Welcome Tuh Greenvull

Well, to give you a vivid description of what Greenville is like...when we drove into the so called "booming city" of Northeast Texas, I noticed that they had permanently hired two men in overalls with banjo's to constantly play bluegrass music and dance around the sign that said "WELCOME TO GREENVILLE." It sure is a completely different lifestyle from anywhere I've ever been before and has, by far, the lowest population in comparison to another other town I've lived in before. For a while I thought that we had maybe taken a wrong and somehow ended up in Arkansas, but that was until I got to meet the members of our Bishopbric. I would try to describe them to you, but I figured it would be an all around better idea to have you look up the members of the O.K. Corral Shootout, and you would happen to see our Priesthood Executive Council. It actually helped me out a little bit when I got to take a chance and give my introduction to the ward. First off, Texans don't like California, and they already had interesting thoughts when they heard I was from Los Angeles (which is why I love working with the Latinos because when they hear that I'm from L.A., it just means there's probably some relatives of theirs that live close by). Another fallback for me is due to the political excitement in this time and especially the Conservative Extremists that make up 99% of this ward. Most of you that know me would think that would be a bonus for me, but there is a midget named Brother Wilson in this ward that makes up the 1% of Liberal Extremeists. So for my introduction I just gave a little info about me, and then I talked about how when I got my mission call, I was excited to preach in a hat, boots, spurs, and possibly even a horse. I told them about how "what I got was a little different from what I expected for the past 6 months out in Oak Cliff, but when I finally got here to the Greenville and saw Wyatt Earp in the Bishopbric (while gesturing to our Second Counselor), I felt right at home." After that I saw that I clinched the support of the High Priests, Elders, and Young Men and it may take it little more work to get the whole Relief Society on board, but right after church everyone was telling me "You'll fit right in this Ward!" So I'm excited to be here, a little bummed at the situation for my Spanish, but I see an opportunity to grow. 

We have what is called a Spanish Group that meets at the same time as the Ward and their Goal is to become a branch...yeah...definitely time to make some improvements. And out of our whole Ward, about 28% of all of the members are active, so I made it very explicit to the ward and group that through working together and using us as the tools that we are, we are going to see some miracles. I'm a little bummed about the whole being in an English ward, but I am super super excited that the language barrier doesn't exist for the time being and will help us get a lot done around here. 

On the way good news side, I was permitted on the down low by the Assistants to go to the baptism for Daisy and Esther down in Oak Cliff. We are only allowed to go to baptisms out of our area if they are in a certain mile radius, but Greenville is way out there so I just said bye and was way bummed that I couldn't go, but with the help of Elder Rodriguez, I got permitted to leave! (On the condition that nobody else knew so that the assistants don't start getting all of these calls about leaving for far baptisms.) Elder Rodriguez said he called the assistants, and after getting denied a couple times from getting the permission for me to come down, he asked them, "So, he was going to baptize a 10 year old girl, but since he can't anymore...I was going to tell her, but I'd rather see if Elder Wilson can call out of his Zone and tell her that he can't baptize her...." Haha that kid works wonders! But after that guilt trip, I was finally permitted to go and help the rest of the Jara family with their baptism! It was such an amazing experience and a little emotional for me especially because of how doubtful everyone was of getting the whole family involved and that only Manuel was ready. Well I guess that's life out here, working hard and living the dream! We hit standards of excellence this past week and I was also able to help out with the baptism of this way awesome guy named Tommy (shout out to Tommy Ludlow!) I seriously couldn't stop thinking of Tommy Ludlow everytime that we had a lesson with the big Tommy, but he's way ready and we're taking him to the Temple sometime soon!

Tommy Ludlow after his Baptism. He insisted we all strike Justin's famous Baptism pose

So much more info, but only so much time...well here's my new address:
4701 Sayle St. #144 Greenville, Texas 75401
and I hope you all are getting excited for more and more fall weather! It's crazy crazy cold up here...but I'm in a car area haha score. Well I love you all and can't wait to update everyone on whats going on down here in Hickville! 

Elder Justin Wilson

How The Good Always Seems To Have An Ending...

Well, four transfers and just about 6 months of trials, blessings and all sorts of awesome, scary, and amazing experiences...and it's time to leave Oak Cliff. I'm really going to miss this place, but even more so, all the amazing people I was able to meet and spend time with. But I'm determined to do like other missionaries in times before...I'm going to come and serve here again sometime or another!!! But as for now, I'm just packing all my stuff to get ready to leave on out to Greenville Texas. I've never heard of the place but it's apparently an hour and a half north east of downtown Dallas bridging the...farmland folk haha. But hey, what better place to be for the release of Taylor swift's new album than in the middle of farmtowm!  As bummed as I am to leave Oak Cliff with all the city life, ghettos, and Hispanics, I'm looking forward to a new area, companion and a whole new experience! But speaking of a new companion makes me think about how much I'm going to miss training Elder Martinez! 

