Miracles!

HELLOOO Everyone!
To answer your questions, YES I'm alive. :)

(And if you don't already know, I was hit by a car on Thanksgiving day but don't worry, I got the car back. ;) )

So I guess I should start off with that, huh. 

Well we were riding home after a wonderful thanksgiving day, and we waited at the corner of the street to cross until the white man said it was okay to walk like he does. As we started to go across Elder Judkins (my new comp, more later) said man, today was such a good day. I agreed, because it was! Then as I was almost across the street, I saw a car out of the corner of my eye and all I heard was Elder Judkins saying "OH DUDE!" Then I remember being on the street in front of the car, and not wanting to get run over I hurried and got to the side of the road because I didn't know if she was going to keep going or not. But when I did that I realized that my knee was hurting pretty badly so I sat down and wrapped my hands around it to get pressure on it. By then there were probably about 10 or more people that had ran over and were asking me if I was alright or not. I looked at the car and my BIKE WAS STICKING OUT OF THE HEADLIGHT. hahaha. The pedal had jammed into the headlight and was suspended in midair from it. So turns out that the lady (a 60 year old, and she was really shaken up- she kept saying she thought she killed me) had been making a right hand turn and didn't see me crossing the street. I was hit, rolled up onto her car, shattered the windshield, bounced off (going OVER my bike which was stuck in her car, so probably around 7-9 feet in the air), then landed on the street in front of her. So from her perspective I can see why she thought she killed me, because all she saw was me right in front of her, and then BAM her windshield is spider-webbed haha. There was so much commotion it all happened so fast! Probably 5 cops, a fire truck and an ambulance all showed up. I didn't call any though, other people did I guess. I got checked out by the paramedics, and they didn't find anything wrong with me. There was a tow truck driver that came to tow her car (since she couldn't see out of it) and he kept saying how he always knew that "you guys" had some divine protection, but then he said "but now I really believe. You should have died!" The paramedics said the same things. So God was definitely watching over me, and I definitely believe it. Hopefully he starts to "investigate" the Church now because of that! :)

My bike was suprisingly not that bad of condition! The front wheel was bent out of shape, but other than that it still rides pretty well. (I got a new wheel) Oh my watch broke but it's cool because it was the time of the accident haha :) I'll send that picture home too.

So yeah! That was my cool adventure for the week. :) Elder Judkins and I were joking around saying maybe this was the reason I was sent back to this area. So I could get hit and have someone converted after seeing it! ;)

The next morning I thought I was going to be really really sore because my knee was tight, my ankle hurt, my lower back right above the hip, my ribs, and my shoulder. But I prayed that I wouldn't be hurting or stiff, and when I woke up the next morning I was completely fine!! All I have/had was a little bruise on my left knee. (Which is strange, all those places that hurt were on the left side of my body, and she hit me from the right. So I'm thinking I was knocked out for a little bit when she hit me, then landed flat on my left side on the street. But I don't know. Like I said it all happened way too fast.

But something even more amazing happened! When we got home, Elder Judkins and I noticed some blood on my dress shirt. So I took it off, and there was some (obviously) on my undershirt* too. But when I took that off, there wasn't any wounds at all on my back. Just skin! So something miraculous must have happened there. I thought that was pretty amazing. :) 

On Sunday we had to give talks in sacrament meeting. TWENTY MINUTES EACH. That seemed so insane! So I definitely was praying pretty hard to fill up the time, haha. I ended exactly on time though, it was a mini miracle for me. I hadn't looked up at all the entire talk and when I did it was the time I needed to end! :) A lot of people came up to me afterwards and told me they really liked my talk. One lady said that she was trying to write down all the scriptures and references from Preach My Gospel that I used in my talk. She said "Your talk was really powerful. You really have the Spirit with you!" That was the best compliment I've probably ever gotten. :) 

Oh I saw Kimberly Carlson and her husband! That was pretty cool. We were out with a member for dinner, and she walked in haha. It was a little strange seeing someone I know but it was still a good experience. 

