Everything isn't Bigger in Texas???

Yesterday we went out to house (tract). We have been praying to find someone who could be the stake president for the stake we are working so hard to build here on Shikoku. Not that there is any relationship with money and being a Stake President, but we saw a really nice house way up on a mountain and decided that our Stake President probably lived there. We made it our adventure to get there and along the way we would find his counselors. If we saw a house that looked as if there could be a counselor living in it with a great family that could really strengthen the stake we planned on housing (tracting) it. Well, on our adventure up this to this house way, way, wayyyy up in the mountain we had to cut through some rice fields. 

 

 

 

    

 Rice fields have narrow rows between them that are really peaceful and fun to walk through. They also usually have a great smell of fresh nature. But this time as we were riding through I smelt something that brought back many memories, there is a word for that in Japanese なつかしい (nat-sue-caw-shee). It was a blast of something that I hadn`t smelt in a long time!!! COW MANURE!! But my first thought was where in the world do they get their cow manure?  There are no cows in Japan. And if there was cows in Japan why didn`t I know about it? These thoughts were only in my mind for a little while as my focus went back to finding our counselors for the stake president.  But I was distracted once again, as my eye caught the large glassy eye of a beast on four legs scarfing down some dried corn. And at first I was scared and then hurt as I realized not everything is bigger in Texas. I was in the middle of Imabari, Japan and there standing before me with great posture and elegance was one of the biggest cows I had ever seen in my life. A COWWW!!!!!

 

I slammed on my brakes, almost causing my companion to go diving into the recently tilled rice field next to us. I told him our adventures needed a quick break because I needed to take a picture with these beasts that I had been proud to call friends, back in my cowboy days. As I entered into the barn, I noticed that this cow was not alone, he had his family and his mother in law, as well as the families of all his brothers and sisters. It was a herd of cows, probably the only one in Japan and I had found them!!! In triumph I decided to continue to my missionary service by introducing the Book of Mormon and bearing my testimony to the mama cow that I was told had given birth just 30 minutes prior to my arrival. I congratulated her and said that her family could live forever if they were willing to accept baptism. She showed quite a lot of interest. But her husband tried to stab me with his horns, when I asked what his view was. (Really it was kind of scary, the owner/farmer said be careful with that one it has horns, right as it threw its head at me, but I am all good). I believe we can baptize the whole cow family and that will be a great addition to the primary we so earnestly want to create. HAHA it truly was a fun little adventure. And now I know where my milk comes from that is titled Shikoku. Also it was impossible to get up that mountain, so we decided to use our time more effectively instead to just focus on his counselors for now.

 

 

 

Faith

These past few weeks, our mission president has been asking usto rely on the Lord more. Why? The answer is quite simple, this is His work, these are His Children, and He desires that all of his children return to him. This is the work of their salvation. So why not rely on Him more?

 

We had interviews this last week, and as I talked with President, he asked me to consider what would happen, if I gave everything that I had and didn`t see one baptism my entire mission. I told him that I would either have really strong faith, or I would be really mad and hurt and my faith would take a large hit. We then went on to talk about that it is only natural for people to hold things back - to play things safe so they have something or someone to blame. For example, everyone can probably say if I had actually given it my all in high school I could have gotten a 4.0, no problem. Well then, why didn`t you do it? Was it too hard? What were you afraid of? People, (especially me) lie to themselves so that they don`t have to feel pressure or face  that they might not be good enough. They tell themselves, “oh, if I had just studied a little harder, I think I could have done that.”   So my next question is how bad do you REALLY want it? Not how bad do you think you want it, but how bad do you know you want it? This is what I have been pondering a lot recently. For the past few weeks, we have been seeing one lesson as our number. I know that we haven’t been relying on the Lord as much as we should have been. We were out working, but not with a purpose. As my Dad always says  "WORK must proceed the miracle." How true this statement is, but we must define work.

 

Work - going out to serve the Lord with all of our heart, might, mind and strength BELIEVING that the work will move forward in the Lord`s time.

