The Kings of NorCal

My new companion is Elder Ahrens. He's from Lincoln California, about 15 minutes away from me! We know a lot of the same people which is pretty tight. He and I get along really well which is always a plus. We work hard together too. Being a zone leader now I have to make sure that my area that I'm in is in top shape, and then also make sure that the areas of all the elders and sisters in the zone have theirs up to speed too. So that's a lot of responsibility but I can definitely rely on the Lord for help.

Elder Ahrens doesn't have brakes on his bike so it's really fun for me to watch him trying to go down hills hahaha. There's a HUGE one coming from our house into the area, and so he has to try and slow down by going on the rocks and grass and everything he can on the way down. I had to stop in the middle of the street to stop cars from coming while he flew down through the intersection one time that was crazy haha. 

Jed Heath took Elder Franco out to lunch at a place called Joe Morley's before I left last week after emails. He's a really awesome guy, I'm gonna miss him. And we had dinner at the Hoerster's which was also super good. They had steak! That's a really great family that I'm going to miss too.

We did service for a lady in the ward on Saturday morning. She was really appreciative of it. Then later on that day we had a baptism for a girl named Stefanie. She's 17 but doesn't act like it. She could probably pass for 20's. She apparently had been taking discussions from the missionaries for 7 months. So that was probably a really good feeling to be able to finally get her baptized! She is super solid though. She gave a speech thing at the end of her baptism, and gave a talk in sacrament meeting the next day at her confirmation! It was father's day and so a lot of the talks were about fathers. (happy father's day dad!!) Then also, the primary sang the first verse of the army of helaman song. during the chorus of it, the young men and young women of the ward got up and sang the second verse. During that chorus, the ward choir and us missionaries got up and sang the third verse and the last chorus! It was super super powerful. A lot of people in the audience were crying. :) So that was cool! We also have another baptism coming up this Saturday, Kirsten. So hopefully hers will go well and I'll be able to tell you about it next week! I love all of you so much!

Love, Elder Wilson

Getting Transferred...

Well, I found out that I'm getting transferred! Elder Franco will be staying here and he will be getting Elder Bowie who is the one that Elder Turner went to when he left me! So that's kinda cool. Another cool thing is that I will be companions with Elder Ahrens, who is from Lincoln California. It's gonna be pretty cool I think! He's a good missionary and a cool guy from what I've seen. I'll be in the bennion zone again (the city of Taylorsville). And I'll be a zone leader there! Pretty intimidating but I think I'll be able to pull it off. If President Moffat and the Lord trust me to be able to do it then I can do it. :)

Well it was another good week this week. Makaleigh and Deeannaka are going to be baptized this Thursday which should be really good. I really hope that I will be able to make it back to see them get baptized, but if I can't oh well. All that matters is that they get baptized, right?? Elder Franco will be baptizing Makaleigh and I was supposed to be baptizing Deeannaka but I might not be able to since I'm getting moved.

Elder Franco signed my journal and wrote a rap in it! I won't embarrass him by putting it on here but let me just tell ya it was pretty funny! haha. :) It's gonna be sad leaving him but I'll still see him around in the mission. 

This week wasn't super eventful, but it was a really good week. This transfer flew by with Elder Franco. That's what happens when we get along well I guess!

Love, Elder Wilson

This was the all mission p-day that happened last week.

Da na na na na na na na na na FRANCO!

Haha what can I say, I'm out of creative ideas for the subject title. But Elder Franco and I are getting along pretty well. I cut his hair this morning! We were going around to the many garage sales that the wonderful state of Utah puts on around here, talking to people but also looking for things. ;) But I found a hair cutting kit brand new, and got it for $5! So I tried it out on Elder Franco and it didn't turn out half bad! I even faded it, Dad! ;) This week a Jehovah's witness came up to us and tried to offer us some "reading material". We asked him if he wanted some "reading material" from us instead, and he's like no thanks guys, I'm good and walked away. haha it was funny.

