Hermana Williams and Hermana Baker

Torres Del Paine!!!

Hola familia! 

Today I only have half an hour to write so im going to make this fast. 

yesterday we went to torres del paine and it was amazing. we had to be at the church at 5am for the big charter bus to pick us up and the ride was five hours long. one elder brought a guitar and played and sang songs for us. we played lots of little road trip games and shared food and talked in spanish and english and it was super fun. it was also nice just to look out the window and see the chilean country side. 

when we finally got to the national park we drove around and stopped places to take pictures. we took one hike up to a glacier lake with all these ice formations, it was beautiful. you can climb up to the top of a vista and see all of the mountains and glaciers. it was a little cloudy so the torres (mountains, tower) were a little hidden. but it cleared up later in the afternoon and they were so gorgeous. 

next stop was a waterfall and an up close view of the torres. it was just so amazing, there are a whole bunch of turquoise lakes and rolling green hills. and tons of sheep with brand new lambs. also a weird form of llama, i cant remember the name but it looks like a mix between llama and a deer. oh and we also saw  emus!

we didnt get back to the church until 9am. i was so tired. we planned super past and went straight to bed. we were so exhausted. we had so much fun though. 

today was cambios, transfers- so our district was together for the last time. i dont think ive told you a lot about our district but they are the best. we have a lot of fun even if i cant understand eveything that goes on in spanish. our district leader elder lopez is amazing, super nice and he just radiates christlike love, he´s from Bolivia. his companion elder wilson is from utah and hes hilarious. then theres elder Montiel, he tries to speak english to me all the time, hes actually not bad and his companion elder fonseca just went home today, he finished his mission! 

elder wilson, and our zone leader elder parsons are leaving so we´re getting some new people. its both exciting and sad, im gonna miss our district. 

we had four investigators come to church! Nibaldo who`s been super into our lessons and the book of mormon, araceli, victor and a new investigator maxi, hes 21 and going to one of the universities here. it was a party! and a serious miracle!

I have to tell you about Victor and Blanca, they`re a slightly older couple, like in their 70s and they are the cutest. Victor talks forever and i can never understand him but his face just lights up when we knock on his door, blanca always tries to give us food like bread and sandwiches, they fed us lunch this past week. They`re like our adopted grandparents. and Grandma Jean i promise, you are still my #1

mom, im really proud of you for going out with the sister missionaries and yes please encourage others to do the same because it is the best thing ever to have members in lessons. it will make any missionaries day.

I havent recieved the package yet or the post card. things take a really long time to get down here. it might be another two weeks for the package and i have no idea about the post card. but thanks for sending the other package with all the warm gear. from what you listed, thats exactly what i need, you are the best. im super excited to get everything! 

thanks for the advice with contacting people. the spanish is still kind of hard. but im learning more and more everyday. 

thanks for all the emails and love! hope you all have a great week! 

love, hermana williams

Punta Arenas 4 seasons, 1 hour

hola!

well the days of sunshine and warmth are gone. the weather took a turn
for the worse right after i emailed you all last monday. now we go
through sunshine, rain, and snow practically everyday. and the wind is
super strong! and the rumors are true! they have ropes up between
light posts in downtown for people to hang onto when it gets windy!
saturday we had to trudge up this huge hill for our lunch at a members
house and the wind was the strongest i have ever felt. it could hold
me up if i leaned forward and a couple times it almost knocked me
down. dirt kept getting into our eyes and mouths. and while we were
trudging up we just start reciting Helaman 5:12 (though the devil may
send forth his mighty winds... it will have no power over... because
of the rock upon which you are built) haha. it was an adventure and i
felt like i was in the punta arenas everyone told me about.

all the hermanas in our zone got together and played volleyball last
monday. it was so much fun! i want to do that every monday.

