Seasons Greetings

Seasons Greetings Elder Williams,

 

 

We had a beautiful day on Thanksgiving and went to get our Christmas tree. It was fun to go to the mountain and walk in the snow. On Friday we had our big feast and enjoyed a visit with grandparents. How about you? Did you have a nice holiday? How was your day?

 

 

I've been thinking about our trip to Plymouth and our Pilgrim forefathers. We are the progeny of courageous and brave folks who had powerful faith. I'm grateful that they believed in the Bible and risked everything to be able to worship God according to their convictions. It's the same today though....people leave behind everything in order to join the church. They are pioneers and pilgrims in their own right.

 

 

How are your investigators doing? We are praying for them.

 

 

I hope to have the Christmas Spirit this season. I love this quote by President Monson:

"This is the spirit each true Christian seeks. This is the spirit I pray each may find. This is the Christ spirit. No quest is so universal, no undertaking so richly rewarding, no effort so ennobling, no purpose so divine. The Christmas season seems to prompt anew that yearning, that seeking to emulate the Savior of the world."

 

 

I love the signs and symbols of Christmas. Signs of Christ can help us understand who He is and what He represents. For example, there was a literal sign placed above his head while he hung on the cross. It simply stated, " Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews". This sign teaches an integral lesson. The two criminals on either side of Christ both asked him about his identity. One thief mocked Jesus by saying, "Aren't you the Christ? Then save yourself and us!". The other thief asked for forgiveness and Christ promised him that they would meet in paradise. It is so touching to me that even to the last moments of His mortal life, Christ was still listening to others, forgiving sins, teaching, and showing the way. We are like the thieves on the cross beside him...we all must choose to follow Him or deny Him. We can be a witness to signs, miracles, and wonders; however, we must still choose whether or not we believe in the divine son of God.
 

It's kind of eerie to me too....the post-modern mantra of "God is dead---we must be our own saviors." Today's secular man worships himself whether it be through body- image, the worship of power and politics, or worshiping science and technology. We live in the most polytheistic society ever imagined because each person is his own god! It is easy to fall prey to the lure's of Satan. Who doesn't want to be "cool", "hip", and "savvy"? Hopefully, we can quit trusting in the arm of flesh, become meek and humble, and worship the God of the universe and Savior of the world.
 

 

You are in my thoughts and prayers.

God be with you 'till we meet again.

With love,

Mom

 

 

 

Hi Mom,


I'm glad that you had a good Thanksgiving with everyone. I had a very
good Thanksgiving. We ate with the Maulsons. They live right by the
ocean, so it was very beautiful. Elder Penman and I collected some
cool sea creatures.

I'm proud of my roots. I feel like I have a lot of people backing me
up when I think of them.

Erik, one of our investigators is one of those people. He is moving
down to Southern California so that he can practice his faith more
freely. We are all set up for a baptism this Saturday evening.

Ben was baptized! It is such a privilege and honor to be a part of his
"entering the gate". He has been taught by many missionaries, and I am
grateful for all that they did to help prepare him for his baptism
yesterday. He overcame much to be able to enter in to that covenant
with the Lord. He suffers great anxiety from time to time, so it was
only with the Lord's help that got him to the baptism. There was a
member, Brother Bill, who helped him and baptized him.. I'm so
grateful for the love that the members of the McKinleyville Ward shows
our investigators. We did a font-side confirmation, and it was
wonderful to see Ben receive the Holy Ghost. The Spirit was strong.

We have a few more people that we are hoping to set dates this week.

I hope to have more Christmas Spirit too. I think that the Lord has
prepared a lot of people for us to teach this coming month.

Unity and clarity are so important. I'm glad to worship the only
living and true God.

What I really would like is addresses of family. I can't send them
emails because it is against mission rules. I can mail them though. I
feel bad when I can't reply to Grandma Wright and Grandma Williams. If
you would send those addresses to me I could send them letters.

I love you Mom. Thank you for all of your support.

Love,

Elder Williams

 

 

 

Hi Talon,
 

 

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving last week. I have tried to remember the Thanksgivings I spent in the mission field. I remember the first one well but the second one is just a blur. I did not do a good job remaining in contact with people I knew in the mission field. It is one of my regrets. I hope you can do better at it than I did. It should be much easier for you since the rise of social media. Do you keep a journal? If you don't I highly recommend it.
 

Did your baptism happen over the weekend? I am amazed at the young man you are teaching who is willing to sacrifice all to join the Church. It must be scary for him but maybe not if he truly believes. Our priesthood lesson yesterday was on Elder Bednar's talk from conference. It was about the difference between having a testimony and being truly converted. It has made me think a lot about where I am today and I realize I need to do more for the Savior since he gave all to me.
 

