I Love To See The Temple

Well this last week was kind of slow as well. I wonder if that is because of the holiday season, or the fact that it is almost pitch black outside by 6:30....but either way, not too much happened. But we did have a couple cool things happen!

One of the cool things is that we got to go to the temple this week! So that was as wonderful as ever! There is something about the temples that as soon as you walk inside you just feel, well, wonderful! I really do love going to the temple though. I feel so much better, and I know that that is because of the Spirit that is there, and the lack of distractions from the world is very refreshing! I would suggest that we all take every opportunity we can to go and serve in the house of God!

Another fun thing from this last week is we had a zone activity where we got to play some sports and decorate some little pumpkins, which then got critiqued and the winners got candy. Some people got very very creative with theirs. One Elder made his pumpkin into a Liahona (his won first place) another made his into a turkey by putting some leaves on it with a push-pin, and a Sister made hers into a tomato (she colored it red and put green glitter glue at the top for leaves). It was a very fun activity, and I made my pumpkin into a very confident pumpkin on one side, and a holiday greeting on the other (pictures are included). But other than the pumpkins we played some basketball and football which was really fun, even if I am not very good at either!

And one other fun thing that happened this week...that I wasn't a part of! Well, sort of. Remember how a couple weeks ago I talked about that really cool experience where we met the guy that invited us over for bread and milk and we taught his two sons, and then we had to pass them off to the other Elders? Well, this last Tuesday we went on exchanges to officially do that pass off lesson, and Elder Ball and the other missionary Elder Paget, had a really good lesson with the older son. Apparently his dad didn't really want to hear the lessons, as he had taken them as a kid, but he knew that his sons would benefit from them, and that is why he invited us over originally. So on Tuesday Elder Ball and Elder Paget taught the older son, and were able to commit him to a baptismal date! And when they talked a bit about church on Sundays, the son said that he would try to get every Sunday off! It was awesome!

This last Sunday was the primary program here, and it was really good. I really love hearing little kids bear their testimonies, because they are always so simple and true. They don't have all the stories and distractions that can sometimes distract from the testimony being born, but what they do have they share, which is a knowledge of the truthfulness of the Gospel! Which is why I think that Christ has commanded us multiple times to become as a little child, because that is who is most willing to listen to Heavenly Father, and not be distracted by all the things of the world, and it is children whose testimonies are, in my opinion, the most pure in heart.

Thank you for all you do! Your prayers really give me strength and motivation to keep on doing this work!

Love,

Elder Wixom

As The Talking Camel Says....

HUMP DAY! WOO-WOO!

Officially one year of being a missionary! It's been a blast! But I guess now I am on the downhill slope...

Now on to this week!

Spent a lot of time walking around this week. And in all honesty. Not too much actually happened this week. All of our investigators were busy this week and had to cancel. So that was a bit of a bummer.

District Meeting this last week was really fun. Elder Ball first gave a great discussion on humility, which went really well. And then we had a really fun training on door approaches, specifically for less active and part member families. The point was that if you bring a gift (like for us it would be jam or cookies) then they will be more open to talking to you rather than if you just start trying to teach them. But it was really fun because During the practice where Elder Ball and I were the missionaries, we taught one of the Sister missionaries as if she was a less-active member, and it went good, but then for the repractice, the person running the stopwatch told the Sister, and the Elder who was acting like the less-active at the other door where others were practicing to switch places, so we suddenly found ourselves teaching a whole different situation. It was really fun!

Another day this week we got to go to a baptism that another set of Elders was having. And it turned out really good. The Elders were worried that not many people would show up for the baptism, but by the time the service started the entire room was filled! It was so good! And when their investigator actually got baptized, he was smiling and laughing so happily when he came up out of the water! It was such an amazing thing to see how much the gospel has changed his life! And on a side note, another cool thing about the baptism was that it was on his birthday! And the birthday of the missionary who baptized him! So overall it was just a very special day!

For my spiritual thought, I want to share some thoughts I heard about the verse Mosiah 18:30, "And now it came to pass that all this was done in Mormon, yea, by the waters of Mormon...how beautiful are they to the eyes of them who there came to the knowledge of their Redeemer; yea, and how blessed are they, for they shall sing to his praise forever." I heard once about how for us, the place of "Mormon" can be really anywhere where we are converted, or reconverted, to the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, and wherever that is, it will be a beautiful place for us. For the brother that got baptized last Friday, I know that he will always remember that service, and how he felt there.

That's about all for this week. Not much actually happened on the day I consider my year mark other than we got apple pie and vanilla ice cream for dessert (my absolute favorite dessert), so I guess Heavenly Father felt like He should give me a year mark present or something!

Thank you for all you do! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Wixom

Meet the Mormons and Miracles!!!

This last week was really really good! Lot's of really cool stuff happened! So.....enough blabbering about!

To start off, last Tuesday was really cool. As a mission we got to go see Meet the Mormons! It was a really awesome film about some really amazing people. I absolutely loved the Spirit that was there during the film. And it was also really fun to go to the theater as a mission for our special screening! Going to the movies was not something I ever expected would happen to me on my mission, but I feel really blessed that I am serving at this point to have seen this wonderful movie about some of our Heavenly Father's children.

At Meet the Mormons

 

After the movie we then had transfer meeting, which Elder Ball and I got to go to even though neither of us got transferred, and that was really cool. President Kendrick took the opportunity as all of us were together to give us some awesome counsel and to share his thoughts as to why missionary work is so important. It was really cool!

