Holidays on the Mission Are Amazing!!!

Yup as I said...Holidays on the mission are amazing! Especially in Texas because Holidays=lots and lots of beer which=understanding how people feel about us right off the bat. Even on a normal day we run into so many drunk people that feel terrible and are ready to be brought to repentance, and then there's the people that just yell "Don't you haunt my door again!!!" But we're also in Texas so just naturally they say "Y'all come back now y'hear" - classic. So we're looking forward to a tracting *blitz*tonight, if we're lucky we might even get some extended family all together!!! 
Well, as for this week, we were actually having some success with a couple Book of Mormon throwdown lessons, and we got 7 new investigators!!! I think all the time on the bikes is finally starting to pay off! But as normal, we are still in the Ghettos of the Ghettos in Oak Cliff South, and something that I've been trying to get a photo album of is the car trend down here. Currently, its a classic Lincoln, Ford Crown Vic, or Mercury that has size 26-28 rims on it...and if I had a nickel for every one I've seen down here, I would probably be up to $5 now haha. They are everywhere! And the other day there was a whole car gang that drove through town with probably 20 cars in their fleet just traveling together not even caring for traffic lights or anything else that would stand in their way. The lead car even had a fat copy of the Executive Seal sticker on his hood haha keeping things interesting around here. We were also knocking doors in a...questionable....area the other day and found this house with the worst set up security system of 6 cameras surrounding the house along with a few motion sensors here and there...yeah they didn't answer haha. We also voted the apostate church for the week was called "The Lord's Gym." It was a legit gym that had a picture of Jesus without a shirt and showed him flexing while carrying the cross...yup...that's Texas! 

As for the update on my Investigators...I would just like to add my testimony to that of every otherMissionary's that Sunday is by far the worst day on the mission! You're always waiting for your investigators who COMMITTED to coming, but never show up and just break your heart. And if they show up you just get even more nervous and just hope that a member doesn't start spewing false doctrine at the pulpit or say something really strange. And you can only pray that your investigators don't see when the kids start taking off their clothes in the middle of the Sacrament and just run around screaming....so it's a pretty nerve racking day haha. But the Pinon family is coming along great...if they would just come to church and we almost have the two sons of this mom that was baptized five weeks ago. Her kids, (and keep in mind these kids hang tight to the whole skater stereotype), actually brought their copy of the Book of Mormon to school and started reading it there! The last time we talked to them, Robert started asking us all the questions that his friends were giving him trouble about and seriously asked if we were Christian. We pulled out some scriptures so he could put his friends in their places...I doubt his friends even crack open the Bible. But the problem with those two is that their parents are divorced and they go with their Dad on the weekends and can't make it to church...so in the end we can only pray for a miracle to happen. 

Another thing that was pointed out to me yesterday at church was that I'm the only Blonde in our ward...or in the stake...probably even the first to ever enter the building haha. It's nice to be the diverse person of the group for once in my lifetime! And as for the chiggers...my body has apparently become prey for...bigger game. For those of you who don't know...I hate spiders with all of my soul. Not because I'm covered in spider bites...but we ran into a tarantula the other day. I thought it would be cool to take a picture, so as a cautiously approach it...and this spider that's about the size of my fist, pretty much gives out a battle cry...and straight on charges me! That is the one moment in my life where I could've outran anyone. So from a safe distance, I zoomed in and got a picture, and every time I look at it, the two big glowing eyes are staring me down....ahhhhhh man it gives me the chills!!!! Well its time to go preach the Word of Wisdom and bring the state of Texas to repentance for all the drinking that's going to happen today! Happy Memorial Day!!!

Con Todo (Gracias Aunt Nonnie) Mi Corazon,
Elder Justin Wilson

Week Two On The Battlefront!

Well its been two weeks out here and I feel like a fat kid in a buffet! It is so awesome to finally be out in the field and doing what I've been looking forward to for so long! I've learned in my 14 days that it is by no stretch of the imagination even close too easy and two years still feels like a long time, but I'm loving what I'm doing. First I would like to say thank you so much for the package Mom!!

