Kjære Døker  (Døker is dialect for dere btw)​,

The trio life this week was so great! We were busy all the time and that is the way I like it. :) We went on splits a couple of times: one time with me and Søster Neilson teaching Norsk lessons with a member from the ward, and another time contacting... It was Søster Neilson's first time contacting! So she and Søster Robbins went on one side of the street, and I contacted by myself on the other side of the street. (sight and sound rule at it's finest!) Some fun things from this week:

-Visiting bestemor (Grandmother) in the hospital with the elders

- Visiting our new convert Ingibrigt and scarfing down this nasty cake thing called blodkaker (It tastes like nothing. and the worst part is the enormous amount of whipped cream on the top that doesn't include any sugar in it...) and chugging hot chocolate then sharing a quick quick message because we had to run out of there to catch a bus for our appointments. 

- having a man from Zimbabwe tell us ,"before, I didn't really know that white  people believed in Jesus, so it's really nice to see you out here.". He said he would meet with us again, but he didn't take our Book of Mormon.

-teaching an investigator from the other søstres area. He has dreadlocks and has to wear sunglasses inside because of brain damage from some bad choices with drugs in the past.

-Going to an African couple's home to teach about the restoration.... she was making traditional euritrain coffee on the floor next to us.... it was interesting.

- Going to another baptism! Hooshyar is one of the elder's investigators that was baptized on Saturday. Afterwards, his friend Enoch made us all Indian food

-Learned some french from Charles and Joseph: Joyeux Noèl means merry Christmas! 

-Going banking (pronounced bonking) and catching a bunny that had gotten out in the person's front yard

-Learning how to KNIT! That night was skikkelig Norsk (completely Norwegian) and I loved it! We had dinner at the home of a less active young adult. Her parents are not members, but they are so good! After being there, I just wanted to be Norwegian! Also her Dad looked at me and thought I was Norsk, so... there you go! He told me about how Leif Erikson's wife had read hair and she was really good with a sword. random.

Ahh! There were just so many things that happened! and then we had moves call on Sunday.... where everyone finds out who is moving. This is the news. My companion Søster Robbins is moving to Oslo and my new companion is Søster Hoggard from the MTC! I LOVE this girl! It is the strangest situation though, because now we will be training each other... I am going to be required to rely more on the Lord than I ever have in my entire life. 

And that is a blessing. This week it hit me that the Lord wants all of us. He doesn't want half our heart or a little bit of our attentions, just a few of our thoughts, and only a handful of our actions. The Lord wants us to give him EVERYTHING. We are to love Him with ALL our heart might mind  and strength. and here is the thing. This is what he wants and commands of us, so that we may be able to receive all the many blessings he has in store for us. But his love is not limited to our fulfillment of this the first great commandment. He loves us at every stage of our growth.

I was reading in Mark the week, and the story of the rich man hit me hard. Mark tells of a man who was running to get to Christ. running. that means that this guy has got drive! okay then this guy falls on his knees at the feet of the Savior and praises him. He then asks what he needs to do to have eternal life. Christ explains that he needs to be obedient. the scriptures say: "Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come,take up the cross, and follow me."

 I was touched by the phrase "And Jesus beholding him loved him." Jesus had so much love towards this man who had kept his commandments. And then he explains how this man can further progress, and that is to give everything he has to follow Christ. That is what He asks of each of us, and he does not apologize for it. We as missionaries invite people to completely change their lives for Christ, and we do it boldly because we are confident that the Lord has much greater things in store for them. We are able to do so boldly because of love. Because of Christ's love and the Father's love and mercy in the gift of his son.

I testify that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. May we always remember him, and strengthen our resolve to be like Him. This is what unites us. This is what strengthens our personal relationships with God. This is why I am serving a mission. 

I love you all and am so thankful for you- perhaps even just a little more thankful this week than other weeks because it is Thanksgiving. :) I love you more that all the frost here in Norge... which is a heck of a lot! 

Med Kjærlighet (With love),

Søster Stephanie Joy Williams

Kjære venner

November 17, 2014

Another week in Norge..... what the heck? Sometimes in our apartment we talk about we have no concept of time and besides the hour-to-hour activities in everyday, time doesn't matter. That to me is super cool. :)

It was our first 1/2 week as a trio this week! I was a little nervous at first, but it has been really great. I really need Søster Neilson in my life. She has the biggest heart. So because we are combining two areas for these two weeks, we were pretty busy this week, which is just the way I like it! This week: I made a few phone calls in Norwegian (super hard and a little scary for me because there is no body language involved so I can't guess what they are saying from any gestures!), drove a car and accidentally ran a red light... or a few (Hey, in my defense, the stoplights here are different that in America!), had to eat a raw onion, Visited this crazy lady in our ward with the other greenie, played a super strange game at game night called munchkin, got a bruise from playing a hockey-type game on Saturday at our sport activity, listened to stake conference, taught several Africans, and learned a lot about the kind of missionary I want to become. 

