April 15

Hello, my family!!!

I hope this finds you all well and happy and healthy and... all that good stuff. Again, this week has gone incredibly fast, yet slow at the same time. Missions send missionaries into a weird time warp thing... I can't explain it, really. Just know that it is an interesting phenomenon. (Look at me using big words.) The work is going kind of slow in the branch right now. I didn't think I would ever say it but I miss "traditional" missionary work! We haven't been able to go tracting (aka: door to door knocking--I miss it!) so finding investigators is all based on referrals. For some reason, the YSA aren't giving us those! We are working heavily on building trust and relationships with the YSA's that come consistently right now... It's a work in progress but I do believe we are making headway. (? is that correct use of that word?) We are calling/visiting members to give them uplifting messages and to let them know how grateful we are for them. We are writing thank you's to everyone that feeds us. We are giving messages to members to remind them of God's love and purpose for us being on the earth. We are striving to be diligent in contacting as many as possible on our list of 600 YSA's in the stake; reactivation has become our main focus. There is a TON of work to do.... We just need a bit more member support in doing it. No worries, though. We are just going to continue to P.U.S.H. (pray until something happens!)

I have seen lots of tender mercies this week. Wednesday I was able to be on shift with the Stevenson's. I miss them a ton! I don't get to see them as much as when I was serving at the Jail. It was great to be able to talk and feel "at home" with them. Friday morning we had a training meeting here at the VC. Sister Lewis came up with everyone from the Jail. Man! I miss Sister Lewis! She was a ray of sunshine for me on a cloudy day; feeling her love was greatly needed. After our shift at the VC we had zone training. I absolutely loved it! Our Zone Leaders talked about the Christ-like attributes. Specifically, charity, diligence, patience, and gratitude. It was a very humbling and enlightening experience. I learned that I have lots to work on and to get better at.... Dang it! I'm not perfect yet! Let me see, what else?

OH! Instead of driving to zone training I told S. Diederich we should walk... to the building next door... so I could eat my snack. We did and then walked back to the VC to meet up with some of the Sisters who had gotten pizza for all of us to share. There was an army guy there that lives in Roy. So I talked to him for a bit before turning around to find Mark van Oene!!! (I realize this doesn't mean much to everyone else) Mark is the husband of Carla who's classroom was across the hall from mine and who I worked with for 6 years! When I got my mission call Mark told me he came out to Independence quite a bit and that when he did get out here he would come visit me. Well, he did! He was going to leave the VC when he found out I wasn't on shift but S. Pyne (senior sister) convinced him to stay and look around for a bit. S. Stobbe and S. Rogers took him around and were just getting ready to leave when I came in. I was so grateful to see him! He brought a b-day gift from Carla as well as letters from some of my Knowlton friends and co-workers. Such a tender mercy and my connection to home right then. How grateful I am for the mysterious workings of the Lord. He knew I needed a lot of love that day... I also got an envelope of letters from some of the Relief Society sisters in the ward. Yeah, it was a great day!

We saw a lot of miracles yesterday, too. We had had 1 lesson all week... Yeah, told you the work was slow... I was NOT looking forward to reporting to our district leader. Well, at church was a non-member, who happened to be slightly disabled and had wandered over from his baptist church, who I taught a lesson in the hallway between classes. He's not interested in learning more; "it doesn't matter what church you go to." Yes, it does (I said) you've got to go to the right one...like this one! I'm pretty sure he didn't get it because he wasn't willing to meet with us to learn more. We had a member present lesson when our dinner appointment had 5 non-member family members there. They brought up the Word of Wisdom first so I just followed with it... I may or may not have asked them all to ask Heavenly Father with 'real intent and sincere desire' if those things in the Doctrine and Covenants were true or not. Unfortunately, the man was a lawyer and his heart is lacking faith so I don't think it reached him but... I did what I was prompted to do. Our last miracle of the day was to send out a mass text to all the YSA's asking for referrals. We don't really care if they are members, nonmembers, less actives or not. We just want to know who the branch thinks we need to go visit. Last week only one person responded. This week 2 different people responded with 2 different names each! YEAH! We're just showing them YSA's that we are serious about our work!

Then... Here I am today.... Having a great p-day so far. Laundry is done and I get to email my favorite people in all the world! Life is good. Being a missionary is fantastically hard but rewarding. I am grateful I am here learning all that I am. I know that I am blessed beyond measure to be in such a beautiful place serving the Lord right now. There are things that only I can accomplish here... I've just got to figure out what those things are. I want you all to know that I love you and am so grateful for your continued love and support. I know I couldn't be doing this without you. I really do love each of you and am beginning to understand how much I really took having you all so close for granted. Thanks for putting up with me for so many years. I LOVE YOU ALL!!

