Pictures, Baptisms, and Pinky Paint!

Hey Mom and family!                                                                          5-30-12

Thanks for the email.  Last week was super good.  Last Thursday we stopped by one of our investigators houses and he decided that he wanted to be baptized.  He was one of those eternal investigators.  Apparently he had an interview with our bishop.  The one that's the temple guy.  I don’t know what went on in there but he left there wanting to be baptized.  Unfortunately Satan is working double time to keep him from getting wet though.  He overslept Sunday and didn’t make it to church.  And now feels like he's being 'pushed' too quickly to get baptized.  You guys should pray for him, his name is Samuel.  Then afterwards we found Jonatan.  He's some 19 yr old kid we found knocking doors.  Anyways, he wants to get baptized and went to church already.  We're hoping to baptize him, Samuel, and this girl Elizangela this Sunday at stake conference in warm water.  Elizangela stopped smoking for 6 days but yesterday she smoked one...other than that :( everything is going good for her. 

This is the last week here in my area; I think I’m going to get transferred.  I’m excited to see where I'll go.  I've been here in Cosmóplis for 5 months already.  I've really started to develop a great love for this area.  It took a while to develop it but there are just a lot of good members here.  We have two spiritual giants with us here.  One of them is our bishop and the other is a guy named Pádua.  He left with us Friday to help us out.  He just always talked about how great missionary work is, bore his testimony with great power, and followed the spirit all the time during the lesson.  It was pretty effective.  The other day I drank a beverage called Cajuina.  It was pretty good, it's some non-alcoholic juice.  They take the cashew fruit and squeeze all the juice out.  Then they ferment it then boil it to get the alcohol out.  It's pretty good.  Monday I went to a sisters house for lunch and she made that feijoada food.  She taught me how to make it so I’ll make it when I get home,  but we need a pressure cooker.  Do we have any in the states?  The kind that you put a pressure top on with rubber and put it on the stove to cook?  Anyways I hope dad's liking his poison oak.  Right now I’m in 3 Nephi 12 so I'd say Nephi would be the hero for the week.  Anyways, I've sent a ton of new pics of a baptism, a weird type of animal called a capivara—the picture was too dark to include in the blog—some member from another area (Antonio) that used both of our nametags…I had Samuel paint our pinky nails... don't ask, and our last zones pics.  Anyway, I love you all!

Elder Williams

German in Brazil ? (haha)

Hey Mom and family!                                                                          5-23-12

Thanks for the testimony mom it was great!  Just an idea, but I think it would be pretty good if you edited it a little bit and sent it to some friends not of the church.  I think it would make them double think about the Book of Mormon. 

So I finally finished everything up and everything’s ready to go so tomorrow I’m finally going to send off my package to you guys.  It should be about 100 bucks.  But the dollars up to 2 for 1 so it should only be like 50$.  With the dollar up we can spend a whole lot more money on goodies for the average amount that we would get.  I’m excited to get my cereal.  I'll let you know when I get it.  I’m excited to play with your new ipad when I get home. 

I've decided these days, that I've wasted quite a bit of my pre-mission life.  And as a result I’m not too full of wholesome talents, so I’ve decided that for the little time before I go to school I’m going to do a ton of stuff to see where God has blessed me and develop them.  Like piano for example, or maybe some unknown talent of golfing or something.  Anyways, I’m excited.  I've also been thinking of something I could do for a career to get some moneys... I haven’t decided anything yet, I actually haven’t a single clue, and the part where I’m trying to focus on the mission as well is more important, so I’ll let you guys think of something that I could do for a career. 

