Branching Out

Hello everyone!!

This week has been exciting none the less... full of transfers and new companions, cleaning, shopping and finding new less active and part member families and a whole lot of listening to General Conference.

Monday and Tuesday, since Sister Duke knew that she was leaving, has to see as many of the "cool people" as soon as possible.  We had dinner with the  Mardanious family and we also taught Cameron outside on his porch in the pouring rain.   We cleaned, organized and packed and I have been slowly cleaning and throwing out all of the junk in our apartment as part of the pre-moving process.  Our fridge has never looked better!  It also got super cold and I had to bring out my peacoat!!  Winter is approaching and also, the trees are starting to look like the Northeast I saw in pictures in National Geographic.  The bright reds of the maples trees are to die for!!  We then continued to see the Clarks, Ivy's, Moore's, Merkels, etc. and take lots of pictures and share some parting devotionals.  I am getting better at taking selfies.  Count that as a win!

Wednesday, we were not able to go to transfers.  We were told to stay and wait for them to drop off my new companion and then to pick up Sister Duke.  She had a ton of stuff, so packing took most of Wednesday and I cleaned the whole time... and also redecorated.  Cheesy 80's Ensign cutouts and a cool goalie hockey stick I found on the side of the road.. :)  So yes.. I had a little bit too much time and re-did the whole apartment.  But it has never been cleaner.  Later that night, we ran some errands with the Elders and I made some calls to some new referrals that we got from Head Quarters, and Sister Branch finally came.  I just love her already.  She is a good little Arizona girl and loves pretty much everything about nature.  W unpacked and got ready for the new transfer.

Thursday.. planning for days!!  We redid our boards, weekly planned, called people and set goals.  I blew her away with new information.  She is only 4 months old in the mission and is the only companion I have ever had that is younger (time spent) in the mission than me.  I am so old now! :)  We had dinner and went to institute.  Fun fact.. the more you know about Christ, especially about his pre-mortal past.. the more you begin to know more about yourself.  "Ponderize" that deep thought.  The teacher was just blowing my mind with deep doctrine found in the Pearl of Great Price and it was needed.  I was slightly stressed about taking over the area and trying to fix problems.  Trusting in the Lord, and accepting that we can't do everything on our own is so vital.  The Lord understands my limitations, so I am grateful that He can accomplish just a few things with me :)

Friday, things started to pick up.  We saw some less-actives, and had an STL call and try and help Sister Branch learn things.  Thankfully, she is a fast learner!  It was only 30 degrees outside and I wanted to hide under a blanket all day.  ha ha, But thankfully, we saw Jelly (Abby's sister and had the first lesson) she may get baptized in a transfer or two if she keeps her commitments!  I have noticed that all of my converts have been younger, 9 to 24 yrs.. so I might as well ad a 12 year old to the mix :)

Saturday!  General Conference!  It was so awesome!  We went to a baptism for a kid in the Ward and watched the first session with the Elders and played this "Candy game" where if we heard the word "atonement", we got a sour patch kid.  If we heard "families" then we got an M&M.    We had a ton of candy!  We then stopped by some members (The Grahams) and watched conference with them.  They are so cool.  They are super nice and their kids are very respectful too.  I had never talked to them before, but they were untapped member potential.  So, we are now friends and we watched conference with them.  The talks were great.  I loved Elder Nelon, Eyring, Durrant, Holland, Bednar, and the prophet's talks.  (Poor President Monson, I almost cried.  I do not think he will be around much longer) Okay.. Maybe I like more talks.  But basically, what I learned is that we have to take Discipleship to the next level.  We need to be in tune with the Spirit so that people can see the light in our eyes, be a good example and just go to work in this gross world.  Stop complaining, keep the commandments, be good at getting better, follow the prophet, get down to the basics.. be a strong covenant people and utilize the atonement.  Boom.. There you have it.  Conference in a nutshell. Bro. Renlund is my new favorite apostle.  Just saying :)

We then went to a new LA family... the Cowley's and they made us the best dinner ever and I was stuffed.  They showed us all of their genealogy and after 2 hours of talking with them, we are going back this week and with some fellowship, hopefully they will come back to Church.  I also introduced Sister Branch to the Scotts' and then loved showing her their farm.  I have grown so much.. I could stand in a pile of goats and not freak out.  We also got military camo rain coats from him so then we went home... hid in the bushes and scared the Elders when they got home from Priesthood Session.  It was the best and funniest thing ever... totally works... camo!!

Sunday.  More Conference at the Grahams and had a traditional conference Sunday breakfast of cinnamon rolls and berries.  SO GOOD.  Sunday session, very good.  Set appointments, talked to the Teagues and hopefully we can teach them... because that would be a 4 baptism part member family!!  and their 18 year old kids is super cool!!  We then went over and tried some LA's and watched Conference with Sister Perales.  She just got her patriarchal blessing on Saturday.  Her husband was being stubborn and didn't want to watch it.. so she was glad she didn't have to watch it all alone :)  We then had dinner with the Nillsons.  I feed little Liam carrots out of a baby food far.. and he that was actually fun!

