AWESOME WEEK

Man this week was totally awesome. So many cool things happened!

First off, last tuesday Lloyd and his fiance picked me and Elder Reed up to go to the temple!!! That was his first time going through the temple, and he wanted me to be his host through it to show him what to do. That was super humbling to be able to do that! Elder Reed and I were both able to be his hosts. Usually there's only 1 allowed, but since they found out we're missionaries and need to be together always, they allowed it. Man the temple is an awesome place. He loved it. We checked out one of the Sealing rooms, and Lloyd was amazed at the mirrors that seem to go on for ever, symbolizing eternity. I had realized before, but this last time I really tried to notice just how many symbolic things there are in the temple. I felt so close to God when I was in there. The Temple is incredible. so peaceful. I love it! It really is God's house!!

Tearsha Wallace got baptized!!! It was a really good baptism. She had her friends all participate which was cool. Ray, the one that went to general conference with us gave one of the talks, and her chaplain from the army was the one that baptized her. She is definitely one of my favorite people to have taught while on my mission. She soaked every thing we taught her with no questions or concerns! She was very, very prepared by God. 

I went on exchanges with Elder Lamb this week! (The one that Sydnee taught in the MTC). He came to my area since he probably couldn't do very well in his area yet (first week out). He's a good missionary. He wants to do the right things in his mission and I think with a little bit of guidance he will be able to grow into a really good missionary! (Good companions to keep him developing well) He has a good trainer now though which is good. I think he'll go far.

We had interviews with President Moffat this week. That went really well. We also got some training from the assistants and that was good. But the coolest part was at the end, when President called Elder Reed up to the front and asked him to tell us how he's had so much success on his mission. That was a cool experience. I was looking around, and all the missionaries were paying close attention. Elder Reed started to tear up when he was talking. He said " This time is too short. Don't waste it." Pretty powerful. I could tell that he was really getting sad that he has to go home soon. But I think it was really good, the missionaries really learned a lot from it. Myself included.

Anyways, this week was pretty dang awesome. So hopefully all of yours are as well. Love ya!
Elder Wilson

Life is good.

Life really is good though, if you think about it. Sure, everything might be crazy in the world but if you look for the positives rather than the everything else life seems a lot better. For me at least! Hopefully you all feel the same. But this week was awesome. And it doesn't look like it's going to end anytime soon!

Olivia was baptized! She's that 9 year old I was talking about. She is really smart. She knew everything she needed to know for baptism already and was excited for it. The only problem was she was only here once every OTHER weekend. So that made it hard for us to teach her and get a day to have the baptism, but eventually it happened. And it went really well! She had a lot of support from her family and friends and the ward there so that was nice. She said she felt really good after her baptism. To this day, I haven't heard someone that DIDN'T "feel really good" after their baptism. Yet again, another witness that this gospel is true. :)

There was something I forgot to tell you about Shawn's baptism though! His was a very unique baptism. He had a ROCK BAND AT IT! hahahaha. Apparently there was a family reunion that was taking place and they didn't know we were scheduled to have a baptism. So literally throughout the entire baptism there was rock music going on. It was a little hard to focus when Love Shack and other 80's music was blaring from the gym. haha. But the cool part was that when the actual baptism was happening (instead of the talks or music), the music stopped!! Pretty awesome how that worked. Coincidence? I think not! ;)

Other than that, Shawn is still solid. He's come out to lessons with us to teach other people we're working with and he was a little apprehensive at first but I can tell he's gonna be a good missionary if he decides to go on one. I really think he should! He even had a box for the tithing that he had been saving up for when he became a member!!!!! He had been saving it for over 5 years. Guess how much??? Check the picture!

Tearsha Wallace is coming up this weekend! (The one we took to temple square last week). She passed her interview, and is excited for her baptism. She is having her chaplain baptize her! He was the one that started it all, when she was in Afghanistan for the Army. She got interested in religion while there, and he told her about all different ones but she was interested in the LDS religion. So she learned, started reading the Book of Mormon, knew that it was true and from God, and we randomly tracted into her a while later! So that was a cool experience to go through. 