But real quick going back to the onion thing.Every once in a while, our Zone will get together and have a Zone Leader Training- so a little conference that is lead by our Zone leaders. And let me preface this by saying that Elder Shanklin and Childs are... out of the box thinkers. They had us do an activity to demonstrate the importance of updating our area books. We split up into 3 teams and were each assigned a grocery bag. The goal of the activity was to be the team that finished eating all of the contents in the grocery bag. So one team member would run up, grab the first thing out of the bag, unwrap it (everything was wrapped up in tin foil so you couldn't tell what it was), eat the whole thing, and then tag the next person in your team to go and pick and eat something else. Doesn't sound too bad, right? Yeah except for some of the things in each grocery bag included a cold hot dog, half an onion, half a lemon, 3 rice cakes (aka Styrofoam). Some people got lucky and unwrapped things like candy, chocolate, and fruit. I went first and got the rice cakes which just in case you are wondering, are super hard to eat and swallow super fast! and everyone else in our team went. After everyone had gone in our team, there was one item left in the bag. the onion. So I was like, "hey team, lets do this together and all take a little piece!" only half the team came and helped..... but that's alright! 

The funniest thing out of the whole thing is that the debriefing of the activity was simply "area books are like the game we just played. You never know what you are going to get. Sometimes you get to a new area book and everything is updated and awesome, it's like unwrapping chocolate. And other times it's super bad and disorganized, and is like unwrapping something not so pleasant, like an onion or lemon." Was lingering onion breath for the rest of the day required for me to have learned this lesson? Probably not.... but I guess I give those guys props for being creative and entertaining. :)

On a more spiritual note, we went over to teach out investigator J this week about commandments. is friend C that is usually there to help translate for him was out of town, so the language barrier was thick. However, He was still able to know and understand what we were teaching and he bore a beautiful simple testimony of the commandments and God's and in his own life. I am so thankful that in all I do as a missionary, the spirit is the main language that is heard and felt. I am so thankful for this Gospel and for the knowledge that I have and the opportunity I have to be sharing it. 

Jeg er så glad i dere! 

-Søster Williams

ps I am so lucky to have friends serving here with me in Norway! The picture is of me and Elder Witbeck from my home stake. 

My good friend Synne.  She lived with my cousins for a year as a foreign exchange student!

Way, way awesome week!

November 3, 2014

Hei san alle,

Some fun things that happened this week include carving pumpkins with some ward members, actually teaching people who didn't cancel with us, teaching a 1st lesson while on splits, playing volleyball with our district... and Jaroslav..., helping a non-member move from the 3rd floor in one building to the fourth floor in another building (both of which did not have elevators), Zone conference! (which means I got to see my companion from the MTC and Elder Cole Whitbeck from home as well as make lots of new missionary friends!), a Halloween party with the ward, finding less-actives,and having a strictly Norsk meal (which consisted of meat cakes, potates, some weird pea-thingy, veggies, Tyttebær sause and a unique cake... which I can't remember the name of right now. All made by a lady in the ward. so amazing!) to break our fast. And the very very best part: WE HAVE A BAPTISMAL DATE! We taught this guy J, a friend of one of our recent coverts (C), for the very first time this week. We asked him if he wanted to be baptized and he said yes! C and J are both from Africa. J said that he had found the church in his country and had been looking for our church here. wow! His baptism date is for the 22nd. Miracles my friends! I am truly seeing miracles- hver dag.

I could go on and on in detail about each of these events, but nonetheless, not even my own personal journal gets such a treat because this is the Lord's time and not mine. You'll have to ask me for details later... :) 

The most important thing I can do with my emails is share my testimony in hopes that by reading mine, you may strengthen yours. This week I felt sad. A depth of sadness that brought me to tears at times. I felt sad that the Lord's work depends on Someone so imperfect like me. I'm fine with living with my weaknesses- I have them and I accept them, and so the source of my sorrow did not necessarily stem from a feeling of inadequacy, but from feeling sad that the Lord had to trust me to do his work. Yes, I wear the name badge everyday, but I will always fall short of the calling to be a representative of Christ. Taking these feelings with me to Zone conference, I searched for peace. And what I got was not what anyone said, it was a thought that came from the spirit clothed in the ideas presented in that service class at BYU that I took my last semester. "The best kind of service is the service that allows those you are serving to serve." 

The Lord is perfect. He serves me by letting me serve Him imperfectly. It's like when you are playing a game with a little kid and you play in such a way that allows them to win. The Lord is all powerful. He could do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. However, he lets us imperfect full-time and member-missionaries serve because he loves us. He desires for us to share in the joy of bringing souls back to Him. 

The part about me never being able to really fulfill my calling gets swallowing up the the glory of Christ's atonement. Life is simply better when you choose to acknowledge the truth that failure is inevitable but with the power of the atonement, failure doesn't have to be permanent. I am so thankful that I get to work not just for the Lord, but with the Lord. He truly transforms us if we let him. I have seen that happen in my life as well as in the lives of people in the scriptures and people around me. The name tag I wear everyday reminds me that I am a living testimony of the power of Christ and His atonement. It is the very best. I am living the dream! 

In our Zone conference we talked a lot about working with the members. And as I was thinking about it, the reason we work with members is because we want members to feel the joy and happiness that comes from doing missionary work! We want to have them have missionary experiences, because they are precious and fill us with joy. If you are a member and you are reading this, Pray with real intent for a missionary experience. The Lord wants to bless you to feel more happiness! If you are a missionary, kudos to you! If you are not apart of this church, I invite you to find out more about The knowledge that has made me and countless others so happy. 

I can never thank you all enough for the prayers and support. You are truly amazing. Have a great week! Jeg er glad i dere! 

Med Kjærlighet,

Søster Williams