Soon a Senior Companion...lots of pictures!

Hey Mom and family,                                                                                                      8-17-11

Sounds like you guys had a great bike trip!  I bet Marc was mad that he got knocked over; It's rediculous that no one even stopped!  I guess it fulfills the prophecy that men’s hearts will harden and be cold in the last days.  Anyways, that was a lot of biking'.  I liked the pictures.  I’m sending you guys a ton of pictures right now too.  It's crazy that Mitch is already an Elder and that he'll probably be on his mission by the time I get home.  Make sure to tell him for me to not date anyone, boys or girls, it'll only cause trouble!!  And that Bryce is going on his mission already; people need to stop growing up without me.

This week was really good down here in Brazil.  We had one more baptism of a lady (Sebastiana) that took forever, like 8 months, to finally decide to be baptized.  It was a really good baptism with some investigators watching and a lot of members to support her.  It's cool to see how the much my Branch here has improved since I arrived, not due to anything I’ve done, but because it's just changing.  My companion is teaching me a ton about missionary work, this past transfer he's been training me to become a senior companion and I should be made senior this next transfer which is this Tuesday. 

It's cool to hear about the renovation, I think it looks really good, good work.  It's cool to hear also about the prayers for the construction dudes.  That could have been pretty bad to have the carpenter make something to realize that he made it wrong.  Also I could tell that you guys returned home Sunday and that you guys made a really detailed prayer that night.  Monday, I didn’t do anything different but I felt way better, it was a lot easier to love, to speak the language, and to be excited, because the spirit was with me.  Keep it up!

The temple trip was awesome, I started watching it in English but then I realized that I could understand in Portuguese so I took of the headphone and started watching in Portuguese.

I’m excited for the package; I can't wait for more peanut butter and cereal!

Alright, Love you!

Elder Williams

P.S. Here is a letter to Dad:

Happy Brazilian Father's Day!! (it was last Sunday)
Hey dad!
   Thanks for being so conscientious and writing me.  I had to laugh at your mission story, although I bet you didn't think it so funny at the time.  We havent had too big of rainstorms here so I haven't had to practice my swimming skills yet.  I liked your ideas that you guys came up with, next time I get an american companion I'll talk with him about having an American cooking night.  We used to have an English class every week, but no one would show up so we stopped it for a while.  We started it back up last PDay and no one showed up again, so we're shooting for another day this Saturday.
    It was cool to see the pictures of you guys' bike trip.  I have plans to get something like that started when I get home.  Riding bikes is prohibited in areas of this mission, so I'll get a ton of walking, and running in here on the mission.  I think it's prohibited because everyone here walks, it's much easier to contact people on foot, and also because there are a lot of people that like to steal things here.  It is a lot easier to just walk in the long run.
    This area is pretty difficult to get the members to do anything.  We invite tons of members (because they feed us lunch everyday) to share FHE with us, but it always falls through.  And it's hard if not impossible to find investigators here that are free on the same night.
    These past two transfers Ive started giving an increased amount of blessings, it's a really cool experience. 
  Good work on finding the lost teenager on Mt. Mclaughlin.  And in general saving the sick, afflicted, dead, etc.
  It's crazy to think that I'm already 7 months into the mission.  It goes by really quickly.  Im hearing word from the higher ups in the mission that I'm going to be made a Senior Companion next transfer.  We'llsee how it goes, but definately you guys will need to pray for me even harder, cuz im not gonna lie, I'm nervous to be given that much more responsibility.  But it should be good.
Love you dad,
Elder Williams                                                    

                                              View from our stomping grounds!                        

                                              Me and my companion teaching Sebastiana

                                               Sebastiana: the new convert!

                                          
The black dog that broke Sebastiana's shoulder...the neighbors said it was because she joined the church.                                                    

                                             
                                                   Campinas Temple and Companion

                                                     Sebastiana's Baptism

Another Day in Missionary Paradise...

Hey Family,                                                                                                                         8-10-11

Thanks for the recipe!  The pictures are great!  The fireplace looks awesome and Annie’s bathroom looks like it belongs in another house.  Looks like things are going great with the renovations.  Here in Brazil there's a gap between the poor and the rich, it's crazy how obvious it is to.  You can go to a town here and look at one side that has a nice houses and the other that has something less than a shack.  But it's all well.  The food here is good but I’m noticing it's hard to get all the necessary vitamins I need to have the energy needed.  It's kind of hard to get all needed from beans, rice, and beef, hence the gut I was gaining. 

