The Witness After the Faith - June 9

Ether 12:6: ``I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.´´

Yes. This scripture describes perfectly the situation that my companion and I find ourselves in this transfer! Fortunately, we are in the part of ``receiving a witness.´´ Sister Saavedra and I have spent three transfers together, which is a long time, in my opinion. We have seen a lot together.

When we first got to the area together, there were SEVEN people that the other sisters had been teaching who ALL had a baptismal date! So, our first transfer was spent getting them ready and teaching them everything that they needed to know before their baptisms! It was an amazing and busy transfer, and we were so blessed to see families growing closer to becoming eternal ones.

Our second transfer = NOTHING. We didn´t even find anyone who wanted to visit the church on Sunday! We spent a month without any progressing investigators, even though we were doing contacts ALL DAY and doing all that we could to find new investigators.

I did have some moments of discouragement, since it seemed as though so many people were just rejecting our message. I spent a long time wondering what I or we were doing wrong. Then, I remembered that Heavenly Father is in control, and that we can only do our part. I remembered the scripture in Ether, and I also remembered that I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY and that we can ALWAYS be doing good, even when we have no investigators to teach. I also remembered to humble myself and trust that this is the Lord´s work, and that for sure He is preparing people for us to teach. I also read many chapters in Alma in the Book of Mormon when the missionaries suffer through trials that are way worse than anything that I have had to experience here!

Alma 26:27: ``Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy bretheren, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success.´´

SO! The exciting part of this past week was when we taught only a part of the message of the Restoration to the girlfriend (Viviane) of a recent convert (Rafael). We didn´t get to the end of the lesson to the invite to baptism since we were short on time. After the lesson, Rafael said, ``So how is her baptism going to be?´´ And we said to Viviane, ``Do you want to be baptized?´´ (We didn´t even have to invite her!?!?) and she said, ``Yes!´´ WOO HOO!!! Now I understand why during the lesson, we said, ``You can read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it is true!´´ and Viviane said, ``I am going to pray TODAY!´´ Usually, we have to convince people of the urgency to know for themselves, but Viviane is already dying to know for herself! WHAT A GEM!

This is a MIRACLE that came after WEEKS of working tirelessly, talking to hundreds of people, teaching tons of first lessons that didn´t go anywhere afterwards, and being dropped by many investigators. WE ARE SO GRATEFUL that we never stopped working, and that Heavenly Father blessed us with someone that we can truly help, and who will listen to our testimonies that we have always been bearing with so much heart.

Alma 26:5: ``Behold, the field was ripe, and blessed are ye, for ye did thrust in the sickle, and did reap with your might, yea, ALL THE DAY LONG DID YE LABOR; and behold the number of your sheaves! And they shall be gathered into the garners, that they are not wasted.´´

Serving a mission is the best decision that I have ever made in my life, but there were so many tiny decisions that led up to this big decision. Missionaries have the best job in the whole world. :) I could explode sometimes with the happiness that I feel in sharing the Gospel with others every single day. I still feel the Spirit so strongly when testifying of the Book of Mormon and the reality of God´s love for us. I know that Christ is our Savior, and that all of our beliefs center around this fact. I am so happy that my brother is doing the exact same thing as I am right now! Wow. There is so much to be happy and grateful for. I love you all and hope that you have an amazing week full of your own tiny miracles.

Love,

Sister Williams