america and love

I loved the pictures! LOVED your emails and felt like I was able to be apart of that special day. PARKS wow. I still cant believe you leaving so soon. Im so so proud of you. love you little man.

This week was super AMERICAN. I feel like I was in America this week. Let me tell yall about it...
First of all, our investigator who comes to eikaiwa, Aiko who we recently started teaching lessons to, came to Aoyagi Choros devotional yesterday! It was a miracle, and the Lord touched her heart through the spirit, the words spoken were addressed to her needs, and it was really neat to see her slowly changing and softening her heart. Yesterday was also a little tender mercy for me. Ever since that experience of seeing the light of Christ in people, ive been wanting and trying to find ways to show that light and love so desperately, I know that it only comes through being worthy and happy and having the spirit. Yesterday, before the devotional, Aiko said that my eyes were shining, after the devotional, she said my eyes kept getting brighter and brighter, and before she left, she said that she loved me and wants the "shine" that i have. It was really a tender mercy, and I know that the Lord can use us as His tools. We are His servants in this critical time of hastening the work. So charrenjee--- be HAPPY this week. and Smile at everyone. the light will only come through love and a smile and the spirit. :)))))

This week, I slept on a BED. ya. guys. i slept on a bed. The first time on my mission. We had companion exchanges, and the apartment in Fukuroi used to be a senior couple apartment, so they had beds. It was lovely.
We met quite a lot of americans this week which was not normal, but 2 couple missionaries from Orem came and spoke in our ward yesterday. Elder Maetani worked with President Pullan, he says yoroshiku.

This week, we did a ton of less-active work. It is hard to see people who once knew the gospel, who were familiar with the spirit, and who had a relationship with God, to be in a state now of unhappiness. Please dont ever let yourself forget the feelings of the spirit. It is SO important to nourish your spirit everyday. Pray fervently everyday. Love you so much, and I know the Lord loves you perfectly. Thank you for your example and dedication. You are incredible. Love you so much.

 

the good times...

ohhhhh. k. PARKER. Are you going to the temple this week? Oh Parker! Parker! It is such a special experience. That day was one of my favorite days, I cherish that memory. It will be a day that you never forget. Go wholeheartedly and open your heart and mind for the Spirit to speak to you. I cant wait to go together in 2017. :) LOVE YOU. love love love the choices you are making. You will never regret following the footsteps of the Savior, doing what He would do, and doing what he asks. It is never a burden, it is the easiest path to take. The gospel isnt hard, life is hard. bahhhh proud of you chummy boy. hope you know i love you.

This week...Lots of blessings, the Lord is hastening His work. I only have time to mention a couple of the many amazing things that happened:
So. We met with a former investigator- S.Y. She is the lady that gave me the bag she made, we took pics with her in clothes that she made right after skyping you. remember those pics? Well we helped her write a letter in english, and saw a letter that Lauren Stott wrote! Is that our Lauren Stott? thought that was fun. we are both teaching the same lady! We had a great lesson with her, I felt like the Lord blessed us with confidence in knowing that we are representatives of the Savior, and we taught with boldness and power. Sister Smith is a great teacher! We invited her to be baptized, she still has problems with her mom being buddhist, but she says she believes everything and believes that the SAvior atoned for her. SHE BELIEVES THE SAVIOR ATONED FOR HER SINS. do you realize how huge that is???? investigators in japan just dont understand that, so we are excited to meet her again this week.
K shimai, my favorite girl ive met in japan (truly. you WILL meet her. she speaks great english and is our best friend here.) gave me a pic of the Salt lake temple for my birthday that says the quote--if this isnt his castle then hes not your prince. haha cute. But we also had a great talk about faith and enduring to the end. I know that on a mission, it is a lot easier to feel close to the spirit and have a great desire to do what the Lord wants us to. But i also know that a mission doesnt last forever. it is too short! there are hard times. of course. parker-- there will be hard days. but WHATEVER. they dont last. there are good times and amazing wonderful spiritual moments- they dont last forever. there will be hard days and hard lessons and hard companions and maybe even hard transfers, but they dont last forever either! I am beginning to appreciate my mission more and more and dont want to take it for granted. The mission will end, and i dont want to lose this zeal to endure righteously. Sometimes, the work of the Lord doesn't go exactly how we planned, or how we would like it to go. But it is a great reminder to always exercise faith, and trust in the will of the Lord. He is in charge. He is our rock and our merciful Savior. I trust Him. And I am here to serve Him, whatever His will and requests may be. Not only for missionary work, but also "normal life":). I hope I can be diligent and faithful to the will of the Lord always. FAM thank you so much for not only enduring, but fulfilling the responsibilities we have while enduring. I know the Lord is proud of you and trusts you. love you all so much.

