Sunday, December 7, 2014

Week Seventy Nine - Feeling Grateful!!

Greetings Family and Friends!  

I don't know what to tell y'all about our week. It was decent, but quite uneventful too. Nothing crazy or exciting or special. It wasn't freezing cold, and some times I didn't even need my jacket! So that was pleasant, but I think this week it's going to get cold again. So that's not too exciting, but we'll survive. Elder Berardy is from Hawaii, you know?  So he like SPAM, because that's what they eat in Hawaii, you know?  So this week I ate SPAM for the first time ever!  And it was actually really good.  Not sure what it is exactly, but I don't know why SPAM has such a bad rep?  Probably because people aren't sure what exactly it is, but oh well!  Elder Berardy got pooped on by a bird this week, so that was pretty funny.  We have a small handful of investigators right now, but we are spending a lot of time trying to find new investigators and searching for those elect, but we didn't have too much luck with that this past week. But this week is a new week and we have high hopes and expectations!  
So this Thursday is el Dia de Pavo, as it is called in the Hispanic culture. THANKSGIVING! We got a couple of dinner invitations from a couple of different families in the branch.  Not sure where exactly we will go, but hopefully both options will work out!  But in this email, because I have so little to tell you about my week, I would like to express my gratitude for my family and friends and blessings and everything that makes my life great.  Coming on a mission has really opened my eyes to how blessed I have been and how great I have always had it.  We spend a lot of time with A and her daughter, D, the two that were recently baptized.  A is the sweetest lady, and she is trying so hard to embrace the gospel and make it a part of her life and the life of her family.  She just left her abusive husband last month, and now she lives with her daughter and her two sons that are 13 and 19.  Her sons are real chumps, they don't do anything but work, play video games, beg for money from their mom, and team up against their mom and sister and make fun of them.  They are both miserable, sad, angry people.  They want nothing to do with us and try to avoid talking with us at almost all costs.  But this past Wednesday, we had dinner with A, and she made her sons eat at the table with us.  To see the way they treat their mom made Elder Berardy and I furious and almost sick.  It wasn't quite bad enough to the point where we needed to say something, but it made me very sad to see that.  That's not what a family should be!  Families should love and support and inspire one another, and enjoy and cherish the time the moments they have to spend together.  I know that they can be hard to do in the moment at times, but right now that has never seemed so easy!  This experience with A and her family made me think about my family, and the family I want to have in the future.  I also thought about other families that I admire, and how it feels in their home.  Throughout my mission I have been in some very pathetic and sad homes, but I have also been in some incredible homes where their is much love and the Spirit is felt strongly.  President Monson said that "love is the essence of the gospel".  I truly believe that there is nothing on the planet that can bring so much love and peace and unity into the home the way the restored gospel can.  And I have that gospel in my life!  And I have a happy, united and blessed family!  And for that reason I am content and grateful.  There are some days when I am just so full of gratitude that I can hardly keep myself from dancing and screaming and making an absolute fool of myself!  It feels good to be grateful.  We all have more than we realize to be grateful for.  So mom, dad, Tom, Em, grandmas and grandpas, aunts, uncles, and cousins, the Little Cottonwood 5th ward, and freinds and every body else  - THANK YOU!  My life has been filled with great people that have done more for me than they realize!  I hope and pray that everybody has a great week and a happy happy Thanksgiving with bulging tummies and hearts full of gratitude!  

Elder Williams



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