So Elder Judkins. He got trained by Elder Davidson, so since I'm finishing up his training I'm his "stepdad". But since Elder Davidson is MY step dad, that also makes us step brothers. hahaha missionary family trees are so jacked up. He's a really great missionary though. He knows his stuff, isn't afraid to talk to people, WE GET ALONG, and he's pretty laid back. So I think this transfer is going to go great. He's from Texas but he doesn't have the accent! I don't think we have a normal picture together, so you'll have to see him either next week or in the picture from thanksgiving.

Hope all is well!
Love ya :)

-Elder Wilson

 Look! I promise I'm okay mom ;)

 My bike tire

 The scene of the crime! hahaha. Look at that car! Told ya I got it back ;)

 Me getting into the ambulance to get checked out

 Time of the accident! But I think the minute hand moved a little because it was 9:04 

(We were teaching a lesson! Don't judge! Missionary Handbook pg#15)

My study table!

Back To My Roots

So transfers came again, and I'm getting the boot. BUT I'M GOING BACK TO MIDVALE. The same area even! Where I was with Elder Davidson. I'm with his son and I'm finishing training. My new address is

6748 Hollowdale Drive

Cottonwood Heights, Utah 84121

So this week is HOPEFULLY not going to be totally crazy and jumbled. There are a lot of other missionaries in here and so it's hard to concentrate. But Alonso had a really good lesson with us! We showed up at his house and he was having a bad day. He eventually let us in, and we asked him if he wanted to read the Book of Mormon. He said sure, and then at the end he was really peaceful and calm! He said he had a good feeling inside so I explained that it was the Spirit telling him that was he was reading was true. He said that makes sense and he knew it was true too :) Turns out he had been praying to get more calm and to get in a better mood, and we showed up a few minutes later! It was awesome. 

There was a girl that texted us the other day this week, and she had some questions about the Church and the Gospel and things like that. She asked a few more questions  and so we asked her if she has her own copy of the Book of Mormon. She didn't, so I wrote my testimony in one and highlighted some of the key scriptures like the first and last two paragraphs in the intro, and Moroni 10: 3-5. We also gave her some of the pamphlets  :) Her friend Riley met us because Alexa is too afraid to because of her parents. So I hope that progresses while I'm gone. And Alonso too!!

Alright well I have to go now, I promise I'll try and make next week longer!! 

I love you! :)
-Elder Wilson

 This is the Walmart that we shop at. People are HUGE U fans out here!

 LOOK HOW COOL THIS SNOW DRAGON IS

Elder Bass and I

Oh the weather outside is WONDERFUL

This week was so awesome! IT SNOWED!! :D A lot, too. We were going to ride our bikes in it, but we decided that it was a little too icy and slippery to do that. The wind was also pretty chilly on bikes. So we've been walking the last few days. But I love the weather! We shoveled out our pathway from the door to the sidewalks and I realized that I actually like shoveling snow. Everyone says they hate it, so I'm pretty sure I will by the end of the winter, but as of right now I'm happy to do it.

We took Alonso to mutual with us, and he loved hanging out with all the people his age. I think he's meshing pretty well with them. He's a cool guy and a lot of the youth from the ward like him. 

We had zone specialized training on Thursday (no district meeting!! ;) ) and that was really good. We talked about how we need to invite everyone to be baptized, and to do it in the first lesson. I'm glad the zone leaders talked about it, because my district really needs to hear that. As missionaries, we're supposed to invite on the first lesson. How else will they know why we're here? Or what we/The Lord expects from them? Not that I'm saying that I'm perfect at it because I'm far from it, but still. We have to give the opportunity to everyone. Not everyone will accept, but you never know who is waiting to be invited and is too scared or doesn't realize it within themselves that they want that change in their lives. 

We finally got a hold of Sheri Martinez, who is a recent convert who fell off the face of the earth. She doesn't ever answer her door, haha. But we texted her and asked if we could introduce ourselves to her and her family, and she agreed! So we went over there and did it, and she's a really nice lady. She has a 10 year old daughter that she wants to have baptized, so we're going to be working with them. I hope we will be able to continue to get a hold of her, haha. 

I made a mini snow-man! I forgot to take a picture of him but good news: The snow is gonna be around for a while. ;) So I'll get a picture for next time! I typed up the lyrics for that song. So read them! And listen to the song, it's seriously powerful.

