February 24, 2014

This week was superb I must say!! We got quite a lot of good things done! With the tender mercy of the Lord and us trying to do things the way He has directed us the work has picked up! Working together with the members is the ONLY way the work of salvation will move forward! I can definitely testify of that due to this past week! We try to have a member at every lesson possible! It’s a bit harder for us biking folks cuz we can’t just throw a member present in the car. Many times this week we walked with members sometimes 10 minutes, sometimes an hour. But the testimony, support, and friendship that was present at the lesson cannot be replaced by missionaries alone! Slow in words of numbers, but many more progressing.  We had 3 investigators at church and all are progressing and working towards baptism! 4 more have committed to church next week along with some potential Priesthood! I wouldn't say the work is getting easier.. but it’s getting better as we do it the Lords way. That's the way it has and will forever be. We are happiest when we are keeping the commandments and doing all that we can to serve, help, lift, support and encourage all around us to do better than we have the day before.  We have had a few set backs, but hopefully they are temporary and as we continue to build trust in all around us, things will work out! Along with building trust found another cool quote. "If you were accused of being a Mormon, would there be enough evidence to convict you?"

I really don't have a lot to report on this week. It has been busy I would say the greatest tender mercy of the week was receiving a referral from Spanish town. 2 Priesthood potentials in our area. They are smart, age 19, and willing to learn, but the problem is they are way open minded, hopefully not too open minded cuz their brain just might fall out!! But met with them last night! I’m just really excited for the way the work is going! Much opportunity is out there, it is just disguised as hard work! I feel as if I have slowed down a bit and it being my half way point Thursday I really hope we can pick it back up and work some miracles through the Lord! I thank the lord for the things that have been accomplished this far in the mission and in my life personally. I thank you for all of your prayers that give me the strength to continue. "The past is behind; learn from it. The future is ahead; prepare for it. The present is here; live in it."—Thomas S. Monson love you all have a great week!

Elder Wilkerson

Know Christ, no fear. No Christ, know fear

 

bag juice

bacon cooker

Bike light - birthday package finally arrived!

February 17, 2014

Devon House Park

Flouring th Relief Society Pres./Landlord, Sis. Green

 This week was great!! I’ve honestly learned that God knows all his children. Things they have been through, people they need to become, make and shift them into what he wants if we only allow him!! And so many are heeding his promptings and thankfully we have been willing to listen! This week we took a leap of faith.. had to pretty much drop our teaching pool... not quite ready, or doing the things required to produce a testimony! I know some of them soon will be ready!! They just need a reality check. But our main source of finding this week, was working in less active yards and in member yards.. find any little act of service and help! It was slow in the words of lessons taught, but we washed several times and talked to many people!! People are willing to listen when they know you care! Monday of course we floured the relief society president and working with her less active husband. Tuesday we washed and found a few ladies in the less active Burrell family yard. Washed with Tameka, Monique, and Donna. Of course we get teased at first cuz you don’t see whiteman washing every day!! And it gathered quite the crowd and was able to have a lesson after 2 hours of wash and they accepted a date for the 9th of March! Fantastic! Also found the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants to be true this week.. talking bout "it is not meet that my elders be moving swiftly, while people are perishing in unbelief!" We left some time in between appointments to hand out a pamplet between each lesson! Pretty cool! Faith+works=miracles! Great equation in the work of salvation! Wednesday was a fun day! We didn’t have district meeting due to transfers so we took that empty time slot to find the top of our area. We rode to Norburry, bout 5 km ride, nothing too bad other than it was steeeeep!! But we were looking for a less active up there and stopped and asked this yard worker guy for some directions. We got talking to him and turns out we were sitting right in front of SEAN PAUL’S mansion!! Haha, we were talking to his yard keeper. And hopefully this week we can go back and teach him.. pretty sweet! I will get a pic of his house this week! As for the less active, we couldn’t get to him due to hefty security! We will keep trying. Also might teach the security guard! Next we found Georgia through a member, very large family that believes wherever you worship, as long as you are worshipping God, its good enough. Got some work to do, but at least a willing spirit! Also met again with the Peart’s to teach Jovis and Natasha bout the Book of Mormon and to prepare for baptism and marriage by March 23rd! Probably have to push back, but they are so into the studies! Awesome, awesome pouring out of the spirit of the Lord! Then another less active family home evening with this huge yard playing scripture charades! Probably a Jamaican favorite so far! Nuff involvement! But needless to say the rest of the week was great, with a little more wash, a little more planning, better studies, more focused attention and laying all our desires on the altar and digging into the work. D&C 4:2 HEART, MIGHT, MIND, and STRENGTH! It’s bone drying but makes the week fly! No greater substitute than working for the Lord and letting him work through us and make of us all that we truly can BECOME! Sunday was slow.. especially for preparing for a Stake.. started church 30 minutes late, but had 4 less actives back and 3 investigators at church! I love being a missionary, I’m scared to continue my life, but thankfully I have another year to let the Lord lead me, mold me and allow me to be an instrument in this great and marvelous work! My heart is full of so much joy for the love God has for each of us. I pray that each of us will REMEMBER to trust Him, for as we do He does IMMEDIATELY bless us, without charity we are nothing. Live, Laugh, Love Learn. But most of all Trust In God! Alma 38:5 Love you all so much. Thank you for your time, prayers and support. Have a marvelous week!!! :)

