Jamie's Letter Dec 26, 2011

Hey girl! How are you? It seems so long since I've talked to you! Not really. But if you think about it, the next time I'll probably talk to you, I'll like be talking to your face. As in, in the United States, right? CRAZY! That's pretty funny about the weatherbecuase it's been raining here the past couple of days-more than I have EVER seen in my mission! It hardly ever rains here. But I loved it for Christmas! (I'll probably come home and there will be snow then!)

Here Christmas Eve is more the big thing. They wait until 12 at night, then they eat turkey, fruitcake (I'm not joking. They LOVE fruitcake!) a bunch of different types of bread, and then they open their presents then. Christmas day is just kind of relaxed, set back. We did open the few presents that we had. I'll enjoy my packages when they get here. Maybe I'll get them this week! Who knows. It'll just be good if I ever get them.

So I might just turn this into my big email. I might as well. So, we got the results of changes-I'm staying in Guadalupe and Hermana Westman is leaving-her first change! She is so sad, she really doesn't want to leave! And it will be weird for me too, because I've never stayed in one place and gotten a new companion. I've always been the one to leave. So hopefully I can remember who all of our investigators are.

It's been kind of a crazy week, up and down. But it was SO GOOD to talk to you all yesterday! It made me so happy, to hear your voices, and to know that you all are doing well. I hope mom is still alive, after waiting to talk to her children. I hope it was worth it ;) I think I told you most about what ended up happening this week on the phone with you guys.

Christmas was really amazing though. We read the Christmas story in Spanish, Hna Westman and I, and it was awesome to go to church on Sunday, to remember the whole reason for Christmas. I loved it! And we figured out a way to hook up the keyboard to the mic system so that everyone could hear it, like the organ! For the first time, I think the members here are learning more of how the hymns really go! That made me happy! And I'm gonna start teaching Gema how to play the piano. She's got a little keyboard of her own. She's smart. It'll be good.

Well, I've gotta run, but I love you all so much! I know that this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and I love it! Love, Hermana Williams

Jamie's Letter Dec 19, 2011

Hello all! (so just a warning, the space bar key on this computer isn't working too well, so if words are stuck together, it's not because I don't know how to type :)

I was surprised too to get on my email so early. We had to leave by 10 in the morning, and we didn't get back until 8:30-ish, so I ended up having to write earlier. But it's all good. Because that just meant thatI got a whole bunch of email today, which was happy :)

So this week has been another rollarcoaster here in the mission. Elder Uceda came and spoke to us Monday. It was really good, although I did feel like he was calling us to repentacnce, which never really feels good, but many times necessary. He talked about the white handbook, and the importance to always be with our companions. I have since made an even stronger effort to make sure that I'm always with Hna Westman. (not that I'm ever not, but still. I can always be better!) He also talked about studying for our investigators. Which was also great. He drew a picture of a chess board on the whiteboard and asked us how many squares there were. Most people answered 64.
I remembered having done that problem in my elemenatry ed math class, and I found the answer, but Icouldn't remember. (Turns out there are 204 squares total). His analogy was that when we read the scriptures, many times there are hidden squares, squares we don't always see, and when we study the scriputres, even the ones we have read a bajillion times, we should always be looking for hidden squares, or newthings to learn from the scriptures. It was really good. We analyzed Ether 3:1 about a really good example from thebrother of Jared of how to receive answers to our prayers. Good stuff!

Tuesday was great too! We went to visit Brenda again. We started talking more about baptism, and she knew that it was important, but she was really scared to be baptized, because she didn't want to be baptized and then fall again. She didn't want to disappoint the Lord. I told her how baptism was like how we finish the repentance process. She then said "so maybe you're trying to tell me that if I get baptized, and receive the holy ghost, that will give me more of the strength I need to get over my weaknesses, instead of waiting until I'm all better to be baptized." YES! That is EXACTLY what we were trying to tell you! I'm so glad that the Spirit can speak through us! Then Hna Westman showed her Alma 7:15, that says to "come, and fear not." That just hit her, and she said she was ready. She wanted to be baptized. How amazing was that moment! Now we just have to hope and pray that everything goes well. Her baptismal date is for the 23rd. This Friday. She really does have the desire. But Satan is still throwing things in her way. I just really want to help her get this! What an amazing Christmas this should be! I think this will kind of make or, well, not break, but you know, Christmas. I'm so excited for Christmas, and I'm not really feeling homesick at all.Maybe because it still doesn't really feel like Christmas here. It's more likeChristmas in July, which is fine too.

I still haven't gotten the packages yet. I'm thinking I'll probably get them the 24th, because we're going to Chiclayo on Saturday to do our thing as amission. Or at least as the zones here close to Chiclayo. I mean, I might get them tomorrow at our zone meetings if our elders in theoffice are more effecient. We'll see though.

SoI'm supposed to call you on sunday?? Oh yeah! Awesome! So... I'llprobably call around...11-ish your time. Sweet!! SoI'll talk to you all then!
Well, I'llcall this aletter! I hope you could read it all! I love you!
If I think of anything I'll tell you....SUNDAY!!!
Love,
Hermana Williams

Jamie's Christmas Tree Dec 12, 2011

Our little tiny baby Christmas tree! We bought some garland and kind of formed it into a tree. Then we bought some lights, and a ribbon to wrap around it. It's so tiny, about a foot and a half tall, but it makes me so happy!

Jamie's Letter Dec 12, 2011

Hello. I'm here! Are you surprised??

So another week has gone and past. And here I am!

It's been a relatively tranquil week. I still haven't gotten my packages, although there is a small chance I might get them today...but I doubt it. I still need to give the elders my papers telling the people that they have the right to get my packages. But I'm sure I'll get them before Christmas. I'm thinking I'll probably end up calling around...maybe 1 or 2 my tim, which would be 11 or 12 your time. I'm not sure. I think I'll get to call the day before to coordinate really well when I'm going to call, because then I'll have a better idea of my schedule. I'll let you know though. OH! Can you send me the recipe for slush? I want to try and experiement here! And maybe, if possible, could you scan me a copy of some Christmas music...I'm not exactly sure what, a manheim steamrollar or maybe Kurt Bestor...something that I could possibly play for a devo Christmas Eve. Scan it and you can email it to me as a pdf, and I can print it off here. Genius? I think so! But you pick the music. I trust you :)

So this week I had the chance to go and do a...well, in Spanish we call them "visite de trabajo" I'm not sure what they're called in English. It's where we switch companions for a day. I went to go and work in a town called San Pedro de Lloc, which is about 45 minutes away. I went with Hna Aracca, and my old companion, Hna Chamorro came here to Guadalupe for a day. It was really good to work with Hna Aracca. She's from Puno, which is close to Lake Titicaca...(I think that''s how it's spelled). She really is just so humble. She grew up that way. She grew up speaking Quechua. She didn't really learn Spanish until she was in elementary school. And she's lived a very humble life. But she has such a testimony of the gospel, and it was so fun to get to work with her. There weren't a whole lot of people in San Pedro...the people don't come out of their houses...but we worked well together.

