Experiences You Will Never Get Anywhere Else!

Wow this has been such a fantastic week I seriously don't even know where to start!?! But I think I'll just give all the cool details first and then the spiritual stories. 

This past week has given me just a preview to the happiness that never ends. So I had kept the whole fact that it was my Birthday this past Wednesday on the down low so that our investigators know that we teach with the "it's about them and not for us", but this past week just about made me cry. First we started off my Birthday at Zone conference and everything was pretty normal with the birthday wishes, but once we got back to good 'ol Oak Cliff, I got to have some of the greatest experiences ever. First of all, we got to work for the rest of the day without having dinner, which definitely gives you the "working hard" satisfaction that every missionary strives to get. Then we got home and I got to enjoy all my presents and snack and stuff from everyone back home (Thank You all so much!) and even a little surprise (thanks Mom!!!!) But what blew me away was what happened on Friday. 

Earlier on we had set up an appointment with Manuel's family, but were only able to squeeze them in on Friday. So, after Manuel, being a boss and perfect example for our ward, came out with us to teach, we went to their house to have a lesson and get Daisy and Esther ready for their baptism. After the lesson, we normally ask them if they have questions and if they don't come up with any, we end up quizzing them. But every lesson they don't come up with questions and we end up quizzing them.  This time, Manuel said, "Yeah, I've got a question....you guys ready to eat?" Then Esther brought out this HUGE 3 Leches cake that she had made herself, along with a ton of Papussas (this meat packed tortilla/quesadilla food from El Salvador that I have come to love on my mission, and if you don't know what they are...I would highly recommend them!) He said, "It's always tough to get a time to feed you guys so we figured we'd make it so that you have to eat with us."  I was absolutely without words and could not believe it. They took me over to the kitchen, and as I was stuttering out just how impossible it was for me to show just how grateful I was, I saw the ingredients, utensils, cake spread, batter, decorating tools, and the rest of the results of what looked like cooking for hours on end. 

Then as I was just telling them how much I LOVED it and how could they possibly know that I love all this stuff? Kevin just exclaimed, "We remember watching you eat at the ward party and what foods were your favorite and stuff!" I had a feeling that I will never forget, about how these people, a family that we had just gotten to know by knocking the door and had only known for 2 months, has shown so much love for me. It is really quite the humbling experience when you are put in positions where you know that no matter what you do, you will never be able to show just how grateful you are, and you will never be able to work hard enough to be even with the blessings of the Lord. 

There were also two other members that gave me cake without even a dinner appointment, and one even gave me Cuatro Lecces! It is so unexplainable the love that I felt from the members and investigators...but now time for the cool spiritual story. 

We have been teaching the Martinez family with the new baby that we blessed for a while now, and as Manuel came out with us one day, we were explaining the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the things that we need to do to receive a testimony. Then Hermana Martinez cut us off, and just said, "I would do those things, but I already know that this is true." And then she laid her testimony out right in front of us… A while ago, she had been visiting the beloved church of Jesucristo Es Mi Refugio Inc., but she said that after a while, the 20$ entry was getting too expensive along with all the other costs that they charge. She also found in the Bible that Jesus and the apostles along with all the other Prophets didn't expect anything for all of the miracles that they performed. So she decided to stop going there, but she still knew that something was missing. She had been praying during the difficult times of her pregnancy, for God to send her something. She said that when her baby was born with heart problems, she felt especially discouraged and in need of divine help, and prayed harder and harder. She then told us that ten days after her baby was born, we knocked on her door asking if we could bless her new child. From that moment on, she knew that the church was true, and the now terminated heart problems are a continuing testimony to her. The funny part is that President Durrant only gave us permission to knock around less active members, and that day we decided to knock a few doors after visiting Hermana Napoles, who lives three houses down the street. As Elder Bednar said, "Being led by the spirit is very rarely an overwhelming impression, and is almost always just doing what we are supposed to do, and miracles will put themselves in our paths." I love and miss you all! Thanks for all the letters and packages and I'm excited to give you more updates next week!

Elder Justin Wilson

Leaving My Joventud In The Past

Wow it's not even September 19 yet and this has already been (totally serious) my best birthday yet!!! It is so humbling to know that you all remembered my birthday and I feel even more grateful than Ammon in Alma 19:14 so I guess I'm pouring out my soul in thanksgiving haha. And just a shout out to everyone that has sent me letters and packages...I will get a letter out to you but I did make a promise to my Mom that I'd write in my Journal every day so that’s kicking me back just a bit...but I will most definitely get one out to you! They have made this week pretty much the best!

 I figure it's because the work has been super, super busy out here in Oak Cliff, and while we've been working so hard to love everyone that we teach (even though at times it may get difficult haha), it really is a fantastic time to forget yourself. But all these birthday wishes have just reminded me of all the people that I love and miss so much and let me know that you guys are still thinking about me and made this birthday better than any others. Thank you so much!!! 

