Travel Week

The title is that way because that´s like all we did this week.

WE went to Leon for concilio de Lideres. We went to Dolores Hidalgo for La junta de Distrito. We went to celaya 3 times for special conferences with presidente and stake conference and all....

I feel like i spent more time in the bus than in San MIguel.

Aun asi We had a lot of success here. We taught Erendira who has her date for baptism set for the 15th. We found Vicky and Janet. WE taught Juana and Sol and almost got them to come to church with us. The hard part about living far from the city is when we have stake conference, our investigator´s sorta get left behind.....

Lets explian things shall we? Erendira is doing great. all she needs now is an interview and she is good to go. She surprised us at what she knows. She found out about the mormon channel in youtube and lds.org and mormon.org and is way excited with everything. I hope and pray that everything will turn out right.

Janet is the friend of a member here. She is catholic but wants to learn a litttle more about our religion(bercause of her friend). Her major doubt is about salvation, like what she has to do to be saved. It sorta opened a door if you know what i mean.

Vicky is also a friend of a member. Really we just have to find her house and we are set. She is super receptive and wants to learn about the gospel.She loves her family and i´ve got the feeling that she will be converted. We pray we can find her house. We spent an hour and a half looking for it the other day. Its hidden somewhere.....

We are finally going to have another set of missionaries aqui but we have to find a house for them and the rent has to be less than 2300 pesos which sounds like a lot. its not. especially in a place that is a tourist attraction for americans.....so we need you to pray for us to find a house.

I love you all and here's a picture....remind you of anything?

Elder Ben Williams

I think the days are getting shorter.

.....Or we are just doing a lot more than i have ever done in my life as a missionary every day. Really i feel like there are so many things to keep track i´m getting a little lost. My head is in the ...i was gonna say clouds...but that isn´t right. Its in the greatest work i could ever be doing, the most challenging and wonderful task in my life and i love every minute.

Even when said minutes aren´t so great. We had a couple investigators bail on us this week. One tried to return the Book of Mormon we gave her. She said she hasn´t read, hasn´t prayed to know if what we are saying is true. She told us she felt something after we gave her a blessing. She said she hasn´t been sick since the moment of said blessing. but she attributed her improved health to (to quote her "magic, or coincidence, or eating right". that was a bit frustrating!

Anyway, on a better note we found 2 people this week who are truly chosen. Sol and Juana have been prepared by God. At times its tough to get people to complete with every promise that they make to learn and improve. Hopefully prayers will help them. We pray that Sol will be able to have a desire to change and that Juana will feel the difference of the True Gospel of the Savior in her life.

I had Three baptismal interviews in one day, in two districts, that was a mouthful, on Saturday. Before i tell you about how they went let me just say this. GOD ANSWERS PRAYS. He healed me right before i interviewed His children so that they can enter into His fold. Let me just explain. I had quite possible the worst bus ride of my life Saturday. I have no clue what i ate but it obviously didn´t agree with my stomach. I feel blessed that we traveled long distance. There was a toliet on the bus and that´s where i lost my dinner and breakfast. my stomach was killing me. i was....bad..... On the second bus we had to take to get to san Luis, I was still hurting. I prayed that the Lord would take away my pain so that i could do what He needed me to do. I still felt horrible,the whole bus ride. and then we got to san luis and it was gone. A miracle really.


I love you my family. Even if you are far away, i feel your support, your love. You are the greatest family ever.

Elder Ben Williams

Another Short email

May 20 2013
Ok so you know how i told you D. Todd Christofferson is coming? well we have to leave san miguel de Allende (my new area) like nowish to get to Leon when presidente wants us there. Basically i have two minutes to say anything. So here is a list of stuff we are currently praying for.

1. sufficient time to write you all next week.

2. Erendira. we are going to invite her to be baptized.

3. Cristian and Raul. They are family to a recent convert and we are teaching them.

4. support of the ward. quick info, we are in two wards: san miguel y aldea. Our area is huge and the members of San Miguel aren´t too trusting. We need all the help we can get =)

I love you all and i feel terrible. Two weeks in a row.... terrible. I will do everything to write more next week but i can´t promise anything. YOU ARE THE MOST WONDERFUL PEOPLE IN THE WORLD=)

Elder Ben Williams

Cambios!

Chido no=)
It was nice to be able to talk with you all on Mother's Day, even if i really had no clue what to say. It was kinda funny for me to realize how bad my English is. The sad thing is my Spanish is just as bad ;) I hope all is well and i just have to tell you really fast where i am and what´s happening. I am now in Celaya in Allende. My companion is Elder Olivares and he is great. he doesn´t write much and he writes fast. Haven´t even read anything yet and i don´t have picture but we have to go. Love you all =) I hope i can write more soon =/
Elder Ben Williams
ps seriously i thought we would have more time =)

Another week it what i´m pretty sure is paradise =)

So i feel much better. It was weird this week.

Contrary to to the looks in this photo....I didn´t ever get hungry. But now i feel 100% and ready for whatever comes next.

Sorta a weird week. We haven´t seen Felipe at all. He sorta disappeared and stopped talking to us. It's a little sad but it happens more often then i would like. I think I´ve told you before that his family is against his decision to be baptized and he wants to avoid problems. It's sad to know that the family, one of the few potentially eternal groups in life, is stopping him from taking the first step into Vida Eterna. I just want to explain something real fast that i realized is different here in Mexico or at least here in Aguascalientes =) Many people, really it seems like EVERYONE IS CATHOLIC! (or has been....) Its kinda weird. It's sometimes feels as though to many it is more of like a tradition than a religion. Not that i´m bashing on anyone, their beliefs or anything. In fact i see a lot of good in the catholic church and I respect the people who follow the teachings of said religion. Its just hard sometimes because i know next to nothing about Catholicism and i feel strange sometimes.... lost even...

