Pics and New Orleans

Hello guys, the first week down in Chalmette has been crazy. This has definitely been the hardest week of the mission but that's okay I'm still loving it. My new companion is pretty cool, Elder Kephart from Las Vegas Nevada, he wants to work hard which is definitely helping out a ton. I took him tracting for his first day in the mission field and the very first guy to open the door let us in!!! His name was Gary and we were able to share a message on the book of mormon, and he gave us waterbottles which helped us get through the next few hours of no doors opening for us. So that was an awesome miracle for Elder Kepharts first door. We are going back tomorrow to visit Gary. The Chalmette branch is very small, but we have 2 awesome men, brother Hatcher and Brother Landers who are great missionaries and they have helped us understand the area alot. But they were kind of telling Elder Kephart how the mission is the real world and how it's nothing like the MTC and how we probably wont see any baptisms or even progress in this area, kind of saying some negative stuff so we are currently proving them wrong. So this is going to be fun. Today for pday we went down to downtown new orleans and the French quarter which was sooooo cool. I'll send pics, it's pretty cool. We are beignets and some other new orleans classic sandwich things idk. While we were walking the streets of new Orleans there was a lady reading palms doing some voodoo stuff, and she saw us and said "oh the mormons, I used to be mormon" almost proudly. So we went up and said "oh really that's awesome!" And then she started getting mad and saying really creepy stuff. She seemed so proud to not be a mormon anymore and not belonging to the church of jesus christ of latter-Day saints anymore, yet her life consisted of living on the streets, reading palms, and doing drugs...(you could tell) and I was just thinking how well satan had done. He won and told that lady that living on the streets and doing drugs was the happy life. And she believed it which is the saddest part, so my thought is to not believe satan and his lies. He works hard on us and it's easy to see. Wickedness never was happiness. Anyways this email was rushed I'll see yall next week. Love ya Love Elder Wilson 1) New Orleans 2) Me eating a beignet in front of the Mississippi river in NOLA 3) My branch president suckin heads 4) The boat we get the crawfish out of 5) Cookin the crawfish live 6) Elder Carson and I on our way to Louisiana 7) My very own Greenie: Elder Kephart

A FATHER in NEW ORLEANS

Hey folks! I'm headin down to NEW ORLEANS!!! My new area is Chalmette, Louisiana which is east New Orleans. I'm also TRAINING... I'm picking up my very own greenie at transfer point tomorrow so I'm excited to take him and white-wash Chalmette! This is so crazy because I dont feel like im ready to train, especially in a new area, (and a sketchy area for that matter) but I know full heartedly "whom the lord calls, HE QUALIFIES" This is going to be a cool experience because white-washing basically means 2 new Elders in that area, so there's not an elder there that will lead the area and show us the ropes of chalmette, so we self-lead the area and doing that with an elder straight from the MTC.... I'm very nervous... we literally will be relying FULLY on Christ, and practicing what I'm preaching down here. Please send prayers. Now sad stuff... this weekend has been so hard because I had to say goodbye to my meridian ward family, and as soon as I told my bishop I was leaving I have had 2 dinners a night since... we have also had breakfasts and lunches this week like crazy, and then ending those and saying goodbye to these beautiful people has been SO HARD. like I love yall back at home but these folks down here have had my heart ENTIRELY these past 4.5 months. Transfers are sad. My message has to do with love bc valentine's day is coming up and my bro is getting married on the 1st so SHOUT OUT TO BIG D!!! CONGRATS ALI AND DARRIN. So when Jesus was asked, of moses' 613 commandments, which of these commandments was the greatest, he said in 3 separate accounts, basically: "love the Lord thy God, and the second is like unto it, Love thy neighbor as thyself." (Its recorded differently in each) So basically putting it simply, if you're not successfully keeping these two commandments, the Lord will not be pleased with you. Take that how you may. But I'm thinking maybe you'll be spending time in H-Word. (H*ck) SO WHAT THE H*CK DOES THAT EVEN MEAN. How do you show God you love him? Every prayer you say do you just add "oh by the way I love you" Nah, When you truly love someone the words that come out of your mouth mean nearly NOTHING, if it isn't backed up with ACTIONS. YOU ALL KNOW THIS ITS SIMPLE LOVE DOCTORINE. So when Christ tells us that the greatest commandment is to love God, WE HAVE TO SHOW IT. If that's by extending our daily studies and doubling or quadrupling not only the amounts of prayers we say but the SINCERITY of each prayer we say. I cant stress this enough: ---YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD IS THE MOST IMPORTANT REALATIONSHIP YOU HAVE.--- So please, do something about it, work on that relationship and STRENGTHEN IT. We need our testimonies strong and our FAITH stronger especially right now in the time we live in. Oh yeah also love everyone else in the world, cuz it's nearly JUST as important. That's my message, please dont just read this and say "oh that's cool" and never think about it again, do something about what you just learned. The spirit definitely told you ways you could strengthen your relationship with God while reading this, so listen to him, he knows what's best for you. That's it for me, I'm out ladies and gentlemen, (mostly ladies;)) pray for me as I do my best to train this new Elder and take over Chalmette LOUISIANA! LOVE YALL, stay in touch and remember who you are! Love- Elder Wilson (and for today, the LOVE doctor ;) 1) Bishop Blalock and his amazing Fam 2) The pattersons and sister caraway 3) Shoutout to THE HOT TODD for his birthday today! Getting old is a real thing, but you make it look good pops.

