Hello Family!!!:) MERRY CHRISTMAS!!:) Hope you all had a great Christmas!!!! Thank you soo much for all your letters and packages!!! I LOVE it so much and soo appreciated it!! Thank you!!:) I have the best family and friends EVER!!! Well this week we saw a LOT of Christmas miracles;) on Christmas Eve we were able to go to a members home and spend it with them. They invited some nonmember friends over and so of course....we became friends with them:) SO cool.....causally we all just started talkin and then this lady starts tellin us all this tragic stuff about her 2 siblings dying and how hard it has been on her. So naturally we brought up the plan of salvation and started talkin to her about our beliefs and she LOVED it. We were able to get their number and another appointment to go back and teach them more:) Then on Christmas we had these 2 potential investigators that we play soccer with every week, invite us over to their home that night to have tamales:) They are from Guatemala and ONLY speak Spanish. They seriously don't know ANY English.. Haha so my comp and I went over there worried that we weren't gonna be able to have any communication with them at all. It ended up bein AMAZING. One of my favorite experiences on my mission! I somehow was able to hold a conversation with them the whole night. of course it wasn't grammically correct...BUT we were able to communicate and understand one another!! The spirit seriously helped soooo much!! I felt him giving me words more than I ever have before! After dinner we watched a video in Spanish for them and then we gave them Spanish BOMS and I bore my testimony...EN ESPANOL!!! It was definitely rough....but HEY!! IT worked!! The spirit testified and they took the BOMS and said they would read it.:) At the end we figured out that Diegos phone had a translator app we could use....we tried to use that but...it backfired. darn satan. haha I was tellin them about joseph smith and the phone said, "You are very very gay." hahahah well all laughed...and I told them that definitely WASNT what I was tryin to say. It also swore at them a couple of times and said other not so good things......dang satan!! so we ditched the phone and went back to tryin to rely on the spirit:) Cool experience!:)

Well Sorry I don't have much time but I just wanted to leave you guys with a thought that I learned while reading the general conference talks. So it was in President Eyrings talk about continuing revelation. In it he talked about how Nephi said "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded." This has always been one of my favorite verses in the scriptures. Here Nephi shows such faith and courage. Well, President Eyring points out that after Nephi says that, that Lehi "was exceedingly glad" and it was because Lehi recognized that Nephi understood it was the Lord that wanted Nephi to do these things, not Lehi. He didn't say, "I will go and do what my father told me to do." Rather he said, "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded." That shows that Nephi was converted to the Lord. Lehi was the one that told Nephi these things, but Nephi realized it was coming from the Lord, Lehi was just his messenger. That made me think about families. How sometimes our parents "command us" or "tell us" things that we should do. And sometimes us, as kids, do them just because our mom and dad told us too. But then when the real world comes and mom and dad aren't there to "command us" anymore, then we don't do it. But as kids, if we learn that our parents "commands" are actually from the Lord, then obeying will be so much easier. We need to understand that God uses our parents, our leaders, as messengers for him. So when my dad used to tell me that I needed to come home at a certain time.....it was because he felt that was the right thing to do. It was because God told him that was the best thing for me. I just wish I would've listened more to what my Dad said. Because what He said was actually from God....and God knew what was best for me. Sorry this is kinda confusing....and I am hope I am makin some sort of sense....haha and I am definitely not sayin that everything parents say is from God;) like when my Dad told me that Mountain Dew is "good for you" and "Golf is like heaven";) hahah but I just do know that leaders God puts in our lives are inspired. He put them there to help guide us back to Him. He speaks through our leaders to us. We just need to have the faith and humility to listen then act. If you feel like something a leader says isn't true or is "ridiculous" then pray and ask God yourself. He will answer you and make sure you stay on the right path. I am grateful for righteous leaders in my life, who have been inspired from God to help me stay on the path that I need to stay on. I am so grateful for my parents and their willingness to always rely on the spirit when they raised me. I know that one day when I have kids, that I will be prayin my guts out everyday to have The Lord give me the words to say. That my words to my children will come across as Gods words, not mine. I love you guys so much and are so grateful for your examples and influence in my life!!! have a great week and know I am prayin for each of you!!:) Love, Sister Wilson:)

