Elder Iwertz

So I got moved! Well I guess I told you that last week. But my new companion's name is Elder Iwertz. He's a good guy, and he's from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Apparently he's actually from Oklahoma city instead of close to it, like me and Sacramento. He's been out just barely over a year, and so he is getting the missionary life down pretty well. He and I whitewashed the area that we're in right now though! A whitewash is when there's two missionaries going into an area that they've never been in before, just kind of getting "thrown" into it. But I love doing it that way. Getting to know the area and getting to know the members and everything like that is always a ton of fun. We have 1 on date for baptism right now, but I'm sure that things will pick up soon because we're being obedient and working hard. So hopefully next week I'll have some updates for you!

Patrick O'Brien is the guy that we have on date right now. He's a really awesome 12 year old. He's pretty smart, too. When we came into the area, he was pretty shaky about getting baptized and coming to church and stuff like that. But we've built some trust with him and helped him to realize that church can be and is really fun! So that's always good. His dad just got baptized in November I think, so that's cool too.

So some good things happened in my old area that I heard about!

Skyler got baptized!!! I wasn't able to make it though. =/ because we had a baptism that Elder Iwertz was teaching happening at the exact same time. So that wasn't too great. I felt really bad because he really wanted me to be there. And it took a while to finally get a hold of the other missionaries there to get Skyler's number to call to apologize. But he was okay with it all. He's a good guy. And also, Kennedy finally got confirmed! She got baptized but not confirmed. Which was a HUGE headache. 

Things are picking up right now!! It's getting exciting though, getting to know all the members and people here. 

But yeah, hopefully all's well everywhere else in the world! If not, start praying!

Love,

Elder Wilson

The pumpkins that Elder Reed and I got for Halloween still are alive! Well, kind of. 

Pretty much the best intersection in Utah

TRANSFERS! Finally a new address

So I'm leaving Taylorsville and leaving the bennion zone that I have been a zone leader over for 9 months now. It's kind of a bitter-sweet feeling leaving everything here, because I have grown to love the members here and the people I've taught. It's going to be sad saying goodbye. But I think Murray will do well for me.

Oh, before I forget. here's my new address:

Elder Bryce Wilson

5451s Quaking Aspen Dr.

Murray, UT 84123

So mom if you could put that as the new address on the blog that would be awesome! It will be until April 2nd.

This week was.. good! A ton of stressful things happened but that just makes us stretch right? I feel like I've become a lot better of a missionary since then. Which is good. Maybe it's God's way of making sure I don't think about home. It worked! hahaha. But we put out a lot of fires in the zone since then. Overall it was a good week though. Kennedy got baptized and she really loved it. She is such an awesome kid. She's 12 but definitely is the maturity of at least a 16 year old. She's going to do well in the church, she has a lot of good friends in it.

I also BAILED on my bike. As a district we had a workout, and so I was bundled up going there but afterwards it was a lot warmer outside and I was already warmed up anyways so I was carrying my sweatshirt. We were starting to go down a huge hill (I'll try to remember to take a picture of it before I go to send home next week) so I thought to myself man that would really stink if my sweatshirt got caught in my wheel... so I was trying to adjust it and throw it over my back when it slipped a little bit and you guessed it, it got jammed in my front wheel making it slam to a halt and hurdling me over the handlebars hahaha. Luckily nobody saw since it was early in the morning still. Well except a dog. It started barking at me after I crashed. So I yelled at it to shut up and it listened. hahaha it felt awesome. But it wasn't too bad, I got a small cut on my hands and arm, and I bruised the bones on my hip and elbow. But it's all good!

Man, I'm sorry that this is so short. Transfers are tomorrow so today is spent packing and all the other nonsense that we need to do on Pdays. I'm sorry [mom]! 

Love you!

Elder Wilson

Kennedy's baptism!

[Most] of our zone!

District meeting snapshot

District morning workout! (Just after this was when I ATE IT on my bike, hahaha)

Some awesome chocolate that I got from my Valentine this valentine's day :)

(thanks mom)

Nobody got baptized this week. :( Well for us at least. There were 5 baptisms that happened in the zone though!! So that was awesome. And Kennedy Ferguson is getting baptized this week at 1pm! :) She is pretty awesome. She has wanted to be baptized for a while now but her mom didn't feel like she was ready. But lately, she has asked her if she can be baptized. And she allowed her to!