Spooki Stormz

Wow this is frustrating I was done writing my weekly and accidentally deleted it so heres try #2: So I know yall have been missing me a lot lately, I would too if I was you. But dont be worried I'm doing great. I also know you are all so worried about me in these crazy storms... still dont be alarmed I am safe. There was a pine tree that was blown into the road in front of us and it was raining completely sideways. It was pretty cool. I was also blessed with the great beautiful wonderful opportunity to give a talk in church, it was supposed to be 15 minutes but my companion was kind enough to finish giving me enough time to nearly give my talk TWICE!!! So I got twice as much time to talk as I was planning and it was just awesome I was so thankful. Haha in all seriousness we both did great and I was thankful the spirit was there to guide me fo say things the ward here needed so that was an amazing blessing. Alright I can tell yall are getting bored already but heres a message you need along the lines of the message I shared in church yesterday: So God asks us to SUBMIT ourselves to him, of course actually submitting yourself to God entirely is a HARD TASK. infact most things God asks us to do are hard. He asks us to be Obedient, but knows We wont get it on our first try. But we think that he expects PERFECTION. So we give up after that first try. Maybe we get the courage to try ONE more time. But fail again. And you see that is supposed to happen. GOD EXPECTS THAT TO HAPPEN. Even Nephi needed to try three times for the plates. And peter failed to hold the faith to continue walking on water. If we were to succeed on our first try everytime God wouldn't have need to send His Son Jesus Christ to die for us. PERFECT PEOPLE DONT NEED A SAVIOR What we have been studying this last week (or should be studying) in Come, Follow Me is ALLL about obedience. God may have been testing Lehi and all his family, seeing if they will go into the wilderness, seeing if they will go back to Jerusalem to get the plates... TESTING them... not for God to see their potential, for he knows their potential already... but for THEM to see their potential. Nephi QUICKLY realized Gods power in delivering Laban into hands, and from then on walked in FAITH. We need to realize OUR potential. When going through trials realize you are stronger than any trial you go through, and remember to prove your strength in those trials. Anyways I love yall so much and transfers are next week so if any of yall are going to be sending me any packages or letters hold on to them until after I get transferred.(this news is really just for grandma's and mom) I wuv u guys, Love Elder Wilson 1) Elder Thompson and I on these weird things 2) Us elders and sister Caraway! We love her but shes really small so she wanted to stand on a bench when we took the photo lol 3) got me a HURRRR CUT

