Hi y'all!
I hope you are enjoying the holiday today. I also pray that everything is going well for y'all!
The work here is going quite well. Things with Ebony are really picking up. She is reading the Book of Mormon, came to church yesterday, and is working on quitting cigarettes by this Thursday; May 29th. What was neat is that she picked May 29th herself as when she wants to be done smoking. She really wants to be right with God, and wants to make a change in her life. She loved church, and felt that the Stake President was talking directly at her. She is progressing rapidly towards her Baptism Date of June 22nd. Everything with Darris has seemed to slow down. We haven't been able to see him for quite a few days now. Which is rough since he was progressing towards his Baptism date of June 7th. Also, since he was making all the changes he needed in order to fully live the commandments. He has been out of town, and wasn't at church yesterday. So we are praying that we can get back into contact with him soon.

I had a remarkable experience of feeling God's love for me this week. Within this past week I had told Sister Ives that I have always wanted an investigator to tell me that they want to get Baptized, and set their own date. This is exactly what happened with Ebony this week. During one of our lessons with her she said, "I want to get Baptized." She then said, "It will be June 22nd, and I will come to church this week." I couldn't believe what I had heard! I thought is this really happening? This experience just made me realize how through our diligence. God will reward our righteous desires.

I learned a lot at church yesterday from the Little Rock Stake President. He talked about the Sacrament prayer, and really dissected it down for us. He talked about how we covenant two things as we partake of the Sacrament each week. We covenant to always remember Christ, and to keep the commandments. We also covenant that we are WILLING to take Christ's name upon us. He shared that the Temple is the only place that we can actually take Christ's name upon us. What an eye opener this was for me. It just made me realize even more how important getting to the temple is. That our eyes and hearts need to be continually centered on the Temple. For that is the end goal, it is only through the temple ordinances that we may have Eternal Life. Baptism is just the gate. Therefore, as we focus on the Temple all else will follow.
My prayer is that all of us take the Sacrament with more thought from here on out. That we remember what we are covenanting to do. Also, that we have our eyes continually fixed on the Temple. Not only for our own work, but for the work of those who have passed on before us.
Love,
Sister W. Williams

Hi y'all!!

I had a very interesting week this past week. Yesterday, I received some very exciting news from Sister Mackliet in Pocahontas. She said that Linda is going to be married and Baptized on May 30th. I am so excited for her! I am so grateful she is making this step in her life. I know that it will be such a blessing to her.

I am really excited about the area here. Ever since I have been here it has felt like something wasn't right. Yesterday, I was finally able to figure it out. I learned that the trust between the missionaries and members has been broken previously. So we are going to be working on building the trust back between the members and us. I also learned yesterday in Branch council that New and Returning Member forms are not being used. Just because the Branch members don't know how to use them. I am glad that I was able to figure these things out. So we know what we need to improve, and work on. Things with Darius are really coming along he is progressing towards his Baptism Date of June 7th! We went through the Baptismal Interview Questions and really hit Chastity and Word of Wisdom. What's neat is that he is 100% into changing his life. He is ready to keep all of God's commandments. The only problem we have had is that he wouldn't let us get him a ride to church yesterday....

We had an interesting experience with Vicky Green this week. We had met her husband; Charles previously and went back to talk with him. He didn't want to talk with us because he hadn't read the Book of Mormon like we had invited him to do. So instead, he introduced us to his wife; Vicky. We taught her the Restoration, and really had a great lesson with her. She is very prepared, and just ate up the fact that she could go to lds.org to hear what President Monson has said recently.

Sister Ives and I are doing great! We are working together well, and things are really coming along.

Yesterday we had an interesting experience with being bashed. Two women really persecuted the Book of Mormon. They proceeded to say that we weren't allowed to pray with them because we are "sinners". All because we believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God. I am just grateful for the knowledge that I have that The Book of Mormon truly was written by prophets. Also, that I have come to know through prayer that The Book of Mormon truly is the Word of God.

I learned a lot from the meeting with Elder Kapishka and Elder Meredith this past week. I really liked when Elder Kapishka said that "There is no Failure in Missionary Work." That really hit home to me. I liked how they both stressed that it's through "failing" that we learn and grow. Without trial and error there wouldn't be success. Just like Nephi took 3 attempts to get the plates. It took error in order for him to finally figure out what he needed to do to receive the plates.

Something that also stuck out to me was how we can follow the spirit. Elder Kapishka mentioned that "our thoughts are often the thoughts of our heavenly parents." This helped me to realize that we need to act on all of our "good thoughts" since they are directly coming from God. My prayer is that we all can follow the spirit more closely.

Love y'all!

-Sister W. Williams

Hi Y'all!! 

I hope you had a great week this past week. Mine was pretty good. I spent most of Wednesday traveling because of transfers. I left Pocahontas, and I am now in Warren, Arkansas. I went from the farthest North area in the mission to the furthest South! :) But I LOVE it here! The people are great! :) Here in Warren everything seems to be going pretty well. We were able to set two baptismal dates this week for May 25th. One is for Anthonese, and the other is Darius. Neither came to church yesterday which was disappointing. We went and saw Darius last night and he said that his Girlfriend was sick. So he spent that whole morning, and early afternoon at the doctor with her. This threw us for a loop because we didn't realize he is living with his Girlfriend. Needless to say we will be teaching him the law of Chastity this week. He is keeping his commitment of reading the Book of Mormon everyday for 2 minutes. What's neat is he has a good understanding of what he is reading. We had a lot of success street contacting this week. We found over 3 investigators this way. One whose name is Charles Green, and he mentioned. He wants to read the Book of Mormon not just individually but with his family. I was excited to hear that!

