Heeeyyy! Ah it is so good to hear from you as usual! Ah it has been a pretty good week. Dad I got the packages that you sent me from Amazon!! Thank you so much! Ah everything that you got me was seriously perfect! I hope you don't mind that I already opened them but I seriously needed that stuff. It is getting super cold here and the long johns came at just the perfect time! The electric razor is amazing and I needed an umbrella and it is just a perfect size to fit in my bag! Thank you so much! Ah I am seriously so grateful. Yeah just send everything to the mission office. That just makes it easier. But hey, the strap on my shoulder bag broke this week and I was wondering if you could send me a shoulder bag strap with durable metal clips. I would very much appreciate that. And I was thinking. I have 2 sweater vests but it is getting seriously cold and I could certainly use a long sleeve sweater. probably just plain black. Those are some ideas for you:) haha. and no mom I don't have any idea if a gift card would work over here. Maybe if you got it an Amazon and just put the currency in pounds but I am really not sure.
Oh dad I am glad you gave Todd my email! I love that man. Tell him to email me and keep me updated on the wrestling team because he knows everything inside out and forwards and backwards. And that Citizen of the year thing still cracks me up hahaha YOU'RE THE MAN!!
Oh we had so stinkin' much fun today! We went to the Stake Center and had our own little Turkey bowl and it was so great hahaha bringing back the good old days! Our team was getting beat like 4-1 and then they put me in at QB and we ended up winning 7-5 haha and I had 3 picks. It was seriously so much fun. The AP's were like chanting MVP! And a couple Elders asked me where I was playing when I got home haha it was hilarious. I took a few pictures. I'll have to send them to you. Then we went to this Carvery afterwards and just had like a huge Thanksgiving Feast. It was sort of like Chuck A Rama and not quite as good as home cooking but it still works:) haha I seriously had a blast.
Ah mom I just want you to know first of all how much I love you. I also want you to know that you will never feel 'Normal' and you will never start feeling truly happy again until you start living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am really sorry if that sounds harsh but I want nothing more then for you and everyone to be happy and there is only one true source that that happiness comes from. I read a talk by Elder Holland this week and he said, 'Every experience can become a redemptive experience if we remain bonded to our Heavenly Father through that difficulty. I love you mom with all my heart and I truly want what is best for you! Please take things slow. Face yourself towards Christ and Build upon His foundation Helaman 5:12. As you do this, everything will work out for your good and I can Promise you that. It is going to take some mighty prayer. It won't be easy. I love you so much Mom and I am forever grateful for all that you have done and continue to do for me. I am forever in your debt.
It has been another great week here in Stockport. I can't express how grateful I am to be serving here at this time with Elder B. We have seen so many miracles together and we are working very hard. I am soooo exhausted at the end of each day haha but I guess that's a good sign.
We have continued teaching Courtney throughout each week. She is really ready to be baptised and the only thing that is stopping her is her mother. We have fasted and prayed about what we should do to help soften her mothers heart. She won't even let us come to their house. We decided it would be a good idea to have Courtney write her testimony down. Courtney has a hard time expressing herself in words but she is an amazing artist and writer. We went to teach her this weekend and she had this huge page filled out with beautiful pictures and an entire story. She basically explained how she grew up and what she went through in life and how she came to know the church to be true. It was one of the most amazing things that I have ever seen. So instead of having a lesson as planned we just decided to have a testimony meeting. It was one of the most spiritual experiences that I have had. The Spirit was very present. It was as if it was thick in the room! We all bore our testimonies on how we have found the church to be true and there was not a dry eye haha. Then Elder B asked a very question. He just turned to Courtney and said, 'This is great and everything but, What Now?' Courtney was certainly feeling the Spirit and she just said, 'I'm not sure but I think I need to show this to my mother.' That is what we all felt was the thing to do. Hopefully when she shows her mother then her heart will be softened.
We also got to teach Pole' This week with our Ward Mission Leader Brother Rushworth because he speaks fluent French. The lesson went really well but Pole' is just not grasping something. We thoroughly went through the Restoration lesson and He believes that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and he also believes that Joseph Smith was a Prophet but he doesn't believe that there is just one true church. He thinks there are many Prophets and churches. We explained that there are other so-called prophets and churches and we thoroughly explained the priesthood as well but something just wasn't clicking. Hopefully we can get him to church.
Mark is doing really well. We have been meeting with him nearly every other day and he loves the things that we teach him. He used to smoke 60 cigs a day and now he is down to 3! Every lesson we have with him is very spiritual and he has told us that he has received a witness. He is still scheduled to be baptised on the 13th of December so hopefully he can quit smoking by then.
Bryan B is also still dated forJanuary 17th. He is having some trouble quitting smoking but is doing pretty good with the coffee. Hopefully we can help him with that. He is also having a hard time feeling the Spirit so we probably need to do something more to help him overcome his trials and advance to that stage where he can have the Spirit with him always.
I can't believe that it is already transfer planning this week. This transfer is going by way too quickly! It is so crazy. As I was reflecting the other night on what has happened so far I just felt like this transfer can be summed up in the very short but profound thing that Nephi says in 1 Nephi 11:17. I know that I Do not know the meaning of all things. Very far from it. I know I can improve on my teaching skills, finding skills, patience, charity, kindness, gratitude, and a whole other slew of things. But if there is one thing that I do know with all the fiber of my being is that God loves his children. I do not understand the capacity of His love but I do know it is there. It is such a blessing when we are teaching someone and the Spirit is present and then suddenly, the light clicks on in their eyes. And for that brief moment, it is as if God is loving that individual through me, and it is the most magnificent thing. I want to be able to always feel that and that is one of my biggest motivating desires is the help God's children feel that love that He has for them because there is nothing in this world that can replace it.
I love you all with my whole heart just like always. I am sending everyone something home! Have a tremendous week!
Love
Elder Wilcox
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