This past week we baptized Ismael.  It was great!  We were trying to baptize this kid for a good 4 months or so.  His girlfriend brought him to church and he got to know some people there, we stopped by and started to teach him and he got a strong answer about the book of Mormon.  However he didn’t want to progress so we abandoned him.  Then he went to church again a while later and came up to me and told me that he was almost there.  So we started to work with him again, but we just couldn’t ever get a hold of him.  A couple weeks ago me and Elder Smith fasted.  We did it with the purpose to baptize on the 20th of this week.  We asked him to show us someone to baptize but we didn’t specify someone.  For those next two weeks we worked and worked and worked, but nobody appeared.  Then on the 19th we stopped by Ismael's house and asked him if he was going to get baptized and he said yes.  We had already taught him and interviewed him in the past so we didn’t need to do anything but wait.  The next day he got baptized.  It was a great testimony builder of fasting.  Anyways, I hope we have yet another good week this week.  Our zone is really hurting for baptisms.  Anyways, I love you mom!

Elder Williams

PS. I’m starting to learn German every time I get back home from working.  I figure I might as well while I still have the gift of tongues.  I only have the book of Mormon and it’s on my companion’s iPod.  If you guys have any way of doing it, can you guys send me the B of M in German with a dictionary? 

Hey Dad!                                                                             5-23-12

Thanks for the email.  This week was pretty good; we finally had a baptism here in Cosmópolis.  It was some tough work to finally get this kid wet.  We started teaching him like 4 months ago.  He was dating a member of the church and was introduced through her; he got a really strong answer from God about the Book of Mormon, but didn’t want to do anything with it.  It took a lot of faith on our part. 

I loved the pics, my companion is really into hunting and really liked the pic of the hike in Salem.  The card was funny, I liked it. 

We're going to have our stake conference here in two weeks or so.  It should be pretty good.  On the 10th of next month, they're going to dedicate the Manaus Temple so they're going to stop church and show the dedication to all of Brazil, but only temple recommend holders can watch it, so it's going to get in the way of missionary work for that week, but I’m still pretty excited to watch it. 

Yesterday I picked up one of those old books that they use in the Sunday school about the Teachings of Joseph Smith.  It was interesting, I was reading about the gifts of the Spirit.  It's so interesting to think about how many gifts the Lord can give us, depending on the situation.  We're taught to learn and search out the best gifts, so it's sort of a hobby that I’ve picked up now while I’m reading the scriptures.  I started reading my patriarchal blessing and I saw a couple as well that the Lord promised if I’m obedient and ask for them.  I bet you could find the same thing in your own blessing. 

The work's really starting to pick up here where I’m at in Cosmópolis.  The zone isn’t being obedient at all and they stopped working, but we burnt everyone and it worked out.  Last week they had some great results, no baptisms still, but the president promised that if we can fulfill the standards of excellence (40 lessons, 20 new investigators, 6 marked baptisms, 10 investigators at church, and 140 contacts) the Lord will give us a baptism and we can baptize every week.  We've been doing that standard for a couple months and things are just now starting to pick up.  I think that the Lord was giving us a trial of our faith, but now we got some baptisms lined up for every other week.  Anyways, I love you all!

Elder Williams

We Got Pictures Today!!

Hey Mom,                                                                                                                           5-16-12

Thanks for the email.  I really liked Skyping last Saturday.  After that,  we went to an investigators house and we had a FHE and ate pizza.  This guy is like an “eternal” investigator.  We're trying to figure out what will get him baptized.  He goes to church every Sunday and is reading the Book of Mormon but doesn’t want to baptize for a really lame reason.

Two elders had an emergency transfer, An elder that was super down and lost his testimony got sent home Monday.  It's pretty sad, it makes me feel bad.  As his leader it makes me wonder if there was anything I could have done to stop it and change his life around.  Last Friday we had interviews with the president and we had an opportunity to talk about our zone, we left early though so there wasn’t any time to talk with him after he talked with the rest of the zone members.  There were quite a bit of challenges in the zone last week.  Their numbers (numbers being the key indicators for how many lessons they taught, how many new investigators they found, new contacts they made, and stuff during their week) were extremely low except for us and the two sisters we have.  The president called us last Monday and was burning us for a good 15 minutes complaining out about our zone members.  About half of our zone has just completely stopped working and don’t want to do anything.  We've tried our best trying to inspire them, but the president gave us a new idea, so the next day we decided to burn everyone.  After a meeting that we held yesterday it seems like they will NOW do what they're supposed to. 