All of our investigators are really good. They all have desires to listen to us, but sometimes it seems hard to get them to keep their commitments. But I guess that's where studying chapter 11 of PMG comes in, right? I'm also really excited too, because it looks like we're probaby going to be starting a family group in Ciudad de Dios, where Brenda lives. Ciudad de Dios is a small town about 10 minutes away from Guadalupe. There are 2 or 3 members that come to church regularly, but there are other members there that are inactive. I think for a lot of them it is hard to pay the passage to go and come every week. But we're working on getting it so that they can start meeting there, even if it is just in a house. Hopefully that will be up and going in January. It's so cool to be a part of taking the gospel to everyone. The Church has never been in Ciudad de Dios. The missionaries have visited...a little bit, but to have a place where members can go and visit, they haven't had that. They've had to travel to Pacasmayo, or to Guadalupe, which are further away! And just think, maybe in 20 years, there will be a branch or a ward there! And I'm so blessed to be a part of starting that! Pres Risso wants to put missionaries there in the next couple of transfers, which will be really cool too! There haven't been missionaries assigned to Ciudad de Dios specifically either. How cool is the Gospel!? Anywho, so that's the things that are most exciting that are happening here.

Sorry this is shorter. But hey, next week, I'm sure I'll have much to tell you! I love being a missionary. So many wonderful experiences every day. And I just love these people so much. I never thought that I really would just want the absolute best for random people, that I would feel so sad, frustrated, when they didn't seem to progress. But I know the Lord is in this work-it's His. And I love it, even though it's hard! Keep working hard there. I love you!

Hermana Williams

Jamie's Pictures Dec 5, 2011

Us! We went to a cool place today by the ocean. There was a small abandoned city. So we took pictures. Awesome? I think so!

Me! Again Awesome!

Our zone! We also are awesome!

Jamie's Letter Dec 5, 2011

Well, this will probably be a shorter letter than usual. But that's what happens when you get to chat with me, so I'm sure you're not gonna be too disappointed :)

This week has been good. We have a lot of different investigators, many that can progress, and are progressing...but slowly. It's kind of frustrating sometimes, but I know that we are doing our part. They all have desires to keep learning about the gospel. It's just hard to find them sometimes. And then when we do find them, they haven't kept their commitments...it's hard. But we keep on working, because that's all we can do. We also have an awesome plan to try and help out the members here. The members here are really strong in the Gospel, and this really is the strongest area I've served in as far as people that come to church, that hold the priesthood and everything. We just need to help them help us, to see this as more of one work, rather than the missionaries have their job, and we live our lives. But we're gonna start teaching the members about the restoration in this week, and helping them to know how they can share the gospel with others now.

Remember the guy I told you about a couple weeks ago that called out to us when he was drinking with his friends? His name is Juan and we're teaching him now. He really does have a desire to learn about the Gospel, and it's cool to see him learn. The other night we talked about how we lived with God before we came to earth, that he is the father of our spirits. He said he had never heard that before, but he liked it. We've invited him to be baptized and he says he will be if he knows it is true. And he is praying to know the truth. He just expects a dream, which actually does happen a lot here. I don't know how the Lord will answer him, but I know he will.

So I've been reading the Book of Mormon again, but this time in Spanish. Right now, I'm still in 1 Nefi, but it's really interesting to see how many times Nephi tells his brothers to be diligent. Such an intersting thought, to be diligent in keeping the commandments. Anywho, that was just something cool that I've been thinking about. Basically I just love the Book of Mormon! It's amazing! It really does have such power to change lives. It's definitely changed my life.

I also think it's kind of funny your story about visiting teaching. It's kind of like missionary work, just to active people! And how many times do I make appointments, but then we get there, and the people have forgotten, or they're busy. It happens, I feel, like at least once a day. But then you do have those tender moments with people, and you just feel how much the lord loves us! Isn't it wonderful? I am kind of excited to be a visiting teacher again when I get back. Because that's what I'm doing pretty much full time here. It's also cool to see how the Lord answers prayers. There have been various times when I have prayed to have the energy to teach, and I've had it! It's been great! I love being a missionary, even though it's so hard sometimes. The blessings are amazing!

Well, it looks like the computer is gonna kick me off. But I know that the church is true and I love you all so so so so so much!

Hermana WIlliams

Didn't you just love the dvotional last night? :)

Jamie's Pictures Nov 28, 2011

The Christmas tree in the mission home.

Hna Risso had just finished decorating it and it was beautiful
Us with the Christmas tree. We're all beautiful!

Me with my Thanksgiving dinner. It was heaven!

I wouldn't have traded it for anything!

Me with Hna Chira. She's currently in Tuman, my old area.

She came to replace me and was with Hna Machuca for 3 weeks.

Then Hna Machuca got changed to Jaen, an area about 7-8 hours from Chiclayo :(

and now Hna Chira's training a north american, Hna Bang.

And and and and and! Hna Machuca is training! A north american!

I'm a grandma! (actually, I think I told you that last week. I can't remember.)

Anywho, it was so fun to talk to her about everyone in Tuman, and even though I never served with her, we just clicked, and I love her :)

The zone. We went to a big tomb in the ground again today.

It's pretty cool the stuff they find here in Peru.

It was fun to be with some of the other missionaries that were also with me in Pomalca when we went and saw ruins/tombs and stuff. I love it!

Jamie's Letter Nov 28, 2011

Hello mom :) And dad and Cameron and Laura and Emily. How are you?

