Climb to Glory

Wow-za!!  This week has gone by so slow and yet so fast.  It has been jam packed with lots of little activities.  It wasn't the most productive week when it comes to teaching, but we did do a lot of service and working with members, so yayy!  Work with what you got!  :)

My Military Pass :)

So, at the start of the week we went back on Post (Ft. Drum) and we knew that it would be our main day to proselyte for the week.  So wanted to try to see everyone.   But, life happens while you are making other plans... and the Lord had 'other plans' that day for us.  We stumbled upon some very sad circumstances for one of the recent converts here.  She is only in her teens and has a very hard family situation.  She also hasn't been coming to church.  Typically, when we see her, we would read scriptures with her.. (which is slightly a pet peeve of mine.  I do much better as a missionary teaching doctrine and making things more interactive.  However, most people in New York struggle with their ability to read.. yup high illiteracy rates here.)  Her Mom slipped the hint that she has been suffering from depression and it has lead to self-harming.  We had a really powerful lesson with her about prayer and how when things get tough, we can't leave the safety of the 'tornado shelter and run into the storm/tornado' just because we are mad at God.  It does way too much harm to do that.  Overall, we had a good discussion and now we know how to help her.

Later, we visited some members homes.  By the way, mission rules do not allow us to hold any child under 6 years of age.  :(  I really struggle with that, I love little kids!  I interact with these families with the cutest kids and my internal mothering instinct has been screaming to play and hold these kids--but I can't.  I have quickly made a few primary age friends in the ward and we draw pictures during Sacrament Meeting when our investigators don't show up.  It is so fun to watch the parents resolve conflicts and teach them.  I've been taking mental notes on what does/doesn't work with kids.  Maybe it is because I am going to be turning 20 soon and the hope is to have a family within the next 6 years... so that's been really interesting.

But anyway... back to members.  This week I had this strong impression that we needed to visit one certain member.  She is in a position of leadership.  But something just seemed off.  Another member gave us the referral to go see her too.  When we got there, everything seemed to be fine.  And then... she just broke down.  Like literally broke down in tears.  If we hadn't visited her that day, she may have quickly went down the path of inactivity or done something tragic that she would regret later.  In many ways, I couldn't relate to what she was feeling, but I could testify that the gospel was the answer.  I then had the impression to take her two kids who were in the room and go play with them.  That was definitely needed to help the situation.  She couldn't fully open up to my companion and get guidance and help until I left with her kids.  So while my companion was providing a shoulder to cry on, the kids and I made "I love Mommy" letters and made lunch.  The feeling... of having an impression, following it, and knowing that you did what Jesus Christ himself would do in that instance is the most powerful feeling in the world.  It energizes you from the tips of your toes to the top of your head.

My companion and I were in better spirits this week and yeah, we may not have a huge pool of investigators, but we have many members who struggle and they matter just as much too!  :)  Work where you are needed!!

Wednesday was even crazier this week.  We drove down to Utica (which was so weird) and we had a zone training meeting on working with members.  Which is quite funny for us.. because as of right now... we have a brand new Bishop in his 30's, new counselors, no mission leader and the auxiliary leaders are either deployed or leave at the end of August.. well all except for the Young Women's leader.  So we just laughed and dreamed of a day when we can have a full Ward Council :)

Krysten's Baptism

We then drove back for the baptism of Krysten!! Yayy.  Her family is funny.  Typical military family with three kids.  They've been less active and the Elders sorta found them 2 months ago.  Krysten is 10 yrs old.  They have been slowly taught and before I got to Carthage, they were very lukewarm towards the Church.  But, apparently, the change just astounds my companion.  They went from almost no activity before to now  they now want to get sealed in the temple and pay tithing.  They also had us over for dinner.  They are super sad that they have to move to Texas for a month and one of us may be transferred next rotation.  Her baptism though was so fun!!

The Ivy Family 

Thursday we started with moving a super funny couple in the Ward. We moved a total of two families this week for a total of 10 hours of service.  Most of our appointments cancelled, so apparently that must have been what the Lord wanted us to focus on.  I am grateful for the years of moving with my family... (even though I hated it then), because #1) I am very flexible and I can form a relationship very fast with new people.  (That is probably why I don't stay in an area for very long, unlike some missionaries) and #2) I know how to pack and load a moving truck.  Thank goodness for Tetris.. it has helped too.  I spent most of the time rearranging cabinets and chairs and mattresses to maximize all of the square footage in the truck.  It  was actually kind of fun!