One of my favorite experiences was a couple weeks ago when we were riding our bikes at night to an appointment and stumbled upon a group of about 15 bikers with the lights, vests and all that gear and good stuff. We thought it would be awesome to just merge in with them...so if you happened to be driving through Oak Cliff that night, you would've seen a bike convoy with the tight shorts, vests, racer bikes...and then a two dudes wearing white shirts and ties taking up the rear. Everyone kept looking back at us, but the fact that we had the lights and everything and just happened to show up in the rear gave them a confused look on their faces...but they kept going on feeling a little weird as to how we just happened to show up. In that moment I saw a golden teaching opportunity and decided to tell the shy Elder Martinez to go up and contact the people in the ahead of us while we were riding. So after a couple of minutes and a lot of persuasion, Elder Martinez finally made his way up to the man biking ahead of us, and after riding right next to him for a minute or so, he just looked over at him and nervously asked, "So....have you heard of the Book Of Mormon?" I just about crashed I was laughing so hard haha oh classic mission stories. Well as far as cool events that happened this past week...I was able to teach Shakira (no joke), Elder Martinez's bike broke...again haha and he said "All I need is a rubber band, paperclip, and a toothpick." So we pulled a MacGyver and made it home safely! But I'm not going to lie, one of the best parts of these past couple weeks was when I saw 11 out of the 12 converts that we have at church on the same day! One of our converts was about to be confirmed that day, but her baby started crying and she had the "I don't know what to do" look on her face, until another one of our converts came up to take care of the baby, calming it down and allowing Hermana Martinez to recieve the Holy Ghost. Converts helping out converts...it really just doesn't get much better than that! I feel so blessed out here and am so excited to see what's around the corner in Greenville Texas! I love you all and que les vaya bien!

Elder Justin Wilson

What Happens When The Ghostbusters Go Out Of Business

Hola Familia! I got a letter from Rachel that was talking about how crazy it is that our family is all spread out from the homeland of California to Idaho to Texas, all the way over to New York and the other east states. It is pretty crazy to think about, but I hope things are going well and I'll give you guys a quick update on what's going on down here in Texas. First off, Monday was super crazy and we didn't get a chance to do e-mail so we got it cleared to e-mail another day, but one thing that I was just wondering was if Mom was going to call the mission office after not getting an update haha. These past few weeks have flown by and I feel like October started yesterday, but we've been having a ton of fun down here getting all sorts of calls to do this and that. My favorite was when one of our baptisms called us because they have been having problems with...what they believe to be evil spirits and all sorts of crazy stuff happening, so Jacobo gave us a call and told us that he wasn't going back inside that room of his until we came to cast out whatever was haunting it. Me and Elder Rodriguez (the dream team back together for exchanges!) looked at each other and just started singing the Ghostbusters theme song haha, so we got our sweet jackets on, whatever weapons were inspired by Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray, and went to take care of business. In all seriousness, we went in and I was able to set it apart, and I'm not going to lie...it was pretty creepy there, and some crazy stuff went down, especially outside after we set the house apart, but I guess that's Halloween fun for the missionaries. Another lesson we have learned about the power of the enemy, is most definitely the wind. If it starts getting really windy wherever you are, you can count on it that there are some biking missionaries coming the exact opposite direction. 

The wind has been absolutely killing us, and these past few months of biking have given me a testimony that the Lord is actively a part of this work because there is no possible way that we would be able to bike as much as we have without his help! But thank you guys so much for the gloves and backpack! I was seriously about to buy a pair of gloves that Monday after I thought my hands were going to freeze off, but I figured I'd be thrifty for once and you guys answered my prayers...to survive winter in Texas. But the work down here has been going great, setting more baptismal dates, committing more and more people to church along with activating one of my trainer, Elder Lee's converts down here. It's quite the thrill to be heading the work out here and I love it! This past week we were also able to baptize Erika Martinez and her daughter Emily! It was so awesome to see the progression that family has made ever since we knocked their door a couple months ago and came in to bless their new baby. But with all of this progression that we have been seeing with so many people, we have also seen the adversary's efforts increase too and he's putting our converts through a lot, so we're fervently praying and helping them to get through all of these trials. But I remember Grammy telling me a couple years ago, "Nothing is free." As simple of a quote as it is, it really has left me thinking that someone always has to pay for something, and the greater the trial, the sweeter the reward. I love you all and hope life all over the country goes well! 

Love Elder Justin Wilson

Ask The Missionaries!!!

