week 3-24-14

First a shout out to Opa Burns!!!  He is 66 and going strong!!!  Elder Williams also wanted to wish you a Happy Birthday!!

A goodbye from Autlan!!!!

The people of Autlan
 Love the FES!! (Frog Eye Salad)

Elder Derbez, Gaby, Gloria, Sis. Teresa Larios(who speaks English and lived in Vegas for about 20 yrs.), Bro. Juan Nuñez, Bro. Marcelino Ramos(who was baptized in California), and me!

Sister Galarza and son Ruben

Sister Guerra and her grandkids

Finally an update from Elder Williams about his new area PUERTO VALLARTA!

"I am LOVING life right now.  I'm starting to notice that the Vallarta sun doesn't burn as much as I thought.  It is actually helping me with a bit of a tan!!!!!  LOVIN' IT!!!!"

"My house is huge!!!  We have a washing machine!!!!  no dryer but can't have it all, right?  We live a block away from a recent convert who is very nice and her husband is teaching us guitar in exchange for English lessons.  I was given a guitar as a going away gift in Autlan and it's so gorgeous.  Today he taught us how to play the beginning part of "Pretty Woman" and pretty much the whole song/rhythm of "Stand By Me".  It's really cool to know that I can do that even without very flexible fingers.  hahahahaha.  The fingers that wouldn't play the piao are now playing the guitar.  The husband is not a member, however, but we are trying to fix that."

New Companion - Elder Poblete!

  "He is from a little town in Veracruz called Minatitlan.  Look it up.  hahahaha."

Gift Guitar!

The Study!

 The new house!!!

Dining room

Kitchen

WASHING MACHINE!!!!

living room!!!

No bedroom pics (says it is too boring)!


 "The work is going great in Vallarta.  We have three investigators that have a baptismal date for ends of April and beginning of May.  We are really happy because all of them are referrals from the members which NEVER happened in Autlan.  One is named Guadalupe.  She has a date for the 26th of April and she came to church, participated in the Doctrine Principles class, and said she really liked church.  She also wants her daughters to know more about the church.  She is divorced and was abused by her husband.  She is really liking the peace that she feels as we teach her.  It's such a great thing to see the progress of someone as they hold to the Gospel.  She even said the closing prayer in our first lesson!!!!!  We are so excited.  We have 2 others: Vicente and Isidro.  Vicente is a drunk and isn't progressing all that well but he seems to be lowering the amount of alcohol consumed each day.  Isidro is someone who has talked to the missionaries before and enjoyed the guidance the gospel gives to him.  He wants that guidance again and we are excited to help him find it.  He almost got baptized but didn't meet the requirements, he said.  We didn't ask which ones because it was the first appointment and didn't want to force our hands."

"The membership (in Vallarta) is a lot but the attendance yesterday was 73....  We are working on that.  Lots of hurt feelings and judging that happen ALL OVER Mexico.  Still trying to find a way to help overcome that obstacle.  We have 6 missionaries in our district."

Sis. Zarate, Sis. Ford, DL Elder Cervantes, Elder Poblete, me, Elder Arters

"I hope that helped know a little bit about what is going on with my "priviledged" life in Vallarta.  I love you a ton and I hope that you are getting ready for the end of year and of course, SPRING BREAK!!!!  I'm in Vallarta for Spring Break!!!  hahahaha ;P (not like I can do anything....)"

"I've been told that there is one place here in Vallarta that we as missionaries can go and it is quite close to the beach and has an amazing view of the sunset.  We are going there to do some service with a recent convert.  I'll send pics. ;-D"

Sounds like Elder Williams is hitting the ground running!!!!  If this is his last transfer, then he will end his mission well!

All you ladies have a great time at the Women's meeting this Saturday and then General Conference next week end!  What an exciting time to live in!  I can't wait to hear from our wonderful prophet!
Then Easter which helps us remember our wonderful Savior even more!!!!  Spring just brings out wonderful new experiences and new feelings and just new everything!!!  Yes, I do have a bit of Spring fever!!!  Have a great week till next week!!!!
 

week of 3-18-14

TRANSFERS!  EXCITING TIMES!  ELDER WILLIAMS HAS NOW MOVED TO THE OTHER SIDE OF HIS MISSION TO...

