All I Want For Christmas

Hello Hello!

Christmas is around the corner... and yet here in New York it is green and sunny, 61 degrees and NO snow!  Super weird, but I am not complaining.  It makes missionary work so much easier.

Kylie, currently serving in Horsehead, NY  

This week has been pretty good.  We have a few break through with some investigators and we've been quite busy.  I was going to go on exchanges to Ithaca and Owego this week, but due to a recent bed bug problem in the Upstate, all exchanges are cancelled for a while.  #warmweatherprobs.   But instead we used the time to go finding.  Our teaching pool is quite funny right now.  Either our investigators are super solid and going to be baptized so or they are not interested at all and dropped us.   I prefer to work with the super solid of course!

Kylie and Her Companion 

So here is some of my favorite people in the Universe, that we have been teaching this week.

Will:  He is a single widower in his 50's that we tracted into 2 weeks ago.  OMG.  So Golden.  He is my favorite tracting investigator ever.  We taught him everyday this week and he  is progressing immensely.   He keeps every commitment.  He is committed to baptism in February and he can do it.  We have been working on the Book of Mormon and commandments, and with his research on Mormon.org he asked us about the Word of Wisdom and actually said he wanted to give up coffee because with his diabetes, coffee is killing his kidneys with potassium.  He doctor actually told him a week or two ago that he needed to live the WOW... so when we taught it to him, he loved it. It is rare to have this attitude in New York!  We wanted him to come to Church, but he was like "I don't know.. I am not ready."   I knew that he not broken any commitments, and he sure enough, he showed upon Sunday 30 minutes early, all shaved and in perfect church attire!  He stayed only for the first hour, but he loved it and the members love him already.  We saw him yesterday and he bought us Snickers because he said the "Church was sweet."   It felt so good to be at church and that he had been waiting and looking for it his whole life and now he thinks he has found it.  Ahhh!  So cool!  I love him so much! Just gotta keep him away from "Anti" literature and he will be baptized soon!

J, Oh J.  He is the coolest Jehovah's Witness ever!  We also have been teaching him every other day and he is so sincere.  He is in his 70's, is African american and from the south.  He is the funniest old guy ever.  We have been reading the Book of Mormon, and he is praying about it.  We are trying to work with comprehension and after December he wants to come to Church then go to the JW Hall in the afternoon to compare and contrast the beliefs.  He asks great questions and he truly wants to know what we know.  It is just hard, because the beliefs are so different that he gets confused sometimes.  I have learned more in 2 weeks about the JW's than in my whole life.  We tracted into another JW, and their proselyting van knows who we are and they wave and say Hi.  They give us their magazine and we give them Ensigns and Books of Mormons.  It is quite funny.   We have a bible of theirs and we looked through it.   We can barely understand what we are reading it is so different from our Bible.  ha ha talk about loosing plain and precious truths.   He has talked about baptism and if everything goes well, over the next couple months he will get baptized!

Jim, he is the recent 50 old single cute convert.  He wants to dedicate his life to the Church, but he works as the city clubs janitor and head dishwasher and can't retire yet, so he is quite busy.  He is the most humble heart ever.  He is currently working on his family history and temple work so we can get him to go with the youth in January.

Meg, a part-members girlfriend, super cute and has the cutest border collie puppy ever.  We teach her simply and she wants to be baptized, she just wants to know everything first... ha!  She came to church for the first time in months this week! Woop :)

Nadine - Craziest lady ever.  Super sincere desire to know the church is true.  But every time we teach her, something crazy happens.  Either her cat has a seizure and dies in front of us, or she has her legs go paralyzed, or her ex-neighbors who she said did black magic or haunt her house, or some crazy weird comment that make us laugh so hard that we cry.  She loves reading the Book of Mormon.  She loves to get hung up on random subjects that don't quite matter to her salvation, like the gift of tongues or the 3 Nephites.  Never a dull moment with Nadine.  She is on schedule to be baptized in March.

Tom - Super cute old man!  His wife doesn't like us at all.  He smokes, but he is giving it up to be baptized!  He has lots of health problems.  If it wasn't for his smoking, he would be baptized now.  Everything is all in the Lord's timing. :)  Super humble too and he loves Sacrament Meeting.  He has a mustache that kind of looks like a dead rat.. :P but that is okay, it's what his heart is like that matters!

Other than that, this week we have been trying to find investigators.  We have tracted.  We even OYM'd at a mall with the cards "A Savior is Born", but we haven't had too much luck.  Lots of rejection with that this week, but it is bound to happen and people are just down on their luck and most actually don't care for Christmas.  They said it too commercialized, and yet they are spending away for others.  Darn Babylon!  Hopefully after the holidays, people lighten up and start welcoming us in more or be nicer!  Who knows. Tracting just makes me laugh, we run into the craziest people.  All of those jokes about Walmart people, aren't have as bad as what I've dealt with.  Tracting an apartment complex is so much  wackier!  We meet drunk people, naked people, people who think we are JWs no matter how many times we say we're Mormons, old people with 10000 health problems and the list goes on!

District Meeting

We had a great District meeting this week.  We had to walk around blind folded with dirt on our hands and our companion had to lead us around the Church to "Baptism"  aka the sink and we pretended to be investigators.  It was harder than I thought.... lots of distractions!

