Feb 17, 2014

Happy Nine Months to Sister Huber and I

Sister Tau and I tracting

I guess it's time to meet companion number 8! 

So I am not training, but instead, I have the privilege of serving with Sister Tau! She is so great. We actually came out together so that's pretty cool. Sister Tau is from Tonga, but her family moved to New Zealand a few years ago and that's where she's been living. She has the cutest little accent and the sweetest spirit. There was no awkward getting to know you period, we were insta-friends from the start and we get along so well. It's pretty cool, since she's been in the area, we have had some amazing success. We set a baptismal date with Jontae that I'm pretty sure he will make it to, we officially started re-teaching this family that Sister Bonner and I found two transfers ago and committed them to read the Book of Mormon, we've found some new awesome investigators and the work just seems to be booming. It is a great feeling and time just seems to be going by so darn fast. This Saturday will be my 9 month/ half way mark. I cannot believe it's been that long seeing as I'm pretty sure I just left the MTC yesterday. But it is what it is I guess. I know we've been working hard this past week, because every night we have literally had to drag our tired bodies into our apartment and a few nights ago I'm pretty sure we were in danger of getting in a car accident because I was so tired while driving. All is well though we got home safely. We definitely have angels watching over us haha. 

So this week we started teaching a new investigator named Anita who seems like she could be golden. We taught her the Restoration and when we got to Joseph Smith's first vision she started crying. The spirit was so strong and she said that she felt such peace. That was def the spirit confirming the truthfulness of it unto her. After we asked her if she believed things to be true she said yes and so we then invited her to prepare to be baptized and she proceeded to tell us that she was baptized Catholic and her parents were Catholic and she planned to stay that way... Fortunately we hear variations of this statement all of the time so it didn't phase us haha. We just re-explained about the importance of proper priesthood authority and then asked if we could continue teaching her and she said yes. So we are going back on Tuesday and she committed to start reading from the Book of Mormon. I know that if she does that and prays she will come to know that baptism is what she needs to do and she will get a confirmation from the spirit of that truth. That's why the Book of Mormon is the Keystone of our religion. If the book isn't true, then everything goes with it, but on the flip side, if the book is true than every other claim stands. That's why we emphasize reading the Book of Mormon so much. It holds everything together. basically what I tell people is that, if they read and pray about the Book of Mormon and they find out it isn't true, then they have lost absolutely nothing. Maybe some time. But, if they read and pray and come to know of it's truthfulness. like millions of others already have, they have gained everything. Eternal life, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and eternal family, joy in this life and the next, a knowledge of our purpose in this life, answers to the questions of the soul pertaining to where we came from,why we'er here, where we'er going and so much more. To me, that is worth some time spent reading, pondering, and praying about a book that is meant to bless your life and strengthen your relationship with Jesu Christ and Heavenly Father. Anyways, it's been a great week and i know this one will be awesome as well. I love you all! See ya! 

-Sister Williams 

My New District

Me and Sister Huber...9 month mark

I guess it's time to meet companion number 8!

So I am not training, but instead, I have the privilege of serving with Sister Tau! She is so great. We actually came out together so that's pretty cool. Sister Tau is from Tonga, but her family moved to New Zealand a few years ago and that's where she's been living. She has the cutest little accent and the sweetest spirit. There was no awkward getting to know you period, we were insta-friends from the start and we get along so well. It's pretty cool…since she's been in the area we have had some amazing success. We set a baptismal date with Jontae that I'm pretty sure he will make it to, we officially started re-teaching this family that Sister Bonner and I found two transfers ago and committed them to read the Book of Mormon, we've found some new awesome investigators and the work just seems to be booming. It is a great feeling and time just seems to be going by so darn fast. This Saturday will be my 9 month/ half way mark. I cannot believe it's been that long seeing as I'm pretty sure I just left the MTC yesterday. But it is what it is I guess. I know we've been working hard this past week, because every night we have literally had to drag our tired bodies into our apartment and a few nights ago I'm pretty sure we were in danger of getting in a car accident because I was so tired while driving. All is well though we got home safely. We definitely have angels watching over us haha.

