This week was AWESOME! So many miracles happened. Pretty amazing.

It's crazy that one year ago I was walking into those MTC doors not knowing what I was getting into! haha. I'm really glad that I went though. I wouldn't have been able to have met so many amazing people! Including missionaries. Some definite long time friends have been made out here. 

We went to temple square with Jesse and Quana. I included a picture of it. They really loved it! Especially Jesse  He felt the Spirit big time. And he accepted baptism for May 11th! We told him that it means that he has to be following the Word of Wisdom for at least 2 weeks, and he accepted it. He knows he needs to get off of the addictions he has. So that was cool. 

Travis, one of our investigators, got handed over to the YSA Elders because he's in the agegroup of 18-30. But I let him go knowing the Lord would provide us with new people to teach. AND HE DID! :) We picked up Quana and Jesse's kid Roy. He beforehand wasn't interested in learning about the Church or the Gospel, but after we went to a baptism to show Quana what it was like, Roy really wanted to. So he's now on date for May 18th. He's really excited! 

The weather is so nice. It's PERFECT in the mornings and nights, and a little hot in the afternoon to be in church clothes. Oh weird tangent, have any of you tried the bacon milkshake at Denny's? If not, you're not missing much. Bacon is amazing but the shake had a whole thing of maple syrup in it which made it super rich. Anyways, we met with Courtney and we're planning on going to Temple Square with her this Friday. Quana and Courtney both had their interviews for baptism and they're both good to go for this Saturday! It was announced in Church as well which is awesome. 

Speaking of Church, I ran into someone I definitely was not planning on meeting! Olga, one of Sydnee's friends from college! I was standing there talking to some people after Church and she came up to me! It was pretty cool. We took a picture together. I don't have it so hopefully it will make it up here on the blog. 

Cody sadly fell off date because he didn't come to Church, but it's okay. We'll get him on date for the 25th of May. He still really wants to be baptized so that's good. He's really progressing well though and fits in with the kids in the ward. When he went to mutual he had a fun time!

The talks in Sacrament meeting on Sunday were really good. It was Brother Sharp and his new wife Hannah Sharp. Apparently he is related to the Sharps in my first area! He has a Sharp Yard t-shirt which made me wonder if he was or not. But yeah. They're a really cool couple that got married a little less than a year ago.

Oh yeah, transfers! haha. I'm staying here, Elder Turner is leaving. I'm getting Elder Franco. I heard he's pretty quiet so I might have to get him out of his shell! This should be fun. He's been out about 3 transfers I think.

Love ya!
Elder Wilson

 This is one of the Senior couples! He came over to inspect our apartment for cleanliness 

(don't worry mom, we passed). 

 We went to temple square with Quana and Jesse!

Elder Turner and I! Sadly he has to leave. He and I got along pretty dang well! 

 I ran into someone I definitely was not planning on meeting! 

Olga, one of Sydnee's friends from college! 

1 year down, 1 to go!

Except for the fact that it doesn't seem like it's been a year at all. Maybe for the people back home, but out here the time flies way too fast. The work is too exciting, too many people to worry about, too much stuff to do!! I feel like I'm just now starting to get the hang of things.

Oh, I reached the 500 car mark this week. Pretty cool seeing that I also hit my year mark this week. :) For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, well ask someone that does. hahahaha.

We got another person on date, Courtney Strong! Troy's sister. She is super solid and loves to learn. I'm pretty sure that I talked about her in the last email home but I don't have time to go back and look so sorry if I'm repeating. But she's 20 and wants to go to the family ward instead of the singles ward because she feels more comfortable there and also her brother goes to the family ward here. She's on date for May 4th which should be good. 

Quana is also on date for May 4th. She has stopped smoking, and really has that desire to be baptized. Her husband does too but he has some struggles he's still going through. But we're going to temple square with them this Thursday to go on a tour of temple square to show them what it's like. Those tours are always so good! And you can feel the Spirit so strongly. 