Okay before I lose any of you for this being too long, I want to tell you a miracle that we had!! Sunday. We found out from his family that Nick didn't ever come home the night of his baptism, and so he wasn't at church with the rest of his family. We stopped by his house, and nobody was home. Eventually we went back to the church, worried about him and what we would do. So elder Franco and I prayed, (basically begging God to give us a miracle). We confirmed Aubrianna which was admittedly hard to focus on with all the chaos going on. But directly after that we went back to the house, hoping he would be there. Still no answer. So we turned around and started heading back down the stairs disappointed a little, but right then NICK WALKED UP THE STAIRS!! God answered our prayer. It felt so amazing!! I'm sure that it helped that we were fasting for miracles/ baptisms in June!

Aubrianna's and Nick's baptisms went really well. The Spirit was really strong! Aubrianna and Nick are going to be good members of the Church for sure. It's exciting to see them progressing! Aubrianna looked so happy before and during the baptism! Nick after I baptized him gave me a big hug while we were still in the water. He's a good guy. He and Roy live in a really rough part of the town, and I hope that they don't grow up like the rest of the people over there. Drugs, alcohol, smoking, gangs, etc. Seems like I'm back in California!! ;) 

We went out to lunch with President Moffat my mission president on Thursday. That was pretty awesome! He takes the missionary companionships out to lunch if they hit what is called the standard of excellence. That is basically a set of numbers per week that he sets that have to do with things like baptisms, lessons taught, new people found to teach, and so on. But we hit it! It was pretty awesome. We also hit it this last week as well too! :) Elder Franco and I are doin' WORK! ;) haha. No it really is just the Lord doing it, it seems like we're just along for the ride. :) 

Today for p-day we're having an all mission activity thing from 3 until 8. We don't know much about it, so I'll let you know what happens next week. :) 

Man there is so much more that I want to talk about this week! But we're low on time. So that is the main important things from last week! I love you all

Elder Wilson

Nick's baptism! 

Aubrianna's baptism

 Before his haircut

 Halfway through his haircut. We almost kept it!

after! :)

May is come and gone

Is there some type of magic that happens when you go on a mission?? Because it seems like time flies by way to fast out here. It's not bad that time is flying by but it's just really weird. This week, things that were super awesome happened to us! When I feel like I'm not doing the best that I can, I get on my knees, and ask God to help me become stronger. And He does listen, no falling down spiritually/emotionally after that. He always is there for me, for you, for everyone. Because He cares enough to answer everything you and I can come up with. This week I was getting down on some things, but really humbling myself and getting on my knees to ask Him for help helped me so much. I felt so at peace, and was ready/ excited to get out there and do the work!! It was awesome that as small of a concern as mine would reach all the way up to Heaven and that He loves me enough to be able to answer my question. He is real! I can't believe how some people can come to the conclusion that He doesn't exist. Mind boggling.

Aubrianna and Nick are going to get baptized this week! They're both excited for it. And so are we!

So on Thursday, my back went out. But it wasn't from me doing anything super strenuous or hard at all. In fact I was just in the process of sitting down, hahaha. All of a sudden my back tightened up and it felt like there were knives stabbing my back! So I fell to the ground and tried to relax the muscle that was tightening up. But I kept laughing because of how random it was! Elder Franco was laughing at me too. After some ibuprofen and a little rest, it felt a little better but I'm still not 100% yet. I went to the doctor to get checked out, and he prescribed me some muscle relaxers but I haven't gotten them yet. I want to make sure I really need them first. But that same day a few hours after I had to give the opening prayer for the zone specialized training meeting. It took me a while to get up the steps, haha. 

But ZST was really good! They focused it on teaching simply and also how to get the concern out of the people we're working with even when they don't tell us flat out what it is. The way to do that is through asking inspired questions to them to draw the concern out of them. Elder Franco and I were able to do that, so that was awesome. 

Friday was Elder Franco's birthday. 21 years old. To celebrate it, we went out to eat with a member, Jed Heath. We went to Chilli's and that was super good. We also went to temple square with Aubrianna and Kodie! They really liked it. We took them to look at the model of the temple and talk about it as well. Then we talked about President Thomas S. Monson, and watched with them the video on families. They really liked that. 

