June 29, 2015

Can I just say that i love you people so much!? I find it hard to wake up and not smile. I know a lot of us have trials and the world just seems to keep trying to kill itself, but what makes me smile is the fact that I know that we all have a Loving Heavenly Father who is in control and as long as I do my best I know myself and my family will be alright. Over the last two years I have come to know and understand more and more everyday by what Christ meant when he said, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" (John 14:27). I hope you all will be able to feel this peace like I have. I will tell you now though that it cannot be found in anything the world has to offer. No amount of money, no government, no popularity, and no sin will ever bring that peace. In simpler words used by a father to a son,"Wickedness never was happiness."

Anyway it has been a pretty dang good week! Mostly because all we did is find. The people seem to be softening up a little bit more. The English tend to be nicer when the weather is hot and nice. In fact the English pretty much reflect what the weather is like. I call it the English forecast (I just came up with it right now). We didn't have to much success finding, but it was one of those weeks where I felt like a did all the Lord wanted me to do just simply because I followed the Spirit. On Wednesday we were suppose to teach this guy. He flogged us and I just had this impression to go to Woking which is quite a distance away. So we went there and had like an hour and half we could be there. We ran over to a less active we had been teaching, but her husband needed a little bit of a break. We just talked to her at her doorstep but it was the greatest visit ever! She was like yeah I have been reading the Book of Mormon more. We asked her if she felt a difference when she read and didn't read and she was like yeah when I read I don't get angry as fast and I feel more calm during the day!

She also has been praying out loud! She didn't do any of these things when we were teaching her, but she said she felt like since we weren't coming around for a bit she needed to step it up. AWESOME!!

After that we remembered this guy we talked to who said his son in law and daughter were Mormons and to come by in a couple weeks. Well that was like almost two months ago so we ran down there quickly. We knocked on the door and this guy comes out and says NO, and slams the door in our face. We were like ok they don't like Mormons and started to walk away.  Then this girl comes out saying sorry excuse my brother. Then another man (with a sick ginger beard) comes out. They were the people we were looking for and their names are the Hookers:) In my prayers I told Heavenly Father to bless the Hookers and how grateful I was to meet the Hookers. It was great:) Anyway they just moved back to Woking and are getting settled in and coming to church soon. Super awesome couple. The girl looked just like Nancy(exgirlfriend not aunt) but with short blonde hair. It was weird.

Super cool day that was. The next day we had zone conference and it was awesome! Love my leaders. President Millar leaves tomorrow and we will then have President Gubbler. Bitter sweet moment. After though we only had two hours to work and we had some solid people to stop by and before we went out I was looking over a list and got this feeling to go stop by this guy out in the middle of no where. At first I thought it was just me wanting to be a waster but I felt pretty strong impression to go there so we just went and did it. Travelled way out there and he wasn't in. On the way back when we were close to our flat and having no success I see down the road a guy who was preparing to be baptised but we had lost contact with him. I love how the Lord blesses you more then you could ever imagine when you just listen to His Spirit. Meeting up with the guy this week so should be good!

The rest of the week was great. Had a wonderful dinner with a former investigator named Keten. He is a great guy, but is a transgender and wasn't interested in our message, but we are best friends with him. He loved Elder Redd and I and fed me for my going away party haha. Love Keten! Went to a born again fellowship that was held by one of our investigators named Ramond. Lovely bunch of people showed up including this crazy Italian lady who loved us so much haha. Was a lot of fun being able to see how other people worship. Different, but their hearts are still so big and full of love. I love them so much! I also had to give a talk in sacrament and said goodbye to everyone because most of the American families are leaving for holiday before I go home and then everyone freaked out because they didn't realise I was going home as soon as I am. So now the dinner appointments are all full:) I love being loved haha. One of the biggest things I have come to learn on my mission is that Love is the most powerful thing out there. The love I have for the people of England just cannot be described using words. I was physically born in America, but spiritually born in this great land of England.  I'm going to miss this little island and it's crazy people!

It is super hot here so I can't wait to have air conditioning again when I get home. Will be nice to not sweat when I sleep:) Pray I don't die from sweating! I also know I have it easy compared to some of you, but I'm use to the cold so leave me alone haha. I love you all to SHREDZZ and have a great week! The church is true!

Love,

Elder Wilson

The born again fellowship. The dark guy and the lady he has his arms on are our investigators.

Dad's Note

In the email to his mom today Collin gave us stats from his mission which are fun to see.

Areas: 7
Comps: 14
Suits: Total of 4 but two destroyed
Shoes: 5 destroyed shoes
Shirts: 13 Destroyed shirts
Trousers: 4 destroyed trousers
District Leaders: 13
Mission Presidents: 2

June, 22nd, 2015

So Collin did not send a family letter today but sent a bunch of pictures.  He is doing well and is excited and sad to be coming home in just one month!   We will miss getting his Monday morning letters.   He arrives at the Salt Lake Airport July 22nd at 8p for those that want to come out and see him come down the escalator!   We will be having his homecoming on August 9th at 9am at our Ward House Chapel in Herriman.  