We found another new investigator, too! He's on date for May 18th. He's 12 years old and really really wants to be baptized. His parents are totally for it too which is awesome. :_)

We had a lot of appointments fall through this week which sucked but we're keeping our heads up high and pushing forward. There's a lot for really great potentials in our area and as we're talking with everyone we pass on the street we're finding more and more people that are willing and wanting to learn more. :) It's only a matter of time before the Lord sees our diligence and blesses us with more people to teach. Today and tomorrow we're jam packed with appointments again which is always really good but we have to make sure we are tight on the time schedule so that we're not late to every other appointment the rest of the day haha. 

There are some interesting members here in this area. A lot of cool ones don't get me wrong, but there are also a lot of the ones that are just strange. One of the members that likes to host the lessons at his house (and usually sets them up before we can say not to) that goes into WAYY too deep of doctrine and discussions that it just confuses the person we're teaching. Pretty annoying. Also he talks so long that it makes us late to the next appointment. Okay I'm sorry for venting! (notice how I didn't use names though.. ;) )

Although the really cool member's name may or may not be brother Stauffer. 

We went on exchanges this week with the Spanish Elders. Their apartment if you can even call it that is a dollhouse that the members built in their backyard. So it's a tiny bathroom, a tiny bedroom, and a tiny kitchen/living room/study area. AND IT'S INFESTED WITH ANTS. The huge half inch long ones. pretty crazy. oh and their bathroom is filled with mold. I felt like a germophobe and I'm not even close to one. Anyways, I went with Elder Durfee. He's a really good missionary. he knows the language really well and he knows how to work. I even participated in the lessons a little bit by him translating what I said into English. I know enough of the language to know where he is in the lesson. 

Sorry, no pictures this week! Hopefully there will be some next week.
Love, Elder Wilson

Utah Weather is BIPOLAR.

The weather here has been insane. Yesterday it was overcast in the morning, raining in the afternoon, SNOWING around 3 or 4, then sunny and so hot that we started sweating by dinner at 5. Then it got really overcast and rained the rest of the night. We still have to wear suit coats which normally wouldn't be the best thing in the world but since the weather has been so cold it's not too bad.

So this week went pretty well. We found a lot of people that are interested in learning about the Gospel. And we set up appointments for today and tomorrow! We are completely booked. Today P-day ends at 6pm, then we have an appointment at 6, 7, and 8. Tomorrow we have district meeting until 2:30, then we have appointments at 3, 4, dinner at 5, then more appointments at 6, 7, and 8!!! insane. Then we're home by 9 so we are literally booked. But it's a good problem to have, so I am definitely not complaining.

So we were going to visit a referral one day and as we were walking up the stairs to an apartment complex I could smell a really strong scent. It smelled like laundry soap for some reason. Then I felt something drip on me. Yup. I looked up and the WHOLE stairwell was dripping a ton of soap down to us. At least I won't have to dry clean my suit for a while now. ;)

Then yesterday at the same apartment complex we were visiting a recent convert and her 3 year old little boy ran up to us. He wanted to pray so of course we all listened to him. All of us busted up laughing at his prayer though, because he said 

"Dear Heaven Father.... thank you for food... Coffee is for little kids. AMEN!!" Then ran away. hahaha it was priceless. He's a pretty crazy little kid.

We got a new person "on date" to be baptized, which is pretty awesome. Her name is Courtney Strong and her little brother just got baptized about a year ago. He's really strong. Spiritually. Pun intended. He passes the Sacrament, wants to go on a mission, goes to the temple a lot, he's just really solid. But he's been there to support her which has been really beneficial. She has a lot of really good questions which we're excited to answer because that means that she is really trying to learn. She's on date for May 4th. 

Elder Turner and I get along pretty well which is awesome because there's always those companions that you just won't mesh with. But we work hard, are obedient and still have fun. We're seeing some really great things happen in our area recently. Praying for miracles really helps a lot. It shows the Lord that you have the faith to rely on Him for things, instead of thinking you can do it yourself. It's pretty awesome that way actually, because when He answers your prayers it strengthens your testimony that much more. We ran into a few Atheists this week. It's so depressing that you don't/can't believe in God. I mean I can see how people might not believe that Joseph Smith really saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, but I do NOT see how they can't believe in God at all. He is ALL AROUND US. (Moses 6:63). But there's only one thing we can do as missionaries, and that is to invite people. To share what we know and what we believe, and let them choose whether or not they want to listen. (2 Nephi 2: 26-30). I'm starting to see what God sees in me. He lets me learn and grow and then I go and do something I know I'm not supposed to do. 