There was a referral that we got from Elder Quesne for a lady that really wants to learn more about our church and about the Book of Mormon. We went by, and she is an awesome lady. She doesn't want to get baptized yet, because she is in an internship in her church right now, and getting paid for it so she doesn't want to lose her job. But I can tell she really has a strong curiosity so that's exciting. 

Other than these things, nothing else super significant happened this week. Elder Franco and I are getting along pretty well so I can't complain there. I hope you all have a fun week this week!
Love, Elder Wilson

Elder Franco was leaning back in his chair and it snapped in half!! hahahaha. 

 Somebody didn't lock up their bike very well... ;)

We were teaching a lesson outside when we heard this huge BOOM, then we went over to where it came from, and it turns out a lady was driving her car and somehow managed to hit a tree, hopping over the curb and the hit was hard enough to make the air bags deploy. Crazy! She and her daughter were hurt, but it wasn't too bad.

Another Great Week

This week was filled with miracles, AGAIN!

First off, we had an Apostle of the Lord come and visit our mission. That was legit. (for lack of better words, haha) It wasn't Elder Holland which I and a lot of other missionaries were anticipating, but instead it was Elder Ballard. He said some pretty good quotes! I'll share some of the ones from the notes I took.

"We are literally His spirit children. He cares about everyone. We need to be spiritually prepared enough to be able to radiate the Spirit. The Spirit is the true teacher. We are the beacons that use it. Don't under-estimate it. Be upbeat and happy. Be anxiously engaged to let people FEEL that it's true. We are representatives of Jesus Christ." The Spirit was super strong while he was talking with us! It was kind of funny though, because I'm pretty sure that's the only time I've ever seen my mission president scared. haha ;) Elder Ballard opened it up to questions, and someone said "Elder Ballard, how would you suggest for us to effectively use the hour of personal study time that we have? It seems like an hour is way too short!" He then said "Get up earlier!" hahaha. it was cool to see him laugh and joke around even though he's an Apostle. Another good quote was:

"The Father speaks through His son. We can be Their voice. We have to be master teachers, otherwise Satan will win. He is raging in the hearts of men everywhere. He will win the battle if we don't try our best." I thought that was so cool. If we're not trying as hard as we can to learn and to grow and resist the evil he puts in our path, then he will win. He's working full time and putting in a ton of overtime hours trying to win as many as he can. That's why there's so much evil going on out there in the world.

We had interviews this week with President Moffat, that went well. We did role plays on the first lesson. For 15 minutes! I was kind of afraid that we wouldn't do very well, but it ended up being really good. Elder Quesne is an assistant to the president now and he was role playing as our investigator. He's usually a pretty hard one to teach to, but he was super easy it seemed like. Afterwards he told us that whenever a companionship teaches him in a role play and they're animated and not boring then he is an easier investigator. He told us we did a really good job. "If 5 was a perfect score, then I'd give you a 4 or a 5." Pretty dang awesome. :) I love being a missionary!!

Roy and Kodie both got baptized, and that was a really good experience too. Roy's was first, at 3:00. there was a few people there, including President Swain the first counselor in the mission presidency. But it went well. I baptized Roy. And I didn't baptize the phone this time! ;) While we were changing I guess the people there all signed something hey could give to Roy from the Primary. That was a really good idea because then he'll remember the people that care about him. He said he felt really really good after the baptism! Obviously that was the Spirit. :)

Kodie's went really well too. But can I say that I absolutely HATE mormon standard time?? The baptism started at 6:00pm, and at 5:50 there was only a few people there. I was thankful that nobody from the presidency weren't there to see that nobody showed up at first. RIGHT at 6:00, a million people showed up. Including some missionaries with someone they're teaching. But his baptism went really well. While they were changing, I went up there and read the account of Joseph Smith's first vision. Then I testified that I knew it was true. I was really hoping and praying that it would go well, because there were a lot of people there that weren't totally familiar with the church. I asked Elder Franco how it went when I sat down, and he said that it brought the Spirit in really strong and that he saw people crying. That was awesome to hear.

