Hey y'all this week was incredible! From a slimy battle against raw oysters to an investigator almost starving himself to miracles finding more to teach, I'd say it was a great week!
This last week we met this way nice guy named Frank at the neighborhood crawfish boil we were invited to, and he had told us about his restaurant here in Mandeville. So this last week during lunch Elder Jensen and I stopped in! Well, this will just tell you how nice the people are down here in Louisiana. Frank comes out, brings a menu, and starts asking us what all we want to try. He ends up serving us like 3 appetizer dishes, and 2 full size entree dishes all on him. What a guy! He brought out some gumbo nachos, fried pickles, fried oyster, boudin ball cajun burgers, shrimp tacos, and last but not least a couple Raw oysters. YIKES!! That was nerve wracking to say the least. It was like cracking a raw egg and slurping that puppy... Can't even believe I got that down the pipe. Needless to say we were stuffed and sick to our stomachs after that haha. It was all wayyy good though! Frank is going to Glady's knight on Saturday as well.
So last week we were teaching Danny Meryl one of the last lessons for baptism: tithing, fast offerings, and fasting. The lesson went great, and with scheduling stuff it took us about 6 days for the next lesson. Well, we go to follow up with him on the previous lesson and he is like, "Well, I don't eat much to begin with and usually only eat a couple meals a day. But this last week I have only eaten 1 meal a day because I want to align myself with the church and obey the commandment of fasting." HAHAHA whooops!!! I am pretty sure we mentioned the 1 time per month thing, unless special occasions, but bless this man's heart. We have been starving the poor guy! He is seriously so faithful though and just wants to do everything right. He is excited for his baptism this Saturday the 28th, and is planning to be an Usher at the Glady's knight even later in the day. Just the most genuine and faithful guy you'll meet.
We have been working with several part member families especially those with a husband that served a mission, and have been having great success. This last week we had dinner with Bobby and Joanna Penton, who are expecting their first child in the next few months. It was so great because Joanna is from the Philippines and just super nice, and Bobby told us all about his mission to California. He took us out to the garage and showed us all of his old mission stuff, and that was way cool. We invited them to the Glady's Knight event this Saturday, and they are planning to pick us up :)
We also have been working with a guy named Steven Lee who is an anesthesiologist and served his mission in Taiwan. Him and his wife just recently had a baby girl, and have been thinking about how they want to raise her. We brought a former Stake President with us to visit him this week, and the lesson went great. Whenever I worry about being too bold or blunt I remember some of the Savior's teachings in the New Testament :D Steve made it to church this last week and said it was a great spiritual reminder. They are planning to attend Glady's Knight event too!
As you can see we have seriously been inviting everyone and their dog to this Glady's Knight event, because it is going to be a game changer down here in this area we think. I am so excited for it, and really think it is going to open a lot of doors to the gospel down here.
Miracle: On Wednesday we got a call from a guy from Utah that is one of the builders currently working on the Baton Rouge temple. Well turns out this lady came to "inspect the job site" for her work and ended up talking to some of the people on site. They shared a little about the temple and the Book of Mormon with her, and got her information to learn more. Lucky for us she lives in Mandeville!! Right after we got off the phone with this guy we gave the lady, Marcia, a call. We asked if she was busy that night, and next thing we knew she was inviting us over for dinner at 6 that same day, 2 hours after the original phone call! She fed us spaghetti with her 2 little kids and husband Kyle. They were both super nice and seem way prepared! We taught the Restoration lesson and answered so many great questions. Total miracle!
One last miracle: We were driving to an appointment and saw this older man outside his house carrying some heavy bricks to lay in a garden. We decided we better stop and help him. He was a way nice older man, but wasn't interested in the message after we helped him. However, before we left the lady next door, Lauire, came out to check on her kids running through the yard and started talking to us.
She was super nice and we ended up talking with her for quite a while over in her yard about the Book of Mormon. She currently attends a non-denominational church but was way open. She also knew members that used to live here! We went back the next day to bring her a copy, and she was way excited about the Jaredite people in Ether. We are excited to keep meeting with her too! It was way cool to see that those spiritual promptings are real, but may not end up in the way we expect them to.
Love y'all. Hope you have a blessed week!
Love,
Elder Wilson
Monday, July 2, 2018
APRIL 16, 2018
This week was an amazing week! The Lord's hand was most definitely seen and we were blessed to be a part of some incredible miracles!!