Anyways, I love all of you!
Elder Wilson

 This made our day.

Okay I know it's blurry but it was SO BEAUTIFUL I had to take a picture of it.

General Conference!!!

So because of some last minute changes in the mission, I had to be moved to the Midvale North stake. I'm now with Elder Turner and Elder Dean stayed there with Elder Hodge. So my new address is:

Elder Bryce Wilson

7546 Parkway Drive

Midvale, UT 84047

So Elder Turner is 19, from a small town in Indiana. I think I'm gonna like him. From just being together for a short time we have been getting along pretty well. We went out to visit some former investigators that they had, and some of the potentials that they had picked up the other day. We met a guy named Success! HOW LEGIT IS THAT. He ironically also happens to be successful in his career! ;)

This week was awesome!!! We went to General Conference with Jasmine. She loved it. Heck, I loved it!! It felt like every single talk was directed towards me personally. It's so cool when the Spirit works through you like that. When they were saying things and looking straight at the camera it felt like they were just talking to me. Then for other talks that were given, it was as if they were specifically towards the people we were teaching. Super cool. I hope all of you back home watched it and I REALLY hope that it had an impact on you too! If not, GO WATCH IT RIGHT NOW. haha.

Wednesday District meeting I wanted to switch things up a little bit and so I asked the two sister companionships in the district to prepare a 5 minute lesson teaching something. Because I know I probably wouldn't want to hear someone just talking for an hour. But that went well. The Spanish sisters had a random transfer in the middle of the transfer (it seems to be happening a lot lately) and so they didn't have time to prepare. So I just asked them to bear their testimony on the principle they were supposed to talk about and that actually went pretty well. (And lasted the 5 minutes anyways). Then the English sisters were on the ball, as usual.The AP's stopped by and said that it was a really good district meeting and gave me some constructive feedback to help me improve in the future.

We went to Temple Square with Jasmine on Friday. That was really cool! We also brought some kids from the same apartment complex. Two are already baptized but the other one started to show some interest. She had some questions beforehand, and they were answered in the tour. She and all the other kids were crying during one of the movies we watched which was pretty awesome.

Apparently I sleep walk!! We were on exchanges, and Elder Wilde said that in the middle of the night I got up out of bed and walked over to the closet door, and ran into it. hahaha! Then he asked me what I was doing and apparently I just stood there for a minute and then jumped back into bed. I don't remember a thing. hahaha. I knew I talked in my sleep but I didn't ever think myself to be a sleep walker too!

Well I hope all's well back home. I love you!
Elder Wilson

Jasmine, Andrew, Elder Dean and I at conference. This time we were in the very front right!

A cool shot of the Salt Lake Temple. 

Elder Turner! Sorry this is the best I could get for now. hahahaha. He was hiding from the camera.

April Fools!

So I was trying to figure out a fun April Fools joke to pull, but I couldn't think of any! Disappointing.

Anyways, General Conference is coming up, and Elder Dean and I got tickets to go to the Saturday morning session of it, so we're going to go with Jasmine. That should be fun! I'll include pictures next week.

Oh wait did I not tell you? Yeah, Jasmine didn't end up going to California after all. We were riding down the street one day and out of the corner of my eye I saw a girl walking down the other side in a blue hoodie, and I looked and it looked a lot like Jasmine! So later on after the appointments we had that day we went by and turns out it really was her and that she didn't end up leaving. Yeahh buddy!! So she's on date for April 20th. She's pretty excited.

Also, Heather is still on track for baptism on the 13th. She's really excited! She has been feeling a lot better lately so that's good. We gave her another blessing on Sunday.

So a lot of funny things happened this week! 

