They really do come home!

Tuesday was the big day! We decorated the house and yard with yellow ribbons on any surface that we could tie a ribbon to!

This is Elder Simons coming down the escalator at the airport...

What a sweet, tender moment.

He met his nephew for the first time!

I loved seeing both of our boys walking side by side, catching up with each other as we walked through Temple Square after leaving the airport.

What a delight to watch Elder Simons as he interacted with the other missionaries on Temple Square. He was so confident and interested in meeting them and hearing their stories.

It was an amazing, tender, emotional, sweet, wonderful day. I will miss having a missionary out, and will miss the emails, but I can't express how grateful I am to have him home and to feel of his extraordinary spirit. He accomplished great things, but as our stake president so wisely said, "Likely the greatest conversion of the past two years happened within Wilson". We are so proud of all that he has done to faithfully serve the Lord to his very best. He is a great example for each one of us and we love him!

Photo of Elder Simons

Editor's Note" I'm not sure who Wilson is with, but a member texted this photo to Bob a couple of nights ago. I LOVE it when we randomly get a photo of our missionary! It makes it seem like he is right around the corner, somehow!

A week full of blessings!

Hey mom,

This week has been full of blessings! First of all we got a car! This area is like the area where bikes shouldn't be allowed because it is sooo dangerous and there are like mountains we have to somehow bike over. So we got a brand spanking new 2013 Toyota Corolla with 100 miles on it. It is so amazing to drive. We are loving it. Since we have a car we are able to travel around more easily and visit so many more peeps. 

We were visiting this less-active and she has a friend living in her home that is interested so we are teaching him too. I'm so excited for him. He said yes to the question 'if you knew these things were true would you be baptized?" That is always good to hear. So basically i'm hoping and praying he will be baptized soon. 

We also picked up another investigator.  He is about 10 years old. He wants to get baptized too. We have our first lesson with him on Wednesday. It is great! What else is new? So funny story... every time my companion sees a big fat dog he says "good meat". He used to eat dog in Tonga and so he like sizes them up and how they would taste and stuff. It is funny. I love him so much! 

Anyway there has been some great things happening. I love how excited the ward is about all of the work. So this week on Saturday Elder Neil Anderson is coming! I can't wait. The whole mission is going down to Roseville. It is going to be amazing. Thanks for everything! I feel the prayers coming my way and I appreciate it so much and can't thank you all enough.

Elder Rasmussen, Elder Simons, Elder Wilson

Photo from Grass Valley (Auburn)

This is a photo we received a couple of nights ago from a member in Elder Simons' new area. This particular family had fed these two cute missionaries that night. I love when the families think to snap a photo and send it to us. It feels like we aren't that far away when we are able to "see" him as he's living his life as a missionary. I am soooooo grateful for the members in the Roseville Mission who take such amazing care of our boy, and every missionary!

Elder Simons and new companion

The Lord is hastening His work

Thanks for the email mom, it was so great to hear from you. 

This week was great...well except for the fact that my companion had strep throat since Tuesday morning. So he was in bed from Tuesday till like Saturday night. So I had to do so much paper work by myself! It was okay though, we had ZLC on Friday and also stake correlation on Sunday so that was fun. We discussed how we are getting 31 new missionaries on Feb 19th. We normally get like 7-12 each transfer so this one is a huge! I'm pretty excited and really, really want to train another missionary before I finish my mission. We will see. 

So we had [name removed] baptism on Saturday, and that was amazing. Such a special spirit that is at baptisms that you won't find anywhere else. It is really cool because when we are baptized we physically follow our Savior. He stood in water waiting to be baptized by John and we can do that same thing. I think that is amazing and really humbling.

 

We do need to find more people to teach. We haven't found someone new in a while and it has been hard because our teaching pool is quite small right now. We are teaching quite a few less-active members and that is going great but we want to focus on both sides of missionary work. 

