Second-to-last Week Shenanigans

Greetings friends, family, and the rest! It is I, Elder Williams, back

to report the fun-filled happenings of this past week! (Of course, I

finally think of another intro on my second to last email. Oh well...)

This week was pretty fantastic! It all started with Monday, which was

District activity. We played Ultimate Frisbee on the UofMaryland

campus (Go Terpes) and then went to the institute building and

chilled, played ping pong and jenga (I witnessed the most intense game

of Jenga I've ever seen in my life on that day) and ate some wonderful

desserts (I almost wrote "deserts" which are quite a bit hotter and a

lot less tasty). Overall, it was a great way to spend my final

District activity!

On Wednesday, we had transfers (Talbot, Brown, and I are staying

together, but I had to go up there anyways since I am going home at a

weird time and therefore did all of the departing stuff with the group

that went home this week). As a result, I was able to go through the

temple for one last time on my mission, which was pretty great! After

that, we went to the mission home to hang out, have lunch and dinner,

and have one big Testimony meeting with the Johnsons. We also were

visited by the Cookes (previous mission President and wife, which was

SUPER awesome and I loved being able to see them again!). It was a

super great night!

On Friday, we got to meet Lamin, a Muslim man who is super interested

in hearing about other religions (mostly for informational reasons)

and when we taught him about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon,

he told us that his particular sect of Islam believes the exact same

thing that we do, except that they believe that Christ isn't the Son

of God and that when he was crucified, his spirit went into a swan for

three days until it was able to reenter his body and after that he

spent his whole life traveling the world visiting the lost tribes of

Israel (which is probably the weirdest way I've ever heard someone try

to discredit Christ's divinity, but hopefully we can work through

that). Overall, it was a very cool meeting and I look forward to

seeing him one more time before I head out!

On Sunday, Christiana was baptized! I'm super excited that I was able

to see her be baptized before I left and I could tell that it was an

amazing and wonderful experience for her! I am super excited for her

and the amazing blessings and opportunities that will come to her to

grow closer to the Savior and continue along the path of the Gospel.

Although I'm sad that I won't be able to see her be confirmed a member

of the church (since she can only come every other week), but I look

forward to hearing about it after I get home! (I told Talbot that if

he didn't email me and tell me about it the P-day after it happened,

I'd kick his butt when he got home (all in jest, of course), so when

it happens, I'll know about it).

Well, that's about all from me this week! I love you all! Have a fantastic week!

Sincerely,

Elder Sam Williams

8301 Ashford Blvd #606

Laurel, MD, 20707

1-4. District Activity!

5. Departing temple trip!

6. Christiana's baptism!