Here is a little fun video of the Elders goofing around in the evening.  Collin is Santa.

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NEWS FLASH 12/30/13

I got flippin transfered so tell everybody not to send me anything to my flat in slough.  I got pats package today so no worries there.  LOVE YA TO SHREDZZ!! 

The Elder Wilson

So, typical Collin.  He leaves us hanging not knowing where he has been transferred to and probably won't know for a week till next P-Day

December 30, 2013

Hey Family!

I hope you all had a wonderful of Christmas as I did and are getting ready for a great New Year! Apparently the year on our mission when you aren't home at all is called your Dark Year.  Kinda of a sad term so I changed it to my Light Year! Can't wait to dedicate a whole year to serving the Lord.  It will be great! It was amazing to be able to skype home with my family and see all their beautiful faces even though they made fun of my fat one:)  This last week was pretty slow since it was Christmas, but was still a lot of fun.  Saturday the Jehovah Witness were on the Highstreet in my area and I thought I would talk to them since I don't know much about them because all I do is talk to muslims haha.  It was very interesting and informative and good to see people trying to help others find the right path, but it was sad to see how not having the Holy Ghost as a companion and prophets and apostles to help the people know what the scriptures truly say.  With talking to muslims and now JW's I have studied the true character of God a lot more and because of it I have come to know my Heavenly Father so much more and his plan for us.  For my spiritual thought I want to talk about who are Heavenly Father is and what he has planned for us.

Joseph Smith said that "until a man knows the true character of God he cannot have faith."  he has also said that "in order for us to know God we must know ourselves, and in order for us to know ourselves we must know God." 

So who is God then?  God is the Father of our Spirits.  We our his children.  He has a body of flesh and bone that is glorified and perfected.  He hears and answers our prayers and wants to help us because he loves us so much.  He finds joy when we make correct decisions and weeps when we choose to disobey him.  He wants all of us to return to live with him again and have all that he has.  It is amazing and glorious to know that we have a Heavenly Father that loves us so much that he wants us to have everything that he has.  A lot of people think that God is this all powerful being that hates the human race and wants to punish or they think that he is loving, but has nobody and is some kind of spirit.  This is wrong and will lead us to nowhere.  How can we know that God has a body of flesh and bone then that is glorfied and perfected?  Well because we have a prophet that he has called to tells of the true character of God.  We also have scripture as well.  And Christ himeself said "I only do the things which I have seen my Father do." What does that mean then?  It means that God was once like us and was man.  In the King Follet discourse Joseph Smith gives he states that "If the vail was rent today... and we were to see God.. we would see a man just as ourselves standing in all his glory." It brings such comfort to my heart to know who God is and that he has a plan for me.  Now God has also said that no unclean thing can enter into the Kingdon of God.  So how can we imperfect beings make it back to live with him? Well with all his infintire love for us Heavenly Father has given us his only Begotten Son, who is, Jesus Christ.  Mosiah 3:17 tells us that

"There is no other name or way nor means, whereby salvation unto the children of men, only in and through the name Christ, the Lord Omnipotent."

Because of Christ we will all be resurrected.  Because of Christ we all have the chance to live with our families and Heavenly Father again.  We just have to do as the Savior asks us to "Come unto Him" and to "Follow him." I know that Christ lives and that as we allow him to take us by the  hand we will find more happiness in this life and in the life to come.

I hope you all know how much you Heavenly Father loves you.  Just think about how much our parents love us or we love our children and we are imperfect.  Our Father in Heaven is perfect and loves you and I with a perfect love.  He knows you and I better then we know ourselves and knows what we need.  I am so grateful that he has once again showed his love to us by answering a humble boys prayer in a grove of trees in the year 1820 allowing the fulness of the gospel to be restored to the earth and allowing us to know who Heavenly Father is and what his plan is for us.  I bear you my testimony that He lives and that Jesus Christ is his son and that there is no other way, but through Christ our Saviour and Redeemer that we can be saved.  For has Nephi of old tells us "It is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do." In the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

LOVE YA'LL TO SHREDZZ!!

Love,
Elder Wilson

December 23, 2013

Merry Christmas Family! 

What a wonderful time of year it is to be able to remember our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.  I hope you all have felt of his love throughout this whole year as well during this special season.  Remember that one way our Loving Heavenly Father shows our love for us is through our families. Yes the gifts are fun and exciting, but 20 years from now all you are going to remember is how amazing the turkey (Maybe that's just me since I'm fat) was and all the good family memories.  

Well this week was a great one and a really hard one at the same time! I was able to go to the temple on Tuesday with my zone and another one.  It was amazing!  There were so many missionaries and the Spirit was so strong the whole time.  In my opinion the greatest gift God gave us after his Son and families are the temples.  They bring so much comfort and joy to the heart.  Always strive to make the temple an important part of your week.  Even if you only have time to pull into the parking lot and sit on the grounds for 5 minutes do it!  The Lord will bless you as make and effort to remember and keep the convents that you have made with him.  The rest of the week was just straight up work and the only reward being a deeper conversion.  It is hard to not see success, but its during these times that we grow the most.  I am excited to skype home and see my gorgeous family.  It will be a tender mercy much needed.  Also I am just flippin excited for the amazing feast I am about to enjoy in a few days.  I love the Slough ward! 

Well the spiritual thought I have for this week is short.   

"Choose you this day whom ye will serve... but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

I choose to serve the Lord and to obey his commandments.  I invite everyone to come and partake of his love.  I love everyone and welcome all who wish to share the wonderful happiness and joy his gospel brings.  I know that Christ lives and that through him we all may be saved.  He is the light and life of the world.  I pray that we will humble ourselves and allow his atonement to take full affect in our life and in the life to come.  In the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Have a very Merry Christmas! LOVE YA'LL TO SHREDZZ!! 

Love,

Elder Wilson

The London Temple

Looks like he is putting weight on!

Here is a little from the letter he wrote me

(He will call Christmas Eve to let us know what time we can Skype on Christmas Day)

Hey pops! 

