153 Fish 9-8-25

What a weird awesome fun wild Joyful exhausting week! I'm gonna break it down but I love and miss all of you and want you to know you are cared for! This past week had some highlights and some lows but let's do this thing!! Monday was super cool we had an all mission zoom meeting! Our mission had a Goal to baptize 62 people in the month of August and to be honest. Our all mission record was 61 back in February but we hit our goal we baptized 63!! It was a tender moment where we all gathered and rejoiced and Gloried in our God! Tuesday I was flipping exhausted to be honest I'm tired every day but we saw some cool miracles. We walked around the mall and some metro stations talking to people but no one seemed interested. We later walked by a circus and saw some construction dudes and asked about it. One of the guys asked us for some materials so we got to talking to him and our purpose as missionaries. We talked about how we baptize and help people come unto Christ and he said he lived in Georgia. We took down his information said we'd have the missionaries in Georgia reach out and walked away. As I walked away about 100 yards later I had an impression. "He is in Virginia until October you can teach and baptize him before he Flys back" I stopped in my trackes went back and talked to him and invited him to be baptized and he was so ready he said "God is so aware of me and Lord knows I am struggling right now" Wow the power that comes from following the spirit. He said when we invited him he just got excited and knew it was what the lord wanted for him! Later that day we had a member meal with one of our older members he lives with a less active ex military fbi secret agent guy we became buddies with. When we got to their house our friend was headed to the Gas station to get gas and he asked if we would like to go with him. We Said yes so he took us in his mustang he built and drove us around it was awesome! We went shopping with him and just ministered to him. He was struggling but that's ok. We offered a blessing and that night we gave him a blessing and I had the opportunity to perform it. The spirit was almost tangible in that room and I could feel how much God wanted to bless this man. I will never forget. Wednesday we had zone conference and I was actually called upon by my mission president to give a talk on why Baptism is Important to me and why it's Important to the Savior. With little preparation I went with what I had and the spirit was strong and my testimony grew. That was really cool. We had a powerful zone conference where we learned the vision that God has for this mission. Over the last couple months our mission president has been seeking to know what's possible in our mission and overtime he has been led and guided until at one point he read John 21 10-11 10 Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught. 11 Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken. At that moment he felt the spirit wash over him and he knew the Lord wanted this mission to baptize 153 souls in one month. Right now our goal is 76 we are meeting the lord halfway and allowing him to take us there. I felt deeply impressed I am mean to be here and the Lord would use to me to help this mission accomplish that. Alot of what the mission president relayed aligned with what we have been doing in our area and I have a firm testimony this is the lords work. Unfortunately I have faced some weird opposition in my personal life I have been tried and it's hard. I got an opportunity to exchange with a wonderful Elder who has been on his mission for 6 weeks and he was like "yessss opposition before the miracles let's gooo" He has so much enthusiasm it's awesome! I got to help him on this exchange and it's powerful every time. He needs things I have learned and it's a blessing to be able to help others. I love him so much. That exchange I had a really weird interaction where the spirit left so fast and that night I had nightmares. Just some weird stuff but I'm all good. I have Joy when the lord allows me to serve his children and work hard! One of the most Joyful experiences I had this last week was as we were Biking we ran into the father of the family we are teaching from Ethiopia and he was so happy to see us!!! He said everytime he sees us he just feels happy and rejoices in Christ! We asked if we can share a message and he made it work! He really wanted to serve us and he kept asking what he can do to help us so we just said be receptive to what we share and we want to baptize your family and he was so excited! That night at 9pm. we shared a message with the whole family on Baptism and the Book Of Mormon. The spirit was so strong and we invited the whole family to be baptized September 21st!! They said they will talk about it and make a decision as a family. Honestly though the father and kids want to be baptized but the mother is hesitant. After the message the father was so happy he asked if he could give us a ride home and we said yes! I have never seen a man more happy to give us a ride than this man!! He was so happy to help us and his son came and they kept talking how much they loved the message and rejoiced in God the whole way home! I will never forget the Joy I saw in that family. The next day was Saturday and the whole day the kids and the father just read the Book of Mormon and they were so happy! On Sunday they came to church and were so happy! Everyone came but the mom. The mother has never been to our church services because she keeps going to the Ethiopian Orthodox church. I have seen the spirit and the difference in progression between her and the rest of her family because of church. The sacrament is powerful. Please pray for this family the Amare family! Conversion is hard and it's hard because God told me this Family can be baptized on September 21 but that all depends on their agency! I love them so much and I desire to see them make a covenant with God. I see God's love when I am around them. Missionary work is hard but it's worth it. Baptizing is not easy but I will always give my all. Sometimes it's hard when you give your all and you'll face lots of opposition, but who said it'd ever be easy? D&C 87-88 87 Behold, I send you out to reprove the world of all their unrighteous deeds, and to teach them of a judgment which is to come. 88 And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up. I love you all thank you for keeping me in your prayers Feel free to Drop a line! Happy late Birthday to Greta Murray!! "Stay sweet" Elder Williams