Oh, Christmas.mormon.org.  Watch those cute music videos done by famous Mormons!  So much fun!

Taught a few LA's and no progressing investigators this week too.  It's all about hearts, either you are humble or you aren't, or open to the gospel or aren't.  There is no gray area.  We did find this one lady late at night.  She let us in and we did a short message and gave her a BofM.  She kinda freaked out when we asked if we could meet again and she was like, "Is this going to be a regular thing?  I let you do your schpeel..."  ha ha some people just do not understand our purpose even after we tell them.

We went tracting the other night and taught a lady on her porch and she loved us coming by, but wanted to stay Presbyterian.  She referred us to her neighbor the preacher.  We went over, he wan't there... but a woman named Delores was.  OGM, the coolest grandma ever!  She is 70 years old, rides motorcycles all over the world, talks to the police and other tough bikers and gets pictures with them and is the cute sweet clean lady.  She skydives for fun, loves Jesus and help at the Baptist Church.  She travels the world, takes painting lessons with 3 member of the Corning Branch so she loves Mormons.  she let us in and we talked and I gave her a BofM.  She is going to read it on her cruise to Panama.  She called up President Ong and a few others in Corning where I used to serve so she could try and get some 'dirt' on me because she knew I'd been there.  Small world we live in.  It is refreshing to meet good, religious people, that just make the world a better place.

We have been ding dong ditching our people with Secret Christmas Scriptures and presents... that has been really fun!

Well, gotta go.  More things to do.  I love you all and have a merry Christmas!
Sister Kylie Williams.

When Missions Get Dramatic

Hi Everyone,

So this week, I am a little short on email time, so I will have to hit the highlights and keep it simple :)

This week has been interesting for sure, mostly revolving around my companion who has had some health issues.  I have sorta been playing the whole "mom" role this week.  I make soup, I talk to doctors, I tell her to take a nap when she doesn't want to... all good practice for the future.  Yet, this week we have still taught a lot.

Monday is when things got interesting, We taught Tom, who is planning on being baptized the 30th of January, but we are currently helping him quit smoking.  We also taught Megan who is a friend of a member who is super solid and will be baptized this year.  She just wants to know everything first.    My companion came close to dying... like chest pains, headaches, fatigue, etc.  And this has been slightly building up the last few days.  So I rushed her to an Urgent Clinic and got things checked out.  Yea, they weren't the smartest people ever.  We are still trying to work on what is going on with her.  They did tests and then told us to come back today.  So the whole week, I'm like... how do we work and also not have my companion be a sack of potatoes and just throw her on my back and take her teaching.  We have the best members on the planet.  I dropped her off at one member's home and they feed her and let her sleep while I took their daughter and taught lesson.  We picked up this bible loving lady named Alicia and set Will on date for February.  Will is also another cute investigator that is so humble and keeps every commitment we give him.  If he's not 'golden', then he is a silver!!  We also taught Jim out in the cold and got him ready for the priesthood.

Tuesday, we had to take it easy.  This was the worst day for my poor companion this week.  We still taught our investigator named Brenton at Barnes and Noble and he is the GM and we teach him at the Starbucks.  It is so weird teaching with coffee all around.  But, he took a Book of Mormon.  He is a really cool hipster of a guy.  Then, everyone just cancelled on us, which was a tender mercy.  The Ward members again stepped up to the plate, bought us food, oranges (which Pres. Rogers told my companion to eat to get rid of the shakes), and got priesthood blessings.  We went home early.  I put her to bed and then went to town cleaning the whole apartment because that is all I could do... oh and update the area book.

Wednesday.  Priesthood blessings are awesome.  My companion was determined not to stay inside and we ended up teaching 7 lessons that day.   But the most important miracle that day was Nohelia.  We tracked her... she was baptized at 12 years old but just went less active.  She is married and has the cutest 1 year old and wants to remember her beliefs and come back!! That also opens the door to teach her catholic husband!  We visited a few less actives and taught Will again about the plan of Salvation.

Thursday we taught this older man named Gary.  Oh boy!  Gary has been baptized into 5 different religions and been to like 50 churches.  He loves the Book of Mormon, but doesn't want to go to church, be baptized or keep the word of wisdom.  Doesn't quite get that you can't pick and choose the gospel either.  Oooo well...  agency.  But at the end, he went on a rant about how he could speak in tongues.   hahahahah oh my. So weird.  I couldn't keep it together.  Sounded like gibberish.  The other miracle was teaching this 10 year old named Wyatt.  He is a current foster kid of a member family and he wants to be baptized.  He knew so much about the restoration that he was really almost teaching us.  So proud of him, and he should be a quick investigator to member because he has been attending church for about 3 years now.

Friday... I woke up early and went to Zone Conference.  That was fun.  We got pounded on the Book of Mormon and how to use it more in lessons.  Also, I have to read the BoM again cover to cover before Easter and mark every reference to Christ. :)  I have been reading about Mosiah and Abinadi. SO GOOD.  I have always loved the Book of Mormon, but a mission has really strengthened my love for it even more.  We got home late, had dinner and went to the Ward Christmas Devotional.  Lots of musical numbers!

