Tuesday, October 21, 2014

General Conference = Christmas for Missionaries

Hola Familia!
 
Wasn´t General Conference the best thing ever! man it felt like Christmas! I dont think i´d ever been so excited for general conference in my entire life. Hermana Baker and I couldnt stop smiling the whole weekend. I absolutely loved all the speakers and talks. They were amazing and so much more meaningful now that im a missionary. we had three investigators come! Nibaldo, the twenty four year old we met on the street and then Victor y Blanca, a 70 something old couple we`ve been teaching. they came sunday morning and Nibaldo came for both saturday and sunday afternoon.
 
I loved President Uchtdorfs talk about recieving light and understanding truth. and Elder Christoffersons about how the church and our salvation is not determined by our opinions, that there is such thing as universal truth. oh it was just all so fantastic. It makes me regret all the times i didnt pay attention to conference when i was younger.
 
I was able to see the womens broadcast but only in spanish. i could understand what was being said but it didnt really sink in or resonate because i was using all my energy just to keep up and understand the words.
i loved how it was all about covenants and temples though.
 
Not many exciting things this week... the weather is getting warmer! the sun has come out a couple of days this week and i havent been needing my gloves and hat as much! although i heard a rumor that the wind doesnt really pick up until November. this makes me nervous because its already pretty windy here. you can send the warm clothes if you want mom. i dont know if this warm weather is a fluke or what to expect in the later months but better be safe than sorry. stil havent gotten the package yet, but im super excited!
 
Hi to evan and lizzie! congrats to lizzie on her calling that is so much fun! and Evan, yay for helping the missionaries with an investigating family. you probably already know how much it means to missionaries to have members help out. i wish i would have known this early, i regret how i didnt help the missionaries more.
 
shout out to Scottie! hope conference was as great for you as it was for me! thought about you! did you stay awake for Elder Scott?
 
Last monday we got some people girls together and played¨basketball. it wasnt real basketball, more like toned down half court with other basket shooting games, but it was super fun. Nibaldo came and last time we talked to him we mentioned that we`re not allowed to watch tv or access internet and our phone doesnt have texting. he came to play basketball with us and said he had a gift for us. he pulled out a brand new smart phone and just gave it to us! he said he got a new one and didnt need it anymore. he gave us a cell phone! we tried to give it back but he wouldnt let us. now its sitting in a box untouched in our casa. we´re gonna give it to our friend Bianca to sell or something.
 
Bianca is a 19 year old student here in punta arenas and she is one of the strongest converts i have ever met. shes the tiniest person ever and she joined the church three years ago. she has such a strong testimony and shes always willing to accompany us to lessons. she ends up teaching and testifying better than we do. she wants to serve a mission and i know she´ll do great.
 
Mom i tried this pastry called a Berlin, its a sweet bread roll stuffed with cream. it is so unbelievably delicious. the cream is super thick and oh it was so good. i thought about you and how much you would love it.
 
we contacted the less active son of a member in our ward. He and his wife were both baptized but havent been to church in years. His name is Fredy. we were able to talk to him on his door step last night. he knows the church is true but his wife doesnt like the church, so he doesnt bring it up or go in order to cause any problems for them at home. He basically bore the most beautiful testimony ever on his front porch. It was amazing and i could understand everything he said and the spirit was super strong. it was inspiring to hear him talk about how he knows the church is true. He asked us to pray for his wife´s heart to be softened and then stop by again next week to try to teach a lesson with her. Hermana Baker and I are going to concentrate our efforts on him and his family. we`re super excited.
 
I was able to invite one of our investigators, Araceli, to be baptized. shes amazing, she has a really strong spirit. her mom Magali is a little more skeptical. whenever we teach something new, she comes the next week with a list of scriptures from the bible that prove us wrong... we showed them both a video of President Monson speaking. Araceli began to cry and said she felt the spirit super strong. Magali said she didnt believe he was a prophet because he didnt look like a prophet. we invited araceli, shes going to think and pray about it. we hope she makes her own decisions for herself.
 
theres a talk that the mission home puts into every missionaries binder called The Fourth Missionary by Lawrence E. Corbridge from 2002 and it is the best thing ever, i recommend reading it.
 
we found a girl this week whos super christian and has a wonderful love for God and Christ. it was super nice to talk to her, she was really open about the book of mormon and told us she would go and pray about whether it was true. we came back a couple days later and she had a list of anti mormon notes from the internet and scriptures that supposedly proved us wrong. she continued to ask us questions and show us scriptures but wouldnt let us answer any of them. we listened and then left, she didnt even give us time to testify of anything. although the lesson was disappointing it confirmed by testimony that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and the importance of having this testimony. if we know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God then we know that The church of Jesus Christ has been restored on the earth again, we know that we have the priesthood, we know that all revelations are of God and not of Man. We know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God.
I want to bear my testimony that i know Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, I know the Book of Mormon is true, I have felt these truths testified to me through out my entire life. I have a strong testimony that God is our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ directs this church today.
Ïf any of you lack wisdom, then ask of God and He will answer you.
 
Love you all so much, its hard but i love being here. through a great trainer, prayer and the atonement of Jesus Christ, no matter how hard my day is i always go to bed with a happy heart.
 
until next week!
 
love, Hermana Williams

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