Monday, January 26, 2015

I Can Juggle! Sort Of!


This week was almost as awesome as the last couple weeks! And one reason it was cool was that I have started learning to juggle!

I'm only joking, that's not why this week was really good. But seriously, I am learning how to juggle.

Now the reason why this week was good is mostly because of our super investigator M! We had multiple lessons with her this week, all of them really good! And one of the best things that happened this week was that M accepted a baptismal date for February 7th!!! It was really awesome! We had originally planned to invite her for March 7th, so that she could be confirmed on her birthday (the 8th). But at the start of the lesson she told us that she was going to be going to Oklahoma on March 6th to do  police academy testing. Which is a cool thing in it of itself!

Tangent story: one of the lessons we had with her this week she told us that this police academy had called her back for the testing, which she didn't expect because when she originally applied they said she wouldn't have enough college credits to qualify. So she accepted that that goal wouldn't happened and set new goals to go into the air force. Then this last week they called her back, and since then throughout the rest of the week she has been seeing hints and signs that she should follow that course!

Back to the regular story: Regardless of that, she said that she could fly out, do the testing, and fly back the same day so that she could get baptized the next day. Then the member we were with said that maybe getting baptized and receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost could be a blessing before the testing. We all agreed, so we asked M how ready she was to get baptized, and she said that she was very ready, that this was something she had been looking for for a long time. And so we moved the date up to February 7th! It was really awesome! So Elder English and I celebrated with root beer floats! They were tasty!


Another really good part of this week was that we had Zone Conference this last week. And one of the really cool things that President Kendrick talked about was President Spencer W. Kimball. About how when we got called to be an Apostle he felt very under-qualified, and then some years later, President Harold B. Lee passed away surprisingly as he was a relatively young and healthy man, and President Kimball was called as the next prophet. At the time, he had started suffering from a throat cancer which over time nearly made him lose his voice. President Kendrick showed us a picture that he had of President Kimball, that he had gotten from someone in the past, and the picture shows an amateur picture taken of the prophet, and a look of almost confusion on President Kimball's face, as he didn't think he was a celebrity, or special enough for a person to try to get a picture of him. And overall it was a really good talk about how we may not feel qualified for a position we are called to, but that is because the Lord doesn't call those He has qualified, the Lord qualifies those that He has called.

A scripture story I really like about this is found in Exodus, and it is what I want to use as my spiritual thought for this week. It is the story of Moses when he is called to lead the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage. The scriptures in particular are Exodus 3:10-12, "Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain...", and 4:10-12, "And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say." I really love that story because Moses is revered as one of the greatest prophets who has ever walked the Earth, but even at his calling he answered by pointing out how unqualified he was. But then the Lord helps him throughout his calling, and the same is true for us, the Lord helps us in our responsibilities as we come to ask Him for His divine assistance.

Well, that's about all for this week!

Love,

Elder Wixom

Friday, January 23, 2015

Did I Say Last Week Was Good? Must Mean This Week Was Awesome!

Hello again everybody! This week was so amazing!

First off. Last Monday we played a really funny game for a District activity called "What if" where everyone gets a piece of paper, writes any "what if" question they want, someone else randomly gets their paper and answers it, and then you deal out the papers again, and one person reads their "what if" then the person next to them reads their "then..." to answer it. It is a really funny game!

Got to go on exchanges this week with Elder Green, and it was really good. We spent a lot of the day knocking doors and trying to stop by potential investigators. It was funny because for a bit of the day we were with their Ward Mission Leader (WML) driving around (they drive around a lot because they are in YSA), and Elder Green and I both had so much trouble staying awake! I think Elder Green did fall asleep a couple times while we were driving, and I almost did a few times. But it was really good, and I met a couple cool people. We had dinner with the WML of the family ward that they cover, and that was fun because it was his and his wife's two year old son's birthday.

The best thing that happened this week, and the main reason why it was such a good week is that I saw one of the biggest miracles I've seen on my mission! We were going by D again for our weekly, the less active member that we stopped by that let us in and is coming back to church, and we get in there and his roommate's daughter M is sitting on this bed in the living room. Now, every time we had gone by the bed was there, but before last week we had never known whose bed it was. So now, we meet M, who lives there with her dad, along with her 4 year old daughter, and she is just sitting on her bed with lots of college scheduling books, seeming like she is just going to mind her own business. We start teaching our lesson, which was the second half of the Plan of Salvation, which means everything from the Atonement to the Kingdoms of Glory. And as we are teaching, we see that M is listening in, so we start to involve her in the lesson.