At Bishop Duke's Home

Saturday, nothing was flowing that morning and we have been starting to work at a slower pace, and nobody wanted to talk to us.  My companion had improved a little each day, all because of the power of the priesthood and the Spirit (for reals thought!  It works)  We taught some slightly recent converts about the restoration and they actually were doing good and wanted to come to church!  Woop Woop!  We saw Jim, we saw Nadine, she is literally a whole email in and of herself.  That night, we were both feeling good, so we went out and started OYMing (open your mouth) and the first guy we talk too is this guy named Scott. He works for the energy business and lives in Binghamton and as soon as we gave him a Christmas Card, he goes "YOU GUYS ARE MORMONS!!  I WANNA GET INVOLVED IN THE MORMON CHURCH!"  That was sweet.  WE gave him all of the info for the Church and the Elders in Binghamton to follow up with.  We then just started tracting and met some people that couldn't speak any English.  LOL   We then found a guy named Mike who was a trooper and we should teach him tonight!  Then we found Jessie, who is covered in Tattoos.  He let us in and his wife was there too.  He seemed like a super nice guy... turns out he was a heroin addict back in the 90's who found God and never looked back.   He studies the bible, loved the idea about the Book of Mormon and started investigating.  We go Sunday and he starts going off about the 10 Tribes and Lehi and how they relate to native Americans, anti-christ and aliens.  To make it worse, he said God created ethnic people on the 6th day and rested and then created Adam and Eve on the 8th day... and yup you guessed it, things totally went down hill from there.  We just had to grin and bear it until we got out of there.. and we were like "what just happened????"  People are so weird sometimes.  Poor Heavenly Father, He must have an eternal face-palm and head shake thing going on all the time, because His kids are SO lost sometimes.

Sunday was Church, we just rested, taught Him and saw Derek.  He is going to get baptized this next year too!  He just needs to quit drinking.  HE believes the Church is true!  We had the best lesson with our JW investigator named James and watched the restoration with a member and prayed to know if the Mormons are right.  It was sweet.  We wrapped things up with the 1st Presidency Christmas devotional.

Never a dull moment in my life!!!

Everyone, take care and I know that this gospel and Church are true!

Love, Sister Kylie Williams.

Gobble Gobble

Hi Everyone!   I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving!  I know that I did!  This week just flew by :)

Monday just started off with Pday and we did the normal Pday things...running around trying to get errands done and yet relax.  Ha,.  That doesn't quite work that way on a mission.  I did some shopping and I guess the best thing that happened was Zach.  He is the nicest, sweetest person ever!    He is a geologist that used to play USA Hockey up in Lake Placid and actually knows a lot about the Restoration because he has done geological studies on the Hill Cumorah for his work.  Apparently, the Hill Cumorah is a geological anomaly (not normal) due to certain attributes and mineral deposits.  He used other big words I don't remember, but anyways, he toured all of Palmyra and now he is reading the Book of Mormon.  We were just blown away when he interrupts us during the First Vision and he's like, "oh yea, and then Moroni shows up right?"  haha.  Anyone who just brings up the name Moroni and can pronounce it right is obviously a golden investigator.  We are going to see him tonight and his little daughter.

Tuesday, I went to Corning on Exchanges!! Now that was weird.  We had to go help out a dear member clean her house because she has been fighting viral meningitis and that broke my little heart, because I love that family to death and yet they keep serving others.  There are so many people that I know, who I want to be like when I am older, so many great examples.  We taught a recent convert at a coffee shop, which was weird... I didn't quite feel the Spirit there... but then we had a ton of free time.  I took Sister G with me and we did some tracting.  It was interesting because I had never tracted hardly at all when I was in Corning, Now I do it all of the time.  I remember how scared I used to be and now it is just a matter of resisting Satan's rationalizations in my mind of 'ehh, they aren't home." No, that person looks to busy..." and just go and do it.  Nike's logo at it's finest.  You gotta just do it, and the Lord will finish it.  We actually got in some homes and everyone was a Corning Inc. Scientist from India.  I taught my first two ever Hindu families.  Very interesting.  Once actually is non-denominational, and insisted we take $20 for a copy of the Book of Mormon.  haha I tried my best to explain that wasn't allowed, but he wouldn't listen.  In the end, I gave the money to the Branch President.  We also found some cool potentials and didn't freeze. I could remember a ton of roads once I was back in Corning.  It was funny how many memories came back.  I also got to talk to some of the members and it was just a great day.

Wednesday we came back and had District Meeting.  We talked about overcoming our fears and we actually had this cool object lesson in the gym using rope.  It was fun.  We had a few appointments that day, but not too much with Thanksgiving coming up.  We tried our best to do some administrative work.

Thursday was THANKSGIVING!  It was interesting.  We started out seeing Jim and teaching him about the Priesthood.  We are trying to get him ordained next month.  Yaayy! My companion started to not feel so well, so we came in for lunch and found out that one of the elders in the Unit had broken his ankle in 3 places at the Turkey Bowl.  The elders were freaking out and had to pack and get the elder picked up by the President all within 3 to 4 hours.  1 game of football changed a mission completely for this elder. :(  He left for Idaho within 24 hours and has a 4 to 5 month recovery time before he can come back out.  YIKES!!  Make good choices people!  I am grateful for my health and all of those blessings.   We then had to help them and relaxed at a members and had a good turkey dinner. :)  After dinner we had to start driving for Utica because MLC was the next day.  We were all falling asleep in a mini van.  ha ha.  Long car rides no longer bother me.  My mission has completely changed that.  3 to 5 hours car rides are easy peazsy.  But we did have this apple pie/cheesecake concoction.  That was super duper!

