Love,

Elder Williams

Peter has a New Companion!

Hey,                                                                                                                                                     July 12, 2011

Thanks for the talk! (I sent him a talk by Alvin Dyers called, "To What Purpose")  I don't know if I'll have time to read it all today, I’ve got 9 emails or so to write still.  Transfers happened yesterday.  I’m not gonna lie I’m stoked that I have a new companion.  I had to be careful as to what to say to him if it concerned anything of importance like missionary work, soccer, politics, gospel, girls, or music, so as to avoid degrading correction and contention.  Now I have Elder Kelvin Barbosa.  He seems to be a good guy.  From what I could tell of working with him yesterday he seems to be a good worker and a good teacher.  Being the first transfer here in the field that I swap companions it's cool to compare how different missionaries teach and work.  For example, being new here in the mission still, I don't know all the teaching techniques or missionary rules.  When I got Elder Barbosa, I was shown that my old companion was a bit of a rule breaker.  I think that this transfer is a blessing for me to show me how to teach and to learn and put into practice the rules.  It's intriguing also to see how different zones in the mission teach with different examples.  Anyways, for sure my prayer to learn how to teach better is currently being answered.

The language is coming, I can look back now at certain points and see an improvement of understanding and speaking.  I can read and write almost fluently (not natively yet) so I just need to work on speaking now.

Thanks again for the cereal; I’m forgetting how much I loved cereal before.  Plus those boxes of cereal had toy cars which add to the fun.

Tell Jon, Jared, and Vinny that I sent out letters for them and that they should arrive in about a month or so.

Also don't forget to contact Josh Deuhring on my face book and tell him to write me about his mission call (he's going to Brasil, but I don’t know where yet) and that I want his address.

I bet James looks like a stud with his glasses.  I can't believe Bishop Jorgenson got released already, but I bet dads happy that he's still clerk.  He's just now starting to learn how to use a computer too!  What with his success of putting in the batteries.

I’m learning tons here on the mission, it’s crazy to see how the people I arrived with on the mission here are changing I bet I’m probably doing the same too.  Keep up the good work with the house!

Love you!

Elder Williams

P.S. Tell the siblings that I'll write them next week.  My companion's hungry and waiting for me to finish.

Peter misses the "Fam" and wants you to write!

Hey All!                                                                             July 6, 2011

Tell dad to heal quickly.  I’m sure his eye will, I pray for your guys' health every day.  Today I don't have too much time to write all the things I want to write.  We went to another area to play soccer with our zone because we have transfers this next Tuesday (It is our P-Day).  We played for a good 3 hours or so and are now a little bit cramped for time because we need to catch a bus and get back before 6:30 when we will be going to the temple with an investigator and his wife.  Today I had to do another "Matt Damon move" again.  Someone kicked the soccer ball over this huge wall and into someone's yard.  So I had to climb the wall, climb the giant fence that was on top of the wall, scale the wall for a bit and fall the 15 feet or so to the ground.  All while being sneaky and not disturbing our neighbors.  Then return.  This happened twice, it was awesome.  I think that the whole being on the roof, painting the trim on the house last summer prepared me for these climbing experiences I’m having here. 

Anyways, this week the mission president raised the bar for how much we should be contacting, teaching, and things like that.  It's been a bit of a race, but I like it.  It's helping me focus on the last week of the transfer.  Our zone leaders know everything about where we'll all end up, and they've been hinting that I’m gonna leave and that my companion is going to stay.  He's been there for 4 transfers already so I don't know how happy he'll be if he stays.  But I’m excited at the thought of another transfer. I think being with a new companion and a new area would help me with understanding how a mission works.

The branch President here showed me some church music that I think that dad would really like.  The first is a Mormon band named 'Afterglow' or 'After Glow'.  Anyways, from the small part I heard he sounds a lot like Josh Groban.  The second is more of a musical called 'The Garden' by Michael Mclean.  It uses an analogy of a garden to describe the more or less the plan of salvation.  It's cool.

I completely forgot that last 4th of July was a holiday, so I didn’t celebrate it.  I finished the last box of Reese’s Puffs; I forgot how good they are.   I want more, there are people here asking for more peanut butter as well, but I think I’ll be transferred before any more boxes arrive. 

Tell the family, i.e. Chris, Marc, Cassandra, and Annie to throw me an email when they get the chance (Annie wrote me recently, but she can write me again if she wants).  I miss the "Fam"!

I really like studying the atonement.  The fact that no one can truly understand the atonement is great because it means that there is a lot more to study!  I really like Talmage's "Jesus the Christ" because it helps me to do just that, and learn more about the Atonement and the Savior in general.

Anyways I should get going soon and I have to write Johnny still.  He's having a ton of success there in Cambodia.  It's cool to hear his stories.

Miss you and Love you all!

Elder Williams