Second Week in Uruguay

Hello there family! So my companion is great, like i said he is from Paraguay! He doesnt really speak English, lol probably about 10 words! We can communicate great! I know that the gift of tounges is being realized in my life right now! I pray for it many times during the day, cuz there is no way i could do this withough it! Its been a busy week. It is extremely hot here! Its great though, even though i never stop sweating! On sunday we had about three less active families come to church that we had visited through out the week and 5 Investigators! It was so awesome to walk into curch and see so many people there, cuz last week there was about 20. We are just working every day making contacts and visiting less active members! One of the members name in Analia, she is 28 and has 4 kids 8 and under. She has no runing water, its really sad. I think i told you about this in my last letter. Anyways the kids are always asking for carmelos, which is candy and they say they are hungary. So if you could send me cany for them that would be great! Also maybe some small games such a uno and other things would be great to play with them! I´m really going to miss thanksgiving with you all this year. But Christmas is going to be good because here they all wait up till midnight and shoot off fireworks! Huge ones, its the biggest holiday they have! It will be intersting to see! We have a pretty nice appartment now that i´m used to it. I´m tired of killing cockroaches though! lol its all good though. Nick, what a nice thing you said in your primary program! Your awesome buddy! I love you so much! I can see in your writing that your testimony is growing each day! Keep up the good work! Anyways my companion is really funny! And a good cook, along with the other latin zone leader in our apartment. They are all funny! I´m reading the book Our Search For Happiness right now. Its wonderful! It really has been a testimony builder for me. Everyday i find myself on my knees more and more. It has been tough adjusting to everything. One thing that i learned is that it is impossible to go through out this life without divine guidance. At least this is the way it is for me. There is know way i could make it through every day with out the Spirit there to comfort me and to know that my Father in Heaven and my Savior Jesus Christ love me. It is such an incredible blessing to be allowed to have the Holy Ghost as a constant companion if we live worthy of him. It seems like every day I begin to understand deeper meanings of the plan our Heavenly Father has made for us. Its so wonderful. One thing i´m especially greatful for is the Plan of Salvation. How incredible and magnificent it is to know that we can be an Eternal Family. This brings me so much comfort and peace every day especially when i begin to get home sick. Anyways, there is alot more things that I am greatful for this Thanksgiving that i have often taken for grantit. I hope you all have a wonderful thanksgiving, and eat extra turkey and pie for me! I will definately be thinking of you! It wont be long until i will be talking to each of you on the phone! I love you all and i hope you have a great week!
With all my love,
Elder Mitchell A. Williams

