Dear family, friends, and Chris,
This week was great!! It sometimes feels like I just blink and then I am writing another email for the week haha. It is crazy, bless my heart. At times I wonder if these emails even do justice with the blessings that the Lord shows me throughout the week, but I try my best regardless!
On Wednesday I picked up my new companion Elder Jensen, and he is straight out of the MTC. What a guy though! He went to BYU for a semester and is from Vancouver, Washington. It is funny because literally a year ago to the day my companion at LSU was named Elder Jensen from the same stake in Washington. They aren't related but knew each other. Small world. He is a funny guy and so I am way excited! Just picture this: He sleeps in a Hawaiin shirt and pajama pants hand crafted/cut at the knees. What more can I say. Reminds me of Sam Bennett at times haha.
The first day we started off hitting the doors and found a couple way cool people along with Elder Jensen's first attempt to share a Spanish restoration pamphlet with a Hispanic guy at the door. The guy just started reading it and we nodded our heads :) Just trying to get this guy on the right track haha. We have really been trying to find people that are prepared for the message and humble enough to listen. The best part about missionary work is that "the Lord looketh upon the heart" and just asks that we give our all.
Last week was the start of some Mardi Gras "festivities" and tomorrow is the official day. Our mission President has allowed us to attend one parade, and the one in Mandeville was last week so I made sure to break in the greenie with a little bit of Babylon ;) Jk the parades up here on the north shore are actually very family friendly so that was a blast! They say go where the people are right? haha. We ended up handing out over 400 pass along cards (before the parade) and talked to sooo many people. (only a couple drunk people haha) What better way to get the elder out of his comfort zone than giving him a stack of pass along cards and saying, "alright elder, good luck!" Haha just trying my best :D
Miracles of week: --We were out with a member contacting some people and everything was falling through. I felt prompted to call a PI that we met many weeks before named Jessica. She picked up the phone and said that today was the only day John (her husband) would be home for the next 4 months and so to come and share a message. We did and they are way awesome!! We had shared about the Restoration, and decided to have a shorter message on prayer. We are still trying to figure out how we are going to keep teaching them, but may end up having to hand them off to the sister missionaries. ---- We have been trying to get in contact with this lady being taught in Picayune that works in Mandeville, and finally Saturday we were in the area at the right time. We met her working at a local grocery store, and she told us she was getting baptized in one week. We were able to bear our testimonies and encourage her a little bit. We then told the missionaries teaching her and they said that they had been fasting for her that day and we answered their prayers. How cool? That was way neat. I love my mission and the opportunity to serve Heavenly Father. I think that one of the greatest feelings of joy comes from being led by the spirit to answer someone else's prayer. President Monson was an incredible example of following spiritual promptings, and I am continuing to see how incredible that really is.
I could continue sharing all day, but just want y'all to know that I know that this is the Lord's work and I am so happy to be a part of it. This week we have run into lots of Anti, and it reminds me of the beginning of my mission. Interestingly feels like a bit of a restart. However, it has only strengthened my testimony and faith. As Alma shares in Alma 33:14, "I would ask if you have read the scriptures? If ye have, how can ye disbelieve on the Son of God?" The truth is right in front of us, but it requires action on our part. We have to read and ask God for the truth. I know the Book of Mormon is true, because I have read it and can't keep from reading it. How could I ever disbelieve when the witness comes every time I open up the book and read from its pages?
I love y'all and hope you have a great week!
Love,
Elder Wilson
Saturday, February 17, 2018
Saturday, February 10, 2018
FEBRUARY 6, 2018
Happy Holidays from the north shores of Louisville!! Not a whole lot of time to write, but I will include some highlights. It turned out to be a really great week! This week is transfer week and so things have been a bit moved around, but received word yesterday of the news.
Turns out I will be training a new missionary here in Mandeville!! I am sooo excited! It is going to be awesome! It was a great transfer with Elder Holdaway and it flew by. Just can't wait to meet this guy and start rolling out the hotcakes right off the griddle over here. I am sincerely humble by this opportunity to "try a little harder, to be a little better." I am truly grateful for the things I have learned even just this last transfer, but am so excited to keep going and with the help of the Savior overcome the different obstacles that await. I am so grateful for the trust the Lord has extended, and can't wait to meet this elder!
Updates: So unfortunately some bad news with Alvin. We went over there to see him and ended up running into 2 undercover FBI agents looking for a black guy with dread locks. He had been praying on a baptismal date, but of course his past came back up as soon as he was close to changing everything around. I guess restitution is a step in the repentance process though! Not sure full details, but should give him some time to read the Book of Mormon too. He told us to keep working with his family and so that will be good still. His 9 year old son will hopefully be in the same trailer park with his extended family.
