Lol Sorry guys. & new comp

Oh my goodness I totally forgot about you guys last week! That's alright because none of you noticed but I didn't write my weekly email. But anyways I've got a NEW COMPANION. Elder Thompson Kaysville Utah hes like micronesian which is sick and hes just a stellar outgoing fun guy so me and him will have lots of fun together. I'm leading the meridian area now, so like it's fun being able to take some charge and we will be getting a LOT done. I have a great story on personal revelation. We had zone conference yesterday (that's why my Pday is on tuesday again) and the theme of the conference was listening to the spirit and personal revelation. It was awesome, just a few hours of listening to my peers thoughts on personal revelation and I learned a lot. But apparently not enough. After zone conference there was a MASSIVE storm and a huge tornado warning kinda telling us to get to safety. So me and my companion, being in banishment, were not going to make it back to our area 2 hours away, safely. So we were invited to go to an area near by and sleep. We decided to go to Vicksburg because it was a quad pad (meaning 4 elders) so we thought big apartment. So did every banishment elder though, because turns out there were 10 elders in this apartment. Super fun until night time... when I got a lil sleepy, I realized I had no bed, no pillow, no blanket. I just laid down... on the gross nasty floor that's never seem a vacuum before. And just decided to sleep. I felt like a dog but like a dog has fat n stuff that makes it comfy for him to lay on the floor. I was just floor to shoulder blades and hip bone. Anyways long story short I had a great night last night and I started dad back pains already so I'm going to hit up an elder in my zone who is a chiropractor, or so he says. But yeah turns out my comp had a bad feeling about sleeping over in Vicksburg but didnt tell me so I lectured him on what we were lectured on yesterday, FOLLOW PROMPTINGS. But it's all good I'm home in meridian now happy as can be with a bad back and sleep deprived. If you were looking at me you'd see a cute smile though. But yeah whoever is still listening which is about 10% of the people who receive this email... learn to follow promptings from the holy ghost. Hes not going to sit there and keep telling you to do something until you do it like your mom or your wife, hes going to put a good idea or a good thought in your head for a few seconds. You need to act on that thought QUICKLY, because satan's going to be right behind him with the "oh that's not the holy ghost that was your idea." Or "you dont need to do that just go on with your day." Because SATAN IS LOGICAL. hes smart. But you're smarter. So act like it and listen the first time. GOOD COMES FROM GOD. so dont question if it's you thinking it or if it's the Holy Ghost. If it's good you know who put that thought in your head. I love yall. Mississippi is treating me nicely. I hope Utah is still nice. I miss it lol. I miss you. But the missions too fun to think about yall too much. Love Elder Wilson 1) me and my new comp Elder Thompson 2) ima teach yall bout the word of wisdom 3)saying bye to elder Primo :( 4) Sewell and I last night he wanted to try face masks because acne SUCKS, pretty funny 5) me outside, just a missionary doing missionary things with missionary thoughts and a good ole missionary attitude.

Email

This is another email. Lifes great still, the air is still warm and people still talk funny. Thanksgiving was a blessing and a half though, we had plans to visit and eat with members and investigators but then had a quick change of plans when on Wednesday we got the news that an elder in my districts brother passed away. So we were having district counsel and did our best to comfort him and stuff but we then got a call from our mission president that our district, the meridian district that is clear out in banishment, was invited to have thanksgiving in Baton Rouge with them. So we drove 4.5 hours to the mission home and just the 6 of us had a blast with our mission president and his wife. It was amazing. We also got to stay the night there too which was so sick. Played ping pong and basketball and it was just a blast. The next morning we went to taco bell and invited the baton rouge elders (Elder Irhke my hometown friend) and so that was also a blast. So yeah mish is good and stuff you all know it's the same thing every week but I'll give yall a fat juicy spiritual thought. So the elder that lost his brother has been an absolute stud about it. Like he knows it's hard and that his brother is gone and all that but has totally turned outward and isn't dwelling on the fact that he won't be seeing his brother for a while. This sad trial is showing his true character. He realized that when something bad happens you have 2 choices. 1 is to be sad and feel bad for yourself and 2 is to step back and realize what is actually important. This life ends. We all are going to die, we all are going to go through hard things until we die. So let's just make sure we know what's truly important, Moroni says it perfectly in the last chapter of the Book of Mormon, verse 32 "Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God." This elder in my district understands the power of christ, and through Christ families will be together forever. And we will have eternal life and we have the opportunity to be perfected through Christ. Now I want for all of you to understand this yourselves. Don't take my word for it. Don't take President Nelson's word for it. You can find out for yourself so do it. Dive into those scriptures with meaning and pray with real intent and you'll see for yourself I promise. Sorry for the rant but yall need it. Yall need Jesus. That's a phrase said by many in the south and it's true. Well love yall Love Elder Wilson 1) Us going to bed at the mission Home 2) Taco bell with Elder Irhke and gang 3) mission home pic taken by sister Varner. JOY

