Seasons Greetings from the Ghetto!

Holy frijoles! So transfers occurred and I have been transferred to a fun little place called Melbourne in downtown Houston. My new companion is named Sister Bonner. Sister Jacobsen actually trained her in melbourne, so that's kind of cool. She's been out for 41/2 months and is way cool. We get along super well, but since she's been here since the beginning of her mission I have a feeling I will be losing her next transfer which makes me sad. Anyways, no need to get sad yet! We have a ton of adventures yet to happen in the next 6 weeks. To start off, let me tell you, there is never a dull moment in Melbourne. Basically we live in the nicest apartment in the mission with one other companionship of Heremanas in a place called the Heights. The Heights is supposedly the nice part of the area. With that being said, Houston is known for it's high crime rates, but what they did is they took a ghetto part of the area, built nice homes there and called it safe. We are still surrounded by the rest of Houston though, which is not safe. Interestingly enough, I wasn't worried at all when I got here last Tuesday. My first day in the area, Sister Bonner and I went to vist one of their investigators named Jackie. Jackie was a prostitute for the good majority of her life, but then got out of it and is now struggling with drug addiction and all sorts of other problems. She is absolutely the sweetest lady and says that she can feel the spirit so strong whenever the missionaries come over, but it's hard for her to keep her commitments. We won't give up on her though! After Jackie we went next door to find someone else that they had been teaching, but he wasn't home, so instead we started talking to an old woman named Erline who was sitting out front. Straight up crazy, but really nice as well haha. It was pretty hard to understand what she was saying, but at one point after we asked her whether her family was important to her, I'm pretty sure she said that she beat her ex boyfriend with a piece of a stove she broke off because he was being mean to her kids. Now that is love. Afterwards we walked down a street named Blueberry and as we were going along a man in a durango pulls up alongside of us and starts talking to us. his name is John Gibbs and he gave us his number and basically told us to call him WHEN something happens to us. He then proceeded to tell us that all of the people who live on this street are drug dealers and pimps and as we look around we notice that just about every person on the street is staring at us... not in a nice way either. Because it's broad daylight, after he drives away we still think it's fine to continue down the street, but after like 10 steps we felt very strongly that it probably was not the best idea to tract there, so we left. The rest of the day consisted of talking to people who were super kind, but also not interested. But that wasn't even the best part! Day two was so much more exciting! We tracted and talked to a bunch of people who collectively probably only had 10 teeth and tried to share the gospel as missionaries tend to do. Then nighttime rolls around and we are biking to this guy's house that the sisters had contacted previously. As we'er coming up the street there is this white SUV pulled over on the side of the road with its lights on with a few guys talking on the dark side of the car. As we start to come up to it, one of them walks around to the front of the car and points what looks like a gun at us and starts screaming and cursing at us and saying "you don't know... stuff" haha over and over again. We were so taken aback that we didn't really have time to break, so my comp, Sister Bonner continues to bike towards him, and he tries to grab her, but she swerves so instead he turns around and pushes her off of her bike. At this point I am so shocked and I have no idea what to do, and neither of us have said a word, so I bike off onto the side walk and sort of hide while he walks towards her still yelling. She just looks up at him and asks what she did wrong, and then he suddenly gets back into the car. then they start to chase me, so I bike off and then something tells me to just slam on the breaks, so I do, and then they just drive off.  I quickly go back to check on Sister Bonner, and she is a little shaken up, missing a shoe, but mostly fine. I'm assuming they thought we saw something that we didn't. We then try to bike home, but the bike broke so we had to walk 15 blocks home in the dark. i'm going to be honest, I have never been so shakey in my entire life. So we decide to call it a night and watch the Testaments for the rest of the night. Haha pretty cool huh? While it is not that exciting everyday, there is literally never a dull moment in Melbourne.

So far I have been chased by dogs, tracted homes that really shouldn't even be standing because they are so run down, eaten to the point of near death because a Hispanic sister whom we call Hermana Torta was super offended when we told her that we didn't want anymore tortas because we were full, salsa danced at a hispanic thanksgiving party, eaten thanksgiving tacos, taught a homeless man named Reggie in the park, did an impromtu musical number in sacrament meeting, taught the gospel principles class and so much more. Guys, Heavenly Father loves us and I know I am going to learn so much in this area. He protects his children, and especially his missionaries. There are people here that need the gospel, and despite the fear that sometimes comes along, faith always trumps fear, and I have found the need to have a lot of that lately. I hope y'all have a wonderful wonderful Thanksgiving week and I will write again next Monday! I love you!

New mailing address:

404 Oxford St.

Camden Heights #3208

Houston, Texas

77007

-Sister Williams

Sorry...no pictures this week.  It seems Sister Williams doesn't have much time today.... :(  

Transfers!!!

 

Oh my gosh it's happening again! Transfers are here in full force! So the verdict is that...... Sister Williams is leaving the good 'ol Station :(   I am so sad! I love this place with all of my heart and I love the people I serve and the missionaries I serve with. But, in spite of all of that, I also love and trust the Lord, so I am excited to see what the future holds. Transfer meeting is tomorrow, and that is when I will find out where I am going. So weird. 