Still cannot believe that I won't be a rebellious teenager anymore, but I guess it's onto bigger and better things. While thinking about how old 20 sounded a while back, I remembered a conversation I had with one of our home teachers when I was back in the primary. I think it was Brother Wind, and I remember it was his 50th birthday or something like that and everyone was wishing him happy birthday, and I began to think about how cool being old was. I thought, "You can drive...go wherever you want....you can eat wherever you want and whatever you want....you can go to any movie....you have a bunch of money...", and after all of those thoughts running through my mind, I was so on the getting older boat! So I went up to him and told him that it must be way awesome to be as old as he was, and I just remember him laughing while he said, "It's only fun to grow up, but it most definitely isn't fun getting old." I didn't really get what he meant for a while, but I guess I feel like I'm getting so old now haha. 

Well as far as this past week...Elder Rodriguez and I have planned a pretty Dynamic transfer. Things are seriously going to explode here!!! Our ward has a goal of 25 baptisms for the year, but before we got here, we only had 3. So the past transfer Elder Rodriguez and I were able to pitch in 6 while the East Elders added another, and we're off to a good start with baptizing Manuel and Kevin this past week. We have some pretty huge ambitions for this transfer and are definitely going to get work done around here haha. 

We're always super tired and I guess that's a good sign that we're ready to put in the effort that the Lord wants. These past few weeks we have been able to see how as humans, we really can't do much, but when we do the small things that the Lord asks us to do, he is most definitely ready to work miracles and put his pieces into place. (Even though the Lord isn't ready to have the Bishop pronounce the difficult name of 'Wilson' correctly haha.) This week it somehow changed from Wooford to 'Wool-Fur', but it's a work in progress. We have been seeing so much success out here and I'm so grateful for this opportunity to be a part of it! 

I also would like to hold a moment of silence for the first time I had In-N-Out for 6 months and 5 days................................haha it was so awesome! Well I wish I could write more but I love and miss you all! Thank you so much for the birthday wishes!!!

Elder Justin Wilson

The End To A Solid Transfer & The Start of Another

Cannot believe at how fast this transfer has gone by...but it's another one down and I'm so stoked to have another one down here in Oak Cliff West! We have 2 more baptisms coming up this Saturday and are super excited for those because we're going to finally be able to baptize Manuel Jara, our 47 year old friend and future Bishop.

This guy is seriously an example to every member and it is just humbling to see how hard he works to do things that we so easily take for granted. First off, we have been having plenty of appointments with him, but he lives pretty far up north and it takes  a little longer to get there on bikes. So one day he was so stoked for the appointment that he wanted to just come pick us up, and since then, he's been giving us rides all the time! But the best part, was the one night that we were stacked with appointments and were calling a bunch of members to see if any could come out with us and take us to these cross-town appointments that we wouldn't be able to fit in one night on bikes. After calling about 8 or so members and finding that everyone is "busy", we decided to just throw it out there and invite Manuel...our investigator. As shy and reserved of a guy he is and even though he was super nervous, he wanted to come and understood how important sharing the Gospel is and just totally saved every lesson that night. We decided it was time to start a new "Key Indicator" with not only "Lessons Taught To Investigators With A Member Present", but "Lessons Taught To Investigators With An Investigator Present." His big challenge was being able to come to church, because he always has work on Sundays, but we had never seen someone with such a desire to come and be baptized. This experience really helped strengthen my testimony that we truly are representatives of Jesus Christ, and what we say will happen. He had been praying for weeks that his work would let him come to church, but nothing had really changed. So we promised him that if he prayed and fasted, the Lord would open a way for him to come. He started fasting that week...and guess who's schedule got changed haha. Just as it says in the scriptures, we have the power to move mountains, but such is impossible without prayer and fasting. So he was able to come to church, but he wanted to share this so badly with his family who was really reluctant to learn anything (except for his son Kevin, he's way solid too and was coming with Manuel). And guess who prayed and fasted again. Yup, and after a lot of work with his wife and daughter, we set a baptismal date with them and they'll be able to be baptized this October! We had the baptismal interviews for Manuel and Kevin this past Saturday, and Manuel was fasting again haha. We just have to make sure he doesn't starve himself and he'll continue to see more and more miracles in his life. I could see him taking any leadership position in the Church and has been such a solid example for every member, including us. But we also had a Ward Activity this past Saturday which is always the best part of the week! Working with Latinos is by far the best haha because they don't need any reason and will just throw a party just because they feel like it. This past one also had a talent show where we put on a skit that was way awesome and I'll still try to figure out how I can send the video of it, but the best part was the paparazzi (primary) on Sunday. All the primary kids came up to us and asked us if we were "the guys that ate the frijoles" last night and would just tell us how much they loved it and all that stuff. Haha it was easily one of the coolest parts of my mission, and this whole past week has been one of those weeks where there was nothing that I could think of that I would rather do than serve these people. I so didn't think it was true when I first cracked open Preach My Gospel, but as it says in the introduction, "There is no work more satisfying that this." It's even a cherry on top when you get to hear latinos try and say "Wilson", and the best pronunciation is "Elder Wooford" haha. It gets funnier and funnier every time I hear it. Another newsflash that is totally crazy is that I'm past 6 months now and was able to celebrate the day I got my call a year ago! Time flies by! But out of all these expereinces....possibly the best...was when some random contact guessed, for the first time...ever...where I was from, and got it right. As a missionary everyone will ask you where your from, and for these past few months, I just ask them what they think. Knowing that we're Mormon and since it seems like 90% of the missionaries are from (what is always referred to as) "la favorica" or "the factory", known as Utah, they'll always guess Utah. Well, one day, our contact's first guess was....LOS ANGELES!!! Totally put me on cloud nine! Well this work is awesome and you get tons of experiences from everywhere! Thank you so much for all the packages and letters you've sent me and I hope everything goes well! Please let me know if there's anything that anyone needs help with and I could probably get Manuel to fast for it! Love you all!
Elder Justin Wilson

