Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Week 21: May Day (It’s a Blizzard!)

When I first got to Canada I realized Canadians love to talk about the weather. Hahah they always say "how bout this weather eh?" and id just try to smile through the chattering teeth, half smile, acting like it wasnt the coldest ive ever been. 😁 But now I get it ! haha they take pride in the cold weather I think. We had a big blizzard hit us this week. Church was cancelled in the West stake, so all the other missionaries didnt have church but we did cause the our stake was like nahhh its all good ! so we got lucky and got to go to church 😉 Hahah we woke up to a winter wonderland. At first I was irritated not gonna lie. I mean almost a week straight of snow in freaking May ?? Then I was like well I could be bitter about the cold, but ill probably just be bitter for a long time cause I know there is gonna be more snow, orrrrrrrr I could be thankful and enjoy it. Hahha my attitude changed, and I was enjoyin that BLIZZARD 😉 How bout that weather eh??

This week was great! Treansfers were on Thursday and so we went to lethbridge and picked up sister Hasse, Sis Johns new comp. Helped them settle in and everything !

Friday: some fun weekly planning. Sister Hansen has been sick so we havent read with her for a couple weeks. But got her some medicine and ran some errands for her so that was great ! 

Saturday: We went to a baptism for this little boy in our ward, his name is Morgan and he asked all the missionaries to sing at his baptism. Well the other missionaries flaked and it was just us and Im not gonna sugar coat it it was bad. We tried, me and sister Ma'ake arent singers and the little girl on the piano kept messing up and we had to restart like 3 times. It was a gong show, we couldnt help but laugh afterwards and the bishop was even laughing. Haha you could ask us to do anything else, just not sing! 😁 

Sunday: Woke up to a winter wonderland like I said but church was still great! afterwards we stopped by a lady named Gale. Shes out on the reserve and shes a member just really less active. She just got diagnosed with cancer and so shes going through a tough time right now but she was so positive ! I shared alma 7 with her and we talked about it for awhile and she loved it. We also made some Banana bread for her in the morning and brought it over and she was super grateful. It was awesome 

Monday: we visited Jennifer and I got to meet her grandchildren. They were the sweetest and they showed us their Pow Wow dances. (Native American cultural dancing) We were dancing around the living room and having a blast. The natives are a very spiritual people. We gave them pics of Jesus and taught them a little about him. They were all smiles ! 

Moments like that, make me realize all that I have given up to be out here teaching these people actually is not a sacrifice at all, but a wonderful blessing that the Lord has given me that has changed me. 

Tuesday: MLC in Calgary. So long, but so good ! We were all hyped cause this month we beat the record of highest baptisms in the last 5 years ! we got 37! super cool. But one of the biggest things that stood out to me was loving our companion. I truly have loved all my companions so far but President really emphasized on serving them. Hahah I think I forget that sometimes, so im making that a goal this transfer! Its the small and simple things that just show them that you love them. Also, being an example to them and inviting them to "Become as he is"
I love my companion. We have such a blast together. Who knows, maybe ill make her breakfast in bed this week ?😉

Anywho, Im still doing good and loving the work! Im pretending that its spring here and wearing my cute spring dresses , sandals, and sungleses. A sister can dream hey ? 
Haha I love you, you know that ! thanks for all your support. Until next week.❤
Sister Wilson 

Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Week 20: The End of the Trio

heyaaaa everyone ! not gonna be a long email this week sorry! 

Transfer calls were last night, annndddd im staying here with Sister Ma'ake !! haha, im so happy. Were so tight ! were like peanut butter and Jelly. We like salt and pepper, we like mustard and ketchup, we like 2 peas in a pod. You get it 😉 Shes such a good missionary. I was a little nervous to be honest that she was gonna leave cause theres so much more to learn from her. And after this transfer she will have been in this area for 1 year. 1 whole year hahaha thats like almost her whole mission ! so yeah so much more to learn. so excited :) Sister John is getting a new companion but they are staying in Cardston so there will be 2 sets of sisters here now which is fun.

