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
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