Note: Elder Williams has been blessed with great friends over the years. In order to stay connected with these friends, one of them suggested that each of them write a letter each quarter that could be put together into a newsletter so that they could stay connected while on their missions. This week's letter was one of these letters that will be included in the newsletter to his friends:
Hello Friends!
It has been way to long since I have written a good letter to all of you, so I apologize. The mission continues to go by at a rapid pace. Way faster than it should be going. But I have learned so much and I feel like I have changed alot as well. I love nothing more than teaching the Gospel. My dream, is to be a Seminary teacher one day! (see how much I have changed?)
Well, let me explain a little bit about the Mozambique Maputo Mission. Over the past year, the mission has changed dramatically. There was always a big problem in the country that was hurting the growth of the church.The problem was that families were not married legally, and didnt have enough money to get married. This left missionaries in a tough situation for years. Missionaries did reactivation efforts, hoping to build the church that way. But what the church needed, was new families to establish the Church in Mozambique.
Miracles started to happen as missionaries looked for ways to improve the situation. The mission started looking into how we could help these families get married so that they could be baptized. The mission came up with a collective marriage idea that allowed multiple couples to get married on the same day. This is the miracle that Elder Neil Anderson talked about in his General Conference talk. Since then, the country has started to take off. We ONLY teach complete families. I haven't taught single people or teenagers for the past 9 months. This is the only way that the Church will grow.
Mozambique has yet to have Stake. But within the next 20 months, 4 stakes will be organized in the country. It is so exciting to see! So that is our goal here in Mozambique. To establish Stakes! And these people deserve it! There is not a more gentle, humble people that I have seen. They are so willing to except the gospel. It is humbling for me to enter houses made of dirt and teach the true gospel to them. People really are changing their lives.
As for me, I am doing well! I get along with my companion and we are working in an area that has one member family. So it is fertile soil. We are slowly trying to build this area into a powerhouse. We are working in the suburbs of the countrys biggest city, Maputo.
Nothing to crazy has happened over the fast few months, except this past week, me and my companion had a scary situation. We ended up being chased by 2 crazy guys trying to beat us with rebar. My companion dodged a blow right to the head. But we ran away and we were save! Even though we did get seperated for a few minutes because of it. Haha
Well I hope each of you are doing well! I hope you all undedrstand that this time we have, is short. I know that this is the Lords work here on the Earth. I am humbled and gratful to be apart of it. Love you all!
Elder Williams