We met with Chris several times this week, and he is doing great. He has been super busy with work lately, but has been keeping up on his Book of Mormon reading :) One of the lessons we followed up with his reading of Moroni 7, and it talks about how we must do things with real intent (pray and read). It was cool, because he told us that he read the scripture and realized it was speaking to him so he re-read the first little bit of the chapter 3 or 4 times haha. He is doing great, and it has been such a testimony builder for me, because we met him at what seems to be the perfect time. He has been going through a 1 year sober program to clean his life up, and just last week finished the course! He has to wait a few months before the court trial finishes up, but that will just give him more time to learn, progress, and build that foundation on Jesus Christ.
As I have mentioned before Glady's Knight is coming to Slidell in about 2 weeks now to sing and bear testimony of the Book of Mormon, and so we have been inviting everyone and their dog to this event! It has been sooo cool. Like last night we ran into a neighborhood crawfish boil and ended up inviting everyone to the Glady's Knight. This one lady, Sharee, mentioned that she is "a recovering catholic" and actually lives 2 streets down from the church in Slidell!! Let's goo. She seems way excited to go. The guy hosting the crawfish boil didn't seem super excited about music, but sure wanted to get us out on his kayak/shrimp boat with him LOL ;) It was tough turning the guy down, bless our hearts. And then we went and did an exchange over in Hammond this week, and man that place is the promised land haha. We found 3 super awesome families that all seemed stoked about the event. This lady named Tasha actually came to the church in Hammond twice when she lived out in Pontchatoula, and has now since moved a few streets down from the church! She seemed so prepared and a total miracle that she has already stepped in the doors.
Miracle: Elder Jensen felt inspired that we needed to visit some LA's up in an area that we hadn't gone to before, so we decided to follow the prompting! The first miracle was knocking on the wrong house, only to find this way awesome guy that has always wanted to learn about the B.o.M. We had a great lesson with him! We then visited this guy named Jason Gore who actually served his mission here in Louisiana and moved back a few years after. He was the branch president down in Morgan City, and just a super great guy. He works in the oil industry, and just remarried a non-member a few years ago. We could tell he still had a strong testimony even though he hasn't been to church in a while. He told us he has been working on his wife slowly with the gospel as well. The miracle wasn't just finding him though. Turns out he was having surgery on his shoulder bright and early the following morning and has been way nervous about it. He had been thinking about calling someone in the ward to give him a priesthood blessing, but Heavenly Father sent us instead :) He shared so many mission experiences of following promptings from being obedient, and we were able to bear testimony of that. His wife Sharee had never seen a priesthood blessing, and so that was way cool as well. We also invited them to the Glady's Knight event and they said they wanted to go! The same night we felt prompted to flip a u-turn and head the opposite direction we were headed, and ended up visiting this family who's Dad just returned from work off the rig. We invited them to Glady's of course, and it was a total miracle again.
We have been taking out a Priest age young man teaching with us, Isaac Holbrook, and he ended up spending all Saturday with us. We had a blast, and hoping to help him get on a mission. He bore a testimony of how in the last couple weeks he has made it more of a priority to read and pray, and shared how it has only blessed his life. I love how missionary work has so many aspects of helping others. Honestly this week was something else. I could go on and on about the blessings Heavenly Father showed us this week, but words won't do justice regardless (or even irregardless :D).
We had zone conference this week, and so I wanted to conclude with my thoughts/testimony:
As a mission we read the Book of Mormon in 90 days, and President Varner asked several of us to bear our testimonies of our experience. I was grateful for the chance I had to reflect on the experience. I shared how there were sooo many days where I would start reading and just KNEW the B.O.M was true, and couldn't wait to finish it so I could receive a "full witness" However, I learned that you can receive a "full witness" of its truth every single time you read it.
I also found that the Book of Mormon in and of itself is a miracle that I can hold in my hands.
By small and great miracles I have come to see the Lord's hand in this work of bringing souls unto Him. The Bible dictionary shares, “Miracles should not be regarded as deviations from the ordinary course of nature so much as manifestations of divine or spiritual power. Miracles were and are a response to Faith.” Through reading the B.O.M again and furthering my testimony of the Savior Jesus Christ I can say as Moroni does in Mormon 9:11, 15, “God has not ceased to be a God of miracles. But behold I will show unto you a God of miracles.” As Moroni declares I have also gained more of a sure knowledge that God truly is a God of miracles. I testify of the miracles that have taken place in my heart as I have labored in the Lord's service and held fast to the Book of Mormon that I treasure.