So this week we started teaching a new investigator named Anita who seems like she could be golden. We taught her the Restoration and when we got to Joseph Smith's first vision she started crying. The spirit was so strong and she said that she felt such peace. That was def the spirit confirming the truthfulness of it unto her. After we asked her if she believed things to be true she said yes and so we then invited her to prepare to be baptized and she proceeded to tell us that she was baptized Catholic and her parents were Catholic and she planned to stay that way... fortunately, we hear variations of this statement all of the time, so it didn't phase us, haha. We just re-explained about the importance of proper priesthood authority and then asked if we could continue teaching her and she said yes. So we are going back on Tuesday and she committed to start reading from the Book of Mormon. I know that if she does that and prays she will come to know that baptism is what she needs to do and she will get a confirmation from the spirit of that truth. That's why the Book of Mormon is the Keystone of our religion. If the book isn't true, then everything goes with it, but on the flip side, if the book is true than every other claim stands. That's why we emphasize reading the Book of Mormon so much. It holds everything together. Basically what I tell people is that, if they read and pray about the Book of Mormon and they find out it isn't true, then they have lost absolutely nothing. Maybe some time. But, if they read and pray and come to know of its truthfulness, like millions of others already have, they have gained everything. Eternal life, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and eternal family, joy in this life and the next, a knowledge of our purpose in this life, answers to the questions of the soul pertaining to where we came from, why we're here, where we're going and so much more. To me, that is worth some time spent reading, pondering, and praying about a book that is meant to bless your life and strengthen your relationship with Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. Anyways, it's been a great week and i know this one will be awesome as well. I love you all! See ya!

-Sister Williams

Me and Sister Tau

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

I forgot to send this a while ago, during Christmas, but let's just say that it scared the heck out of me and we ended up driving back because I thought there was a poor man who needed saving. Dumb decorations... 

Goodbye Elder Wilstead! My old zone leader turned AP turned RM :(

Welcome to the Houston Heights! 

I mustache you a question. 

Zone service project at the Houston Food Bank.

One of our last district pictures :(

Hermana Villanueva and I on a trip downtown. She goes home in 2 days!!!!

Comp unity

Everything is bigger in Texas!

Happy Valentine's Day week! 

So transfer calls have been made and the verdict is... Sister Bonner is leaving :( It is such a sad day in Melbourne. She has been here her entire mission, which is 71/2 months, so I guess it's time, but it will be a bummer for sure. That means I will be either getting a new comp tomorrow, or training and getting a new missionary on Thursday. I guess we'll see what happens. Luckily, as time goes on, transfers become less and less traumatic and you just deal with whatever happens. I mean it wasn't that bad before, but having to get to know a new person by suddenly living with them is always a little awkward. Like I said though, all is well. 

So this past week was good as usual. It flew by, just like everything else seems to be flying by. I have no idea where this transfer went. I blinked and we were getting calls again. We were able to meet with Jontae again, and this time, after a couple months of meeting with him, we were finally able to teach him inside of his house. It was so cool, because his mom was there as well and she sat in the lesson and participated and loved it. She totally opened up about her life and about how she needs to have God and Jesus Christ in her life and she agreed to continue meeting with us and Jontae, so that was pretty cool. We also extended a baptismal invite to Jontae, and he agreed to pray about it, hopefully as we continue to meet with them they both will have a desire to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the proper priesthood authority. Jackie, on the other hand, has fallen off the face of the earth. We had exchanges this weekend with the Hermanas, and because Hermana Villanueva was the one who initially found her, we figured we'd stop by and see if Jackie would let us in because she was there. She did and we chatted for a little bit, and she promised she would come to church the next day, but she didn't and she hasn't been answering our calls. So hopefully that will resolve itself soon. 

Speaking of transfers, because I was with Hna Villanueva, I got to go with her to the Spanish area for the first time. It was so fun. I got to use some of my new found Spanish to help teach the restoration, and I invited a woman to church in Espanol and ya, I'm definitely not awesome at it, but I can get by, which is encouraging. Anyways, other than that, the only other semi- interesting thing that happened was on P-day when we all went downtown and went to the very top floor of Chase Tower and took pictures. Haha that was fun. We probably didn't look as mature and dignified as we could have, but that's ok. It happens sometimes. 

