Tuesday, October 14, 2014

October 14, 2014 - Baptism this week!!

Alright, well I'm going to apologize in advance for how short this is, but not too much has happened this week. Yesterday we got to watch "Meet the Mormons" for specialized training and it was really good! It was just cool to see even more stories about how Mormons are actually normal people, because a lot of people here in Washington don't think we are normal. But it was just uplifting and inspiring! Watching the last part about the Missionary Mom made me miss home just because it showed the days leading up to when a missionary left, but it was still good! My favorite was the Candy Bomber. He is such a stud. Go see the movie! It’s sweet!

So J and J are getting baptized this Saturday! I'll send pictures of it next week! We're so excited for it! And it's my first baptism. I don't get to baptized either of them, which is ok. They asked our ward mission leader, Brother Leppert, to baptize them. It's going to be so awesome. They have investigated for two year and have finally put aside all of their worries and concerns and taken a leap of faith. They're so great. Joanne even went with the other Elders in the ward and taught one of their investigators! And J hasn't even been baptized yet! She's awesome. And so is J. Saturday is going to be a good day.

So we can never contact L. Whenever we text or call she says she's busy and can't talk. So we’ll keep trying, but it's tough when we can't talk to her.

A. We can't really contact her either. She doesn't respond to texts or calls and she's rarely home. Her roommate C (G's mom) told us there have been some crazy things going on with Preston, A's toddler, so life has been rough for her. We're going to try to set up an appointment to have a "make or break" lesson. Hopefully things go well. She was right on track to get baptized until we brought up tithing. Too bad.

Alright, so G. I told him to be honest and I asked him if he was even a little bit interested in the church and he said no. Then his mom text us on Sunday morning and said he needed a ride to church from his friend's house, so we got excited. We showed up at his friend's house and his friend said he wasn't there. So we called his mom and she said that was weird and that he wasn't home. We haven't been able to talk to him since, but there's just not much we can do. We've done all we can and now it's up to him to choose. Hopefully that seed has been planted and it will grow.

Well, that's about it! I hope all has been great for everyone! Hope you all have an awesome week! Love ya all! 

In the words of Jayboy,

HURRAH HURRAH FOR ISRAEL

Elder Williams

October 6th, 2014

Hello all!

    Sorry about the letter last week. My ride got here early and we had to leave before I got the chance to write the email. I wrote it out and sent it to my mom, so hopefully you were able to read it.
  Anyway, I hope you all had a good week. Our week was pretty good! General Conference is always a good time! There is lots to be learned from those men of God. One thing that struck me was President Monson talking about the Bismark in I think the Priesthood session. We all need to remember our purpose. Our bodies are masterpieces made by God, but if we don’t use them for the right purpose then nothing can come from it. 
Well, onto the investigators.

    J and J are getting baptized on the 18th! It will be my first baptism! I don't know if I get to baptize or confirm either of them yet, they haven't picked yet, but it's the first baptism I'll be a part of on my mission. It took them two years, but they're finally ready. They decided to stop worrying about others thought about them and do what they know to be right. Bishop Borders went over with us and just told them very boldly that they need to pray to have the faith to take a leap of faith to be baptized. It was really interesting, but it makes sense. We can pray to have stronger faith.

    L. We haven't been able to really contact her at all. We found out she has mental issues, which makes things tough. So we'll keep trying to contact her and figure things out. Not sure what’s going to happen there.

    A. She won't respond to us. She won't answer or return our calls and texts. She doesn't want to pay tithing and she's still having a really hard time with smoking. We are having a lesson this Thursday with her and we're going to tell her that she either needs to start progressing or we need to give her some time. We'll see how that goes. We’re really hoping she starts to progress again.

    The last one is G. I've gotten to be really good friends with him. However, he still hasn't come to church. He was going to come to conference, but he said the morning session was to early and then he didn't want to sit for two hours. So we're just going to try to get him to church next Sunday. It's tough, because we want to help him, but he doesn't really want to do anything about it. I was on exchanges with Elder Christenson on Wednesday and we stopped by and he was home alone, so we got to teach him the first lesson while it was quiet and peaceful. It went really well, but then we weren't able to get him to conference. Hopefully something will come of church next week. It just kind of sucks because the afternoon session on Sunday would have been perfect for him to hear. Oh well, just got to keep working.

    Alrighty, sorry there's not much this week. We just don't have too many people that we're teaching. Hope all is well for everyone! Love ya all!

Elder Williams

September 29th, 2014

Hello all!

Ok, First week of my second transfer is over.  And just like everyone said it would be, it was the longest week of the transfer.  And it wasn’t too eventful either.  However, I did get a Gatorade and some Cliff bars from Spencer, my cousin!  He ended up being close to my apartment, so he stopped by.  I wasn’t home, but it was awesome to see that on my doorstep when I got home.  All right, onto the investigators.  It is tough because a lot of them aren’t really progressing anymore, but we’re working with them.

J and J.  They are doing well and love the church and the Book of Mormon, but they let every little thing stop them from getting baptized.  Right now they have some legal issues going on that are causing stress and they want to get those out of the way first.  We keep trying to tell the that they will receive even more help after they are baptized, but they don’t seem to understand that quite yet.  And they love us, the missionaries, but they won’t really listen to much unless the ward mission leader says it.  So we’re working on it.  We want to get them baptized soon.

L.  We haven’t been able to make any contact with her.  She doesn’t even answer or return our calls.  She used to respond to the RS president, but we found out that even that isn’t working anymore.  And the RS president said that L does have some issues, so we’ll see how that goes.

A.  So we have been calling and texting A everyday and getting no response.  We also haven’t been to her apartment because there hasn’t been much progression.  We found out though that she has been out of town for the last week so that helps a bit.  We still don’t know why she hasn’t been responding.  As far as we know, she is still smoking and having a hard time accepting the law of tithing.

G.  So he didn’t show up to church last Sunday and then again on the 28th either.  It made me upset again!  When we went over there tonight he said he was up and ready to go but he didn’t have a ride.  A who normally would have been his ride, was out of town and they didn’t have a phone to call us.  Their only communication is A’s phone and she was out of town.  So he wasn’t at church, but he was ready to go.  That’s progression.  We had a good lesson with G, C (his mom) and MJ tonight.  I feel kind of bad because I did almost all the talking, but even when I stopped my companion wouldn’t say much, so I pretty much just took over the lesson.  I told my companion sorry, but he said it was okay.  I just told them how I know this gospel will help them.  I told them I could be at home with my family and friends and could be getting an education, but that I am here in Washington because I want to help people improve their lives and be happy.  I guess I am comfortable with them because I was really bold and upfront with them.  So G should at least watch one session of conference and then C and MJ might be.  I am worried because G is only 17 and has a lot of potential.  I say it with complete love and kindness when I say he can live a much better life than his parents.  But that doesn’t mean MJ and C aren’t important  We are still working with all of them.  I will let you know how it goes.

Well, that is about it for this week, not too much going on.  I hope everyone is doing great.  Love you all!

Elder Williams