I like the scrapbooking stuff you gave me. I'll find ways to use it! (I already have-I don't know that I'll use all of it, but I definitely can use it!) I'm glad you got my letters. That's what happens when you have a bunch of friends that are American going home. And you still have a couple of american stamps left from the MTC. (I don't have anymore, but I'm not sure that I'll find many other north americans leaving before me. At least that I'll be able to give stuff to. If so, I'll let you know. How weird. I'll be home...soon.) So I've pretty much broken in my new shoes. I still have a bit of a blister on the side of my foot though. But I have moleskin, and so everything is fine!

So right now in Guadalupe, they are having their "feria" (fair) to celebrate the virgen of Guadalupe. Which means that we get woken up at 5:30 every morning to a marching band right outside our room. And it's not marching band practice. It's a marching band that does it's little parade at 5:30 in the morning. And 11:30-12 at night. I might go crazy. Hna Westman and I are both probably gonna go crazy. But hey! Great mission experiences, no? At least I won't have to worry about sleeping through my alarm for the next 2 weeks...

This week was pretty good. I must say I had quite an unforgettable Thanksgiving. I ate PLENTY! Well, so like I said, Monday our ZLs told us that we were gonna go to Chiclayo for a training for new missionaries and their trainers (ps-I'm pretty sure I'm gonna be training my whole mission. Or pretty close to it.) So Wednesday night we packed up, and rode the bus up to Chiclayo-about 1 1/2 hours. It was fun though, because we were with Eld Conforme and Eld Harrop in our district. And the seats were comfy. Like my old car (good for taking people to the hospital, right Ilarene?) Then we got to Chiclayo, but we didn't really know what was going on after that. We walked to the mission office, and ended up getting locked in for a little bit, but then a nice lady came and let us out. That was a little adventure. We eventually ended up finding Pres and Hna Risso, but none of us had eaten, so we went to Real Plaza again, and got hawaiian pizza! I was content. And Hna Westman and I spent the night in the mission home. Which meant breakfast in the mission home! There was real toast, cream cheese, cereal with milk (it was almost like home...but the milk still is a little different) basically I was content with breakfast. Then in the training, we had pizza again! And since pizza is a real treat, I ate the 4 slices of Hawaiian. Yes. I had pizza for Thanksgiving. Cool? I definitely think so.

But it was also a really good opportunity to learn. We talked about how it is being trainers, helping a lot of our companions learn Spanish, because the majority of them are north americans. It's hard. Some of them really struggle. But it's been good for us, because I know exactly how it is to struggle with the language. I don't really have something to measure me by, but I know that I've definitely improved in the year since I've been here. We also talked about improving our companionship study, which is another thing I need to do better. Sometimes I just feel like I need to be better. But hey, that's what life is for, right? To get better. So I'm getting there.

I do love being a missionary though. We've been doing well with our investigators. We're still working with Brenda. We had a cool experience with her Wednesday. We had had planned to watch the Restoration with her, to help her understand more about Joseph Smith. But when we got there, she was just feeling really down. She's found out some bad news about her kids, and her mom doesn't really help her out that much either (they all live in CA). She spent about an hour venting/crying about how hard it is for her to be in Peru, and for her family to be in the states, not working, and man...she has just had a really hard life. And during all of this, I'm trying to figure out what to say. I've never been anywhere close to the situations that she's been in. As we were sitting there listening to her, I was trying to think of different scriptures, something to say. Then I had Mosiah 24:12-15 pop into my head. It's a good scripture, talking about the people in bondage. (I actually remembered it from a devo the Eld Bednar gave in the MTC my first tues there-he gave that as a good scripture for people trying to get over addictions). And I showed it to her. She said as she read it, she felt like it was totally speaking to her, telling her what the Lord wanted her to know. It was so rewarding to see the Spirit touch her, work with her, as she is really putting into practice the principles of repentance. And as I work to try and listen to the Spirit, He really does tell us what to say. I think the Spirit helps us so much more than we even realize. And I really am trying to be better at listening to the Spirit.

Another cool thing that I wanted to tell you. So Tuesday it was my turn to teach district meeting. And we were talking about the importance of the Holy Ghost in conversion. A little while back, I got a letter from Grandma Williams, talking about some of the different steps of conversion. It starts off by learning of Christ, than listening to him. When we are baptized, we are coming unto Christ, and we have the chance to follow him even more. And as we follow him, we then get to the point where we can walk with him. It really was so cool to think about, and it reminded me of something it says in preach my gospel, that you can't convert someone beyond you're own conversion. Which I really liked. So we talked about that. Well, I talked about it. It really was more of me thinking out loud, trying to learn more from the other missionaries too. I liked it a lot. I think everyone learned from that. So, just so you know, Grandma Williams is amazing (well, all of my grandparents are amazing). But I just loved being able to share that with the other missionaries. Hna Westman said she really liked it a lot too, that she learned a lot.

Well, it sounds like everything is going well at home. Know that I love you all, even though I will be perfectly honest and say I don't miss you guys that much No, I love being a missionary even though it is the hardest thing I've done. I know I've grown so much though, and that it's because of the gospel. Because the Gospel of Jesus Christ is just amazing. It can change people. And it's still changing me. Take care! I love you all!
Love,
Hna Williams

Jamie's Pictures Nov 21, 2011

Plaza de armas yesterday. This is the big fair of Gudalupe, where they celebrate the virgin of gudalupe. Anywho, yesterday they had a huge bingo game to start off everything.

The 2 grand prizes, 5000 soles or 20 sacks of rice. I'm not kidding... (and these sacks are 48 kg each ... Food storage anyone?) There were also other things you could win, like a fridge, a big TV, a stove...but 20 sacks of rice??? You can't beat that!
Katty's baptism. Us, her mom, sister and the bro that baptized her.

Us with Katty and her mom. Her mom's name is Jemmy (pronounced Jamie).

And her dad (who is not there) is Jimmy. One of my greatest fears...

Us with Katty!

My church building! It's little, but I like it. It's quaint :)

Jamie's Pictures Nov 14, 2011

Our zone, at our last zone meeting.

(Hna Westman, me, Hna Arracca, Hna Sutta
and the elders Eld Harrop, Eld Conforme, Eld Despain, Eld Bassett, Eld Rodriguez,
and Eld Derocher)

Our Free P-Day. We played games all day!

Us with our barbie monopoly that we bought, "deluxe edition".

It was all just cardboard. But hey, monopoly is monopoly!

And we played chess, snakes and ladders, sorry....the board had it to play

backgammon, but I couldn't remember how.