Life is great though. We actually had this big meeting with all the Bishops, Ward missionary leaders, high councilors, stake presidencies in the Redding and Anderson stakes and with President Weston and Elder Trythall the area seventy so that was amazing. Only the zone leaders were able to attend but it was still sweet. The message I got is the Lord is hastening His work and we need to be ready and be willing to do whatever He asks and whenever. It was a very enlightening meeting. I loved it. It is really cold in this FHC so my fingers are cold so I will end this email now but I love you all!

Elder Simons 

Christmas Day Skyping! Yay!

A photo of Bob and Wilson Skyping on Christmas Day! What a great blessing it was to be able to see Wilson and have a great time catching up on his mission life. He is doing great and SO happy doing missionary work! I loved watching his face and seeing how much he loves what he is doing, and how he loves the gospel and the Lord. Definitely one of those "mother moments"!

Wilson and Bob Skyping on Christmas Day

Christmas phone call and photos

From Bob and Dayna:

As we sat around the table playing a game on Christmas Eve, Bob received this photo on his phone. Wilson and his companion had been invited to go out with a family for their traditional Christmas Eve Chinese food dinner.

Christmas Eve 2012

                          

We were able to Skype with Wilson on Christmas morning. It was amazing and wonderful to have the opportunity to see him and have a conversation with him. It made it seem like he wasn't that far away. He looked great and we could see the happiness just shining from his face. It was great to see him smiling and laughing and not one bit homesick or sad. What a wonderful Christmas present!

Later on in the day, Bob received another photo on his phone from a member. This one is of Wilson and his companion at the member's home. Doesn't he look great!?

Elder Simons and companion on
Christmas Day 2012

Snow in Redding

Hey Mom,

So its funny that you talked about opening presents early. And yes I did but this year I won't. I remember when I was kid I would always go and find the presents and very carefully pull the tape back and look at my presents. I did that for a couple years. I got pretty good at it actually. Yeah I was a bad kid I know but I feel like I should confess now as opposed to when I'm home. I think I did that because I wanted to be able to focus on Christmas on the most important things, not presents. [ya, right!....] I was such a bad kid.

So our YSA investigator got baptized on Saturday. Such an amazing experience. After she said to us that should wouldn't have been here if it weren't for us. I thought about that for a bit and replied that no, I think that if any missionaries were there she would have been baptized. Which is so true and so humbling. The Lord needed her in His church so He called her and she responded and then in turn was baptized by the Priesthood of God. It is so wonderful to see God's hand work His mighty miracles. She is truly a miracle. She is such a light to everyone that knows her and I'm excited to see her grow and progress in the Gospel. 

On another note, an investigator from my old area got baptized as well. I heard it took him three times to get under. I wasn't able to go, which was too bad, but that is how life goes. 

Life other than that is amazing. I'm loving life right now. It snowed up here on Saturday. It was so awesome it reminded me of good old Utah. 

snow in Redding

I'm excited for Christmas. It will be a good day to just relax and take it easy. I love Christmas time. It is frustrating though because this time has been given to us to take it easy and reflect and ponder on the blessing that Christ is in our life but yet we still make it the busiest time of the year. Why is that? I don't even think there really is an answer but that's okay. 

I love life though. I have to go but thanks for all the prayers!

Familiar faces from Draper

Some friends from our ward here in Draper were in California and "bumped" into Wilson in Antelope just before his transfer to Redding. He SO loved seeing familiar faces from the old home ward.... and we SO love seeing him in photos with those familiar faces! Makes it seem like he's closer, somehow.

Photo from Redding

Editor's Note: Every now and then I receive texts or emails from someone in Wilson's mission area who has had him and his companion over for dinner. They are always so kind and full of wonderful things to say. I love when they include a photo or two. It almost makes it seem like he is closer to home. I LOVE how technology makes things just a little easier to bear for us missionary parents!

Here's the photo that popped up on my cell phone last night... from the family that fed them all last night.

Extension please.

Life is good. I am getting more used to Redding. It is still very different from the fast paced south and I miss that, but that's okay. 