There was a lady who referred herself to be taught buy the missonaries last week so we met with her this week and she is so solid. Her name is Ola. She has a little baby so its kinda hard to meet with. She loved our first lesson and kept saying "i feel so warm and fuzzy right now" the spirit was hittin her! but Sister John and her new comp will be the ones to continue to teach her cause we will be splitting the wards. Me and sis Ma'ake are a little sad cause everyone that we are teaching and so close to baptism are in the wards we are giving up but thats ok the other sisters will seal the deal ! But me and ma'ake are covering pretty much most of the Reserve and a YSA in Cardston. So we have a big area but were excited its gonne be good. 

The girls Kelly and Lynnise came thursday and took me and my comps for lunch and we had the BEST time like always.  

hope you all have the best week. You are my shining stars ! 

Sister Wilson 

Lunch :)
My cute comps 
Being a Canadian and eating Poutine 😉
Haha the magnus's, they are CRAZY ! I love them !!! 
Face painted @ ward Easter thing 
Random selfie 
Had supper by the river and there was this toy so we hopped on that thing ! 😉
Selfie after our last lesson together


Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Week 19: Happy, Happy Easter!


Hi!! Hope you all had the best week! Hey the queens bday is this Sunday if you didn't know, wish her a happy bday on Twitter or something 😉 oh also, more importantly it's Easter too already !! Dang. Time flies. I was reading over some conference talks a couple days ago in my personal study and I was reading some talks on Easter cause it is my favorite holiday and I'm so excited!! But I read a talk by Elder Paul Johnson and I wanna share a quote from it cause this is truly what Easter is about. He said "The reality of the Resurrection of the Savior overwhelms our heartbreak with hope because with it comes the assurance that all the other promises of the gospel are just as real—promises that are no less miraculous than the Resurrection. We know that He has the power to cleanse us from all our sins. We know that He has taken upon Himself all our infirmities, pains, and the injustices we have suffered. We know that He has “rise[n] from the dead, with healing in his wings.” We know that He can make us whole no matter what is broken in us. We know that He “shall wipe away all tears from our eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain.” We know that we can be “made perfect through Jesus … , who wrought out this perfect atonement,” if we will just have faith and follow Him."

I know that Jesus Christ lived and died for us. I know that he rose from the dead 3 days after he died on the cross of Calvary. Because of him and his infiante atonement after we die, we too will live again as resurrected beings. This means so much to me because I know that one day my brother won't face the disabilities he has in this life. One day he will be perfect. That is a gift from Jesus Christ that I could never repay ! But he did it for free because he loves us. That is my testimony ! 

My week :)

Thursday: we all caught a 24 hour bug this week and I was the first one to get it so I woke up half dead. But by 4:00 my companions were about to go crazy from being inside, haha I felt bad so we went out the rest of the day ! 

Friday: sis John got the bug but I was feeling better

Saturday: sister Ma'ake got the bug but sis John was feeling better. #compunity #triopower 

Sunday: a girl in the ward gave her mission farewell and it was exciting she's awesome! Yeah it was a good day we were all feeling back to normal and went to our different wards with our investigators :)

Monday: exchanges with the raymond sisters. Sis Wilson came here in our area(yes there was two sister Wilson's in our companionship.😉) it was super good ! We got to go to FHE that night  with our YSA ward and we went out to someone's farm and had a bonfire and we zip lined and went on a cute horse wagon ride thing :))

Tuesday: exchanged back and did a lot of stop bys cause all our appointments that day fell through haha. That's always the worst! But it was okay, it was still good ! 

We have 2 potentials from this week that we are trying to meet with but things kept coming up and they had to reschedule so by next week for sure hopefully we can start teaching them. Gonna be sweeeeettt! I'll tell you guys about it next week. Yeah nothing too crazy happened this week but nevertheless good things happened.🤗 

Happy early Easter !! Ponder on Jesus Christ and all that his atonement and resurrection does and means for us. Here is an Easter video that we have been sharing for supper messages. Even if you've seen it, watch it again it's the best.