pics...this week we ate fish hot dogs. mmm. stinky. met with H she is getting baptized next week, she lives in fujieda which is a different area, but we met her at the music conference, and she came to visit and we went to dinner with her! in the vid she was trying to teach me SA. did you use SA?? also david mailed me a while ago, i emailed him back but i dont know who he is haha. also.. sorry michael for not emailing you back. but. thanks for taking shay to hawaii. you both are tan and beautiful and full of the spirit. :D. heeeee love you. fAM sorry for the tsukunai details. love you so much. you are amazing. dad your conference notes were awesome. lvoed reading them cant wait to study them. you are incredible.
talk to you soon. :)

MOM AHHH igot your package! hahahaha the wrapping on the jumprope, the DARLING scripture case. so happy. i was so happy. you are darling. thank you so much. ippai ai o kanjimashita yo. arigatou gozaimashita. honto ni minnasan ga iesu kirisuto no shimobe toshite, kare no hikari o shimeshiteiru. mohan arigatouuu! love love love you
love, twit/sister wilfcox.

Trying...

Dear Fam and Friends,

BAHH I cant believe Devin Brown and Spencer Richards are already home! I bet that is so fun to see everyone.

This week we had so much fun and worked so hard! We visited as many less-actives as we could, called the ones we couldnt visit, and yesterday at church there were more less actives than we have seen in months! It was so fun to see all the members excited about missionary work, there was a special spirit in church yesterday. The members here are incredible. 

This week was President and Sister Yamashitas last Zone Conference! Sooo sad. Love love them. He played "Im trying to be like Jesus" at the end. He wants this to be our goal- to focus on being like the Savior. It was a tender mercy, as I was thinking about driving to the MTC listening to dad sing that song.

I'm trying to love my neighbor;
I'm learning to serve my friends.
I watch for the day of gladness when Jesus will come again.
I try to remember the lessons he taught.
Then the Holy Spirit enters into my thoughts, saying:
Love one another as Jesus loves you. 

Try to show kindness in all that you do. 

Be gentle and loving in deed and in thought, 

For these are the things Jesus taught.

I love the message of this song. We don't have to be just like the savior,there is no way we can be! But we can TRY. I love how close we can feel to the Savior. Through the plan of Salvation, we know that we can accomplish all the trials and harships in this life- the Savior knows everything, and Him and our Father know and love us perfectly. Any hard time can become a beautiful miracle and tender mercy, because they can each bring us closer to Christ. 

Thank you so much for the birthday love! That day was actually a very spiritual experience, because I felt so much love from so many people. Im sorry, no time but love you so much. SO MUCH. Keep pushing and enduring. By living the gospel of Jesus Christ and enduring to the end, you are doing everything right. 

Love love love you!
Love, Sister Wilcox

 

Harvest! (email from May 31, 2015)

Hellooooooo

Parker P-dizzle you are graduated! Time is FLYING, and I have been so excited to tell you about this past week. You are going to LOVE your mission.
This week was so crazy busy but crazy awesome. I feel uplifted by the Lord and the Spirit everyday, and I am so grateful to be His missionary right now. I know that He is no stranger to His servant, and Park as you get ready to leave on your mission, you will start to understand the Plan more clearly than ever before.

