Merry Christmas (two days early) y'all!!
I hope this season has been a good one for everyone. Filled with Family, Friends, and Fun. I hope you have been able to focus on the true meaning of Christmas. Meaning, CHRIST. After all, he has given us the greatest gift we could have ever been given; the atonement. The only thing that makes it possible to return to live with Heavenly Father, our families, and himself for all eternity. 

Yesterday, I gave a talk in church. I titled it "The Greatest Gift." I talked about how we all should make it a goal this year to give Jesus Christ a miraculous gift this year. Which is following his example, and giving God our whole-self and will. I pray that we all can be a little better, and trust in the lord so much. That we are willing to do anything he asks, no questions asked. It is definitely something I am working on ,and will continue to work on.
The area seems to really be picking up, and we are focusing on the elect. We had a lot of good things happen this week. Yesterday we had two really good lessons with the Leathers and Heather Spears. Park Leather asked us, "Why the Book of Mormon? Why another book?" So we read with him 2 Nephi 29. We then asked what he learned, and he got a little side tracked. So I invited him to read it again, and we will discuss it next time we have a lesson with him. The good news though is that he is still searching for the true church. He hasn't been able to come to ours yet because of his health (he has cancer) but he likes what he sees of our church so far. He loves how happy the missionaries are, and the members are. That he has come into contact with. I know that it is through attending church that everything will click for him. So we are just continuing to invite him to attend church.

With Heather, we taught her the commandments. The lesson went really well. Sister Ives and I taught in unity, and we asked lots of questions to make sure that Heather understood all that we were talking about. It's amazing to see how much knowledge Heather has just at 10 years of age. She knows exactly why she wants to be Baptized, "to be forgiven of all sins, and to start on the path of eternal life." She is reading the Book of Mormon, and notices the increased knowledge she has gotten from doing so. She also recognizes the happiness she gets from reading it as well. She is continuing to be a light in her families life in re-activation.

Sister Ives and I are doing pretty good. This week was a little slow in the beginning though. I studied for two days straight because she had to sleep the flu off. But we have been doing a little better on unity in lessons. The only problem is that I am doing most of the talking. Hopefully that changes F.A.S.T.

We had an interesting day on Friday. We went to have a lesson with Sister Fills, and she dropped us. We knocked on the door, she said, "Come in, I will give your stuff back to you." All I could do was testify that I know this gospel will bless her life. But I couldn't save it. Needless to say, that one cut to the heart. We then spiritual harvested a door, and got rejected once again. But we asked for a referral and this referral ended up golden. We knocked on the door and a man named Jason or Justin (not sure which one) came out on the porch. We prayed with him, and taught him the Restoration right at the door step. When I asked him what he would do if Christ's church was on the earth today. He was immediately drawn into what we had to say. He said he would come to church, but unfortunately didn't. I am grateful for this tender mercy God blessed us with. I look forward to continuing to teach him because I know that he is the Elect.

This week in studies I studied James. I particularly pondered James chapter 5. A couple of things stood out to me as I read James 5. First, it talked about being Patient in afflictions along causing us to be happy in enduring. It talked about how all of the prophets have had to patient in suffering. I likened this to me because as a missionary I have to be patient. With myself, companions, and investigators. Missionary work is a trial of Patience. Patience is something I am continually working on, and it gave me strength to know that prophets throughout all the ages have had struggles just like me. What really stood out to me though was verse 20, "Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." I like this because this sums up missionary work. As we have our purpose written on our hearts. That is inviting all souls to Repent, and enter the gate we are saving them from spiritual death. I am grateful for this incite because it re-emphasized the importance of having my purpose written on my heart.


Hope you have a great holiday! Love y'all!!
-Sister Whitney Jo Williams