I Am Not Immune!

Hey everybody,

This week has been another week of nasty coughing, except now I'm a part of it! Yay! I started with a sore throat, and now I have the cough & congestion where my ears feel like they need to pop all the time. It hasn't been debilitating though. 

It started snowing on Tuesday and we were totally biking blind! We had went to visit one of our sick investigators (who is an absolute doll face and I love her!) and when we got out it already snowed a few inches. What the heck?? It was super dangerous too cuz we couldn't see and neither could the cars, so yeah that was sketchy. We were gonna try biking to our dinner appointment, but she ended up being like, "aw heck no!" And she came and got us, Sis Marks is amazing. 

We walked through the giant piles of snow to our district meeting and that was fun because I was the only one wearing good snow boots! Then the rest of the day we couldn't do anything because everything was shut down due to the weather. Plus we were dying of mucus... 

Thursday was interesting because we got to do our service, but then the elderly couple that came with us took us out to a restaurant called "Cracker Barrel", and it was awesome, but we were there way too long! But the place was so cool and I don't think I've ever seen one in Oregon? Later our investigator Tim planned a dinner and a lesson at his place with the elders. He is the sweetest man ever and we are totally gonna get him baptized! We talked about the Word of Wisdom with him, and while he's stubborn, I have total faith in him that he will overcome.

I don't remember what happened the rest of the week, in order anyways. We got to meet with our part member family guy, David and have a lesson with him and his friend Adrian finally! Sis Wilcox Sr and I had exchanges with our new STL, Sis Rogers. She is fantastic and she gave me an awesome study on the commandments! And I met this crazy lady, Sis McGuire, who absolutely loves animals and has major road rage.

I gotta tell y'all about her. She is from California (and honestly drives better than everybody over here), anyways she told us this story about how she chased down a litterer. She was about to walk into Blockbuster with her friend when some punk threw his entire bag of McDonald's crap at her feet driving by. So she grabs the bag and her friend, jumps in the car, and runs every single red light till she caught up to this dude and pulled up beside him by a light. Then she rolls down her window (and the guy did too thinking she wanted to talk to him) and she goes "I think you dropped something!!!" And threw it right through his open window and drove off like a madwoman. It's the greatest thing told in her voice with her crazy little hand gestures! I laughed so hard it hurt!

Well I love you! I hope everyone is happy and doing well! 

With love, 

Sister Wilcox

Spring is Coming

Hi Family!🤓

So currently Sister Wilcox Sr and I are in the hermanas apartment helping our Hermana wax her legs. She hasn't shaved since December... apparently I'm really good at ripping off the strips unexpectedly.

Anyway, this week has been an interesting one. Sis Wilcox has been sick pretty much this entire week and has gotten herelf dependent on herbal teas. The J-Town elders are enablers because they bought her some. Last transfer we got a new set of hermanas, so now our building has 4 sets of sisters running around. I'm not the youngest missionary out here anymore! Woo! No it's weird. I'm mostly weirded out by that.😨

Tuesday we weren't going to go out at all but we got a plea from a less active, Sis Holloway, to walk her beagle Willow. We haven't had hardly any contact with this gal after trying several times to meet up with her, so we headed out despite my companion's lethargy. We walked her dog for about 2 hours before getting back. Sis Wilcox and I then took like a 3 hour nap.😴

On Wedenesday we had our zone conferenece that lasted for 8 hours. I developed a pinched nerve or something in my shoulder by the end of the first half and my companion was soffocating herself trying to hold in the coughs... the training was awesome though! I learned how to plan better and how I need to be more bold. There was this cool sister who told us that we are like the iron rod guiding people to the tree of life. We need to be firm and straight up with people about our purpose and what we are out here to do so that there is no questioning where it is they are going or what is at the end. I really needed to hear that and since then, I have been less afraid of talking with people. I've actually, a couple times, been the one going up to people and chatting it up! The Lord is a worker of miracles everyone! You just need a little faith and trust! 😉

