Email 2/27/17

Hola!

Nana asked me if I have felt sick after riding in that storm, but no I haven’t felt sick. I was fine ha-ha, even though it was kind of cold but, it was because it was windy. I got a video of us riding before the rain started and there is a lot of lightning in the video. I will try and send it next week. I just don’t have much time to send pictures. There haven’t been any more rain storms.  The weather here is weird because one day it will be perfect and then the next day it is super hot!

We had two new investigators but then one didn’t want to talk to us anymore and the other didn’t come to church so we have to go back tomorrow and see what’s up. I have had 3 baptisms and as a companionship we have had 6 since I have been in the mission. Spanish is slow, but it is coming along.

That’s crazy that Jared got to be in Sacrament meeting with Elder Oaks! (Jared text me last Sunday that he walked into Sacrament meeting and Elder Dallin H.Oaks of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles was in town attending a graduation at BYU-Hawaii. Jared said he bore a short testimony and presided over their Sacrament meeting. I shared the info with Brett when I emailed him).

I think I forgot to tell you but I told nana. We had Elder Nelson come talk to us at our Mission Conference! The President of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles!  I sat in the center of the second row. He is so awesome! He talked a lot about our heritage and where we came from! He taught us that the restoration of the Gospel still isn’t finished and how each and every person was chosen to be on the earth at this specific time for a specific reason! It was awesome! As a missionary hearing this it was so powerful. It makes me want to share the Gospel with every single person upon this earth.

That is so rad Lindsay went through the temple! I’m so excited for her! 

I have to go, I only have like 40 seconds left.  Love you!

Elder Wilcox

All Mission Conference February 2017

On Wednesday February 22, 2017 Elder Russell M. Nelson visited the Monterrey West Mission. Elder Wilcox and his companion traveled nearly 3 hours from Nuevo Laredo to Monterrey for his first All Mission Conference.  These pictures came from the Mission Blog, It looks like they are at the Monterrey temple.

Lots of Missionaries!

There he is! 

Looks like they had fun!

Email 2/20/17

Hola! 

First of all we had another baptism. My companion baptized one of the girls in a family that we have been teaching. I baptized another person from the same family. They are progressing very well. but some of the little kids are really hard to deal with. Like they never really pay attention to the lessons and it’s just really hard. But I’m so stoked for them. It’s only the kids in this family too, the parents never sit in the lessons with us. 

We have another family that we are also teaching, a kid named Miguel who is 9 and then his mom, grandma, and great grandma. They are all super interested in the Gospel. They ask really good questions and really want to know if it’s the truth which is soo awesome!

I almost got bit by two dogs this week. Hahahaha I was on my bike for one of them and the other one was actually at a member’s house.  We built a super shabby dog house out of pallets for him.  I was letting the dog sniff my hand and I could tell she wasn’t really liking it. Then she snapped at me, I could already tell she was going to so I moved my hand. Later I pet her and she was cool.

We have been teaching an English class every Wednesday and Saturday and that’s really fun. Some days we have like 20 people show up, other times we have only 5.

So last night we had a crazy random thunder storm come through. It was fine one moment and then after a lesson at an investigator’s house where we had dinner, we started to go over to another investigator’s house.  It was just starting to rain and there was crazy lightening with huge drops! I took a video of it! I will try and send it later. We got to the other house and then it started pouring! it was nuts! There was so much lightning and thunder and wind. We couldn’t go inside the house because they have something like 15 dogs and one that always stays on the porch.  This dog is a straight up savage and if you try to go up the stairs where they live he tries to kill you, literally! So we are standing out in the rain under this tiny overhang, but we are still getting soaked. We decided we should try and just book it home. We grabbed our bikes then and walked out to the street but it was starting to flood so we thought it was a bad idea to try and ride home with lightning and flooded streets. We tried to call a member to pick us up but no one could. So we just decided we had to go on bikes but by that time it was like 20 min later and the storm hadn’t really let up.  We had to leave so we prayed and started off.  We didn’t get more than maybe 15 feet from their gate and my companion’s chain fell off his bike. The streets were so flooded it was up to our knees but we had to put the chain back on. We kept going and as we crossed intersections the water was starting to cover our thighs while we are riding. That’s a good three and a half feet of water. We were with the other missionaries that live in our house and one of their bikes got a ton of crap caught in the chain so we had to stop again and try and clear it out.  We finally got his bike where he was able to somewhat ride. We are riding for a while, but only about half way home when Elder Kirkman, who was in front, suddenly just falls over!  I’m like... what the heck? Then I see this downed power line and I’m just freaking out! I thought I just watched my friend die right in front of me. But then he gets right back up Hahahaha. Turns out it wasn’t a power line, I think it was for the cable company, but that was so sketchy!  We finally got home and we smell like poopy water because the water in the street was so gross! We want to shower right away but we didn’t have water for some odd reason. Elder Kirkman and I start rinsing off our clothes in the rain water that was pouring from the rain gutter and we showered in that too. After we finished somewhat showering, we went inside and there was just enough water for us to rinse off again. It was so insane! and so awesome! I was a tiny bit scared but I know the Lord was with us while we were coming home last night. But still, showering from the rain gutter and all this was just crazy. I just kept thinking wow, this is the mission and it is so freaking awesome! 
I haven’t gotten the packages you guys sent yet but we are supposed to go to Monterrey on Wednesday! Elder Nelson is coming to talk to us!!!! so I think I might get the package there. 

