The Rosebud Branch of the Vineyard

Dear Family and Friends,

Well, it was another exciting week in the life of a Sister Missionary! We spent a lot of time tracting on the Reservation this week and I have loved getting to know the people and their culture. They are so in tune with the spirit and have a strong relationship with our Creator. It has been great going out with the members of the Branch and working together as missionaries and members to bring about the Lords work.

I love serving in a Branch. It has a very different feeling than a ward. It really feels like a family and the love of our Heavenly Father can be felt so strongly through the spirit which is there. We were able to teach the younger half of the Primary on Sunday and conduct singing time and it was so much fun! Those kids are so great and full of the spirit.

My Ponder-ize scripture of the week is found in Doctrine & Covenants 29:34--

"Wherefore, verily I say unto you that all things unto me are spiritual, and not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal; neither any man, nor the children of men; neither Adam, your father, whom I created."

The thing that stood out to me today as I pondered this verse is "that all things unto me are spiritual." I thought of how often we categorize our lives; this is my school life, church life, work life, home life, etc. But if we are truly striving to become like our Savior, our thoughts and perspective need to be aligned with His. ALL THINGS unto Him are spiritual. As I go throughout this week I'm going to strive to think of everything in a spiritual way and perspective. I'm excited to see how my thoughts will be purified and I know it will help to purify my heart.

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

Love,

Sister Williams


      The primary kids! =D  They are the cuteset.  We got to teach them music last Sunday at church.

                     Navy Blue Matching District!  We are small in numbers, but mighty in Spirit!

     No need to send my traditional Christmas PJs this year-- I bought myself some Little Mermaid ones!

              We named our Jeep Jericho!  Hi Ho Silver, and away!  It gets us where we need to be! Lovin it!

                          Ponderize the scriptures

Modern Day Prophets

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow! This has been an amazing week! I'll start with the calling of three new apostles! Dale G. Renlund was here in the mission three weeks ago for our Zone Conference and he spoke to us and I have a photo with him! His talk that he shared in conference was a lot of what he spoke to us about so I got to receive the message face to face. It truly was amazing to have met this man in person and then to sustain him as an apostle a few weeks later. I know he was called by Jesus Christ to be His apostle. I fully sustain him and the other apostles.

I loved all the talks especially D. Todd Christofferson, who spoke on the necessity for the organization and institution of the church; and Devin G. Durrant who invited us all to "ponderize" the scriptures which includes 80% pondering, 20% memorization. There were so many more talks as well that as I listened to them the spirit spoke to my heart and revealed to me the things I need to know. I will leave a link where you can go and watch conference for yourself and listen carefully to the whisperings of the spirit. I know he will reveal to you all things you stand in need of.   General Conference 

I started my 20 year commitment to ponderize a scripture every week today. This week my scripture is 3 Nephi 27:13 "Behold I have given unto you my gospel, and this is the gospel which I have given unto you—that I came into the world to do the will of my Father, because my Father sent me." I studied all the footnotes today and had a very fulfilling study of the scriptures! I'm excited to ponderize the scriptures and I'll update you every week!

I'm so grateful for modern day prophets, seers, and revelators. In the Book of Mormon it gives us a definition of a prophet in Mosiah 8:16-18:

16 And Ammon said that a seer is a revelator and a prophet also; and a gift which is greater can no man have, except he should possess the power of God, which no man can; yet a man may have great power given him from God.

 17 But a seer can know of things which are past, and also of things which are to come, and by them shall all things be revealed, or, rather, shall secret things be made manifest, and hidden things shall come to light, and things which are not known shall be made known by them, and also things shall be made known by them which otherwise could not be known.

 18 Thus God has provided a means that man, through faith, might work mighty miracles; therefore he becometh a great benefit to his fellow beings.

I know the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles are called by Jesus Christ to do exactly what this scripture says and they indeed are a great benefit to us all. I know Thomas S. Monson is Christ's chosen prophet at this time. I invite all to come to this same knowledge by praying and asking God to know this divine truth. I know he will reveal it to you and once you have this witness I would ask, What does this mean for my life?

I love you all so much and I am so blessed to live in this time when the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the Earth.

Love,

Sister Williams

We watched Sunday Sessions of Conference at the Barker's house in Rosebud and these are all the children-- aren't they cute =D

                           This is our district! 

 We were exploring the Reservation and found a Purple Catholic Church

                   HAHAHA! Oh funny signs at churches. 

 We journeyed to the edge of our area, which happens to be the edge of our mission as well. This is the Missouri River  the Fort Randell Damn. 

                           The Trailer in all its Glory!

 Here is the view from our back door. It is an Apple Orchard. We live on the District President's Porperty. 

