June 16, 2014

Collin did not have alot of time to write today since his district was going to play basketball so he was only able to write personal letters.  He talked about how his baptism was postponed since the investigator is struggling with the Law of Tithing.   Said the work is slow but they keep working had to try and find people.

I did get a picture

Collin and his new companion

June 9, 2014

Hello Family! 

Well this week was pretty boring once again but I got a new companion!  Elder Gunnell is such a boss and a hard working missionary!  Probably just the farmer in him.  We already having loads of fun and even though I loved serving with Elder Bognar being with an American is so nice! We have had a lot of funny moments already.  I think the funniest was when Elder Gunnell went to stop someone and when the guy realized who we were he told us to "Go beep off" and then a guy in balcony above said "Hey thats what I said!" So we just busted up laughing cause it was so funny! We will either unite you with the Lord or in your hatred towards us haha.  Basically this companionship is going to be like it was with Elder Green so I can't wait!  It is also getting nice very nice weather here!  Also allergies is kicking in so now I am just dying and looking like I'm crying all the time, but oh well maybe people will take pity on me haha:) Elder Gunnell also got bit by a big ole German shepherd.  Dumb redneck has this thing with petting every dog haha.  It was pretty funny only cause it wasn't that bad.  We also went snail smashing on Saturday.  It had rained so all the snails came out and we were just smashing the into the distance with our umbrellas. About the closest I have got to playing ball on my mission:) We have a baptism coming up this week so will be getting lots prepared for that.  There will be two baptisms the other being the Zone Leaders investigator.  It will be the 5th and 6th baptism in this ward in one month.  So many crazy wonderful things are happening in this area! The Lord is truly hastening his work and it is amazing to see all the wonderful miracles that are happening in this mission and all around the world.  How grateful I am to be in the field playing for the Lords teams in these final minutes! This is when it matters most and when true character is measured! How grateful I am to be apart of it!  My spiritual thought for you this week is short but powerful! 

Doctrine and Covenants 35:13-15

  13 Wherefore, I call upon the weak things of the world, those who are unlearned and despised, to thresh the nations by the power of my Spirit;

 14 And their arm shall be my arm, and I will be their shield and their buckler; and I will gird up their loins, and they shall fight manfully for me; and their enemies shall be under their feet; and I will let fall the sword in their behalf, and by the fire of mine indignation will I preserve them.     

  15 And the poor and the meek shall have the gospel preached unto them, and they shall be looking forth for the time of my coming, for it is nigh at hand—      

I know that this is the Lords work and that he is coming is nigh at hand.  Let us all prepare ourselves both physically and spiritually so that the day that he calls upon us we are ready to serve him with all our heart, might, mind, and strength.  There is no better time then now to suit up for the Lord.  I know this is his church and that it was restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith.  I know that just as a humble 14 year old boy knelt down and prayed with faith knowing that his Father in Heaven would answer that if we will do this same thing that we can have the truth made known unto us.  Let us not be like those that wanted to follow Jesus but wanted to go do a few things first.  Let us be like his apostles and straightway drop our nets and follow him.  We may live in this world but we do not have to be of it.  In the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I hope you all are doing amazing and growing stronger and stronger in the gospel! Those of you that aren't apart of this wonderful gospel I invite you to take up Gods promise in the Book of Mormon an to just read it and pray to know if it is true.  I promise you that he will answer you and that he loves you more then you realize.  I see that love he has for all his children each and every day.  In the words of President Uchtdorf "Don't sleep through the Restoration!" 

Love ya'll to shredzz!! 

Love,

Elder Wilson

Dad's Side Note

Yesterday we had the wonderful opportunity to go to a Homecoming of one of the Elders that Collin served with.  Elder Smith was Collin's first District Leader and they became great friends and he really helped him out being a greenie in the field.   After meeting Elder Smith and his family we really know why Collin got along with him so well.  He and his family are incredible Christ like people.  When we arrived at his church as we were getting out of our car President Eyring walked in front of our car and said good morning.  That was pretty amazing!  President Eyring just happens to live in Elder Smiths home ward.  What a great day we had.

June 2, 2014

Hello family! 