Love you all!

Elder Wilcox

Pictures - Zone Conference 1/17/17

These pictures came from the Monterrey West Mission Blog.

This was Elder Wilcox's first Zone Conference.

Email 2-6-17

We are in week 10 of Elder Wilcox's mission.  Each mission of the Church conducts transfers of missionaires every six weeks.  Not all missionaries move around, it just depends on the needs of the mission.  Elder Wilcox is coming up on his first transfer.  This is what he had to say.  

We have transfers coming up next week, but I won’t be moving. We are with our trainers for 12 weeks, so two changes. We call them changes in our mission. it’s because transfer is cambia in Spanish, so they just call them changes.

I asked Brett to tell me about the other two missionaries that live in the house with him and his companion. 

Elder Kirkman is from Utah. He is super cool and he was in my district in the CCM. He is super smart and he knows such much of Church doctrine, it is kind of intimidating sometimes. He is awesome but he can be very negative sometimes which is hard because I’m trying my best to stay positive and when I hear him be negative I start to be also, but I know things will be better.

 Elder Estevez is super cool too. He is from the Dominican Republic. He is super funny and I love him so much but he and my companion do some really stupid things at home ha-ha Like he was cooking rice, and to help keep the steam in he got a plastic grocery bag and put it half in the rice and basically over the top pf the pan. It was just super stupid.  Another time we were biking home and when we got there two police trucks were searching a car in front of our house, it was pretty gnarly. So Elder Estevez biked right through them. lol Turns out it wasn’t that bad, it was nothing but I couldn’t believe he did that. .  They both do some things that they don’t really think about before doing them. But I still love them. 

Then there is my companion, we get along very good! I love him, he is super awesome 95 percent of the time. There are a couple things though, like we never really stick to our plan, he always asks me the same questions and I don’t know. He reminds me of Jared but from Panama. But it’s not too hard having him as a comp. because he is super rad! 

Tell me about your ward. 

 Well our ward is really big, but only around 130 people actually attend church. We have a list of recent converts that has 34 people on it and only 3 out of 34 attend church. Seventy five percent of members in Mexico are inactive. It’s insane! We talked to our ward this Sunday in ward council about it and how they need to kind of step it up and help us out as much as they can. Every member in this Church is a missionary, not just the full time missionaries. So we will see how that goes. For mutual they usually play soccer or volleyball or some kind of of sport. Elder Kirkman and I teach an English class every Wednesday and Saturday, and then I think once a month they have a ward family home evening. 

  

What is one way you felt the Spirit this week? 

I felt the spirit while I was teaching an investigator. I think her name is Miriam. It’s hard for me to understand names most of the time. We were talking just about the Gospel. I was talking to her and telling her how much I know this Gospel is true. I felt like she really understood and wanted to learn more about it, which is like the coolest thing ever. We as members know that we can have eternal life, and to share that knowledge with someone who has no idea is so awesome.  

What is your favorite scripture and why?

One of my favorites is in 3rd Nephi. I can’t remember where right now and I don’t have time to look it up, but it is when Jesus visits the Nephites and prays for them. It says the words cannot be written because they are so sacred, but it says after He prays He cries.  Jesus, our Savior and Redeemer, who I always think of as a stern but loving teacher, cried out of joy for the Nephites. Then, after He blesses the children He cries again. I thought that was super awesome. 

Love you! and miss you guys!  I can't wait to get my package next week!

Elder Wilcox