Week Eighty Five - Arrived in Oriximana and A Baptism!

Tom relaxing by a pool!

Tom, Elder Tobias at first baptism in Oriximina!

Hello Family!

       So I´m here, in Oriximiná (Oreesheemeenah), and it´s a pretty cool place. All the roads are pavemented so I don´t have to walk in the sand anymore. The members are cool, like always. There´s a family here that Elder Fox taught and baptized. They were hard core universalists (A igreja universal/the universal church or something like that), so I´ve heard some pretty funny stories about him while I´m here, fubeca Elder Fox! I think I was received well here.... anyways.... We had a baptism. 2 girls were saying the whole week "I don´t know if i´ll get baptized this week..." and one wanted the Elder that was here before me to baptize her, Elder Ashby, but that wasn´t exactly possible so she chose me for some reason... maybe it´s because my companion is annoying.... or because I´m American... maybe I because I´m blonde.... I don´t know... but nossa the baptism and confirmation was a cunfusion pra caramba. She arrived there Saturday night, but we couldn't start because there was a wedding going on in the church of some less active members... so she was upset about that, and she already said she wouldn't be able to go to church the next day so she almost wasn´t confirmed because the bishop didn´t want to confirm her except in sacrament meeting, but being the last week of the month, our zone leaders were pushing to have her confirmed this week, the stake counselor spoke to our bishop, I spoke to the bishop, nossa very annoying.... But we did it, we did it we did it, yay!.... But like.... that´s all I have to say for this week. Oh, hey! When you come here in November.... you should also buy plane tickets to Santarém, my favorite city of Pará... I already said that but you didn´t say anything so I said it again.... let´s go to Santarém!... hey about taking instruments again.... Elder Robertson, meu amigão said we´re going to start a band together. LET´S DO IT!

How was the boat ride?  Was it actually 10 hours? It was cold... no one told me that it gets cold on the boat ride at night... Yes it was about 10 hours and I could´t see much because it was night, but it was cool.

How big of a boat were you on? It´s a 3 story boat... nossa carrying my suitcase up 3 stories was annoying!

What's your new area like?  Do you have a nice apartment? The house is nice, the area is cool. It´s a lot more hilly. Going to where we work most is pretty much uphill the whole way.

Who is your new companion and where is he from?  How long out? Elder Tobias, from Maceol, 7 months in the mish.

How much do you miss Em? (that came from her, not me :)) Nossa! Emilee, sinto tua falta pra caramba, estou morrendo sem você aqui. É difícil, sabia? How long Senhor, eu tenho que ficar longe da minha irmã?!?!?! 4 more months.

Do you still eat lunch everyday at member's houses? We ate lunch at home 2. Apparently the RS president never gives us lunch, but everyday, except p-day, we have lunch marked at a members place.

Some pics! The baptism of Andrea, me at the side of a pool, relaxing, me on top of the boat waiting to leave to my new area, and I think me relaxing in the hammock...  i don´t remember. And one foto won´t be sent home because the e-mail is too big... okay... 2....

But that´s all for this week, I´m late for my appointment, I should be sleeping right now. I love you all, hope you have a great week. Miss you bunches and exactly (more or less) 4 months from now I´ll see you again. Tchau Tchau!

Love Elder R. Williams

David's Letter Home With....Pictures!!

On Friday, July 19th, we received a letter in the mail from David and his camera card.  He had mentioned that he would probably send it home in one of his e-mails.  So, this totally made my day and the letter and the pictures are great!  Mostly all taken in the MTC - I am just so happy he used his camera, a lot!  So, here's the letter and the pictures:

Hola!

I just love you all and miss you like crazy!  So here is the memory card to my camera and a little photo guide to some pictures you might scratch your head at.

-WHITE BOARD DRAWING:  this is a picture that Elder Adams and I drew in the MTC Main Campus.  It's a game we would play all too often as a district where we just take turns drawing one line at a time and it eventually turns into a masterpiece such as this!

-BIG GROUP IN FRONT OF THE TEMPLE: our Zone!  But our Zone changed nearly every week w/ districts leaving and new ones coming in every week.

-ME IN A REALLY SMALL SHIRT: this is Elder Adams' shirt.  His mom sent it to him and it was super small and he was going to throw it away.  But it was a cool shirt so I took it off his hands.

-MAP PIC OF ME PICKING SOME CHICK'S NOSE: all the Spanish Speaking Dallas Mission missionaries in our zone.

-SHOE BOX PICS - we kept all of our books in shoe boxes.  This was the night we said goodbye to our -MTC main campus classroom, because the next day we moved to the West Campus.

-DESK PIC: My desk for 5 weeks in our MTC bedroom.

-BED PIC: where I slept for 5 weeks at the MTC!

-ELDER LAMBERT/WILLIAMS HANDSHAKE IN ACTION: the night before LL left for the MTC.

