How wonderful to hear that the Wilcox family legend lives on, and more stories are written everyday in the Felsted and Shannon family as well. I agree 100 percent that the celestial kingdom is made up of families and focused on families. I love my family. And I share them with everyone. Everywhere I go I carry a foto of all of us a few years back at callaway gardens in my scriptures, and I try to show it to all our investigators so they know that we're normal people with lives, and that our family's happy because of the Gospel we're sharing.
Basically, I love my family!
And can't wait to see you.
Which day will actually be earlier than I announced. Sheesh...sorry to change things YET again. When President told me I could extend, he said it would be until the 10th, and then in the office I talked to the secretary and she said it would be until the 21st, one month from my entrance date, and even changed it officially in the system. But then I got a call like last tuesday from her saying that president had advised her that it could only be 30 days, no more, so it will be the 10th. And that is OFFICIAL. The 10th. Haha sorry to keep you on your toes, I've tried to get it resolved as quick as possible. But yeah, don't worry. This is definitive now. Tuesday, the 10th of october.
Anyhoo,
Life's good here in Boca with Elder Hamilton. He's a great comp that's teaching me a lot about humility, cooking, and martial arts, and we're working really hard together. The days are short because we're busy, and as the last hour draws close, we get bummed out because we have to head home and can't keep working. It's a great feeling to dedicate yourself 100 percent to the Lord.
We're still working on finding new people to help progress, but we've seen some miracles.
Lesson for the week: We can make covenants with God. He's always willing to bless us with what is righteous, but he waits for us to show our faith. So we can covenant with him, and promise to do our part, and he will always keep his side. We just have to make sure it's a worthy wish, and work hard to show the Lord we take his work seriously.
Last night, we really wanted to find some new investigadores, and fulfill our challenge to the zone to contact 50 men during the week. So the day was closing, and we were running out of time, and still needed to contact 4 more men. So we stopped where we were, said a prayer, and made a covenant with God. We promised that we would get those 4 contacts more before entering the house, and we pleaded that in return for our act of faith and diligence, that God would bless us with a family to teach. Well, we felt the Spirit confirm that the promise was made, and we went to work. The first three contacts were not very good, and we were already within our apartment complex. We decided to knock on one more door, and sure enough, a lady named Debora answered and let us in immediately. She listened very intently as we explained our purpose, and told us the need she and especially her young son had of making God a bigger part of their family life. The Spirit was there, and we scheduled a followup visit for thursday. We entered the house grateful that God hears and answers the righteous desires of our heart with a blessing upon us.
This is his work, and I love being part of it. God is good, and want's us to just trust him more than ourselves, and he'll do his work far better than we ever could.
I love you all and hope you have a great week! Bye!
-Elder Wilcox
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
News from South Mouth
Thanks family for all the letters and exciting things that are happening all the way over there in good old Georgia. I'm happy that the book has been progressing a lot and that lots of people are interested. Keep up the great and inspired work!
Ashley, hang in there and work hard to finish your papers so you can get out there! The Lord's waiting for you! Excited for your progress.
Dad, in response to your question, I have no idea what else I might study. Perhaps choral music education, perhaps film, or even...could it be...business. Yeah, I've actually thought about administration. Not a lot, but a little. We'll see when I get back. Right now it's mission time!
Speaking of mission time, I'm happy to officially announce that I'll have more of it. I talked with President in my interview and confirmed it with the mission secretary. I will be finishing the mission on the 21st of October. Meaning that I would need to be on the plane heading back (if you didn't come to pick me up) on the 22nd, to get home by the 23rd. If you are able to come pick me up, which would be great, them I'm not sure how that works. But yeah, the 21st will officially be my last day in my sector. I got a whole nother transfer woohoo!!
Boca Sur is awesome, we're working hard and getting a lot of support from the members. We're working on activating a mom named Carolina, and her kids are coming to church too which is great. Her daughter Scarlet is preparing for baptism in June. We're trying to work with her husband, Ramón, but he's a little less receptive. He didn't come to church yesterday, so hopefully we can figure out how to help me join his family in this important step.
Life's good. I love being a missionary and working with the Lord in His vineyard. It is a joy collecting fruit for Him. The field is white and it's ready to harvest. I pray for the strength to thrust in my sickle with my might. Thanks, family for being the best family. Talk to you sooon!
Love,
Elder Wilcox
Ashley, hang in there and work hard to finish your papers so you can get out there! The Lord's waiting for you! Excited for your progress.
Dad, in response to your question, I have no idea what else I might study. Perhaps choral music education, perhaps film, or even...could it be...business. Yeah, I've actually thought about administration. Not a lot, but a little. We'll see when I get back. Right now it's mission time!
Speaking of mission time, I'm happy to officially announce that I'll have more of it. I talked with President in my interview and confirmed it with the mission secretary. I will be finishing the mission on the 21st of October. Meaning that I would need to be on the plane heading back (if you didn't come to pick me up) on the 22nd, to get home by the 23rd. If you are able to come pick me up, which would be great, them I'm not sure how that works. But yeah, the 21st will officially be my last day in my sector. I got a whole nother transfer woohoo!!