but today we have to deep clean our casa and do our grocery shopping
for the next two weeks because this next sunday all the missionaries
in punta arenas are going to Torres del Paine! its a huge kind of
national park here in chile and its one of the seven wonders of the
world! im so excited! we`re taking a huge charter bus and leaving at
4am and not getting back till 9pm. its a four hour trip just to get
there. so next monday i wont be able to email until tuesday, so sorry.
but hopefully ill have some cool pictures to share! also mom and dad,
to go to torres del paine it will be about 80 us dollars... its kind
of a lot i know, we thought it was going to be a lot cheaper when we
signed up but things changed... so if its alright with you can i have
80 dollars on my debit card to take out?

we`ve had a lot of great teaching opportunities this week! we
offically taught Nibaldo, basically all of the restoration and he was
super receptive to it. it felt really weird teaching him in english.
he said when he was 14 he dew away from the catholic church because it
wasnt helping him and he felt like something was missing. we testified
to him that the church of Jeus Christ of Latter day Saints has that
missing link. He came to a baptism with us on saturday night and
really liked that and then came to church on sunday! and it was fast
and testimony meeting and he got up and bore his testimony! he said
that he really liked the church, he felt the spirit very strongly and
could sense the truth. we`re excited about his progression.

the relief society president here has an awesome family, her husband
isnt a member but she has three kids that are. we stopped by their
house last night and ate once which is like a small meal they have
around 6 or 7pm with tea, hot chocolate and bread or cakes. it is my
new favorite meal. it is so cute, i love it. and their family is
fantastic, hermana baker and i feel right at home with them and i feel
pretty comfortable speaking spanish. the husband is hilarious and has
a twin brother too so we swapped pics of our brothers. we really want
him to get baptized, he would be an awesome member.

fredy is okay, we finally met his wife and his adorable grandchildren.
we`re gonna keep coming back and visitng and getting to know her. we
fasted for them the other day.

magali and araceli are great too, we read alma 32 and magali is
finally starting to open up a bit and be a little less skeptical.

well thats all i have time for! sorry, no pics this week maybe next
week. i love you all so much!

love, Hermana Williams

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

September 29

Hola!
Wow this week feels like a blur. I can barely remember anything.
This week we had my first exchanges! with the sister training leaders!
I went with Hna McNeil to her sector and her companion Hna Petitt
stayed with Hna Baker. I was a little nervous in the beginning. it
felt like my first day all over again. But Hna McNeil is amazing and i
learned so much from her and she was super patient with me. she only
has two months left in her mission wow! It was fun, and they live in
the same casa as Hna Coombs and her companion so I got to see Coombs
again! yay! we had lots of appointments that day, 5 which is a lot. it
was fun and at night we bought chocolate alfrijoles and they were the
best thing ive ever eaten.

yes the people here put mayo on everything. and they always drink
either coca cola or juice. never water. yes i have eaten a completo,
they are delicious and yes they have mayo and avocado on them. the
bread here is the best thing in the world.

My third suitcase came this week! yay! i was so excited to go pick it
up... only to discover that someone had put a lock on it and failed to
give me the key. i had to wait an extra five days until we could find
and borrow some heavy duty screwdrivers to pry it open haha. it was an
adventure. but man opening that suitcase was like christmas i was so
excited haha.

A miracle happened yesterday! we were praying super hard that our
investigators would come to church. we have a mother and daughter
named Magali and Araceli investigating and the daughter is golden but
the mom has doubts. they havent been able to come to church because
theyre only down in punta arenas for week days and then go back to
Port venir on the weekends. they were the last people we expected to
come to church, it seemed impossible. but guess who walked in right
when sacrament meeting started! Magali and Araceli!!! it was amazing,
none of our investigators came except for them, we were so shocked!
and the talks and lessons were absolutely perfect for them, oh it was
a miracle from God for sure.

