August 13, 2012

Dear Family and Friends,
I am doing good! I hope y'all are enjoying being in Canada! It actually isn't too hot yet, it has been overcast for a good portion on August, we have been told that August is the hottest month of the year! That's awesome that Tannin is now in Florida!! What?!? Dakota's date was pushed back?!? That's gotta be tough! I was anxious to go into the MTC!! We might try a pancake breakfast, we will have to see if it can be arranged. Shawn and Sarah are doing good, no I haven't told them about me having a cousin named Sean and him marrying a girl named Sarah, but I can!

Sounds like y'all are having alot of fun in Canada!! Tell everybody that I said hi and I miss them!! I missed out on a "French" family softball tournament!! That stinks!!! That sounds like fun!! Well I hope y'all don't get too wet!!

This week was pretty good, we had a good start to the week and on Thursday it was a very slow day!! And we got soaked in some rain! It wasn't fun!! We have taught a good amount of people this week! Saturday we went back to Joe and Anita, we gave them a 2 week break, and Anita had read some with the girls and she felt happy doing it, she told us the first day she didn't recognize it but the second day she did and she liked it! They kinda grilled us as to why we left. we told them that we felt we were pressuring too much and wanted to give them time to read and not feel pressured. Anita asked if we didn't come by because we felt it wasn't doing any good, and we said yes and no, she said that she liked us coming by. We think they will progress now and will change! It was awesome!! Yesturday we had a short lesson with Shawn and Sarah, they were going to come to church, but we completely forgot it was Stake Conference (we were to go to Douglas for a satelite broadcast from Tifton) until Friday and when we told them Shawn said that he was on call Sunday and if he did get called in it would take him a long time to get back and get his things and go wherever he was supposed to. But we made the Plan of Salvation out of a foam board so we could show more details and visuals. We laid it out before them and asked them to put it together in order and they did pretty good! Only 2 in the worng spots, Shawn told us he is fascinated with the Kingdoms of Glory! Next Sunday they said they would come to Church!
Oh and back on Tuesday we had a lesson with our investigator named Oscar and we taught about Through Christ we can be Cleansed and Faith and reviewed the Word of Wisdom. We then asked him if he had the faith that God would help him quit smoking right then and he said yes, we asked if he would be willing to give us his cigarettes and he did!! We told him God would bless him for his faith! Unfortunately we haven't made contact with him since and that's not good! We are going try back as soon as possible!

Well I want y'all to know how much I love you and I know that Jesus Christ lives!!
Love,
Elder Cameron Williams

Dear Family and Friends!!!

I'll do my best to share with others!! I could probably host a Branch Pancake Breakfast and still have leftovers!! Haha!! Well I can't really think of anything I would want besides Smarties, Kinder Eggs, and Sour Gummy Worms, but I am trying to not eat alot of sugar, so please don't send alot of them! (Elder Weir keeps troubling me about my belly, he likes to give trouble, kinda like Grandpa Williams) I haven't heard much about the Olympics but that's ok I'm busy with other things! But I hope USA wins!!  Well It sounds like y'all are keeping busy and preparing for Canada, I just thought about this, but when you go to Canada I will be the only one left in the country from our family! But then I thought it was like that last summer, but Jamie was in Peru! So I don't think it will affect me much, Take lots of videos please!! Especially on trips home and back or something! Y'all will know what to do!! 

 

Well this week was pretty good! My highlight of the week was we were visiting with Shawn and Sarah yesturday and we taught the Restoration and really helped them understand the Apostasy and the need for the Restoration and it really helped!! We committed them to be baptized on Sept 15th!! Our weeks here keep getting better and better! We went to a wedding reception Saturday evening for a member in the branch, she married a guy from Oklahoma and they left to go back to Utah to go to BYU and finish school! Joyce (the lady we have been visiting at the nursing home) is in rough shape right now. She thinks she's gonna die, and we tried to comfort her but she's not really wanting to listen, we have been told by those who work there that she doesn't listen to them, so that makes me thinks she isn't listening to us, but I don't know. We have given her a blessing before but it didn't seem to work. She has been slowly going downhill! 

