Last comp picture. We got caught in torrential rain. You can't really tell but it looks like we jumped in a pool haha.

Last Zone P-Day

The Woodlands Elders and Sisters.

This is what happens when members leave us alone at their homes ;)

So this past week has been full of suprises to say the least. As I mentioned last time, transfers were last thursday. Leading up to transfers Sister Z, Sister Sheldon and I were all speculating about what would happen. What we came up with were: I was staying and getting a new companion, sister Z and I were staying and Sister Sheldon was getting transferred, Sister Z was getting transferred and Sister Sheldon and I would be co-training a new missionary, or I would be reassigned as a spanish speaking missionary ;). As you can see, in none of these scenarios would I be leaving the Woodlands. Well here's what actually happened. On Tuesday we get a call from our Zone leaders informing us that I was being transferred and Sister Z and Sister Sheldon were staying in the Woodlands. Shock #1. It was pretty sad to say the least. But, it was going to be ok because the Lord has a plan and everything would turn out well. Then on Wednesday we get a call from the Assisstants to President that starts out, "Now I know what I'm about to say is going to come as a shock, but just know that we have prayerfully considered this, and this is what the Lord wants..." they then proceed to inform us that Sister Z and Sister Sheldon will be co-training a new missionary (so they are staying a trio), and that I will not only be training a new missionary as well, but that I will be white washing a new sister area.................................................... WHAT THE HECK?!?!??! You can imagine my horror at hearing this. I have only been out in the mission field for 6 weeks and they want me to not only train a new missionary, but they also want me to open a new area. Meaning that we are starting completely from scratch. At this point all of my positive thinking about "It's going to be ok, the Lord has a plan and everything will turn out alright" has gone completely out the window. But since we were at a member's home when we got this call and I was in front of other people I just accepted and said thank you and sat there quietly. So on Thursday we go to the mission home and I get my new companion. Her name is Sister Flanders and she is 19 years old and she is from Atlanta, Georgia. She has the cutest accent and is super sweet. For her sake, when they announced us as companions, I reassured her that we would be just fine and that even though I had only been out for a transfer, we were going to have a lot of fun together. The area that I have been reassigned to is the very northern tip of the mission in a place called College Station. The interesting thing about our new area is that it is a huge college town for Texas A&M, and the ward we are serving in is a young single adult ward. Needless to say we are probably going to lose some weight in this area haha. We were able to meet the ward yesterday and they are so great and missionary minded. We were both asked to speak in church yesterday about missionary work and our decision to serve, and afterwards this guy came up to us and said that because of our talks he would let us teach his friend. Pretty cool.

So far what has been the hardest thing is figuring out what to do and how to fill our day. We don't have a car and we don't have bikes so we'er hoofin it and our area is HUGE because it covers all of the single adults. I've been trying my best to teach her how to be a good missionary and to make sure that she is having a good experience, and I don't think she can tell, but I am struggling big time. I may or may not have had a mental breakdown the other night while she was in the shower. tears. Lots and lots of tears. What I have come to realize though, through many many prayers, is that throughout my entire mission, and this transfer especially, I am going to have to rely on the Lord a lot. I am going to have to live by faith and not by fear. Faith isn't faith until it's tested, and mine is definitely being tested right now. I know that if I am obedient and I keep moving forward and try to do the best I can, that everything will be alright and that I will not be left comfortletss. With that being said, please pray for me haha. Pray that I don't go crazy from the stress and the overwhelming-ness of the situation. I could definitely use some prayers. Anyways, that's all I've got this got. Oh ya! I've officially been out for 2 months as of today. Time is going by so dang fast. 16 months to go!

my new address is:

Scandia Apartments apt. 1F

401 Anderson St.

College Station, TX

77840

Love you all!

-Sister Williams

Just thinking about transfers makes her cry :(

Sister Zamacona being hilarious.

Only in Texas.

my first time making mac n' cheese ever. I guess this is growing up.

An entire container of cheeseballs gone in one transfer! Sad day.

Exchanges with Sister Bonner!

Tranferssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (week 7)

 

Holy canlolie! Tranfers are this week and I am literally freaking out. Can I just say that I ADORE my companions. We love each other so much it's kind of ridiculous haha. The thought of not serving with them this coming transfer is making me really sad. It's not for sure that the three of us won't be together, but because we are in a trio, it is highly unlikely. But I had a thought today that made me feel a little better about the whole thing. I have been so anxious to hear what's going to happen with transfers, we find out tomorrow by the way, that I've forgotten what the Lord has done for me in my life thus far. 

 

When I was in the MTC he gave me a zone/district that I was able to not only get along with, but truly grew to love by the time we went our separate ways. He also gave me not one, but two companions who are some of my favorite people in this world. Heavenly Father wants us to be happy in this life, and while that may not mean that things are going to be easy all of the time and he is going to give us everything that we want, that does mean that he will always be working on our side so that things will turn out for our good. Meaning: whatever happens tomorrow I am grateful that I was given companions that I was able to love so easily, and that I trust the Lord completely and I know that whatever he chooses will make me happy as well. Anyways, with that being said I am going to move on with my week. 

 

Literally, I think we have angels working with us out here in The Woodlands. This past week we have been able to accomplish ALL of our goals. That means we have been able to find at least one new investigator every. single. day. That is so crazy! Every time President Pingree sees us he tells us that we are an example of what missionaries should be. I wish you knew how much that means to me. Based on how discouraged I have felt at times during this transfer, hearing that our mission president is proud of us, feeling good about the work I am doing, and knowing that my Heavenly Father is proud of me makes me feel like I am on cloud nine. Ahhhhh missionary work is seriously the best thing in this whole world!

 

So a few little fun things that have been happening: last week.  Sister Sheldon's parents sent her a disney CD and we have been wearing it out! We seriously listen to it every single day. I know all of the words to every song haha. I feel like such a nerd sometimes. This morning at the gym, we made a music video to "Be a Man" from Mulan. Super goofy, but so funny. Also, while I was in the MTC, one of my Sister Training Leaders was from Taiwan and she taught me how to say "Hello my name is Sister Williams" and "thank you" in mandarin. I would go around saying it all the time. Since I've been out in the field, I have used that line so many times and it has helped us be able to soften the hearts of the Chinese people that we randomly tract into and make it so they allow us to share a message with them. The first time it happened I was so stoked! Now all I need to do is tract into an Albanian family, because I learned a few phrases in Albanian as well!

 

Lastly I would like to share a little something I learned this past week that I thought was cool. So there is this talk called the fourth missionary by.... someone that I can't remember the name of. You should all read it, because it is really good. Anyways, the basic jist of the talk is about missionaries that are committed to the work, and the results of that, and missionaries who aren't committed, and the results of that. But, one thing that he said really stuck out to me. To preface, sometimes when I think about it enough, I get really sad because I feel bad for Heavenly Father. I feel bad for the sorrow we cause Him when we are disobedient or don't live up to our potential, or even just because we are feeling sad and in turn that makes Him sad because He loves us. And because of this, I've tried to think of ways that I can repay Him and make His burden a little less. The conclusion that I would come to again and again though, is that there is nothing I can do that will repay Him for all that He has done for me. Anything that I "sacrifice", be it time, money, energy, whatever, all has its origin in Him and therefore I am not giving Him something that He didn't already give me first. It was super frusturating. But when I read this talk it made it clear that there was something that I could give Him that He never had to begin with. "In the end, your heart and your will is all that you have to give that the Lord does not already have. If you give your time, two years, and your strength, you give only that which He grants to you with each beat of your heart and each breath that you draw. If you dedicate your gifts and talents, you only return to Him what He already has given to you. If you pay tithing you only return to Him a tenth of what He has already given to you. Everything that you have to give to the Lord, has its origin in Him, except one thing: your will. He does not have your heart, nor your mind, unless you give them to Him. It is the only gift you have to offer that He does not already have. And so when you give yourself, you truly give everything to Him."  My will is the one thing that my Heavenly Father did not give to me, and  the one thing that he cannot take unless I give it to Him willingly. The interesting thing about this is, that even though  this means sacrificing everything I have, I am still receving everything in return. When the will of the Father and the will of the child are aligned, that is when we receive the most blessings, and experience the most joy. As we are obedient, and willingly so, He can bless us with blessings the "we have room not enough to receive". This is such a cool concept in my mind.