We also have the greatest elders serving with us right now in the whole mission.  They made it fun to work with them.  :)  Apparently, I will be getting my biceps back if I have to move a family at least once a week.  It will make up for not working out as much.

Moving families in Carthage

Friday was a carfast...and since we didn't live in our area, we decided to focus on administrative tasks.  Study up for our exchanges, make mini area books for the car and study for training's.

We also taught Young Women's this week.  It went awesome!!  We also have to train for District Meeting on the Plan of Salvation. So we have been busy and also having fun.

Hmmm... what else happened this week??  Oh and Bev, the Filipino Medic, came to Church again.  She loved the meetings and came with us for Young Women's.  She loved it!!  She said yes to an official lesson this week.  YES!!  Success!!  She also fractured her finger unexpectedly, so she won't be deployed now.  HA HA, God does work in mysterious way!! :)

The Church is true!!  This week is a trip to Watertown!! I am so excited!  Woop Woop!

Love ya!
Sister Kylie Williams

Behold A Royal Army

Hey Everyone!!

Just another week in Carthage.  It has been a relatively calm week, which I am okay with because the next two weeks are going to be crazy!  :)  However, this week I did have a baptism and a wedding!!  Fun Fun!!

Lexis' Baptism with Sister Duke and myself

 Now we are preparing for another baptism and wedding this week on Wednesday.  The girl getting baptized is named Krestyn and her family is coming back into reactivation and she is 10 years old.  Her 8 year old brother is being baptized as well.  They live on base and have quickly become our friends.  The kids are quirky and cute and I have gotten to teach Krestyn most of the commandments and ordinances.  That has been the main teaching focus.

Also this week, we got a completely new Bishopric.  There was no leadership when I first got here.  So all there was when I arrived was a 2nd counselor over 150 active members.  Kinda hard to do much.  Now that we have a Bishop, hopefully we will get a ward mission leader, but things are a little slow to catch up here, so we will have to patiently wait.

We have been visiting a ton of less-actives and recent converts on base.  That is the bulk of this area, part members and less actives.  Most of our investigators are still out of town on vacation, so we haven't been able to contact them.  People will start coming back and moving in around August so things will go much faster.  A big thing here we have focused on is temple attendance.  Not many of the members have been to the temple. So me and Sister Duke are trying to get everyone on a "Yayy!!  Temple and Family History are great" kick!  We should be helping some people with their Family History soon.  :)

Another big thing for us has been making banana bread for some less actives or people that won't let us in the door.  We did get into a door that we haven't gotten into lately and we taught the "B___" Family.  They are slightly crazy and suffer from poor financial circumstances, but we taught the whole family the Restoration and the son who is 10 is scheduled to be baptized at the end of August now.  So that was fun!

I also got to meet an investigator named Mary Lou.  She is super cute and came to church for the first time ever!!  She also paid $100 dollars in fast offerings and kept asking me when the 'basket' was going to come around.  I just laughed and said, "We do things a little more privately and orderly in the Church."  She LOVED that so much.

And Bev came!!  Even though we hadn't seen her all week, she has all of these crazy field tests coming up.  She mentioned a possible deployment within the next three months and now the goal is to get her scheduled to be baptized within the next 6-8 weeks.  She feels the Spirit and without really being taught by us, she knows that the Church is the "safest and happiest she's ever been in, at any church."  So once she understands everything, she will be a super solid member.