Today we have been to Watertown to go shopping.  Sister B didn't have any winter or fall clothes.  So that needed to happen ASAP.

This week is crazy full of appointments and mission conference and a Missionary Leadership Conference with Randall K Bennett of the 70's.  He just talked in the Priesthood Session of Conference on Saturday and now I get to hang out with him. So Stoked!  It will be a 24 hour spiritual kick in the pants.

In the words of Elder Christofferson, The gospel is true and the Church facilitates it perfectly, because it is Christ's church!

Love you all!
Sister Kylie Williams

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

Recap of the week!!

Hello Everyone!!!

Just another week here in Paradise.  The temperatures are slowly starting to dip and the leaves are about to turn color.  NORTHEAST FALL COLORS HERE WE COME!!  So excited for what lies ahead.

This week hasn't been the most exciting week ever, but we still were able to do the Lord's work.   On Monday, we went to a super fun FHE with a member family and some recently activated members.  We played Catch Phrase and talked about the scriptures.  On Tuesday, we had a District meeting and we talked about Christ like attributes.  It was good to refocus and learn more about certain attributes.  I have noticed in my study in the morning that I personally want to master obedience and diligence... but right now, the Lord is pretty dead set on teaching me patience lately.  "Patience is not simply enduring, it is enduring well!!"  We then did service at a library on Post and shelved children's books for about 2 hours.  Literature these days for young kids has gone downhill... let me tell you!!

Over the next two days, we saw our less active families and we have been recently trying to get our members to do more member missionary work and share their testimonies online!  So, that was fun. I too used to be petrified to do any form of missionary work.  I thought that I would lose all my friends and that I was opening up myself to get hurt in the process.  Satan is so good at making us afraid and overthinking our worst enemies.  It wasn't until after the first month of my mission that I had the courage to post something online, or send a BOM home to a friend to read.  It took 4 and a half months before I had the faith and courage to go tracting and lead out for more than an hour.  What is bold today, won't be tomorrow!!  It doesn't make it easier, but we do get stronger and the adversary's ability to make us fear sharing the gospel is lessened and we become better teachers.  It is awesome.

We have seen a lot of progress with a recent convert lately, her name is Abby and she is 14.  She has the maturity of a 14 year old girl, but the soul of an 90 year old.  We love our lessons with her.  She was inactive when we got here to Ft. Drum.  She has been to Church this whole month, and now wants to go on a mission.

On Thursday, we had institute for the first time with the single soldiers on base.  We studied consecration and the life of John Tanner.  This man is the bomb.com.  I highly encourage people to read his story on LDS.org.

Another common problem among missionaries towards  the end of the month is no more miles for your car... and when you live 12 miles south of your area, we quickly use up of Friday, Saturday and Sunday mileage.  We did have some really good lessons.  Gabby and Cameron are going strong.  Taught more about the commandments this week.  Gabby will be leaving for NYC this week (which makes me and my companion sad) but we will make sure that she has been taught everything we can.    She'll get baptized sometime this year for the next.  For Sure!!  Cameron though, already knows everything, and is already paying tithing and keeps the commandments.  So, we are going to get him baptized in like 2 or 3 weeks.

We also taught our Bev on Facebook too... and apparently, we are going to go fishing with her sometime next month.  Woop Woop!  The biggest event of the week was with the unexpected wedding of two members of the Ward.  It was announced a week ago and they got married Saturday.  Me and my companion were the bridesmaids and I got to hold the bouquet!!  It was slightly strange.  From the moment everyone came to the moment everyone ate the refreshments and left was 30 minutes.  So, us missionaries got to clean the whole church afterwards and set up chairs for Sacrament Meeting since we do not have pews in our building.

This next week, we have meetings with the Zone Leaders to try to move up to Evans Mills and get out of Carthage and also we are meeting with the President.  We also have MLC this Friday and since the new President,  I never know what to expect, but they it keeps me on my toes!! :)

Fun Nerdy fact for the week... the meaning behind the name Mormon in Hebrew/Egyptian is "more good" and Satan is Hebrew/Greek for "The accuser, the spoiler'.

The Church is true and I love the Lord!!
Sister Kylie Williams

Transfer Number 2

Hi Everyone.

This week has had its up and down, but its another week out in the Lord's vineyard.  Today is the official start of a new transfer here in Carthage/Fort Drum area.  Been a few changes, only two people in my district have left and we have a greenie that we can go on exchanges with now.  We've been helping out this really cute family that has been discharged  from the army medically and they have been going  through some severe challenges financially and spiritually.  They are also slightly quirky, but we love them.  We made dinner for them yesterday (a dinner for 9) and then watched the Testament on their huge couch with the dogs.  They don't have much, but it was so awesome to sit down and have a movie night and both me and my companion afterwards were both like "So, did you like getting really excited for the future and can't wait to have a family and have kids and do things like this?  It was sweet and I am pretty sure that we got Sister Scott to cray at the end of the movie.