Wow! What a weekend it has been! Conference has been by far the best out of all the sessions I've seen and really connected to a lot of people. But easily the coolest part was President Monson's announcement for all the youth that the opportunity to serve a mission has been opened to a younger generation! How crazy it is that the norm will now be getting out of High School and off to the mission! It's going to require a much more mature generation and is perfect to prepare for whatever is in the future! And for all the Young Women with the thought of serving a mission...that was a pretty bold answer and I guess shows just how effective the sisters are out here in the field. Another part that made me smile every time I heard it was Elder Neilson's quote, "Ask The Missionaries!" It felt super surreal being the source that he was directing to, but we counted that talk as a referral haha. And Elder Holland's talk left my mouth wide open when he called out every missionary that has stood in a baptismal font with his hand to the square saying "Having Been Commissioned Of Jesus Christ." Just like always, he ended up hitting me straight to the core. I thought a lot about that and how he can cry repentance so firmly, and we all love him for it! And I even read in the Book of Mormon about how Amulek called Zeezrom a "child of hell" and we figured that we needed to up our call to repentance, so me and Elder Martinez are working on giving Alma and Amulek a run for their money! 

This past week has been awesome and we have been amping up the work here breaking the lesson record again by teaching 33 lessons...all pretty much about inviting people to conference and the importance of a prophet in these latter days. We had a lot of success with that and now we're excited to share even more of the messages that we heard, and even more excited to try new contacting ideas that we got after conference. And I'd like to send this message out to Uncle Scotty whose words were just ringing in my ears last night during our door contacts. I remember him telling me about his mission experiences when he sang along with Uncle Jimmy and the success that he found by inviting the spirit through hymns. I just heard his quote in my mind "When the Spirit tells you you're singing...you better flex those vocal chords because...you're gonna sing whether you like it or not!" Well I hope everyone knows how much I dislike singing in front of people haha...but yesterday I can say that I cleared that hurdle. I just told myself after conference that I would pay attention to every small prompting and do it...and the Lord took me a little by surprise but I did it! and why did nobody tell me how cold it gets here?!?! I was dying yesterday...it seriously felt like Utah all over again...but humid and super windy! I just about died on the bike, and I can't say that I'm looking forward to the winter, especially because all I wanted was to serve in a place that wasn't cold...quite ironic. But this past week was awesome and we have a great one coming up! Love you all and I challenge you to do what my Book of Mormon teacher challenged us to do...every conference...give something up to the Lord to bring you closer to him! 
Love
Elder Justin Wilson

I Got Myself A Greenie!!!

This past week has been absolutely crazy, but long story short, I am no longer in Oak Cliff West.  I was transferred back down to the Restored Oak Cliff South Area this past Wednesday to train Elder Martinez who is straight from the MTC. He is currently waiting for his visa to come through so he can get sent to his mission in Tampico, Mexico, but he is super solid! 

It is pretty ironic training in the apartment where I was trained, and it feels like a ton of responsibility, but I am way excited to be leading this area and know that we are going to find some serious success back here, even though we are starting from scratch. Speaking of which, we set a baptismal date this past Thursday with Jose Luis Rivera, who actually lived in Saugus for two months! I couldn't believe how small of a world it is, especially when I commented on his truck and all the cool add on's it has (SHOUT OUT TO MARKY!!!); when I asked him where he got the work done, he said it was at a place called BIG JOHNS. I couldn’t believe it, but he's way solid and totally opened up his house to us.  He said that we could come by and eat whatever and was just about ready to give us a key so that we could use his house for anything that we needed it for—what a great guy. 

We've spent the past week pretty much focusing on inviting everyone to hear the Prophet President Monson speak. It has been very cool, especially because whenever you come with a question, you will always get an answer! I'm a little bummed that I can't teach the Jara, Martinez, or so many other families I loved spending time with, but I'm way excited to find new success through our work, obedience, and diligence. 

So I'm back at the Camp Wisdom address (6363 Camp Wisdom Rd #215, Dallas TX75236). And I just wanted to give a shout out to my boy HUNTER!!! Haha you better get used to the name Hunter now because I cannot believe that your two years is already up!? Man it sure is crazy how time flies, but I'm way proud of you and all the work you've done down in Chile!!! Totally crazy that I won't be seeing you for another 17 months, but it'll be an awesome reunion for sure! 

Well, I love and miss you all and hope that you are all starting to feel some beautiful fall weather like we're starting to get here in Texas. All the time I've lived in Californiahas made me take perfect weather for granted I guess haha. Les Quiero!
Elder Justin Wilson

Another Shout Out....HAPPY BIRTHDAY RACHEL!!!!! Cannot believe that you're almost 18!!! Have fun and party it up at good old Rexburg, but don't have too much fun haha...btw who is Braxton?!?! I'm going to need a serious explanation!!! Love you! Elder Wilson