Rain, Less-actives and a Mini-missionary

Playing in the rain!  Me, Maddy and Sister Howard, my Companion.

This week was full with interesting things:  The big thing that happened this week was our little mini-missionary named Maddy.  She lives on the east side of the mission and President Wirthlin assigned us to evaluate her to see if she could handle the normal stress of a mission and could teach.  She's had some physical and mental challenges in her life, so she wasn't sure and neither was her Stake President.  However, she was a complete riot this week.  So spunky and feisty for this little 21 year old girl.  She just said everything like it was.  But, the main thing for her, was if she wanted to go on a service mission or a proselyting mission.  I felt so weighed down by the responsibility that I had.  My evaluation would impact the decision of the Mission President and Stake President and it could push her one way or the other.  I really was praying one night and was like, "Lord just please bless us this week to either have the best week ever or the worst week ever so that she and I can know without a shadow of a doubt which one she needs to go on."  HA.. The next day, the three of us had a really deep spiritual conversation about everything and her.  She got the spiritual witness that she needed to go on a service mission and that was the one option for her.  So, she was blessed with the knowledge of which one she needed to go on,  She got to call the President and tell him herself which was nice.  That way she won't ever have to ask those "what if" questions down the road.  But for the last 8 days, its been a trio, but with a non-missionary.  Very interesting.

This is also President Wirthlin's last week :(  But guess who gets to meet President Rogers this week also??  It is going to be fun!  Also, transfers are in 8 days... something is going to happen.  Me and Sister Howard can feel it.  If I stay or if I go, I will "come what may and love it".  Also, I have grown quite attached to some people here that would be so tough to say adios too!!

It has rained almost every day.  I bought a lighter rain jacket at Walmart and it is the best thing ever.  New York is so GREEN!  I feel like my eyes are going to be burnt out by it.  But, I do love it :)

This week we taught the most less-actives ever in my mission.  That was new and exciting and we had some really cool experiences.  1 lady that we've been teaching over Facebook every other night and trying to reignite her testimony came for Sacrament Meeting-- finally!! YAYY!  We got permission to reactivate a family and teach a daughter and prepare her for baptism! That has been great also.  We got in with a few people that we haven't seen in like 6-8 weeks and we also had a few spiritual lessons with them.

Our investigators (well, most of them) have not been progressing.  So, we dropped quite a few and then I just felt like "it's time to bring back the old ones".  So hopefully soon, some more will make better choices and come back to Church!

We also did some finding and had a 'car fast' on Friday.  So we had to walk everywhere.. HA HA Yikes...we got bible bashed a few times.  It doesn't even bother me anymore.  I just get really non-interested in the conversation and I even yawned when this lady kept talking and then she was like "wait.. you yawned!  How dare you!!"  and then just turned away and left.  It reminded me of Chinese handcuffs... it's better when you don't resist.  Then you can free yourself.

I had a crazy guy walk into church and talk about how we were all wrong and filibustered in 2nd hour.  We just kinda laughed to ourselves and when he said he was moving to Hawaii, we were all sadly happy.   Apparently, he comes like 3 times a year and just bashes.  Oh well.  His loss.

But the cool miracles this week was Eddie!  New investigator.  We were walking in the rain and I just felt like we needed to stop by this less active members house that we go to all of the time.  As we walk in, her neighbor is helping make dinner and he's like "oh shoot, the God Squad is here.  Gotta go."  Anyway... the next thing we know (that's when you know that the Spirit inspired us) we were teaching him about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and he came to church yesterday with his daughter.  It was so cool.  Eddie was looking for 'restored faith'.  And he didn't find it with the Catholics, or the Baptists, but he likes us... so I see a baptism in about a year for him.  He has got some addictions to fix, but such a great guy.

We also saw the Mills twice.  They are doing good, but they have so many questions.  It is awesome.  They are struggling with the whole idea of 'converting' instead of just showing up at church.  Megan is struggling, but we had a great book of Mormon read the other day.  I felt the Spirit and so did she :)

This week I have learned a lot about the Atonement and also the Godhead and also that this is the latter days.  So fun fact:  Most prepared and 'golden' people looking for the Church already believe in the Godhead and /or are looking for a church that believes that the Father and Son are separate beings.  If the 'Trinity' concept is deeply infused into their soul... they don't want a thing to do with the church.  So, funny how the most basic thing and first thing that we believe of the gospel is also the most defining.  I learned so much about utilizing the atonement as a way of allowing others to repent and forgive them.  That was cool.