Behold the sign, The light of hope
At last, the King is born
As the prophets told
The star is come
And the angels sing for joy
Yet the dark of doubt confounds the day
How quickly blindness clouds the way
Then the mountains fell
The cities burned
Raging thunder rent the sky
What a mournful wail
Filled up the air
And the mist turned day to night
But the Father said:
Behold My Son, I am well pleased
Now hear ye Him.
The shadows flee
His quiet voice
Come see the light of hope descend
Be free of doubt and arise
Come touch his wounds
And fall at his feet
The lost reclaimed
Come see the light

Though slain he lives
The Lamb of God
Go touch the prints and know
Kneel at His feet
And worship Him,
For your soul He drank the cup
Hosana with one accord
Blessed the name, The Most High God
The shadows flee, His quiet voice,
Come see the light of hope descend
Be free of doubt and arise
Come touch His wounds
And fall at His feet,
The lost reclaimed
Come see the light
He is Alpha and Omega,
He is the light and life of the world
Build on His rock
And break the gates of hell
And then turn with Him
The shadows flee His quiet voice
Come see the light of hope descend
Be free of doubt and arise
Come touch His wounds
And fall at His feet
The lost reclaimed,
Come see the light
Come see the light

Come see the light.

Anyways, I hope all is well back home! I love you!
Elder Wilson

Ps sorry this letter is so short, I'm running outta time!

 This is my landlord, John Smith! The Christmas lights are coming up!!

It was snowing so hard! I love it! 

We looked out our window and saw this! We found the closet to Narnia.

So incredible! Yes I may be going overboard with the snow picture but hey I'm from California!

Veteran's day

Elder Wilson, Elder Tuiketei, Elder Bass, and Elder Shreeve. 

It got really washed out but I kind of like it!

Here's a regular one of us.

November!

So this week, not much happened. I mean a lot did, but the main person I want to focus on is Alonso! HE IS SO COOL. He's 16, in high school, and he has a real conviction to learn more and to really soak in all that he can. We've taught him a lot this past week. We started to teach him about the plan of salvation, and he ended up having some questions that we answered. They were about faith and if God were really real or not. We bore testimony and showed him scriptures/taught about faith, and after that he knew there was a God. It was pretty powerful. :) Then at another lesson we taught him the Plan of Salvation, and then answered some of his questions about some of the commandments that he had heard about. He seemed happy with the answers and understood them well. Then we went by to pick him up for church, and he was already in the shower getting ready to go!! So awesome. So we waited, and then walked together to church. HE LOVED IT! :) It was testimony meeting, and there were a lot of little kids that day so it was a little noisy. But I was praying, Please let the Spirit touch his heart, please please please! When the last three people that got up the whole room was quiet and the Spirit was super strong. :) Afterwards he pointed to his chest and said he felt warm inside. Then he said "Man, I feel SO good right now!" I explained that that was the Spirit that he felt, and that the Holy Ghost was telling him truth. He ended up staying for all three hours! He loved all of it and the young men really took him under their wing it was PERFECT. He said originally that he would probably only go to the first hour. Which makes sense, because it seems like a long time to be at church for 3 hours. But after the first one I asked if he wanted to go to the next hour with the youth his age, and he said "Heck ya!" That was really cool. Then after that hour, I said alright you've been two hours do you wanna go home or stay? "Naw, man I really like it! I wanna stay if it's alright!" He said he can't wait until next week. He's going to go to D.I. to get a suit he said. So cool!! Definitely an answer to my prayers. :)

So that was the highlight of my week definitely. During church a guy came up to me and asked if I would speak in Primary to the little kids about how they can be a missionary and how I chose to be a missionary. So I stood up in front of all of them and told them about how if people ask them what they believe in and why they might not do certain things that they can answer and use it as a chance to be a missionary by talking about the church and inviting them to scouts or activity days or things like that. It was cool seeing all the kids' looks in their eyes :)

