From July 8th.

Hey!! So today we are starting our second week as the Guayaquil West Mission. We have three stakes from the South Mission and I think five from the North. It`s pretty much the coast of Ecuador. I`m here to help out as the nurse. It`s really cool to be part of a new mission. I`m grateful that I got to see most of the South of Ecuador (Milagro,South Guayaquil, Machala, Cuenca) because now all of those cities are outside of my mission and I can never go back before leaving.

My new mission president is President Dennis from Utah. His parents are from Mexico. He and hsi wife are extremely awesome. They had conferences with all of the zones last week. When they spoke to us the first time I almost cried. They love the missionaries (us) so much, you can feel it so strongly when they`re with us. I`m really happy and grateful to be serving with them.

Right now I`m in a ward called Colón in Guayaquil with Hermana Sanchez, my companion from a few months back. The ward is super awesome-- the members and the area. It`s  blessing to serve there.

It`s weird to think that I have less than 5 months left here. I have mixed feelings when I think about the clock ticking down.. One thing that President Dennis mentioned to us was our time.. Our time in the the mission as well as the time we have in this life. If we waste it, there`s no going back. If we choose not to take advantage of opportunities, more than likely they aren`t going to come back to us. So we need to choose to do the will of the Lord today so that tomorrow we`ll be that much closer to who/where we want to be.

I love you all and I hope yàll have a great week!!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Williams

A Busy Week

July 20, 2013

 

 

Hey! There have been a lot of changes going on here in the mission recently and I´m super excited for all of them. First of all, I have a new companion. And although I absolutely love Hermana Sanchez who left me, I am super stoked to be with Hermana Pérez from Peru. She only has 2 months in the mission but she is super awesome. I´ve been so blessed with the companions I´ve had and I know that she and I are gonna have tons of fun together.

Since we´re the nurses we have Pdays Saturdays and today we also have a wedding. John and Gabriela are getting married tonight!! It´s been a long time coming.. And then tomorrow Gabriela and our friend Jesús are getting baptized in the morning. I am so happy for this weekend. :)

As the nurses we work pretty closely with President and his wife. I am continually amazed at their love and care for each and every one of us. The missionaries of Ecuador Guayaquil West are in good hands! Every day I talk to Hermana Dennis on the phone and I always feel like I´m talking to Mom. She reminds me of you, Mom. She always comes to the conferences when President is teaching us and she is always given a bit of time to share something with us. I am amazed and strengthened by her testimony of the restored gospel. I´m really grateful to be able to serve with her.

I think that´s about all I have for now... But just to mention something cool.. We were reading in Alma 36 the other day to help someone understand about the principle of repentance. I don´t think I´ve ever really read this chapter to understand it, but it is so beautiful. Yáll should read Alma 36. He talks about how he was so weighed down with his sins and a lot of people in the world are like that---they don´t see any way out of their problems. But then he remembered something that his father had taught him.. Even though he hadn´t paid attention at the time, in this pivotal moment he finally understood the significance of the Savior, of the Atonement. And through his faith he was able to put all of the bad stuff behind him and move forward--to be converted--to be a new person and to help others find the same happiness. Hopefully we all can truly understand the significance of the Atonement of Jesus Christ in our lives as well. It´s never too late to make a change and take a stand for what we know. It´s never to late to come unto Him.

I know that my Redeemer lives and he leads His church today. I am so grateful for the guidance of His holy scriptures and His chosen servants. This is the work of God. John 5:17

I love you all!!

Hermana Williams

 

 

P.S. NEW ADDRESS:

Mission Ecuador Guayaquil West

Casilla 09-04-206

Guayaquil, Guayas

Ecuador

Send me mail before it´s too late!!! haha

El Templo de Guayaquil

So today we went to the temple in Guayaquil (bueno, I live in Guayaquil but I've never gone..). Some converts of Hermana Sanchez got sealed today.

It was so awesome to be at the temple again. It's been a year since I've gone so it was quite refreshing. And while we were there we saw many people from our old wards, even Porvenir where we were companions before. Hermana Sanchez made the comment that it's what it's going to be like in Heaven. You'll just be sitting there waiting and all of a sudden in will walk all of your loved ones. I really love these people.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week. I love y'all!!

 

July 13th

Hey!! So today we are starting our second week as the Guayaquil West Mission. We have three stakes from the South Mission and I think five from the North. It`s pretty much the coast of Ecuador. I`m here to help out as the nurse. It`s really cool to be part of a new mission. I`m grateful that I got to see most of the South of Ecuador (Milagro,South Guayaquil, Machala, Cuenca) because now all of those cities are outside of my mission and I can never go back before leaving.

