Brick, where did you get a grenade?

Hello everybody! It's been a great week out here in the desert. We had some wonderful services for Easter. We sang "Creo en Cristo" (I believe in Christ) in the Spanish ward along with the other two missionary companionships. I don't have a long history of singing in sacrament meetings so that was a little bit nerve racking for me but it went really well I think!

Also, we had quite a miracle this week. The Varela chronicles continue. We were scheduled to go on exchanges with the Chaparral elders this tuesday. Elder Jones was going to head out to Chaparral and I was going to stay here. Well the spirit kept impressing me "Go to Chaparral." I kept saying "No that doesn't make any sense, Elder Jones just got in the area and he doesn't know how to get around town yet, I can't leave the area." But the impression just kept coming "Go to Chaparral." So we called up the Chappy town elders and told them that there was a change of plans, that I would be going over there with them. Now we need to step back a second. Veronica Varela is an investigator that my companion and I found a year ago who has wanted to get baptized for forever but her significant other of 13 years hasn't been willing to marry her until a few weeks ago. The wedding date is set for April 26 and the baptismal date is May 2.

Well while we were on exchanges we went to teach Veronica. As soon as we got there to the house I could tell that something was wrong. I asked her how things were going and she said " Chewie* (her husband) says that if I keep meeting with the missionaries and going to church, he won't marry me. I'm not going to keep going with it. I'm not even sure if it's true anyways, it's just not worth it to keep going."

Well that was devastating to say the least. But in that moment I was able to do what no other missionary currently serving in the Arizona Tucson Mission could have done. I looked her in the eye and said "You do know it's true, I was there and I know you received an answer from God." and she couldn't deny it. We then went on to talk about trials and sacrifice (We read about Abraham from Genesis, it was pretty intense) and by the end she said "I'm willing to do whatever God asks of me." Veronica has met with the missionaries every day since then and she came to church yesterday. She doesn't know what's going to happen with her husband(or whatever you want to call him) but she does know that she's going to follow through with her comitment to the Lord to be baptized.

Do you remember the feeling of when you were a kid and you would stand on your Dad's feet and he would grab your hands and he would walk you around and move your arms kind of like a puppet? In the best of times, you feel like that in the service of the Lord. You act, but not on your own ideas. You talk, but the words aren't yours. You move, but it's someone else who's moving you. It gives you a new perspective on Jesus' prayer that we may be "One, even as thou, Father are in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us"

We also had an amazing experience last night teaching an investigator whose father died a few years ago. She wanted to know where he was, and if there was any hope for him since he hadn't ever accepted what we are sharing with her. We had already planned to teach her the plan of salvation, and it was incredible to see the peace and understanding that filled her as the spirit descended and comforted and testified to her.

To answer your questions... we normally teach about 15-20 lessons a week. For easter we had a good dinner with one of the families from the 5th ward... and then went out and worked. The weather is warm and sunny, but not too hot. We don't have a branch, we have two wards, and they're both normal sized wards. How are my clothes holding up? They're not. However, somehow I'll manage to make it to the end with what I've got. No use in buying more missionary clothes with 4 months left. We eat with members 6 days a week, and one of them usually forgets so really about 5 times a week. I have learned to LOVE Mexican food except for Chicharrones and Menudo. In a p-day we have to wash the car, do email, do laundry, go shopping, clean the apartment, and today our P-day ends at 2 because we're on exchanges with the Assistants.

That's all for this week's edition. I love you all very much.

Love,

Elder Ben Wilson

*Chewie is a nickname in spanish for Jesus... don't ask me how.