1 Year Service for all of us

Friday was MLC.  It was good to see so many friends.  :)  We did the usual things, not too exciting this month.  We ate food and drove back.  We had to make quite a few stops for the Zone leaders because they went on exchanges.  We had to stop in Greene, NY for about 45 minutes.  Me and my companion went tracting in another area to kill time and gave out a Book of Mormon and got a few referrals for those Elders!  It was super sweet to just get out and go, even if it was not our area.  It took 6 hours to drive back, so we got home at like 10 pm and fell asleep.

Saturday we taught some investigators.  We also found W and L.  W is an old single man.  We taught him in the apartment complex's open laundry room and he is now progressing and reading everything we give to him.  We also accidentally talked to L, she was a cute lady outside that we thought was someone else.  :P Oops Mistaken Identity!  She let us right in and her older Sister was a Mormon.  We are going back tonight to see where it ends up.  I also dedicated my first home.  Apparently you don't have to hold the Priesthood to do that.  It is just a prayer, so that was cool to learn and do. So, we have been doing that to a few homes of our investigators and less actives to help with the occasional paranormal activity.  #UpstateNYprobs.

Sunday, we taught sharing time on Gratitude.  There are some super cute kids in the Elmira ward.  We then had a blast seeing some investigators and we had a super fun dinner with 2 member families.  I have had 3 turkey dinners this week and they were all so good.  My favorite though was teaching this investigator family.  We call them BSG (it's their initials) and we haven't seen them in 2 weeks, but they have been reading and praying and that is huge!  I has no religious background and one has bad health problems and one just works a lot.  But, we had a great lesson on the Plan of Salvation and they enjoyed it and I could honestly answer their questions for hours.  I have to make sure that I don't do 20 years of learning in 45 minutes of conversation.  It can get real deep, too fast and I am not the best at being simple.  It's just one of my quirks I guess.

This has been a fairly good week for Thanksgiving.  I still taught 20 lessons during the holidays which is 18 more than last year!!

Everyone stay warm and safe.  I am grateful for the gospel, for my family, for the knowledge I have, and for the many people that God has put in my path so that I could meet them and have them help me to become a better person.  I am grateful that God knows me better than I know myself and that He has a plan for me.  I am grateful for Chocolate, Target and Mints!  I am also very grateful for my Savior!

The Church is TRUE!

LOVE, Sister Kylie Williams

1 year older and wiser too

This week has flown by!  Super duper fast.  We had an exchange, a zone training meeting, and My birthday of course,

and as of this week, I have been a missionary for a  whole year.  1 year!  What???  So much has happened in that year. I had no idea that you could change so much and help so many people and have crazy adventures.

Anyway, back to Horseheads.  It is a cool place, kinda crazy, but very cool.  We have some of the sweetest members and there are a ton of prepared people.  Their testimonies are small and need some time to get progressing....but hey, at least we have people to teach!  They come from a variety of backgrounds... from humble janitors to ex-hockey players to stay-at-home mom's to one family that manages a restaurant named Friendly's!

One of our recent converts... Jim is one of the most elect of God that I have ever met.  He changed his life around and gave up everything in 2 months because he believes in the restoration and loves the Book of Mormon.  He kinda looks like a hobo and Santa Clause all rolled together.  He smiles and talks about how much his life has changed.  Few people just grasp and accept everything we teach and try it out, but he does.  It is people like that that make a mission worth it.  Even if you find just one.....  that is all that matters.  We saw him and another cute less active lady on Monday.

Teaching Jim 

Tuesday we woke up way too early and drove to Owego for a ZTM and it was all about commitment and repentance.  We learned we have to be bold and loving to extend these commitments.  Our investigators cannot repent and come to know of the truthfulness of the church if they do not put forth the effort to see if this will change their lives.  I quickly learned that the difference between a disciple of Christ and an average person is their level of commitment.  If you cannot make and keep covenants/commitments, then look in the mirror and fix that...  It also relates to goal setting.  I used to hate goal setting before my mission.  Now, I see it as a rudder on my ship of life.  It provides direction and something to do and to make myself a better follower of Jesus Christ.  It is one thing to go with the flow (which I enjoy a lot), but it is another thing to take control of a situation and evaluate our lives and see how we can improve and be better.  Complacency is a killer!  So, that was a good wake up call.

Right after the meeting, we exchanged with the Vestal Sister and I went with Sister Trapane to Vestal.  It was a sweet exchange.  They are struggling to find people to teach, so we went out and talked to everyone outside.  They live right next to Binghamton University, so I stopped a lot of college students on the road walking to off campus housing and that was sweet.  Tons of Asian students. OMG so many!  We picked up a few Nings, and Yaos, and other hard names I can't pronounce.

