May 25, 2015

Every week I try to come up with some cool subject for my emails and they are always lame because I can never think of anything cool. Sigh. Well this week was definitely not as exciting as last week, but it was still alright. Zone Conference was awesome! So sad it was my last one. There isn't much out there that is greater then a big group of missionaries all together, especially when they are singing. Will be eternally grateful for the missionaries I have met and learned from on my mission. 

We had a really good teach with the girl we found last week. We brought her to a members home for dinner. She loved it and wants to come to church. She couldn't make it this last Sunday, but will be there this coming one. Super cool girl, but will have to pass her on to the Sisters in Staines since she lives in their area. We had interview with President Millar this week. I love that man so much! He told me that it was my companions first and last interview with him and that with the new mission president it will be my first and last one with him. Sucks that my exit interview won't be with President Millar. I get the new president for 3 weeks of my mission haha. I have learned so much from President and Sister Millar and will forever be grateful to have served under them. 

Those were the highlights of the week. Rest was spent finding and walking. So much walking. All my shoes including my running shoes are on their last leg or were on their last leg about 4 months ago. It's been a while since I've shared a little spiritual thought so I guess I can share one:)

Something I have been thinking about a lot this week is Following the Prophet. A question that pops into my mind is "Do we truly sustain President Monson?" The thing that really sticks out to me out of the many things President Monson has asked us to do comes from his Welcome to Conference Address in the Oct 2012 Conference. 

"Now is the time for members and missionaries to come together, to work together, to labor in the Lord’s vineyard to bring souls unto Him. He has prepared the means for us to share the gospel in a multitude of ways, and He will assist us in our labors if we will act in faith to fulfill His work."  

I ask you now. Are we as members and missionaries truly striving to do our best to work and labor together in the Lord's vineyard? Do we seek to bring as many souls as we can to Christ? Do we prepare ourselves Spiritually every day to be an instrument in the Lord's hand and to qualify for the guidance of the Holy Ghost? It is easy to make excuses and say I'm to busy or have other things to worry about, but if you remember when you were baptised you promised Heavenly Father to stand as a witness of Him at ALL times, in ALL places, and in ALL things. If we look outside ourselves and pray to have our eyes opened to who needs our help and the gospel and then listen to the still small voice we will be guided in our day to day activities to those whom the Lord is preparing to bring into the fold. 

I know without a doubt that if we will follow the counsel or actually command of our beloved Prophet President Monson the Lord will bless us and sustains as we strive to do His will. Because in the end the Lord has stated, "whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same" (D&C 1:38). I Testify that this is the Lord's work and that there is no greater joy then in brining souls unto Him. I know that Thomas S. Monson is the Lord's Prophet on the earth today and that he will not lead us a astray. I know with every fiber of my being that Jesus is the Christ and that He lives. Oh what joy this sentence gives, I know that my Redeemer lives. In His sacred name, Amen. 

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week and will truly strive to follow the Prophet!

Love,

Elder Wilson

Even after a long hard week you can still smile and be happy to take a selfie with the greatest book on earth!

May 18, 2015

Hey everyone!

This week started off red hot and then just slowed right down at the end. That's alright because that is just how missionary goes sometimes. The good thing is I can still smile and I get to see my boy Elder Redd tomorrow at my last zone conference. Hard to believe that it is going to be my last zone conference! Everything is just becoming one big blur. Especially since I have leadership now. So crazy!

Had a really cool miracle early this week. We went to a less actives named Avril who is doing so well and who I love so much! Well during the teach I had this thought pop into my head hey show this video. We weren't planning on showing it but thanks to the iPads I just pulled it out and showed it. I thought it would be perfect for her which it was, but after she was like the whole time I was watching that I was thinking of this guy. So she gave us his info and after the teach we popped by. His name is Phil and he is a super cool guy. He has just come to find out what God and Jesus Christ can do for him in his life.

