July 27, 2015 - The Best Year of my Life!

hola familia y amigos!

Well first of all, Happy Birthday to Grandma Jean!!!! I love you a lot and I hope it was a great day and I thought about you and I wish I could be there to give you a big hug and kiss, but next year for sure. 

Second.... wow, I didn't think that so many people would be so worked up about me not chopping wood hahaha. Don't worry, my companion is going to teach me, our goal for this transfer is for me to chop wood like a pro. 

This week the biggest stress has been trying to teach everything to P before her baptism this Saturday. She got sick and she´s not the kind of person you just stop on by her house to say hi, (she lives in a closed apartment complex and she has to give us permission to enter or the guard won't let us in) so it was a little crazy just trying to figure everything out. But as of right now she's on track for Saturday and really excited! 

We had a noche de hogar with the menos activo J, we brought a member with us and talked about the Atonement and he promised that he would come to church on Sunday, and he came! But only stayed for Sacrament Meeting. 

We found another menos activa named P. Her husband and her 20 year old son are members less actives too and she has two little babies to take care of now. She expressed to us that she feels alone and zero support from her family, so we`re going to be working with her more to help her feel better and start coming back to church. 

We taught our converso reciente E who is the sweetest! Her testimony is really strong. more than anything she is a little lonely so she likes it when we come over once a week to teach her. She always makes us food. This week we feasted upon sopaipillas and we also ate lunch with her on Saturday and she made lasagna, bread, salad, and pancakes with manjar. She used to cook in a restaurant so all her food is delicious. 

On friday the Relief Society had a big activity where they watched the movie "Meet the Mormons" and we brought P and she already feels very part of the ward and has lots of friends and we were able to teach her afterwards. 

Saturday we taught another recent convert, V who wants to serve a mission! she`s really awesome! She speaks english really well. 

We also got to know M and E, a couple that the elders before us found but now are our new investigators. They have two new baby boy twins! They`re so cute! I told them that I'm a twin and E asked me if I get along with my twin and I said yes, we are best friends:) but they were really awesome and receptive, but it was a little awkward because M's mom stopped by and was listening and she´s apparently super Catholic and had kind of a bad attitude towards us, but that's okay! We had the Spirit! 

It rained a lot this week again, but we had fun. You can tell I have a good amount of time in the mission because i'm sorry to report that my rain boots have holes in them.... and hna B's boots got holes within 2 weeks haha. 

Hna B and I gave talks in church on Sunday! She did a really good job, I was so proud of her! We tried to animate the ward members to share the gospel. I also sang with hna V S who is going to live here in puerto varas now. We sang "Abide with me tis eventide". I just love singing so much. 

Well I don't have much time to write, my 1 hour is almost over. But this week was great and went by way too fast. Thanks for all the emails, especially all the photos of C he really is the cutest baby alive. 

this week I will complete 1 year as a missionary and I can't believe it, so much has happened and now I can't imagine life without the nametag. I'm so grateful for every single day, the good and the bad, all 365. This really has been the best year of my life.  I'm so grateful to be a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

love, hermana williams

July 20, 2015 - It's Raining, It's Pouring

hola familia y amigos,

This week was really good and went by way too fast. I feel like I don't have enough time in the week to even remember all the things we have to do. But we are working very hard and having a lot of fun. 

Update for our investigator P., She is still on date to get baptized on the 1st of August and she is super excited. We taught her twice this week and she accepts everything very well. We still have a lot to teach her but she`ll be just fine. She really is one of those investigators who was already prepared. but she still needs a lot of prayers because the time before the baptism can be very hard for the investigators. 

We taught a young man named A. He has a ton of questions about everything. the whole lesson was him just asking us questions. We`re working with him on true intention and praying to receive and answer and to feel like baptism is something he should do, and not just for him to be curious about the church. He hasnt come to church yet and he confessed to us that he felt a little pressured from the elders before us that if he goes to church it means he`s committing to baptism which is not true... so we`ll see how it goes with him. 

We taught the menos activa P. that we found last week. We were able to teach her and her husband E. the restoration and the Spirit was very strong but in the end E. doesn't want anything to do with us, he was a little rude... so we`re going to keep trying but in the mean time focus on building the testimony of Pamela. It's a difficult situation. 

We found a menos activo named J who works in a floral shop and he`s the best. He has a very strong  testimony but his wife doesn't like the church and so he doesn't come on Sundays because he doesn't want problems with his family. It breaks my heart, but we`re going to work really hard with him. He has a very special spirit and a lot of potential and there is a lot of hope for him. He reminds me of R :)

On Thursday we had a ward noche de hogar and there was a good number of people that showed up. it was super fun. and we saw the hermana V from Valdivia again, shes following us around haha. 

