Week of miracles

Okay for starters I need to warn you all that I'm going to come home and have no sense of social boundaries haha because on the mission you become immune to awkward.  It's real, you knock on people's doors, have them look at you and not answer, you forget what being too "pushy" is, and you jump right into the personal stuff right when you meet someone. It's great ;) Hmm like the other day we were with the relief society president and we went to try and visit this less active family. As we knocked the first time the family came to the top of the stairs and looked at us and walked away...so of course we knocked against because haha we have a slogan here on the field "knock once for their salvation and twice for ours" obviously they didn't answer but I later realized that that kinda bothered the RS president haha,but like I said awkward is not a thing..so it didn't even phase me and Sister Olsen.

Alright well this email isn't going to be very long but as the subject line says this week was a week of miracles :) as we've decided to truly talk to everyone, we were able to find six new investigators! And at church this Sunday we had 5 investigators come! That is incredible; I can't explain how happy that made me. I'm so excited to be able to see the work pick up! And I love how big a part the members play in the work. Okay this week I've really been focusing on faith, because faith is one of those words that's kinda thrown around in the church, and we actually ended up having a training on it at district meeting. An Elder in the district gave us this acronym on faith. For starters faith is obviously the first part of everything, because if you do not have faith in Christ then nothing else will happen in your beliefs.

F- Foundation: Heleman 5:12 our faith in Christ will build our foundation. If and only if our foundation is built on Christ will it stand, Satan has the power to make any other foundation crumble.

A- Action: We hear all the time that faith is an action word; the Lord said “faith without works is dead.” The only way a child learns to walk is if we let go of their hand, it's the same with the God.. We learn when we follow what he has taught, and take action. He has confidence in you

2 Corinthians 7:16

I- Inspiration: D&C 121:26,33 faith is built as we receive inspiration, and inspiration is given as we have faith. All inspiration is given to increase our faith and to know that he is God. Proverbs 3: 12-13

T- Trust: If you don't have trust, then you don't believe that having faith can help you. You also need to realize how much your Father in Heaven trusts in you. As you strengthen your faith you must never forget who you trust Proverbs 3:5-6.

H- Hope: hope is the initial motivation factor of faith Moroni 7: 49-42.

We must let faith be our everything, be in everything and if we do that we won't just have faith, we'll be living it. 

I Need Thee Every Hour - Youth Inspiring Youth

These youth are committed to using their talents to inspire others for good.

This was a super busy week...

This was a super busy week, full of zone trainings, interviews and a lots of new investigators. So here's a bunch of pictures with no explanation:)

The Zone 

The Sisters of the Zone  

Today Labor Day 09/07/2015

Joined zone P-day!

“Look Up”

Two every cute Sister Missionaries sharing a great message 

Music from the 2013 Mutual Theme found more 

here great music you can download:

Stand Ye In Holy Places

Sealings and Books of Mormon

The fact that it is already p-day again is seriously insane to me. Time does not work on a mission the way it normally does, having said that this week was full of lots of learning experiences. 

On Tuesday I had my first exchange. I was put in trio that was over both an YSA and a family ward. Oh I love those sisters so much!, being there with them really helped reiterate the importance of talking to everybody, because obviously you can't know if someone is interested unless you talk to them. Okay well “talk to everybody" is a lot easier said than done, because it is honestly so much easier to fear men then to fear God. But we are promised so many blessings if we open our mouths to declare this sweet message. 

On that topic, this week we have been helping many members in the ward set up a "family mission plan" because as we all know missionary work extends so much further than just the full time missionaries. In this mission plan there are goals to help the family pray and read scriptures daily, and to invite less active and non member friends to church activities and to learn more.

In D&C 24:12 we are promised as we declare the gospel that we will be given strength that is not known among men. Sharing the gospel can be scary, but most of the time our Heavenly Father answers prayers through other people, you could be that answer. No matter who it is, you can leave them with something, an invite to a ward activity, dinner at your house, a Book of Mormon or something as simple as your testimony. 

Okay now as for the subject line...some recent converts in our ward got sealed on Saturday!! Sadly because we weren't the ones to teach them we didn't get to go, but we were able to help with the luncheon after. Anyway there was SO much opposition while they were preparing to be sealed. The husband had a herniated disk and was scheduled to get cortisone shots the day before the sealing (which didn't happen) there was also a bunch of drama with the kids, because they are a mixed family and some of the kids weren't going to be able to be sealed to them. But they realized the blessing that would come from it. So during the endowment they actually brought in a huge foldout lazy boy chair for the husband and it all worked out.

