I can't wait for Mother's Day

I am so excited for Mother's day as well! Can you believe the time that has flown by since Christmas. It feels like yesterday that we skyped, and now we get to do it again! Only 13 more days! 

So this week has been fairly mundane. We have knocked so many doors my knuckles should be bruised by now. I heard the greatest description of tracting when we were at dinner with a member a few weeks ago. "Tracting is just something that you do to prove to the Lord that you are willing to do anything to find new investigators." It is so true. We are putting in the time, just like every missionary before us, to show the Lord that we are doing our part to find those who are ready to hear the gospel. We did see a miracle this week with tracting though, we pulled up to a neighborhood and the very first door we knocked on opened. A young mother was there and she invited us right in! She said that she had been looking for a church, and had just gotten off leave for the navy. She had been stationed on the ship the Gettysburg for 9 months and had just gotten home last week. We asked her if she knew a navy chaplin who lives in the ward next to ours who had also been on that ship (it was weird, the spirit totally had that one, because I had only heard of him from Sister Davidson in passing because she was there when their ward fare welled the Gettysburg). She knew exactly who he was and she got really excited that he was a member of our church. We talked to her about the Book of Mormon and the Restoration, she thought it was all very interesting, and agreed to come to church. It was amazing, I have never had anyone let me into their home like that.

This "quarter" our mission has been focusing on using the Book of Mormon in every finding and teaching moment. We are participating in a 90 day read of the Book of Mormon and we are sharing our "aha" moments with President and Sister Craig through our weekly emails. One of my "aha" moments came last week when I realized how much the Book of Mormon brings the Spirit into our lives. Just by reading it the Spirit subconsciously helps us make better decisions in our lives. I have really seen that with our investigators Heidi, Tom, Sam, and Kate. We have challenged them to read the Book of Mormon five minutes a day. They have been reading for the past three weeks and there have been such changes to their lives. They are starting to live more of the commandments without even knowing it. They have more patience one with another. They have more love for one another. I think that is one of the largest reasons we are told to have family scripture study each day, because even if we do it grudgingly, the Spirit makes its way into our hearts and minds. We make better decisions and we grow closer together as we read as a family.

Today we are going to the Zoo! I hear it is 20 times better than the Hoggle Zoo, and we get to feed Giraffes! So expect some cool pictures next week! I am seriously so grateful to be able to have done so much while I have been out here. It really gets me through the weeks. I love to experience things and make memories of Florida! It is so beautiful here! We are going to have to take a family trip here one day. It is definitely getting HOT here! I don't know how I am going to make it through the summer. The humidity is seriously messing with my hair :)

Anyway, I love you all! I can't wait to see all of your beautiful faces! We will coordinate next week for a time that will work best for both of us! I love you so much!

Fun, Crazy. Busy Easter Week

I loved the package! Sister Houtz and I were just saying that we needed some new bath and body works spray! Thank you so much for sending packages!

So this week was a week of fun, adventure, and miracles! Monday evening we went to President Craig's home for FHE with Heidi! It was fantastic! We spoke about the origin of the Book of Mormon and how we can have personal "aha" moments with the Book of Mormon. There were many people that got up and gave their "aha" moment and one of the stories really stood out to Heidi. They were reading a verse about being baptized and Heidi looked over to me and said "this is for me." It was exactly what we wanted her to hear! After we talked for a good hour in the car with her about what she needed to do to be baptized. She set a date that she would talk with Tom about getting married on. She then set a realistic date for baptism in late May!

Tuesday we got a call from the YSA sisters that their car was in the shop, and so we drove them around for a few days. We went to institute, which was great, but really weird. We met a lot of YSA people, which was also weird. I don't know if I want to go back to a YSA ward when I get home. It might take me a while to get back into that type of stuff. Because of this detour we were unable to work in our area for about three days, and when Thursday rolled around we didn't have any other lessons (which is REALLY bad). So we worked really hard and were diligent in all that we did. We tracted in the rain, and tried to share the gospel everywhere we went. I also developed a nasty cold through all of this which didn't help things.