Love,
Elder Wilson
We met with Chris several times this week, and he is doing great. He has been super busy with work lately, but has been keeping up on his Book of Mormon reading :) One of the lessons we followed up with his reading of Moroni 7, and it talks about how we must do things with real intent (pray and read). It was cool, because he told us that he read the scripture and realized it was speaking to him so he re-read the first little bit of the chapter 3 or 4 times haha. He is doing great, and it has been such a testimony builder for me, because we met him at what seems to be the perfect time. He has been going through a 1 year sober program to clean his life up, and just last week finished the course! He has to wait a few months before the court trial finishes up, but that will just give him more time to learn, progress, and build that foundation on Jesus Christ.
As I have mentioned before Glady's Knight is coming to Slidell in about 2 weeks now to sing and bear testimony of the Book of Mormon, and so we have been inviting everyone and their dog to this event! It has been sooo cool. Like last night we ran into a neighborhood crawfish boil and ended up inviting everyone to the Glady's Knight. This one lady, Sharee, mentioned that she is "a recovering catholic" and actually lives 2 streets down from the church in Slidell!! Let's goo. She seems way excited to go. The guy hosting the crawfish boil didn't seem super excited about music, but sure wanted to get us out on his kayak/shrimp boat with him LOL ;) It was tough turning the guy down, bless our hearts. And then we went and did an exchange over in Hammond this week, and man that place is the promised land haha. We found 3 super awesome families that all seemed stoked about the event. This lady named Tasha actually came to the church in Hammond twice when she lived out in Pontchatoula, and has now since moved a few streets down from the church! She seemed so prepared and a total miracle that she has already stepped in the doors.
Miracle: Elder Jensen felt inspired that we needed to visit some LA's up in an area that we hadn't gone to before, so we decided to follow the prompting! The first miracle was knocking on the wrong house, only to find this way awesome guy that has always wanted to learn about the B.o.M. We had a great lesson with him! We then visited this guy named Jason Gore who actually served his mission here in Louisiana and moved back a few years after. He was the branch president down in Morgan City, and just a super great guy. He works in the oil industry, and just remarried a non-member a few years ago. We could tell he still had a strong testimony even though he hasn't been to church in a while. He told us he has been working on his wife slowly with the gospel as well. The miracle wasn't just finding him though. Turns out he was having surgery on his shoulder bright and early the following morning and has been way nervous about it. He had been thinking about calling someone in the ward to give him a priesthood blessing, but Heavenly Father sent us instead :) He shared so many mission experiences of following promptings from being obedient, and we were able to bear testimony of that. His wife Sharee had never seen a priesthood blessing, and so that was way cool as well. We also invited them to the Glady's Knight event and they said they wanted to go! The same night we felt prompted to flip a u-turn and head the opposite direction we were headed, and ended up visiting this family who's Dad just returned from work off the rig. We invited them to Glady's of course, and it was a total miracle again.
We have been taking out a Priest age young man teaching with us, Isaac Holbrook, and he ended up spending all Saturday with us. We had a blast, and hoping to help him get on a mission. He bore a testimony of how in the last couple weeks he has made it more of a priority to read and pray, and shared how it has only blessed his life. I love how missionary work has so many aspects of helping others. Honestly this week was something else. I could go on and on about the blessings Heavenly Father showed us this week, but words won't do justice regardless (or even irregardless :D).
We had zone conference this week, and so I wanted to conclude with my thoughts/testimony:
As a mission we read the Book of Mormon in 90 days, and President Varner asked several of us to bear our testimonies of our experience. I was grateful for the chance I had to reflect on the experience. I shared how there were sooo many days where I would start reading and just KNEW the B.O.M was true, and couldn't wait to finish it so I could receive a "full witness" However, I learned that you can receive a "full witness" of its truth every single time you read it.
I also found that the Book of Mormon in and of itself is a miracle that I can hold in my hands.
By small and great miracles I have come to see the Lord's hand in this work of bringing souls unto Him. The Bible dictionary shares, “Miracles should not be regarded as deviations from the ordinary course of nature so much as manifestations of divine or spiritual power. Miracles were and are a response to Faith.” Through reading the B.O.M again and furthering my testimony of the Savior Jesus Christ I can say as Moroni does in Mormon 9:11, 15, “God has not ceased to be a God of miracles. But behold I will show unto you a God of miracles.” As Moroni declares I have also gained more of a sure knowledge that God truly is a God of miracles. I testify of the miracles that have taken place in my heart as I have labored in the Lord's service and held fast to the Book of Mormon that I treasure.