On Friday we had a lesson planned with a converso reciente and we wanted to have lesson with member, we had someone planned but when we called she said she had to cancel, so we called 10 hermanas in the ward and all of them said no. We were just about to give up when we got a call from an unknown number. We answered and it turns out it was the mom of P who was visiting from Santiago, She's a member and she told us she had the whole afternoon to wait for her daughter to get home from work so she asked P for our number and gave us a call to see if she could go out with us to lessons! It was a miracle, We told her we had a lesson at 4:30pm and she said perfect. It was literally an answer from the heavens, Our jaws dropped to the floor. so we had that lesson and it went really well and we were very happy. 

We had 5 lessons with member that week! We tried to have 8 but  a couple fell through along with our plan b,c,d,e,f, etc.... but I learned that lesson in Valdivia and we still feel very blessed and grateful.

On Sunday hna B and I sang a special musical number in sacrament meeting. We sang Come Thou Font in Spanish (which is very pretty) and it was really well. We sing really good together, she has a very nice voice. 

We visited one of the menos activos here, hno O and it turns out hes the father of one the 33 miners from chile. Years ago there was a big  mining accident and 33 chileanos got trapped under ground and it was a huge deal but all of the survived and now they are like celebrities here, its a very big deal. 

Saturday night it poured down rain. and it caught us by surprise so we weren't prepared. We got completely soaked, everything absolutely drenched, the wettest I have ever been. My shoes filled with water. We couldn't feel our hands or our feet because it was freezing cold too. We came home and it took us an hour and 2 electric heaters just to get warm again. Plus hna B's towel caught on fire from the wood burning stove... that was fun. but only the corner burned off so she can still use it haha. 

Our house is dangerous, the elders waxed the floor a week before they left but they didn't do it right so now everything is very slippery. I fell the other day and hna brown has fallen 3 times on the stairs. its hilarious but we both have bruises haha. 

I feel very blessed to be here and we are really excited to be working. I'm really grateful to be a missionary. to be a representative of Jesus Christ. 

Thanks for the emails, have a great week!

love, hermana williams

June 13, 2015- Auntie Meli

hola familia y amigos,

Well the first piece of business that I want to address is that I'M AN AUNT!!!!!! I have a brand new nephew and he is the cutest thing ever!!!!  I wanted to cry I was so happy. He looks so perfect. I wish I could hold him in my arms but only 6 months more. Please send me photos every week! Evan and Lizzie, you did a very good job :) 

This week was a lot of getting lost, exploring, finding, contacting, studying (lots of studying) and working really really hard. we`re just starting to feel comfortable here in this part of Puerto Varas and I don't feel as stressed as before which is really good. 

We`re starting to work more and more with the investigators the other elders left us, it was hard the first week to find them or earn their confidence. but yesterday hna B. did her first baptism invitation and she rocked it. Our investigator P accepted a baptism date for 1 de agosto and she is really excited!!! We feel very blessed. 

We also have another investigator, A who´s girlfriend is member but it was a secret because there were some problems with her family and him. but this week the problems were fixed and now A feels a lot more welcome to come to church and sit with his girlfriend and we`re really excited because he can really start progressing now. We have a lesson planned with him tonight and we`re going to invite him to be baptized. 

This week we were walking past a street of houses and we both looked in the kitchen window of one of the houses and there was a woman there washing dishes, we waved to her just to be nice and friendly and she got really excited and motioned for us to come inside.... so we were like okay! Her name is P and it turns out shes a less active member of the church. She just moved to Puerto Varas a couple months ago with her non member husband and this whole time she`s been wanting to come back to church but hadn't been able to find missionaries and we just happened to walk past her house! We taught her last night and she´s really excited to come back to church.  She also wants to set an example for her husband to help him stop drinking and smoking. her goal, and our goal is that he can be baptized and they can get sealed in the temple. She told us to come back on Tuesday so we can teach the both of them! We are suuuuper excited. 

We`ve been working hard with our ward mission leader to plan activities for the ward to help more investigators come and receive references. he`s the best, and his wife is awesome, She`s like our best friend and they treat us like we are their daughters its the best. I feel a lot of love in the ward- I've lost count how many times a member has told us "if you need anything at all, lunch, once, food, wash laundry, whatever, just come on over or give us a call" it's the best. 

This week I saw hna C!! Did I already tell you that? Well she`s here in our zone and its super fun to chat about the mission. 

yesterday hna veronica silva, a member from my ward in valdivia, showed up in our church meetings. she sometimes visits here in puerto varas for her family and she just showed up and it was the best. it was great to see her again and reminded me of valdivia. i miss valdivia but i am still very happy here. 

hna Braithwaite is doing very well. she`s the perfect"daughter". very chill and easy to live and work with. she has a lot of desire to work hard and baptise families. She is honestly one of the most selfless people I've ever met. She is always thinking about how she can help someone else, and usually that someone is me. She saves her own needs for last, and shes a great example for me. I learn more from her. She does get frustrated with the language, which is normal. And she`s learning to be patient with herself, which she`s told me is very hard for her, but we`re working on it. She`s honestly the best though, I'm really glad to have her. 

