After Christmas

This week has been incredible! I loved being able to skype home and see all of you, that was definitely the best part of my Christmas! It feels like that was forever ago though. We have had so much go on this week and have had so many miracles. Sister Davidson started teaching a woman on facebook that we had received as a referral from Alex (a recent convert of 2 weeks). She lives in another area in the mission, but the Sisters had not had a chance to contact her yet so we started to teach her online. She committed to read the Book of Mormon and come to church, and then we went home and called the mission office so that the Sisters in her area could get to her that night. We went over to Alex's house soon after calling and when we got there, he was actually talking to her and she told him that she was getting baptized on the 25th of January! I was a little weary of facebook being an effective tool, but now I have a strong testimony of it.

Also SOPHIE got baptized this last Saturday! It was the most amazing experience that I have had since being here. She was so excited! We were also very fortunate to have a lot of her non-member family present and they were all very supportive. Sophie's dad even came with her 14 yr old step-sister. We actually had a great conversation with her after the baptism. I loved being able to see the light just beam out of Sophie's eyes. The Spirit was so strong and it touched everyone's heart. We also received a lot of support from other missionaries in our district, which was great because our district is so big that it meant a lot for them to come. Since us and the elder's have been here we have seen three baptisms which is huge because there had only been 7 in the previous 9 months and only three of them are still active. We have truly been blessed to be able to serve in a great area with such great people. We have also been blessed to teach some of the most elect people. 

I have a funny story that happened this week. So we have been fish sitting for a member in our ward this past week and they brought us their fish and their food last Saturday. Christmas night we came home and one of the fish was laying dead on the bottom of the tank. We were horrified, we were literally just joking about what would happen if one on the fish died. So we called the Elders and asked them if we should just flush it and tell the family or if we should replace it and not tell them. The opted for the flushing it. So we got off the phone and just prayed that by some miracle the fish could be alive. Not ten minutes later the fish was up and swimming and is still alive today. So the moral of that story is that God answers prayers! 

Sophie's Baptism

 The stockings were hung by the fire with hopes...

Our Ornaments

Christmas Eve PJ's

Christmas Week

I am so excited for Christmas I can hardly stand it! So expect a skype call around 12:00 your time, it will be 2:00 my time, so I hope I have the right time difference. I don't know my skype address, but if there is any problem I will call you so that we can figure it out, because I am determined to skype, not call. President told us that the calls should be 40 minutes in length. Anyway, my song went really well, it was in front of the entire mission and I was a little intimidated, but it went well. It sounds like Hannah and Hayden think that Santa has unlimited funding....I hope that they will be okay. I got your package! Sister Davidson and I were both really excited. Also I can't wait to open my jammies! Anyway I want to keep this pretty short so that we still have stuff to talk about on Wednesday, and nothing much really happened this week. I love you, Only TWO DAYS until I get to see y'all! 

Also, please thank everyone for the cards and presents they have sent.  They have made me feel that I have so much support.  It is very fun to get mail!!

Advice for Members of the Millville 2nd Ward on helping the missionaries.

The bishop asked the three families who have missionaries in our ward to talk about our missionary's experiences sharing the gospel.  He also asked if she would include in her email this week some advice for our ward on Missionary Work.  After much pondering and prayer here is what she sent:

Dear members of the Millville 2nd ward,

There are four things that I can think of that you can do that will help the missionaries serving there:

1. Pray for missionary experiences in your personal and family prayers. Pray and ask The Lord to trust you enough to let you help His children come to a knowledge of His gospel. 

2. Talk with everyone! Don't limit their (or your) eternal potential by passing them by. Talk to your neighbors, your friends, your colleges, or even those you meet on the street. Live what you profess to believe, people will notice, and they will ask questions. When I am long gone from this earth I don't want someone to come up to me and say "you knew, you knew about this gospel the whole time, why didn't you tell me?" Everyone needs the gospel, and we are the ones that God has trusted to bring it to them, so open your mouth and let Him fill it with the things you need to say.