But there will be more later. Next week.

We had zone training meeting this week which went really well. We had prayed beforehand that we would be able to to teach by the Spirit and I think that that definitely happened. A lot of people came up to us afterwards and said that it was good. We trained on finding, improving street contacting, and praying. Because we need to focus on those things as a zone. Especially the praying part. There is no way that we can do this work without Divine help. So I thought that it was cool how it worked out. 

We have been meeting with Lauren recently, and she is so legit. We have taught her a few times and she is really moving towards her baptismal date that she has agreed to, on the 22nd. She lives with her roommate, Allison. She is a primary teacher. And a very good friend to her. She told us though that she and Allison went to visit her old house where her dad had just recently died. She was pretty shaken up about that. I felt really prompted to offer a blessing of comfort. She accepted, and she said that that really helped. Thank you, Spirit! =D

We're also working with a 12 year old boy named Skyler Peterson. But he is definitely not the average 12 year old. He is SO SMART. and very mature. He also has cerebral palsy. But he is so happy and LOVES THE GOSPEL. He loves going to church, going to boy scouts, going to mutual, meeting all the people in church, everything. He's so legit. He is super excited to be baptized too. He's on date for the 22nd! :)

So yeah. A lot of good things are happening right now. And I love it. I want this to keep going forever! Never slow down. And neither should any of you out there!

I love you guys,

Elder Wilson

 A weird text that we got from our mission president. It definitely did not sound like him. 

He is usually really serious and formal. We still have no idea what he was trying to get at. haha.

The best looking Elders out there, hands down

Februaryyyyy

Okay so I'm sorry if this is getting old of me saying this.. but THIS WEEK WAS AWESOME!

Saturday: It was Kristi's baptism!! That was really awesome. Definitely one of the best ones that I have seen or done. The Spirit was really strong! Kristi's two boys came (7 and 8 years old), her mom who isn't a member, and her boyfriend Shawn. That was cool. Her mom was crying and I could tell that she felt the Spirit. So remember how Kristi went down to temple square? Oh actually I guess I never told you. Whoops. So Kristi called us up one day and wanted to meet. Prior to this she had said that she wanted to be baptized but never really showed a lot of interest or real effort. So she met with us, and OFFERED TO SAY THE OPENING PRAYER!! It was like pulling teeth before that. But in it she said that she was thankful God had answered her prayers and told her that this was true. So I was like dang!! What happened? So apparently she felt prompted that she needed to go down to temple square. So she went, and was looking at the painting in the north visitor's center on the very left with the two angels. I think it's when they're moving the stone for the tomb of Christ. Not sure. But anyways while she was looking up at it, thinking, two sister missionaries walked up to her and started talking to her. (She later said that she called them her angels haha.) But they ended up talking for 7 HOURS STRAIGHT. 7 hours!! So that was good. She admitted that she and they mostly talked and laughed and cried though... haha. When Elder Smith and I heard that we both laughed. But yeah so later on we all went on a temple square tour. Us, Bro VanDyk, Kristi, and the two sister missionaries, sisters Wettingfeld and Whisler. That as good. Kristi really liked it. We took her to the model of the temple, watched some mormon messages, and took her to the Christus statue and took pictures by it. But anyways back to Kristi's baptism, those two sister missionaries wanted to sing at the baptism. So they did a special musical number by Janice Kapp Perry called "Power of Heaven". That was really pretty. The assistants came, and brought someone that they are teaching, and they said it was pretty good as well. I'll send some pictures of it all!

Lauren is someone new that we picked up this week as well. She's awesome. Maybe I should stop using that word. But I feel like everything is awesome. Oh well. We found her at church! I felt like I needed to talk to her, so we did. And it turns out that she had been going to church for 4 weeks by herself! And she agreed to be baptized on february 22nd. So that should be good. :)

Sadly, we don't have any people getting baptized this weekend. :( It's a weird feeling! haha. But Kennedy is looking good for the 15th and we have two working towards the 22nd. So that should be exciting. I'll let you know as it gets closer!

Love ya!

Elder Wilson

Kristi Tift's baptism!