Sister Williams' First Transfer

This week has been pretty good. Sister Houtz is amazing!  We have an absolutely AMAZING ward who just love to help out whenever possible. They are so supportive of our investigators and are really focused on missionary work. 

So right now I am living in Jacksonville. We are about 20ish minutes from actual downtown and also 20ish minutes from Atlantic Beach and Jax Beach. It is amazing! We are also great friends with the YSA sisters and because they have a lot more miles than we do we get to go a lot of places on P-day. It is so crazy to be where I am. I am right next to sister Davidson's old area and I have gone to a lot of places that she has gone to before. I feel like I am living her first few transfers. 

Anyway, the work is good here. We are teaching a family that is very solid, who have a baptismal date in April. They are so wonderful! There are a few other people who we are trying to work with, but it is hard for me to know what they really need right now because I have only been working with them for a few days. Once I get to know them more it will be easier to determine what exactly what needs to happen for them. 

Transfers are hard, but they are good. I feel really good about my new area. It is hard because Sister Davidson was/is my best friend and we have been through a lot together. Sister Craig told me at transfers that she knew that this was going to be a hard transition, but that I was needed in my new area and that everything was going to be okay. I know that it will be okay, but I do miss Sister Davidson quite a lot. But Sister Houtz is really similar to me and sister Davidson, she is kind of a happy medium. We are already good friends and we are working really hard here. I don't think I have ever knocked so many doors in my life. 

It is crazy because we are in a urban/suburban area. I went from ghetto/country/super-nice-rich-area to urban and actual population. I never thought that I would actually be serving in Jacksonville. 

These are pictures of St. Augustine.

A Little More from Meagan

This week has been CRAZY! We have had so many new experiences and miracles.

First off the iPads are amazing! It is amazing how fast The Lord has allowed us to have success with these tools. On Facebook this week I was able to start teaching a girl all the way in INDIA! We have also had lessons with some of our investigators, and almost every lesson we have actually used the iPad. These are incredible tools, that it never thought could be used for missionary work.

We also have a baptism coming up on Saturday for Graccie! It is so exciting to see all of the work that is happening here! The Elders actually have a baptism that day as well, and so that means we will have two confirmations in sacrament on Sunday. We also had a miracle with Gracie's dad Jason. He came to church this past week and he hasn't been to any church in over thirty years. It was crazy to see him there.

This week I had my first "country" dinner with some members. It consisted of fried cat fish nuggets, fried corn bread, fried chicken, and coleslaw (all of this was homemade) it was definitely interesting.  The best part was that the member's son's nonmember girlfriend was there and she had a lot of questions. We taught he the plan of salvation and she seems really interested.

Transfers are a week from Wednesday. We are freaking out because we are pretty sure that one of us is getting transferred. It will probably be Sister Davidson. That will be a new adjustment for sure, but I know The Lord will help me through it.

 I am so grateful that you received the moisture that you have been needing! Also I can't believe that Hannah passed her test !  (Driving Test)  That is crazy! I love you all!

Shortly after Meagan sent this...

Hey we just got word that I am being transferred out and that Sister Davidson is training! Holy cow, this is crazy.  I have no idea where, but president just called and told us that Sister Davidson will be training and that I will be transferred out, I will find out next Monday where I will be going.

It will be fun to see where she will end up.

This week has been fun and amazing!

This week has been fun and amazing! We received our iPads this
Wednesday and it seems like we have used them in almost every lesson that we have given this week. That are such amazing tools that The Lord has trusted us with. It is amazing to see how he is hastening his work. He definitely knows what he is doing! It has also been cool to be on Facebook. I have actually started to teach a girl all the way in India. It is crazy that the gospel can reach those people in places that sometimes missionaries can't.

We are so excited for week because Gracie is getting baptized.
We never thought that we would be able to both be here and see her get baptized. We thought that we would be long gone before she would ever get baptized. It has been amazing to see her journey. This is what missionary work is all about! There is no greater joy than seeing a person come to the knowledge of this gospel and also to see their opportunity to be a family forever. It is great to be able to bring one person in, but it is so much greater to bring a family!

This week has also been stressful, because we are pretty sure that one of us is getting transferred in a week and a half. It is hard to
swallow that we will be split up, but we know that whatever happens will what needs to happen. The Lord knows what he is doing.

I love temples! I miss being able to go all the time. It is crazy to hear all the talk here about the Ft. Lauderdale temple. It is so close, but so far away.

Meagan is being Transferred next week and Sis. Davidson will be staying in Green Cove Springs.  She will get to see Gracie baptized on Saturday.  This is Meagan's first transfer.  She and Sister Davidson have been companions for 6 months.  She has been a great companion for Meagan, they are very similar and I am sure they will always be friends.  We will not know where she will be until Tuesday, Feb. 18th.

Anyway this week has been interesting...

I am over the moon that the Seahawks dominated the Super Bowl! They deserve it, also I heard that Turbin did amazing!

It sounds like you are off on an adventure this week for Nate's wedding. I hope that all goes well.  Tell everyone Hi for me.

I love what you said, "If you will ask Him, God will help you." That is completely true. This week has been another rough week and I have been on my knees constantly it seems. I have felt really overwhelmed and and apprehensive for no particular reason this week and I have only been able to turn to God. I have asked Him very specifically some things that I needed, or things that I have been worried about and he comforted me. He didn't necessarily answer the questions I was asking, but He consoled me and comforted me. Quick funny story, because I had been struggling this week I was just asking for anything that would make me feel the least bit better. When we went over to our ward mission leader's house this Tuesday, I had a little cry session in the car before going in and I prayed real quickly for something to help me get through the rest of the day. Well wouldn't you have it that towards the end of our meeting, his wife came home from the store and brought us donuts. Yep donuts and it lifted my spirits enough where I could deal with everything. It just goes to show you that Heavenly Father cares so much about His children that he will even send you donuts to cheer them up. Something as simple as that brought great comfort to me, it wasn't that they tasted so good, but that they were a little care package sent from my Father in Heaven just when I needed it the most.

Anyway this week has been interesting. We have been planning Gracie's baptism for the 15th and that has taken a lot of time. We have also configured a ward mission plan for our members. I don't really know why, but your family mission plan has been really on my mind lately and I wondered about how we could get something going like that here. Well I approached Sister Davidson about it and she loved the idea. We have been working really hard to get a good layout with some goals for our ward and our Stake President's vision for our stake and we pulled something really great together. Our ward mission leader added what he wanted and he is so excited about it. It has been great to see him get re-energized with missionary work through this. He now has sent it to the Stake President and we will see what he thinks of it. It has been cool to see, and it all happened because of a prompting from the Spirit.

We also have trade-offs with the Sister Training Leaders tonight thru tomorrow night. It should be great. It was funny because last night when we were on the phone with them with sitting in the car outside of our apartment we heard gunshots ring out across the street. That was interesting, let me tell you. We got pretty freaked out and we ran inside and locked all of the doors and prayed. It was an adventure, but we didn't hear any sirens so maybe it was a firework gone bad, but we do live in the ghetto.

Side Note...
If there is anything that I can get more angry about is when parents don't grow up when they have kids, and they become all about themselves, rather than their children. There is a lot of that here and it makes me so mad, because people care about their kids, but they don't care enough to change and give them a better life.

 Sister Williams

Sister Williams and Sister Davidson

Atlantic Ocean