Nestor!

The weather has been soo nice lately. Overcast, colder, and off and on rain. I love it!! Elder Reed have had lunch on the trampoline in the backyard because it feels so great. Although, the "farmer's almanac" says that this winter is supposed to be super cold, more than it has been. BRING IT ON!! hahaha.

Nestor had his baptism this last Saturday!! It went really well. We got there and he wasn't there yet. That was pretty nerve-racking. I don't know why they love doing that to us missionaries!! haha. Anyways, he eventually showed up at 2 which was when it was supposed to start. It all worked out well though. Nestor's baptism was pretty dang spiritual, too. As we were standing there in the water after I baptized him, he was just standing there smiling! :) He kept saying "Man, I feel REALLY good right now." This kid is awesome. After his baptism it started pouring hail and rain so we asked a kid in the ward if we could borrow some ugly ties because we didn't want our silk ties to get ruined. (You've gotta wear the nice ties to a baptism! ;) ) 

So many people came to church this week! We had Eric Foster (on date for September 21st), jasmine pew (on date for September 7th), derrick, and Klari! :) They all really liked it which was pretty awesome. Derrick doesn't want to agree to baptism just yet, but we'll get him. ;) haha just kidding. I think it's really his dad who is holding him back. He is atheist and I think that rubs off on his kids which is unfortunate. Oh well. Alex translated for Klari and she had a good time at church.

We taught Klari again this week. We taught her the plan of salvation and she really liked it! Man, I'm so sad that she is leaving this week for Hungary. :/ She's so awesome! I really hope she'll get baptized in Hungary. And that the elders over there don't screw it up, hahaha just kidding. She's genuinely interested and wanting to change. I'll attach a picture of her and the translator we used, Alex.

Another person we're working with is Andrew and his fiance Vicki. They don't come out to church that often, but they agreed to come this past Sunday. (They didn't end up coming though.) They're good people, but they've been through some hard times. My heart really goes out to people like that. I want to help them as much as possible! The best way I know how is through the Gospel. It really can change people's lives and I've seen it done. I love it.

So there's not too much of an email this week, sorry about that. But hey there's always next week. This week was pretty good, though. Anyways, hope all's well back home. Love ya!

-Elder Wilson

Nestor!!

An awesome week

Man, this is super long. I'm sorry! BUT THERE'S SO MANY COOL THINGS THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK!

This past Sunday Elder Reed and I fasted for the people we're working with to be able to come to church to be able to receive the revelation they need that this really is the right Church. And it worked!! He definitely loves us enough to help us with that, it's incredible how much you learn about God while you're on your mission dedicating 2 years just to Him and His work. I can honestly say that I have a personal relationship with Him. How humbling is that? Having a personal relationship with a God?? :)

Brother Zolman is usually the guy we get to drive us around for P-day. He's probably around 60 but he is so hilarious!! hahaha. I love that guy. He usually takes us out to eat for lunch, and he took us out to lunch to a Mexican restaurant named Tio's. He goes there so much that he's a VIP member there pretty much. They don't have diet mountain dew there, only regular, so he brings in his own diet mountain dew cans and they put them in the back of the store for him and bring them out when he comes in!! hahaha. He's so awesome.

We went on an exchange with Elder Harun and Elder Chesbrough. They're good missionaries but their area isn't doing too well. Elder Reed and I wanted to help them out so I went into their area with Elder Chesbrough. All of their appointments cancelled that day which stunk, but instead we just talked to everyone we saw. Together, we found them a solid potential person, and 3 referrals for people we should stop by. That was pretty cool. I was getting him super pumped up about the work which was fun. We talked with everyone we saw! He's a good missionary, just kind of bashful. 

I think they're either close to or have put out the fires here in Utah which is good. Except I think I'm going to miss the red sun and the orange moon, haha.

So we taught Klari, that Hungarian woman who is Nestor and Derrick's live in nanny this week. We taught her through a  translator, the ROM from Hungary. He was saying how she was actually pretty interested! She's moving back to Hungary this week though which sucks. But you wanna know the cool part?? She lives 10 MINUTES AWAY walking distance to the mission office in Hungary! Alex knew exactly which street she lives on! Pretty crazy awesome. You can't plan that without the Lord's help. So we got her information, and we're going to send it to the mission office in Hungary. She's excited to learn! I think she will be an amazing asset to the people in Hungary.

We bought Nestor and Derrick some church clothes from Deseret Industries. They each got shoes, pants, a belt, a shirt, and a tie! They were pretty excited to wear them at Church on Sunday. Nestor is such a good kid! He got interviewed for baptism Saturday and he passed (of course). He and his mom are excited for his baptism. SO ARE WE! :) I don't think I have a picture of him yet, so I'll send one next week of his baptism. They both came to church (nestor and derrick) and they both loved it! Their little sister Natasha came too and she's 6. She liked primary. 