 

Anyways, I must go now because we are going bowling as a district. See ya soon!

 

-Sister Williams

On Mon, Jul 1, 2013 at 2:48 PM, Chelsea Williams <chelseaw@myldsmail.net> wrote:

What a week! (this is week 5...I forgot to hit send last week, so you got week 6 before this one)

 

My oh my oh my oh my. It is so darned hot here! It's actually pretty funny. Even though we have been given a car, we are only allotted a certain number of miles each week to drive. So a lot of the time, to save miles, we will park the car and walk to our appointments. Sometimes it will be so hot (like 95-105 day and night plus humidity) that we will be walking, drenched in sweat, and we will just start laughing because it is so unbelievably hot. At least we can laugh about it, even if we do look crazy. Speaking of the weather though, I would like to share what I beleive to be a miracle. This morning we leave our apartment at 6:35 to go exercise and we feel this strange sensation in the air. "What was it?", you're probably wondering to yourself. IT WAS A SLIGHT CHILL IN THE AIR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm not sure ya'll understand what this felt like. We were slightly cold. Outside. In Houston. In the summer. Seriously it was a complete and total miracle. 75 degrees! And, it's 1:52 in the afternoon right now and it's only raised up to 89 degrees. God is so good! If this is the work of global warming then I'm not exactly sure why people think it's a bad thing haha.Seems pretty awesome to me. 

 

Anyways, enough about the weather. So this past week was super slow, and at first it was pretty frusturating. As a missionary when you go out all you want to do is share your message, and when you can't do that you feel pretty darn useless. But, all is well. I was able to learn a lot about myself. Number 1) the book "Jesus The Christ" is freaking awesome and everyone should read it and love it and learn a bunch of cool stuff. Seriously, I go to bed excited to wake up so I can read "Jesus The Christ" and eat Raisin Bran. I LOVE RAISIN BRAN!  Number 2) Patience is a virtue. For those of you who are unaware, I am the least patient person in the history of the world and being on a mission is teaching me patience real fast. Why? Because if I didn"t practice learning patience I would probably have lost it by now waiting on the bazillion and one things I have to wait for. Number 3) Being a good listener is also a virtue. I used to think I was a good listener until I got here. The thing about good 'ol Texas is that everyone is religious. Everyone has their ideas and opinions about the ways things are, and everyone's ideas and opinions are important whether you agree or not. The key to teaching in Texas, and anywhere really, is to shut your mouth, listen to what others are saying, without thinking about what you are going to say next, pause even after they are done speaking, listen to the spirit and it's promptings, and then, only when absolutely necessary, use words. As you all know I'm a talker. I talk a lot. Not jumping in when someone else is talking is super hard for me and it's something I'm really trying hard to work on. There is a list of of qualities that we are encouraged to develop in Alma 7:23 in The Book of Mormon. Some of these include: humble (I'm working on it), Submissive (working on it), easy to be entreated (when one of my comps asks me if I want the other half of their cookie I always say yes so I think I'm ok on this one ;), full of patience (ya right), long-suffering (working on it), and temperate in all things (I don't think I've ever been described as temperate... ever). So as you can see, in all of this lovely down time I've been given, due to the slow nature of the work, I have tons and tons of things to work on. Haha missions are seriously the best. It's a time when you get to take a good look at yourself and realize that you are in fact not as awesome as you thought you were. Suprise suprise!

