The Power of the Priesthood

Dear Family and Friends,

This was a great week! We had one of the greatest dinner appointments ever with the McBride Family. We taught a really good lesson about the Book of Mormon and committed them to give away a Book of Mormon and their 7 year old daughter Mylee shot up and declared, "I want to go give it to our neighbors right now!" We grabbed a Book of Mormon and had her write her testimony in it and mark her favorite scripture. Then we role played with them before we went over. It was a total success and we went over, they gladly accepted it and the McBrides invited them over to have smores. It was such a great experience to see a family doing missionary work, and Mylee was such a great example to her family and us of declaring the gospel with excitement!

We also found a new investigator this week named Maffany. He is from Cameroon, Africa and has a very sweet and gentle spirit. When we were in his home the spirit was abundantly there. He is seeking for peace in these turbulent times, and I know he will be able to find it. As he listens to the spirit with an open heart and mind he will come to know these are true.

We were also able to pick up an investigator that dropped us last week. She had the resolve to stay stuck in the situation she was in. Then she called us yesterday and said she needed us to come over stat. We hurried over and brought the Elders with us because she had said she needed a priesthood blessing. After she received the blessing she told us she wanted to start the lessons again and to be baptized as soon as possible. It was such a mighty miracle. I'm so grateful for the Priesthood  and that I live in a time where the fullness of God's power has been restored to the Earth. I love you all! 

Love,

Sister Williams

 

                    Look! I made it to Versailles!

 

 Awesome Car at the Library

 The Bed and Breakfast we helped garden at this week. I love this place--it is who I am in a house.

 Don't freak out Mom--it is just the leprosy running its course!

 Everyone in North Dakota has personalized license plates.

 We had a mishap with our car so the Elders fixed it with duct tape. How many Elders does it take to fix a car?

 

The Rogue Fireworks!

Dear Family and Friends,

This has been a great week! So for the 4th of July we went out to a member's home and they bought all these fireworks. They brought out this giant box of fireworks and lit it. It was really cool...until it fell on its side and started shooting off fireworks back at us in their driveway. Naturally I'm great in a war zone/ crisis and I shot up and ran away. A firework went right past me and exploded and my ear started ringing, but no real damage was done. It was pretty crazy.

We have used our trio power and are teaching up a storm. We met with one of our newer investigators named Kofi. He is from Ghana, Africa and works in the oil field. He has such great questions and has been seeking for the truth for so long, but has not been able to find it. We had a great lesson and answered a few of his questions. We will be meeting with him again this week so  I'll keep you updated.

We are also teaching a 14 year old girl named Breanna. She is full of energy and understands the doctrine of the gospel well. She is on date to get baptized on August 1st. There was a baptism this past weekend and she was able to come. Sister Mansell and I sang a special musical number at the baptism which was fun. I've loved being able to share my love of music out in the mission field and we might even join our ward choir if we can.

So when I first got to Bismarck we went through our Area Book and Sister Andrews updated Sister Mansell and me about all the people we are teaching and I found out we are teaching Anne Fields. I met Anne when I was in Fargo and I wasn't able to teach her because she wasn't in my area. I know Anne is one of the reasons why I'm here in Bismarck. We had a lesson with her this week and I had it confirmed to me that one of the reasons I'm here is for her.

I'm excited to see what miracles we will see this week! I love you all!

Love,
Sister Williams


                I'm a minion!  Look at me!

 I have the most fun Companions--Sis. Mansell and Sis. Andrews! =D

 Name tag picture at the Temple.

Bikes, Ticks, and Trios

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, this has been a crazy week and so much has happened it feels like it's been a month. I am now in a Trio with Sister Mansell and Sister Andrews, and they are amazing. They are both from Utah and are both very hard workers. Sister Mansell and I actually went to USU together and we had a Biology class together!

So on our first day we all went up to Girls Camp to talk to the girls and it was all the people from the Minot Stake so I was able to say goodbye to Sister Elwess and to see one of my investigators, Ezzie, while I was there. We were talking to them about Gratitude and I gained such a strong testimony of the spirit. We had only been together for 3 hours and we were teaching in such great unity--it was amazing!

So, we were out of miles and we decided to recruit some bikes from our ward members and we went on a 5 mile bike ride to the church. Now I don't think I have to tell you all how white I am, but I didn't have any sunscreen so I got super burned. It was really fun though! 

I have a ton of pictures to send as well so I will sign off, but more to come next week! I love you all!

Love,

Sister Williams

            I love The North Dakota Sky!  It is beautiful! 

 Last Photo with Sister Clegg!  I will miss her!

 Reunited and it feels so good! I love Sister Aiono (middle)! She went home this transfer!

                     Girls Camp with the Minot Stake--my old area!

 Sister Elwess--one of my member buddies from Minot.  I got to see her at Girl's Camp.

 Bikes--we were out of miles for driving, so we borrowed bikes from some members--it was Fun!