P.s. tomorrow my girls Kelly and lynisse are coming to Cardston and they are taking me and my comps to lunch! I'm so excited Haha! I'll take a picture and send it in next week's email :)

I love you ! 
Hugs 😊
Sister Wilson 

1. Elder brown went home so we took a zone selfie 
2.emilys farewell
And the rest of the pics are from FHE 
Don't forget to watch the Easter video ! 


Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Week 18: You Just Squeezed The Air Right Out...


heyaaa everyone :) so did you guys enjoy general conference ? it was SO good :)) we went to members homes for each session and it was so fun, except I almost threw up from how much food they fed us. No joke hahah, it almost all came up at our second dinner on Sunday.

 last wednesday was vanessas baptism ! which was so awesome. Definitely a day to remember. :)
Thursday: same old weekly planning and all that good stuff !

Friday:usual reading with sister hansen and also I met Steven. Hes a bro! haha we had a lesson with a less active and he brought his bearded dragon (Steven) to chill with us, it was funny hahah 
Saturday:General conference of course ! and the elders had a baptism so we went to that right after
Sunday: G.C again. Im so sorry I was planning on bringing all my notes to tell you guys my favorite quotes but i forgot them on my desk when we left to come email :(

 But yeah, Conference was so good and I cant even pick a fovorite talk. But P. Nelly is such a baller, Im gonna say his was ONE of my favorites. I really loved when he said in "god’s eternal plan salvation is an individual matter but exaltation is a family matter." BOOM so good. 

monday: just another good day of work ! supper was interesting though hahah, before we went Sister Ma'ake told me that they have anger issues. And while we were giving a spiritual message after eating one of the kids got really angry cause he couldnt fix his X Box controller and he was throwing his controls all round and was screaming all these curse words. It was awkward cause we were trying to just talk over him while were giving our message hahah. Crazy dude ! 

Tuesday: We had a lesson with Jennifer that went so good again. I love her shes such a strong lady! we had a lesson on prayer and she said shes been praying and been receiving answers and its the best feeling when you're just able to help people come closer to God and see them exercising they're faith. Nothing beats that feeling, I Promise. 😊 We also went to carols and we painted ! she taught us how to draw different stuff and then we painted it with watercolors and coffee. Shes the best !! we shared a spiritual thought after too and she loved it ! 

And then we went to the Harty family for a new member lesson for the dad. They have 4 boys and after the lesson they were dying to play ninja and basketball with us and then they showed us the farm hahah. Super cute kids and an awesome family it was a blast :)

Oh and you know me, I have to add something funny to end it off. 😉So on Friday a member that is Hawaiian made a Hawaiian drink and brought it to us (mainly for Sister Ma'ake)  when we got home that night. Anyways we went outside to their car to grab it and the wife is outside talking to us and she gives us the drink and we were giving her a hug goodbye and Sister John gives her a hug last and i think i already mentioned this a couple of emails ago but Sister John is super strong and when she gives hugs she lifts the person off of the ground and squeezes them really tight. Some people think she is trying to kill them😂 anyways, she gave her a hug and lifted her off the ground and squeezed her so hard that the wife ripped one so loud !!!! i felt so bad, haha In my head I was like omg, im gonna play it off like I didnt even hear nothin. Even though she was right next to me. But then she started laughing and was like WOWWWW you just squeezed the air right out of me !! haah we were dying when we got back in the house. Just so funny you had to be there! good times

It snowed again this week but not anything crazy so im not complaining ! Just still hoping for more sun but its been so much warmer than those crazy -30 days 😉
Grateful !! 
Je t'aime ! (love you)!
until next week. 
Sister Wilson 

1,2:baptism
3,4: my dude steven!
5,6,7: the drink and also a member that has a sugar addiction gave us all her treats and we took them cause we felt bad so we had all this stuff. But we gave it to the elders haha! 
8: selfie 
9: arts with Carol 
10,11: our guy Reece !
12,13: what I painted. Carol helped me, I'm not that good I promise Haha!:)
Sorry lots of pics this week 😆

Wednesday, April 3, 2019

Week 17: April Fool's Day and Protectin' Deez Streets


Wass'up, Wass'up?!

This week has been so good! We have a baptism tonight so I'm really pumped about that!

