Short and Simple

Hey everyone!

This week is going to be short and sweet.  It has been a really INTERESTING week, and one that I do NOT want to re-live.  So, here is a review of all the happy things this week.

For starters, my companion is leaving and going up to Norwood and I am getting Sister Branch from Corning as my next companion.  She is super sweet and a hard worker and has been out for 4 months.  I am very excited to work with her.  We will have a great time  I am still a Sister Training Leader STL and I am going to work with 2 other sets of Sisters.  We have been cleaning and getting ready for the big transition of moving apartments soon.  Monday, we went to a cider mill and I had my first NY apple cider donuts.  They are so good! Then we went to Target and it was great.  I haven't been in a Target for 11 months and I just miss it so much.... funny how you can miss simple everyday things.

Cider Mill

Sister Oiley came to Church for the first time in 3 months  Woo!  We have two families that want to go to the temple in December.  Once they pay tithing for 3 months consecutively, they can go!   Woo Woo!!  They are the cutest families ever and one even gave up coffee and energy drinks to help with the worthiness issues and they are progressing so well.  Families are forever!

One other recent convert family went to Palmyra and LOVED IT!

I also had an exchange with the Norwood Sisters and it was awesome.  We worked so hard and we found up this awesome potential named Jodi.  We found Jodi while trying to find a lost less active.  We also went tracting and found the most golden guy ever named Josh.  Josh looks likes Willie from Duck Dynasty.  We knocked on his door, and he was super nice and liked the whole restoration story.  He is Awesome!  What is even cooler, I was impressed to go down that street for along time.  We went around the corner, parked, knocked on one door and met Josh and then we had to go.  Led by the Spirit?  I think yes!!

Institute was the greatest thing ever.  We learned deep doctrine.  We also painted a chicken coop, and picked up a new investigator that is the sister of a recent convert.  Yayy for non- member families!!  Well, Those were the highlights.  

I love this gospel and I know that Heavenly Father knows us and loves us and answers our prayers. But Satan is so real.  He really is..... :(

In the Book of Mormon, which was written for us, it talks about how pride destroyed the Church and the Nephites  Pride is all around us and also around us at Church.  Let us all be kind to each other and make church the spiritual highlight of the week.

Heavenly Father is really awesome, I used to think that I came on a mission to help Him change the world.... when really He just wanted to change me :)

Love you all!

Waffle, Teeth and Visiting Teaching

Hey - Oh!! One more week done.  and it was an interesting one!

Monday:  Mondays are always exciting.  We had a district activity with all of the other missionaries in the local area to 'build unity' and we made t-shirts with bleach pens and then also made waffles.  Elders though... can't trust them sometimes.  While we were making waffles, a few elders snuck into the kitchen and made pancakes.  But they didn't know how to cook and 30 minutes later, there was smoke everywhere and the fire alarm went off.  They burned like 20 pancakes.  Ha Ha.  Oh boy, but I made some really good waffles with lots of toppings so I was happy.  We then had the worst dinner appointment on record.  We had dinner with some members and their investigator friends, but they aren't the most reliable.  So they showed up late 30 minutes (to their own house)  and they took 90 minutes to make dinner and then the house was super crazy and nobody was listening to us.  So after 3 hours of not getting anything done, we quickly shared a message and left.

Tuesday:  We first started with some service at one of our favorite members homes and helped her clean, because she is moving.  For a 60 year old lady... she had a pretty extensive collection of bb guns to scare away robbers.  It was slightly hilarious.  And we might have also taken a lot of pictures trying to be cool.  Then, I had a dentist appointment to fix a tooth that had been bothering me for a while and I have waited a quite few months because there just aren't a lot of dentists out here in New York.  It is all fixed now and I feel like a new person!  Afterwards, we dashed off to the RS activity and spent time with the members and we had to help teach about how to be a better visiting teacher.