Speaking of missionaries, I got a letter from a really good friend yesterday telling me that they were thinking about going on a mission but weren't sure if it was right for them or not yet. Personally, I think they should. They would be a really great missionary and it will help them out a ton. But if any of you are thinking about going on a mission, and you're not quite sure if you should, GO FOR IT. What do you have to lose? NOTHING! :) (you definitely don't lose two years, (or 18 months) if anything you GAIN two years from all the experience and life lessons you get out here.) You learn how to manage time, manage money, build relationships, how to deal with being with someone 24/7 (hahaha), and most importantly you get closer to God and Jesus Christ than any other way. It is so rewarding being out here. I almost want time to slow down! I can't believe I'm coming up on 7 months here pretty soon. There's enough work here for a lifetime! Sounds cheesy probably, but there really is. :)

Have you heard "Come See the Light" by Clyde Bawden? I'M IN LOVE WITH IT. I'll try and send it to you! Ah!It gives me goosebumps whenever I hear it.

I hope everyone enjoyed the extra hour of sleep! I always think of my Dad around this time of year, he hates when it gets dark this early! ;)

Love,

Elder Wilson.

This is Elder Tuiketei! I promise I'm happy ;)

SNOW!! :D

Hey hey heeyyyyyy! :) SO I forgot to write this up beforehand, so I'm writing this right now. I hope it isn't too jumbled! This week was super cool! actually not really, it got extremely hot this week. But after talking to the natives up here they say that that's pretty normal for it to get cold, then a week of it being hot, then it gets cold again and stays that way for the rest of the winter. yay! :)

So Chaz Peck isn't going to be progressing anymore, or at least not for a while. I think his parents put the kibosh on it again which stinks, but hopefully he will continue to progress later on. But we asked him who he knew that might be interested in hearing from us, and he said that his friend Ty Hull might be interested. So that was cool! We stopped by there and have taught him a few times. He's a good kid.

We had too many appointments again this week, so we went on splits with Elder Tuiketei and Elder Shreeve to teach Mikayla and Alonso. They live right next door to each other hahahha so it was funny we were both standing on the doorstep knocking on the door haha. But Mikayla wasn't home, so they went out and tracted the area and Elder Tuiketei and I went in and taught Alonso. He is awesome! He accepted baptism for the 24th of November. :) He is a really really good kid about 16 and has had a lot of troubles in his life. So he's pretty mature for his age and knows what's good and what's not so good for him. He's pretty interested in religion as well.

Lloyd wants to come with us tracting!! haha that's so freaking AWESOME. And he is about to get his patriarchal blessing too! That's so freaking awesome. He's going to be a general authority someday I know it haha. I love Lloyd!

Speaking of General Authority, there was a General Authority that came to our mission this week on Wednesday. He's over the missionaries in the Church! Under Elder Holland. It's crazy.He talked about missionary work and how to find new people :) He told us that we should ask recent converts, less actives, and part member families. I agree with him, because those are the families that will know the most non-members. The confrence lasted for about 6 1/2 hours! Closer to 7, actually. 

I went on exchanges with Elder Tuiketei and I had Elder Shreeve come here and be with Elder Bass so they can have a "Green day" hahahaha. (Two greenies together. They've only been out 2 weeks! hahahaha.) IT SNOWED!! Elder Tuiketei was so excited because he's from Florida so he has never really seen snow before. Correction, he HASN'T seen snow before. He had me take pictures of him holding a snow ball and I was a part of his first snowball fight! haha :) The weather here is so ridiculously weird. It snowed, then got really hot, then windy, then snowed on and off throughout the day! The weather is so bi-polar here it's weird. 

We put in a new sidewalk for the Simpsons! That was cool. We poured the cement, and then we smoothed it out and put the brush over it so it has texture and it's not as slippery in the winter. I carved my name into the side of the sidewalk ;) A couple of the wards here had halloween parties which we went to. Those are always really fun. We saw some of the people we were teaching there, too! :) 

It's really good to hear from you all! 

Love, Elder Wilson!

So many cool connections with this family! The dad looks exactly like the guy from King of Queens in real life but older. Kevin James. Their daughter is Janet Ralph, and their other daughter's son dated Kiera Davis until he left on his mission! Pretty cool.

It snowed!! :D

These were freaking gross! Peanut butter bars with a pretzel in the middle of it for the bone and an almond for the fingernail!

Aren't we so cute??

