Dear family!,
This week was so
great!! First things first, my new companion is Elder
Nelson and he is awesome! He is so hard working and diligent. He has been out
for 16 months and is teaching me so much. The best thing that I am learning so
far is how to plan super effectively. I thought I knew how to plan before, but
my eyes have been opened to better. He is from Washington and is 27 years old!
I thought I wouldn't get an older companion than Elder Berry but I guess not.
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| "Ellllderrrrrr Nelsonnnnnn (I finally don't feel like a midget) |
Easter was awesome! We had some great sacrament
meetings. The musical numbers in the Wilford YSA ward were like professional...
It was awesome. We got invited to hear Brad Wilcox speak at this branch for
women in a Halfway House. It was super humbling to see and he was an amazing
speaker. We were trying to get our investigator to come, but sadly he
got sick. That after noon we ate with an amazing
family in our area! It was their Easter family dinner. Wasn't like a Murnan
Easter dinner because there weren't a ton of young little kids running
everywhere - everyone was YSA, young couple, or like grandparents. We had an
Easter egg hunt after though and it got pretty intense. I got second by like 4
eggs. After that, we went to another dinner at President Hinkley's daughter's house. It was the house that he built and his daughter grew up
in! It was funny hearing her husband talk about how it was kind of
intimidating being the Prophet’s son-in-law. He told about renovating that house
(enclosing the porch) and President Hinkley coming over frequently to make sure
he was doing it right. Our investigator came to that dinner! They invited a few
people. After the dinner, we finished up the night with a trip to temple
square. We went on the roof of the conference center and it was beautiful. Our investigator loved it! He should be getting baptized on the ninth and he is already
talking about wanting to serve a mission.
I got called on the spot to give a talk on the Holy Ghost at a baptism of a sister we were teaching when I was in Murray. The husband was really less active and she was a non-member. We worked with the husband and got really close. He turned his life around and made it to church every Sunday. I got a call from the Elders still serving there saying that she was getting baptized and that he was baptizing her! It was so amazing.
Other miracles this week!
March 24, 2016 9:58 PM Thursday
Alright.
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| "This is Williamson! He is from Hati and speaks like five languages. When he meets people he says, ""I am Williamson. Best black people ever."" He taught me some Hatian." |
Yesterday we met with this less active girl. We have met with her every week for quite a while and she is making a
lot of progress! We had been working with her a lot lately to encourage her to
talk to her bishop so that she could take the sacrament and get a temple
recommend and stuff. She kept telling us that she felt a sick feeling about it
every time she had a text message typed up to the ward clerk. She said there
were things she was needing to fix first. We kept encouraging her week after
week but nothing was happening. It also didn't help that a bishop that she knew from work told her that "if she does not feel ready, then she is not,
and she shouldn't go." (DINGUS) I studied a lot on that in preparation and
NO WHERE does a general authority say that. They say things like, "do it
now" or "don't wait just do it" or "don't procrastinate the
day of your repentance." We
shared some of these things with her during the lesson, which was only about 25
minutes, and closed with a prayer. It was very plain that there was something
else that we needed to talk about. She gave the prayer and started almost crying
during it. We asked her what was wrong and if she was ok and she finally opened
up to us. She had been going through a lot. Work had been awful lately, she had
been going through other things as well that were miserable. She was really
having a hard time. We testified to her again that Christ had felt her pain and
had gone what she is going though. But then I told her that she needed to let
him help her. I told her that in a time like this, she needs the blessings of
the sacrament, she needs the blessings of the temple. I said Christ paid for
those blessings for her and she can have them. I said "don't deny yourself
these blessings." We then committed her to text her bishop’s clerk and set
up an appointment and she said she would but I asked her to do it right then. I
knew that was the only way it was going to happen. When we are alone it is much
harder. As soon as she committed to that decision, as soon as she was clicking
the button, a call came in. It was a job interview that she had gotten that was
calling her in for an interview. She got off the phone and said, "that
right there was an answer to a ton of prayers." We talked about it in
amazement because as soon as she made that decision to exercise her faith, God
blessed her. I know that it is a true principal that God wants us to step
towards him. I know that neither our Heavenly Father nor any of his servants
will ever tell us to wait, tell us we are not ready or to procrastinate. He
wants us to repent and come unto him NOW. I know that after the trial of our
faith, God has a bright future for us that is only found through his Only
Begotten Son.