Put Your Faith in Christ and His Atonement

Dear Family and Friends,

This has been an amazing week full of miracles. First is my companion Sister Richins. She has been out for two weeks now and is such a stellar missionary! She came pre-trained and I love serving with her. She makes my responsibility as a trainer very easy. Another miracle I've seen this week is in the branch members in the Winner and Rosebud branches. They are such great saints and are doing so much to further the work of the Lord along. I'm so grateful to be surrounded by their Christ like influences. 

We were able to start teaching a family this week in the Winner Branch, their names are Wyatt and Tori. Wyatt's parents are converts of about 5 years and are on fire. They were sealed in the temple recently. Both Wyatt and Tori have been around missionaries and have had the discussions before. The spirit was so strong as we were able to find out their concerns and what they are seeking after. The greatest thing though was having his parents there testifiying of how the gospel has blessed their lives, something that Wyatt has been able to witness for himself. I'm so excited to continue teaching them and to help them to know for themselves this gospel is true.

I was able to give a talk in the Winner Branch, which I was super excited about because I love giving talks and I haven't given one in 13 months. I spoke about having Faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement. I found this in the Bible Dictionary under Faith that says:

The Lord has revealed Himself and His perfect character, possessing in their fulness all the attributes of love, knowledge, justice, mercy, unchangeableness, power, and every other needful thing, so as to enable the mind of man to place confidence in Him without reservation.

I know this is true. I know as we are able to learn more about the Savoir and to strengthen our relationship with Him we will know we can put all our trust in Him. I know that Christ lives. I know His Atonement is personal for me and as He suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane that a portion of that time was specifically for me.

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

Love,

Sister Williams

         South Dakota! My new home for now!

 I went to Valentine, Nebraska this week and it was super cute-- everything had hearts on it!

 Our trailer--Home Sweet Home! My first time for trailer living--stay tuned!

 We had a fiesta in Gregory teaching Eli Baretto. His parents own a resturant and made us dinner. YUMMO!

 We spent the night in Winner, SD and slept in this very pink room!

             We caught a juicey moth.

Reservation Sisters

Dear Family and Friends, 

 

WOW! This week has been a game changer full of miracles! Before I left Bismarck we met with Renee and we found out she had gotten her temple recommend!! She is going to go receive her own endowment and be sealed to her husband in a couple of weeks! And the day I left for my new area Breanna, our recent convert, went to the temple and did baptisms for the dead. It was so great to see how much progression that area in Bismarck had recently and I'm so excited for these people to partake of the blessings of the temple.

Now I'm in Mission, South Dakota on the Rosebud Indian Reservation training a new missionary and living in a trailer in the middle of an open field. Talk about game changer! It really is a testament to me that the gospel is being preached to every nation, kindred, tongue and people. Sister Richins is my new companion and she is amazing. She came prepared and pre-trained and we are excited to hit the road running! We are traveling missionaries striving to reach the people in these small surrounding towns. It will be exciting and definitely a lot of awesome stories will be coming your way-- so stay tuned!

We had a District Conference this past Sunday where all the Branches gathered together in Pierre, SD. It was great and the speakers were so in tune with the spirit. I love the people here and I can't wait to get closer to them all and to find those Heavenly Father has prepared to receive His Gospel. I can really feel these branches are a family and their hearts are truly knit together. I know this gospel is true and there is such great power in prayer!

Love,

Sister Williams

                Fallah at the temple! He is so happy!

                Renee Got her Temple Recommend!

     Goodbye sister Woolsey! My companion in Minot, North Dakota is going home!

I finally saw Sister Curley after 13 months! We came out here together from the MTC 13 months ago!

 My new home --a trailer in an open field--This is the kitchen and study room.  We live in Rosebud on the Sioux Indian Reservation.

 This is the living room of our new trailer home. A lot of brown!

 This is our bedroom--a bit small but it at least has a bed to sleep in at night!

 And this is our lovely bathroom--actually, it is quite nice!

CHANGES!

Dear Family and Friends,

I AM GETTING TRANSFERRED AND I'M BECOMING A TRAINER OF NEW MISSIONARIES!! I'm going to South Dakota and my area is like the whole southern middle of the state. I cover Winner, Rosebud, Martin, and White River.  It is all going to be so new and I'm so excited!!!!! I'll keep you all posted on my new address.

Well this week we witnessed so many miracles! Onetta is a less active woman we've been working with for a while and we went over to her house for a lesson and she pulled a full-use temple recommend out of her purse to show us!! I was so happy for her. She is such an amazing woman and I'm so proud that she will be able to go to the temple. Breanna our recent convert also got a temple recommend this week and will be going to the temple this Thursday. I'm so excited for her!