Smokin meats castles and gratefulnessish

So this week was pretty cool I guess, we spent tuesday helping Mama Lillie put up her Christmas lights. Anyone who knows Mama Lillie knows that's an all day task. Shes a lady in our ward that's about 73 years old and shes just the sweetest. She gives us sooo much food all the time. We put up like 6 wreaths and strung her roof woth Christmas lights and yeah it was a lot of christmas stuff. BUT she smoked us Ribs and chicken for lunch then sent us home with a massive smoked roast beef which has been a blessing. Well after we did the lights we got to go see the pierce castle, which is just Mama Lillies sister, Margaret's house. And I thought oh yeah I have seen castle houses before they aren't like actual castles... but this was a legit castle. Pics will be down below. This week has been pretty slow, my companions been going through some things so I'm just being very very very very patient. Sorry this emails boring but let's get to the juicy good spiritual stuff. Thanksgiving is coming up as yall already know. This is a great time to be GRATEFUL. Now theres a huge difference between being thankful and being GRATEFUL. I like to think that being thankful means you verbally appreciate what someone does for you. But being GRATEFUL means ACTING on your thankfulness. You DO something to show you appreciation. So this holiday season don't just say thanks to your friends and family, SHOW IT. As it says in 1 Corinthians 13:11 "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things" Let's all put away childish things, we are all grown ups here, dont just say thanks, show thanks. Love yall happy thanks giving Love Elder Wilson! 1) mtn biking in Mississippi 2) buzzing Comps head bc I won bet (i dont gamble that's against my beliefs) 3) I'll give whoever guesses what car this is first, a shootout in next weeks weekly. 4) me and elder sewell by a waterfall after service. 5) mission conference with elder cook. Find me top row middle. 6) me and sewell confront of the castles lakes. 7) the castle. We went inside and hung out there but I forgot to take pics. Sorry.

Temple Dedicación & Apostalic Words

Not gonna lie, that's probably not even Spanish for temple dedication but it sounds like it so we are fixin to roll with it. A lot has happened this week I have a cool story but it's long so I'll hit yall with the deets (details) and then if yall dont got time you can move on with your day. Elder Cook came, I shook his hand no big deal. He shared an AMAZING message on how to be a true disciple of christ, and that is to BECOME LIKE Christ. I learned a lot. I'm a better missionary because of it. We slept over with other missionaries twice and had to wake up at 4:00am to drive to Baton Rouge for that conference too. Those were the only deets. (Details) Story time: So yesterday was the temple dedication for the Baton Rouge Louisiana Temple, and our ward (the Meridian ward) was one of the locations they were broadcasting the dedication. So we weren't holding a Sacrament meeting or any church at all because of the dedication. One problem was, people could only watch it if they had a temple recommend. Well an inactive member, sister Cullum, and her sons girlfriend, Chloe, came to church. We had never met either of them, but sister cullum didn't know that the dedication was happening but we didnt want to turn them away, so instead we took them into a room and were going to teach them a lesson or two... about the gospel. Elder Sewell and I were kind of sad that we couldnt watch the temple dedication at first, but then as we started talking to them we found out that sister cullum, didnt have a very strong testimony and barely came to church, but Chloe, didn't know a whole lot about the church, in fact she didn't know a thing about our church. Other than sister cullum was a member. So we taught them the gospel of jesus christ, then the first vision and let me tell you there were tears from all of us in that room. When elder sewell and I taught we quoted Joseph Smith's first vision and recited it to them, and when we did the spirit was so strong and we were all crying and it was SOOO cool. Anyways I invited chloe to read the book of mormon and told her moronis promise in moroni 10:3-5 and the spirit was so strong. Chloe then wanted us to teach her all of the lessons and so we gave her our number and set up a return appointment. Well I thought that was going to be it, but after we said the closing prayer, Sister Cullum asked if we had been to the Church in quitman, which is a small town about 40 minutes south of us, we told her no and she said she would take us right then.... Elder Sewell looked at eachother and realized we only had a dinner appointment later that night so we had the time. So we drove forever, to this church sister cullum was telling us about. Apparently her great grandpa built this church and he wasnt even a member but he joined a little after he built it. She was still a little teary eyed and the spirit was so strong as she told us the history of it. It was built in 1901 and was only about 15 ft by 15 ft and it was sooo cool I will add a picture below. But But after we wrapped up there she asked us if she could make us lunch at her home... Elder Sewell and I agreed and went and had lunch at her house. So she cooked a big hefty lunch and it took her about 2 hours so the whole time we were answering Chloes questions and questions for Sister Cullum as well. It was awesome because now we have a new really promising investigator and so we will be teaching her now. I don't know how long God had been preparing Chloe for that message but let me tell you there have been a lot of behind-the-scenes moments to get her to church that day, and us elders were fine to not participate in the temple dedication so that we could take part in Chloes search for Chirst. Long story sorry I hope yall enjoyed. I hope it made sense too. Love yall -Elder Wilssssonnnnnnn 1)the little church we drove to. 2)Elder Sewell and I at the church 3)I ran out of lettuce for my roast beef sandwich so I replaced the lettuce with another slice of bread. Bob Ross watched. 4)Elder Norman burned his tie after his 6 months. I dont have enough pictures so that's why I'm putting this in.

