Hey y'all,
This week was chalk full of miracles! We were a bit nervous since this week was finals week here at LSU, but it ended up being one of the greatest weeks yet :) I feel like I say that every week, but think it is true haha. The mission just gets better and better! As you can imagine the beginning of the week was a bit of a struggle since everyone is cramming for tests, but we were still able to stay busy and help uplift people's spirits with short scripture verses. It was actually really cool sharing quick scriptures with people during passing to help calm those finals' nerves!
One miracle this week was with our investigator Sufyan and Tarif. Both are finishing up this year at LSU and Sufyan is moving back to the middle east for the summer and Tarif is moving to Washington D.C. for an internship. We were able to teach them a couple times this week even with finals which was great and they are still super excited about baptism. Tarif is leaving sooner than Sufyan though so we are getting him in touch with the Washington D.C. missionaries. Boy would I love that referral :) And Sufyan we are hoping to give him the chance to be baptized before he leaves. Pres. Hansen said the Jerusalem area is a great place for new converts so that should be great. Miracle: He was able to make it to church this week and seemed to really love it! We him and Tarif on Saturday with Vernon, one of the recent converts in the ward, and it was awesome hearing Vernon's conversion story since he was just baptized about a year ago. Also, Vernon and all the ward members reached out to him at church, and since Vernon is the same year in school he is going to keep in touch with Sufyan for the fall semester here at LSU. Anyways, the MIRACLE: Sufyan told us that he read the Book of Mormon for five minutes before two of his finals and said that those were the ones that he scored a 99% and 97% on!!!! The church is true y'all! Sometimes when we promise our investigators blessings for reading the B.O.M we are unsure of the outcome and may worry. But why?? It reminds me of when Peter was allowed to walk on water out toward Jesus. He had the faith, but once he feared he fell into the water. This strengthened my testimony in promised blessings. Our Heavenly Father loves all us and WILL bless us for following Him even in small ways.
Miracle: We got a call from the referral center telling us how we were slacking on the one referral that we apparently had. They were very nice about it though so no worries! We never have referrals here and we are specifically the missionaries for the YSA so we must have just overlooked this 55 year old lady that was wanting a Book of Mormon. We decided to go and find her immediately. We made it to her apartment and miraculously she was outside waiting for us. What? I know right! She had been thinking about it all day and was just outside. We taught a great restoration lesson and are excited to hand her off to the other missionaries here in BR. It is amazing how the Lord really guides us in this wonderful work. He prompted the referral center to give us a call :)
On Wednesday we had Mission Leadership Conference. It is always great hearing from Pres. and Sister Hansen and looking for ways to improve. It turned out great too, because it was flood/tornado warnings all day so we were safe and sound :) A lot of the insights were about having members be more involved like having them go and read the B.O.M with investigators. Members are sooo important!!!
Another Miracle this week was on Sunday: We had five investigators make it to church!! Needless to say it was too much for us to handle on our own. Luckily the ward members all came in clutch! We texted many of them before to give them a heads up, but a lot of them just jumped up and helped so much. George came and sat next to his old friend Noah and I sat with him and a guy named Nathaniel. Nathaniel we just recently started teaching and he told us that he knows the church is true and that Joseph Smith is a prophet, but he just is too invested in his other church. All about that money.... He seemed to really enjoy the service though so who knows! Elder Teare sat with Sufyan and Vernon in the next row. Then since we have so many ADT summer sales guys here that are RM's from BYU-Idaho they totally helped us fellowship Easa and Joe at church. It was a miracle. Everyone seemed so included and loved.
We also had the awesome opportunity to help out a local BR ward do a day of service. We all met at a local school for autistic kids and helped make it look super good. We repainted all of the wooden posts and benches and just did tons of yard-work. I was able to get the trimmers out and everything. All those summers of yard work came in handy :) straight edge yard-work/post painting haha.
It was an amazing week! I wish I could share everything. I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world and he loves us. He wants each and everyone of us to know that he is there and cares about us. I am so grateful to be able to share this message. I am excited to skype on Sunday! I can't even believe the time.
Love,
Elder Wilson