He Finally Arrived

Hello family! I´m here now! Alright so it takes a long time add pictures on here so i´m going to make you a cd and send it to you! Alright, so Tuesday we left at around 9 in the morning. We drove to the airport and were on our way. It was only about a 30 min flight. really short! We got off the plane, got our luggage and went out and met the President and his wife and the assistants. We then drove to a little park that over looked the ocean and the city of Montevideo and took pictures. It was beautiful! We then drove back to the Presidents house and had a little slide show and talked about the mission for a while. Then we had an amazing lunch! Potatoes and gravey, and we got ice cream and brownies too! The presidents house is really nice, probably the nicest house in all of uruguay. After that we then talked some more and then went to a temple session. The temple is beautiful! Wow, i cant even describe it! After the temple we went back and talked some more and had interviews with the president and ate pizza. Then we went to the Hotel on the temple grounds to sleep. Its for members who travel long distances just to come to the temple. This place was really nice! Wednesday we got up and went to get a mini physical from the doctors here at about 9. I think it was to see if we are helthy enough to live in the country. After that we went back to the house and met out trainers (1st companion). Mine is from Paraguay and doesn´t speak any english. I´m the only one out of our group that recieved a latin companion and one that does not speak any english. I was feeling a little overwhelmed and scared but i think i´m over it now. We then went and took our stuff to the offices in montevideo. There we took some pictures, which you will get in a cd, and then went procelyting for about an hour. We then got back and took our stuff to the bus station and headed on our way to my first area! It was about a 5 hour bus ride. The area in which i am at is call Paysandú. We live in an apartment with the Zone leaders on the 11th floor. We can see Argentina from the other side of the River! Its pretty cool! Thursday we had our first Zone meeting. It was good, I gave my first blessing there, i was really nervous but it turned out alright! After that we went and did some service, we walked about 30min to this members house out in the country. They kinda have a small little farm! We painted the inside and part of the outside of their house. It was good! Its really hot here! Man i´m dying! Friday we went and bought some food and got settled in and procelyted all day. It was good, we visited a few less active members and just started to get fimiliar with our area. Saturday we did the same thing again. The people here live in really smaill cement boxes. We are so lucky to live where we do. We have so many things to be thankful for. This thanksgiving will be different for me knowing all the things which we have that no one else does. There is this one single mother who was baptized in may who has 4 children under the age of 8. She doesnt have any running water in the house and has this really disgusting outhouse for a bathroom. I was holding back tears after we left her house. I wanted to help so bad but i know there is not much i can do. It is definately different down here. Especially in our appartment, I wont go into detail but just know that i am still having trouble adjusting to everything. Sunday we went to chuch and i had to speak. I just shared my testimony and introduced myself. There was only about 30 people who attended church. There are alot of inactive people here. I think our goal will be to start bringing members back to church. After church we ate lunch and then headed back out to go procelyting again. Every day feels the same here lol! We visited another less active member and that was the second time I used my priesthood authority t bless someone because she was sick. That is basically my week! I got your package and letters! Thank you so much for them all! I love the cds and the pictures and especially the candy! Nick, great job on your arrow of light! That is awesome buddy! I love you so much! I was a little sad i missed it though :( If you can, please send me some US stamps in a letter so I can letters home through pouch asap! Also, if you could send me my Long Beach hat that would be great too! I want to give it to this 18 year old member who said he likes it when he saw a picture of our family in sand diego. When you send packages make sure you put pictures of Mary on it. For some reason they don´t care if packages have Jesus on it. Also send it through the post office through a flat rate package box or envelope and make sure it under four pounds. If its not that okay but it will get here the fastest when you follow those guidelines. I also have an email address that i forgot in my appartment that you can write a letter to me and they will print it out at the offices and send it to me each week. I will give you the address next week! I cant wait to call home in about a month! I´m looking forward to hearing from all of you! I miss you all and love you so so so much!!!! Make sure to thank our Father in Heaven for all our many blessing. We live in such a great part of the world. Wow i cant even tell you how lucky and blessed we are. Well, i´m excited to be working here and serving the Lord. This is definately going to be the hardest thing i have ever done, and a huge testimony builder. Thank you for everything mom and dad, i love you so much! I will be looking forward to hearing from you next week! I love you all very much! I will get that picture cd to you as soon as possible!
Love always, Elder Mitchell A. Williams

He speaks to his Nephew's

Well this is the second to last letter you will be getting from me from Argentina!!! Man am I excited! I can´t wait to go to Uruguay! Thank you for all the letters and emails, i love reading about everyone and how they are doing. It makes me happy! I can´t believe its election time. Its going to be a mess. I guess we just have to ¨grin and bear it¨ It will all work out in the end! Like Elder Nielson said to us missionaries, look to the future with hope! Thats the best thing we can do. And also prepare, physically, mentally, and spiritually. Last Saturday we went to the same place proselyting. It was awesome! We touched base with the investigator was found last week! Guess what? He has read up to Alma in the Book of Mormon!!! I was so shocked an excited! I recited the first vision to him and went on also to talk about the plan of salvation. We asked if he had prayed about the book of Mormon and the prophet Joseph Smith. He said he did and he knows it true!! Amazing! Man it was such a good feeling. He is pretty much ready for baptism! We gave his information to the other missionaries to keep him progressing. Man this work is so wonderful! Miracles happen every day. The Lord works great miracles by small means. Honestly, this is the best thing anyone could be doing. Nathan, Zack, get ready to go on a mission. It is what you need to do. You will never regret it. I promise you that it will be the happiest times of your life. You will grow so much. Everyone in our extended family needs to go on a mission, they all need to prepare now. Imagine what they could do if they started preparing now?! They would be unstoppable in the field! Devon, Trevor, Ryan, everyone, this is what you should be focusing on, going on a mission! Anyways, We watched a talk from Elder Holland from 2006. Wow, i have never heard anyone speak with such power and authority before. It was amazing. He commented that this was hard. Its hard because salvation does not come easy, its not free. It was not easy for the Savior, so why should it be easy for us? He said that the road to salvation runs through Gethsemane. That is so true, it is hard, but its possible! Anything is possible through our Savior Jesus Christ. I know that this is his church, and that a living prophet guides it today through REVELATION. This is his work and his glory. I´m so grateful to be apart of it! I owe everything to my family! Thank you for everything. I will be writing more letters today because the temple is closed for cleaning and we will have more time. I love you all and miss you dearly. Have a great week! I cant wait to hear about it next Thursday! I love you so much!
Love always, Elder Mitchell A. Williams