Ups and downs and UPS

UP: We are teaching a lady named JoAnn who we truly love and she is the best lady in the world. She's a Baptist and a half though, and she's pretty committed to her church and her pastor, but she LOVES our church and we have had members over for some lessons and she loves the members and she's basically ready to be a member at the church of jesus christ of latter-Day saints. Infact we have a baptismal date set and everything. All she needs to do is come to church 2 more times. DOWN: SHE NEVER COMES TO CHURCH. She always gets super excited and she moves her schedule around so she can make it to our church, but then Sunday rolls around and she doesn't show up. UP: She made us a great southern meal on Wednesday with cornbread, okrah, colligreens, sweet potatoes, chicken and koolaid... so we forgave her. CONCLUSION: Missions always have more ups than downs. And that's the same way with life. It just depends on how you look at it and your ATTITUDE. If you are sitting around feeling sorry for yourself, and just being miserable... then you aren't converted to this gospel. This Gospel brings us Hope, something not a lot of people have these days. So suck it up. Look forward and look for the blessings. Look at what God sends your way, maybe a hurricane, or maybe it's a day full of sunshine... either way its God building you into a better version of yourself. BE THANKFUL FOR WHAT YOU HAVE GOSH DANG IT. alright love yall, until next week ladies and gentlemen, I'm going through one heck of a hurricane but boy am I loving it. Love elder wilson. 1) big ol Mississippi pothole 2) I forgot to add this picture from when we went to the OPENHOUSE, the couple in the middle is the pattersons I love them and they feed us every week. And the lady on the right is Daniella, she's a non member we are teaching. She has a cute little girl named grace!

