Hey Family!!!! Sorry this email isnt gonna be too long!!! I dont have like anytime today!! I really hope yall are doin real good!!! I miss ya all! But ok sooooo this week....was transfers. :( I cant tell you how hard it was to leave Le Mars. Honestly, probably one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. I loved it there more than I can put into words. I bawled and bawled allllllllll day sayin goodbye to people. It was soo sweet what people said to me. Really made me feel like I actually made a difference there. It was such a cool thing to hear and to feel:) I met so many people who have changed my life for the better and who I have learned soo much from. I seriously am countin down the days till I can go back and see everyone. I just hope and pray no one there forgets me;) (Ya here that Tifertoes....thats shoutout numba 2 for you punkin.) But my new area is here in Hastings, Nebraska. My address is 3326 Parklane Drive Apartment #4 Hastings, Nebraska 68901. Please please write me!! Haha I would kinda a lot appreicate it;) My companion is named Sister F. She is a sweetheart! she really is! She will be goin home next transfer so I will most likely be killin her off. So the good thing about bein here is I got here right on time for Kool Aid days!!! haha Kool aid was made here:) So they had this huge fair with tons of country music...(yet again coutnry music has saved my life and made me feel at home here!) we were able to volunteer at a booth and I made a really good friend with this girl who was my age but Lutheran!! We are goin to lunch with her this week so we will see where that goes:) There are 2 people set for baptism here!! So that will be neat!!! And get this....we are settin a girl for baptism this week for September 20:) Do you know how cool that will be to have a baptism on Jareds Bday??:):) I would love that. Pray it happens.

Well somethin I have learned a lot this week is change. And how much it sucks. Haha but without changing we wouldnt learn anything. So I just gotta keep that in mind:) I think with this new change its gonna help me really rely on Christ and give my whole self to him better. Cuz honestly I feel like I have nothin else right now. I am really gonna change for the better. I am gonna let this change...change me. I am gonna let Christ mold and shape me into the person He needs me to become.I know that all things happen for a reason....even if we just dont see how in the world this could be a good thing now. God knows the end....He knows why we have to go through some of the things we do. So we just needa trust Him:) He knows what He's doin:) unlike us...we have never lived life before! How the heck do we know whats best for us??

The purpose of this life is to change to become more like Christ. It is to incorporate into your being His qualities. The scriptures, the church, the restoration, the atonement of Jesus Christ makes no difference unless they get inside of you. Unless they become a part of you. I think a lot of times we think that the gospel, or living what God requires is harder than what it is. Life is hard, not the gospel.The gospel is really what makes life easy. Its the easiest way to live life. There is no aspect of the gospel of Christ that is beyond ourr capacity. Not even close. You not only can be changed to become more like Christ, the whole of the plan of salvation is designed in favor of your success. The plan of salvation is not a level playing field. It favors you. It favors not only your success but also the success of each and every one of Gods children. Everything has been organized to give us the best oppurtunity to succeed. So now all we need to do is trust God.....and follow Him. Follow the perfect example He sent for us. His son, Jesus Christ. Then we will succeed and become all that He wants us to become in the end:) I love you all sooo much and cant thank you enough for what you have done for me! You are amazing examples to me and I am so grateful for your love and support. Love, Sister Wilson:)

Hey Family!!:) How was Lake Powell??.......don't tell me too much. It might kill me. Now stop goin dangit!!! Next time you go....its gonna be with me ok?? mk. Well I know your week was good so I don't even need to ask;) our week was real good too! I got to go on exchanges with our Sister Training leader and we went to an interview with all the Zone Leaders and Stake President and all them! It was way fun! haha the Stake President gave me a referral for up in Le Mars and challenged us to find him, and get him baptized in the next couple of weeks!!! We are takin that challenge!!! I just hope I get to see what happens....Transfers are this week....and I think I might be a goner. I been here half my mission.....kinda a long time!!! but ya never know:)

So....I bought tobacco and cigarettes this week. That's somethin I havent done before....Missions change you:) and teach you new things:) Haha I guess I should probably explain before my Dad or Grandpa or Em comes out here and gets me;) So we met a bunch of nursing home patients at walmart and each of us missionaires took an older person and helped them shop for whatever they needed then ate lunch with them. So this guy Larry begged me to push him...the whole time he was droppin all these pick up lines at me. It was HILARIOUS. He was soo dang cute. Then.....the only things he wanted at the store was tobacco and cigarettes....haha perfect time to teach the word of wisdom...right? I thought so too. But he didn't care too much. He said, "oh that's nice angel....but ya see....I NEED em or Ill keel over and die, and then, darlin, youll have to to do CPR to bring me back"............ I let him win that one. We also were able to find another couple new investigators!!! haha we need more missionaires up here soo bad!! We will see what happens!!:) Oh and I would be proud to tell my Dad that I have mowed more lawns this week then ever at home. :) I really really like mowin lawns when Im not forced too by my parents and brothers;)