Elder Bass and I came home to find that some of his family friends had decorated our door!

...we made bunk beds. :)

It's weird having P-day on Monday again!

This is an exception  not a new thing where my P-days are going to be on Mondays. They'll still be on Tuesdays, it's just that we have a meeting that will interfere with our usual P-day.

It's starting to rain really hard! :) Well some days. Other days it's just kind of cold. Which is still awesome. Speaking of awesome, I got a letter from the Sharps this week! :)

We had zone conference on Wednesday. It went really well! It was about the Book of Mormon and how we can use it to our advantage when we teach. In Preach My Gospel, they tell us that the Book of Mormon coupled with the Spirit is the most powerful teaching tool. And I agree with that. We can use the scriptures to back us up, because just taking our word for it doesn't do anyone any good. 

An Elder in my district, Elder Tuiketei (Too-ee-ka-tay) got his bike stolen, so that kind of stinks. I guess he left it out at night and so it got jacked. So now I lock up my bike even at night haha. 

There was a guy named Thomas Henry that died Wednesday night :( He was the dad of one of the people we were teaching. We went to the funeral service at the church, and when they were all at the grave site, Elder Bass and I stayed behind and got 16 Book of Mormons and wrote in them and highlighted certain things in them. (The introduction page's first, and then last two paragraphs; Alma 40: 11-12, and then wrote our number in the front of them if they had any questions or wanted to learn more.) We left 2 on every table. When the crowd came back for lunch, we left. Later on we went back and all but one of them was gone! :) We even looked in the lost and found and none of them were there. They took them! :) We had too many appointments later that day, so we went on splits with some of the people in our wards that we cover. I went with Tom Seipel, and Elder Bass went with Joseph Bjork who just recently got off his mission maybe a month or two ago. Tom and I went to teach Malaysia and Britain, and Elder Bass and Joseph went to teach Lloyd and to get the baptismal program made. When Tom and I got to Malaysia's house, they weren't home! So instead we went to Aubry's home which is right next door and taught her. We read Alma chapter 12 with her which is a pretty sweet chapter. She called it a "spiritual slap in the face" hahaha. 

We found a new person this week, Frankie King. He's this really cool guy 29 years old. REALLY chill. He accepted November 11th as a date to get baptized, after we taught him the Restoration. He's excited and ready to get baptized! There are people everywhere for us as missionaries. We just have to have the faith to find them! :)

We met with Mikayla this week too. She's improving, slowly. ha. She wasn't interested in reading the scriptures, so instead we read out of one of the pamphlets about the plan of salvation. She seemed to understand it really well, and had a desire to learn more about it which is sweet. 

Lloyd got baptized! :) He asked me to do it, and I was honored to do it. haha ;) The service went really well. The talks were great, the baptism itself was great, and they had a lunch at their house afterwards (also great ;)) President Moffat showed up and he said it went really well! After that we went back to the church to help the Sisters set up for their baptism. Gordan Andrew Gray III. They asked me to do his baptism as well! That was a cool experience. He's a really great guy. I love baptisms in general. There's such a good Spirit at them. If any of you are reading this and don't know what I'm talking about when I say there's a special spirit at them, GO TO ONE! :) They're so cool :)

I love you, thanks for reading!

Elder Wilson

Okay, so I know that you can't see the rain but it was pouring!! haha.

This is infamous Lloyd I've been talking about. Elder Bass thinks he's tall with his shoes on ;)

Here's a picture of Gordon, the other baptism that I did on Saturday.

I was so excited to get this cereal in a package my family sent me! I've always wanted to try it! :)

Elder Bass is in tha HOUSE!

I'm in love with this weather. It's cold and raining and purely amazing!

Bloomfield is gone! That's kinda sad I think I'm gonna miss him. He went to Murray and is with someone from the same district as he was in the MTC. 

