July 15

Happy Summer Elder Williams,

 

I have been busily engaged in weeding the garden, admiring my flowers, and enjoying the fresh vegetables that are starting to produce abundantly. :) I love this time of year....early morning walks, working in the yard, and splendid days of sunshine. I hope you are feeling the same joy for the work you are accomplishing. Tell me about your people. We are thinking of them and pray for them every night.

 

I spent 3 days in Salt Lake at a conference being trained in a new project. I hope I can teach it this fall. It's really cool because it's all about self-direction, mission, and pursuing your own individual goals.It's something I want to work on personally because I feel the need to deepen my knowledge of the founding fathers, the Constitution, and our government. I am going to start on the book, The Real Thomas Jefferson.

 

I actually just finished reading a book titled The Happiness Project and it has many of the same principles that Ben Franklin used to improve his life. I liked it because it was about implementing incremental changes into your life in order to develop habits of happiness. It was excellent and really went along with what I learned this weekend in my training. It's funny how so many things are connected and how you can see relationships between science, history, government and living a good life. That's why I love reading....you discover classic ideas that help you grow and develop. Well....if you use them anyways. I love the scriptures too and I've finished the New Testament. I've never read the Old Testament completely through, so I'm going to give that a try.

 

 

I send you my love and admiration. Thank you for the service you are giving to our brothers and sisters.

Love,

Mom

 

 

 

Dear Mom,

It sounds like you've had a lot of good experiences last week. Your conference sounds like it was a good jump start on your studies.

I've had an eventful week! We had Zone Conference on Thursday, and the whole mission, all 220 missionaries, are going online. That means I'll be able to keep in touch with Chris while he is in Mexico. We can even teach him and help him prepare for baptism when he comes back.

I'm really excited because there are so many more resources available from the Church then there has ever been before. The work is hastening in so many new ways.

On Sunday we had a wonderful miracle. One of the people we have been teaching for a long time got baptized. His name is Lethan, and he is the brother of Kyle, my recent convert. He wasn't progressing, so we dropped him a long time ago. We went over to his house on Tuesday, but we weren't planning on teaching him. We were planning on teaching his brother, Kyle. Lethan came out, and I asked him of he wanted to be baptized. He said yes, so I asked him if he wanted to be baptized on Sunday. He said yes. The Spirit had changed his heart. I had the opportunity to baptize him yesterday, and it was a peaceful, powerful experience.

His mom is in a rehab program and has had a lot of struggles, but she was able to come and support him. Lethan even invited some of his friends, so they were able to share a spiritual experience with him.

I'm so grateful that I was able to be a part of Lethan's journey to this point, and I'm hopeful for the day when we can rejoice in Heavenly Father's kingdom.

Love,

Elder Williams