Templeeee openhouseee

So although my area is about 4 hours away from the temple I got to go TWICE this week. It was soo awesome, both times with friends we were teaching and wow I loved it and they loved it and just a lot of love was going around while we were there it was just awesome. We spent ALL DAY Tuesday and Saturday just driving to the temple with our friends and spending time in the temple it was wayyyyyy cool. I'm loving mississipi right now I dont have a whole lot to say just so much has happened but I feel like yall dont care too much about the little things so I'll leave you a cute lil spiritual thought. And something that has kinda been on my mind and bugging me lately. It comes from 2 Nephi 2:14: "And now, my sons, I speak unto you these things for your profit and learning; for there is a God, and he hath created all things, both the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are, both things to act and things to be acted upon." Something I noticed in these past 7 weeks I've been in Mississippi, is that everyone here knows that Jesus Christ lived and that God sent him to Atone for our sins and they have no doubt about this. The struggle here is just to have them realize that The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is Christs true church here on Earth. And that there is a lot more to it. But back at home there are a lot of people that, because they have all of this knowledge of Christ and God just ready at their hands, they feel like they can just go to church and have people teach them about christ and that's all they need. That knowledge. But without diving into your scriptures yourself and spending your own time by yourself understanding what God is wanting to teach you through scripture study, that knowledge that you have is going to sound crazy. We need faith. That is the most important thing we can have now days. So all of you reading this, I do not care how busy your schedules are right now nothing is more important than strengthening your own testimony, so I'd like to challenge each of you to set aside AT LEAST 30 minutes a day for daily scripture study so that God can speak to you personally. Reading a chapter a day just isn't going to cut it, and it didnt cut it for me. Because as you all know you see the end of the chapter and you just read words until to your done. But if you set aside time to actually dive in and pray and have God guide you in your studies I promise he will answer any question you are having with life through the book of mormon. Sorry that was super preachy but like it was much needed. I know it. I love you guys obviously or I wouldn't care so much to tell you what was on my mind Haha. Love yall remember FAITH IS VERY GOOF AND IMPORTANT AND STUFF LOL LOVE Elder Wilson! Ps: I'm a good missionary pday was Tuesday bc its transfers week. My pics for you guys! 1)Derrick, his family, and the missionaries at the open house. 2)waaaambulance last night lol pop pop 3)Our friend Daniella @ the open house 4)Elder Ihrke and I in front of the temple! 5)A pretty pic of the temple by itself

SPOOKY WEEK

So this week was scary, one of our most spiritual lessons and coolest lessons almost turned deadly Haha. So there is a guy named Kenney who we met like 2 weeks ago but didn't want us back yet so we just stopped by on Friday and it was POURING rain like rain here soaks everything so we walk up to his door and its wide open and he was sleeping on the couch so we like wake him up and then he invites us to hang with him so we start talking and he asks great questions about death and where we are going so we teach him about the plan of salvation, but I knew satan didn't want us sharing what we were sharing with Kenney because the whole time his TV was blaring Tornado warnings and he was getting nervous but me and my companion were not scared at all we knew we had to share our message with him. And then when we were almost done with the plan of salvation there were a couple gunshots just right outside his apartment so he got up and we walked outside and sat under his porch and talked outside which took us away from the plan of salvation but then I asked why he was looking for christ in his life... and then what he told us was a story like none other, he apparently had gotten arrested multiple times for smuggling drugs and stuff across the country which was wack and he said after all of his family dying he wanted to know more about why we believe in christ and stuff and it was just an AWESOME lesson and we are going back tonight and we are going to share more but yeah, Friday was awesome. Tomorrow we are going to the Baton Rouge Temple Open House with a part member family and I'm sooo excited it's going to be awesome, it's like a 5 hour drive both ways though so that's going to be tough Haha. So I'll let yall know how that goes. Spiritual thought: I have learned a lot being out on the mission in these past 6 weeks, and its summed up pretty well in the end of alma 7:8 "but this much I do know, that the Lord God hath power to do all things which are according to his word" Basically don't forget that please. Love Elder Wilsonnnnnnnn lol 1) we did a district fire 2) I spray painted this on pday lol 3) I went on a run while listening to a cool talk called "self worth"-Hyrum Smith and took this pic just cuz. 4) cute little doggie that sleeps at the Elders house in the forest, mississippi area 5) me in the forest house petting the dog with the book of mormon in a hammock... pretty self explanatory

