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