CA update 7-20-15

Theres a quote from Gordon B Hinkley that says there are only two things that you can waste in life, your time, and your money. and so despite what we try to do those things are going to get spent, so our responsibility is to choose how we spend them. 

This past week we got a text from President Weidman asking me to call him at my convenience. Of course you assume the worst when something like that happens like I am getting in trouble for something, or I'm going to be emergency transferred out of the area or something crazy. But the call was to inform me that Grandma Wilson had passed away. He then explained what Dad had told him about her condition before and how she had passed. This next part is why I love President Weidman, He said "Pretend for a moment that I am someone you bumped into at a Bus stop and I have about 1:45 before my bus comes. Explain to me what the plan of happiness is."   It was kind of strange at first and definitely awkward to do, but what he was doing was forcing me to apply what was going to heal the wound. Of course he knew that I had the ointment that I needed to apply but he was walking me through the steps of applying the ointment. Then later when I would reinspect the wound I would see the healing done and rejoice in the progress rather than freak out at the bloody mess. President Weidman is a brilliant man and it saddens me to think my time to serve around him is almost at an end. 

As for Grandma, I sadly admit that I didnt really know her all that well, by the time I got old enough to realized who she was her health was already declining. But I know that the next time I see her she will be young and beautiful again, and have all the energy to tell me about her life. 

what a blessing it is to know about the plan that our loving heavenly father has prepared for us. 

Not much has changed on the missionary front for awhile . Downey is so strange of a place compared to the rest of the mission. But one thing that has given me some perspective is to think for myself and for other what we can learn from the situations we are in. What started that is the timing of Grandmas passing. I truly believe the Lord knows each and everyone of us because of how perfectly timed every little thing is. Its helped me a lot trying to look through the Lords' eyes to see what it is that he is trying to teach us. Ive found that as I spend my time looking for the good in things, Im often more understanding and compassionate towards the things I would judge harshly if I was looking for fault. 

I love the Lord for how merciful He is to us, and how He knows us so personally as to know how to build us.

https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/7.11-12

Elder Wilson