"Elder Derbez is now in Nuevo Mexico Estaca Lomas (my first stake) and that means that I am still here in Autlan, right?  WRONG!!!!!!!  I got transferred too!!!!  YAHOO!!!!  And to the coolest place ever...... wait for iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit.  VALLARTA!!!!!!!!  YEAH BABY!!!!!!!  That's been the highlight of the dull week.  My companion's name is Elder Poblete from Veracruz.  I would send you a pic of everything new but this computer doesn't want me to send anything attached to this."

Autlan to Vallarta - about 4 hours this route!

Frog Eye Salad Review in Autlan!

The "last supper" that Elder Williams made for his wonderful ward in Autlan was Mommy's Frog Eye Salad (lovingly called FES).  I sent him some Acini de Pepe noodles in his last care package because the last time he tried to make it he had to cut up spaghetti noodles for it.  Now with the real ingredients, he had enough to share!  As you can tell from the picture...it got rave reviews!!!

Now Elder Williams has a whole new city to experience in Puerto Vallarta.  It is a huge tourist town (darn, we might actually have to take a trip there now!!!).  We will have to see if Omi has a time share in this one.  Too bad Elder Williams won't be able to enjoy all the beautiful beaches there.  But it seems that there are a lot of Mayan pyramids and history there that might really be part of the Book of Mormon writings.  We were reading this morning, the part of the Book of Mormon about Ammon when he met King Lamoni.  It really struck me that Elder Williams is serving the people of the Book of Mormon.

Like Ammon, the missionary attitude should be to “desire to dwell among this people for a time; yea, and perhaps until the day [you] die.” 

"Increased faith is the goal for our mission too.  Supposedly the reason we haven't had very many baptisms in Mexico is because we don't have enough faith as missionaries.  It's kind of a good point and so that is what the majority of the Zone Conferences have been about.  How we can increase our faith?  And faith leads to actions and actions lead to results.  We are seeing miracles happen all over the mission (just not around me) and we are hoping to start baptizing every week from April on, a ton."

Zone Conference Picture (last one in Manzanillo) March 2014

Please help Elder Williams and the other missionaries see some great miracles!  Pray that they may find those that are seeking.  That they will be led to those that want to know Christ!  We will be talking Elder Williams in about 1 1/2 months and then he will be homeward bound.  He should be finding out his release date pretty soon.  

week of 3-10-14

This is a rather quick one.  Elder Williams is in Manzanillo.  Here is how his last week went:

This week we had some good things happen and some interesting things happen but I should just stick to the good.  We were able to put a baptismal date for one of our new investigators.  She is a mom of 2 girls (21 and 9) and her husband.  She is "catholic" like everyone here but she is very loving and open to everything.  She is really interested in the Book of Mormon and is excited to read it.  She didn't come to church this week but we have a lesson scheduled with her this week and she promised to do a lot of reading.  We have her in our prayers.  Her name is Claudia.  We also had Sister Sevilla at church this Sunday.  I almost passed out.  It was so great to see her there again but she was just missing her "boys".  We hope that next week they all can come.  This being the last week of changes is really kinda "killing" me.  We also had Elder Lines and Elder Yañez go home for medical problems these past weeks.  Elder Lines had something wrong with his skull formation and Elder Yañez' meniscus is all screwed up.  They both will have surgery and Elder Lines who only had 5 months left on his mission just ended his service...  It kinda makes me a bit trunky seeing so many people leaving and going home, especially in this time of Nationals but I'll get over it.  I was also getting a little worried because when I got the news about Elder Yañez and his knee and being sent home that night as we were "running" home to get there on time, the outside of my left knee was giving me problems.  I hope it's just sympathy pains.  I really don't want to have an LCL problem right about now.  That would just ruin plans left and right.  But who knows if that happens the recovery time would be a few months and I'd be back in time for the school year ;P  JK.  I'll keep my eye on it.  