On Thanksgiving day we went up the Koosharem side of Monroe Mountain and cut a tree. On Friday we had the grandparents over for our Thanksgiving meal. Mom and the girls put together a great feast for us and we had a nice visit.
 

Grandma Shirley had some heath concerns in recent weeks, there were concerns that she might have colon cancer but we found out last Wednesday that it was a false alarm. We had been doing a lot of praying on her behalf and everything has seemed to be OK. Her doctor will want to check again next fall.

 

 

The kids enjoyed having some time off school and Mom had a break from teaching. I used my time off to continue finishing a few things in the family room like putting in shelves in the coat closet. I also put some lights on the house.
 

I hope you have a great week, with much success,

Love Dad

 

 

 

Hi Dad,

That package was great. I'm still not operating at 100%, but I feel
better. It would be great if you would put some more money and tell me
how much. I feel bad asking for money, though. I already cost a lot to
be out here.

Tell Mr. Costa hi back when you see him.

I bet there is a great sense of relief for the girls not that the
musical is over. It is a lot of work Raina told me she'll have to
clean her room more often now.

It's a bummer that Brandt had a tough time. He told me that he likes
his Richfield team better.

I like what you said about tracting. The work that the Book of Mormon
uses is "perhaps". It's worth it on the chance that there is someone
who will receive the message.

I hope that the change in land doesn't cramp the garage too much. What
are you going to do about our land to the south? Move the fence or
something?

I'm always super happy to hear about the work you do as Elders Quorm
President. Thank you for doing all of that work. I have a new
appreciation for it now that I've been out. Better watch out. You
might be bishop when I get home.

My Thanksgiving was pretty good. It was really pretty where I was at
and the people we ate with, the Maulsons, are awesome. I want to take
the family on a trip around here some day. It is beautiful.

I have been keeping a journal. I write in it every night. Sometimes it
isn't the most detailed, but I'm already grateful that I write. I've
looked back on spiritual experiences and that has recharged me from
time to time.

I have written some of my investigators and members. I wish I could
add them on Facebook now, but it'll be easy to find them later.

Our baptism was a great success. Ben had been taught for a long time.
Finally he gave up coffee and powered through his fear of people. He
gets really anxious. I'm happy that it is over. It was quite the
challenge getting him there. He is really happy now, though. We
confirmed him by the font, and there was a huge change. One of the
bishopric gave him a quad and he was almost crying. He bore a really
sweet testimony too.

The young man is a go for this Saturday. He is so elect. Things just
are falling into place for him. He faces opposition like a champ. He
is converted like Elder Bednar talked about.

I'm kind of worried about Grandma Shirley. She sent me an email, but I
can only email immediate family. If you and mom send me everyone's
addresses I can write them letters.

Thank you for everything.

Love,

Elder Williams

 

 

O si yo

O si yo Elder Williams, (Cherokee greeting)

I hope you will have a peaceful Thanksgiving holiday. Who will you be spending it with? I'll send you a turkey leg in the mail in case you didn't get a dinner invite.
 

The girls did an excellent job on their play. It was very well done and they had a lot of fun performing in it. I love the arts and am glad they are taking the opportunity to immerse themselves into the world of theater. It is a creative endeavor. I read a quote that I just love regarding Shakespeare which said, "You don't read Shakespeare....He reads you."
 

I thought that was so profound and true, because when I read his works I think of the virtuous and vile characters and their actions. It makes me wonder...who am I behaving like? Cordelia? Claudius? Kent? Ophelia? When dad and I went to Hamlet this fall, I just wept at the agony of a tortured soul. I don't know why, but Hamlet is a soul mentor to me. He struggled and wanted to know what was really true, right, and good. There are so many facades that people wear and it was his aim to find truth. I also love Cordelia in Lear. She is a Christ like figure and ultimately died an innocent victim of treachery. I could go on and on, but I'm sure you have had enough of Shakespeare today.
 

Yesterday, we attended a fireside presented by the Stake Presidency. It was concerning chastity and moral cleanliness. We live in a polluted world where evil is seen as good and good is stupid. You know, it's the same plague that has always been on earth....the plague of moral corruption. When a person allows sin into his life, drop by drop like a bit of black ink in water, his view gets clouded and ultimately vision is lost. When trying to decipher what is true or false, a person who has the black clouds of sin engulfing his soul has no ability to see truth. That is how a despicable character like Iago (Othello) is created...bit by bit and drop by drop of the black ink of sin blotting out the light of Christ... Thankfully through the grace of Jesus, he can clear the waters of sin through repentance and we see clearly once again.
 

