Sister Wilson! You're almost home!

Here Is what Sister Wilson has been up to for the past few weeks!

Remember to email her and Write her! She would love to hear from you!

July 7th

So...I don't even know where to start for this week! SO much has happened! I'm just going to start with the most hilariously awkward situation of my life though.

So Hermana Ferrell and I were going through a list of less actives that we haven't met yet and made some calls to visit them! There was one girl that answered and was like "Yeah! We're home, so come on by!" But the directory said that only a man lived there. So we were a little confused, but went anyway. We went to a independent living retirement home and as we were walking up to the building, there were two people sitting on a bench outside. The girl was pretty young and the guy was super old. They greeted us and invited us to come with them to the little apartment. We were a little confused because they were holding hands. I just kinda figured that he had trouble walking or something. Boy, was I wrong. They sat us down and she proceeded to tell us about them. Turns out, she's 22 and he's 78. And they're IN LOVE. What?! Yep. You heard me right. She told us how it was "love at first sight" and all this stuff. I looked at my companion like "...what the freak do we do!?" And we kept hitting each other's hand to be like "SAY SOMETHING!" but there were seriously no words. NO WORDS, PEOPLE. They were like holding hands and being all lovey and whatever. Let me tell you what....hahahahahah I don't even know what else to say. Turns out they're BOTH members of the church. I asked them if they will be coming at all anytime soon and she said know because people are judgmental and uncomfortable (she then said she thinks the other women are jealous....?? I was like "Oh yes, honey, I'm sure that's exactly it.") with them sitting together. And they're living together in the retirement home. So...yep. When we left, we walked calmly into the car, and then DIED laughing. It was horrible. I feel so bad laughing at it. But...come on! As my district leader said: He qualified for AARP before she was even born!  Bless it. BLESS IT. BLESS IT BLESS IT BLESS IT.

Now, onto other things. 

We have had pretty powerful lessons this week! :) We met with our investigator, Jacky and talked to her about the Plan of Salvation! It was awesome. She gave us invitations to her quincenara this weekend. SO STOKED FOR THAT. Her dress is beautiful! We got to teach Des a lot too. She went out of town Thursday to yesterday though. Before she left we talked about the Word of Wisdom, and she accepted it instantly. She has a history of alcohol and she agreed with everything we said. I am so thankful for her and her example to us.

We have been visiting active members, too. It's so amazing sharing the Joseph Smith story with those who already have a testimony of it. The spirit is absolutely undeniable when I or Hermana Ferrell recite that first vision. It truly is the truth! I love it so much. I love it when they connect with it and when they feel the love of the Lord! It makes me want to cry. Haha! 

On the 4th, no one really invited us over...a few families...but that was it. Haha! We ended up going to the Lee's. Valeria told us she was getting ready for a baby shower for a cute little Mexican lady in our ward. She is going to POP any second. But anyway, we went over there, and they were working on the cakes! They wanted to use fondant but hadn't ever used it before. I WAS SO EXCITED. I told them I had used it before for some cakes I've made and they were like "Puede ayudarnos?!" And I was like "Claro que si!" It was SO nice to do that again.  It was so fun and I seriously have missed doing things like that! The cakes turned out ADORABLE. I'll post a picture of the three of us (Me, Hermana Ferrell, and Val) from the shower so you can see!

Yesterday at fast & testimony meeting, there were a lot of people expressing gratefulness for this country (especially the hispanic members). I couldn't help but go up there myself and express how much I know Heavenly Father loves me and my family, because He helped my grandparents leave their country for a better life. And now we have those freedoms! It was such a spiritual meeting! :) 

Anyway, I can't really think of anything else to say! But I know this church is true, y'all! This country is the chosen country for the Restoration. It's amazing how much the Lord set it all up so we could have the freedoms we do. I love reading about it in the Book Of Mormon. This place was chosen as the promised land long before George Washington or Columbus. :) Just like we were chosen to be here at this time long before we even came. ;) Share the message with others!



July 14

This is going to be pretty short because of other e-mails I had to write, but!

DES IS GETTING BAPTIZED THIS WEEKEND!