Boca Sur is awesome, we're working hard and getting a lot of support from the members. We're working on activating a mom named Carolina, and her kids are coming to church too which is great. Her daughter Scarlet is preparing for baptism in June. We're trying to work with her husband, Ramón, but he's a little less receptive. He didn't come to church yesterday, so hopefully we can figure out how to help me join his family in this important step.
Life's good. I love being a missionary and working with the Lord in His vineyard. It is a joy collecting fruit for Him. The field is white and it's ready to harvest. I pray for the strength to thrust in my sickle with my might. Thanks, family for being the best family. Talk to you sooon!
Love,
Elder Wilcox
Monday, May 6, 2013
Life's hard, get a helmet
This week was kind of a wild ride, and very stressful. We were in a trio this week, as Elder Torres had left last sunday, so we had to try and cover two rather large sectors with only one companionship. So I got as much walking done as I want to do for the next few months. But the good part is I could get to know better the other Elders' sector and their investigators.
It was a stressful week because, although we were in a trio, I was still technically alone as zone leader and as representative of my sector, so a grand part of my planning and study and zone work hours were spent alone. I felt a tremendous responsability upon my shoulders and felt, in a way, like a single parent, and realized just how hard it must be for those people to play mom and dad at the same time.
It was a good experience and a great challenge, but let's just say I'm ready to have a companion again to split the workload with.
In addition to all that, I continue to feel overwhelmed and nervous about real life. I've decided definitively that I will be coming home either on the 10th like normal or a little after if I can extend. But that depends on how the interview with President goes on the 13th. I keep you posted. But with respect to school, I feel awful and lost still. I've fasted and prayed, but my answer still has not come. To top it all off, I got a nice little letter today from the MDT department at BYU with a "we can't wait to work with you this fall" note and a bunch of greetings from the current students participating in the program. "Ross, although I don't know you yet, I can't wait to meet you. Thanks for serving a mission, see you in the best major ever!" etc. It made me feel sick. I felt like an eternal investigator when the missionaries pressure him to be baptised and he does not want to commit!
Well, that's a whole story for this weekend.
On the bright side of life and the Lord's work, Marta and Constanza continue to progress, and Constanza was confirmed yesterday in church since she couldn't come the last sunday. So we're really happy for them. They even fasted this last weekend! And they were planning on it anyway, even before we reminded them.
My new comp will be Elder Hamilton from California. I know him a while back while I was in Lota, and he's a great Elder. I tell you more about him next week.
Skype! This weekend on Sunday, I will be able to talk to all you lovely people. I have no clue of the hour yet because we haven't arranged it with the members yet, but I'll try to let you know as soon as possible. It will most likely be like 4 or 5 in the afternoon my time. Can't wait!
And until then, I will leave you now. Thank you for all your love and support. Can't I just be a missionary for the rest of my life? Sheesh...Well this is the Lord's work and I love bringing souls unto Him. Have a blessed week!
Love,
Elder Ross Carl Wilcox
It was a stressful week because, although we were in a trio, I was still technically alone as zone leader and as representative of my sector, so a grand part of my planning and study and zone work hours were spent alone. I felt a tremendous responsability upon my shoulders and felt, in a way, like a single parent, and realized just how hard it must be for those people to play mom and dad at the same time.
It was a good experience and a great challenge, but let's just say I'm ready to have a companion again to split the workload with.
In addition to all that, I continue to feel overwhelmed and nervous about real life. I've decided definitively that I will be coming home either on the 10th like normal or a little after if I can extend. But that depends on how the interview with President goes on the 13th. I keep you posted. But with respect to school, I feel awful and lost still. I've fasted and prayed, but my answer still has not come. To top it all off, I got a nice little letter today from the MDT department at BYU with a "we can't wait to work with you this fall" note and a bunch of greetings from the current students participating in the program. "Ross, although I don't know you yet, I can't wait to meet you. Thanks for serving a mission, see you in the best major ever!" etc. It made me feel sick. I felt like an eternal investigator when the missionaries pressure him to be baptised and he does not want to commit!
Well, that's a whole story for this weekend.
On the bright side of life and the Lord's work, Marta and Constanza continue to progress, and Constanza was confirmed yesterday in church since she couldn't come the last sunday. So we're really happy for them. They even fasted this last weekend! And they were planning on it anyway, even before we reminded them.
My new comp will be Elder Hamilton from California. I know him a while back while I was in Lota, and he's a great Elder. I tell you more about him next week.
Skype! This weekend on Sunday, I will be able to talk to all you lovely people. I have no clue of the hour yet because we haven't arranged it with the members yet, but I'll try to let you know as soon as possible. It will most likely be like 4 or 5 in the afternoon my time. Can't wait!
And until then, I will leave you now. Thank you for all your love and support. Can't I just be a missionary for the rest of my life? Sheesh...Well this is the Lord's work and I love bringing souls unto Him. Have a blessed week!
Love,
Elder Ross Carl Wilcox
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