We had a really neat finding experience a couple of days ago. We were driving to go see someone and I saw this girl sitting on the stairs of an apartment building and I felt really strongly we needed to go talk to her. We pulled over prayed and went over to her. Come to find out, she had been to the church in Minnesota with her mom and they are looking for a church. We are meeting with them on Tuesday!! It was amazing and I love being able to follow the spirit. 

I love you all so much have a great week!

Love,

Sister Williams

        Me doing service!  I got to ride the lawn mower! What a blast!

                Renee! I love this woman! 

This is Sister Halliday-- she works in the mission office and I love her!

A Foretaste of Eternal Life

Dear Family and Friends, 

WOW!! This week has been so full of mighty miracles! I told you last week about Kenny, the man we met on the stairs. Well, we were able to meet with him twice this week and he is on date to get baptized on October 24! He has been truly prepared to receive the gospel and to accept the help of our Savior Jesus Christ to make the changes he needs. 

This past Sunday was fast Sunday and it was powerful. My testimony and conversion to fasting has grown so much through this experience. We were fasting that we would be able to find a family to teach. That night we had a lesson with Kebbeh, who is the wife of a recent convert, and not only did we meet with her, but some of her 9 children were there and we taught them too. Geraline (11) and Victoria (8) became new investigators and are excited to come to church on Sunday. They were soaking the gospel up like a sponge and had a great understanding of it. We invited them all to be baptized and the girls were so excited and accepted. Kebbeh is going to talk to Joseph, her husband, about it and he wants nothing more than for his family to join him in the gospel! They also have three teenage children who we invited to take the lessons so they will be new investigators next week! It was amazing to see the Lord at work! He needs this family and I'm honored to help them come to know this gospel is true and to help their family to be sealed in the temple.

We went to go see Fallah last night and he wasn't home, but we found a less active member and two new investigators! Josephine joined the church 9 years ago in Pennsylvania and hasn't been in contact with anyone from the church since moving here. She has a 12 year old son named Sean, who was going to get baptized back in Pennsylvania but then they moved. Her aunt Lucy had also moved here with them. We taught the Restoration and they understood it so well, the spirit was very strong and Sean is excited to get baptized and Lucy really wants to learn more! They are all coming to church this Sunday. 

There are so many other miracles that happened as well! I found out some of the people I was working with in Minot are getting baptized and going to get sealed next year, I've seen the power of the Book of Mormon in the life of Renee a less active we are helping get to the temple, I've seen the power of the Holy Ghost as I've been able to follow the spirit and to see how it makes such a difference in the learning of our recent converts. 

I'm truly so grateful for the opportunity to be so close to Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. The time to be fully consecrated to the Lord is short and I cherish this time. It is precious to me and I'm grateful the Lord has given me this little taste of the fullness of joy which will be had in living an eternity in his presence. 

I love you all so much. 

Love,

Sister Williams

I Stand All Amazed!

Dear Family and Friends,

This was a fantastic week! Fallah was baptized on Saturday and the spirit was so strong. It has been a true honor to teach Fallah and to have him teach me. He had been so prepared to follow Jesus Christ and I'm excited to see him continue in his gospel progression and to make more covenants with our Heavenly Father in the Temple next year. Sister Mansell had found a scripture that describes our experience with Fallah and we were reading it together when I realized something really cool. 

It is in Doctrine & Covenants 29:7  "And ye are called to bring to pass the gathering of mine elect; for mine elect hear my voice and harden not their hearts." Fallah was baptized on August 29, which was a Saturday the 7th day of the week! There are no coincidences. Fallah truly is one of the Lords elect and it was a true honor to help him come closer to Christ. 

Last night we had an appointment that fell through, but as we were leaving the apartment building there was a man walking up the stairs past us and I stopped him, said hello and began to talk with him. He said he has been in a dark place for a long time and that he is a "lost sheep." We were able to talk about the Atonement and restoration of the Priesthood. We invited him to meet with us and learn more and he gladly accepted saying it was time to start coming back to the light.

As I reflected on this experience I thought how Jesus Christ is our Shepard. He knows his sheep. I didn't know when I reached out to this man what he had been going through, but the savoir did. Christ uses his  servants to actually physically reach to those he knows are prepared to receive his loving help. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to literally be the hands of my Savior. I know He lives and He is guiding his church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, through his prophet and apostles. What peace fills my soul from having this knowledge. I love you all so much and would invite you to reach out and speak out to those you come in contact with this week. I invite you to be the hands of our Savior.  

Love,

Sister Williams

Fallah's baptism day! He is the most wonderful person and was prepared to meet us at this time.

   Another Baptism photo of Fallah! He is an awesome new member of the church!