My companion elder smith has this talk that I think you would all love, it's called "The Fourth Missionary" by Laurence E. Corbridge.  It talks about 4 different types of missionaries, the first two types are just completely disobedient, the 3rd is obedient, works hard, and does everything he needs to but his heart isn’t into it and isn’t happy, and the 4th is obedient, diligent, and does everything he needs to and is happy.  And it's because of his attitude that he lets his mission change him.  I think that this talk can apply to everybody.  They may not be on a mission, but they're members of the gospel and if they accept it and are happy to accept the responsibilities and duties, callings, and everything that it says to do and let it change them, they can become very strong members of the church and be very well prepared to enter into the celestial kingdom.  I think that also has a direct relation with the temple.  The temple really blesses and protects from the evils that the world has to offer.  The bishop that we have now says that if all the worthy members of the church make a sacrifice and go to the temple double the amount that they normally go-- or rather 2 or 3 times a month-- and if they fast when they should, the ward will grow at a much quicker rate then if they work on reactivating and don't do these visits and fasts.

Last week for PDay we went to an area called Itapira and we had a chill day, we ate some food, we played some soccer, and we went on a mini hike believe it or not.  I got some pics up for you.  There's also an elder here that's a hic.  He taught me about the difference between a cow, a cow heifer, a bull, and a steer.  Cool huh?  I took some pictures of them so that I could zoom in on them and tell the difference.  Anyways, I love you! 

Elder Williams

Pictures from Peter's visit to the Itapira countryside.  They went on a PDay hike.

Is this a heifer, bull, or steer?  Zoom in...

Peter Skypes Home this Week!!

Hey Mom and family,                                                     5-9-12

Yeah everything should be all ok with Skype this week.  I’m not too sure when yet it might need to be on Saturday and it might need to be early.  Friday night I’m going to call and confirm everything at like 8-ish or 9-ish so 3-ish or 4-ish your time because I still need to see what’s open and what’s not. 

I've been learning quite a bit about the member’s role in missionary work this last week as well.  This last week we had a baptism.  It was some less actives 10-yr-old son.  He doesn’t even live in our area.  I feel like the Lord wants to bless us for our hard work that we're putting in, but He doesn’t want to bless our ward.  Not that our ward is bad our filled with apostasy or something, but because of pride that's starting to come into their hearts.  Our ward is just not growing due to a lack of sacrifice and desire to do good in our ward.  It's not ready to receive new members because the Lord knows that they just won’t care for them.  So He's not showing us those golden baptisms so that we don’t end up condemning them for getting baptized and then falling away from the church.  This happened with one of our last baptisms a couple months ago.  No one went to his baptism, even though it was right after church and everyone was still there.  They weren’t there to support him and after his baptism they completely forgot about him.  I’m not complaining about the ward, I just think it's interesting to see that there's a whole other part to missionary work that doesn’t directly involve the missionaries.  If the ward isn't wanting to maintain, strengthen, and help new members, then the Lord simply won’t give new members to them.  I think that our work in Cosmópolis is going to have to be a lot less knocking doors, doing contacts, and even asking references from members, but to humble the members and place a feeling of sacrifice into their hearts.  Anyway, there isn’t too much new that happened this last week.  We taught some English teachers some English like grammar and mainly just pronunciation.  We think we found a teacher that has a bit of interest in the church so we're going to plan on going there one of these days. 

But yeah, I can't wait to skype, don't worry about the details, I already checked out the usernames and whatnot and everything’s fine.  I just need to find a place to use it still.  So this week expect a call for me to confirm.  Love you!

Elder Williams

Elder Peter: A Radio Host?