Right now, one thing we struggle with is people understanding what we are saying about the Great Apostasy and the need for the Restoration. We feel like we are explaining clearly but they aren't getting it. We did an acivity in comp study where we would ask some questions in each principle that would help them understand what we are teaching and apply it! It worked with Shawn and Sarah!!

Well I can't really think of anything else right now. I hope y'all are doing good and staying out of trouble!!  I love y'all alot!!

Love,

Elder Cameron Williams 

Dear Family and Friends!!!

I'm glad that y'all had a great week, I'm sorry you couldn't do more mum!! I did get the notes and the package, thank you very much!! The pancake mix should last a while!! Well this week is transfer week and I am staying here in McRae!! I'm glad about it because we are getting alot more people!!! And Elder Weir is staying too! I am doing good!

This week was a good bounce back week for power week, we continued teaching alot and finding a few more people to teach! My highlight would have to be Charles! He opened the door and we were looking for a lady that lived there (Kala, an investigator), she wasn't home, and we asked him if he had talked with missionaries before, he hadn't but he let us in and we taught him about the Restoration and gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon to read! We both feel he will progress! He hasn't been baptized and he currently is going to a Methodist church, but we are hoping to change all that. He said if he came to know this is true he will be baptized!!

We have alot of investigators now!

We dropped Joe and Anita because they weren't progressing unfortunately, we will give them a couple weeks break and see if that will change anything.

I'll give the names of other investigators and a little about them:

Shantell: she's black, 18 and the grand-daughter of a less active member. She is going to college right now studying to become a nurse.

Oscar: he's black and about 50-60ish years old and he doesn't retain very well.

Mr.McRae: he's black and about 50ish years old, he is retired, use to work with special needs children. Likes talking about "the word".

Charles: he is also black and about early 40's, he works at the Husquverna (lawn mowers and snow blower) factory here and he let us right in and we taught the Restoration. He wants to learn more.

There are a few new ones, Charles being one of them, that we will see how they turn out.

This week I relearned that there is still alot of confusion in the world and I am truely grateful to have a prophet on the Earth that will lead and guide us! Sometimes it's hard to remember that because of all the other people I talk to but I know that the Gospel is true! I know the Book of Mormon is true and I can't deny it!!!!!!!!

I love y'all VERY much!!!!!!

Stay strong!!!

Love,

Elder Cameron Williams

Dear Family and Friends!!!!!

I guess it is Happy Pioneer week, I almost forgot about it because nobody here really celebrates it! I didn't get the notes Saturday but I will probably get them today! I'm excited to read them! I can't think of anything else to have you send. My week was great! I'll explain more in a moment!

Emily did not tell me she was the new Beehive class President!! Why not Emily?!?!?!?

Ahhhh!! I was going to surprise you when I came home about the corn on the cob in the microwave trick!! We learned about that within the last 2 weeks from the Branch President's wife, she gave us some corn on the cob! Aunt Ja Nae spoiled my surprise!!  

Y'all are going to Canada on the 8th!?! Yay!!!!!!! Tell everyone I says hi. (and you have to say it like that too!) Hehehe!!  

 

Well this week we had a mission wide Power week, were everyone worked as hard as they could and we had an AMAZING week!! We had the best week McRae has ever seen since I got here!! We have 10 new investigators (That's the most I've ever gotten in a week ever!) and we had 15 lessons with investigators!!! It would be a long email if I talk about each investigator. We have been doing the best we can and I feel great that we are getting success!! We have been going through our area book looking for potential investigators and contacting them, we have either found them or someone in the house has allowed us to come back!! Last night was great! We didn't have much success yesturday until after dinner, we had one hour until we had to be in and we went to try a less actives grandson, he wasn't home but his sister was, we asked her if she had talked to missionaries before and she had but didn't understand what they talked about, and she said we could come by on Wednesday evening, her name is Shantell and she is 18. We feel that she will progress, I gave her a Book of Mormon before leaving and asked her to read some before we come by! Next we tried another potential and he answered, his name is Larry and he let us share a short message with him and we gave him a Book of Mormon and he said we could come by Saturday! And from those and seeing our actuals I was VERY happy!! I felt very tired and filled with joy!! I know that we were led to them and it was awesome to see them accept it!! I'm really excited to be apart of this!!

