God Sure Does Have a Sense of Humor!

Dear Family and Friends,

Well I'm now out of the MTC and officially in the Mission Field. My whole stay in the MTC I was saying how all I wanted was to serve in Minnesota, but as it came closer to leaving for the field I felt I was going to be assigned somewhere in North Dakota. Well Heavenly Father is amazing as we all know and He made it possible for me to serve in two states all at once. I am serving in Fargo/Moorhead which is on the border of North Dakota and Minnesota! It was about a 10 hour road trip from Rapid City to Fargo, they call this the Transfer Train. When I arrived in Fargo I met my companion/trainer Sister Rodriguez ( I love her! She is fantastic and a very hard worker). It was actually very funny the first five minutes of knowing each other. She told me that I would be teaching in French...wait for it... and Spanish! I thought there had been a mix up and I was in the wrong area, but I trust in my Heavenly Father and I know He knows what He's doing. ( I also know He got a great laugh out of my reaction). You wouldn't expect this, but Fargo is an extremely diverse place. In a lesson we had on Friday just in one room we had two Americans, a Mexican, a Thai, a Chinese, and a Vietnamese person! I actually extended my first baptismal invitation in the mission field in French on the second day of being in Fargo. It was such a powerful lesson to be a part of. Sister Rodriguez speaks four languages, one of them being French, and she took the lead in the lesson. Even though I couldn't fully understand what was being said I could feel the spirit that filled the room. I was able to use my limited French abilities to read a few versus from the Book of Mormon and Myriam, the investigator, said I read very well and asked if I had practiced. I hadn't, but I knew it was the Spirit helping me by way of the gift of tongues.

 On Sunday the ward does something called Prayer Power Hour every Sunday at 7pm where they pray for us missionaries by name that as we are knocking doors we will find success. Last night we had decided to tract on the college campus so we went to a condominium complex near campus and began knocking and we found great success. We met a young woman who invited us in and was very friendly. She is studying nursing and grew up Lutheran. We talked about the Atonement and left her with a Book of Mormon and Restoration pamphlet. We exchanged contact information and planned to call her Tuesday for a return appointment. As we were getting up to leave she told us that she has been wanting to focus more on her faith recently and how funny it was we should knock on her door that night because all day she had been thinking about God and she was even wearing a church camp shirt. We testified that God is aware of her and her needs. She then told us she has a Latter Day Saint friend who is going to BYU and planning on a mission. She said they hadn't talked since high school, but we encouraged her to reach out to her and talk to her about the gospel. I'm hopeful we will have a return appointment this week.

I love being a missionary! I know this is what I need to be doing at this time and I know I was sent to this area by divine inspiration. I love this gospel and I love having an hour everyday to study from the scriptures. It benefits me so much and others because I am able to share what I have learned. I want to extend a commitment to everyone reading this, I want you to read from the Book of Mormon everyday and pray to know if what you have read is true. If you need some places to start I would recommend 3 Nephi 11 or 2 Nephi 9. Write me and tell me what you have learned and about your experiences. I love you all and I will follow up with you on this commitment! =)

Love,

Sister Williams