Happy Holidays y'all!
People keep saying Spring is now here, but definitely feels like Summer to me. I think Louisiana has 2 seasons: Summer, and even hotter Summer. It's a good time!
This week was another one for the books. Just amazing things happening here. We have an investigator named Paul that we have been teaching, and this last week we were able to bring our other investigator Danny with us to teach. Kinda a double whammy! It was super funny actually, because we asked Danny if he would bear his testimony about the Book of Mormon in the lesson, and when we turned to him and asked how his experience has been starting to attend our church he said, "I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I attend the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church." Then he turned back to us. Haha it was pretty funny. We are working with Danny and he is a little slower, but has been coming to church the last few weeks :) He is awesome!
We had our first meeting with our investigator Chris AND his fiance Paige. Chris is just progressing so well, and it was way good to finally be able to officially introduce ourselves to Paige. She is super nice and seems way prepared as well! We read Ether 12 together and she told us that she feels there is just something missing in their life and thinks this is what it is. It was way cool, because she told us that she recognizes a difference in Chris already as he has been reading the Book of Mormon and attending church. She said, "I have never seen this side of him before, and I like it." They know a family that the husband just recently was baptized in the ward last summer (Baeli and Steve Short) and we are excited to have a lesson at their home this week all together. It was funny because of course after we left Paige started Googling and what not, (can only warn about that haha) and we ended up having to clear up some confusion with Plural marriage and tithing the next meeting. A couple days later we texted Chris to remind him to read some B.O.M and he replied, "Thanks for the reminder. Looking forward to 15 wives and 85% tithing." LOL he was joking of course, but you gotta love Google :) Chris' family is all from Italy and so that has been so cool relating with him in a small way (Yeah Big Papa J!) He fed us some delicious Bolognese too! I love how the Lord works in sharing the amazing message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We have been teaching Melvin and Cecilia Bradford the last couple weeks, and they have been really progressing as well. Still trying to get their whole family involved, but then always remember that conversion is a personal and individual process. One by one! Cecilia had work yesterday, but Melvin made it to church with his 1 year old daughter. He seemed to love it! We had interviews after church with President Varner, and so we ended up staying way after. Well, we still left the church before Melvin, because he was having too much fun talking with everyone :) That was awesome.
Miracle: We were tracting at this apartment complex and found some way cool people, but after a door this lady came down the stairs and started talking to us. Well, turns out she lives in Houston and Mandeville 50% of the time (said she just likes both places for some reason), but her daughter was baptized in college in Houston, served a mission in California, and is now attending BYU. How cool is that? We kept talking with her and apparently she has taken the missionary discussions before, but we are definitely going to keep in touch with her.
Another great experience this week was spending a few hours completely cleaning up this older lady's yard that lives down the street from Baeli and Steve Short. We raked up leaves, pulled weeds, and wiped out all the weed infested flower beds haha, etc. She seemed so grateful for us, and there seems to be no greater joy to be felt than serving someone in need. (Even in the blistering March heat of Louisiana :D) I am in for a treat this summer let me tell ya.
It really was such a great week, and I could go on an on about the joys/smiles that were ever present. I love how the simple truths of the gospel (love, service, study, prayer) can bring so much joy and happiness into our lives. Stay blessed and look for ways to bless others! Love y'all
Love,
Elder Wilson
Monday, April 2, 2018
MARCH 20, 2018
Hey y'all,
This week was another incredible week!! We had transfers this week, and Elder Jensen and I will be continuing to churn some butter over here in Mandeville! We are way excited, because so many amazing things going on and miracles starting to come to fruition. Keeping the ball rolling baby :D Honestly one of the hardest things trying to share highlights, because as a missionary it is all good in the neighborhood!! I'll try my best.