Another cool thing happened! We were walking through an apartment complex, and we heard a girl yell "Elders!!!" So we turned around and there was a girl that had come down from BYU-I and was on a residency here for teaching. Except she didn't have Internet or a roommate, and she started work the next day. She needed Internet to register for things, and her roommate was supposed to know the way around there. She was super overwhelmed. So we gave her a blessing to calm her down. That really helped. Ah man I love the priesthood!! 

We also stopped by Elder Bass and Elder Brannum. (Elder Bass is MY SON! ;) ) They said they wanted to work on handing out a Book of Mormon to people on the street so we role played that with them for a while. That seemed to help out a lot. I think Elder Brannum could become the next district leader, he's pretty capable. Although he's a little proud which isn't too good. 

I like this picture of the sunset, what do you think?

This week...

...went by so fast! I can't believe August is already halfway over.

We had zone training this last week which went pretty well. We trained on how to get the people we're teaching to realize that they need to come to church to be able to get the answer that this really is the only true church as we claim it to be. And how to talk to the random people we see on the streets and how to mix the gospel into it. That was pretty cool. The assistants came to it and said that it was pretty good. They said the activity part was really good and the practicing how to talk with people was good as well. Then they left us with some things we could do better next time. Which is always needed. We had a big meeting with the mission president, the area seventy over this area, the full time missionaries from this zone, the senior couple missionaries from this zone, all the stake presidents from this zone, all the bishops, all the ward mission leaders, and all the members of the ward counsel. So it was a pretty big meeting. But it went really really well! Elder Tate the area seventy talked to everyone about how the ward counsel should run and what they should talk about during it. I think the members really needed that meeting because they all really want to do the work, but most of them just don't know how, haha.

We went on exchanges last week with Elder Chesbrough and Elder Harun. We did it really early in the morning so Elder Reed and I rode all the way to their house to do the switch. Elder Reed went with Elder Chesbrough who is a new district leader this transfer, and Elder Harun came here. It was seriously dodge-the-missionary day, though. Nobody was outside and nobody answered the doors! 2 of our appointments fell through, but we were able to teach a guy named Shawn who is starting to come back to church. Brother Hutchinson came out with us which is nice. He's a good guy. Elder Harun's bike broke haha. We were riding and all of a sudden Elder Harun was like uhh.. Elder? His handlebars came up out of the socket they were in. So we called a ride, and we went back to our place to grab my extra bike. Some missionaries ask me why I have an extra one but hey this is why! That way we don't have to waste any time fixing bikes we just go grab the extra one. He's from Malaysia and goes up to about my shoulder but he is an awesome missionary! He goes home September 4th but he is really focused on the work still which is awesome. He's always happy!

I also went on exchanges with Elder Conley in his area. We talked to everyone we saw, it was pretty fun. I think I got him a little pumped up! We found a lot of potentials in that area which hopefully should help. We got in contact with someone they were teaching, Aliimau as well which was really good. He had been dogging the missionaries for a while so that was good to finally catch him. He admitted to have started up smoking again which is why he was avoiding the missionaries. He felt guilty and embarrassed. I'm glad he was able to let us know though so that we can help him. He's on track to be baptized in the next couple weeks.

Sunday wasn't too stressful this week! Which was really nice because as a missionary it usually is. Nestor came to church today. Natasha his little sister wanted to come too, but she wasn't home. Nestor really needs some church clothes. He wore a black t shirt, blue basketball shorts, and neon green running shoes. Pretty crazy. But hey as long as you come to church, God doesn't care right?? He's still good for the 24th. We also went by Nestor's live in nanny named Klari. She's from Hungary so she only speaks Hungarian, which creates a little bit of a problem since I have no idea how to even say hello. Luckily we had dinner with a family who's son just got back from his mission to Hungary!! I definitely know that wasn't a coincidence that we met them. We took him with us to teach her, and he taught her about the Book of Mormon and a little about the Church. We shared our testimonies with her through him translating for us which was pretty fun actually. She wants us to come back so we have a return appt for tomorrow with her. 

Man that was a long winded email! Sorry about that! Hopefully you didn't just skim through the entire thing, it took me a long time to write it!

Love, Elder Wilson

The Best Feeling Ever: Serving a Mission.