Mom'll have to teach me when I get home.

We also made up our own battleship board and played battleship.

Good Times!

A picture of us with giant seahorses in Pacasmayo.

How could we say no?!

Jamie's Letter Nov 21, 2011

Hello mom :)
I hope I get the packages sooner too. If not, well, I'll get them sometime, don't worry! And for calling you for Christmas, I really can just buy a calling card here for 10 soles, and I can talk to you for like an hour. That's what I did at mother's day. That'll be weird to call you. This'll actually probably be the last time that I talk to you, considering the fact that I will get home like a week or two before mother's day. But hey, I think it'd be better to be there in person than to call you. Question-would it be possible to get the D&C DVDs in Spanish and send them to me? There are 3 discs, and one of them has a bunch of movies and everything? I ordered one a long time ago, but it doesn't look like there here. Sadness...because they really are such great teaching tools. Anywho, even if you just took them out of the case and put them in a slip case, it would be awesome.

Kristalyn's getting married?!?! Gah!!! Tell her to wait until...May 5. Or May 6. I'm not sure which one is a Saturday. But tell her that I love her! And I'm so incredibly happy for her too!

This week has been a good one. We worked hard, and we found quite a few people that we can work with. Yesterday we had an interesting experience. So I told you in the email with the fotos that I sent about the huge bingo game that happened yesterday. Which meant that all of Guadalupe was there, playing bingo. And all of appts had fallen through. So we decided to go and pick up our laundry that should've been done Sat, but it wasn't. And we needed our clothes. So as we're walking there, we passed a bunch of small groups of people, drinking, right, because it's sunday, so what better excuse do we need to drink? Anywho, we passed a group of 3 guys, and one of them calls out to us (also, not unusual) but then he yells at us that his brother is a missionary like us (he's not completely sober, but he's not drunk either). We kind of yell back, telling him to visit us in the chapel, but he walks across the street, and tells us that his brother is a member, that his mom and sister are members too in Trujillo. But his mom was here, visiting his grandma. Anywho, he takes us to his house to meet his mom, and sits down and talks to us for a little bit. His brother has his mission call to colombia, and he'll leave in Jan. This guy (his name is Juan) got a little choked up when he started talking about how his brother was gonna leave for 2 years, and he just really wanted the people in colombia to treat him well. Anywho, he agreed to listen to us, and afterwards, his mom said that she really didn't expect that from him, but it just made her so incredibly happy that he would take the iniciative to talk to the missionaries. So we'll see how it goes. Hopefully he really does have desires to listen to us, and isn't just saying that because he had a little bit of beer in him (we told him right then and there to just leave the bottle behind...we'll see what all happens.) The interesting experiences that we have though.

Brenda is doing well. She didn't come to church yesterday though, which made us sad. I just want everyone to be happy! But we did have a baptism of a little girl, Katty, Saturday. Her family are members, but they've been inactive for the past 3 years, and they are recently starting to come back to church. After she was confirmed, she walked back to her seat with her hands over her heart. It made me happy to know that she was feeling the Spirit. It was a good reminder too, because sometimes I feel like I'm not really doing that great of a job here. But then I see little things like that, and I know that I probably will not see 75% of the results of what I do here, and that I just need to keep doing the best that I can.

Well, I love you all so much!! Here's all of my love from Peru!
Love,
Hna Williams

Jamie's Letter Nov 14, 2011

YES! I got your packages! I got 3 of them. I got 2 from you, and one from Erin/Ilarene, which I also loved :) Yes, Emily can use my winnie the pooh clock. I'm not using it... Yeah, Pdte and Hna Risso came down to interview us on thursday so they brought them. I also got a letter from Grandma Williams which I loved, and a letter from Hna Westman's boyfriend, Tyler, who's getting ready to go on a mission too (he wrote me to wish me happy birthday). It was actually pretty cool. Yeah, just put my name on the package still. Stuff in my christmas pacakge...another thing of the mascara that I like? It's Loreal, I think, and it's got the 2-step thing...I don't have anymore of that and I like it. I'm also gonna need another thing of contact solution before the end of my mission. Footies are always good. I have enough nylons though. I like the shoes. I just have to break them in now, which I haven't broken in a pair of shoes for a year! My poor little feet. Well, they're actually quite big... Hna Westman also got a package at the same time, and we been pigging out on candy for a while. I loved the oreos! We always buy oreos here, and I was actually thinking about asking you to send a package. But now I have them! and they're great! And I loved the clothes too! They fit nicely. I didn't take a picture...I'll try to this week and then send you the pic next week.

This week has been good. We had an interesting experience with Brenda this week. So. We went friday to her house to see her. It was good. We went inside, and we finally were like, we're gonna talk about the restoration. Because we still hadn't taught her about joseph smith or anything yet. And we needed to. So we started off, talking about prophets, the church that Christ established, and the great apostasy. We get done talking about those, and we just get started on talking about the restoration. Then one of her "friends" comes in to visit her. I don't know why he was there. He's about 50 years old, and she invited him in to come sit down and listen to us. Somehow, we ended up talking about baptism first, how the Catholics do it wrong...and then he sort of starts preaching to us. And you could just feel the spirit leave the room. It was kind of ridiculous. He's going through a bajillion differnt passages in the bible, trying to prove...I can't remember what. Brenda had a question though. Her question was "what happens to the people who die who never hear about Christ? Do they get punished too?" And he kept trying to say that if people heard about Christ and they chose not to believe him, they wouldn't be saved. He couldn't get it in his head that there are people who don't hear about Christ. That don't know what he did for them. We tried to answer, but he didn't really give us a chance to. Brenda was really kind of frustrated with him, and his inability to answer. Then we had to leave. Because it was late. But she said she would come to church sunday.

And she did! We were so excited to see her there! (It was also the primary program, which I loved-it was very simple, but the spirit was there). During gospel principles, we started talking about the millenium, what was going to happen and everything during this time. We talked about how there was going to be a lot of temple work done, and we talked about baptisms for the dead. We totally answered her question in the class, and she told us. She was like "that was my question the other day with that guy, remember?" It was just kind of interesting. We still haven't taught her about Jospeh Smith. And we wanted to give her a baptismal date which we also didn't do. But we're visiting her tomorrow. So hopefully we'll do that then! She is just so ready for the gospel. I love it!

