Fantastic Challenges!

Whats up guys!? What is the news at home?

I've been having some crazy stuff happen lately, and its a fantastic challenge I have laid ahead of me by the Lord.

I am working in literally the most productive ward I've ever worked in, with the most effective bishop ever. And it has brought around much fruit. Yesterday we had seven investigators come to Church, and all seven have agreed to be baptized, and accepted dates. Its great!

The only thing is, every single one has a huge trial they are having to overcome to make this decision. Examples:

Josefina and Ivan: Their husband and father passed away not to long ago. They have spent years going from Church to Church looking for the answer to their pain and doubts. Josefina feels like she's found it. Ivan, however, has trouble really trusting anyone. He tried to commit suicide about a year ago, and since has really been a lost kid. We have such a hard time connecting with him, and haven't had much success in getting him to open up. Just yesterday though, we got him to finally accept that we are just normal kids, or at least were at one point haha.

Another Example:

The Santana Family. The mom just left the family to go live with another woman who practices some type of witchcraft, but says that it is all in the name of God. The brother is an inactive member, and is very scared. We have explained to him, and he knows, that Satan has no power to hurt him unless he gives in to his temptations. It is strange every time we go in that house. He knows that the way to fix and find comfort in the problems he's facing is getting by active in the Gospel and getting his children baptized. The gospel of Jesus Christ can heal all.

Mario Maria and Christopher: These three are golden investigators, and they have been since we started. They have a date to get baptized on the 27th of this month. One thing with them is that they need to get married. (They have lived together for 20 years almost, they just haven't been married yet). But the Lord has asked us to obey the laws of the land, so to obey the law of chastity and get married to be baptized. Well anyways, the husband said yes to being married, but the wife has a been a bit iffy. The other day we found out why. The wife has a daughter from another man, and one day that daughter came to visit. Well the husband tried to well..., sexually assault her. The wife caught them and stopped it. That was years and years ago, but, with reason, she does not feel she can trust him. I think that two years ago, I would've hated this man and told the woman to leave him... But I know that Jesus Christ lives. I know that Jesus Christ already paid for this. Not only for the very grievous sin this man tried to commit, but also for the immense emotional damage that was done to that young woman and her mother. The Lord has put these people in our path for a reason.He wants them to change, he wants for them to be healed of these pains that have been in their hearts for so long. The Lord has the power to fix this family,and help them all reach Eternal Life together.

With all these families we have our work cut out for us. But I know that we are not alone. as we are obedient and seek the guidance of the Spirit, he will tell us exactly how we need to help these people overcome their past selves, and "become new creatures in Christ."

I couldn't think of a more wonderful way to finish my mission.

I love you all!

Elder Wilson

Feeling Sick 7/7/14

Well we had a great week! How about you guys?? How was your 4th of July? That didn't get celebrated here, shocker. Actually someone got mad at us when we told them it was independence day, because Arizona and Nevada used to be part of Mexico? haha.

It was great week though, full of humbling and uplifting experiences.

We have a great family of three that have agreed to get baptized on the 27th of July. Their names are Mario, Maria, and Christopher! They are amazing, they came to Church yesterday and they loved it!

 We also got to know really well the mother in law of the bishop. She is also awesome by the way, and is also going to get baptized the 27th:)

We also had a great experience with a man named Noah. His wife is a less active, but wants to come back, and he also wants to get baptized. Also for the 27th:)

And for this next story, I know all the women that are mothers will get upset with me, but it already happened, so what are ya gonna do??:)

I woke up Wednesday morning with a really sore throat and stuffy nose, but we had some really important lessons, so we went out anyways, and it starting pouring and it was freezing. And well I was walking around without a jacket, soaking wet... It just got worse. Well Thursday morning I woke up with a raging headache, but well, call it stupidity, pride, or just being awesome, we went out and worked all day... in the rain. By the end of the day I could barely hold my head up my head ache was so bad, and I literally felt like my head was cooking. The bishop, who was accompanying us, noticed my dire state of health, and took us back to his house. There, his wife, who wasn't very happy with me, took my temperature.. 102.7 F. I was basically walking around almost dead:) I had strep throat haha. Its all taken care of now though, Doctor, antibiotics, the whole shabang. It was great though, because my companion gave me a priesthood blessing that was probably the most inspired I've ever had. Even he was surprised by what he told me!

