A Rough Week

"I know you must think that I died in the wilderness long ago, but I didn't." -Nacho Libre

Kumusta everyone! Let me just start off by saying I do not have enough time out here to email everything I want to. Hopefully, it is still good for all of you to read. 

Everything has been good here, kind of. I'm not going to lie, there were a couple of days where I went through a rough patch this past week. Completely adjusting to new cultures and new people without being able to speak to them is hard. There is even a language barrier between my companion and me, so there have been some frustrating times where he just doesn't understand what I try to tell him. I got really stressed about language. With all the time I have to think because I don't know what is going on, I started thinking "How am I going to do this for 2 years"?  

I had no desire to go home, but I was not in the right place for a few days. I talked with President Hiatt and he basically said that he is not worried about me at all. We had a good talk and I mostly got over it after that. The main thing is I would never be able to justify doing anything else hard in life if I quit at the beginning of my mission.  Don't worry though, I'm doing good. I got over it. Now it is just adjusting to the different culture. I love the people, but there are a few times where I have just not understood or had a rough time communicating with my companion. 

General Conference was really good for me though. It seemed like the whole time it had something to do with trials. That was definitely a blessing for me. See D&C 122:7, Ether 12:27, etc. 

(Added by Alayna:

  

D&C 122:7 --> "And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good."

Ether 12:27 --> "And if men come unto me I will show them their weakness.  I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." )

Basically, just endure trials and they will make you stronger. I would recommend reading over all those talks again. Everything is going good. We have been really busy. We taught over 30 lessons in the past week, and I am still in training. 

We got to eat lunch at the mission home in between sessions on Sunday. We are really lucky that our church is the one by the mission home that we were able to do that. We got a lot of American food, which was nice...sloppy joes, fruit salad, chips, brownies. It was nice. I refused to have rice even though all the Filipinos somehow managed to still eat rice with a sloppy joe. I think it is the first time someone has ever had a sloppy joe and rice at the same time.

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Forever and a day, Love Elder Williamson!