Eyes Single to the Glory of God

October 10, 2022

Good Morning!

Not many of our friends came to church this week, we didn't find as many new friends as we'd hoped, and we had to bump back one of the baptismal dates for a friend of ours. However, Finn and Estella were both baptized and confirmed this past weekend! I had the privilege of baptizing both of them, and Finn asked me to do his confirmation. It was a wonderful experience, I've loved working with these two special children of God for almost their entire teaching time. It just goes to show how long I've been in Salina; two and a half months now! That's insane, I can't believe I'm still here and yet I'm not ready to leave at the same time. Good thing I'm sticking around!

One final thing about Finn and Estella. Both are so amazing, I've come to love them as my own siblings, it was an honor to help them be baptized and begin their journey on the covenant path. I've pondered a lot on how much my love has grown for the people in Salina, I'm almost astonished. Yet it's a miracle and blessing I'm very grateful for.

We held our Zone Conference this past week, which was a wonderful experience as usual. The focus was on daily repentance and being bold. I can say I've definitely learned a lot, and done my best to apply those lessons into my missionary efforts this past week. While at Zone Conference, one of the new missionaries, Sister Massera, adapted a common phrase to a better practical application: The phrase was "everything happens for a reason." I thought about it and didn't see anything wrong with that phrase, until she stated her inspired revision.

"God can make a reason out of everything."

That phrasing has taken some thought to understand more fully. It stuck in my head so I had to write it down. I've come to relate it to my efforts as a missionary; both the successes and the shortcomings.

Most days go wonderfully! I feel like everything's right, miracles are happening, and our friends are progressing. It's the few days where the work feels slow, or something gets in the way, or doesn't work out, that I sometimes wish I didn't mess up 'the plan'. However, this reworded quote brings a new perspective to my thoughts. I believe now that God works with our best, and when we do our best he can do many great things. But even when our best is lower than usual, even when those days come that don't seem to work, God can still work miracles. God provides the way, and uses us (as imperfect as we are) to accomplish it.

For the month of September my personal focus was to help others recognize the Spirit in their life. For that, my personal 'catch phrase' was "Introduce the Spirit". Not just bring, or invite, or have the Spirit. I wanted to introduce him. Essentially, I wanted those we've taught to recognize the feelings they experience when the Spirit is present. Was I perfect? Absolutely not. Did I give an honest effort many times, more than I would have otherwise? Absolutely. I feel that even though I may not have been as on-top of that goal as I'd like, I still remembered where it counted. Lessons with David, or certain member lessons, I made sure to point out when the Spirit was present and tie that presence to the emotions the individuals were feeling. I have yet to see all the results from this focus, and I'll continue to do my best to introduce the Spirit in the life of others.

During a conversation with Sister Hales in our district, and she expressed that she hadn't had the time to record her missionary experiences in her journal for about a month, and that she really wanted to return to that habit. Now I've had companions with many different views, but as I thought about that statement, I replied with an astonishingly wise (?) answer.

"I think journaling and looking back on experiences will be more powerful in a lifelong conversion than a slight change in a daily habit a week earlier." - The Wise Elder Williams

Sometimes God decides to allow me the privilege of stating something wise. Maybe this was one of those moments! The mindset behind my reply came from the thought of how many missionaries step away from the church after their mission, and how important it is to record the experiences we have while on our mission. Our goal is to become lifelong disciples of Jesus Christ. That was something our previous mission president, President Kaluhiokalani, lived. As I pondered on these thoughts, a scripture came to my mind.

Doctrine and Covenants 4:5

"And faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work."

We recite this section of the Doctrine and Covenants every District Council (about once a week) and this verse stuck out last night as I was pondering. In a brief summary, I've seen my faith and hope in Jesus Christ increase during the 4 1/2 month period I was home, and I've recognized my charity and love for others increase these past couple months. Ultimately, every day on my mission life grows these four points of my being and testimony, and allows myself to be more singly focused on the glory of God.

I'm so grateful for my missionary experiences on God's mission to recover His children and bring them home to Him. It's been amazing so far, and I still have so many more months to go. I intend to live every day as best I possibly can, and let God BE my reason for everything.

Until next time!

- Elder Williams

(P.S. It's my birthday next week! I just had to throw this in here, maybe I'll make something sweet on the 18th. That'll be fun!)

Mailing Address:

P.O. Box 360

85 N 150 E

Redmond, UT 84652

Pictures:

1. This is the first house I've seen tp'd in a while!

2. We washed our car.

3. Guess how many miles we have on our vehicle!

4. I found a cat.