Hello Family!!:) This week is Christmas!:) WOOOO HOOOOO! Merry Christmas!!!:) I hope you all have a wonderful week :) Wow well this past week has been amazing. I seriously cant even tell you how grateful and happy I am. I absolutely love my companion with all that I am!!!:) She is my best friend. We have become such great friends...we get eachother and understand eachother so perfectly. I know that we were supposed to have been companions. I have learned so so much from her. She is soo special!! Haha we have soo much fun together and work so hard together!!!Its so cool cuz we are so unified......so when we teach...its so cool!!! I love teaching with her!!!:) I love love love serving in the YSA branch!!!! Its sooo fun to be able to work with people our age and teach them the gospel!!! :) E is gettin baptized on Jan 3rd!!!!!!!!!!!:) Ahhhh we are sooooo excited!!!! She is the sweetest girl in the world and sooo prepared and ready to make this covenant. Everytime we go over there to share a lesson the spirit is so strong. She just gets it!:) We know it is gonna bless her life soo much. She really cant wait to be baptized!!!!:) She had her mother pass away a couple years ago and she says she feels her mom close and just knows she is doin the right thing every time she meets with us:) SHES AMAZING. Oh so in the Family ward we have 2 baptisms comin up!!!!!!:) A and P:) They are SOOO special!!:) A is 20 and has 3 kids!!!! haha my age!!!! crazy!!! But they are so amazing. They just get the gospel. They are sooo solid. But then last week some stuff went down in gospel principles class and me and Sister L weren't there cuz we were in the YSA branch talkin so we missed it and apparently some false doctrine was taught by opinions and they didn't agree with it. So after church they texted us sayin they didn't agree and it really bothered them. We were sooooo worried.:( We been prayin like crazy and stoppin by to try and help overcome the concern and clarify but we couldn't get ahold of them!! Finally a couple nights ago we were able to go and teach them the whole plan of salvation lesson over and the spirit was there testifying to them the whollllle time! They completely agreed with it when we were done and said that they felt that was the truth and that all of their questions had been answered!:) SOOO they are still on for baptism!!!:)We are soooo happy for them!!!:) haha wow heavenly father REALLY helped us out there!! we could NOT have done that by ourselves!!! A lot was weighin on the lesson!!! So every saturday we play soccer with the ysa branch and fam ward together. We also invite a ton of investigators!!:) Our ward mission leader is Mexican and invites a TON of his Mexican friends who don't speak any English. we have made REALLY good friends with this couple named S and D. They don't speak ANY English.....haha but we communicate the best we can. They invited us to dinner on Christmas!!! They told our ward misson leader that they love us and want to hear the message we share that is so important that we would leave our families for Christmas:) So they are makin us tamales and we are gonna watch a movie in Spanish for them to learn more about our church and then we wrote our testimonies out and our ward mission leader is gonna translate it out for us and teach us how to say it in Spanish so that we can say it to them on Christmas:) Its gonna be soooo fun!:) Another cool thing that happened this week was we got asked to sing "Angels among us" in relief society for the Christmas program. :) That song has always made me think of Jared like crazy everytime I hear it....and I really feel the spirit.I Felt like it was a huge tender mercy for her to ask us to sing that song:) I felt Jared really close...He definitely was there that day:) (cuz we all know I cant sing....so mustve been the angels helpin out right?;)) Well soooo many amazing things are happening! I really feel like this is definetley where the Lord knows I need to be:) I have really been able to feel Him so much closer lately. I feel like Im really starting to get to know Him on a level that I never knew before. I feel like I am learning so much more how to strengthen my faith. I have really learned that having a positive attitude and obeying with exactness is an evidence of your faith. I have learned that doubt, fear, bein all sad and grumpy and feelin sorry for yourself is what destroys your faith. If we want to build our faith then we need to let go of all the negative things. Taking the negativity completely out builds your faith:) Another cool thing I have learned a lot about this week is how to act and not be acted upon. I love how if we are choosing to act then we are choosing to be a peacable follower of Christ. How do we strengthen our faith?? by acting! Somethin that I have been askin myself is if I am allowing myself to be acted upon and letting my circumstances affect me or am I acting and affecting my circumstances? Life throws trials at us all the time. Hard trials that seem overwhelming and extrememly difficult to tackle. But its up to us if we are going to let these circumstances act on us and pull us down...therefor we are being acted upon. Or if we are going to choose to act and be happy and positive. If we choose to act....choose to be happy....that in turn strengthens our faith, and when we have faith....miralces happen. Faith conquers anything and everything because Faith entails the savior to work miralces in us.:) Anyways sorry that was all over the place but moral of the story.....be HAPPY!:) lifes great! Continue to strengthen your faith and I promise happiness is the result of that! I have learned that to be completely true!:) I love you all sooo much! have a MERRY Christmas!!:) LOVE YOU! Love, Sister Wilson:)

Hey family!!!:) Soo crazy week!!! I got transferred!!! ha crazy...I was only in York for 1 transfer:( But since soo many sisters are goin home...they had to close York as a sister training leader area and so I got moved to Kearney Nebraska to be a sister training leader there! I LOVE IT HERE! We have 2 areas. We are over the Kearney YSA branch and the Kearney Family ward. Its soo interesting havin 2 areas. We go to church all day and we go to tons of meetings. Ha we are literally at the church from 7 to 8 every sunday.....crazy!! But I LOVE serving in the YSA branch! Oh it is soo much fun!:) It is so different from all I been used too but I love it!:) We have a baptism in the YSA comin up on Jan 3rd.:) We are really excited for her!! I love bein able to teach people our age. It makes for such a different dynamic. But its cool....I feel like this really is gonna strengthen my testimony so much more. Ha but also everybody is gettin married. We are gonna get to see a proposal in the comin weeks and help out with it!:) haha anyways this should be a really great experience!