It's official family, I have been out for 6 months! What the heck?! I can't believe the time has gone by so fast. Sister Newhouse is standing behind me right now and I feel.... Awkward.. and like crying because she is going to miss me soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo bad. Haha I'm mostly kidding. 

Anyways I have 6 minutes left to write and I don't really know what to say. Something I will say is that the past couple of weeks I have been feeling an incredible sense of gratitude to my Heavenly Father for the many blessings I have been given, including serving a mission. I almost feel guilty because the purpose of a mission is to go out and serve others, but, while I have been doing that, I feel that I have received way more in these past 6 months than I will ever be able to give. Not everyone is given the opportunity to serve a mission, but I was able to go and for that I will forever be grateful. Anyways I have literally 30 seconds left. 

I love you all soooo darn much! Have a great week!

Sister Williams

(lots of pictures this week)

Hey there,

This past week was an interesting one for sure. I don't know what it is, but after you have had a really great week, you usually have to prepare yourself for some let downs. Two of our investigators dropped us this week and the others weren't really responding or progressing. The first investigator was this kid named jack we met on campus and he seriously just seemed so golden. He told us that he felt the spirit whenever he was with us and that he knew he had met us for a reason. Then he came across one little hang up, and it was all over. He thanked us and we parted ways. It was sad, but not as sad as the day Sonny dropped us. 

Sister Flanders and I found Sonny about 3 transfers ago. We have been consistently teaching him for about 3 months now and he was just so awesome. He was consistently reading from the Book of Mormon, he watched general conference and he finally came to church last Sunday for the first time and it was so dang great. Then we met with him on Friday and after a long talk about acting on personal revelation he decided that he needed to go on this journey alone for a little while, but that we shouldn't think this was the end because he may come back. He broke up with us and it was so sad. I'm going to be honest, after he left that lesson I sat down and cried. It really is so hard when you feel like you did all you could but you lose one anyways. But at the same time I know that things will turn out alright. 

It was way cool though. Yesterday we went to church after a pretty depressing week and three of our investigators showed up unexpectedly and a recent convert who had fallen off the face of the Earth after her baptism came as well. It was such a miracle! Heavenly Father really is working hard with us and even when we feel like giving up, he picks us up and keeps pushing us forward.

Along those lines, I couldn't sleep last night for some reason. I had so many thoughts running around in my head that my brain just refused to shut off. So I got up and started reading and writing in my journal and received some enlightenment. So here is something I've learned:

Just like Nephi's stubborn older brothers, Laman and Lemuel from the Book of Mormon, we all forget from time to time the things we have learned, the feelings that we had when truth was revealed to us through revelation, and even who we are. We don't let this happen on purpose, but at the same time it is usually a result of us neglecting our "eternal progression" by thinking that if we just stop progressing for a little while, we will remain where we left off. Unfortunately that is not the case. Living a gospel life is like walking, or running in some cases, up a downward moving escalator. The going may slow or fast depending on who you are, and no matter who you are, if you stop or stand still for even a moment you will not remain where you are, but you will indefinitely regress. Pretty frustrating huh? But what I've also come to realize is that, simply put, that is just the way life is and is supposed to be. The whole purpose of our coming to Earth was to gain a body AND experience through facing and overcoming opposition. if we never had to struggle and work to gain truth and light, we would never recognize and or appreciate what it is to receive enlightenment after enduring well and faithfully through our trials. we would never understand the magnitude and the blessing of what it means to gain "all that the Father hath". So what happens if you did stop and "take a break" from living a gospel life and you lost the ground you had won? Don't worry, all is not lost. We were not asked to make the climb alone the first time, and no matter how many times it takes for us to learn that it is much easier to just keep going rather than starting over again and again, the Savior is ever willing to answer our plea for help and to climb with us and show us the way up and onward. I read a quote by Jeffrey R. Holland, one of the 12 apostles, that sums it up pretty well.

 "However late you think you are, however many chances you think you've missed, however many mistakes you think you've made or talents you think you don't have, or however far from home, family and God you feel you have traveled, I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love. It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite atonement shines."

The really wonderful thing about the atonement is that there is no expiration date, it is not limited use, and it extends to all, including those who think they don't want it. If you feel like you have fallen too far, you haven't. If you think you are too far gone, you're not, and if you believe that you are no longer worth it, than stop it. Even at our absolute lowest point, we are more worth it than we will ever be able to comprehend. The Savior died for all of us, but even if there was only one person on the Earth, he still would have done it, because he loves us. I know my Savior lives and loves eternally. I know that I can be cleansed and perfected from the many mistakes I've made, because of him. I know that as long as we push forward with a steadfastness in Christ and endure to the end, we can and will receive an everlasting fullness of joy. I have said it a million times before, but I KNOW it. I love this gospel and you all more than you will ever know and I hope you all have a wonderful week.

-Sister Williams

Hmmmmm?

Brother Jensen (left), Bishop Nixon (right)

Exchanges with Sister Newhouse

Her name is Heart

Holding Amy's pet python

Kyle Field Stadium behind us

Laundry at "La Washateria)

Pouring rain!!

Saturday night football game...poor choice.

We think we're models....