We set an appointment up for the next day. The teach was boss! He said he has never felt the Spirit but wants to so bad so we said well here is the Book of Mormon and this is what you have to do. So cool! After the teach Elder Olson said, " I was a ward missionary back home for 3 months and went on teaches every other day and never have had a teach that Spiritual before." I just smiled, but inside I was like that's right I know what I'm doing... Just kidding I have no idea what I'm doing I just rely on the Spirit and hope for the best;) it was really cool though.

Had exchange with the zone leaders. I was with Elder Lloyd who just got made a ZL and has only been out 10 months but we had so much fun in Addlestone. We just went contacting for 5 hours and it literally felt like 10 minutes. Was so much fun! We talked to this lady on a bench named Stella who had some time so we asked if we could sit by her and teach her and she said yes for sure. Had a really good teach and then asked her to be baptised and she said yes! And in her prayer at the end she said how she had been wanting to learn more about the Mormons, but hadn't had time and was so grateful for this opportunity.

Was epic! After working hard all day we partied hard in the flat. Made some super bad burnt chocolate chip pancakes with overly priced syrup and what we thought would be legit Reese's peanut butter but wasn't haha. Such and epic fail! After we decided to sleep on our roof so we chucked the mattresses out there and were sitting there thinking about camping and were like hey we need a fire. So we go back in and couldn't find anything to start a fire! So we use the electric stove till it caught the paper on fire and then went running through the flat to get outside. Elder Lloyd dropped the paper once which was pretty funny, but in the end we had a little fire for a bit haha. Best exchange ever!

One tender mercy the Lord gave us at the end of the week was a girl named Daisy. We had just got done sprinting two miles after a dinner appointment to catch the last train so we were sweating pretty bad and I thought Elder Olson was going to literally die but good thing he is a Texan. When this girl walks up to me and and ask where the train is going. I told her and she then sits right across from us. Elder Olson and I were both just to tired and sweaty to even care to talk to anyone. Well I notice that this girl kept staring at us so I decided to forget about myself for once and said hello, how was your day. Her reaction was as if I had just given her a million dollars. She just smiled and started chatting with us and turns out she had taken a class where they had discussed Mormons quite a bit so she had all these questions for us. She was going where we were going so we ended up talking for like 45 minutes and it was super awesome. She believes in a higher power, but we asked her if we could meet up with her sometime soon and teach her to find out if God is really there. She said yes and so we got all the details. Was super cool and lesson learned that if you will just do the Lord's Will even when you look like a water fountain of sweat and smell like a pig you will see miracles!

Pretty much it for the week. The sisters in my district our boss and so much fun to work with. Really loving my life right now! Hope you all have a great week and LOVE YOU TO SHREDZZ!!!!

Love,

Elder Wilson

May 11, 2015

What a great week and crazy week it has been! I got me boy! His name is Elder Olson and he is a boss dog! He is from Bedford, Texas and for those of you who care he played football for Trinity High School who are the ones Bingham played and got smashed by. He is a super prepared missionary and keeps me working hard especially at the end of my mission! We got a lot of work to be doing, but it will be good. 

It is fun to see new missionaries out for the first time and to remember how it was for you. I forgot how tough it can be to stop someone in the streets and just know what to say and ask and be calm and make everything flow.  Been a great learning experience for me.  Had a cool miracle yesterday though.  So after skyping (which was amazing and weird to think it was the last one) we left the members house, but I had left the phone there and had to account in that night. So we were scrambling all over to find a phone and the payphone kept dropping calls and eating my money so finally I was like Dominos lets go there.  I ask the girl if we can use the phone and she said yes. While she was dialing it for us she was asking if we were Jehovah witness's. Asking what we believed and everything else. So after  I got done with the phone she was like ok so teach me about Jesus and Mormons. At first it was a joke for her, but it all of sudden turned right around and she was genuinely interested.  We asked for her number and she gave it to us and said to text and call her to meet up this week! So awesome that even when you are dumb and leave the phone somewhere and are scrambling all over the place he still places people in front of you and shows you that this is His work and he will put you where he needs you to be even if it means losing your phone.  

