Hi y'all!

I hope y'all have had a great week. I am doing well, and am really excited about the work. L. Tom Perry came to Memphis on Friday and talked about "Hastening the work of Salvation." It was a testament to me that the Lord truly is hastening his work. We all need to be missionaries at all times and in all places. We need to share what we know with everyone we come into contact with. May we all get into the spirit of the work, and bring souls to Christ.

I feel that the area here is on the verge of exploding. We are really starting to work with Part Member families, and getting branch members involved in teaching with us. On Thursday we had a really good lesson with Robin, Savannah, and Haley. We taught the Plan of Salvation. Robin doesn't have a Christian background, and through prayer we thought that this would be of most benefit to her. She has been struggling with feeling God's love, and usually doesn't answer our questions. This time however, was a lot different. She was answering our questions, and was able to recognize a small part of God's love for us as we explained the Plan. She read 1 Nephi 1 although, she said she didn't get anything out of it. So now we are working on helping her understand The Book of Mormon, and recognizing feelings of the spirit in her life.

This week was a little frustrating because we weren't able to see Sharon Adams at all. We were supposed to see her on Monday but she ended up not being home. We believe she is probably visiting her sister in Paragould. The hard thing is she is really progressing, and is developing a lot of understanding when we teach her. But she keeps visiting her sister, and then she doesn't read The Book of Mormon. We are just praying that she makes it back to Pocahontas this week despite the snow we had. So we can keep getting her to progress.

Sister Mackliet and I are doing great. We teach well in unity, and are really striving to get the members involved in the work. I am learning a lot from Sister Mackliet. Such as positivity in the work, and taking things one at a time. Too often I get overwhelmed by all the things I need to do. She is teaching me to focus on one thing at a time. So that I can be most effective that way.

This week we had a unique experience of the Lord working in "mysterious ways" as it refers to in the scriptures. We were walking down a street, and I felt prompted to knock on a house. I was a little hesitant at first because I had just seen the lady walk in her house. I figured she probably saw us, and the door approach would be a little awkward. But I knew I needed to do it since it was a prompting from the Spirit. So we knocked, and although she wasn't interested she gave us a referral of a family who just moved in all the way down the street. So down the street we went. We knocked on the door and the woman; Annita let us right in. We prayed with her, and afterwards she gave us both hugs. She said that she had been praying all morning for mercy. I am so glad that we were able to be an answer to her prayer. It was another witness to me that everything happens for a reason, and we need to follow every prompting we receive. Even though it may not turn out the way we would expect it to be.

We also had a neat experience getting back into contact with Park and Lynda Leathers. We had put them on pause for a couple of weeks because they weren't progressing, and we prayed to know how we could best help them. Now, we had planned to see them February 1st but I was scared too. We prayed to know what to do after all our plans fell through. God told me in my thoughts to go to the Leathers. We went despite how I felt and it went really well. We found out that Park's main concern is the Book of Mormon. We reinforced the notion that he won't know it's the word of God without prayer. He also prayed about coming to church, and said he will come out sooner or later. Good things are coming. I am so glad I followed this prompting and gave them time. It's all about the Lord's timing! :)

This week in studies I have started the challenge of reading the Book of Mormon in the month of February. With the focus in mind of prayer. As I read I have noticed that prayer is found all throughout the pages of the Book of Mormon. The prophets of old, and now supplicate themselves in mighty prayer consistently. Also, they pray from the heart not just muttering the same words over and over. This has created in me a increased desire to pray with greater intent. Also, to make my prayers more personal. To converse aloud with God, and talk to him as I would anyone face to face.

May y'all be involved in the work of salvation. It is only through being a part of the work that we will have Joy. Love y'all!!

Sister W. Williams