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| Dallas with Elders Keller, Ezzell, Douglas and Perez! |
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| Elder Keller and David in downtown Dallas! |
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| Downtown Dallas! |
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| Twisted Root southern comfort burger! |
Greetings Family and Friends!
I love you all! I love hearing from y'all! I had a great week! Crazy busy, overwhelming, interesting, and quite exciting with the new changes.
MONDAY, after emailing, a group of 6 elders road the DART train to downtown Dallas. We were going to go to the Perot museum, but that didn't work out, so we kind of just explored and wasted time down there. It was kind of pointless, but it was refreshing to do something different than spend the whole preparation day in the chapel playing sports and emailing. One of the missionaries we went with was Elder Scott, who went to Skyline high school! That kid is a contacting machine! I don't think I have ever seen a missionary so fearless in trying to contact everyone he can; going up to cars waiting at red lights and asking them to roll down their window, announcing to the whole train that we are representatives of Jesus Christ and wanting to answer questions, and really going out of his way to contact everybody. As we went from train stop to train stop, he almost got left behind multiple times because he couldn't stop talking to people! He is a true social butterfly, and it motivated me to put myself out there more and talk to the whole world! For lunch we went to a famous burger joint downtown called the Twisted Root. Super good! While there we met a return missionary Mormon from Utah who is now pursuing his dreams of becoming an actor, and he is currently on tour with I think what is called "the Marvel Experience", where he acts as Thor. So that was kind of neat. Other than that, we didn't really get much done down there. Kinda fun day though!
TUESDAY was exciting with transfers and all. They threw us a curve ball by dividing up almost all of the zone leaders, so each zone leader has a companion that is not a zone leader, and the other zone leader is in another area. I'm not entirely sure why they did that, but one of the reasons is because 26 elders went home, and 26 new missionaries got here, so there was a need for more trainers. So there are a few zone leaders that are training, and I got lucky enough to be one of them!... I really wasn't too excited about it actually, but it does feel good to know that President Taylor trusts me with such responsibility. Lots of other zone leaders were put with missionaries that are struggling or just need help. But my new companion is Elder Denos, from Riverton, Utah, fresh from the Mexico CCM Monday. He played football and ran track and has a trampoline at his house. So he's a pretty cool kid! It's crazy to think that he is two years younger than me and just graduated from high school. I've never felt so old! The other zone leader in the Dallas East zone is Elder Stewart, from Pleasant Grove, Utah. He's been out six weeks less than me, and he is great! I have kind of served around him before, but I really don't know him too well. So I'm excited to work with him and get to know him, as well as with Elder Denos! I've got a full plate this transfer, but I have learned to love being stretched and challenged. I know the Lord has things for me to learn this transfer. I love learning! Tuesday I sent three of my dearest companions home - Elders Sheffer, Crockett, and Keller. I am so grateful for the chance that I had to serve with them and learn from them. They are great! Unfortunately, I didn't really get to say goodbye to any of them, because right after the transfer meeting I had to go to a trainers meeting, and by the time we got done, they were gone! But that's okay, I will probably see them in just three months.
After all the meetings on Tuesday, we went and got Elder Denos a bike, along with the other elder companionship in Casa Linda, which is Elder Barton (who came out with me) and a new missionary that came from Elder Keller's home ward. Small world! After eating a bunch of tacos for dinner at a member's house, Elder Denos had a cough attack and threw up his dinner all over the carpet in the apartment. I feel like that is what I will always remember about Elder Denos. Memorable first day!
WEDNESDAY we did an exchange so Elder Stewart and I could plan for zone meeting the next day. This past month we had our "Another Testament" Initiative, where we focused heavily on flooding the TDM with the Book of Mormon. This transfer we will be focusing on another initiative called "Turning the Hearts", where we will be focusing on spreading the gospel through family history! Just from reading a couple of talks and studying the initiative powerpoint that President and Sister Taylor put together, I am already super excited to do family history work! Elder Bednar stated that missionary work and family history work are one great work, and the invisible boundary line we tend to place between the two must be erased. These initiatives are son inspired! We were informed tuesday night that we needed to have a zone meeting thursday morning to introduce the new initiative to the zone. So it was pretty stressful trying to plan with such short notice, and trying to familiarize myself with something I had never before seen, to the point where I could train and explain it to everybody the next day. But all went well and things worked out!
The rest of the week was just typical missionary work, trying to work hard and make sure Elder Denos starts out on a good note with good experiences. This transfer is going to be amazing!
-same address and apartment. we have smokers on all sides, except for above us, and I feel like I am slowly dying. Not really, but it is not enjoyable.
-do you still have that little speaker you sent me at the beginning of my mission? We don't have a cd player or anything of the sort, so that speaker would be nice. Other than that, I don't need anything specific at the moment.
-still making smoothies!
I thank you for taking the time to write me and fill me in on things. I will ponder and pray about a pottery store name for Em. Keep meeting with the missionaries! Those Elders have got to love coming to your beautiful home and discussing with such amazing people. I actually think I would be somewhat intimidated trying to teach someone like you, because you are so intelligent. I don't have to deal with people like you too often as a spanish missionary, but just take it easy on them! Please have an open heart as they extend invitations to you, and willingly accept them. They invite sincerely and out of love. There is nothing more frustrating to a missionary than when the people they teach don't act on the invitations extended. Trust me, I deal with it on the daily. You are a huge blessing to those missionaries! Congrats to cousin Mike and Katie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-as part of the "turning the hearts" initiative, us missionaries will be doing some family history work as we invite others to do the same. President Taylor has asked that we ask our parents for any stories or information that you have that could help us catch the "Spirit of Elijah" and get to know our ancestors better. So if you have any stories or any documents or anything else, especially for grandparents, great grandparents, and maybe one more great, that would be great to send to me ASAP! Thanks! email or hard copy in mail. whatever works!
Alright. That's all I've got for y'all this week, and Elder Vang has been talking trash to me all week about pday basketball, so I have some business to take care of. Have the best week ever! Thank you for everything you do! I love y'all to Kolob and back!
Elder Williams
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