 

So a little on the missionary work I did actually get to do. Last Monday our bishop had us over for family home evening and one of his sons invited a friend, named Kristen, to join us  that was not a member of the church. We were able to teach her the first lesson about the restoration of the gospel and it was super awesome. I seriously love talking about this stuff. Afterwards you could tell that she had a lot on her mind, and that she was going to think about the things we had talked about. We hadn't heard from her all week and then on Friday we ran into her at the library and she was super happy to see us and talk to us. We didn't talk about the gospel or anything, but I have such a good feeling about her. She has such good questions and she sincerely wants anwers and I know that we, as missionaries, and The Book of Mormon can give her those answers. The difference when you Teach with the spirit and when you don't are night and day. For example, that Wednesday we were out tracting and we talked to this guy named David. He had looked into the Mormon church a little a few years back and had some member friends, but he didn't really know that much. We asked if we could come back and he said no thank you. So we gave him an lds.org card with our phone number in case he changed his mind and left. That night he called twice asking if we could come by the next day and talk about our religion with him. We were soooo stoked! So we went over the next day prepared to teach the about the restoration... It did not go so well. We, me in particular, were not teaching with the spirit. I wasn't listening to any of the promptings I was receiving, and frankly I wasn't pausing long enough between speaking to even receive any. By the time we left I felt sick to my stomach and like I had failed big time. I know it was because I didn't take the time to listen and address and follow the promptings of the spirit. After that experience I'm pretty sure I'll never let that happen again. So tomorrow we have an appointment with a woman named Marci who we talked with for like 2 hours a couple weeks ago on her doorstep. It was sorta kinda like Bible bashing (which is no bueno btw) but by the end of it we were all laughing and having a good time. So now I have the opportunity to try again with her and I will not make the same mistakes I made with David. Listen to the Holy Spirit! He is waaaayyyy smarter than we are :)

 

Anyways I am still super goofy. I cannot for the life of me remember to refer to myself as Sister Williams. My immaturity levels have reached new highs, like when I secretly played with the silly putty in the car so as to make the people we were giving a ride to to the temple feel super uncomfortable, or when tracting gets boring, and I act out on the doorstep, before the people answer, how the conversation will go using a plethora of different accents and accidently have them open the door mid Indian accent. Super cool. Anyways, this is long and I must go. I love you all more than a fat kid loves cake. See ya soon!

 

-Sister Williams

Week numero 6!

 

K so I've been in the field for almost 6 weeks (in Houston that is). Time just flies when you're having fun!  Haha, but If I'm being completely honest a mission is not fun all of the time.  Sometimes you are really frustrated, or sad, or even occasionally irritated.  But, while it may not be fun all of the time, it is rewarding 100% of time.  With that being said, this last week started out pretty rocky.  We are supposed to do nightly planning every night as soon as we come in for the day.  In the beginning of the week we had fasted that we would be able to find new investigators, because we thought the ones we had were not super awesome (I definitely repented for those thoughts).  As the week went on we were having little success.  We were not meeting any of the goals we were setting for ourselves, and the result was that we were kind of put out.  That resulted in us not putting any effort or thought in to our nightly planning and therefore we were setting really pathetic goals.  On Wednesday our mission president gave a specialized training for the missionaries in our zone.  So the night before that we prayed that he would talk about something that would help in our missionary work, and that we would be able to receive inspiration on how to improve.  The topic President Pingree ended up teaching on was how to plan effectively and set inspired goals.  Haha, I seriously love the Lord, He is just too good.  President taught us how to include God in our planning.  Basically, we should not be setting goals that we can achieve without God.  Isn't that an interesting concept?  I love it!  Why the heck would God help us achieve our goals if we set ones that we can do on our own.  To demonstrate this, he shared a couple of scriptures.  The first one is found in Gen 18:9-14.  This is the account of Abraham and Sarah.  Basically 3 Holy men come to visit Abraham and they tell Abraham that his wife Sarah is going to have a child.  Sarah is eavesdropping, as women do, and when she hears this she laughs to herself because she "knows" that this is impossible.  Abraham and Sarah had been trying to have kids for years and the scriptures say, "Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken with age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women".  Translation: Sarah was too old to have kids.  After Sarah laughs though, they ask Abraham  why she's laughing, and then he asks an important question, "Is anything too hard for the Lord?"   When he related this story I felt super dumb.  Of course nothing is too hard for the Lord.  

