Elder and Sister Williams' Nevada Reno Mission: Loving the Mission Life

Well, it’s been a couple of weeks and it is still my turn to write the blog. It’s not that I haven’t written because there is nothing going on but there’s a lot going on so I haven’t written.

We have turned that corner in our mission where we feel like an actual part of the ward and the people are not just our ward members but are now our friends.

A really great day is when we knock on the door of people who are not regular church attenders and who have never met us and they welcome us with open arms. Makes you wonder how many wards have those people who are just waiting for someone to welcome them back to the fold.

We have 4 or 5 families that we have been teaching on a regular basis. Most are less active but we are also teaching 8-year old Bradley. Marc wrote about him. He has very little gospel knowledge but it’s like teaching a sponge. He just soaks up everything we tell him. The first week we explained who God was and talked about prophets, including some stories such as the story of Daniel. Last week at the beginning of our lesson we asked him if he remembered who God is. He said “He’s the one who gives special powers to people.” (Well, that’s true but we had to ask him to explain what he meant.) He said “like when he gave special powers to the guy in the Lion’s den so the lions couldn’t hurt him.” We gave him a Bible and a Book of Mormon (along with the Children’s Book of Mormon Stories). He was so excited. He held them up and said, “Oh, you mean THIS book was written for the people in the Old World and THIS book was written for the people over here?” Then he held them together. It was quite a remarkable visual. He’s just so adorable and we just love him and can’t wait for him to be baptized. Next time we plan to take 8 year old Braxton and his mom with us. Braxton already made a prayer rock for Bradley! If you don’t know what a prayer rock is, it’s a small decorated rock that you put on your pillow to remind you to pray. The theory being that if you forget, your head hits the rock and you remember, ha-ha. Kids are just awesome.

Steam Train

Two Saturdays ago we took the steam train from Carson City up to Virginia City. The Sevys (brand new office couple) went with us on their first outing in Nevada. A wonderful time was had by all. As you may know, Virginia City is an old western mining town. You may remember it from Bonanza. As we were standing there taking pictures, 6 or 7 wild horses just came walking by big as life and happy as you please. They walked right by us up to some guy’s house and started helping themselves to his pears. I think it must have been a regular thing for them.

I am including pictures (below) taken at our Senior Couple pot-luck for the departing office couple, the Sapps. The office here is amazing! I may be a little jealous. They each have their own office. With doors! And there are couches!

We are loving our ladies at the memory care center. They love to hear bible stories. Last week I told them the story of Jesus healing the blind man. They remember who Jesus is but most forget the stories. When I finished, one lady had tears in her eyes and another crossed herself. It felt good to add just a little uplift to their day.

We are finding more to do and maybe even feeling a little less guilty about when we are not as busy. We are loving the mission life.