I REP THAT WEST!!!

Hey howdy hey! I just have to say that whoever has been praying for me...it's working!!! This past week has been fantastic, a tad overwhelming, but still has been full of so many blessings!!! Well this past week we have been working way hard to get paperwork, interviews, and the last of the remaining lessons done with the Gomez family, but I'm so stoked to say that David & Henry are getting baptized this Saturday at 11!!! But the big news for the week is that I'm getting transferred...but deeper into the heart and farther into the Ghetto of Oak Cliff! The whole time I've been here, Oak Cliff was separated into North, Central, and South. North has generally most Latinos and some blacks, Central only has Latinos, and South has...pretty much all Blacks. So I still loved it here in the South part of Oak Cliff, but we don't have that many latinos to teach so the work down here is a little difficult and I wanted to serve in North or Central somewhere in the mish. But this next transfer, they changed the Oak Cliff area to....East and West...and along with my California West Coast loyalty...I'm in WEST!!! So I'll be covering the west part of North, Central, and South!!! Sooooooooo stoked! And my new companion is actually going to be the guy that took me out my very first night here, Elder Rodriguez! He's from Monta Rey, Mexico and is going to help my Spanish out so much! I truly feel like everything is being given to me on a platter, so I'm a little nervous, but way excited! President Durrant made these past changes because Central, which is full of Mexicans, has not been able to baptize anyone in the past two transfers, so he's expecting to see some success and I'm way ready to help bring these numbers up! But I'm moving up to Central's apartment so my new address is: 2950 Spruce Valley Lane Dallas, TX 75233

Another miracle was with one of our solid investigators who has been coming to church all the time, but his Dad just won't let him get baptized. So much fasting and praying has been going on for him, and the whole ward had a fast this past week for the Missionary Work, and that led to him waking up yesterday with his Dad telling him that he can finally be baptized!!! So we will be having a Baptismal Service for him as well this upcoming Saturday. But probably one of the coolest parts of the week was when I was talking to my amigo Jacobo.

He's been probably my best friend in the ward ever since week one because he rocks the cowboy boots, wranglers, and all the western wear and so we always have something to talk about. He's from Mexico and always shows me pictures of his family's ranch with the horses and the whole deal! He also doesn't speak a lick of English which is great for me because it helps me get that much better at Spanish. But he's like 25 years old and is up here looking for a lady...so if anybody knows any eligible ladys here in Texas...you know who to call haha. But we've always been tight and these past few weeks he's been asking me how much longer I'm going to be in the ward and so I told him that we'll find out on transfer week. Every week he asked me if I knew the transfers yet and I would just tell him that it's a couple weeks away until I finally got the call that I'm going to stay for the next 6 weeks! So yesterday when I saw him at church I told him that the President has blessed me with another 6 weeks in the Cliff and he responded with, "Ah que bueno! Usted puede bautizarme???" ("Can you baptize me?) My jaw just about dropped to the floor! He totally took me by surprise, but once I made sure he was serious, cloud 9 had nothing on me! Probably one of the best moments on the mish....no doubt! What happened was that he was baptized when he was 8 down in Mexico, but due to the effectiveness of the paperwork down there, they completely lost his record and we're going to get to teach him again! It's pretty humbling to have the opportunity to be able to baptize one of my best friends and I just can't believe how much the Lord blesses us. There was also an inactive lady that just decided to come back to church and has two kids that she wants to get baptized and has asked us to teach them as well...and gosh I could just go on forever about how blessed I've been this past week, but I can only write so much and just want you guys to know that when you serve the Lord, you get way more blessings than you've worked for. I'm super super stoked for this next transfer and hope everything is going well back home!

Elder Justin Wilson