Love, Sister Wilson

P.S. Transfers are on Thursday so... p-day could be as early as Monday again or as late as Thursday. Have a great week!

Mark van Oene and Me

Me and Sister Pugsley

Sister Stobbe, Felix, and Me

(Felix came in a few weeks ago and spent a LONG time talking with us... it was a lot of fun!)

 

 

I forgot to tell you.... Missouri has AMAZING thunder, lightning, and rain storms! There have been quite a few this week. I love being able to watch them. I may have to rethink how much I like them when I'm actually suppose to be out doing missionary work in them.

April 8

Hello, everyone! It is a beautiful spring day! Last night was a ton of fun... Massive thunder and rain storms. It was seriously a down pour that we had to run to and from the car in; talked about soaked. It was really fun, though. I've missed having a good storm so I was grateful to finally get one. How is everyone doing?! It sounds as though you are all doing well and life is continuing to progress... I'm kind of bummed to be missing all the fun but know I'm doing what the Lord wants me to do. Time is flying by, too, so that helps.

Let's see... What's going on this week? Well, so much and so little at the same time! The work is still relatively slow in the branch but S. Diederich and I are seeing lots of miracles. We've taught more lessons this week than ever before. However, those lessons are with random people we meet on the street; not YSA's that we can teach again. We are seeing some success with visiting less active members. I think they appreciate the visits; to know they are being thought about. It really makes the difference for YSA's when they realize people care.

Hmm.... Really, I don't have many stories about investigators! We are still working diligently to find but are focusing on helping to reactivate; we've got to keep those that we have before adding to them! It's great, too, because we can't go door to door knocking... Can you imagine us showing up at random homes looking for singles 18-30?! Kind of reminds me of the situation Mike had in high school... Yeah, not a good image for the church or ourselves. So, my work is mostly with referrals. I don't really like referrals. I especially don't like referral calling-YUCK! But I'm trying to be better about it because that is what the Lord has asked me to do.

Didn't you just love conference?! I'm really enjoying it as a missionary; I seem to stay awake better when I'm all dressed up sitting at the church or VC that at home on the couch in my PJ's. As always, I loved Elder Holland's talk! And President Monson was way funny with his story about when he was 8. I think my all time favorite was Elder Nelson. Maybe that's just because I am a missionary but I really loved how he focused so much on member missionary work. Until coming out on a mission I didn't realize how important members were in furthering the work--THEY ARE ESSENTIAL! Remind me to be a better member missionary when I get home.

Umm... yeah.... That's basically it, I think. I really do love being a missionary. I love being able to not worry about "life," I only need focus on saving people's souls. (Yeah, that sounds so much better!) I know the work I do makes a difference. Even though I may not see the fruits of my labors I do know that every seed I plant will bloom at some point in life. I know that my Savior is always there for me, with hands out stretched to help me in my time of need. I know that, even though life is hard, that it's okay because the Savior understands and has been through worse. I know that He is pleased with what I am doing. I know I am so grateful for this opportunity to grow. It's the refiner's fire for sure but I am definitely stronger because of it. I love you all and miss you like crazy. Time is flying by; I'll be home soon. I love you!!!

Sis

P.S. Do you realize that a year ago at this time we were all gathered at Mom and Dad's and I had my interview with the stake president? Ten days from now will be the my one year anniversary for receiving my call. Man! Time flies when you are having fun!

April 1

Hello, everyone! It's been a wonderfully fantastic week! So much has happened and the week has just flown by!!! Last week we had an extremely relaxing p-day that ending by celebrating national waffle day with the YSA's at family home evening. It was great!

A member, Julie, took us to Red Robin for dinner on Tuesday. I was so grateful for the opportunity to get to know her better; she amazes me! About 3 years ago Julie had a brain injury and she doesn't remember anything from before her accident. Crazy, huh? I thought that was only in movies. I kept asking her questions; don't worry I told her she could tell me to but out. She still has a hard time with her alphabet but can recite it backwards perfectly. She had to learn how to walk all over again and all sorts of stuff. She said she was grateful that her parents never pushed the church on her but let her become converted to it all over again. Her testimony stems from her injury. The really cool thing is that the only memory she has is of her baptism. She wanted to go to the temple but didn't feel like she was worthy because she couldn't remember being baptized. What a tender mercy from Heavenly Father for her to be able to remember that event!