Thank you for setting that up and the members home I will be at has skype on the computer.  I will probably be calling between 1 and 2.  and will probably just call your cell phone so mom doesn't cry:)  The temple was so amazing and much needed.  The grounds at the temple are gorgeous and there were so many missionaries! We had to bring in about 5 extra chairs to fit everyone in the endowment room.  I love President Millar.  He is such a cool guy.  Cool side note his mission president was Bruce R. Mcconkie.  And President Millar is a lot like him haha. Also the senior couple in our ward Elder Boone was once the MTC mission president at Provo.  And I get rides from them all the time so that is very humbling.  Investigator wise we are really slow, but just means more hard work.  I will probably be getting transferred in february most likely.  But transfers are next week so there is always a chance.  I don't want to talk about to much so we can have fun on Wednesday.  Also will I be skyping home and seeing everybody? 

So glad to hear you are doing well from you surgery!  Missionary blessings are the best.  I honestly believe that I meant to be on a mission right now so that you and mom have more blessings and support in the hard times right now.  Don't worry about not telling me about radiation.  I know why you did it and am grateful for it.  Just don't do it again:)  My conversion is deeper then you think and the only way I'm going home is either in a coffin or with honor.  I love you so much and talk to ya tomorrow:) LOVE YA TO SHREDZZ

Love,

Elder Wilson

December 16, 2013

Merry Christmas! 

Well there isn't that much to report on this week.  All our investigators we were suppose to meet this week flogged us and are being bums trying to get all the Christmas stuff done.  It's all good though because we had an amazing Ward Christmas Party! So many nonmembers showed up and the food was so good.  I talked to loads of people and one girl we talked to who is a baby sitter is really interested.  She wants to come to church and asked so many good questions.  The only bad thing is she lives in London. But she wants to come to our ward so that is cool.  Hopefully we can teach her hear and then baptize her.  Nice thing is she is in our mission so we could still see her.  I swear that every time I say the work is picking up in Slough to you guys the next week is one of the hardest slowest weeks.  It is really frustrating and makes me just want to sit in our flatt and be a bum.  I know that the only thing that will change Slough is hard work.  I know that we will be blessed so much and soon! Just have to remember that we can't change our circumstances, but we can change ourselves. 

My spiritual thought for the week is the enabling power of the Atonement.  We are all very familiar with the healing power of the Atonement, but not so much about the enabling.  Elder Bednar gives a fantastic talk about it, if you wish to hear more about it.  A lot of us think that the Atonement is just meant to heal us from our sins and sorrows.  Even though that is important and amazing the enabling power of the Atonement is what changes us.  If you read in the Book of Mormon when the people are struggling like when the people of Alma are in captivity they never ever pray for their circumstances to change.  They pray for the strength to endure there bondage and to have burdens made light.  Because of their faith the Lord made their burdens light.  He didn't take them away, but made them light.  The people of Alma then went about cheerfully doing there work and gave thanks.  Another example is Nephi when coming back from Jersulem with Ishmaels family and his brothers tie him up.  He does not ask God to change his circumstances or to chasten his brothers, but he asks that according to his faith the Lord will give him the strength to burst his bands.  Nephi understood that he was weak, but that through the enabling power of the Atonement could call upon God to recieve strength to change himself not his circumstances.  I hope we will allow the enabling power of the Atonement to cleanse of our sins, but then to also let it change us.  I hope and pray that we will all be the ones to act instead of being acted upon.  

I love you all to shredzz and have a fantastic week! 

Love,

Elder Wilson

December 9, 2013

Hello Family!

Well this week was amazing or should I say Sunday was amazing! The other Elders had two investigators at church and we had our one.  One of Maidenheads investigators I found while on exchange the other day and she is golden! She is so awesome and I am so jealous or was jealous until later in church:)  A lady just walked into church halfway through and at the end she loved it and said her  family wants to come and she wants to be taught! She has a husband and two teenage kids boy and girl.  So two future missionaries:)  I haven't talked to her to much but we are trying to meet with the family today and set up a baptismal date for this month.  After church we had a meeting with a guy who was suppose to come to church but got called into work.  The teach went well and he accepted to be baptized!" There is a bit of a language barrier, but he will probably be baptized next month so I'm super excited for that! GOD IS A GOD OF MIRACLES!!  Remember that miracles don't stop because God doesn't want to show them, they stop because we lack faith.  This message will be short and that is what my spiritual thought is on.

A lot of us think we can't see miracles because we are unworthy or Heavenly Father loves us less or something.  WRONG!! If we go forward with faith and are obedient to the things the Lord commands us and do all we can to do his will we will see more miracles then ever.  I want to challenge all that read this to go to the temple or some sacred place and kneel down and pray and ask Heavenly Father to give you the strength to do his will and then promise him that you will do everything the way he wants it for that week.  As you do this you will see more blessing and miracles then before.  Remember that during this Christmas season the only way to truly get the meaning out of Christmas we must drop the last three letters.  I love you all and have a great week!!!

Love

Elder Wilson

Merry Christmas from Elder Wilson and Stewart! 

December 2, 2013

Hola Familia!

Well I thought I would type this up first before any other long letters since from what my Dad tells me you all want to know whats going on with me apparently;) Well I have been fantastic the last two weeks! I forget to mention that three weeks ago we had stake conference and they released the Stake President so that what cool to see that, but it also meant a member from the Seventy came and also and Area Seventy.  Elder Walker was the Seventy and Elder Herbertson was the Area Seventy which is cool because he use to be the bishop of my ward, long before I ever came here but still pretty cool.  We were able to go to the adult session and priesthood leader session which was amazing.  Elder Walker said that one of things President Monson worries about the most is how members give talks in sacrament meetings.  He says that the way the General Authorities give their talks in Conference is not the way a talk should be given in sacrament meeting.  They do that in Conference because what they say has to be translatted so they have to send in their talks early. But outside of Conference they only make outlines for the talks they will give around the world.  President Monson also said he does not want to go to a sacrament meeting and hear what Elder Packer or Holland said (Funny because they were in front of him so he could point at them). He wants to hear how that principle or doctrine has blessed and helped that person in ther life.  The Holy Ghost will affect people more when things come from the heart.  That means prepare a talk, but only an outline so when you get up to talk you can allow the Spirit to guide you through your talk and to say the things that need to be said. 

