June 12, 2017

A week of Service!!

Hi everybody! Hope things are swell!  Last week flew by! The weather was crazy last week! It was pouring rain one second and hot and sunny the next! I thought that we were done with the weird Portland weather but it looks like we ain’t out if the woods yet!

Elder Jaffa wanted me to have the “Portland experience” so he took me to this place by our apartment called Next Level Burger. I was excited until I found out that everything on the menu doesn’t have meat!! It was so disappointing! I got a “hot dog” which I believe was made out of carrots and sweet potatoes… It was awful. I’m gonna go ahead and say that the prophecy in 1 Timothy 4:1-3 has come to pass. You see it everywhere in Oregon!
We have been doing a ton of service last week! And the great this is

it’s all been for less active members and non members! For most of the weekend we helped a guy whose mom was moving out of our complex. It was a lot of work because she had a ton of stuff but it ended up being a really great missionary opportunity! He had a ton of questions for
us and now has a lot of respect for the church! He said that next time the missionaries knock on his door he will let them it!

A lot of the time as missionaries we don’t see the good that comes from our work. I feel like a lot of the work that I’ve done on my mission will help people in the future to see that the gospel is true and something that will bless them. I’m so grateful for missionary service!! I love serving the Lord and am excited to finish strong in the last couple of months!  I love you all! Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Wilcock

June 5, 2017

Things are starting to pick up!!

Hi everybody! I hope you had the bestest of weeks!  Things are going great with Elder Jaffa! I think I mentioned last week that he’s really into Jeeps so he’s been teaching me the differences
between all of them. I can now tell you the difference between a YJ and a JK and everything in between! He’s also taught me that there are some kinds of Jeeps we don’t speak of such as the Patriot, the new Grand Cherokee and the Compass. We’ve started playing this game where when we are walking or biking around and we see a Jeep, we see who can call out what kind it is first. I’m starting to get pretty good but Elder Jaffa likes to show how much better he is by telling me what year it is, what kind of tires it has, what size of tires it has and so on. Show off 😒

Elder Jaffa and I saw some awesome miracles last week! From what I understand, the elders who were hear before me had not found a new investigator in seven or eight weeks so things were very dead for a while. Last week Elder Jaffa and I found three new investigators!! It
was so exciting for us! We found one by stopping by a former investigator in the area book
after dinner with bishop! We found the others because their daughter/sister is a member and told us that they were moving into the Lakeridge Ward and would like some help. We were told that they didn’t have too much stuff but when we got there they had a full Uhaul and neither of them could help. We ended up unloading the whole thing which included tons of boxes, an awkward couch and the heaviest mattress known to man to name a few items. It was totally worth it though because they want to go to the Temple Visitor Center in a couple weeks!
I won’t lie, unloading that whole truck with just the two of us sucked. It was on the other side of our area so there and back was an hour long bike ride. It would have been easy for us to say that we couldn’t help. We had several reasons to say no but we went and we were blessed because of it!

I know that if we serve others we will see the Lord pour out blessings upon us. I’ve seen this happen time and time again throughout my life. This week look for someone you can serve and then look for the blessings you receive. I promise they’ll come! I love you all! Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Wilcock

May 22, 2017

Off to Lake Oswego!

Hi everybody! I hope your week was just splendid!  Last week flew by. I feel like the last week of the transfer always  does. I found out on Saturday that I’ll be going to the Lakeridge Ward in Lake Oswego! I’m really excited and scared at the same time! I’m excited because I’ve always wanted to serve in Lake Oswego! I hear that the members are awesome and all of the meals you get are amazing because everyone there is rich! I’m scared because it’s the worst bike area in the mission. The whole area is full of hills and weird roads. I’ve even heard that there’s a hill called Overlook which if you can bike up without stopping the bishop of the ward gives you a trophy! Lakeridge will probably be my last area so it looks like I’ll be coming home with a skinny waist and a great pair of thunder thighs 🚲💪🏼 .   My new companion is Elder Jaffa. He’s only been out for a few months and I’ve never met him so I’ll let you know more about him next week! I’m sad to leave Elder Webster and the awesome members of the Beaverton ward but it’s always exciting to go to a new place!

Anyway last week Elder Webster and I got to participate in a potluck dinner called Bite Night. Everyone from the Beaverton ward and the Spanish branch brought some kind of crazy food from their mission of where they have lived. It was a lot of fun! We were asked to participate so we make a mission classic: mac and cheese with hotdogs in it and any kind of hot sauce you can find in the fridge all wrapped in a tortilla. It actually turned out pretty good! We even had members come back and get seconds and thirds! We were both pretty proud of our ghetto dish!