Sister D. and I are trying to find all the YSA's in the area (we have a list of 600! Where are they?!) We were able to at least talk with a bunch of their family members on Wednesday. A great miracle for us was to see a less active member that we contacted about 2 weeks ago come to church!! See, we are making a difference!!! We had dinner on Thursday with our branch president. He and his wife are great people... but they've been in this calling for about 5 years... I think they might be getting burned out... Maybe... Just saying...

On Friday one of the less active members that we have met before invited us to back to her house! This is great! We told her our purpose; she understands and we feel that she wants to make changes. If she didn't, she wouldn't have been there for our appointment! Even greater, her brother was there, too!!! Doesn't seem like a big deal to some people but to me and Sister D they are miracles!!! Friday night we had an Easter performance at the VC. A music group from the area came and sang; us Sisters joined them in one song. The celebration was great but I was more excited to see some of my Liberty people! Carl and Ernestine came... Did I ever tell you Carl got baptized?! He did, the first Sunday in March!!! Ernestine is still great and is convinced that none of the other sisters are as good as me. I was also able to see the Tyler family. They are super great; I really connected with them. They have a daughter in 2nd grade who has Autism. They really understand me and new I needed their support upon first coming out. It was a great night and such a tender mercy for me.

My tender mercy on Saturday was to see the Stevenson's. It's been like 2 weeks!!! They have family in town and came specifically when they new Sister Ogletree and I would be there. It was so great to see them! Saturday morning we spent driving around trying to contact people but no one was home. We talked to 3 different people... that weren't YSA's but we counted them anyway. (If any of you have great idea of when to find the YSA's home we'd really appreciate hearing about it.)

We had a great Easter Sunday. We spent the morning at the VC before going to church to learn about the Atonement. About an hour before our meetings started we were asked to teach the Gospel Principles class. No big deal, right? Well, they ended up combining with the Gospel Doctrine class with us as teachers! Ah! We didn't have time to prepare so we decided to make copies of the Living Christ and go over it paragraph by paragraph. It went great! We had a lot of participation and took the entire time... I felt the Spirit and hope everyone learned something.

We've had a great morning so far... We began early by pranking the Elders... Unfortunately we didn't have a camera to take pictures but we put post-it's all over their car windows while they played sports this morning and, somehow, honey ended up on the door handles. We are waiting patiently for payback but, gosh darn it, we don't have a car today.

Well, let me get a bit spiritual on you. I want you all to know how grateful I am for our Savior. For the sacrifice He made. It pains me to think about the drops of blood that He shed for me. I sorrow to think about all the wrong things I do that He has felt. Words cannot express how grateful I am to my Savior for the Atonement. Without the Atonement this life would be pointless. We wouldn't have the opportunity to live with Heavenly Father again. We wouldn't have repentance to begin the process of becoming like Him here in this life. We wouldn't have the opportunity to be a forever family. I know my Savior lives and I love Him. I know He died for me and is waiting for me to place my burdens at His feet. He is waiting with open arms for me to become better; to utilize the atonement to allow myself to change. I love you all; I love this gospel; I love being a missionary; I love my Savior. I hope you all had a happy Easter.

Love,

Sister Wilson

http://www.lds.org/bible-videos/videos/the-savior-suffers-in-gethsemane?lang=eng

March 25

Hello, everyone! What a crazy week it has been! I cannot believe how much time has flown by and all the things I have learned this week. Let me see...

Dinners provided by the YSA's are pretty funny. Last week one meal consisted of an entire roasted chicken, an open bag of dried/candied pineapple and 2 rice krispie treats. It was really pretty funny. I'm thinking about making a calendar of all these random YSA meals. We had a great appointment with our investigator, Jeff. He has an RLDS background and is not okay with some of the things we believe. S. Diederich and I have been thinking that he is not real sincere in learning about the church but didn't know how to approach it. So, during one point of our lesson I looked at him rather boldly and told him I thought he was lacking real intent (Moroni 10:3-5). I don't know what else I really said but I do know that I have never been so bold in a lesson but it was what he needed to hear. S. Diederich was impressed that I actually told him all that I did. He said we didn't offend him or scare him off but he did cancel our appointment for this week.....

