soo this week?!

I'm not very sure as how this week turned out- other than we hit standard and I don't know how after everything that went on. Sometimes, I think that Hiawatha is freaking crazy! But, I somehow love it.. I guess it's one of those love/hate relationships. hehe

So I'll try my best to think back through my week and hope something cool happened. hmmm.

Wednesday, we had dinner with a returning less active named Sister Soto. She is a Native American and lives out on the reservation. She was really excited about feeding the missionaries and apparently did it a while back before she went less-active. Anyway, we went and we were driving on the back roads and the whole time I just felt weeirdd.. Thankfully we had Mo-Tab in the car. We got to her house finally,she has a husky named FATBOY that greeted us when we got there. Dinner started out pretty well, she made fry bread and meat pies that we still doughy annndd so I didn't eat them.. haha. We got talking about her life and lets just say that her life is insane.. her 1st husband was murdered, the second was abusive and threatened to kill her if she filed for divorce- she filed for divorce and there was a 3rd one but I don't remember if she told us about him. I was kinda in a blur during some of that conversation. Oh and then she tells us that her house is haunted. COOL. I was sorta excited and kept asking for more stories, probably not the best idea, only because Sister Pimentel and Elder Riddle were about to cry. Elder Nix and I thought it was awesome! She has about 10 spirits in her house, not even joking- so the elders asked her if she wanted her house blessed and she was like, "well, I don't want all hell to break loose, and I'm afraid my house will blow up". So, after dinner we were all a little nervous. She warned us about taking the bad roads which apparently we took- I wasn't driving. We got home safe and all was well...we thought. That night, Sister pimmy was really uncomfortable but, I told her everything was fine. The week went on and things were kind of a struggle to find new people, we had exchanges in Lawrence, it was really fun! Met a lot of people, talked and testified. I love that.

Elder Riddle loves the GB Packers, and they lost. I had to tell him my condolences along with some other remarks that I have apologized for. lol. Sister Allen, our recent convert is probably the coolest member in our branch! She LOVES the missionaries and the Patriots.. haha so for Elder Riddles birthday on Saturday she got him a cake, in memory of the GB Packers... it was hilarious! We went to a baptism for a little member named Issac and it went very well. We have another baptism coming up this weekend as well for Alex Allen! He is Sister Allen's son, he is so funny and will talk your ear off about all the movies he's seen and the new ones that are coming out. #struggle But! we still love him and he is super excited for his baptism!

Sunday,  Sister P and Elder Nix gave talks and they did AWESOME! We had our soup and bread potluck and I ate too much which was a given. It was so good- just in case you wanted to know. I was talking to sister pimentel about how my back was hurting and she was telling me how I woke her up when I got out of bed... yea I never got out of bed. She said that she saw something standing over my bed then saw it get in bed thinking that it was me. #NotMe

So we had our house blessed lastnight (: We all had priesthood blessings and wow, I love the priesthood. Lets just say that I'm a different person today than I was yesterday. We are not allowed to go back to sister soto's house till her house is blessed, and that Is A OKAY with me. ha.

I seriously love and I am so grateful for this mission that I'm serving in. It's truly been the best thing I have ever done for my life. Which probably sounds dumb because I'm only 19 but, I have become much closer to our Heavenly Father and our Savior. The hardest thing as of right now has been trying to help people understand our purpose and why they need to understand God's plan for them. It has brought peace and assurance in my life by studying and sincerely seeking it out for myself. I was asked by our STL's to have a heart-to-heart with God, and at first I wasn't really sure how to do that, because I never had done it before. I tried my best and my answer that I got was very simple but overwhelmingly powerful. I LOVE PRAYER, I LOVE THE SPIRIT and I LOVE SERVING. I have come to understand what it means to walk by faith and to truly rely on our Savior. I've been studying and working on finding strength through Charity. In Alma 26:12 it says, Yea, I know that I am nothing ; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things ; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

I have been becoming more emotionally attached to serving the Lord, I understand why we must rely on Him- it says in the scriptures that without Charity we are nothing.. CHARITY is the pure love of Christ. So basically we are nothing without Jesus Christ. Makes sense, like it says in Ether,
 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

I am so blessed to be able to share what I know to be true with others, I love this gospel and I know that it is true. I love you all with all my heart and I know that God is taking care of every one of you. I hope that you all have an awesome week! Stay Close to the Savior and he will guide thy paths. (:

Love you all!! (:

PS. I do have the ukelele  and its been the greatest thing ever!!!!!!! THANKYOU!!!!!!!! <3

sister williams

Good Morning Sunshine!

Well I know for sure that this week was a turning point in my mission- HALLELUJAH!

I thought that I had what it took to be a decent missionary and things were looking up. We had people coming to church, we were working hard and for some reason we both felt like we had done nothing. I was so confused, I asked the district leaders why we felt like this and he asked us the usual questions pertaining to prayer, faith, talking to everyone... etc. Stress started taking over and I because mush. I'm grateful for my companion who called the STL's for me because I didn't know how to put into words "I'm shutting down and I can't feel the spirit anymore." So sister pimentel took over for me.  We ended up going down to Lawrence 20 minutes later and did some service for a woman named Joan Holmes who has a horse ranch. [for those who know me, I am allergic to horses.. so you can imagine who it went] It went great! There was about 8 missionaries there, after we went on trio splits and it was probably one of the best experiences thus far. Sister Barlocker and Sister Wheadon are who I went out with, we tracted into an Atheist(who said he wasn't interested, but told us after much discussion that he would look into it) a Catholic and sang. At dinner we were at Jimmy Johns and a lady walked in WASTED. She was out of her mind drunk and she kept telling us that "I don't drink this much, I don't usually drink", then Sister Barlocker asked our intoxicated sister if she wanted to learn about the gospel. Her response started out decent and then turned into her bashing us. "Christians are fake! when I was homeless they turned their back on me!" Thats when the Pagans came and took her in.. Somewhere in the conversation she turned into some mad black woman and started snapping her fingers at us.. It was really hard not to laugh.. The church is true and God is awesome.
At church, there was about 20 people there including the 6 missionaries. We had a High Counselor come with his family and they spoke in sacrament meeting about the Plan of Redemption and the Atonement.