His look when missionaries freak out about going home

Mission conference

His companion

Just some swans we pass by a few times a week. They are so cute! Swans are very aggressive and are confused if they are snakes or swans since they hiss haha.

Cool flower that grows here in England 

June 15, 2015

Sorry I am late in posting this.

Hiya everyone!

Well this week was pretty much awesome! Monday and Tuesday were mostly finding. We found a really cool guy named Andy that we taught on Friday. He doesn't really have a belief in God, but is willing to read the Book of Mormon and pray. He even told us that he would pray for us next time. Pretty cool dude. Morris is doing quite well too. Met his mom for the first time which was great because she is a less active member. We met her and then she sat in on the next teach and said I will be at church on Sunday. God loves us so much here in Addlestone!

It has been a lot of fun just being able to have a nicely balanced week of finding and teaching. Makes for much better days and week!

Wednesday we were knocking and this one guy wasn't very fond of us asking him about his religion and trying to share ours. It was getting heated real quick until he recognised my American accent and was like I love America. The whole mood of discussion flipped 180 degrees. He wasn't interested in the end, but he said that he would take me on a tour of London before I go home! Before we left he was like I'm serious about London so you better be back. I may not be able to baptise many people, but I'm good at making friends and getting free stuff!

Had a great dinner Sunday with our ward mission leader and his family.

He is the one with the four daughters. It was funny because while we were helping getting things ready his second youngest Elsa came up and started holding my hand and was like can you please come play uno with me? I told her  "go ask your mom first if there is anything you can help with then I will." So she bounds across and asks her mom, who has her set the table. She then comes back and grabs my hand and says can we go play uno now? I told her to go ask her mom one more time so she runs over real quick. Her mom has her do some things and then I picked there new puppy up and he fell asleep in my arms right away so of course the girls start freaking and saying how cute it was that the dog loved me and then started taking pictures (mostly Elsa haha). Such a cute and fun family. Brother Jones was able to spend 4 hours with Elder Holland in a priesthood leadership training and recorded his testimony at the end and then shared it with us and wow was it amazing! All I have to say is parents with struggling kids, just love them and keep your covenants and I promise it will be worth it in the end. Love my ward mission leader! Which leads me into the highlight of my week!

So Friday I went to London to listen and meet Elder Holland! It was a fun trek there because I've never been to London and it is a sweet city! The AP's had me guide everyone to the chapel because it was quite a walk from the Station. So I had like half the mission following me around London haha. Hyde Park Chapel is beautiful and an amazing place! The best part of course was having Elder Holland walk in and just feel the Spirit enter the room like a flood. I was able to shake hands with Elder Holland and listen to him for an hour and a half! It was probably the most amazing thing ever to happen to me! Any of you who doubt or don't think God has once again called Apostles and Prophets again, I testify to you that he has and these 15 men God has called to lead us our holy and truly chosen by God. I have never felt such an out pouring of love for one person before. When I shook his hand I was filled with the Spirit and love of God so much! There were so many things I loved about what he spoke about. We were joined with London Mission which was cool to see people I hadn't since the MTC.

But our two missions were where Elder Holland served his mission. Man does he love this country! So here are the things I learned from him that I really liked.

- We are apostolic for the two years or 18 months we serve as missionaries. Elder Holland is a capital "A" Apostle and we are lower case "a" apostles.

- They send us to the temple to prepare us to the best of their abilities for our missions

- Everything is built around the law of obedience

- When we say we are the Only true and living church, we are not saying no other church has truth in it, we are saying we are the only church that has God's full authority to preform saving ordinances for salvation.

- The war in heaven never finished, it was just transferred to earth

- The road to Salvation always goes through Gethsemane and ascends to the top of Calvary

There was so much more I learned and that was said and I wish I could share it all with you, but more importantly I wish I could share the Spirit and love that I felt in that meeting. If you ever have a chance to listen to an Apostle whether you are a member or not do it!

I bear witness to you hat God speaks to us this day through His chosen servants. I know without a doubt that Heavenly Father lives and that Jesus Truly is the Christ and that he is our Saviour and Redeemer. To those of you who are not members I specifically speak to you. This is the truth and there is no other way to fully accept Christ and His Atonement then by being baptised by His authority into His church. I know this is the way and that there is no other way. Christ's arm is out stretched always and all you have to do is grab on and trust him in what he says. I love this Gospel and the light, love, peace, and joy it has brought into mine and my families life! In His holy name, Amen.

I LOVE YA'LL TO SHREDZZ!!!!

Love,

Elder Wilson

June 9, 2015

Well it's here and I can't believe it's already come, but it's my last transfer. I think that explains enough so on a happier note this last week was pretty great!