Elder Wilkerson

February 10, 2014

Man this week started out right! I don’t know how it got kick started so right, all I know is I reread through many of my letters and bought more sticky notes. I really believe as we write things down, even if we don’t look at them, they stick with us longer!!! I just started keeping a study journal and if nothing else it helps me stay awake during studies, but it helps me apply and think about how I can do better!! I love how everything in the church works together! I was reading through a 7th day book just to learn a little more bout their beliefs and see where they are coming from, but it was crazy to me how many members they do have.. how much of the world really is confused! But it’s awesome how this week you have your ward conference on the plan of salvation and here in Jamaica we have the same discussion.. maybe in a liccabit different of a way, but just perfect how the gospel helps the thuggies, the druggies, the popular, the rich, the weak and simple and really the crazy people are the most dedicated to the church! But it’s awesome how there really is something for everyone!! And this week we decided we needed to put our skills to work as a companionship! We all have different ways of doing the work! We are the more layed back and fun teaching style, some are more serious. But this week we let the hands do the talking and did service almost every single day. Tuesday we went to the Alexander yard and I guess it was wash day. Everyone was washing! Up the whole street! So we pushed Sis. Alexander’s lesson back, tucked in our ties and went and scrubbed, and rinsed and hung up a whole leap of clothes! And by the end, everyone knew a little bit, if not a lot, about us. And cleared up we aren’t CIA!! Service softens hearts and I’m thankful for that blessing and actually serving with Elder Carter who probably for the first time really pushes me to keep up!! Wednesday and Saturday of course we had the wheelchair thing and we got some contacts there, but most were out of our area! A lot of good still done though!! Thursday we helped the Lamey’s work on their house and Pres. Singh do concrete on Friday!! Saturday we also helped the Peart family pick fruit and they now have some more family living there. Jovus and Natasha, they are 21, looking to learn and to get married! So that will be cool. It was great to teach the Restoration again!! But we got to have the faith to make it work. And as we seek for those spiritual experiences our faith grows, but if we stop having them we lose that desire, so we have to keep moving forward, there is no stalling on a moving treadmill! It’s been a while and hopefully we can really pick it up again!! We are also working with grandma Brown, Sis. Peart’s mother! 3 awesome people and more to come!! We had to drop Yemisi and probably Lucky this week... but Ashani is moving right along and we have things arranged to get him to church this Sunday!! He’s ready!!! But even though we didn’t have any investigators at church we had a great meeting! We had 8 Less Actives Back!!! Super duper awesome! We actually for the first time had to open up the curtain and there is more where that came from!! Lots of good little things happening! We plan to take a day off the bikes and just talk to everyone cuz the gospel is ready for Jamaica! Stay  tuned for more updates next week, love you all so much! Keep it real!

Elder Wilkerson  

February 3, 2014

Flouring Bro. Peart

Wheelchair project.