Country road in Ono, California
(in the Redding Zone)

We had such a good ZLC this past week. We discussed how we are going to prepare for the new influx of missionaries coming in and how we are going to accommodate them. It was really exciting. I can't wait. (Although when they are expecting our numbers to reach the highest will be about a month or two before I go home). Which doesn't seem right. Extension please. I wish. 

We have zone conference next Tuesday. I can't wait. Elder Buhler and Rasmussen will be there. Its the top three zones of the mission. Anderson, Chico and Redding. It will be great. 

What new has happened....we met with this new guy named. He is really great. He hasn't been taught in a couple months and he comes to church about every week. We have a lesson with him tomorrow that I'm really excited for. We asked him if he has considered baptism before and he said he would if he knew it was true. That excited me. This ward has only had 2 baptisms this year. That is no good at all. I hope we can get two maybe three before the year wraps up. 

Oh we also had stake correlation up here on Sunday. President Weston came which was so great. It was weird being in a different correlation than Antelope. I felt outta place for the first little bit but then I warmed up and jumped right in.

I have seen amazing miracles while I have been up here in Redding. I can't wait to further the work up here in the Lord's vineyard. I'm just excited about the work. I love this work and know that the Lord has all power in it. I love Him so much. I love you all as well!

Elder Simons

Wilson's pumpkin carving of Moses

Photos from Antelope

I received a text and then an email from one of the families in Antelope. (Elder Simons just left the Antelope area to go up to Redding, the northernmost part of the mission). The family emailed these photos to us tonight... nice to see he's still having some fun!  I know its hard for him to leave Antelope, just like it was hard to leave each of the other areas. But I also know his personality and ability to adapt and warm up to people. He will be fine, and he will love his new area after no time at all!

Conference was amazing!

Its always good to get home after a long time being home Mom.  I feel like I have turned into someone who really enjoys to just be home just hanging out. We will see if that changes when I go home. 
 

Anyway conference was amazing! I have learned sooo much. The main message that I feel that I got was to prayer harder, listen better, and act quicker. I'm excited to be able to utilize these truths more in my personal life and teaching God's children. I also realized that I need to stop being so judgmental!!  I need to give everyone a chance to have this glorious message of the Gospel. Sometimes I pick and choose who I think will accept the message, but I wasn't called to do that. I was called to preach the gospel to all. That was a big kick in my side on something that I need to improve. 

I loved Jeffrey R Hollands talk on Peter and the other apostles. It was life changing. I always feel like I need to repent after his talks but still I'm drawn to him and how he speaks. I think you hit it on the head Mom, when you said  "He is a powerful, spiritual speaker, and his talks find their way right into my heart and soul. I always go away from it knowing I need to be, and can be a better person".  I feel the same way. The whole time during conference I was just pondering about how anyone who watched conference with a sincere humble heart had to know of a surety that Thomas S Monson was and is a prophet of God. And that everyone else who spoke has been called of God and are His appointed servants. I loved conference so much. Its sad that the next one will be in six months. I don't know if i can wait that long!! I cant wait till we get the Ensign so we can read and read again the plain and simple truths that were spoken of. Elder Bednar's talk really made me think about my personal testimony and conversion. Also the people I'm teaching. It made me think about what is my next step to furthering my personal conversion? What am I doing to get myself closer to God. Ah, I just feel so uplifted. 

Life is good though. I'm having a ton of fun and life is just going by so fast. I don't know how I feel about the changed age for missionaries. I can't decide. It obviously is right though. I do'nt know if I will even notice a difference since I'm out here already. Who knows. 

I love you all though

Here are some pictures for you!

I love life

Thanks for that wonderful email Mom. I appreciate it so much.

This week has been so fast, it was scary. This week I'm fully expecting to go by fast as well. Its good though.

