April 7, 2014

Whaaaaaaatttt!!!

Can you believe that General Conference has happened again? For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a worldwide broadcast that happens every six months in April and October, where the General Authorities from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, including the Prophet and apostles, address the church in 2 day period. It is always a wonderful experience and this past weekend was true to form. If you didn't get a chance to see it you can go to www.lds.org and watch it. Also the talks will be posted on that same sight to read or print and study. I can't wait!

I learned a ton, and I know I'll learn even more as I go back over my notes and go over the thoughts and impressions I received during it. I can say that loving those around you was a huge emphasis, at least it seemed that way to me. But, the thing I wanted to write about today was prayer. I loved Henry B. Eyring's talk, the first councilor of the quorum of the 12 apostles, about how when we make righteous decisions and choose to live the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are justifying the hope of our righteous ancestors. I thought that was so cool. It just goes to show that the Lord answers every prayer in His own way and in His own time. We may not understand right then and there where He is going with things, but we will. It's all about perspective. There was one talk and the woman speaking said, "prayer doesn't change God's will, it changes me." That really is what it's all about. In the bible dictionary it says that most problems arise from forgetting the parent-child relationship we have with Heavenly Father, and forgetting the true nature of prayer. Prayer isn't about changing the will of God, but about securing for ourselves blessings that God already has in store for us. So much frustration and heartache could be avoided if we could just learn to develop a relationship of trust with our Father in Heaven, and trust that every prayer we have will be answered in a way that is better than we ever could have come up with on our own. The purpose of prayer, the whole reason why Heavenly Father doesn't just give us everything we need without us asking, because He already knows every one of our needs and wants desires, is to cause change. To help us develop patience and faith and trust and love and gratitude. To help us develop every Christ-like attribute necessary to return to live with Him again. As we hit our knees in humility and plead with the Lord for those things that we need, and then wait patiently and trust in the Lord and exercise enough humility to say that He really does know best, we can then sit peacefully while we wait and watch the Lord's hand as He works in our lives for our good and the good of our families. It is a comforting thought that the most powerful being in the universe wants us to be happy and is working alongside of us to ensure that we attain eternal life and eternal joy. Amazing. And the promise is, that regardless of what trials we may face in this life, if we make and keep sacred covenants with the Lord and are faithful to those through diligent prayer and scripture study, no blessing will be withheld. No blessing. He wants to bless us we just have to ask, act, and receive.

I hope that makes sense. Anyways, I loved conference and I hope if you didn't watch it, that you will. Have a wonderful week and love one another. It should be easy, you all are lovely people. See ya soon!

-Sister Williams

Well, another transfer has come and gone and I'm sitting here with Sister Tau and we are just blown away... Did you catch that? SISTER TAU AND I ARE STAYING TOGETHER IN MELBOURNE!!!! Best news of my life. I love my sweet Sister Tau. We are hoping to see some miracles in the form of investigators gaining testimonies and acting on them this transfer. I really can't explain how blessed I have felt since coming to Melbourne. I really have gained such a love for the people here and I'm happy when they make good choices and they are happy, and you better believe I cry when they don't. I love them, and I know that that is a gift from Heavenly Father. Every now and then I get a glimpse of how he feels about one of his children and it is overwhelming.

It's positive in that you want to do everything you can to serve them, but at the same time, it hurts that much more when they don't choose to follow Him. A perfect example of this is the Fields family. We have been teaching the Fields since like my third or fourth day in Melbourne. It wasn't until recently that they actually agreed to actively investigate and find out for themselves if the things we teach them are true. We taught them a few Sundays in a row after that and things were going well, and then we didn't see them for about 2 weeks. Yesterday though, Carlos called and said we could come over at 5 and visit them. We were excited because we were going to teach them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and its different components. That lesson is always great, because that's when you get to the part where you are inviting people to repent, or change, and when they actually do it, you can visibly see a light in there countenance. It is so wonderful. So yea, we were stoked. But when we got there, Carlos was acting a little weird. We made small talk and talked about our week and whatnot, and then out of nowhere he just starts in about how he knows that this isn't the true church and he goes on and explains about all of this anti Mormon stuff he found on the internet and how this is why the Mormon church isn't true.

Can I just say how much I hate being told what I believe? If you want to tell me about the things you learned and then ask if these are things we practice, or give us a chance to explain, then that is fine. In fact it is encouraged. But when I tell someone that what they read is not true or something they think we practice is false and they then proceed to tell me that I'm wrong and I should learn more about my religion and ask my "Elders" for the truth like it's some sort of conspiracy, that's when my patience wears thin. Luckily, I have learned enough self-control in these past 10 months to keep me from telling people just what I think of them at moments like that. It was heartbreaking. We have really come to love Carlos and Norma and love visiting them and getting to know their family, and it hurt to hear him say that the only reason we got farther in the lessons than the other elders they knew was because we were more persistent than the Elders... I would just like to say, when you spend hours and days and months of your life studying and praying and pleading with the Lord for someone and their happiness and their trials and their well-being, persistence is a natural result. But that persistence does not stem from wanting to get more members in our church, but it really truly comes from a deep love for these people.

The restored gospel of Jesus Christ has been the single most important blessing in my life and has brought me more joy than anything else in life. I share it because I know that it can do the same for anyone else who is willing enough not to harden their heart and to experiment upon the word (Alma 32). You had better believe that there is no way in Heaven or Earth that I would be out here in Texas of all places in either the burning heat or freezing rain getting door after door slammed in my face, getting ridiculed and yelled at and having creepy people whistle at me as I bike by in a skirt just to add numbers to the church.