I'm sure you are short on time and this is getting to be a long email. I'm sorry. I just love you and am grateful for the work you are doing. I wish you happiness and joy when you celebrate Thanksgiving. Remember our pilgrim forebears who sacrificed so much in order to have freedom.

 

 

Cherokee Traveler's Greeting (Cherokees of California)

I will draw thorns from your feet.
We will walk the White Path of Life together.
Like a brother of my own blood,
I will love you.
I will wipe tears from your eyes.
When you are sad,
I will put your aching heart to rest.
 

With love,

Mom

 

 

 

O si yo Mom,

I will have a good Thanksgiving. We will be spending dinner with a Native American family, the Maulsons. They are really good people. The ward loves us here. We are taken care of.

Don't be worried about time for me to read your emails. I love hearing from you. I say that I don't have much time in regards to write back. Since I've been in McKinleyville I haven't been so crunched for time on P-Day.

I love it here. We have a baptism this Saturday and next Saturday. The man we are baptizing this week is named Ben. He is in his fifties and has a really sweet personality. He gets nervous around crowds, so church has been tough for him, but he has a strong testimony. The baptism next week is for Erik, who I've told you a bit about. It would be really wonderful if everyone could pray for them.

I'm really glad that Raina and Aubree did well in their play. I'd love some pictures. Dad told me that Brandt is excelling at basketball too.

I love Shakespeare. I've related to a few people out here because of the things you've taught me about the plays. It has been really wonderful how the Lord has been able to use me to spread the gospel. I think about the Sons of Helamen and how their moms prepared them. Thank you for preparing me.

I've been breaking through into a new level of missionary work. I've worked hard out here, but now I'm getting better at working with the Spirit. It's really so much more effective. It's also so much simpler. I love how plain the Gospel is. I also have hope in improvement in myself, too. One day I came to the realization that 1 Nephi 3:7 doesn't only apply to commandments like attending church and paying tithing but also to patterns of thought. It is a commandment to be cheerful, for example, and the Lord will provide a way.

I love you. Thank you for your love.

Love,

Elder Williams

Hey son,

Sorry this is late. I hope I sent you everything you needed. Let me know if you have other needs, would it be better if I just put some extra money in your bank account? That way you can just go to the store on your own.

Nathan Costa says hi. He always asks about you when I see you.

The musical is finally over. The girls did really well and enjoyed it. Brandt didn't have as good a week in basketball. In his game Saturday he got into foul trouble early and made some turnovers and after that he wasn't there mentally. Sad lipping on the court like you may have seen last year. He's young, but it will be the mental side of it that will hold him back from his potential.

Tracting takes the right kind of mindset. Or in otherwords be prepared for rejection, but once in a while you might find someone. I am excited to hear you have a couple of baptisms set up. We will be praying that they happen.

I had our lot surveyed last week and found that we have about 6 more feet on the south side but about 4 less feet on the front. This means our new garage on the front can only be about 20 ft deep instead of the 25+ feet we had before. That bites but there's nothing I can do because the city requires a 30 ft set back from the property line in the front.

We had ward conference yesterday, I spoke during a combined priesthood meeting. Earlier in the week I went on ministering visits with Pres Ware. He is a great guy and has the spirit with him. We visited a few families that are semi active. It reminded me of what it's like in the mission field and I thought of you.

Hope you are well,

Love Dad

 

Hey Dad,

Thank you for the package. I appreciate you getting that stuff for me.

Life has been sweet here in McKinleyville. We have a couple of
baptisms lined up, one for a guy named Ben and another for a kid named
Erik.

I used to be scared of tracting, but now it is kind of fun. Yesterday
we met a guy who is a recovering crack addict and Navy Seal who is in
the witness protection program. God has us talk to the strangest
people.

I went on an exchange with the elders in the neighboring town called
Arcata. It has a small university called Humboldt State, and there are
so many crazy libs. It was really fun. We talked some very strange
people. Lots and lots of homeless people live up here. McKinleyville
doesn't get too many of them compared to the other cities in the zone,

Tell Brandt that he should write me an email. I miss hearing from him.

Love you,

Elder Williams

 

McKinleyville, California

 

Elder Penman

 

Camp Liahona Mission Conference

Golden Gate Bridge

 

 

 

 

(Don't jump!)

 

 

Missionary moments

 

Javier

Hard working Elders

Talon's bike pedals ---clean wore out.

Members