One miracle this week was attempting to track down Desiree and her family, but ending up teaching Alvin's brother and sister Melvin and Secilia. Wow, they are way prepared! We taught them the entire restoration lesson, and they were asking questions the entire time. "If this is the true church of Jesus Christ we be looking for, then you best believe we joinin it." Amen!! We told them about Glady's Knight being Mormon and everything and they become way interested. That has seriously opened up soooooo many doors/ interest levels. It has been way cool! We have made it a goal to invite anyone and everyone to the performance in April, and it has been amazing to see Heavenly Father softening hearts. I seriously love the southern African American's especially, because they are so spiritual and love God. I am way excited to see the outcome of this whole event especially in reaching out to them and continuing to break down those southern barriers. We have been reading in the Book of Mormon with Melvin and Secilia several times this week as well, and they are just eating it up. They even asked us about the priesthood authority, and Melvin has been doing the additional study notes in the back of the pamphlet!! No one ever does that hahaha. Going to keep working with them and try and get them to come out to church this coming week.
Miracle: We have been able to meet with our investigator Chris several times this week as well. One of the lessons we brought our ward mission leader who is a convert and grew up Catholic along with Chris. We talked about the story of Job in the Bible and tied it in with Ether 12 in the B.o.m. Chris has been going through a lot, but is staying strong and remaining faithful as Job did. It was way cool, because in the middle of the lesson Chris texted his boss to request off work for Sunday and his boss was totally supportive.
Chris has a 5 year old son named Roman and ever since we first met Chris he has continued to ask who we were. Chris told him we worked for Jesus and Roman always tries sneaking into the lessons haha :) Later in the week he sent us a picture of his son Roman sitting behind the couch with the Book of Mormon opened on his lap. He can't read, but knows there is something special about the book. I have been thinking about this and just can't help but smile about how precious that really is. No matter how young or how uneducated, anyone and everyone can feel the spirit of the Lord when they read the Book of Mormon or even look through its pages. Our relationship with our Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ is completely personal to us. I know that He loves each of us individually and can't imagine the joy that he feels when we reach out to Him, even if it means looking at words on a page that we can't even read or understand. I love this scripture, Mosiah 3:19: "For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit... and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father."
Chris ended up making it to church on Sunday, and stayed for all 3 hours. It was so awesome! In the Gospel Principles class he commented with the experience of seeing his son "reading" the Book of Mormon and it furthering his desire to dive in. He realized that even his son knew there was something special within. He further told us that he didn't have his Book of Mormon with him, because Roman had packed it in his Spring Break bag and headed off with his Mom, Paige. Haha how awesome is that!?! We are going to bring Roman his very own illustrative picture Book of Mormon. There must be a special spirit that comes when a young child reaches out in faith to a loving Heavenly Father. I know that the Book of Mormon is true, and that it really can be a conduit to Heavenly light in our lives. We just have to have the faith as Roman did to open it up.
Well, I will leave it at that. It really was a great week. I am so blessed to be serving the Lord here in Louisiana! Hope y'all have a fantastic week!
Love,
Elder Wilson
This week was another incredible week!! We had transfers this week, and Elder Jensen and I will be continuing to churn some butter over here in Mandeville! We are way excited, because so many amazing things going on and miracles starting to come to fruition. Keeping the ball rolling baby :D Honestly one of the hardest things trying to share highlights, because as a missionary it is all good in the neighborhood!! I'll try my best.
One miracle this week was attempting to track down Desiree and her family, but ending up teaching Alvin's brother and sister Melvin and Secilia. Wow, they are way prepared! We taught them the entire restoration lesson, and they were asking questions the entire time. "If this is the true church of Jesus Christ we be looking for, then you best believe we joinin it." Amen!! We told them about Glady's Knight being Mormon and everything and they become way interested. That has seriously opened up soooooo many doors/ interest levels. It has been way cool! We have made it a goal to invite anyone and everyone to the performance in April, and it has been amazing to see Heavenly Father softening hearts. I seriously love the southern African American's especially, because they are so spiritual and love God. I am way excited to see the outcome of this whole event especially in reaching out to them and continuing to break down those southern barriers. We have been reading in the Book of Mormon with Melvin and Secilia several times this week as well, and they are just eating it up. They even asked us about the priesthood authority, and Melvin has been doing the additional study notes in the back of the pamphlet!! No one ever does that hahaha. Going to keep working with them and try and get them to come out to church this coming week.
Miracle: We have been able to meet with our investigator Chris several times this week as well. One of the lessons we brought our ward mission leader who is a convert and grew up Catholic along with Chris. We talked about the story of Job in the Bible and tied it in with Ether 12 in the B.o.m. Chris has been going through a lot, but is staying strong and remaining faithful as Job did. It was way cool, because in the middle of the lesson Chris texted his boss to request off work for Sunday and his boss was totally supportive.
