HUGE Facebook Challenge

So this week feels like it has been two weeks jam-packed into one. We had Zone meeting, then President interviews, and then District meeting all this week. We also had our trade-offs with our Sister Training Leaders. We also have been given a HUGE challenge for Facebook.

So our mission is hosting a HUGE Facebook even that I have invited you to join. It will happen tomorrow and will be the first of four events that simply involve changing your profile picture on Facebook. I need you to invite everyone on your friends list to attend. Spread the word through the ward and at work. Tell everyone to look up the discover the book Facebook event page and join it. All of the information for the event is on that page in the event info section. It has the potential to reach millions of people all over the world. We need as much support as we can get. We have a few Mormon celebrities joining us (like Alex Boye). I messaged LDS Living magazine and they said that they would love to help get the word out about this event. We basically have decided that we are going to use the resources that the Lord has given us to reach everyone in the world. This will help with that. There is a prophecy that was given by Ezra Taft Benson it states:

"I have a vision of homes alerted, of classes alive, and of pulpits aflame with the spirit of Book of Mormon messages.

I have a vision of home teachers and visiting teachers, ward and branch officers, and stake and mission leaders counseling our people out of the most correct of any book on earth--the Book of Mormon. I have a vision of artists putting into film, drama, literature, music, and paintings great themes and great characters from the Book of Mormon.

I have a vision of thousands of missionaries going into the mission field with hundreds of passages memorized from the Book of Mormon so that they might feed the needs of a spiritually famished world.I have a vision of the whole Church getting nearer to God by abiding by the precepts of the Book of Mormon. Indeed, I have a vision of flooding the earth with the Book of Mormon."

(Flooding the Earth with the Book of Mormon) Ezra Taft Benson October 1988

This is part of fulfilling that prophecy. Please get everyone you can on board. This is very inspired and very simple. We need your (you and Dad) help. This is how we are going to flood the world with the Book of Mormon.

So this week has been pretty good. We have been trying to find people like always. We actually had a miracle with our Bishop's wife. We went on splits with her and the investigator that we were going to see wasn't home, so we went to see some of the elderly sisters in our ward. At the last sister's house we met her home health nurse. We had a great gospel discussion that was started by our bishop's wife! It was amazing, she just started to talked about the gospel. She introduced us and the Book of Mormon. We ended up setting a return appointment through facebook, because she lives just outside of our area. It was truly a miracle.

Tuesday we get to go and help out again with Habitat for Humanity. We finally got Mormon Helping Hands shirts, so it will be good "publicity" for the church. It will also be fun to just do service as a district. There are quite a few people leaving this next transfer and I will really miss them. It will be nice to have one last big service project to do with them.

President's interviews were just what I needed this week. He helped me realize that I am doing okay. He also helped me to understand more about the enabling power of the atonement. It really helped me to see that I can do this because my Savior will give me strength.

Anyway, I love you so much! Keep staying strong!

Lots of love,

Sister Williams

Keeping my chin up

So this week has been good. We have had many miracles this week. Things are still very hard. I am just trying to keep my chin up and press forward. I wish that things would just get better sooner, but I know that the Lord is on my side and He has a purpose in all of this. It is so very frustrating to want to do so much, but to only be able to do so little. I know that things will get better in the future, I need to learn something from this and I haven't figured it all out yet. I know that I am being made stronger through it all. I just have to take things one day at a time, (and you know how hard that is for me, I want to take everything all at once).

This week has definitely been the refiners fire for both of us and our investigators. Our investigators who were unmarried have decided to separate, and it didn't go so well. They still are wanting to meet with us, but things between them have become complicated. It was an unexpected, double edged, answer to prayers. We have been trying to know what we could do to help them progress in the gospel. One of the largest obstacles that was preventing them from moving forward was getting married, because of this new change they have many more opportunities in the gospel. It is a very hard situation though, they are both still wanting to come to this ward and they don't want a blow-up to happen at church. We are praying that this will bring them closer to God instead of further away.

We have also had one of our investigators surprise us by coming to church yesterday! She is in the navy and her ship has been coming and going for exercise practices, so she has been out of town a lot. She came and loved the testimonies that were born. We had a lot of little children get up and bear their sweet, simple testimonies. It really touched her heart, and she wants to come back! We have really been struggling to have people come to church, so it was really nice to have an investigator there.

Hurricane season started yesterday. We are expect 13 named storms roll through in the coming months. Needless to say we have emergency preparation all taken care of. We have been blessed with a few rainstorms that have rolled through in the past few days. Normal storms here are the really bad ones back in Utah. At about lunch time everyday there is a thunderstorm that usually shakes the buildings and pours for a few minutes. Within an hour all signs of the storm are gone. This week is tax free week for emergency preparedness, so I will be stocking up on bottled water.

This week we also had a wonderful district meeting. We were asked to think about one act of disobedience that we could sacrifice. I choose to sacrifice my fear of opening my mouth to everyone.  It felt so good. I felt a sense of relief come over me. I gave my fear to God and He is in control now. I am so grateful for an inspired district leader. He prepared trainings that were meant for me. It was one of the most spiritual meetings that I have been in. I needed to know that everything was going to be alright. This brings to mind a talk that Jeffrey R. Holland gave a while ago called "missionary work and the atonement." Inside of it he says:

"Anyone who does any kind of missionary work will have occasion to ask, Why is this so hard? Why doesn’t it go better? Why can’t our success be more rapid? Why aren’t there more people joining the Church? It is the truth. We believe in angels. We trust in miracles. Why don’t people just flock to the font? Why isn’t the only risk in missionary work that of pneumonia from being soaking wet all day and all night in the baptismal font?

