Monday, October 14, 2013

Week Twenty Two - Learning About Yourself and Cooling Off in Dallas!

Buenos dias mi querido familia!
        Welp.  Another week in the books.  I am happy to hear that Em had a happy birthday, and she saved my later until the day of!  Of course it lasted more than just one day. It always does with her!  But I guess you could say she deserves it.  Wise Guys Comedy Club?  Is that in Orem where I used to live?  There was a Wise guys there.  I only went there twice.  Once for an improv show put on by the improv club at UVU.  It was awful.  Probably the least funny thing I have ever seen.  Plus one of the larger men on stage had a plumber's crack the whole time.  And the other time I went was for a free awkward back massage.  After that I realized that nothing worthwhile comes out of Wise Guys.   I hope all is well with Uncle Ken.  I will be praying for him. 
        My week was just a typical week as a servant of the Lord.  The mission focus for the month is new investigators, so we did a little more contacting than normal.  Finding new investigators isn't too hard here.  The hard part is getting people to keep their commitments.  Some people just drive me bonkers!  Nobody wants to keep their word, or even tell just tell us the truth.  We could save so much time and effort if people would just politely tell us that they aren't interested, rather than being too nice and timid to say no.  But we found quite a few new people this week that I have high hopes for.  We met a kid named Jose the other day.  He is an 18 year old, miserable, punk kid that doesn't believe in God.  His god is the devil.  Eso no tiene sentido para mi!  What a sad life it would be to live without a belief in a loving Heavenly Father.  Without a belief in a Savior that can walk by your side and help you through every challenge of your life.  And I told him that too!  "You must live a sad life."  And he openly admitted that he wasn't happy.  I just wish I could smack some sense into these fools!  We left him with a Book of Mormon.  Will he ever read it?  Probably less likely than more.  But we gave him that chance.  I keep wishing that in situations like that the spirit will lead me to say something that will just knock him off his feet and realize how silly he is being.  Sadly, it never goes that way.  I honestly didn't know what to tell him, but hopefully something I said stuck out to him.  
       You learn a lot about yourself on a mission.  A lot of things that you wish you didn't have to learn.  A lot of things you wish you didn't know about yourself.  But when you spend 6 entire weeks with someone, they are going to notice your weaknesses and imperfections.  And when you spend 12 entire weeks with someone, their gonna point them out for you!  The other night Elder Crockett gave me some constructive criticism.  I didn't like it.  It was hard to take, especially coming from Elder Crockett for some reason.  It wasn't hard because I disagreed with him, but nobody likes to hear they mess up.  I truly will take what he said to heart.  Apparently I come off as stern and short with people in lessons.  I have now been told by three different missionaries that I need to smile more.  My whole life I've been told I need to smile more!!!  Well guess what, by the end of my mission, YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO SMACK A SMILE OFF MY FACE!!!!  I am getting tired of messing up, and failing, and falling.  It is very discouraging.  Wouldn't it be nice to be perfect?  However, it was said more than once in Conference that falling is a part of mortality.  Everybody falls; it is nearly unavoidable!   But as President Uchtdorf says, "GET UP, YOU CAN DO IT NOW."  I love that guy.  I will continue getting up for the rest of my life.  And every time I do, I will get up a taller and better man.  I have gotten up, and I'm still chuggin' along on the path to perfection.  God gives us weakness that we might be humble.  I get humbled everyday!  PATIENCE truly is a virtue.  HUMILITY most definitely is a virtue.  I've got work to do.  I am weak, and I could not do this without heavenly help. You know, it's a good thing missions are two years long.  If they were any shorter, God probably would not be done molding me into the man I need to be.  The mission is a process.  A long and frustrating one, but one that is 100% worth it.  I can already bear testimony of that. 
          I finished reading the Book of Mormon this morning.  Boy did that feel good!  What an amazing book that is!  Sadly I did not know until now.  But I don't think I will ever any other book for the rest of my life.  Scriptures have really come to life for me in these short 5 months.  I wish it could have happened much sooner in life for me.  I love the Libro de Mormon.  I love the Gospel taught in it.  and I love sharing that Gospel!  
-no mail or packages this week, but I will most definitely keep an eye out for a gma Halloween package.  She is such a sweetheart!  
-staedtler's is a brand of pen. Or maybe it's shraeder?  I don't know!   It's actually the brand you got me for my birthday.  And I use those every morning!  But it doesn't really matter.  Pens are pens I guess.  I just like pens! 
-it's raining today!  The last few days have been dark and grey and it feels great.  It's supposed to cool down a lot this week too.  Boy, even though I love it when I'm not sweating outside, gloomy weather sure does make me gloomy as a missionary.  weather seems to effect my mood a lot more than it used to. 
-allergies were pretty much just a one day thing for me.  I've felt great lately!  
-exercise....usually consists more of laying on the floor more than anything.  This last week I was really bad with exercise, but it's a new week, and I actually had a pretty good work out this morning.  Elder Crockett sleeps.  He is always worried about what I say about him in my emails, because he thinks his mom might see this bc Joan knows his mom.  He tells me that his family MUST think he is a perfect missionary.  That's silly to me.  If you want your family to think you are the perfect missionary, than be a perfect missionary!  
Well, every week I have experiences and see things that help me see how blessed I have been.  I am so thankful to be from Utah and I miss everything about it.  EVERYTHING!  I am thankful for the family I have.  There is nothing better on this planet than a happy family, and that is what we have!  My heart fills with more and more gratitude every day I am away from home.  But I am happy to be here, I know I am where I am supposed to be, and I am forever grateful for this opportunity!  My love for y'all is bigger than the whole world, moon, and sun combined!  I sent a couple things home on Friday.  There is a great letter inside that I think you will enjoy.  The dude said it should get there manana.   But duty calls.  Until next week!  
con amor,

                       Elder Williams 

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