I feel unbelievably blessed this week. to be in this beautiful area, to be in this ward, to be training and to have a companion so Christ like and now to have a new member of the family. I feel like I dont deserve any of it. I know that God is our Heavenly Father and he loves each and every one of us through our obedience to his commandments. I feel so grateful to be a missionary and to be able to help other people recieve the blessings that come from this restored gospel. 

thanks for all the emails and photos, have a great week!

July 6, 2015- Motherhood Week 1

hola familia y amigos,

This week was absolutely crazy! I can't even put it all into words. First of all, I'm alive, I'm okay, I made it with my new companion to Puerto Varas. 

Monday and Tuesday was all packing, visiting, saying goodbye; very sad but all very exciting. I had to say goodbye to some really great families here. Tuesday was the hardest because I had to say goodbye to R, M and J.... it was like V and B all over again! haha. I never thought that i was going to miss Valdivia that much but when the time came and I had to say goodbye I realized that I love it here, and mainly because I love the people. R, M and J are my family ,I came to Valdivia for them. I know that Heavenly Father loves me because he keeps putting amazing wonderful people in my life. 

There were a lot of tears Tuesday night, even after we all said goodbye. Wednesday morning I was packing up the rest of my stuff when our zone leaders called and said i had to be in the bus terminal NOW instead of at 9am like they told me. There was a a confusion with the other leaders. but I was able to get to the terminal super fast and still say goodbye to hermana C, hna C, hna S and hna E. ahhhh hna E, I miss her so much. She was such a blessing in my life and I feel so grateful to her and for this transfer we had. 

I arrived in osorno at 11 am and guess who I saw at the terminal!? Lizzie Vance!!!! one of my roommates from byu, after 11 months we finally see each other here in the mission! That was a real tender mercy and it was great to see her. 

They took me to the church were all the new missionaries were meeting their trainers, and I got there right as the meeting was ending haha.  I met my new companion and hija! Hermana B.She is from Oregon! Shes super cute, super sweet, a farm girl, loves to work hard and serve others and her Spanish is really good, shes going to progress really fast. We fit really well together and we are having a lot of fun. She has a lot of excitement for the gospel and missionary work and she helps me to get excited too. 

We had to take another bus to Puerto Varas and the other hermanas there helped us get to our new house. We`re living in the small 2 floor house that 4 elders lived in before and they left it a wreck. It was so unbelievably messy, bags of trash, there is an old oven and fridge in our bedroom...... I have no idea. we have a wood burning stove, luckily hna B had one in her house too so she knows how to make fire. 

the first step was to look at the giant map of our giant sector, find our house and then go out to find the investigators. these past couple days have been a little stressful. i honestly didnt know what i was doing. but we called our district leader who was in our sector before a lot and he helped us out. the members here are really loving and helpful and they are really excited that there are hermanas in their ward again, i have never felt so much love from a ward i just met. im super excited. 

This week we've finally got our footing and we can really start digging in and working and finding and training. My companion is honestly the best and very patient with me. We have some great people that we are already working with. 

The big deal this week was that Chile won the Copa America, a big soccer tournament for Latin America. they won and it was a huge event, there were people partying all night so it felt just like the 4th of July haha. grown men cried they were so happy. Haha

Our sector here is beautiful! We can see the volcano everyday and the big red and white Catholic church that you see in all the photos, yeah thats in our sector!  I like it here a lot. 

Sometimes hna B is more of the mom than I am. she's very protective of me when there are mean dogs or we`re crossing the street or i might trip and fall ( I always trip and fall) it's  funny. 

i dont have much more time to write. but you should all know that I'm safe and happy. i miss everyone in valdivia but i really do like it here. ;) I know that the Lord is really helping us out because i cant do this on my own. but as of right now, we`re doing just fine. 

love, hermana williams

June 29, 2015 - Motherhood

hola familia y amigos,

This week went by real fast because it was the last of the transfer. 

I know you all want to know what the changes are so.... drum roll.....

I am being transferred to Puerto Varas and I'm going to be training a new missionary there and opening a new sector at the same time!!!!! Im super excited, I have always wanted to train. I'm nervous because opening a sector means starting from zero. I cant believe it. All I know is that my companion is from the United States.

Hna E is going to stay here with hermana C. and they re going to form a trio with another missionary here in Valdivia in the same sector. Theyre going to combine our sectors together. 

and hna S. goes home :) 

Crazy right!? I titled this email Motherhood because here in the mission the trainers are moms and their new missionaries are their daughters. 

I cant even think about what happened this week....I'm too excited. 

We were able to have more lessons with members, not tons but enough that I felt like we were back on our game. 

We had some really good lessons and found some really great people. 

We`re still teaching M, He`s progressing but not progressing at the same time because he still doesn't have a desire to get baptized. but we're going to see what happens. 

