Saturday, October 31, 2015

Week 6: Finally an Apostle!

So this week has been so cool!!  I don't even know where to begin with because everything has been so insane and cool here.  There has been some great, some weird, some amazing, and some hilarious things that have happened here over the past week! 
One spiritual message before I begin is Jacob 4:7 in the Book of Mormon.  It states, "Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescensions unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things."  
I am weak. I am not strong. I am just a human, I am nothing more than a mere servant to the most high God, to my Savior, yet he knows me better than I know myself and loves me for who I am.  Therefore in order for me to be more like who he wants me to be, I will do all I possibly can do to be like him, and be who he wants me to be.  He takes his time and focuses on us, is always watching us.  We may ask "Why me?" "It is just me," but why not say "Because it's me, and because I'm his child, he loves me the most. Therefore he will always be there to help me, even if I stumble and fall.”  And, that should be our mindset!  J

This week has really been such a blessing here!  I am so glad to be at the MTC with all my friends and my family.  Although they aren't my FAMILY, they are my family. I love my teachers, Brother Chandler, Brother Memmott, Brother Campbell, and Sister Washburn, and Jackson!  They are such amazing people, and are by far the best people to be teaching me this beautiful language of Korea! So onto my week!

Thursday as usual is Preparation Day!! It is so fun!  Every P-Day we get to go to the Temple, we also do like a Chips-and-Queso” day!  It is so amazing!!  I Love it! We also nap and basically P-Day is so relaxing!  I absolutely love Thursday's for this reason!  We always play Sand volleyball if the weather is nice and I absolutely love playing sand volleyball.  I get to dive all over the place and it is so sick! I absolutely love it!

Friday was such an interesting day too!  
Some of the missionaries in my district said that Four Square is such an intense game and it is hard, so I balled up for 45 minutes and then played Four Square for 5 minutes.  It was funny because they got destroyed. 

It is hard to believe that the older district would be leaving on Sunday and I love them so much! It is so weird watching them pack!  
In the evening, we had TRC where we teach members in only Korean.  I can comfortably teach a lesson and hear, and respond without having to guess anything they say.  I absolutely love it.  My companion blanked, but that is okay because he testified great.  He was a little frustrated with himself on his Korean, but I said it doesn't matter.  As long as he will preach with the spirit, then it is amazing!  But I thought it is cool that I could understand everything.  Then we did Companionship Inventory where we review our goals and the week, and we are really as one as a companion.  I literally think what he is thinking, and when he is looking up a scripture, I'm like “I got it,” and he is like “how do you know that was the one I was thinking of?”  I have no idea, just another great blessing of the Lord. J  I absolutely love this gospel, and it is so cool!  After TRC and us going back to the residence, I was writing in my journal.  Then I hear a HUGE scream from an Elders’ room  --yelling “Mouse!!”  Everyone was just staring and not doing anything and screaming.  So I got a box and with four elders, we caught the mouse after trashing 3 rooms it went into.  We named the Mouse "Kim" because it's Korean, and when we were going to let it out, it had eaten through the box and fell onto my leg.   I caught the mouse and it jumped.  It ran off and it was such a good night!!   So funny.  J

Saturday was a decently long day too!  I was able to just really hang out and talk in Korean the entire day.  I love talking in Korean, and watching people be like “Wait... you know four languages?!?!”   I'll be talking to some Hermanas and they will be like “No way!  You can speak Spanish!?!?! “  And I'm like “Ya,” and we have long conversations in Spanish, and then they say Goodbye and I'll see some Japanese elders and I'll start talking Japanese to them and the natives will talk back, but the non-natives will just be like “He speaks Japanese!?!?  He was just speaking Spanish, or English, or Korean.”  Then I'll go back to speaking Korean, and then I switch to English and they are like “No! I can't do this anymore!!”   lol   J   I think it is so funny.  J  Then, just to throw people off I use a little smidge of French and they are like “Five!?!?” and I'm like “nope.”  J   
On Saturday during personal study I got to read Jacob 2 in the Book of Mormon! And one thing that I want to share from there is Jacob 2:18 which reads "But before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God."  Seek out God and seek to be his servant. Be his servant always and he will bless you with riches. But we should constantly be looking for Christ and being examples of him.  Anyway, my Saturday was pretty insane.