We went on exchanges with Elder Bloomfield and Elder Haught. I took E. Bloomfield to my area. It was good to be comps with him again! It was over a year ago that we were last time. He has opened up a lot from when we were together last. He really knows the scriptures well too! That was awesome. He helped teach the people we were working with, and he went with me to a district meeting. We went to Elder Chandlers. He has the biggest district I think in the mission, with 5 companionships and 2 senior couple companionships totaling 14! But yeah. It went pretty well. He's a good district leader, and hopefully he will continue to grow and develop well.

I met Elder Lamb! (The one that Sydnee taught when she was in the Mexico MTC). He's a solid missionary I think. obviously I don't know too much about him but we've gone to lunch and helped fix a bike or two, so we've talked a little bit. We're going on exchanges this next week and I'll go with Elder lamb and E. Reed will go with Elder Durfee, one of our district leaders. So that will be exciting! I'll let you know how it goes. 

Love you!

Elder Wilson

 Olivia's baptism!

 Our flyers that we put up around the church!

Shawn's tithing! 4,687 DOLLARS AND 94 CENTS! The bishop was very, very surprised. hahaha. When Shawn walked up to him and said he had some tithing money that he had been saving up, the Bishop was like "Oh, you have some coins in here or something...?" As he was opening the box. then when he opened it and saw a HUNDRED DOLLAR BILL sitting on top he was like OH! Well, let's go into my office so we can count it in private. hahahaha it was so funny to see his reaction. 

We saw a complete rainbow the other day, that was pretty cool.

Transfers! (for other missionaries)

Another 6 weeks has already gone by, but Elder Reed and I are both staying here together. So that means that by the end of this transfer, I will be with him for 3 transfers or 4 1/2 months! Pretty crazy. In this mission that never happens since the areas are so small. But I'm cool with it because he's a fun companion and we get a lot of work done. This is also his last transfer so I'll be killing him! (That's what it's called when you're someone's last companion and 'send them home'.) But he's not trunky and thinking about home so that's good.

This week was awesome! Shawn Barlow got baptized. And his whole family came! Well most of it. He has 28 brothers and sisters but I think about 2/3 of his family ended up showing up. I'll send a picture of them. They're really cool! He's going to be a stud member of the church. And he's thinking about going on a mission, hopefully he will go through with it. I know he would be an awesome missionary!! 

We took Tearsha to temple square last tuesday too. I'm attaching a picture of it. She is ALSO awesome! She loved it. We told her about prophets, forever families, and temples. She said she didn't have any questions but she learned a lot from it. She was gone this past weekend to visit her fiance in washington and she should have gotten back late last night or this morning. 

We had zone training meeting, that went really well too. Elder Reed and I made it fun but at the same time still instructional. The activity we did was a lot of fun. We made everyone run across the gym while everyone in a district shot nerf darts at them. That represented us as a zone finding a lot of people to teach, but not holding them (resolving their concerns.) Then we brainsormed ways we can hold people better and wrote them on a chalkboard. Then they all hid behind it as they walked past those shooting nerf darts at them. Most of them got through to "baptism" that time, symbolizing that when we do everything we can do then people get to baptism a lot easier and a lot more frequently. They all said they enjoyed it and learned from it, which is awesome! 

Elder Reed and I also had dinner with some people we met a while ago. They are so awesome!! haha. They even made us pumpkins, that was pretty cool. 

We have a lot of progressing investigators too which is really exciting.I'll tell you more about them next week! I'm running out of time this week, sorry.

Love you!

Elder Wilson

 Tearsha! We took her to temple square.

Shawn's baptism. He's on the top left by me. This isn't even his whole family! 

There was probably half missing he said. hahaha. They're awesome. 

The pumpkins that those awesome members made for us!

October... is... awesome.