Enough ranting!

We have been trying hard to find new people to teach this week. And it's tough. I have to ask you all to do something for me: prepare your friends to receive the Gospel. Talk to them in the most normal way possible and then invite them to listen to the missionaries. It's not that tough and it makes our work as servants of the Lord that much easier. You have no idea how thankful we are for the members who help us in our work by PREPARING their friends for the message of the restored gospel and then having the courage to share it.

We have received a lot of guidance from the Lord recently and Poco a poco estamos encontrando nuevos (little by little we are finding new people to teach). it's a miracle. But we need more. Something Presidente Del Valle said is always in my mind " esta bien (it is good)(57 baptisms in one month) pero el señor nos pida mas"(but the Lord asks more of us) and its true. Pray for us to continue to find new people to teach. We need all the help we can get.

Las Familias de (The Families) Santa Maria....need prayers. Soon, the bishop is going to speak to all the members in that little Pueblo to see if they want the ward to pay for combis so that they can go to church. It all depends on it they can get rid of their pride. And really I´m worried about them. Pray for them to soften their hearts.

Daniel was baptized! Emma and Anna were not.... But i cannot explain the joy i felt during Daniel´s baptism. One by one the Martinez family is entering into the fold of God. Its the best feeling ever to be a part of this work. I love i each day a little more. i pray that Emma and Anna will be next. They need to trust more in the Lord and have the assurance that the Book of Mormon is true.

On the mission I am learning that if we really need a miracle and if we ask for one, it will come. Prayers =)

I love you all and pray that all is well. To the fam, See ya soon!

Elder Ben Williams

Longest Week of the Mission

know why?

1. Felipe says he can´t be baptized because his family is against it.
2. Emma and Daniel canceld their baptisms three hours before they were supposed to happen.
3. We were in divisiones/ trio for three days with elder Amaro.
4. I got super sick.

That pretty much sums up the week. And yet as I´m writing this i realize that I´m still super happy. I don´t really even understand why. I want to make a list of good things that happened this week.
1. I feel like i figured out how important the sacrament is to me.
2. I gained atrue love for everyone =)
3. A less active member and his family (from santa maria) came to church.
4. I had an interview with presidente Del Valle
5. I feel.....Much better.

More good than bad. Something that there will always be, more light than darkness. Its a beautiful life we live. Every day brings new challenges that could stop us cold or make us grow. Depends on what we choose. Isn´t that cool? I don´t know why but i just feel right now that Agency is the best thing. Its a weird random thought and truthfully i have no clue where it came from.

Ok i have to explain some things. One Felipe. His entire family is against his decision to listen to us or to be baptized. He is very much a family man and I feel like he won´t choose to do something against their will even if he is the Head of the Household. All his children have children and are married and all but they are still very close.

Emma and Daniel are two of the three children of Monica. They had their baptism set. they said they felt ready. And then they called and said that...well that they didn´t feel prepared. so we are giving them time to decide. Its an important personal decision and its something they have to make on their own. Its tough to watch people falter due to doubts. The same gift that Heavenly Father gave us to make choices sometimes works against us. Sometimes we doubt what could happen but we are praying for them all.

Elder Dahlberg got deported =) He had trouble with his Visa and had to go to Texas to Renew it. Crazy right? So Elder Amaro stayed with Elder Dominguez and myself for three days. We ate a lot, laughed and had a good time. Its way hard working in two areas at a time. we would spend half the day in Americas and half the day in Viñas. And i feel like it wasn´t very effective. Two is the perfect number. 3 is overkill.

I got way sick thursday night. I want to but that in the cleanest way possible so i won´t give details in this letter. Lets just say i have a ton of meds and they kinda make me tired. But the good thing is that i´m getting better, fast =)



We need help here in Las Americas. We need to find new people to teach and fast. If we don´t, we are going to get tired out. Please pray for us to be able to teach well and for the members to help us find the people who the Lord has chosen to hear the message of the Restoration.

I love you all, now more than ever. I feel great and we are all good here in México=)

Elder Ben Williams

Another week

"This is one of the coolest streets ever!"


Ok so what do i say about this week........um.....

I guess i will start with Monica and her family. Her kids still haven´t received their answer about baptism. I don´t know what exactly we can do to help them. We give them sections of scripture to read and invite them to pray about it sincerely. I don´t think they take what we say and actually do it. Its kinda sad. We try our best to help these people and they don´t want what we have. Monica was confirmed yesterday. She is excited to start doing her family history work.

Felipe was doing really well until had nightmares and couldn´t sleep. He told us that he needed time to reflect on his dreams and didn´t want to see us until tomorrow.

We had divisiones this week. First time as district leader, woohoo! i was with Elder Amaro in viñas todo el dia. It was tough. Viñas is an area that has little or no support from their ward. It helped me appreciate the support we have.

Soon i will be calling you all via skype =) I can´t wait! i love hearing from you all in your emails and such but seeing you and hearing your voice is way better.

Sadie, I was just thinking about you. We had a little girl get baptized in our ward the other day and it made me think about you. I know that your baptism will be the start of something incredible and that you will remember it your whole life. its a beautiful feeling, something that is tough to describe until you´ve been baptized. keep on reading the book of Mormon and be an example forever! I love you tons =)


Hey just for fun, look up La feria de San Marcos. It takes place in part of our area and we are not allowed to go there...its like the strip in vegas in a way.

I hope all is well in Zion....or Vegas.....whatever...and I can´t wait to hear from you all again.
With all my love,
Elder Ben Williams.

ps Elder D. Todd Cristofferson is coming to Aguascalientes soon! =) sweet huh?