Also, not gonna lie, but these are the latter days.  Things are only going to get worse.  But, just as I learned on Sunday, Elder cook said that the "Church has never been stronger."  And it is true.  The world is getting stronger.  The Church is getting stronger.  Our investigators are either the most prepared people ever or not at all.  I have come to see that what was once "gray areas" are getting smaller and smaller.  People are getting pulled left or right and there is a huge separation between everything, especially beliefs.  But, basically, if you don't have a rock solid testimony of the gospel  and of the Church... GET ONE... Enough said.

The gospel is true, find joy in living it :)

Love Sister Kylie Williams

Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get

Me with Pres. Wirthlin, he leaves for home next week.

I have definitely learned a lot this week.  It only takes  a matter of 10 minutes to have either a really awesome day or a really crappy day, depending on how the Lord wants to test you and also, depending on the agency of those that we are teaching. Sometimes, the Lord has things happen and puts people in our lives - even if for a small moment - so that we can learn something.  This week I have had the opportunity to learn from other missionaries, members, and random people on the street.

Tim, one of our investigators, mother passed away this week.  As a result, we haven't been able to meet with him for a week.  We also have a family with great potential, but the Dad is so sick that he pushed back his kidney transplant a month just so that the kids could hang out with him for Father's Day.   As these two groups are struggling with illness/death, we have decided to let them settle for a month or two before we try and teach them.

:(  This week, we have dropped about 8 investigators.  The reason why is because the people were just not progressing in their testimonies and didn't show any real interest in us or what we were teaching.  Thankfully we still have a solid teaching pool of about 10 people.  Unfortunately, some of them are very busy with work and can't always be seen during the week. So, we decided to go looking for those who are looking for the Truth.

We worked our really old area book and went to a few areas that we have never been to before.  We went to Clinton and Sauquoit.  Fun fact... we saw the mansion that Clara Barton (who founded the American Red Cross) lived in while trying to met people in Clinton.  It was beautiful.  We did a lot of walking and talking in the sun, and for the most part, it was somewhat effective.  We didn't pick up any investigators.  We did give out a few Book of Mormons and pamphlets and found people and less-actives that moved out so we could update the ward records.  But, for the most part, the areas were on the snobby-er side.  I didn't realize how much I actually like tracting in humbler areas.  Any where else and people get quite mean. :(  We do have competition with other proselyting religious factions.  So, that was difficult.  We did have an unusual lesson with 2 drunks on their porch and they wanted us to come back... but we aren't in any rush to do that.

Despite all of the hard work we had to do... some GREAT THINGS HAPPENED.
1) CJ passed the sacrament for the first time and was a boss at it.  He looked great in a white shirt and tie.
2) We have two investigators Rick and Kym who are so cool and they ask the best questions.  Our average lesson is about 1 hour long and we hope that they will get baptized sometime this year.  We see them every other day and it is people like them that make missionary work worth it.
3) We have a less-active woman we are working with and she is finally working up with 'good feelings' and accepted to come to church this next Sunday!
4) A week ago, the man we found while tracting has ended up being one of the coolest guys ever.  He has real intent to change.  We referred him to the elders and he is progressing forward!  Lesson learned:  The Lord sent us up a hill to talk to uninterested people so that we could find the one person at the bottom of the hill who needed us.  Follow the spirit!!
5)  The Lord just loves me.. I have had 3 baptisms in 7 months. 1 was a self referral, 1 was a member/self referral, and 1 was a member referral.  Basically the Lord just handed them to me and all I had to do was teach.  Many other missionaries are not that lucky to get those.  This week was hard and was my 1st week we had no investigators at Church with us.   But then, BAM this lady comes in with a member and she looks nice and we shake hands, but we don't think to much of it.  Anyway, after an awesome sacrament meeting about personal revelation and accepting the will of the Lord, the member grabbed us after Sacrament Meeting and said "My friend wants to hear the gospel."  Well, I basically grabbed my companion by the arm and we fly over to her before she walked out of the building to go home and cook for her husband.  (Turns out her husband is an ex-member).  She loved Sacrament Meeting so much that she cried.  Anyway, she is from Puerto Rico and we taught the restoration to this really cool woman during 2nd hour.  She accepted to be baptized August 25th.  Better yet, she lives in New Hartford next to my favorite Swedish members and she has a car!  YES!  Gold Mine!!