I really have struggled my whole mission with talking to people on the street... especially after serving in Fort Drum because that is not allowed.  So, the companion I was with struggles with being social and talking to people.  So, we set some high goals and started talking to everyone.  It was very cool.  I talked to a few non-interested people , talked to a Catholic lady minister, and literally ran into a college student named Nate.  We talked about school, graphic design and then taught him on the street about the restoration and it was super awesome.  He said that he'd like to come to church!  We also worked to find some lost investigators in the phone book and found them at 8pm that night, in the woods in a multimillion dollar home.  HaHa.  We were tracting late. :)
We had no luck on another street, but one man did feel bad after rejecting us and said "I have had the pleasure of having friends that are members of your Church and I have nothing but the highest respect for them."  That was awesome.  I might have even "sweat out of my eyes" for a like a second or two.  But that last house at the end of the street belonged to a guy named Emmanuel and he was so awesome.  I could see him getting baptized one day.  Just so open to the gospel!  We found other potentials, and it was sweet!   The Sister I was with on Exchanges also had the same birthday as me, so we had a pre-birthday celebration!  Woop Woop.  We had some cake!

We woke up the next morning and went to some appointments, nothing fancy... but it was better with my companion and the other Sister in Elmira for the day. We had an investigator-- who tried to rewrite part of the Book of Mormon-- tell us how crazy we were.   US?  Well, we dropped her like a hot rock.  The Crazy Quaker lady I mentioned last week, who I am pretty sure had someone spit in her oatmeal,  was always quite cranky.  We then traded back and it was good to be back home in Elmira and we had dinner with some grandparents in the Ward.  So cute and full of personality.  We had coordination meeting and went right to bed.

My Companion and I, we think and dress a like!!

Thursday I turned 20!  Sister Gass did make me a card, and gave me a present that morning after I opened the ones from Home.  She also mentioned it was my birthday during a few lessons, so I had investigators and less actives sing to me all day.  A few ward members also brought me some goodies and treats and the meal coordinator lady actually called our dinner appointment and asked her to make chicken enchiladas which I requested!  Overall, it was a good birthday and we taught 6 lessons!  We have some super sweet less actives, who are older single ladies that just need the occasional kick in the rear to get them to church.   I also got to meet Tom.  He is another great investigator that has health problems, he is in his 70's and needs help to quit smoking so that he can get baptized.  He will get there eventually!  :)

We also had the coolest lesson with BSG as we call them.  They are a family that is related to our RS President and the Dad is super interested and started diving deep into the Book of Mormon during our lesson.  The Mom doesn't have any religious background and the 19 year old son, we're pretty sure he has a crush on us.. ha ha.  But, they are hilarious and have been happier since we started teaching them.  They will be baptized sometime in the future, especially B.  He already is like, "so how do you guys tithe?"  I get really animated at their house.  I lost count of how many analogies I used in one Book of Mormon lesson.  I have come to realize that I over explain and complicate things, but when I use analogies, I can convey a ton of info into something simple and teachable.  THERE IS A REASON WHY JESUS SPOKE IN PARABLES!

Friday we had a lesson with a drunk old guy over the phone.. :( Bad conversation.  We will probably lose him as an investigator soon.  We also picked up this other super cool father also named B and we taught him the restoration.  He said if he liked what he learned, he would get baptized so that was Fun.  We teach way more men than women in New York.  I don't know how that always happens!  I think that the men are more open to change, especially religious beliefs, especially when they sincerely want it.  Women are more in tune with the Spirit, but when we believe something, we believe something!

We have just been finding the nicest people on the streets.  For example, we found one woman named Beth who was on the standing on the street smoking.  We said Hi and did the short greeting intro and she was excited and said that she wanted to learn!  "I heard Mormons believe in Hell and damnation... I don't like that, do you actually believe that?  Oh  my gosh.. first of all, we have #1 a person who is willing to confront us on misconceptions and goes to the source of what we actually believe.  #2 we taught her the Plan of Salvation right there and she loved it.  She is catholic, but wants to grow spiritually.  She is that rare combo in an investigator.

A lady this week didn't want to talk with us because she believed that Mormons don't eat pizza, so therefore she shouldn't talk to Mormons.  WHAT?  MORMONS LOVE PIZZA.. actually Mormon's love anything with bread.. Silly silly misconceptions running around out there.  So much misinformation.

We also picked up another super cool young dad named Zach who used to live in Lake Placid and play USA Hockey.  He got hurt and is only about 25 yrs old, but he is the nicest person I have ever met.  We get to go teach him tonight!  Another great potential :)

We have set a date for baptism for another woman.  I am pretty sure her cats and her house are possessed with something.  But, she keeps coming to Church and has really good desires.  We had dinner with a family and the kids are going to find a cure for cancer someday... they're very smart and driven.  The 5 and 7 year old kids can talk to us missionaries all about the US Presidents and say that their favorite animal is a 'Webbed 10 foot Renruk" or something weird from Madagascar.  I can barely remember the quadratic equations, let alone compete with these kids.  HAHA.

Sunday was church and we had meetings, and taught a few people over Facebook because all of our appointments cancelled on us.  Just the normal things.

I do love my area, my ward and my companion here.  So all is well.  Now we just have to get our investigators to progress and be baptized.  Word of Wisdom issues are a problem out here :(  This week is an exchange to Corning and a District Meeting and Thanksgiving.  I also get to work in a soup kitchen and go to MLC's.  So, it will probably fly by just as fast as last week.

Everyone, have a fun and safe Thanksgiving.  Lets all have an attitude of Gratitude!