So a thought I had this week was on forgiveness. I have been reading the book "The Miracle of Forgiveness" by Spencer W. Kimball, and I love it. A lot of people don't like that book because they think it is too harsh and blunt, but I like it for just that reason. When you are clear on the rules and the expectations, there is no room for error because of ignorance. Anyways, there is a section in the book that concerns the repentance process and part of that process is, in order to receive forgiveness for yourself, you need to forgive others. This idea never really stood out to me before. There is a section in the Book of Mormon in Mosiah chapter 4 that talks about this concept. Basically it says, if someone is asking for our forgiveness and we fail to forgive them (sincerely) then we stand condemned. The reason being, that we are all beggars. We have all asked, or are currently asking, the Lord to forgive us for  our transgressions, and if we cannot give that same relief to another person then we are hypocrites. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said a quote that I have probably mentioned before, but here it is again. "We don't want God to remember our sins, so there is something fundamentally wrong in our relentlessly trying to remember those of others." I don't think this really hits home until you are really trying to repent for something, and you realize that that is impossible if you have not completely forgiven those around you of any trespasses against you. I like it though. If we could all rid ourselves of any malice or anger or resentment towards others due to wrongs done in the past and that are sometimes imagined, the world really would be a better place. Obviously that is easier said than done, but I can promise that if you diligently seek to find forgiveness in your heart through prayer and fasting, that peace will come and your life will be blessed because of it. Anyways, that was my thought or the day. 

I love you all and hope you all get to smooch that special someone on V-day. Or not, eating a box of chocolate is just as good :) have a good week! 

Love Sister Williams

The City

This is really our last District picture with Sister Bonner

Elder Grasse ruined the jumping  one..haha. Brat

Didn't quite make it.

That's better.

We love Houston.

The progression of yet another jumping picture. What can we say, we like to jump.

Didn't even jump.

Not quite.

So close.

nailed it... I swear, we actually do missionary work. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hello fam bam,

So things didn't turn out the way we had expected this past week. Jackie has been avoiding us and I believe that this is because after we taught her the Word of Wisdom and she committed to live it, she gave into temptation and broke it. This just means that Sister Bonner and I did not do our job at explaining the Atonement as well as we should have. Hopefully we can see her again soon and help her understand that we all make mistakes and that that is the reason we have the atonement. If none of us ever needed to use to use the Atonement then it would be a thoughtful but pointless gift. Also when we use it, we have the privilege of getting to know our Savior better. That is a blessing in and of itself. Our other investigator also came to church again for all 3 hours which is a miracle because getting up before 1:00 is a huge trial for him, but he keeps coming. We are going to try and extend a baptismal invite to him this week

 On the other hand, we met with the Bishops again, the family we had previously dropped, and we ended up re-dropping them because they were horrible in the lesson that we had on Thursday. Bonner and I spent the whole week prepping ourselves mentally and spiritually to meet with them again and we planned out this amazing lesson on the gospel of Jesus Christ and we did it prayerfully and we just felt really good about it, and then we get to their home and they proceed to attempt to tear us apart. I have never been so offended in my life. At one point they pulled out little packets for each of us to look at with the differences between Mormon's beliefs and other Christian beliefs and they wanted to go through each one so they could prove that we weren't Christian. They didn't. It turned out that basically everything on that paper was taken out of context and full of error and they ended up looking, and I'm sure feeling, very foolish. Interestingly enough, when we first got there, after the formalities of asking each other about the other's week and what not, after that, when they proceeded to lose their minds, I felt super calm and I know that it was the spirit comforting me. It is pretty amazing that Heavenly Father keeps his promise to protect his children when we strive to fulfill our calling and share the gospel with everyone, even those that scare us. Even when we are rejected and attacked, we can receive the calm assurance of the Holy Ghost that what we teach is true. Something about me though, when I get mad, as hard as I try not to, I cry. For some reason I can't help it and it drives me nuts. So while I'm sitting there still trying to be polite and courteous on the outside, I am positively livid inside, and so when it's my turn to talk, my eyes are all full of tears and my voice is all wobbly and I feel like such an idiot. It doesn't help my anger, and my tears, when Ryan then says, "I know this is all probably hard for you to hear, but I have to say it anyways." I wanted to punch him in the throat. I was not crying because my testimony of The Book of Mormon was compromised in any way. I was not crying because he was asking "hard" (more like ridiculous) questions. I was not crying because they told us that we weren't saved. I was crying because, for some reason, that is how my body reacts to wanting to strangle someone... Anyways, I'm going to stop now. By the end, after we closed with a prayer, they told us that just because we believe different things doesn't mean that we can't still be friends and then they awkwardly made us hug them.................................................. I hated that part. But, I have repented (I'll probably have to do that again) and I have prayed fervently for charity and love for them and I was doing great up until now when I remembered all of my negative feelings about that experience. Anyways, that's enough about that.  