On friday our stake had a huge activity where we watched "Meet the Mormons". we invited tons of people and it was an awesome event. Lots of members came and brought their friends. the movie was the best. 

On Saturday the other hermanas, hna C and hna S had a baptism. Our first week of the cambio hna E and I found guy on the street who was a little drunk and he asked to come to church with us. He ended up living in the sector of the other hermanas and they`ve been teaching him this whole transfer and he got baptized on Saturday, it was awesome! And a great way for hna S. to end her mission. 

Sunday M. came to church and our converso D. came too! We had a lesson planned with him on Wednesday but it fell through, and it wasn't his fault.  He really has a lot of desire to come back to church. He`s the best and I'm so happy. 

It was a pretty normal week. We worked real hard. 

hna Espinoza wanted to clean again.... and she broke our full length mirror.... we took photos. 

Thank you for all the support and emails and i love you all so much. 

until next week!

love, hermana williams

June 22, 2015 - Tender Mercies of the Lord

hola familia y amigos!

This week went by way too fast. 

This week was also a little hard... we weren't able to have any lessons with members. we tried going out with members many times but it was the investigators who were never home or who canceled on us. It was rough going from having 5 lessons to 0 in one week. plus we weren't even really able to teach much and we had two menos activos who dropped us, told us they didn't want us to pass by to visit them anymore. so I will be honest and say that I was at least a little discouraged during this week, because I didn't understand what we were doing wrong. 

But the Lord taught me this week that I wasnt doing anything wrong, rather he had other miracles and blessings waiting for us. sometimes success isn't measured by the numbers because this week I really felt like we worked hard and did our best. 

This week the big fuss in the ward was that the daughter of a member returned home from her mission in Peru and we`re really excited because she lives in our sector and that means a new member to come with us to lessons and who`s excited to work with us, She's already thinking of references to give us. Thats a big blessing.

We finally found N, the convert of hermana B who has not come to church for a long time. but she dropped us, like I mentioned above. it was rough but there is always hope. 

There was a baptism in a different ward on Saturday and we brought our investigator P. with us. P. is Catholic and didn't have much interest to change, but wanted to see a baptism. I think she really felt the Spirit and she even said that she will come to church this next week which is a big step because before she said that she didn't want to come. 

The mission is going to combine our sectors this next transfer so the ward is only going to have one set of missionaries. and there going to close one of our houses, but we don't know which, and which missionaries are leaving.... 

Sunday was the best because our investigator M. came, M. with her husband L. and they all stayed for all 3 meetings. but the best was that D. came to church!!!!! D. is who hna C. and I taught and baptized back in february and he hasnt come to church in almost 3 months. But surprise he came to church! and he shared his testimony in class. He said that this week he almost died because he fell asleep in a closed room with a heater that emitted carbon monoxide. he woke up in the middle of the night and he couldn't breath and it took all his strength just to open a window. He said he believes that God saved him and now he needs to make things right and come back to church and be better. 

I almost cried I was so happy. It made the whole week worth it just to see the change in him and his desire to come back. It was a miracle that i never even thought to ask for.

On Sunday I gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting about the Sacrament and how we need to be more reverent and understand the meaning of the ordinance. It went well. 

We still only have two outlets that work and la she was saved because it still worked in the morning haha. 

I'm not really sure what else to say, only that we`re working hard and yes we make lots of mistakes everyday but the Lord is helping us. 

I know that miracles are real, that God is our Heavenly Father and He loves us. I am so grateful for my time here and to be a missionary. I feel very weak, but i know that He helps me everyday and I'm grateful for every trial. I wish I could be a missionary for forever, a year and a half isn't long enough :)

thanks for the emails and support! have a great week!

love, hermana williams 

June 15, 2015 - Singing in the Rain

hola familia y amigos!

This week went by very fast. I cant even remember what we did. 

Hna Espinoza and I are doing really well. We are awesome companions together. We still have a lot of weaknesses but we are a good team and we have a lot of fun together while we still work hard. 

It still rains almost everyday here. 

I guess more than anything we walked, knocked doors, talked to people, and taught lessons. Everyday we make plans but there is always something unexpected that happens. 

For example on friday we spent the first half of the day with zero success. It felt like every door we knocked or every person we visited said no. There was a lot of rejection and we felt a little discouraged. but then we knocked a door and a woman let us in and we taught her and we found a new person to teach. and then later on we visited a contact we did with a member from the ward and we taught him and the lesson was awesome and the spirit was really strong. So it started out as a terrible day but ended with 2 new people to teach and a lesson with member and it was the best. 

The Lord is really helping us out here with miracles like that. miracles that we don't even see coming. We feel really blessed in this sector. Its still hard, we still don't have tons of people to teach, but we`re in the part of the transfer where the Lord is testing to see how dedicated we really are. First some really hard rejection and then the blessings come. 

