Hey Family!! Hope you all had a really good week!!:) I miss and pray for you everyday. This week was kinda a rough week for different reasons...but miracles still happened:) So we started the new member lessons with T this week. We had our ward mission leader and his wife, the relief society stake presidency and S all there for it! It was amazing! The lesson went really well. We taught him about the Priesthood. Then a couple days later he called US askin when we could come teach him again. He is soo cool. So we took that opportunity and went that night. He ended up tellin us about his baptism experience. So somethin I didnt tell last week was he had to be baptized 6 times cuz he kept comin up out of the water. He is deathly afraid of water and has major anxiety problems so after 5 times of it not bein valid he started to freak out. He stopped and looked at me and Sister B and said, "I can't do this. I just can't do this. Im done." He looked SO So sad. It was heartbreaking. I looked him in the eyes and said, "Yes you can T....because God will help you. Just say a prayer." He closed his eyes and said a prayer then said he was ready and was baptized! It was sooo cool! But he told us that he had never been so scared in his life. He was about to get up and just walk away but when he prayed this overwhelming peace came over him. He said he wasn't scared anymore and he just felt how proud God was of him. He said that was the coolest experience he has ever had. Ahh he is sooo special. I am sooo privileged to know him. He is doin AMAZING and gonna be such a powerful member. He already is workin on missionary work with the rest of his family:) He is preparing for the priesthood and SO excited.... And him and B are workin towards a temple marriage:) I am soo lucky to be able to see this all happening!! :)

Sooo some other things that happened this week that just wasn't as cool as T's experience, was a drug deal happened in the middle of one of our lessons. yea. We left. haha But sooo many other things happened this week, we got 3 new investigators (by talkin about country music....) (once again.....Country Music is of God. I have learned this multiple times while bein on a mission;)) But somethin that I have really really learned this week is about weaknesses. I have really been able to see a lot of my weaknesses lately...ha . Things that have always been a struggle for me, have come out more on my mission. I guess I've realized just how much I needa work on. A mission helps you prepare for your future, but it also helps you see how unprepared you really are.

So I just been strugglin a lot lately tryin to fix some things. Its hard. Ha really hard. Satan puts obstacles and temptations in our path and if we fall for them, it lessens the impact we have on other people, and causes us to have a lot of doubt in ourselves. I guess that's somethin that really has hit me. If I am not bein the best that I can be, then I can't help others as much. You have to help yourself before you can help others. Its also the same with the gospel. You can't convert someone past your own conversion. But the more and more we learn and repent and utilize the Atonement in our lives, the more of an impact we will be able to be to the people around us. So if want to help someone else, then the best thing you can do is fix the thing you can control, yourself. Help yourself. Then naturally, our examples and just by being the people we are, will affect and change their lives more than anything we could ever say to them. It touches them soo much deeper and instills in them a desire to change, which is the best thing we can do for someone. Sorry that's probably real confusing but hopefully you get my point:) haha Sorry this is a shorter email...I keep runnin out of time dangit;) haha but I love you all soo much and am prayin for you! Thanks for all the prayers in return...they really are felt.:) Let me know if there is anything I can do for any of you!!:) Love, Sister Wilson:)