                   Tired Sisters after our bike ride!

             Sunburn cure:  Aloe vera lotion and Apple Cider Vinegar

 More of our apartment in Bismarck!  This is the sleeping and study area.  

My new apartment in Bismarck!  It's really nice. That's Sis. Mansell.

I'm Getting Transferred!

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, it sure was an exciting morning! It was really funny -- so transfer calls usually come during our studies on Monday morning and we had made it through studies without getting a call. We were so excited and thought for sure we were safe. We came to the library to email and I logged on to the missionary portal where we enter our numbers every week and as I scrolled down to the Key Indicators it said Bismarck 2nd Ward and had the names of two other Sisters including myself at the top. I whipped my screen around to show Sister Clegg and said, "I'm getting transferred!"

"What?!" was her reply as she quickly pulled up her screen and saw her name alone which means she is training a new missionary. Then our phone rang and it was President Anderson! 

I will be going to Bismarck! I'm actually going to Sister Clegg's ward that she just left and I will be sharing a ward with the Zone Leaders and the Assistants to the President. I'm going to be in a trio with Sister Andrews and Sister Mansell! I'm really excited and I know this is where the Lord needs me.

Earlier in the week we had a few miracles with one of our investigators Godwin. We were able to meet with him twice this week which is a miracle since he works in the oil field and is usually gone weeks at a time with only a few days off in between. Then he forgot about our second lesson, but thankfully he was at his apartment. A couple days before, we had committed him to a baptism date on August 15 and he said he would pray and think about it. So when we followed up with him about it he said, "Well I prayed and then you showed up at my door unexpectedly so, Yeah! Lets do it!" I'm so excited for him and all the progress he has made.

We also had another miracle with Rosalind. She was finally able to come to church on Sunday! We road the bus with her and she really enjoyed the children singing for Fathers day. She will be getting baptized soon as well.

I'm so grateful for the time I've had here in Minot. I have been able to see so much joy in the people we teach and I know I am needed elsewhere now. I love being a missionary. It is the most rewarding and joyful experience of my life so far, and I know even more joy is to come.

Love,

Sister Williams

                     The Best District of Missionaries Ever--Minot, ND!

  Godwin and me --I love teaching him! He soaks the gospel up like a sponge.

 This is the Roskelley Family. I love them and Brother Roskelley will be getting baptized in July. 

           The Ladies at the soup kitchen where we serve each week!

                  My new outfit and eating a stick of Rhubarb.

                      Happy Fathers Day Daddy!

                  I ate a cookie for ya dad -- Happy Father's Day!

I Don't Want to Talk About Woman issues with an Ex-Russian Assassin!

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has been full of great memories, laughs, lessons, and trips to the hospital, but fear not everything is great. Let me tell you about some of the exciting events that took place.

First, is a funny experience we had during a lesson with our investigator name Rosalind. She is still in the nursing home healing from her broken leg. We were teaching her about following the prophet and it was going really well. I asked her what it meant to her to have a prophet on the earth today. She started bearing strong testimony of the prophet and how we will always be protected and know what our Heavenly Father needs us to be doing. I then asked, "Rosalind, will you follow the prophet?"

    "No."

(This is what ran through my head) "What?! You were just saying how grateful you are for a prophet! What changed in the last five seconds!" I looked at Sister Clegg to confirm that we just had the same exact inner monologue. After a couple moments of silence Rosalind said:

     "Oh, I didn't hear you. What did you say?"

Boy was I happy to hear that! Rosalind is doing so great and we found out there is a bus that can give her a ride to church on Sunday so she will finally be able to come which is something she so  desperately wants to do.

Secondly, I hadn't been feeling well this week and on Saturday morning at 3am I was awakened  by side pain and couldn't go back to sleep. By 4:30am I had worked up the courage to wake up Sister Clegg and we went to the hospital. Four hours, five needle jabs in the arm, and a CT scan later, they found out what was wrong with me. As, the doctor was explaining what was wrong he noticed our name tags and commended us for doing the Lord's work. I invited him to take missionary lessons and he wasn't interested (yet), but we left him with a Restoration pamphlet. Overall, it was a great contact and we do know that the Lord works in mysterious ways.

The comedic highlight of the week though definitely happened at church on the Holy Sabbath Day. We had to cancel a lesson on Saturday due to the early morning hospital visit and the member we were going to take with us came up to me to see how I was feeling. He is a convert and grew up in eastern Europe so he has a thick Russian sounding accent. So he asked me what was wrong and I told him I was having pain in my side and he cut me off and said, "Oh! Is it a woman problem?" I kindly said no and tried to talk about something else as I was chuckling to myself on the inside haha =)

It was definitely a great week full of adventures and laughs. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Sister Williams

This is me in the hospital. Funny enough, it was a pretty hilarious experience.

 This is one of our investigators named Katie! I love her and guess where she is from...Pennsylvania!!!!!!!!!

