May 30, 2017

BLESSED!

Hey Y'all!

Holy cow this past week has flown by! I feel like I was writing you all yesterday!! Things here are going super good we had a baptism this past weekend and it went great! Helen and Karen were super excited to be baptized and now have that wonderful new member glow!! I love the wonderful spirit you feel when you have a baptism because you know its heavenly father letting you know that what you're doing is right! I had the wonderful opportunity to baptize both of the girls. After Helen was baptized she came up out of the water and said "I DID IT!" and then she ran out of the font to go get changed haha it was so funny and so amazing to see how happy she was to be baptized!

This week we also got to go on exchanges with our zone leaders! I got to hang out with Elder Stoneberg all day, we had a great time and taught lots of great people. I feel so blessed to have such great zone leaders who know how to up lift and inspire me every time I talk with them!

Since the library was closed yesterday we went on a hike to whats called dragons tooth! Abbie and Mack came with us which made it even better haha we had lots of fun and got to see some pretty awesome views. Not gonna lie the South is super pretty but It will never top the west ;) haha we had a lot of fun though. Easily the best P-day of my mission so far!

So for my spiritual thought this week I want to talk about he power of the spirit and what it can do for us in our lives. This week I had the opportunity to teach a district meeting on relying on the spirit and why its so important especially in missionary work! Heavenly Father promises us each week that as we take of the sacrament that if we do our best to keep His commandments that He will have His spirit to be with us. The spirit is whats going to keep us in the places that Heavenly Father needs us in most. The more you trust in him, the more miracles from heaven you will see! That I know to be true!! I love you all and hope you have a great week. :)

The Baptism

The pretty hike

Me and Abbie hikin :)

The Fam :)

The view!

Me and Elder Crouch on the peak!

May 22, 2017

Touch Down Jesus!

Hey Y'all!

AAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTT LLLAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSTTTTTT! I just want to let you guys know I love you all and I hope you are all doing well back home! I know you all miss me so much and you think about me everyday... But don't worry your favorite Elder will be home soon so cheer up! its almost Christmas :)

Whelp, this past week was pretty good I'd say!! It was hotter than Hades and more humid than a steam room but hey its better then being in the snow like all you guys back home haha! But ya we have been working pretty hard and are seeing a lot of success! This past week we got to see Francis and we brought Mark a long with us. Francis is the guy that tells us we are going to hell every time we meet with him and just wants to bash so we brought Mark our ward mission leader a long because he knows ALOT about the church history and can back up a lot of doctrine so he pretty much wrecked his life haha. I know that's bad for me to laugh about but when you have some one telling you that you're going to hell and that you worship the wrong Jesus you'd be happy too haha. But other than him all of our other investigators are doing great. Plus we have a baptism this weekend for little miss Helen and Karen Rodriguez, so pray that we can get that all worked out and prepared this week for them :) 

Other than that all is swell here in Virginia! we are having a great time and are loving every minute of it! hard to believe that we are already half way through the transfer! time is flying. I hit my ten month mark in a couple of weeks! LETS GOOOo

Well for my spiritual though this week I just want to share a quote. I love you all and hope you guys have a great week!!!

Elder Wilson

We got to be Bill and Joe while doing service!

The cars we ran into while out tracting!!

I will take the Vette please....

Exchanges with Elder Crouch!

May 15, 2017

Merry Mother's Day!

Hey Y'all!

well sheesh what a week! Not gonna lie this past week was a long one but I think that's mostly because I was so dang excited to skype my wonderful family on mothers day! I want to wish all the mothers out there a Happy Mother's Day! You have no Idea how much your children appreciate all that you do. You are a blessing to everyone. So keep being wonderful mothers :) 

My Mother's Day was pretty great! Us and the Vinton 2 Elders got to go up to Mack and Abbie's house to skype our family and eat dinner! it was a lot of fun and a happy time was had by all :) It was super fun to talk with my family. Its always good to be reminded that I am my parents favorite child still :) some things just never change haha! But ya things here in Vinton are going great! We have plans to pick up two new investigators this week which should be good! This past week we also got to do exchanges with the other Elders and I got to go with Elder Henstra who is the new Elder in our District! He played baseball too so we got to talk a lot about ball and he told me how bad the Giants were doing... Sad day, but we don't talk about that! haha but it was overall a pretty good week. 

On Wednesday we had Zone Conference and boy was that GREAT! We focused a lot on reactivation of old members and how important it is that we bring the spirit to their homes and help remind them of the peace and comfort that comes from living the gospel! It was super cool because we have actually talked about reactivating a lot of the ward here because only 25% of the members show up. I love when the spirit can make things feel so directed towards you!

