Dream dreams...anticipate miracles.

Alex forwarded this email from her first companion, Sister Williams. It has some great quotes from Elder Holland to their mission:

Hello again from the Valley of the Sun! Oh goodness we have had such a crazy week and I don't know where to start. I'll try to keep it short.
We will see, haha!

Monday night we got an email saying here would be a last minute mission conference on Wednesday and to cancel our plans. So we did, and I had my suspicions of what was up... 


So Wednesday, we got to mission conference and they had it set up in
the gym for us to take a picture, so we went in and got ready, and waited. For an hour. Holy heck! All of a sudden we all got quiet. The
door opened slowly, and everyone stood up...in walked President and
Sister Griffin... And Elder Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He came back for us!

"It would've been a gap in my life if I didn't come and keep my commitment."

He was so exhausted. He shook each of our hands and looked into our eyes. He walked up to the stand and sat. I watched him as we sang the opening hymn, "Redeemer of Israel." That humble man closed his eyes and lifted his head toward heaven and sang not for us but for the
Savior. "Redeemer of Israel, our only delight, on whom for a blessing we call." You could see that he really was calling on the Savior for a blessing. As he stood at the pulpit, a new energy came over him, and I
know it could only have come from the Spirit.

He stood and set aside his notes, telling us that there was something else the Lord would have us learn today. He shared some of his own personal experiences, and used the analogy of a record breaking swimmer:

"The adversary would live, the adversary would love, the adversary would go to the bank and throw a party if he could discourage a missionary! So... You're not doing evil things, but maybe adversarial
things."

He talked about how in our missions, we are shooting up and improving greatly until about six months. We keep doing that, but to a lesser degree, until about a year, where, for a little bit we plateau, and
inevitably, decline. Then he said,

"But it doesn't have to be that way in Phoenix!" *Pounds pulpit. Hard.* 'I looked into your souls and you're one of the best missions I've ever seen! It doesn't have to be this way in Phoenix. We can change this. Please don't let it be that way here."

"Kick when you don't want to kick, and stroke when you don't want to stroke. Pull to the end of the tank."

"Swim until the pool turns pink and you throw up in the water!"

He talked about how we need to be finishers of the work, because Christ is the finisher of our faith and He finished His Fathers work.

"Be converted yourself, deep into your soul."

Then he talked about how to be really powerful missionaries. He said we have to have the Spirit, but in order to really get it, we have to desire it above everything else.

"YOU be the one who GETS it!"

'I've been to a lot of missions and it's rare to see missionaries who give it literally all they've got to the very end. But I see several here. I wish it wasn't that way, but those are the statistics. It's rare.

"BUT IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE RARE IN PHOENIX! IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE RARE FOR YOU."

Then he ended. He testified so powerfully of the Savior, sharing parts of the talk I shared a few weeks ago. He taught the importance of repenting every day. It was the most powerful day of my life. He talked about staying in this work until the end of our lives, and I know I'm rambling, so I'll share one more thought and wrap up.

He said that we have to be in this work all the way to Gethsemane and all the way to Calvary. We have to be in it to the garden tomb.

"I'm talking about miracles! I'm talking about salvation! I'm talking about change! Forget the numbers!" 'We are saving souls! This is the most important work you can ever do!'

Then he pleads, "I just need you to believe in miracles. I need you to believe in angels. Believe in the remission of sins and the Holy Ghost... Only one man ever had enough to pay for salvation and it wasn't cheap.... Elders and Sisters.... I wish the Lord would give me another fifty years to spend with you. And I would dream dreams with you. And I would see visions with you. And I would anticipate miracles with you."

I've never seen a person so kind, so loving, so completely and totally exhausted. But I've never seen a man so humble, so strong, so changed by the Savior in my life. I know I sat with an apostle of the Lord,
Jesus Christ. I know his talk sounds jumbled and like it has no theme, but it was everything to me. In my moment of exhaustion and defeat, in my wanting to give up, but choosing to push forward anyways, my Heavenly Father sent me His servant. I know he didn't come just for
me, but it felt like it. At the end, he looked into my eyes and said, "The Lord has a work for YOU to do."

It was a long and hard week. But I know that my Heavenly Father knows who I am. He knows where I am and what I need, and He has a work for me to do. I will kick when I don't want to kick and stroke when I
don't want to stroke. I will stay in it to the edge of Gethsemane and the summit of Calvary so that I can be a witness of Jesus Christ. I'm so grateful for Him. I love Him. So I will do His work, and I will try to do it His way. This is the best thing I've ever been blessed to be a part of.

I hope you all have the best week. Thanks for listening to me while I
ramble. I love you!

Sister Williams