Saying goodbye to his trainer

Another really cool thing that happened this week! On Wednesday we went out with one of our ward missionaries for some lessons...and everything fell through. No one was home. So after we went by some less active members....same thing. We decided at this point to get dropped off and just talk to people on the street the rest of the night. The first person we start to talk to is carrying some groceries, and he says that he just bought bread and milk, and invited us to come over and have some. So we go over, talking to him while we walk, and eventually we get to his apartment, where he gives us some bread (which is actually a Mexican bread called "pan dulce" that is kind of like doughnuts) and milk. We then ended up talking to him and his two sons (one 17 the other 14) for the next hour or so about the Gospel and about what they believe.

Now, the really cool part! During the conversation, the dad told us that he had been asleep taking a nap, but that he had woken up and felt like he needed to go get bread and milk, even though they already had both at their apartment. And then when he saw us he felt like he needed to invite us over! It was so cool to see how the Holy Ghost inspires people! At the end of the night they invited us back the next day to have another lesson as well!

So then, the next day. We went by again, and had probably the most spiritual lesson I have ever had on my mission! We taught the Restoration to the two sons, Joey (17) and Jordan (14), but their dad was asleep because he had a really bad day at work. And the lesson went really good. They both loved the message of the Restoration, especially Joey, who part of the way during the lesson said that he thought he needed to get baptized. It was such an amazing lesson! And by the end both of them had said they would get baptized. And another really cool part was that Joey, who hadn't been in the room when we got there, but had been doing homework with a friend, told us that he really loved the message and the evident authority we had as we presented it, and that when we had walked in he had noticed a change in how the apartment felt. It was so cool! We sadly won't be teaching them much more, as they live just outside of our area, and so we need to pass them off to another set of Elders, but it was still really cool to see such an evident miracle happen!

For my spiritual thought today I want to share one of my favorite scriptures on miracles. Moroni 7:35-37, "And now, my beloved brethren, if this be the case that these things are true which I have spoken unto you, and God will show unto you, with power‍ and great glory at the last day, that they are true, and if they are true has the day of miracles ceased? Or have angels ceased to appear unto the children of men? Or has he withheld‍ the power of the Holy Ghost from them? Or will he, so long as time shall last, or the earth shall stand, or there shall be one man upon the face thereof to be saved? Behold I say unto you, Nay; for it is by faith that miracles‍ are wrought; and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men; wherefore, if these things have ceased wo be unto the children of men, for it is because of unbelief, and all is vain." I know that miracles still happen. And that Heavenly Father had His hand in the work of salvation, so that His children can learn of the truth and return to live with Him again.

Thank you for all you do! I really appreciate all of your support!

Love,

Elder Wixom

Conference Was Awesome!

I loved getting to watch General Conference this last weekend! Part of it was because I got to sit and relax during the sessions rather than being outside sweating...but mostly because of the great opportunity we have to hear counsel from living prophets and apostles of Jesus Christ!

But more on that in a little bit. First, some other exciting stuff from this week!

We had a really cool chance to get to know one of our investigators a bit better, through giving his and his wife's baby a blessing. We were going to dinner at another member's house, but before we did, because this couple lives about a 2 minute walk from dinner, we decided to go and say hi before going to dinner. When we knocked on the door, the wife answered. She is a member by the way, so we talked to her for a minute or two, and she asked if we could come back after dinner when her husband got home to give their baby a blessing because their baby was sick. We agreed, went to dinner, and then while told the members that we were going there after. So the members, being awesome, asked if they could tag along to meet them, of course we agreed.

We got to the house, and our investigator was home at this point, so they invited us in, and the members we brought with us talked to the couple for a little while. After a bit the members had to leave, so then we gave their baby a blessing, talked for a couple minutes, and then left. It was really cool!

Also this week we had a Zone Training meeting, and that was really good. We focused a lot on setting S.M.A.R.T. goals (Smart Measurable Attainable Realistic Timely). It was a good meeting.

Other than that not much happened this week. So now on to Conference!

I absolutely loved Conference. So many of the talks were very inspiring! And I can't wait to reread the talks so that I can learn more from the counsel given. Some of the things I picked up on from Conference were that we all need to make an effort to reach out to those who are less fortunate than ourselves, and help them to better their lives. Also, I really loved Elder Scott's talk about helping maintain protection against Satan by doing small, simple things together as a family to strengthen ourselves. And I really loved how many talks were about how we won't always being choosing good or bad, but sometimes good or best, and if we only make good choices, we are limiting our potential, rather than if we had made the best choices.

One of my favorite quotes though came from the Priesthood Session. It was President Monson's talk, and one thing he said was, "A man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder. Never likely to reach home port." And that is really true. We all need a purpose, a drive, some sort of direction that we want to go in life, or we'll end up just floating wherever the sea takes us. And at that point, "staying in the boat" as Elder Ballard said is about as effective as being in the water. Either way you aren't going anywhere quickly.

And as for transfers this week....drum roll.....Elder Ball and I are both staying in San Marcos! But we get to go to transfer meeting this Tuesday anyways! Because we get to see the new Meet the Mormons movie! I am really looking forward to this, because from the commercials that I have seen, it seems like it will be an amazing movie, and I would encourage you all to go watch it!

Thanks for all you do! Love you all!

Love,

Elder Wixom

To watch or listen to the 184th General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (October 2014 General Conference) and hear the inspiring messages referred to in this letter, click here.