Hey y'all,
I am happy to say I made it safely down to New Orleans and am transitioning well back to my Southern roots. It almost feels like I never left haha; it is the weirdest thing. My first week here in Kenner a southern Louisiana family had us over for dinner, and they prepared Seafood Gumbo! Just picture this: A massive gumbo pot filled with tons of shrimp, catfish, oysters (luckily fully cooked this time ;) haha) all on top of a full size Crab smothered in white rice. Definitely a welcome back to New Orleans that is for sure :D And this time I actually really enjoyed it! I have come far and learned a lot since the beginning of my mission I guess, what can I say. Louisiana has changed me, and especially my tolerance to seafood no doubt. I was pounding that stuff. Helped that it was fast Sunday, and we had been fasting all day, but hey....haha
It has been quite the experience pretty much doubling into this area, because sadly the prior missionaries were... let me put it this way, "struggling." It is a quad apartment so there are 4 of us missionaries here, and 2 of them are Spanish elders. I am super excited to have Elder Cannon down here with me, because that man is a celestial being. To quote President Varner, "We are sending y'all down there to cleanse the temple and change culture." I think he was probably just talking about Elder Cannon, but I will do my best to pull my weight ;) So long story short, the area book was "lost" so we have literally been starting from ground zero. Man, not again haha. It seriously is every single time the area just starts getting popping I get transferred lol, bless my heart. We have been hitting the doors like crazy though, and the Lord has been blessing us so much. We set some high goals as a quad and are really working toward them!
We met so many great investigators and have been working many of them. Miracle: Friday afternoon we had been working hard, but really wanted to invite an investigator to come to church with us this Sunday. So we decided to pray of course and call on the blessings of Heaven. Honestly it was pretty brutal in the hot sun for hours and hours, and we weren't having much success. As it always seems to happen, you just have to keep pushing. We kept going and while at a complex we saw this African American family taking groceries up the stairs so we reached out to them. They were sooooo solid!!! We taught the restoration lesson sitting out on the grass, and they are Davin and Sherry. While we were teaching them they were answering all of their own questions! We invited them to church, and they were like, "oh yeah, y'all are coming tomorrow too though right?" We met with them the next day, and they had read everything and just thanked us for the truth. Davin gave the closing prayer and thanked God for this gospel for his future family. They don't have any kids yet, but Davin said this is what he wants for them. It was so incredible! Let's goo! Total miracle and blessing from the Lord. Davin ended up getting called into work, and so I guess we weren't specific enough in our prayer... this week though!! Sacrament meeting was great, and I was grateful for the chance to introduce myself and share my testimony. I shared the analogy of Lehi taking his family into the wilderness and making it to the promised land, and how I was transferred and asked to cross the many waters (Lake Pontchartrain) to make it to the promised land (Kenner/Metairie). Just happy to be here!
One Miracle that I would like to share: I have been thinking a lot about and sharing with other missionaries that you never know the good you do as a missionary. I think we all wonder sometimes if it really matters to be all in, and to give everything to the Lord especially when being one foot in is so much easier. It is especially difficult as a missionary when you don't always see if anything even comes of it all (the fruits of the labor) or if there isn't any visible "success." However, I am truly grateful for this tender mercy the Lord showed me that will continue to help me lay it all on the altar of sacrifice. A couple weeks ago I heard that this family in Picayune, Mississippi was getting baptized and asked how they were found. Well, turns out Elder Heninger (a missionary that went home a transfer ago) and I ended up finding them on exchanges back in January!!! I remember the day specifically and was so excited when we found Yolonda Smith out in front of her trailer. (I had even written her name down and the whole experience in my journal that day) I remember biking back from the exchange thinking how amazing of a family they were, but then never heard anything about it for many months. Until just a couple weeks ago when I heard of the entire family (Mom and her 4 boys) getting baptized. Neither of us were at the baptism, and I only had the opportunity to teach the first lesson, but it sure made me smile. It helped me to remember that we are all in this together and all play a part in this great work of the Lord, even if it just means finding them the first time. And who knows how many people reached out to them and prepared them for the gospel up to this point in their life. Now how many of these things happen? Probably all the time. I was just grateful for this thought, because no matter how small the part we play, we are all important. And ultimately we may never know the seeds we plant as missionaries, and we are all missionaries in the work of the Lord even if we aren't wearing a name tag. I am so grateful for another opportunity to get the work moving forward in this area. There is so much potential, and I am so happy Heavenly Father has given me the blessing of working with Him here.
Well, I will leave it at that this week, and ask for prayers in my behalf and this area. I know the Lord sent me here, and there is work only Elder Woody and I can do here at this time. I am looking forward to working hard, and changing culture down here. I love the Lord, I love the gospel, and I love y'all!! Yaherdme? Oh and looking forward to skyping on Mother's day!!
Love,
Elder Wilson