This week, Sister Smith and I wanted to really set goals that would test our faith and push us. We chose one goal from the standards of excellence- find a new investigator everyday- and we prayed and fasted and worked to accomplish this goal. Everyday, with the guidance from the spirit, we found a new investigator. This has never happened on my mission, and we truly felt led by the spirit of the Lord everyday. Ahhh it was so fun and sooo incredible. One night, we went to a members house, Iwano Shimai. okay. i love this woman. She is the strongest lady ive ever met, an awesome missionary and so solid. Her husband and 2 children have not been baptized, she was less active when she got married. But i think especially lately, she has been desperate to have her family know the blessings of the gospel. Missionaries for years have been trying to work with the dad and become friends with him, but his heart has not been open. Wellllll one night we were at her house, and she said the next time her husband is home to invite him to take the missionary lessons. I thought, `okay perfect! she wants her husband to hear the gospel, and we have time to pray and prepare to ask him to take lessons.` Just then the dad and daughter came home. They came and knelt around the table with us and he started drinking his beer and chatting with us. Okay i will try to explain this the best i can, but it happened so fast and was sooo stressful haha it was craazzzzyyyy. The mom looks at me, and in english she whispers under her breath `ask him now. NOW ask him now!` like literally kicking me under the table. I said a prayer and opened my mouth. We asked him, at first he was hesitant, but eventually agreed to listen to our message. WHAHAAAA so happy! Please pray for him! We will be teaching their whole family, our first lesson is on my birthday! whooooot. Im so grateful that Iwano Shimai trusts us to teach her husband, and especially that the Lord trusts us.
BAHH i have to go but one more..
This week we called an FI, Jessica, she is from Phillipinnes. We met with her for the first time, talked with her for more than 3 hours! And she agreed to be baptized! Incredible! It is so fun to teach her, she loves Christ and has a huge desire to follow Him. ...just a little different than most of our investigators here. :). But thats why I was thinking about you so much this week, park. It will be soooo FUN and amazing to teach people that have a desire to follow Christ and have more of a desire to listen to your message. Im so so excited for you!
From what we learned in ZTM this week, the time for planting seeds is over. People have been planting seeds for hundreds of years. It is written all over the scriptures the field is white all ready to harvest. The world is READY! We are here and serving and HARVESTING. Work, serve, love, and reap the fruits. Joseph Smith is ready to see the fruits. The Lord is ready. Let us serve and keep enduring to the end. Missionary work is part of enduring to the end! It is my duty, it is yours. LEts be faithful to our covenants and to our Savior! I love Him!
Love you so much, more deets next week. love love love you!
Love, Sister Wilcox

Hello (email from May 24, 2015)

HEY HEY HEY how awe yew?
I've been so excited to tell you about this week. I know it has been a
hard week with grandpa Wilcox and waddoups, and also with the passing
of sister zelaya. I have also been thinking about that a lot, and I
know that there are a lot of things we cannot control in life. But we
can control our faith and our actions, our beliefs and our desires.
And if we desire to be happy amongst hardships and trials, we know
that the simple truths and the beautiful gift of prayer are what can
bring that happiness we are looking for. The peace that we each need.

This week before picking up bean chan, I stayed in Meito with sister
humphreys and garret- 2 of my favorite sisters in the mission.
Together we shared one of the most special nights of my mission.i got
there around 5:00, and they told me their goal for that day was to
find 3 new investigators. We got to work and planned to house for 1
hour. We found 1 new investigator through housing. (Woop!) After that
we needed to visit some members, so all we could do to find new
investigators was OYM on the way to our appointments. We talked to
this girl about 25 years old, she seriously seems goooolden. We taught
her how to pray, gave her pamphlets, and they made a next appt with
her. (Whoop woop!) After member lessons, we had just a few minutes
before we had to get home! We stopped this lady, and at first she was
super hesitant and distant, but we just kept talking to her. After a
while, she opened up to us and told us she was sick, she had
depression and was going through a lot of hard things in her life. We
testified to her of the healing power of the atonement, and through
living the teachings of Jesus Christ, she can be perfectly happy
again. We testified that Heavenly Father loves her. As we were telling
her this, tears started rolling down her cheeks, as well as ours. It
was such a special moment I will never forget. We were truly pouring
our hearts to her, and I felt like the spirit was guiding our words to
personalize our message for her. I was so grateful to be there and be
a mouthpiece for the Lord.

