Hey y'all,
This week was fantastic! We were able to do several exchanges in different parts of the mission and just tried our best to take lift off in the finding investigator pools!
We went up to Pineville, Louisiana and I got to go on exchange with Elder Gordon from my MTC group. We were just giving it everything and had such a great time serving. It was pretty intense though! He had like a mile tracker dealio and apparently we hit 20 miles on the bikes haha. It was a blistering at least 80 with humidity and all and Pineville is straight hills in the country side :) Good times! I thought Louisiana was completely flat, but I can sure testify (and my legs could for 3 or 4 days) that I haven't seen more hills in more than 6-8 months than in Pineville, LA. I mean it almost felt like the good ol Highland hills of Pocatello! We went tracting at this apartment complex and saw so many miracles and talked to so many people prepared for the message. It was sure refreshing as well. I think Heavenly Father was blessing us for our treking. We met several families and one lady was like, "if Jesus Christ had a church on the Earth today i would totally be a part of it." We were like, "Alright, well we will see you at church on Sunday then!" Sure enough she came :) Haha it was awesome! We worked hard and saw amazing miracles!
Back on the home-front one of our investigators, John, (the Meredith street family) came to church on Sunday. He seemed to love church, and the sacrament meeting was seriously incredible. The speakers were so inspired! He said he wants to bring his wife and granddaughter soon. We also talked with Sheryl at church and she is loving primary. She also had an amazing miracle this week. The sister missionaries went to visit her and ended up running into her two daughters that have kinda been avoiding us lately. They talked with them for a bit and apparently it went really well! Sheryl told us at church that they were being funny but told her, "Mom, after 45 churches (a bit of an exaggeration, but sounds familiar right?) we think you finally found the true church." So awesome! They seem more interested in the gospel now and Sheryl is so excited to share it with them and bring her granddaughters to primary with her :)
One of the nights this week we were out trying to contact a less active and ended up knocking on this door. Before we knew it, an African lady invites us in and just sits us down on the couch. About 60-80 seconds later she comes out with a massive platter of Fried plantain bananas and chicken legs haha. We hadn't even really introduced ourselves yet and she was like (in a west african accent), "You are like my sons. You come in and eat food." So let's just say we weren't going to argue with this African lady haha :D We just look at each other and start stuffing our faces. We had stopped for a mintue and she was like, "Why you no finish." .....we finished! LOL Meanwhile African jams are just bumping in the background. We tried turning them off, but I guess it is part of the culture and she just turned them down like 3 notches, but like almost nothing haha. Next thing we knew she was bringing out 2 wine glasses, and this glass container with suspicious red liquid in it. At this point we were nervous and completely sick to our stomachs. No worries though, we somehow dodged that one and got out of partaking. Anyways, it was super awesome and we ended up trying to teach this other lady in there about the Book of Mormon. It took about 20 minutes to explain "A pillar of light." but it was great nonetheless. We also brought her a copy in French the next day. "I want to learn more about Mormon book."
We were also able to meet with DeMarcus a few times this week and taught him about the Plan of Salvation. We are just trying to teach it slowly and simply for him to better understand. He is such a good guy, and I just feel this connection with him. I am really excited to keep teaching him and sharing the restored gospel with him.
This week was one for the books. There are times when I wonder why the Lord so willingly shows us his love and guidance, but then the thought comes to me, "why wouldn't he?" When we look to him he will always look to us. I have honestly come to find the truth about our Savior and the gospel especially amidst the couple times this week where I had to defend the faith and my own conviction. "The adversary knows that faith in Christ--the kind of faith that produces a steady stream of tender mercies and even mighty miracles--goes hand in hand with a personal confidence that you are striving to choose the right."- Elder Klebingat I know that this is true. When we are striving to do our best, all we can do is smile, because we know Heavenly Father will bless us. I love y'all so much and hope everyone is doing great!
Love,
Elder Wilson