Kodie and Roy were both confirmed in church the next day. Kodie's was done by his grandpa, and Elder Franco did Roy's. Elder Franco was super nervous to do it, but he did just fine. After it was done, Roy jumped out of his seat and tried to run back to sit with his family but someone from the circle grabbed him so he could shake the people's hands hahaha. It was funny. Kodie and Jesse both got the priesthood which was awesome. Jesse asked me to do his. I can tell he really is trying to change his life which is the most rewarding thing to see as a missionary. We had to speak in sacrament meeting in the second ward, and the told us the night before. haha. It's all good though, we missionaries are always prepared right?? ;) On the program for the names of the people that were speaking, it said "full time missionary" and the second speaker was "full time missionary". hahaha super generic. They went really well though. :) The Hoersters wanted us to come over for dinner sunday night so that was cool. We had some bomb "Frito's surprise". Basically a taco salad but way better haha. :)

Other than that, we found a few more people to teach which is awesome and we're going to temple square with Aubrianna and Kodie which should be awesome.

Thanks for reading this HECKA ;) long email!!
Elder Wilson

 Roy's Baptism!

Kodie's baptism!

Happy Mom's Day!

This week was awesome. I probably say that every week. But it's true! Jesse's baptism went really well. He felt really really good! I love it when people we're teaching feel the Spirit. Quana and David showed up to watch it. Jesse wanted me to baptize him, so that was really good. And I didn't baptize the phone this time!! ;) He got confirmed by the senior couple named Elder Morris. That was a really amazing experience. Jesse got up and gave me a big hug afterwards.

Wednesday we had a zone training, which is pretty much like a district meeting but with the whole zone. We talked about how we have a lot of people on date as a zone, and how we need to focus on keeping them on. Two wasy they said we can do that is by getting a good fellowshipper/friend for them, and to give them a calendar for them. Then we played baseball with the bases being called "on date", "fellowshipper", and "calendar".  Home plate was "baptism". So if they rounded all the bases, they got baptized! That was a good object lesson. I was in the outfield and almost caught a few! I wonder how that would have worked into the analogy though. haha.

We went to temple square with David Green. He's pretty interesting, haha. But he has a good heart. The Sisters there were very good at teaching, which really helped. We took him to the statues of Joseph Smith getting the priesthood and talked about them there. He had a few questions that we were able to answer, then took him to the model of the temple and explained a little more about it to him. He said it was really beautiful. Then we took him to the statue of Christ which is always a really spiritual experience there. He got down on his knees and started praying in front of the statue, but the sisters stopped him. hahaha. 

We got the 5 people that are on date to be baptized out to Church today! Barely. Well, actually the Lord did. we didn't do anything. It was pretty much a miracle. Nick and Roy were sleeping, and we woke them up and got them out to Church. Aubrianna didn't want to go at first, but when we came back 2 hours after picking up Kodie her brother, she was dressed and ready to go! :) She sent us THE MOST AMAZING text ever a few hours after Church got out:
"I'm ready. I want to be baptized.

-Aubrianna."

Totally made made our day!! So she's "on date" for June 1st. They're going out of town this week until Friday so we can't meet with them for a while but they're pretty solid so we're not too worried.

I got to talk to my mom and family Sunday. That was awesome!! I'll hopefully be able to get a picture from the Skype conversation that we had up here on the blog. :) Well we did something called Google Hangout (which I personally prefer Skype better since it isn't as laggy but it was good still). My family looks so awesome!! Sydnee looks older (in a good way!) and her main man David looks good too! Except he disappeared halfway through the video and never came back haha. Natalie looks grown up and so does Luke. Craig looks about the same but taller! And my dad and mom obviously look younger ;)

The mission is going great, the Church is true, the Lord is amazing. 

I love you!
Elder Wilson

 Jesse's baptism! He wanted me to baptize him.