  
Thursday: It was a normal day.  We did good ol' planning and all that.

Friday: I don' really remember.  Sorry, but I know it was a good day!  I'm sure of that! 

Saturday: It was a really nice day, so we tried to spend time outside as much as we could. We were walking and did some "stop-bys". As we passed some boys playing basketball, they were calling us out...  so you know we came over and had to cross up on em'. Ha!

Sunday: I met my hero.  Ha ha.  This dude came up to us and was going off for like 20 mins about how he "protects deez streets" and how he's the only reason why we haven't gotten snatched up yet. He had a huge flashlight that he pulled out of his pocket and was waving it all around in our eyes. So, yeah.  Don't worry family because I'm not going to get kidnapped or anything.  "Deez streets stay protected"!

Monday: April Fool's! Listen up for a good laugh y'all. Sunday night we were thinking of a good April Fool's Day prank to pull on a set of elders and you know that I cam up with something really quick! So, there is an elder that does President's accent spot on.  It's crazy how much he sounds just like our president.  So... we called him up Monday morning and we gave him a script to read and we told him to call the Zone Leaders at 12:00 pm sharp, because that's when we get done with district council.  We of course needed to be there to witness the prank go down. So we tell him to call at noon and pretend to be President telling Elder Walker and Elder Greer that they are being emergency transferred and that they should pack all their stuff by tomorrow morning. We then told this elder (pretending to be President) to call back in 5 minutes after the initial call to tell them the news and that it's just a joke so they don't actually pack all their stuff. Ha ha ha.  So Elder Rice (guy pretending to be president) is like, "okay okay".  So we have District Council at 10:30 and it's all good.  It's ends at noon and we were so HYPED and antsy. Right on queue, Elder Rice calls and pretends to be President and they fell for it HARD. Just watch video all the way through and see for yourselves.  As a side note. Elder Rice added a part about the elder's missions being cut short, effective immediately and that Elder Rice (the one who ran out of the room) was going home at the end of this transfer. So messed up!   I swear we didn't plan that part, Elder Rice just added that spice. Needless to say, we are still getting the silent treatment from Elder Greer.  He really thought he was going home.  😂

Got 'em!

(No really, legendary prank,. right?!  You know your girl has still got it!)

Tuesday: It was such a good day. We were running around all day, but my favorite part was when we stopped by Carol's house. She is not a member but she loves the missionaries and she's slowly getting softer about religion. Anyway, we chatted for awhile and she wants us over for supper on Tuesday! She's an artist and she's going to let us do some painting with her when we come.  At the end, we asked if we could leave her with a prayer and she asked us if we could all say it together. It was different.... but actually, it was awesome! Sister John started, then Sister Ma'ake did the middle and then I finished the prayer. When we finished, we looked up and she had tears.  It was the best. 

So yeah, this week was so awesome, and I have my first baptism tonight! LETS GOOOOOO !!! We are so pumped.  I will send a pic in next week's email.

Also, are you get excited for General Conference or what?! I know that I am.  It's such a blessing that we have a prophet here today on the earth. And he's going to speak the will of the Lord to us! So listen up! Take notes and pay attention to the invitations that are given. 

Have an awesome week and enjoy conference. Love and hugs to all.  

Love,
Sister Wilson 


The boys getting crossed up by the sister missionaries! Ha ha. 

The boys getting crossed up by the sister missionaries! Ha ha. 


Comin' in hot to spread the gospel. 

Comp love.

Comp love.

 (*April Fool's Day prank videos to come.  Couldn't load them)


Week 16: Much Fruit in the Vineyard


Hola!

It's been a great week here in Cardston. Exciting news - we have an investigator with a date! Her name is Vanessa and she's been taught for forever, but she finally got permission from her grandma this week to get baptized... SO IT WILL BE MY FIRST BAPTISM!