Nothing much else happened this week. We got Ipads which are super awesome! Emailing on it right now which is awesome:) I hope that you all have a wonderful week and I love you to shredzz!! 

Love,

Elder Wilson

May 4, 2015

We received these great pictures of Collin celebrating his 20th Birthday while serving his mission.  We are so grateful for such great members he has served and their willingness to take care of the missionaries!   Thank you Tarr Family for making Collin's Birthday a special day!

May 4, 2015

16 And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.

 17 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?

 19 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.- Genesis 17

I share this scripture with all of you because in the mission when you train you are considered the "Mission dad" of that new missionary. Well I have never trained my whole mission and it is basically the only thing I have ever wanted to do. I only have two transfers left now so I thought like Abraham that I was to old to have a child. But by the miraculous hand of God I received a call from President Millar informing me that I will be training!!! Best birthday present ever! Can't wait to have a boy and just see him do all the funny things new missionaries do and to see him learn and grow into an amazing missionary! It will also be super humbling! To pumped for that! 

I also had Ipad training this week which was pretty cool. Elder Kieron and Elder Brent H. Nielson of the Seventy talked to us and it was epic! Some heavy doctrine was dropped and we just felt so uplifted and edified! It was so cool having the whole mission together. I also got to see my trainer for the first time in 18 months! It was good timing to cause he goes home this Wednesday which is crazy to think! Feels like yesterday we were both super young and had no idea what we were doing.  My favorite part of the whole meeting was at the end when the whole mission stood and sung "Jerusalem".  It is an amazing song that talks about building Jerusalem in England! 

The rest of the week was pretty run of the mill.  Working hard and just trying to do the best I can! Sorry for no pictures the computer is being weird.  Will send a whole bunch next week! 

Love you all to shredzz!! 

Love,

Elder Wilson

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Dad's note---He forgot to inform us he is now a District Leader too.  Parents have ways of finding out things!  :)  

April 27, 2015

This week was pretty run of the mill week. We had a lot of service for members which was really nice since it has been so hot and sunny. Just getting normal clothes on and working hard always feels good. Elder Gibbons also lost our phone so this is the third time one of my companions has done something so that we don't have a phone. Luckily the zone leaders had an extra phone so we could use that for now.  We had a really hard time getting in contact with our investigators this week, but Heavenly Father still blesses us with so many miracles! After getting our new phone we walked out to the middle of nowhere to knock the door of this former investigator. At first we didn't want to go because it was so far away, but we decided to do it. Well we knock on the door and ask for James. He tells us to come in and so we do. He then leaves for a little bit and comes back out in trousers and says "Hi, I'm James." It took everything I had to not laugh. Anyway he is from the Philippines and knows so much about the church! We had a really good lesson and he accepted a baptismal date as well for May 23! Was such a cool miracle! After when we were about to leave he was like you can't leave until I feed you. So he made us a huge thing of pasta and a massive piece of chocolate cake.  Not everyday that you knock on a random door in the middle of nowhere and get fed.. especially in England!

The other cool miracle was at church. Two of our investigators bailed on us Sunday morning so before leaving for church we prayed there would be a miracle and someone would come to church. While we were greeting people at the door up walks this middle eastern man.  He was a former investigator who was taught by Elder Redd who had gone to Pakistan to help his dying father and just showed up randomly! It was amazing to see God just keep answering our prayers.  All of our investigators and baptismal dates right now are former investigators so they are miracles! All you missionaries out there doing former work! I have had two people I have found from formers in past areas get baptized.  