Hey Family!!!! How is everyone doin?? How was lake powell?? I been thinkin about you guys a lot this week! Hope you had soo much fun...but not too much....cuz I wasn't there of course!;) Well this week was AMAZING!!!! WE HAD OUR FIRST BAPTISM!!!!!!!!:) Actually our first 2!!!:) Ahhh I have never been happier!!! It was sooo cool to be able to be the missionaires to find them and teach them everything then baptize them. It will be an experience I will never ever forget. :) I will never ever forget them!! It was sooo sweet....J.T. (the 9 year old) wrote me a letter that said, "Dear Sister Wilson, I hope you remember me forever. I will remember you forever. I love you." It was SOO sweet!!:) Tonny asked me to give the Holy Ghost talk:) I have never felt the spirit so strong. I am soo grateful to have been able to come on a mission and if nothin else be able to help Tonny and J.T. get baptized:) Heres some pics from it! So after church yesterday, all of Tonny and J.T.'s family and us all had a BBQ! IT was awesome cuz hardly any of em are members so it was a great finding opportunity! We talked to tons of them and they were all interested in why Tonny wanted to be baptized! It was way cool! I feel like we will be spendin a lot of time with that family:) Heres some pics of the BBQ:) and one other thing....so Brandi and Tonny are married...but have been talkin about how they want to be married "The right way". So NOW we get to help them both prepare for a temple marriage!!! Ahh we are soo excited for them!!!!:) So I am runnin out of time, but some other cool things that happened this week was we met with this couple named Paul and Collette. OH my heck. coolest thing ever. So they also live in the trailer park....we were talkin with them and asked if we could share somethin with em. We started teachin em the restoration and so I said the first vision....afterwards Paul (whos like a mans man. haha like hard core cowboy) started cryin and said, "Wow you can just feel that.....you just know that actually happened. You can feel it in every fiber of your being and it just feels right in here." and he pointed to his heart. The spirit was SO strong. We bore strong testimony that it IS right and this did happen and him and collette ended up tellin us all these things that have led them to be ready now to accept the true message. They knew that this is what God had prepared for them and they have been waitin to find it and finaly have:) It was SUCH A MIRACLE. I seriously cant even believe how many amazing experiences we have been able to have lately. I am soo lucky and priveldged that God is allowing me to be apart of all these experiences. My testimony has grown soo much. I know with all that I am that this church is true. This is Christs true church back here on the earth, and that this church has the fullness of the gospel. You can find truth in every church, but in order to know the rest of the story, the whole story, you can only find that here. I am so grateful to be able to have found it so early in my life. Living the way this gospel teaches truly does bring happiness that you can't find anywhere else. I have been able to see so many different peoples lives....many of which don't have the gospel. I have seen the effects of living without the gospel. I never ever want that. I want to always always have this gospel in my life and I want everyone I know to have it as well! Life is just easier with it. I know that if we put God first in our lives...everything else really does fall into place. If we make him our first priority, we cannot fail. We will always be the happiest when we first make God happy:) Well I love you guys all sooo much!!! Thanks for all you do!!! Hope you all have a wonderful week and know you are all in my prayers everyday!!! Love, Sister Wilson:)

Hey Family!!! Sooooo you guys all suck. Hope yer havin fun in LAKE POWELL WITHOUT ME. Not fair. Imma little jealous....but that's ok!!!! Ill just have to make up for it by goin 9 times next year:) So like....my comp and I were just walkin into the library just barely, and this old man yells from across the street...."ARE YOU THE MORMOM GIRLS?!?!?! COME HERE MY MORMON FRIENDS!!" So we walked up to him, first thing he says, "You both are beautiful. I want to marry you" with the biggest smile and no teeth. Haha gotta love bein a missionary.....and... I learned a new skill this week! How to burp a waterbed. Yup.

Well this week was AMAZING!!! So T and J. both passed their baptismal interviews and are gettin baptized this Saturday, July 12th!!!! We are SOOOO Excited!!! Aw the lessons with T have been absolutely incredible. He is sooo ready. He got up in church yesterday and started cryin sayin how grateful he was for me and Sister B for bringin him soo much happiness. He will never ever forget us. It was soo special. Ha I cried a little.....but not much cuz Im big and tough.;) But I will tell ya about their baptisms next week!!! :)