Wednesday:  It was Zone Conference.  We spent the whole day driving and spending 6 hours in Utica with the President.  It might have been one of the hardest conferences I have ever gone to.  It was the exact repeat training that I got 2 weeks ago at MLC and some of the missionaries were super disrespectful and not paying attention and making inappropriate comments to get a laugh.  Yes, so that was a struggle.  But agency.. what can you do!  When we did get home late, one of the elders left their camera in the back seat, so we decided to make a music video in our free time and random pictures.  Lesson learned:  never leave your camera unattended.  It will be hijacked!  Ha Ha

Thursday:  We finally got to teach people!!  We got in with a less active that we had never met before and she was super nice..  but she ended up being a contemporary baptist and wasn't interested.  Ugh!  It does get awkward, because you want to bare your testimony and tell them what's up.... but most people actually get more offended and go the other way.  So, we shared a BOM scripture on Christ and called it good.  We then went visiting teaching with a very pregnant sister and we had fun teaching about temple covenants and trying to get less active sisters to the temple.  We have been trying to call the rest of our soldiers that aren't going to church also.  Many have moved out and their numbers have changed.  Nothing like trying to find ghosts and move records.  Later on, we had Institute and one of the single soldiers that I called showed up and said that he wanted to come back to church!  It was awesome!  So we will keep working with him.  Institute was awesome.  The teacher is a CES big wig and travels all over the state to teach, despite major life problems.  Love this man, his name is Bro Baker and we went way deep into the study of Christ.  It was awesome, learning about the  pre-existance and how even coming to earth was an act of faith in Christ himself that he could perform the atonement.  We also watched some other cool videos.  It was the intro, so it'll get even better as we go along!

Friday:  Weekly planning. It is good to plan.  We also found out that we will be moving apartments in the middle/late October.  That will be so good!  That was good news, but it looks like I will have a move in the future.  We then checked up on some members and had dinner on post.  We also have been getting more and more records.  We tried our best to find the "lost less actives".  We ran into the Hillsteads.  Ha Ha Funny story.. we knock on the door and this super lanky, pale lady with half shaved purple hair come to the door.  She smiles and we start talking, but my eye is caught on their home decor.  There was a witches broom and some fairy picture on the wall.  Come to find out.. they were once Mormon, but now they are now Norse Pagans.  She literally worships Thor and Odin and drinks out of goblets and toasts and stuff.  It was the weirdest thing ever, but she was totally happy in her "dungeons and dragons' reality.  Oh well, just makes for a great story, but we will not be going over any time soon.

Saturday:  Busy Busy Day.  We shared a 2 minute scripture with our investigator who is a really funny lady that never has time for us.  Then, we spent some time with some awesome members and talked about service and now we are pretty much best friends.  We then went to the Johnson's and helped them move and we got a lot of stuff moving.  We packed a kitchen and it was pretty good exercise.  I was helping prepare my moving skills for later in life.  We then taught Cameron about Family History. His baptism is set for 31 October.  Whoop Woop.  And we referred his sister to the NYC Sisters who have an iPad mission.  That would be sweet to get those.  We then picked up a new investigator named Shawn.  He is married to a recently activated member and after dinner we talked about biological warfare and everything and then we talked about the BOM and he invited us back!  Hooray!  We then acted out Helaman with a member family. :)

Sunday:  Church.  Sister Clarke came!  We had more Facebook lessons, got threatened by a non-member lady to never come to her house again or else she'd call the police and have us arrested (even though that can't happen) and made play dough forts with a family (we read Alma 48) and it goes with it for a Sunday FHE.

Missionary work is tough.  I encourage everyone to be a little nicer to the missionaries... even when you may not like them.  We are still learning!  I love being a missionary, don't get me wrong... but there are some things that I will not miss!  So I encourage all of us to be a little nicer this week and try to reach out to those who may keep to themselves at church!

The Church is True!  Norwood exchanges are this coming week and transfer calls too.  Oh and General Conference is coming up....  Wow!!
Love Sister Kylie Williams

First day of School and Fall

Hey Everyone!!

School has officially started back up for the kids here... but not for us missionaries.  It's always a classroom of learning while doing the Lord's Work!!  We had a really cool week, just a bunch of small miracles and new things happened.

Mini Liahona

On Monday, it was Labor Day and after seeing a less active, we went to the Schlehuber annual missionary BBQ and flag football.  I played football in 90 degree weather and almost died, it was so hot!  But, I had fun eating hot dogs and spending time with members, missionaries and some less actives in the Ward.  We then got to go to another member's house and we had a HUGE bonfire.  My companion had never been to one.  We spent time with some of their non-member family and had FHE.  More s'mores there!