The gospel is true and when living the gospel.. "inch by inch, it is a cinch; yard by yard, it is hard!  So remember to do the little things!

Love you all!
Sister Kylie Williams

Come what may and LOVE it!!

Well, hello everyone.

This has been a crazy awesome week.  So buckle up...haha!

I got transferred on Wednesday to Horseheads, so in preparation, there was a lot of packing and saying goodbye to a lot of people in the Carthage area.    We picked up a new part member family and they are so sweet.  I hope in the future that the husband gets baptized.  Tuesday was the same thing, more packing (every time I transfer, I can find new ways to get more things into the same amount of space.  Organizational skills are awesome.

We had an unexpected call from a LA person who previously told us that she didn't want to meet with us anymore.  Basically, God has been working on her and with some wake up calls with her health and family, she decided that she couldn't sit around and complain any more and wanted to come back to Church. It was a great lesson!  We then also saw the Taylor's again, and helped them find church appropriate clothes for their two little boys.  It was so much fun.  I then had to run around and get pictures of my favorite people.

We went to bed early that night because me and Sister Branch were exhausted and instead of partying the night away, we decided to be old ladies... I am turning 20 this week, so I am pretty much an old lady :)  Ha ha ha.

The next day was transfers, which felt like a mixture of High School and Hogwarts all over again.  You see new people and it is fun to see where they get to go.  We saw mission picture slideshows, and talk about things going on in the mission.  We also see old friends and companions and of course, eat pizza.  It is also slightly groupy/clicky and if you haven't served in certain places or know what exactly what happened in each area, you can't contribute to a conversation.     Anyway, after socializing, I grabbed my new companion, Sister Gass, and jumped into our Legacy and drove off into the sunset back to Ithaca and then Elmira... it's a 3 hour trip.  I do not miss that trip!!  O well!  It was a good bonding experience!

My new companion is a boss missionary. She is from southern UT and loves sports and is a super hard worker.  We get along quite well.  Right as we got home at 8, we went to the S's for a ward missionary correlation meeting.  OMG, this new area has the best ward mission leader ever.  The man is the coolest Slovakian person and he knows how to help missionaries.  After not having one for 5 months, it is great to get one again.  Since that meeting, craziness has ensued.

Horseheads is on fire right now.  We have 25 investigators, a billion referrals and potentials and 6 people are on date for baptism. It is so awesome.  I have had to hit the ground running and we are almost to the point of having too much.  Obviously, we have to organize and prioritize.  I have been literally running the last 4 days and I am so tired.  I sleep like a baby and I almost went to bed at 9 one night.  This is what missions do... pretty sure I almost found a gray hair, but it also could be bad lighting.  We have some sweet investigators, we are teaching a super receptive Jehovah's Witness that prayed to know if the Plan of Salvation is true and we had a super spiritual lesson with him and a member.  We are also teaching a Quaker lady that is kinda lonely and want to talk about spiritual things.  We are also teaching 3 of the cutest elderly men ever.  One just got baptized and confirmed and changed his life around in a matter of 2 months!  He gets anti-Mormon harassed all the time now, but he just laughs and says "you have too much time on your hands, maybe you should read the Book of Mormon."  What a super awesome 60-70 year old man!  The other two like the Church, the Book of Mormon but struggle with word of wisdom problems, but who knows??  I know they will get there soon.

We also teach this crazy lady who we are pretty sure has possessed cats and has a slight mental problem, but she loves coming to Church and actually reached out to us.  We are teaching a 14 year old who just started meeting with us, who stood up in Social Studies during World Religion class and stood up for the Church!  We also have a Wickin (witch) couple that wants to change religions, and we also have a super sweet family that wants the one true church and a religion that unifies them.  BOOM!  We have the most solid part member that wants to know everything about the Plan of Salvation and we had a super spiritual lesson and wants to commit to baptism once we teach her everything.  She will be an incredible member some day.

When we're not teaching, we have been contacting referrals, finding potential contacts and talking to random people. After being on Post for the last couple of months, I actually had forgotten how to contact people on the street.  Fortunately, my companion is great at it.  We were blessed to pick up so many solid potentials on Saturday.  It was one right after another.

My companion has only 2 transfers left before she goes home and she is starting to freak out because she doesn't want to leave.  This is a good learning experience for me so that I know how to better respond to that stress when it comes.  Lately, I have also come to really see the importance of the Restoration of the Gospel.  Many of the people we teach have objections and it all hinges on just 2 things with most people we talk to.  1) do they believe in God? 2) do they believe that we can have modern revelations?  So much revolves around the cycle of prophets and God establishing His work and His word through prophets.   Many believe that after Christ, there were no more prophets, that the Bible has everything and if we accept Jesus and live a good life, that is all there is.  If people cannot believe in modern revelation, in modern prophets, in more scripture, then no matter what we teach them, it will not matter.  I have seen so many people now that I have come to the conclusion that the difference between the Elect and Non-Elect, is the condition of their hearts.  If our hearts are not humble and soft, then the gospel will fall on deaf ears.  The people that I have seen progress have one thing in common, and that is a good heart.  They are all nice genuine people looking for the truth, and are not prideful, and are willing to listen and be humble enough to listen to God and not other people.  Their hearts are so tender that they feel the Spirit 100x quicker than the average person.  God does not mean to change who we are and our personalities, he just wants our hearts.  A mighty change of heart to be exact.  If we do this, then naturally everything about us is changed for the better.  I also saw this quite plainly while at Church this Sunday.  The ward members in Elmira, have good hearts.  They are great members and it was awesome to walk in and many remembered me from when I visited from Corning and they ran up, gave us hugs and welcomed us and our investigators and then said "how can we help you?  It is good to have you back!!"  They even introduced all three new missionaries into the Ward over the pulpit.  After being in 4 areas now, this is now my favorite ward... by far!!