So we had transfers today. I'm staying here, with Hna Westman, like I figured I would. But Pdte told us that there are 5 new sisters coming-4 americans and 1 argentina. Wow! I'm not sure what they're gonna do with all these new missionaries! It's pretty much awesome! Being a missionary is just great! I love being here!

Weell, I think I'll call this a letter. I love you all so much, and I know that what we are doing is the truth-the work of the Lord. Thanks for all of your love!

Love,
Hna Williams

Jamie's Pictures Nov 7, 2011

Family of Hna Kelly-her husband, and their kids on Halloween!

I just think they're adorable!

Our Zone - last p-day together (we have changes next week,

and everyone is gonna change but us)

In the words of Elder Despain "Its a picture with a cow. How can you say no."

Jamie's Letter Nov 7, 2011

Hello to the world :)

So I still haven't gotten the packages. I don't think that's very high on the priority list of the people in the office. I keep telling them it would be easier to just send me to Chiclayo to get them, but they think it's better that I stay here. Lame. Anywho, I just keep on waiting. One day I'll get them. Maybe. I would love an english copy too of the Ensign from Conference. Is it out yet? I haven't seen them here, but I think it takes a little while to get here. Requests for Christmas? I did have something, but I forgot what it was. If I remember I'll tell you. If not, well, I guess I won't get it. Funny how that works.

It sounds like you all have had a pretty fun week. It's weird to think that in just a little bit you'll be telling me all about thanskgiving, which is weird, becuase I feel like you've already told me about it (from last year). Halloween isn't really a big holiday here like it is in the states, but they're starting to pick it up. It was a pretty calm night for us.

Well, things are going pretty well with Brenda. She didn't come to church yesterday, which made us sad. But it was kinda cool to see how she is progressing. We visited her Saturday, and while we were there, she decided to just pick up the book of mormon and she said "well Lord, let's see what you want me to know" and she just randomly opened it and started reading (which is something I love doing!) Anywho, she opened up to 3 Nephi 7, and started to read the chapter heading. The first thing that it says is that "The Chief judge is murdered..." and I'm thinking...wow. How are we gonna explain that? But she just kept on reading. At the end of the ch heading, it says "many repent and are baptized." She then continued to read the first 3 verses outloud. Afterwards, she said that the only thing that stuck out to her was the "many repnt and are baptized." So she figured the Lord was trying to tell her she needed to be baptized! Sweet! She asked us about the requirements for baptism, and we started talking a little bit about that. I just love her. Her prayers are awesome too. She sometimes makes little jokes in her prayers, but not in a disrespectful way. She really just talks to the Lord like he's there, like he's one of her best friends. And she cries, and she laughs, and it just really helps me to understand a little bit better my relationship with the Lord. We just need to keep helping her to quit smoking. But I know the Lord can help her, and he is helping her.

That was kinda our week. Saturday night I got kinda sick. I think I had a 24 hour flu thing. Which meant I only went to Sacrament meeting, and then we went home and slept. Because I just felt horrible. Well, I slept. I think I ended up sleeping 5-6 hours during the day yesterday. But don't worry, I'm doing a lot better now! :) I just hated missing church!

But other than that, life is great! We keep working here, and the work goes on great! It's crazy to think that I only have a little bit of time left. Oh yes, I did get Robbie and Cammie's anouncement, and I love it! And I'm happy for Sean too!! That's cool. Stuff from Canada...well, I don't know that you can bring kinder eggs across the border :) But hey! Smarties are always good. And salt and vinegar chips. They're all good. Really anything you just wanna send me.

Well, I think I'm gonna call this a letter. I love you all so much tons! (Oh-tell Emily to keep reading the book of mormon too!) Becaue the book of mormon is awesome! It really does change your life. And if you know it's true, it will protect you! I know that's true!

Know that I love you!
Hna Williams

Jamie's Pictures Oct 31, 2011

This is Gudalupe. This is the view from our window.

Friday everyone was celebrating my birthday.

Okay, maybe it wasn't my birthday, but they were definately celebrating something!

When we went to lunch, Neal and his older sister Geme (pronounced "Hema")

made me a "dress", from tissue paper. They're so cute!

Then, after lunch, I opened my present.
Mom, you are amazing.

Looky, what I got. Just what I always wanted!

Isn't it just fabulous?

Yes mom, you are amazing!

Hna Westman even says so.

So today is Halloween, right?

Well we decided to give our zone a little treat from us!

We made ghosts from suckers-kleenex, a little bit of yarn,

a heart hole punch Hna Westman has, and a bunch of face drawing skills

by me! I thought they turned out cute!

A close up of one of our ghosts!

I loved it!

Us with our ghosts!

We're silly.....:)

And then we gave them to the Elders,

and they thought it was really cool too!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Jamie's Letter Oct 31, 2011

Hello!

So I guess y'all wanna hear about my birthday :) It was good. It was one that I definitely won't forget. Well, we woke up, ate breakfast, and then we spent the whole morning trying to plan over a bunch of noise that was going on in the Plaza de Armas. But it was good. Hna Risso and Hna Machuca both called me, and it absolutely made my day! Then we went to eat lunch. It was good! I sent pics of what Gema and Neal "made" for me. Hna Kelly also made me a cake, which was really good. It was just the cake part, but in my opinion, that's better than the frosting here. Then we took my cake back to our room, we went and bought ice cream, oreos, and a milky way (it cost 3 soles, so it wasn't too bad) and then we had a "chick flick afternoon" by watching Legacy on our little dvd player that now all of the missionaries have to watch instructional dvds (but don't worry-since it's a church movie, we can watch it too). It was great. Then we went to the cemetary. It was actually pretty cool. Their cemetaries here are different than the other cemetaries in the states. They have a bunch of cement cubbies, that are all above ground, and they just kind of slide the coffin in there, and they close it with a slab of cement. I was thinking that it would be really interesting to see how the resurrection works, a bunch of people trying to break out of cement walls, but then I remembered that we put people in the ground, and somehow they are going to come up out of the ground...the resurrection will be a pretty awesome event, I think.

In the cemetary, we gave talks about the Atonement and the Plan of Salvation. It was actually really cool. I love feeling like the Spirit is just putting words into my mouth. Because I'm pretty sure that he does that a lot, actually. It's so cool to see how the Spirit works.

After our talks, we went, tried to talk to a few people, but soon it got late, and we went to eat. We went out to eat, chicken and fries. It was overall, I think, a pretty succesful birthday. I hope you enjoyed the pictures I sent!