1) First off, we were riding down the street coming home from the day, and Elder Dean was right behind me so I kept going down the street to our house. When I got there I opened the garage, and waited about 30 seconds. No companion. So I went back down the street looking for him and he was walking his bike haha. Turns out his back axle randomly snapped! And no, he hasn't gone off any sweet jumps.

2) Our dryer for our clothes is ridiculous. The dial we have to twist to turn it on broke off so there was just a little stub that we had to twist with pliers. I was trying to turn it on last week and it randomly popped off and fell into the dryer!! So we opened the back up (after we unplugged it) and unhooked a few wires then pushed them back through the hole so now to start the dryer we have to hot wire it by touching the two wires together!! hahahaha.

3) We got a random Easter egg basket dropped off on our porch by an UNKNOWN person(s) and there were two water guns in it. So when Elder Dean was in the bathroom I turned off all the lights and sat there waiting to ambush him. When he opened the door and saw that it was pitch black he was like oh this doesn't look good. Then we had a pretty intense water gun fight. Hey, gotta enjoy the little things!

4) We were trying to find new people to teach, and so we went down a street that I've never been to before. Pearl Circle. But it turned out that the whole street was totally anti!! hahaha. There was this one house that when he opened the door, he started yelling at us and was like "Joseph Smith was a LIAR!! He made up the entire Book of Mormon!! There's no factual evidence that the Book of Mormon is even true!!" hahaha. I was really trying hard not to laugh at him. It was pretty funny. I looked at Elder Dean and he was biting his lip too hahaha.

Ugh the Internet stopped working so we've been sitting here for about 20 minutes now waiting for it to start working again. I can still type but we can't send anything it's so annoying! Right now I'm just typing, and there's a little homie sitting next to me. He's probably about 10 but he's getting frustrated about the Internet not working either haha. Turns out he's from California too! Stockton even. Small world.

We got Sister Watson to church, though! We spent about an hour helping her up the stairs and then another hour getting her down them afterwards. It's really painful for her so it's hard to watch her struggle but I'm really glad she has such a strong desire to go to church. It was the Easter program at church this week so it was pretty awesome. A lot of singing. She said she loved it so that made it worth it for us to help her like that.

We finally got to another place where the Internet works, so I can send this now!

Love,
Elder Wilson

 Mom! Dad! I found us a house!

 These kids wanted to do a photoshoot with the missionaries. 

The one in front is Paris, the one who got baptized a while ago!

Natural beauty.

Anything Can Happen!

Do you believe in miracles? I do, for sure. Last week was pretty long and slow, so I prayed for miracles. And the Lord definitely listens to prayers! When we were walking in an apartment complex that we cover, we saw Heather and her daughters getting out of their car. It was awesome! We were trying to get a chance to even see her outside because we weren't able to get a hold of her by phone or the door. So we went up and talked to her! After we talked for a while, we asked her if she wanted to get a blessing sometime soon to help with the sickness. She said definitely yes, and so when we went back there we invited her to be baptized again and she agreed to April 13th! She doesn't want to have a big one like her daughters, she wants it to be smaller. So that's good. Sister Watson will also be [hopefully] baptized soon. We're going to shoot for the 13th of April as well.

There's a ton happening on the 13th! A boy we were teaching in my first area is finally getting baptized then. He has been wanting his grandpa to baptize him and he lives in Alaska and owns his own business, so he doesn't get a chance to come down here very often. That will be cool to see that! His name is Cruize Johnson, but I always want to call him Crush Johnson for some reason haha. It just seems like that would fit him well I guess.

The weather here has been crazy bipolar. It was hot one day, enough to sweat while wearing a jacket, and the next day it was FREEZING with a blizzard going on. It makes it hard to know what to wear when we don't have access to the weather forecast. So usually we're caught up in whatever mother nature throws our way. I asked Elder Dean if he were cold or not, and he said me? nope! He's lived in Ohio for a while so that makes sense I guess.

We wanted to surprise the Watsons, so last P-day Elder Dean and I went over there in shorts, tshirts, hats, and shades! If I got a picture of his face when he saw us I would definitely send it home. It was priceless. hahahaha. And before anyone freaks out and tries to pretend that they're a mission president... yes it was still P-day hours, so, we weren't breaking any rules! He said he almost didn't let us in because we looked like complete strangers. I forget how different we look not in a suit and tie.