So we had another cool thing happen this week! We were walkin home from paintin Net nets house and this older Mexican man was strugglin gettin stuff out of his car. So we ran over and asked if we could help him. He was soo relived and thankful. We helped him load a ton of stuff out of his van then met his wife. We asked her if there was anything we could do for her. She said, "Wait..really? You would actually do whatever I need help with? Its the 4th of July though....don't you got so many other places to be?" and we said, "nope we are here to help you with anything you may need." She then broke down cryin and huggin us and said that we were angels that God had sent straight to her. She told us that she has been strugglin so bad with her health and had all these things she needed to get done by tomorrow and didn't see how a way could be made for her to accomplish it. But then out of no where 2 girls show up and ask to help. Haha She pinched us and asked if we were angels many times. It was sooo cute!!! We were able to help her get what she needed done and share the restoration with her and give her a book of Mormon:) She was soo excited to read it. It was a real cool experience:) It really strengthend my testimony on how sometimes we may feel that something is completely impossible. That there is no way we can come up with a way to fix something or solve a problem we may have. But even if it is impossible for us.....its not for God. Impossible isn't even a word to God. So quit tryin to do things all ourselves. We aren't gonna be able to do them. God has a plan, He is in every detail of our lives and will make it work out the best way, a way we could never even come up with ourselves. All we have to do is align our will with God's ,and trust in Him, and then let Him work the magic.

Well so many other miralces are happenin. We have 11 progressing Investigators at the moment and are finding new investigators DAILY. IT IS ABSOLUTELY INSANE. Le Mars is just blowin up!!! I am soo grateful that I have been able to see the change! Thank you all so much for the prayers you have said! They are really felt and appreciated! While bein out on my mission.. my testimony of the BOM has strengthened sooo much. There is so much power that comes from reading that book. A lot of the time its not necessarily what you read that gives you the strength, but the fact that you read that gives you the strength. That book is full of so much power....so many answers. As you read from the scriptures you not only learn what you are supposed to be doin but also things that your not supposed to do. It is our map that keeps us on the strait and narrow way. If we read that book everyday we will not leave the path. We will have the necessary power to fight Satan off and win.

We were talkin in district meetin the other day about what is the most important thing you can teach someone. After much discussion we decided that the most important thing you can teach someone is how to be spiritually self sufficient. Its like fishing. You can catch the fish for them and let them eat it. They get their reward. They get to eat the fish. But the next time they want to go fishing and eat a fish, they wont know how. So our job is to teach people HOW to fish, not just catch the fish for them. Once they know HOW to fish....they can go fishing whenever they want! and that is how a testimony is built. By continually fishing and partaking of the fish. The more we fish (Study the scriptures) the more fish we catch. (Knowledge, Testimony, conversion.) And thats the key....we need to be readin the scriptures everyday, not just every once in awhile to make a difference. You don't gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon by reading it. You gain a testimony of the Book Of Mormon by reading it A LOT. Anyways sorry I always go off on random tangents....haha I just love this gospel with all my heart! These have been the best 8 months of my life!!! I have learned so much and am just so grateful that I have been able to be a missionary for my Savior, Jesus Christ. As you know our purpose is to invite others to come unto Christ, but what people don't always understand is that we invite them to come unto Him so that He can work His miracle in their lives in whatever way he chooses. By coming unto Christ, that means we are submitting our whole selves, or our will, to Him. That's what it means to truly come unto Christ. And I can honestly say that by being out here on my mission I am slowly coming more and more unto Christ. I still have a lonnng way to go...but Im tryin my best:) I love you all soooo much and am so grateful for the amazing examples you all are in my life! Have a wonderful week and Dare bear.....jump the wake for me at Lake powell!!! Then crash and face plant it so I wont be so jealous;) haha jk I LOVE YOU GUYS! Love, Sister Wilson:)