So, after a whole week of just showing the Lord that we would work hard, we were blessed with a gift on the last day of the week, and it was a big one.  So now, we just have to teach and help get her progressing.

Finally, this week I learned a lot from a Sister in the mission that got to stay the night since the Mission Home is in transition with President Wirthlin leaving next week.  Before bed, we just started talking and she is 2 months away from going home and is the coolest Tongan/Hawaiian Sister ever.  She is 23 years old and told us some crazy things about what has been going on with things back home, her school and she was just stressed.  As we talked, she taught me about something that I didn't know existed... it is known as missionary 'Greed'.   Missionaries live in a world of numbers.  Each week we give the leadership our weekly statistics to document if we are working hard.  I learned that a recent convert that was baptized after only being taught for 2 weeks is now inactive.  It is just breaking my heart and I was slightly mad that the Sister that pushed her to be baptized so fast-- did it so she could get the statistics before going home.  She praised herself for teaching 40+ lessons a week and would rub it in other missionaries noses.  I am the missionary who replaced that Sister missionary.  I have learned that the quality of lessons were awful.  She taught in the car on the way to other appointments, or taught at inconvenient times for investigators and she didn't use the principles found in Preach my Gospel. :(

The Tongan Sister told me about how when she served in Carthage near Watertown, the Sisters there were some of the most humble and hardest workers she has ever met.  They were in a walking area in the middle of the winter with 10 degree temps and walked everywhere from appointment to appointment.  The area was hard, but they did everything they could.  Over the course of a week, they taught 10-12 lessons and other missionaries kept saying how they were struggling but not having success.  In reality, the Sisters in Carthage/Watertown were working harder and were more dedicated than the sister who claimed to teach 40+ lessons.  Their humble and sweet attitude about the work they were doing was amazing.

To the Lord, whether it is 5 or 55 you teach, it matters equally to the Lord.  I learned that there's plenty to learn here and in life.  I have a new goal for the mission... to never get complacent where I am and to continue to be teachable.  When it is my turn to leave and I get to bare my testimony to other missionary transfers.. it will be a testimony and not a training session!  I have learned that numbers really do not matter in the eternal scheme of things.  If we work hard, then in the next life we will truly be rewarded for our efforts.  And also.. do not push people to join the Church for the wrong reasons.  Because missionaries leave... bu then the ward/branch has to clean up the mess.  So don't make a mess!

The Church is true.  Good things will come this week.  We are hosting a girl from Saratoga who has slight learning disabilities for a 10 day mini-mission to see if she can handle a full mission.  So it is trio time!!

Love Sister Williams

Service, Zone Conference and a LOT of rain

This week has been exciting and it flew by very very fast!  :)

CJ, our recent convert, is just awesome!  He has been ordained to the office of a priest in the priesthood and wants to pass the Sacrament.  He also loves working and doing his family history.  The best part is that the last 3 to 4 generations of his whole family have lived in Utica.  They have always lived in Utica since they immigrated from Italy.  So, it is easy to find all of the needed records.  He gets so excited that it just makes us excited and jump with joy for him!

We have also been doing a lot of Facebook online lessons this past week.  It has been good to be able to reach those who are harder to get a hold of.  Facebook is such a great missionary tool.