Party.

We're so excited! She is so ready. She's super nervous, but we're helping her feel ready! It's awesome. The ward I'm serving in is so great too. So many members have reached out to her. So that's probably the most exciting thing that's happening for us as of now!

We've been working so so SO hard (30 lessons this week...it's a big deal). A lot of it is with less actives in our area, and most of them are really struggling with their testimonies. It's a little worrysome and we are trying to figure out what best will help, but we don't plan on stopping!

We went to Jacky's sweet 15 too! I'll post a picture of us with her :) She is so cute. It was so funny because when we were leaving (we had curfew) all of these Mexican men were outside talking and one was like "Hermanas! Where are you going?" and I was like "Home?" and he said "Do you have a boyfriend??" and my companion was like "We're missionaries, so we don't date." and he said, "I didn't ask that. I asked if you had a boyfriend?" This guy was drunk. hahaha She said, "....no?" And I was like "Sorry! We gotta go!" and we booked it. Hahaha it was so ridiculous. Of course, that all happened in Spanish, so it was even funnier. Bless.

I have really been studying lately about the Abrahamic Covenant. In this months issue of the Ensign, there's an awesome talk by Elder Nelson about it! I was so amazed! I've learned so much. Also, I now have 134 days left. And I only know that because I did the math, and started reading Doctrine and Covenants backwards from my 138 day mark! :) I haven't read the whole book yet, so I'm super stoked about it! I'm learning SO much and taking SO many notes! Preaching the gospel is so important! The Book of Mormon is a sign of the second coming! Ah! It all just goes together! Love it.


July 21

I'm staying in Longmont. Haha! And Hermana Ferrell is too! So that's going to be sick. We're super excited for this transfer! It's going to be great. GUYS, I ONLY HAVE 3 TRANSFERS LEFT. THAT'S 18 WEEKS. WHAT?! ;LAJG;HARW;GHRWA;LKGTAW;RG. 

Okay, anyway.

DES GOT BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY! Best moment ever. It was amazing! She was so ready! And on Sunday when she received the Holy Ghost? Gah. The spirit was so strong in the Sacrament meeting! It was awesome. :) I love her so much! After her baptism, we were out trying to contact a few people, and she called us and was crying and just said, "I just want to thank you so much for this." And it just made me feel SO honored that Heavenly Father has trusted ME (a stubborn, full of faults, weirdo) to do this. To bring His children back to Him and to help them become what He has designed for them all along. My purpose is clear! To be a disciple of Jesus Christ at all times and in all things. And I will always ALWAYS strive for that so I can be worthy of the trust of all the people I've been helping during these 18 months.

Right now, we're really trying to work on putting together a sweet fireside for the Spanish group. We really feel that they need it and we're going to make it so so special for them. 

As far as other investigators are concerned, we have found a few new ones these past few weeks and we're starting to work with them a lot more too. Also, a little miracle happened yesterday! There is a less active woman we've been kinda visiting weekly named Pamela. She is from Peru and her husband, Bernardo is from Mexico. Bernardo is super nice but he says he doesn't believe in God and doesn't feel anything like we say we do. So he doesn't have too much interest, I guess. But he always sits in our lessons with Pamela and their little ones. Anyway, so yesterday, Pamela came to church! We saw her right before Relief Society started and we were like, "Pamela! Estamos muy emocionada a verle!" And she was like "Si si, y tengo algo a decir ustedes!" and we said, "...Que?" and she said, "Bernardo esta aqui tambien!" And we were like....".....QUE?!" and she said, "Si, el esta en nursery con los ninos!" And we were like WHAT NO WAY! Hahaha. So after church we saw him and he was all happy and such. It was pretty sweet. We're hoping that keeps happening! There's no way he can't feel the spirit if he keeps coming on Sundays

July 28th

Hey y'all! So this week has been a little slower since Des was baptized! But! She is doing great! :) She came yesterday and sat with us. It's so amazing seeing how quickly she's adapted to this new journey. I am so proud of her. :)

So we've been trying to work hard on this idea for the Spanish group! We called our mission president about it and had a meeting with the stake president yesterday morning! He is going to pray about it all this week and talk to the bishop of our ward and then go from there. So, there may be a chance we won't have it, but he told us to keep putting things together in the case it does happen! And instead of a general authority, we think he will speak. Which would be just fine! We've recruited all the members of our committee and are putting ideas together to present to them! So hopefully all of that will work out. It's been really stressful thinking about how stubborn these people are, but at the same time, I really want to give it all I got to bring them back.