I'm still waiting on the packages, maybe next week they'll come? We'll see. They've at least made it to Peru though which is the longest part.

So the highlight of my week has been our one investigator, Brenda. She's really trying to turn her life around. She's had problems with almost every aspect of the word of wisdom throughout her life. Right now she's just trying to quit smoking. The other stuff isn't a huge problem now. But on Thursday we gave her the pamphlet about the word of wisdom, and when we went back Saturday, she said that she loved it! She went to go smoke, but the something told her to go and pick up the word of wisdom book and start reading it. At first it didn't really grab her attention, but something told her to keep on reading. And she did. And as she read, she really started to like it. She said it just made sense, that her body is a temple, and that she really should treat it with respect. She's down to a cigarette every 2 or 3 days now and she's trying to do better. She has a little 9 year old girl too, and she's wanting to quit for her too. I love the gospel!! And then we invited her to church on Sunday. She said she was going to try and go, but she wasn't going to promise it. But we told her there were classes for her daughter, and this gave her more of an incentive to come. So we were there, Sunday morning, waiting for them, and they didn't come and didn't come. Finally, at the end of Sacrament meeting, we saw them outside the door! I just about cried! Afterwards we went to Gospel principles, and it was a good experience too! The teacher said just what she needed to hear, and he didn't even know it! Brenda participated in the lesson and everything too. She said she loved it. Then we had our 5th Sunday lesson, which included the branch president talking half the time about not taking things that you find in the chapel that aren't yours, and tithing settlement. I think for Brenda the first class was more interesting. But she said she loved it all. And she just really feels good! She's amazing. We just need to keep working with her, helping her and her daughter to really feel at home here, and see the blessings that the gospel will bring in her life.

Well, that was basically the happiness of my week. I love being a missionary! It really doesn't seem like I gave my farwell talk a year ago, that I've been gone for a year. But I love it. Every moment that's been hard has just helped strenghten my testimony even more. I love you all so much! I know that the church is true!
Hna Williams

Jamie's Pictures Oct 24, 2011

My district.

We hiked up a mountain today where there was a big Christ at the top,

and a bunch of Incan ruins.

It was actually pretty cool, and my body is exhausted.

We decided to take a picture of just our heads.

We're silly missionaries....

This is my room.

It's a little messy, but I was chillin after we got back from hiking,

and so I got stuff out to write letters.

But this is where I sleep/study now.

I thought you might like to see that.

That's all.

Jamie's Letter Oct 24, 2011

Why hello English world (except I've spoken more english here than in any other of my areas, so it really isn't that foreign). How are you? It sounds like you all are doing good. I'm doing good too!!

First off, um...questions...I haven't gotten my packages yet. I think they'll come...soon? I hope. Probably next week. Or maybe tomorrow. But the ZLs didn't say anything about them today, so I'm guessing it'll probably come next week. As for my birthday (23...WHAT!!!) well, here, specifically in Guadalupe, October 28 is a huge day for them. Apparently, in the Peru-Chile war there were a bunch of Chileans here, but something happened, and 3 Peruvian shoemakers were martyred, but they helped Peru out in some way(I'm not quite sure who won the war...it was a long time ago). Anywho, all of Guadalupe will be celebrating my birthday for that, and plus, it the day of "Señors de los Milagros" here in Peru, (Lord of the miracles) and they celebrate that too...Right now for my birthday we have planned to do our weekly planning in the morning. Then in the afternoon we're going to go to the cemetary. No really. Apparently about 6 years a woman who was really faithful in the church but the only member in her family died. And here, there have some sort of ceremony even years after their families have died. Anywho, because she wasn't Catholic, her family didn't do all of the Catholic stuff for her, but they still have their traditions. And they've invited the members of the church to this ceremony thing. The branch president at first wasn't going to say anything, but then he thought it would be a good opportunity to find new investigators, so he asked me to give a 20 minute talk about the Plan of Salvation, and my companion to give a 5 minute talk on the Atonement. After we're done at the cemetary, I'm not quite sure what else we'll do. Maybe have a little party in our pensionista's house with her family :)
This week has actually been pretty cool. On wednesday, I had the first opportunity in my life to give away a copy of "The Book of Mormon." No really. Okay, so the second day we were here, we went downstairs to the pharmacy to buy some toothpaste and stuff. While we were there, a little girl said we were "gringas" which happens a whole lot, and her mom asked if we spoke English, which we also get a lot. When we said yes, her mom started talking in English! Like, good, American, english! Turns out she's lived in California since she was 6, and like 10 years ago moved here to Peru...because...well, I'm not really sure what the reason is. The majority of her kids are still in the states, and their teenagers now. Anywho, we started talking in English to her, and she gave us her number to call, and she told us to stop by and visit her. She also told us that she's really been searching for God in her life too lately. Perfect! Anyways, we called her a couple of times, but it didn't really work out what we planned. Finally, we told her we would go to her house (which was actually in the neighboring town, about 10 minutes away by car) to talk to her. And we did, and it was...great! She talked a lot to us first. She just lives in the middle of nowhere with her daughter who's 9. Her name is Brenda. Anywho, she told us basically her life story, and how she really wanted help. We gave her a copy of The Book of Mormon that I had bought a couple of months ago, and we read through the introduction. She said she really liked how it says to read it and then ask God, because then we aren't forcing them to believe it. The thing with her is that she doesn't think like a Peruvian, which is actually kind of refreshing (because everyone here talks about how God is always with us, how Jesus died for us, and that's about it, and sometimes I feel like the people just don't get it). But she recognizes that her lifestyle is wrong, and that she is far from God, and she wants to change that! She told us that she's gonna be a hard one to change, but we told her we were gonna help her. It was cool to try and teach in English. And really, when we needed to talk in English, we could. I think the Lord really helped us, that he put us here to help her (3 north american sisters in the mission, and 2 are here in Guadalupe-the other is in Monsefu, just starting out like I did!)

Anywho, the other thing that I wanted to share with you was about my studies. So I'm still memorizing The Living Christ, which is SO cool! And I decided to start reading Jesus the Christ, which is also WAY cool! And it's been really cool to see, even in the past week, how my thoughts have been more turned towards the Savior. And as I have done that, I have had such a greater desire to share the Gospel with the people here. There are so many people here who know that Christ died to save them from sin, but they don't realize that that means they can repent, that their life here can be better, that they can change! And I just want everyone to feel how happy the Gospel can make them! Even though we haven't been seeing too much success, I feel as if the Lord is blessing us.

