Giant spiders and ultimate frisbee

Mama,
I can't believe that it's already summer!! That went by WAY fast......It makes me a little distracted talking about baseball and summer activities, so I'm just going to tell you to be safe and have fun and i'll leave it at that.

This week went pretty good. Yes, I'm still getting along well with Elder Yockey. No, My package hasn't come yet. Could you track it please? Yes, My lupus symptoms have been fine. I have a rash on my hands (I've had it for about 5 days, Is that normal?), but it doesn't bother me.

Being a District leader is cool I guess. It's weird that I'm in charge of other Elders and Sisters. I still feel like I'm the young/inexperienced one, but I'm really one of the older ones in the mission now. As a District leader, I plan a lesson each week on Tuesaday for our district meeting. We gather together and talk about our areas, our investigators, and then I teach a lesson on how we can be better. It's a little stressful on top of normal missionary work, but I guess it's where the Lord wants me.

I've added some pictures from this past week. They're just a few cool/random ones. The one on the beach is of Me and Elder Barstow on while we were playing ultimate Frisbee. I also added a picture of a HUGE spider that we found in our apartment. I screamed like a little girl....Rylee can vouch for that...I HATE spiders, especially big, freaky, fast, poisonous, ones....elder Yockey fell asleep at his study desk because he took the love seat as his chair. I told him that we have to move it back. :)

I love you guys!
Elder Wilson

Quick note

Mom,

I'm sending some pictures this week. These are a few things that happened over the past 15 days or so. Sis. Nicholas climbed her Breadfruit tree, and I got a picture because she was almost 30 feet up. I also sent a picture of the Shark that I ate a few days ago. Those are mean looking little suckers....

It was cool to speak to you guys yesterday too! I had some leftover time, so I thought I'd call my Grandma's and wish them a Happy Mothers Day too.  Grandpa and Grandma Dahl were each on a different phone, so I talked to both of them at the same time. It was good to talk to Callie too. How is she doing with her back?? 

I got the pictures of Robert. Thanks! It's so good to see him again. Can you send him some of the best ones that I've sent you???? Like the Shark one and some of the others???? Thanks!!

About the package, No I don't need anything really other than that charger. I'm doing fine. :)

I'm sorry this one is a short letter! I am heading to Castries now to ship Elder Jordan out and wait for my new companion to come in tomorrow morning.  I'll send more pictures next week! Tell Robbie and Meliss thanks for the E-mails and that I love 'em!!

Love ya

Brad

Raining...again

Mama,

It's good to hear from you. No, I haven't got your package yet, but I'm sure it should be here in the next day or two at least.

It sounds like there are going to be some cool changes there soon! You get a Suburban! Woo Hoo! Utah soccer/baseball mom car!!! :) That will be cool when the cement gets poured out back. Is Dad still planning on making that a little T.V. Room?? That would be awesome. Tell Coleman to keep trying his RipStick. I want to see how good he's got when I come back home, so tell him to practice hard!

About Skype; My Church goes from 10am - 12 noon. I was planning on calling around 3:30 or 4:00pm my time, which would be around 2:00pm your time. Is that okay? That should give you guys enough time to eat and clean up dishes, but it should also give us enough time to talk before you go to Grandma's around 4:00 if you're planning on going. Write me back and let me know. I can call you a day or two before and talk to you briefly to get everything figured out. E-MAIL me back and let me know what your plans are so I can work it out with the other Missionaries and plan accordingly.

Tell everyone back home that I say hello and that I'm doing well. It's weird to me that those people still exist! I know that might sound funny, but when you're out here, you learn to love the people and you forget about a lot of things. I guess that's what Gordon B. Hinckley's dad meant when he said "Forget yourself and go to work"

My lupus has been okay lately. I still have a rough time waking up on time, but I actually did pretty good this week. I usually can make it up around 7:00 - 7:30am (I'm supposed to be up at 6:30am). But this week I made it up at 6:30 four times this week. I was pretty proud of myself. I've been taking Benadryl to get to sleep, and it seems to be helping. Sometimes I wake up at 6:30 and feel like I haven't even gone to sleep yet. Those days suck....I've been trying to eat a lot healthier and watch for flares, and it seems to be helping. I'm still not quite sure how to tell when a flare is coming up, it usually just hits, and then I go from there. I'm glad that Elder Jordan understands. He will study or clean the apartment for an hour or two while I take a nap sometimes. He's a good guy. I'm glad I got paired with him.