We have been continuing to teach all of those new investigators that we have found within the last 2 weeks.  They are keeping the small and simple commitments, so now they are truly progressing in the gospel... YAY!!  Sadly, many are still struggling with the Word of Wisdom, as is the case for many -- even for less-active members of the Church.    Ugh, Satan is really good at what he does...  But I am so grateful for Lehi and the Tree of Live vision.  There are investigators that hold to the rod, but have to go through a really thick cloud of darkness.  There is the chasm and murky waters... and the good ole great and spacious building.  There are the few that taste of the fruit and enjoy it, some that are ashamed and others that lose grip and get lost.  It is very tough to see people you love be in the clouds of darkness and you can't help them as much as you want.  It really comes down to them exercising their agency.  But, not only do our investigators have to have faith, but we as missionaries must learn to be patient not only with them, but with the Lord so that we -- working together--can build a life-long membership in the Church.

New York has crazy weather.  It rained so much here.  I have been caught actually now in two flash floods and my shoes get wet quite often.  Thankfully, I just got another new rain coat for the time we are outside.  It makes my life more enjoyable :)

Rainy days in New York

Wednesday was our last Zone Conference with President Wirthlin.  So sad, but so good.  We learned a lot about our methods of teaching simply.  We also talked about the Church's new training from General Conference for the year. (I did not know it existed.  Apparently, the General Authorities give training to the Stake Presidents about a theme and something that we need to fix as a Church.  We got to see that training as missionaries!)  This year is about elevating our worship of the Sabbath at Church and at home.  BOOM!!  IT was so good.  I realized how important that the Sacrament is, and how sometimes we take it for granted.  So, the goal this year from the Prophet is to make Sunday, much more spiritual than it currently is... and I have to agree!   Time to step up the game.

Wednesday night I got to dress up as a super hero for Teacher Appreciation Night at Church.  It was great!!

Sister Kylie "Spiderman"

Sister "Captain Kylie America"

This weekend, I helped out at a garage sale for some investigators... Rick and Kym.  They are adopted 2nd-3rd grandparents.  They make us laugh and they are the spunkiest 60 year olds I have ever met.  They are deeply interested in the Church and we will be teaching them every other night for the next few months!  More exciting life stories to come from them, that is for sure!  Working with them on the garage sale was fun.  We also gave 5 hours of service to a sick member and washed cupboards.  We also did a lot of gardening with Bicycle Bill.

The Church is true!!

Love ya, Sister Williams

Lots of Finding

This week has been pretty exciting, it goes by so fast!

Our main progressing investigators just had a bad week and really did not want to meet with us.  So, we had a lot of open time in our schedules.  That meant tracting and street contacting.  The people we met previously while tracting and asked us to "come back later," where our 1st focus.  We decided to go find them again and contact our Headquarter for referrals.  This week we gained 8 new investigators which is the most I have ever gotten in 1 week.  It was really fun!  We are now teaching some of the coolest and interesting people.  Everyone is just so different and yet so awesome.

In front of the Mission Home

This week, we found an older man that likes to ride motorized tricycles, a single 40 year old male that is a master craftsman & wood carver and makes art.  His yard is full of artwork that just blows me away it is good.  He like the idea of the Book of Mormon being about the native american's of this continent.  

We also finally starting teaching Heather, who is the owner of the famous pot bellied pig named George we met 3 weeks ago.  She is the sweetest, most optimistic non-religious person who totally wants religion for her 1 year old.  She just looks and already acts like a quirky Mormon.  But there is just something about her that made me feel like there was something beneath her giggles and cute Mom routine.  I looked her up on Facebook and she is the Utica Roller Derby Queen!  After having a kid, she is now managing roller derby with her husband.  She had pictures of herself with black eyes and "clothes lining" other 30 year old ladies.  It is kind of cool... in it's own way.

We also finally started teaching the cutest HQ referral couple named Mills.  They are a cute awesome 55-60 year old retired couple (ex-cop, ex-military) who just love God and the Gospel and are excited about Church.  We sat outside with them and watched the local birds (cardinals, woodpeckers, chickadees, etc) and we are helping them with a garage sale this week.  The wife had a lot of questions and after 2 hours of Q&A was excited to learn more.  She asked every kind of question from (do you believe that the Old Testament is more than just stories?  Do you believe in angels? Define revelation.."  Lots of doctrine was covered in that conversation.

We also taught an Ojibwa native american... that was cool.  We also met the sweetest blind man named Carl while tracting.  He was super knowledgeable about the bible and we taught him a little and he came to Church yesterday after only 1 lesson!  He is the sweetest and it was a good testimony meeting.  Hopefully, he continues to progress.