What to talk about, so many things happen in my week its so hard to express all that happens. We had a wonderful meeting on Friday with Elder Trythall from the 5th Quorum of the Seventy. And he talked to all the district and zone leaders on the ward council. The ward council has become a subject that I have deep feelings for. Its something that I have spent much time trying to figure out how I can help the most being just a boy in a suit and tie. I have had many frustrating experiences and I have had many wonderful things happen. So I was very excited for this meeting to truly figure out what my purpose was in the ward council. The meeting was truly edifying and uplifting. It gave me so much information that I know will bless my life for the rest of my life with regards to how ward councils are supposed to work. And I received much direction on what I can do. It was just a great meeting. It truly inspired me to go and do great things. 

What else new has happened? Oh I'm going to the temple on Friday with [a recent convert's wife from Gridley]. They both are 100% active and she wants to go because she is getting weak and older so we are going through for the first time with her. Such an amazing experience to see where she has come from to where she is now. I know [her husband] is preparing to get to the temple as well. I can't wait till that day comes. 

So some of our baptismal dates have dropped but we still have one on the 20th of October. This lady is amazing. I can't wait for that beautiful day. 

I love life. I don't want to be anywhere else. I love my mission and it is sad and frustrating that I'm coming to the close of it. I feel like I still have so much to accomplish and so much of myself to change. Thank you for the prayers everyone! I love you all!

Elder Simons

Moving on to Antelope...

Elder Simons with other elders
in front of the Sacramento Temple

That's sweet that you met the Buschs!! They are such a great family. So, do you think you could put my other pictures on that hard drive? I would appreciate it very much. Thanks!!


So, I did find out if I was getting transferred! I'm going to the Antelope YSA ward as a zone leader. I can't really believe it, and don't really understand why. But I will go where the Lord wants me to. I feel really humbled. In a lot of ways I feel like I shouldn't be a zone leader. I feel like I still have so much to improve on. So many Christlike attributes that I can and will work on. I know the Lord will bless me for my effort. I'm excited to get in this zone and watch miracles happen.


So, we will live in a house. Like a big house (or so I hear), because the greenies and the departing missionaries stay the night there. So that will be so cool to say goodbye to the departing missionaries and say hi to the new greenies!!! My new comp (Elder Ellsworth) and I have already talked and we are both pretty pumped and are going to set some lofty goals for ourselves and the zone. I have always worked harder when I know my leaders are working hard as well, so I hope to work the hardest I can. I feel like I have so much to improve on when it comes to leadership! But lickily I know the best leader and where I can learn more about how He led. And that is Jesus Christ. There are also many other amazing leaders in the scriptures. I love Nephi for one. He was always strong. Always. Even when everyone around him faltered. Even his dad!!! (Luckily I don't have that problem) How hard would it be to keep the faith and the trust in the Lord when even your dad is doubting. I always have been impressed by him. I love his last words in the Book of Mormon, too. "I must obey". Talk about powerful last words. He was at a point in his life where he knew the Lord so perfectly and knew the doctrine because he has lived it, that he could not disobey. What an amazing person. I can't wait to meet him and shake his huge hands.

This week was a great one. We had a sweet meeting on Friday. We talked about the doctrine of Christ. And some other things. I loved seeing President and some of my other buddies. It was nice. 

Saturday was an interesting day. I was on exchanges with Elder Frank (I will miss him so much) and they had a baptism that we had to prepare for. We had to do so much stuff and had to run around Roseville like six times. It was crazy. We went to Costa Vida and a member paid for us. Man it was good. I will miss Roseville so much. It has been so good to me. I almost love this place as much as Gridley. I bet if i would have stayed 1 more transfer i would have grown to love it just as much. I have met some amazing people here that have changed my life. Literally, their testimonies have changed me. I loved serving here with Elder Rasmussen and Elder Shock. Two missionaries that have taught me a lot. that have changed me a lot too. I will be grateful for both of them. I think that i will be able to come back for Bro Zerilli's baptism. I can't wait for that. That will be one of the best moments on my mission. And in a year when I come back for the sealing, that will be unbelievable. I love this work!!! I love my life. I love you all.

Thats great to hear about the wedding and i want to see some pictures!!! I love you!

Birthday photos!

We received a few photos from the Busch family of Elder Simons' weekend. This one is of his birthday dinner. They served him his favorite: salmon, "funeral potatoes", and salad. He was a happy camper!