But it really got me thinking of the importance of temples and how sacred they are. And that actually happen to be the lesson we had on Sunday. Temples :) so the rest of this email is going to be a bit about a talk that Brad Wilcox gave at this last education week. Haha don't quote me on this...these are my notes from the talk. “You’re Not Alone: Come to the House of the Lord”

 The “Five S’s” of the temple for Latter-day Saints to remember about the House of the Lord.

1 The first “S” of the temple is sanctuary. The temple is a spiritual sanctuary. “We can go there and escape the cruelness of the world and the pollution of the world and the evil of the world. … Our spirits feel like they’re going home.”

2. Our second ‘S’ is school - a wonderful school where we’re taught the lessons of eternity, the beautiful lessons that matter in this life and beyond.” In the temple, individuals are taught in the Savior’s way — both directly and indirectly. We all can go and learn something else. We must be a participator not just a spectator. There is a Chinese saying that says "tell me and I'll forget, show me and I'll remember, involve me and I'll learn and understand" 

       

3. The third "S" of the temple is salvation. The temple is where we receive saving ordinances, done as an offering of love. When we go to the temple for the first time we "receive" our endowment, just as when we are baptized and confirmed we are told that we "receive the Holy Ghost, this means it is an action, and that it is up to us to accept it! 

       

4. The fourth “S” of the temple is sealing. “The temple is a place of sealing where couples and families can be sealed together forever.” An act the can only take place in the temple

 5. The fifth “S” of the temple is The Savior. There is no other place where we can feel so close and understand our Savior; we can feel complete, clear, and the truest indicators of our deepest feelings of Christ.

Okay I'm sorry this one is SUPER long, and is all spiritual. I promise I'll add more stories next week. Love you all, and thanks for all the prayers and support!!

Sister Williams

More pictures of our face...because it seems to be the only pictures we take ;) 

Try a Little Harder To Be a Little Better

…"Each of us can do a little better than we have been doing. We can be a little more kind. We can be a little more merciful. We can be a little more forgiving. We can put behind us our weaknesses of the past, and go forth with new energy and increased resolution to improve the world about us, in our homes, in our places of employment, in our social activities.

We have work to do, you and I, so very much of it. Let us roll up our sleeves and get at it, with a new commitment, putting our trust in the Lord."                                                                                  

We Have a Work to Do

from Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley

April 1995

Baptisms, Fireflies and Visitor Centers

This week was incredible! Okay first off warning, this email will be kinda scattered because I'm super short on time and have a billion things I want to say haha, so bear with me :)

So Monday, something happened that has been on my bucket list for awhile... we were in the middle of a lesson on this guy's porch when I screamed like a child... I got to see fireflies! haha I apologize if you expected something more exciting, but for me it was awesome :)

Moving on, I feel so blessed that there are two Visitor Centers that we have access of using in our missionary work. On both Wednesday and Friday we took investigators to the Independence one. The spirit there is always so strong as we look at the history of this place where they live. Oh I love it! And both of those investigators came to church this Sunday!!

Later that Friday night was Steve's baptism, I've been told stories of golden investigators and through some miracle I was able to see one in my first three weeks. It was incredible! He found the church because his friend was LDS and while he was at a disc-golf course he found a Book of Mormon on a bench and that was that. The only reason he "was kept from the truth, is he knew not where to find it" His testimony at his baptism was one of the most powerful I have ever heard. It was also a miracle that his wife was able to attend. Oh I know that they will be sealed as a family sometime soon, as we were at the baptism you could see her countenance change as she felt the spirit. Agh, I love them so much! Sadly they don't actually live in our area, so now it's up to the Elders in his area to teach the rest of their family, but I'm so excited for them :)

Well on a mission you definitely learn something new every day, one of the things I learned most this week was how knowing the truth causes people to change. I've seen this so many times already! In an email earlier I talked a little bit about the K. family, oh they are seriously the best :) Anyway the dad is very set in his ways and even from the time I've known him, I have seen the gospel change him and his family. Last night when we were teaching them I called him out on some sass he was throwing at me and he said something along the lines of " I like this one she's not afraid to talk" haha well I told him I'm not shy about his salvation. He always says things like "I've been thinking about getting baptized, but I'll probably wait 18 months" haha then I'm like seriously don't mess with me like that. But I truly know that this gospel makes people desire to be better and do better.

So that's my little challenge for this week, is do better! Because it's our actions that often define who we are. Don't just know the gospel, but live it!

Sister Shelby Williams

Independence Visitor Center

Blurry picture, but Steve's baptism!!