Tuesday, we saw little Lexi, and she remembers everything after she got baptized back in July.  We are still working on her and her family.  We had District Meeting and trained on using the scriptures in our lessons.  Then, we started our exchange with the Watertown Sisters.  I spent a large amount of my time with Sister Walker finding  potential investigators.  Also, something really cool happened.  We tracted parts of the town of Great Bend....population 250 :)  We tried to check on a less active and she wan't home.  So, we tried her neighbor.  The first door we knocked on, she invited us in and we taught the first lesson.  We will see if she stays with us, but I had never had that happen so fast!

We then tried the other streets and got attacked by 12 small pit bull puppies... scary moment.  They were cute, but they liked to bite our clothes.  The owner saved us, but then never came back out.  I guess she wasn't interested.  We found some other cool potentials and hopefully some of them will work out over the next week or so!  Everyone was nice and we gave out like 9 pamphlets in a 2 -3 hour period.  Which is a great ratio in a rural military town and everyone seemed to be looking for a church.  I look back and see how scared and awful I was at tracting at first, and something that was once my weakness is one of my greatest strengths now.  I could tract all day if I had too... and I have been practicing on first having a normal conversation with people and then relating it to the gospel.  We then went over to a members to have dinner and taught their friends.  It was a crazy hectic meeting.  But it still worked!  And we also served some members by "heart attacking" some members front doors and leaving "I love you" notes :)

Wednesday was the same thing.  We went finding (AKA tracting).  We weren't as successful, but we did street contact this guy named Bill.  He is a retired Green Barrett with a master's degree in nuclear physics and we were able to teach him on his front porch.  It was a cool lesson, and his interest was somewhat there, but he happily accepted a BOM and said that he'd read it!  So I am happy for that.  He might be moving to AZ.  Lots of members are there!

It rained so we kept busy by calling less active single soldiers on base.  We can never keep up with ward's records because they change every week.  But we found some, and were able to move their records so that made the ward happy.  We went back and had some Stewart's ice cream.  (ie, the nectar of the Gods... I'm pretty sure).  Also Cameron accepted to be baptized !!  Yea!!  and he picked the date of Halloween.. oh well, he is a teenage boy.  But he will get baptized!!  Whoop whoop!

Stewart's Ice Cream - Nectar of the Gods!

Thursday, we taught Sis. Clarke, who is my favorite less active on my mission.  She is progressing so well.  We watched the "Mountain of the Lord" and she loved it!  She also is coming with her whole family this week and bringing a friend!  So cool!  We then taught our the Ivy's and our little Gus remembered the gospel doctrine so well compared to when we were teaching them.  We also had institute!!  Fun Stuff.

Friday, we helped a family move out and taught some more RC/LA families.  Had to fix some bad fellow shipping that had happened in the Ward, but we fixed it Sunday!  We also had pizza with a member family.  Then, we continued to finish up our "wad and call list".  It is still in the works.

Saturday, we weekly planned and the weather went super cold and rainy.  I loved it... the leaves are falling like crazy.  We taught Abby and helped her with her seminary, and her little sister might be interested now in becoming a member.  We then went to the Scott's for dessert.  I ended up watching sheep and goats get their shots and had to help hold the livestock.  I AM NOT A FARM GIRL.  I learned that really quickly.  Animals are not my calling in life.  Ha ha.

Sunday was awesome because it was the Sabbath.  I had to teach gospel principles in 2nd hour and we had a ward pot luck.  We have been saving miles, so we had Facebook lessons until late that night.

This week is full of activities.. Visiting teaching conferences, zone conferences, the dentist, flu shots and service.  Yea, it will be a great week!

The church is true and being a missionary is awesome (especially when you have the right attitude)

Love Sister Kylie Williams

Snakes, Area 70's and Sunday Miracles

Hi!!

Just another week has passed here in Paradise.  It has been a boring week... and also a really exciting week.

Here's the breakdown.....