3. Purchase the book "The Power of Everyday Missionaries" by Clayton M. Christensen. This book will change the way you view missionary work. It will help you make missionary work apart of your everyday lives. It will become a natural reflex to be an everyday missionary.

Last but most importantly, 

4. Have a family for the missionaries to teach in your own home. We as missionaries love referrals, but the support and fellowship that comes from teaching in a members home leads to a much stronger and easier conversion. 

Amongst all of this it is important to remember agency. Everyone you invite may not say yes, but that is their decision. It is our responsibility as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to share the message of the gospel and then let others decide whether or not to accept it. Let us all heed a prophet's call to share the gospel with everyone. NOW is the time brothers and sisters to spread the gospel upon the face of the whole earth. NOW, not tomorrow, not in three weeks, but now. Let's open our mouths and let the gospel flow forth, and let us "be made instruments in the hands of The Lord unto the salvation of many souls."

I say these things in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.

Crazy Week

You know what is crazy, in one week I will be out for 4 months! That is so weird because I feel like I just got here, at the end of this transfer I will have almost been out for a fourth of my mission! It has flown by and the end will be here before I know it. 

So this week has been crazy! We had Alex's baptism and our Bishop's daughter's wedding all in the same day! (Remember her fiance was baptized soon after I arrived here.)  It was a great day, but crazy! We were asked to sing at the baptism by Alex we sang Amazing Grace. Alex's mom was bawling the entire time and you could just see how happy she was that he had made the decision to be baptized. The AP's came because both of them have served in this area and it was great to have them there to support Alex's family!

The wedding was really fun.  There was dancing at the wedding.  We did not dance but enjoyed listening to the music.  (The Motabs are great but I am tired of them because they are all we listen to.)

Thank you so much for all of your prayers for Sophie, Kim, and Gracie! They are doing so great! Sophie is getting baptized on the 28th of this month and we are all so excited. Kim has become so involved for the whole process and when she called her brother to tell him about it she put him on speaker and told him that her kids were making "the plunge" before she was. It was amazing because three months ago she would not have said that about herself taking the plunge. It has been amazing to see their progression as a family! Also they are so kind.  Kim gave me a beautiful dress and I was able to wear it to the baptism this week as well as the wedding. I didn't want to take it but she insisted and she would have been sad if I hadn't. It amazes me how much people care for you as missionaries and how much they want to help provide for you. Their family takes care of us like we are their own. 

My heel is much better. I got some bandages and some neosporin to put on it and it has been much better, it still looks really gross but it feels a whole lot better and it is not infected. 

I will email you next week with details about skyping you! I am so excited! I already warned dad and Hannah, but I will probably bawl my eyes out the whole time so prepare yourself. 

It's Almost Christmas!

So this week has been absolutely AMAZING! As you know we have been working with Sophie, Kim, and Gracie. Well this week we got a text on Tuesday from Kim asking if we could come over for Bible study this week, so we arranged for three appointments (one for each girl and Kim on her own). I was really scared to have a session with Kim because she is a devout Catholic and she wanted to know the timeline for the Book of Mormon. I studied as hard as I could to make sure that I could have the knowledge for the Spirit to bring to my remembrance about the timeline for the Book of Mormon and Bible. We went over on Thursday and as we were getting started we talked a lot about the atonement and what it means to each of us. I bore testimony to her of the reality of the atonement and how it can help us get out of even the darkest hole. In the process of this the Spirit took over and I said something to the effect of "I know that we were supposed to meet and talk and help each other through this phase of our lives...." At that point Kim started bawling and she told us of an experience that she had the day after Thanksgiving. She had been outside praying, asking our Father in Heaven if this was the path that she should take and she looked up and saw a shooting star go by. She then asked Heavenly Father if he was sure and a second shooting star went past. She took that as her answer and said "okay, I'm ready, teach me." We taught the restoration and she just ate it up. She was so excited to learn about the Book of Mormon and she loved that it talked about the people in America and how it went so perfectly with the Bible. At the end I was really nervous but I asked her about Baptism and she replied that she wanted to be baptized! She needed a little time to make sure that she had repented of her sins in her mind and when she is ready she will be baptized! It was seriously an answer to our prayers. We had just set a date for baptism with Sophie and Gracie this week and Kim was the cherry on top. They all came to the ward Christmas party and we were talking about life and Hailey told us that she had thought about it and that she wanted to be baptized as soon as possible, so we are going to have a baptism on the 21st for Hailey! Tonight we are going to pick out the baptism dress she wants to wear and talk about what she wants to have happen in the baptism. I really feel that they are one of the main reasons that Sister Davidson and I are here. 