We had 3 investigators at Church!!  Neither of us have ever had 3 investigators at Church at once before.  It was so sweet!  We also had some great dinner lessons with members.  A member said that she is going to teach us some self-defense and how to get out of kidnapping situations.  She then began providing us with certain legal striking weapons for the State of New York, since pepper spray and stun guns are illegal.  One of the pros of being in a military ward, everyone thinks that we are either starving or going to get kidnapped, so they feed us or teach us how to break someone's hand in certain situations.  I am not complaining, if I ever get transferred to downtown Albany or East side Syracuse, I won't be worried at all. :)

Me and Sister Duke

This next upcoming week is going to be crazy.  A 5 hour Zone training meeting, a baptism, helping members move, a carfast (I have to walk and not use the car.. and we don't live in our teaching area.. yikes) and we have a ward pioneer celebration coming up.  There will be a watermelon eating contest and we get to run some of the activities.  Then, the week after that, I will be on a 3 day exchange in Watertown (which I am so excited to go and see).  Then, Mission Leadership Council and President Rogers is going to lay down the hammer, and change up everything.  Hopefully nothing too crazy.  President Wirthlin has done a great job with the mission.

There are about 5 billion mosquitoes here and we may be slowly eaten alive... we purposely eat garlic powder to keep them away...but if our investigators also start being repelled, we may have to cut back on the garlic.  Haha.

And hmm.... what else is new... here is a shout out to the awesome friends back home in the Reunion Ward that are going out on their missions this month.  Go get 'em Kacee, Erin and Chandler!!

Love you all, The CHURCH IS TRUE!!
Sister Kylie Williams

We are all Enlisted... Literally !!!

Hello everybody!

Greetings from my new area of Carthage, New York.  Nothing like being in my third area and being on my 4th Companionship in 8 months!  Most Sister's have 3-4 areas their entire mission.  I am pretty sure that the Lord just likes to spread me around everywhere.  At my current rate, I will have close to 6-7 service areas for my mission.  HA HA.  But, it just means I get more people to love !!

I really do consider myself really fortunate.  The Lord has blessed me with really amazing experiences and people.  Now, I get the unique opportunity to work with one of the bigger wards in New York and serve on a military base and the surrounding ex-military areas.  It is super cool.  I just love it.  This area has the most members, less-actives, part-member families than any other area I have served in.  We work primarily with the Army wives and the families so I need to brush up on the kid lessons.  I haven't really taught families or kids on my mission.  It is always been single adults or older couples.  That is a new learning curve for me.

6 days a week, we work on the Fort Drum Army Base.  It is so cool once we are inside and we've cleared the security gate/clearance--because it looks like I am back out west.  Cute maintained homes and everyone is nice and friendly.  The only weird thing is that we cannot actively proselyte on the Base.  We even have to take off our missionary name badges !! Another weird thing is that when we go to meet someone we made an appointment with, we can only say our names and ask if someone is a certain person/name.  Then we have to wait for them to invite us inside before we can start talking about anything like Church.    I feel so naked without my name tag on, it is  FREAKY !!  Instead of the standard Missionary Name Tag,  I have to wear a "military clearance pass" tag.  Yes, they did a Dept. of Defense background check right in front of me...slightly freaky, but thankfully, I am as clean as a bar of soap :)

Due to recent changes in boundaries and apartments, we are living in the wrong area and are currently burning through our monthly miles allocation just to get back to our service area.  All we need to do is give the Watertown, NY Elders a new apartment and everything will be solved.  Everyone here within a 45 miles radius is army or ex-army.  We go outside and everyone is either in military fatigues or in redneck clothing with a shotgun.  Hooah!!    Soooo.. that's been new.

My area is so very different compared to the rest of New York.  There are actually young families here.  We easily had like 120+ people at Church this week.  Most families had 2-5 kids and/or were pregnant.  Since it is the summer block leave and PCS (when soldiers get deployed or change forts) the ward was actually thin.  It was scary to have to learn so many more people.  Sadly, most people were standoffish because they move every 6 months to 3 years.  So, I grabbed a 6 month old ward list and my companion laughed and said, half of those people don't even live here anymore.  CRAZY.  Everyone we work with for the most part (90%) are super cool and normal.

We also have one of the coolest investigators.  Her name is Bev and she is a PV-class two Army medic that is best friends with some recent converts.  She just started investigating the Church.  She has already come to Church 3 times and I gave her a Book of Mormon to read.  We just need to get her to switch from being agnostic to being a Mormon.  She is my favorite 22 year old Filipino I've ever met.  Such a firecracker... but trying to work to clear her dirty mind after living on the barracks for the last 2 years will be a challenge.