My new mission president is President Dennis from Utah. His parents are from Mexico. He and hsi wife are extremely awesome. They had conferences with all of the zones last week. When they spoke to us the first time I almost cried. They love the missionaries (us) so much, you can feel it so strongly when they`re with us. I`m really happy and grateful to be serving with them.

Right now I`m in a ward called Colón in Guayaquil with Hermana Sanchez, my companion from a few months back. The ward is super awesome-- the members and the area. It`s  blessing to serve there.

It`s weird to think that I have less than 5 months left here. I have mixed feelings when I think about the clock ticking down.. One thing that President Dennis mentioned to us was our time.. Our time in the the mission as well as the time we have in this life. If we waste it, there`s no going back. If we choose not to take advantage of opportunities, more than likely they aren`t going to come back to us. So we need to choose to do the will of the Lord today so that tomorrow we`ll be that much closer to who/where we want to be.

I love you all and I hope yàll have a great week!!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Williams

Mother Day

Hey!!

I hope everyone is doing well in Carolina. Happy Mother´s Day to all of the wonderful women there who have influenced my life. :)

We have the baptism of Norma today. She´s a really sweet lady that we met a few weeks back. And she´s finally ready! I´m also attaching a few pictures from Joseph´s baptism last week. That kid is so legit.

Hermana Chavez and I are rocking it as the nurses. We don´t always understand things 100% and people always get us confused because we´re two gringas but it´s cool. We have SO much fun together and I´m super grateful that we´re companions.

I´m about to hit my year mark in about two weeks!! That´s crazy! The time has gone by so slowly but at the same time flown haha. Every day I´m learning a little more about how to be a better person and who the Lord wants me to be. It´s not always easy but it´s worth it.

I love you all! Follow the Spirit and look for the will of the Lord. Have a great Mother´s Day!

Love,

Hermana Williams

More pictures!

Sisters!

Missionary kids, (:

How cute, (:

I'm pretty sure these pictures were taken during Christmas time.

Sorry for the delay!

Merry Christmas! Haha (:

Time Flies

Hey, Everybody!!

Time seems to be moving quicker lately. I hit my nine month mark and I have half of my mission left but I don´t feel like it´s much time. 

Yesterday we had a conference with Elder Waddell from our area presidency. I think he´s from California and in one of the quorums of the seventy. He is amazing and it was such a privilege to have him here to speak with us. He served his mission in Spain and later was a mission president there. His Spanish is a bit different (Spaniard) but he speaks really well. Some of the things he touched on yesterday (all of this is my translation to English)...

He asked the question: ¨Why do we meet together in church?¨ And I think this is a question that a lot of people have---why do people need to go to church if they can have Jesus in their heart wherever they go? We looked at a lot of scriptures to come up with the answer to this question... Jesus Christ taught His gospel when He came to the earth. There are a lot of doctrines very specific and precious. It´s important that we learn together to obey His commandments with exactness. Like it talks about in 1 Samuel 15--sometimes we think our way is better than the Lord´s. But really His way is always best and we need to follow His commandments with exactness to receive His blessings. For this, we have to study the pure doctrines, strengthen and prepare ourselves together so that we can do His work in His way and not our own.

He mentioned a story of the Martin and Willie handcart companies that were stuck in the mountains in the winter. The prophet sent a group to search for them. After making an effort they couldn´t find the companies so they headed back for Salt Lake. They met up with Arza Hinckley and a group that was also going to search for the companies in trouble. They told Arza that it was in vain to continue on because they were nowhere to be found. His response was, "I have been called by a prophet of God... I will find them or I will die trying." Wow. It really makes you think about your responsibility as a missionary... or even in any other calling. We need to have this same confidence and drive--that this is our responsibility and we need to give everything we have to complete our calling.

Sometimes I talk to people here about my "real life" before the mish. But Elder Waddell made a comment about this too... How sometimes we think that the mish is just a period of time that we serve but I love what he said... "Life doesn´t get any more real than this. There is nothing more real than the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is nothing more real than the priesthood and the power to seal families together for eternity. There is nothing more real than Joseph Smith and the restoration of the gospel. There is nothing more real than the Atonement of Jesus Christ. This is real life."

Those are just a few of the highlights from what we went over yesterday. It was such a good experience. I love the gospel. I hope everyone is doing well at home. I love you all!

Love,

Helena