Thursday: We had Missionary Leadership Council (MLC) in Calgary all day. I got to see Sister Nield and her new companion and it was so great! Brother Littlefield came to our mission and spoke, which  was awesome

Friday: Every Friday we go to a old folk's home and read the Book of Mormon with Sister Hansen.  It is my favorite!  She is the sweetest thing ever. We conducted our weekly planning and that evening, we had a Cottage Meeting in Lethbridge. It was SOOO good! There were a a lot of people and food.  President and Sister Keung came.  They spoke and you just had to be there. It was SO spiritual.

Saturday: Don't really remember but we stopped by a bunch of less-active member's houses in the Young Single Adult Ward and then just did regular missionary work.  I don't really remember the rest.  It was a good day though!

Sunday: Church was awesome.Total we had four people to church. We had a lesson with Luna and she really wants to be baptized, but we are just waiting for he dad to come home.  He'll be home soon so we can put her on date.  He travels a lot for work, but we'll have a date soone and we're just working on getting her prepared and through all the lessons.

Monday: We do service early Monday mornings and go and play pickle ball with a group of old people, which is awesome. They get so into it though, and honestly I'm kinda terrible at it.  All the old people don't want to be my partner because they get so competitive. Ha ha. I was partnered with this old man and I was making us lose and he was so heated. I'm pretty sure he was giving me the silent treatment most of the rounds.  Fingers crossed that I get better so I don't keep making the elderly mad. 

Later that day we met with a lady named Jennifer who was at the Cottage Meeting on Friday and she really enjoyed it. She's a former investigator but dropped the missionaries when her daughter passed away last June. She has been through some really tough things in life and she is such a trooper. She lives right outside of the Reserve - kind of in the middle of no where.  So we went over and sat on her porch and got to know her.  Sshe opened up about how she's doing and recovering since her daughter's death. I shared a scripture with he and bore my testimony that Jesus Christ is the source of all healing and shared that He's inviting her to come unto Him so she can find peace in her life. Then I told her that me and my companions offer a message of joy and we would love to come back when she was available to continue teaching her more. She said she really wants that and so we got one new investigator.  I can't wait to show her more love.

Really though, it was probably one of my favorite experiences on my mission so far. My testimony was from the heart, and I know that Jesus Christ wants to heal all of His children. There may have been a tear. 😁

Tuesday: Zone Conference was amazing and I learned lot. We talked about setting daily, weekly, and monthly goals. President pulled up my companionship's area book on the Power Point and said we are the only one who were recording our goals and achieving them .  So, that was a #braggingmoment.  

No, it was all really good though and goals are SO IMPORTANT! Everyday we set our goals for the day and pray as a companionship and ask for help to achieve those goals. Then after that, we had another great Cottage Meeting! President showed 'The Should of Music", a Mormon Message.  Go watch it if you haven't seen it. 

I have to go now, but have a great week! Thanks for everything you guys do for me I really appreciate it.

Love,
Sister Wilson 

Sister Hansen

1st Cottage Meeting

1st Cottage Meeting


1st Cottage meeting

A member took our photo to send to our parents. :)

A member took our photo to send to our parents. :)

Photo from our 2nd Cottage Meeting
2nd Cottage Meeting

"Blood Sisters". ha. 

Wednesday, March 20, 2019

Week 15: Three Brown Musketeers

Heyoooo from Cardston! 

Well, another week down. This week was full of new things and it was good!  Trio power is killing it. We get along really well and it's awesome! Sister John is a funny one. She is quiet, doesn't like change. When I first met her I said "Hi, I'm sister Wilson" and went in for a handshake but she just stared at me. Ha ha.  She was just sad to leave her last companion and is very loyal to each companion.  So when she gets a new one it takes a little for her to adjust. She has opened up a lot more though and we are having fun getting to know each other.  Sister Ma'ake is from Hawaii and is so cool. She's a super good missionary and is so funny. We are a lot a like and have so much in common.  It's the best!
  
Oh and one more thing, Sister John when she meets people, she hugs them and lifts them off the ground.  It's SO funny to see people's reactions. A lot of people yelp or make funny noises.  I can't explain it, you just have to see it. I heard she did that before I even met her and I'm glad I get to see it everyday.