Speaking of baptism, we had a 9 year old get baptized on Saturday.  Easiest baptism of my life!  I just showed up... taught her about tithing and temples and filled a font and took a picture.  I wish the others would have been that easy.  HA HA.  She didn't take the lessons until her father got back from deployment.  We also have 2 more potential kid baptism this month depending on the father's plans and if they show up to Church.  Boy, I love part member families. The are so cool.  We are teaching a Korean wife of a member who is deployed and she will get baptized soon; but the language barrier is hard.  Thankfully, we have a few Korean military members in the Ward who come to translate for us.

Oh... also.. on base .. every couple of hours a loud siren goes off.  In Carthage, the sirens go off every hour to remind the soldiers what time of day it is so they can program their bodies to sleep right at 8:30 and wake up at 4 am. IT IS SO WEIRD.  I feel like an airstrike is coming or something.. but it is just a time clock that the military uses.  Weird.  I don't understand military lingo at all and feel so dumb sometimes it is hilarious.  Thankfully, that is why we have companions.

Also, the other big thing this week, I went to a vow renewal of some members and that was a BLAST.  It was a barn wedding and it looked like something straight off of Pinterest!  So this week, I had my first wedding, my first kid baptism, and lots of military clearances, protocol and sirens.  CRAZY!  Hmm....  and the rest... trying to unpack, catch up on sleep and figure everything out.  Good things to come... love you all.

The Church is True :)
Love Sister Kylie W.

Permanent Change of Station

Hi everyone,

This week has been a little on the mild side.  With holidays and everyone traveling, it has been harder for us missionaries because people are either gone or are busy with family visits.  But, we went to many very cool events this week.

Me and "Livvy" (Olivia) 

However more importantly... I got a call to serve in Carthage, New York and will work a lot around Fort Drum on the Army military base.

 I am so excited!  I have LOVED every single member service man/woman since coming to New York!  My new companion is Sister Duke.  She is very laid back so that will be fun!!  I get to go way up north and I hope to see the autumn colors at their finest come fall! :)  Yayy!  But, with the trend of how the Mission President  keeps moving me, it looks like I will be up in the Potsdam area by Thanksgiving.  Show Shoes anyone???  Potsdam would put me in the top northern part of the mission/State of New York.  BRRRR!

I am very excited through for the new assignment and I get to be a Sister Training Leader again!  YESSS!  I also get to experience Watertown, NY and Gouverneur, NY.  I will be working with lots of Sisters and also with the military relations senior couples.  They are my favorite.  They have the best sense of humor and make a mean bowl of chili.

I got to meet President and Sister Rogers on Wednesday for the first time.  President Rogers is a beast.  He stands at 6 ft 6 inches and is this jolly, bald guy that isn't afraid to tell you to 'straighten up and fly right'.  He loves planning and wants to change up the leadership in the mission.   That will be so exciting because now I can return to the monthly leadership meetings and help shape the mission for the next couple of years.  Sister Rogers is very business like and slightly overwhelmed and homesick.  But, I'll give her 3 months and she will be awesome at everything!

I am so happy and kinda glad to be leaving the urban setting of Utica.  I was starting to pick up slang that wasn't the best.  Back up to rural country for me!  I will have to pack more bug spray though.   Apparently, the Lord likes to send me to an area for 3-4 months, tear it up and get things moving, and then I get transferred.  But, now I get to see a lot more of the mission territory which will be fun!

The less-actives are doing great.  We have two progressing families that are slowly changing and wanting to come back to church.  Yay!  As for the  investigators, we did some tracting, placed a few pamphlets and Books of Mormon.  But, Tim who is an Ojibwa Indian, is committed to be baptized in August and he is doing great.  I am going to miss him.  Meg, sometimes drifts back into her St. Louis harsher ways and even though she puts up her tough "I used to be a drug dealer, gang member" facade... I have come to see the squishy spiritual side of her that loves the Church. Sadly, she had a chance to be a full ride scholarship to play soccer at UCLA and become a lawyer also.  I have learned a lot about choices.  Don't give up on the things you want later down the road, to sacrifice for the desires of today. It doesn't work out.  But, I am hoping she gets baptized within the year.  Heather, our pot belly pig-- roller derby manager, is doing great and loves the Church.  Hopefully she will want to get baptized soon.  She acts so much like a member already, it is crazy.  Greg the woodcarver is up north and we miss him a lot.