Love,
Elder Wilson
APRIL 9, 2018
Alright from Louisiana!
This week was another fantastic week!!
We met this way nice lady named Donna last week and ended up doing service for her in her yard. Next thing we knew we were sitting down listening to her whole life story of speaking in tongues and being filled with the holy ghost, etc. She shared with us some interesting experiences to say the least. "Satan has been trying to kill me all my life." haha she is a great lady. Anyways, she gave us the huge tub of Jambalaya, and poor Elder Jensen hadn't experienced that kind of Jambalaya yet and I may or may not have forgotten to warn the guy. Bless his heart! "Sweet this will keep us fed the next couple days." (I just smiled) Half way through bowl, he said, "Man if this is Jambalaya then I hate jambalaya." LOL!!!! I assured him that it wasn't the real deal, because good gravy that stuff wasn't even of this Earth. She told us she put puree'/liquid crawfish in it, and I think she might have put her dying cat along with it.... Bless her heart though! It's the thought that counts I guess. I love Louisiana :P
We have been working with this great guy named Danny and this last week we had a great lesson with him. He has been reading the Book of Mormon with the ward and is just cooking right into 2nd Nephi! Hopefully the Isaiah chapters don't slow the man down, because he is greasing up those hotcakes if you feel me. Almost like ordering "something deluxe" at the McDonald's and ending up with a platter of hotcakes. Still trying to figure out how this applies to Danny reading the Book of Mormon, but anyways he is doing great. We had a lesson with him about baptism and read Matthew 7 and then 2nd Nephi 31 and committed him to baptism on April 28th. We are excited!!
Miracle: After a couple months now the schedules FINALLY matched up and we were able to have a get together with Chris and Paige Caronna along with Steve and Baeli Short. Everyone made it off work barely in time and it just all worked out somehow :) Chris made dinner for everyone over at his house and it was just so great. Everyone seemed to have a great time getting to know each other and Steve and Chris are going golfing, and Baeli and Paige are going to start some personal progress/book of mormon studying together! We shared the short Restoration video and talked about it together, and then Paige texted us on Sunday saying she loved Moroni 7 and Mosiah 2! Things are going great. Please pray for them.
Another highlight was bringing our investigator Raymond to church. He seemed to really enjoy it, but almost Hijacked the gospel principles lesson on the Priesthood. Apparently he used to be a pastor and everything so you can just imagine that, and we are definitely going to have to teach more on the priesthood haha. It was pretty funny!
I wanted to finish with a few thoughts that I have been thinking about and reminded of. On my mission I have had the opportunity to meet so many members of the church ( many even RM's) that sometimes find themselves checking things off a list like: serving a mission, going to the temple, being sealed, blessing their baby, etc. They then find themselves not attending church anymore or reading their scriptures because they have "checked everything off the list." I have had much time to think about this especially throughout my mission and am reminded by the counsel given in the scriptures and by Prophets. Our testimonies and ultimately our faith are living things that require nourishment. Like any other living entity without the proper nourishment will dwindle and could even die. As the well known example in Alma 32 shares, in order for a seed to grow we must nourish it, and in the same sense, in order for a fruitful tree to continue to produce fruit we must never stop nourishing it. I love the quote by Joseph B. Wirthlin, "Faith is not so much something we believe; faith is something we live." We cannot simply believe or "have faith," we must do it and live it. Are we simply doing the steps or are we actively taking the steps? I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is something we must live even when it is tough, but further testify of the joy and blessings that come from following the Savior Jesus Christ's example. It truly is the "Good news." The Book of Mormon contains convincing evidence of these truths, but it is up to us to constantly find them, apply them, and live them!
Hope y'all have a blessed week!
Love,
Elder Wilson
This week was another fantastic week!!
We met this way nice lady named Donna last week and ended up doing service for her in her yard. Next thing we knew we were sitting down listening to her whole life story of speaking in tongues and being filled with the holy ghost, etc. She shared with us some interesting experiences to say the least. "Satan has been trying to kill me all my life." haha she is a great lady. Anyways, she gave us the huge tub of Jambalaya, and poor Elder Jensen hadn't experienced that kind of Jambalaya yet and I may or may not have forgotten to warn the guy. Bless his heart! "Sweet this will keep us fed the next couple days." (I just smiled) Half way through bowl, he said, "Man if this is Jambalaya then I hate jambalaya." LOL!!!! I assured him that it wasn't the real deal, because good gravy that stuff wasn't even of this Earth. She told us she put puree'/liquid crawfish in it, and I think she might have put her dying cat along with it.... Bless her heart though! It's the thought that counts I guess. I love Louisiana :P
We have been working with this great guy named Danny and this last week we had a great lesson with him. He has been reading the Book of Mormon with the ward and is just cooking right into 2nd Nephi! Hopefully the Isaiah chapters don't slow the man down, because he is greasing up those hotcakes if you feel me. Almost like ordering "something deluxe" at the McDonald's and ending up with a platter of hotcakes. Still trying to figure out how this applies to Danny reading the Book of Mormon, but anyways he is doing great. We had a lesson with him about baptism and read Matthew 7 and then 2nd Nephi 31 and committed him to baptism on April 28th. We are excited!!
