It is so good to hear from you! I am so excited to get those updates and some letters from home. I seriously love letters from home:) they are the best. I am sending you some stuff today too btw. I did get that last little bit of Braysons match last week in your email so thank you for that! Tell Em that I love her so much back and that I am sending her a birthday present!! Even though it is a month away haha xoxoxooxoxo. So as I have been praying this week and as I mention my family in my prayers, ken has been coming to my mind. The Spirit does whisper. Let him know that I love him and I have been thinking about him. Grandpa is so amazing at giving blessings. So spiritual. Isn't that so funny?? Haha I have learned that a lot of times when I give people advice, I can usually apply it to myself. We know what we need to do as individuals. We have all been blessed with the amazing gift called the Light of Christ that is inside every single child of God to help us decipher between right and wrong. Sometimes we just let that sensitivity go numb through a number of various activities. There is actually a talk that comes to my mind that has really changed my perspective on life. It is directed towards youth and you have probably heard it but it's called, 'God's Grace is Sufficient' By Brad Wilcox. Listen to it and invite Kenneth to do the same. The principle of grace is truly amazing.
Oh That is so good that you are getting a bunch of snow! god watches over His children. He knows what we need haha I am so glad that you are getting moisture. I wish I could send some of the buckets we get over here hah it's insane!
That is good the you and Matt are on good terms again. Matt is a good man. Tell him that I am so thankful for him and all that he has done for our family.
So guess what mom. transfers are this week and I had convinced myself that I was staying here in Stockport. I got a call from President on Sunday morning and my heart was racing like crazy! He asked me how the District was doing and then he said, 'Elder Wilcox you are a very obedient and diligent missionary. I trust you so much and that is why I want to call you as Zone Leader over the Ashton Zone.' I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT!! I have only been a District leader for 1 transfer and now he wants me to be a zone leader. I was very humbled. I will be serving in Oldham with Elder VanWagoner.I am not going to lie, the call was certainly unexpected. Everyone had convinced me that I was staying in Stockport! I am very grateful and humbled by this new calling to serve. I was quite nervous after I got the call so I went in the bedroom to pray for a while. As a prayed, I felt a very peaceful feeling of reassurance from my Heavenly Father of which I am truly grateful for. I feel a bit 'unqualified for this role but a quote from President Monson just continued to ring in my head . . . 'Whom God calls, God Qualifies.' I have my complete faith in you President and I know that you are called and inspired of God. I want you to know that I will give everything I possibly can in this new calling. I am so excited to serve! I thank you for this wonderful opportunity. I pray that I will receive direction throughout it. So now I have a bunch of packing to do and a lot of people to see haha.
We have had a good week! For the last couple of weeks I have had the entire District and myself pray earnestly about covenants that we need to make with God. We sought the Lord's guidance, as He sets the terms of covenants. At District meeting last Tuesday we wrote down 7 covenants that were very specific to our District, and would cause us to stretch and grow to experience miracles. I got some mixed responses and so I just told the District that I felt very strongly that this is what the Lord wants us to do. I want everyone to feel comfortable about this because it is a serious commitment. So I invited them to all write down the covenants and pray very specifically that night as a companionship about them. I feel like sometimes we rely on our own strength too much. I know as we do these things, God will fulfill his part. We must bind the Lord! The very next day, the sisters who were quite skeptical the day before, called me at the end of the day elated! They said 'Elder Wilcox we prayed and fulfilled our covenants for the day and the Lord has already blessed us! We found 3 new people that we got a return appointment with and we had sooo many Quality Gospel Conversations!' They now have an investigator dated for baptism on the 21st of March. It was so amazing to see and truly strengthened my faith. We have all seen amazing miracles!
Our Recent Convert, Bryan, is preparing to attend the temple on March 11th and has been doing a lot of Family History. He has already found quite a few names from his tree that he is going to take and do the Baptisms and Confirmations for them. It has been so amazing to see the progress that he has made. He has such a love for the gospel and continues to grow every single week! I will miss him and his family dearly. His son has also been attending church and now listens to our lessons when we go by!
Courtney is still progressing very well. She is ready for baptism. She actually even gave us a referral this last week. It was one of her friends from school and his name is Ethan. We set up a teaching appointment and she even came teaching with us! It was so amazing. She is doing so many great things on her own, despite her rough home life. She also brought Ethan to church on Sunday which was great.
We have been working with Rebekka Wickham who has been Less Active for quite a while now. She has now been to church for about 5 weeks in a row. She had an interview with bishop last week and got a temple recommend to do baptisms in March when the ward goes! She is so excited and she has really been able to recognize and remember the difference and the change that the gospel brings. She just keeps saying she feels a lot more happy! She is going to attend a temple prep class and prepare to take out her endowments in the coming months.
I have been loving my study of the Book of Mormon so much. I am appreciating it more then I ever thought I could and I know with all of my heart that it is the Word of God. We have had an investigator who really likes to ask deep questions and he really tries to stump us but it seems every time we are looking for an answer, we are able to find it in the Book of Mormon. The Spirit confirms it's truth nearly every single time that I read from it's pages. As I am in 2 Nephi, I have been thinking a lot about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. And as I read His words when He prays to the Father it really struck me. When he says 'Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me:' There is a colon there. Christ is praying to the Father to take away his pain. I imagine that all the hosts of heaven held their breath, as everyone's salvation hung in the balance at this moment. And then Christ, the literal Son of God receives a 'No' from his father. He then says Nevertheless which is one of my favorite words in the scriptures. It just never struck me that Christ even got a no from his father on an occasion. I pray that I will be able to be that in line with Fathers will that I will act on WHATEVER answer I receive. We need to learn how to live so that a weakness that is mortal will not prevent us from achieving a goal that is eternal.
Thank you for all that you do mom. I hope and pray that things continue to look up for you! I love you with all of my heart. Have an amazing week!!
Love
Elder Wilcox
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