Well my family, I think that's about it for this week. Happy happy birthday, from all of you to me,
You wish it was your birthday, so you could be like me!
Happy happy birthday, may all my dreams come true,
You wish it was your birthday, so you could party too. Hey!

I love you all so much!
Hermana Williams

Jamie's Pictures Oct 17, 2011

Today we went to Pacasmayo, another town here in our district.

And they live next to the ocean. As in the Pacific Ocean.

As in, if you were to go directly west for a long time

you'd run into Australia or something like that.

It was the first time I actually had seen the ocean

(I saw it in the plane from Piura to Lima, but that doesn't count.)

And I think this is a cool picture of me!!!

The ocean! Can you say cool?

(haha! I'm punny...)


Me with our pensionista's son, Neal.
And I've decided my second son is going to be like him.
(my first son is going to be like Jared, Hna Amelia's son, a complete terror. But I still love him!)
He's 3 years old and he's darling.
Every time we come he gives us a hug and a kiss, and shakes our hand.

Jamie's Letter Oct 17, 2011

Hi :)
Well, here I am, another Monday in the wonderful life of a missionary here in Peru. Um...answers...Oh yeah. So my zone leader told me that 2 packages came in Chiclayo for me, but I have to sign a paper now giving the elder in the office complete control of my documents to be able to pick them up, and then he'll send them here to Chepen, where my ZLs are, and then they'll give them to me. I imagine that it'll still be like...another week or two before I get the packages now. I did get the letter from girls camp, finally, the last P-Day I had in Pomalca (I think the zone leaders finally "remembered" to give us our mail, because I was leaving...). I didn't have a whole lot of time to read it then, but I have read it since, and I love it :) And I also got your birthday card last week. And you want to start knowing about classes I need to take and where I want to live??? Um...I'm just gonna live here in Peru, k? No, um, maybe you could talk to Ilarene and Erin and see if they could help you. I trust y'alls judgment. Just as long as I can have a warm shower, without having to worry about electrocuting myself, I think I'll be good. Anything will be better than here :) I would like a place a little more south west of campus, since I think most of my classes will be in the mckay building. And preferrably not a place where a whole bunch of freshmen go right after their freshman year...but yeah. I trust you guys.

Wow. It sounds likes things are going...well, at home? I'm not really worrying a whole lot about how things are right now. I'm not sure if that's a super good thing, (like maybe I'm in denial) but I don't think so. I think the Lord is really blessing me to not worry too much about things. I told Hna Westman about everything that our family had gone through (from grandpa passing away in Jan, Aunt JaNae's cancer, your cancer, Cameron's lovely little car wreck, even Abu dying...) but even though all of these things have happened, I really am not worried about our family. I know the Lord is taking care of us.

Well this week has been good. We've been working more on getting to know the people in the ward, and also the less active people. When we visit less active members, it really is such a good way to do missionary work. We can help them come back to church, and they almost always have family members that aren't members. Right now we have a family that is coming back to church. They came yesterday for the third week in a row, and they have a little 9 year old girl that hasn't been baptized (the mom is named Jemmy (pronounced-Jamie) and the dad is Jimmy). We asked her if she would like to be baptized. Right now her baptismal date is for Oct 29 :) Awesome, no?

It's been good to be with Hna Westman. She's helped to remind me of a lot of things that I learned in the MTC. And I can relate to the language problem, although she is doing so much better than I was in my second week. We've really been trying to focus on listening more to the Spirit, and teaching to the needs of our investigators. It's really cool to listen to the Spirit :) I feel like I'm still learning how to do that, but I'm certainly a whole lot better than I was...like a year ago.

I'm also working on memorizing "El Cristo Viviente." Let me tell you that it is so cool! I've learned that I really do love memorizing scriptures, because it's so easy to use in lessons, even when we contact people in the streets. And I can always feel the Spirit when I'm thinking about the words I've memorized. I don't think it'll be too hard to learn it in English!

Well, I gotta go! I love you!
Hna Williams

Jamie's Pictures Oct 10, 2011

My new zone-part of it. We "hiked" to see the virgen of Gudalupe that protects our city.

Look at all of the white people!

My new companion!

All of the people that came to say good-bye to me in Tuman!
How I'm gonna miss them!

The sisters that had cambios!

Jamie's letter Oct 10, 2011

Hey mommy! And daddy, and Cameron, and Laura and Emily and everyone else whom I love.

So, just so you know, when I get back, I'm now gonna have to work ridiculously hard! Remember how I'm gonna have to work to go to Guatemala, Paraguay, and Peru? Well, now I'm also gonna have to pay for the gas to drive to Midvale! Yep! I've got a North American, Utahn, companion! But I'll tell you a little bit more about her in a bit.

Well, I'm now in an area called Guadalupe. It's about an hour an a half away from Chiclayo, so going there is much of an option. I have to admit that this makes me sad-but I'm hoping that I'll end my mission in Chiclayo. (End of my mission?!?! What?!?!) We're living on the third story above a pharmacy. I like it. It reminds me of BYU. We have a nice view of what's called the Plaza de Armas. It's the central park of Guadalupe. Apparently there are about 39,000 people here. I'm in a branch, but it's only a branch because it's in a district. We're all working to help the district become a stake, and then they'll become a ward. Because it's the strongest place I feel like I've served. When the sacrament started, there were about 50-60 people there (as opposed to my other areas, that start the sacrament with 20-30, and another 30 enter after the sacrament). It is starting to warm up. Guadalupe is more in a valley, so it feels more like May at home. In Chiclayo it was getting hot. But it still gets pretty cool here at night.

Well, in Tuman I didn't use much of my musical skills, but that will change a whole lot here! Let me tell you a little bit about my companion. Her name is Hermana Westman. From Midvale, she's the youngest of 6 kids. She can speak Spanish a lot better than I could when I first got here. But she also likes music! And can sing! We've sung a little bit-she does soprano and I've done alto! I haven't sung alto since...I don't know when! And that's just my companionship. Now for my district. My district consists of us, the zone leaders (Eld Derocher-who was my ZL in Monsefu) and our district leader-Eld Bassett (who just got done being AP). He's from...I can't remember, Utah, and he's training Eld Harrop, from Layton. Yes, I am now in a zone of 5 north americans and 1 latino! That's unusual for me! Eld Bassett can sing too! Our district meetings are much more musical.

