Flying Solo = A Week Of 50 Companions!!!

 In Gilmer there are three Wards and I cover the Gilmer 1st and 2nd Wards. After Elder Browning left, the Gilmer 3rd Elders kicked it with me until I was supposed to get a companion. We tore it up last transfer by covering just the Gilmer 2nd Ward, and since we were put over all three, we had to just milk the Young Men's and Elders Quorum for all they're worth! I was pretty much exchanging this whole week like it wasn't nobodies business!!!
The first day, it went down super well, scrambling from one appointment to the next; setting baptismal dates, checking on baptismal dates, getting new investigators...the works haha. Then I got to spend the next day in Paris......wait....Paris?!?!?! Yup...it's true...there's a Paris Texas that's right next to Athens, above Pittsburgh, across from Palestine...(you can tell they kind of stopped getting creative when they started naming the towns.)

I got to go and tag along with the Elders up there after some problems came up (I personally think the biggest problem was their odd collections in their refrigerator. The worst one I found was a jar full of these huge spiders stuck in the freezer that had started before either of the Elders got there. So the idea (that was started I don't even know how long ago) is that when you see a big spider, you've gotta catch it somehow, put more water in the jar, drop the spider in the jar, and then stick the jar in the freezer until your new eight legged friend freezes over. (By the way...the bigger the spider, the more points you get, and it only counts if the spider was found INSIDE the apartment.)

"You hungry?" 

    "Yeah Man..."

    "So what do you feel like eatin???"

    "Dang man....I'm thinkin a frozen spider would just hit the spot"

It turned out to be such a great visit and the Lord got things going again as we prayed like it depended on him, and worked like it depended on us! It was such an awesome experience that started with the Elders telling me they had tried everything they knew to get new investigators and more baptismal dates, but had no success in doing so. They had been teaching the same group of people for the past 4 months and felt like it was a lost cause to get new investigators and get the ward amped about missionary work.

I searched my mind remembering some of the greatest missionaries I know and what I'd learned from them. It was one of the clearest answers I've received to a prayer, and a strong Testimony building experience when I said, "Elders, we're going to see miracles today.", just like other Elders had told me in the past when I was down. I felt inspired to use some of the tactics that I'd used before, but felt a little concerned since they hadn't always yielded success in such a short amount of time. So I prayed constantly, telling the Lord that with only a day to work with them, I felt just about helpless without some divine intervention.

It was absolutely amazing...just breathtaking, as I saw the Lord answer my prayers that we would find someone new to teach! I didn't even know if my Faith was sufficient enough for such a miracle, but after a few failed attempts, we continued to work with the confidence that there's SOMEONE to find and... BAM...we finally found 3 new people to teach! I just thought..."Wow...that was fast." And even though it didn't just come to us, I could see that the Lord was satisfied with our efforts, knew we were in a time crunch, and bailed us out! We were all of the sudden so stoked for the miracle, so grateful for what we easily saw as the hand of the Lord, and saw Alma 17:3 come to life as we began to teach with clarity, power, and authority.

The best part is that not only were our new investigators an answer to our prayers, but we were an answer to theirs as we found out that their son, Westley, had a close friend that had died only about three days earlier and said, "I've always been praying since then for God to tell me what the next step I should take is." Seems like a crazy experience, but thankfully, not a rare occasion if you're serving in the Texas Dallas Mission! 

To celebrate the God sent miracle, we got some pics in front of the Eiffel Tower!

The next day was absolutely insane as I went through about 10 companions in one day...and here's how the cookie crumbled:

I started out with the Paris Elders and we planned my trek back home. Due to their shortage on Miles given to drive the mission cars, they recruited a member to take me to Mount Pleasant (since Paris to Gilmer is a 2 hour drive....). So one of their members took me down there and I was able to check up on the Mount Pleasant Elders and party with them until my homies from Gilmer came to pick me up. Then I just about lost my patience when I found out that some of the Young Men I'd recruited to take me out made "other plans" and canceled on the huge night I'd put together. I was scrambling around, trying to find someone that could take me out so that the Gilmer Elders and I didn't have to cancel any of our conflicting appointments.

Then the crazy thought came to me that since we'd worked our behinds off to get these investigators taught in member homes, I would just have a different companion for each appointment. I'd just have them pick me up at one person's house and take me to theirs while I'd get another member to pick me up and take me to their home for the next appointment, and so on for the next four lessons. It seemed crazy and I'm pretty sure I lost too much hair trying to plan what I was going to do for the night, but that was the best choice there was.

So I called everyone to get them on board, and then it just worked like clockwork! The Gilmer Elders dropped me off at the Dawson's house and Benjamin Dawson was my companion there, and right when I'd told him to, Brother Child picked me up at 5:15 on the dot. Then after he was my companion and we had a lesson at his home, Brother Pritchett picked me up for the next appointment as my companion, right when I'd told him to and the rest of the night just flowed like that!

It was insane as I stressed my mind out planning it, but for the rest of the night there was no waiting, every lesson ended when it was supposed to, the spirit was there, and almost the best part, I always agreed with myself and what I wanted to teach! That's the tough part about companions, is that you both have to agree on whatever plans you have, then explain the whole idea to them again if they don't get it, and sometimes when you're teaching they'll go in the exact opposite direction than you wanted to go, so I didn't have to counsel my companion or anything and just thought it all over and it worked out! Well enough of the craziness, and as nice as it is to plan it all out yourself, nothing beats having a companion that always has your back, and someone you can always count on to help you out....so as fun as this week was...I'm stoked to finally get a comp!

I love yall and miss you tons! Shout out to Shaners for his birthday!!! Double digits baybay!!!!

Les Quiero Tanto, Elder Wilson!!!!