Week 33: Transfers: Nampa to....Nampa?

So, we had transfers this past week, and I had been in my area of Nampa 20 and 24th wards since December, so a good 4 months (3 transfers) and we all basically knew I was going to leave. And Saturday afternoon came along and we get the transfer board on Facebook (that's how they do it now.. no more calls, which is sad- but anyways....) and I'm transferred to Nampa 30, 34, and 9th wards. Literally our stake center, right down the road from where I was! Sister Welsh, who I've lived with for the past 4 months, is now in one of the wards I'm serving in (so, even though I had to move houses, I'm still her missionary!).

It was so weird and unexpected, haha. I felt like I was going to go somewhere close, but not that close!!

Anyways, Sister Bradshaw is still in my district. Her and her companion have both been out 3 and a half months (they came out at the same time and both just finished being trained) and I'm excited for them to lead my old area. They'll do great (though it'll be so weird hearing weekly updates at DM on my old investigators as I'm in another ward I think..).

But, all is well and my new companion is an STL so there'll be a lot of traveling this transfer. I'm killing her (meaning she goes home in 6 weeks) and she's super fun! Her name is Sister Moa Sam-Fong (but we all call her Sister Moa lol). She grew up in California, so we both miss the beach together, lol.

And Sister Abbott (my "mom"/trainer) and Sister Campbell are companions now! And they're STL's together. So cute. 🤗

Here's everyone I said goobye to.. hopefully it works! Love Nampa 20/24, and excited for this "big" adventure (lol) of moving across the street.

President Sorensen (MP) is in my ward now sp that's cool. 🙃

Have a great week,

Sister Wilcox

 1. Isn't she adorable! This is Amelia and she wants to be a Sister Missionary and takes our badges whenever we go over! 🤗😁

2. When your camera's facing the wrong way lol.. still looks good 😉😂

3. Sis Bradhsaw and I (mother-daughter photos I suppose 🙄😳)

4. The District Part 3 

5. District Meeting: Elder Johns and Jones comp support

Week 32: Just another day in paradise

This week has been another crazy one, but I'm starting to realize it'll probably never be "not crazy" as you constantly experience so many new things as a missionary so you're always going to be on a steep learning curve of craziness. And, your path is the Lord's, not your own, so unexpected things are always happening!

Elder Nattress of the 70 visited our mission and I got to be one of the few he interviewed, and he asked if he could personally write a letter to my mom and send it home to her, to thank her for her hard work and the great job she did raising us! So many people throughout the world work so hard to be righteous disciples of their Savior and never get recognition for it here on this earth (though Heavenly Father will/does reward them openly from heaven!) so this was a cool experience and she definitely deserves it, so that was awesome! 😊

Also, we were correlating with our ward mission leader last week and he said he felt like we needed to all three meet together with one of our investigators as soon as possible and talk with her about any questions she has at the moment, and not plan a lesson or anything but just meet with her to figure out what she needs right now and then help her. So, we set-up an appointment and two days later we went over to her house and just started talking to her and she told us she had googled some things on the internet and had gotten into a lot of anti-mormon literature and wasn't sure this was what she wanted anymore! As fear and sorrow shot into my heart Brother Conde asked if we could say a prayer and as he was praying I felt a confirming peace from the Spirit take the place of where the fear had been and I knew it'd all be okay. As we testified to her and the Spirit continued to help her understand the truth, she eventually came around and now has an even firmer testimony as she overcame the doubt with her faith and re-committed to follow her Savior and trust Him. Thank heavens for inspired WML's!