So I went to the mission office to meet the other trainers in the mission, and most importantly my trainee! :) His name is Elder Bass (pronounced like the fish) and he's from a little town in Oklahoma. He's a little guy! haha. He goes up to about my shoulder. :) I found out that his stake president used to be David A. Bednar! That's pretty cool. But he's a great missionary. He was really excited to go out and start working! During the training meeting we were in, he leaned over to me and asked "so what's the plan for today??" haha. He plays the piano I guess, so that's cool. :) When we teach, he's pretty bold (especially for a brand new missionary!) which is really good. Obviously he's not super comfortable with the lessons yet so I'm still doing most of the teaching, but he jumps in every once in a while with some good insights. 

We taught Oscar again finally, after him giving us the run around for a while. I purposely didn't tell Elder Bass anything too specific about him just so he wouldn't profile him and get a biased view. He did really well though, he talked a lot. That was the first thing we did when he got in the field too! He dropped off his bags, and we went and taught Oscar. :) Anyways, Oscar finally read a scripture! But when we were going over to his house to pick him up for church, he was sleeping. So we woke him up, and then he said he didn't want to go to church. Or read the Book of Mormon. or pray. So we told him that we are only here to invite, and that we can't force anyone to do anything. And when he changes his mind to let us know. So that's the situation with Oscar sadly. :/

District meeting went really well this week too. The zone leaders were there, but they said that they were going to leave because "you have some other visitors coming". President Moffat and Sister Moffat came!! That was pretty crazy. But it went really well. President Moffat had to leave early to go do an interview for someone, and so Sister Moffat stayed for the rest of the meeting. Sister Moffat didn't have anything to say that I could improve on! :) I asked her but she just kept saying things I did well. 

We had district lunch, to get to know each other. I love my district! :) Elder Bass didn't know how to do the Rubik's cube so I taught him and he picked it up pretty fast.

So, since Elder Bass is fresh from the MTC, I had to pull a prank on him! ;) I went to the Warnicks with him. As we were riding up towards their house, he asked me what we were doing next, so I said hey let's tract this street. Then we "started" at their house. I rang the doorbell, and the light came on but nobody answered the door for about a minute. Then all of a sudden Brother Warnick slammed open the door, holding a gun and yelled "I thought I TOLD you to never.." and right then I took off running and left Elder Bass standing on the porch! hahahaha :) I guess he stood there in astonishment and then started to say "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry" and then ran away after me hahaha :) When he got to me he said was that for real?? Then I just busted up laughing and said no Elder, it's okay it was all just a joke! Then we walked back up to the house and he was outside. Then Brother Warnick said" Haha hey, I'm Jake Warnick. Sorry about that!" Then he gave Elder Bass some pie to calm him down. He said he was pretty scared. :) 

Lloyd is the man! He got interviewed for his baptism on Saturday. Elder Reid was excited to see him, haha :) Lloyd wanted to have some of the pamphlets that we gave him so that he could teach someone in jail! Isn't that freaking legit?? Our investigator is being a missionary! :) He is getting baptized this Saturday, October 20th. He's super pumped to do it, and he asked me to baptize him! :) 

I also interviewed two of the people that the Sisters were teaching, John and Gordan. They seemed like they knew their stuff pretty well. It's so exciting seeing people getting ready for baptism! They seem so happy :)

So we were on our way to teach a family yesterday, and right as we were about to go inside, Mikayla walked up behind us and said "I saw you guys and wanted to say hi!" So I told her that we were about to go teach this family (they live on her street) and if she wanted to come in with us. She wanted to and so we taught her and the family the restoration of the gospel and the Spirit was really strong. :) I could tell Mikayla felt it. She took a copy of the Book of Mormon and promised to read it and pray to know if it's true! :) That was super exciting. :)

We have a few potential investigators that we found this week. Orlando we found when we were riding down the street, and he was working on his car trying to fix his alternator so we helped him out and he was really appreciative of us. He said we could come by and meet his family. :) There's another guy named Frankie who is just waiting to get baptized he said. He said he knows everything is true which is super super awesome! And a few others so hopefully they turn out. :)

I think Elder Bass and I are going to get along pretty well. :) How are things back home? Hopefully going well! 

I love all of you! :)

-Elder Wilson

Don't we have a Dyer Lane? Isn't it haunted??

We tracted into the Grinch!! hahaha. :)

Yes, we did end up knocking on this door. :)

I saw Elder Clark at the local bike shop!!! :) I have no idea how...

Elder Bass and I