I've Been Demoted / Contacting Is Like A Box of Chocolates

Here are Frasier's letters (in chronological order) from the last couple of weeks.

January 28th

This upcoming week is a mix of stress and excitement for all missionaries across our mission. It is transfer week this week. Its always a surprise. You never know if you are going to be transferred or not, if you're going to get a new companion or not, and so on. The one thing about President Hiatt is that he is very unpredictable. You can be transferred after one cycle, or sometimes be in an area for 9 months. You can also be called as a zone leader without ever having been a district leader. President even did a surprise transfer for a couple of people including the assistants in the middle of a cycle. I don't know if I am going to get transferred. I could make arguments for why I should and why I shouldn't be transferred. I really love it here and have so many blessings here in this area. I know there will be blessings and great experiences no matter what happens and wherever I go though. 

Our work has almost come to a stop it seems like here in our area. We can't seem to find anyone to teach that is truly committed or interested in what we have to share. The only person we even had that had a baptismal date texted us yesterday as we were waiting for her at church and basically said that she dropped us. She was going to start being active in her old religion again. That was kind of a punch in the gut, but it gives us time to find more people that will actually care I guess. 

We had a zone conference last week. It was really good as always. There is always great instruction and advice that we receive from those. President Hiatt told us the new "Standards of Excellence" for our mission. They are basically impossible, but it just shows what he expects of us I guess. 

This is me breaking the rules. We are not supposed to cross areas, so I walked about two feet past just to take a picture.

This is a big plaque in the mission home office. Its pretty cool. 

One of the elders that lives in the other apartment here in Cauayan drew a picture on his whiteboard as a joke of a shark eating us. We kind of have a fake rivalry I guess. I drew this picture as a comeback to their picture. Our house is the Cauayan 3 branch elders, and the other elders live on Albano street.

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Forever and a day, Love Elder Williamson!

February 5th

Transfer week was last week. President Hiatt is very unpredictable with his transferring so it causes everybody anxiety every transfer week. I was sure that I would be getting a different companion or I would be transferring. I guess I was just expecting something to change, but when we finally got the transfer list texted to us there was no changes for me. I'm still in my same area and still have my same companion, Elder Nolasco. 

I don't know how to better say it than our work is pretty dry right now in our area. We had a lot of success for a couple of weeks. We had 6 great baptisms all in a row, and then all of the sudden wala...it seems like a lot of the days last week we have been just walking around trying to talk to people, but none of our appointments come through, not very many people want to talk to us, and everyone is always cooking and sleeping. It has honestly been a little bit discouraging, but is just the sifting process. It gives us more time to talk to the people that really matter or really care. We had a lot of success for a little while and now we are just reloading. 

One of our investigators dropped us last Monday. It was really not a good deal. She was almost done with lesson five and about ready to have her interview and then just out of the blue sent us a text saying she doesn't want us to visit her anymore and that she doesn't want to be baptized. We visited her one last time to try and save the situation, but she was not wanting us anymore. We put her in the area book and I'm sure the missionaries will baptize her when she is ready, she just isn't ready yet. 

After that, we had no people with a baptismal date, but then within the past week we committed a husband and wife to baptism. They are interested and ask lots of questions about everything. As of now they are our only hot investigators. 

With the struggles we are maybe having in our area right now I just have to keep on telling myself that as long as we are listening to the Spirit and obeying the rules, we are where God wants us to be and doing what He wants us to be doing. That is the struggle, trying to understand when it is the Spirit talking to you and recognizing when the Spirit is talking to you.

Now to explain the title of my email. Elder Temple was released as an assistant and went to be a zone leader in an area called Bambang. He had been gone for about 3 weeks when he decided to come back (kind of). I guess he just forgot how to walk or something because the assistants have a car. Really, he got a blister on his toe that got infected and it got to the point where he could hardly walk and his whole foot was black. President told him to get to the mission home as fast as he could. They went to the hospital and got all this medication and stuff to put on his foot. He should be back to full speed in 2 to 3 weeks. The thing is right now he can hardly walk, so President decided that Elder Temple will be an office Elder for the next few weeks. Basically he just does all the stuff at the office that nobody else wants to do, and then studies all day. That is why my title of "Assistant to the Assistants to the President" has been temporarily removed, but as soon as Elder Temple leaves again I will be reinstated. It really sucks for him. Luckily he didn't lose his toe, but it is cool for me because he is like my best friend in the mission and I get to spend a bunch more time with him. 