That wasn't all though. We went and did our Dare to Care service and afterwards went back to the church for Pie Day. Pie Day is apparently a thing on March 14th because the date reads 3/14, like 3.14... yeah that went over my head until someone explained it to me yesterday😒. Oh man. We helped clean up afterwards and there was all this leftover pie, so Sis Wilcox was suddenly like, "I know what to do with this!" She convinced Elder Johnson to join her in her little scheme and they each took a pie, went outside, and smashed eachothers faces into the pies! I barely got it on camera! My companion keeps surprising me, and boy she hit him good!😂

Thursday was produce day at the Jeffersonian church, but the produce truck was 2 hous late (big surprise there😐), but we got to do some odd jobs though and met this really adorable old man from Moscow named Gregory. He told us how, growing up in Russia, they were told there was no God and religion wasn't allowed, but he always believed there was a higher power. We totally got his number and contact info! And he waved us goodbye and told us to be safe biking with his little accent. SO CUTE!

Friday night we got our investigator Tim to come to dinner with us and a member family, the Browns, and it was awesome! He came all dressed up and he got along with them so well. We all bore our testimonies at the end of the lesson, and Tim did too! He told us that he needs to come to church, and we were like YEAH! Then he told us that his boss is having him come in at 10am instead 8 for work. We have been prayng about this forever! AND he agreed to come for half an hour on Sunday! I love him so much!

Saturday was a bust, but we shamrock attacked one of our sick investigators and got a member family in on it. Then she totally posted it ON FACEBOOK and it was just adorable!

Sunday was flipping awesome! Tim came! He said he was able to get to work on time which was exactly what we promised him if he took a leap of faith by coming to church! Sooooo coooool! We also got our other guy, David, to come who's from a part member family and he stayed for second hour. He's like, already a member, but not... he knows so much already he just needs to be baptized!

After church we got called by our referral Julia who immediatley drove over and picked us up so we could help her clean her house. I washed a mountain of dishes and Sis Wilcox dusted and vaccumed and stuff. Her marital situation is rough, so we'll see how this all goes. She became an investigator though, so that was cool. I just hope we can help her.

Next we visited our man Kuria who's been sick this whole time and then got in a car wreck! He has a fractured rib, so we offered him a blessing of healing and he was like, "yes please!' Two sweet guys from our Louisville 2nd ward came and we taught him a bit about what blessings are and what priesthood authority is. This man though, was like, "please bless my children, they're having a rough time and it hurts me more than my rib." He just amazes me. This man turns outward instead of inward. He couldn't even be angry with the crazy lady who hit him either!

We visited our favorite lady Kim on our way over to a missionary farewell party to check on her. Then we talked to a few cool guys and got a return apointment with a dude named Randy. He rapped for us. The party was great and a bunch of missionaries came to wish Livi (the cute gal leaving for her mission) good luck and stuff. She's going to Redlands California, Spanish speaking.

Sorry this is so bleeding long! It's just that I actually remembered everything that happened this week and I feel so much more optimistic and happy. Not gonna lie, I think the naps helped! Also, the suns coming out, the daffodils and hyacinths are blooming and I just feel so much better about everything right now. Prayers are being answered!

Thank you all for bearing with me in this email, hopefully it was entertaining and not boring!😶 Thank you for your love and prayers! I love you all so much and I pray for y'all all the time! God loves you!

With buckets of love,
Sister Wilcox Jr ❤❤❤

Dropping Like Flies

Hey y'all

So, as the title implies, sorta, people around here are getting sick. It's very bad cuz it's the flu and apparently a few people have already died from it, so fun stuff there! Mi companera is also sick, but not to that level. She's has a cough and headaches, she's been taking lots of naps and I've been cleaning. She loves herbal teas now too!

Tuesday was another big tracting day, we biked all over and tried contacting a bunch of people and it wasn't going so great until the very end where we met some awesome peeps. We got a new investigator and it really made our day😊. We had dinner with this awesome lady in our ward and her little girl Clair. So, on the car ride home I sat by Clair who's like, 3, and she was asking me why we were riding with her and her mama. I said, "cuz it's cold" She goes, "why?" So I'm  thinking oh no what have I done, but I respond, "because the temperature dropped" "why?" "Because it's winter?" "Why?" "Because the Earth is farther away from the sun right now and maybe we're going to go through global freezing??" To which she says, "ohhhh, yeah." So that was my deep, confusing conversation with a 3 year old but I still laugh about it! She was such a character!

