Elder J Wesley Wilcox: 6 April 2015 Letter

Hey all its week 10,

General Conference is better than pizza. I am not kidding. I loved sitting in the secretary's office watching conference in English will the other 7 gringo missionaries in my Zone. It was super awesome and the vacation from Spanish was a huge stress reliever as well. But I am starting on the wrong end of the week.

Last Monday, we had p-day as a zone again and we watched movies in the stake center. We watched a couple of church movies and then watched Ice Age 4, all in Spanish. It was still funny though, even though the joke translations didn't really make sense. It was definitely the relaxation I needed, though. And we had some good lessons that night and found a new investigator. This past week was slow, but we found 7 new investigators and one has a baptismal date already so that was great.

Tuesday we had our district meeting and then had exchanges afterwards. I got to be with Elder Morris again, but this time in our area. They never do that to new guys ‘cause we usually don't know the area super well, or what the people are like and all that jazz. But I think we only got sort of lost once, so it went well, and we got two new investigators by knocking doors. This week is super special down here, the week before Easter. It is Semana Santa, and on tv there are always bible videos and the people party every night and everyone is with family. That was why the week was pretty slow. Either people were gone on vacation (they get a five day vacation weekend!!!) or they were here, but with their family and didn't have time for us. But one thing I did see was that their hearts were softened and were more receptive to the teachings of Jesus Christ. It was a spiritually packed week, with Semana Santa, Easter, and General Conference, the chance we have to listen to our prophets and other leaders of the church.

Wednesday we taught a kid named Rodrigo. He is 12 and had never met with the missionaries but his older sister and mom are inactive members. We taught him, and for my first time, I asked the question for him to be baptized instead of my companion doing it. And he said yes and his family wants to all come back to church as well. They came to conference, and if they keep assisting, he can be baptized within the month. Hopefully the 25th. We shall see!

The rest of the week and the weekend was super slow and we got very little work done because of the holiday season. So it was definitely tough but still awesome as always. After Conference, I feel so sad that it is over. I learned so much this weekend and will never forget it. I loved Sunday morning and afternoon. They were jam-packed with awesome talks and great stories. But in one of the talks (I don't have my notes with me so I can't remember who it was) on Saturday, a general authority talked about the importance of families and parents praying for their children. As he spoke, I had this overwhelming feeling of love come over me, like I never have before. I knew I was feeling all the prayers of my family and friends, and almost all at once it seemed like. It was the most comforting and happy feeling in the world. Thank you all so much for your prayers and love. I know it is helping me to be the best missionary I can be. I will bring my notes next Monday so I can share more thoughts about the talks.

Thanks a ton for everything, family and friends, and I love you all,

Elder Wilcox