New Haircut !!

We have some of the coolest members.  One who owns a hair salon gave us super fast but amazing haircuts on Saturday.  On Sunday we went to another members house and they fed us almost a whole rack of ribs!  We also went with some youth to this tiny diner in Barneveld, New York called "Sweet Basil's Diner" and did the missionary initiation.  We had to try and eat the "Barneveld Classic" which is 3 huge pancakes, 3 eggs, 2 hash browns, 3 bacon strips, 2 pieces of toast and a chocolate milk... I did not eat the whole thing.  :P

We also did a lot of service this week at the Presbyterian seniors home.  I pushed the residents to activities and helped and older man named "Bicycle Bill" weed thistles out of his LARGE garden... that was fun.  But I do NOT want to ever get old to the point that I loose all function and am just kept alive.  We also had to help at a funeral of a less active man and his non member family.  Now that was a depressing funeral.  icky!  I am so glad that I have the Gospel!

Following the Spirit is key to everything.  I have come to learn that when everything falls through and we cannot teach anyone... that is the Lord saying "Go and find this unknown person who needs your help."  So, we went up this street that I felt we should go on.  We spent 2 whole hours and nothing happened really other than just handing out the Palmyra Pageant advertisement cards.  The pageant is so cool, I hope we get permission to see it.  On our way back to the car, this really hairy guy who was cleaning his car without a shirt on, just started talking to us about wearing skirts.  The next thing we knew, he says he wants to come to Church and change his life!  Even though he lives in the Elders area, he now has the Church's address & phone number, the meeting schedule times, and the Elders will be visiting with him this week.  It is so cool.... and when we found Carl (the blind man), he was the last door we knocked on before leaving to go work elsewhere on service.  Also one day, we went to a "potentials" house, he was not interested, but his two other neighbors said to come back... so that was sweet.  "Let the Holy Spirit guide !!!"

Just love this tree!  

So, that was my week.  We will be busy with President Wirthlin's last Zone Conference before he leaves to go home.  :(  He will be missed.  We will then have a new Mission President.... President Rogers from Utah.

Only baptism coming in the future will be Megan's hopefully in July.  We are crossing our fingers!  She has been coming to Church !!  :)

LOVE you all!  I know that the Gospel has been restored and that the Church is True!!

Sister Kylie Williams

A Bit of a Fixer Upper

Kylie caught in constant rain showers in NY lately

This week, I continued to have emotional ups and downs.  I am constantly learning a lot out here.  But, before I get to the cool experiences, lets start off with the traditional traumatic missionary moments.  

We went to the library to do some Facebook proselyting.  Being a good missionary, I approached and talked with a nice 60 year old man looking at some books.  He seemed so interested in missionary work and the Church that he took all of our information, a Book of Mormon, a pamphlet and scheduled an appointment for the next day.  Okay, so it seemed a little too easy, but I didn't worry about it.  He had a slight accent and looked like an old retired professor from India.  But, while talking, he didn't understand why we weren't at college and he kept trying to give us advice about future careers and schooling.  Oh well.  We went back to the library the next day and he had read the whole pamphlet and part of the Book of Mormon.  Sadly, he said he didn't believe it, but still read everything because he was curious why we young missionaries were so different.  He wanted to know how we came to know the almighty God (not anything else) and didn't want to pray.  He wanted to watch us pray....   It just got creepy fast!  This retired psychiatric medical man from Iran was interested in the persons delivering the message, not the message itself -- he was lonely, yuck.  So, okay I got hit on, but thankfully the Spirit is awesome and I rejected him in the most polite but brutally honest way possible.  Two hours later, I was serving in a nursing home transporting a patient to the Activities Room and he also hit on me and wanted to get my phone number.  Twice in one Day!!  New record for me..... Ha Ha.  Ugh, it was so awkward.  