This week we had zone conference and Elder Teixeira from the Seventy and his wife spoke to us.  It was so amazing and he made us a promise and a challenge so that was pretty amazing.  You can't tell during conference because of the apostles, but members of the Seventy have such an amazing spirit and power about them its so cool.  Sister Teixeira also spoke and she talked about over coming fear.  She said the 4 things that lead to fear are 1. Lack of Knowledge 2. Lack of Prepration 3. Lack of Faith and 4. Lack of Love.  These are all so true and I hope you can take what I have told you and strip yourself of pride and fear and become the disciple that Christ needs you to be. 

The rest of the week was a lot of hard work.  We had a lot of cancelations and just people not wanting to talk to us.  Last week we had a guy walk into church and so we have been teaching him a lot.  He doesn't want to be baptized because it is not the in thing to do haha.  He has a few mental problems, but he is the best! He loves church and meeting with us so we know its going to happen.  His mom wants to meet us so that is exciting as well.  Elder Stewart is the funniest guy and so humble.  He can remember all the lines from movies and funny comedians.  The best is when he quotes stuff from church movies that are really cheesy.  We also quote kid history a lot haha.  We didn't have a Thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving, but did get fed so that was great.  We did get our Thanksgiving dinner though last night which was so amazing.  They don't have pumpkin pie here, but the member made some from scratch and it was amazing! It was a fun and hard week at the same time as it always seems to be.

Time for the spiritual thought.  I just want to talk about praying and scripture study just a little.  These are probably the hardest thing for us to do. I know that it was for me and thought I was going to struggle with it on my mission.  WRONG! If I don't get personal study in I want to cry because I love it so much and it helps me with my day so much.  And as far as praying, if I'm not on my knees I have prayers going through my mind and heart constantly.  I want to sorta of aim this towards the youth, but its good for the adults as well to remind them how important prayer is. 

Because of ONE prayer from a teenage boy I am now serving a mission in England.  Because of One prayer from a teenage boy priesthood authority was restored to the earth and has given me the chance to give my dad a blessing of comfort and healing.  Becasue of ONE prayer by a teenage boy families can be sealed together forever in Holy Temples all around the world.  And let us not forget that because of ONE prayer given by our Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ we can all be saved and return to live with our Heavenly Father again.  Never under estimate the power of one prayer no matter what age you are.  We have to remember though that prayers are answered in the Lords time not ours.  Heavenly Father knows exactly when we need something and sometimes he is testing our faith to see how much we really desire something.  Also most prayers are answered through other people.  So pay attention in church, seminary, to parents, and to chilrden because they may hold the answer to your prayer.  One of my favorite sayings is "If we want to talk to our Heavenly Fathere we pray and if we want to hear from him we read our scriptures.  So read your scriptures! John Bytheway said its interesting "when youth go to EFY or on missions how they say that was the best week or two years of my life.  So you mean being surrounded by people with same desires as you, reading you scriptures every day, praying everyday, and serving others makes you happy?  Living the gospel makes you happy?" I hope we can all realize how important prayer and daily study is.  Personal study everyday in the morning will help the Spirit to be with us more and will soften our hearts and give us courage to follow the promptings it gives us and to help us be the answer to others prayers.  Harold B. Lee said, "I don't worry about the youth that pray two times a day."  I think that applies to adults as well.  I promise you that as you strive to pray morning and night and study the scriptures everyday your life and the lives of others will be enriched and blessed.  You will find the Spirit to be with you more abunduntly, you will have the strength to overcome your temptations and weaknesses, and you will be moer willing to share the gospel.  By doing the simple things we will draw closer to our Saviour Jesus Christ and he will draw near to us. In the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Have a great week and LOVE YOU TO SHREDZZ!!!

Love,
Elder Wilson

November 25, 2014

Collin must have been busy this week since he did not write a email to the whole family.  This is an insert from part of a letter he wrote to me(Dad)

Life is still going good for me and I keep loving missionary life more and more.  Home honestly feels like an imagnary world.  I feel like it never existed really.  Can't imagine what it will feel like when I have been out for ages.  I'm getting along well with Elder Stewart. He is such a funny guy.  He reminds me of Robbie in how he can remember all the funny lines from movies and youtube so well.  He is always quoting something funny when we're walking around and its the best! He told me that I'm the first companion he has had that he feels like he can be himself and not be judged for saying something weird.  Everybody keeps telling me that and its weird.  I don't feel like an example or a nice person, but I guess I am.  I don't it was just cool to hear him say that.  Helped me to know this will be a good relationship.

Love,
Elder Wilson

November 18th, 2013

HELLO!!!

Well this week has been very eventful.  I got a new companion on Wednesday and his name is Elder Stewart.  He has been out for 18 months and a really good guy.  I'm geetting a long with really well and he likes Slough a lot cause people listen a lot more haha.  I also got a new Distric Leader whose name is Elder La Mazza.  He is INSANE.

He goes home in 3 months and was a zone leader for the last year and just does work!  Haha he is a good guy and I look forward to serving along side these great missionaries and laerning from all their experiences.

We are starting to see the work pick up little by little.  We are finally starting to get some solid appointments and people to teach.

I pray and hope that we will be able to say and do the things the Lord will wants us to do so that we can help these people enter into the waters of baptism.  I love being a missionary and all the challenge it brings.  It sounds crazy to think challenges are fun or good but they are!  That is how are Heavenly Father tests our faith and when we succeed we gain and even stronger testimony and a deeper conversion.

Alwasy remmeber our Heavenly Father sees us in an Eternal perspective and knows when and why we need things to happen in our lives.  I hope all of you have been doing  your part in hastening the work of salvation.