Miracle: After a couple months now the schedules FINALLY matched up and we were able to have a get together with Chris and Paige Caronna along with Steve and Baeli Short. Everyone made it off work barely in time and it just all worked out somehow :) Chris made dinner for everyone over at his house and it was just so great. Everyone seemed to have a great time getting to know each other and Steve and Chris are going golfing, and Baeli and Paige are going to start some personal progress/book of mormon studying together! We shared the short Restoration video and talked about it together, and then Paige texted us on Sunday saying she loved Moroni 7 and Mosiah 2! Things are going great. Please pray for them.
Another highlight was bringing our investigator Raymond to church. He seemed to really enjoy it, but almost Hijacked the gospel principles lesson on the Priesthood. Apparently he used to be a pastor and everything so you can just imagine that, and we are definitely going to have to teach more on the priesthood haha. It was pretty funny!
I wanted to finish with a few thoughts that I have been thinking about and reminded of. On my mission I have had the opportunity to meet so many members of the church ( many even RM's) that sometimes find themselves checking things off a list like: serving a mission, going to the temple, being sealed, blessing their baby, etc. They then find themselves not attending church anymore or reading their scriptures because they have "checked everything off the list." I have had much time to think about this especially throughout my mission and am reminded by the counsel given in the scriptures and by Prophets. Our testimonies and ultimately our faith are living things that require nourishment. Like any other living entity without the proper nourishment will dwindle and could even die. As the well known example in Alma 32 shares, in order for a seed to grow we must nourish it, and in the same sense, in order for a fruitful tree to continue to produce fruit we must never stop nourishing it. I love the quote by Joseph B. Wirthlin, "Faith is not so much something we believe; faith is something we live." We cannot simply believe or "have faith," we must do it and live it. Are we simply doing the steps or are we actively taking the steps? I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is something we must live even when it is tough, but further testify of the joy and blessings that come from following the Savior Jesus Christ's example. It truly is the "Good news." The Book of Mormon contains convincing evidence of these truths, but it is up to us to constantly find them, apply them, and live them!
Hope y'all have a blessed week!
Love,
Elder Wilson
APRIL 2, 2018
Hey y'all,
This week was another special one! Man, conference was just such a treat wasn't it? I know that President Russel M. Nelson has been called as the Lord's prophet at this time. It is amazing to see the revelation already presenting itself as he has shared the Lord's will for His church at this time. I am grateful for the opportunity to sustain and defend that truth.
We have been doing service for this lady that is neighbors with a great member family in the ward, and she is so awesome. We have been pressure washing her porches/house since the swamp humidity makes everything green haha. She is so nice and this week wants to have us over with the member family for dinner :) It has been amazing to see how service really opens hearts to the message of the gospel.
Funny story: We were street contacting/tracting in this neighborhood and ended up getting the name of this "nice family on the corner." Turns out they have 2 sooped up escalades out front and even a couple wave runnerss haha. Anyways, we knock on the door and this guy opens and as soon as we asked if it was the Garret's he starts getting way offended that one of his neighbors sent us "because they needed Jesus" even though we definitely didn't say that haha. Long story short, he starts cussing and literally pulls out a wad of cash and offers us $200 to get off his porch. LOL :) We graciously declined and told him that what we were sharing was worth more than that! It was pretty funny, but definitely a testimony builder of how special the Gospel of Jesus Christ is. No amount of money could buy/replace the joy that it brings nor any aspect of it's truth.
For General Conference we were able to watch the Saturday morning session with Chris and Paige at their house. It was so awesome! The night before Chris was basically a Member-present for the lesson on the Restoration for Paige, and it was incredible to see him already testify of the truth. During General Conference we answered so many great questions about prophets, apostles, and even temples. Chris was looking up pictures of temples, and especially the Rome, Italy temple. The night before we invited them to read Alma 32, and the next day Paige had completely marked in red pen all about faith that she had read. It was amazing to hear about the feelings she felt reading, and Chris is right there with her. Paige also posted the Easter video on Facebook :)
So many incredible things happening here, and the joy is great. I will leave it with those highlights!
