That Was Unexpected!

August 17, 2015

This week has been full of unexpected occurrences!! I shall only name a few because there were quite a bit! Don't worry, most of them are good!

First, we had another lesson with Nate! She is so flipping golden!!! Towards the beginning of our lesson with her, she mentioned that if she were to join any church, it would probably be ours, just because it all makes sense. She loves the principles and just the atmosphere of it all. At the end of the lesson, we asked her if she would like to be baptized. She said yes, but that she wanted to learn a little bit more and receive a witness of the Book of Mormon!! I knew that Nate was solid, but never could I have imagined that she would be this solid! I am so excited to see what happens as we continue to work with her!!!

Second, the Petries! We had another great lesson with them on Thursday where we taught them about tithing. It's always fun telling kids that part of being a member is giving some money to the church, but they were really accepting of it! The downside was they weren't at church yesterday. At this point, it is very important that they make it to church every week so that they can keep progressing towards their date and so that we can make sure that their less active parents are fully committed to helping them make and keep these covenants! We talked with them after church, and they said that they had let the  Bishop know why they weren't able to make it. For now, they are still on track to make their September 6th baptismal date!!

Third, and most crazy of them all!!! Transfers! Not what I was expecting at all! I have only been in Dundee for one transfer and I am......leaving!! Elder Olsen is going to be a district trainer, which means for the second time in a row, I get booted out to make room for a greenie. I will be moving to Falkirk where my new companion will be Elder Scharman. But that's not all! We will be whitewashing Falkirk. Definition of whitewashing: two missionaries are brand new to the area and have to basically start from scratch. Needless to say, I am a little terrified! I thought leading out an area was bad, but now I have to go to a brand new area with a companion who hasn't even been there before! No pressure! But, I know that with the Lord's help, I will be able to do this! It won't be easy, but it can be done! Plus, I got my wish of serving in a branch! Yay!!

That pretty much sums up the week in 3 convenient points! Next time I email will be from a brand new area with some brand new adventures! Thank you all for being awesome!

Stay awesome! Keep moving forward!

Elder Wilson

Ain't it pretty!

Finally found a deep fried Mars bar!

I can taste the diabetes!

Sister's Mission

August 10, 2015

Hola!! Como estas? Wait, sorry, wrong mission language! Hello! How are you!

This week has been pretty good! I'll start with the best part....WE GOT ANOTHER NEW INVESTIGATOR!!!!!!

If you remember me telling you about Nate from last week's email, we got to meet with her this week! She is so solid! She follows some Mormon blog (thank you Pinterest), and is really accepting and willing to learn! She was going to come to church yesterday, but ended going to go visit some family instead. We have another appointment set up with her for this week! Please keep praying for her!!

One thing that wasn't so happy, was that Alex (the other potential I talked about last week) dropped his appointment. It was pretty sad, but we are going to try by later in the week and try and set up another appointment.

We got to see the Petries again this week! They are totally going to be ready to be baptized on their scheduled date! This week we taught them about the Word of Wisdom. That's always fun to teach a group of kids, right? We only have 3 more lessons to teach them, and they are beginning to come to church regularly. What's also great about this, is that their parents (who are less active) are almost reactivated. They both just need to come to church one more time! It is so amazing to see people rediscover the gospel and the Spirit and see just how much it can change their lives!!


This week we have a couple big events coming up! First, it's the end of the transfer!!! We will be getting the call on Sunday to see if we move or not. Elder Olsen and I have been trying to predict what will happen, but it is honestly impossible. It's going to be a weird night! Second,: as of Saturday, I will only have 18 months (or a sister's mission, as I've been calling it) left!!! It is so crazy how fast time goes on a mission. It feels like just yesterday I was saying a quick curbside goodbye to my family and getting on a plane! It has been an amazing 6 months so far, and I cannot wait to see what the next 18 have in store. Of course, I must follow the "foolish traditions" of our fathers and burn a tie on Saturday. I will make sure to  take pictures and send them to you.

Thank you all for your wonderful emails and support! Love you all and look forward to hearing from you next week! Stay awesome and keep moving forward!!!

Elder Wilson

Elder Olsen and I make some weird Danish food

Ice Cream break during finding.

Scottish Sunset

The view we had during our morning run!

On Track!

August 3, 2015

 

Happy August everyone!!!! It's crazy how fast this year is going! Didn't I just graduate high school?

This week has been one of the best for Elder Olsen and I!

First off, we had another lesson with the Petries. Taught them about the 10 commandments and showed them hand signs to remember them .That was a fun lesson. At the end, we talked a little bit more about what their baptism will be like, and Gemma (one of the kids preparing to be baptized) said, "I want to get baptized now!" Why can't everyone be as excited as her? That comment made me so happy! To make this week even better, the Petries came to Church!! There car was broken down for about two weeks, so they had no means of transportation, but they finally got it back this week. The kids are right where they should be to be baptized on September 6th!