Elder Webster and I had an awesome miracle happen last week! We have really been struggling to find people to teach the last few weeks. Two weeks ago we didn’t find a single new investigator. It’s been really frustrating because we’ve been working hard and trying to find people. Our zone leaders were starting to get concerned so they committed us to be more specific in our prayers. We started to be more specific and nothing really changed. We kept with it though and on Saturday we got three referrals for new investigators!! We were both so excited to see our prayers and work pay off!

I know that specific prays get specific answers. If any of you are struggling with something I invite you to pray specifically about what you need. I promise that God will bless you with specific answers and help you overcome these trials. I love you all so much! Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Wilcock

May 15, 2017

Happy Mother’s Day!

Hi everybody! I hope you had an awesome week!  Last week was slow but we got three of our investigators to church which was awesome! I think they liked it but one talk was about
Heavenly Mother so I think that was a little interesting to them…hopefully it did freak them out!

We had interviews with President Ballard which went really well!  President gave me some really great compliments but he didn’t hint at what’s going to happen next transfer like he usually does. I feel like I’m going to leave but we won’t know until next week! Transfers keep going by faster and faster!!

On Sunday I got to Skype home and see me family! It was awesome to talk and laugh with them! It’s crazy to think that I’ll be seeing them again in three months! I home that all of you missionaries out there had a great talk with your family as well!  With it being Mother’s Day I’d like to end my email with a shout out to my mom! She’s the best! I think most of the people who read my emails know my mom so they can see some of just how amazing she is! I’m so glad that I get to be her son and spend eternity with her and the rest of my family!!! That’s one of our Heavenly Father’s greatest gifts to us, the chance to be with our families forever!

I love my family and I know that we can be together forever if we live the laws that our Father in Heaven has set before us. Each of you have that same opportunity! Be sure to follow the commandments and prepare to live with God again.

Sorry this is so short but I love you all and pray you have a great week!

Love,
Elder Wilcock

May 8, 2017

DJ Deliverance

Hi everybody! I hope that you all had a wonderful week!  Last week was great! Elder Webster and I found a few new investigators and we had some really good lessons with people we’re teaching right now!  One of the lessons we had that went really well was with a brother and
sister we found a couple of weeks ago. They were both raised catholic but aren’t sure what they believe. They both have a ton of really good questions and they both have the desire to learn more! It’s been awesome to see them grow in their understand of the gospel over the
last couple of lessons. We have a lesson tonight and are going to try to set a baptismal date with them!

Another really great lesson we had was with an investigator named Connie. She has been taught in the past but we felt like we should see her again. We had some of the ward missionaries come with us and they were both awesome! We taught her about the restoration and she seems really excited about the gospel! She feels like this will help her draw closer to God and we prom I see her that it will.

One of my favorite things about being a district leader is being able to conduct baptismal interviews! The sisters in a neighboring ward had a baptism on Saturday and I got to interview the man being baptized on Friday. His name is Chad but he’s a Christian rapper and DJ so he goes by DJ Deliverance. He was really awesome and ready to make this covenant with God! He even went to his boss a few weeks ago and said that he couldn’t work on Sundays anymore because he need to go to church and take the sacrament each week! How cool is that?! I was glad that I was able to meet him, interview him and go to his baptism on Saturday. After his baptism he did a freestyle rap on what it was like to get baptized! It inspired me and a couple of other elders to work on our freestyle rapping skills 😎🎅🏿

On a more serious note I’m so glad that Chad chose to be baptized by someone holding the priesthood of God! The man who baptized him is a bishop in one of the wards Elder Webster served in. He said that he was praying a couple of weeks ago that he would be able to help
someone get baptized. Three days later he got a message from his old high school buddy Chad who said that he would like this bishop to baptize him! What an awesome answer to a humble prayer!  I know that God will answer all of our prayers. It may not be the way that we want but He loves us and listens to us. I also know that baptism is part of God’s plan for us. I’m so glad that I chose to be baptized when I was eight. I’ve seen so many blessings come into my life because of that choice!

