He's Here

Joshua Ryan Williams

Born September 27th, 2009 at 4:25 a.m. after 8 hours of labor.

7 lbs., 1 oz.

20" long

Happy, healthy, stinky, and squirmy

And we love him more than we can say.

The Student of the Month

Only a few weeks into the first semester at a new school and Ethan was presented with a Student of the Month award. Way to go Ethan! Your family is so very proud of you. You have worked very hard in school and it is nice to see your hard work acknowledged.

The announcement was made at a school-wide assembly. Mommy, Bronwyn Sue and Daddy were invited to attend. Jonah was there with his kindergarten class. Papa Mike and Grandma Sue were in Boise for Gabe's birthday so they were also able to attend. (We missed you Papa Richard and Grandma Jean.) Ethan was pretty excited. He wore a shy little grin the entire time. After receiving the award, he told us he really liked it when everyone clapped for him and the other winners.

Needless to say Tama and I were very proud of him for achieving this accomplishment. At the same time, one of the most satisfying parts of this experience was watching how excited Jonah was for his brother. Jonah clapped and waved to Ethan. Ethan is lucky to have a little brother who is such a big fan. He is also lucky to have such a great supportive family. I hope he realizes what a great fan club he has.

Kye

Kye is funny, we love it when he comes over to visit.

He looked a little ticked at his mom for steeling a bite,

"Mom, Mom!"

MTC Devotionals and Firesides

Sept 21, 2009

Hi everyone!...We are still at home and traveling back and forth to the MTC. Today and tomorrow our 13 young missionaries are leaving for temporary assignments in the US. It was sad to see them go, now we feel all alone, with 2,500 other missionaries!?! But some good news, our Mission Pres. emailed us from Mongolia and told us they are making progress with the visas, they have no date as yet but only a couple of things to be negotiated. So we are getting closer! The MTC Devotionals and Firesides have been so wonderful! We will miss those when we leave. So, I wanted to share some of the thoughts we have learned.

MTC: "Notice the hand of the Lord and the miracles that are happening in your life, while you are on your mission, share them with your family. A mission is a life-changing event, it will affect you the rest of your life. Embrace all of it - the good, the bad and the ugly! Let it make you what God wants you to be. Be the missionary my grand children think your are!"...Elder Jeffery R. Holland, Quorum of the Twelve

"There are 104 languages in the world, we teach 52 of them here in Provo. There are 53,000 missionaries world-wide, 2,500 (give or take) here at the MTC, with 56 Branches. There are 15 MTC's across the world, with 344 missions. There are currently 4,400 senior missionaries." He then went on in jest..."I get phone calls from 341 Mission Pres. a week, pleading their case for senior couples, and why their mission should be put at the top of the list. We could place 6,500 seniors, right now." ...Richard G. Hinckley, Missionary Department of the Church

Elder Richard G. Scott, of the Quorum of the Twelve also came and spoke, his was so touching! He ask by a show of hands how many were learning a language..."As an Apostle of the Lord, I leave you with an Apostolic Blessing, I wish to confer upon you the gift of tongues, to be able to bear testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ, in your language!" He also left a blessing upon the sister missionaries, "As long as you are completely obedient, you will be protected!" He spoke so powerfully, "Jesus loves and strengthens us, all of us, who are in His Service, He lives! I know He lives, because I know Him!"

Obedience & Faith: "Stay so far inside the rules that you don't even know they exist." and "Satan wants us to be selectively obedient, by choosing what we will and will not obey." and "Don't be afraid of mistakes, there is no magical formula for life. Satan glories in our disappointments and discouragements - because they will limit our faith." and Elder Bednar was quoted, "Success is a gift, don't get frustrated...Do everything in your power, work hard...expect nothing. Then when things work our and something good happens - Be grateful! Be surprised!" and "If we lower our expectations and think negatively our faith will be weakened."

Preach My Gospel is a wonderful book and we have learned so much from it, if you want something to read - it is wonderful. "Preach My Gospel was "born" to convert the missionary. Previous plans and lessons were written to convert the investigator. But, the Lord and the Church cannot afford to loose you! It's purpose is to bring the Gospel into your heart and into your very soul, then you can go out and convert the investigator!" ...J. R. Holland

One last thought on the Atonement: "The Atonement is not for all - but, is for each one of us individually. We have to accept and receive Him one by one!"...R. G. Scott

I also must say how wonderful the music is at the MTC. Hearing 2,500 missionaries sing "Called to Serve", is quite an experience and gives me chills!