Thursday was a great day. We didn't have to be on shift at the VC so we spent our entire day proselyting. It's much better to catch YSA's in the evening. We had 3 lessons after dinner with the branch president. We felt it was a succesful evening and were thrilled to not have zero's on our goals for the day. Thrusday night was kind of hard. Due to misionaries coming and going randomly we had a mid-transfer transfer. Two of the sisters from the VC were transferred out to full proselyting areas. It was a really hard and emotional night. With regular transfers we at least know they are coming. This was totally out of the blue. On a regular transfer day we have two nights and a day to prepare and get everything ready to go. Not so in this case. Everything was done spur of the moment. Sister (S) Wilson went with us to zone conference but did not come home with us. It was (and still is) different.

Friday was an emotionally/spiritually draining day. We had zone conference Friday morning. I absolutely love zone conference. It was a spiritually overwhelming experience with so much knowledge and insight gained. We got to see the new boundaries for the missions.... Kansas Wichita is going to be huge! It basically covers most of Kansas. I hope and pray every day for the strength to be okay with whatever mission the Lord needs me in. The closer it gets the harder it is to think about being transferred out! This change is only 2 transfers away! Two transfers until July, can you believe it?!

Saturday I was on exchanges with Sister Fuenzalida. She is great. She is from SLC and is serving in the Riverview Ward. I was super nervous when we drove up to the church parking lot... A gated church parking lot. Yep, after that experience I was grateful to be back in Independence... Sketchy as I thought it was. (No worries, I'm not leaving out any scary experiences! We really did stay safe!)

Sunday was yet another snow day! I really don't like snow day on Sunday's... We studied long and hard, called many people who didn't answer the phone, went on shift for a few hours at the VC then came back and studied more with Sister Gines and Sister Bridenbaugh. It was really great. We went over the "Easter Week" talk in April's Ensign. I invite each of you to do that.

Hmm... I think that's about it. It really was a good week. We went from 1 lesson last week to 5 this week--IMPROVEMENT! The work is slowly picking up. We are starting a 40 day fast tomorrow in the branch (every day for 40 days a member of the branch will be fasting). We need help with miracles; finding the lost and wandering sheep. Remember I love you all and am so grateful for your prayers and support. Lot's of love!

Sis

March 18

Hello, everyone! What a crazy week it was! I had to let everyone know that they couldn't judge us... We didn't get a lot of lessons in or anything but we did do a lot of good. We got ourselves organized and have a fantastic white board. We also met with our Relief Society President and activities person to start to get some excitement going. We are super excited for everything that will be happening in the Branch shortly. It will be great to get things going and moving... Now, we just need to get our ward mission leader excited.

 

 

So, I had the opportunity to spend Tuesday night at the hospital with Sister Weng. She was a super sick Sister! I learned two valuable lessons.... First, hospitals and sleep just don't go together. I think I might have gotten 4 hours max. Second, I really would make an awful nurse. At one point during the night (like 1am!!) the nurses were trying to take S. Weng's blood. I have had blood taken before but I don't like watching myself get poked so I never do. I was standing there holding S. Weng's hand as they tried to take blood. One arm just wasn't having it and wouldn't give them anything so they went to the other arm. That didn't work either. There was no blood coming. There she was just sitting with a needle sticking out of her arm and I almost fainted!! SERIOUSLY! I have never passed out but I got incredibly close that night while standing up! I got tunnel vision; everything was going black; I got really hot and feverish and I wanted to throw up. BECAUSE OF A NEEDLE! It was pretty bad. I was grateful one of the nurses needed to stand where I was so I could sit down before I passed out. It was quite the experience. Dannielle, hats off to you.

 

 

So, Wednesday was difficult for me to stay awake but I did it! It was hard, though, cuz Sister D was sick. We were quite the pair I'm sure. Thursday I had the privilege of spending the morning with Sister Weng (thus the awkward pic). She made some great milestones... She took a shower and ate chicken fried steak!! It was so great. She did come home on Saturday and is doing much better. It will still be a bit of a recovery but she is doing well. I am so blessed to have been able to spend some time with her.
 

Is it sad that I don't have a lot of missionary experiences to share with you? We really did accomplish a lot, I promise!!! Hmm... How about an experience from the VC? This week I've had quite a few groups with kids that I've taken around. We talked alot about Zion and what our role and purpose is in Zion. I asked each of them what they would do this week to build Zion at home with their families. I told them that what I would do was send you a link to a Mormon message to watch and give me feed back on. Sooo....
 

http://www.lds.org/pages/mormon-messages?lang=eng#earthly-father-heavenly-father

 

 

This was shared at a VC training this week. I know it's about Father's but I want you to think about it with your purpose in mind. What is your purpose as a father, mother, aunt, uncle, brother, sister, daughter, son, etc. I really loved the perspective it gave me and the ability to think outside the box. I hope you loved it as much as I did and will give me your feedback on what you learned. :D

 

 

I'm really excited to have a new niece this week. Mat is aware that he needs to send pictures ASAP but... you know Mat . So, everyone send pictures!! The cutest pic of my newest niece wins a free tour of the VC or Liberty Jail from yours truly.
 