Other then that our week was pretty good. We have Ipad training this week on Wednesday in Crawley! So not only are we getting ipads soon, but get to go back to one of my old areas! Can't wait! Plus it will be the first time on my mission the whole mission will be gathered together in one area. Going to be epic since half of my companions go home next week:( Life is great an enjoying everyday in the ELSM(England London South Mission)!! 

Have a great week and LOVE YOU TO SHREDZZ!!  

Love,

Elder Wilson

P.s. Shout out to my cousin for getting married last week! She is hot mate.. I mean you did well and she is beautiful;) 

April 20, 2015

I just love this ward and area so much! I also love Elder Gibbons so much! The work is going so well for both us and the Sisters in Kingston. Heavenly Father is truly blessing us with many sheaves laden on our backs.  Last P-day Elder Gibbons and I went back to Windsor (our first area) to visit one of our favorite members the Saab's! They have three boys who are 16, 14, and 12.  We just chilled, played some guitar, and caught up on how things were going. It was so cool to be able to go back to my first area after leaving it nearly 16 months ago. I could still remember all the streets and how to get to places and of course seeing Windsor Castle was awesome! I love this work! 

We have slowly been increasing our teaching pool little by little. We were finally able to get contact with our baptismal date Antony who has been having phone and housing problems. We will have to move his date back but he is so solid! He just keeps telling us that he knows 100% that God will give him an answer and lead him in the right path. His prayers are amazing as well! He is really open to.  He was Catholic and realized they didn't follow the bible at all really so he went Pentecostal and saw that they didn't really follow the bible either so he is an honest seeker of truth and it is amazing! He is also from Africa so I want to baptize him so bad haha. Our 13 and 11 year investigators Soli and Isaac are doing really well. Teaching them more often and playing football .My skills are getting pretty amazing, but they also came to church this week! They are just the coolest nicest kids.  Brendon is taking it slower, but is doing really well.  One of the less actives we are working wit Avril came to church! She is one of my favorite people in the whole world. She has gone through a lot, but wow she is just amazing! We also picked up a new guy named Ponoaj who is Indian. He wants to be baptized and is super cool. We were just calling numbers on a really old potentials list and bam! He met up with us! God is great! 

Had a really awesome District Meeting since President Millar was there! First time that has happened for me. I just love that man and Sister Millar so much! Had two great dinners with two American families in the wards. The Barlow's we saw on Thursday and they are awesome. Every American in the ward has the biggest house and nicest cars! They are minted! Had a really amazing spiritual thought with them were the Spirit was so strong! We have been doing Bishops challenge to the ward and it is great! We also ate at the Jones last night and they have 4 daughters! Bro Jone's is a manly man to and so it reminds me of the tv show with Tim Allen and his three daughters haha.  They are 13, 10,8, and 4 and super cute.  The 8 year old is named Elsa! They would leave me alone and kept  trying to hold my hand and to jump on the tramp with them.  There poor dad is going to have his hands full when they are older haha.  Did the same spiritual thought with them and at the end we say a kneeling prayer and ask for a moment of silence at the end to ponder and they said "Good Luck!". Well at the end they were quit and Bro Jones said he doesn't think he has ever had that happen like that for that long before. I LOVE THE SPIRIT! 

Funny story: We took our bikes in to see how much they would cost fix and it would be way over £100. We needed to get rid of them some how so we decided to takes the locks off and see if someone would just steal them for us haha. so we took the bike locks off and put them to the side of our flat. and less then 24 hours hours they were stolen. England is great and I love those people for taking them off our hands!

This church is the only true and living church on the face of the earth and Christ is at the helm! I know this to be true with every fiber of my being! Joseph Smith was called of God to be his Prophet in these latter days. I love this work and the joy it has brought to me and my family! Most of all I love Christ and all that he as done for me.  He is is our Savior and Redeemer and invites all to Come unto Him! 

LOVE YA TO SHREDZZ AND HAVE A GREAT WEEK! 

Love,

Elder Wilson

Crazy nights with Elder Gibbons and Isaac Saab!