I was given a commitment from Sister Barlocker to have a heart-to-heart with God. So I did, and basically I want to relate it to the same experience that Enos had. There was sooo much doubt in my mind that caused me to feel inadequate and unworthy to serve a mission. Till he told me "Don't think about it".  I understand that we are to try our best, but when we try so hard that it becomes our will and not Heavenly Fathers, that's when we fall short. All last week I had tried so hard to find people to teach and had to force myself to be excited about everything that wasn't working out. However, I cannot describe the love that I felt from God when I got my answer. That was my witness that he does answer prayers and he does care. After we went out and got to work, and it was such a great day.

Miracle last night! For the past 9 months or more, Sisters have been teaching a man named Leroy. He is one stubborn man and he knows it, for the longest 3 months that I've known him, I asked him to pray and every time its been "no." He has always told us that we wouldn't like it because he stumbles over his words and all this other nonsense. So, last week he said he would pray...maybe. So I took my faith and the next visit he didn't. I was dying, then he told us he PROMISED he would pray next time. I held him to it. Last night, we went over and he talked a lot and so I jumped in- he was like "you didn't ask if you could talk." haha (he was kidding)  Long story short- HE PRAYED! It was the total opposite of what I thought was going to come out of his mouth. I just cried because I was so taken back by the spirit  which was very present during that prayer- I wish you could all have been there.

Over all, these last few days have been very inspiring and motivating. I have been so blessed to be here at this time. I'm grateful for everything that has gone wrong so that I could be strengthened. I know that this strength comes from our Savior and his love, which is everlasting and we can experience it when we apply the Atonement in our lives. I KNOW that there is power in prayer and that we are never alone. Turn to Him.

Have a great week!! Love you all!!

Sister Williams

What a week..

So last week was so crazy that all I remember is that I had Sister Gundy as a companion and the drive to Wichita was super long, then I left with a new companion named Sister Pimentel. Transfers weren't as emotional as I thought they were going to be, so that's good. I feel awesome about this new district, its going to be epic. haha

Yes, the baptism was AMAZING~ I was really nervous a few days prior because Lynn had eye surgery and so she couldn't get water in her eye for 24 hours...She was saying that we might have to push it back another week and then I got real scared. #Satan But, prayer is awesome, and they were both baptized. (Lynn wore an eye patch) I cannot express into words what I was like, just that my heart was happy and it was very peaceful. Her husband came as well, which was a huge step for him (she said) and he told her after the baptism that when she was stepping into the font she sparkled. AHH! Now, he's coming to church on Sunday! WHAT!? The spirit is SO powerful and it is the perfect teacher. Their son Alex is now on date for February 7th.

 

We had to be in Lawrence for interviews with President Bell, and that was a struggle getting there on time. But, it all went smoothly, Sister Pimentel has the flu and so we weren't able to go out much. Actually at all after church yesterday. So I dragged Sister Murphy with me so we could get things done.. try to. Leading the area and training a new companion for the area is really hard. Last night was a huge test of faith and to just GO AND DO. We are trying to find new investigators here in the areas and as of right now... we had one last week. Bleh.

But! Its a new week, and as long as I don't get sick and Sister Pimentel gets better we will be solid. After the Baptism I was on such a high and then reality smacked me in the face.. ha #humility

 

At church, so many less actives came! It was amazing, we had to set up extra chairs! The Young Women took Abby in right away and she even went to the Stake Activity in Topeka. She LOVED It. Omg, if you could all meet Abby you would love her. Their whole family is so awesome.(:

 

Man.. what else happened.. last night I was told I was too bubbly by a former investigator. Ha, okay so Sister Chapman kind of has a morbid sense of humor.. and so when we were chatting with Rodney(former)- she told him that if she would've shot her husband when she had the chance, she would be just getting out of jail... "Sister Chapman! You don't tell strangers that!" (She was being totally serious, but since she laughed it was okay.)-  Its a very risky endeavor to take her out with you... but its always either entertaining or embarrassing. haha

AND I don't even know how or why she brought it up..

 

Anyway, Hiawatha is adorable as usual, lots of interesting people and its going to explode in the future with Mormons. Holla! There is so much potential, and I keep working to build my faith everyday along with being confident. I was told to be real with people and its hard but at least were not wasting our time with someone who isn't interested. Which kills me! The one thing that the majority of people here in Hiawatha is that they are old and don't plan on changing, or they've been baptized and don't understand Priesthood authority and the binding power it contains. One day!

Well, I love you all and I hope that you all are doing great. I would invite you to share the gospel with others whether it be by media, example or supporting the missionaries. As members we are to share the gospel, There is not one thing to be embarrassed or ashamed of- This is Gods Kingdom and we are here to build it. I know that Obedience is the price, Faith is the power, The Spirit is the key and CHRIST is the reason. That's our motto here in Kansas. The Lords work is definitely hastening!! I love being a missionary even with all the hard things that happen- this is the greatest work that could ever be done. I've been blessed in so many ways, and I'm so grateful for our Savior who made it possible to return and live with our Heavenly Father again.

 

Remember to say your prayers and CTR. (:

 

LOVE YA!

Sister Williams