Well I do have to say I am really really nervous. This new area reguires a lot of responsiblitity and I feel very inadequate. I don't really know how I am gonna be able to handle all that we have too....Im a little sressed out! haha but that's good cuz then I know I will have to rely on the Lord a whole lot to be able to do this:) I just have really been able to see a lot of my shortcomings and limitations lately. I really hate training and givin talks and teachin...and I am really really bad at it.( I know then why am I missionary right?;) haha) but we have to train and give talks and teach ALL THE TIME. It really makes me so scared!! I don't like to have to see my weaknesses right in front of me all the time. Its super uncomfortable! but I know that if I avoid looking deeply into myself and avoid confronting my weaknesses then I will never make them strengths. Or I will never allow the Lord to help make it a strength. I know that the Lord is allowin me the opportunity to have my weaknesses all up in my face so that I turn to Him and allow Him to change it into a strength. I have been avoiding this weakness for quite some time because its soooo soo uncomfortable...but God just wants me to finally overcome it now. Theres a quote I heard the other day..."Theres no comfort in your growth zone and no growth in your comfort zone." President Uchtdorf said in conference, "If our weaknesses and shortcomings remain obscured in the shadows, then the redeeming power of the Savior cannot heal them and make them strengths. Ironically, our blindness toward our human weaknesses will also make us blind to the divine potential that our Father yearns to nurture within each of us." I really loved that quote because I have always thought of myself as a really bad teacher. Its always been a super big insecurity I have had especially on my mission. I have made myself believe that the only reason I am a sister training leader is because I love these sisters so much, and they just need love. I can do that part. I can love. But I CANT TEACH! haha sooo now Heavenly Father is gonna help me be able to do that....He is gonna help me see my divine potential. :)

Anyways now that you all know my struggles....;) ha I just know that if I turn to the Lord during this time and have Him help me..that I can overcome this. I know this to be true in everything. If there is any struggle any of you may be havin right now...whether big or small...just turn to the Lord. its hard to have that kind of faith to just trust and rely that God will help you. Its hard to give Him every part of you. Its hard cuz you seriously have to take it all on faith. But I know if we take that leap of faith....that He will catch us in the end. He is perfect. He will never let us down. He is the one person who we can always rely on. Its like that scripture in Ether 12:6. how we will receive no witness until after the trial of our faith. We wont receive a strength until after the trial of our weakness. I love you all so much and cant thank you enough for all the love and support from each of you! have a wonderful week!

Love, Sister Wilson:)

Hey Family!!!:) Hope you had a great week!!! I cant wait to hear about it....haha sounds like dare bear did;) Gosh ew stop gettin so old!!! Well we had an amazing week!!! We had tons of appointments every day this week!! The work has really picked up here!!! I LOVE IT! we are super super busy! So many people are progressing soo much in the gospel!! We had 6 investigators at church on sunday!!!:) And they are ALL comin to the Christmas party this week and want to come back to church next sunday!!!:) Ah we cant wait! We also had one of our investigators, J, come to a baptism with us on Saturday!! It was his first time goin to one....and he really really loved it. He said he felt the spirit so strong and knows there is something special with this church:) It was a huge step forward with him!!!!:) So we have been tracting and handing out "He is the Gift" cards the church is pushing forward. We have seen lots of success with it! A lot of people are open to Christ:) Its a great way to show we are Christians and start off on a good foot:) So the work here in York, is AMAZING!!!!!! We are really seein so many miralces and success every day!!!

Haha this week also has been fun over at our house!!! We are havin tons of mice in our home!!! haha its so funny....we have set up traps everywhere and the mice will get caught by them in the middle of the night and then run around the whole house makin this huge noise cuz hes caught in the trap!! So that's been real fun chasin mice around tryin to finish em off!:) I will send a sawwweet picture of some of the mice we killed. we got 5 in one hour!!! Another thing is our home flooded last night:( We were goin to sleep over in grand island to help a couple of our sisters pack up to get ready to move and then we felt like we needed to stay here in York. A bunch of things just fell into place....this lady who we have been tryin to teach for awhile called and said she wanted to meet with us that night...anyways long story short we decided to stay at our place. We got home and it was flooded everywhere!!!! if we would've slept in grand island we would've lost our home!!!!:( Tender mercy from Heavenly Father!

