January 25, 2016

I Have A Family Here On Earth

Hi everybody! I hope that you all had a good week!  My week was awesome! I’m typing this email on a keyboard that a member of the ward bought me! It was really nice of him! He bought one for both of us. He said that he is trying to buy his way into heaven. I figure that buying stuff for the missionaries is a pretty good way to do it!
There is this old man in my ward named Brother Rhodes. He can’t walk so he lives in an old folks home by our apartment. Earlier this week he and his wife had us come over to the home for dinner. As we ate they told us stories about their family and there was something about an old man screaming, “I’m on my period” like a teenage girl that I found very amusing. When he said that I started laughing really hard. For those of you who have ever seen me when I get laughing hard I start to make a sucking, wheezing sound that I’ve always thought sounds a little like a donkey. When I started laughing that made everyone else start to laugh. After about 5 minutes of laughing Brother Rhodes told me that I have one of the best laughs he’s ever heard. He told me that most people can’t make him laugh and I was one of the few people that could. He told me to never stop laughing. It meant a lot to me to have him say that about me because I love to laugh and I love to make people laugh.
On Thursday, Elder Garfield and I did service with the first elders all day. We went from helping some crazy old guy move to helping an old British woman put mud and hay on her lawn. Elder Garfield and I feel like the only people we talk to are really old people or young girls… Anyway spreading mud and hay was definitely the most fun thing we did. While doing that the woman’s dog got into her chickens and almost killed one! It was awesome! We had to go rip the dog off the chicken! We also got into a couple mud fights during it and we had a blast! Serving others can really be fun when you do it with the right attitude.
My last story is on Fridays the first elders and us go to a food pantry just outside the mission. We were asked to do it by the mission office so we are fine! We were working and trying to have as much fun as you can have putting food in a box when one of the women who works there walked up and started asking us questions about the gospel. She said that she has been religious for many years but hasn’t heard much about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints other then we focus a lot on families and she wants a stronger family. We answered some of her questions and bore our testimonies on how families can be together forever. Elder Itufia got the prompting to sing “I Have a Family Here on Earth” so we did! It was really awkward for us but she was sobbing by the end of the song. Isn’t it amazing how Heavenly Father tells us just what we need to say if we listen to the Holy Ghost? She wants to start going to church and talking to the missionaries. We are going to try to get her in contact with the missionaries in her area this week.
I know that if we are doing what we should, the Lord will bless us with opportunities to teach and share that families can be together forever. I know that those who follow the commandments and keep their covenants can be with their families for all eternity.
I love you all so much and can’t wait to hear from you!
Love,
Elder Wilcock

January 18, 2016

Can dogs hold the priesthood?

Hi everybody! I hope you’re doing well!  Things are going great in the Oregon City 2nd ward! We had another baptism! Anya O’Connell was baptized by her dad on Saturday and it was a great service! I didn’t teach her anything either but it was still nice to see the fruits of missionary work. We have two more baptisms coming up in February so I’m really excited!
On Friday Elder Garfield and I were visiting members of the ward and we stopped by the Hughes. They are an old couple in the ward who love missionaries. Brother Hughes teaches a Kung Fu class and Sister Hughes is just about bed ridden. She has had over 30 surgeries and is in constant pain, but she’s still one of the happiest people I’ve ever
met. When we went over,  Sister Hughes’ sister was their with her dog Axel. I guess that Axel usually doesn’t like strangers but he loved us! They told us that he was a Mormon dog and I thought they just meant that he liked the missionaries. Only later did I find out what they meant. After we had a lesson with them they asked if we would give Sister Hughes a blessing. Elder Garfield was offering a wonderful blessing when out of nowhere Axel jumped up on the bed she was laying in and tried to climb onto our hands!! It was so funny! I guess he really is a Mormon dog!
So Elder Garfield and I have been praying to find new investigators during the week. We’ve lost two this month and we’ll lose two next month to baptism! It’s the best way to lose an investigator but we still need people to teach! We found two potentials from stopping by former investigators and we had a huge miracle happen on Sunday! A
little girl in our ward invited her friend to come to church with her on Sunday. The girl stayed for all three hours and loved it! She loved it so much that she wants to come every Sunday! It was amazing! We thanked Heavenly Father for answering our prayers! That night we got a text from the mother of the girl who invited her friend. She said that
not only was the girl going to start coming to church, but her family of seven wanted to start coming on a regular basis!!! How cool is that?! Our prayers have totally been answered!
Not only is the story a great example of faith and prayer but it shows that anyone can be a missionary. This 10-year old girl simply asked her friend to come to church with her and it has brought mighty miracles to both families. Thomas S. Monson said, “There are feet to steady, hands to grasp, minds to encourage, hearts to inspire, and souls to save.” We should always be sharing the gospel. The Savior taught us to “love our neighbor” and what better way to show our love for them then to help them find everlasting peace? I promise that if you pray for chances to share the gospel with a “sincere heart, having
faith in Christ” you will find people who are looking for truth. That goes for full time missionaries and members.
I love you all and I hope you have a fantastic week!
Love,
Elder Wilcock