Another awesome thing happened yesterday. We got a referral to visit someone, and so we went there. It was a long bike ride but it was well worth it! Turns out he's a really nice guy and was wanting to hear more about the gospel! He was really nice to us. He wanted to have us over, and so we set up a time on Thursday to visit with him. We're going to invite him to be baptized on April 20th! Wish us luck.

Just now a lady walked up to us and asked us where we're from, and then if it were Pday and we were emailing. We said yes, and so she told us to tell our families hi for her. So, hi.

It seems like Spring isn't going to happen! I feel like it will just go straight from Winter to Summer. What about you? General conference is coming up in a few weeks so that means that we will be able to take off the suit coats soon. I'm excited for that. And not just that we'll be able to take off our coats but I'm just excited for General Conference in general! It's fun to pray about a question we've been having and then to get the answer in one of the talks that are given. Pretty cool. I don't know if I'll be able to go to it again, but I hope I will be able to! Last time it was an awesome experience. And Sydnee said she wouldn't try and look for me again. haha. Doesn't mean I won't try to! Just kidding, honest!

Well I hope everything's going well back home. :) 

love ya!

Elder Wilson.

 Elder Dean and I took a picture with the Easter Bunny!

 If you don't have any haters, you're not doing it right.

This is something I expected to see in Ghettolope! Not Midvale!! hahaha.

Transfers!

So this transfer call came and turns out that Elder Dean and I are staying together for another transfer!! I'm STILL the District Leader. But our district got a lot smaller which is nice. Except now all we have are sisters in it. Me, Elder Dean, then Sisters Cordoba, Guerrero, Norman, and Young. And then the senior couple Elder and Sister Moore! The other two Elders are in another district. They closed down one area and merged it with the area next to it.

This week was definitely dodge-the-missionary week. On Friday, we had 5 out of the 6 appointments we had scheduled fall through. Either they cancelled or just didn't answer the door. Saturday was the same story, except it was 3 out of the 5 cancelled. So a little better. But Heather's baptism didn't go through. LONG STORY short, she was too sick and so we pushed it back to March 30th. :/ Satan's really working hard on our area lately but we're not giving up. We're hitting the pavement hard and eventually the Lord will give us success. Also, we're devastated but not discouraged!

Some funny things happened this week though, not gonna lie. We were in the middle of comp study when suddenly we hear this lady's voice coming through the side door of our apartment. We both look at each other like uh.. who the heck is that...? (Our landlord/lady were in Colorado so we knew it wasn't them.) so we get up, and come to find out that there's the landlady's sister who we've never met just walking through our apartment!! She didn't even say hi or anything, the first thing she said was "if you didn't lock the front door we wouldn't have to come in through here!" hahaha. Then she said "Hey, do you have border patrol's number by a chance?" hahahaha. it was weird. So they went upstairs to use the Jividen's computer and look up the border patrol's number. And we went back to comp study.

Then as we were tracting we heard this weird sound behind us and we saw a guy rollin' down the street in one of those electric carts that you can use at walmart or a grocery store. He was driving down the road at about 2 miles an hour. Complete with camo shorts, flipflops, a visor, and some shades. Then he started down a really busy street still going that slow!! I know he didn't need it though because it got stuck on the HUGE gutters that Utah seems to always have and so he got off, and lifted it onto level ground then kept on going. haha it made our day.

Sister Watson said she wants Elder Dean and I to baptize her!! So we were a little scared that we might not be able to if one of us got transferred out but both of us stayed! So we're going to help her realize that maybe that was a sign from God to get baptized since He let us both stay here. :) I'll let you know how that goes!!

Other than that it was just a normal week this week.
Until next time,
PEACE.
Elder Wilson

Found out the reason why some Elders didn't answer their phone...

apparently it "fell out and Elder Nuttall ran over it with his bike".

So they taped it up to hold the battery in. 

 How often do you see this?

Our excuse when they complained about the sign: But we needed to visit
you to MAKE an appointment!