Six Months Down

Ok first I swear I am not trunky, just wanted to acknowledge the fact that I am already past 6 months in my best two years! WEIRD. It was last week I realized that, and I immediately thought ¨but.......I´m still pretty much clueless.¨ Well, in these siguiendo 18 months I will get a clue, no doubt about it! AND, on the exact same day, Elder Campos hit his year mark. He has exactly six months more than me haha.

Second order of business, WHITNEY YOU ARE GOING HOME! Congrats ya chotch! I have thought about you much and all your adventures you have had and are yet to have and couldn´t be happier for you. I do want to be there....but don´t. It satisfies me enough just thinking about that happy moment in the airport. Please don´t get married.

So much happiness! That´s what this gospel brings! I have had hard moments this week, just like EVERY week, but who cares?? It always seems to wrap up in a delicious juicy interesting mission burrito by preparation day. (Ooohh, a burrito. That sounds good.) This week was great, I am learning more and more about the importance of PLANNING. Something that my Papi Elder Stuart said frequently is that it´s better if you plan tomorrow, today. As in, make plans DURING the day. Make appointments and call people, and then you´ll be successful the next day, and on and on. Our lesson numbers and such have really jumped.

Something else that I am improving on is enjoying those great little ¨flecks of gold¨ that I think Elder Scott(?) talked so wisely about. Life in the gospel, or even just happiness in general, is NOT about finding that very rare chunk of gold. It´s in the little flecks, which are much more plentiful. One great example was last tuesday. We were walking along, heading to someone´s house we were planning on visting, but it was more than likely that they wouldn´t be home, or ¨wouldn´t¨ be home. (As in they would pretend they weren´t there.) I stopped pretty abruptly in a street, and looked farther down. There wasn´t anyone out, it was during the siesta. (sorry gotta explain-everyone takes a massive nap from about 2-4 and the whole world is dead during those hours). I said ¨I feel like we should contact here instead.¨ I blurted that out kind of without thinking, but it made more sense the more I thought about it. So we started clapping doors, and long story short we found a lovely woman named Dora and had a GREAT first lesson with her! That´s a good story for following the spirit AND enjoying the flecks of gold.

Some other flecks could just be a nice cool breeze that God sends to say, ¨Keep going!¨ I also had a really quite spiritual experience the other day, I was reading a poem about a missionary. The missionary had a dream where he talked to Jesus, and Jesus compared his own life to that of the missionary´s. When we suffer and have hard times, we are standing shoulder to shoulder with the Savior of the world! And then we can stand tall, and keep going. That´s what is is all about! To keep trying, and to keep going. That´s what the sacrament is trying to teach us: to never to give up and to always ´perseverar hasta el fin´!

Well, I better go. I could tell you all about dozens of little golden flecks I have had. There´s a challenge for everyone! Keep an eye out for the flecks, or in other words God´s hand in your life. And then you´ll be happy.
Love, Elder Wilcox

(ok, I´m tired of all this ¨sent from my Ipad¨ business. So here goes..)

Sent from a slow computer in a small, cramped ¨ciber¨ in Argentina

Pic: Elder Campos and I on our year and 6 month marks
Pic: got my first missionary haircut from Elder McCardell!