Well I don't really have anything to say about this week.  It started off super good and then was one of the toughest mentally I have had on my mission so far.  We worked so hard but nobody wanted to listen to us and we were just hated on.  It was really tough.  The good news is we will be having a baptism on the 14th and most likely one in July!  It is transfers week this week and not to much is happening in our district.  Our district leader is leaving and we are getting a new one.  I'm told that he is crazy and lots of fun so we shall see what happens.  I am also getting my fourth companion from Utah but he is a stud. He is basically like my stud of a cousin Tyler.  Only difference is he is a ginger:) He is a farm boy from Cache Valley who loves hunting, riding quads, and shooting things haha.  It is going to be a great transfer! Other then that nothing to exciting happen.  We had stake conference this weekend and there was a whole lot of people.  Our recent convert Kiyomars participated in it which was awesome! He is going to be a something great! I Hope all of you are doing super well and I LOVE YA TO SHREDZZ!!! 

Love,

Elder Wilson

P.S. just my Hungarian companion during comp study and us trying to catch the slugs in the flat! England is just great.  Also the blue things were given to us by Kiyomars when after a teach it was dumping rain haha. 

Collin's District

May 26. 2014

Hello Family and Friends! 

Well this week wasn't really all that interesting except for a few parts haha.  At church yesterday Kiyomars got up and bore a power testimony and it was so great to hear it and see how much he has changed.  He is such an amazing guy! He went home teaching yesterday with the ward mission leader for the first time so can't wait to hear how that went! We also had two birthday parties since there were three birthdays this week.  I had pictures but forgot my camera so sorry! They were a lot of fun since it was with a recent convert and all the missionaries in the ward.  It was such a blast! And then the last exciting thing this week was  I sorta got beat up.  I am completely fine but it was a very interesting experience.  We were saying a prayer with a guy on the street and during the prayer I heard this women cursing and yelling and it kept getting closer and then all of a sudden I got hit from behind like she was trying to tackle me.  She then kept hitting me on my shoulder and back which didn't really hurt.  The guy we were with kept trying to get her to go away but she just sat there cursing and when she saw our name tags she started saying some very crude things about God and it was terrible. She finally decided that she was going to leave but before she did she stretched her arms out and then hit Elder Bognar and I as hard as she could.  The creepy thing was is that she wasn't drunk at all.  We could tell that she was all there but she seemed possessed or something.  Very weird.  The good thing was is she left we finished our prayer and that was that.  IT is so crazy how people will always seem to pick us out and attack us however they can.  Sad world we live in.  Well that was my week!  Nothing to crazy but just enjoying life as a missionary!  It is also pretty nice living with members cause they always update you on all the latest.  I heard the new Xmen movie is good and that a new transformers is coming out.  Well that is my worldly though for today haha.  

My spiritual thought will be short this week and is really just story.  We read in the Bible and Book of Mormon that Christ will sit as Refiner and Purifier of Silver.  What does this mean? Some of you may have heard this but it is always a good reminder for all of us! 

There was a women who had a weekly Bible study with her church and they read about how Christ will sit as a refiner of silver.  After the study she was very curious on what this meant.  So she found a silversmith and then was able to work her way in to see how he does things.  He took her around and showed him were they heat up the silver and basically make it silver.  She asked do you ever just leave it?  He said of course not I have to be there to make sure that nothing happens to it.  She saw that he sat there the whole time watching it.  After being there awhile and having a few questions answered it was time to go.  Before leaving she asked how do you know what it is done?  The silversmith said, 

"When I can see my reflection in it."  

I hope we all will work to become more like our Saviour and follow in his footsteps.  He is the way and there is no other name under heaven whereby we can enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

I hope you all are excited for summer and will have a great week.  LOVE YA TO SHREDZZ!!  

Love,

Elder Wilson

May 19, 2014

Collin did not send out a family letter this week but I am adding a clip from his letter to me.  Also adding a couple of pictures that he sent from visit to the London Temple with an investigator.

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"Well things are going great here and just to share a cool story saturday we decided to call random people on our phone and one of the guys said he would come to church.  We didn't think much of it, but he did come to church! HE is from Zimbabwe and is running his own shoe line.  HE is flipping sweet! We will also be having a baptism at the end of this month which is very exciting! Thats about all I got to say. "

Love,

Elder Wilson 

May 12, 2014

Hello Family and Friends! 