 In other news...

We had a great lesson with some less actives we just LOVE, the Chicos, this week. We brought their home teacher with us. They seem to not fully understand the purpose of being sealed for eternity. Hermano Chico feels that all of us are one big family, so what's the point? And Hermana Chico feels that she's already right with God, so why go to the temple for endowments? (It's a little frustrating because this is one of the fundamentals of the gospel--to be together FOREVER. Not "until death do you part". Literally forever. And even moreso, why we have temples!) We tried to explain that there are more covenants and promises God has for us through those ordinances. And that this is a gospel of progression. Not just being baptized and being like, "Well, I did all I needed to!" PSYCH. Not true. They listened and it all seemed to open their minds a little bit. But, I still felt they weren't getting it. It was right when I thought that when the spirit took over and told me to tell Mekenna and Zach's story. I had never fully done that in Spanish before so I prayed while I was talking that I could get the point across. When I finished telling them all that had happened and that Zach was now working on receiving the priesthood and preparing to be sealed to his sweet wife so they could truly be together for all of eternity WITH their kids, Hermana Chico started crying. I bore my testimony that this is TRUE and that this is something Heavenly Father wants for them so they can receive the fulness of the blessings He has for them. They couldn't really argue that. We all sat there and then the subject changed a little bit. But the spirit was undeniable. So I thank Heavenly Father for that.

Anyway, that was a pretty cool experience. Mekenna and Zach will ALWAYS have a part of my heart. Always.

In my studies today, I was reading a talk by Elder Dennis E. Simmons entitled "But if Not...". It is all about faith. I even brought my big binder full of talks to the library so I could share this with you. Feel special. Haha.

 He says, "Faith is believing that although we do not understand all things, He does. Faith is knowing that although our power is limited, His is not. Faith in Jesus Christ consists of complete reliance on Him."  And then I was thinking about what complete reliance means. I won't lie to y'all, I am SO STRESSED about what's going to happen when I get home in November. It eats at me. Because I have many different roads I can take. And I'm scared, quite honestly. How will I have money for school? I'll only be home for a month before going to school, if that's what I end up doing. How can I pay for it? Should I just work? What in the world do I do? And then I thought about what complete reliance is. I'm serving my God. He will bless me. I need to remember that everything will work out. And it truly is in His hands. All I can do is continue to serve Him with all I got, and prayerfully consider these options I have. Later on in the talk, Elder Simmons says, "The Lord has given us agency, the right and the responsibility to decide. He tests us by allowing us to be challenged. He assures us that He will not suffer us to be tempted beyond our ability to withstand. But we must understand that great challenges make great men [or women ;)]. We don't seek tribulation, but if we respond in faith, the Lord strengthens us. The but if nots can become remarkable blessings."

And how true is that? It reminds me of the talk "That We Might Not...Shrink" by Elder David A. Bednar. Do we have the faith sufficient not to be healed? Or in my case, do I have the faith sufficient not to have my plans work out and go with what comes? IT FREAKS ME OUT. But I'm learning what faith truly means. It's truly and honestly having a knowledge that God will provide in all aspects of life. In hardships especially. That's when our faith is truly shown. So many things about this run through my mind as I think about it. But in all reality, it's not really my will, but His. 

Anyway, I could talk about this forever. I'm learning so much as a missionary and as the Lord's servant. I'm learning about myself, mostly. I feel so different from before my mission. I'm seeing things in new perspectives. 

I hope this e-mail has found you all well! I miss each of you very much and hope things are going good. Please continue to e-mail me your updates! It really makes my week to have e-mails when I get online. :)

Love you all!

Hermana Wilson