And Dad, when you told me that the Celtics and the Heat were already knocked out of the playoffs, it was another confirmation that I was doing the right thing haha. Man, in the MTC there was normally one cool thing that would happen in a week, but I have so many fun experiences every day here I don't know which one to choose. Well I figured I would give you a taste of my area and tell you guys a little bit about South Dallas. Like I said before, this area is just infested with apostate churches. (And by the way "apostacy" is probably the most used word in this area. It is applied to missionaries singing apostate music [or music of the world] or talking about apostate movies [movies that normal people would see] and to any other faith that really tries to have a throwdown with us.) Some of the most famous Churches here and ones that you may recognize are the I.B.O.C. church and the Potter's House. These are both Mega-Churches whose building's, parking lot's, and attendance put the Staples Center to shame. It's so crazy to see just how misguided these people are but that's our job out here is to put them on the right path! In the song, "I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go", it says "It may not be at the battle front", but the TDM mission is starting to petition that they should change the line to "It may not be at Dallas." So many people want to fight our religion and bring such contention into our conversations, so we have to cut it short, and just love them for trying (in their eyes) to come closer to Christ. Some places I feel like a King (when people feed us or we go to church!), and some places I feel like the Plague (when we knock on doors and hear the kids or even the parents say "it's the two guys in the white shirts and ties! Go hide!"), and other places people think I'm just looking for a doctrine throwdown. As difficult as our area is (which is VERY) we did start teaching a young Catholic family this last Monday. We had dropped by about four times before trying to set up an appointment and it has always been chaos. In the small apartment they live in, thier two year old son and five year old daughter are always going crazy, the parents are always busy cooking, talking with friends, or doing something else, and evey time we see them, they've been watching Novella's on T.V. Well this past Monday we were finally able to get an appointment with them, and it was like a dream come true. When we knocked on their door, the Husband answered and told us to come in. The whole family was sitting on one couch and everything was quiet and calm. The wife then told the husband to turn the Novella off, and the kids were just sitting there, patiently listening. My first week here, every scheduled appointment we had fell through, but this lesson made it all worth it! It was amazing how different the environment was when we came in! I felt like I was walking in during the middle of the Sacrament! They were my first new investigators and we have really been able to get thier attention with capitalizing on the blessings and promises we have as families. Can't wait to tell you guys how they're doing next E-mail and hopefully we'll be able to get them (Marco & Elizabeth Pinon) to come to church! This week we've started doing more and more biking, and Dad, I remember you saying I'd regret wanting to stay out of the cold, but I think that the Lord just may have misinterpreted that saying haha. "The tropics aren't cold" is what I was thinking of, but He definately sent me somewhere "not cold" haha. I was dying with the heat and humidity the other day and asked Elder Lee how much hotter it was going to get. He just started laughing, pointed to a sign that said it was only 89 degrees, and said it should raise another 30 somewhere in the summer. Well on the bright side...looks like I'll be getting plenty of Vitamin D! Another bonus to my area is that in all of my tracting down in "the ghettos", I got to talk to Shaq, lil' Bow Wow, Ray Allen, Rasheed Wallace, Damien Marley, Lil' Wayne, and Chris Paul. With only two weeks under my belt, I think that by the end of my mission I will have met the look alikes for the rest of the NBA, and every famous rapper that's existed haha. Oh yeah and my new adress (this is coming from my memory so please correct me if I'm wrong Mom) 

Elder Justin Wilson

6363 W Camp Wisdom Ave Apt 215

Dallas, TX

(Forgot Zip Code) :/

But if you would like, you can also adress it to "The Only White Person That Lives In This Apartment Complex" or "The Only White Person That Lives In Oak Cliff Dallas" and it should make its way to me haha. One last thing is that on my second week here, I've already been chiggered. For those who don't know what this means, chiggers are little Red arachnid bugs that are about the size of the "O" on the "In God We Trust" slogan on the Dime. They bite their way into your skin and just live there. So my body is now a home for way too many of these bugs and they itch me to death haha but apparently the solution is rubbing nailpolish remover on them and the fumes will supposedly kill them. My desire to avoid bugs has already failed and as Elder Lee told me, it's just a part of Texas. Well I love it out here and can feel the help of all your prayers! Thank you guys so much! I miss and love you all!!!

Con todos mi Corazon,

 Elder Justin Wilson

The Party Starts In Dallas!!!

Hola Hola Hola!!!

     What is up everyone!?! So I survived my first week in Dallas!! Sorry I'm having to e-mail you from my yahoo account but myldsmail wouldn't let me sign in so I had to find some way to get hold of you guys! And I also just wanted to say it was so awesome to be able to call you guys yesterday and again Happy Mother's Day!!! Man it was so sweet to be able to talk to everyone and made me miss you guys so much!!! But don't worry I'll get right over it and get back to work! So about my first day here...I just remember walking down the terminal thinking "this is it!" and how I was taking the walk I had seen in so much Mormon media haha. When we finally landed in Dallas I remember walking out of the plane and feeling the humidity just hit me. I'm used to the Canyon Country and Provo dry heat where its like 105 outside...but in Texas the heat just comes inside you! It was really cool flying over Dallas and I just remember thinking "the field is white already to harvest!!!" After my first day of getting to know President Durant, we went tracting with some Missionaries in the area and I will never forget Elder Rodriguez and the look on his face when he would turn the lesson time over to me. We were able to run into a family that said we could teach them...well I actually have no idea if that's what they said but they let us come in and teach haha. It turned into a conversation with Elder Rodriguez and the investigators. My role was to look back and forth at each of them as they exchanged words. Then Elder Rodriguez would look at me with a smirk on his face, and I would try my best to take it from there haha. I would gather words here and there, and once I knew that I understood what that word meant they would aready be like a whole paragraph ahead of me. If you were to take MTC Spanish and take it to light-speed...you would hear what is now reffered to as in-field Spanish. The next day we were assigned our companions and areas. So I got to know my comp., Elder Lee (who is not Asian to my suprise) and he's got to be one of the best Bible bashers I know haha. He knows the Bible inside out, which comes in handy for all the Baptists and Lutherans and Evangelists, and Jehova's Witnesses...I could go on and on about all the religions we've encountered. Another thing about Dallas that I heard about but I had to see to know was how many churches there are here! It is absolutely crazy! A good safe estimate is probably about 5 every block. But this past week has been full of tracting, lightning storms, flash floods, Mexican food (finally!), slammed doors, crazy Baptists, marching with a Book of Mormon in our hands, confused Spanish converstations, so everything part of the missionary stereotype. Well I gotta go but I love you and miss you all so much!

