It is because of those hard times that my testimony has been strengthened and we get to prove ourselves to the Lord.

Dear Family,

There is quite a bit to write about today so I will combine the e-mail and try to go quick!

The week started with a phone call from the Mission President saying that one of the missionaries in our zone needed to be to the airport in 2 hours because he was going home for an un-expected funeral. Missionaries do not usually go home for funerals, but most of the family is not members and they pleaded that he be aloud to go home, and the area 70 agreed, so he went home for a few days and he came back on Saturday. I felt bad for him. It was his grandpa and he was very close to him before his mission. He is a strong missionary though and I am sure he will deal with it well.

• Elder Byran's and I's request was granted and we are staying together for another transfer. That means that we will be together until the 29 of May. My prediction is that he will then go and replace Elder Alder as the AP when he is transferred at that time. Then I will have a 6 week finishing companion.

• I FINALLY baptised yesterday! Had my first two white baptisms and they went very well. It is a part member family so it was another part to that family. The only person in the family not yet baptised is the father and he is a strong Afrikaner. Very intimidating man who could care less if he was your friend or not. That one will take a lot of work.

• Elder Alder was supposed to tell his mom about our exchange that we had, and she was supposed to pass on the word to you so that you could hear about it. But since you did not make mention of it I will give a quick run down before you get the full scoop and pictures. On Friday after going on exchanges in one of the townships in our zone, the Assistants went on splits with us. I first of all went with Elder Hill (Such a spiritual missionary, it is crazy how obedient he is! Elder Alder is like the definition of Obedient and Elder Hill just takes it multiple steps further than the definition of obedient) but anyway I took him to a first appointment with a part member family. Very Very wealthy youngish family. It was probably the nicest house I have ever been in my life. There are quite a few that we have been in lately that are nicer than anything I have been in America, but the only reason I mention that is because Elder Hill did not know what to do around rich people ha ha. Then we all met up at a Child of record baptism our ward was having and it was SOO intense! The Stake Presidency was even there and the chapel was pretty much full! THEN instead of some cookies after the baptism it was a full on dinner where the gym had been converted to look similar to Carly's wedding reception! Actually a step or 2 down from that, but it was way nice! We skipped out on the dinner though because Elder Byrnes (being labeled as the 2 classiest missionaries) had to treat them to a dinner we had provided. You will see photos of it, but we converted our living room to a very up scale dining room with full out cloth napkins and everything. We served Escargot (snails) for appetizers, lasagna,.....anyway, not sure why I am wasting time on this but it was very nice! and then in the morning we played touch rugby with the ward.

• Diamond: No I don't have anyone in mind! That may or may not be the reason it is so hard to pick one out!

• Dad, it was sad to hear about the kid in Canada Ward who came home. It is sad when that happens, but there is no question about it, a mission is hard. People who have not been on a mission have not the slightest clue what trials people go through. That is why they grow so much in 2 years! You grow through trials, how do you grow so much in 2 years? INTENSE trials like you have never faced before. It is sad when it drives the Elder to go home. I feel we have multiple Elders in our zone right now that are going through trials like they have never experienced in their life. It is during this time that they need so much support so that they know how to get through the trial. Once they do, they become so much stronger. It is sad watching them go through it. I look back on those experienced in my mission. I have definitely had that happen many times in these 2 years, and I am so glad that I was able to look heavenward and get through it. I needed to learn those lessons in this life, and although hard, I would not trade those experiences for the world. It is because of those hard times that my testimony has been strengthened and we get to prove ourselves to the Lord.

• This trip you mentioned sounds fun but I would try to shorten it to a 2 or 3 days if possible. I am leaning towards simply spending time with the family until I start school like you were saying. Money will come later.

• We had General Conference this weekend and it was SO good! a few of the talks that I really enjoyed were: Elder Holland (that is just a given), Robert D. Hales (stellar talk), Elder Ballard. Between the sessions we had lunch with that family I told you about that fly helicopters to work (no big deal). The Temple President lives with them so I went over and decided to have lunch with the Temple President (it was a picnic setting). What a man! We talked about so much in our 45 minutes together. He is quite a scholar so I picked his brain a little. We talked about study habits and he said that the turning point for him in his studies was when he realized that what is on TV is garbage and he decided to replace that time he makes for TV to study. Because of the lack of time I cannot get into everything that we talked about, but he invited us over to his house next Monday so that we can further our discussion on the Covenants of Salvation and Covenants of Exaltation. Something very interesting out of our discussion though was when he looked down and saw an African spider on his pants. I have seen pictures lately of what an African spider can do to you and it honestly kind of scares me. Instead of swatting it away he did something very similar to that painting of Christ and the butterfly. He helped the spider onto his finger and then set it gently on the grass. It was something very interesting that I have not ever seen anyone do before.

• Anyway, I am over time, but I have an assignment to give before I log off. I continue to be surprised at who is actually reading these e-mails, so my assignment goes to everyone who reads this to please simply let me know about it. If you don't want to write a physical letter, then simply log onto dearelder.com and Simply let me know that you read these e-mails. I would appreciate knowing who reads this... :)

Well family, that is all I have for you today. We have an exciting week. Our recommendation was also granted and Elder Tamale will be training starting Tuesday! He has only been out for 3 months but we feel he is ready. I am excited for him.

Stay Classy
Love you all,

Elder Blake Williams