We had an awesome ward family home evening and lots of people showed up.  M. showed up with her whole family! She hasn't come to church in over a month, and then on sunday she came for all three hours of church. We were really excited!

We found and taught lots of menos activos this week. When hna espinoza arrived we only had two menos activos that we knew of in our sector, now we have 10. You knock 10 doors and 5 are menos activos that you didn't know existed haha. So we're having a lot of success with reactivating. 

We had 5 lessons with members this week! and maybe that doesnt sound like a lot but for this sector it is .I cant remember the last time we had 5 lessons with members. We're working hard to win the confidence and help of the members here. We've been visiting some families to teach them the restoration and then ask for references. It works really well and we already are seeing the results. 

On monday hna Espinoza went on a cleaning and reorganization spree and we moved our furniture around. while she was meddling she pulled out some cords and tried to plug a lamp in and she blew all the electricity for the outlets in the house,so we had no way to plug anything in. We were able to switch the breaker box and it all worked for a while but then the next day she tried plugging something in again and we lost it again.  We had to have someone come to see the damage and they could only fix two outlets. So we`re living with that right now. plus it turns out the internet router for all three cabañas on the same property is in our cabaña.... a cabaña full of missionaries.... so when she pulled cords out she disconnected the internet and the other people in the two cabañas freaked out. so now we have to always have the internet plugged into one  of our two outlets that work.....we feel like we are encouraging sins hahaha

I have come to realize that missionary work is the best. and that i really do love being a missionary. I love helping other people feel the love of their Heavenly Father. and I know that He is helping me every step of the way. Because it is impossible for me to do this work without Him. the prayer that I always carry in my heart is that through His help and His Spirit my words, my work, my studying, my prayers will be enough to help the people here. 

I know that God and His son Jesus Christ live. and I am so grateful I have the opportunity to serve them for a year and a half. 

have a great week! 

love, hermana williams

June 8, 2015 - Singing in the Rain

hola familia y amigos,

once again thank you very much for all the birthday wishes and emails. It was really fun to hear from everyone.

this week we spent a lot of time finding, contacting and  knocking doors. but it all paid off because we found 5 new people to teach. we`re pretty excited and we`re praying really hard that they wont drop us haha.

on monday we ate lunch with all the other hermanas here in valdivia in a super nice restaurant that a member works at and we ate octopus pot stickers... they were surprisingly good.

on monday we taught a pair of fraternal twins, C. and J. that are studying here in validivia. reminded me of Scottie, it was fun to be able to talk about twin stuff haha. it was a super awesome lesson and they had lots of really good questions and understood everything. teaching young people is very refreshing.

its been raining super hard here all week, with thunder and lightening and on tuesday we lost power in our house and had to study by candlelight in the morning haha. it was fun.

my birthday was super fun! we had our district meeting in the morning and they surprised me wit a mini party with cupcakes, rice krispy treats and other goodies. it was sweet, and they took pictures for me because i dont have my camera. we weren't able to teach anyone, but we did do 21 contacts haha to celebrate my 21 years. at night rodrigo and margareth had a family home evening/ party planned for me in the lavanderia. and when we were walking over we played a really mean trick on them haha. we called and said that we couldn't come because we had a lesson with a family that we can never find and this is our only chance to teach them haha. margareth got soooooo mad at me haha, but we walked into the lavanderia 5 minutes later and she wanted to kill me hahahaha.

Rodrigo and margareth made a big video slideshow for my birthday with a whole bunch of photos and mini videos from people from home. it was soooo fun to see, thanks for all the videos mom and dad. i cried so hard. especially with the ukelele song, i miss that.

after wards we ate cake and hung out and they sang to me and then they drove us home. they gave m a tee shirt and a mug that has a picture of the avengers and then my face and it says in very broken english "they save the life, but you save my salvations, i will be always thankfull" so cute haha.

so it was a very good birthday!

this week i locked the keys in the house on accident... so the zone leaders had to come over and break into our house. it worked, and now we have keys thank goodness.

the same day we had a really rough day, we weren't able to teach anyone, everything fell threw and it was raining like crazy. and at 8pm we went to visit a contact that i did with hna conde months ago. we knocked the door and they let us in and we were able to teach the restoration to a beautiful family of mom, dad, and 2 year old daughter. it was the best. we`re coming back to visit them tomorrow. we feel very blessed.

thursday, hna espinoza woke up at 6am and thought it was 7am and turned on all the lights and starting teling me to get out of bed. i looked at the clock and had t tell her to go back to bed hahaha. i learned a lot about patience and love hahahaa.

our investigator marcelo came to church again. he told us he was going to come with his friend who is mormon too, but turns out his friend is adventista oops haha but they both came anyways and stayed for all 3 hours! it was great!

we`ve been working a lot this week, despite the rain and thunderstorms. the other day i saw hail the size of pennies. validivia is crazy. but i love it here.

