Conversion is a Family Matter

Much to my amazement, there don't seem to be very many planes down here in White Plains and that's just plain weird!

This week's story begins last week with Virgie, a referral that Elder Flandro and I had stopped by to see if she had been contacted (because previous missionaries had left no indication of such). She had been contacted, but it was a good thing that we stopped by because in the process of talking to her, she accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and invited us back this week. As such, we had our first appointment with her on Tuesday, and she is GOLDEN! As we taught her the Restoration, the Spirit was very powerful the whole time and she told us that she wants to be baptized by  the proper authority! She also told us to visit her daughter because she thought that she would appreciate the message of the restored gospel as well. Fast foreword a few days and we did exactly that! Her daughter, Lawan, let us in immediately and we had a super awesome and spiritual conversation with her as well! During which, she told us that she is interested in attending church, hearing the rest of the discussions with her mom, and trying to get her children baptized as well! I'm super excited to continue teaching all of them and see how they progress and grow closer together as the gospel blesses their lives!

This week, we also met with a woman by the name of Lisa and she also turned out to be super interested in the gospel (especially the Plan of Salvation) and told us that she would go to church as long as she could get a ride and will try to bring her family along with her and get them involved in the Gospel as she comes to church and meets with us! 

Heavenly Father truly does prepare people to hear His words, I know this to be true! I also know that the message of the Gospel can and will bless everyone and their families as they seek to follow Jesus Christ and the example He set for us!

Saturday was the "Day to Serve" for the state of Maryland (it's basically a state-designated community service day) and as a result, we went with members of our Ward and a few other wards in the stake to a farm that specializes in providing food to the homeless and struggling people in the community and spent a few hours harvesting potatoes and tomatoes and doing other assorted tasks to help around the farm. It was really fun and a super cool experience (I don't think I've ever seen so many potatoes in my life)! 

That night, after going around contacting some folks, we got home to see our roommates having a conversation with our downstairs neighbors who were very obviously drunk. We joined in the conversation and actually had a pretty good talk about our beliefs and getting along with those around us. One of them tried to convince Elder Flandro to wrestle him and was being pretty hilarious about it (one of our roommates recorded it, unfortunately, one of the guys had a bit of a dirty mouth so I can't share the video on a good conscious). Though on the bright side, we are now on much better terms with our neighbors!

I love you all! The Gospel is true and the Book of Mormon is the word of God! Have a fantastic week!

Sincerely,

Elder Sam Williams

Washington DC North Mission

11700 Falls Road

Potomac, MD, 20854

Day to serve with the missionaries from White Plains 1 & 2 and Patuxant  (Elders Schank, Oberhansley, Williams, Shih, Flandro and Hirzel)