I have learned so much about people and their inner struggles here in the mission field.  For example, we had a breakthrough with a potential investigator that is now LOVING the Gospel and will probably be baptized in 2 months.   Previously, she was at her breaking point of losing all hope for the future.  We haven't really been able to meet with her for 6 weeks because she was always either asleep or drunk.  She was sleeping constantly because she didn't want to be awake.  It felt better to her to feel nothing at all than to feel the despair of her life.  God always has a plan.  Her new little grandson was born into the world and BAM.  She just woke up.  We were finally able to meet with her and talk.  We discussed prayer, the Church and finally introduced the Book of Mormon to her, even though it has been on her shelf for a year.  Her interest got peaked and was so excited to learn, it was awesome.  Within 1 week, she went from a crazy dark, depressed house with clothes and dirt everywhere ... to a bright cleaner house (it's not totally clean but with 5 garbage bags, multiple couches and other debris gone, its better!)  She finally told us that she prayed and said "Fine God.  If this is it, I'll do it.  So give me strength."  Boom.  She kicked out her boyfriend and his friend, she cleaned up the house and she is happy and giggly and carries her Book of Mormon in her back pocket.  She wants to meet twice a day and go to Church.  She says that she has finally felt happy after 8 years.  She felt lighter, like something was lifted.  We obviously talked about the Atonement and a few scriptures and it is just awesome.   She just needs to maintain this effort and outlook!  But in one week, I have seen more change in one person than most people I've taught combined in 6 months.  It is AWESOME and it was finally just her time.  Yes, it was grueling to be patient and help her find food, clean and try to set things up and testify that this is what she needed, but until she desired it, nothing happened.  But, now that she does..  Whoo hoo.  The atonement doesn't need to take 2 months or two years to work.  I have seen it happen in 4 short days now.  It is awesome!

On Wednesday, it was transfers and since we stay in Utica, we got to go and pick up the Temple Square Sisters to work for the day.  I got to see my friends, it was legit!!  I love actually knowing all the missionaries and walking into a room and having Sisters tackle me and say how much they missed me. :)  For the first 3-4 months, you feel left out because you don't know any other missionaries, or the inside jokes, or investigators or areas and it just stinks.  So I try to include the younger missionaries now because they need to have that loved feeling too.  I saw my trainer and my trainee (I call them my Mom and Daughter). 

 I realized how much I loved and missed my 1st companion, and Sister Yancey finally gave me a giant hug without saying a sarcastic remark!  So, no matter how much she denies it and tries to look cool, she missed me too :)  She told me this quote that "Coming out on a mission, I thought I was going to change the world, but then I realized that Heavenly Father just wanted to change me."  Amen to that!  I thought on a mission I would always be teaching, or baptizing people.  HA, yeah no.  I know that I had to come to Corning and Utica, New York.  Now, if in the future, I have to be a Young Woman's or Relief Society President, I know what I gotta do, and pattern it off some of the things I have learned.  I have learned that I really can't live life in a bubble anymore.  Being in Utica, I have learned a lot about "The One".  Most Days, Heavenly Father puts us somewhere for just one person, and sometimes that person is me.  I have seen so many awesome and great people here.  I have had to learn how to balance nourishing "The 99" while still finding and loving "The One".  Ahh, so much to write, but just know that just look for THE ONE every day.  One person, one day at a time and the world would be a heck of a better place. 

We have had some really neat experiences finding people and giving them opportunities to learn more.  I have met a native american wood carver and gave him a "book about the native american's."  Cough, Cough.. :) I mean the Book of Mormon.  He is actually super prepared for the gospel and has been to the Hill Cumorah Pageant and even said, "So Joe Smith, he sounds a lot like Moses." I can't wait to talk to him more.

We have also been helping Megan continue to have spiritual experiences and to progress. Unfortunately she has been sick a lot and she got a job at a call center after being out of work for 9 months.  So that was nice!.  She has been teaching her kids and the kids on the block the gospel after we leave. We watched The Testaments last night and I realized how old it is, but they got really into it.  She also needs to continue to apply the atonement in her life to overcome some Plan of Salvation obstacles that are keeping her from progressing.

I meet a lot of people and everyone's "A bit of a a fixer upper... but that is a minor thing... they don't have any peculiar reindeer though.  But, show a little love their way, and you will bring out their best."  (Frozen anyone??)

This week is looking to be great.  Love you all!

Sister Kylie Williams