Hey Family!! How are ya all doin? I hope ya all had an amazing week!!! So this week was crazy busy!! Ha so it was transfers week and everyone (including me) was completely convinced I was leavin. We bawled and bawled and it was horrible.....but thennnn I DIDNT LEAVE! I have never been so dang happy!!! Haha at the end of this transfer I will have been here half my mission! So crazy!:) I honestly wish I could serve my whole mission here...but who knows we will see:) So we were able to meet with K (a.k.a Lonely Guy:)) 2 times this week. It was amazing!! Wayyyy powerful lessons!!! He started to cry....he told us about his Dad dyin and how the stuff we were sharin with him just felt..right. He had never felt peace and comfort about his Dad dyin...until now. He felt that all was gonna be ok and he would see him again. It was sooo cool. Gosh I just LOVE bein able to tell all these amazing people this great news. I love seein how hopeful and happy they get. It literally changes their life right before your very eyes. It is so amazing to be able to be apart of it. Well because I am stayin I am able to see T and J be baptized!!:) We are soo excited!!:) They get baptized on July 12th!! The first baptisms ever in Le Mars!!!:) Soo excited!!! We have some others who are soo close to gettin a baptism set so hopefully Ill be able to see others!!:) I am just so excited for them. They are both sooo ready and so excited. Its so cool. T's mom is dyin right now and he has been strugglin so hard but just relies completely on the gospel. He literally reads the BOM for 3 hours everyday. How cool is that? He is such a cool guy. Well so much other experiences have happened but I don't got too much time so I am gonna cut it short today!! Your welcome;) But I do want to share what our mission is focusing on right now. So we had a whole zone conference a couple weeks ago about eternal families and preparing for marriage and our future families. It was REALLY cool. I learned soo much. But we just talked a lot about how Gods whole plan is for eternal families, and Satan knows that and so that's why his biggest attack is on the family. We discussed how Satan attacks the family by addictions. He plants seeds and then they grow into unstoppable weeds. He even uses us to poison ourselves. He uses society against us. He makes us think that we are in control, when in all reality we have lost all control. He frames sin to appear as noble. He twists good things, makes them look vague. He does this until his mindsets become instinctive to us. It makes sense, I mean God's work is hastening so why wouldn't Satan hasten his? But whats so comforting to know is that God knows all this. He knows Satans tactics. Therefore he knows how to counteract them. So He has given us all these tools to fight for our family and protect them. Those tools are prayer, scriptures, church, Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Holy Ghost, Temples...the list goes on and on...but the most powerful and important is the Priesthood. He literally gave us HIS power to help protect our families.I think of the Priesthood as the tool box and all those other things are the tools within the box. The Priesthood holds everything together. In order to have the Priesthood you have to hold a certain standard of worthiness. When you are worthy to hold the Priesthood, you are worthy and strong enough to fight off Satan. That's why its so so important that we have the Priesthood in our home. That we marry someone who is worthy to hold God's power and who knows what a priveledge that truly is. I just am so grateful for my Dad to always bein a huge example to me of this. I love you so much Dad, and really hope to marry someone like that someday:)

Anyways sorry that was probably all over the place. Ha its hard to gather all my thoughts....but last thing. There was a quote I found the other day about prayer. As we know, Prayer is a powerful tool God has given us to protect us and our families from Satan. As we really learn how to pray effectively and sincerely, the more power we will have against Satan. The more power we will have to protect our families. The quote is from H. Burke Peterson. It says, "As you feel the need to confide in the Lord or to improve the quality of your visits with him - to pray, if you please- may I suggest a process to follow: go where you can be alone, go where you can think, go where you can kneel, go where you can speak out loud to Him. The bedroom, the bathroom, or the closet will do. Now, picture Him in your minds eye. Think to whom you are speaking, control your thoughts -don't let them wander, address him as your father and your friend. Now tell him things you really feel to tell him - not trite phrases that have little meaning, but have a sincere, heartfelt conversation with him. Confide in him, ask for forgiveness, plead with him, enjoy him, thank him, express your love to him, and then listen for his answers. Listening is an essential part of praying. Answers from the Lord come quietly - ever so quietly. In fact, few hear his answers audibly with their ears. We must be listening so carefully or we will never recognize them. Most answers from the Lord are felt in our heart as a warm comfortable expression, or they may come as thoughts to our mind. They come to those who are prepared and who are patient. "

I loved that. I most definitely am goin to work harder to improve my prayers so by the time I have the blessing and privilege to have a family of my own, my strength will be sufficient enough to fight off Satan. I am so grateful for my family and my parents for always utilizing Gods tools in our family. I love you all sooo much and hope you have a wonderful week!!! You are in my prayers!! Love, Sister Wilson:)