There are so many good things to come and I am just excited and happy to be here and to be a missionary.  Just deciding to enjoy these little moments, because they fly by so fast.  I love this work and this Gospel... and it all starts from the heart!

Things just keep on rolling

Hello everyone!!  :)

I wish I could say that this week was super exciting... and it was, just not in the traditional missionary sense.  I had to put my adult skills and muscles to work this week fixing plumbing and rearranging furniture.  All good skills for college life and beyond!

Packing up to move

Last Monday we had our plans all ready for a 'hard week' of finding and tracting and to our surprise, we go the call from the Mission Office that we had to be 100% moved out and into the new apartment with a cleaning inspection/walk through by Saturday morning..  HA HA.  We put on our jeans and went to work.  Not the most glamorous thing in the world, but from Monday night to Thursday morning we packed, sorted, cleaned, and boxed things up.  Man did the time go fast!!  We had fun doing everything and occasionally took breaks to get food while cleaning.  You can only breath in Windex fumes for so long...  Ha Ha.  We still occasionally saw an investigator or less active here and there during the week, but I really didn't feel like a missionary, but it was a neat experience.

Refueling after packing and cleaning

I am actually grateful for all of the moving experience that I have gained in my lifetime.  Little life experiences and tidbits of info on how to pack things and use less space efficiently really helped us out.  We had quite a few laughs this week.

Thursday night came along and we left for Utica with some Zone Leaders and stayed the night.  We got to see some of the other STL's in the mission and spent time with them.  I have grown to love so many of the Sisters in the mission.  I wish I could be companions with a lot of people.  But so little time, so much to do.  Fun and games were shortly over and we spent most of Friday coming up with ways to inspire and bless the missionaries in the area and to help them see that obedience and hard work do bring blessings.  This upcoming transfer is so crazy.  With 2 holidays, a bunch of meetings and special Christmas conferences, it is going to go by super fast.  It has also been shortened to 5 weeks--instead of the usual 6-- due to not wanting to send home missionaries on Christmas week.  So, we discussed everything made some plans and drove back.  We were so tired from the week that we passed out in the back of the truck on our way back home.  But, with some dinner and an early bed time, we did much better.  I have never gone to bed at 9 or earlier my whole life.  Lately, 9-9:30 has been starting to look like heaven!  The idea of staying up till 11 or 12 is scary. Bravo to Missions!

Oh, other big info.  President talked with me and I am getting transferred this week back to the Owego Zone where I first began my mission.  I am going to be a STL in Horseheads/Elmira.  Ha Ha.  I am going to be 15 minutes east of Corning and I get to go on exchanges there.  It is so weird!  10-11 months ago, I was serving there as a STL!!  I know the apartment, the car and quite a few of the members already.  Things are going to pick up for me because instead of having 2 Sister  sets here, I will have 4-5 sets in the Owego Zone.  The best part of the new area is that I have a Target right across the street from me!  Whoohoo!

My new companion is super sweet and has 3 months left, so she knows the drill.  The Lord knows what is best and I am grateful for the change.  I have gained a ton of insights about the military and military life and all that jazz.  After we got calls, we officially moved on Saturday and got it done in 2 hours.  Woop Woop!  Unfortunately, what Elders think is clean and what Sister's think is clean is not the same.  We then had to clean our new apartment.  It was slightly sad and gross.  Ha Ha boys are nasty.  We quickly put things away and started seeing people after a few days of 'cleaning/packing' duty.

Sunday was great, we had some less-actives come and our investigators came.  We had a 'Linger Longer' so I could say goodbye to some of the members.  I do care about many people in Carthage area, but I know that they are in good hands.

Well, that is about it.  I'll end this week by a powerhouse quote from President.  "You measure a man's faith by what he intends to do with it."

I know that the Lord is mindful of everything we go through.  I know that he calls leaders to direct the Church in the direction that He wants it.  I know that all things are spiritual (eternal).  There isn't a temporal (Earthly) law given that isn't also spiritual... so whether it is about cleaning, same sex attraction and membership, the word of wisdom, etc., everything is carefully orchestrated by the Lord.  The real test of this life is to not only endure the storms of this life, but to choose the right while enduring them.  Persecutions may arise, but the "Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing.  The truth of God will go forth boldly and nobly and independent till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done."  The gospel is true, we just need to remind ourselves that we do't know everything and need to continue to fan the flame of our faith.

Love you all,
Sister Kylie Williams

Ice, Ice, Baby!

Hello friends and family!

It has been another week and we celebrated Halloween!  This week has been unusual, but fun never the less. :)

We started off the week by helping my companion buy winter clothes.  People from Arizona need lots of layers to stay warm.  It was all very needed.  We had a great dinner appointment with a new family and practiced some of my rusty Spanish skills.  We also check up on the Paces, and our new favorite thing is to read the Book of Mormon while dressed as a Nephite.  We normally are covered in scarves and I don't look too bad in  a head dress.  Keeps my head warm for sure.