Dis week was rough but funny

Wow so this week was funny... on Thursday a part member family wanted help building their house, and my companion said he knows how to do flooring because that's what his dad does for a living back home. So we spent all day Thursday putting in their tile floors... but after doing one room for 3 hours we measured for the next room and realized we were off by like HALF an inch.... so we spent the next 5.5 hours ripping up the tile and scraping off the mortar from their floor and it was awful. So that was a backtrack in that family's progression to being baptized. On a better note we asked Derrick on Friday if he would be BAPTIZED!!!! He said no but it was still crazy we asked right? Hes the preacher we have been teaching for a while now and he loves us and he knows the book of mormon is true and knows Joseph Smith was a true prophet but just feels bad leaving all the people he preaches to, behind. So we are going to see if he wants to invite all of them to be baptized too. Jkjk that'd be awesome though. Life is awesome down here in the south and I love it and I love the people, the food is also a huge bonus. Infact last night we were at a members house and he made massive burgers and French fries, he said "You northerners probably think you're so courageous walking with Grizzlies in the mountains and what not, but have you seen what we eat down here in the south? That's a whole new level of courage." And I took that in and realized how unhealthy all the food is here ahhaha it's pretty dangerous stuff. Infact I could feel the French fries slowing my heart. Well I want to leave yall with a message before I go, philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me." I love this scripture because of its truthfulness, you learn pretty quickly while you're all alone that you are basically nothing in this world, and that's alright we are meant to be a little pathetic. We are weak. But we were made this way so that we could turn to Christ, and realize the only way we can become strong and courageous and genuinely Happy. He is our saving grace and because of him we are able to see our Heavenly Father again. So quit all pride and turn to Him. Love Elder Willlsooooooooon 1) elder sewell and I laying tiles (later ripped out) 2) elder sewell really mad sitting outside the house that we just laid tiles in 3) me n a book of mormon n a pond n some trees n some sunlight

Hunting fishing loving every day

Alright ladies and gentlemen this week was pretty rad. Some spiritual experiences and some fun experiences. So today for p-day we went fishing and it was pretty nice. It was a beautiful, cool morning, and we got the stuff and just fished for like 4 hours with all the Elders in my district. Me and my companion were the only ones who caught anything. Elder Sewell caught a massive catfish and he felt bad because he didn't know how we should kill it to put it out of its misery, so I picked it up and just kept punching the thing in the face to try to knock it out. But they have thick skulls so the dude just kept living. All the elders thought that was pretty funny to watch but I was genuinely concerned for the fish. We fished for like 3 more hours after he caught the big catfish and we just left it on the car hoping it would die and it never did. In fact we had Mr. Thorton (this Baptist guy that owned the property we were fishing at) show us how to gut a catfish because they are way different than normal fish, and the thing was still breathing after we ripped out all of it's important stuff. Crazy stuff. I caught a not as massive little fishy boy. He was kinda cute so I let him live. So spiritual: Friday I was like on cloud 9 I had just listened to Elder Hollands talk called "Feed My Sheep" and just was feeling like I had the potential to be the best missionary in the world. So I was getting frustrated with my companion because he wasn't necessarily raised the same way I was to where he will work hard for a little bit but then wants to rest or chill so I wasn't allowing us to do so, I told him to park and that we were going to go tracting because he hasn't taken me tracting until that point. He said okay so we parked and I said a prayer asking for NO FEAR. And a lot of other helpful stuff. We got out, walked across the street and saw an old lady and her daughter. We went right up and they were not having it but we asked if we could share a message and then went off about Christ and they were loving what we were saying they agreed with it and just loved it so they want us to come back next Friday. That was the first house and we had about 6 more encounters that want us to come back next week which is awesome we placed like 5 book of mormons and it was nice because hopefully my companion will wanna do that more often. That day just gave me lots of hope for the rest of the mission. I had to rush to type this all up so I'll hurry and leave you with a lesson I've learned in the last week. In General Conference the phrase "God will provide A way, not your way" was said a few times and that stuck with me. I know for a fact that when you pray and you ask heavenly father for help he answers. It may not be the way you want, but he will provide a way. A couple we are teaching was thinking about divorce and so the man's dad (our mission leader) was praying for them to hopefully stay together to save them both heartache. Later that day their baby girl fell off the bed and landed on her head. Ever since that terrifying moment and taking their daughter to the ER, the couple hasn't fought once and in fact threw away the idea of the divorce. There's not one prayer God doesn't hear. He works in mysterious ways and puts trials in your life only for you to learn and grow from. Just remember that. Love you all ELDER WILSONNNNNN TEHE 1) My fish vs Elder Sewells fish 2)Me trying to get a cute sunset pic out the car window and have my face and tag in it 3)Pouring rain while tracting comp got this cute pic