The next Bible account he shares is found in Judges chapters 6 and 7.  This account addresses the difference between Man's ways and God's ways (Isaiah 55:8-9).  So the setting is the children of Israel were wicked, so the Lord delivered them into bondage to the Midianites to humble them.  As always, after a while of being in bondage, the children of Israel decided that life was way easier when they were obedient and allowed God to help them, so they began to pray unto the Lord to deliver them.  After a bit, the Lord answered the prayers of Gideon, who was their leader, and sent an angel to tell him to gather his people and "go in thy might and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites".   This was after He reminded them that He had delivered the children of Israel from bondage to the Egyptians and therefore He could definitely do it again.  When Gideon heard this though, he doubted.  He asked the Lord how he was supposed to save Israel. "my family is poor... and I am the least in my father's house."  Gideon did not believe that he was good enough, rich enough, or strong enough to do as the Lord had instructed.  He felt inadequate.  But the Lord promised, "Surely I will be with thee."  Fast forward a few verses, and Gideon has acquired 32,000 people to fight the Midianites. When the Lord sees this He says to Gideon, "your army is too big.  If you fight the Midianites with this army and you win, the people of Israel will boast in their own strength and forget that it was by my hand that they were delivered".  So He told Gideon to tell the army that whoever was afraid was allowed to go home.  22,000 peaced out.  Now Gideon has an army of 10,000, mind you the Midianites were "without number", meaning A LOT.  When the Lord sees the new number He tells Gideon that there are still too many people and instructs him to take his army to a river and whoever "lappeth the water with his tounge like a dog lappeth" will be your army, and everyone else who bows down to drink you need to send home.  So Gideon does this and 300 men lap at the water like a dog and the rest bow down.  So Gideon sends them home.  Looking at the state of affairs,  things are looking pretty grim.  Gideon now only has 300 men left, and they drink water like dogs.  Not exactly the cream of the crop.  But Gideon puts his trust in the Lord and does as he is commanded.  The Lord then tells the army to gather trumpets, pots, pans, pitchers and lights and to encircle the outside of the Midianite camp while they are asleep.  They are then instructed to bang the pots and pans and break the pitchers and wave the lights and yell "The sword of the Lord, and Gideon."   When they do this the Midianites are so confused and discombobulated that they think there are tons of people surrounding them and they start fighting and end up killing each other therefore freeing the Iraelites from bondage.... logically that should not have worked.  300 men with musical instruments and cooking utensils should not have been able to defeat an army without number.  But in this account we are reminded that God's ways are not man's ways and with God all things are possible.

 

So after the training my comps and I head home and we decide to re-plan and reset our goals for the day.  Instead of looking at our numbers and the probabilities and thinking about what they should logically be, we said a prayer and asked Heavenly Father what our numbers should be.  The numbers that came to mind were way higher than we thought were possible for that day, but we decided to put our faith in the Lord and see what happened.  We not only met our goals, but exceeded.  We acquired 3 new investigators, and while they are not going to be easy to teach, I know with the help of the Lord all things are possible.

 

The last thing I learned this week, is that there is no place for feelings of inadequacy.   Looking from the outside in  things might look pretty grim.  Our investigators are pains in the butt, it's super hot one second, and then torrentially raining another (like right now), we'reimpatient and prideful and imperfect in every way. From the outside in we probably look like a lost cause. Luckily our Savior does not look from the outside in. Instead he looks at the intents of our hearts. He knows our imperfections and recognizes our weaknesses. As we fail and fall again and again, which inevitably will happen, he will continually pick us back up, dust us off and help us become better. I know our Savior loves each and every one of us even if we sometimes forget to love him. He is patiently waiting to bless us, all we have to do is ask. I know this is the one and only true church and gospel here on the earth and that our savior lived and died for us. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

 

-Sister Williams

 

P.S.

 

Transfers are next Wednesday and I will not know if I will be staying in this area until the day before. So please keep that in mind when you send letters, just so they don't get sent to an address that I no longer live at and are lost for eternity in the black hole that is the mail system. Love ya!