My spiritual thought for this week is on charity.  Charity is a really hard topic to speak on and hopefully I don't just mess it up.  In todays world people just think that charity is love.  It is so much more then that and we know that charity is the pure love of Christ.

Paul and Mormon both say exactly what charity is.

" Charity suffereth long, and is kind, and enveith not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in inquity but rejoiceth in the truth, bearth all things, believth all things hopeth all things, endureth all things."

Now the question for many of us today is how can we have charity become who we are.  It first begins with humbling ourselves as Mormn says in Moroni 7:43.  We must  come before God meek and lowley in heart.  We then must exersice our faith in Jesus Christ and always be doing the things that increase our faith.  Once we have faith then we will get hope.  If we have hope then we will have charity.  "The meek and lowly in heart, and confess by the power of of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, he must needs have charity." (Moroni 7:44)

As I was doing my personal study today I have been focussing a lot on light and darkness.  It hit me that charity can also be considered light.  As we make decisions and feel our lives with light we will be filled with the love of God. Just as Christ tells the Nephites that men do not put a bushel over a lit candle, but that he puts it on a candlestick to shine light on everyone in the house. I was watching the Joseph Smith movie the other day and in there Joseph says "A man filled with the love of God will not only want to share it with his family."  As we strive to feel or lives and ourselves with light and the love of Christ we will become a beacon to others will be drawn to Christ through the love and light we show them as we strive to follow Christ.  We must remember as Paul counsels to not just think faith and hope are enough.  For as Paul says, "Though I have faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

Hold up your light and shine the love and light on Christ with all thoughs you come in contact with.  As we increase our faith and hope we will not want to keep it to ourselves, but share it with everyone and let them benefit from it.  Our Heavenly Father will then in turn pour out the blessings of Heaven upon us.  I promise you that as you do this you will feel the love your Heavenly Father and Christ has for you.  In the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

LOVE YOU TO SHREDZZ!!

Love,

Elder Wilson

Taken in Front of Windsor Castle

His new companion Elder Stewart

November 11, 2013

Hey Family!

Well transfer are this week and I am super nervous.  I have been told that it is either your second or third companion that are you hardest ones.  It doesnt look like I will be training just because there are so few new missionaries coming in and much better qualified people to train them.  I am going to miss Elder Anderson so much and can't wait to hang out with him in Utah!

This week end and such a great note.  We found a golden new investigator and will be teaching her Thursday so I cannot wait for that.  She is so nice and amazing and just a lovely person.  She is from Africa which makes me happy cause then I can say my first baptism was a person from Africa and that I sorta of kind of was in Africa:)  We are still working with less actives a lot and starting to see the blessings of that happening.  Missionary work is just the best! It's funny though that when good things start happening Satan starts working even harder.  I have never felt the power of the adversary so much as I have on my mission.  It is real and it is scary.  He has such holds on the hearts of the people that it makes me cringe and want to cry because of the hold he has on them.  When you read in the scriptures about the prophets being weighed down with sorrow because of the wickedness they see I know how it feels.  It is an awful feeling and makes sharing the gospel so much more important.

The spiritual thought I have for this week is on being better Member Missionaries again.  The missionaries this month have had to teach the primary about how they can be missionaries now.  It has been nice to remember what it was like being so young and just dreaming of serving a mission.  I remember how it felt like it would never happen and that it was something old people do.  I was reading a talk by Robert C.

Oaks and that had a story about sharing the gospel that I really like so I thought I would share it with you.

Consider that you are invited to a friend's house for breakfast. On the table you see a large pitcher of freshly squeezed orange juice from which you host fills his glass.  But he offers you none.

Finally, you ask, "Could I have a glass of orange juice?"

He replies, "Oh, I am sorry. I was afraid you might not like orange juice, and I didn't want to offend you by offering you something you didn't desire."

The orange juice is the gospel.  Now the gospel is much better then orange juice and yet we as members are afraid to share it because we might ruin a friendship.  I think it would be better to share it in this world then to pass through the veil and have our friends come up to us and say why didn't you share this with me!? If you are living the gospel the best you can your friends and family will see that it means a lot to you and that it affects your life for the better.  They will feel honored that you would want to share something precious to you with them.  They may not want to join, but don't get discouraged.

You will see that your friendship with them will be increased and you will find greater love for them.  Remember again that even the Christ himself was rejected by his own people.  When we share the gospel though we don't have to say they will be damned if they aren't baptized that minute.  A simple testimony or inviting them to meet with the missionaries in your home can be much more affected.  As you strive to do this you will feel closer to your heavenly father then you ever have before and you will see blessing coming in truck loads.

You will feel happier and more peace in your life then ever before even when things around you seem dark.  The First Presidency and Quroum of the Twelve have come out with a new way to for members and missionaries to work together.  It is call  THE WORK OF SALVATION.  I encourage you in you family home evenings and personal time to go on to lds.org and learn more about how you can hasten the work of salvation.  There are videos and topics you can watch and learn more about it.  Here are four simple steps we can do to better further the work of the Lord and be better member missionaries.

1. Identify prayerfully your friends and neighbors who would be the most receptive to the gospel message.

2. Introduce the identified individuals to the missionaries.

3. Involve yourself in the teaching of the gospel, preferably in your home.

4. Integrate your friends and any other new members into the Church by being attentive and helpful.

I know that as you do these things more and more people will want to join the church and it will be through you diligence and hard work that it will come to pass.  Remember that missionary work is hopeless if the members do not do their part in it.  We missionaries need your help and want to help you and see the miracles wrought by you.  I love you and hope you have an amazing week! Remember the Lord is with those who do his will!

Love,

Elder Wilson

November 4, 2013

Here are a few pictures that Collin sent after making a yummy cake.

November 4, 2013

Hello!!

Well this week has been a rough one.  We found out as a district that a missionary we are close to will be going home for some major disobedience. It was really hard to take in and made me feel and love him so much more for his willingness to repent and grower closer to Christ through his atonement.  Keep him in your prayers that he will have the strength to keep pressing forward.