Elder Franco and I! We got caught in a photo shoot from these two little girls that stole our cameras. 

As you can see this picture was very unexpected.

The Skype call! (I got a video of it but it's too big to put up on here)

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil!

iHappy Siete de May!

This week was awesome!! SO MANY good things are happening in our area. Courtney and Quana both got baptized Saturday, and this weekend we have Jesse Delgado, next week it's Roy Oldcraine and Kodie Hoerster, then on the 25th we have David Green and Said Huante!! So awesome. :)

Elder Franco and I are getting along really well. He is from Southern California, right next to Disneyland. His sister works there so he gets free tickets! Pretty awesome. He's a good missionary. I've been so lucky with companions. The Lord really is a merciful God! ;)

We took Courtney to Temple Square to do a tour of the grounds there. She really enjoyed it! She knew a ton already. Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, Jesus Christ, everything. It was pretty cool. She got baptized on Saturday! Satan was trying really hard to get them both to not happen, but God will prevail! First Courtney's dad was pretty angry the morning of the baptism and we were afraid that he wouldn't let her get baptized. But he cooled off enough to come to it. But when we got there, there were some Tongans already there, setting up for a baptism they were having. At the exact same time as Courtney's. Turns out they didn't even bother to look at the schedule for the building. Freaking annoying. It worked out though, they had theirs in the Relief Society room while we did it in the baptismal room then moved to the chapel after the actual baptism happened. The rest of it went really well though, so that was good.

She got confirmed Sunday and asked me to do it. That was really awesome. I had no idea what I was going to say beforehand so I said a prayer. Then right as I started all of a sudden words just kept flowing out of my mouth. And it felt like someone's hands were on my shoulders! It's hard to describe in words but it was such an amazing feeling. This work that I'm a part of is 100% true. :) How else could that happen??

Quana Delgado's baptism went a lot smoother. No hiccups! Well actually there was one. Brother Cook used the jumpsuit that we were planning on using for Quana's baptism. So we had to hurry back and throw it into the washer/dryer before hers started. Barely got it back in time! She felt really good, too. :) She asked me to baptize her which was really amazing. Her brother in law, David Green who we picked up later on came to her baptism. He is pretty crazy but he's cool. haha. He is just really paranoid about a lot of things. But he is really wanting to follow the Savior's example and that means getting baptized. :) The Delgado's had us over for dinner Saturday night which was really awesome. They're an amazing family. 

Sunday a member came up to us and said that his friend Said (haha funny that I just said that word in this sentence. Now three times. ;) ) ANYWAYS. He came up to us and asked if we were free at 2. We were, so when we met up at Max's house Said was just pulling up. (It's pronounced "sigh-eed" by the way). he is a really cool guy. He's 14, and wants to learn more about the Church. He was raised Catholic and has a lot of questions that he said weren't able to be answered by the people at his church. So he asked us, and we could. That was definitely with the Spirit though. He's the true teacher. :) So we invited him to be baptized after we had taught him about how the Church was restored and he accepted. :) 

The Lord is working so many miracles in my life right now! For instance, at the baptism on Saturday, I accidentally baptized our cell phone. hahaha. It was in my pocket as I walked into the font and I didn't realize it until I walked back into the back to change out of the wet clothes and I felt a lump in my pocket. Pulled it out, and it was a blank white screen. AH! So I took out the battery and dried it out as best as I could. Then after the baptism was all over Elder Franco and I prayed that we could get a miracle of the phone working again. After the prayer we put the battery in, turned it on, and it worked perfectly! So amazing. Something as little as that He still cares about! :)

I love you, I love this Gospel, I love God.

Elder Wilson

 The District! From left to right: Elder Beesley, Elder Carey, Elder Franco, Sister Beesley, Elder Chandler, Elder Chiavordini (shev-er-dee-nee), Elder Torres, Elder Durfee, Elder Wilson, Elder Ross, Sister Neil, Elder Neil. The zone leaders are also in the district but they weren't here when we took this!

 Courtney's baptism! 

Quana's baptism! That's Jesse is on the right.