Week 8: Be his disciples and feed his sheep

So, a couple of weeks ago after General Conference I wrote about Sherry, a 70 year-old woman with Multiple Sclerosis who wanted to make that first covenant to follow her Savior and be baptized by someone holding the proper authority- and this past Saturday she did! She was confirmed this Sunday and now she's a member of the Church with all of the blessings and joy and peace that comes when we make choices to follow our Savior throughout our lives and to truly become His disciples.

The actual act of being baptized was physically difficult for her, considering she's 70 and frail and can barely move with her MS, so the fact that she had enough faith to do it was so great to see, and watching her make her way into and back out of the baptismal font were probably some of the scariest 5 mins of my life (5 mins each way- it was a slow walk down those 3 steps). But she did it!

I know her Savior is so proud of the faith she's already shown Him throughout her life and I'm just glad we got to be a part of helping her come even closer to Him and to following His perfect example. 😊

Also, working as missionaries at the temple open house we get to meet so many of Heavenly Father's great children every day, and it's such an immense blessing and opportunity that not many people get to experience in their life and I'm so grateful for it!

This past week I was working in the video room that everyone goes through before their tour and a woman and her wheelchair- bound husband came in and for some reason they seemed to stand out a little, and I thought they were just a cute old member couple who came to see inside of their new temple, so we did the intro and played the video and sent them on their way like normal.

Then, later, when we switched shifts and went to the reception tent I was talking to some people when a tour guide came up to me and pulled me away, telling me this lady had some questions (it's funny how life-long members who are middle-aged and very knowledgeable about the gospel prefer to have 19 year-old girls answer questions- it must be the mantle 😂). There were even other missionaries around who weren't talking to anyone, but she asked me to help answer her questions so I walked over to her and it was the same lady I had seen earlier!

We talked about her questions, and the Spirit was so strong she started crying and reached out and hugged me suddenly, telling me thank you and it was just a very cool experience that I just wanted to mention briefly because I know there are no coincidences in the Lord. I know that we're put in other's paths so that we can help them, and perhaps we're the best one's prepared to help them- only the Lord knows everything, which is why His plan is so perfect. So trust Him and always do your best to uplift all those around you and help everyone to come unto Christ (active members, inactive members and nonmembers alike).

Everyone needs to remember how much Heavenly Father loves them, that's why it's the first and second greatest commandments- to love.
"By this shall men know ye are my disciples: if ye have love one to another."

Be His disciples by loving and feeding His sheep.

Love you all,
Sister Wilcox 😸💟​

Our new convert Sherry, a sunset, and more temple open house pictures:

Week 7: The Temple is Beautiful!

The Meridian Temple is Beautiful!

We've been working with the open house a lot recently and it's so much fun! The actual open house starts up on the 21st of October, but VIP tours (for ambassadors, government workers, the construction people who built the temple, etc.) have already begun. Getting to meet people who have questions and are coming to you to learn more is so different from what most missionaries experience (i.e. going out and finding the few people who are interested). So, while we still do a lot of "normal" missionary work, the hours we get to spend working at the open house really is a cool and different experience.

Also, I ran into the Bartons randomly while walking between shifts! It was so weird- I turned the corner and saw Bro Barton and at first thought nothing of it, but then I remembered I was in Idaho not Bunnell, lol. It was a lot of fun.

Anyways, the pictures are of the temple, us and the temple, and us and Sherry (getting baptized on Saturday!) and the temple.

I love the temple, and I know that it truly is the Lord's house and that when we live in a way where we're always worthy to go inside of it, we will be able to feel the peace and comfort of the Holy Ghost in our lives and we will feel our Father in Heaven's love for us so much more strongly.

I love you all and pray that blessing will pour down upon you like Florida rain!

Sister Wilcox 😊💛

P.S.I invite you all to read 1 Nephi 8 and really study it, cause it's great!

I.e. it most recently taught/reminded me that: the rod of iron stays along the strait and narrow path all the way to the tree of life, of which's fruit is the most desirable above all other fruit- so, as we cling to the word of God we will be able to stay on the strait and narrow path and not be led astray and we will be able to receive of God's love and glory! So, press forward, continually holding fast to God's word until we make it to the tree and can fall down and partake of it's goodness- and even then, heed not the persecutions of those who do not believe or understand true happiness. The righteous will be persecuted (and many will choose to fall away because of it), but we need to always remember to endure and heed it not (even after we've tasted of the desirable fruit of God's everlasting love). Remember: Christ was persecuted and rejected- do we deserve more than He?