Monday:
The usual P-day stuff.  We actually cleaned and fully detailed our 2015 Chevy Equinox so it actually look presentable and not covered with bugs.  It is surprising that you can even feel the Spirit when you clean your car!!  Later, we went to the Winston's - Such a cute family and we had pizza and we learned about faith in Christ and invited them to share their testimonies online.  Even little Jack wanted to participate. :)

Jack Winston and I

Tuesday:
We had our District Meeting and again we focused on the deeper meaning of faith and what we should put our faith in.  It was a good one and then our lovely military relations Senior Couple made us all taco soup!  Every area I have been too, there seems to be a common dish or meal.  In Corning, I ate meatloaf and potatoes.  In Utica, I always was being fed pizza and spaghetti.  Here by Fort Drum, everyone feeds us taco soup and nachos.  HaHa #NYstyle.

Afterwards, we tried some less-actives on post (because that is kinda the only thing we can do) and a fourth of our teaching pool is getting deployed or getting out of the Army and moving back home.  So we are slightly sad and with them moving they are very busy and stressed and it is hard to meet with them.  The highlight of the day was with the  Sanchez family (who is also moving to Texas in a few weeks).  We do FHE's with them and they have been slowly coming more to Church.  They are from the Dominican Republic.  We had dinner there and then we watched a Mormon Message on service and had a great lesson with the family on how they can better serve their fellow men.  It was awesome, and we were going to teach their son to be baptized, but they are moving we are so sad.  Thankfully, Texas will be better for them and fitting in at Church.

The Sanchez Girls and I

Wednesday:
For the first time, I was able to go tracting with my companion for more than 10 minutes and we did close to an hour or two.  It was sweet.  My tracting approaches were a little on the rusty side, but not too bad.  We gave out some family history pamphlets and a restoration pamphlet, so we were happy.  Nothing came of it... but it is the first time in our actual area tracting.  Normally, it takes a few times to find the sweet spots!  We also don't live in our area and we are struggling with mileage limitations.  So, we can only work 1/4 of our area.  We hope we can move apartments in the near future.

Thursday:
We taught Mary Lou the restoration with her coffee mugs and she loved it.  Teaching old people is hard, they tend to get held up by the tiniest things and they can't always understand what you are trying to say to them no matter how simply you put it.  :(  We also then taught our part member family who is moving back to Utah in a month about the Sabbath day.  They have the cutest children.  Little baby models.  Unfortunately, they didn't come to church, but it was still a sweet lesson.  We taught Gabby and Cameron tithing and fasting and they both committed to do it.  Then we met with the Potsdam Zone leaders and left for MLC.

Friday:
We hung out with many of my mission friends and then spent 6 hours on how to best help the mission.  President now wants to help with our teaching and not make it so 'rote'.  We have a ton of conferences coming up.  I am so excited, especially for the one with Elder Randall Bennett of the 70's in the first week of October.  Also, if I am still a STL (Sister Trainer Leader), I get to go to two special meeting with him and spend like 3 days following around a Member of the 70's!!!  That would be so sweet.  We hung out with the Scott's after getting home and absolutely failed an object lesson.  Farm fresh eggs do not float in salt water... just know that!

Saturday:
Crazy.  Weekly planning, we went to some ward's 8 year old baptisms and had a bomb lesson with Sister Clarke who is less active but wants to come back.

Sunday:
We had 12 miracles happen during Church!!!!
1) Sis. Clarke came to church for the first time and loved it.
2) Abby's (RC) family came to hear her bare her testimony (They're Non Members)
3) Her atheist sister bore her testimony about how she knows that there is a God and that he loves her.
4) Jake got his patriarchal blessing!
5) His recently activated mother bore her testimony.
6) The McDonald's got sealed
7) 3 Investigators came to church
8) 4 potential investigators came to church
9) Sis. Clarke, Gabby and Bev. all participated in 2nd and 3rd Hour.
10) Cameron paid tithing for the first time.
11) Cameron and Gabby fasted the whole day for the first time and said they weren't eve hungry!
12) Neither were we!!

The Scott Children and I

We then taught Bev. at the Scott's and I learned more about farms and nature and goats than I ever wanted to know about in my whole life.  Awkward!!

Oh, and the Elders may be put a dead snake in a box and left it on our doorstep... and gave us a frog the next day... boys!!

The Church is True!!!

Love, Sister Kylie Williams