Flouring Sis. Banhan.

My companion decided he is going to stay and I’m glad he did. I was also given an opportunity to give him a blessing. He was told to write down the things that were said to try them before going home. It was a powerful experience. We have been fixing things and the work is going much better now with two of us doing the work! We aren’t up to full speed yet but soon come!! We had a very full week of activities!! But it was great and I think helped my comp stay focused!! Monday we had an awesome cottage meeting at the Macphersons.. Brother Mac was sick so we threw something together real quick and had a charity and love lesson, and it was a success! Great kick start to the week! Tuesday the highlight of the day was probably flouring Bro Peart! But we also had his friend there, Ashani, and we had a great lesson focused on 2 nephi 32 and he is doing awesome just needs to come to church! But didn't make it this week due to being out of town. We told him we can’t teach him more til he comes to church or we are condemning him.. 2 nephi 31. He totally understands and really wants to come! Family struggles but we will soon get him!! He has 10 chapters left in the Book of Mormon and can retain all the stories better than us so we will just keep trying. We decided we might have to be those nourishing missionaries- Jacob 5! That chapter says nourish like 20 times! So we just have to be patient, show them loved and find them a friend and they will progress! The work truly is moving forward and the Lord is showering out blessings on Jamaica as the people start to show their faith mo! Last week Sunday was one of the biggest attendances across the island! And the referrals are flying in as we work more closely with the members! Lucky is doing pretty good though.. we haven’t been putting out nuff effort finding a good fellowshipper so we are totally pushing for that this week, we believe that will be the key! G.B. Hincks said it himself that’s something they need! Wednesday we had our first day at the wheelchair convention and it went great!  We moved 40 people through the program and were there for 6 hours! Great program and really helped my testimony grow how even people with disabilities are so motivated and happy and pushing along just fine! Us without those should be so grateful!! We had Zone meeting on Thursday and we all know those are spiritually uplifting! We focused a lot on our planning and how we should never be late for our most important appointment of the day with the lord at 9 at night! And putting our all into our planning for the spirit that we have in our planning is going to be the same one that we have in the lesson!!! Also loved how Elder Bateman talked about our planning and used 1 Nephi 17 to do it! I am going to type it all up and send you a pic of it! Such awesome revelation! Friday a highlight of the day was meeting with the Johnsons, the less active of the month! We started into the plan of salvation and they are inhaling it all, but won’t come to church! It blows my mind!! Yes, they had a rough experience that anyone could get offended of if you were accused for something you didn’t do.. but I know they will come around and it will be a blessing when they do.. the branch needs them, and they need the blessings! Saturday we were back at the wheelchair convention and right after it we did an awesome thing called Priesthood reach out. At the end of the month the active priesthood brethren go out and just reach out to some of the brethren and let them know we love them! It was great! It really should be the home teachers doing it, but I guess this will be the kick start to the home teaching that hasn’t been working for the past 10 years!! They said it just doesn’t work. They let the missionaries in cuz they trust them, but not other members! Sad!! But we are breaking that as we go out together, and we also are assigned with other members to do home teaching as well! Great opportunity to work with the branch! I’m so excited to home teach! Weird cuz it’s like we do it everyday, but to those who are not members! Ha! Fast Sunday was great! I’m thankful for opportunities to fast -  it really brings an unknown power and strength into your life. I never realized it before, but if you really fast and once you break through the wall of hunger it’s all spiritual rocket from there. I love it! Plus you get the health benefit! I lost 10 lbs this week! Maybe it was all the wheelchairs, but it feels good! Many, many member lessons yesterday, but many referrals and they are all part member! So cool! It was good to go through a humbling experience again to rely on the Lord to find people to teach cuz we can’t. We can’t do it on our own. It’s best to always have the knowledge of the spirit then to be a wise speaker some of the time. I can’t believe it’s almost been a year. I sometimes wish I could take all that I have learned and start over but then I guess I wouldn’t be the most weak and simple as the Lord chooses so to do his work! I still have so much to learn, and so much to give! Love you all so much. Have a spectacular week!!

Elder WIlkerson