Sorry I don't have more to tell you!!! I love you all, though, and am beyond grateful for all your love, support, and prayers in my behalf. I am growing so much and really loving life. I can't believe how fast time is going. I'll be back bugging you all to heck before you know it. I keep you in my thoughts and prayers.

Lots of love, hugs, and kisses!!!

Sis

P.S. Missionaries love pictures for birthday's....

March 11

I honestly, truly want to know where time goes... It's been another whirlwind week with another transfer come and gone. One day runs into the next and before I know it a whole transfer has gone by. I don't count months anymore; I count 6 week periods. Everything seems like it was just yesterday until I look back and realize it was 3 or 4 transfers ago! Life as a missionary is still great; hard and rewarding. This transfer brought a lot of surprises and new stuff going on... And, yes, my p-day changed again!! Just want to make sure you all stay on your toes.

So... last week was great... I think I can't remember everything that went on. We received transfer calls Tuesday night. There were so many possibilities of what could happen but I didn't think I would be moving far or that much would change for me. I was sort of right. I am now training a brand new missionary, Sister Diederich, from Holladay, UT. She is straight from the MTC and is a great missionary. We are serving in the YSA singles branch here in Independence. S. Stobbe and I had been 'covering' the branch but when you have a ward, and a branch, and the VC something gets left out. More often than not that was the branch. I was super excited to stay in the branch, surprisingly enough. I love the people I have met thus far and am ready for the challenge to get them excited about missionary work. The more I thought about the branch and what needed to be done the more nervous and unsure I became. Being in the branch is basically like opening a new area right now--we don't have ANY investigators, no potential investigators, and basically no referrals. On top of all that I was concerned about eating; YSA's are poor, we won't get fed! It was a somewhat stressful couple days for me. Here I am, training a new sister and I don't have any idea how to go about doing missionary work in our area. Which, by the way, covers the entire stake. The stake's here cover a huge geographical area!

Yeah, stressing out a bit. I guess the word spread pretty quickly that the branch was going to have their own set of missionaries. Before the end of the day on Wednesday the branch president (President Grimes) had contacted me and set up a time (on the first day of transfers!) to take Sister Diederich and I out to dinner with one of his counselors and their wives. Oh my goodness it was so great! We went to 54th Street Grill and had a good meal and great conversation. The presidency is beyond excited to have their own set of missionaries. They told us to be brave and be bold and basically just tell the ward mission leader what needs to be done (he's not motivated at all or really doing much right now). They told us to have a meal calendar ready to go because we were the branch missionaries and they would be responsible for feeding us. We were invited to the ward council meeting; most of the other Sisters don't go to those so it's a huge accomplishment to be able to go. President Grimes and his wife are feeding us once a week in their home. Man! It was a huge tender mercy for me! I am so grateful for so much branch presidency support. Without them taking the lead and showing others how to get involved nothing would happen. The ward leaders are essential in making missionary work move forward.

After our dinner we got a text message from the Relief Society president, Faipa. She was setting up a lunch for Saturday so the Branch could get to know us. That was so great, too. We got to meet more of the Branch members and really feel welcomed. They had even put together a little care package of useful things (ie: paper, stickers, lotion, soap, nail care, etc). I can't tell you how grateful I am for the branch right now. They are excited to have us there. I hope we can help them to see what their part is in helping the missionary work to progress. It's not really a great idea for S. Diederich and I to go knocking door to door asking for young single adults. (Can you say CREEPY?) We are working on contacting all the former investigators in our area book but once we get all that done we won't have a lot to do. We need the members help in getting referrals. S. Diedrich and I will go to all FHE's and as many activities as our VC schedule allows but we need the members to take responsibility in asking their friends to come. Or in giving us their names so we can contact them. I think once they see how harmless we are and that we can make things not appear creepy that we will be able to start finding success. I know our Branch can grow by leaps and bounds... we just need to help them see how to do that.