At the end of the lesson, D said that M actually asked if she could listen in to hear what we were saying, and so we ask her if she has any questions. She was like, "Yes, I actually do." And tells us that she has the question of why we are here on Earth, which she has asked a lot of people from other churches, and has never gotten a good enough answer. So we go back and teach the first half of the Plan of Salvation, from Pre-Earth Life to our life on Earth, after laughing a bit because that is what we taught last week. She really liked it, and agreed with what we taught her. We invited her to come to church on Sunday, but she said that she has work from 12-4, so she couldn't go to ours (the 1-4 block), but she did say she could go to the 9-12 one.

The next day we had Zone Training meeting, and that was really good. We talked a lot about trying to focus more on working with members to find people to teach, rather than relying only on talking to people on the street or knocking doors. And that was good. But afterwards was really awesome! Because we got to have a church tour with M! We had Bro. Jacinto (our WML) and the Sister missionaries there as well to meet her, and it was really good. Then later in the day we had a really fun dinner where it was us, the Sisters, and the YSA Elders all there with the family (they have a kid in YSA). It was a very fun dinner!

Saturday we got to do service for a member of the Carlsbad 1st ward, or rather, for a friend of theirs, and that was really good. But not much else happened then.

Sunday on the other hand! That was a really busy day! We got to go to first, the 9 o'clock Sacrament meeting with M, then Elder English went with her and a member of C1 to Sunday school, while I went to our missionary meeting with Bro. Jacinto. And then the Sisters went with her to Relief Society while Elder English and I went to ward council. And then we all went to our normal 1 o'clock church! It was such a busy day full of church meetings! Not to mention afterwards we had dinner with the Bishop's family!

Then lastly, yesterday with Martin Luther King Jr Day. First we got to go do some service for a member and help them move. That was fun, I always love doing service! And then dinner was awesome, and yes, because we had another lesson with M there. We had dinner with the Lampreys, and got M to come because Sister Horne (one of our Sister Missionaries, the other one is named Sister Higley, and I served around her in San Marcos) thought that M and Sister Lamprey would get along really well. And they did. In fact, they even have the same birthday! But anyways, after dinner the Sisters shared a really good video about how trials make us stronger, and then Elder English and I taught the Restoration lesson. It was so good and M really loved it all. It was funny, at dinner she actually said that she was a "Christian Hippie" because she loves nature and all natural food and stuff, and that she was converting to a "Christian Mormon Hippie." It was such an awesome dinner and lesson!

Well, for my spiritual thought I'm going to share the video that the Sisters used for their lesson. It is called "The Refiner's Fire" and it is a really good video. It's on mormonchannel.org and is about a woman who talks about some serious trials she goes through in her life, and how they have made her stronger. It is really such a powerful message.

Love you all! Thank you for all of your support!

Love,

Elder Wixom


Wednesday, January 14, 2015

A Really Good Week!


This week was actually really good! Lot's of exciting stuff happened, some of which we didn't really expect to happen!

First thing to tell you about: We were able to visit Mark again this week and he kept telling us how much he wanted to get back into going to a church to thank God for all the blessings that he has received. We tried to invite him to come to Stake Conference this week, but he told us that he wasn't going to be able to make it because it was a really big game for the Green Bay Packers last Sunday, and he had already invited friends over to watch it with him. But on the bright side...at least he was completely honest with us about it! And he said he would come to church this next week!

Another really cool thing that happened was last Sunday (not the 11th, the one before that) a 12 year old named Noah came to church with his nanny (who is a member) because he wanted to start learning more about the church. So this last week we went on exchanges, and I was with Elder Daley, and we were about to visit some members when we run into Noah! So we set up a lesson for Thursday. And on Thursday when we got there...he told us he needed to move it to Friday so that his mom could be there to sit in. And he had tried to text that to us as well...but I guess we had given him the wrong number somehow. Anyways! We went by on Friday and taught the Restoration. And Noah has a lot of desire to learn more.
A funny address Elder Wixom saw while out and about.
Lastly, this Sunday was really good! We had Stake Conference first, and it was very good! Lots of the people that talked spoke on service and temple work and how those are parts of missionary work just like sharing the Gospel! And then later in the day we had a lesson with an investigator named Kyle. He was someone that had been taught when Elder English was with Elder Wilkinson, but we have had a lot of trouble getting in contact with. Well, we were able to get in touch with him this week and on Sunday we had a lesson with him! We taught him about the Plan of Salvation and he accepted a baptismal date for early in February! It was really good!