Sunday was very fun too!  On Sunday we got to chill out, and I went to a couple meetings in the morning, and that was fun.  I got to read the scriptures and I absolutely love doing that!  During our district meeting (community of missionaries going to Korean of my group) with the branch president (leader of all the Korean missionaries), the Branch president said that it is only natural in companionship or entire classes people progress quicker in the language.  And everyone was like “yea... Elder Wilson progressed a lot faster than us. So... Hmm..”  I said that I'm just thankful to be blessed by God to learn, and that I love the language and will do my best.  The branch president asked the class how we can improve and how we can be more unified.”  My companion was like as we have acknowledged that Elder Wilson is better than most at Korean that we try to plan things out and we work off each other.  I just love my companion. So then after that we went to sacrament meeting which is on the MTC campus and that was super fun!  While walking up to the Provo temple, I took a lot of pictures with people leaving especially the native Koreans.  They seemed to have stuck to me, and I love them so much!  I miss them a bunch!  Then I went to Choir and that was so chill, and devotional on Sunday was from Chris Randall, the Director of Administration at the MTC!  It was such a good message.  He talked about self reflect on your call --- Are you certain of where you were going? Did you have no idea? Were you disappointed? And, he had people stand up too.  In all honesty, never once was I ever disappointed with my call.  I speak Japanese, I love Japan, I am Japanese. But the Lord sent me to the place where I will be the happiest and grow the most and I cannot be more thankful for being sent to Korean. I love Korea and Korean already and I have only just begun. J
One video that he brought up was a MTC devotional from Jeffery R. Holland, and one thing he says was "What you want investigators to do, God wants you to do", "You want your investigator to pray more, God wants you to pray more earnestly.”  
Do you ever feel like he isn't listening to your prayer? Cause I know there have been times where I've felt that way. Why aren't you there, can you hear me, are you there? But I know for a fact with a burning in my heart and pain in my chest, that I cannot deny that he is there. That he is always listening.   Just he does things in his own time:)

Enos 1:4-5 in the Book of Mormon state "And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens. And there came a voice unto me, saying: Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed."  Do we pray like Enos? Do we pray with intent?  Do we have faith in God that all things can be done through him? I testify that prayer is so essential!

Anyways so after the devotional, we went to see one of the church movies “The Restoration” (Joseph Smith's search for truth led to the First Vision and the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ) in Korean with all the natives!  I got all of it without subtitles, and the Korean missionaries all wanted pictures with me.  So I took a lot of pictures with them! I love them so much! After the movie, we all went outside and sang to the four missionaries leaving districts and said goodbye and gave hugs. I love them so much, and all of them were my mentors. We were so close and I miss them all so much!

Monday the residence was quiet, I was tired cause we stayed up until 1:00a.m. just hanging out. I love them! 
Monday was fun, and we had an amazing lesson with our investigator!  Our investigator is really progressing and it is so fun that we are able to teach them!  I love being able to speak Korean to them and I can't believe how fast this week has been going!

Tuesday was such a cool day! Our lesson went absolutely fantastic! We taught 이제승 and we taught about repentance! It was such a good lesson, and we always ask him if he has question about 교리 (Doctrine), but he says no, and we always ask what he understands and he gets a lot of it!  It is super cool that he wants to be baptized as well!  He is such a cool guy and I pray for him every day because his life is hard.  He wants to go to school, but can't because his Grandma needs help.  His Mom and Dad are divorced and always fight and he didn't like going back and forth so decided to live with his Grandma. He can't get a job because his Grandma needs his help.  But he says when he plays music, he can escape from the world.  He really loves God because God helps him out and hears him.  He didn't have faith in God seven weeks ago, but now, he really does believe in him.  Yep!  
Later that night, I sang in the choir at devotional!!  Devotional was absolutely amazing because not only was it broadcasted to all the MTC's around the world, but also because the Apostle Neil L. Anderson spoke!  He spoke on four topics: Sacrifice, Opposition, Adversary and Deliverance!  We got to sing “More Holiness Give Me,” and that was such a good, spiritual song!!  I loved it so much!  Many missionaries told me that I was on a screen for about seven times, but as our choir director says when you look at the screen, you are thinking about yourself, but not about Christ.  I will always think about Christ, so I had no idea.  Hah  J