It rained a TON this week. It was pretty crazy. The streets and trenches got flooded, and everyone here in the West Indies is afraid of the rain, so everyone went inside. Elder Jordan and I stayed out to try and talk to any stragglers, but our efforts were in vain. We ended up just playing in the rain and getting really wet.

I'm in Castries today, and I forgot my SD card. So I'll have to send some pictures next week. Sorry! I love you all tons though and am excited to talk to you in a few days!

I LOVE YOU!!!! :) :)

Brad

Broken?

Mama,

That sounds like a fun week! I can't believe that It's already almost summer again! Yes, we already met with President Gamiette. We met with him on Wednesday in Castires and had a great Zone Conference. That will be my last time in an interview with Him...:( I ho[e the next mission Presient is cool. He'll be coming into the mission in about 3 or 4 weeks. My lupus symptoms are alright. I am getting better at noticing flares, and I can get to sleep earlier. I think Lupus could be the reason that I struggled to wake up on time for so long back home.

This week was rough! I'll start you out from Monday. So last P-Day Elder Jordan and I cleaned our apartment, did laundry, ate, went shopping, and e-mnailed, and we still had like 5 hours left of P-Day. So we decided to go down to a river (The same one that I sent a picture of where I'm swinging on a vine.), and get some mangos, coconuts, fivefinger, starfruit, and papayas to keep at the house. We were having a great time and getting lots of fruit when I spotted some AMAZING mangos on a near by tree. I told him that I was going to climb up and get them, then we could go home. I got to the tree and started to climb. (The tree was pretty awkward. The trunk of the tree almost made a sideways "S". That's just how it grew I guess.) I got about 20 - 25 feet up off the the ground (Mango trees can reach almost 80 feet sometimes.....), I was in an awkard position, I was holding on to a branch in my left hand and one in my right, and my feet were both on the same branch. (I was making a "Y" with my body.) so I tried to shift my weight to get up to a more secure spot on the tree, and thats when it happened. I felt the branch that me feet were on give way and break off the tree. My momentum carried me and all my weight swinging to the left, which caused the branch I was holding on to with my left hand to break. My momentum then carried me to the right, and that's when the last branch broke. I free fell about 15 feet, hit the "S" part of the trunk, and bounced the rest of the way down to the ground and crushed a small sapling. Elder Jordan heard me yell, and came running over. I got a cut on my knee and I had the wind knocked out of me, but I'm okay. :)

Now here's the reason that story is important....On Thursday, Elder Jordan and I were out teaching and I felt a sharp pain in my left foot every time I took a step. I called the mission nurse and told her about the mango tree and she told me to go inside and stay there. So We stayed in from thursday morning until Today. I have to call her again and see if I have to go get x-Rays or something. I don't think it's that bad, but The mission nurse is in charge of that, so I'll keep you posted.

Other than that, The week was great! I love to stay inside our apartment and not help people repent and not teach anyone the gospel for 4 days! It's fantastic!! (SaRcAsM!)

Yes, I got my priesthood line of authority. Thank you for sending that. :)

This is week 5 of the Transfer, so Transfer calls won't be this Saturday, but next saturday. No worrie4s, I'll be sure to let you know where I'm going or if I'm staying.

Thanks Mama!
I love ya!! (Ps, I get to skype again this time, so I'll let you know next week on all the details.)
Love,
Brad

Better scripture study

Mama!!

I am glad that I finally get to hear from you! It sounds like you had a less than ideal week! I hope that you get feeling better quick! It sounds like that surgery was nasty....