19 And I beheld a rod of iron, and it extended along the bank of the river, and led to the tree by which I stood.
> 20 And I also beheld a strait and narrow path, which came along by the rod of iron, even to the tree by which I stood;
24 And it came to pass that I beheld others pressing forward, and they came forth and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did press forward through the mist of darkness, clinging to the rod of iron, even until they did come forth and partake of the fruit of the tree.
25 And after they had partaken of the fruit of the tree they did cast their eyes about as if they were ashamed. (why?? 😥 don't listen to them!)
26 And I also cast my eyes round about, and beheld, on the other side of the river of water, a great and spacious building; and it stood as it were in the air, high above the earth.
27 And it was filled with people, both old and young, both male and female; and their manner of dress was exceedingly fine; and they were in the attitude of mocking and pointing their fingers towards those who had come at and were partaking of the fruit. :(
28 And after they had tasted of the fruit they were ashamed, because of those that were scoffing at them; and they fell away into forbidden paths and were lost. (so sad)
29 And now I, Nephi, do not speak all the words of my father.
30 But, to be short in writing, behold, he saw other multitudes pressing forward; and they came and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did press their way forward, continually holding fast to the rod of iron (the iron rod is the word of God- don't forget) ,until they came forth and fell down (in joyous exhaustion I'm sure) and partook of the fruit of the tree!
33 And great was the multitude that did enter into that strange building.😖 And after they did enter into that building they did point the finger of scorn at me and those that were partaking of the fruit also; but we heeded them not.
34 These are the words of my father: For as many as heeded them, had fallen away. 🙉 (still endure even after tasting of the fruit!-> Alma 5:26)

Week 6: Finding Angels

This past week I've been able to see the angels of the Lord working around me, and it has been awesome.

There's a family we've begun to teach named the Honeycutts, who have eight children total (though we only teach the youngest six the lessons) and it is such a blessing to be able to get to love them all! Our goal is to try to help give them a foundation of the gospel that they can rely on as they grow up (they're lacking it in their own family life as their mom's an long-time inactive member and their dad never was a member), and these children are so precious as they all love learning about Jesus and have the sweetest spirits ever! (BTW there's Calub (14), Samara (11), Dezyrae (9), Havana (7), Brooklynn (5), and Aspen (3)- and Calub's the only boy).

So, as we got to tour the Meridian temple a few days ago, I noticed that there were so many pictures of Jesus loving little children, and that combined with the spirit that's in temples already (being in the temple is a glimpse of what being in heaven feels like 💛) it was just so overwhelming (in a good, spiritual way)- the love and the desire I felt by the end of the tour to help these precious children of God know how much He loves them.

So as I was studying and eventually came across Moroni 7 (love this chapter!) I couldn't help but think the angels it talks about in verse 22 are all who help His children come unto Christ and find everlasting joy in Him, and the angels I've had the pleasure to meet this week are Sister Foote and Brother Gulls.

Sister Foote is a lady in the ward who has been driving out of her way every Sunday morning for the past 3+ years to pick up the Honeycutts and bring them to church. And every lesson we have is at her house and she feeds them all and is like a mother to them and it is so sweet. 💟 And Brother Gulls brings Calub to scouts every Wednesday, and over to his house right before it every time to make sure he's been fed dinner and is being taken care of, and pretty much acts like a father-figure to him.

To me, these saints truly exemplify what it is to do as the Savior would do, and as they express charity to these children as if they were their own I know that they truly are angels of the Lord, and it's so inspiring.

So, I invite you all to read Moroni 7 and to pray for opportunities to be able to be angels for Heavenly Father's beloved children every day in your own lives, and then to look for those opportunities as you go throughout your day and do them!

Let me know how it goes. :)

Love you all,

Sister Wilcox 💛😊

Our apartment and our car

My good friend

Week 5: Conference is Magical!

Brothers and Sisters, Conference is magical!

