Da Tigers! I first wanted to let you know that I didn't get blown away by the tornadoes or hurricanes last week so no worries there! We were on lock down for several hours, and thankfully no one was hurt. New Orleans East right by where I was just at got hit pretty hard though unfortunately. Keep everyone there in your prayers.
Happy Valentines Day everyone! I think I got y'all beat with my Valentine this year being the Savior ;) I am truly grateful that he has been here with me every step of the way. I know that He loved us so much that he was willing to be the perfect example and show us the way, the only way. I came across this quote this week and thought it pertained to this thought. "
Faith in our Heavenly Father and in His plan can be a source of inner strengthen through which we can find peace, comfort, and the courage to cope. As we put our faith and trust to work, hope is born. Hope grows out of faith and gives meaning and purpose to all that we do. It can give us comfort in the face of adversity, strength in times of trial, and peace when there is every reason for doubt and anguish."
This week was quite a crazy week in Baton Rouge! So much to say so little time as it always seems. On Sunday night my companion Elder Jensen started feeling really sick and then couldn't get out of bed all day on Monday. We weren't sure what was going on and he was in touch with a few of the mission doctors throughout the day. By Monday night the pain was intolerable and so we ended up getting a ride from the other missionaries near us to the emergency room. Well, after tons of tests it turned out that he had Appendicitis and was going to have to get his appendix removed. We had to stay overnight at the hospital for his surgery early this morning. It was crazy though, because they put him at the bottom of the list because of so many other patients I guess and almost didn't operate until the afternoon. Well, his appendix ruptured during the night and so it was a complete answer to prayer as the Nurse came in and said a spot had opened up at about 7:45 in the morning. Luckily his surgery went really well and he is resting up in the hospital for another day or 2. President and Sister Hansen came and it was a blessing to have them there to support him. Definitely a crazy night, but everything is good now! Please keep him in your prayers. The Baton Rouge south elders have a car and so we have been exchanging off so that one of us isn't stuck at the hospital as well. It will work out! Hopefully Elder Jensen can get back on his feet soon. In the mean time we are going to try and keep doing our best in sharing the gospel.
On Friday we had a zone conference and were able to watch the World-wide missionary broadcast. It was super great and I enjoyed listening to the members of the missionary executive committee. One thing that I especially liked was when Elder Bednar talked about how faith, repentance, and baptism are all interconnected and that we need to teach them all together and throughout the missionary lessons rather than just a checklist. I thought this was such a good insight, because I know that sometimes we can get caught up in just teaching the lessons one after another, but the important thing is to teach by the spirit and relate them all back to Jesus Christ.
It was super cool last week, because we were out contacting some of our potential investigators that we had talked to before and so we ended up stopping by a guy named Thomas' apartment. We knocked a couple times and were just about to leave when he opened the door and let us in. We talked with him for a good minute about our missions and why we are out here and everything and it was super cool. We found out about 15 minutes in that he went to high school with a Mormon named Derick. Well, it just so happens that Derick is our ward mission leader in the YSA ward!! That was awesome and what was also cool was that throughout the lesson/meeting one by one every single one of his roommates came and sat down and started talking to us. Apparently all of them went to High School together and were in Band together. We shared a little bit of the Restoration with them and are planning on going back on Thursday this week with Derick!
Miracle of the week:
After Church we decided to go tracting since all of our plans fell through, and unfortunately didn't realize how hot it was until we were pretty far from our apartment. 80 degrees in February, who would have thought!?!? Not I Charlie Brown. Well, we hit door after door at this apartment complex and had little to no success for several hours. It was ludicrous, but worth it just wait :) After a couple hours we were both super tired and so thirsty. We were getting a bit discouraged and of course exhausted. Well, we said a prayer just to have one person open up and maybe even let us get some water. I know our Heavenly Father answers our prayers, because after 1 more door of no answer a nice lady answered her door. She told us, "I'm not religious and I don't want to talk about religion, but can I offer you something to drink?" We excitedly said yes and thanked her as she brought us 2 bottles of root-beer. It was such a miracle and an answer to our prayer. Root beer never tasted so good! She may not have been interested that day, but we will go back again and maybe she will open up :) I know that our Heavenly Father loves us so much and wants to bless us, but we first must ask. As D+C 9:7 says, " you have supposed that I would give it unto you, when you took no thought save it was to ask me." So true. I bear my testimony that he loves us and wants to bless us, but we first must endure and then ask.
I love y'all so much! I hope everyone has a great week full of loving one another!
Love,
Elder Wilson