We also had to drop all of our investigators which really put a damper on things.  It is hard not being able to teach anyone, but I know that I just need to work harder with Elder Anderson and let the Lord do the rest.  It is his work, not mine.  We are putting our time in seeing more less actives which has been a huge blessing.  We are meeting with one lady who served a mission and still has an amazing testimony.  Just a man is getting in the way of her going to church and she needs to end, but she is close to doing that so I can't wait to see her at church soon.

We have some more less actives we are seeing this week and I cannot wait to meet them and help them feel the love of the Savior again.

A little bit about Slough I thought I would add.  Every place is very compact and a home here is like an apartment in America.  My tiny flatt cost the same as a monthly payment on a house almost.  It is crazy and glad I don't have to pay for it sorta haha.  It is funny when you are knocking though cause sometimes you only have to shuffle a few feet over for the next door.  England is just a crazy place with crazy drivers and people.  I LOVE IT!!!

My spiritual thought for this week has to do with pride.  If you read the Book of Mormon carefully you will realize that every time the Nephites start to fall into wickedness and eventually are destroyed is because of pride.  Pride is one of the main messages of the Book of Mormon.  If we do not rid ourselves of pride and humble ourselves before God we will only find misery in this life and the life to come.

 In district meeting this last week we talked about pride and how when we are teaching an investigator we need them to humble themselves before they can even ready the Book of Mormon let alone be baptized.

When one is humble he or she realizes that they are nothing and need Heavenly Father and Christ Atonement more and more to strength them everyday. In Alma 5:27-28 it says

27. Have ye walked, keeping yourselves blameless before God? Could ye say, if ye were called to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have been sufficiently humble? That your garments have been cleansed and made white through the blood of Christ, who will come to redeem his people from their sins?

28. Behold, are ye stripped of pride? I say unto you, if ye are not ye are not prepared to meet God. Behold ye must prepare quickly; for the kingdom of heaven is soon at hand, and such an one hath not eternal life.

Pride is one of the hardest things to get out of our system and is something we must continually everyday rid ourselves so they may not be natural men and women, but sons and daughters of God.  Humility is what leads us to have faith and to act and rely on that faith we gain.

 With faith also comes hope and charity that everyone needs in order to do the will of God.  Let us be like Ammon and say everyday "I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therfore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things." (Alma 26:12)  We an ask everyday for the strength to overcome our weaknesses and to become men and women of God.  It will call for us to be humble at all times even when facing adversity.

Salvation is not meant to be easy to obtain and we must walk a few steps in Christ shoes.  I encourage you to read and share with your familes "The Inconvient Christ" by Elder Holland.  It will change your perspective on what it means to be a true Christian.  Remember Christ himself wanted to know if there was another way to go through the atonement, but because he was humble and submitted himself to God's will he drank of the bitter cup.  Because of what Christ willingness to submit to the Father's will we can be forgiven of our sins and return to live with our Heavenly Father again.  It is my hope that we will strive to humble ourselves everyday and align our will with God's will.  I know and promise that as you will strive to be humble you will be blessed and find more happinness and joy then you have ever felt in your life, even when the world around you seems to be falling apart.  I love all of you and hope you have an amazing week and grow closer to the Lord!

Love,

Elder Wilson

This is a letter from Collin's District Leader

Dear Brother and Sister Wilson,

My name is Elder Smith and I serve along side your son in the Slough ward and also serve as his District Leader. I wanted to email you and thank you for raising your son the way you did and for making the necessary sacrifices needed to send him on his mission. I have spent a great amount of time with your son and do each week. We have a great friendship and I look up to your son. I have grown to love him deeply and I learn from him each week. I have seen him change, indeed I have seen his life change. Through tears and heartfelt admonition, I have felt and heard the love he has for his parents and his siblings. His love for you is inspiring. His heart is being softened and touched and he is becoming a great man. I couldn't ask for a better example to the other missionaries in our district. He has taken them all under his wing. He uplifts them, encourages them, has fun with them, and sets the example for them. You should be proud! I talk to the Mission President often and make sure to tell him that your son is becoming an incredible missionary and will be a great leader in this mission. Elder Wilson is happy, and loving the work, and blessing so many people, including myself. In fact, as I am writing this I am getting emotional. He has his head on straight, knows why he is here and what he is supposed to be doing and I know I can rely on him and turn to him for anything. He is becoming a spiritual giant and is changing into an incredible person! You will be proud! 

Regards,

Elder Smith

Just a Little Note from Dad

I am adding a post from the email Collin sent me.  I used a friends tactics to get him to to actually answer the questions I keep asking.  I told him until these are answered we will not send him Elk Jerky!

>1)     Have you found out if you get to Skype on Christmas or just call?

           A) I will be skyping home on Christmas as I have told you before I thought. 

> 2)     How long did it take you to do the long walk?

           A) The long walk took 45 minutes one way and we stayed by the statue for about half hour.

> 3)     Have you picked up a British accent yet?

            A) I don't have a British accent yet, but I certain words a little different sometimes and I also use British words like rubbish, cheers, and mate a lot.  Also hell and damn aren't swear words here and sometimes I find myself saying them and its really weird haha. 

> 4)     How many investigators do you have?

            A) Are investigator pool as gone to nothing basically, but we have a lot of good new investigators that are promising.  I don't we will see what happens.

> 5)     When do you think you will get a new companion?

            A) .  I will be getting a new companion in two weeks and depending on if I train or not I will be in Slough till Christmas or at my six month mark.  Sounds like I will be training though so I will be Slough till February.

> 6)     What is the best thing you ate?

            A) My favorite food is when a member named Robin feeds us and he throws in all this different meet and been along with good yogurt with fruit on the side.  It is usually pretty spicy as well and so good!  He told me that he has never seen an Elder eat so much food before.  haha oh well I am hungry all the time:)  Oh and I like spicy food now so that is cool:)  It really does put hairs on your chest cause I have chest hair as well haha. 

> 7)     What is the worse thing you ate?

           A) :)  I haven't had anything gross yet, but Fu Fu was the most interesting things I have ate, but was good. 

