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