On the other hand, all of that would be worth it, and is worth it, because I have come to understand the worth of souls and that even if through all of this, one person comes to the knowledge of the great plan of happiness our Father in Heaven has for us through the gospel of His son Jesus Christ, and takes the challenge to see if it could bless their lives and they do come to a knowledge that this is in fact the honest to goodness truth, then it was totally worth it. Going even further, even if not one person accepted the message in a year and a half that we are trying to share, it would still be worth it, because I can honestly say that I loved my brothers and sisters enough to give them an opportunity to learn more and I invited them to do so. It really just comes down to love. I love these people. I really do, and I know that what I feel for them is a very small portion of what our Heavenly Father feels for them, seeing as he gave his son to perform an incredible saving act that is incomprehensible to me. I also know that the hurt and disappointment I feel when this glad message is so flippantly rejected is also a small portion of what Heavenly Father feels, and yet he endures, and so will I. 

Anyways after that we rode up to a conference with some of our investigators, put on by a Young Single Adult ward, called "Why I believe", and there were awesome musical numbers and converts who shared their stories, and President Pingree spoke, and it was exactly what I needed. I love this work. It's hard and you cry more for others and yourself than you ever have, but at the same time I have felt more joy than I have ever felt as well. I KNOW this church is true. I know the Savior lives and that he is working right beside us with angels to bring about the salvation of his brothers and sisters. I know the Book of Mormon contains the fullness of the everlasting gospel and that what one has to do to come to that knowledge is to open it, read it and pray about it, and the Holy Ghost will do the rest. I know that Joseph Smith was an imperfect man who was called as a prophet of god to bring about the restoration of Christ's church here on the Earth. I know that because of Him and His sacrifice I know my Savior and Father in Heaven better than I ever could. I bear witness that these things are true in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. 

-Sister Williams 

Jontae and his mom

Sister Tau and I tracting

Weirdest thing I've ever seen

Sister Tau and I at Zone Conference

Sister Tau, Jontae and I

Sister Tau, Jontae and I

March 3, 2014

Hello Family!

I'm so sorry I didn't write last week. We were running late and volleyball was calling. I obviously have my priorities straight. But hey what can I say, I love volleyball. So these past couple of weeks have been AWESOME!!! So many miracles I can't think of them all. The ones that come to mind most readily though are we started teaching this family of a single mom and four kids and they accepted the invitation to be baptized, and so we're working on preparing them for that right now. Then we started teaching the Fields Family again, and things are going really well. We invited them to find out for themselves if the things that we are teaching are true and then be baptized, and they accepted. So hopefully everything turns our alright. I have faith that it will turn out exactly the way Heavenly Father wants it to. Lastly.... Jontae was baptized on Saturday! After 3 months of teaching him, he was finally baptized and it was a beautiful thing. The difference in him now from when we first met him is amazing. He always came to church in jeans and a t-shirt, after his baptism he came into the room wearing a white button up and slacks and a tie and he was glowing. We asked him how he felt and he said he was just so happy. His mom came to watch and she was crying because the spirit was so strong. The coolest thing though was after he was confirmed the next day in church, he received the Aaronic priesthood. Ahhh, I could have died. This is why we do it. Moments like these are few and far between, but when they do happen it makes all of the other stuff unimportant.

I walked away from the baptism that day reinvigorated and ready to do missionary work until the day I die, because it is so worth it. There is a scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants section 18 verses 15-16 that talks about that feeling. It says,

"15. And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father! 16. And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!"

It is so incredibly true. The Lord doesn't need us. Don't you think he could do this work all on his own? He absolutely could. The thing is, seeing as one of the purposes of this life is to have joy, he wants us to experience and share in the joy that comes from helping another person come to the truthfulness and fullness of the gospel, and watching the miraculous change that naturally occurs as they live the gospel. There is no joy greater than that.

Another thought I had as all of this was going on was that, while baptism is good and great and essential, it is not the end goal. Our goal is not to get people baptized and then that's it. There is joy in that, but there is more joy to be had. The joy I am speaking of is the joy that comes from entering into one of the Lord's holy temples and having your work done there. Sacred promises and wonderful blessings are made in the temple. Families are sealed for time and all eternity in the temple. The presence of the Lord is not felt stronger in any other place than in a temple. Why wouldn't you do everything you can to able to enter in one of these houses? That's why we preach faith, repentance, baptism by someone holding the proper priesthood authority, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands and enduring faithfully to the end, so that we and those we teach can enter into the temple and receive the blessings that are offered there.

A little while ago, a prominent LDS figure named Sheri Dew spoke at a stake conference here in Houston. One thing she said that really hit me was,

"it is incredibly shortsighted not to learn everything we can while we are in this life."

It is so true. We know that intelligence and knowledge are light and truth and we receive intelligence as we first learn about, prepare and do everything we can to make ourselves worthy, and then enter the temple. This brings true joy, I promise. We are going with Jontae in 2 weeks and I cannot wait. I know it will be a wonderful experience. Anyways, I love this gospel and I know it is true. I really do. There is nothing in life that can shake or take that testimony. Over and over again it has been reaffirmed to me and because of that I share it.

I love you all and wish you the best week.   See y'all soon!

-Sister Williams  

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