> 8)     Have you gained anymore weight?

           A)  I have not gained any more weight, but have a nice gut. 

> 9)     Are you still cleaning the apartment?

            A) Did not answer

> 10)  What do you cook for food when you are at your flatt?

           A) Elder Anderson makes amazing food while we are at the flatt and its anything for pasta to some kind of fancy cake.  Its the reason I'm fat:) 

Well he answered 9 out of 10 questions so I guess that is passing so will send the jerky to him!

October 28th

 Well I don't have much time to write this email since I saved it for last again.... Got to be better at writing this first.  Well this week was super great and super long.  Had my first zone conference and it was super amazing! Learned so much and gained so much more perspective on how to be a better missionary.  Our investigator pool has gone to zero which sucks, but we have some solid new investigators we are meeting this week and we are praying and fasting that we can start seeing some success.  I know though that this is the Lords work and not mine and he will do things his way.  Its going to have to be a short letter this week so here comes the spiritual thought.

I want to share a simple thought on faith.  Without faith we have no hope, charity, humility, diligence, patience, and much more.  Faith is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is what changes and propels us to be better and want to be better.  I have found this out for myself and do everyday.  We can only strengthen our faith though by earnestly studying the scriptures, praying morning and night, and keeping God's commandments.  I got to watch the last session of General Conference this last Sunday and two quotes stick out in my mind.  The first one is " The most important part of you day is your personal spiritual time."  This is when we learn how to better ourselves and when we can receive revelation for that day to better ourselves and the peoples lives around us.  The second quote is "Permanent change comes through the atonement."  I hope you all know that once we have faith in Christ and his infinite atonement and go forward acting on that faith that is when we learn and grow the most.  Christ is waiting to help us. He has his arm stretched to us and all we have to do is hold on in his love and atonement and do everything to not let go.  I know that Christ lives. Because I have learned what the atonement truly is and can do for me my life has become so much and better and my burdens lifted.  I KNOW THAT MY REDEEMER LIVES.

I love all of you so much and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Wilson

October 21, 2013

Well this week has been great! Had an awesome exchange with a Elder Smith's companion who has just started his mission.  It was really fun to go and see him grow from the morning to later in the day.  I really loved being able to lead by example and help him over come some of his fears.  It really pushed me as well to be better and overcome some of my fears and doubts.  I hope so bad that I will be training this next transfer because just like with an investigator this truly no better joy then helping someone feel loved and change for the better.

Nothing to excitng has really happened this weekend besides the fact that it is starting to rain every day and get super cold!  The rain is different compared to utah and is just non stop and gets super wet.

I'm ok with it though because when we are knocking people feel bad and are more willing to talk and that gives us the chance to bring the spirit in and baptize them! hahah I just want a baptism so bad, but I know that as long as I keep working hard and being obedient the Lord is happy with me.  In district meetin our zone leaders said something very intersting.  When we wake up the things we read in the scriptures are no different then things we can bring about during the day.  And when we go to bed and write in our journals that night the things we write can be no different then the things we read in the scriptures.

We can see mircales everyday we just have to realize its a miracle.

We probably aren't going to be struct dumb by an Angel like Alma, but maybe we can make some happy and smile or lighten someones burden that day.  It may not be a miracle to you, but it is for that person and you will be blessed for it as you do it.

Now time for the real spiritual thought.  I have really been thinking about what to say and for some reason I just really want to talk about hope.  We hear so much that we need faith in Christ and in no means am I trying to say that isn't important because it is the most important step. But so many of us think that as long as we have that faith we are good for the rest of our lives or thats all that is required of us.  It is not we also need to have hope.  Now the hope I'm talking about isn't just saying oh I hope mom doesn't ground me or I hope its a good day.  No the hope I am talking about is the Hope that Heavenly Father will and is going to keep all his promises.  If you imagine you have a boat and that boat is you.  You are out sailing enjoying yourself when all of a sudden a nasty storm hits.  You have all this rope, but then you realize you have no anchor and that you are doomed and will eventually be lost and swallowed up in the darkness of the storm.  Now the rope is faith in Jesus christ. You need that rope, but you can't do anyting with it unless you have an anchor.  That anchor is hope.  Once you tie the rope into the anchor and throw it into the see and you are secure you know that you can ride the storm out and be safe.  So in our lives when the adversary is hitting us with everything he as we can be swallowed up in darkness and be lost without hope.  We must rely on our faith that we can hope for better things to come.  We know that God has a plan for us and that he wants us to make it back to him.  Moroni tells us in Ether 12:4 that "Hope is the anchor to our souls."  When all seems lost and we feel like we are going to be lost at sea forever let us throw our anchor in with hope tied to our faith in Christ and wait with patience for the things to come.  I know we at times feel like we are nothing and that nobody wants us around anymore or that we can do no good.  Don't let doubts and fears consume who you really are.  We are all beautiful and wonderful Sons and Daughters of God.  He loves every single one of us with a perfect love and he has plan and purpose for each one of us.

He knows our strengths and weaknesses and what we can handle.  Have faith and hope that Heavenly Father knows who you are and what he wants you to do and be.  It is not easy in todays world to secure or anchor of hope, but through Jesus Christ I know that we can make it through anything.  I just want to bear my testimony to you that I know Christ lives and that he knows and loves all of us.  I feel is love more and more for me everyday as I go out and serve his children.  We are imperfect but Christ is perfect and has a perfect love for us.

Hold on in that love.

I love you all to pieces and keep being the amazing people you are and continue to grow in faith and hope in Christ!

Love,

Elder Wilson

October 14, 2013

Hey Family!

