Christmas Lights in the Middle of a Super Long Summer

Hey, Everybody!!

I hope everyone is enjoying autumn back home. Here you can´t tell the difference between seasons. I feel like I´m stuck in one super long summer. The only indication that it´s getting to be the end of the year is that people are putting up Christmas trees and lights.

Friday I´ll hit six months out. One year left. I had a dream the other night that I was in my living room with my family and we were decorating for Christmas with lights and garland and a tree. I told my family, "I want this room to look just like this when I come home next year." And then the alarm went off. So, Mom, remember that.. lots and lots of lights. ;)

There is a tradition here of burning muñecas for the New Year. They are basically these figures made of paper/plaster. Some of them are pretty impressive--every super hero or cartoon character you can think of (Spiderman, Sonic the hedgehog, Bart Simpson, Mickey Mouse, the Hulk, etc). Some of them are small, some of them are huge. They burn them for New Years to say goodbye to the old year and bring in the new. I´ll have to try to get pictures of some of them. But I like the tradition. I´ll have to do it in the States when I come home.

Things are going well here in Milagro. I´m still in Porvenir with Hermana Sanchez. This is one of the best barrios in the mission. There talking about putting two more misioneras here this next change because there´s tons to do. They want to split the ward sometime next year. So there will be el barrio Porvenir and la rama Las Piñas. I´m super lucky to be able to serve here. I´m thinking I´ll be here for the next few months as well but really you never know in this mission. Cambios (transfers) are next week so we´ll see.

I´ve been learning a lot recently about a lot of things. I love meeting and interacting with the people here. It´s so easy to love them. And as missioneries we spend a lot of time thinking about what they need. It´s humbling to feel the love that Heavenly Father has for each of these people. Everyone has such a potential for good but it all depends on the decisions they make. It all depends in them. And sometimes it´s heartbreaking when they choose not to overcome their challenges. But it´s so sweet to see the people that make the change in their lives to follow Christ more fully.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!! Enjoy all of the many blessings that the Lord has given you. I love you all!!!

Hermana Williams

Ecuadorian Good Times

Adorbs.

Sister Missionaries!

Birthday tradition insists that the aging one (in this case three) stuff their face(s) in the cake before anyone eats it!

Cake stuffers!

Fabulous.

Yum yum.

Smile.

She has a way with children.

"Suffer the children to come to me."

Happy Octubre!!!

I can´t believe it´s already October!! I wake up very morning and expect the weather to be turning to fall but instead it´s just toasty as usual.

Today we had cambios (transfers). My new companion is Hermana Sanchez from La Paz, Bolivia. She´s super sweet. I´m glad to have a Latina companion now because I feel like the Spanish is going to come faster. It´s funny though. We had a bunch of missionaries together this morning to receive the changes and it was the first time I´ve met most of thm. We were all talking together and one of the Latinas asked me where I was from--los Estados Unidos. And then she asked me if my parents were Latinos. All I could do was laugh because I´m obviously super white with blue eyes and goldish brown hair. She thought I had learned to speak from my latino parents because I speak pretty well. But we weren´t talking long enough for her to know how bad my grammar is!

This week has been pretty good. We have tons of people that we´re teaching. We found this new family. There are about members in the family and they are super humble. They all live in a one room house about 1.5 times the size of my bedroom. They are all very sweet. I especially love little Maria--the 2 year old grandaughter. She never talks but she just stares at you with her little brown eyes. If only she could come home with me!

We´ve also been teaching some people out in el campo (the country). I love it out there, reminds me of South Carolina but more tropical. It´s almost legit jungle but not quite. It´s kind of sad though because a lot of people can´t come to church because they can´t leave their houses without anyone there to watch it. Someone always has to be at the house because people get robbed a lot here. Houses made of caña aren´t the most secure of structures.