The church is true guys:) I wouldn't trade the mission for anything!

I love you!

Elder Wilson

Big Changes 6/30/14

So, it was quite a crazy change meeting. The craziest I've ever seen.

I don't remember if I told you guys or not, but President Reeves finished his mission and went home last week, so this was the last change meeting he ever did. 

I had told you guys that I was going to training a new missionary, but for whatever reason that didn't happen... So when I showed up to the meeting for new trainers, which was right before changes, President took me aside and  talked to me. Really I wasn't going to train a brand new missionary (only two elders arrived), I was going to finish the training of another elder whose training had apparently not gone that well, but president said that wasn't necessary anymore, idk why. He said he had a special new assignment for me. Well I was excited about that.

When we got to changes, the first thing President said was that he had felt the impression that there were many elders in the mission that needed leadership experience, but weren't getting it because there is so many elders and so many elders had been leaders for a long, and that many zone leaders were going to become just normal elders, some even junior companions. I think the whole room froze when he said that ha. And whelp, almost every single zone leader with more that a couple changes as zone leader, was made junior companion to finish there mission. I wasn't made junior companion, but i did just become a normal senior companion. For the first time in a year I don't have any leadership position. I'm just a normal missionary, in a great ward in Mayorazgo called San Ramon. (Its a new ward that was just split from the ward Castillotla), and ready to just work my butt off for the next 11 weeks. My companions name is elder Werber, he's from Las Vegas and hes been serving 7 months in the mission. Actually, I was his zone leader in Izucar, and I know he's a great elder. He speaks amazing Spanish for only 7 months, and hes a very hard worker and super obedient.

This is where I'll be finishing my mission, and I'm pumped for it!

The Church is true, and this is the greatest work in the world. I'll be making the most I can out of the 2.5 months I have left, and I'll see you guys on the other side:)

I love you all,

talk to you soon

Elder Wilson

Big News!!

Hello Everybody!

I have news! Well, not really because I haven't written barely at all these last few months. So I guess I should give some background.

Well since the beginning of April I have been back in the city of Tehuacan, my favorite place in all of Puebla! The last six weeks I have been with a great companion named Elder Womack. Elder Womack and I have been having a great time here as zone leaders, and the zone has had a lot of success these last few months, its just been a great time! I was fully expecting to finish my mission here but... I got the call last night that I have changes... Big bummer. So tomorrow I will be reassigned to a new area, and I will be finishing my mission there! I also got the call that I will be training a new missionary, so that means I won't be a zone leader anymore. But that's alright! That's how the church works, one day you can be a bishop, the next day a primary teacher! I'm excited. Very nervous, but excited-

 

Another interesting thing that happened this week was... The secretaries called me and told me they were arranging my flight plans. It's coming fast guys... September 17th I will be there.

I've absolutely loved the last 21 months that I've served, and I'm excited to go in and make these last three months the best of my mission:)

You guys all have a great week! I love you and have a great week!

P.s. Some pics!!

 

 

Elder Womack

Hey Everybody!!

How's everything going there back at home?

Sounds like everyone is getting ready for that san fran trip next week. That'll be great! Make sure to send pictures.

Well everyone, what are your summer plans? Any big trips or activities planned? Fill me in!

I am having a great time here in Tehuacan, and I have a new companion. His name is Elder Womack, from Caysville Utah. He's awesome, we're having so much fun and working hard. It's the best my mission has been in awhile. We already had one baptism together, and we have more each of the next 3 or 4 weeks:) The Lord has really blessed this whole zone lately.

2 sister missionaries, sister smith and sister Gomez had 3 baptisms on Saturday, which was an absolute miracle. We weren't expecting it at all, so to congratulate them we wrote a funny little rap in Spanish and rapped it to them Saturday night. We decided that we are going to do make a personalized every time someone baptizes in the zone.