We love all of you so much and thanks for the prayers, support and love!! Love Emaa and Ovoo

Happy Belated B-Day Emaa Jean

So sorry that we didn't do much for you on your birthday. You would think that you were already in Mongolia or some other end of the earth. Sorry. Anyway, we hope that you had a nice birthday and did something fun. Only a few people can ever say they celebrated their birthdays in the MTC.

Ethan and Jonah drew you these pictures. Jonah drew a picture of his turtle. (Yes he also has a turtle. I bought one for him at the same time as Ethan. We tried to convince Jonah to sell his and he could keep the money; however, he wouldn't do it. He named his turtle Little Slowly Jonah. It is just too hard to try and sell a pet your child has named after himself. ) Naturally, Ethan drew a picture of Speedy. Ethan loves, absolutely loves Speedy. Speedy will eat out of his hand. He is not afraid of Ethan. Jonah's turtle is still pretty freaked out by Jonah. He is constantly trying to escape. Then again, when Jonah plays with LSJ, he pretends that he is dancing and flying, things turtles were not meant to do.

We had a Family Home Evening a while ago where we discussed missionaries and how important it is to serve a mission. Throughout the entire lesson the boys would raise their hands and ask questions about Mongolia. Including if there are any elephants and lions in Mongolia. The questions were kind of funny; but, we have forgotten most of them. But after the lesson, in which we mentioned Mongolia by name at least a couple of hundred times, the last question Ethan asked was now "where is the place where Papa Richard and Grandma Jean are going to be missionaries?" It was frustrating but kind of funny. Someday we hope they remember something we taught them.

Thank you for all you have taught and are teaching us. We love you and are very excited about your mission. Thanks for your example of faith and all of your love and support. Happy belated birthday Emaa Jean!

Visa Delay - 3 weeks, and Counting!

We talked to the Travel services at the MTC today. They said it may take a month before our visa's come in, they just don't know. It has sure been a roller-coaster of emotions! They don't want to transfer us anywhere because of the expense involved. So we decided to continue with language classes - We met with Sister Maria Johnson, she is over the language training for the senior missionaries. She told us that Pres Andersen, from Mongolia, has e-mailed her 3 times this past week, conveying to her his concern that we learn the language really well, so we are able to converse with the people and to read the language. She ask - no, told us - that we will continue to be having language lessons for as long as we are here, with the same schedule, of 6 hours of classes, plus 2 hours of homework each day, our tongues get pretty twisted! I think we'll keep busy! It was an interesting meeting. She told us two or three times that she felt very strongly the hand of the Lord in all of this! We have felt that, too. Dad has always felt strongly, that the language is important and that we are to spend as much time as possible on it. We had made arrangements to go to the BYU Family History Library, but cancelled that and will continue with our lessons. We're glad for the opportunity to learn more. We also, feel the hand of the Lord in all of this and we want you to know that we are OK. We love each of you and feel of your love, support anad faith! We Love all of you, Ovoo and Emaa

Free Time at the MTC

We, as of Sept 3rd are still on visa delay. We have seen four groups of Senior Missionaries leave...hopefully our turn is next week!

We moved home Monday evening the 31st of August. Eldon stopped on his way home from work and picked us up - and all of our luggage (we get to repack, again)!

We have have been driving the truck back and

forth this past week to our language and office classes. We did enjoy them, but not sure how much we'll use them. Dad learned about the mission cars, housing and paying bills. I learned how to enter baptisms, transfers, and how to make up a Mission Newsewsletter...funstuff that we probably won't use!

This week's training is "Visitor Center's" - I know we won't use that one! We will probably volunteer to help in language center or teaching center or the Call Center, not sure as of yet.

It has been good to be home, although it was hard to make the decision to come back. Jody and the boys have been good to respect our time and space. It has been good to see or talk to all of you, We love and appreciate the love and support we feel from you!