This week was pretty tough here in St. Lucia. Lots of our investigators have "Dropped themselves". We didn't have any investigators at church yesterday either. We've been pretty discouraged lateley. (Is feeling discouraged/depressed a symptom of Lupus??) We've been struggling to stay motivated and keep working despite our tough circumstances. Anyways, Yesterday at church, I had a personal revelation. I'm going to share it with you. :)
So I was talking with Elder Jordan a few days ago about how the branch is "Dying". It;s on the verge of being closed down. We talked about how we are ALWAYS here to help the members, but our help is refused at times, and we can't help. In Sacrament meeting I was thinking again thinking about how much the branch is struggling, when we began to sing the sacrament hymn. The Sacrament hymn was Hymn 195 (How great the Wisdon and the Love). A line from that song really hit me, and I began to cry. the second verse reads "His precious blood he freely spilt, his life he freely gave, a sinless sacrifice for guilt, A dying world to save." Those last few words are what hit me. I realized that often times, we shut out our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ from our lives, and we're left to fend for ourselves. They probably are sorrowful because they know whats best. They probably LONG to give their help, but they can only give it to us if we want it. I remembered that everyone has their agency, and we're going to get turned down more often than not. I'm going to keep trying hard though.

Zone conference is this Wednesday. It will be here in St. Lucia, and President Gamiette will come. I'm excited for the inverview with him (It might be my last one with him!). The new mission President comes in in a month or so. His name is President Mehr, from somewhere in Utah. It will be weird to have a new Mission President, but I guess we'll see in a few months!

I have completed the Book of Mormon twice in 9 weeks, and I am already back in 2 Nephi for my 3rd time. I started a really cool study at the beginning of my transfer with Elder Jordan. Maybe you could try it....The Study is to take a Brand new, Un-marked Book of Mormon, and get three different colored highlighters (Ones that won't bleed through the pages!). Use one color to highlight any references to Jesus Christ (Such as Lord, God, Savior, Christ etc...). Use another color to highlight his attributes (Merciful, powerful, loving etc....) and use the last color to highlight his words (When He's speaking or when his prophets say "Thus saith the Lord..."). I personally decided to read it three times through and highlight his references the first time, his attributes the second time, and his words the third time. I'm highlighting all of his words currently in my study. But you could either read it through once, and use all the colors at the same time, or read it 3 seperate times and focus on just one of the topics each time.

It's really cool to me to see how much the Book of Mormon really talks of Christ. It really is another Testament of Christ. Is used yellow to highlight refereces to Him because it's the brightest. It's cool to show to members and investigators to show them that it really does teach about Jesus Christ. Let me know how the study goes!

That's about all for this week! I'll add a few misc pictures from this week too! Love ya tons!!!!

Elder Wilson


PS: The pictures from of the Book of Mormon are my "Cheat Sheet" to teach more effectively. I Ordered a hard-cover book of mormon and took 3 scripture references for each principle that we teach. I also added in some cool pictures on the black sheets in the back to teach people and show people about the restoration.

The other pictures are when my Lupus was acting up, when a crazy goat attacked me, and when elder Jordan and I found weed growing outside our apartment....We pulled it out of course....and made bookmarks out of it. :)

Another p-day

Mama,

That's crazy that it's already spring break! I'm glad that the surgery went well. Take your time and rest up so you can get yourself back to normal. That's really sad for Sean....I dont know a lot about it, but it sounds like it is a pretty scary thing, especially for a little boy. I'll keep him in my prayers.

About the package, There's nothing that I really need. Maybe you could send a few cool designed ties. Bright ones. Kind of the one like Coleman had that was a black tie with lots of other colors. Other than that, I would just like to have some more money on hand, as it's already been almost a year and I might need new shows or shirts in a few months. but make sure that when you send it, that you send it sneakily....Thanks mama!