To start off, sorry it's so late! We ran out of time earlier for me to do the family email, and I convinced my companion to let us come back to finish up before P-day ends at 6. ;) 

So this week was pretty hot but it wasn't too bad. I guess July was a record setting high for Utah! I can believe that, haha. This week I went on exchanges with Elder Dean while Elder Reed went to Elder Haught's area. It was pretty fun, we got a lot of work done. He's a good missionary. He knows the things we need to do as missionaries to bring success. We taught Stefanie, a recent convert, the rat trap lesson. The rat trap lesson is where we smash a pencil in the trap, then have them look up a bunch of scriptures on faith and while they're doing that I unhook the springs. Then ask them to touch the trigger to demonstrate their faith. (it looks like it's set) She touched the trigger 3 times and each time it didn't go off! Talk about faith, haha. Eventually it popped, and since the springs were off it didn't hurt her. 

As a mission we went to the Salt Lake City Temple!! I didn't want to talk about it too much in the past emails in case any of you wanted to sneak a visit in! But it was a really cool experience. We had lunch at 12, and then we were able to walk around the temple square and do whatever until the session at 2. So us and a few other missionaries went on top of the roof of the conference center. That was very pretty up there. You can see forever! Then we went and did the session as a mission. I love the feeling I get when I'm in the temple. Unlike anything else I can describe!

We've been meeting with a less active guy named Shawn. He's a really cool guy and has a strong testimony but for some reason he just won't come out to church. Elder Reed and I can't figure out what's bothering him. Maybe someone offended him? We don't really know. But like I said he's a really strong member- just doesn't come out to church.

So we also went on exchanges with the assistants. Elder Davidson came here with me. He's grown a lot since I was with him, but he's still the same guy which is super nice. We taught Mene the restoration, and it was a super powerful lesson. The spirit was there so strongly. We invited him to be baptized, and I think he said "yes, absolutely!" without realizing what he just agreed to because he then said no later on. Ugh it's so frustrating sometimes seeing people touched by the spirit and knowing that it's true, and then walking away from it or fall back into their old lives again. :/ They don't know what they're missing!! 

Nestor is still doing well. We're going by tonight to teach him. He's on date for the 24th of August which is looking good. The mom is still on board and is really supportive now which is really nice. He's an awesome kid. He wants to be baptized, he has a huge heart, and is just an overall good kid. Too bad his brothers aren't the same way all the time. Elder Davidson said he was pretty nervous to OYM (Open Your Mouth-- talking with people on the street). So I wanted to help him with that because I like OYMing people! You never know who you're going to get! haha. We taught a guy named Nolan Peacock too. He's a really humble guy and is pretty open to the Book Of Mormon and the LDS religion in general. He said he was about to join in California, but then moved out here and he never ended up joining. We taught him the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and about the Book of Mormon. He accepted the Book of Mormon and said he really wanted to read it. So he looks promising. I'll let you know! 

Sundays are so stressful as a missionary. I know I probably say this like every week but it's so true. We were going to go by Nolan to teach him again, but as we got there he was just leaving his apartment to go somewhere. So unfortunately we had to move the appointment til yesterday, but then he ended up canceling again haha. Interviews for 3 people were supposed to happen at 11:30am, then they got pushed til 12 noon, but then the mom said she was going to be downtown in salt lake city until 4!! Church starts at 1 and they need to be interviewed before it starts. We were fasting today, and we prayed for a miracle. And it worked! President Moffat ok'd them to be interviewed after church as long as the ward knows about it. (That NEVER happens, usually he just says to push them back a week). We said a thank-you prayer afterwards which I usually don't do to be honest. I want to be better at that for sure though. I think that He will bless me more when I say thank you after He answers a prayer of mine. 

Yesterday was pretty crazy! For one, the Sharp family took us out to lunch which was awesome. I attached a picture of us with the kids. It's been a pretty long time since I saw them but it's cool to see they're still doing good. They're going to New Zealand for Christmas! That will be pretty cool. But we also saw a really bad car accident! Apparently a car took a left turn too fast and skidded out, hitting the curb which made it fly into the air and when it landed on it's front left bumper it did cartwheels until it landed upside down. Then it rolled forward off a 4 foot edge. So the driver was upside down, and the steering wheel was up against the concrete edge. I can't believe he lived. He must have been living right!! I'm attaching the picture of it. I wish I could send you the video I got!!

Anyways, this week went pretty well. I know the work I am doing is the Lord's work. He wouldn't be blessing me and blessing the lives of those I love if it weren't. I love you guys!

Elder Wilson.

 

 We went to the temple as a mission! 

We had a little down time and so we went up to the top of the conference center and took a picture. 

Left to right it's Elders: Lima, me, Martell, Reed, Conley, Mintey, Fussell, and Middleton. 

The Salt Lake City Temple

A pretty cool shot on top of the conference center

The Sharps took us out to lunch!

The crazy crash. I wish I could send you the video I have of it!!