-RANDOM CLOSE-UP OF RANDOM KID - this is Elder Adams friend, Elder Sorenson, who left for Canada the next day.  We are probably going to be good friends after the mission.
-WRITING IN THE CEILING: Elder Powell and I had a unique room in the MTC.  Somehow we found this in the ceiling; tons of elders that have stayed in that room signed it.  WEIRD! 

-BUS - the bus pic ride from MTC Main to MTC West. The kid standing up i the back is Elder Adams. The other kid is a goofy looking one that just conquered cancer, Elder Powell (another one) that I have lots of respect for.

-KITCHEN CABINET - I warned you about this pic in one of my e-mails.  West Campus rooms had kitchens and Elder Powell lived in the same apartments for a semester, so he knew about this.  I would try to get in there every night for like 5 nights straight before I finally got it.  Every time I tried I would get super claustrophobic and spaz out and panic, but I finally got it!  Such a great Kodak Moment.

-RANDOM CHICK THAT YOU PROBABLY DON'T RECOGNIZE - I think this is my second cousin.  Rob and Julie's niece that we met at Mike's wedding.  We thought this would be a pic that they would like, so show them please!

-DISTRICT EMAILS

-THE DISTRICT - w/ Hermana Pinto, one of our 2 main MTC teachers.  She was cool and called me "Word of the Day" bc I would always make words up in lessons when I didn't know the word I wanted.  

-Adams and Biggs on the bus that goes from West to the Temple to Main.

-Elder Powell y Yo on the mismo bus.

-THE DISTRICT - w/ Hermano Zuzunaga.  He is from Peru and probably changed my life more than anyone else in the MTC.  He is the most pure hearted man I've ever met.  Everyone in our district thinks he is going to be a general authority someday.  

-BROKEN LIGHT BULB - this was in our classroom at West Campus.  Elder Adams always talked about how cool it would be to break one of these lightbulbs that were just laying around.  Then we pretended to smack two together, or we tried to pretend, but we accidentally did.  Oops!

-My seat at the World Wide Mission Broadcast.  Front and Center baby!  Jeffrey R. Holland sat in that first chair just over my shoulder, and the rest of them right next to him!

-ELDER ADAMS & I ON BALCONY - this is outside the pool house "cafeteria" at West Campus. We did a tie tried.  Elder Powell is photobombing.

-Elder Williams and Elder Williams - another Elder Williams in our zone who is going to Houston.  Gonna be a killer missionary!

-Elder Powell y Yo right before boarding the plane.  We did a tie trad, too, wearing each others in this pic.

-The shell of a ginormo bug on the wall.  I've never seen something like that before!  Bugs are quite large here and I've already had to have Elder Sheffer kill a cucaracha in our bano.

- TEMPLE PICS - this is the family we took to the temple to motivate them to have a temple marriage.  It went sooo well!  But now, the guy changed his mind and doesn't want to get baptized or married!  But we are still working on them!  They are super nice and Javier is really funny, even though I can't understand him.  They fed us 3 times in my first two weeks here haha!  I'm hoping to have more pictures w/ them same family at the same place a year from now when they get married for real.  
The other missionary in these pics is Elder Sheffer, as you probably could have guessed.  He kinda reminds me of Tom in some ways.  He is doing a great job of showing me the ropes and what missionary work really is.  

-Just some beautiful GP scenery!  Haha!

That's all, but I am going to try to have at least one new picture a week that I can send home via email.  I hope you enjoy them all!
Take care Fam!  Stay righteous and keep taking good care of my baby!  

Love ya!

con much amor,
Elder D.C. Williams

Week Ten - Drenched By a Truck and Pulled Over By the Police!

David's improvised rain poncho!

David in front of Cosmic Comics!

Alright here we go!

 

I almost didn't get to email today!  We got to the library and the computers were down!  We stuck around for about an hour before they got fixed, but thank goodness they were fixed.  I don't know what I would do if I had to miss out on emailing today! 

   Glad you got the picture card.  I am glad you keep in touch with Elder Powell's mom, that is awesome.  I love to hear about what is going on at home!  I miss everyone bastante and even hearing about the little things brings me joy.  Josh is home already??!!??  That is insane!  I'm happy for him and I'm sure dad is happy to have him back too....  You are getting a piano?!  That will be cool.  While at the mtc I heard a kid playing the piano and it was the most amazing thing I have ever heard.  He said he had only been playing for two years, couldn't read music, and taught himself.  The kid clearly had a gift, but after hearing him I decided that if I could be the best in the world at ANYTHING, it would be the piano.  So I am really looking forward to that, because I WILL be able to play before this life is over!  You should all learn too!  I still wish I could have witnessed Ken and Mary when they are together.  I still laugh when I think about their stories.  But it sounds like they are doing really well.  Keep having fun and making memories to tell me about later!