Had another super great lesson this week with Chris and Finley Thomson. Chris' wife, Amy, was baptized about a week before I got in the area, and their son Finley (age 9) really wants to be baptized, but he wants to take the discussions with his dad. Chris struggles with building his faith in God, as he was raised in an atheist family. There entire family (they have two more kids age 7 and 4) comes to church every Sunday, and have family scripture study and prayer every night! Chris and Finley are basically just dry Mormons! Really excited to see them progress!

We also went on exchanges with the zone leaders again this week, with me leading out the Lochee area again. I finally feel like I know what I am doing here, which is good since it is very likely that Elder Olsen will be leaving in about 2 weeks.

We also got a new investigator named Vincent. Vincent has been meeting with missionaries for about 10 years and he knows the Book of Mormon is true and wants to be baptized!! He has some legal issues from his past that we need to clear before that can happen though, but he is super solid!

Of course, we did do a lot of finding this week because we are missionaries and that's what we do! We did find 2 super solid potentials who we are meeting with this week! First is Alex. We chapped his door and he let us in so that was already a great start! He believes in God, but is looking for a faith/church he can join. His mom has taken missionary lessons before, so he knows a little bit about what we are about. Second is Nate. We stopped her (yeah it's a girl) on the street, and she knew a ton about Mormon missionaries (ie how long we serve, how are call is assigned, etc.) and a little bit about the church. We told her a little bit about the Book of Mormon, and she was super accepting and willing to learn! Please keep these two in your prayers!!

That's really all the major events of this week! Thank you all for your love and support! Love and miss you all! Stay awesome and keep moving forward!

 

--

--Elder Wilson

1) Dundee! 2) Scottish dogs are very well trained :)

 

Fundee

July 27, 2015

Hi again from the wonderful land of Dundee! This was kind of a rollercoaster! Never a dull moment.

Sadly, we had a ton of appointments cancel this week, both with investigators and with potential investigators. Due to all the cancellations, we had a lot of time to go finding. As a result, we found some super awesome people! The most promising is a girl named Nikita. She is in her early 20's and super nice! We chapped her door and she immediately seemed really interested in what we were saying. We talked about the Book of Mormon and how it restores truth that were lost from the Bible and she said she used to go to Catholic school and that she felt they like left a lot of stuff out. Could she be anymore prepared? We will be meeting with her this week so really looking forward to that!

We did get a new investigator this week as well. Her name is Kate. She is about 50, was born in England, but raised in Cambodia. She has had a pretty hard life. Her mom kicked her out not long after her dad passed away, her son strongly dislikes her, and she has a lot of demons that come back to haunt her. When we met with her, we shared the Book of Mormon with her and what it's role is and she seemed so excited and willing to learn and read. It's going to be a long process, but we will get there eventually!

We got to see the Petrie family again this week (the family with 12 kids and 6 are getting ready to be baptised)! Had another really great lesson! The only downside was that they weren't able to make it to church this week which isn't good. We are working on reactivating the parents and in order for the kids to progress and hit their date, they have to be coming to church. Guess what we will be talking about this week?   

Another fun thing that happened this week was we met an American! We chapped her door and she answered but seemed like she was going to slam it right away, that is until I started talking. She told us that the only reason she didn't slam the door was because I was American too. #Merica!! We ended up talking with her for 1 1/2 hours, mostly about the state the world was in and what we can do to improve it. Didn't get a return appointment, but she said that we could come by anytime! It was pretty fun!

Can't really think of anything else noteworthy that happened last week. This week should be pretty busy exciting so next weeks email should be awesome!!!

Sorry for the lack of pictures! I will do better this week!

Love and miss you all! Stay awesome! Keep moving forward!

--

--Elder Wilson

 

Scottish Countryside

 

Good Times Keep On Rolling

First full week in my new area complete and it has been awesome! I will start off with the best news first!

We had another meeting with the Petrie family (the less active family with 12 kids). We taught them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and it went really well. They are always so excited to learn. Towards the end of the lesson, we committed them to the ultimate commitment: baptism! The best part is...THEY ACCEPTED!!!  We now have 5 of the world's best kids working to be baptised on September 6th. Our big job now is making sure that their parents (who are the less actives) are getting themselves and the kids to church. I am so excited for them! They are honestly the best!

To be honest, the thing I love most about this area is the ward! They are honestly the best. They take such good care of the missionaries and are always so willing to help us out. Getting joint teaches is really easy. I think if we could just clone Dundee 2nd Ward and copy it to the rest of the world, missionary work would be on fire!

