Monday, November 14, 2016

NOVEMBER 14, 2016

Hey Y'all, 

This week has been pretty crazy to say the least. I guess it is Louisiana though so that is expected :)
Elder Hicken and I have been working hard together and doing well. He is a really nice guy that loves computers and games. He was telling me about all of the various systems he has hacked into and what not haha so that was pretty funny. Unfortunately, on Thursday while we were biking along, his feet got all caught up in the tires and he took a bit of a spill. He was alright afterward, but he hurt his wrist pretty bad and so hasn't been able to bike at all the last few days. That has made things pretty interesting haha. We have just been tracting like crazy near our apartment and trying to find those in our area that are truly ready for the message of the Restoration. We actually had quite a bit of success though! We taught several really nice people out on their porches while they were smoking their cigarettes :D Hey, you gotta start somewhere I guess! Many of them were pretty receptive and interested in hearing more though. We are hoping to see some of them again this week! 

Funny food story of the week: So Bro. Johnson calls us up and asks if we can come and do service on Saturday morning.We get to his house in the morning and he immediately asks us if we are hungry. Now at this point I had already eaten a bowl of cereal, but we were like, "yeah sure." So he calls his Mom who lives a few houses down the street and tells her to fix some food for the hungry missionaries haha. We go down the street and eat some good eggs, bacon, and grits. Grits is like a weird wheat oatmeal type dish that people eat for breakfast. Interesting taste for sure. While eating Bro. Johnson was talking about ordering pizza and all this stuff for us during the day while we work. Haha only in Louisiana do people talk about there next several meals while eating a meal. So, we finish up eating and head back to start doing service. We start tossing wood and cleaning out his construction project and 30 minutes later he comes back with 2 full bags of McDonald's Mcgriddles. There were at least 20 of them for the 6 of us missionaries. So we end up eating a third breakfast all before 10:30 haha. We get back to work and I kid you not  literally within 20 minutes Bro. Johnson's papa walks in with 4 large pizzas. Now of course Bro. Johnson puts 2 of them directly into the oven since we are starving missionaries HAHA. To make a long story short we had breakfast, 2nd breakfast, lunch, and dinner all before 11:30 a.m haha. We were so sick to our stomachs haha it was hilarious.

Our recent convert Sonny is still in the hospital, but I am happy to say that he is recovering quickly and doing well. We have been able to go and see him several times this week and read scriptures with him. The first night that we went and saw him was on Saturday night last week. At this point he was still coughing up blood. However, we were able to give him a priesthood blessing, and then went to see him again on Tuesday.  He was looking so much better and was strengthening his lungs with a blow machine dealio. He absolutely loved reading the story of the stripling warriors in Alma about how these young men fought valiantly against the Lamanites and were preserved by God. We talked about how because they were faithful and obeyed God's commandments that none of them were slain even though all of them were wounded. He loved this story, because he was severely wounded, but by the grace of God he was preserved because of his faithfulness. What a blessing it is to be able to live in a time where the the priesthood is on the Earth and the fullness of the gospel has been restored. It is such a blessing to be able to share this wonderful truth with those that I come in contact with.

We were trying to get in contact with Mr. Moore all week to get his baptismal interview scheduled, but were unable to reach him until Saturday. On Saturday we did a lot of service for Bro. Johnson at his house to prep his house to be the living quarters of Sonny, Tory, and a couple other guys. He has the thought of turning his house into a MTC type place where learning the gospel is incredibly prevalent. I think this is a great idea for all of these recent converts to be able to strengthen their testimonies and get a feel for missionary life. I am a strong believer that the environment in which people live plays a vital role in maintaining the standards of God. When we surround ourselves with positive influences and people that help us strengthen our faith we become more protected from the fiery darts of the adversary. I think this will really help these guys. So, Mr. Moore was there helping us get everything ready. We were able to talk to him and try and figure out his concerns. He told us that he had lost his phone, and we should be able to reach him this week. We are hoping this is the case, but he wasn't at Church yesterday and so we are still a bit unsure. We are going to try and meet with him more formally this week.
While sitting in church wondering why some of our investigators aren't keeping commitments I thought of the life of Christ. Not only did He set the perfect example for us to follow, but He made the most essential and ultimate sacrifice for each and everyone of us. Now why don't all people accept this truth in their lives and follow him? The reason that came to me while pondering this question was the idea that God gave each one of his children a remarkable blessing. This blessing is agency. It is our individual chance to choose the path that we want to follow. Whether that path is following our loving Savior or trying to find our own way, it is up to us. As hard as it is to see people lose track of His incredible example, I have come to recognize that it is only my opportunity to Invite others to come unto Christ not push them unto Christ. However, I know that the only way for people to find that light is to invite them to partake of the goodness of God and share with them the happiness that it has brought in my life.

Well, that will do it for this week! Thanks for your prayers. I love y'all very much!
Love, 
Elder Wilson