HE IS IN MONGOLIA!!!

So the last couple of days have been really cool. Hard but cool. I don't have much time today so I can't write to the little girls again. Sorry :( SO my new companion's name is elder moohxbaatap. I really butchered the spelling. I have been assigned to the chinggeltee branch. We do have our own apartment but the hard thing about where we are assigned is that we have been whitewashed. That means no body knows the area. It has been pretty hard. My companion can speak pretty good English so that really helps. I want him to speak only in Mongolian to me but the problem is that he sometimes gets a little frustrated because I can't really understand him. My comprehension has really picked up since sacrament meeting and when I say comprehension I mean being able to pick out words and not understanding sentences. We have only taught two lessons so far but we did have one investigator commit to a baptismal date (she didn't show up at church though) and we actually had another investigator show up at church. It was pretty cool except I can't understand anyone. I have already had several Mongolian types of food. It is actually pretty good so far. The one thing about Mongolia is that I feel like I'm on a different planet. It feels like I'm living in the city of Gotham in Batman either new or old. It is really dirty and sometimes the smog is so thick it makes Salt Lake City look like the most cleanest city in the world. The cool thing is that I'm really enjoying being here. I am really just praying to be able to understand the language right now. It is really hard. So the first thing we did here was we went up to a monument built to the Russians and sang High on the Mountain Top. It was really cool. I will try to send pictures next week. I just need a few cords to do it and I want to be able to say what I'm buying in Mongolian. So jet lag is still kicking in but not really bad anymore. For a while I was getting motion sickness even in cars. Speaking of cars the traffic here is crazy. You literally can drive anywhere you want to. That is the rule and it gets really scary sometimes. But it is really cool. I love you all and hope you are having a great time back at home.

EVERYBODY GUESS WHAT!!!!!!!! I GOT TRAVEL PLANS!!!!! So I sent the email to you in the morning when I didn't know I we had gotten them. There is quite a spiritual experience behind this though. I went to the temple and the whole time I was a little down about the fact that we were not going and possibly could be temporarily reassigned. So while I was there I prayed and prayed to Heavenly Father for a miracle and that somehow all the VISA's would arrive today. So when we came back to our room the other elder's were waiting and told us the wonderful news. WE ARE GOING!!!!!! I'm just so excited to serve the people of Mongolia. I know that God answers the prayers of everybody no matter how simple it is. The first thing I did was I got down on my knees and thanked Heavenly Father. I know that he does care about each of us and that he does have a plan for us. I heard about the picture card. That is too bad so next time I won't send it through the mail. It probalby got erased somehow in the whole mail process. I do have better pictures though on my other picture card so don't worry. I got a lot of district and single pictures of me. So the time I'm supposed to be out of the MTC room is 4:30 tomorrow. My flight is at 8:12. So my first flight number is DL 1211. That is just the flight to LA airport. We then have like a 5 hour layover and we will just kind of spend the night there. I can tell you my other flight plans later on the telephone. Speaking of the telephone I will be calling tonight around 8:00 or 8:15. The let me do it because I've been delayed so much. I'm so excited. Our whole district just started screaming. This has actually been really hard on all of us. We've already been here pretty long so it was getting kind of a drag. But, I'm going!!!! I'm so happy right now. I can't even focus. So this week we had Culture day. It was really cool. One weird thing is that apparently if you have a cold you are supposed to drink some of your mother's urine. I guess I lot of Mongolians still do this so I just thought you would be interested. We also learned about how the name of the bad guy in Mulan is actually an ancient Mongolian name for king or something like that. We also learned just how huge of an empire the Mongolians conquer. One other funny thing is that they love Russia and hate China. They also really like the russian communist lennon and a few others. they somehow think he helped their country. Also we learned about some of the Mongolian religions. Our teachers told us not to treat the mongolian shamnism as lightly. Apparently we are to take it serious because some of it is kind of scary. Mongolia is still spiritually maturing so there seems to be a small spiritual battle going on there. I'm a little nervous about that but through the Lord I can do anything. I'm so grateful for all you have done for me. I've finally going to Mongolia. My feet are doing better and I still have problems but they are not even as big as they used to be. I will just keep asking for wart medications though I don't need any right now. I love you all and I can feel all your prayers. I love you and I will call you tonight.