I know that Heavenly Father loves us and miracles do happen. I know that the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints is his church. and i want everyone to be able to enjoy the blessings that come from this gospel. i love being a missionary. I know that He is helping me every step of the way. I know that Jesus Christ is real and his Atonement works. through Him we can do all things.

have a great week!

love, hermana williams

June 1, 2015 - Happy Birthday to Scott....and Me

hola familia y amigos,

wow its almost my birthday, I cant believe it! Im going to be 21... unlike most 21 year olds on their birthday, i will be reading the scriptures and going to bed at 11pm.... you only live once haha. I also completed 10 months in the mission this past week. Hna Espinoza reminds me everyday how old i am in the mission and how i am going to "die" end the mission soon. 

shout out to Scottie Happy Birthday! I love you and i wish we could celebrate together but next year sí o sí  haha. 

we were blessed with a lot of miracles this week. we found some really awesome people to teach and a couple new people who are going to progress and we´re really excited. we taught 21 lessons total this week which for me is a lot. we have an investigator with a baptism date, M., but its not super official, only if she receives an answer. we´ll see how that goes because she still hasn't come to church. yo tengo fe. 

we had a new investigator M. come to church yesterday. and we've only taught him two times. the first time was for 15 minutes on his front porch. he committed to read the Book of Mormon and to pray and that if he receives and answer he would get baptized. 

we´ve been working a lot with less active members. we taught D. two times, helped her make bread in her bakery and everytime we come over to visit she gives us fresh bread. its a pretty sweet deal. we also found 2 new less actives. that's the thing about Chile, you can knock 10 doors and 2 out of 10 are less active members that you didnt even know existed. we set up times to come back and teach and visit them. 

One of them is E. and she was super receptive. she actually told us that right before we found her she was just about to go take a shower where she wouldn't be able to hear the doorbell but something told her to wait a couple minutes more, like a voice in the back of her head... and five minutes later we knocked on her door! miracle!

we had interviews with president Obeso on thursday and they went super well. he helped me a lot and gave me more advice, he also interviewed me for a new temple recommend because i lost mine in my backpack. the APs, assistants to the president, gave a training on lesson plans. we´re supposed to have outlines of all the lessons and mine were in my scriptures which were stolen. so i only had 1 lesson plan that i did in the morning haha. and of course the Elder chose my 1 lesson plan to show in front of everyone. it was a little embarrassing haha. but it was a really good training. 

we also had intercambios with the sister training leaders this week. i was with hna Oross from california in my sector. we had a lot of fun together... and to be honest we spoke a little in english. our companions are latinas and we missed speaking english haha. 

on saturday we sang in a funeral in a catholic church. a member died and her whole family is catholic so they had a catholic service but invited all the missionaries to come and sing. it was my first time in a catholic church and it was interesting. a couple elders said some words and then we sang abide with me tis eventide. it was nice. 

it has rained so much this week! i have never seen so much rain in my whole life. last night i woke up like 5 times because the rain was beating so hard on our roof. but im okay, a member gave me her old, but still very nice umbrella and that saved me this week. 

hna espinoza is great, she really likes to clean haha. she has a couple quirks that im still getting used to. but we work really well together. we teach well, i don't have to worry about her backing me up and its nice. she is very responsible for a missionary that only has 6 months. we have a lot of fun and laugh a lot. she is super funny. 

we worked really hard this week. and im starting to feel again that 8 months isnt long enough to do everything i need to do here, or change myself in all the ways that i need to change. i feel like there's so much more i can give. this sector has so much potential. 

thank you for all the birthday wishes! it means a lot. im excited to have a birthday as a missionary. it will be a once in a life time experience. 

God is real, he loves us, miracles still happen and Jesus Christ is the savior of the world. I know that with him i can do all things. im so grateful to be a missionary. 

love, hermana williams

May 25, 2015- New Chapter

hola familia y amigos,

this week was crazy with all the problems of my backpack and hna conde saying goodbye and packing and still trying to work and receiving a new companion. im glad that its finally all over. 

I think monday and tuesday were some of my most stressful days in the mission. we had to go around to the police, the registro civil to take care of all the paper work of my stolen backpack and to start the process of a new carnet. we also had to go around and say goodbye to soooo many people and hna conde has a lot of stuff so packing was crazy. saying goodbye to M. and R. was rough, hna alonso is leaving too so it was the end of a very long chapter of our lives the 6 of us. Im probably never going to see hna alonso again... but i will see hna conde next week when we have a zone meeting haha. 

wednesday i said goodbye to hna conde which wasn't too hard, but i was still sad to lose her as a companion. we've grown a lot together. i received my new companion Hermana Espinoza! shes from Paraguay. she was in villa rica before coming here and hna Coombs was her companion! she has 6 months in the mission. shes really fun, very clean, very funny and really hard working. 

im senior companion now which is new and scary. she follows just a little bit behind me when we walk and shes already started teasing me about how im ¨dying¨or finishing my mission really soon. for her she feels like her mission will still last an eternity. 