So many amazing miracles are goin on. We are able to teach soo many lessons a week!! A ton of people are progressing and its just amazing to see what the Gospel can do to peoples lives! Theres just too much to say....so Ill wait till I come home to tell you all:) So this week I really have been thinkin. Next week I will have hit my halfway mark on my mission. I been thinkin about how badly I want this mission to change me. I want to become someone that is completely selfless, that is Gods hands. I want my will to be His will. I want Him to be able to use me and count on me for whatever He needs done. I want to change everyday to become that person. Then I was thinkin that the whole purpose of life is change. It is to be changed to become more like Jesus Christ. It is to bring into your character, the qualities of His character. It is to continue to progress and continue to become better and better until we see God face to face and know Him as He knows us.

So... every challenge we face, every hard thing we go through, every bad thing that happens to us, every unfairness, every conflict, every sadness, every disappointment and heartache, every temptation and every opposition happens for one purpose only: to give us opportunity to respond by applying in our lives the teachings of Jesus. As we do so we are changed to become more like Him. How cool is that? (I didn't come up with that... I found it in a talk by Lawrence E. Corbridge) So theres a quote by C.S. Lewis that I really really love. "Give me all. I don't want so much of your time, so much of your talents and money, and so much of your work: I want You. All of you. I have not come to torment or frustrate the natural man, but to kill it. No half measures will do. I don't want to only prune a branch here and another there; rather, I want the whole tree out. Hand it all over to me, the whole outfit, all of your desires, all of your wants and wishes and dreams. Turn them all over to me, give yourself to me and I will make of you a new self in my image. Give me yourself and in exchange I will give you Myself. My will, shall become your will. My heart, shall become your heart." That's exactly what I want...... So in the end, your heart and your will is all that you have to give that the Lord does not already have. If you give your time, and your strength then you give only that which He already gave you. If you dedicate your gifts and talents, you only return to Him what He already has given you. Everything that you have to give to the Lord, He first gave it to you, except one thing: your will. He does not have your heart, nor your mind, unless you give them to Him. It is the only gift you have to offer that He does not already have. So when you give yourself, you truly give Him everything.....I love that. Just give it up. Surrender your will to Him. Unconditionally. Withold nothing. Turn it all over to Him; all of your desires, wishes, ambitions, dreams and hopes. Be true and faithful in your head and in your heart, not just in your behavior. Trust in Him. Trust Him who knows all things. Trust Him who has all power. Trust Him whose love for you is perfect. Trust Him, who alone suffered, paid and atoned for your sins, and for your weaknesses as well. Trust Him that He will make of you, more than what you will ever, ever, in all eternity make of yourself. He will create of you a masterpiece. You will create of you only a smudge. You will create an ordinary normal man. He will create a God.

Presdient David O. McKay said, "The greatest battles you will ever fight will be within the silent chambers of your heart." That is the battleground between what you want and what the Lord wants. If you surrender, if the Lord wins, you win also. If you win, if your will prevails, you and the Lord both lose. The only way to win is to lose. Lose yourself in the Lords work, and you will win beyond your wildest imaginations. So last quote that I really liked was from Lawrence E. Corbridge, "Do you see that only in losing yourself, may you find yourself, only by enriching others, may you be enriched; only by giving, may you recieive; only in surrendering, may you become free." Ok sorry I kinda went off there. I just been studying a lot about it and have learned a lot about giving yourself up. A lot of what I said was quotes and stuff I loved from talks I studied. Mostly talks by Lawrence E. Corbridge....he's AWESOME. I hope you will all like it as well. It definitely gives ya something to think about. I know that if we truly give ourselves up that that is when we will find ourselves. and not only find ourselves, but there will be a whole lot more to find. I love you all sooo very much and am so grateful for all your examples to me! I love you!!! Have an amazing week!!!:) Love, Sister Wilson:)