Justin dancing with the Primary 

Another Successful Week...With Some Speedbumps

Well I've tried to load some pictures but it turned into a huge mess so I'm going to try and figure out how to do it another way. This past week has been absolutely crazy, but we did have two more Baptisms this past Saturday! Still cannot believe at how blessed we've been to have been able to Baptize 6 people in this past transfer! Everything went down just perfectly for Adrian and Berenice, and another bonus is that their Dad is super impressed with this change that they've gone through and our ability to teach them what we have. Bonus! He's so going to be the in that font one of these days!

A small speed bump in the mission this past week...was that my backpack was stolen. Well that just about makes the Oak Cliff experience complete, but it has quite the story behind it. So we were taking the Dallas Area Rapid Transit train deeper into Dallas and we had our bikes with us so that we wouldn't get stuck waiting for the bus. Well once we finally got to our stop, I unloaded my bike off of the rack, and once I put it outside, I went to go and get my backpack, but the doors closed and the train just took off! After a couple seconds of shock and running after the train and realizing that there was no way it would stop...I called DART and had them send a sweep team in at the stop that was 3 minutes away. So they went in and found nothing. Welcome to Dallas. It didn't have much...just my scriptures, planner, a good amount of Pamplets and stuff...oh yeah...and my camera. The camera had about 8 gbs and 2 transfers worth of pictures so I was always frantically calling lost and found hoping and praying with a zeal that I don't know I've reached before. I was hoping that some good Christian person would have turned it in or something like that, but when I reached the lost and found they reported that they get all their items at the end of the week and that they'll be closed on Labor Day. So at least it kept me hopeful. I so badly needed my camera...it's so expensive and had pictures that I couldn't just go out and replace. Well after more praying and even fasting (believe it or not haha I needed that stuff!), we got a call on Friday from Hermano Ruiz, one of the Ward Missionaries. He said, "So Elder Rodriguez, did you loose your camera?" I just immediately looked up and gave a prayer of thanks and for the little miracle that we saw. So what happened was that Hermano Ruiz's Nephew found my bag on DART...and I guess to put it simply....he's not a good christian soul, and he started looking through it to see what was good. He found my camera, a tool set, and just some other random stuff that he took and then decided to make some money. Getting off at the next stop...as the story goes, he decided to make a little moo laa and sell my scriptures, backpack, and everything else. But when he got home, Hermano Ruiz said that he saw his nephew looking at pictures on a camera he knew he didn't own and asked him where he got it. When he replied that it was his, he saw the pictures of me and Elder Rodriguez...and now the Camera was returned back to me with all of the goods he had taken out. So, it was found by a good Christian soul and was turned in, and yes, to all of the atheists I've talked to out here in Texas (which aren't many), there is a God and he listens to us haha. Now I'm just praying that someday I'll get to hear someone bear their testimony that they decided to join the church when they bought a pair of beautiful scriptures that were marked with the best verses! It's going to be so awesome! 

But this week has been absolutely amazing, so much success, and even though me and Elder Rodriguez have both felt a little sick, we can both testify the "When you are on the Lord's errand, you are entitled to the Lord's help." And he will most definitely give it to you at the times when you need it most. It truly is amazing about how he never forgets about you. Well I hope and pray that everything is going well with everyone and am especially excited to hear about Rachel's start at BYUI!!! Such great memories of my last few weeks back home and then starting my career at college! I know there's going to be some crazy stories somewhere in these next few weeks Rachie haha so to anyone that's going to BYUI, be sure to keep an eye out for her. I'm working up to be like Grandpa John and Papa and getting to the point where I have eyes everywhere and can hear everything haha. Love you all! 

Elder Justin Wilson