Also, while on exchanges in Emmett a couple of weeks ago, another WML was talking about how he'd been going through old progress records to find former investigators or people the missionaries have visited in the past so they could re-visit them to see if their hearts have become more prepared to receive the truth of the gospel since years have passed. I thought it was a great idea! So, I went back to my own area and started going through the old progress records and found a lady the Elders used to do service for who wasn't super interested (and possibly even moved) but felt like we should give it a shot. We knocked on her door a couple of times, but she was never home. So, just yesterday, we decided to give it one more shot as it was the weekend and people are more likely to be at home. And she was! But, it wasn't who we were looking for- a woman named Yolanda and her family had moved in just a month ago (they said the lady from the progress record was long gone) and that they were looking for a church for their family to go to so their kids could grow up around a good crowd of people. We gave them a Book of Mormon and invited them to church and to youth activities on Wednesday and they said they were excited to go!

So many of Heavenly Father's children are constantly looking for truth and as we are trying our best He leads us to find them, and a lot of times we don't even realize how He's preparing us to find and help them! His plan is so perfect, it's awesome to think about.

He knows us all. He loves us all. He wants to help us find Him.

Have a good week!

Sister Wilcox😊✌

-- 

1. A pretty driveway

2. Prayer rocks!

3. More prayer rocks! Cuties 😊

4. Elder and Sister Nattress of the 70 (he said the prayer at GC last week.. and gave a talk in 2016 that was cool if you want to check it out!)

5. Half of the Sisters in our mission and Sister Nattress

6. Thanks family! Cute card 🤗

Week 31: Miracles of Gerneral Conference

So, recap- in case you don't remember- last general conference in October of 2017 Sister Abbott and I were watching the Saturday morning session of General Conference with our friend Sherry Hubbard, a lady we had been doing service for who had not been super interested in committing to the church. However, after the session we talked with her and- through the miracle of the Spirit of General Conference!- we were able to put her on date to be baptized, and she entered the waters of Mormon soon thereafter.

Anyways, after seeing the miracles that come from listening to our living prophet and apostles speak the words of God to us, we had lots of faith that something miraculous would come of this past weekend as well. So, putting forth all of our efforts to watch it with as many of our investigators as possible, the Sunday morning session we were able to watch with the Subieno family at their neighbor's home (the members who referred them). They have come to church faithfully since we first met and invited them 4 weeks ago, and have invited them to be baptized twice in the past, but they had some questions about why they needed to be baptized again and just struggled to commit to one church, so we were never able to get a date set. But, after watching General Conference, we were able to talk with them about the truths that they already know by the power of the Holy Ghost (the session was largely given to talking about the HG!💛 Inspired!) and they said they knew the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that Joseph Smith is the prophet he called to Restore His gospel to the earth again in these latter-days! And they committed to being baptized on April 21st, just 20 days away!

The faith of this family is so inspirational, and I'm so grateful for the miraculous opportunity that we have to listen to our prophet's voice semi-annually, at the least! The Lord loves us and gives us leaders to help guide us through the rocky paths of life. He will never leave us alone. 😉 Ever.

Also, the new changes that were announced in conference? Love it! As missionaries we always seek to "minister to the one," as no other way is effective to get through to people. You discern what they need, and then- by the Spirit- you are able to help them fulfill their needs and feel the Savior's love for them- you take Christlike action. And that's exactly what the replacement HT/VT program is! You follow the Spirit to really help people according to their needs. It's great! We're all just missionaries fulfilling our calling in our own ways with our own abilities. 😁

Anyways, here's some pictures to update you on other minor events that weren't important enough to write about.. 😅

Love,

Sister Wilcox 🙃

1. Sister Bradshaw doesn't like her hair to get wet when it rains 😂

2. Ees a coww (green slime came out of it's mouth as it almost bit me..lol)

3. Our new car! It's a brand new Nissan Rogue (it had less than 30 miles on it when we got it! sweet)

4. Mimi's Easter package- so cute! 😄 Thanks Mimi! I got it by Easter! (she called Elder Waller and went through lots of hassle to make sure it'd be here on time, haha- I feel the love 😊💛)

5. We watched General Conference with Carol and she wrote us a note on her whiteboard! How cute!
6. I got this package from home while writing this email! Thanks
Happy Resurrection day! Hallelujah 😊