we worked really hard for the past 5 days we've been together. and we come home so tired but its a good kind of tired. we dont really have anyone who`s progressing so we spent  lot of this week contacting, visiting and trying to find new people to teach. 

its been really cold and rainy here this week. the most rain i've seen in my entire life and the cold reminds me of punta arenas haha. 

sorry i don't have any photos to send of my new companion.... i dont have a camera anymore. 

thanks for all the encouragement and emails and support. 

i know that this is the work of the lord and im really grateful for my mission. im really grateful for the time ive had here with hna conde. im going to miss it but im excited for the next chapter. 

have  great week!

love, hermana williams

May 18, 2015 - Changes

hola familia y amigos,

this week was good.

first of all, we found out transfers today. hna conde is leaving and going to a different ward here .We will no longer be companions but i will still see her at district meetings and zone and stake stuff which im really happy about. I am going to stay here in valdivia in the same sector and my new companion is Hermana Espinoza. i dont really know anything about her. i heard shes from Colombia and she has less time in the mission than me. another Latina! im excited. Hna Alonso is leaving and going to Pulcon and hna Chura is staying in her sector and going to have a gringa companion, hna Spencer. so everything is changing and its crazy. im just happy i dont have to worry about packing all my stuff haha.

hna conde got really sick this week. she was in bed a lot. so i studied the scriptures and wrote letters and organized and made a new cover for my agenda and kept myself busy. even today hna conde still doesn't feel well, she has a pretty bad cough and sore throat. i haven't caught it yet.

today we ate lunch in MacDonald's and we sat in the table close to the door and when we got up to leave my backpack was gone...

so this week someone stole my backpack.

i am very sad. i lost money, credit cards, drivers license, camera, all of my photos, my book of Mormon.

so i dont really feel like writing. plus i dont really know what else to tell you because we werent able to work a lot this week.

im excited for the new transfer. i will miss hna conde a lot. she is my best friend.

i know that the church is true and that Heavenly Father loves me and that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. Im really grateful to be a missionary.

love you all, thanks for all the emails and support.

love, hermana williams

May 11, 2015 - Long Time No See

Wow Sunday was so much fun to see everyone, i loved it. it was hard to hang up. Im so glad that we were all able to see or at least hear each other.

Well i dont really have that much to write because I just saw my family yesterday and this week went by so fast that i cant remember what happened.

this week we were finally able to teach the familia V. we weren't able to meet with them or almost a whole month because they were both working so much. but X., the mom, is pregnant and shes going to have her baby is less than 2 weeks! and shes gigantic! we invited them to be baptized and they said yes but when we invited them to be baptized on a specific date they said it was too early, they want to know more. their son, V. just turned 12 and he wants to get baptized but he wants to get baptized on the Jesus´birthday, Christmas... thats a long time away. so we`ll see about that haha.

we had family history orientation for all the missionaries in valdivia. an hermano from Utah came to speak to us about how we can use family history, specifically the pamphlet, my family, to do mission work. well now i need to fill out my own pamphlet, so mom, can you send me all the information that you sent scott, thanks!

with the other hermanas we made little paper flowers for mothers day and gave them out to all the women in our ward. we made extra so we could give them to investigators too. they turned out super cute.

today for pday hno R. (with Marg, of course) took us all to his house to make and eat pizza. he lives in a huge house thats over 100 years old. its way out in the campo/country. he lives around a whole bunch of woods and we went out and explored and it was so beautiful. it was super fun and now we all want to take naps haha.

thanks for all your love and support.

yesterday i felt so happy to be able to talk to my family. I know that we will be together forever. when i think about i, 9 months isnt that long. I know that being a missionary is the best choice ive ever made. Its hard, but i dont regret it. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for giving me so many great experiences and so many wonderful people to love. I know that through the savior Jesus Christ i can do all things. i know that families can be together forever.

love, hermana williams

May 4, 2015 - Halfway There

Hola familia y amigos!

the time keeps going by faster.

first of all... HAPPY 1 YEAR TO SCOTTIE!!!!!!! I'm so excited for you. i cant believe we`re already half way through the best 2 (1 1/2) years of our lives!

The big news i have is that i completed 9 months in the mission on Thursday... and we did absolutely nothing to celebrate! we treated it like a normal day, only a couple members that congratulated me. I forgot for most of the day. but its weird to think that my mission is already more than halfway over.