Well one thing I really would like to share with you is from the talk by Elder Neil L. Andersen from this general conference. He talked a lot about how important it is that we each gain our own personal testimony of Joseph Smith. I strongly recommend reading over it again if you can!!!! It is sooo powerful. I love the commitments he asks us to do to help us gain that testimony that we so desperately need. I am going to be doin this along with our investigators this week and would love it if you all did it with us!!!:) So this week, can you each find to a scripture in the Book of Mormon that you feel and know are absolutely true. Then will you please share them with eachother, but also I would LOOOVE if you would share them with me and tell me how you know they are true! Then I want to share them with some of our investigators that we are workin with here!!! It would be an amazing way to start to remember and to be able to gain a personal testimony for yourself that the book of Mormon s true and joseph smith was a prophet, and also be a great way to share your testimony with people who are searching for the truth!!! I would soo appreciate it if you would do so! Thank you so much! I love you so much!!! I know that this church is true. I know that the world can disagree and throw all these things at us to have us believe that it isn't true. But I know it is true because of the feelings I feel when I live what this church asks me to do. I know it is true because of the feelings I feel when I read the book of Mormon. and I know this church is true because I have asked my Heavenly Father and He has answered me. This church is true. But don't believe me.....you can find out and be just as sure as I am...all you have to do is ask!! Start with the stuff you know to be true....then work up from there!!! I love you all soo much and cant wait to hear your scriptures!!! Have a great week!!!!:) Love, Sister Wilson:)

Hello Family!!!:) I hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving and is 10 times fatter!!!:) I sure am!!!! Woo hoo!!!! :) Im pretty happy about it. :) haha but We had a really good week!!! The General Authority that came to our mission changed things up for exchanges for the leaders! Now, instead of us going on exchanges into our sisters areas....they come on exchanges to our area!!! Which means we have an extra set of sisters in our area every week!!! its AWESOME!!! :) They changed it cuz they want our areas to be model areas for the missionaires and we are supposed to be the best example of carrying out the work. Yea. Pressure. Stress. But hey...miracles happened!!:) So on exchanges we went and did service at this place called "Adopt a pet" and you literally go and play with animals. Thats it. Best service ever!!:) We ended up givin out 2 Boms and findin 2 new investigators and teachin a lesson to one of our investigators that showed up there!!!!:) Haha it was soo cool!!:) Another miracle we had this week was on exchanges we went and taught a powerful lesson about gettin baptized to this investigator who has been investigating FOREVER and a day. We seriously gave it all we got. We invited her to really pray sincerely before she reads the book of mormon if this is the true church and if she should get baptized. On sunday...there was the primary program (of about 5 kids cuz we are in the BEST branch ever) and a lot of it was about baptism. I looked over at Debbie and she was crying. Afterwards, we went and asked her how she liked church....then I asked her how her praying and reading was going.....she looked at us and said, "I need to start mannin up and get some courage and do what I am supposed to do. I need to make some changes in my life...its just really hard cuz Im scared." We told her we would help her all along the way and just bore testimony to her that even though its soo hard...its gonna be so worth it!!!:) AHHH!! Sooo her baptism should be comin up here soon!!!:) We just have been seein so many miralces!! I am so blessed to be able to be apart of the Lords work and just have my testimony be strengthened so much. I know without a single doubt in my mind that this church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is the true church. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God, and I know that all that really matters in life is becoming who we need to be so we can make it back to our loving Heavenly Father. I really thought I had gained a testimony before I came on my mission. But I now have come to realized that I, or any of us really, have ever really "gained our testimony". I really have come to know that it truly is a process. It isn't a task of a minute, an hour, or a day, or an experience. It isn't once and then done." A process of gathering spiritual light is a quest of a lifetime" (President Uchtdorf) It takes a lifetime....cuz we need it. Our testimony will continue to grow until the day we die. Its up to us to see how strong and how powerful we can make our testimonies. Its frustrating sometimes because it doesn't always come as quickly as we want it too, but It DOES and WILL come. How does it come? By doing the simple basics of prayer and scripture and church. But....we dont just do those things...we live those things. We ask questions and really ponder and figure things out. "Spiritual questions deserve spiritual answers from God" (Elder Niel L. Andersen) The more we seek and ask God and have Him be the One guiding our every day choices...the more answers and guidance we will get from Him:) I just want all of you to know how much I love this gospel. How much I truly have come to know that this is the only way to be happy. Every single one of us looks for ways to be happier. If you look towards our Savior Jesus Christ, I promise you that you will find happiness beyond what you thought possible. It really does solve everything. That I know to be true. I love you all so much and am So grateful for each of you and the part you have played in strengthening my testimony!! I hope you have a wonderful week!! I love youuu! Love, Sister Wilson:)