Let's see what happened this week?

1. Dinner with the Bishop was a complete hit! I honestly love him and his family. They remind me a lot of us (my beloved family is the US). They are converts to the church from 12 years ago and are truly incredible. 6 of those 12 years He (the bishop) has been...well...bishop. His entire family speaks English pretty well and he says he wants to finish a degree in Utah. he told me it will last 2 years so I might be able to introduce you all to him. He is very humble and a true disciple of Christ.
2. ANTONIO CAME TO CHURCH!!!!!!!!!!! he doesn´t seem to be able to kick the habit though. Its totally understandable though. Think of something you do everyday out of habit and try to stop doing it for one day. That´s the position he is in right now and its tough! He needs patience but he also needs a reason to stop. Pray for him to find his true desire.
3. NO clue what´s happening with Guadalupe. she said she would come to church but that didn´t happen. but i think its because she is sad. her cousin died this week. we have to figure how we can help her understand the church and its importance. Pray for us to be able to do so.....
4. um...................
5. SO...............
6. thinking....
7. Karen(grandaughter of the lady who just passed away) is doing ok.... her mom is jurting (HAHAHAHAHAHA i totally just spelled that in Spanish! that is so silly!!!!!!!) ok. HURTING. (had to do that slow.) pray for her to understand the atonement.
8. we are trying to teach a mostly deaf woman who can´t read and can barely talk. i don´t even know exactly how that all works out but i do know she is God´s Daughter and that she has a wonderful Spirit. Alicia is her name and she is the Wife of a member....its kinda a cool experience for us. He wants to be sealed to her in the temple so we are trying to help prepare them.... apparently she has been baptized but i really don´t know if that is true or not. Pray for us to be able to communicate with her...
9. ABRAHAM is getting baptized! this week Mauro will also be baptized. Remember him? I am super excited but a little nervous. I have said before, when we decide to take a step towards the good, Satan tries hard to get us to do the bad. Pray for them to overcome temptations.
um....good luck with school this week!!!!!!!!
I love you all my beloved Family.
Elder Ben Williams

Don`t have much time

Why? cause we invited the bishop and his family to eat dinner with us in OUR HOUSE and we are going to cook. Cool right=) Presidente told us to do something new to gain the trust of our bishop...so we asked permission to invite his family to Cenar con nosotros (eat dinner with us). Its gonna be fun!





Ok so real quick, wanted to tell you about a really cool story. We taught the Grandma of a member last Saturday. She was really sick and the doctors said she didn`t have much time left. In fact, she(la abuelita) asked us to talk to her. We taught the Plan of Salvation and i have never felt the Spirit testify so strongly of our words. She was so frail....so tired looking....she couldn`t even keep her eyes open. She just kept nodding and looking at us with gratitude in her eyes. She didn`t say anything. but I could tell she was scared before we began talking and by the time we left she was calm. She looked completely convinced of the truth of our words.
She passed away last night.
as i`m writing this, tears come to my eyes.
But I know with complete surety that she is resting. accepting the missionaries on the other side. I KNOW that this is God`s plan. He decides what happens and when it happens. He knows perfectly what we need.

other things that happened....1. Gudalupe didn`t come to church. We pray for her sisters to support her more and that we will be able to find her.

2. Abraham, the boyfriend of a member from the other ward, is from our ward and is going to be baptized soon. We are praying for him to overcome whatever temptation he would face this week.

3. Antonio is doing better. He has a goal to stop drinking before the 31 of August to be baptized the 21st of September. He still needs that kind of support.

4. I am trying to learn how to be cheerful in every moment. Pray for me to find a way to do so.

5. Remedios is the name of the woman who passed away. Pray for her family.

I love you all and sorry it was short this time=(

Elder Ben Williams

Shortish

I don´t really want to write much of a general letter today because i feel like i need to write many people personally including my lovely sister Stephanie because today is your birthday! (you are an adult my love! WEIRD!) so I will keep things short and sweet.


Andrea was baptized. I will never forget her story. she has so much faith. I know she is one of God´s chosen Children for these later days. she is truly incredible.....We pray for her family to start to accept what we teach. we want these blessings to reach every member of her family.



Antonio came to church this Week! woohoo! He is still drinking but he says its not nearly as much as he used to. He told us that he likes the church and wants to be baptized but he just needs our help, God´s help to stop drinking. I really love him and it makes me sad to see him struggle so. Pray that he will have the strength to get rid of his addiction (I can´t remember the word for vencer or superar...)

Guadalupe also came to church! she is another one of our Heavenly Father´s chosen children. We are praying for her to understand and follow the commandments that we teach her so that she will be baptized the 31 of this month. We pray for her to feel the support of her family, especially her less active sisters =)

That is all. I need to write many of you personally and so a bid you Adieu hasta luego!

Elder Williams

P.S. Les amo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Miracles

=)
You know something? I never realized how many miracles pass in one day until the mission. I can`t explain how many things happen in one day that just make me understand how perfect our Father in Heaven is. Everything is in His hands. Its really wonderful and its makes me feel even better when I understand that we can be His Helpers in this perfect work. Its pretty much the best thing ever...

I am official two decades old. Weird right? lots of the people here say i look like i`m 24. that hurts. just saying. but the greatest thing about this week doesn`t have anything to do with my birtday.

Dania Got Baptized! WOOOHOOOO! I think the best moments i have lived in the mission are the baptisms. Dania was investigating the church for a long time. Her parents wouldn`t let her be baptized. She sorta got lost, out of radar if you catch my drift for several months. and then we found her again. And she was ready to be baptized. She Went to EFY and turned 18 and she told us she wants to go on a mission and really wanted to be baptized.


That wasn`t the only miracle in this week. Andrea is going to be baptized! I think i`ve told you about her about once. Her parents didn`t want her to be baptized. Can i just say something? Fasting works.

We invited Andrea and her sister to fast so that her parents would allow her to be baptized. At first when she told her dad about her desire to be baptized he started saying a bunch of harsh things about the church, but in the end he said" But you can do what you want. Get baptized if you think its something good." That was by far the best birthday present ever!

Sad thing that passed this week. We may leave Gabi and her family to be taught by other elders. They really don`t seem quite ready. Gabi was excited because of EFY but everything passed in a short time so she sorta lost interest... I feel bad but they are a great family. they will accept the Gospel one day. They just need more time and I pray that they will come to the realization of the truth and accept it.

Antonio is doing... mas o menos bien. he hasn`t drunk alcohol for a week. He went to Dania`s baptism, and he accepted a baptismal date. but he needs God's help to stop drinking(its not that easy to get rid of such an addiction) and to find a friend in the church. I ask all of you to pray for him to be able to overcome such difficulties.

I love you all and pray that you are well and following the councils of the Spirit.

Elder Ben Williams

I turned 20!

It was weird without you all but my adopted family in Mexico made things pretty awesome =) no piñata (no hay $) but I still felt pretty great! =)



I actually didn`t want to tell people it was my birthday. but Elder Comboy told everyone =) and so we had fruit. that purple thing isn`t a grape. Its a tuna(not the fish) or the fruit of a cactus. they are super good!


A fun birthday tradition here is that the person who is celebrating their birthday bites the cake before anyone else gets any.