The Gospel (faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end) has been restored in its fullness!!

I love y'all very much!!

Love,

Elder Cameron Williams 

Dear Family and Friends!!! 

I am doing good, thanks for asking! This week has been a good week.

Sounds like y'all had a good time at the movies, I've been told about the Avengers and Snow White and the Huntsman and they both sounded good! But that will have to wait, I'm on a mission now!

That's cool that Dad got new shoes and shirt!!! I bet he happy for the next year or so (not needing new clothes  hehe!)!

Emily knows how to do duct tape crafting?!? Since when??
Well as to stuff I need is contact solution, and we just ran out of pancake mix, and I request I'd like is if Lehi Roller Mills has Chocolate Chip Pancakes could you send me some?? If they don't Blueberry Pancakes will be fine! And could you send some Skittles too please? 

It sounds like y'all are alive and kicking!

Well this week was a good week! I'll start with Thursday. We had a District Training with our District and the Douglas District and we were instructed by the Zone Leaders, Assistants, and Pres. and Sis. Jensen! It was a really good meeting! We went around the room and quoted scriptures, I quoted 2 Nephi 28:7-9 and it was cool to hear all the scriptures people memorized! We also played a game were President Jensen opened up to somewhere in the Book of Mormon and started reading and the first person who could find where he was reading and read along would win that round and get up and do the same thing. We did 6 rounds and I won 2 of them! There were 18 people there, I really surprised myself!! I am getting to know the Book of Mormon very well!  Which is REALLY good!! And earlier that day we came across a boy named Albert who said his mom wasn't home, but we can come by the next day, we did and we met his mom. Missionaries in the past have talked to her and gave her a Book of Mormon and she told us she LOVES it! We asked her when we could come by to teach her more, but she said that she is really busy. We told her that we will try back in about a week and try to teach her!! We are really excited about it!! Joe and Anita are doing alright, they seem to be at a standstill right now, Anita has stopped progressing and we can't seem to get her back to where she was. We are going to see them today. Yesturday we finally got in with a family we have been trying to work with for just about as long as I have been here! And it was good! They had a friend who listened in and he told us that we answered alot of his questions about us! And he accepted a Book of Mormon!!  This was a good week! Well I love y'all VERY much!!!! Stay Strong!!

Love,

Elder Cameron Williams

Dear Family and Friends!

I try to be busy! My 4th of July was slow. I'll explain more in a minute. I didn't wear the shirt until I was going to bed. We do have AC which is good because it has been REALLY hot!! I was sweating so bad I looked like I just went swimming (almost literally!!)!

Well it sounds like the Cabin was alot of fun!! :) How did Logan do without Richie or me?

Kickball and a bar-b-que sounds awesome!! That's too bad that Dad hurt his leg in kickball! I hope you had a good birthday Dad! Sorry my card was late! In my defense I COMPLELETY forgot that the mail doesn't run on the 4th of July! (I think the mail should run every day for missionaries! Hehe!) I hope you enjoy the card!  Now that Dad has alot of Red Green show I look forward to watching it! Because anything that Dad gets for his birthday or Christmas becomes the family's, right?? This week is my 18 month mark!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I've served a Sisters mission!  Now I will see y'all in a few months! At least it will feel like a few months! Haha! Time is going by quick and there is nothing I can do about it!

