Family Letter March 21, 2007

Dear Family,

Well what's up guys??? The mission is doing pretty well and the work is going pretty well too. So yesterday was car appreciation day. That means that we were not able to have our car, so we walked over 16 miles! The weather is starting to get hotter. We are now in the 90's range...so it is getting hot fast.

I have good news! We had a baptism this Saturday with a little girl named Justine. She is 11 years old and she is so excited. We are also baptizing her older sister too. They are both so excited. My companion and I are also way excited. We are going to be singing the baptism song at the baptism. I am nervous though. We are also teaching a young lady by the name of Hidija. She is 21 years old and she feels that the gospel has answered a lot of her questions she has had her entire life. This last Friday we had a very spiritual lesson with her about the plan of salvation. We thought it would be a little shaky but it went really well.

All the members in this ward are very awesome and it is really true that the members do a lot of the work, 'cause we need a lot of help. I love the mission so much. I want you guys to know that I think about all of you a lot and I miss you and love you all so much. I am proud of everyone of you.

Oh yeah! So all you guys can email me now. But I can only check it on Wednesdays. It will be a lot faster. Also, thanks so much for the clothes and stuff. It means a lot. Well, make sure you all mail me and let me know what is going on-K?

Love,

Elder Williamson

Family Letter March 7, 2007

Dear Family,

Hey What's up? So today is my second day out in the field. Last night I met my companion. His name is Elder Hess. He is a really cool guy and I know he will be a pretty good trainer. He only has 3 months left. My first area is called Apple Valley. It is a desert with not much grass. Our apartment isn't bad. It is a little better than the MTC. It is old though. It has 2 bathrooms and 2 bedrooms.

The first thing we did after I got back was we went and saw an investigator named Novella. She is a really nice, sweet black lady from North Carolina. We have been trying to get her to come to church, but stuff keeps coming up, so she hasn't gone yet. Then we went to a young couples house for dinner. They were really nice and sweet. We had stir fry, so it wasn't bad. I had to down the veggies though. After dinner we went to a ladies house whose name is Anne Anderson. We gave her a blessing. She is like 70 years old.

Apple Valley is pretty ghetto, but there are nice parts too. It is about 80 degrees outside. We have weights :) so that made me happy. I was really nervous to come out here, but I know everything will be OK :) They say we play basketball a lot so I am glad I brought my shoes. Oh yeah, I am in a car in my 1st area also. Today I am going to teach lessons, but it is also my p-day. Well, I love all you guys and I miss you.

Love,

Elder Williamson

Random Pictures

Picture from MTC Feb 2007

Typical missionaries goofing off :)

Letter Home (MTC)

Dear Family,

So hey, what's up? So how is everything going? In less than 24 hours I am going to be in California...isn't that insane? Well the MTC was quite an experience. I have learned so much in so little time it is amazing. I can teach the 1st and 2nd lesson and part of the 3rd one. It is amazing how fast our stay at the MTC goes by. It was a really fun time and I have made a lot of good friends. I also learned a lot about myself. I am a little nervous to go and teach real people, but I know everything is just fine.

Right now I am in the laundry room doing my laundry and getting ready to pack my stuff. We also had 5 people leave to Santa Rosa California today. So there are only 3 of us left in our district, including me, so we are a threesome companionship.

Well, I miss all of you guys so much and I want you to know I pray and think about you guys all the time. Love you!

Love,

Elder Williamson

Letter Home (MTC)

Dear Mom, Dad and Family,

Hello everybody! How are you? First of all my companions name is Elder Leaming. He is from Indiana. He is cool, but nothing like me. So far it has been quite the experience. The spirit is very strong and your testimony grows by the day. Sort of like the Grinch and the heart and how it grows.

I miss all of you guys so much, but I am starting to love my mission. Mom, I need my debit card and I also need some nice shirts like 2...tell Jenni and Tara to pick them out and send my black skate shoes please.

Anyways,I want you all to know that prayer is a very helpful thing and it is so powerful. Our hours consist of like 13 hour days. First I get up at 6 am, workout at 6:30 am, take a shower and by 7:00am I am in class until 7:45 am. Then we go to breakfast. The food is pretty good and I get a lot of salad. Next we get back to class by 8:30 am then we are in classes or meeting or referral center until 12:30 pm. Then we go to lunch until 1:15 pm and then back to class.

I am getting the first lesson down pretty well but there is so much more work to do. We have dinner at 5:30 pm until 6:15 pm and then we have class again until 9:30 pm. I have 2 teachers. The first one is Brother Ash. He went to Georgia on his mission and then Brother Bradshaw. He went to New York.

I want you guys to know that I am having fun. The first couple of days were so long, but now it is going so fast. So make sure you tell me what is going on at home. What is everybody still doing? Does Tyson still have a girlfriend?

I have to go but I want you all to know that I love you so much and I miss you. I think about all of you every day.

Love,

Elder Williamson

First Letter From MTC

Dear Mom and Dad,

I want you guys to know that I love you both very much. I am thankful that you guys are my parents. People at the MTC are very kind and they are here just to help. Mom, I need dates for when I got my MMR's. I should have got both of them...I hope :) I want you guys to know and the family that I will think of you everyday. All of you will be in my prayers. It was hard to think I won't see you for 2 years. But many blessings will come. Please write me often. I won't be able to write back until next Thursday. I love you, Mom and Dad. Thank you for everything.

Love,

Elder Williamson

Farewell

This is a great picture taken after Christopher's farewell. Every one of the five young men in this photo is currently serving a mission. What a wonderful group of friends Christopher has had!
More friends eating lots of food :)

First Baptism

A few days before Christopher left for the MTC he had the opportunity to baptize his little sister, Emma. For some reason we just felt that he should have this chance. It was an amazing experience watching him with her in the font. I will never forget it. Emma loved that her big brother was the one to baptize her and she often talks about it.

You Are Hereby Called To Serve...

Christopher received his mission call December 13, 2006 at 5:30 am. We had a family friend that worked at the post office and was keeping an eye out for the call. He called as soon as he saw it and Greg and Christopher quickly dressed (as you can see by the missed matched socks) and drove to the post office to get it.

We woke up the family and gathered together to listen as Christopher read the words "You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the California San Bernardino Mission..." How excited we all were! Christopher had a really hard time even pronouncing "San Bernardino"...it was kind of funny. He was not even sure where it was on the map. He quickly started calling friends (I know...it was still VERY early). One of his best friends was actually leaving that day for the MTC. That was pretty neat that they got to share this experience before he left. That was a great day!