On Monday we were walking, and a guy rode past us on his bike and we
said hola like we always do but he turned back and said hello in a
very american accent. we called after him and he stopped and started
talking to us. HIs name is Nibaldo and his parents are chilean but he
grew up in kansas. so he knows english and spanish really well. hes
here in punta arenas going to school. it was so nice to talk to
someone in english! he was super funny, he didnt want to call us
hermanas so he gave us fake first names, like im hannah and hna baker
is kelly. we did not condone these names but he just calls us them
anyways.
we dont think he was very interested in hearing our message but he
wanted to take us out to lunch and play basketball on our next
pday.... yeah not allowed but we`re gonna find a way to talk to him
within the rules. he could be a really good investigator. it was just
so exciting to speak english haha

this week has been kind of hard. lots of appointments falling through
and lots of contacting. im not a huge fan of contacting but i should
be. i just get stressed to have to talk to people haha. i make a lot
of mistakes everyday. it is definitely humbling. i really have to
accept the fact that im limited right now and theres not much i can do
about it, just time and patience and practice. i have this joke with
hermana baker that i should keep tally of all my mess ups every day
... Mistake #537 of today haha
The other day the woman who washes our clothes called, hna Baker was
in the bathroom so i answered and she just started talking and i said
ok, esta bien and she hung up. the only word i caught was ropa and
when hna baker came out and asked i said i wasnt sure what just
happened, something about our clothes.... she could have said she was
about to burn them and i could have just agreed to it... i dont
know...it was a little embarrassing haha.
oh and i accidently hung up on another hermana, that was fun.
we got a lot of good laughs this week.

i like being a missionary though :)

the ward here is the best ever, i love all the people, they are so
nice even though i cant understand them. its a great area and im
starting to get used to it. its hard, but its worth it.

love you all so much! have a great week!

love, Hermana Williams

Happy 18th!

Happy Chile independence day! this week was crazy but actually went by
super fast.
Tuesday we had district meeting and i got to meet some of the other
elders. the lesson was in spanish, and i can basically understand
everything everyone who is not chilean says but i have to really pay
attention. sometimes my thoughts wander and i get completely lost in
what they are saying.
wednesday president and sister Obeso came down to Punta Arenas with
Elder Vinas from the seventy. We had a all missionary conference in
the morning and elder vinas was so cool. President and hermana obeso
sp0ke too.
it was so fun seeing all the missionaries from our zone and i got to
see Hermana Coombs! she finally got her passport back and flew down
tuesday. shes still feeling a little sick but shes doing okay. i was
so excited to see her.
that night Elder Vinas gave a devotional for everyone in the ward and
any investigators interested. he basically taught all the first three
lessons in 45 minutes. it was amazing. sometimes in our lessons we
spend 45 minutes just on half a lesson. but he inspired us that if he
can do three lessons we can do 1.
Thursday was independence day and the whole city was shut down and the
streets were deserted. everyone was inside sleeping, eating or
partying with family. every house had a chilean flag outside. our ward
had a huge fiesta! so much food and music and decorations. the whole
ward is amazing their like one huge family. everyone loves everybody.
they played traditional games that are similar to ones in the us like
tug of war, three legged races, relay races, musical chairs. but
everyone was super into it, like screaming and jumping around. it was
the most exciting ward activity ive ever seen. it was so much fun.
they had a folk dance group and perform the traditional dance, the
Cueca and sing songs. all the little kids were dressed in cueca
attire. the missionaries were able to learn! we couldnt dance with
anyone but they brought us up on stage and taught us the basic steps.
everyone can dance the cueca, everyone learns it when their a little
kid. they had an open dance floor where people would just go dance the
cueca. it was so cool. even little kids knew the steps.
they had soup, empenadas, a rice, apricot drink for dessert, bread,
cakes, everything was so delicious.
okay so they taught us the cueca and then they had us perform it for
everyone haha. it was crazy. hma obeso and presidente were there and
learned it with us.
in ward council this past week hna Baker let it slip that i knew how
to tap dance, so the hermano that was leading all the activities came
up to me during the fiesta ad asked me to tap dance for everyone cause
they had never seen or heard of tap before. So i borrowed some
character shoes from one of the girls int he ward and i tap danced on
stage for everyone haha. it was really cool, they were all really
impressed just because they had never seen tap before haha. it was
crazy. now when people in the ward see me they try to imitate tap for
me haha.
they sang happy birthday to Hermana Baker (oh yeah, her birthday was
on wednesday! shes 20 now) and brought out a cake for her.
it was an amazing fiesta, the ward is so great. im so happy i got to
exprience something like that.
this past week was kind of hard with teaching and finding people just
because everyone was out of town or busy with the 18th and everything.
we went to a baptism on saturday night with one of our investigators.
church yesterday was good, some investigators came with out us having
to pick them up or call them! it was great!
we taught a couple the gospel of Jesus Christ and i was actually able
to contribute and talk so hna Baker wasnt all by herself.
its still kind of hard to understand the chilenos down here, depending
on the person. some people talk really fast and really slur their
words. but its getting easier day by day.
the days all kind of blur together, its hard to remember everything.
but it was a great week. i took lots of pictures and im gonna try to
send some.