January 11, 2016

The Power of the Sabbath

Hi everybody! I hope you had an awesome week!  Mine was fantastic! On Saturday we had a baptism! An 11 year old girl named Kalya Henderson was baptized by her grandfather. She had been meeting with the missionaries for a year before this so it was great to hear how happy all the other missionaries where. I can’t take any credit because I had only taught her once before her baptism but it was still a huge blessing to see the fruits of missionary work.
Other than that my week was pretty average. We taught a few good lessons and ran into some crazy people. A few days ago Elder Garfield and I were about to go tracting. We hadn’t had much success that day and I was really hoping to see some miracles. As we got out of the car I offered to say a prayer. I asked Heavenly Father to help us find
someone who was ready to be taught and to lead us to them. The Spirit filled the two of us and we marched up to the first door; I knocked with all the power I could and when a middle-aged man answered the door I said with all the authority I could put into my voice, “Hello, we are your missionaries from the Church of…” And without saying a word he closed the door in our faces. Elder Garfield and I had to go out in the street and laugh for a few minutes after that. Even though that first house hadn’t been the one we were hoping for we still got our prayer answered. We gave out two copies of the Book of Mormon just a few houses down.
On Sunday I figured out why my week was only OK. It was because church was cancelled last week due to the “snow”. I didn’t realize how much my week would change if I wasn’t able to go to church. Being able to partake of the sacrament was the biggest blessing I got all week! It was such a relief to hear about how other people still have struggles and hard times but that each of us are trying to overcome these problems by being like the Savior. Russell M. Nelson gave a great talk in the April 2015 General Conference call “The Sabbath is a Delight.” I don’t know if I realized it until my mission but the sabbath is a delight! We need to go to church not only to be uplifted by those around us but to be made clean by partaking the sacrament as well.
I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Love,
Elder Wilcock

January 4, 2016

First Week in a New Area

Hi everybody! I hope you had a good New Years! Can you believe that it’s 2016?!
I had an awesome week! My new companion is great! His name is Elder
Garfield and he’s from Henderson Nevada. He’s been out six weeks less
then me and he’s a really great missionary!
I’m now in the Oregon City 2nd ward and I love it! The members here
have been really great so far! The bishop and the ward mission leader
are awesome! On New Years Eve we went to the bishops house for dinner and played Sequence for a while. The bishop and his wife said they like me because every time the other team would do something good I would yell “oh my lanta.” They said I’ll fit right in in this ward!
About once a week we go play Yahtzee with a member named Brother
Steve. He’s 5’3, about 350 pounds overweight and he loves missionaries and Yahtzee! He kinda looks like the mom from What’s Eating Gilbert Grape but he’s the nicest guy you’ll ever meet. Except for when you call him out for cheating at Yahtzee… The first thing he does when we come over is he gets us drinks and makes sure that we aren’t
hungry. He lives with his mom who isn’t a member but she loves us. She calls us her little angels. I’m hoping that we can start teaching her
soon!
Another really nice thing about this area is that their are already four baptisms lined up for the next two months! Plus we have a few people who are really close to setting a date! This is so much easier than opening up a new area! One of the people who has a date is Kalya. She’s 11 and will hopefully be baptized by her grandpa this Saturday! We took her to the Visitors Center on Wednesday and it was really great to see her get excited about her baptism! I love being a missionary!
On Sunday we got some snow up here! And by snow I mean a tiny bit of powder and a bunch of ice. There’s an elder and a sister in my district from Samoa so it was their first time seeing snow! It was funny to watch them play in the snow and then realize how cold it is!
Because of all the “snow” on Sunday church got cancelled so we spent all day walking around pushing people’s cars when they couldn’t move. It was a great day! I love serving people and teaching while I serve.
I honestly wish that I could stay a missionary for more then two
years. But, like Alma said, I sin in my wish because I know that God has a huge plan for me and my mission is only part of it. I know that God has a plan for each of his children and if we do what he says  we’ll be blessed more then we can comprehend.
I love you all and I hope to hear from you soon! Love ya!
Love,
Elder Wilcock