Miracle: This week I wanted to share a miracle that happened while studying. It has been an incredible experience for me to try to look for the tender mercies that the Lord sends us each and everyday. However, sometimes I forget that miracles can come in ALL ways. I know that when we look for them, we will see them. I was studying in Preach My Gospel about the "Light of Christ" because Alvin was having a hard time grasping the difference between it and the Holy Ghost. I continued to find interesting things about it, but nothing was fully answering the question I had. I decided to get on my knees and pray. Knowing that answers to prayers usually come after continued diligence, I kept reading. As I read the thought kept coming to my mind: "Brighter and brighter until the perfect day." I wasn't sure what it meant at first but went to the topical guide and ended up finding the scripture in D+C 50:24 in which that line is an excerpt of the scripture. It perfectly answered my sincere question. This life allows us the opportunity to gain more light and knowledge and become more like the Savior until the perfect day. I know that Heavenly Father really does answer our prayers, and that in and of itself is a miracle to me.
We were teaching a new investigator, and it was seriously one of the funniest lessons I have ever been in and that is saying something haha. We were just reading from the B.o.M in Mosiah 4 and he kept saying how he was feeling the spirit and "it was too strong." I was like so what does the good feeling make you want to do? And he replied with something totally unexpected something along the lines of: "I just feel like going to one of those baptist churches and running up to the altar screaming and praising the Lord and then get knocked over and have the priest pour all the oil on me to be blessed." I literally couldn't keep composure. It was sooo funny. And then on the way out he was like, "brothas I was feeling the holy spirit so much I need to change my clothes." hahaha it was hysterical. I love Louisiana.
Well, that's it for this week! I love y'all and hope everyone is doing fantastic!
Love,
Elder Wilson
Turns out I will be training a new missionary here in Mandeville!! I am sooo excited! It is going to be awesome! It was a great transfer with Elder Holdaway and it flew by. Just can't wait to meet this guy and start rolling out the hotcakes right off the griddle over here. I am sincerely humble by this opportunity to "try a little harder, to be a little better." I am truly grateful for the things I have learned even just this last transfer, but am so excited to keep going and with the help of the Savior overcome the different obstacles that await. I am so grateful for the trust the Lord has extended, and can't wait to meet this elder!
Updates: So unfortunately some bad news with Alvin. We went over there to see him and ended up running into 2 undercover FBI agents looking for a black guy with dread locks. He had been praying on a baptismal date, but of course his past came back up as soon as he was close to changing everything around. I guess restitution is a step in the repentance process though! Not sure full details, but should give him some time to read the Book of Mormon too. He told us to keep working with his family and so that will be good still. His 9 year old son will hopefully be in the same trailer park with his extended family.
Miracle: This week I wanted to share a miracle that happened while studying. It has been an incredible experience for me to try to look for the tender mercies that the Lord sends us each and everyday. However, sometimes I forget that miracles can come in ALL ways. I know that when we look for them, we will see them. I was studying in Preach My Gospel about the "Light of Christ" because Alvin was having a hard time grasping the difference between it and the Holy Ghost. I continued to find interesting things about it, but nothing was fully answering the question I had. I decided to get on my knees and pray. Knowing that answers to prayers usually come after continued diligence, I kept reading. As I read the thought kept coming to my mind: "Brighter and brighter until the perfect day." I wasn't sure what it meant at first but went to the topical guide and ended up finding the scripture in D+C 50:24 in which that line is an excerpt of the scripture. It perfectly answered my sincere question. This life allows us the opportunity to gain more light and knowledge and become more like the Savior until the perfect day. I know that Heavenly Father really does answer our prayers, and that in and of itself is a miracle to me.
We were teaching a new investigator, and it was seriously one of the funniest lessons I have ever been in and that is saying something haha. We were just reading from the B.o.M in Mosiah 4 and he kept saying how he was feeling the spirit and "it was too strong." I was like so what does the good feeling make you want to do? And he replied with something totally unexpected something along the lines of: "I just feel like going to one of those baptist churches and running up to the altar screaming and praising the Lord and then get knocked over and have the priest pour all the oil on me to be blessed." I literally couldn't keep composure. It was sooo funny. And then on the way out he was like, "brothas I was feeling the holy spirit so much I need to change my clothes." hahaha it was hysterical. I love Louisiana.
Well, that's it for this week! I love y'all and hope everyone is doing fantastic!
Love,
Elder Wilson
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