Sister Ashley Wilson

Nebraska Omaha Mission

11027 Martha St

Omaha, NE 68144


Wednesday, July 2, 2014

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:)

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