Wednesday we did our regular service routine and after we went to visit a single sister in our ward with Parkinson's disease. Sister Wellings is such a strong, faithful woman despite all that she has to deal with, and she is angelic. We were able to do some service for her, but she was mostly concerned about us helping her diabetic son who no longer believes in the church. He's lost his faith in God because of his trials and doesn't believe in a God that would allow bad things to happen to good people. I was about in tears after we left because he didn't care for anything we tried to help him with. There are people who don't have hope and don't believe they ever can.

On a good note though, we did a lot of service and I love it so much! We made dinner for one of the sick sisters in our ward, and it was awesome! I also was asked to bear my testimony on the Atonement on Sunday. I was terrified, and then I got up there and everything was fine and I was able to testify things I didn't know I needed to say, and without crying! It was great. All things considered, I feel pretty good about this week!

I love all y'all! Thank you for your letters and love!

With love,
Sister Wilcox❤❤❤

Transfers Ahhhhhh!!!!

Hellos,

So we found out who all is getting transferred this week, no one in my disctrict!😛 Woohoo!!! I love my district and I don't think we're ready to part ways just yet!

This week started off great. We did a ton of tracting on Tuesday and met with an inactive family. They were super nice! People are funny too. This one guy we talked to really encouraged us to only read the Bible, and he was worried for us because we also read out of the Book of Mormon... it was super adorable but he would not let us explain that both books testify of Christ and that the Book of Mormon is not a replacement for the Bible. It's like he only heard every other word we said?? Catholics are great too. Especially old Roman Catholic gals, they're the best. We got stared down by a whole group of em when we were checking up on a referral. Awesome!

We started meeting with a part member family, the Knowles, and they are so sweet! The husband is the non-member and he attends church more than his wife does. We're trying to get the whole family, but she doesn't feel as welcome as he does. So we told like, the whole ward that they were coming this Sunday and it worked out so well. Only the husband came again though with his boys, but it was all good. We've realized that we as missionaries need to communicate better with the ward. Our members are awesome and we need to let them know what's up.

Our new smart phones have been such a blessing! Group texts are amazing! We've been able to connect with our peeps so much easier and we loves it! Sis Wilcox Sr is way more excited about them than I am though, it's pretty funny actually.

Sis Wilcox Sr totally popped her front tire after thinking she could make it over this huge curb and didn't quite make it. I felt bad cuz I saw it happen in what felt like slow motion, but I let her do it!😆 Luckily we were right outside a Wal-Mart, but none of the workers knew anything about bikes so we ended up calling our elders for help. It was such a fiasco, but we laugh about it now!

Ha, I haves a funny story. We had this one investigator that was pretty cool and kinda progressing, but we felt it would benefit him to meet with the elders instead. So this gator has been avoiding the elders like the plague since, and we ended up dropping him cuz he's super flakey. Anyways, Wednesday Sis Wilcox Sr and I get a message from this guy on facebook that goes, "do you believe in love at first sight?" And we happened to be in our district meeting at the time and we told our zone leaders, and they were like "DO NOT RESPOND!" I was dying! 😂 poor guy! So yeah, that's my story.

Also we had a sister take us out to meet her neighbors and it was fabulous! We got a new investigator because of her and an 11 year old girl from another member family, Chelsea. These gals just went out and pretty much bore their testimonies to everyone they saw and it was so inspiring. You members have more influence and power than you think! You are a force of nature, and you are the ones who help investigators feel welcomed and loved. Open your mouths and don't be afraid to share what you know! I need to follow your example better!

We got to do a ton of service this week. My prayers were answered! We helped a family move and worked in a food pantry. And we have some more opportunities to work in the community coming up and I loves it! God really does listen and answer our prayers, even when they seem random. 😉

Anyways, I love y'all! Have a wonderful week and do some yard work for me! I have yet to meet someone who will let me pull weeds with them!😢

With love,
Sister Wilcox😘

That pic of my face is apparently my planning face, hahaha??? Oops.
Also, we play missionary "Guess Who" it's awesome!