So because this is all still so fresh in my mind, the thought I want to share today is on the gospel of Jesus Christ. Basically the gospel of Jesus Christ laid out is: having faith in Jesus Christ that leads us to repent (or change), following the example of Jesus Christ and being baptized by someone holding priesthood authority, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands and enduring faithfully to the end (2 Nephi 31:20, or 2 Nephi 31 in general). To a lot of other Christian faiths this Gospel makes it seem like we are trying to "work our way to heaven". One of the problems the Bishops had was that it appeared, that by doing all of these things, including keeping the commandments and attending church and doing good works, we were taking away from the glory of the sacrifice of the atonement. They believed that there is absolutely nothing we can do to obtain salvation and that as long as we believe in Christ then we are saved and nothing can take that away from us. The reason why this bothers me so much, is because the reason we do all of these things is to glorify and honor our Savior and his sacrifice. I like to think of it as a cake recipe. Let's say that your mom gave you the recipe for the most delicious cake in the world. Contained in the recipe are the ingredients you will need to make this delicious cake and the tools that you will need to use as well. But instead of making the cake and eating it, you just frame the recipe and put it on your wall so you can look at it and remember it and thank your mom profusely for being so kind in giving you this amazing gift... Tell me, was the reason your mom gave you the recipe just so you could look at it and admire it, but never use it? Are your really showing gratitude to mom for that gift by just believing that the recipe makes a good cake? Are you receiving the most happiness you could from that gift by never making the cake and is your mom receiving the most joy she could by never seeing you use her gift? The answer to all of these questions is no. Your mom gave you the recipe so that you could put all of the ingredients together with the help of the tools and make the cake and receive a fullness of joy in making AND eating the cake. Does making and eating the cake take away from mom's glory? No, it's still her recipe, it's still her gift, but now you both can rejoice together from the deliciousness of this cake. The same goes for the Atonement.  The Savior didn't just die for us, but he also taught us how to live. He lead a life that was meant to exemplify what we need to do in order to return to live with him and our Father in Heaven again. Jesus Christ gave us an incredible gift, but he also gave us the exact tools, or the recipe, we would need in order to use the Atonement fully and receive all of the blessings from it. By just looking at it and being grateful for it, we are only receiving partial joy. We can show greater appreciation and receive greater happiness by actually using the Atonement through faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. I have a firm testimony of this. I know that Father in Heaven and our Savior ask more of us in this life because they know that that is the only way we can return to live with them again and also because they know we are capable of doing hard things. Yes, sometimes living the gospel and keeping the commandments is hard and you make mistakes. You make a mess in the kitchen so to speak. Luckily, we have more tools than just cooking tools to help us out with, That. Please, if you do not know that much about the Atonement I urge to learn more. If you are not using the gospel to the fullest extent possible I urge you to do so. These things will bless your life and bring Heavenly Father joy, because you are doing what it takes to return to live with him again. I know this is the true gospel of Jesus Christ and I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is Christ's church established once again on the earth. I have such a strong testimony of these things, and I say them in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. 

-Sister Williams 

p.s.

If you ever are interested in hearing a great talk about grace, check out Brad Wilcox's talk titled "His Grace is Sufficient". It is super good. Love you all!  

http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=viewitem&id=1966

Sister Williams and Sister Bonner

Being silly with the Cardenas

Sister Williams, Sister Bonner and Jackie

Visiting the Cardenas Family

So sorry! 