Love Elder Williams

PS sorry if my letter was kind of jumbled, I'm really excited

Dear Dad, Mom, and Family,
So this week has been a good week so far. My language has continued to grow though there is no substitute like being out in the field. I'm really grateful that you called and talked to me about mom's situation. It was good to hear from your voices what is going on. I know it was a little awkward for me and I got over it pretty quick. It is just weird talking to your parents when you haven't heard them for quite a while. I might be calling you in another week because we can call at the airport so be ready for that. I honestly think that we will be going this Monday but if not, we will go whenever they get out VISA's. The good news is that we know we are going to Mongolia because all our VISA's have been cleared. It is just now a matter of time. Mom, thank you for the scriptures that you send over Email. By the way I have had a blessing from my companion about my feet and I'm tempted to ask for one more before I go. I hope you got my nametag that I sent back. It was pretty scratched up but it looks pretty cool. I'm also sending one of my pictures cards back with you all today. I wanting to so you can get some pictures of me before I go. Most of them are with other elders in the MTC so nothing too exciting but I thought you would appreciate them being sent. So, I have officially decided that I love going to the temple. I always feel so great after I leave a session. I am already looking forward to the time I can go back with my parents to the temple. I really am looking forward to that. This week we watched the Mountain of the lord and it really restressed the importance of temples in my mind. So this week we also had to go to in field orientation. It was fun but it lasted the whole day. I learned a lot and feel like I'm ready to go out and serve the lord. (I'm still nervous though, but then again, that is just me) Also this week we have a third bunk moved into our room because the MTC is really beginning to expand. They MTC seems to be preparing for a lot higher amount of missionaries that will be coming in, in the future. It is cool but tomorrow we get new roomates. One of them could be Erik Merono I guess. that would be cool but I doubt it. So you don't even know how happy it makes me that all the other guys in our ward our all going on missions. I'm so pumped for them all. I wish I could tell them how great it is and how much it has already changed my life. Even in the MTC. There is so much gospel knowledge gained, and lately I have felt like I want to go and share with the whole world my feelings for the gospel. I know that sounds weird but it is really true. I'm just so happy they get to experience that. I really am really really really excited for them. One of the coolest things about missionary work I have sort of experienced is just how much you begin to care about those you teach and those you will serve. I can't wait until I can be bearing my simple testimony in Mongolia. I somehow have already begun to love the people and I'm not even there yet. Well enough of that. I grateful for all of your prayer's. I really can feel them strengthening me. One really cool thing about Mongolia I learned this week is the holiday called White Moon/Month (I'm not sure which yet since they are the same word). I would write it in Mongolian but my computer won't let me pull up the keyboard right now. So you pretty much go around for like a week and eat and give presents. They said we would be extremely lucky to even give a lesson that week. It is in Feb. so I will get to be there 2 times for it. I'm not sure if I will be there for both naddams because of transfer times but I'm still really excited for that. So, I love you all and I'm so grateful for you and your examples. Good luck and I hope all of you are having a great time. I love you and thanks for all you have done for me in helping me get on a mission.
Love Elder Williams
Wish all the elder's in the ward good luck for me

Dear Mom and Dad and Family,

So this week has been a really good week. My language has finally come to the point I feel confident even though I know that when I get to Mongolia that I will totally not understand a word. So, our VISA's have been delayed but we got some good news. First, all of us have our sponsers for teaching so that means that there is a company in Mongolia that has my name on it to teach English at. Another good thing is that we were told that our VISA's will probably get here this week our possibly the beginning of next week. Another good thing is that the travel office said that all of our VISA's would be processed so that is great news. I will get to Mongolia and they can't keep me out of there forever. So my feet are healing and I can feel that prayers for them. I think that through the Lord I can get rid of them so they will not mess with the work in Mongolia. Who knows, maybe they will all freeze off in Mongolia. I am getting really antsy being here because I want to go and teach especially that I'm very confident in the language. I'm so jealous of Jake Berry. That would be such a wonderful mission to go to. Speaking of Argentina all of the Spanish I've learned in the last year or two has completely gone down hill. I understand everyone's Spanish just great but every time I try to respond Mongolian comes out or at least Mongolian grammar structure. I'll end up saying really weird stuff so I've pretty much given up on even trying to respond to anyone in Spanish. But this at least shows that I'm more confident in Mongolian which I'm still not even that confident about at all. But I have been using it more. I've officially decided that I love going to the temple. It is really fun and even if I don't learn anything specific I really enjoy just the absolute peace I get every time I go. By the way the Provo tabernacle temple is so cooool. that was the last thing I expected when he started talking about it. That will be really neat. I've been praying for Mom everyday and I hope you can feel my prayers. I've also been praying for our whole family. I so amazed at the example you have set especially when I'm not even there to see it. I really amazed at how much tighter the family has pulled together with all of this. So yesterday I went on splits in the district for TRC. It was really great because I had a companion who wasn't quite as good as me and so it forced me to experiment a lot more. In the end it ended up being the best lesson I've taught. I just hope and pray that the Holy Ghost is using as a tool in his hand so I can help all of those I teach. By the way, the video with Elder Holland was great but not quite accurate. There is not actually 1 in 10 people that are members of the church in Ulaanbaatar. It is actually more like 1 in every 150 people so we have our work cut out for us. IT is really weird teaching Mongolians about the gospel because they have absolutely no background knowledge of Christ. We are teaching absolute simple lessons. At first I thought this was weird but in the long run I read out of I think it is 2 Nephi 31 (I just wanted to interject here because it was really cool. The n sound in mongolian is with an H not an N and I started typing Nephi with and H at first. I'm mixing up my languages) It says that he glories in plainness because then no one can misunderstand. Well, I love you all and I'm praying for all of you.