While things are slow in our area right now it's a bit of a blessing in disguise. One of the Sisters that came out with me, Sister Weng, had her appendix burst this last week. I guess she hadn't been feeling well for some time but she just kept right on trucking. Her companion finally made her go to the hospital where they found out that she had been doing missionary work for 4 days with a ruptured appendix. It was really serious. Her surgeon said it was one of the nastiest ones she had seen. She was rushed into emergency surgery and is now doing all right but she has a long road of recovery ahead. She is currently in ICU for the next week or so. President Keyes has asked a select few sisters to be put on a rotation to stay with her and be her comp while she is in the hospital. I have the opportunity to be on that rotation. I spent about 4 hours at the hospital yesterday. (Do you know how hard it is to try and stay awake studying that long?) S. Weng is doing great; her strength inspires me. I know I wouldn't be walking around for 4 days; I would've wimped out pretty quick.

Hmm... I think that's about all the excitement I have for you for the week. I want you to know how much I am enjoying my mission. I know I am in the right place doing what God wants me to do; it's not always easy (ha! never easy!) and it's the hardest to be away from all of you. (Alma 26:12, 27 really help me...) BUT I wouldn't trade the experiences I am having. I am learning so much about the gospel and the doctrine that we grew up with but, more importantly, I am learning how to apply that doctrine to my life. I am learning how to use the gospel. I am learning how to listen to and for the Spirit's influence and guidance in my life. I am learning that I have greatly under-utilized the gospel my entire life. I know the experiences I am having will be life changing. I never wanted to be one of those "weirdos" straight off their mission but fear I might be. Being a missionary is great. All I have to worry about is salvation. All temporal things are of no value right now (except mail, of course). I am so grateful that I was prompted to come on a mission. I know this church is true. I know God hears and answers my prayers. I know God loves each one of us and protects us, too. I love you all. I miss you all.

God bless,
Sis Wilson

March 5

Oh, my goodness! What a week it has been! Us missionaries were ungrounded Wednesday around noon. S. Stobbe took some time to get groceries before we had to be on shift at the VC. It was a cold, windy, blustery, wet day. BUT we perserved like good Utah girls! Thursday we had a fantastic home cooked meal with one of the ward members... Generally members get us take-out or take us out to eat. Real food was great for a change. We met with a recent convert, Cheyenne, and his home teachers at the VC and had a good evening contacting potential investigators. Friday was S. Stobbe's birthday. It was great. We had a training meeting, went to district meeting, then I treated her to lunch at Pizza Hut. A member brought us KFC for her birthday dinner. There was a ton of cake that day... I can't get away from the sugar here!

Saturday was really great. Sister Stobbe and I have both been called as potential trainers so we had the privilege of going to the mission home for a training and lunch. There are 30 new missionaries coming in tomorrow... Fifteen of them are Sisters! It's really great to be a part of the hastening of the work. I'm excited about being able to train. It should be a fun experience. I realized, though, that I have had a new companion each transfer. Maybe I'm the problem! ;) We had a great night for lessons before heading back to the VC to get a ride home. Good day!

Sunday was a broadcast stake conference. We had the opportunity to hear from Elder Christensen, Larry Echo-hawk, a RS presidency member, and Elder Oaks. It was an amazing conference. Even better--we had 2 investigators there! We had a large turkey dinner with the Kettlewell family (I've never had so many turkey dinners in my life!) with some of the YSA members. It was great food and good friends. The Kettlewell's bought me new PJ's!!! I was so excited! The ones I had had shrunk so bad!

Yesterday we had 4 fantastic lessons and found a new investigator. We went out to dinner at Golden Corral with Sayko and his boys. Sister Stobbe kept saying it was the food version of Disneyland; she'd never been there before.

Yeah, it has been a great week! I am grateful today for prayer. I am seeing the influence of the Holy Ghost more in my life because I have taken the time to make my prayers more focused and specific. I know that my prayers are being answered and the words to pray are filling my mouth. I know that I wouldn't be doing as well as I am here in Missouri without the power and influence of the Holy Ghost and the Savior to guide the way. I am learning so much about Zion. Not only a physical place but spiritually, too. I am learning who I want to become. I know there is so much in store for me but I have to be continually obedient to be able to receive those blessings. This church is true. Christ died for us. So that we may be with Him, as a family, again some day. Know that I love and miss you. Know that I pray for you and your well being. Stay strong and God will continue to be with you.

Love you all!

Sister Wilson

P.S. Transfers are on Thursday so my p-day may change again; it could be as early as Monday.