A Friendly Reminder

Good Morning!

I wish this week wasn't over yet, but it's already come and gone. Nevertheless, this has been a powerful kick off into an astounding March! We did go on exchanges with the Elders in the Enoch West area. I was with Elder Eddie, and it was really good to connect again. I enjoyed our time together, including a powerful miracle!

They've been working with one of their friends, but he couldn't be baptized a couple weeks ago because the mom ended up having a baby around that time. So they were patient and worked to reschedule his baptism. However, we visit him on Thursday last week hoping to set a day that will work for their family. As we start talking, this kid asks us if he can be baptized tomorrow! We knew Friday wouldn't work, but he wasn't having it. He made a strong push for Saturday, and his grandmother checked their schedule and said it would work! Then Elder Eddie starts texting people and I do a quick baptismal interview for him. In the span of 10 minutes we have his baptism scheduled and everything in line. He is now a covenant keeper as of Saturday!

As proof that the Lord works miracles, and a reminder that even righteous goals can be difficult to achieve, consider the following stories of the friends we are working with. 

Journie & Tyne are siblings. They are super excited for the gospel, and very grateful to be learning. When we first met with them, they asked us about baptism and how to work towards that. They will be baptized on March 9th! 

Joshua is 9 years old and has some struggles remembering everything we teach him. But he loves giving hugs and wants to be baptized, so we are excited to be working with him as well! He is also on plan for the 9th of March. He was also the only friend in our teaching pool when I got here. 

Mason is a friend who one of the Bishops told me about last year! I started working with him, but it didn't work out at the time. I found out after I left that the Elders almost helped him be baptized, but then work schedules changed and life fell apart. However, he is ready to commit again and willing to do so! His current plan is to be baptized on March 27th.

Aryon, Rebel, and Lexi are three siblings ages 9-11. They are very interested in the gospel and are excited to learn more. We've been teaching them for a few weeks now and they came to church a week ago! We're excited for their progress, they hope to be baptized on March 30th.

Hunter and Logan are both close to my age, 18 and 16 respectively. Both have been reading the Book of Mormon and want to be baptized. Hunter shouldn't be too difficult to help, his work and school schedule is pretty flexible. But Logan works out of state on the weekends, which makes it difficult to attend church. The current plan is to help them be baptized on March 31st. It will take a lot of prayers and miracles though!

Manny used to be kind of against the church, but it was really because he didn't know much about it. He's let his daughter, Oaklyn, meet with the missionaries, but it was really hard to teach her because she's super shy. Another Elder in the mission asked her a simple question (what do you know about God?) and she immediately broke down crying . . . it's a funny story in hindsight! We took a different approach and asked Manny if he wanted to learn for himself. He expressed interest, told us he doesn't want to waste our time, and so he is going to take this seriously. Now he is praying about baptism and working to read the Book of Mormon!

Each of these individuals are very dear to my heart. I'm grateful for their willingness to learn about the gospel and the miracles that have come as we've begun teaching them. They are some of God's precious children, and I'm so thankful He's allowed me to participate in their gospel growth!

Every prayer for these individuals would be greatly appreciated. They are what keeps me going; knowing that there are more people just as precious as the ones we've found, simply waiting to learn about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Truly this is the Lord's work. 

- Elder Williams

Pictures:
1. This is the Bradshaws; parents of a missionary who worked on my parents ranch back at home just a few months ago!
2. Sunsets in Milford.
3. Computer work post-exchanges.
4. Elder Hansen!
5. On the way to Greenville.
6. The view from Beaver!
7. Name the last time you saw milk with this expiration date!








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