This week was good. Cardston is a lot different from Okotoks. It's a lot smaller and 86 percent of the people are members so we don't tract. We only work with members for referrals but the members are one FIRE here! Seriously it's awesome. We have a good teaching pool right now and one with a date! Her name is Violet and she's so cute. We taught her the Plan of Salvation on Monday night and we did a drawing lesson and she loved it. Her mom isn't active and at the end she said the prayer. It was so cool and the most sincere prayer. She thanked the Lord for sending us to her and Violet and it just made me really happy I was sent to them and to be able to help teach them. 

We are teaching some less active members right now too but we also have some solid investigators. We cover five wards and cover a lot of geography because it's really spread out here.  There are a lot of farms. We cover the Blood Reserve as well and there's so many First Nations here. We don't even go street contacting in town because they are all natives who just try to get money from us.  We are not allowed to give them any because they don't spend it on good stuff.  

When we go on the Reserve we have to have a man with us because it's dangerous for girls to be walking alone. There are dogs all over the Reserve too, which is scarey. They just guard the reservation and walk with the natives but we don't dare go near them.  The elders (of course) are trying to see which one of them can get a picture with one {eye roll}. 


The temple is right smack in the center of Cardston and we get to see it everyday.  It is the best! Plus, it was so warm this week and we walked a lot. It was great! My district is a lot different from my last, there's a couple elders who don't really give a rip and they aren't very obedient which is frustrating. Our zone is like an hour and a half away from us, so we don't see other missionaries much. It's okay though, The Three Brown Musketeers are out here puttin' in WURKKK and helping our other Laminate brothers and sisters on the covenant path! 😎 

The brown and whites don't like each other very much with is very historical. So we are holding multiple "Cottage Meetings" in the upcoming months.  The first one is at the end of this month and we are getting the First Nations and Whites together.  It will be like a cozy Fireside and President Keung is coming.  It's going to be so awesome! He's going to talk about culture and just pound them with the spirit. He's so amazing. They've already had one Cottage Meeting and it was a huge success. We had a meeting on Sunday with some First Nation members and some whites.  Together, we discussed how we all can come together and start being more peaceful with each other.  Our goal is to help them realize that we are all children of our Heavenly Father.  You had to be there, it was just so cool to see.  I'm really excited to hold all these Cottage Meetings with my companions and help get this going. (I'm sorry if this sounds racist - but it's the only way I could explain it. I hope you understand what I'm trying to say.)

The work here is good and the members play such a big role. It's so nice to be able to work with them and just do all we can to involve them in our work. Members play such a big role in missionary work especially in a town with 86% members. (actual statistics)  My invitation to you is for YOU to be better member missionary. I know you guys are already KILLIIN' it,  but there is always room for improvement ! 😉 Pray for missionary opportunities and the Lord will indeed bless you with them. I will follow up with you guys in a couple weeks.  Please email me and share any cool experiences you may have.  I'm excited to hear. 

I was so stressed last week but I'm doing much better. As I work hard, try my best every day, am obedient and don't worry about myself - just focus on helping others... it will all work out. TRUE joy comes from living the gospel of Jesus Christ and serving other people. I am settling into Cardston well and excited to keep working with my companion(s).  Plus,  SPRING is on the way! It's supposed to snow Saturday and Sunday, but I'm not letting that get my hopes up. The weather was so beautiful this week and I felt some sun on my skin! {WAHOOO!} It was the best thing ever. I was starting to feel like Edward Collins for a while there. Ha ha. 

I love you guys a whole bunch! Don't forget my invitation to you - be a missionary. Trust me, because I won't forget to follow up. 

Funny thing - everyone here always says stuff like "do you have to have tan skin with long brown hair to serve here now?".  Ha Ha. They just love to talk about it and it's hilarious.

Have an awesome week! Sing with the birds, enjoy the sunshine and pray for opportunities to serve others.  

Love,
Sister Wilson 


Leaving Okotoks! (Transfer Day)

Sushi with Sister Neild before leaving Okotoks! 

Enjoying a day of sunshine at the Cardston Temple (new area)
Enjoying a day of sunshine at the Cardston Temple (new area with new companions)

Navajo Mountain (Sacred Ground)

The Three Brown Musketeers - car selfie