Love Elder Williams

PS. I got your package and I'm glad you sent it to me. I'm also sending a second package home with the t shirts today. It will also have my camera card and the little girls letters and a letter to grandma Williams. Thank you for the letter Grandma! I really needed it that day.

Dear Mark and Tara and Maddie,

Thank you for the birthday card. It made my day!!! And very good on picking up some Mongolian.

Dear Mom and Dad,

So this week has been really good. I really enjoyed General Conference this week. We would watch every one in the huge meeting room. It was really cool especially because I paid attention the whole time. I never have taken so much away from General Conference in my life. I actually had about a full 18 pages of notes on it. It was really amazing and I felt the spirit the whole time. I also felt like many of the talks were directed at me. Obviously I didn't really try and apply how to raise a daughter to my life but I still took a lot of notes for the future. My language is coming along but I still just don't feel confident at all. It is going to be a huge wake up call in Mongolia. I heard that BYU won and was pretty happy about that. So I did get the shirts for all you guys but I think the cheapest way to send it will be to send it to Kristalyn, and when she comes down she can give it to you.
So really this week has been good. I can tell things are a little stressful at home right now. So I will elaborate a little more on my feet. So first, I went to the health clinic thinking that they would just have a doctor there to burn them off. But, they don't have a doctor there that will do that so I was then set up with a doctor off campus. As the lady called him they said they could get me in right then. So, I got a shuttle pass and me and my companion went on a little ride down to University Avenue. It was so weird actually being in the real world. I realized that out in Provo I had no purpose what so ever. It was weird also to ride in a vehicle when I haven't been in one for like 2 months. Well, then I went into the doctors office. I went in there and they said I was covered by Missionary Medical. Well, then they took me into the room. When the doctor saw my warts he said I should have been there a month ago so he could have started the process. Oh well. He then took a little thing that used air pressure to shoot medicine underneath the skin. He pretty much said that burning warts off usually doesn't work that well and that for now on I should go to a specialist for it because general doctors don't know this. So, after all this he said that I was to come back in two weeks. Well, he said that I would probably have some warts in mongolia and that he would do all he could to get them down. That is why I need that prayers and I am thankful for them. I had my companion give me a blessing so they would heal faster. I just need to have faith that the lord will heal me. So that was my experience this week. It was really weird. This week one of the elders in our district really sprained his ankle bad. At first we thought it was a break but through the lord's mercy nothing more than a sprain. I just really want to get to Mongolia right now. The MTC does begin to get a little repetitive. Well I'm praying for all of you because I know that it must be pretty hard. Everyone is having their own trials right now it seems. Hey we also had an awesome fireside speaker this week. We had Chad Lewis come and talk to us. It was really cool and he had a lot of really great stuff to say. Well thank you for all your prayer's. They have really helped me. I love you all and Mom, you don't need to send me any wart stuff. I really appreciate the examples that all of you have set for me. I don't know how I could be here if it wasn't for all of you. I just soooo excited to get to Mongolia. Well good luck and know that I'm praying for you all. I love you all.

Love Elder Williams/ Richie