We also had a trade off this week with our Sister Training Leaders. I stayed here with Sister Eddington while Sister Davidson went to Julington Creek with Sister Beacham. It was great! We tracted into a man named Miguel and he hardly spoke any English but we had a great conversation with him about church. I also randomly had a Spanish Plan of Salvation pamphlet in my bag from the MTC and so I gave it to him and we then gave his contact info to the Spanish Elders and it was great. 

Also this week I tracted so much that I got a HUGE blister on the back of my foot. It was pretty gross, so I am going to attach a picture! Sadly we did not go to the alligator farm this week, I don't know when that will happen, but probably not until things calm down a little bit. We do get the opportunity to go to Atlantic Beach later this transfer with Tracy on a p-day. We still have to get permission to leave the zone, but that shouldn't be too hard. 

This week we have the mission Christmas "party." Sister Davidson and I both got emails from Sister Craig that gave us a piece of music that we get to perform at the party/devotional. I am singing "What Child is This" with another sister who I do not know and Elder Payne from my MTC district and Elder Derr who I went to high school. I think that this is pretty darn hilarious because none of us knew that we were going to be asked to do something and yet I got assigned to do a song with two elders that I know. Sister Davidson will be playing the flute to a Christmas song from the Children's song book. It will be really great! 

We also got word on Sunday that our Bishopric is being reorganized this next Sunday. While we have been here we have seen the Stake Presidency change and now the Bishopric. Our Bishop currently is fantastic. He just loves everyone in the ward and loves missionary work. It will be interesting to see what happens. 

We also got a Christmas tree this week from a member and it is great because it sure doesn't feel like Christmas here.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was sure different here! We actually ate three different dinners with people and we sort of had a "day-off". We got to have fun and talk with lots of members of our ward and we got to eat pumpkin pie! It was so great!

We have had a lot go on this week and it seems like it is just the beginning. We have started teaching a guy named Alex. We have actually known him since we first got here, because he is the son of a less active family that feeds us every Wednesday. (funny story, I actually challenged him to be baptized on night randomly, he declined but I like to think that it finally got him thinking about it). The Elders had a heart to heart with him one night and since then he has not stopped reading the Book of Mormon. He is going to be baptized on the 14th of this month and it is SO exciting! He has asked Sister Davidson and I to do the musical number and also make yummy treats. He has also asked us to start teaching him along with the Elders. I don't know how much the Elders like that idea, but I love it and he will be "our" first baptism. He may not count with our numbers but he counts in our/his heart! To go along with this, Mom I need your recipe for your delicious chocolate chip cookies we are making them for his baptism.

Anyway, we also got to go to the Ocean this past P-day! We couldn't go on the beach, but we did go on a huge pier. It was beautiful! I love the feel of the ocean! We also got to go back to St. Augustine and visit the Lighthouse and it was huge. Next time we are going to go to the Alligator farm! 

So in the next few weeks we have the ward Christmas party, the mission Christmas party, lots of caroling, a baptism, a wedding, and CHRISTMAS! It is so exciting. 

Sis. Williams and Sis. Davidson