This week was full of fun stuff, so im going to share the Highlights of each day.
Tuesday: Exchanges w/ Elder Back in Gulfport. Had tons of fun and we taught a bible study which was sick!
Wednesday:
I got to go to another district in my zones district council. Which was so fun. It is the biggest "Relief Society" in the mission, meaning there are only sisters in the district except for the district leader and his companion. So spending even 1 district council there was a lot. Sisters are definitely extra.
We also taught our friend Matt who is so cool, he's like 20 and in the air force, and has such a strong testimony after feeling a prompting from the Holy Ghost that our church is true! So we put him on date for June 5th. The kid is a STUD.
Thursday:
So back in the beginning of my mission when i was serving in New Orleans, there was an elder in my district named Elder Bahen, he was my ZL. He moved into Biloxi 2 weeks ago and so we had dinner at his house last Thursday! It was so fun to talk about the good old days in NOLA and now he is married with a baby on the way! I can't believe it.
Friday:
We helped our old bishop, Bishop Lyman move out of his home on base. His family is one of the most perfect families in the world. They are moving to Vegas and that was really sad especially for the Biloxi ward they are leaving behind.
One of my old companions, Elder Niepraschk came and took me & my companion to dinner with a friend of ours who he baptized named Brooklyn who is now going go serve a mission at temple Square! That was awesome and we had a little testimony meeting afterwards that was SOOO powerful I loved it!
Saturday:
We went to David's baptism! This guy is an absolute legend. Funniest craziest guy I've ever met. But he's really excited for where he is at now.
We also helped an inactive member we are really tight with. (and for privacy reasons I'll name him "Richard"). We helped Richard cut a massive clearing out of his property because he wants to build his mother in laws house there. That was so fun. We just went into the woods, picked a spot, then just started swinging our hatchets and axes until every tree in that vicinity was gone then we burnt it all and had a huge bonfire, and taught his son, Kaladin the missionary lessons around the fire! It was so fun. While we were going crazy and just cutting everything down, we hear this drunk guy asking us if he can come and talk to us, and we are soooo deep in the forest I didn't know anyone else was around, but the guy came and was holding a beer in one hand, had a gun in his pocket, and was drunk out of his mind. Turns out he was a jehovah's witness who was very active and he told us what he believed, we told him what we believed, and at first it was hostile, because the way I asked my question was kind of rude, but we quickly rerouted and got SPIRITUAL. It was sick.
Anyways at the end of the service & lesson we asked richard to come to church (like we do every week) but he finally came this week! It was awesome. It was the first time he had come to church in YEARS!
So we had a lot of our friends that we are teaching at church this week as well, but Low key, I was more stoked about Richard and his kids. Just because he has been a pain in the butt to get moving! And he wants to get back into activity so bad just has a lot of issues he needs to settle.
Spiritual time:
Something that has come up a lot this week in lessons with a few people we are working with, is Faith in Jesus Christ, but more specifically, why is it so difficult to have faith in Him?
And that was a tough nut to crack for me. I have pondered on it for a while. But as we were talking to Richard over the bonfire, he said something that kind of amazed me. Because it's something I know and say ALOT, he said, "Nothing worth doing, is easy" now that didn't completely make sense to me at the time, but I knew what he meant.
I thought of how you appreciate things a lot more when you have to put a lot more work and time into it. Same thing with a testimony. this is a personal opinion of mine, to my knowledge it is not Doctorine, but if you were to gain a testimony easily, with no real effort put into it other than you read the book of mormon once and felt it was true. You're held accountable to that knowledge just as much as if you put 8 years of studying the book of mormon and praying earnestly and repenting, then you finally come to the knowledge. You are also held accountable to the knowledge you had gained. And for you to turn your back in either situation, the consequences are similar. "It would have been better for you that ye had not known me" -2N31:14
So for all those going through a faith crisis, or are lost and have the question as to why it is so difficult to gain a testimony.
I want to ask why you think something of this great importance would be easy?
Gaining a testimony of Christs redeeming power is more important than any degree you will ever get, it is more important than any achievement you will ever receive in this life. Yet we expect it to be one prayer and it's over just cruise the rest of the way. I hate to break it to you but a true testimony will be built off of blood, sweat, and tears... sometimes your own, but mostly His.
I love being a Missionary. I love this Gospel. God is Good.
Love yall!
Love Elder Wilson!
Random pics throughout the week
