t r a n s f e r s

well last night hermana smith and i were in the middle of watching the joseph smith movie at the palma's house with our new investigator pedro when we got the phone call about our last tansfers. we ran outside and found out that we are staying together for six more weeks! i am SO happy! this will be our fifth transfer together. we are also going to be in another trio with hermana janco! hermana janco is really great. she's from bolivia and has about 14 months in the mission. we are training her to be a sister training leader so that she can take over when we leave.

this week has been really really great! yesterday was fast sunday and mishel gave her testimony in church! she talked in front of the whole ward for a few minutes about how she finished reading 1 nefi and how her testimony has become so strong and how she has experienced a lot of changes in her life in the two months that she has been listening and going to church. i love seeing her progress and i am hoping that really soon she will decide to be baptized! we are planning on taking her to the temple sometime this week and the esteve's (my cute grandparents from my first area that work in the temple) are going to come with us and then after we're going to go back to their house with mishel for a treat. today we ate lunch with the esteve's and they are just so great! they finish their mission in june and they are already making plans to go serve another.

on saturday there were three baptisms in our ward, one in the morning and two at night! the elders have been working really hard and chichen keeps on growing. 

wellll as of now that's everything but i'm sure that there will be a lot to talk about next week. as for now i'm just really happy with my transfer! i love you all have a great week!

hermana williams 

Campeche and 16 month mark

this week hermana smith and i and the other four sister training leaders road tripped to campeche! campeche is SO beautiful. we were there for two days and hermana smith and i happened to be in the area closest to the sea! I LOVE THE SEA. we could see it from the window of hermana argueta's house and we passed by it a few times while we were working and exercising in the morning. oh and when we ate lunch with one of the members we ate fresh fish while looking out at the ocean! i didn't want to leave. also campeche is FULL of giant hills. we walked up and down so many hills and our legs were so sore after the first day there. it was a really fun adventure and i checked off one of my mission goals because i've always wanted to go and see the sea in campeche. i also got to work with hermana argueta all day and help her which was really awesome because her and her companion are having a lot of problems together and in their area.

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surprise! emmanuel and manuel received the melchizedek priesthood last night! there were 8 recent converts in the brisas stake that had been preparing to receive the priesthood, and four of them were from chichenitza! when emmanuel and manuel told us that they were going to receive the melchizedek priesthood yesterday when we were driving home from church hermana smith and i almost died. i am so happy for them and i am so happy for the opportunity that they now have to bless their families. i also love seeing them grow! emmanuel came with us this morning to our district meeting and he's getting more and more excited to serve a mission. 

also happy late valentines day! hermana smith and i celebrated by making little valentines for our recent converts and all of the sisters in our zone and the other sister training leaders. we also tried to make heart shaped pancakes in the morning but that didn't really work out hahaha. 

also today is my 16th month mark, it's so hard to believe! i love it here. everyday i feel closer to the lord and i feel my testimony of the gospel of jesus christ grow. i love sharing it with others. 

i   l o v e   y o u   a l l ,

hermana williams

bye bye hermana cruz, hello hermana carrasco!

so last night at about 9 the assistants called us and told us that hermana cruz was leaving to go train in a little town called baca! we were all sad when we got the call because this week has been really great being in a trio, we've had a lot of success and we've been able to do divisions almost every day! we took her to the offices at 11 this morning so that she could meet her new companion and go to her new area. then today about 15 minutes ago we got another call from the assistants saying that we are going to be in another trio with hermana carrasco! we are going to pick her up right now. i am so excited! this is the 7th time that hermana smith will be in a trio hahaha. so great.

we went to the temple at 4:30 tuesday morning with our recent converts and a few recently activated members so that they could do baptisms for the dead! i think that was one of the greatest moments i have had so far. it was so amazing to walk in the temple and see manuel. emmanuel and miguel dressed in white waiting to be baptized. i am so happy that they have gotten to this point and i know that they will keep progressing! i am so grateful for the opportunity that i have had to be here in chichen. i love every minute here. i am also really grateful that our converts sacrificed so much sleep so that they could go to temple because they realized hwo important it was. manuel and emmanuel also found a bunch of names of their ancestors to take to the temple with them, go family history! 

well hermana smith and i have to go pick up our new companion right now! i'll send pictures of her next week. she's really great and we've done two divisions before so i am really excited to be with her again! 

love you all,

hermana williams

Chichenitza - January 26, 2015

it has been so much fun to be in a trio! 

i love being with hermana cruz, she is such a great addition. we have been able to do a lot more work too because whenever a sister from the ward comes with us we divide so i've been working with a bunch of members this week. i am greatful for such a supportive ward! yesterday, thanks to the help of the members there were a total of 18 investigators in chichenitza. it was so awesome to see so many people coming closer to the savior and getting to know his true church. also during sacrament meeting the bishop randomly annouced that hermana smith, elder relitz (a new missionary in the ward that is a professional singer) and i were going to sing how great thou art. we all shared a look because we had no idea that was going to happen but it turned out really great. 

also this morning hermana smith and i had a meeting with the other 3 companionships of sister training leaders and we found out that we will only be visiting the hermanas that need help in the mission and we as a group are going to decide who would best be able to help who. it turns out hermana smith and i are going to travel to campeche next week so that i can help hermana argueta! i am excited to go work with her again for a day! and also to see another state in mexcio, campeche is like 3 hours away from where i am now and it's right by the beach. 

tomorrow the whole mission is going to the temple! at 5 in the morning. everyone can go as long as they bring their recent converts who can do baptisms for their ancestors. emmanuel, manuel, and miguel are going! also jose manuel, a recent convert from april last year that just recently activated again! the bishop is going to take everyone in his big surburban tomrrow at 4:30 in the morning. i am so excited! i love seeing the progress of all of the recent converts here. emmanuel has come with us on visits almost every day this week. he is startng to think more and more about serving a mission! i hope he does, he would be so great. at first he was really nervous to share his testimony with others and now he shares his testimony and even teaches with us. 

well i love chichenitza! i feel so blessed to be here and to be a missionary.

have a great week,

hermana williams

also the camera wasn't working so i will send pictures next week!