So for my spiritual thought this week I want to talk a little bit about what we talked about in Zone Conf. Since I have been out on my mission I have really gained a great appreciation for 1 Nephi. there is so much that we can Liken unto our self's in that book! In Zone Conf we covered Chapters 17 and 18 which are the chapters that talk about Nephi preparing to build a ship and one verse that sticks out to me in particular is 1 Nephi 17: 13 and it says;

" And I will also be your light in the wilderness; and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments; wherefore, inasmuch as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall be led towards the promised land; and ye shall know that it is by me that ye are led."

The thing that I like most about this is that it says that all we have to do is keep the commandments of God and we will be led and directed by him. how great is that blessing? Now you can think of the promised land as being temple worthy or serving a mission or even eternal life. All we have to do is keep the commandments and God will prepare a way for us to make it there just like He did for Nephi in helping him build a ship! I love you all and hope you have a great week!!

Elder Wilson (Your favorite Elder)

Ran into this little fella while tracting!

Nothing beats a Southern Sunset!

Me and my boy Elder Crouch :)

May 8, 2017

Skype this week say whaa??

Hey Y'all!

well well well what do we have here?! looks like a bunch of meanie heads who never write their favorite Elder!!!! You guys are breaking my heart one week at a time </3 its ok though because I'm a loving missionary and ill except all those who write me :) 

SOOOOOOOOOOO not much happened this past week... we are officially starting Elder Basteens second transfer! crazy how fast it goes, I felt like my training was forever and a day and his is just cruising by haha. But ya I have really enjoyed my time with him and I hope that I can help him reach his full potential. So hears to 6 more weeks in the wonderful town of Vinton Virginia! This week because it was the end of last transfer we had to say goodbye to Elder Estes and boy was that rough. Though I didn't serve with him I felt like I was saying goodbye to a brother because of how close we had gotten over the past 3 months. But I Know he will kill it in his next area and hopefully after this transfer I will get to be his next companion. So I need you all to pray for that ok? ok good.

So since its only been a couple of days I don't have to much to report to you guys so I'll just dive into my spiritual thought!

So yesterday we had a stake conference and had a live feed from Salt Lake City to hear from some of the leaders of the church! The one that I want to share a little excerpt from is the 1st counselor of the primary! She talked about the importance of us keeping our own light and how it will help us fulfill our journey here. Its like if we were to go for a walk at night on a trail that we both weren't too familiar with, and only I had the flashlight, it would make it a lot harder for you to see where to walk and what to dodge along the way. The same goes for us here on earth. we can only go so far with borrowed light. Our parents, family members, friends, etc. can only help us so far until we finally decide for our selves that this gospel is true. As we gain our own light we recognize that its a lot easier to walk off of our own then to borrow from some where else. Often times it will keep us from pain and sorrow. So this week I want to invite you all to find your own light. will you do that? good :)

I love you all and I hope you have a great week :)

Elder Wilson

We hiked to Macfees Nob a couple weeks ago! behind all that fog is the city of Roanoke 

My District

Same Hike

The Hodges took us to kabuki!

Walmart at Cave Springs

Last Picture with Elder Estes :(

Happy Cinco De Mayo!

May 3, 2017

9 Months Folks!

Hey y'alll 

well what a week it has been! today I have officially hit my half way mark for my sister mission ;) haha so weird that I have been out 9 months, I look forward to seeing my families faces in just 11 days :) time sure does fly!

So this past week we were able to pick up a new investigator named Francis Reed, and boy is he a trip haha, I'm pretty sure during the lesson he just told us that we don't believe in the right Jesus and that we are going to hell but then again I'm not too sure because he was so nice about it haha. Some Christians are so weird, but he is genuinely interested and really wants to learn more about our church so pray that we can help him along this journey and show him the happiness of living this wonderful gospel. 

 This past week we also got to see Mack and Abbie and teach them about families and temples and that was a wonderful experience to see them both have a desire to go to the temple, they even told me that they want to get sealed in Utah so that I can be there for the wedding so that's pretty neat, mom and dad plan on having some guests come off the plane with me hah just kiddin ;) 

Things over here have been pretty good, hard to believe that Elder Basteen is half way through his training, time really does fly! 

for my spiritual though I want to share a quote from one of the apostles from last conference,

On those days when we feel a little out of tune, a little less than what we think we see or hear in others, I would ask us, especially the youth of the Church, to remember it is by divine design that not all the voices in God’s choir are the same.It takes variety—sopranos and altos, baritones and basses—to make rich music.To borrow a line quoted in the cheery correspondence of two remarkable Latter-day Saint women, “All God’s critters got a place in the choir.”6 When we disparage our uniqueness or try to conform to fictitious stereotypes—stereotypes driven by an insatiable consumer culture and idealized beyond any possible realization by social media—we lose the richness of tone and timbre that God intended when He created a world of diversity.

-Jeffery R. Holland

Remember that God loves you all and is waiting to help you. TURN TO HIM

I love you all and hope you all have a great week!

Elder Wilson

Having fun with Mack and Abbie and the Vinton Elders