Chris has a 5 year old son named Roman and ever since we first met Chris he has continued to ask who we were. Chris told him we worked for Jesus and Roman always tries sneaking into the lessons haha :) Later in the week he sent us a picture of his son Roman sitting behind the couch with the Book of Mormon opened on his lap. He can't read, but knows there is something special about the book. I have been thinking about this and just can't help but smile about how precious that really is. No matter how young or how uneducated, anyone and everyone can feel the spirit of the Lord when they read the Book of Mormon or even look through its pages. Our relationship with our Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ is completely personal to us. I know that He loves each of us individually and can't imagine the joy that he feels when we reach out to Him, even if it means looking at words on a page that we can't even read or understand. I love this scripture, Mosiah 3:19: "For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit... and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father."
Chris ended up making it to church on Sunday, and stayed for all 3 hours. It was so awesome! In the Gospel Principles class he commented with the experience of seeing his son "reading" the Book of Mormon and it furthering his desire to dive in. He realized that even his son knew there was something special within. He further told us that he didn't have his Book of Mormon with him, because Roman had packed it in his Spring Break bag and headed off with his Mom, Paige. Haha how awesome is that!?! We are going to bring Roman his very own illustrative picture Book of Mormon. There must be a special spirit that comes when a young child reaches out in faith to a loving Heavenly Father. I know that the Book of Mormon is true, and that it really can be a conduit to Heavenly light in our lives. We just have to have the faith as Roman did to open it up.
Well, I will leave it at that. It really was a great week. I am so blessed to be serving the Lord here in Louisiana! Hope y'all have a fantastic week!
Love,
Elder Wilson
MARCH 12, 2018
"Did someone say Fried Chicken!?!?" I don't think people in the South ever get tired of Fried Chicken. I mean how could you am I right? You know it is a real party if you got fried chicken. Anyways, I have been thinking think week and just wanted to start out by saying I love my mission here in Louisiana as much as southerns love Fried Chicken. I don't think I can explain it better than that haha :)
This week was another incredible week out in the promised land of Louisiana!! I will include just a few highlights.
We had a great lesson with Danny this week at the Helm's for dinner. Sister Helm served a mission on Temple Square and so shared an awesome demonstration of priesthood authority and Christ's church using some cups/other objects. It was way cool! Danny told us during the lesson, "I am on the fence about joining the church or staying in the Lutheran church." It was great, because Brother Helm grew up in the exact same Lutheran church that Danny attends and was able to really bear powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon/priesthood. Danny has been really prayerful! He has been coming to church the last couple weeks, but it seems that daylight savings got him off track since he still uses the old fashion alarm clock. Needless to say, bless his heart, he'll get it!!
We went on exchanges over in Picayune, MS this week and that was way good! A little different air over there, but great nonetheless. We ended up tracting this street for quite some time, and found some way cool potential investigators. One guy came out and he had these 3 big seats out on his porch. I'm like, "Man these seats look comfy mind if we sit down and share a message about Jesus Christ with you?" He said he didn't have time, but we quickly started just teaching and asking him questions. We taught almost the entire restoration haha. I think next time I will definitely just sit down and ask questions later though ;) We found this other way cool guy that seemed very prepared. When we asked him, "If Christ were on the Earth this Sunday which church would he attend?" I love how thought provoking questions help interest people in the message. They were able to go back and see him again on Saturday. It was way awesome!
