But this past week has been for real the most exciting time on my mission! So what's going on right now is that we have a mission goal for Baptisms, and in order to complete that goal, we need 100 baptisms in the month of December...and our monthly high has been 71 in September.......But with 200+ people working, sweating, praying, and fasting for the same goal, I am sure that it is achievable! So the circumstances that we are under right now is that as a Zone, we have promised 12 baptisms to the mission, and as for Greenville, we have 8 possible investigators that could come through before 2013...so this whole past week we have been setting dates, doing baptismal interviews, and then things started to go very well. This last Wednesday night as everything seemed to line up, I just remembered what went on with all of the investigators and people that we had baptized in Oak Cliff...and then I began to worry. When things go good for you as a missionary...you know something is about to happen, and you are so used to it that you can just see the adversary planning out some attack before it's even put into action. So with the excitement of the possibilities and the caution to prepare and arm every person that we know to defend themselves against whatever the Devil might throw at them, this has by far been one of the most exciting and yet trying weeks out on the mission. And to whoever is reading this and doubting that they should leave on a mission or believe that they can do some good elsewhere, I can testify that there is nothing more exciting or thrilling than being employed in the work of our Heavenly Father to truly help to "bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man". You deal with the eternal welfare of real people, and fight face to face with the embodiment of evil. I am seriously so pumped to keep this work going, even more so when I see some adversity come into play. Before we had set a baptismal date with the Kenny Chesney family this past week, they started telling us stories about how things just started coming out of nowhere. First off, their family just started to get sick while past injuries came back along with extended family members and neighbors that just start to laugh, mock, and spew out all the false ideas or twisted truths that they have on the church. It made me think of 1 Nephi 8:27 which describes the great and spacious building saying, "and it was filled with people, both and young, both male and female; and their manner of dress was exceedingly fine; and they were in the attitude of mocking and pointing their fingers towards those who had come at and were partaking of the fruit." It was crazy how even the kids had stories about what their friends said that was all negative about the church. And to add onto that, we had an appointment with them a couple days before and it sadly fell through, but a random Baptist Minister who they didn't know just came in and was telling all sorts of lies (and it also helped that it was his only purpose to be there...he didn't ask to help out with anything or show charity in any way.)
So once we started talking to them about it, they started to say, "and he said this...but y'all had explained that last week and then he said this and the week before y'all had explained that the week before and..." It was truly amazing to see how principles that I had never really capitalized before, were things that we unconsciously discussed weeks and weeks before this adversity amped itself up. It is such a testament to me that while you are doing the Lords work and even though you may be unaware of it, he directly leads and guides everything you say and do. One of my personal favorites was when the Minister told this family that the Mormons believe they're "perfect." And for some reason these past few lessons we had been talking about the whole enduring to the end and how we always need to have faith, repent, and grow due to our countless imperfections. When Cory Vance (Kenny Chesney) told the Minister of the importance that we had placed on that, the man replied "Well then...they must not be true Mormons." Haha oh that is rich...the ones with the name of the church right over their heart aren't true members...good comeback. But it was absolutely amazing to sit there, and then hear this family testify to us...when the teachers became the learners...on how all of this adversity has shown them that all of this has to be true and that if there wasn't something worth fighting for, why would so many random things rise to the occasion to stop them? It just makes me think of a quote by Martin Harris; "The cunning of the Devil is never enough to match the Wisom of God." I just about cried. but I'm so grateful that I get to stay here longer and continue to help them to partake of these blessings. Another baller part of that lesson was when Jeremy, (the kid who said about two weeks ago that God told him that the Mormon church was false and led to a bunch of doubts that we had to help him overcome), when he asked us this AWESOME question...."Is it possible to repent if you have told someone that God said something that he didn't really say?" Me and Elder Larson both got a smile on our faces and after talking about the miracle of forgiveness offered to all, he replied, "...good...that's been haunting me so badly for a couple weeks now." Haha oh how the guilty are called to repentance!
Which brings me to one of my absolute favorite parts...a new addition to my letters will have to be the "Baptist Pastor Quote Of The Week." This past week, we talked to this one Baptist guy that just loves the missionaries, but isn't really willing to change. Best part of the day was when I heard, "John 3:16...For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life....I don't know what that means...but it sure does fill a hungry soul." And that is our Baptist Pastor quote of the week haha. By the way, for their Independent Baptist church's Law Of Chastity, you can only go on dates with a chaperone, you may not hold hands or kiss before marriage, and the women are not allowed to wear jeans...so my discovery proves that the Amish must still exist! Oh yeah, and another jewel while here in Greenville, was when I was asked AGAIN to give a dog a Priesthood blessing....yup that's one of those "only in the South" stories haha. But as we saw more and more assaults come from the adversary (the least of which were angry Ministers...), we kept focusing on getting everyone to read their scriptures every day! 1 Nephi 15:24!!!! No better protection against the Devil...so read your scriptures!!!
But while we spent this past week worrying about others, I was hit with a little surprise. One of our investigators named Carlos had just started basketball season, so we saw a golden opportunity to invite him to the weekly basketball game that our Priesthood holds every saturday morning. We picked him up and started getting the game going. Well, during the game, I went up for a rebound, and once I got the ball and was on my way down, I was sandwiched between two people and during my landing, I felt and even thought I heard this huge tear as I hardcore rolled my ankle. It was soooooo painful haha, even worse than fasting on a bike in the middle of July! I was even trying to think if it was comparable to getting smashed in the head with a golf club haha just kidding just kidding, but it seriously killed. So we called it a game, and as I tried to walk it off, It got worse and worse, and led to a day of me sticking my foot in a bucket of Ice-Water for 20 minutes in, and then 20 minutes out while elevating it. I sure hope that Shane will appreciate this because I will always remember when you tried to tolerate putting your whole foot into the icy water of Tahoe. So the icing my foot reduced the swelling from Grapefruit size to...I guess a little bit smaller, and then an awesome member got me an ankle brace which has been a huge help in order to keep this work going and get our Mission's goal completed!!! I'm not going to lie though...icing that sucker totally killed...but it's slowly and surely getting better! Well I could keep going on forever but due to the time, I gotta make it a wrap and thank you all so much for your support and prayers! They really do make such a difference and are needed to help us get a miracle here...an achievable miracle for sure but yet a miracle. I love and miss yall tons! And someone please punch me if I say "yall" or "fixin' to" a couple months after my mission...it's already starting to bug me haha.
Love
Elder Justin Wilson
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