I'm Actually Serving in Africa!

Dear Family and Friends,

This was a great week! We were able to have a lesson with one of our investigators named Godwin! He is from Ghana, Africa and has a very familiar spirit as if I've known him before. We were teaching the Plan of Salvation and he understands the gospel so well and learns very quickly. We asked him what the Atonement means for him personally and he said, "Well Jesus Christ has already sacrificed in full for me so now I have to use my agency and accept the Atonement or not." Godwin accepted the Atonement a few minutes later when we invited him to be baptized and he said yes. I'm so excited for him to fully partake and access Christ's Atonement.

Last night we had planned to visit a few people and as we arrived at the house of a potential, Bob, we both felt we needed to be somewhere else. We said a prayer and asked for the guidance of the spirit to tell us where we needed to be. Then we set off on a "follow the spirit scavenger hunt." We went to another potentials house, then a trailer park where less actives and potentials live, then to one of our investigators homes, but it still wasn't right. We stopped again and said another prayer. We both knew someone needed us at this time and we needed to find them. 

A less active member's name popped into my mind so we set off determined this was where we needed to be. Luckily, we found her car there, which is rare. We knocked on her door about six times only to receive barks from her dog in return. I felt like that was where we needed to be though. Since she wasn't answering her door we knocked the apartment door next to her. An older African man from Sierra Leon, Africa answered the door. He only spoke French so we had a small conversation in broken French before he went to get his roommate who spoke English.

We talked with the roommate, Sam, and told him we were missionaries for Jesus Christ. He told us he was Muslim and wasn't very interested. We asked him if he knew anyone who would be open to learning more about Christ and a big smile came across his face as he pulled out his phone, "Yes, I have a few friends. Do you want their phone numbers?"

 

He ended up giving us four referrals!! So many great blessings from "following the spirit!"

I love you all so much and I hope you have a great week!

Love,

Sister Williams

I'm a flower child shopping at the mall.  Flower Power forever!

 Bowling last P-day with Sister Clegg and Sister Sanderson.

 I drive on this road everyday in Minot!

 We took a road trip to Velva one of our outlying areas and it was a rainy day. It is beautiful and Green here!

 The Air Force Base in Minot, North Dakota.  It is just north of the main downtown area.

 Special Musical Number at Zone Conference - "If You Could Hie to Kolob". It was a beautiful time and sounded wonderful!

 There are so many personalized license plates here in North Dakota. This was one of my favorites!

 It's me as a Mermaid! Sister Clegg is an awesome artist!

 This morning there was a cricket on Sister Clegg's suitcase. So I saved us both and trapped it under a cup...it is still under the cup in our apartment. We named him George.

The Sabbath is a Delight

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, it is official! Gilbert is one of the newest members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He was Baptized and Confirmed this past weekend and it was fantastic! Everything went so smoothly. There were a lot of members there from the ward and he was beaming! Gilbert has one of the most blissful smiles I've ever seen. 

A couple days before the baptism we took his suit over to his apartment so he could try it on and when he opened the door to show us he had a grin from ear to ear and I don't think I've ever seen someone who looks so great in white =D 

I was talking to him after he got confirmed asking him how he felt and he said he feels like a new person a, new man. I am so proud of him! We had a Ward Council meeting yesterday as well and the ward is really invested to help him keep progressing! He is going to be getting a calling soon as well as the Aaronic Priesthood. I'm so very grateful to have had the opportunity to find, teach, and baptize Gilbert. But not only that, I'm so very grateful that in the fight for his soul, which was very real, good prevailed and Gilbert chose to follow Christ. 

I thought I would share with you as well some insights I received as I studied this week about keeping the sabbath day holy. In this last conference Elder Russell M. Nelson gave a talk titled "The Sabbath Is a Delight", which I highly recommend you all read so I linked it. In his talk one of the points that stood out to me most was how he said the sabbath day is a sign between us and God. We see this evidence in the Bible in Exodus 31:13 which says:

"Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you."

Elder Nelson poses this question in his talk, What sign do I want to give to God? I think it is interesting on a mission every day feels like Sunday (except for Preparation Day) so instead of the sabbath being one in seven to me it feels more like six in one, which I'm so grateful for. In Mark 2:27 its says  "And he said unto them, the sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath." I'm so grateful the Lord made a day where I can rest from the worries and duties of the world and whole heartedly focus on Him. How very blessed we all are to have an opportunity to know the Lord on his Holy Sabbath Day. 

I would ask you to ponder this question in your hearts, What sign do I want to give God? and then act on the answer you receive. I love you all so much!

Love,

Sister Williams

This is Gilbert Houle, the newest member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!

His baptism was so beautiful and he is so happy!

 A sign I made on the chalk board for Gilbert's baptism.

 This is Celeste, a less active member we are teaching. 

 Waffle Cone Wednesday--YUMMO!

 I can officially solve a Rubic's cube! Yea me!