All is well,
I’m constantly amazed at the passage of time. It blurs by so fast. Again I feel like I just sat down to write a few thoughts home.
This was another good week. We got to have a few more meetings. One with Tamara, who is still progressing well. The meeting with her was very spiritual. A member sat in with us and did a great job bearing testimony and connecting with her in a way that missionaries can’t. She will probably get baptized somewhere around the beginning of January. Working with her is always such a testimony to me of how important members are in missionary work.
Also did splits with one of our Zone Leaders – Elder Taylor. It is nice to see how other missionaries go about the work. Elder Taylor and I had a meeting with an older member of the church. Elder and Sister Nuzman (the CES missionary couple) came with us and helped support. That meeting also went well.
Other than that I’ve been in the office. Things are coming along well there too. I just realized that our mission database of all the members is missing a huge amount of what should be there. We should have about 1000 members from Yekat alone on the list, and instead we have like 500. So I’ll be starting a big project to go through and fix that. Also I’ve been working on updating all the callings in the mission and I got another branch to give their list. Just random things like that.
Elder Anderson, my companion, sure is going to be busy this week with transfers and everything. I’m sort of nervous for him! He’s got to figure out how to get all the missionaries from one end of the mission to the other all within one week. And our mission is bigger than Texas. He’s got his plate full
But whether in the office or on the streets, here even in Russia there is a certain spirit in the air. The kind that only comes with Christmas. As the day we celebrate the birth of Christ draws near, let us all draw near to Christ. Let us remember what he did. And strive to keep his spirit with us.
Love Elder Wilson

All is well,
There are many, many holidays in Russia. It seems at least once a month we are told to watch out for drunks overly excited in celebration. They have fistfuls of military days, including the day that Russia pushed the German forces back into their own country. But to the Russian people there is no holiday called Thanksgiving, or anything like unto it. Which is a pitty. Because truly we have so much to be grateful for. And such a day helps us put everything into perspective and realize how much we truly have.
This Thanksgiving I was so blessed to be here in Yekaterinburg, where the President and Sister Allcott live. They had the zone over for the day, and we ate just like it was Thanksgiving at home. Turkey. Mashed potatoes and gravy. Stuffing. The standard works. It was truly a blessing. I almost felt bad because I knew that all over the rest of the world were missionaries who had only their daily bread.

Our Mission President and his wife do so much for us missionaries. Its become more and more obvious everyday working in the office. And being able to talk to the Assistants on a nightly bases, seeing all they do in conjunction with the President really just helps me to understand how lucky we are to have such a great leader. God has sent one of his prizest leaders to help us know how to help his children here in Russia.
It is such a blessing to be here in Russia where I am surrounded everyday by people who need to hear the Gospel. It’s a blessing to have the Gospel – such a great source of joy and power. It’s a blessing to know the truth – why we are here, where we are going, and what we need to do to get there. Its a blessing to represent such a Gospel. And it’s a blessing to be supported by such a great family while I am out here in service to God.
I am so greatful for you all. I am so grateful we have each other. Even if we are a thousand miles apart, I get to hear from you every week. And that it such a blessing. It is a blessing to be able to open up an email and see pictures of my little brothers birthday that happened only just that week. It is a blessing to have airplanes that can ship cookies from home at hundreds of miles an hour. All little things to help me know and remember the love you have for me at home.
There is truly so much to be grateful for. We have each other. We have our lives. Our agency. Our chance at eternal life with a perfectly loving Father in Heaven. We have a Savior who made it all possible – and is there to help us in our mortal lives every step of the way. We have the gift of the Holy Ghost as a constant comforter. We are so blessed.

I want to bear my testimony, that I know that this Church is true. The Gospel it teaches is true – for the Holy Ghost bears witness undeniable. I know that families can be together forever. Family relations do not end when one member goes to the other side of the world. And they do not end when a member crosses to the other side of the veil. It is something eternal. I know that we will be together forever if we do what is right and try to follow the instruction of our Father in Heaven. He loves us. And I know it.

He has given us so much to be thankful for. Is that not evidence enough?

Elder Wilson