I wanted to end with my testimony and thoughts from Elder Uchtdorf's talk in the Sunday afternoon session. He shared many powerful truths about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I know that through Jesus Christ "our sins can be not only erased, but forgotten. Behold the man. When you're encompassed by sorrows and grief, behold the man."I know that it is He that made it possible for us to be freed from those bonds of darkness and sorrow that Satan so mercilessly employs upon us. Through Jesus Christ we find the power to overcome. Faith leads to action which leads to power. I loved how he shared that as we learn of him and strive to refine our nature, we further become disciples of Him. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve my Savior Jesus Christ in his vineyard. I have felt his love and seen his footsteps everyday. I have never felt more joy than striving to be a true disciple by learning of Him and following Him. The dots just seem to connect! I know that Jesus Christ lives and was resurrected after 3 days so that we may know we will live again. It is never the end. Because of Him we can continuously improve and the light in our lives may continue to brighten until the perfect day. "Death has no sting. Grave has no victory." And sin may be swallowed up and forgotten through the Savior Jesus Christ. "Behold the man."
Love,
Elder Wilson
This week was another special one! Man, conference was just such a treat wasn't it? I know that President Russel M. Nelson has been called as the Lord's prophet at this time. It is amazing to see the revelation already presenting itself as he has shared the Lord's will for His church at this time. I am grateful for the opportunity to sustain and defend that truth.
We have been doing service for this lady that is neighbors with a great member family in the ward, and she is so awesome. We have been pressure washing her porches/house since the swamp humidity makes everything green haha. She is so nice and this week wants to have us over with the member family for dinner :) It has been amazing to see how service really opens hearts to the message of the gospel.
Funny story: We were street contacting/tracting in this neighborhood and ended up getting the name of this "nice family on the corner." Turns out they have 2 sooped up escalades out front and even a couple wave runnerss haha. Anyways, we knock on the door and this guy opens and as soon as we asked if it was the Garret's he starts getting way offended that one of his neighbors sent us "because they needed Jesus" even though we definitely didn't say that haha. Long story short, he starts cussing and literally pulls out a wad of cash and offers us $200 to get off his porch. LOL :) We graciously declined and told him that what we were sharing was worth more than that! It was pretty funny, but definitely a testimony builder of how special the Gospel of Jesus Christ is. No amount of money could buy/replace the joy that it brings nor any aspect of it's truth.
For General Conference we were able to watch the Saturday morning session with Chris and Paige at their house. It was so awesome! The night before Chris was basically a Member-present for the lesson on the Restoration for Paige, and it was incredible to see him already testify of the truth. During General Conference we answered so many great questions about prophets, apostles, and even temples. Chris was looking up pictures of temples, and especially the Rome, Italy temple. The night before we invited them to read Alma 32, and the next day Paige had completely marked in red pen all about faith that she had read. It was amazing to hear about the feelings she felt reading, and Chris is right there with her. Paige also posted the Easter video on Facebook :)
So many incredible things happening here, and the joy is great. I will leave it with those highlights!
I wanted to end with my testimony and thoughts from Elder Uchtdorf's talk in the Sunday afternoon session. He shared many powerful truths about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I know that through Jesus Christ "our sins can be not only erased, but forgotten. Behold the man. When you're encompassed by sorrows and grief, behold the man."I know that it is He that made it possible for us to be freed from those bonds of darkness and sorrow that Satan so mercilessly employs upon us. Through Jesus Christ we find the power to overcome. Faith leads to action which leads to power. I loved how he shared that as we learn of him and strive to refine our nature, we further become disciples of Him. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve my Savior Jesus Christ in his vineyard. I have felt his love and seen his footsteps everyday. I have never felt more joy than striving to be a true disciple by learning of Him and following Him. The dots just seem to connect! I know that Jesus Christ lives and was resurrected after 3 days so that we may know we will live again. It is never the end. Because of Him we can continuously improve and the light in our lives may continue to brighten until the perfect day. "Death has no sting. Grave has no victory." And sin may be swallowed up and forgotten through the Savior Jesus Christ. "Behold the man."
Love,
Elder Wilson
Monday, April 2, 2018
MARCH 26, 2018
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
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
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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