Mini MTC

Hey y'all!

We had a lot go on this week!

On Monday we got to have dinner with Sister Pearson and her grandkids! And she started telling them about what we do as missionaries, and they thought we were pretty cool! She told us that she had been ripping apart her house trying to find her patriarchal blessing and her old scriptures and that was awesome! She hasn't been active for so long! If her darn car would make it to church I think she would have come yesterday, but she's having car issues!

Tuesday we went to help a recent convert clean her house (that's what we thought anyway) but then we ended up helping her spray for bed bugs.... yes, BED BUGS! The hugest no no. We were tempted to burn everything once we got home, but we did good getting our clothes in the dryer and keeping everything quarantined. And we don't have bed bugs so far, I think we would have known by now! So that was a huge blessing.

We had Zone Conference on Wednesday and it was good! Sister Pankey and Sister Calhoun are in my zone so I got to see them! We really focused on the power of the book of Mormon. At one point they asked us to share a scripture that has really touched us, and it was cool to hear all those scriptures said and how they have helped each person. The scriptures are alive, and they speak differently to everyone, and I just loved that that became so apparent as missionaries shared scriptures that touched their hearts.

After Zone Conference we got a little lost on the way home and travelled down some weird highways... oh! I had to drive through Louisville y'all! I didn't think I could do that. I don't want to do it ever again. But anyway we were on some weird road and we passed an old log house and it said it was Abraham Licolns birthplace! And you know what I didn't turn around because I'm a fool! It was so cool though! It was down in some holler and I don't even know how we found it.

A week ago they told us we were going to be a part of some "mini MTC" thing that the stake does. So that's what we did Friday and Saturday. We got a ride up to Elizabethtown and we met with 24 other missionaries in the E-town zone and some from Louisville. There was a ton of youth that came and that was awesome! They got calls and they put me and Sister Young and our companions in the Brazil mission! I LOVED that! 😆 They gave each missionary 2 or more youth, cuz there were so many... in our separate "missions" they asked us to give trainings so Sister Young and I talked about preparing for a mission and how to adapt to the mission life. It was fun, I think. We were very real with them, and I think it helped some of them realize that yes, it's hard, but you have so much help and support.

We spent the night in Bardstown with the STL's and the Lebanon sisters (I slept on the floor cuz that place is tiny!) And the next morning we studied with our girls, prepared a lesson, and went to teach people we had been assigned. We taught a member who has pancreatic cancer. It was a sweet little lesson and afterwards one of my girls said, "I don't know how missionaries don't cry all the time." I said believe me we do! But we have hope through the Savior. So when you feel the pains and weight of the world, you know you can turn it over to Him and He can ease your burdens and make them feel light. When you see people in pain, you know they don't have to bear it forever. And then getting to tell them that they don't have to is just so sweet. The message of the gospel is joy! It's happiness! It's freedom! I think the mini MTC helped some of those youth want to go serve a mission. It was cool!

Yesterday, we went to visit an inactive sister we saw a few weeks ago. She was very standoffish last time, so we weren't real sure this time visiting her. As we got to talking with her and she opened right up and actually let us in! She told us her whole life story, her concerns of coming back to church, and how scared she was of the way her life is right now. It was amazing to have her be so friendly and open, and at the end of our visit she accepted a Book of Mormon and gave us her number so that our branch president could contact her! It so sweet, and we really think she wants to come back and that she will. Please pray for Sister Hersey! She's scared, but she can do it!

So yeah, that was the week. It's been dumping for days, but today is sunny and beautiful. There's flowers coming up y'all! There's buds on the trees! Spring is coming!

I hope you have a fabulous week! Love y'all!

With love,
Sister Wilcox😘

The little girl on the bottom is Ron and Madonna's granddaughter- and her name is Kinzley! How cool is that? She is such a cutie too!

Also, the Fabush fam left us a nice note on our car while we were out and about