Elder Williams is off to BOTSWANA Jan. 12, 2011

Hello Parents:
I have been transferred to the country of Botswana and need a copy of my birth certificate to apply for residency.
I need this copy today if at all possible.
If you could send the scanned copy to 2018608-bw@ldschurch.org that would be greatly appreciated.
As well if you could call President Morgan (in the mission presidency) and keep him updated, that would be greatly appreciated. His Botswana phone number is 7132 0394. Sister Morgan believes that "011267" is the code prior to the actual phone number. Sorry for the late notice, and thank you for your help.
Love you
Elder Williams

(I got this sweet message from Sister Morgan in the Mission Office)
Sister Williams,
We received your scanned copy of your son’s Birth Certificate. Thank you for responding so quickly; I have printed it off and we will take it with us to Immigration tomorrow morning.
We’ve only just met your son for today, and it was certainly anything but a normal day in the Mission, but we are very impressed with him. While at Immigration today, I had so many people talking to me at once that I was almost in tears just trying to understand all they wanted as my husband had to go with the Real Estate people of the church to Molepolole to locate a new building spot and I got left with the Immigration stuff. Your son could see my stress level was rising and asked if he could help. I handed him my cell phone, he fielded 2 or 3 calls for me and assigned missionaries where they need to be and doing what needed to be done and let me just deal with Immigration. Later back at the Mission home, he was MORE than helpful in getting all the new missionaries off to their new areas and parents called for Birth Certificates and organizing the whole situation. It was a hard day for me and he certainly helped make it easier and I’m sure he is a great son and is truly missed in your home. Thank you for sharing him with us here in Botswana; we are a Satellite office of the Johannesburg Mission and have about 40 Missionaries that get to serve with us. We are happy to have him and I’m sure he will e-mail you soon and tell you all about his new adventures. Botswana is just North and West of Johannesburg and my husband and I serve here where my husband is a Counselor to President Poulsen and we just do our best to keep the Missionaries legal in the country, but sometimes it’s a full time job! We are happy to be here and certainly plan to enjoy serving with your son.
Sincerely,
Sister Morgan
(We are from Burley Idaho and have been in Botswana for about 10 Months.)

(My reply to her)
Thank you so much for taking time to write me a note and for your comments about my son. It made me smile because what you described him doing is my son! That is Blake and he is always the one that can see what needs to be done and does it. He has been like that since he was tiny. My husband and I feel lucky because we have 5 great kids but somehow Blake is always the one that seems to take care of us. You will find him to have a delightful personality. We do MISS him but we are so grateful for his willingness to serve as we feel the blessings from his service. We are also thankful for people like you that are serving in faraway lands taking care of our children.
My husband and are were born and raised in Idaho. (Boise and Nampa areas) so we know our beloved Idaho. We have lived in Texas for about 23 years and are now on an assignment in Calgary Canada for a few years. That is a big change for us.
Many thanks for your service.
Love,
Stacey Williams

(My email to friends and family) 
Well our boy is off to Botswana! We got a call early this morning that of course we missed. Blake’s message was a hoot as it was him referring to himself as Elder Williams and needing to have us fax his birth certificate to the mission office. Finally at the end he did let us know that all was well. Shortly after that we were able to talk to the mission home to see if the birth certificate got there. Sister Morgan sent me this sweet note below. It made me smile as I could just picture my Blake stepping up as he always does…I of course have a new set of worries with this new area. Blake is thrilled to be going to Botswana as it is known for its wild life. But it is also known for its disease and it has Black Mamba snakes (the deadliest in the world) I know I focus on the danger but please keep him in your prayers…
Love you all,
Stacey