Alright I know that I should have written last week, but I was slightly bitter, because it was a tough one. Definitely a faith trying experience. I like to think of that week as "everybody hate the sister missionaries" week, but it is now over and all is well. This past week on the other hand was awesome! We started teaching again this family that we had previously dropped, mostly because they were intimidating and scared us. But, after a fair amount of time, we manned up and set up an appointment with them, and taught them last Tuesday. The lesson got intense and heated and we ended up being there for like 3 hours. It was not awesome, but afterwards they told us that they loved us and loved meeting with us and want us to come back. So we're meeting with them again on Thursday... People are crazy, but we are all children of God, so at least we have that in common haha. Then on Friday we met with Jackie and we... SET A BAPTISMAL DATE!! She hesitated when we asked and then she told us that as soon as we extended the invitation her mind was flooded with thoughts saying that she would let us down and that she wouldn't be able to do it. Then She stopped and said, "Yes I can do it!" Dumb 'ol Satan. He is really just the most annoying thing. You can be sure that every time that you are about to do something great and life changing, that will bring you closer to the Savior and Heavenly Father, he will be right there to tell you that you will fail and to make your life harder. But, as Elder Holland once said, "If for a while the harder you try, the harder it gets, take heart. So it has been with the best people who have ever lived." And that is so true! Of course things are going to get harder when you strive to be better because now you are a threat to Satan whereas before you weren't. So when you're trying to do the right thing, and things get difficult, in a sense you can know that you're on the right path haha. Right before Joseph Smith saw God the Father and his son Jesus Christ, he was  overtaken by a dark power that was bent on his destruction. Why? Because he was about to do a great work!. Right before something great happened something trying happened first. So pray for Jackie that she can make her date and that she can be strong and triumph over her trials. 

Another awesome thing that happened was not only did Jackie come to church again this Sunday, and she stayed all 3 hours, but another one of our investigators named Jontae came as well for the first time. For a while there it seemed like Jontae wasn't going anywhere or progressing, and like he wasn't really all that interested. We didn't try all that hard other than stopping by every week to ask if he wanted to meet haha. Anyways, so when he said he would come to church we were so stoked and his Mom was with him when we asked and she said she would coma as well. Then we asked if they would like to invite his dad, and they both just laughed and said that will never happen. So we shrugged and were like whatever, as long as you come to church. So Jontae did come, his mom ended having to work so she didn't come, but he did and that was just fine. SO that was it. That was our little victory for the week. Then a little while after church we get a call from our ward mission leader, who was the one who took him home afterwards, and he told us that when they got to his house they felt prompted to go in and talk to his family, and his dad in particular. So they did and they had a really nice conversation and ended up inviting the entire family (including his brother) to church, and the Dad said that he would really like to come. He then proceeded to tell Gavin that he was so impressed by Sister Bonner and I, because we bike out there every week and knock on his door and most times we get rejected by him, and when Jontae is home and he tells us that he's asleep (which he usually always is) we tell him to wake him up haha. He thought that was funny. So even when you think your efforts are wasted, keep trying... unless they specifically tell you to stop. Then you should probably stop haha. Anyways, this week is going to be awesome as well. We are meeting with another family that we thought were out of the picture, but when we called they said we could come over and teach, so teach we will. While a mission is an emotional roller coaster for sure, I'm glad on I'm on it and I get to feel such a vast range of emotions everyday. It lets you know that you are still alive and human. Those are good things. I love this work and you! Have a great week! 

-Sister Williams 

Love Each Other

Someone loves you even when you don't think so, don't you know, you got me and Jesus!!!!

