Hey Y'all,
This week was a little tougher since it was the week before finals, but it was pretty great nonetheless! Although a lot of people were "busy" we worked hard and tried our best. Unfortunately a lot of our investigators are moving back home for the summer, but we have been getting in contact with other missionaries to refer them! Also, a couple of our good buddies in the ward that we have been going teaching with are leaving for their missions soon so that is pretty awesome! Kinda weird though, like a mission within a mission or something haha. I will include a few highlights for the week:
We have been teaching this investigator named Jenna who plays for the Quiditch team here at LSU, yes the Harry Potter sport haha. Apparently they run around with a broomstick between their legs and try and throw the various balls through the hoops. Anyways, funny story is that she came to the lesson with her wrist in a brace and Elder Teare asked if she got hit by a "bludger" like totally joking around since that is what happened to Harry Potter. But sure enough she was like "yeah actually" luckily they didn't do any weird spells on her so her bones are still intact :) haha so funny. She is moving back to Covington for the summer though and so we are going to get her in contact with the missionaries there! We taught her more about the Book of Mormon and the blessings that come from reading it.
We had an amazing lesson with our investigators George and Bentley. We were able to bring one of their long lost friends from elementary school, Noah Shexnayder, and had an incredible lesson about Alma 32. It was super cool to see everyone participate and it was the first time Bentley had ever sat in with us for a lesson. Bentley was making all sorts of parallels with the natural man and how it is easier to take that route, but when we have faith it pushes us along the harder route which turns out to be way more rewarding in the end when you can pluck the fruit thereof. It was super neat, because Noah hadn't seen Bentley in over 10 years but now he knows of a friend in the ward :) They all went to the Spanish branch here in BR this week since George knows a little bit of Spanish and they do service for his Mom at the Old State Capitol. They are such a great family.
We even took part in a firefighting miracle this week: We went and knocked on this door and it turned out to be a small family that was in the process of almost burning their house down. They opened the door and smoke just started billowing out like crazy. We ended up helping them get their small little girl out of the house and opened all of the windows. I truly felt like we were sent their for a reason even to just do a small act of service in helping them get out and opening the windows. It is amazing the miracles I am blessed to see on my mission. They were super nice and we had a cool discussion outside about their catholic beliefs. We found out they were cooking fried chicken and the oil started catching fire. It all turned out alright though, Fried Chicken Cajun style I guess haha ;)
I went on an exchange here at LSU on Friday with Elder Winn and had some great success. We were able to find a lot more people to teach here during the summer too. Amidst a few great lessons we were able to meet with Sufyan and Tarif, our Muslim investigators from the middle East. I think Palestine. We had an amazing B.O.M lesson with them using the pictures. We also shared Jesus Christ's visitation to the Americas. They loved it! The miraculous thing though was that they asked us how they can go to the temple. After they had listened to Elder Uchtdorf's talk during conference they have been looking at pictures about all of the temples around the world. They asked if they had to sign up online or something haha :) We told them all about baptism and joining the church later in 3rd Nephi 11. "I want to be baptized so I can go to the temple." the quote of the night. That was one of the most unreal moments I have ever had. The spirit was so strong as we bore testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel. They have been reading the B.O.M together and seem to be loving it. They told us that they were going to read the B.O.M five minutes before all of their exams this week, because we promised it would help. Now although I don't remember saying that, the spirit must have whispered that to them and I have faith that it will help :) Unfortunately they are leaving for the summer back to the middle east in just a few weeks, so we are trying to figure out what to do as far as their baptisms.
I know that this gospel is true with all my heart. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to gain a stronger testimony of it everyday as I share it. I love y'all so much and am so thankful for your love and support.
Love,
Elder Wilson