Well, I am back with an old companion; Sister Ives. I follow- up trained her in Pocahontas, and it's been neat to see how much she has grown. It is pretty crazy to have the same companion twice! Didn't really think it was possible....

We had a successful meeting with Branch President Smith yesterday. He took a lot of notes, and thanked us for our input on how we can increase success in the missionary effort here.

This weeks studies were really focused on Charity & Love. Since that was the Christ-like attribute I worked on this week. From Ether 12: 34 I learned that just like Baptism; Charity will be required to enter into the Kingdom of God. From 1 Corinthians 13 I learned that the best attribute and gift we can acquire from God is Charity. Paul talks in this chapter about how even though he has great Knowledge, Faith, and the gift of Prophecy. None of those matter because of a lack of Charity. These scriptures really helped me to see how important Charity really is. I am glad I was able to focus this week on Charity, and was able to develop it a little more fully. I would invite all of you to focus on better obtaining a Christ-like attribute this week. I can promise you that as you prayerfully discern which one you need to work on. The Lord will let you know, and he will help you to be able to make it your strength. As missionaries we are doing this with all 9 attributes found in Preach My Gospel chapter 6. (A week an attribute.) This experiment is truly changing me as I am able to become more like Christ.

Love y'all!!

Sister W. Williams

Hi y'all!!
I hope you had a great week, mine sure was! My birthday was one that I will never forget. I had the opportunity to go to Vilonia, one of the towns hit hard by the Tornado. We spent some hours helping to clean up two houses. We put all the bricks, wood, glass, fiberglass, etc....into separate piles. What was interesting to me is that as we were cleaning one of the houses I found a package of pictures from Walmart. They weren't destroyed at all. At that same house an ultrasound copy was found. I thought of what joy this family will have when they find that some pictures were saved. What's also interesting is that the Stake President here was able to see what path the Tornado took. What was remarkable is that it weaved in and out of members houses. It unscathed most although there were 2 members affected. The Lord truly protects us as we are living the gospel!
The area here is really coming along. A lot of really great things are happening right now. The attitude in the Branch is completely about missionary work, and reactivation. It is the complete opposite of when I first came out here. It's been neat to see the change in the attitude about missionary work with the members. There is such a special spirit out here, and everyone can feel it. Things with Linda are really progressing. At our lesson on Thursday we talked all about the commandment of Baptism and Confirmation. We were trying to find out what her main concern was with Baptism. So that we would be able to try to overcome it. By the end she said that all of her concerns have been resolved, and that she just needed to talk to Brother Clark about a Baptism Date. The humorous thing was that she knew exactly what we were trying to do during the whole lesson. She knew we were trying to get her to set a date. Needless to say we found out a few days ago that Brother Clark will be able to Baptize Linda. Yesterday at church she mentioned how it's just a matter of setting dates for marriage and Baptism!! :)

We had a lot of success this week with setting Baptism dates, finding New Investigators, and receiving referrals. We set a Baptism date with Billy yesterday for May 31st. What's neat about him is that he really enjoys reading the Book of Mormon. His understanding of the Restoration seemed to be pretty complete. He is going on a trip to Boston this week, and he mentioned that he could read the Book of Mormon during the flight.

I have really enjoyed being companions with Sister Mackliet. I have learned a lot from her. She is a great teacher, and is able to really focus on asking inspired questions. She is great at passing the Book of Mormon out. She has a firm testimony of the Book of Mormon, and is able to share it with those we talk to.

This week was pretty interesting for us. Thursday was a great success, and everything fell through on Friday. Thursday was successful because the Lord throughout the whole day put us where we needed to be. Several things fell through but he always had a better plan for us. For instance, we came back into contact with Billy. (Having not seen him for a couple weeks.) There was no way we would have seen him if we hadn't felt prompted to go see a specific investigator. Who ended up not being home. It was just a testimony to me that Heavenly Father knows the bigger picture. As we are diligent he will provide the way.

I was particularly touched by something that President Petersen mentioned at Zone meeting this past week. He talked about how Satan "bound Joseph's tongue" during the first vision experience he had. I reflected upon that, and thought of how I could liken that to myself. I thought of how Satan sometimes manipulates us by getting us to "bind our tongues." He wants us to be afraid of talking to everyone. He doesn't want us to open our mouths. He knows that when we open them the Lord will feel them. Reflecting upon this just made me realize how important it truly is to just open our mouths. That as we talk to everyone and speak Boldly out of love this work will progress.
My challenge and pray for y'all is that you "unbind your tongues." That you share the gospel with those who don't have it in their lives. I know that this is our responsibility from the Lord. That his work can't progress without all of us proclaiming the truth. I can promise you that there is a joy unmatched from bringing a soul into the gospel. How blessed a people are we to know the complete truth. May we spread that truth abroad, and bring all of our other brothers and sisters to the truth.
Love y'all!
Sister W. Williams