"President Ezra Taft Benson taught: "We are commanded by God to take this gospel to all

the world. That is the cause that must unite us today. Only the gospel will save the world

from the calamity of its own self-destruction. Only the gospel will unite men of all races

and nationalities in peace. Only the gospel will bring joy, happiness, and salvation to the

human family" (The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [1988], 167)." -Preach My Gospel, p.2

Such an awesome quote. And I would say from the looks of things, it's pretty fitting. Especially now, 25 years later. THAT'S why missionary work is so important. THAT'S why there are so many missionaries going out into the field right now. THAT'S why the Lord is hastening His work. God is in control, no matter how crazy things get out in this world. Eventually, "All that is unfair about life

can be made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ." -Preach My Gospel, p.52

We just need to involve God in our lives more, and He will help us get through anything and everything we go through.This life is the time we have to prepare to meet God. He's our loving Heavenly Father. So why wouldn't He try and help us? 

General Conference was so awesome. There were so many good talks given that really helped out me in my life, and I'm sure many others in their lives. I love the fact that even though they prepare their talks months in advance, if you go into it having questions in your mind or written down, THEY ARE ANSWERED. How is that not evidence that these really are God's servants here on earth? Man. 

We got to go downtown with Tearsha and her friend Ray. They're both super awesome. Ray was baptized in January this year and he and Tearsha grew up together in the same high school. He is on fire! He kept saying things like "oh wait, that's only for people with the GOSPEL in their lives..." but then she would respond "HEY! the 26th isn't THAT far away, give me a break I'm working on it!!" hahaha. Her baptism is going to be awesome. We took a picture outside of the conference center, I'll send it home. We got about 3 pictures taken of us so maybe we'll be in the Ensign magazine, look for me! ;)

We had some cool experiences traveling there, though. There were a lot of peolpe that asked us where they needed to go. And each time we replied "just follow us". It's cool though because we're representatives of Jesus Christ and that's what He told us when He was here on the earth. Well actually He still does today, haha. And Quinten L. Cook walked right past us when we were getting out of the conference center! He walked past too fast for us to say hi to him though sadly. Oh well.

Shawn Barlow is getting baptized this friday, and then Olivia on the 19th, and Tearsha on the 26th. Things are getting exciting!! Well, they're always exciting. hahaha. We're taking Tearsha to temple square tonight so I'll have pictures of that too. But that will have to wait until next week.

This week was so boss. I love my mission. Every single day something awesome happens. Look for cool miracles and spiritual things that happen in your life. I know they're there!

Love ya

Elder Wilson

Elder Reed, Elder Wilson, Tearsha, and Ray at the conference center downtown!

October

Nadira got baptized!!! And so did Jasmine!! I'll send you pictures. They were both really good baptisms. Nadira started crying and we asked her why afterwards and she said because she felt the Spirit so strongly. Now let me ask you guys a question. If this wasn't the right thing to do, and if this wasn't God's true Church, WHY would He give her such an overwhelmingly good feeling at her baptism and the next day at her confirmation??

Personally, that's just a testimony builder for me.

Jasmine's baptism went really well too. Her husband was able to baptize her. I could tell that she was really nervous beforehand, but after she came up out of the water then she had this huge smile on her face and she knew that what she had done was the right thing to do too. I love my mission!!

So I found out that I'll be able to go to conference with Elder Reed this weekend. yeahhh buddy! We're going to the Saturday morning session. And we're taking Tearsha and her friend who was baptized in January. That should be a lot of fun. We have some pretty good seats. She's excited to see conference too!

We went to Elder Durfee's district meeting this week. He's one of our new district leaders, but he did pretty well. He was having a hard time thinking of a fun activity to do for the meeting to show some type of principle that we all could work on so he asked me for a suggestion. And he used it! It was a lot of fun. He's a great teacher, too. 

We went on exchanges with Elder Banks and Elder Davidson, the assistants. They are both really fun to be with. I went with Elder Banks to his area. It was fun talking to everyone we saw and seeing some crazy weird people in his area. He's such a boss missionary. He said he wants to be comps with me so who knows, maybe he'll pull some strings!

The weather is cooling off a lot which is nice. Bring on the winter! Actually, let me enjoy fall a little bit first. Then bring it on. haha.

I love ya!
Elder Wilson