Hey Mom and Family!                                                                                          5-2-12

Thanks for the big letter.  These days have been going great.  Last Monday I think may have just changed my mission.  We had a leadership meeting and there they talked a lot about leadership qualities and motives and stuff like that.  I feel like I’m starting to get a good idea on how to lead my zone.  I learned that Preach My Gospel  has got everything.  If we use the principles of teaching that we use with our investigators in ANY kind of situation, it'll all work out.  It's legit.  Anyways, it gave me and Elder Smith a ton of excitement.  Last week we had lunch with the mayor as I talked about.  It worked out well (He's like a 28 yr-old guy).  He's into motor-cross and we had a lot of fun talking about Nitro-Circus.  Anyways, after lunch he took us to our local newspaper station and we talked with the director of the newspaper.  We talked with the guy and it looks like he's reading the Bible in 3 other languages.  Anyways, we're looking for stuff to put into the newspaper.  There's a section that's called "Jesus' Corner" where we’re going to put in an entry.  We’re thinking that we should put in the first presidencies proclamation to the world.  We'd put in something about the restoration, but we're not supposed to talk about the specifics of the church.  Anyway, towards the end we'll put our pictures and the name of the church with our number.  I'm sure that it'll start helping.  However the Mayor's trying to get re-elected so we can't put in something on the TV yet.  If he gets reelected we should be good to do whatever the heck we want. 

It's legit that you're finishing Helaman, mom!  I’m in chapter 7 right now.  I’m still going through it in Portuguese for the first time.  Spencer W. Kimball said that a good proper study of the Book of Mormon took him about 8 years, so I’m not feeling bad at all for reading so slowly.  I’m excited to read about Nephi, he's also one of my Book of Mormon heroes.  His testimony was so strong that angels visited him every single day to minister to him.  Did you know that he taught with soo much power that the people had no choice, but to believe in his words?  It's so cool to think, but kind of sad too, I guess, that some would be so prideful that they would just choose to ignore it.  It kind of reminds me of one of the Elders in my zone.  I have no idea what to do with him.  He got here in Brazil with me on the same plane so I kind of know him.  Apparently in his past 2 transfers he's realized that he doesn’t believe in God as much as he’d thought originally.  I guess that we have free agency with our testimony as well and any kind of academic truth (like in science or math, etc). 

Today we're going to baptize some kid from another area that we take care of.  I'll be sure to take some pics.  About that package, I still haven’t sent it.  But, I’m planning on sending it this week.  There's not a whole lot of stuff I can send in it without it being too heavy, but I’m sending some letters, this giant parka thing that you sent with me initially, and some random Brazilian foods and juices.  I’m super jealous of your Ipad 3!  I want one!  Anyways, I love you mom and I can’t wait to talk with you and the fam on the 13th.. It should be legit!

Elder Williams

Hey Dad!                                                             5-2-12

Thanks for the letter!  You should send me some pics of when I got all ”sewered” (Drove Motorcycle into a Panama sewer) .  This week was great.  I’m learning a ton: A lot about leadership and prayer.  Well you made me homesick when you talked about enchiladas and guacamole.  The avocados here are a little bit sweeter so it's tough to make it the same flavor.  Christmas there was a member that made it for us. 

So we're here at the English school again.  There's a teacher here that likes to swear in English and she just got done saying some wonderful words that I haven’t heard in a good year and a half.  We asked her to stop, but it seems that it's a bit of a habit for her as well.

 It seems like you're doing a ton of missionary work in Oregon, dad!  Keep it up man.  This last Sunday we had a change of bishops.  We got someone that served in the temple here for a good 5 years as a missionary and later as the first councilor.  He's one of those people that I bet has his calling and election made sure.   He's super spiritual.  Anyways he's inspired to go to the temple a lot more than normal when I get back home.  He said that as soon as possible I should ask the temple president for a position to do something there as like a veil worker.  I bet it must be cool to see that your old mission in Indonesia  is getting a stake now.  I think it'd be a gratifying experience.  You should go back one of these days.  But you should take me with you.  Anyways, I love you dad!

Elder Williams