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