On Wednesday we had our coordination with our ward mission leader and ward missionaries. The Elders told us about a young lady who they had previously been teaching who had texted them that day that she wanted to be baptized. They told us they thought we would do best with her, so we have started working with her. We had set an appointment with her this past Saturday, we really had no idea what to expect. Her name is Lexie and she is amazing! She is ready to learn and has a baptismal date for May 17th. Her family is also meeting with us! They were the biggest blessings from the Lord! It was amazing, right at the moment that we needed the Lord's help He poured out the blessings!

Another miracle was that we had 7 investigators at church! 7! That was a direct blessing from the Lord! I have never seen those type of numbers before. It was such a huge blessing! We also participated in the choir performances. It was a beautiful program. We sang with the primary children "Live like His Son" and it was truly beautiful. It touched a lot of hearts. We also sang "Because He Lives" which was also very beautiful. I sang the extremely high soprano part. You would have been impressed! Easter was so wonderful yesterday. I am so grateful for what we get to celebrate on that day. I am so grateful for the sacrifice of our Savior! It is because of Him that all things are possible.

We were also supprised by our awsome ward missionaries. They gave us each adorable Easter baskets with lots of goodies! We had Easter dinner at our Bishop's house. They invited many of the people in our ward who have no where else to go for dinner. It was wonderful to see all of them. We are so blessed in this ward!

So now for the FUN part! Last Monday we were able to go to the "beach." we actually were 20 feet from the beach, and could barely see the ocean, but we had fun! We went to a great souvenier shop and got some great stuff. I got this beautiful photo book, that is made of big banana(?) leaves and has some shells and sand on the front. It is beautiful! I also got a cute "Beach Patrol" T-shirt. I want to go back and get the matching sweatshirt one day! I also got some great Salt Life stickers and a key lanyard (I have really needed one of those). It was so fun to go out and have a sister's day! I hope I didn't break the bank!

Anyway this has been my great week! I am so grateful for all of the sacrifices that you have made to allow me to be here!

I am so excited! Today will be a seriously good day!

Wow. It sounds like a lot happened this week. I am so sorry to hear about Steven. Please give the Tibbitts family my condolences. That is also so heartbreaking about Trey.

So this week has been pretty normal. We have really been focusing on trying to find. We always need new people to teach. We have been having two Golden hours everyday (a golden hour is an hour that is strictly for finding). I have knocked so many doors, I am surprised that my knuckles are not bloody. We also have been meeting with a less active sister who moved into our ward in September, but her records didn't get here until a month or two ago. We called her and she let us in. She has been coming to church since. It is amazing how the Lord lined her life up so perfectly so that we might be able to come into contact with her and help her get back into church. She has had a really rough life, but the Lord was mindful the whole time. It also taught me that there are members out there who are ready to come back to church, they just need someone to reach out to them and bring them back to the church. It also really reminded me of the talk the President Monson gave at the October 2013 general conference, when he was talking about our duty to rescue those who have fallen away.

Tonight we are going to President and Sister Craig's home for FHE with A TON of other missionaries and investigators. It will be really great! We are going with our investigator Heidi. We are really hoping that something will really stick out to her so that she will start to get everything in order in her life so that she can be baptized. Also Sister Davidson and Kim, Gracie, and Sophie will be there!!!!!!!!! I am so excited to see them! It will really be good!

Later today we are going to "the beach." We are going to walk around the cute shops and visit the Salt Life store. Salt Life is a huge thing down here. Basically it is just a bumper sticker that says Salt Life and it stands for living near the ocean. They have some cool stuff. I think that I will get a T-Shirt and a sticker to always remind me of this place, and because I think that they are pretty sweet looking! (Sorry for using "undignified language" I am still working on that).

General Conference

I wish that you could hear the birds here. They are the beautiful songbirds! They sing all the time! One day we will have to come back here and I will take you to all of the great places that I have been to!

... I actually thought of that during President Uchdorf's talk this conference when he was talking about gratitude. We really need to be grateful for what we have, because there are MANY, MANY people who do not have anything and they are grateful for what they have.