just another weekly

The mission life is awesome, I am loving it out here. This past week we had our District Leader and his companion sleeping over at our apartment for exchanges and since Elder Sewell (my companion) loves to scare people we scared them with this creepy foam zombie thing at 3 am last night and their reaction was priceless. They screamed and threw everything in hands reach at the thing lol. So funny. CONFERENCE was crazy y'all I hope you watched it, something that stood out to me was how much that temples and joy were both brought up. Through the temple we find joy, through temple sealings and ordinances that happen only in the temple. Remember that. Today we went Mountain biking at Bonita Lakes which was soooo pretty and my district leader Elder Carson had a dream last night that he was going to dislocate his shoulder mountain biking today, then actually crashed which was cool but mainly funny haha. Good stuff. QUICK THOUGHT: L. Todd Budge said, "The gospel doesn't give us anything but peace and joy through life's hard times." not that exact quote but something along those lines, anyways that's so true, you can't expect to just have your life go perfectly because you believe in Christ and follow him. Life is going to be hard. No matter what. I wake up 1,697 miles away from home and it's hard for me because i love my family, who is currently chillin at my home. But that's okay, because through Christ and this gospel I can have peace and joy over here in Mississippi and still love my life even though its hard right now. Anyways I know you each can find peace and joy in your lives because any problems you are having are minuscule if you look at the big picture. Bob Ross quote- "Gotta have opposites, light and dark and dark and light, in painting. It's like in life. Gotta have a little sadness once in awhile so you know when the good times come. I'm waiting on the good times now." peace and love, Elder Wilson hehe 1) Bonita upper lake n my face 2) Me and Elder Sewell looking cute in front of bonita lake after mtn biking 3) Elder Carson after his crash that he knew was gonna happen

Getting used to it

Hey y'all Mississippi is treating me right, I'm loving the people out here and they are starting to love me as well which is amazing. I went to the wing dang doodle in a small town called Forest. It was awesome, I ate some of the best wings I've had in my life and we had a booth at the festival that had a bunch of pictures of the temple and we tried talking to people but everyone was scared of us because there was a massive I.C.E. raid in forest and they deported 680 people there so nobody wanted to talk to 4 men in suit and ties. But after the festival we wanted to play soccer and found a few Hispanic kids and started a massive soccer game it was so fun. The forest Elders are teaching like 8 new people because of that. The one downside to the mission right now is my companion. Other than that Im thriving and I will work on that a little. We are teaching a lot of people, if y'all will pray for JoAnn she's trying to quit smoking so she can get baptized October 19, so she's on date she just needs to quit smoking so she can use your prayers. Other than that everything is going smooth. One of our other most progressing investigators is a baptist minister his name is Derrick and he loves the gospel that we are teaching him and he invited me to my first Baptist Church Bible study and it was crazy, me and my companion were the only white people there and it was awesome. We learned a lot about Paul and his ministry. but Derrick let us throw in some ideas and we wowed the audience. Everyone here Loves Jesus Christ so much it is awesome we get free stuff all the time just because we have Christs name on our chests, so one thing I want to ask you all to do find why you love Christ, like what attribute of Christs do you love most, and work on that attribute, and find that attribute in the people around you and you will be blessed. Anyways I will try to take more pictures from now on but Im really lacking Im sorry y'all. I will do better I pinky promise. And thank y'all for the packages, those get me through the rough days that's for sure, and mom and dad have fun in Lake Powell without me. Im not even jealous it is hotter here! Love Elder Wilson hehe 1. Me and Elder Ramirez after seeing a sweet frog on the door 2. The fog in Mississippi early in da mornin 3. The Wing Dang Doodle 4. Me after 3 hours of sleep ready to go to the wing dang doodle and have one of the best but most exaughsting days of the mission so far.