Miracle:
On Saturday we studied all about faith and using it as a principle of action and power in the missionary work. We decided that we were going to try and gain the trust of an influential ward member family by tracting their entire neighborhood all day. Knowing that Brother Van Wynen is a pretty hardcore guy, but known for missionary work we were aiming to make something happen with the help of the Lord. We specifically prayed over a list of streets, and felt very prompted to definitely hit their entire street. A little hesitant we rescheduled a few appointments, and blocked off the entire afterrnooon 2-8 for this one finding activity. We got there and visited with the family for a minute before parking our bikes in their garage. We told them, "We are going to tract your neighborhood until we find the next Stake President for this area or the Lord tells us we are done." haha I don't think they were expecting us to literally stay there all day :) But with our bikes in their garage we hit the streets running! It was exhausting to say the least, but we found some amazing potentials! One neighbor just started his own law firm, is 31 years old, and they are expecting their first child. Bro Van Wynen is also a lawyer that just started practicing. Really praying that this guy is the one we were looking for :) He seemed way prepared and we are excited to go back this week. We found several other awesome people that we are very excited about as well. You may ask what the miracle of the story is, but that is it. I believe that sometimes miracles may not come in the ways we expect, but regardless a miracle to me is the Hand of the Lord seen in your life. In that case all day Saturday the Hand of the Lord was seen. I love the scripture in D+C 84:88 and know it to be true: "I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angles round about you, to bear you up." I testify of the truth of this. I know that Heavenly Father is always there and sent his son Jesus Christ to carry us when we feel that we can't carry ourselves any further. The family ended up feeding us at the end of the night as well, and we were able to share the incredible experiences of the day :D
I love my mission, and I love the gospel. And of course I love y'all so much. Hope you have a blessed week!
Love,
Elder Wilson
This week was another incredible week out in the promised land of Louisiana!! I will include just a few highlights.
We had a great lesson with Danny this week at the Helm's for dinner. Sister Helm served a mission on Temple Square and so shared an awesome demonstration of priesthood authority and Christ's church using some cups/other objects. It was way cool! Danny told us during the lesson, "I am on the fence about joining the church or staying in the Lutheran church." It was great, because Brother Helm grew up in the exact same Lutheran church that Danny attends and was able to really bear powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon/priesthood. Danny has been really prayerful! He has been coming to church the last couple weeks, but it seems that daylight savings got him off track since he still uses the old fashion alarm clock. Needless to say, bless his heart, he'll get it!!
We went on exchanges over in Picayune, MS this week and that was way good! A little different air over there, but great nonetheless. We ended up tracting this street for quite some time, and found some way cool potential investigators. One guy came out and he had these 3 big seats out on his porch. I'm like, "Man these seats look comfy mind if we sit down and share a message about Jesus Christ with you?" He said he didn't have time, but we quickly started just teaching and asking him questions. We taught almost the entire restoration haha. I think next time I will definitely just sit down and ask questions later though ;) We found this other way cool guy that seemed very prepared. When we asked him, "If Christ were on the Earth this Sunday which church would he attend?" I love how thought provoking questions help interest people in the message. They were able to go back and see him again on Saturday. It was way awesome!
Miracle:
On Saturday we studied all about faith and using it as a principle of action and power in the missionary work. We decided that we were going to try and gain the trust of an influential ward member family by tracting their entire neighborhood all day. Knowing that Brother Van Wynen is a pretty hardcore guy, but known for missionary work we were aiming to make something happen with the help of the Lord. We specifically prayed over a list of streets, and felt very prompted to definitely hit their entire street. A little hesitant we rescheduled a few appointments, and blocked off the entire afterrnooon 2-8 for this one finding activity. We got there and visited with the family for a minute before parking our bikes in their garage. We told them, "We are going to tract your neighborhood until we find the next Stake President for this area or the Lord tells us we are done." haha I don't think they were expecting us to literally stay there all day :) But with our bikes in their garage we hit the streets running! It was exhausting to say the least, but we found some amazing potentials! One neighbor just started his own law firm, is 31 years old, and they are expecting their first child. Bro Van Wynen is also a lawyer that just started practicing. Really praying that this guy is the one we were looking for :) He seemed way prepared and we are excited to go back this week. We found several other awesome people that we are very excited about as well. You may ask what the miracle of the story is, but that is it. I believe that sometimes miracles may not come in the ways we expect, but regardless a miracle to me is the Hand of the Lord seen in your life. In that case all day Saturday the Hand of the Lord was seen. I love the scripture in D+C 84:88 and know it to be true: "I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angles round about you, to bear you up." I testify of the truth of this. I know that Heavenly Father is always there and sent his son Jesus Christ to carry us when we feel that we can't carry ourselves any further. The family ended up feeding us at the end of the night as well, and we were able to share the incredible experiences of the day :D
I love my mission, and I love the gospel. And of course I love y'all so much. Hope you have a blessed week!
Love,
Elder Wilson
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