Welcome Hermana Cruz! - January 19, 2015

so transfers happened ad hermana smith and i are staying together and we have a new companion! hermana cruz she's from mexico city and has about 9 months in the mission she's really cute ad i am so excited to have another companion. also she was in our zone about 6 weeks ago and then she eft to another area ad came back so hermana smith and i already know her really well from doing divisions! it is going to be so fun being in a trio. our goal is to divide once a day with the members so that we can do more visits, we are going to be working working working oh and today hermana smith and i set up our hammock bunk beds so that is going to be pretty fun. 

also the assisstants called hermana smith ad i last night and told us that we were going to be the senor sister training leaders for the whole mission! i am excited to find out what the means. now there are only 8 sister training leaders for the mission so it's going to be a little crazy but great.

also michelles baptism didn't end up going through pray for her so that she can get baptized soon!

i wish i had more time to write there is so much to say and so little time! i love you all and i will write ore next week.

hermana williams

ps sorry the l m and n aren't workig too well :)

Family History - January 12, 2015

well this week was really great! it started with leadership conference with president on tuesday! on monday night the assistants called us and told us that president wanted us to share a success story during the conference. hermana smith and i decided to take a short video of manuel and have him talk a little bit about his conversion to us.it is a really sweet video! manuel's family went from just saying hi and hiding inside the house when we taught manuel to slowly listening and now coming to church every week. it has been such an amazing change. fatima and luis still need to get married before they can get baptized but we are working on it. also in the conference president talked about the importance of family history and how it helps everyone, not just members, to widen their vision and focus on the temple! hermana smith and i have been teaching family history in almost every lesson we have taught this week and we have seen the difference.

on thursday we had family home evening with manual and his family. they are all so great! oh and i don't remember if i have already said this or not but they are our neighbors. anyways we taught them the restoration and the spirit was so strong. while we were explaining the first vision to them hermana smith and i had everyone close their eyes and we sang joseph smith's first prayer while they imagined what was happening. one of the perks of being hermana smith's companion is that she has the prettiest voice! afterwards we asked them what they imagined and fatima described the vision perfectly and when we showed her a picture she gasped. it was an amazing experience. 

also on saturday night we ran into michelle, she's 15 and we've been teaching her off and on since i've gotten here and hermana smith before that had been teaching her too. we had decided to leave her becaused she stopping progressing but she asked us if we could come get her for church the next day. we picked her up and on the way to go pick up other investigators hermana katia asked her when she was going to get baptized and she goes "i don't know i keep waiting for the hermanas to come tell me when but i'm ready now!" so while we were driving to church we told her that she could get baptized next week if she wanted and she accepted. it was really casual but if all goes well we're going to have another baptism this week! sadly rosi couldn't come to church this week because she wasn't feeling good. the adversary has been working really really hard on her this past week but rosi is staying really strong and i know that she will be able to make through it.

everything else is really great here! emmanuel got the priesthood on sunday and then he came on visits with us for a good four or five hours. he is also working on his fmaily history so that he can go to the temple soon! the mission is having another temple day on the 27th and one of the requirements to go is to bring a recent convert with names and memorize 25 scriptures from the new testament. i am so excited to go again! 

well i love you all, 

have a great week and do your family history!

hermana williams

Feliz Nuevo Ano - January 5, 2015

happy 2015!

this week was really great! it was so fun being here for new years, although we didn't get any sleep because our neighbors are big party animals and the tradition here when it turns midnight is to burn a piñata that's shaped like an old man that is filled with a bunch of fireworks. we took a few pictures from our house of the burning old man and then we ended up chilling in our hammocks with hymns turned up really loud until we could go to sleep hahaha. we also ate so much food again! two families came to our house that night to bring us dinner and everyone else invited us over to their houses. 

also there was so much work this week! we have been finding a lot of really great new investigators through the members here. this week we had 10 of our investigators come to church. hermana rosi came with her family. she is doing so great and is going to be baptized in two weeks! also hermano manuel brought his daughter and son in law and grandkids to church for the first time and they all really liked it and his daughter said that they are now going to come every week. and then on saturday night we ran into the older sister of one of our investigators while she was with her husband and we casually invited them to come to church and they came! also the husband gave his testimony during sacrament meeting and told everyone that we wants to change his life. with the new year starting we are helping our investigators to realize that they CAN change through the atonement and the gospel of jesus christ. 

also hermana rosi signed up last week so that we could eat at her house and she made pozole (i'm not sure if that's how you spell it) because it's my favorite food and we had lunch with her and her whole family. she's so cute! i love seeing her progress. 

also hermana smith and i made a few new years resolutions. one was to speak only spanish and so far so good! we'll see how long that goes. 

well i love you all! 

hermana williams