Tuesday we had district meetings and we met together as all of the missionaries and we discussed our goals.  My companion then started to get a tickle in her throat and kept complaining about how tired she was.  We gave her some cough drops and kept up with our appointments.  Our German investigator has read our assigned chapters in the Book of Mormon.  She like our lesson about the Plan of Salvation and she believes that the Church is a good thing.  She is struggling still with knowing that there is a God.  She contradicts herself all of the time in lessons about reasons why she doesn't believe or what she wants as proof.  Basically, she wants a face-to-face experience or a phone call from God.   Unfortunately, that really won't happen.  We discussed about how we receive revelation and the Holy Ghost, but she won't believe in that until she believes in a God.  Discussions with her go round and round and get no where.  It basically comes down to that leap of faith and choosing to believe. She has gone from saying that God doesn't exist to saying that if He does or doesn't.  Small win.  We will see what this next week has in store.

Finding members is seriously the BEST WAY to go when teaching.  Most new converts have a connection to the Church, even if they know it or not.  I am actually excited for when I do go to a home and can be a member missionary.  Talking to friends about the Church is so much easier than just random people and it means more to me now.

The next day, my companion cam down with a cold, but she wasn't so bad that we had to stay inside all day.  We decided to go to work, but we had some problems.  It was the 28th and we had ran out of driving mileage allowance for the month.  So, we could drive to Ft Drum once and back and walk everywhere else.  We live so far away that if you drive anywhere, you're stuck there until the end of the day.  Just as we left, we got the lake effect winter winds and a huge rainstorm.  The wind gusts were up to 55 mph and the temperature was around 40 :(  It was really a cold wet rain.   We drove to the Post anyway, bundled up and started walking and trying to connect with some of our RC/LA Folk.  Oh my goodness... we were out for an hour and nobody was home and we just couldn't take the rain or cold anymore.  We were soaked and our umbrella was of no use with the wind.  My skirt kept flying up to eye level (not a good thing).  We ran back and decided that with our health, we couldn't be out in the storm.  So we got creative.  We went to Subway, tried our clothes in the car while we planned and then went to a library and had Facebook lessons with as many people as we could.  At least we were dry and not out in the storm.  We did the best that we could.  Thankfully, we had just bought some hot cocoa.  Many of our less actives are doing great like 2 to 3 families have given up coffee and alcohol so that they can qualify for temple ordinances. Woop Woop!

The next day we woke up and my companion was sicker than yesterday, but not enough to stay home.  We got a ride out to the Post and did some service.  We saw three families and then went home early in the afternoon because we could only do so much... and as a companionship, you act as one entity.  When one is down... both are down, because everything is equal and we both have to have the Spirit to do what is necessary for the day.  Thankfully, a member family had 17 Miracles and the other Pioneer movies we could watch, because I know that we would be home bound the next few days.  (I am so glad we got the movies!)  The next morning, we woke up and took a sick day.  I was untouched by her cold and still am healthy.  I took the time to clean and organize and 'mother/nurse' my companion.  I have quickly come to learn that I have strong mothering instincts when it comes to taking care of people that I love.  "Here is a cough drop.  Keep your feet covered.  Drink lots of fluids. Sleep with your head elevated.  Here is some chicken soup."  I enjoyed it... my companion did not.  Ha Ha too bad. :)

Friday came around and we watched every missionary approved movie ever invented.  Some are better than others.  Anything between 1975 and 2003 was so cheesy, but funny.  Everyone's hair and clothes were so bad. :(  What was society thinking anyway??

We did however still attend the Ward Trunk or Treat.  That was fun.  The whole Ward showed up and it was huge!!  We set up and passed out candy and had chili.  We tried to dress up as each other and wear each other's name badges as our costumes.  (dressing up like the Elders is a huge no-no, so we were limited).  We quickly switched back because it was so weird not wearing our own name tags, it just felt wrong.  Ha Ha.

Cameron's Baptism

Halloween was Cameron's baptism.  Yea!!  Woop!  We set things up and filled the font, waited and had the service.  It was great.  Half the ward came and it was a good baptism and Happy Halloween.  We then were kidnapped by a member who got us new Drum Passes and took us shopping. We helped her shop at Sam's Club and Bed Bath and Beyond.  I haven't been in a Sams Club in a year and it was great to be in one.  She also bought us a rotisserie chicken (which is a family favorite) and I was in Heaven. So good!  We then went home and my companion passed out.  I watched movies.  I made dinner and carved a pumpkin.  His name is Ricky and Sister Branch drew him and I carved him.

Sunday was Church and we felt good enough to go out and actually teach some members who are slowly progressing.  I am sure that they will be baptized soon.  They both prayed for the first time on Sunday.  Woop Woop!

Today we got the call from President and he changed our move date.  He wants us all moved out and settled in by this Saturday up in Evans Mills and we will be gone most of Friday for MLC.  We basically got our week planned now.  This Saturday is transfer calls, and I have a feeling that my time in Carthage Ward is coming to and end (and with President trying to get us moved before transfers, it's just one more indicator).  But you never know what the Lord has planned!

The Gospel is Awesome!!