Sorry...I was on track to have a really good email and then the internet cut out.

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Forever and a day, Love Elder Williamson!

February 11th

The work is going good. We have one family that is really progressing and then the rest is still in the sifting process right now. This is the story of the one family we are teaching right now. They are really progressing and are ready for their baptism on the 10th. Elder Idorot and I actually found them. We were just waking down the street and said Hi to these people. As we were talking they said that they had met with missionaries before. So we sat down and talked with them. They already had a Book of Mormon and knew a couple of hymns and stuff. We started teaching them and invited them to church but they were kind of half hearted and would never come to church. So we stopped going to them. 

Then Elder Nolasco and I went back to them. They were still the same. They didn't really commit or do the assignments. We finally invited them to church for the last time a few weeks ago and they actually came. After they came to church, their whole countenance changed. They were super excited to meet with us, do all the assignments, and now they have come to church 4 weeks in a row. A few days ago we assigned the Brother to read the Testimony of Joseph Smith before our next visit. The next visit we asked him where he was in the testimony because it is kind of long. He said, "Oh, I'm done with that. I'm in 1 Nephi Chapter 5." Then he went on to tell us everything about the first 5 chapters and why he liked them. 

We gave his wife her own copy yesterday and she texted us afterward and said how grateful and excited she was about having the book. 


We had a District Conference at church that was a really great experience. Even though it didn't necessarily all apply to me because I'm a missionary and not a member of that district, but is was great all the same. All the talks were really inspired and I learned a lot. I left and felt very motivated to do more and be better. It was nice to hear from the members, President Capitulo, as well as Preisdent and Sister Hiatt. I hope we can use the District Conference to kick in a new sense of commitment with the members of our branch.

Last night I was talking with Elder Temple and we started talking about Elder Pully and some of the other really great missionaries that have been in the mission. Elder Temple said that Elder Pully had a way where he cold hear the Spirit talking to him. He also told some stories about how bold and just a great missionary he was as well as good at the language. Being around so many of the leaders in our mission I have seen some really good examples of great missionaries. Here is my thought. I don't believe that it is bad to want to be a good missionary or be a great talented missionary. I know it involves a little bit of work as well as blessings from the Lord. I don't know if I'm just not acting enough or if God has different plans for me, but I don't feel like I'm progressing to that type of level. This is not to say that I am unhappy or not doing good. I'm in a relatively good spot right now. I feel like I have done a lot of good and am a good missionary, but I know I could be a lot better. 

I am starting to understand what people are saying. It depends on the situation though. When we are in our apartment and other missionaries are talking I can follow most of what they say. As well as in common missionary situations where I have heard them all the time, I know what is being said. When other people are talking it is a little bit harder. Normal people are just harder because I don't know what they are saying because I haven't heard some of what they are saying before. Most of what I am understanding, though, I still have to translate in my mind.  It is not really an automatic understanding. The hard part is trying to reply though. I have a lot harder time trying to reply to people than understanding. I can say very basic things, mostly memorized words and phrases. I did, however, start saying the first vision memorized which is a big step. All in all it is going slowly but surely. 

Other than that everything is just going. We do a lot of walking and talking. Some people are more interested than others. Almost everyone is willing to talk with us. Their responses are different. Most people will talk but won't act on anything. If you talk to a Jehovah's Witness they just try and argue with you. If you talk to an Inglesia ni Cristo they just act kind of rude or say what they are and then walk away. So, "Contacting is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get." -Forrest Gump. 

Our apartment we live in is a really good apartment. It is really nice and I like it a lot. 

(Added by Alayna:  That is a HUGE spider on his apartment window!!!)

The problem is that the apartment is a little bit small. Especially because the assistants' apartment regularly has visitors which makes it hard in the mornings. President and the assistants have kind of been keeping their eye out for new apartment. They found a new apartment which they are settling on later today. That place is a mansion! If it all works out we would move in the first of next month. The crazy thing about it is that it is the neighboring house to Brother Reynante. That would be kind of cool that we would live right next to him. If nothing else it would be easy to go and teach him!

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Forever and a day, Love Elder Williamson!