Well, the scripture I want to share today is 1 Nephi 17:17-18, "And when my brethren saw that I was about to build a ship, they began to murmur against me, saying: Our brother is a fool, for he thinketh that he can build a ship; yea, and he also thinketh that he can cross these great waters. And thus my brethren did complain against me, and were desirous that they might not labor, for they did not believe that I could build a ship; neither would they believe that I was instructed of the Lord." When I reread that scripture recently I thought about why Nephi's brothers wouldn't want Nephi to build the ship so they could cross to the promised land like God had promised them. Then I thought of how lots of the General Authorities talk about good-better-best. And how Laman and Lemuel wanted to stay in Jerusalem (good), and now that they were in the land Bountiful they didn't want to leave (better), even though it would mean that they wouldn't ever make it to the promised land (best). So what this means for us is we need to make sure that we don't get caught up on what is good, or even better, but we need to strive for what is best!

That's all for this week!

Love,

Elder Wixom

Monday, January 5, 2015

Winter Finally Arrived!

So, the cold finally hit Southern California. During this last week it actually snowed in Murrieta and Temecula! Which made our mini-missionary sad because he was with us at the time. But the rest of the week was pretty good.

Got to go to transfer meeting this last week. Not because Elder English and I were getting transferred, but because we had to get our new Sister missionaries! So that was really good, and it is really exciting having the chance to split the ward again!

With the "Mini Missionary"
New Years Eve (or at least the afternoon of it) we lost our mini missionary. So that was sad. It was really awesome having the chance to serve with this very excited and energetic priest! The rest of New Years Eve was spent going by people, and then with the members that fed us that night, we had gotten permission to stay past the normal N.Y.E. curfew of 6 o'clock because they had their daughter and non-member husband there. So we got to play a couple games with them before heading home! It was really fun. Didn't stay up till midnight though because I still had to wake up the next day.


One really cool thing that happened this week though! So when Elder English was companions with Elder Wilkinson before me, they saw someone that lives diagonally from our apartment complex moving a couch into his house, and so they offered to help and he accepted. They helped him out, and after he asked if they wanted to get paid, and so they said no but they were ok with food. This guy then told them to come by sometime and he would make them lunch. This last week we cashed that in (even though I wasn't there originally) and got some really good lunch and got to know him and his girlfriend. Their names are Mark and Julie, and they are a really awesome couple! During the conversation they were actually talking about how they want to start looking for a church to go to, because they want to get back into church. So we are planning on inviting them to church when Julie has time off, and they are more than willing to go! It was really exciting to meet with them!

Other than that, not much exciting happened this week. So for my spiritual thought this week I want to share a cool New Years video from the church. It's called "New Year's: Look Not Behind Thee" and it takes the story of Lot's wife, and how we need to not dwell on what we have done in the past, but instead look ahead to what we can do in the future!


Well, I'll talk to you again next week!

Love,

Elder Wixom


Friday, January 2, 2015

Mini Missionary and Sister Surprise!


Well, this week is going to be pretty short because I just talked to you last Wednesday. But some cool stuff has happened since Christmas, so that is what I'll talk about!

We have had an exciting guest with us for the past few days. He is a high-school senior from Murrieta, and he is with us as a "mini-missionary." It's where juniors and seniors in the Murrieta stake get to spend about a week of Christmas Break with missionaries to see how the mission field is. So our mini-missionary is named Thomas Payne and he is from the Winchester ward. This is his second time as a mini-missionary. We have had a really good time with him, and I personally think the idea of mini missions is a really good idea that really helps future missionaries see what the mission field is like!

A big surprise this week came from transfer calls this last Saturday. Elder English and I are both staying, which we aren't that surprised about considering we've only been together a transfer, but then after the regular transfer calls with our district leader, our zone leaders called us and said that our area is being split...and that we are now going to be sharing the ward with Sister missionaries! It is pretty crazy! Especially because this is now the second time I have been in a ward that is getting split! So yeah, it is going to be pretty exciting!

Well, that pretty much sums up this week. A scripture I was studying this week was 1 Nephi 7:20-21, which is when Nephi forgives his brothers after they tied him up and left him to die, but through the power of God he was freed. And it made me think of Matthew 18:21-22, "Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven." Which is saying not that we only forgive someone 490 times, but in all actuality to constantly forgive people. I thought of that because of all the times Laman and Lemuel sin against Nephi, and every time he forgives them and tries to encourage them to turn to God and follow Him.

Have a Happy New Year!

Love,

Elder Wixom