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love,
Elder Wilcock

May 1, 2017

Lead, Kindly Light

Hi everybody! I hope that y’all had a great week! Last week was a good week! Elder Webster and I got to go on exchanges with the zone leaders! I got to go with Elder Hill who has been my zone leader for almost 7 months now! It was fun to get to know him better and I got to be in a YSA Ward which is always awesome! For part of the day we went to Portland Community College and tried to talk to people. It wasn’t very effective but it was fun! We got to see a guy in a dress!
Sunday we interesting. A couple of weeks ago Elder Webster volunteered us to sing together on fifth Sunday. We decided to sing Lead, Kindly Light. It was ok. We didn’t have a lot of time practice so it wasn’t as good as I wish it had been. All the ward members still said that we
did a good job. Let’s be honest though, when you sing in church, even if it was terrible, the old ladies will still tell you it was the most beautiful thing they’ve ever heard.
One good thing that came out of singing the song was that Sister Perkins played the piano for us. It turns out that she is Auntie Jen’s sister!!! (If you aren’t from PG that won’t make any sense… sorry). It’s such a small world in the church! They are both very musically gifted and she did an awesome job on the piano!
So I forgot to say that last week we had Zone Conference and we got the best commitment ever! We had a training on the Book of Mormon and were committed by President Ballard to read the Book of Mormon every day for an extra half hour a day! It has been such a blessing! We each took a new copy and we have to mark every time Jesus Christ or His doctrine is mentioned. It’s been a huge testimony builder for me! I’ve had a testimony of the Book of Mormon for a long time but this is fortifying that knowledge that I have. It’s amazing how often the Savior is talked about!! The Book of Mormon is all about our Savior! If you aren’t reading the Book of Mormon you should start reading it today! You will see so many blessings come into your life!
I love you all! Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Wilcock

April 24, 2017

Last Minute Talk…

Hi everybody! I hope you had a great week!  We Had a great week! We have someone with a baptismal date now! The Spanish elders found a lady who was taught 10 years ago and is now
ready to be baptized! Elder Webster has met her but I haven’t yet. I’m really excited to met her though!
I had a really exciting moment on Sunday morning. I got a text from a member of the bishopric asking if I knew that I was giving a talk in sacrament meeting. I said no and he pretty much said well sorry. Here’s your topic… I was freaking out all day! Luckily my topic was really easy. I just had to talk about my favorite talk from Conference. I guess I did a good job because a lot of people said that they were able to learn from the talk. I chose to speak on the talk, Called to the Work. It was given in the priesthood session so not a lot of the the sisters knew about it. It was given by Elder Bednar and I loved it! He spoke about how their is a difference between being called and being assigned to an area. We are assigned to an area but we are called to the work. It was cool that the spirit inspired to me to speak on that because on Sunday a missionary in our ward came home early for medical reasons. Hopefully that will help him know that he is called to the work, even though his area has changed.
I know that I have been called to the work. I’m so glad that I was assigned to labor in the Oregon Portland Mission. I love this mission and the people in it.
I love you all! Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Wilcock

April 17, 2017

Happy Easter!

Hi everybody! I hope you all had an awesome and a great Easter!  My second Easter was way better then my first! My first Easter was spent sitting with an elder in my district while he threw up all day.  I’m happy to report that no one threw up this Easter!  Yay! We had a great day at church and then went to dinner with an awesome family in our ward!
A great thing about church was that we had four people come to church!  It was so exciting! One of the young women in our ward brought two of her friends and they both ended up taking a Book of Mormon! We are hoping to go to the Visitor Center with them this week!  We also had some awesome miracles where we went to see old investigators and their siblings answered and talked to us about the gospel! That was how we found two of our three new investigators! It was really exciting!
I don’t have a lot to say this week but I know that Jesus Christ really does live. I know that He lived, died and came back so that each of us can have the opportunity to be happy for eternity. I’m so glad that I get to serve my Savior everyday in Oregon. It brings me so much joy to see how Jesus Christ can change anyone’s life if they turn to Him.
I love you all! Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Wilcock

April 10, 2017

Transfers and a HOUSE!

Hi everybody! I hope your week was chill!  Last week was an awesome week! It was the first time we had investigators at church and we had three! It was a huge miracle for us! All three of the people who came loved it and want to come again!   It was awesome!
The weekend was really long though because Elder Fisher and I moved from our apartment into a house! We don’t even live with members! We have a house all to ourselves! It’s not very big but it has really nice furniture and two bathrooms! It’s beautiful! I’ll be sure to send some pictures soon!
So today is transfers and Elder Fisher is leaving. He’s going of to be a district leader in mount hood! My new companion is Elder Webster.  It’s crazy because we were both trained by the same Elder Smith! So I’m with my younger brother now! I’m going to miss Elder Fisher but it
will be cool to be with Elder Webster!
On Sunday we had a really awesome fireside for the Prince of Peace video. President Newsom, a member of the mission presidency spoke. I’m glad that I’ve gotten used to baring my testimony because before he spoke he got up and invited me to speak out of the blue! It was kind of nerve racking but a lot of people said they liked it so that’s good! President Newsom shared an amazing story of how he was able to find peace through Jesus Christ when he was going though the darkest time of his life. It was really inspiring. I’m glad that I was able to
hear his testimony.
I know that if we turn to the Savior we will find everlasting peace. That doesn’t mean that our lives will be easy, but we will be able to overcome every trial. Even the trials that seem impossible to move past.
I love you all! Have a great week!
Love,
Elder Wilcock