Elder Russel M. Nielson Spoke

Well hello there!
Okay, so you can send letters here until the last two weeks, i leave the 11 of november. If one arrives here they will just send it to urugay. I recieved your card rachel and your letter! Thank you. I love the holiday ceer! Congratulations on your calling. Take this opportunity to magnify your calling. If i recall right, there was a certain conference talk about the teachers of the church! Read it! Yes, i opened up your gift on the plane! I love all the pictures and quotes! I have shown so many pictures to others here at the CCM. If you can, please sent ma a laminated family pictures with the families can be forever song on the back! A 3 BY 5 would work great. Here is another saying to figure out ¨ Que haría Jesucristo?

So this week Elder Russel M. Nielson came to talk to us. It was such a spiritual experience. I sat in the second row. We all were able to shake his hand. I this is an experience i will never forget. As he talked to us, I was able to look directly into his eyes alot, i have never felt such power. I have never felt so strongly about this work. His wife talked first. Some things she said were that we are at the age where the world tells us we should concentrate on ourself to discover us. We are doing what the Lord wants by discovering ourselves through helping other people! She said the more obedient we are, the more we will recieve from the Lord. She told us to do more than what we are asked to do.

Before they started their talks, we sang El Cristo Es, written by President Faust. The spirit was so strong and Elder and Sister Nielson were so touched. Elder Nielson said he had a vision during that song that he saw missionaries at their very best. He told of of the kind of missionary President Faust was. He told us of how he trusted him with his heart when he performed heart surgery on them. I could tell they had truly become great firends and that he misses him and has alot of love for him. He said we are going to bring hope, truth, and opportunities for ordinances that bring salvation and exaltation to the people in our mission. He said look deeper into the mirror and see your greatness and potential. He said behind every person you teach, you also influence their posterity. He told us to forget the little things and look to the future. He said when you are on your mission, think of President Faust. He also, which was really amazing and special, gave us an Apostolic Blessing. He told us that Jesus Christ is our message, that he is the light, the life and the way. He said that through him, our families can be sealed together forever. He blessed us to lose ourselves in the work. He blessed us that our family will be drawn closer to the savior as we serve. He blesses us with safety in our missionary work. I was truly changed by this talk.

I wrote down a whole page of goals of what i want to accomplish before i end my mission. I also re read my patriarchal blessing. Missionary work is the most important thing any member of the church can do. As president Gordon B. Hinckley said, if members and missionaries work together, we can double our success. I solemly testify that Jesus is the Christ. That he is the Savior and Redeemer in the world. He truly is the light, the life and the way. He is our message as missionaries. Be sure to always read the scriptures, they invite the spirit. I love each one of you very much and thank you for your love and support. Have a good week and i will hear from you in sevend days! I love you!
Con Amor, Elder Williams

District Leader Today!

Hey really quick, if you send me packages, send it through express mail only at the post office or a private carrier, fed ex or dhl. I dont know if will be able to get the one that Melanie sent. Also send me packages to my mission home in Uruguay, the address is in my mission call packet! Also, today i was assigned to be the new District Leader. I love you all, love Elder Williams