Hello Y'all!!

I hope everyone has a GREAT Thanksgiving this week, and enjoys the company of family and friends. I am doing well, and am learning Spanish slowly but surely. I remember a few things from High School which is helpful. We have ran into one Spanish speaker so far. But a lot of Branch members have told us how many Spanish speakers are here. So we just need to find them.
The area here in Pocahontas has a lot of potential. While we haven't had a lot of success yet, I know that it will come. The Branch here is small because the majority of the branch is Less-Active. We had around 45 members there yesterday. So we have a lot of work here to do with re-activation. The Branch consists mostly of Grandparents right now. Since the middle-aged individuals aren't coming. The ward is really into Missionary Work which is exciting. They really want to find people for us to teach, and as a result we have gotten quite a few referrals. We have quite a few part-member families that we are really trying to work with right now. One consists of a 10 year old girl named Heather who is wanting to be Baptized in December around Christmas. So this week we will be starting to teach her the lessons.

My companion and I are doing GREAT! She is teaching me Spanish, and it is a great companion building activity. We are working hard to find people to teach, and to re-activate many members.

My story this week comes from my last area; Bartlett. On Tuesday we met with our investigator, Angela. When we went in and asked her how her Book of Mormon reading had been going. She said she hadn't been doing it because work, and life had been so stressful. So we read Ether 12 with her, and what happened was remarkable. The Spirit was so strong as she read. When we asked what God was telling her she wept, and said that she needs to read his word. She could feel God's love for her so strong. She kept saying how she knew God placed us in her life for a reason, and that this is the path she needs to be on.

I loved being able to "Go Vertical" this week. As I had my two hour personal devotion. I really felt a connection with my Heavenly Father like never before. I really tried to study what Heavenly Father would have me learn. I prayed and really was guided. I could really feel God's arms around me as I studied. I am loving being able to participate in the 40 day Fast- as I turn my will over to God, and try to become a new creature in him I feel strengthened. Although, I am not perfect at doing or not doing every behavior I have listed. I love being able to re-covenant with God to do better every morning and evening. I hope that this week you really thank Heavenly Father for all that you have, and seek his guidance on who you can reach out and help during this season.

Love,

Sister Whitney Jo Williams

Hi Y'all,

Well....It's to Pocahontas, Arkansas I go!! I will be opening this area with my companion and will be learning Spanish! President Petersen said that we will primarily speak English. But, there are Guatamalan people there so my companion will be a Spanish speaking missionary. I will be said to leave Bartlett because I have gotten to close to all the people here. But I know that the Lord needs me in Pocahontas.

The work here is really exploding. We had a really great lesson with Alex this week. We were even able to have Christian-one of the young men in the ward come with us. Alex was really impressed with Christian, and could tell that there was something different about him. He said that he could tell that Christian was "calm." We did the cup demo with Alex to re-iterate The Restoration. As we pulled out the cups for the death of the Apostles and Jesus Christ he said, "that makes sense!" He really like this visual aid. He understood how all the churches took what they wanted from the gospel, and mingled it with their own thoughts. It was neat having Christian there because he bore his testimony on holding the priesthood. He shared what it meant for him to hold it, and how it helps him to be a better person. We are now working on getting more young men to his lessons because he says he is just used to his old church.

This week we were able to have two great lessons with Kayla, Kayla, and Quintez. They are all 14 years old. We met Kayla Lewis about a week ago, and she wanted her friend Kayla, and cousin Quintez to learn about this gospel with her. We gave them all Book of Mormons and they were so excited to get them! We taught them the first half of the Plan of Salvation lesson on Wednesday, and on Friday when we asked them what they remembered they summarized everything perfectly. It was great to see how much they really remembered. They all had Baptism dates for November 23. But they are going to have to be pushed back because none of them were able to attend church on Sunday. They all really want to be baptized, and learn more. We tried everything to get them to church but unfortunately weren't able to get them there.

Sister Olsen and I have been getting along great! I have learned a lot from her this transfer. I have learned to be more optimistic about every situation I am in. I also have learned to not get so stressed out. That with Heavenly Fathers help I truly can do anything. It is great to see how big our teaching pool has gotten from the beginning of the transfer. I know that we were only able to do it through unity, diligence, and hard work.

On Saturday we helped Bartlett 2nd ward with a service project. During it two girls ran into the room, saying that someones car was getting towed. One of the members started yelling outside to not tow the car because we all thought that it was hers. However, it turned out to be a young girl named Tresela who purposely needed it towed because it was breaking down. We were able to give her a pass-along card, and a Book of Mormon. She is interested in learning more, and I know that she didn't end up in the church parking lot on accident.

This morning at Walgreens I was able to hand the cashier a Book of Mormon and pass-along card. She had read our name tags, and was unfamiliar with our church. She asked us where we were from, and when we said Utah she smiled and said, Utah?!? She was so excited she even gave us a hug. We just got talking and I told her how she could learn more. (See, missionary work doesn't have to be that hard. :))

This week during studies I studied Ether 12 and Moroni 7. Through these chapters I really recognized that Miracles are only wrought by our Faith. In order for this work to progress I need to increase my Faith. I have been struggling with Faith but I have really learned that by praying and really leaning on the Lord I can do anything. From reading these chapters I am going to focus on really praying for strength. I know that as I really rely on Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ I will be made an effective instrument in God's hands.

I hope you all are doing well. May you all continue in your efforts to do missionary work. It doesn't matter whether big or small. Every Member a Missionary!! :)

Love,

Sister W. Williams

Hi y'all!!

 I hope you are all doing well, and are in good health. I am doing GREAT, and am LOVING the work!!

