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| David getting a little exercise! |
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| Peach out! Last night with Elder Malpartida. |
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| The three amigos! David with Elder Adams and Elder Powell! |
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| David with Elder Malpartida at transfers. |
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| A little door knocking on Easter Sunday in the rain! |
Buenos dias mi querido familia y amigos!
I hope that everybody had a great Easter Sunday yesterday and
spent some time thinking about our wonderful Savior. Dad, it sounds
like you were treated quite well this weekend, and I pray that you had
the best day of your life yesterday. Easter Sunday
and a birthday in the same day?! That is almost too much to handle! I
am happy to hear that all is well at home.
I had another good week here in McKinney. Tuesday morning we
went to the chapel for transfers. That is always a fun yet scary
experience. Unfortunately, I did not see Sister Wyss. I don't know if
she had already left the building or was just hiding
in the heard of missionaries there. But I did get to see all my
mission buddies, including Elder Adams, who I haven't seen for the last 8
months! He has been out East for nearly his whole mission, and out
East is practically it's own mission. Elder Powell
and Elder Sheffer are now companions, which is funny. They are going
to make a fierce companionship! I said goodbye to Elder Malpartida and
met Elder Packham for the first time.
Elder Packham is from Oregon and he is 20 years old. He started
his mission in Garland and was there for three months before coming to
McKinney with me. In high school he played football, wrestled, ran
track, and was the valedictorian of his class.
My second valedictorian companion! He went to BYU Idaho for a year,
worked for a little bit, and then came here. He is a good kid.
Definitely more diligent and responsible than my last companion, and he
has some strengths in areas where I have weaknesses,
and the same applies for the other way; so I think we will be able to
help each other out a lot to be even better missionaries than we already
are. His Spanish has a long way to go. It feels good being the one
with the better Spanish and correcting the other
one, but at the same time, it's rough teaching with someone that
struggles so much with their Spanish. He reminds me of my early days in
the mission when Spanish seemed impossible to figure out, and let me
just say I am soooo glad I am past that point!
Well, Monday we discovered the devastating news that Tatiana has
returned back to Mexico. The best investigator of my whole mission
just up and walked out of my life with no warning, no phone call, no
goodbye, no nothing. She told us to come over
on Monday to teach her English, and she was already gone. Heartbroken I
was. I called her from her aunts phone to give her a hard time, and
she said she is going to try to come back in early June with her kids,
so there is still hope! Hopefully I will still
be here by then and she will have a different job and she will be able
to come to church and be baptized and sealed to her children in the
temple a year later and find a faithful Priesthood holder to marry in
the temple and live happily ever after for eternity.
But you never know. Pero tengo fe!
We have made lots of progress in this past week with another
family, the Bastidas. It is a family of a single mother with four
children between the ages of 5 and 13. They are neighbors with the
Franco Family, who are probably the coolest members of
the branch. This week we got the Bastidas to eat dinner at the Franco
home and develop a friendship, they came to the Primary Easter party on
Saturday and met nearly everybody in the branch, we had a good lesson
with them, and I beat Mario, the 13 year old,
and all his friends in a game of basketball. Mario likes us and we are
becoming good friends. We even almost got all the kids to come to
church on Sunday! So close, but next week for sure.
Wally works on Sundays, so getting him to come to church has not
really been an option in his eyes, until yesterday. He had Easter
Sunday off, and he came to the English ward and we sat through a
sacrament meeting with him. He stands out like a sore
thumb in the chapel, and I'm quite sure I could smell alcohol on him,
but he came to church! And he enjoyed it! The third speaker of the
meeting was incredible and exactly what Wally needed. For the first
time he admitted that he feels like he is missing
something in life and searching to find something to fill it. He also
said he is working on getting a Monday-Friday schedule rather than the
Sunday-Thursday schedule that he has now, and when he does, he said he
would be more than willing to come again. Wally
is progressing! He also let each of us pick out a tie to keep from his
collection. Amo corbatas : D
Yesterday we knocked on the door of these two super cool
brothers, 15 and 18 years of age. The 15 year old was super nice and
surprisingly let us in immediately. They have good LDS friends, they
were open and understanding our message, and I could
easily see these two kids being great missionaries. The lesson was
going super well, until.............. their parents got home.... Once
their parents came in, their dad said they already have all the
information they need, and pretty much told us to wrap
it up and get out. You could tell the brothers were embarrassed and
kind of upset with their dad, and they were very apologetic. It was a
tough and awkward situation, but if you think their anti-Mormon dad is
going to stop us from talking to them again,
you had better guess again.
This past week, in preparation for Easter Sunday, I believe all
missionaries have been invited to, where possible, share a brief video
made by the Church with everybody we possibly can. It is a video about
the Savior called "Because of Him". I probably
watched it over 30 times in 5 days. It is amazing, and if you haven't
seen it yet, WATCH IT! I can feel the Spirit every time I watch it. I
have seen the Spirit touch those that we have watched it with. It
really inspires me to learn more about the life
and Atonement of Jesus Christ, to become more like him, come closer to
him, and increase my love and faith in Him. I am grateful for and have a
testimony of my Lord and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, and I know that great
things are possible "because of Him". I
know that He lives and this is His church, The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints.
-I talked Elder Malpartida into letting me use his GPS until he
absolutely needs it back. His current companion has one, so he doesn't
need his right now. So we can hold off on the GPS for now.
-I got the Easter package and the Plan of Salvation pieces are
PERFECT! Better than I could have imagined them up myself. Than you so
much, Mom and Em, for the time you put into those. They will help me
out greatly! I have been enjoying the treats,
including the cookies, as well as some delicious english muffins for
the last few days. Thank you Mom and Grandma! yes, I got the pills,
thank you
-Easter Sunday was just like any other day, with the exception of a
big lamb dinner with a kind family in the branch. I don't think I like
lamb too much.
In what area is Sister Wyss and who is her companion?
I think that is it. That was my week and I am excited for another one to come. Love and miss you all!
Elder Williams
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