Les Quiero Mucho! 

Elder Justin finally in Dallas Wilson!!

Mi Ultima Semana En El CCM

"Hasta Ver! Hasta Ver! Para siempre Dios este con..." In case you are wondering, these are the sounds we will be hearing three days from now! It's so crazy haha I feel like it was just yesterday that we sent off the oldest District singing "God Be With You 'Till We Meet Again" en Espanol! Nine weeks later and it is our turn! By the way...before I start with my updates and such I just wanted to give a huge shout out to Carlie & Porter!! Man I'm proud of you guys but especially Porter. For as long as I've known Carlie she's always had everything figured out and for you to be worthy enough to marry up to her...you must've worked pretty hard on your mish in L.A.!!! So I just hope that I can work as hard as you did and Carlie...still cannot believe that you are married but I love you and congrats!!! 

Well this week has been pretty nerve racking for me as my last week in the MTC! My brain feels like a suitcase that you just keep putting more and more and more stuff into and once you try to zip it up...you realize you've put in a little more than it can handle. No matter how hard I work and study I can't help but be scared out of my mind that I will be in the field teaching REAL progressive investigators by this next Monday!!! I'm way stoked to leave the MTC and will miss all the friends and teachers that I've had here but am so stoked to do some real missionary work and see just how good my Spanish is. I feel pretty comfortable here with a bunch of white people but I'm so scared that once I get out to Tejas I'll forget everything and only be able to muster out a "Hola...estoy bien...." Oh boy its making me want to cry right now haha so I can't wait to get the first few days of humiliation over and then buckle down for some success! 

Speaking of success we had a "Baptism" last week for "Angelica." Even though she was a "role played" investigator, I can see that we learned so much and our teaching really changed ever since we started. For all the prospective missionaries out there, I would just have to tell them to really love the investigator. So many return missonaries had told me that so I would pray for them every now and then and prepare for my lessons so that they would enjoy that, but there is a sincere difference between caring about them and just giving your heart to them. At the beginning we saw the "Preach My Gospel" lessons as a checklist, and to me, the faster we checked all the boxes, the faster the baptisms will come. I just feel like when we all start our missions, we have been caring about ourselves for too long and can't see our investigators perspective, what they understand, and be able to discern thier feelings. When we had "Coaching Missionary Study", I remember Hermana Cooper asking me, "I know you care how your lessons go, but do you really love Angelica..." She totally caught me off guard, and when I thought about it, I didn't have feelings even close to the feelings I should have had. I cared about how the lessons would make me look instead of her growth Spiritually. Once I started praying for her every day, putting her name on the Temple Prayer list, really started asking her questions about her life and not just what she thought about our church, if she followed up on our committments and so forth, the change in our teaching was so tangible. You could literally feel a change in the room and see that the relationship we had before had completely transformed. When we stopped caring about whether she would say yes or no to the baptismal questions, that was when she really grew and eventually accepted our Baptism Invitation. So last week we made a card and the whole works for our "Baptism" haha it was awesome. I'm just so glad that I learned this lesson before I hit the field and would have to say it's even more important than any Spanish I have picked up in these last 9 weeks. Still having kind of a tough time adjusting to the whole missionary schedule and trying to forget the fact that my Lakers are in the playoffs about now and that I have to kick myself out of bed at 6:30 every day, but it's a work in progress. 

Super super super excited to meet President Durant and my new companion and literally get my mission started! I'm also way stoked to ride in one of those giant metal things that have wheels and go really fast! I've forgotten what they're called but I know that I haven't been in one for two months and think it is probably the longest time in my life I have lived without one. I'm also stoked out of my mind for the Texan food!!! The MTC has asked us to not include any "negative" comments specifically about the MTC in our e-mails home, but the scriptures say that liars are "thrust down to hell" so I will just say that I only eat the food they serve here to keep myself alive. I have lost my appetite here at about week two when everything started to taste the same so I am stoked to get my TEXICAN going! Burritos, Tacos, Carne Asada, and STEAK!!! Well again, way stoked but wayyyyy nervous for Dallas and I know for a fact, that I will have some good "greenie" stories for next week. The thought of being in the field for my first few days makes me feel like there will be a huge target painted on my chest but I guess we will have to see how it goes! 

 

Con todos mi corazon y amor,

 

Elder Justin (scared and nervous out of his mente) Wilson