Elder and Sister Williams NY NY South Mission: Conferences and Culper Spies

For some reason we seem to be getting busier as time goes on. I’m not sure why. It may be that I am not feeling so tied to the office. I love being in the office and helping the missionaries but I also love getting out and around the mission. I especially love going places with my companion even when it is just to deliver or pick up a car. My computer seems to be the one that the missionaries always want to use if they need one. So when they are on it that is my excuse to leave and go pick up things for a lesson or shop or just be out and be out and around the people of the area.

Friday was our Sisters’ Conference. It was pretty much all day with speakers and workshops for the sister missionaries (about 60 of us). We had a wonderful lunch—served by the President’s Assistants and the Senior Elders. It was great to be able to enjoy the conference and luncheon without having to be in the kitchen all day. Our theme was “Choose Joy.” It was all about how being happy is a choice that we can make even when everything seems to be going wrong. One returned missionary who had served in Guatemala said she was the most grateful for the difficult companions she had because they were the ones who taught her how to be happy even when things weren’t perfect. The conference was largely organized by the Sister Trainers and made me realize that not only will they become great leaders one day, but that they already are.

Marc’s job that day was to give driving tests. It is his job to make sure they are able to drive in the city. When he calls them to come take a test there are mixed reactions from excitement to dread. If they pass (which they pretty much all do) they are “green-dotted” which means they can now drive mission cars.

Yesterday (Saturday) Marc and I, along with our nurse, Sister Petersen, went out to the east end of the island to attend Culper Spies Day. The Culper Spies worked on Long Island (a British stronghold during the Revolution) carrying information across the sound to General Washington. They were based in the area around Setauket and Stony Brook. There are many fascinating museums and old churches and houses to visit—all on the Spies Day route.

I loved that wherever we went, people thought we were guides because of our name tags. We were asked many times about them and each time we would tell them who we were and why we were here they would say, “Oh, I love your genealogy libraries.” It made me wish I had a name tag that said, “Ask me about our family history program.” Even during a lecture in an old Episcopalian Church the lecturer stopped and asked who we were. Marc explained we were missionaries from the LDS Church and she deviated from her lecture to talk about how wonderful our genealogy websites were and that she had been to the library in Salt Lake. Others came up to us after the lecture as well to share their genealogy experiences. Our name tags seem to be our best missionary tool.

We love serving a mission and are having the time of our lives. We find that the young missionaries are constantly expressing their gratitude and I feel it is because they are living so close to the Spirit. Before training this week I tested a couple of different kinds of gluten-free pizzas (they were awful) so our new elder who is allergic to wheat could have pizza (in the past we gave them things like fruit, gluten-free pretzels, etc.) He was so grateful to be able to have pizza too that he even texted me later and thanked me effusively.

I am so very grateful to be blessed with a patient understanding husband that puts up with me even when the 100 degree weather makes me a little crabby. He’s the best!