Well I forgot to mention somethings I did last week because I got to excited to talk about conference haha:)  I tried a dish from Ghana and it is called Fu Fu.  It is so good and I loved it.  They put weird things in it that I don't know what it was, but it was good:)  Elder Anderson didn't like it to much.  Last week for P-day we went on the long walk which is a LONG WALK.  It is so beautiful though and I loved it.  It goes up onto this little hill with a huge horse on it and you can see the castle from it and all of slough.  It was a blast and we even saw some deer while we were there. I got about 50 yards from a buck which was wicked.  I gave my first talk in my ward yesterday on "Feeding my Sheep" in John 21:15-17.  It went well and one member came up to me and said I truly inspired everyone.  I don't mean to brag, it was just a good feeling that I had prepared and gave my talk the way the Lord wanted me to.  I am sending it home to my parents so they can read my sloppy hand writing and can share more of it with the

family:)  There is a feeling in the air that is telling me the work is about to really start hastening in my area.  Our district leader feels especially with our new plan for this transfer and I am getting so excited to go to work everyday!  Good things are coming!

My spiritual thought for this day is about asking and receiving answers for our prayers.  So many of us forget that all we need to do is ask our Heavenly Father for the things we need.  He knows what we need, but wants us to recognize that we need him to help us accomplish the things we desire.  It will take us humbling ourselves if we truly want his help.  If you read in D&C 6:5-8 we read that if we ask and knock it shall be opened up unto us and we can receive it.  It says in verse 8 "As you desire of me so it shall be unto you."  A lot of us have a hard time knowing the difference between a want and a desire.

A desire starts with a want, but then leads into an action and showing our Heavenly Father how bad we truly do desire it.  For example if you see a nice and car and say I want that, and then go to Heavenly Father and say you desire it, then don't put in any effort in trying earn the money for it and expect it to show up on your drive way then Heavenly Father won't give it to you because you don't really desire it.  When we truly desire something we are willing to do all to achieve it.  For me when I first came out on my mission I felt so like I new nothing and really wanted to have great knowledge with the scriptures.  I asked in pray to have my mind opened when I studied and that I would learn something new every time I did.  I also asked that what I learned I may be able to use for the good of those around me and that I would forget my selfish desires.  It took me and still takes me spending an hour everyday when I am tired to open and read, ponder, and ask about the things I learn through the scriptures.  At first I didn't really feel like I was learning or remembering anything, but as I kept praying and doing my part I started remembering scriptures and using them in my lessons and when teaching others.  Heavenly Father wants us to ask him in faith and then he will see if we truly desire it.  Once he feels we have done all we can then he gives a helping hand.  In verse 7 it says "not to seek for riches, but wisdom... and then you shall be made rich. Behold, he that hath eternal life is rich."  If we can change our thinking in a eternal perspective instead of a right now and what happened yesterday perspective we will be so much happier.  We will have increased faith and know that with the Lord's help we can overcome anything.  As it says in D&C 50:35 "The kingdom is given you of the Father, and the power to overcome all things which are not ordained of him."  As we pray and ask in faith let us not get discourged or down because we have not receive what we desire when we want it.  Push forward in faith and rely on him to help you overcome your challenges and then he will give it unto you.  Don't ever forget that we are all sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father and that he loves us so much and wants nothing more then to help us. We just have to open the door.

Hope you have a great week and I love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Wilson

Here are some pictures from our P-day last week on the long walk.

Also have a couple pictures of our Dinner appointment at a members house yesterday. I forgot to add in my letter that the two new Elder we got or named Elder Wilson (He has the glasses) and Elder Larsen who has his head on me in the picture at the dinner. Hope you enjoy!

October 7, 2013

Hello Family!

Well overall this week has been rough since nothing went our way and we didn't get much of anything done.  It was very hard and very humbling to know we need to rely on the Heavenly Father more in helping us do the right things through the day.  But on the bright side conference was this weekend and that made me feel so much better!

 I wish I could talk about every talk in this email because they were all so amazing and pertained to missionary work so much.  Just share a few of the ones I really liked then I chose one to talk about as my spiritual thought.  I really liked Elder Bednar's talk on tithing and it made me want to pay tithing, but then I realized I have no money haha.  But I like how he put into perspective the blessing we get from paying tithing.  Sometimes we get huge blessing we see right away, but most the time our blessing are through "small and simple means."  Like when we want to have a new job, instead of Heavenly Father giving us a new job he gives us a desire to get off our butts and go to work in trying to get a job.  That's a huge blessing for me cause most the time the hardest step is the first one.  Another talk I loved was the one Richard J. Maynes in the Sunday morning session.  How we need to have Spiritual endurance.  Once we make and receive our ordinances and covenants we must endure to the end in righteousness.  My favorite quote from that talk is "We must be the rock the river cannot sway."

The last talk I loved was President Monson's on Sunday.  WOW.  I don't ever remember seeing him tear up in a talk or pour his love in such abundance like that before.  From the moment he started talking I felt the spirit so strongly and the love he has for his wife and all of us.

 I didn't write much down from his talk because the main message I gained from it was that we are loved by our Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ.  Once we know that for ourselves life changes so much.  It doesn't get easier, but becomes more enjoyable.  My favorite quote from conference came when he said "Good Trees do not grow with ease."

Alright now the talk I really wanted to talk about comes from President Packer.  I thought so hard about which one to talk about and felt like this one was a good one to expounded on.  "Gospel centered home is a safe place."  How true is that?  I hear parents all the time on my mission, and from my own parents say how dangerous the world is and they worry about what their kids see everyday.  Well President Packer gave us our solution and that solution is the GOSPEL.  I know the times in my own life when I have felt the most safe is at Young mens, church, when being at a family party, and especially when being in my home saying prayers or reading scriptures as a family.

President Packer say that "Youth who study the scriputes daily and our active in the church have less of a chance of falling away from the path."  (He had some percent, but I can't rember it.)  I love that so much and can see how true it is.  I never studied the scriptures that well before I came out on a mission and I regret it.  Since I have to study every morning it has become my favorite part of the day and it makes a huge difference in my mission if I study or not.  For those of you at home it is hard to make time for scripture study cause you are so busy and tired at night to study.  Well I have your solution.