they´ll be showing general conference in our ward building and im
hoping they´ll have a room that can stream english, fingers crossed.
we are super excited for conference, hna baker said the other day that
for missionaries conference is better than christmas which now that im
out here i realize is very true haha.
Its very cold here. but im getting used to it. thanks for the package
and warm stuff mom. yeah my boots are wonderful, my northface jacket
and all my tights and leggings. ive accepted the fact that there is
always some part of my body that is cold. in the mornings and nights i
can see my breath in our little house. we dont have to chop firewood,
we have a gas heater in our main room, but it doesnt really reach the
bedroom.

congrats on getting past the deadline dad! yay!

More about Hermana Baker? okay shes from salt like, she has 9
siblings, shes the oldest, she went to byu before her mission, she
wants to be a music teacher or go into music therapy. she sings and
plays the piano. so we end up singing a lot, and we start our lessons
our with hymns. she is very fun and is doing a fantastic job at
training because i know it probably isnt easy for her or anyone. her
spanish is great, i can understand her to the point where if she
started switching between english and spanish i wouldnt be able to
tell. shes a great teacher, has a lot of enthusiasm for the gospel,
shes great. shes been on her mission 10 months, and has been here in
punta arenas for 2 months.

we`re teaching some great people. One girl Named Luz who is probably
our age. shes been investigating the church for like four months. shes
a tough cookie, she doesnt want to committ to anything serious because
she needs a for sure answer from God. but she is super fun and even
though we cant really understand each other we`ve become friends.

we`re teaching a family whos oldest son just got baptized three month
ago, hes 16. they have another son whos 6 and little twin boys only a
year old. so cute. they`re a rock solid family, we`re working to get
them baptized.

<Natasha is another investigator, she has a couple month old baby boy
who is the world to her. gosh ive never seen a mother love her baby so
much (except for you mom, because you love me). but shes moving out of
our ward this week which is very sad.

all the people are great. very nice, they wont let us into their homes
all the times, but they also wont slam the doors in our faces. i like
them a lot, i just wish i could understand them haha.

its hard to describe punta arenas... its right on the water. but my
area is a little ways inland. (for hna Bakers birthday we walked to
the beach and took pictures at the end of the world) our area has a
lot of unversities and schools so lots of college kids and students.
the houses are small and colorful and definitely have a european
influence. the streets are kind of dirty, lots of mud and puddles and
garbage. theres´lots of graffiti, but i dont know its kind of
beautiful in an urban kind of way. we do lots of walking. or we take
taxis or collectivos which are like taxis but with a fixed price.

some days are really hard but i think i really like being a missionary :)

well i dont have too much time left. hope thats enough details for
you. i love you all so much. i show off pictures of my family to
people all the time here. i miss you, have a great week!

love, Hermana Williams

Hola from Punta Arenas at the end of the world!

Oh my goodnesss so much has happened in just week. It`s going to be hard to fit everything into one email.

So I found out I was going to Punte Arenas and after I finished my letter to my family I found out that I had to take a small plane to my area and could only bring two suitcases with me. They would have to send my other suitcase on a bus but it would take two weeks to get to me in my new area! so I spent the rest of the night trying to repack and make sure i had everything i would need for only the next two weeks. i had a weight limit too, it was rough and stressful but i got it done.

Hna Coombs left her passport on the plane but they have in the santiago airport and they`re going to send it to the mission home. until then shes gonna hang out in a trio in orsorno.