Happy birthday, Elder Simons!

The Busch's gave the elders their favorite cereal and treat. Notice the similarity between the two for Elder Simons: Reese's Puffs, and Reese' peanut butter cups!

Favorite cereals and treats!

After dinner, the Busch family and the elders made a video to present to the youth at mutual. I believe it had to do with Alma, and his change of heart... It is obvious who is the good guy and who is the bad guy (or escaped convict) in this photo...

In costume for the video

Happy Birthday, Elder Simons!

Elder Simons with other elders
at the indoor baseball field

This week has been pretty good! We set a date with our investigator!!! For June 23rd. Unfortunately transfers are on June 19th. So I'm thinking I probably will be gone from the area. But i will ask permission to come back and most likely will be able to attend it. But i can't wait. I have been waiting for this one for a while. and i know his family has been waiting even longer. In a year they will get sealed and everything will be great! That is so cool!!! I feel so blessed to have just been plopped in this ward and be able to receive so many blessings. 

Other than setting a date our week has been terrible!! Haha not really, but we are having trouble meeting with our investigators. The lesson we had last Monday cancelled. Which was too bad. But we are going to call them today and set something up again. We are having troubles just talking to people who are interested. But we know they are out there! One of my favorite pumping up scriptures is in Alma 13 "For behold, ^aangels are declaring it unto many at this time in our land; and this is for the purpose of preparing the hearts of the children of men to receive his word at the time of his coming in his glory." There are actual angels helping us. How cool is that??

We are planning on doing mutual with the youth here next Wednesday and we are going to do the whole thing. We are making a sweet video with the Busch's and we are going to discuss the parable of the sower and also Alma the younger. I can't wait!! We will have the Busch's put the video on Youtube so you can find it after we are finished.

So we burned one of my torn white shirts and it was sweet. We had a lot of fun with that. And we took some cool pictures. I still can't believe i hit my year mark three days ago. It hasn't hit i guess.

Burning his shirt at his one year mark

My birthday was amazing! First i was able to go to church then we came home and my door was decorated!! By the Pratts from Gridley. They are super nice. Then we went over to the Buschs and had salmon!! And also funeral potatoes!!!! And this way good salad! One of the best dinners I have had in a long time. The members here are so awesome. They have such big hearts. They are way too nice to us. But I'm not complaining! I had a lot of missionaries buddies call me and wish me a happy birthday so it was sweet to be able to talk to a lot of them.

Happy Birthday from the Pratt's in Gridley!

We will keep working and i know the hard work will pay off. I hope and know that i will have some good news for you next week. Like 45 new investigators and 15 new baptism dates!! Sorry this email is kinda short! I love you guys!!

April baptism

Hey mom and dad!!

The baptism was so great!!! Both of her parents came and seemed to enjoy it. What a miracle that they came. 

Elder Rasmussen & Elder Simons at baptism

I still can't really believe it. I'm so thankful. And we have dinner with them tomorrow. So that's even more of a miracle. Hopefully we can spark some interest in them so they want to hear more of the Savior's message. It was just a great week overall. It went by really fast. But i really can't explain my feelings concerning her baptism. There are no words adequate. No definitions that would satisfy the pure feelings i have about this baptism and situation. It was a miracle. Her parents have had a complete 180 change of heart. And people think there is no God. 