   I got your package.  My companion kept telling me that if a package arrives for you, they will let you know.  But two weeks had passed by, so we went into the office on Friday.  They said it had been there for a while.  But I got it!  Scripture case is awesome, towels are perfect, and even though the cookie bars were two weeks old, they were surprisingly and magically delicious!  Elder Sheffer agrees.  I'm not asking for sweets, but feel free to send more of those whenever you want.   So the shoes will get here soon i'm sure, don't need to worry.  And again, with the ipod, no rush.  I'm glad you found talks, hope it wasn't too much of a hassle for you!  But yes, please send some music on it too!  Elder Sheffer has a shuffle with the most amazing church music on it!   So send some byu choir, music you've sent tom, my mission playlist on the computer, and some peter brianholt.  I think that is his name, and apparently he is one of the best lds musicians out there.  But mom, just know that none of this is a necessity.  I can do without if any of it is too much of a hassle!   But when you send the ipod, send me some bottom garments.  I should have some mesh and maybe cottonpoly's in my room in a drawer.  All I really have here are the extra support bottoms, but in this heat they give me a little too much support.   I don't need tops, just a few bottoms if you can find them in my room.  Your idea for snacks is fine by me!

    This week has been busy!  Tuesday we had follow up training for all the newbies.  It was fun to see everyone, especially president Durrant!  I love him more and more all the time, and I wish I got to interact with him more.  He is probably one of the most admirable men I have ever met.  I hope I can really form a good relationship with him in the next year.

     MOnday night we went to the famous whattaburger for a dinner.  While we were there it started to POUR, literally raining sideways like nothing i have ever seen before!  It was awesome!  So we waited to see if it would lighten up a little bit, and the wind did, but not the rain.  So we rode home in the rain and it was awesome!  A truck drove through a puddle at the perfect time to create a tidal wave that just absolutely drenched me.  It was hilarious.  I looked like I had just jumped in a pool, but the poncho worked really well.  So we had a few days of rain, but now we are back to the heat.  I'm used to it now, so todo bien! 

     Wednesday we had interviews with President as a zone.  My interview was short, just because I am new and don't really have any problems.  All he said about the letter is that there are some loco people out there and to send any other letters I get home.  No biggie! Thanks for taking care of that for me, y'all are the best! 

     This week I made a contact entirely by myself in Spanish.  We were riding our bikes, Elder Sheffer was a ways ahead of me, and a man said something to me in Spanish, not sure what exactly, but it was more than Hola and it sounded friendly too, so of course I stopped!  I couldn't understand much, but it still felt pretty natural and I got his info and everything.  It felt good to do that without Elder Sheffer!  I still don't understand much, but I am starting to be more involved in lessons, and Spanish is slowly but surely coming along.  The other day we set up an appointment with a man that wasted drunk, and yesterday we had an awesome lesson with him!  haha this work is crazy!  We stayed quite busy this week.  Oh, and we got "pulled over" on our bikes.  It was late and he thought we were selling something, which isn't allowed that time of night I guess.  He asked what we were selling and I told him "THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST!" and then he said "oh, okay" and drove off.  Other than that the week was just typical missionary work. 

   Havent' gotten anymore mail. 

 Beau was right. Exercising is hard, I usually do a set or two of sit-ups and then just write in my journal, because I don't have time at night.  But we made a workout routine the other day and we are going to try to stick to it. 

   The Liahona is holding up pretty well.  No problems since day one.  He gets the job done. When i'm not on it, it is always locked up or in the apartment. 

    Medication is fine.  haha.

Hey Mom, Dad, Em; thanks for all you do.  All of you have contributed in preparing me for this.  I couldn't do it without a supporting, loving family that I love 10x more back!  When times get hard, I think about you guys and that always motivates me to keep going.  I think about you every day, and pray for you every day, I hope all is well and I'm sure it is.  Words cannot describe how grateful I am for the most magnifico familia en todo el mundo!

I mean that with all my heart and don't you ever forget it! 

   I hope that's everything.  Hasta la proxima semana! 

 

love, your baby boy, Elder Williams. 

Picture stories:

We had some ridiculous amounts of rain a couple days this week.  This is my homemade poncho.  I was hoping to get a picture in the rain during the rain, but this is more after the storm.  I took a picture of just the rain from inside when it was really coming down, but I don't think I will have time to send that one today.  I figured you would rather see a picture of your baby boy rather than a picture of a wet parking lot.  

This is a pic of an awesome wall mural at Cosmic Comics!   I see it when we drive back from district meetings, and it was quite the bike ride to get to this morning, but I thought it was a neat Kodak moment.  Elder Sheffer refused to be seen in a comic store, so we didn't get to go inside.  I should have done a more heroic pose, but i'm just a simple guy I guess.