 We had a lot of exciting things happen this week in this area. We had a lesson with Angela and it was do or die. She was on the chopping block. We had been praying to know if we should drop her. Or what we could share with her that could get her progressing again. Right before the lesson I felt like we needed to ask her how her Book of Mormon reading was going. She replied by saying that she hadn't been reading so I had her read 2 Nephi 29:11. I asked her what she got from the verse. She said," that we will be judged for our works". We then asked her what the second part of the verse is. We explained that we will be judged from the words that are contained in The Book of Mormon. She smiled at us because she knew what she needed to do. She said she knew she needed to "Repent" by reading The Book of Mormon everyday. We then invited her to read The Book of Mormon everyday for 5 minutes and to attend church this Sunday. Now this was a big step because in the beginning she said she never wanted to come to our church. At first she kept telling us that she probably wouldn't come. But we just kept telling her that we would call her Sunday, and would see her at church at 10:00 a.m. The good news was that She Came!! We asked her what she thought about it after Stake Conference, and she said that she knew she was supposed to be there. I am so glad God enlightened our minds so that we could get Angela progressing again.

We had another investigator attend Stake Conference whose name is Alex. Alex is 17 years old, and he LOVES The Book of Mormon. He has told us numerous times that by reading it it helps to calm his anger, and he knows that it's Gods word. He is also really in tune with the Spirit because he feels it in every lesson we have taught him. He even had his cousin come to church with us yesterday! The only problem is that he was bored at church. He told Sister Olsen that he wasn't sure that he could come to church with us next week because in his "home church" they catch the spirit a lot. So this week we are going to try to get one of the young men to go to the lesson with us so that we realized that young men's will be an exciting program to be a part of.

Sister Olsen and I are doing Great. We are really teaching by the spirit now, and really love doing this work. Neither one of us dominates, and I have learned a lot from her. I have learned to always be positive and optimistic even though it may be hard at times.

This week I had an amazing experience with following the spirit. As we were driving on Tuesday to contact some referrals. A distinct impression came to my mind to visit an investigator named Dana. We had not been in touch for a couple of weeks now, but I felt like we really needed to stop by and see how she was doing. So we knocked, and she invited us in. She told us how her brother died last week and how it has been really hard for her. We then testified about the Plan of Salvation, and how he is hearing the gospel right now in the Spirit World. We testified of how Heavenly Father knows her personally because he gave us the impression to go see her. I am so glad we followed the spirit, and were able to comfort her when she needed it.

This week in studies I have gotten a lot out of Alma in The Book of Mormon. One thing that I have been trying to work on is Patience, particularly in the Lord's timing. As I have been reading Alma I have learned that I need to just keep working hard, and things will come. If it wasn't easy for Prophets and Missionaries back then it shouldn't be for me now. They went through a lot of afflictions much worse than I will ever get. So I just need to smile and bare it. I know that with God anything is possible, and as long as I keep working -things will start happening.

I hope you all know and continually remember that God loves you and knows you personally. There is no trial that he gives you that you can't get through. (1 Nephi 3:7). Continue to rely on him and look to the Savior for the comfort he can offer you through the atonement. I hope that in this season of giving we all can reach out to those who are in need of comfort and know that they are loved.

 Love,

 Sister W. Williams

Hi Y'all,

I hope you all are doing well. I am doing GREAT!

The good news about the area here is that we are finding a lot of Potential Investigators. The bad news is that not a lot of them are Progressing. This week my heart was broken when Danielle dropped us. We had a great lesson with her on Tuesday when we re-taught her The Restoration by using the cup demo. When we asked her what she learned she told us that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the only true church. However, on Thursday the lesson started out with her telling us that she is going to follow her heart which is telling her to stick with her friends, and stick with attending the church she grew up attending. What really hurt was at the end of the lesson she again told us how she knows that this church is the only true church, and even asked Sister Olsen and I if we would come to her Baptism if she ended up getting Baptized next year. On the bright side though we met a young girl named Kayla this week who was walking home from school. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she immediately hugged it and got a big smile on her face. We also handed her The Restoration video and she said that "everyone will be watching this tonight." Meaning that she wanted her family to watch it with her. We were able to teach her the Restoration on Saturday and she seemed to understand everything really well. We invited her to be Baptized on Nov.16th and she said YES with a big smile on her face. The interesting thing that happened at this meeting was that she asked for another Book of Mormon because she said that her mom took hers to work. Kayla also told us that she had gotten in trouble for trying to read The Book of Mormon instead of focusing during class. Sister Olsen and I are excited to teach Kayla again on Tuesday. Since we are teaching her at the school because Kayla wants us to teach her friends as well. It's amazing to see how Kayla is already acting as a young missionary-she has her mom reading The Book of Mormon with her, and wants her friends to hear about the gospel as well.

Sister Olsen and I are getting along really well. She is a great listener, and genuinely wants to help me when I feel stressed. It's great to have a companion who really cares, and I feel like I can tell anything to.

This week we Spiritually Harvested into a lady who we introduced The Book of Mormon too but wasn't too interested because she has bad eye sight. However, she did have us talk to her Granddaughter because she wants her Granddaughter to come to our church, and to learn more about the gospel of Jesus Christ. I look forward to being able to teach her Granddaughter because I know that she will love the Young Women's program, and her whole family will truly benefit from the message we share as missionaries.

This week during studies I read the chapters in the Book of Moron about the Doctrine of Christ. Which are 2 Nephi 31, 3 Nephi 11, and 3 Nephi 27. I read these with the question in my mind of "Why my purpose (inviting others to come unto Christ through Baptism) should be written on my heart?" I learned that my purpose needs to be written on my heart because it is only through Baptism that we can enter into that straight and narrow gate that is the path that leads to living with God again. Also, Baptism is the way that we truly follow Jesus Christ. He has commanded men of all time periods to come follow him and be Baptized.

Love,

Sister W. Williams