First real week

This mission thing is crazy. I'm in a place called Meridian, Mississippi. It's kind of sketchy here but the people that do let us in are sooo nice and everybody is humble for the most part. We only really teach the black community because the white people are kinda stuck up and jerks. Except our ward is where all the nice white people are. Most people are chunky out here, the only skinny people are usually like druggies and it's easy to tell. Everyone waddles up here cuz they all big. My companion and I get along, his names Elder Sewell and I'm his first trainee and he feels like hes doing it wrong but I like his humility. We are both hard workers and im like SUPER talkative to everyone and then he like hits them with the gospel really good so that's how most of our lessons go because I don't know as much as him yet. Anyways our area is MASSIVE and it's just me and my companion all the way out on the edge of my mission. No other missionaries out here. Everyone has to drive like an hour or 45 minutes to get to church, luckily we only live like 15 minutes from it. The cities around us are sketchy too, like I serve in the hood and have already met some characters. I've only seen this stuff in movies and now I see it every day. There are police officers EVERYWHERE and downtown all you hear are sirens. But I feel pretty safe here. The biggest downside to my mission is that we have to tiptoe in our apartment because the guy beneath us is a SCARY buff undercover cop guy and he yells at us even when we just walk too loud, that happened my first night here. I have tip toed ever since. Other than that this place is so sick, everyone is so humble, they all live in these tiny broken down houses or apartments but the members love us and feed us so much and ask us if there us any way they can help us, and I try to tell them that we are here to serve them but they just laugh. Anyways I love old black ladies now they are my favorite type of people actually just all old ladies out here love us. Cool experiences happen so often it's hard to remember them, we see the lord's hand in our life so much its not even funny. Like it is rare to not see Gods part in the work we do. Just know He is there and I know Jesus is still sitting in the living room playing with hailey which is sooo comforting to think about when im missing everyone back at home. Look for the way He blesses your lives and you won't be disappointed. ANYTHING GOOD, comes from God... remember that! Love Elder Wilson hehe So send me letters and stuff also you can email me or Google hangout me with this email all you want, im also on Facebook and messenger but I'll only be responding on P-days which are mondays. 1.Our bishop here always sends us memes that he makes... it does feel like we have been here for forever. 2. Temple Theatre in downtown meridian, built in like the 1900s and we did a service project in it just me and my companion. pretty sickkkkk 3. me and elder sewell getting ready for bed.

I've been a bad boy...

I have followed in my brothers footsteps... They are kicking me out of the MTC, because I am headed to Louisiana to serve my mission! Lol got you guys again. I have learned a lot this last week. But more important stuff happened today that I wanna tell you guys, i woke up at 4:00am after going to bed at 1am saying bye to everyone at the MTC which was sad. On the train ride we were trying to talk to people and start the missionary work because, Good missionaries talk to a lot of people. Excellent missionaries talk to EVERYONE. My companion is a great example of that and so far he had a solid talk with a Hispanic man and then we were all grilled by a guy saying he was jesus and that he controlled weather and he was just scary and out of control. But then while sitting in the terminal waiting for our flight me and my companion talked to this man and his son who were about 50 and 30 years old and they were Methodist and lived in kansas and we talked for about 20-30 minutes and we asked about their religion and their belief in God and he said he just went with the Methodist church because it was the only church him and his wife could agree on that taught about Christ, so I bore my testimony and invited him to contact missionaries in Kansas and learn more about the gospel which was so cool. Already starting the work in utah. But my companion was/is the best, I took him for granted in the MTC hes so good and I look up to him hes so outgoing and everyone wants to talk to him because hes literally the most interesting guy in the world. Anyways I'm on the plane now and I just want to tell mainly my family something cool that happened. The other night i was just missing my Mommy and my Dad and HAILEY and cade and Ashley and Jared and Darrin and Ryan so I pretended that I was saying family prayer in the living room and while praying with you guys, Jesus knocked on the door so I let him in and hugged him and introduced him to my family and told him how much you each mean to me and some things he needed to individually bless each of you with (this all happened in my prayer) then said my goodbyes to jesus and my family and walked out the front door, leaving christ with my family. It was the coolest prayer I have ever done and I felt sooo close to the spirit. And now everytime I think about home I see all of you guys in the family room hanging out with Jesus. That gives me comfort knowing this is the best thing I can be doing for each of you. To serve him so He can be with you. I just got to the mission home and I love president Varner and his wife, she made an amazing meal and I have already learned so much from them. I will tell you more next week but its kinda been a crazy day. See you in a short 2, gonna miss the beautiful mountains and all of your beautiful faces. love Elder Wilson hehe

Well I'm going home...

