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