And in our zone-remember how when we had the musical fireside I played the piano with an Elder Despain? Well, he's in my zone now! I'm excited! Tomorrow we're gonna have our meetings in his chapel, and he says there's a piano! So yeah, in total, we're a zone of 10 people, 6 of whom are north americans. Which means I speak and hear much more english than I've heard since I left the mtc!

This change has been kind of hard on me. I loved being in Pomalca/Tuman so much! When I said goodbye to Hna Amelia, I cried. I cried when I said goodbye to Hna Machuca. When Hna Westman went to have her interview with Pdte Risso, Hna Risso asked me how I was doing, and I cried some more. (I didn't want my new comp to think that I wasn't excited to work with her...). I probably cried about the same amount as when I left you guys to come on the mission. And if I cried like this when I left one area, how in the world am I going to come home? I still have hope to see Hna Amelia again before I leave, and it's almost certain I'll see Hna Machuca again at some point! But when I leave Peru to come home? I don't know if I'll be able to do that...But the Lord still takes good care of me. My pensionista reminds me a little bit of Hna Amelia, and I do enjoy being here in my area. There were elders here before, so I'm basically doing the same thing that I did in Tuman. Wow how Pres. trusts me.

Responses to your other questions-the smarties were fine, I like them, if you want to send more, I won't complain :) Cute headband? Hm...brown, or cream, or maybe black. Something neutral, not too outlandish :) I'm not sure of my exact release date, but I'm pretty sure it will be around April 30-May 1-2 ish. Around that time. I'll probably get the conference liahona, but like always, if you want to send me another, I won't complain! That and I want an Oct ensign about the book of mormon in english, yes?

Well, I wish I had more time to write, but it looks like I'm running out of time. I love you so much, and I know that the Gospel is true!! Keep working hard!
Hna Williams

Jamie's Pictures Oct 3, 2011

Our zone after a fun p-day!

Me playing with Yarek (basically it is "Jared")
Hna Amelia's son. I love this little boy.
He is a terror, but I love him anyways and I'm gonna miss him tons!

So there's a tradition here in Peru when it is your birthday,
you get part of your cake smashed in your face, and
someone breaks an egg over your head.
Since I wanted to celebrate my birthday with people I know & love,
we made my cake & everything today, and pretended like it was my birthday.
This is the result :)

Me with my cake that I made! Everyone LOVED it!
And it was SO easy. I forgot that to make a cake can be so easy!
(The mix & everything were in Jamie's birthday package from home.)

This is our chapel in Tuman! Maybe one day they will have a real chapel!

Jamie's Letter Oct 3, 2011

Hello my dear family! How are you?

Okay, first off, can I just say that conference was AMAZING?!?!? I have never gotten SO much out of conference ever before in my life! I'm ready for the Liahona to come, so that I can study all of the talks all over again! I listened to it all in Spanish-and I and the american elders agree the Pres Monson is SO much funnier in English. You just lose some of his wittiness in the translation. For this, all of my companions need to learn English :)
(I also think it's funny that conference doesn't wait for anyone-not even the prophet!)

I pretty much started crying when the said that they were going to build another temple in Provo, or, well, remodel. I'm not sure exactly what they are going to do. But it was so cool! Another elder in my zone, Eld Wilde, was also super stoked! The other missionaries don't quite get understand the meaning of it, but seriously-I pretty much didn't listen to the talk that followed because I was so excited! I got to see all of the sessions (well, minus priesthood). I watched a little bit of the Relief Society conference-the talk by Pres Uchtdorf (which, btw, was fantastic!) and the songs! I loved seeing people that I know!! We also watched something about how the perpetual education fund is helping people here. And that really is what Peru looks like. It really is such a help to the people here. So many of the people here don't even know how to read or write. Their children leave their studies at 12, 13, 14 to go work to help support their families....it's an ugly cycle. But it's good to know that the Church is helping those that want to change.

We went to Pomalca to see the Conference. I love that chapel. I love this place so much. I'm going to miss it...with that said, yes, I have transfers. I'm gonna go, finish packing all of my stuff (probably give some of it away) say goodbye to people that I absolutely love, and then go to the institute building tomorrow to meet my new companion! I'm training again! And I think I'm opening a new area! With the new mission, they're doing transfers in a different way. They tell us if we're going or staying, and then everyone meets in the institute building, and they tell us where we are going, who is our companion, and so on. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to train a north american. I'll no longer be the only north american sister in the mission! We'll see how well I can teach Spanish...But if the Lord has called me to do this, He'll help me. I really am going to miss everyone though. Especially Hna Amelia. She has been such a wonderful mom, sister, friend, everything here in the mission. I cried a little bit, and I'm sure I'm gonna cry much more when I actually have to say goodbye to her and her family. But I know that these changes are for the best.

In other things, I've decided to memorize "The Living Christ" (Well, really, I'm going to memorize "El Cristo Viviente"). I've looked at it, and I can divide it into 12 paragraphs or parts. Not super long. We have now 12 weeks until Christmas, and I've decided that this will be my Christmas gift to the Savior this year. I read in the Liahona from Sept 2010 about a mom who helped her young kids memorize The Living Christ, and the blessings they received from that, and I wanted to do the same. And then Eld Scott talked about the blessings of memorizing the scriptures, and that strengthened my decision even more. I'm so excited to have a better relationship with my Savior.

They opened my package in front of me, but everything was there. It hadn't been opened before. I opened the CD-thank you! I decided to wait until my birthday to open the shirts...I mean, the other presents! ;) And I made my cake today. Because I'm going to be transferred, and I wanted to have a birthday celebration with people I knew and loved (and I still have egg in my hair-I'm thinking I'm going to bring this tradition home with me! Beware on your birthdays!)

It sounds like you all are doing alright. I want you to know that I love you so much, and that I feel your prayers here. Everyday is a challenge, but it's good because without challenges we wouldn't grow. I know this is what the Lord wants me to do, and I want to serve Him because I love him. I know that the Lord really does answer our prayers, (which, btw, can I just say I like this idea of praying and then finding a little bit of money? I'm gonna have to try it out sometime!! ;)

I love you!!
Hermana Williams