Next day picked up THE BEAN! ;) she is darling. Her name is Merissa
Smith. She has so much dendo Fire and is ready to work! We have
already seen miracles together. Our first day together, we found 2 new
investigators! I had her OYM to this cute little obaachan, and she
spoke back to
Sister smith is perfect English. Haha and she became an investigator!
We met with Hitomi for our first real lesson, and it went so well.
Hitomi really opened up to us, she said during church, during the
'speeches' she felt so much peace that she cried! I was sitting right
next to her and was worried about how loud the kids were being, and
the spirit was doing his job helping her feel love and peace. It was a
testimony to me that this is not our work, it is the Lords, all we do
is invite, and He does the rest. We also met with a new investigator,
Takayama San for the 30/30 with her kids. It went really well, she is
one of those people that you can really see the light of Christ in
her. We are super excited to continue meeting with her to help her
discover that light! Please keep them in your prayers this week!
Sorry super out of time but this week after a tough lesson, I read
this scripture in 1 nephi that says 'have you inquired of the lord?'
We must discover his will if we want to continue on the right path. I
know that in order to be an effective tool in the Lords hands, I must
inquire of him, then be worthy to receive His help. And I want His
help so desperately.
Have you inquired of the Lord?
I love you so much. So so much!
Love, Sister Wilcox

99 (email from May 17, 2015)

Dear family/friends..

It was shocking and heartbreaking news to hear about Griselle. I just cant believe it. I wish I was there to help. Help comfort you, their family, the ward, be there to just help. My heart truly aches for them. I will be praying and working even harder to teach people about the plan of salvation. It is the source of greatest comfort and joy in this life. I love you!

We had a crazy experience this week. We had a member lesson, and afterwards went to the store to buy a present for a less-actives birthday. We were on our way when we ran into Brother Kita. It was a huge coincidence. Brother Kita is about 75 years old ish, he just got baptized a year or so ago, but he is SUCH a strong member. He has his own investigators! Anyway, when we saw him, he had a cigarette in his hand. He acted like he had been drinking. We were shocked. He didnt want to talk to us, im sure he was very embarassed. It was so sad, you dont really realize how much you love someone until you go through a hard time, or a trial that tests your faith. It was really heartbreaking. We called the ward mission leader, and that was it. He told us not to worry about it. ...We went to the store, but went with a sick feeling and a prayer in our hearts. AFter a while, we decided to pray together. AFter that prayer, we had a clear impression that we needed to visit Brother Kita. We left immediately for his house. When we got there, no one was home and he wouldnt answer the phone. The impression was so clear that we needed to see Brother Kita tonight, that we actually went out looking for him. Its hard to measure your own faith, but I had so much faith that night, i think more than i have had in my life, that we would see Brother Kita that night. I felt like I was really on the Lords errand. After only 5 minutes of looking, we got a text from him. He said he was sorry, to not tell anyone about seeing him that night, and that he wouldnt be at church the next day. I called him, and after talking to him for a while, convinced him to come back to his apartment. About 30 minutes later, he did come back. We acted like nothing was wrong and loved him as a child of God that He is. We didnt do much, but I felt like we had followed the will of God that night. We felt that as the Lords set apart representatives, we needed to do as He would do. So we left the 99, and went after the one. Brother Kita was at church the next day. It was such a neat experience for me, I know Heavenly Father is so mindful of each of His children. How can that be? How can He know us so perfectly and know exactly how to help us? I dont know, but I know that He does. And isnt it neat that WE can be tools that He uses to lift others? I want to always be worthy of His trust. You can each be His messengers of love and comfort right now for the Zelaya family. I love you and I know the Lord trusts you.

