I can't believe that Christmas has already come and gone! It went by quickly but was soo much fun. Don't be sad that it's over mom:) Mother's Day will come and all will be well haha. It was so good to see all of you and hear your voices! I miss you all so much and you all seem to be doing so great! Yeah there were a lot of people to talk to so maybe next time it can just be the family haha. The presents and packages were so amazing! Thank you so much for all of it! I felt so loved haha but I have no idea how I am going to carry all this stuff around with me. I might have to mail a box home with some of my old clothes. I brought out 3 pairs of sweats and I really don't need them! The personal letters from everyone were so great. I loved it all so much. Tell everyone that I said thank you!
So I don't know who sent it to my but it's like a prepaid visa card and I am not sure what to do with it. It says you can only use it in the States and that there is also a monthly fee. I would have to get online or call an American number to activate it which I can't do so I'm not sure. I will send you some pictures of it and I was wondering if you could figure it out for me or somehow activate it or something because I am kinda stuck haha and I don't want to just get rid of it if it has money on it!
I am so glad that the funeral went well. I hope that everything is going alright with his whole family.
So I forgot to tell you a few things that are different about the Holiday here. They have this huge obsession over here with these thinks called Crackers. It's like the same concept as a wish bone but it's a Christmas present. You hold an end and someone else holds another and you both pull and it cracks open like a firework and whoever gets the bigger side gets the present haha it's pretty funny. They also have Boxing Day over here which is the day after Christmas. It's pretty much just like our Black Friday after Thanksgiving. So that is a bit different. We were also allowed to watch family movies over the holiday and Elder Bradley was so excited so we watched quite a few haha. But of course we had to watch Remember the Titans:) Ah that was so fun haha me and him quoted like the entire movie! There were also 2 American returned missionaries that were visiting some family over here in our ward. It was pretty fun to talk to them and hear their accents. Good ol' American haha and they updated us on college football so that was good.
We definitely got spoiled here in Stockport and had so much fun with the members! We got a bunch of presents and candy. After Christmas day I could hardly breathe haha I felt so sick. But I felt extremely blessed and privileged to be here during this time. The Christmas Spirit was certainly felt and we had many spiritual experiences.
We have been taking a Family History class from a consultant in our ward and it has been really helpful. I was able to locate a few lines on my tree and find some missing links! It was so much fun! And we are also getting this Part Member family involved in it and they are really enjoying it. Family history work is the work of Salvation and the Spirit of Elijah is certainly real.
We had a pretty amazing experience on Saturday. As we were planning for our day on Friday night, Elder Bradley got a prompting that we should go to Bredbury. We found all the PI's from the list that we could and went finding there the next morning. After a while we tracted into this lady named Belinda. She has had a rough past. She was a passenger in a car accident about 14 years ago. She broke over 20 bones including both arms, both collar bones, and her neck. She had to be in the hospital for 12 months! Her head was badly split open as well and has a big scar on her head. After she told us her story I felt prompted to tell her my story of my car accident and how I was able to find peace and comfort as well as make a deeper commitment to follow Jesus Christ. Shortly after my car accident I was reading the Book of Mormon in the fifth chapter of Alma. Alma asks many soul searching questions in that chapter. I came across the verse where Alma just basically asks 'If you were to die this day, would you be prepared to meet God?' This question struck deep to my soul and stayed with me. I had realized that my life could be taken at any moment in time. You never know when you are going to be called home. I decided that I wasn't fully ready to meet my Father in Heaven. I read the Book of Mormon through and prayed continuously as I did so and was able to receive a witness that the book is true. That is the point where my life changed forever. I was able to share that experience with Belinda and then she told us how she has been praying to God to send some help to aid her in changing her life. In her words, 'to put Satan behind her.' It was an amazing experience.
We were also able to visit one of our new investigators, Allee, from Iran. As we started the lesson, which was the second lesson we had had with him, he stopped us and told us that he had quit coffee and that he has cut his cigarettes down to 1 a day. We hadn't even asked him to live the Word of Wisdom yet! We were so amazed. He said that he already feels a lot better about himself and feels more free! So good. He is a very humble and kind man. He also came to church yesterday.
In my studies this last week I read a talk called Believing Christ: A Practical Approach to the Atonement by Stephen Robinson. The question arises to you just believe IN Christ or do you actually BELIEVE him. I have been very much guilty of this myself but we often believe in Christ but we don't believe that He can help us as Individuals. We don't believe that we are good enough to be saved. A man comments that he has no hope of obtaining the Celestial kingdom because he just isn't a celestial person. Well join the club because none of us our celestial people!! Haha. We can't do everything that we are asked to do all the time. We are not perfect. We can't make it to the Celestial Kingdom on our own. That is why we have a Savior. You think you are unworthy for the Atonement? They Atonement is for the unworthy and the worthy as well. It is there for all! This talk really opened my eyes to have a bit of a different take on the Atonement. Christ is the Physical and Spiritual healer. I want to go to him and be completely healed. I want to merge my account with his and covenant with Him, that my debts may be paid.
I am so glad that I got to see you all last week and I hope that you all had an amazing holiday season. Have fun at uncle Rob's for me on New Year's Eve! Tell Everyone I said hi. I love you with all of my heart and I am so grateful for you!
Love
Elder Wilcox
No comments:
Post a Comment