The brightest part of the week is with our 16 and 18 year old investigator Gabbi and Cameron.  We love them so much.  We taught them 4 times this week and both are progressing quite well.  They accepted to be baptized.. but when.. that is still in the works. Cameron is this super logical, reserved kid who loves all things dinosaurs and wants to be a paleontologist when he grows up.  I have learned more about valociraptors more in the last week than I have my whole life.  Gabbi is this kind hearted, super sweet and mellow ballet dancer who is dancing for companies in NYC and is now on track to eventually be dancing for the New York City Ballet.  Just super cool.  Our lessons are the best.  We typically have to relate everything back to the scriptures and draw pictures and try to act things out and make it fun.  We even acted out 1 Nephi 7 with parts and everything.  It has been awesome.

Acting out the scriptures with Gabbi and Cameron 

 For the next two weeks, we are going to teach as much as possible before Gabbi has to go back to college and work in NYC.  We are going to get her solid enough to stand on her own two feet faith wise and then transition to the NYC sisters over Mormon.org.  But, she is not quite ready to be baptized.  Time is a very important factor.  As a missionary,t here is a common dilemma "to baptize or not to baptize'  that is the question.  I have met too many people who have not been ready and were forced into it for the wrong reasons, and then fall away.  Teaching a less active is 100X tougher than an investigator.  So, the trick is to find those, and teach those that want and desire to be baptized and not matter where they are they will stay active.  More often than not, time is the biggest factor for the seed of faith to turn into a tree of action to follow our Savior.   Maybe in Brazil or in other countries, some can just feel the Spirit and say it is true and then get baptized, but due to  the lack of support and help in the Northeast of the US, people have to be able to withstand the mists of darkness, the great and spacious building and the rivers and all the other lovely temptations.  Cameron will be baptized this transfer which is going to be sweet.

The other family that we have been working on has two sons that are not baptized.  The parents used to be super solid members, but #life #priorities got in the way and they have fallen a little.  But, the Mom still wants her sons to have what she knows.  Oh and they are friends with the Mission President.  We are slowly teaching them and trying to get their 10 year old and 8 year old baptized and reactivate them.  Lots and lots of hardships with them.  But, Cooper and Cruise will also get baptized sometime next month.  The real thing will be to keep them active.  We did meet one of their neighbors that is 15 and she is super sweet and did great in our plan of Salvation lesson.  Hopefully we can pick her up soon.

We saw Wayne, taught him a sweet restoration lesson.  He was excited to read the Book of Mormon.  But he got a hold of some anti-Mormon literature and things kinda got messed up. Thankfully, he has got 10 years left in him.  Hopefully he accepts things on the other side.  Nothing more we can do here for now.

There was a clothing exchange at the Church for a Relief Society activity and it was fun.  I got some much needed clothes  I was so done with wearing the same 10 things for 9 months.  Tender Mercy.  It is the little things in life that matter.

Our recent converts are doing awesome and staying strong despite challenges.  Our less actives are still being less active.  :(  Not a huge surprise.  You can only do so much.  People have to want or desire to have a relationship with God; and if they don't, it really doesn't matter what we say as missionaries.  It has to be the Spirit and what they want to do.  All divine intervention.  We just invite, and try to fellowship them. :)

Also, I have been working with ward members in auxiliaries to identify certain people to visit.  Record keeping and updating is normally a struggle in New York due to the amount of less actives in a ward or branch.  We frequently have to go to the middle of no where and see if people have moved and if they have, find out where too.

Institute has officially started up  Yayy!  We have the best teacher and can spend more time with the single soldiers and YSA.

As of September, I will be halfway through my mission.  :D  It was a year ago today that I went through the temple for the first time.  Where has the time gone??? Aww, I am going through a mid mission crisis.  I miss the temple more than anything.  My favorite time of the day is when I am either in the middle of a lesson or during personal study time.  I have fallen in love with the scriptures again.  I actually don't have enough time to study.  I kinda want to study everything from ancient laws of Israel to the Godhead to the priesthood, church history and repentance.  I can finally read the scriptures and understand who is talking, where the setting  is and what is being said and it is the coolest thing ever.  I wish more people would have it too.  Life would be a lot easier while teaching.

On Sunday, I taught Gospel Principles and the Sunbeam class.  I much prefer Gospel Principles over Sunbeams... haha!  I have decided that after my mission, I hope I can teach at Church.  It is one of my favorite things to do.  It brings me a lot of happiness and teaching is one of my best strengths on the mission.  As for the Sunbeams, I'll be sure to bring cookies and coloring books!

As I have been studying and teaching, everything just continues to make more and more sense.  This Church is True.  I know it is and I love it.  I wish that people could just take a moment and set aside their pride and just listen.  We are in the latter days.  The world is getting weirder by the minute.  I know that truth has been restored and what we have to share is for everyone and it can add to their happiness!!

Please everyone, just make good decisions and keep the commandments!!  Can we just do that??? I promise blessings!!  :)

Love you all!!

Sister Kylie Williams