One thing that Elder Neil L. Anderson said was that "Blessings will always come."  How true that statement is!  You may not recognize the blessings, and they may not be immediate, but they do come.  And I know that they do come!  Just be patient they all do come.  One of the biggest blessings I felt in my life was with my little brother James getting Ewing Sarcoma Cancer.  Many may view it as a trial, but no, this was a blessing.  My brother James is stronger than I am. He is the strongest.  He is an amazing person, and the best brother anyone could ever have.  Through his trial, I can see that God is always there and is always watching us.  He loves you and he can heal you.  Thank you so much, James!  I love my family so much, and miss them too!
Another thing that I really enjoyed was "Am I better today, than I was yesterday." Am i really better, and I progressing, or am I going through the motions and not helping others?  We must keep progressing.  
Finally another thing that I want to share was something that hit me hardest: "I (The Lord) will not leave you comfortless.”  He will always be there to comfort us and will be there.  All we have to do is to ask, and he will give 10000000000x more comfort than possible. I know this to be a true fact.

I love you all very much and thank you for all you do!  Thank you for being such great people, and as a challenge, this week I want you all to re-assess your lives. Are you doing all you can do to come closer to Christ?  Are you becoming more like him, and helping others out?  Do I pray with fervor?  
I love this gospel and I love you all. I would never trade this away for anything! 

Thank you for all you do!!

사랑합니다,
Love,

Elder Wilson / 윌손장로



The best way to start a great day!  6:30a.m. @ Provo Temple

w/ Korean group

Awesome reunion w/ Elder Fike (Serves in Barbados) from Laramie, WY



Friday, October 23, 2015

Week 5: Pictures

w/ my companion


My district


Preparing for Halloween


w/ Elder McGowan (he's going to Hong Kong)

Week 5: A Whole Lot of Unexpected

안녕하새요!!!
저는행복합니다!!! --- “I am happy” is what that means :)
Anyways good morning from the beautiful, one of a kind Provo MTC, where days are long but weeks are short and you lose track of time very quickly.  Who would think that I'm on Day 37 already since being here... So weird.  I'm already 1/24th done with my mission which is kind of crazy.  It is weird, but I have barely been on my mission and I already want more like, like 3 year missions sound like a blast in all honest.  If I were to come home today, I know I would be a changed person, a very changed person.  I have embraced my time with Christ and I know he loves me.  It is so amazing to think about all that Christ did, how merciful he is and how loving he is.  He is the perfect example and his atonement is infinite.  I've finally realized how amazing his atonement is and the magnitude of his sacrifice, in all honest I cry when talking about the atonement because it is such a blessing and I don't even know how someone could've taken upon all the sins of the world for mankind.  We don't even know and we talk about the atonement so lightly. The atonement is not something to be taken for granted. Savior atoned for us so we can be happy and receive eternal happiness.  So, please never take that for granted!!

Anyways this week has been so amazing!!  After the temple trip last Thursday, we came back and played sand volleyball as a district!  It is so fun being able to dive! :)
Then came back to the residence and I studied Korean and keep progressing!  I absolutely love this language!!  Then the rest of the day was pretty laid back, we got to chill out and now that I'm fairly good at the language, my teachers are like just talk to Zone Resources when they come in and just sit down and talk. So that's all I do now instead of sitting down and learning 믄법(grammar).  So it is awesome! I love P-days here.

Friday we went back to the usual schedule.  Personal Study, where I really get to plunge into a pool of amazingness of the gospel.  This is the closest to water I can get, other than the shower and washing my hands. But in all reality though as John6:35 States "And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst," I have not thirsted a single bit here because I am doing the Lord's work!  But Friday was super fun!  We got to teach real Korean investigators and we got super good reviews! But more important than reviews is if they felt the spirit and if they are coming closer to Christ, and they did that too!

Saturday we got to teach our investigator 하지영자매님(Sister Ha-G-Yaung) Which went super well!  I love teaching and really do get the most out of teaching, which is super fun!!  I think you learn the most from actually teaching things.  You get the spiritual understanding as well as the spiritual growth, and because you are just saying what the Lord wants you to say, you draw nearer unto him!  I love Saturdays!!