Well I just counted how many weeks I've been out and this will be my 40th week!  That is so crazy! Hard to believe I am almost half way done with my mission! This week was pretty good! Started it of with being able to go to the temple with my zone which was amazing!  Love going there so much.  The next day we then had Zone Conference which was amazing.  One of the AP's goes home after this transfer and he was been AP for the last 10 months.  He is 28 years old and is basically the definition of AP.  4 years ago he was a chav (Counsel House and Violence) and now he is one the best missionaries.  Just look for an Elder Patton in a few years at general conference haha.  Also my first district leader Elder Smith will be going home so I was able to see him one more time which was good.  He told me that he would say hi to my parents for me at his homecoming haha.  The rest of the week wasn't to exciting.  We found a guy on the street though and he is super cool.  He listened to everything we said and was very interested in the Book of Mormon.  We invited him to be baptized on the street and he said yes!  We meet with him tomorrow so hopefully all will go well.  His name is Mark so keep him in your prayers! And then of course I was able to skype home yesterday.  It is always amazing to be able to see and talk with my family.  Was even able to see my GG and Grandpa and My Grandma Griffin!  Everyone seems to be doing very and looks happy! I just love them so much!!! This week we are going to be going to the temple with investigators twice this week so looking forward to that.  Sorry for the boring week and hopefully this week will be a lot better for you! 

For a spiritual thought I would just like to mention three gifts that came to us from our loving Heavenly Father.  

1. Creation 

We are so blessed that we are able to be alive and know that we have a Heavenly Father who loves so much that he created all this for us.  He knows us and loves and we should show our gratitude for all that he does for us. 

2. The Fall

Many people believe Adam and Eve to be evil and what that what they did was terrible.  We know though that what Adam and Eve did for was one apart of Gods plan and two an amazing gift to us.  Their sin will be upon there heads but if they had not fallen we wouldn't have been able to come to this earth and experience this life.  I love the versus in 2 Nephi 2:25 " Adam fell that men MIGHT BE, and men are, that they MIGHT HAVE JOY."

3. The Atonement

Just as in Adam all day so in Christ are all made alive.  Of course the greatest gift ever given to us from our Loving Heavenly Father is of course his son Jesus Christ.  Through Him we all can be cleansed from sin. Through him we all will rise again and be able to stand before God and me Judged.  Through Him we will all be able to live with our families forever.  We must remember though that we must do the things that he asks of us in order to obtain all the blessings and eternal life.  Yes all will be saved and rise again, but in what state we are risen to depends on us.  Do we want to be raised to a state of Eternal Bliss or a state of Eternal Misery.  Our Loving Heavenly Fathers work and glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.  That means that he wants us to inherit all that he has and become like him!  How amazing is that!?  All we have to do is humble ourselves, keep his commandments, and strive everyday to become like his son Jesus Christ.  In the His Name, Jesus Christ, Amen.

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

Love and Forever Faithful,

Elder Wilson

His District

Elder Wilson and Elder Smith(His first Companion in the Field)

May 5, 2015

Hey family and friends! 

Well it finally happened!  I had my first baptism and it was on my birthday so that was pretty cool!  That isn't the important part though.  The important part is that someone has allowed the atonement of Jesus Christ to change there life!   It was so amazing to be apart of Kiyomars baptism and to have the honour of baptising him.  I even got it on the first try:) It was funny cause when I had said Amen he shouted AMEN! and then basically dived backwards it was pretty great.  The best part was how quiet he was in the changing room and how he looked at me and said I feel peaceful.  It was so amazing!  I just am on a high right now!  And just to add the greatest Portuguese lady that got baptized last week made me a cake for after the baptism! Everyone sang me happy birthday and it was a lot of fun! IT was probably the greatest birthday ever! The Lord truly has blessed me:) The next day was pretty great being able to be apart of his confirmation.  It was cool cause last night his sister fed us some Persian food and he had skyped his wife and she isn't a member yet (according to Kiyomars)  but she said that he looked and seemed different.  I thought that was pretty awesome! Amazing how this gospel can change us so much!  And then today since it was a bank holiday in England and I live right by the temple we got to go today!  It was super amazing and I just love the temple.  Can't wait to go whenever I want!  You people in Utah need to take advantage of it! And tomorrow we will be having zone conference which is epic! Going to kill it this transfer!  Can't wait for all the amazing miracles we are going to see for Miracle May!! Thank you all for everything and I hope that you have a great week! LOVE YA'LL TO SHREDZZ!!! 

Love,

Elder Wilson

 Collin and Kiyomar

After a hard day of service 

Said he needs to start swinging the bat and lift more to get his man hands back!