I also finished reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish all the way through. I also finished Jesus The Christ by James E. Talmage (but in English) and I finished reading Doctrine and Covenants (half in English, half in Spanish) now its time to start the Bible!

hna conde and i have recently been dying from bug bites... we dont know where or how or when but they are attacking my feet, hands and chest. i have more than 30 total. they itch so bad. i feel like a leper.

well i know that everyone was super excited about the exploding volcano in Chile. the only affect it had on Valida is that they canceled school on Tuesday because of all the ash in the air. and our leaders told us to only leave our house if we have set appointments. they didn't want us to get respiratory problems. so we had a lazy day haha.

we`re teaching  a new investigator. her name is P. we`ve taught her 3 times and she`s progressing. she cant read because her eye sight is so bad so she cant really complete commitments to read the book of Mormon so we read a loud to her. we invited her to be baptized and she said not yet, she needs to know and feel more. but i have faith that she will change.

We got attacked a lot by dogs this week... and dont worry, we we`re really attacked. we have some investigators that never open the door for us but their crazy dog Luna always escapes and we found her twice this week roaming around the streets. we had to chase her down and carry her back to her house. she`s still a puppy so she always tries to bite our hands, legs, faces. shes crazy. there was also another dog, a lot bigger than followed home and kept biting our legs and i hurt! thy were only nips and there was no blood but we were scared haha. then today a stray dog kept chasing me specifically and biting my legs, he almost ripped my skirt. i had to run away from him and in the end we trapped him behind a gate and i sprinted far enough away that he couldnt find me.

it was an adventure.

sunday afternoon we did divisions or splits with two YSA girls Coni and Gisele and it was so much fun. It was like having a new companion. I was with Coni and shes the sweetest girl ever, she wants to serve a mission so it was fun to talk about what its like to be a missionary. we had three lessons with members in one day which is a big deal for our sector!

im really excited to skype on mothers day! i hope everything works out. hna conde and i are having a lot of fun here in valdivia. i dont want to leave :)

I feel so blessed to be here serving the Lord. Im not perfect and there is a lot of room to improve. but im thankful for every moment ive had here in Chile. i know that the church is true. that the book of Mormon changes lives and that this really is the work of the Lord.

thank you all so much for your love and support. happy mothers day!

love, hermana williams

April 27, 2015 - Nine Months and I'm Still Alive

I think every person that emailed me this week heard about the volcano and asked if i was still alive. Just so you all know... I am alive. and I am very safe. we're not close enough to be affected. only that there is a little haze of ash in the sky but its not that bad. there are other places close by where ash is falling like snow. as far as i know all the missionaries around the volcano are okay and they are staying put so they can help out. but life here in valdivia is continuing like normal.

I am going to complete nine months in the mission this week! so crazy, im halfway done. time is flying by very fast. 

On Monday we had a family home evening with an hermana in the ward and we thought it was just going to be her but she ended up inviting her 4 pensionistas (teenagers that live in her house and are going to college) and two members so it was a big party haha and we got to teach 4 new people. we were pretty excited. 

we found a menos activa member in our sector that we didnt know existed. thats the thing about chile, you can knock a door and they turn out to be a member less active. her name is D. and she owns a panaderia, bakery and so we did service and helped her bake bread and we're starting the process of inviting her to church and teaching the lessons. she hasnt shown a lot of desire to come back to church but she has potential!

we had a couple lessons with members which is really hard to have in our sector and they went really well. especially with I. I. has a baptism date set but still is hesitante. we brought S, a RM and he explained things really well, it was great. I. needs a lot of prayers because she still feels a lot of fear and embarrassment about getting baptized and making a mistake. she still hasnt received an answer and she has a bit of flojera to come to church. we have faith and we're hoping she can do her part and get an answer to her prayers. 

This weekend was stake conference and it was the best! on saturday was the adult session and they talked about how to improve ward council and also our mission president presidente Obeso and his wife spoke and the temple president from santiago spoke. and they're from vancouver washington! it was awesome and super spiritual. sunday the stake center was packed and we had our investigators, the familia valdivia and a menos activa hna X come. hna X hasnt come to church in the whole time that ive been here so its a big deal. i sang in the stake choir and it went great. only that in the last song when i sang a solo and a duet with another hermana that microphone stopped working so i had to belt it and still barely anyone heard us... but its okay. in the evening the temple president gave a devotional on temple covenants. i miss the temple a lot, i want to go back! 

today we went with Hno Rodrigo and margareth and the other hermanas to the beach! we had a picnic and took pictures and skipped rocks and it was super fun. i think it has been my favorite pday so far. i love them all so much. they are my best friends. 

I cant believe Im halfway through my mission either. it has gone by sooooo fast. i remember back in september when i first got here to chile and i thought april 30 was forever away. nope! Looking back, i am so grateful for everything. i am so happy i am here. a complete happiness that is greater than i ever felt before. I am beginning to see why they call it "the best two (one and half) years of my life" because these past 9 months have been the hardest, but they have been the best. my mission is the best choice i have ever made. and i am grateful. 

I am grateful to be a missionary for our Savior Jesus Christ. I love this gospel so much. I know that the church is true. I know that Heavenly Father loves me, because he sent me to the Chile Osorno Mission :) 

thanks for the emails. have a great week!

love, Hermana Williams