I had to wake up earlier than everyone else the next morning to drive to the airport. It was just me and a couple other missionaries going. we landed and had to take a bus to the church building in Punta Arenas. there i met Hermana Baker! she`s so great and sweet and patient and I love her so much. she`s really good at spanish and only speaks spanish to me (unless i really down understand her) she`s from utah, has nine siblings and has been out on her mission for nine months. she`s the best, we have a lot of fun.

my first day was stressful we went straight away to have lunch at the relief society presidents house. I had no idea what she was saying, it was like she was speaking a different language...

The people here sometimes talk like they have cotton balls in their mouths, they`re lazy with their words and drop the last constenants like im not hermana williams, im hermana william

they had random slang words like po to the end of everything and words like cachai and bacan. its crazy.

Im getting a little bit better and better at understanding day by day. sometimes i get frustrated and i have to remind myself that it hasnt even been a full week yet, ive got time.

The people here are super nice and friendly. they all do the cheek kissing thing.

okay our casa is really small. there only three rooms. bedroom, livingroom and kitchen and our bathroom. We have a radiator for heat but it only really warms the living room, the bedroom gets really cold and the bathroom is an icebox.

It`s super cold here, and windy. It snowed on Friday. At night I have to sleep with six blankets and wear long thermal leggings, wool socks, thermal pullover and a wool hat. its really hard to get up in the morming.

the best thing i brought on my mission are by Bog boots, they are life savers.

its also super windy, powerlines get knocked down or snap all the time so we have to be careful.

this city is full of stray dogs, so many its ridiculous. and they poop everywhere. if you`re walking on the side of the road or in grass you have to watch where you step. sometimes dogs will follow us around as we knock on doors.

the main meal here is lunch. we eat something small for breakfast like cereal and hot herbal tea. then we go to a members house and eat a huge lunch with like three courses. we dont really have dinner. its just whatever we can find in the house when we come home at night. they eat a lot of pasta, sausage, chicken, rice, potatoes, bread  and tomatoes. the bread here is ridiculously delicious. the average desert is fruit, cakes or icecream. its delicious. way better then the food in the CCM haha.

we`ve had several lessons this week with some really wonderful people. I was able to invite a girl named Luz to be baptized. There are some lessons where I can understand and talk but then there are others when i have no idea what is being said and i sit there in silence

The things that prepared me most for my mission I think are seminary, my year at BYU and going to France, because of france im already used to sitting in silence and not knowing whats goin on haha.

we knock a lot of doors. we have goals like we always knock doors with yellow houses, green fences and we always talk to people who are smoking on the street haha (because the two times we talked to people who were smoking they were our best  contacts that day haha) (every house has a iron fence and if its locked we have to bang on the fence with a rock to get their attention inside)

the people here will never flat out tell you no, they tell you to come back another time. they`re super nice even if they dont mean it haha. and they love to talk.

Church yesterday was super fun. the ward is small but amazing, like one big happy family! they are all very welcoming. I had to get up and introduce myself and give my testimony, and it went pretty well.

the day before, saturday, the ward had a service activity and went to an old folks home. we sang hymns, passed out hot chocolate and cookies. some niños performed skits and plays and some young men and young women performed the traditional chilean dance the cuaca (not sure on spelling) it was awesome to watch. the girls wear big full skirts and the boys wear boots with spurs they dance around each other with handkerchiefs. it was so cool.

oh so much has happened. i really like it here, it feels like a blur though. i dont feel too culture shocked or homesick. i havent cried yet, only from the spirit.  i just really want to get better at spanish. i make a lot of mistakes everyday but i just laugh at myself. no pet penguin yet, i heard that in november is when they show up. Mom what i could really use if you havent sent that package yet is hand warmers and something to keep my ears warm.

the spirit is strong, i love reading the scriptures. being here isnt as hard as i thought it was going to be... but maybe it will get harder.

I know the church is true. I know that Jesus Christ is our savior, i have felt this testified to me time and time again. I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to be a missionary. this truly is a message of happiness.

Until next week, i love you all so much!

love, Hermana Williams