I love you all and I can't wait to see and hear all the great stuff that's going to happen this week.  MISS YA!!!!

Elder Williams

P.S. I have vids and pics of the FES and the members but I can't send them at this CyberNet.  I'm in Manzanillo right now.  Loves

 

Sounds like next week we will see some pics!  Keep Claudia and Seville's in your prayers!

 

 

two in one week

Well, since I was a slacker last week, you get two in one week.  Elder Williams didn't write much about his people this week.  Our family had so much to tell him of what is happening here that he probably spent more time reading than being able to write!  From his package arriving from Mexico, competitions every week-end Garrin learning how to shave and Garrin and Mom going to a Brian Regen show, we had so many stories and videos that we sent him that I don't think we left him any time to write.  Here are some of the gifts he sent:

Hammock for Daddy!

Hand Stitched Shirt for Mommy! Beautiful!

One in a Minion for Brennin!  And it glows in the dark!

Autlan Soccer Jersey for Garrin!

Along with all these wonderful gifts he also sent handmade personalized bracelets to the boys on Angela's ballroom team and earrings to all the girls.  They loved it!!!!  Then they also got to try some Mexican "candy".  That got mixed reviews!  Those of us who like our candy "chocolately" would agree with Erynn Williams' very polite response, "That's candy?"  It was a great Monday morning full of gifts!

Here is a weekly lesson from Elder Williams about the Atonement:
"I'm very happy to hear that you got a great lesson on the Atonement.  Have you seen the video on YouTube called "The Atonement and Missionary Work".  It's a very powerful video and I highly recommend it to everyone at home and in the ward.  It is by Henry B. Eyring and Jeffrey R. Holland.  Just by those names, you can tell that it brings the Spirit big time.

I really love the Atonement.  To know that we always have someone by our side in every challenge we have in our life because he felt and suffered everything that we have, are, and will go through.  Read Alma 7:11-12.  It really puts a whole new view on the sacrifice of our Older Brother.  He is the only reason why we can return with our father.  He is the example of perfect love.  If we can even copy a tenth percent of His love for us we will be a lot better of in our families, in our friendships, in our neighborhood, and in His church."

 

With that wonderful testimony and things to contemplate...Have a GREAT WEEK!

week of 2-24-14

Just a quick note from Elder Williams from last week.  I am slow getting this done this week.  I am heading into major competition season and don't have as much time each night as I have 43 students to get ready for state and national titles in the next two weeks. It gets kind of crazy!

"This week we had our zone conference with the Prez and it was really powerful.  He told us that the Plan of Salvation is really simple.  If we think about what God has and what we wanted to have in while we were in the premortal life.  Perfect and Glorified body, All power and knowledge through obedience to ALL covenants, eternal family.  WE CAN HAVE ALL THOSE THINGS TOO!!!!!  The way we can have those things is through Obedience to the laws of his Kingdom.  He has all power because he kept all the commandments and gained the blessings from that.  Just like it says in the Section of WoW.  "treasures of knowledge".  That man is such a spiritual giant.  I am waiting to see his face in the Ensign as a 70 some day.  He really has such a great love for Christ and His role is our lives.  He is such a wonderful teacher and example.  I really do appreciate that man a lot.  He has made a great impact in my life.

I love you all so much and I can't wait to hear from you again.

Elder Williams

P.S. Mom, your FES was an absolute HIT!!!!  Everyone that tried it, LOVED IT!!!!  I was asked by so many sisters for the recipe.  Just so you know."

We also got a couple of pics from the mission blog with Elder Williams in them.

Scripture Chase WINNER!!!!

Zone picture 2014

Here is a fun video that Elder Williams got.  To give you an idea of what his travel experience is like.  this is like our street performers, but on the bus.  Captive audience, make some money, and he doesn't sound too bad either!!!!

Well, that is all for now!  Hopefully see you tomorrow for another update!