Mom...You Would Have Been So Proud Of Me!

Hey hey hey howdy hey! Dang weeks are just flying by like days and I feel like I wrote yall yesterday...but I guess a lot has happened in the past week. I'll try and keep it simple. And I'm not going to lie...after a year and some of this...communicating in e-mails just drags on....so as I was thinking...I remembered that "Re-Runs" were popular and thought it would be a good idea to send whatever I sent a year ago and yall could enjoy that haha. Go ahead and tell me what yall think and I'll take it from there. But I first of all wanted to let yall know that the members had me give a musical number for a Branch activity where everyone acted out Lehi's Vision. It was pretty crazy because they didn't ask me or anything...and I think most of yall know what my thoughts are on singing to anyone except for my steering wheel...but then I thought about you Mom and how you wanted me to embrace High School choir...and how I did not...embrace it. I just thought about how proud you'd be watching me sing my little heart out in Spanish in a suit with my name tag and the whole nine yards. So go ahead and try to wrap your head around that...I know it's difficult to imagine, but I did it and it's over with, and you would have been so proud of me Mom! 

We had two investigators at this activity so that was neat, but this other family that we're working with is just about driving me up the wall. I'm not even going to go into detail on how things are going, but in their situation, they just don't seem to understand the blessings that come from the Gospel, and a good explanation of what they're going through is like....If they were drowning in a lake and we were to throw them a Yellow Lifevest. With only their head just barely above the water, they are complaining about how they were thrown a Yellow one instead of a Red one. It's way frustrating and sometimes I just feel like saying "Look! It's either this way or the highway. I know yall believe in the popular verse 'I am the light and life of the world' that all the Catholics have a poster of. This is the only way so yall just need to quit complaining and take it!" But whenever I think like that, I always take a step back and think "Well there's probably a lesson to be learned here..." So we're making progress with them...not at all like I'd like it to be or as fast as I had hoped, but progression. And I'm thinking wayyyyy outside the box and am teaching them from pretty much every side and every way possible, but it's looking good as far as the big picture goes. 

We also had a pretty sweet experience this past week as we are getting things started on the 'Just Serve' program that the church is piloting out here in Dallas, and as encouraged by the General Authorities, we went to some of the other faiths to see if we could somehow offer service. Given the way that all the other "Christians" have treated me while tracting and throughout all my mission...it became the bane of this week as we decided to do something exciting and humbly grovel at the feet of...(as sarcastically as I can ever say it) our "Christian Brethren" for an opportunity to serve them. Like I said...we tried to make it an interesting week and decided to start with our prime enemies....'The St. Mark's Evangelist Catholic Church.' All they were missing was the name 'Jehovah's Witness' to make them the Ultimate 'Trifecta of Doom!' As we walked up to the office to look for our opportunity to serve, I

really tried my best not to imagine the size of the comet that will fly down from heaven to destroy thier whole campus...but it went just as I had imagined...we talked to the Facility Manager and after a couple smart remarks and me biting my tongue while patiently answering questions about how Mormons actually can be in the same building as an Evangelistic Catholic, and how we do actually look for opportunities just to serve others as disciples of Jesus Christ. His face was pretty priceless when he found out that service was the only reason we were there, but just like I expected as well, we got set up to see if we'd actually come to 'serve.' They got us an opportunity to do some paperwork (putting one apostate paper inside of a binder and repeat the process about 10000 times) with "our lady crew." I knew he was testing us so I couldn't turn him down, and we showed up at the scheduled time. In the 'Just Serve' program, they said that the only point is service (hence the name), and we should only wear our tags, normal clothes, refrain from contacting, and if questions are ever asked, just set up an appointment to answer them later. Well, we showed up with normal clothes and the tag, and I remember the smirk on that lady's face as she said "Welcome Welcome! Let me take you back and introduce you to the crew..." I just sighed and whispered to Elder Stead, "Just wait till they tell us they're all out of water and only have coffee left..." So, again, just like we expected, we came in and met the crew of about 6 Catholic ladies, the youngest of which was probably 65+. I knew that dude was testing us again, so we grabbed that bull by the horns, became our charming selves, and to put it shortly, have 6 Catholic Grandma's out here in Plano Texas. So if yall ever need a place to stay or something to eat or are itching for a game of bingo...just give me a call and i'll hook it up for you out here in Plano Texas! 

Love yall and hope that you have a fantastic Easter! It truly is an amazing time to follow the example of our Savior and do as he did. I encourage all of you to read over the sacrament prayers and remember the covenants that you renewed yesterday. It seems like we are better at living up to those commitments on the Easter weeks than normal, so I invite yall to think about how you celebrate Easter, and just live that way all year long.... I hope all my little cousins are thinking "JELLY BEANS AND PEEPS ALL DAY FOR A WHOLE YEAR!!!" I love and miss yall!!!!

Elder Justin Wilson