This week was rough. We worked our tails off! We did everything we could to teach as many lessons as possible, and get as many people as posible to church. WE were so excited on Sunday morning, but our happiness was changed to sadness when none of our investigators showed up. There were only 15 members in church. 4 of them were missionaries. It was a sad day. I ended up crashing after church. I worked myself hard this week, and Elder Jordan noticed that it caught up with me. My face got a rash and got way puffy on sunday morning, and I ended up just coming home, and falling asleep after church. I'm still feeling a little under the weather, and my face is still rashy, but I'm better than I was yesterday.

WE played Ultimate Frisbee today. We caught a bus early this morning to come to Castries. (The opposite end of the island, a one hour van ride) We played basketball and now we're all e-mailing. We're going to head back soon and go and play rook or a card game until we have to head back to Vieux-Fort in a few hours.

Other than that, This week was pretty uneventful. We found out that there's a Pastor in our area that preaches from his pulpit to avoid us like the plague. He hands out pamphlets and books that tell people that we don't believe in Jesus Christ, that we Sacrifice girls in our buildings, that we still practice Polygamy, that we're just brainwashed to teach people these things, and other crap. If people just talked to us or came and visited, they would know that he's lying. It's a good thing that you cant kick this church down, you can only kick it up. Anyways, people have been avoiding us because of that guy. "Ere, he is left to kick against the pricks" That's a scripture reference just to let you know....I just forgot where it is....Ha

I'm doing okay. I'm still alive, and I'm still teachin'. I dont have any pictures this week. There was no time for play. I'll try to get some this next week. Love ya!!

Elder Wilson

Happy Easter

Mama!!

Sorry I couldn't e-mail yesterday. They were having a HUGE easter celebration. The majority of the people here are Catholic or Baptist, so the ENTIRE city was closed for the holiday. People here are kind of backwards though....They spent their Easter by drinking Rum, and dirty dancing on top of cars, on houses, and in the streets. They even blocked off some of the roads because so many people were partying. I bet they really remembered Christ this Easter! Anyways, Elder Jordan and I avoided it all, and did our best to work, but our efforts were in vain. Hardly anyone in the city was sober, so we ended up coming home early, and studying the Book of Mormon together.

I've been feeling pretty good lately. I currently have 3 sores in my mouth that hurt me, but other than that, I'm good! This morning and the past few mornings have been pretty good. It was our fast Sunday this past week, and fasting seems to help me. I'm not sure why, but the symptoms die down for a few days when I fast.

Yes, I will be here for my birthday this year. About the package, there's nothing that I really need. I'm doing pretty good on supplies, slothing, and garments. It;s a good thing we planned well on my packing. I'm planning on opening my new garments at my year mark, so I won't need any of those either. If people want to send me something, they could just send cash to me. If you send cash though, be sure to but it in a secret hiding place. One of the missionaries that I know told me that his mom hides his cash in the bottom of a deodorant case. She unscrews the deodorant, puts the cash inside, and then screws the top back down to cover it. Just think of a sneaky way to hide it if that's what you end up sending. Yes, I think that I will be able to Skype again this time. I'll give you more information as I receive it.

About the pictures that I'm sending.....I want to send you a video, but it's too big. For Easter, Sis. Nicholas (Branch Presidents Wife) Asked us if we wanted to cut the heads off the chickens so we could eat them for our Sunday dinner. We accepted the offer. Anyways, Sis. Nicholas cut the head of the first one off, and it kind of traumatized me.....Blood went everywhere and the chicken was flapping around and still making sounds! I sharpened my cutlass a little bit sharper, and chopped the heads off of the other chickens. It was a pretty weird experience, but it will be a good memory. The chickens that they raise here are HUGE! they're like twice the size of normal U.S. Chickens.

About the other pictures. I climbed a Coconut tree (Approx 30 feet tall) and My companion told me to climb all the way inside of the thrush. I was already out of energy, but he encouraged me, and told me that he would take a picture for me to send to you. So I climbed up. The pictures are of me in the top of the tree (Elder Jordan is standing on the top of the balcony of the 3rd floor at the Nicholas's House.)

I'll try to take some more pictures for next week. I love you guys!
Love
Elder Wilson