Since we decided to drop all our investigators we did finding basically the whole week. Makes for some longs days, but it was a lot of fun. The zone leaders came down on splits so I was with Elder Bradshaw for about two hours and it was a lot of fun. I love training, but it is so nice to have a someone you don't have to worry about what they are going to say or have to do most of the talking. Elder Olson is coming a long really well though. We are working on using the Book of Mormon to answer questions while finding, so basically helping him to know the scriptures really well. We found some cool people, one of which we are seeing today which is awesome! Another is a family we are seeing on Saturday! It's one of my goals to baptise a family so keep them in your prayers! I had a pretty fun District meeting as well. The sisters have been struggling with finding so I took a whole bunch of selfies of me making weird faces and then printed them off with captions and put them all over the chapel. They had to find the one with the chocolate(they didn't know there was chocolate), but had to go through all my stupid pictures first. It was pretty funny and they got a kick out of it. I then tied it into how sweet will be our joy if we bring one soul unto me. Was a great district meeting! Going to miss my sisters since Sister Finassi is leaving the district.

Yesterday Elder Holland came and spoke to us in a multi stake conference. It was one of the best stake conferences I've been to!

Elder Holland just tore it up. The Spirit was strong and he said some powerful things. The two main points I got from him were.

1. The Book of Mormon is our Trial of Faith. Basically means it is the great sifter(Wheat and tares, sheep and goats, wise and foolish virgins, church of the lamb and church of he devil). Not everyone will accept the Book of Mormon and to those who do they will receive more truth and light.

2. It would have been a greater miracle for Joseph Smith to just have come up with the Book of Mormon then to have translated it from an ancient record(Hopefully that makes sense). No wicked man could write such a book and no good man would write such a book unless told by God to do so.

There was a lot more to his talk then at, but that is what I really liked. The best quote from him though was at the end when he said, "When I was a boy I bore witness of God, now today I am that witness."

I know without a doubt that this is the true church of Jesus Christ. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet and that Thomas S. Monson is his rightful successor. I know as well that the Twelve Apostles are called of God. How lucky are we to have a caring and loving Heavenly Father who would send and give us Apostles and prophets. There is no better work to be engaged in then this one!

I love you all so much! I hope you have a wonderful week and just know that when you are sitting on the couch Friday morning I will be in the middle of London at Hyde Park Chapel listening to Elder Holland live

again:) LOVE YA TO SHREDZZ!!

Love,

Elder Wilson

My District!

June 1, 2015

Well this week was super slow again. We decided to drop everyone in our teaching pool besides one person and start with a clean slate. Our area is huge so we will be working some parts of our area that never get touched so that will be a lot of fun! We did have a pretty cool miracle. A recent convert named Bernard who is 87 and super awesome had a heart attack and was in the hospital all last week. We didn't know until last P-day so we went and saw him on Tuesday and he was doing a lot better and being released.  It was funny while we were there he was telling everyone how much he loves us and the church and all we did for him and how we baptized him and gave him the Holy Ghost and Priesthood. It was so awesome. He even told the nurses the whole time in the hospital that we would show up just you wait. Love that man! After we were walking to go see some one who lived right by the hospital and all of a sudden this Italian guy comes running up to us saying I'm a Mormon I'm a Mormon! Could barely understand him, but basically he is escaping some criminals from Brazil and was making his way to Italy when something happened to the plane and now he is in the hospital. He asked for a book of Mormon and we gave him the chapel info and our info.  When we walked away Both Elder Olson and I just felt the Spirit confirmed we were an answer to a prayer. It was a very sweet and tender moment. Plus he came to church yesterday! Was so cool to see how this church is home no matter what part of the country you are in that you can know for sure that you can find brothers and sisters who will help you! I love this gospel! 

Was sad to hear about Elder Perry passing away. Was an amazing disciple of the Lord and I will always remember him for his cheeky smile:)

Something funny that happened yesterday. We were at the Tarr's for dinner and every time we are there, their daughter who just got home from a mission and is at BYU-I skypes them. So were  best friends now haha.  We always hear her dating stories and I give her a hard time about getting married soon and she gives me a hard time about going home soon. I don't do this on purpose though. I try to just let the family talk, but she always wants to talk to the missionaries and I always feel so bad, but it makes everyone laugh so its a good time! Missions are just the best! Also made a bet with her daughter. The guy she is sorta of dating served in London and Sister Tarr wanted to know what places he served. Kaitlyn (the daughter) was like mom that is weird for me to ask. I told her to just tell him that your mom wants to have a conversation starter at our wedding and needs to know the places you served. She laughed and said she will do it if I do it first. So now I'm doing it haha. Going to be awesome! I don't know how I get myself into these things. 

Anyway I love you all so much and hope you have a wonderful week! I know that God and His Son Jesus Christ live and that this is their church on the earth again. I'm a little trunky, but laser focused...girls! Just kidding, love you all to shredzz!! 

Love,

Elder Wilson

So here is my boy and Elder Lloyd's and I campout on the roof! 

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