Oh my gosh, I´m gaining wight! I love Porvenir but everyone wants to feed you a feast! And you can´t tell people no because they´re giving to you from their heart and from what little they have and you can´t waste. We were visiting the trips the other day and they´re cousin was saying that I look fatter (they always tell people here that they´re fat, it´s not rude like in the States) than in my pictures. I told her I was going to not eat for a few days and she said, "No! You´ll go home and they´ll think we didn´t feed you here in Ecuador. You need to go home healthy." Right.... Oh, I love the trips. They told us that if we were going to get changed to another ward to come hide out at their house and we could live with them. But anyways, yeah, diet starts today.

That´s all I´ve got for now. And it´s time to check out. Thanks for the letters and emails I´ve gotten. I´m working on getting back to yáll but sometimes the communication is a bit slow. I love you all and I hope everyone is doing well!!

Love,

Hermana Williams

Pictures from Ecuador!

Hola!

Companions!

Baptism.

Familia

Ecuador missionaries!

Utah MTC, Photographs

U.S. MTC

The sisters.

"I'm just so happy to be here!"

Home to mission field!

Juuust chillin'.

 These are pictures from when Helena was at the MTC in Utah.

4 Months in!!

Hey Everyone!!

Yesterday was my four month mark!! But no, I`m not really counting down... Time is flying though!

I`m still here in the city of Milagro with Hermana Adams. I`m really enjoying being here in this area with the people I`m working with.

Elder Christofferson came and spoke to us a few weeks ago. There was such an awesome spirit with him. He spoke to us about being servants of Christ and how best to go about it. He`s got pretty good Spanish.

Speaking of Spanish, learning it is going really well. Gifts of the spirit are so legit is all I have to say. I had my first interview with President this week and he asked me where I learned to speak such good Spanish. Don`t get me wrong, I have a ways to go til I`m completely fluent but for 4 months in, I am speaking really well.

So far I haven`t done anything nursing here--just the regular missionary thing. There`s another girl from Utah that`s doing the nursing right now. I expect they`ll pull me to the office in a few months to train with her.

We`ve had 7 people get baptized so far this month and we should have 2 next week.. This past weekend was the service for a set of identical girl trillizas (triplets) that were turning 9 the same day. They were so fun to teach and I love their family so much. We had a huge cake for them at their baptism. They have a custom here that whoever`s having a birthday bites the cake so they all bit it and they all ended up with clown smiles painted on their faces from the frosting. It was the cutest thing! I want to bring them home with me.

My most exotic experience recently was shaking hands with a monkey. It was somebody`s pet and he was just tied up outside. He was pretty ugly. He tried to jump on me but luckily his chain wasn`t long enough. I might have died if he had actually jumped on me. Monkey`s are much cuter as drawings.

One thing that I love about Ecuador is that everyone uses hammocks. Almost every house has a hammock strung up in the room with the TV where you can just chill and watch. A lot of people have their houses elevated on stilts for the flood season so they`ll string hammocks up underneath their houses when it`s dry. I even saw a man napping in a hammock strung up under his transport truck. Gotta love Ecuador. So, fam, be thinking about where you`d like to put the hammock. ;)

One not so cool thing here is the mosquitoes. They`re like paranas of the air. No.me.gusta. And every season is mosquito season because it`s always hot here. And apparently it`s going to be getting hotter because we`re about to go into their summer in a couple of months. Sweet.

That`s about all I have for now. I hope all is well with everyone at home. Congratulations to everyone that got/is getting married or having babies. I love you all and miss you all. And a huge thank you to everyone that sent a letter or note or email. Even though I don`t answer back right away, I really appreciate hearing from yàll. Until next time... Have a wonderful day!!

Love,

Hermana Williams

Three Months Down!

Hey!!

So I hit my three month mark last week. Woot woot! Only 15 more to go!! haha Thanks to everyone that has sent emails or letters. They are much appreciated! And sorry that I can`t get back in touch with everyone in a very timely manner. Communication is a bit limited here..