Sunday was interesting as well!  I got to study for many hours and read the Book of Mormon.  The Book of Mormon is a true book. I know it is, and I promise that if you will read it with real intent, you will receive the same confirmation!  They are really true! After reading for a while the branch president came in and gave us a talk about us stepping up our game as a district.  So the class was a little riled by that.  After the little chat, the branch president pulled me out and extended me a new calling.  So that was pretty cool.  He has been hearing that I'm leading the class and that I know Korean very well.  He said something that hit me very hard actually, and it was such amazing advice. He said that I need to thank God for my talent of being able to learn.  The new calling I got is Technology Coordinator, which is cool :)  It is pretty cool.  I get to serve other people!  
So I got to pass during sacrament meeting, and after sacrament meeting I got to have temple walk!  Temple walk is so cool!!  I took so many pictures with other peoples cameras because I forgot mine haha.  The Sunday Devotional was with the former BYU Tight End Chad Lewis!  It was very cool!  He shared something funny about his language because he learned Chinese.  He had to broadcast the Super Bowl for the NFL and he started to freak out because all he really knew was missionary Chinese.  So he was like “I know that Tom Brady be throwing true passes!” haha :)  But His devotional was so good because we need to be concentrating on Christ all the time.

Monday we taught again and that was super cool.  Nothing too special happened on Monday, but I do have some stuff I do want to share about personal study!  
2nd Nephi 28:28 in the book of Mormon says "And in fine, wo unto all those who tremble, and are angry because of the truth of God! For behold, he that is built upon the rock receiveh it with gladness; and he that is built upon a sandy foundation trembleth lest he shall fall."  I love this!  Build your foundation on Christ!

Tuesday was awesome! We got to sing in the choir for a Quorum of the 70!  So fun! Apparently I was on camera a lot though I had no idea lol :)   Tuesday our lesson was amazing too! We planned a lesson and I had this feeling but I didn't know what we had to do.  Then we got into our lesson and then the switch happened, we taught a whole different lesson.  You really need to be in tune with the Lord!  But it was an amazing lesson!

Wednesday.... Wow!!  So this hasn't been done by any missionaries here since we have arrived here at the MTC, but we committed our investigator (EE-Je- Sung) to get baptized!!  It is by far the best feeling in the world!  No one has done it in 5 weeks, and on top of that, it was so amazing when he said “yes”!!  I was so happy!!  I love this gospel and we have been on a roll of amazing lessons.  This shows you how amazing the Lord is when it comes to converting others!  He really does love us all, and I love him with all my heart!

So that has really been my week! I have been so happy!!

I wanted to share multiple things with you guys too!  So I'm going to concentrate on the atonement this week because the atonement is so big in our lives.  It is so easy to say that God has a plan for us, but have you really thought about why he has a plan or what makes it possible for us to return to him?  He made a plan so we can gain knowledge and be tested is the exact reason why.  That's enough said. What makes it possible for everyone to come back to heaven and live with their loving Heavenly Father?  Christ!!  Christ's atonement and his love for us!!  It says in 2 Nephi 28:32 "Wo be unto the Gentiles, saith the Lord God of Hosts! For notwithstanding I shall lengthen out mine arm unto them from day to day, they will deny me; nevertheless, I will be merciful unto them, saith the Lord God, if they will repent and come unto me; for mine arm is lengthened out all the day long, saith the Lord God of Hosts."  
No matter what we do or how many times we do it, he is always there for us, he always loves us for who we are and will never say, ARE YOU SERIOUS, YOU DID THAT AGAIN.  He will rather say “THANKS FOR SAYING SORRY, NOW LEARN, NOW TRY A LITTLE HARDER TO BE LIKE ME, AND IF YOU FALL AGAIN, I WILL BE THERE TO CATCH YOU.”  In Mark 22:44 it reads "And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground."  He is going through so much pain and agony for us, and when there is more pain and suffering, he prays harder. Through Christ you can always, always, ALWAYS be saved.

A video I want to share with all of you is "https://www.lds.org/bible-videos/videos/for-god-so-loved-the-world?lang=eng" It is about John 3:16 and it is about Christ, what he did and how amazing he is.  If you think about the timeline of Christ coming into Jerusalem being praised, to being crucified, and 3 days later is such a switch.  I love Christ and what he did for me. And he can do wonders for you.

I love this gospel with all my heart. If I didn't, there is no way I would be serving a mission right now. I will be the Lord's servant in every way. The Book of Mormon is very much true, and is another testament of Jesus Christ. Joseph Smith is a true prophet, and I know he saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. He is a true prophet. I know this Church is true and I will do everything in God's power to bring others to the happiness I feel, and will serve them with all my heart, because I love all people.

I love you all very much!

Love,

Elder Wilson