 

So basically this means we need to build a relationship with the Lord that emulates unwavering faith. How do we do this? This question has been mixed in my thoughts A LOT recently. When it comes to being a True Disciple, I should not be like the boy who dipped his toe in the water and then claimed he went swimming. Wishing to see changes and more "personal success" is good; actually making those changes happen and doing is much better.  We cannot lie to ourselves and say we did give it our all if we only dipped our toe into the water. He asks for all!!! He wants this in every aspect of our lives,.  He wants us to rely on Him entirely. Quoting President Holland, "we can`t possibly do this alone, but we do have help. The Master of Heaven and Earth is there to bless you..." He knows everything, he is our creator. We may not know why our situation is the way it is... We may not understand the route our life is taking us... But He does. I as a missionary cannot do this work alone, and neither can any person on this Earth fulfill the purpose of this life alone. "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible" (Matt 19:26). I have really come to believe this. Do I have a perfect knowledge of it yet? No way. But as President Uchtdorf stated in his October 2012 Conference talk, "Discipleship is the pursuit of holiness and happiness. It is the path to our best and happiest self." This is a process not an event. We must work daily, all day even when it is hard to show our faith to Heavenly Father. President Uchtdorf continued, telling the story of when he goes on bike rides with his wife he would like to be a little more competitive and a little more faster, but when he mentioned this to his wife she said, "It`s not a race it is a journey! Enjoy the Moment!" Yes there are so many days out here on the mission when I just want the clock to strike 10:30pm so I can ask Heavenly Father to help me and then climb into my warm covers and go so sleep. But why?!? I should enjoy the hardest moments of life. And that`s where the miracle in Imabari comes in to play.

 

These past few weeks, we have been working, getting out with a smile and doing what we are supposed to. We were being missionaries. But our badge says differently... we are supposed to be missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Missionaries for God`s true perfect and restored Church. My companion and I decided that in order to do that we would keep a constant prayer in our heart, and then, so we could remain humble, we prayed after every miracle, and thanked Heavenly Father. The results, four new investigators, and a young man was able to change his Sunday schedule and came to church and accepted a date for baptism. Did my companion and I do that?! Absolutely not!!! We are simply the instruments of the Lord. 

 

This is something I plan to master on my mission, and then continue to live throughout my life, as I raise a family and help raise them through the power of the Lord. Giving it my all and praying for the Lord`s strength. Because with man this is impossible but with God all things are possible. 

 

-Elder Wilcox

 

November in Pictures and Brighter Days

We're happy to see that Skyler isn't missing out on too many of his favorite things!

 To start off I would like to respond to mom`s question about my emails seeming happier. The answer... the first few months of being out in the field are hard. You have nothing behind you, you honestly feel like this will last forever and you can`t say too much, because the language is extremely difficult. Nobody really wants to talk to you because they see your badge, which in big bold letters says Jesus Christ and for some reason that seems to scare everybody away. Because I could say little to nothing, my mind would wander, and I focused on things like what it’s going to be like to see everyone at the airport when I get home? How much longer is today going to last? Instead of focusing on questions like, how can I be best prepared to answer questions? Or what`s the best way to get somebody`s attention and be able to keep their attention? So the first three months were difficult, struggling with home sickness, missing my freedoms of when I was not a missionary, etc. But now as I do have a little ground to work with, I have experiences behind me that testify that this work is true, I have seen miracles, I have seen really hard days and even hard weeks. I have been rejected many times, but I have learned how to deal with it. I have learned that only through my faith in Heavenly Father can I get through all and anything.  Now, that does not mean that I don`t still have hard experiences but I am learning how to deal with them in better ways. For example, my companion and I got pretty sick this past week (we ate some bad food), but nevertheless we continued to work. We put our faith in the Lord, put smiles on our face and walked around the train stations and neighborhoods for hours trying to make the best of things and do what we are supposed to do as missionaries. Not only were we sick, but a majority of our lessons fell through. We have been merely contacting for the days we were sick. Some may get angry at God for putting them in such a difficult situation. I have grown to know that Heavenly Father gives us hard trials because he loves us.  And there is a difference in believing that and experiencing it. My prayers in the morning and at night have become more meaningful. I pray to Heavenly Father and thank him for these trials. Because through those trials the bright days are so much brighter. We didn`t find any new investigators all week, but we did grow and we talked to a lot of people. There are many things that happen out here that simply cannot be put into words - thoughts and experiences that are personal and cannot be shared. But now that I have a little bit of a footing, and can see what I truly can do, and how simple my task is, I am much happier!!!

I got to go on a kokan this friday to Akashi!! Best day of my life. This is the longest suspension bridge in the world!!! I also got to hang out with all my buddies one last time!!! I love this work!

Transfers are coming...

I taught the employees at my favorite restaurant "hook 'em horns".  I am really going to miss this area!

New Area

The new branch that we are working in has about 13 members, one of which is American!  Because he is from America, we got to have Thanksgiving and I was in charge of cutting the turkeys.  Talk about a blast! There was two of them and I took the first bit and then the American and the branch president also took a turn to finish it all off. We also got to make the piñatas.   I destroyed the last one.  There were so many little kids there and this was their first experience with a piñata.  It was awesome.