The hardest thing when I first got here was the dirt. We walk dirt roads pretty much all day every day and come home absolutely filthy. And the dirt is just everywhere no matter how hard you try to keep things clean. So if you`re a germaphobe, be warned. I was not happy with this at first but it`s good once you resign yourself to the fact haha. But I call first shower when I get home. So somebody mark the calendar--November 23, 2013. ;) And if I come home any color different than when I left, please don`t be confused that I may have gotten a tan. It`s really just dirt.

The Spanish is coming along well. I have a new companion (I got transferred after 3 weeks) and she is la Hermana Adams from California. She and I work really well together. And we have an absolutely fantastic barrio (ward) with an Obispo (bishop) that is phenomenal. I really love being here. The people are fanstastic as well. They don`t have a ton and they live pretty humbly but they are very loving and giving. I am so grateful for all they`ve done for us--to help with the work or really anything we need.

We eat really well here. Every day we have lunch with a mamita from the barrio. The staple food here is arroz (rice). So every meal is a plate full of arroz with a couple of sides. I really love the food here but I do kind of miss all things sweet because most everything is salty.

Funny story-- One of the people we are teaching is named Jesùs. He was a reference from some of the Elders and when we were looking for his house the other day we kept asking people "Do you know where Jesùs lives?" I think they thought it was some kind of joke--missionaries asking where Jesùs lives (we didn`t know his last name). But we eventually found him and he`s super awesome. His work is making and selling jugo (juice) de caña. I think it`s kind of like sugar cane. He makes the juice by putting the caña through a handcrank machine he owns. It`s really good. Dad, you need to start growing caña so we can make it at home.

So all in all everything is good down here. I am working with the most awesome companion, zone leaders, and barrio. They make the mission fun. And it`s so cool to help people change their lives. I can`t wait til my Spanish is better so that I can do a better job. This is definitely a humbling experience in all aspects.

That`s all I have for now. Thanks again to everyone for all of your notes of encouragement. :) I have to run now but I hope everyone is doing well!! I love you all!!!

Con amor,

Hermana Williams

Two Weeks in Peru!

Hola!

 

I've been in Peru for two weeks now but I feel like I just got here.. let me back up.

 

The end of my time in Provo went by so fast. I was dreading leaving there and every time someone talked about it I would tear up a bit. I gave my first Spanish talk the last Sunday there on the Santa Cena (sacrament). I wrote it myself but I don't really know what I was saying at the time I was giving it. Everyone said it was really good though--definitely more the Spirit than myself, I'm sure. The night before I left Provo was a sad day.. I cried so much saying adios to my district. Myself, Hna Buzan, and Hna Warner left behind our 7 Elders and Hna Mangum who didn't get her visa for Peru yet. Hopefully she will be joining us soon.

 

We left the MTC at 6:00 on a Tuesday morning. We arrived in Peru around 11:00 that night and got to the CCM (MTC) here in Lima around 2:00 in the morning. We all just crashed. Adjusting here was kind of hard at first. In Provo they were all about being exactly obedient but here it was really hard to be obedient at first. Mostly because our first day or so was very unstructured. It was kind of frustrating, not knowing where you were supposed to be and what you were supposed to be doing. I was definitely a bit home sick for Provo.

 

There are about 90 or so missionaries here in the CCM. About 1/4 of us are Norte Americanos. The Latino missionaries don't speak much English so there is a ton more Spanish than in Provo but we still get to speak English amongst ourselves (which we probably should try not to do). I was really surprised at how much I understood when I first got here. I get the idea of most conversations and every day I understand more and more. My speaking is still pretty slow but it's so much better than in Provo. I have a Latino companion, Hna Diaz from Argentina, and a North American companion, Hna Asay from Provo. All of the hermanas here are super sweet and we laugh a lot together. And all of the Latino missionaries in general are very helpful with the language although they do remind us of how slow they have to speak for us.

 

A few of us will be moving up to be in a full Latino district next week. This means only Spanish all the time. I hope I survive it haha. I'm excited for the opportunity to learn more though. Our teachers for these past couple of weeks have been fantastic--Hna Flores and Hna Chipana. Love them! But we'll have to get new ones next week.