July 28, 2014

Hey Family!!! How are you all doin?? Well your all in lake powell...AGAIN. NOT EMAILING ME. soooo I assume your more than good!;) Well I am not jealous....not one bit. So its fine. Whatever. Hope your havin fun!;) Well this week was SOO crazy. Ha a lot happened. Honestly its been one of the hardest. But that's probably why it ended up bein so good. We saw soo many miracles and had some POWERFUL lessons. Ones I will never ever forget. Ill just talk real fast about a couple of em. So one of our investigators dad died of cancer this week. It was cool cuz we had no idea and decided to go over there and see how she was doin. Ended up that he had just passed away and she was REALLY struggling. I cant tell you how cool that lesson was. We just hugged her while she cried and bore our testimonies so powerfully. Her eyes were just fixed on us while we talked. I cant even begin to tell you how it felt talkin to her. It was as if there was nothin else in that room. I felt her Dad in that room, I felt Jared in that room, and I felt heaven in that room closer than I have in a long time. I don't see how people can think there isn't a God, and that He doesn't love us. He is So aware of each and everyone of us and I know he sends people to us in His place to show us that love. Well there were soo many other amazing lessons. We went over to see B...her husband and son were gettin ready to go to the county fair to show their cattle so it was kinda busy. We started in our lesson about Christ's grace. She didn't quite get the concept. We read "His Grace is Sufficient" by Brad Wilcox. (STOP READIN THIS EMAIL RIGHT NOW AND GO READ THAT TALK. Seriously you ALL need to read it. Its amazing!) But while we were readin that everyone got dead quiet. Her husband and son stopped gettin ready and sat down to listen. They all commented on how cool that was and the spirit was there so strong. Barbara started tellin us how she had felt so down and alone and frustrated with herself because she feels as if she is never good enough. She had gotten to the point where she was just done. Done with life itself even at times. She said it was cool cuz God knew how much she was struggling and sent us over with this talk. She knew that God was aware of her and answered her prayers by sending us to her. Once again that was testimony to me that God Really is aware of us and will send others in his place to comfort us and show us that love that He would otherwise show if He could be here. She ended up askin TONS of questions about our church and said she really really felt somethin special today. We told her all about the Restoration again and invited her to really pray and ask God if this is the truth he wants her to find. She said she most defienlty is doin that tonight and wants us to come over in a couple of days to teach her as much as we can! ha SOO cool:) Well seriously this week we had so many lessons that were just powerful. But instead of tellin you about all them...I wanna share what I have been learnin from all this. 1st off...I have learned that we can and Need to depend on that unfailing desire of the Savior to bring all of Heavenly Fathers spirit children back to their home with Him. I really have felt just a glimpse of how much Heavenly Father and our Savior love these people. How much they love us. They desire more than ANYTHING in the world to just have us, their children, return home to them. And they are always there with open arms ready to pour out their love to us....but the catch is...we have to accept it. We have to open our hearts and eyes to feel and see their love...or we wont. Its all our choice.

There's a quote that I have really been thinkin of lately....It says, "If we choose the right, we will find happiness...in time. If we choose evil, there comes sorrow and regret....in time. Those effects are sure, yet they are often delayed for a purpose. If the blessings were immediate, choosing the right would not build faith and since sorrow is also sometimes greatly delayed, it takes faith to feel the need to seek for forgiveness for sin early rather than after we feel its sorrowful and painful effects." I really have been able to see and learn that a lot out here on this mission. I have seen that choosing right....even when its the hardest thing in the world....always always brings happiness in the end. Happiness that never ends. But choosing to just be a little disobedient, or just a little wrong choice....STILL always leads to sorrow. It leads to separating your self from God more. It leads to the spirit not bein with you as much and as strong. (which in reality....makes all the difference). Even if its just a little thing...it does come between you and the Lords relationship. So make the little choices in the right direction!! Any closer to God you become, the more strength you have to face life's challenges. Who wouldn't want that? Anyways sorry I am kinda goin off...but one other thing I really have been thinkin about is Christ's grace. And how beautiful and amazing it truly is. What a blessing it truly is. We all fall short. We all aren't good enough. We all make mistakes, sometimes big, sometimes just really stupid. And because of all these mistakes....we lose blessings of what might've been if we just would've made the right choice. But we need to realize that because of Christ, because of the Atonement, we have repentance. We have that priviledge to repent, and through repentance you can qualify for ALL the blessings of heaven. So don't get down on yourself, or think "Well looks like Im not gonna reach my full potential now, I just keep messin up." But, as long as you keep repenting, its as if you never messed up in the first place. THAT is one of the best blessings we have. Take advantage of it. That's why Christ did it. He wanted his gift used.

Anyways so sorry I went off this week!!! haha I love you all soooo much and just know you are in my prayers every day!!! EVEN when Im a little mad cuz you went to lake powell without me AGAIN....your still in my prayers;) you just owe me a LOT of lake powell trips next year....mk? Deal. LOVE YOU!!!!! Love, Sister Wilson:)

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:)