IT WAS SO FUN TO TALK TO YOU LAST WEEK! AHHH i just love love lvoe to think back on it. So stinkin fun. sure love you guys. parker. gosh dangit you are gonna kill it in Argentina.

OHHHH hahaha......soooooo transfer calls were last week. And Stewart Shimai will be going to Toyama! My first area! Craaazyyy. There is one sister missionary coming in this transfer, and I will be TRAINING her! getting a little bean chan! CRAZY i feel so bad for this little new sister haha i hope i dont ruin her! But i will do my best and we will work hard hard hardddd. Excited, nervous and scared outa my mind but this transfer will be great. Becuase how can we fail with the Lords help? The Lord is no stranger to His servants.

Love you love you. oh hey we had 3 investigators at church yesterday! and 3 more PIs. how cool! Stewarts shimai had never seen one investigator at church, and her last sunday here there were 6 people that could potentially become members of the Church of Jesus Chirst of Latter day Saints. The work is moving forward!!!

Sorry for the TSUKUNAI details, more next week. love love love you!
Love, Sister Wilcox

Infinite Worth (email from May 3, 2015)

Beloved Family and Friends,

We had a fantastic week here in Shizuoka. Im sorry no time this week, I will update you on everything next week when we SKYPE. I will skype here monday around 10ish am.

We had a way neat experience last night actually. Our eternal investigator had us over for dinner (Nakayama san), and she had asked us if she could bring her friend over who is interested in religion, and have us share our message! WOW Yes please. All week I was so nervous, I felt like this was a make-it-or-break-it, and Stewart Shimai and I worked hard together to prepare for this lesson. I really wanted to understand what the Lord wanted to tell Nakayama's friend, and through my companion and I, I felt like we were helping the spirit do His job. The best moments are when you feel like an effective tool in the Masters' hands. We were not there 10 minutes when she started asking about our church, we ended up teaching the entire Restoration and Plan of Salvation. We also taught about good/evil, the priesthood, and eternal families. We even showed an I am Mormon video. It was so fun to be able to fulfill our missionary purpose with her, and TEACH. That is our job as missionaries, and I am so grateful we were able to have such a wonderful teaching opportunity. She was soaking it all in. It was amazing to see and FEEL how distinct the Spirit was. We could tell such a real difference from when the spirit was there, and when it wasnt . She explained to us her beliefs about feeling happiness and energy from the sun, flowers, water, etc, and the feeling was SO different. She told us at one point that life is like a big mountain. Everyone is climbing the mountain trying to make it to our end goal (Gods presence/Life again with God). Some people walk up the mountain, some people ride a Ferrari, some people ride a bus, etc. She said as long as everyone makes it to the goal, why does it matter how you get there? (different churches). We asked her, what if we didnt have to wait until the end to reach God? What if we could feel God, and have a personal relationship with him, have his help and comfort NOW? Why wait if we dont have to ? Why stump your own growth and deny yourself of infinite blessings when you could receive it all now? She didnt say anything for a long time, and I know the spirit was working inside of her. Nakayama san, our investigator also TESTIFIED to her, and told her about the spirit, and what a pure comfort that it brings. It was such a neat experience. We were there for 4 hours! But I know one day she will recognize the Lords love, because it is real, and she is a daughter of God, and He wants her back in His arms.

I studied about infinite worth this week. We are nothing compared with God. I know I am weak and nothing. But God knows our potential- he knows what and who we can become. We can become perfect. We, each of us personally, has INFiNITE worth. Dont ever forget who you are. I know this gospel is true. With all my heart I know it is true! I love the Spirit and the Lords love. Cant wait to talk to you next week.
PARKER Im SO PROUD OF YOU! CANT WAIT TO HEAR WHERE YOU WILL SERVE IN THE LORDS VINEYARD!
Love, Sister Wilcoxd