... to Louisiana next Tuesday. We got our flight itinerary and I leave at 4:45 on September 17. Which made it so real and I'm excited to get out in the field, but it stinks because I'm gonna miss some of the elders in my district who are going to cali and not Louisiana with me. Food update: Every meal here is starting to taste the same, so we have resorted to candy and soda that our beautiful mothers send us, infact we made our study table into "THE HOLY GRAIL" and that's all I eat now, but the holy grail is creating my dad-bod... we have a Cooler in the holy grail, it is really hard to maintain, we have to put ice in our suit coats and sneak the ice out of the cafeteria and into our residence every meal to keep the Cooler cold lol. It's worth the work because we always have cold Dewskis. I made a new random friend named Elder Dover. We met the first day because I pranked my companion and had him ask Elder Dover if his name was Ben and then me and Elder Dover started to see each other everywhere. I love the kid he is a Golfer from AZ. One downside to the MTC is life is pretty boring here... so we find fun and excitement in anything and everything. Last week I let you guys know about the "gas" problem in my district, so I brought up a game i used to play in middle school called doorknob, whenever someone passes gas, anyone else that hears or smells can say doorknob and punch them as many times as they want before the person that passed the gas touches a doorknob. It is actually a very cruel game that has led my companion Elder Ballard to climb onto a shelf in our room to wait us out, and he ended up diving from the top of the shelf onto the doorknob in order to not get punched. Its Crazy, I thought it would bring an end to the epidemic, but it has only made it worse. A huge bonus to constantly studying the Book of Mormon and the gospel is that now I can crack some GOOOD jokes with the scriptures and stuff so I'm impressed with myself So much happens that like I just don't know what to tell you guys so I'll leave you with some way good scriptures for all of you to use in your lives: D&C 84:88- He is with us and will bear us up Ether 12:6 - Faith definition Ether 12:27 - He will make weak things strong. (cool thing about ether 12:27, I was teaching a lady in TRC (teaching practice here in the MTC) who smokes and like loves the gospel and believes it and stuff but didn't thnk she could give up smoking so i opened my Book Of Mormon and this is the scripture that popped up which was INSANE because the spirit definitely made that happen.) SO ill leave yall with that heres some picssss. 1. Elder Dover and I 2. Elder Ihrke and I being goofy he did muh hair 3. Cute Mirror selfie wit da BOIS 4. The district in class bein naughty cuz we werent listiening 5. Cute selfie of the temple but my companion got in the way.

First week of mission lyyyyyfffeee

I hate to say it but life is better here. We have already figured out the do's and don'ts of the MTC... I learned the hard way that flirting REALLY is frowned upon. And the sense of humor is so dry here that we are all desperate for anything funny... Except farting, farting is no longer humorous, especially in a room with an O-lineman, a QB, a Mexican, a rancher, and two little boys from Utah county. Every night we struggle to sleep because of the smell. Hehe. Ain't gonna lie, the first two days were LONG. But now we are always busy and time is just starting to fly by. My companion is Elder Ballard and he is a character let me tell ya. He is a rancher from Fredonia, Arizona which is like 3 miles from Kanab. He talks with a hick accent and his whole high school had 60 kids in it lol, hes worked in coal mines and herds cattle at his families ranch. I'm already getting an accent from him lol. I love my life rn like my district is so sick. There's a QB from Idaho named Elder McKinlay who challenges me in sit ups and chin ups and pull ups and wall sits and planks like every day, but I've won every time except the wall sits. So I'm impressed with myself. There's an O-lineman from Davis high school named Elder Dunn and hes kinda a big boy who is really funny, and there's Elder Garcia from Las Vegas who is Mexican and hes super shy but funny when he talks. Then there is elder Irhke from alpine and I love him lol we went to highschool together so hes like my little taste of home. Oh and Elder Dunn and Elder McKinlay are the only two not going to Louisianna, they are going to the Arcadia California mission. The food is alright, the unlimited chocolate milk is basically the only thing getting me through each day. But I think having 3-4 chocolate milks every meal is doing a number on my digestive system... cuz it aint workin. I'm the District Leader rn which puts a lot of responsibilities on me but it's still a breeze. We are all already so close as a district and love each other so much its gonna be hard to leave some of them in 2 weeks. Spiritually I've grown a butt load... and you guys have no idea how true this gospel is. I'm gonna leave you guys with the one thing that's getting me through the MTC... Whenever you are going through a hard time or a trial in your life, forget yourself and turn out towards those around you and help others every chance you get. I kid you not this works. Love You Guys!!! hehe 1. Me and Elder Tucker 2. Me and Elder Patane 3. Me and Elder Dimond (comp sucks at photos) 4. Me and Elder Ihrke 5. District Elders (from left to right: Elders Ballard(comp), Me, Dunn, McKinlay, Ihrke, and Garcia 6. District Elders and Sisters