Sunday, May 11, 2014

Week Forty Eight - Transfers, New Companion and Beating the Hermanas!

Dear family and friends,

I had a great week here in McKinney.  We stayed busy, taught a lot of lessons, had investigators at church, and time is flying!   
   Transfer calls were Saturday night.  Elder Malpartida absolutely LOVES McKinney and wants to serve the rest of his mission here.  For weeks, missionaries, members, and I have been giving him a hard time because it only made sense that his time in McKinney would be up at the end of this transfer.  He said he had been praying and fasting for the last three weeks that he would stay in McKinney.  When we received our call, he was devastated to hear that he was being moved to Carrolton.  I am staying in McKinney and my new companion is Elder Packham.  He has about 3 months in the field, and that is all I know about him.  I pick him up tomorrow morning and I am stoked!  I love Elder Malpartida, but he is a real handful.  I am most excited about staying in McKinney.  I figured I would, but it was a relief when we finally got that call.  Many missionaries that serve in McKinney early on in their mission often request to end their mission here because it is so great, and it has happened more than once.  I love McKinney!  My address will stay the same for at least the next 6 weeks.
   We went undefeated in McKinney Madness this week, and we now have the best record in the zone!  When we were against the Hermanas this week, the competition for the day was to see who could teach the most of the 42 concepts in Preach My Gospel.  As missionaries, there is a total of 42 concepts we teach; everything from the Restoration to the Law of Chastity.  I felt confident that we could beat the Hermanas by teaching 30 or so concepts, but Elder Malpartida was determined to teach all 42.  It was 8:45 in the evening when we still had to teach 9 concepts:  All of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Fasting, Tithing, and the dreaded law of Chastity.  With 15 minutes of the day left, we had nobody to teach.  So we found a 14 year old kid sitting on some stairs that was waiting for his friends to pick him up.  We quickly taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and then my companion asked him if he had ever heard of Tithing.  He hadn't, so we taught him Tithing.  Then my companion asked him if he had ever heard of Fasting.  He hadn't, so we taught him Fasting.  Then my companion asked him if he had ever heard the word Chastity.  He hadn't, and Elder Malpartida just looked at me like he expected me to teach the whole thing, but instead I made him teach the whole thing.  I felt bad for the kid, he was probably super weirded out, but he offered us a bottle of water, he told us we could come back, and we taught all 42 concepts!  We beat the Hermanas with ease.  It was a fun day!
   We taught Tatiana the Plan of Salvation this week and it went really well.  We invited her to be baptized, and she said she had to study more.  She is very intellectual, and she wants to be 100% sure about what she is doing; so she will probably take a little more time than we were hoping for, but I have no doubts that she will one day be baptized.  During the lesson, she started asking us about commandments.  The three main commandments we teach are Tithing, the Word of Wisdom, and the Law of Chastity; and we have a pamphlet for each of those three.  So  before we left Tatiana's, I pulled out those three pamphlets, leaned over to Elder Malpartida, and asked him which one we should give her as her homework assignment.  She ripped all three out of my hand and told us she would choose which one she would read, and then decided she would read all three!  Plus a chapter in the Book of Mormon!  She just keeps getting better and better.  If only she could come to church!  Tatiana will soon be a faithful daughter in the kingdom.  
   
-I did not receive anything from Tricia during Christmas time.
-I will probably see Rachel tomorrow at transfers!

I think that's about it.  All is well here in McKinney.  I am happy.  The work is going fairly well.  I pray that y'all will have the best week of your life, and enjoy your Easter weekend.  
Dad, HAPPY BIRTHDAY on Sunday!  Love you all!

Elder Williams

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