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| A little bit of downtown Dallas. |
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| A giant robot tried to take over Dallas. I'm sure you heard about it on the news. I barely escaped! |
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| The fearless district of 3. |
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| My companion now knows that I have the coolest mom EVER! |
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| The first thing we see every time we leave our apt. TORTURE! |
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| A little bit of the apartment. |
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| Down Town Dallas. I took this picture from a McDonald's super close to our apartment. I thought it would give you a good idea of how close we are to the heart! |
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| Lakewood English and Lakewood Spanish at the Ward building. |
Mi querido familia,
MOTHER!!! What were you thinking?!?! I can't believe you bought
us pizza! It was one of the few times that we got home after 10, and we
had just come from downtown, which is a long straight bike ride so we
were dripping in sweat! I don't know how long
he had been waiting or how long you had been talking to him on the
phone, but we got it! Yes, it was nice to hear your voice. He had his
phone on speaker and I heard you say "just tell him that his mom loves
him!" It was so unexpected, I didn't know what
to do, or what to think, or what to say! I loved it but at the same
time I didn't. It made me miss you more than I already did! I heard my
mother's voice!!! But we definitely enjoyed the pizza, I've missed
that stuff! And like I already said, my companion
now knows that I have the coolest mom EVER! Muchisimos gracias Madre!
Well apparently one night this week I sleep talked my companions ear off. He said he had a full on conversation with me, in Spanish, and my Spanish was super good and fluent with a good accent! He said I wouldn't shut up and in the morning I found him on the couch. Hahaha! sorry Elder Crockett
Well, transfer calls came Saturday night. Lots of missionaries
will meet up with other missionaries in the area on call night to wait
for their calls together, so we went to the English Elder's place. For
the last two weeks I have been hoping for a change,
whether I go or he goes, I thought I was just ready for a change. But
just the other day I started thinking it would be nice to keep things
the way they are, then I don't have to start over in a new area, start
over with a new companion, I don't have to pack
and starve for the first week in a new area, and we can just keep
chuggin along. The English Elders got a phone call and Elder Langford is
going to Tyler Texas. We did not get a phone, so I'm staying here for
at least one more with Elder Crockett! Which
I am okay with, but it's still kind of a bummer because the days
leading up to call night you are just constantly thinking about what's
going to happen, what could happen, and the anticipation about kills
ya! So the night was just very anticlimactic, but
I'm okay with staying where I am at. But there are a few small
changes. The other Spanish area that our district leader was in is
getting shutdown, so now we are the only Spanish elders here and we have
to join an English district, Elder Munday's district.
We aren't too excited about that. Elder Munday has a VERY strong
personality and is difficult to get along with sometimes. But this
transfer should be good. Elder Crockett and I know we need to make some
changes and we are determined to make this transfer
better than the last.
Wednesday, Elder Neil L. Andersen and Elder Tad R. Callister came.
We had to drive to Fortworth. Between the two missions there were over
500 missionaries there, it was insane! He probably did visit Elder
Lambert's mission too. I heard his just kind
of going from mission to mission right now. But I got to shake his
hand! They are so different in person, but now more than ever I know
that man is a man of God. He gave us somewhat of a training. He talked
a lot about not comparing yourself to other
missionaries, which I am definitely guilty of. Being in a room with
500 missionaries was very intimidating and I felt so little. But he
talked about the importance of only worrying about improving yourself.
He shared a story about a missionary who he served
with, who at the time had only been a member for a year. He got
baptized and went on a mission a year later. He said this missionary
was so much stronger than him spiritually, which he couldn't get because
he was raised in the church by very strong member
parents. A future apostle! Everyone is raised differently, everyone
is going to start their mission at a different point, and everyone is
going to progress at their own rate. Elder Andersen said he could never
ever imagine himself being an apostle when
he was at the missionary age. That was really interesting to hear. We
are all on the Lord's time, and conversion will come, line upon line,
precept upon precept. Patience is another thing he stressed. I learned
a lot. I liked it a lot because it wasn't
all about missionary work and investigators and all that, but it was
personal and more about how to better yourself as a person. Super neat
experience it was.
Last night we had a missionary fireside for the ward. We had a decent turn out and I would say it was a success. Elder Crockett and Elder Munday spoke, as well as our ward mission leaders and the bishop. I was able to get away with program hander outer and nothing else. This ward would be one of the best in the mission if only we were English elders. The ward is awesome, filled with lots of young, super strong members. Almost everyone here has just graduated from BYU and are now doing internships or going to dental school here. The members are great, I just hate this ward because everybody is exactly where I want to be! Back from their mission, finishing up school, starting a career and a family. I am very jealous at times, but I must endure : ) I know I will never be able to have the life I hope to have until I finish my work here in Dallas.
-biking is pretty easy now. It's flat and doesn't seem to be as
windy as it was in Grand Prairie. Elder Crockett isn't a very
aggressive biker either, yet he doesn't like it when I pass him. It's
funny, I'll pass him sometimes and he immediately speeds
up and gets in front of me without saying a word. Haha!
-No packages or letters this week.
-Spanish is okay. The start of a new transfer is like a new year.
I have lots of goals and resolutions that are taking effect today!
Improving my Spanish is one of them! I know we need to speak Spanish as
much as possible, but it's just too easy to
get away with English here! It's a very frustrating situation, I just
need to learn self discipline.
The mission life is quite alright. It is starting to cool down a
bit here too, and sometimes there is a refreshing, cool breeze in the
air. Something I could get used to! But thanks for the quote padre!
It's so true. I'll add it to my collection.
That quote and some of your comments remind me of a couple of other
quotes:
"the comfort zone: the place is a dreamkiller" -?
"Your mission will be as you desire it to be. You can return a new man or return and still be kinda wimpy."
- President Swenson, my mtc branch president.
So it's all on me. I'm determined to make an impact here and I
will be satisfied with my mission by the end of this! I'm going to try
to send a couple things home this week, as well as a letter or two. If
you send me a package soon, I could really use
an oil flask, you know the ones you can put on a key chain? I think
that's what they are called. You can find them at Deseret book. I had
no idea missionaries gave so many blessings! Yesterday I was asked to
give a young boy a blessing as he started up
the new school year. I had no idea what to say! Pero esta bien. Todo
bien! I hope y'all have una semana magnifica! Les amo y les extrano
bastante! Hasta la proxima lunes!
con mucho amor,
Elder D. Willliams
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