Instead of watching tv right when you come home or before you go to bed turn it off gather the family sit down at the table and have scripture study for an hour.  You should have personnel study but good to get the family involved.  I listened to a talk by John Bytheway last night and he said he gave up his channel surfing at from 10 to 12 and went to bed at 10 so he could wake up at 5 to get to work and have an extra 2 hours from 6 to 8 to write a book he always wanted to write.  He said after finshing the book he looked at the four months it took him to write and all the things he learned in those two hours in the morning.  Then he tried to think of all the things he would have learned from two hours of watching tv and he couldn't think of one.  So with scripture study think of all the things you could learn if you spent an hour with your family studying and becoming closer to your Heavenly Father.  Think of all the knowledge you would gain in a year with at least 365 hours of scripture study.  Think of how much closer you would be to your Heavenly Father and how much more the Love of Christ would be in your life and in your home.  Pretty crazy how much one hour of no tv and just scripture study could change your life.  I know we all have busy lives, but I promise you that as you take time to study the scriptures your life will be blessed just like President Packer said.  I don't know if I heard it in conference or another Elder told me, but I love this quote.  "To talk to your Heavenly Father you must pray. For your Heavenly Father to talk to you, you must study the scriptures."  With that I challenge you to have daily scripture study in you families and maybe take time each week to study a certain talk from conference each week and better apply its teachings in your life.  As we study the scriptures we gain Christlike Attributes which better our lives and the lives of others.

Hope all is well at home and you enjoy your week!  LOVE YOU ALL TO SHREDZZ!!

Love,

Elder Wilson

Oct. 2, 2013

First off I'm not being apostate by sending this email since it is not my P-day, but it is the only email I'm sending so don't feel like your missing something haha. Alright so in the photo when we aren't all going crazy I will go left to right.  First is me, then Elder Probst who transfers to a new area today.  Next is his companion Elder Hammond who is the only English guy in the group.  Next is Elder Clark who is a cat lover and so dang funny and is leaving us to go train someone in a brand new area. Poor guy has only been out three months and just finished training himself.  He is also engaged haha.  Next is his companion and our district leader Elder Smith.  Coolest guy I've ever met and I can relate to him a lot.  Next is my beautiful companion Elder Anderson:)  Everyone is from Utah except Elder Hammond who gets made fun of a lot haha.  Just to explain the funny photo I was suppose to just be facing backwards, but we are on a hill so I slipped into Elder Probst who just started hugging me so you get what you see.  The other two photos are with Elder Smith who has the funny smile and Elder Hammond the English man.  Hope you enjoy the photos!

Love you guys!

Love,

Elder Wilson

September 13, 2013

Hello!

Well this week just went by super fast and I really enjoyed myself.

Nothing super amazing happened besides a lot of knocking and driving around on buses to get to places.  I had an exchange with the District leader this Friday and is name is Elder Smith.  He lives in Utah and will be coming home in May.  Basically he is the coolest guy ever and I had a blast serving with him for a day.  All of the lessons I had planned for the day fell through so we did a lot of knocking and street contacting which is what I need to work on anyway.  I learned so much from him and how he gets people to talk and be interested in the gospel.  The first door we knocked wanted to shut the door right away but he asked a question and they answered and we actually got a lesson out of it which was so cool to see!  I started applying what I had learned Sunday evening and we only had 40 minutes to knock and we got 4 lessons out of it!  It was amazing the difference there was and actually makes me excited for tracking a little bit haha.  We have boxing gloves in our flatt so Elder Smith and I were goof off with them and he hit me then I hit him a little hader then he hit me harder and pretty soon we just had to stop before we got into an actual fight haha.  It was way funny and I had a blast.  Transfers are this Wednesday and its so hard to believe I am half way through my training!  Only on Elder is getting moved out of our district and its Elder Smith's companion who he was training.  Elder Clark will be opening up a new area and training at the same time.  Its funny cauuse he has only been out 3 months and sucks with directions so it will be good for him.

I don't have to much say this week, but remembered a few things I have been wanting to say for the last 6 weeks haha.  So one of the APs is going home this week and his first area was Slough were mine is and he told us that tons of APs, Zone and District leaders have come out of Slough.  He called it the "Holy Land".  Its funny cause Slough is a dirty and full of muslims and seeks, which isn't a bad thing, but makes it harder to get investigators. So apparently anyone who comes out of Slough will be a leader.  (I hope I'm the exception).  Also were they held the rowing for the Olympics was here in Windsor and we can actually go see the the huge resovior for it which is pretty cool.

 It was crazy to think that a year ago I was watching the rowing and now I'm serving there!

For my spiritual thought I want to share a promise our Heavenly Father has made that you can find in D&C 98:3 and also D&C 100:15.  In verse

3 it says "Therefore, he giveth this promise unto you, with an immutable covenant that they shall be fulfilled; and all things wherewith you have been afflicted shall work together for your good, and to my name's glory, saith the Lord."  You can read the two versus before that to get a little more info. But I want to call your attention to the immutable convenant.  Immutable is basically the most sacred and powerful convenant you can make.  And as far as I have search I can find no other promise or covenant where it says it is Immutable.  So our Heavenly Father is making the powerful promise and he promises us that all of our afflictions will work together for our good and glorify God.  If you go to D&C 100:15 it basically says the same thing and that our hearts should be comforted.  Life is hard and that is how it is suppose to be, but Heavenly Father has made an "immutable convanent" with us that if we remain faithful and strive to be the best we can be all our trials will be for our good.  So whether it is getting a bad grade on a test, or getting cut from the team, an injury, cancer, or death as long as we our living righteously it will be for our good.  I know this to be true because of my Dad's cancer.

It is a terrible thing and has been such a challenge for my dad and our family.  But from listening to my Mom and looking back I can't imagine where we would be without him going through this challenge. It has brought us closer to God which has brought us closer as a family.

My Dad told us when his cancer came back that we have two choices " Blame God for our problems, or turn to God to help us with our problem."

That has affected me for the last 4 years of my life in every challenge I have had.  I know Heavenly Father loves each and everyone of us and wants the best for us.  We grow more when things are tough then when things are easy.  Yes life is hard, but know that with the Help of Christ and our Heavenly Father we can overcome anything.  I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Wilson