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| Monday's hike |
So our investigator (we'll call him Don) kinda dropped us and so
we stopped going by and seeing him often a few weeks ago. He said that he felt
really good about his parents church and was going to start going to church
with them down in Ogden and that he didn't want to get baptized. I was happy to
see all of his improvement over the past months, going from not believing in
God to praying for everything and wanting to go to a church. Also, I was
pretty sad because I was so sure that he was gonna make it all the way and get
baptized and even maybe serve a mission! When Elder Pau'u found out he was
leaving, he posted a picture and a status on Facebook telling everyone that he
was leaving. After not hearing from him for a while, Don called us to say
goodbye. He ended up having some time that night and we just had an appointment
fall through so we decided to go down to temple square. When we were there he
shared with us that he hasn't been praying and reading and said that he felt a
huge difference the past few weeks with us not coming. He felt this peace while
we were there at Temple Square and while we were standing in front of the
statue of Christ he said he wanted to be baptized. We planned on seeing him the
next day at the Monday FHE activity. He came and we were making stuff out of
play dough. That was the activity... But anyway! It was fun and we left a
little early to go to a lesson. Don texted us later that night and said
"I am getting baptized April 3." A kid in the ward that has gotten to
know Don pretty well gave him a ride home and they had talked
about it and he made a decision. He told us on the phone that it just hit
him like a train - that this is were he belongs. He said that he got the answer
to his prayers and he wants to be baptized. We are going to have the baptism
April 9 because General Conference is the third. We have been going to Temple
Square a lot lately with him and he has been talking about wanting to serve a
mission! He is only 19 and a mission would be AWESOME for him. I know
that if we wouldn't have made the difficult decision to stop going by to see
him, he wouldn't have been able to feel that difference. I know that the Lord
prepares a way for all of his children to make it back to him if they honestly
seek truth and come to him. I know that there is always hope when it seems like
there is none.
Another.
We had this awesome kid staying with us for a few days this week living the missionary life and serving a mini mission. He
was with us last night when we went by someone's house that her mother had just
passed away like a few days ago. We sat and talked to her and he had an
opportunity to testify! He did an awesome job and shared that God loves us so
much and that he knows that it is hard when we loose someone we love, but we
know we will see them again. After we left her house, we were driving to the
next person that we wanted to visit and I said something to him and looked in
the backseat and he had his face in his hands and said that he didn't want to
talk. Once we got home we had a prayer and asked him what was going on and he shared
a story of a huge trial of his friend passing away when he was ten and he and
his other friend being blamed by kids at school and rumors being spread for
what happened. He said that they had changed schools to get away from all that, but eventually it got there too and at the end of their junior year they had
had enough and from his suggestion, they both did a foreign exchange. He
came here and his friend went to England to get away from all that and start
fresh. He found out a few months ago that his other friend in England died in a
car crash. In the lesson, he said that the spirit was so strong and that he
knew that God loved him. He said that the spirit testified that he would see
his friends again. He got a letter from this friend after he had died that the friend had sent before
the car wreck. It had said that he was meeting with missionaries and wanting to
get baptized. I know that God is in charge of our lives and that He puts us in
the right place and the right time when we are trying to do His will. I know
that He loves us and the sting of death can be swallowed up in the atonement of
Jesus Christ.
Tell Josh Bird that I love him so much and that his
letter made my week and I will email him back next week. I have read his email like a hundred
times and I am so stoked for him! Pray he gets called to this mission!!!
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| "Javi likes selfies." |
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