Words cannot describe how much I love General Conference and the power and testimonies of all those who speak in it every time. It truly is such a magical time to listen to our Heavenly Father speak directly to us through his servants the prophets and I know this with all my heart. When we listen with our ears open to hear, we will hear what the Lord's telling us that we need to do to come closer to Him, and that's our whole purpose in life. 💛

I absolutely loved conference! We were able to watch every session with a different investigator and each one felt inspired to make some kind of commitment afterwards to further come unto Christ, which I'm so grateful for. The most amazing thing happened when we watched the first session on Saturday morning with a sweet older investigator named Sherry whom we have been giving service to and visiting. She had said that she didn't want to look into the church too much, mainly out of respect for her husband who died in May and had some apprehensions about the Church. After we watched the session with her, I asked what her thoughts and feelings were and before we knew it she was near tears pleading, "Sisters, please- I need to be baptized! How can I be baptized, will you help me?"

I was absolutely shocked! I didn't think I heard right so I looked at my companion and she was just absolutely beaming and we were like, "Sherry! Of course we'll help you! That's why we're here!" It reminded me of the days my companion in the MTC Sister Millington and I would leave a practice teaching session and just want to do twirls in the rain because God truly is so merciful and good to let us, His imperfect servants, be a part of the miracle of seeing others come unto Christ!

One more story I'll share is one that happened while I was on exchanges in Star, Idaho. I've learned quickly that everyone here has dogs. Literally. Everyone. So, when we knock on a door it's more common than not to hear some kind of big dog on the other side barking at us to go away. So, when Hermana Marin and I knocked on the door of one house while tracting, it was really weird when there was just a really deep growl from the dog on the other side of the door. There was no barking or anything- just a very low (yet loud) snarling sound that made me think of Old Yeller when the rabid wolf jumps out of the bushes and tries to attack the people! It was super creepy and made me miss how every normal dog in the world just barks until the person goes away.

But anyways, we knocked again (because it's at least 3 knocks for salvation) and we heard a creepy shuffling/scraping sound coming towards the door (on top of the still growling rabid dog) and suddenly the door flung open and a huge pitbull-looking thing flies right at us (the owner didn't even try to hold it back!) and with no time to even blink, all I could do was jump in surprise as this huge rabid wolf-dog was flying through the air to eat us.

But, I testify that the Lord protects His missionaries, because right before that thing bit our faces off, it just stopped and looked at us calmly. In surprise (and still a bit of shock) we looked up at the 30-40 year old bald man standing inside the doorway that, to be honest, also looked surprised and a bit disappointed that we weren't torn to shreds. He told us he wasn't interested and tried calling his dog back in but it wouldn't listen and just wanted to sit there with us. It was the coolest thing (I felt like Daniel in the lion's den 😸).

So, put your trust in the Lord because He will deliver you! I know that He has a plan and a work for each of us to accomplish and when we make our will His will, He will make us instruments in His hands and we will be blessed to see the miracles of His works performed before our very eyes. It's truly amazing! Sadly, I only have 17 more months on a mission (oh, how the time flies) so I'm going to make every moment count and I invite all of you to do the same!

I will be working at the Meridian Temple open house 3 shifts a week (Mon, Tues, and Sat/Fri). Training starts this Wednesday so I'll know more about my duties then- but I'm so excited! That's so cool that Grandma and Grandpa Thompson and several of my Thompson aunts and uncles got to be involved in the Orlando, Florida open house and dedication. And it's even cooler that then, years later they got married inside of it! How special (I love the Orlando Temple!!!!).

There are a lot of Spanish speaking missionaries here and there are a lot of areas that are predominantly Spanish speaking, but in Middleton there aren't too many to the point where I haven't come across a need to attempt to use my little knowledge of it yet. We're in an area with a car (thank heavens- it's freezing outside!) but we do a lot of walking and tracting too so it's a fun mixture.

My companion is from Peoria, Arizona and she's super sweet (a lot like me even) so it's fun. We're over two wards and the YSA branch (though the branch's bigger than the Bunnell Ward, so i don't really know why they call it a branch lol) and the YSA covers all of Middleton so we travel pretty far sometimes.

Mile-wise Middleton is one of the smaller areas in the mission (in Oregon, places like La Paz are huge!) because there are quite a few members here. However, that also means that most people are already introduced to the church so it makes it hard when they already have pre-conceived notions about it and don't even give us the time of day. But the work will go on, because there are those few and far between that the Lord had prepared and we will find them!

I have a lot more to say but this email's too long so I guess that's it.

God is love, I know it.

Sister Wilcox

My district