If anyone says there is no God, I say come follow me for one day and you will see the Lord guide us to who needs to be taught, and watch the Lord put us in the right place so that someone who is looking for us comes and talks to us. If someone says there is no God it makes me speechless. How sad. We tracted into this house this week and we met a scientist. Oh what joy filled my heart. Not. So I have bashed with several scientists on my mission (they like to bash and when the days get long and it gets hot out there and i get frustrated i like to bash too) and basically they believe in nothing. They just pretend with fancy words (like a man in the Book of Mormon named Amalickiah). But yeah my conclusion on them is they believe in nothing because it is easier. But she asked and asked how i could prove God, and i told her many instances where God was evident in my life but she would just toss that fact away and ask for another one. So frustrating, while i walked away i was mad at her. But as i pondered more and listened to the spirit's whisperings i realized that its not her that i should mad at. Its satan. He is the one that has twisted her and her scientist friend club minds so they believe this foolishness and false doctrine. He is the father of lies. He desires to sift us as wheat, he wants us to be miserable like himself (lines from the BOM), but another line i found interesting is "...because they did yield themselves unto the power of Satan" Yeah their brains have been twisted and bent and destroyed to believe that there is no God. But at some point in their lives they let the power and will of Satan go before the Will of the Father. And that crushes me. How grateful i am that these people will have a second chance. But they still will have to accept the doctrine of Christ and i hope they can do that. 

Anyway sorry i just went off on a big tangent. So we haven't set a date with our other investigator but he did say he wants to be baptized before June so that is sweet. I hope he gets baptized before i leave. We did a lot of tracting this week. Met some pretty cool people. Didn't pick up any new investigators but i know that the Lord is preparing people as i type this email. I know that and i can testify of that as well. 

Thank you for you prayers. I feel the power of them everyday out here. I appreciate them and always will. I pray for you as well. I love this work. I feel lost in it. In a good way. I have lost myself in the work and I'm happier than ever and i feel like i know my purpose more than ever. I'm so thankful for that. Interviews with  President are this week!

Elder Simons

I love you!

What shall we eat?

Hey mom and dad!

What a beautiful day we had yesterday! I love that we have holidays that are solely dedicated to our Lord and Savior. I love Easter and the meaning behind it. 

So we didn't have dinners this whole week which kinda stinked but oh well and my credit card that the mission gives us somehow got hacked on to and we got that cancelled and I'm waiting on another one. So basically what I'm trying to say is I ran out of food this week. Which was interesting. I feel like i lost some weight. Then i got my package. Full of nothing but candy. So all the weight i might have lost was gained back by Peep-mania. So thank you for the package!! It was perfect timing. I wonder how I'm going to get groceries today but I'm really going to take the Savior's request literally: "Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father ^aknoweth that ye have need of all these things.33 ^aBut ^bseek ye first the ^ckingdom of God, and his ^drighteousness; and all these ^ethings shall be ^fadded unto you."  So we will see how that goes.

So our baptism for this weekend got cancelled on Friday night. Her dad said no. So that put a major damper on things. But I knew that the Lord was just testing our faith. I prayed harder than I have ever prayed. I pleaded my case with the Lord and i listened and i felt through the feelings of the spirit that everything was going to be okay. Saturday night before going to bed we got a call from the investigator, and she said her dad said yes. (and remember this guy is like...anti-mormon to the extreme) I was so humbled. In a way that i never thought was possible. I felt joy that i had only felt a few times before on my mission when an investigator says something that is an answer to a prayer. Like "yes" to a baptism or in this case "yes my dad is letting me be baptized". I was so happy. I could barely sleep. So the baptism is happening this Saturday. I can't wait. I feel like i don't deserve these blessings. But i won't complain that I'm getting them. 

We weren't able to pick up any new investigators. Which kinda stinks. But thats okay. Its interesting because everything can be going wrong and one right thing can be going on (the baptism) and its totally fine. I love my mission. I wish i could press the pause button though. Its going too fast. Like unfairly fast. 

So some pictures for you. One with me and Rasmussen:

and another with me and Elder Frank:

And the one with the kids is from Easter yesterday:

They are my favorite kids in the world. I love their family. They were awesome to take us in on Easter. This ward is amazing. But i feel I'm being transferred in May. I hope not.

I'm glad everything back home is all good and fine. I love you all. Have a good week. I can't believe its April!

Photos from Roseville

We received these photos with this week's email. I'm pretty sure they're from zone conference. Elder Bowerman was Elder Simons' companion in the MTC, and Elder Buhler was Elder Simons' companion in Gridley.  Doesn't he look great!?

Elder Simons and Elder Bowerman

Elder Buhler and Elder Simons