This week we did member work also.  Especially with the 4th of July.  We went to a flag retirement ceremony and also a huge BBQ at a members house.  The members are ex-air force intelligence and they live on this big farm.  For about 4 hours we hung out with the members, retired the flag (the right and proper way; it was very respectful and even a spiritual moment; we had speeches and everything).  We did relax and have fun.  I have probably eaten like 10 hot dogs this week. HAHA.

Flag Ceremony and BBQ - Utica

Also on the 4th, we had other appointments here and there, but we hung out with some members that just returned from Sweden this week (and we got Swedish Viking souvenirs!)

The Beauchet Family - One of my favorite families!

 We also made flag cakes and watched all the fireworks!

The devotionals this week were mostly dedicated to agency and how when we use our agency and freedom appropriately, we protect our liberties.

Saturday I got the call to be transferred, so many of the members wanted to get together and eat and take pictures.  That was fun!  I have a lot more packing and cleaning ahead of me the next 2 days.

Remember that 'hairy' guy we found on accident and referred him to the Elders?? Well, apparently, he had some personal revelation with the Book of Mormon and really wants to get baptized now.  He called us and thanked us over the phone for finding him.  (ha, more like the Lord found you!)  That kind of phone call, totally made our day. It also compensated for the sadness we had over losing 2 other investigators that we were very attached to.  I have never cried about getting dropped before.  But, I learned so much looking back on the experience.  I realized that they were not really prepared.  They were looking for a church that reflected their beliefs instead of trying to find a church that had the truth.  Yeah, ice cream was eaten that day.

Sign in Bridgewater, NY

I also got to go on an exchange with Sister Dahl and worked the day in Waterville and Bridgewater NY.  It was sweet.  We just worked hard and found some great potential investigators.  My favorite experience during the exchange was with this man named Kirk.  He was a nice guy, but when we knocked on his door, he was like.. "eeh, I don't mean to be rude... but, I don't know what I believe and I don't want to waste your time."   Then the Spirit kicked in... the next thing I know, I am talking to him about the apostasy and how anciently, organized religion was a way to get money and power from people.  But Christ's Church has been restored, and it IS NOT about getting power and money.  Instead, it is about spiritual direction and help.  Then, I quoted JS-History and the next thing you know, he wanted a Book of Mormon and said he wanted to read it.  So finally after being out on my mission for 6 months, I finally know how to answer the questions of "I hate organized religion" and how to answer that by relating it to the restoration!!!  It was so sweet.

Also, we have this semi investigator named Rob.  He will be a Stake President one day, but he is only 22 and is going to college.  We found him tracting like 2 months ago and he left for college and we thought that we would never see him again.  HA!  On the 4th we both kept having the impression to go to his house and check up on him.  He was home for the holidays and it was great that we went because we taught him how to pray and how to spiritually seek for truth and not just read everything in the internet.  He was researching religions like you would research for a new car.  You CANNOT do that.  It can only come from spiritual witnesses that accompany the act of agency.  Ask direction questions in prayers like "Is this true?  Should I do this?  Read the scriptures with the question "Is this true?'  Go to church and ask, "Does the Lord really want religion to be organized this way?  Live the commandments and notice the difference and BOOM, you have a testimony.  So instead of him stopping his search, he then wanted a plan of salvation pamphlet and said that he'd pray about everything every night. He said he was praying about other religions while away at his college classes.  He wanted to become fully committed to the Church if he received a witness if it was true.  Spirit of the Lord for the Win!!  That was so cool!

As of next week, I will be in Carthage, New York surrounded by the Thousand Lakes region and more trees than in Utica (which was a lot to begin with).

I love you all and have a happy Summer!

Rain, Less-actives and a Mini-missionary

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love Sister Kylie Williams

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love Sister Williams

Service, Zone Conference and a LOT of rain

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

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

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

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

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

Rainy days in New York

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

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

Sister Kylie "Spiderman"

Sister "Captain Kylie America"

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

The Church is true!!

Love ya, Sister Williams