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| Happy Easter! |
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| Thank you, Mommy! |
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| Looks like breakfast!? |
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| David enjoying Easter breakfast! |
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| Exchanges! |
Hola y Feliz Lunes!
What a joy it is to hear about your week. I love y'all! I am happy that
all is well. We had a pretty superb week! Let me tell you about it:
On Wednesday we had a zone meeting and interviews. We prepared for it the
day before. We heard from a variety of different missionaries who gave
trainings on a variety of topics. We did lots of role plays. We heard
testimonies from the departing missionaries in the zone. There's four of us!
Throughout the meeting, President Taylor was doing one on one interviews, but he
poked his head in a few times and shared a few things with us all. He talked a
lot about ordinances and the covenant path and how the covenant path is the
happiest place on earth. We have been focusing a lot in the mission recently on
ordinances and covenants, and President Taylor always wants us to have this
question in mind - what is this person's next ordinance? Whether they are
recent converts, less active members, or investigators, they all have an
ordinance to work toward. All of us have ordinances to prepare for and work
towards. President Taylor did us missionaries the favor of reminding us what
our next ordinance is. . . yikes!!! But anyway, ordinances and covenants are
what the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has to offer that no other
church, place, or human on this planet does or even can. Ordinances and
covenants are what help us fulfill our purpose of "inviting others to come unto
Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel". We can't come unto Christ
without them! President Taylor shared these few key verses with us that I will
try to remember forever:
D&C
84: 19 And this greater priesthood administereth the gospel and
holdeth the key of the mysteries of the kingdom, even the key of the knowledge of God.
20 Therefore, in the ordinances thereof, the power of godliness is manifest.
D&C
136: 4 And this shall be our covenant—that we will walk in all the ordinances of the Lord.
Ordinances and covenants bring the "power of godliness"
into our lives! How amazing is that?! I'm happy to be learning the importance
of ordinances and covenants!
I was thinking that my interview was going to be my exit
interview, but he only asked me one exit-interview question and said we will
postpone the rest until the Tuesday before I leave. He showed me my picture
that we took in the dining room and sent in to the Church with my mission
papers. I guess I've grown up quite a bit since then! The rest of the
interview was a temple recommend interview. That guy has every one of those
questions memorized, and he rattled them off like nothing, staring into my eyes
the whole time. But I passed!
We got to the chapel at 8:00 that morning, and we didn't
leave until 5:00. All went really well, but it was a long day!
GENERAL CONFERENCE. We watched all 10 hours of
Conference at the chapel we attend regularly, and we enjoyed every minute of
it. There were multiply talks that I felt were directed specifically to me, one
of those being from Elder Ballard in the Priesthood Session. That could not
have come at a better time! Many of the talks that really resonated with me
came from members of the 70. I don't know what it is about them; whether it's a
different energy that they bring, a simplicity, or just the fact that it's a new
or less familiar face, I loved their talks! But then you have the favorites,
like President Uchtdorf, and Elders Holland and Bednar, who never seem to
disappoint. Elder Holland's story was INTENSE! It had me on the edge of my
seat, literally! I'm glad, Mom, that you got to see their talks, and I thank
you for watching! It is all just too good, and I cannot wait to get the GC
Ensign in my hands to study their words more closely and apply the teachings in
my life. As I watched Conference, especially the Priesthood Session, I felt a
deep love and appreciation for the Brethren. All those that we watched this
weekend are true disciples, bright lights in a dark world that needs them, and
righteous influences for good. They inspire me to do the same. Oh how I wish I
could just give President Monson a big hug and sincerely thank him for all he
does and is! and all the other great men in my life - Bishop Wannicot and
Bishop Hatch, Andy and Andrew and John and other young men's leaders and ward
members, President Durrant and President Taylor, multiple brethen that I've met
on my mission, Tom and Dad and many more. I would hug you all if I could. I
love you all, and I am so blessed and lucky to have incredible people in my
life. You inspire me!
I <3 G E N E R A L C O N F E R E N C
E!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sunday after Conference, a member from another ward took
us to contact a referral that he had met the other day. This member served in
the Salt Lake South mission, and spent two weeks in Murray! Serving a mission
in Utah would be a real trip. But this referral was a lady from Mexico, but has
lived here a long time. She is a professor at a little college in Downtown
Dallas, and she is super intelligent. But she is the worst chatty Kathy that's
ever talked my ear off! We thought we were just going to go drop off some Books
of Mormon and set up an appointment to come back another time during the week,
but she talked and talked and talked, nearly taking up our whole night! But the
good thing is that before we left, she apologized for talking so much, and said
the next time we will be the professors, and she will be the student. She asked
for a Book of Mormon in Spanish, Russian, and Arabic, because she is trying to
learn those languages. And now she wants one in Chinese! She is a bit loca,
but it helps that she is intelligent and likes to read. She will be interesting
to teach!
Things are going better now and starting to pick up. We
are witnessing miracles, and we can see more on the horizon! I have no doubt
that this is the Lord's work, and there is no other work more important!
-got Grandma and Grandpa's package, and I am eating one
of the cakes as I am typing this email. I've shared them with missionaries so
they get all eaten up before they can go bad! They are deeeelish! Thanks
Grandma and Grandpa!
-the cookies were edible and deeeelish! I don't remember
you ever making cookies like that. Where did you learn how to do it?!
-For now, my two favorite talks were by Elder Wilford W.
Anderson about enjoying the music of the gospel while dancing the gospel dance,
and Elder Kevin W. Pearson about enduring to the end. I felt like there was so
much from their talks that I can and should apply RIGHT NOW!
At the Priesthood Session on Saturday I saw lots of
familiar faces from the Lakewood ward and they all asked me when I was finishing
up. It was strange, bitter sweet to tell them I only have 3 WEEKS LEFT! 3
WEEKS! I am excited! and I am enduring joyfully to the end. Thanks for
writing. Love y'all to Kolob and back! Bye!
Elder Williams
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