 

Well this week had good days and bad days! We didn't really do much for the 4th (fun wise), we had lunch at a members house and then we went back out to Lumber City to return appointments! And nobody was home! Every door we knocked didn't open! Everyone was leaving the very small town to a bigger town for the 4th because there is nothing to do there! And the same result when we returned to McRae! We didn't watch fireworks either mum!

Anita didn't like having a specific baptismal date and wanted to keep going until she feels like getting baptized, when we went over yesturday she told us that after that she felt like if she didn't make that step (baptism) then things in life would get worse! And she didn't like feeling like that!She also said that something scared her and she wants to get back to where she was progressing!  We brought a member with us to this lesson and he was able to provide exeperience on quiting drinking and smoking! And he is going to help them fix a plumbing problem! But our lesson yesturday was focused entirely on the Atonement and it really helped! They didn't remember what the Atonement was! It seemed a little rocky but I think it was what they needed to hear! Even Joe said that he wanted to give getting baptized a shot!! (That's a HUGE step!! He has never said anything about that before!) We feel that once Joe gets on board then he and Anita will be able to overcome drinking and smoking together!! It was awesome! And we invited them to read Alma 17-26 one chapter a night as a family! And they said they would! It was awesome!! I believe that the Atonement will help anyone when they access it!

I think that will do it for my week! One last thing, Elder Weir told me this morning that he was a pre-fect (Percy Weasley was one)! Haha! I don't know why he got that because he told me he doesn't know any magic!

Well it was great to hear from y'all once again! I love y'all!!

Love,

Elder Cameron Williams 

Dear Family and Friends,

I do have a Jamaican companion. It's been going good he likes Japanese cars. Life as a District Leader is going alright I guess, Just more I get to do! We did not have baptisms yesturday unfortunately, we had to push them back to July 21st! It's a slow process with them.

No you didn't tell me it was Cabin weekend! Tell everyone I says hi!! Sounds like almost the usual Cabin stuff!  I hope y'all are having fun at the Cabin!

Well this week was pretty good! The first half of it wasn't too good, we didn't have much to do. Thursday we were able to get a member to take us to Lumber City a small town about 20 miles outside McRae and we went looking for potential investigators and we found a couple of them and found some new people! The first apartment we went to the lady we were looking for didn't live there anymore and the guy that was there invited us in and we taught the Restoration! His dad came in and when he found out we were Mormons he said that he was baptized into the Church when he was 8 or 9 but stopped going. Byron was the guy who invited us in and he accepted the Book of Mormon and wanted to read and pray about it! As we were about to leave his dad asked us if we wanted to stay for lunch and we said sure! We had BBQ chicken, greens, and corn! They said they would come to church! :) The next place was literally right next door and a guy opened and invited us in instantly! His name is Sean and he is about 21, his mom was there too and another guy, I think a friend. We were going to talk about the Book of Mormon and when I pulled it out Sean asked if we had an extra copy and we said yes! We gave both him and his mom a copy to read and they said they would come to church if we called them Sunday morning!! We walked around to the other side of town and found 2 more people who accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon or a Restoration pamphlet!! And all of them except Sean (didn't know if he would be working Wednesday or not) accepted a return appointment!!! We are excited to go back out there!!

We also had a good lesson with Joe! We read Alma 34 and he asked us again if he lived with God before this life why would he want to come down here to Earth to experience life. We told him it is because he wanted to, and he gave us a look like "WHAT?!?" we explained more and then I felt that I should read D&C 122:5-7 to him and he LOVED it!! He wants a card with that one it! So I will be doing that here in a minute!

Sunday evening we had a missionary fireside where returned missionaries in the branch, the Stake President and 1st councilor, and President Jensen spoke about their missions and how they blessed them! It was awesome!! Alot of people came!! 

Well I think that will do for this email! I love y'all and try not to party too hard at the Cabin!! Oh! Do I have a cartoon drawing of myself there?!?!?!?!?!?? If you do, you should save it!!! I love y'all and tell everyone I love them too!!!

Love,

Elder Cameron Williams