It's really cool to hear about the people that are cleaning up their lives, or changing them.  It's certainly a change of pace from the stuff I’m seeing here.  A lot of people here are falling into old habits of drugs or inactivity.  I see a ton of junk that I'd rather not see, such as accepting the gospel as true but being too prideful to make a change (you'd be surprised how many people say that 'I know your church is true' but I don't want to change religion, life, or follow the commandments).  Then again only as a missionary can I see God's hand in things, for example, me and my companion had a good experience last night.  We visited this member’s house and she was wondering whether her son was at his girlfriend’s house or somewhere else.  It wasn’t that big of a deal, so I didn't think i needed to say anything, but I felt like I should tell her that if he was at his girlfriend's house we would stop by her house and tell her (because we were heading there anyways).  So we went visited the girlfriend and he was there.  On our return we had the opportunity to take a short cut back home or go the long way and tell the member where her son was.  My companion wanted to go home the quick way but I wanted to go tell the member and show off our new dog (we have a dog that follows us everywhere almost every day now, pretty sweet huh?).  So we went to the member and told her and went back on our way.  On that same street there was this 20 year old girl (about the size of Annie) that was walking carrying some bags.  She looked like she needed some help with her bags so we offered to help her out.  She was carrying about 5 bags that were freaking heavy.  Even I had a hard time carrying a couple of bags!!  We found out that she was married but that her man ditched her and her daughter and that she has no family, because some died and others ditched her also.  I don't know how interested she is in hearing about our messages, but it was cool to see how the Lord directs us into helping others out, even if they're not too inclined to hear about his gospel.

Anyways, I went to the temple today with my companion.  The first time in 4 months! It was awesome!! It certainly filled that gap in my heart.  Anyways as a result we're both extremely hungry and still haven’t eaten anything at 4 pm.  So I gotta go. I love you!

Elder Williams

The Lord Can Out-do Satan Anyday!

Hey family,                                                                                                         Aug 3, 2011

So despite how hard I try gaining weight, I can't seem to get it.  My gut is going away, which is fine, I never really liked a big gut.  It's gotta be the 20 minutes of exercise in the morning and all the walking I’m doing during the day.  So no need to worry. 

Anyways, a lot has happened this past week.  Or rather the past 3 weeks that I forgot to mention.  The first Sunday being here me and my companion were being accompanied by this little man that really likes to talk and make fun of me being American, so we decided to ditch him by going down this little street here.  While there on the street I saw a house that I felt we should knock on.  To make a long story short, a really old lady answered and we taught her and she turned out to be extremely prepared by the Lord (she's gonna be baptized this Saturday).  It's cool to see how strong of a testimony she already has about the gospel.  And how she is super firm only through prayer and going to church (because she doesn't know how to read).  Anyways, it was cool to see how the Lord placed that little man in our path to make us annoyed enough to go down another street.  Anyways, it's also cool to see the two forces of God and Satan here.  She really likes church and has a determination to be baptized and tells us every day that she will be baptized.  But on the other hand, her family is going crazy on her.  Her daughter doesn't agree with the church and says that we make everyone pay lots of money to go to church (I don't know where she's getting this, she doesn't attend any churches).  So she denied her own mom to go to another city to pick up a food supply of 2 months (it's like food stamps for old people).  Anyways she had 2 days to get the food, and if she doesn’t pick it up she will lose her spot and never have an opportunity to pick up food ever again.  Anyways, being the heroic missionaries that we are (and through lots of prayer), we found a way to get her there and keep from starving to death.  But yeah, Satan definitely works hard to keep people from doing the right thing.  The good thing is that she is still firm and ready to be baptized, even though she almost went without food and the likely prospect of rejection from her family.

Anyways, how’s the renovation going?  We cleaned our house the other day; it was a pretty big accomplishment. 

In that package you’re gonna send me, can you find me another backpack?  I’m looking for something extremely light, nothing more than a giant pocket with back straps.  I think that the end of August should be enough time to get the package to me.  Also can you email me the recipe for coconut rice?  My companion thinks I’m crazy that I like it, so I gotta make some for him. 

Today is pretty cold, its overcast as well so I think I’m gonna have a great nap for PDay today.

It's good that you started reading PMG, chapter 6 is one of my favorites as well, and I think it was written by Elder Holland if I remember right.  It's key to success as a missionary, and will help any member that wants to be somewhat active in missionary work.

Also tell Austin that I’m not planning on marrying anytime soon but that I’m open to advice when I get home.   

Love you, 

Elder Williams

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