This week has been hectic. First we took out the new sister for a night. She was great! She was so excited and nervous, but she was really ready to do anything! After a few doors we asked her is she wanted to take the lead. We had a good 20 minute long conversation with a man and she was doing so well! She was testifying and using the spirit and it was amazing! It was so great to see someone who had no idea what they were doing just trust in God and go for it. We also gave her some advice for the rest of her mission. Our number one piece of advice was to not get worried about being emotional. Everyone out here gets emotional (it doesn't matter if you normally don't). We told her that it is normal and that she should feel that anything is really wrong. I think a lot of sisters overreact to emotions out here, and then they think that they are depressed or they need to go home and satan just feeds off of that. We also told her to be exactly obedient and gave her our emails so that if she ever has a problem she can email us. Second although Sister Houtz and I were not transferred we got a call from President on transfer day that we needed to pick up a sister who's companion had gone home early. So we were in a trio for a couple of days. It was stressful and I am very thankful that it was only for a short time. I loved the Sister, but there was just too much going on with three people.

Also this week our investigators Heidi, Tom, and their children watched every session of conference. Heidi was even tweeting and facebooking about it the whole day. She also posted on her door a sign that said "We are watching LDS general conference, if you would like to come in and watch feel free -Residents of 107" (or something like that). It was great! She would get baptized tomorrow if she could, there is just a lot of stuff and people holding her back. Please pray that those road blocks will be removed.

Conference was so GOOD! There were so many talks about the atonement, and loving one another. I loved the quote from President Monson that said “Some of our greatest opportunities to demonstrate our love will be within the walls of our own homes." I think that this was one of the greatest messages that we could take and keep in our hearts. I want to challenge you all to try to practice this priniciple in our home. Also start reading Preach My Gospel! Elder Ballard's talk on missionary work was really inspiring and direct. As you read it you will learn how to be a missionary and what attributes and practices will make you more successful. Also I want to hear what you are studying! This week I have been studying Chapter 11 "How Do I Help People Make and Keep Commitments?" A lot of it is bearing testimony of the blessings and knowledge that keeping these commitments will bring them. We are to declare repentance to everyone, but we do it out of love for them and for God. We do not threaten of demean them, we just offer love and light.

I hope that you are all doing well! I love you all so much!

March is almost over - time goes so fast.

(I missed a call from Florida on my phone.   Mark was out of cell range.   It was Saturday and the mission office was closed.  I was worried and called my Stake President who kindly called Meagan's Mission President.  Yes, I gave in to the Mother Bear instinct and over reacted ... all is well.)

I did get a call about your "over-reaction" on Sunday. It was actually pretty funny. President called and said that he told President Hill "I don't think Sister Williams called, the Sister Williams I know is doing fantastic!" He called to just double check.

The Women's broadcast was absolutely fantastic! I loved how they mentioned keeping our covenants so often. I think that there are many people who keep their "large" temple covenants, but they forget their baptismal covenants. They forget the  covenants that are "easy" to keep and by doing so Satan has a chance to get to them. I also loved that they talked about how we the "older" generation are HUGE examples to those of the younger generation, and that it is our responsibility to give them the foundation to build their faith upon. Thanks for giving me that foundation. Without the gospel foundation that you gave me I would definitely not be on a mission, I would probably be very lost right now if I didn't have that foundation.

Also KIM GOT BAPTIZED THIS LAST FRIDAY!!!!!! I wasn't able to go, but she was baptized. Sister Davidson told me that she was going to write my name on a piece of paper and hold it in every picture! I am so excited for her! Her family can be together forever! It was such a privilege to be able to teach them and help them to come to know our Savior a little bit better.

Tonight we get to take a new sister out for her first night in the mission. We are going to knock some doors and try to contact some of the less active members of our ward. It should be really fun!

Also sorry that I haven't written back until now. This week is transfers, so we have P-day today, and we have been gone most of the day with our Bishop's wife to see a cool fort and plantation. I felt like I was in the movie Lincoln! It was amazing! Also the plantation was beautiful and intense. We saw the slave quarters and it was interesting to see how hard their life really was. We also stopped by a early 1900's club house by the plantation that was just as beautiful.

 I hope you are all enjoying the snow! It is 85 and SUNNY down here! I will try to send some sunshine your way! I love you all! Keep the faith!