No Title

Hey guys, this week was not crazy. It was very plain and simple. I woke up, did missionary work and then went to bed. But it was fun. One day after I woke up and before I went to bed, we had a lesson with Derrick (baptist preacher guy we teach) and we were talking about everything we have taught him. He has learned so much, and he tells us that everytime we come over he knows the truth of the things we teach. So we decided to have a lesson on "acting" or doing something about the things you know. And this is kind of a lesson for everyone. James 1:22 "be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." We are constantly learning things when we are doing our personal studies, listening to testimonies of others, lessons from others, and even General conference... butttt.... How often do you actually DO what you're being taught? Now let's be honest, theres a small percentage of you that could answer that question honestly and feel good about it. I'm sorry to call you out and make you feel bad but that should encourage you to start growing your testimony. Nothing in this world is more important than your testimony, so nothing is more important than growing your knowledge and faith in Christ. We each need testimonies strong enough to withstand all the hate and negative things that are going on in the world right now. And I hate to say it but SOMETHING WILL HAPPEN IN YOUR LIFE THAT WILL MAKE YOU QUESTION YOUR FAITH/TESTIMONY.... I promise it will happen if it hasn't already, its life and it's part of the test, and you need to be prepared. You have the resources, so it's on you entirely, to be prepared. I just want to leave that with you, I'm not here because it's fun, I'm here because it's important that these people here in the south can have the knowledge that you all have been blessed with. So please dont take advantage of the things you know, and act on the things you learn. Oh, the missions going good too lol something cool happened but I'm not gonna share until next week. Love yall! I will see you all next year! Love uuuu love elder Wilsonnnnnnnn 1) a pic a member took of me and printed off because i am so "smiley" 2)a member stopped by and gave us caniacs lol 3) 1 lbs reeses peanut butter cup

Book of Mormon and Christmas

It sure dont feel like christmas being 65 degrees down here in the south, but everytime we go to members they have all their decorations up and give us presents which then makes it feel a little more like christmas. But anyways ima make this one short so I can give yall a real good long juicy one next week because I know yall love the lengthy ones. Cuz lets be honest yall dont care too much about my life. But I wanna hit all yall struggling folks with some facts. Book of Mormon. If yall are having doubts... "oh a 14 year old boy doesn't know what hes talking about" "he had multiple wives" "Pedophile" "He made it up" and all that crap... like shut up. "No wicked man COULD EVER WRITE THAT BOOK and NO RIGHTEOUS MAN WOULD EVER WRITE THAT BOOK." We have seen so many people try to tell us that the book of mormon is not true, and each and every person that has told me that has not read the book, or some have read it but skipped through pages not paying attention to what God is trying to teach them. Theres a literal promise in that book that tells us if we read it (with real intent) then pray about it (with sincerity) WE WILL KNOW THE TRUTHFULNESS OF IT. If you're going to sit there and say the church is not true there is no way you could do so with out "crawling under, over, or around the book of mormon." THERE ARE 16 MILLION OR SO PEOPLE WHO HAVE FIRM TESTIMONIES OF THAT BOOK, WHO HAVE CHANGED THEIR LIVES FOR THE BETTER DUE TO THAT BOOK, WHO NOW HAVE HOPE BECAUSE OF THIS VERY BOOK. HOW COULD YOU THINK FOR ONE SECOND THAT THEY ARE ALL LYING OR THEY DONT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT!? Theres actually another missionary who joined the church after trying to read the book of mormon to DISPROVE it, but quickly realized it is the work if God. I'm just frustrated guys I'm sorry, I have come to know the truthfulness of the book of mormon while I have been out on my mission. Which has brought me Joy beyond belief. I know so much more now than I ever did before. This Church is true. I have had my fair share of doubts. Infact coming on my mission was an act of trying to learn for myself if this gospel is worth living.... and I found out pretty quickly. Just hold on to what you do know and push forward in faith. It seems too easy to just read/study the book of mormon and then you will have a testimony but that really is all it takes. This further knowledge of our Savior is right at our fingertips... hes waiting for us to just reach out to him. Revelations 3:20 he stands at the door and waits. He doesn't come walking in and smack us in the face saying "I'm real you need to believe in me and get back to heaven so you dont perish." That destroys the whole plan, and sometimes that doesn't work. (Laman and Lemuel for example) Wow I just ranted but I'm sorry the ignorance of some people is just getting to me and I just had to share my thoughts. Sorry guys also some of those quotes up there are from Jeffrey R Holland he goes hard. I love him. Love yall -Elder Wilson 1)cute pic at mission conference 2)my bishop and I doing a face swap 3) Joy, at Mama Lillies house 4) Shout out to Ryan Crashing lol 5) us at Tisba, Brother Patterson plays guitar at Tisba so we were watching lol.