It's definitely been strange lately, I hit 20 months since i started my mission today. I'm one of the oldies now haha. But its great!

I love you guys. Remember that, even when you feel alone and that no one understands, there's always someone there. All you gotta do is kneel down and offer a prayer.

I love you guys!

Elder Wilson    

May 5th 2014

Hello Everyone again this week! happy 5 de mayo!

How are we all doing?

Are you guys ready for mothers day?

This will be my last phone call home! Haha:)

I can't wait to talk to you guys, it always leaves me with the best feeling:)

This week has been pretty crazy, we were in Puebla a whole lot. We had interviews with president reeves, a leadership traing meeting, and a leadership council at presidents house on  friday.

But, even though we didnt have much happen in the area because we were gone, we had a baptism yeserday, which was great:) A man named victor who we've been teaching for a little over a month. He was very happy, and his son came and wants to listen to us now, so great!

I had a great experience with my fast yesterday, and I'd like to share it with you guys. I've had a lot of things on my mind lately, things that have worried me and have really kind of distracted me from being 100% immersed in the work this week. When I started me fast on saturday afternoon I decided to fast that those worries would be taken away. Well it ended up turning out that my fast coundnt be broken until later in the evening last night, becaquse of the baptism. I ended up fasting for about 26 or 27 hours. (If you dont know fasting is going without food or water, and its purpose is to help us overcome the physical, and put our trust in the spiritual). Well I was hurting quite a bit yesterday, but i pushed through. I could literally feel the weight being lifted off my shoulders and chest. All my worries that were there saturday, were gone.

I know that God loves us. I know that he hears our prayers, espescially when they are accompanied by a fast. I would invite you to, if you are going yhrough a tough time or feel confused , alone, whatever, I would invite you to fast. It truly has power.

I love yoy guys.

Talk to you soon

Elder Wilson

April 28th 2014

Hey Everyone!

I'm sorry I have not written one of these letters in a long time. I have however been doing my best to respond to everyone of your personal emails to me. Know that I love you, and that I read every single email that gets sent to me.

I won't be to long today, I promise I will get back into that routine next week.

I would like to talk a little about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and about the grace the Lord can offer us because of that atonement.

Many times we can be confused on what it it is exactly that Christ's sacrifice does for us. We may think that because he paid for all our sins, that we have nothing to do in this life, that we have no personal responsibility. But, many times that we may be led to think that there is a certain cuota that Christ expects us to fill, so that Christs Atonement can take affect in our lives. Both of these ideas, are wrong.

 

Christs atonement is infinite. It completely payed the debt that needed to be payed. Becuase of it, we will all someday be resurrected, become immortal, and return to God's presence. So then, why all the commandments and ordinances and stuff? We are all just going to be saved anyway right?. Well not exactly. If we want to be able to stay in God's presence FOREVER and with our FAMILIES, we must comply with what Christ asks of us. We must decide to use Christs atonement in this life, to be able to be changed and become like Christ in the next.

We do not have faith, repent, be baptized, recieve the Holy Ghost, or endure to the end to qualify for Christs Atonement. Instead we do those things so that it can be used to its fullest to make us perfect, however long that may take. It isnt like we are paying off a debt, Christ already did that. It is more as if we were putting money into a savings account, saving up so that someday we may have the greatest gift of all. Eternal Life.

I know that Christ lives. I know that as we go through this life, and use his atonement, he is with us every step of the way. It doesn't matter what you've done, or how many times you've done it. He is there, waiting for you, begging for you to repent and make things right. It is not an easy thing to do, but it is the only way we can become like our Father in Heaven. We all must suffer for our sins, but we do not suffer becuase we are being punished. We suffer becuasethat suffering is 100 percent nessecary if we are to change! Heavenly Fatherloves us, and so does his son Jesus Christ. They always will. Lets do whatever it is to do to become right with Lord, however difficult it may be. I promise you that the joy of knowing that your sins have been forgiven, is much greater than any amount of guilt or humiliation we may feel.

I invite you all to read Alma chapter 36 in the Book of Mormon.

I love you all.

I hope you have a great week.

Love,

Elder Wilson


- Sorry I am a little behind!