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