You will have occasion to ask those questions. I have thought about this a great deal. I offer this as my personal feeling. I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? It seems to me that missionaries and mission leaders have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane. Missionaries and mission leaders have to take at least a step or two toward the summit of Calvary.

Now, please don’t misunderstand. I’m not talking about anything anywhere near what Christ experienced. That would be presumptuous and sacrilegious. But I believe that missionaries and investigators, to come to the truth, to come to salvation, to know something of this price that has been paid, will have to pay a token of that same price.

For that reason I don’t believe missionary work has ever been easy, nor that conversion is, nor that retention is, nor that continued faithfulness is. I believe it is supposed to require some effort, something from the depths of our soul.

If He could come forward in the night, kneel down, fall on His face, bleed from every pore, and cry, “Abba, Father (Papa), if this cup can pass, let it pass,”  then little wonder that salvation is not a whimsical or easy thing for us. If you wonder if there isn’t an easier way, you should remember you are not the first one to ask that. Someone a lot greater and a lot grander asked a long time ago if there wasn’t an easier way.

The Atonement will carry the missionaries perhaps even more importantly than it will carry the investigators. When you struggle, when you are rejected, when you are spit upon and cast out and made a hiss and a byword, you are standing with the best life this world has ever known, the only pure and perfect life ever lived. You have reason to stand tall and be grateful that the Living Son of the Living God knows all about your sorrows and afflictions. The only way to salvation is through Gethsemane and on to Calvary. The only way to eternity is through Him—the Way, the Truth, and the Life."

I have to go through some hardship so that I can truly know how precious salvation is. Salvation is not easy, but it is attainable. I am trying my very best to trust in my Father in Heaven and Savior Jesus Christ. I know that they will bring me through. 

I can't believe that school is out. It feels like it was yesterday that it started. I can't believe how fast time flies. And yes it is so stinking hot and muggy here, I feel like I am in a sauna.

This week has been another hard one, it had its good days and its hard days. I wish that life could be one constant, but I guess it wouldn't be very fun if we had everything stay the same. We has a few miracles. I don't know why, but Heavenly Father has seen to bless us with three weeks of amazing numbers in a row. I have never seen higher numbers in my life. We are having 10+ other lessons in a week (my previous average was 5) and at least 2 member presents (which we usually get none of). We have also been having new investigators come out of nowhere. I think that the Lord is trying to help me see that even though we are going through a tough time, we are still being blessed and watched over.

I had one amazing miracle happen this week. I got a facebook message from Hailey's and Abbey's father Jeff. He wrote to me and said that he had seen a change in his family and that he had been talking to Tracy and that he wanted to take a leap of faith. He noticed that the change had come when they joined the church. He asked if he could meet with missionaries! It was amazing, I about flipped out of my chair when I read that message. He hasn't had any religion in his life for over 20 years, but he really wants to find God and happiness. I sent a referral for the Elders in his area, and Sister Houtz and I will teach him on facebook with Tracy's help. I am so excited! Maybe one day Tracy and him will decide to get married and they can be a forever family!

Today we are going to play volleyball with our district, and then heading to get a haircut (actually more of a trim) and a new satchel from target. It should be a good day. We haven't done anything fun for a few weeks because of miles and so we can't go far. It will be nice to get out and about, I have found that I need to do something "fun" on P-days to help me stay focused on the rest of the week.

Anyway, I love you all so very much! Thanks for all of the encouraging words. I love you!

Lots of love,

Sister Williams

Challenges

t sounds like you will all have such a fun summer! I hope that next year will be the same, or maybe I will just have to save up all my money and go on a nation wide tour to visit everyone.

So this week has probably been the hardest week of my life. I have felt a constant attack from satan, and it is really frustrating. I will be just fine, but it will take time and I am still going to have my off days, but I am learning how to take a break to feel each emotion instead of putting them away and having a HUGE meltdown later. I got a really powerful blessing from my district leader this Saturday that helped me get some peace and comfort. I also have been learning how to pray more earnestly. I am finding that you have to constantly improve. Even though I thought that I had spirituality figured out when I left, I am being very humbled out here and I am learning that I have a long way to go. It seems that there is always a new level that you can move up to.

Also Sister Houtz and I get along great! I know that I don't mention her very often, but it doesn't mean we don't get along. I actually really love Sister Houtz. We have been through a lot together. She is going through the wringer as well. We were definitely placed together at the time that we needed each other. She really encourages me and helps me keep going when I need it.

This week we had zone conference. It was really good. We were assigned to read a talk about being a consecrated missionary. It talks about what we need to give up to be fully consecrated to the Lord. The first time I read through it I felt like I was the worst missionary ever, but then I went through it again and I felt better about it. When we got to zone conference I found out that I was not the only missionary that had felt the pressure. It seemed that the only missionaries that didn't feel that way were the ones who were going home in a transfer or two who had already become a consecrated missionary. I felt much better about it after that.

We have been struggling with investigators this week. We didn't have anyone come to church this week. It was really frustrating. We don't know what is going on with them. We hope that we can get in better contact with them and see what is stopping them from progressing. We just keep working hard because we know that it will pay off. The Lord has been blessing us immensely with fantastic numbers these past few weeks. It has helped us to feel much better about everything else. I just have to keep telling myself that things will get better, because they will. It is all in the Lord's hand.

Anyway I love you all so much! Tell everyone to have a great last week of school!

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!