This week, we also went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders. I don't know if they were just being funny, or if they actually thought it was a good idea, but they had me leading out the area after only being here for a week .Talk about being thrown in the deep end! But, I have nothing but good news to share! First and foremost, we didn't get lost on the buses at all! Yay us! Second, we found 5 potential investigators, and have appointments set up with 3 of them for this week! I am so excited!! The only downside to the exchange was Elder Lattin (the ZL I was with) and I got caught in some pretty heavy rain toward the end of the day and got soaked. That's just life in the good ol' SIM though. You get used to it. (SIM =Scotland/Ireland Mission.)

Some other fun things that happened this week was we had a ward and stake activity. The ward activity was a ward picnic. One of the sister missionaries in our ward, Sister Hinck, said it best: it was like a primary activity. The thing with having so many big families in this ward is there are so many kids! But I love it! They are awesome! The stake activity was super cool as well. We got to go see the Singing Children of Africa. They put on a free concert at the Stake Center and it was really cool . They sang a bunch of traditional African songs, but threw some modern stuff (including Waka Waka by Shakira)! It was a really cool night, and it was a great way to get some non-members into the church!

Overall a super great week! Can't wait to see what's in store for this week!

Love and miss you all! Stay awesome! Keep moving forward!

--

--Elder Wilson

1) random dragon statue in Dundee city centre 2) I tried haggis. Not that bad actually 3) Singing Children of Africa

 

Here's The Low Down

Well, I have officially left my area of birth and am now in Dundee! I have been here for 5 days, and I am loving it! So many good things to talk about.

First of all, the scenery! When I got my call to Scotland/Ireland, I pictured rolling hills, clear rivers, and lots of green. That is exactly what I am getting here! Dundee sits right on the River Tay and there is no lack of rolling hills. It is beautiful! Prepare yourself for some sweet pictures!!

Second, the companion. Elder Olsen has been out for 3 months and is already District Leader. Kind of a boss! He is from Denmark so I am hoping to learn a little bit of Danish from him as well. Should be exciting!

Third, the Work. I will actually get to teach people this transfer!!! Here is a list of the people we are working with.

The Petrie Family: The Petries are a less active with 12 kids. Yes, 12!! The oldest 5 are not baptised, so we are teaching them. They are wonderful!

The Thompson Family: Amy (the mom) was just baptised last week, and we are now going to teach her husband, Chris, and 9 year old son, Finley.

Ian: He's about 60 years old. He just lost his wife, but loves learning about the church. Once we fix some minor word of wisdom issues, we will be good!

Reece: He is a foster child of one of the members. He is 14 and wants to be baptised! Just have to finish the discussions and then get permission from a social worker.

Rachel: Rachel just got married to a member from the ward. Haven't met her yet.

Those are the only people that I really know about. Some good things are going to happen this transfer, I can feel it!!

And finally, the ward! The Dundee 2nd Ward is awesome!! They love the missionaries and missionary work!! You can check out our meal calendar for proof! This week, we are being fed 6 out of the 7 days! HOLLA!!  This ward has a ton of families as well, and they are not small. The Bishop has 10 kids. There is another family (the Hanns) who have 14!! They have a tv show about them. You get the picture!

Basically, Dundee is the 2nd Promised Land (behind Dublin)! I am really looking forward to this transfer! Should be super exciting! Thank you for all your prayers and support!

Stay awesome! Keep moving forward!

Love and miss you all!

--

--Elder Wilson

1) Dundee has a Disney Store!!! 2) View of Dundee

 Dundee has a Disney Store!!!

View of Dundee

Rolling Hills

Project Pie - A build-your-own pizza place

 

A Whole New World

Maybe not a whole new world, but at least a new part of Scotland. We got our moves call last night, and after 4 1/2 months, I will be leaving Motherwell to go to the land of Dundee in an area called Lochee. It's still in Scotland, but it's on the eastern side. My new companion is Elder Olsen from Denmark. Maybe I'll learn some Danish while I am with him. Elder Ensign will be staying in Motherwell and training a new missionary. Sister Stein and Sister Johnson will also be staying. I must admit, I am a little sad to be leaving. You start to get really attached to the place and the people after being there for that long, but I know that I am going to Lochee for a reason!

In other news, we had a Scotland West Conference this week to meet with our new mission president and his wife, President and Sister Donaldson. They are both amazing and have such strong testimonies!! I look forward to learning a lot from them. What made this conference super awesome was that it was on the 4th of July. To celebrate, a big group of missionaries went to 5 Guys in Glasgow to have a proper American burger. MMMMM!!!! SO GOOD!!!! 

This week wasn't as great as it has been the past couple investigator wise, but it was still good. I've been told that Dundee is considered one of the promised lands here in the mission, so that is really exciting. 

Well, other than that, the week was pretty average. Teaching...Finding....Eating....more Finding....the usual. 

Hope you all have a fantastic week!!! Love and miss you all!! Stay awesome and keep moving forward!!

--

--Elder Wilson

1) Saw some cool waterfalls in New Lanark on P-Day 2) The Motherwell crew