 

I have to say, I'm not a huge fan of Peru (can't wait for Ecuador!). It's like China in a lot of ways... All of the houses and establishments are pretty much gated. It's very smoggy and most days the sky is just a blue/grey smear. However, there are mountains and everyone here speaks Spanish so that sets it apart.

 

Since being here I feel like I've been able to focus better on what I'm supposed to be doing (there are definitely less chances for social distractions when you can't speak the language). Studies have been really good and I'm learning so much about the gospel, about Spanish, about the gospel in Spanish. It's kind of funny because I understand most everything I hear until we get onto subjects other than the gospel. My vocabluary hasn't progressed that far yet.

 

All in all it's been a good experience so far here in Lima. The people (and missionaries) here in South America are so amazing. They have a humility and love for the Lord that is unlike anything I have seen. One of my roommates is an angel, I'm pretty sure--Hna Ibarra. It's very humbling and a privilege to be able to meet and interact with these amazing individuals.

 

Time is almost up, gotta go! I'll email everyone again before I leave Peru. Hope all is well in the States!

 

Con amor,

 

Hermana Williams

Two Weeks In

Hola!!

 

I've on been at the MTC for 2 weeks but I feel like I've been here a year! I leave for the Peru MTC on Tuesday and I don't want to go!!

 

The day I got here I was dropped off at my classroom and my teacher spoke only Spanish!! ALL of the teachers spoke only Spanish. It was a bit of a shock. Luckily, I was able to just laugh about the fact that I could understand nothing (it's either laugh or cry). We arrived on Wednesday and we taught our first lesson in Spanish on Friday. No joke. Luckily my companion is pretty good at Spanish so she helps me out a lot learning the language. Every day I get a little better. I can pray and have some little conversations. I am so slow at translating my English thoughts into Spanish speech though. It's not so bad if people don't speak too quickly but pretty soon I'll be in Peru and EVERYTHING will be in Spanish. Prayer and faith, that's all I have to say. This is a very humbling experience.

 

I absolutely LOVE my district (42 A) here!!!! There are 7 elders and 4 hermanas. We are from Texas, Utah, Washington, Alaska, and South Carolina. We are going to missions in Washington, Mexico, Peru, and Ecuador. The elders and hermanas in my district are the main reason I don't want to leave here. My companion is Hermana Buzan of Washington state. Each and every one of them are completely solid. We've only been together a couple of weeks but we're like family. I have so much love and respect for the missionaries in District 42 A--words are inadequate to express how I feel about them. I love spending time with this group, especially when we sing together! We have sopranos, altos, tenors, basses... It's the best feeling ever singing as a district and brings the spirit so strongly. I imagine it's similar to what heaven will be like. I am definitely going to be crying some legitimate crocodile tears when Monday night comes around.

 

I've had some pretty cool experiences here. Sacrament meetings are in Spanglish. Fast and testimony meeting last week was awesome--so spiritual. I love my zone of missionaries! We have devotionals and firesides twice a week. There are always really good messages there. Elder Jensen of the Seventy was here Tuesday night. Apparently he's getting released soon as a Seventy. His message was so powerful, you could feel him radiating love. There are so many things that happen in the MTC that cause you to grow. I think my major growth so far has been in love for others. It's almost like being at a temple while you're here--it's actually difficult to have bad thoughts.

 

I had a couple of meetings the past couple of days about the medical aspect of my mission. I feel so inadequate! It sounds like I'll be the only nurse in my mission and I take care of any health needs of all of the missionaries (along with the medical coordinator/doctor and the mission president's wife). They keep saying to all of us that the Lord will qualify you for your call. I have faith that he will but it's still a bit nerveracking. Like I said earlier, lots of prayers.

 

That's about all I have for now. It's hard to think of what to say when you're put on a clock. I hope all if going well at home for everyone!! If anyone wants to get in touch with me, use dearelder.com instead of email if you can because I'll get those messages the next day. Starting Tuesday address any mail or dearelders to the Peru MTC.

 

I love you all!!!

 

Con amor,

 

Hermana Williams