I'm listening to a Christian rock cd right now and those are the words to the song playing currently haha. Gotta love it. It's so true though, even when you think there is no one out there who understands or loves you, you can be sure that the Savior definitely does... and you can add me to that list if you want. So the miracles have continued to pour out on us this past week. A man literally drove up next to us while we were walking down the street and asked us to teach him, and then after we were done talking to him, a man who had been standing near by asked if we could talk with him for a while and answer some of his questions, and then a woman in the bathroom stopped and talked to us and we ended up exchanging info and plan on seeing her again soon. Miracles out the wazoo, and those are just a few! I love it!  Also, it finally stopped raining and warmed up. Woohoo! It is so much easier to get up and get going when you're not anticipating icy rain whipping you in the face as you try to bike down the sidewalk with one hand because the other hand is trying to prevent your skirt from flying up and flashing all of the innocent/ not so innocent bystanders. So ya, it's been a wonderful past couple of days. Another one of our investigators came to church for the first time on Sunday and he stayed for all 3 hours. So good. We tracted into Jerome at an all men's home for people who are recovering from drug addictions, incarceration, and other issues. By the way he looks, you would think he was this scary mean guy. I'm talking about muscles upon muscles and tattoos on top of that, two gold teeth and a bald head. Initially when he opened the door we were a little hesitant, but he has turned out to be the nicest man ever. Apparently the other men in the home were talking to him about us in an inappropriate way a little while back, and he gave them quite the talking to. They all used to come out and say hi, and now they won't even make eye contact haha. He really is a teddy bear. He believes that we were sent to him by God for a reason, and so he promised us that whenever we want to meet, he will always make time, and he has. We are really praying that he will continue to progress and grow in the gospel and we are excited to see how it will bless and change his life. Our meeting him is just a wake up call and a testimony builder that you really can't judge another person by their outward appearance. I have been guilty of that more times then once. Sometimes looks do reflect someones heart, whether they are good or bad, but more often then not we really shouldn't be the ones to decide who those people are. There are so many good people out here who have just been dealt such a hard hand in life and all they need is for someone to show them some kindness and to remind them of their divine worth and potential, because even though we can't tell who a person really is based on where a person has come from or what they've done or what they look like we can know for sure that we are all children of God. Period. Obviously I still struggle with preconceived notions and judgments, but things like this just inspire me to be better and to improve, and for that I'm grateful. 

Anyways, it is a beautiful week to do missionary work and I'm ready for whatever comes my way. I love this work and my Heavenly Father and Savior and I love YOU. So have a good week! 

-Sister Williams 

(sorry I'm so late in posting...this one is from Jan 6)

Surprise surprise!

So Sister Bonner and I drove all the way up to transfer meeting fully expecting to receive a third to our happy duo and lo and behold, President Pingree had changed his mind that morning and assigned the sister to a different companionship... and forgot to inform us. But it was such a good thing! We got to say good bye to all of the missionaries who were going home that week, including my dear sweet Sister Jacobsen. I can't believe she's gone and she has been home for 5 days!! That is so weird! 

So This past week has been awesome. First of all it is officially 2014, such a good thing! I can just tell this is going to be an awesome year. Secondly we have blessed with so many miracles. This past Sunday, President Pingree asked us to include in our fast that "the Lord would pour out his spirit upon our areas" and that "those who are prepared would be led to us and we would be led to them". Yesterday was one of the best Sundays ever. 2 less active/ in-active families that we have been visiting came to church, one of which hadn't been to church in over half a year, and the mother of the other family got up and bore her testimony about the gospel and missionary work, it was so great. In addition, 2 new couples randomly moved into our ward and they seem like they could both be such a great blessing in helping us build and strengthen Melbourne ward, and lastly, and investigator that has been meeting with the missionaries for the past 6 months came to church for the first time yesterday!!! Ahhhh Sister Bonner and I nearly passed out when she said she would come to church with us and that we could get her a ride,and we were even more shocked when she actually walked into the building. The Lord is hastening his work! I can feel it. Everything just feels different. 

I can tell this transfer is just going to fly by because it just started and it already feels like it's over. I can't wait to see what happens in this area over the next couple of weeks. I know that the Lord is preparing hearts, missionaries and members to ensure that everyone gets the opportunity to hear about the restored gospel and I am so grateful I get to be a part of that. We are actually starting a Book of Mormon study class that we hope will attract people to come and learn more about the gospel in a slightly different setting. Keep us in your prayers that everything works out well. We are starting this Wednesday and we have been papering the town to get the word out. I'm excited to see what happens. 

Well my family, I love you all and I hope you have a great week! 

Love,Sister Williams 

We're trying a new finding tool.  Walking members dogs.

Flag Fence