12/21/2014

12.21.2014

Hello Family!

Do not have much time to you to write now, but we will talk through skype on Thursday, so it does not matter.

I'm in the same area with the same companion, Elder Pastenes of Santiago, Chili. President told us to keep working hard and baptize seven more people! Ha!

We have a baptism this Saturday! I'm very excited about that! This week will be awesome! Today we will have a family home evening with many of our investigators and less active. We are going to celebrate the birthday of one of our less actives birthday with a cake!

  Tomorrow we will have the ward party in the night, and Wednesday super p-day, and after that I will call you to arrange Skype and everything! So in the evening or night on Wednesday, be ready to receive a call from your son in Peru!

On Thursday I will speak to you through Skype! I'm excited about that! I'm excited to see and hear how you are and everything!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAMUEL !!!!!!

Much love!
-Elder Wilson




12/15/2014

12.15.2014




How are you? Like you, this week was very fast! We taught many people and went to stake conference with our investigators and less active! We have a baptismal date for this month! I think that it will happen on the 27th of this month! I'm very excited about that! We taught many new investigators! Like most people here, they have problems with alcohol and drugs. But one told us that he's a thief! Like a thief of great items! That's crazy! But no matter, he wants to change his life and we will teach and help him to make his wish!

So I've been reading Mosiah, I want to share something I learned from my reading in the Scriptures! I learned about the importance of faith and repentance and the importance of teaching these things to our investigators! I want you to read Mosiah 25-27. You will learn a lot about the importance of repentance and faith in our lives. Because as a missionary, I am teaching the importance of those things with all of the people here in Peru.

About me, I'm all well and excited to serve the Lord! My Spanish is progressing and meets the twelve week requirements, so now the normal mission routine starts today! Perhaps I will go on this next transfer, but not now. You will know the next p-day if I change! 10 days until Christmas! People are very excited about Christmas, and I'm excited to talk to you!

Okay I'm going to answer your Questions now!

1. yes, I will email you guys on Monday and have a super-p-day on Wednesday With all of the mission, then on Thursday I will skype you guys.

2. I will skype you, I will Have More information on This next-day p-day. Probably in the morning or around noon that day, but I don't know for certain!

3.Yes you can. (Put christmas music on there please! The Good stuff, like orchestras playing the music, not kid stuff)

Yeah the snowball fight was awesome! Thats cool that you saw us! Oh and Samuel and Carter Awesome job! You guys sounded amazing! They are masters of playing music! And lily, thats so awesome that you can do those cool gymnastic things! Keep practicing! Oh and awesome job on your Marathon Dad, That time is impressive!

With much love,
-Elder Wilson

12/08/2014

12.08.2014






Hello Family!

So many things have happened over the past week! We had 1 baptism! There are photos on Dropbox! I am very grateful and happy about it! I know have had 7 baptisms while on my mission.  As I say, the people of Peru are ready to learn and accept the gospel in their lives! We teach many lessons and have many people who are progressing for baptisms in December and January! My companion and I will work hard during December and January for our investigators. We hope they can feel a change in their lives. The Church wants us to share something really special with everyone here. It is called "He is the Gift". This message is about Christmas and Jesus Christ and is pretty. I wonder if the church is doing something special in America. Oh! we have a family that is receiving lessons. I believe that someday the father of this family will become a Bishop! I can see it! The way he talks and knowledge of the Gospel is excellent!

There's something I feel I must share with you. Yesterday I saw something very sad having to do with the consequences of alcohol with one of my investigators. I will not explain everything, but there was blood. Please do not do stupid things, like drinking alcohol! There are so many other good things that you can do!

Well, I'm fine! My Spanish is progressing and my health is fine! The food is Awesome! When I return to my house, I'll cook many things peruviano. You will eat well! I can see all around that Christmas is near! Many people are talking to us about Christmas and Jesus and all! We've been talking to our members and investigators about Christmas and New Year here in Peru! They tell us that Christmas is pretty crazy here! I'm going to take many pictures for you! Oh, downtown Lima is beautiful! Very different from my area! Ha! But, I love where I am at. There are photos on Dropbox! The buildings there are of Spanish origin! Really cool!

I am excited to talk with you at Christmas! It will be on Skype for 1 hour!

I do not have much time!

Thanks for all your prayers and love
With much love,
Elder Wilson

12/1/2014

12.01.2014

Hello Famila!

So you're lucky this week, I don't have a lot of time, so i have to write in Spanglish!

So the last week was good! We had 2 more baptisms! There are photos in the dropbox! We Taught lots of lessons and our investigators are progressing. We Might Have a baptism this weekend if our investigator is ready. So maybe another!
So I think it is super awesome how great the people are here. The people here are ready to receive the Gospel. I am seeing changes in the lives of my investigators ! Im starting to see a change in myself too! Its awesome!  I'm becoming more direct with my investigators. The people in our area need to learn and fulfill commitments, and when our investigators fulfill their commitments, they always tell us the feelings of peace they feel and that they are receiving answers to their prayers. Its amazing!

 We had Thanksgiving here! La Familia Rodriguez made it for us! It was AMAZING! wow! Definitely the best food I've eaten during my time here on the mission. There are photos in the dropbox! So the last week was great! Their were some hard times, but what's a mission without hard times!
We have hard times to help us learn and grow, so that we can become better people. So, it's really hot and humid right now.... Bleh!

 Oh, and our bathtub broke and the owner doesn't like that. so they might kick us out of the apartment. Oh well, we'll just have to find another!

 My companion and I met the mission goal for people progressing and Baptized! The goal for the mission is 8 people progressing, 4 people baptized and 2 families baptized. We had 11 people progressing, 6 people Baptized and 2 families baptized. This goal is really hard to achieve and not many missionaries do it. So, we're going to receive a certificate from President Erickson! It'll be awesome!

Christmas is definitely getting close! The people here are starting to give us lots of food and decorations are being put up here. Christmas is going to be awesome! I have heard that at night it is very crazy. Like lots of fireworks and people dancing and stuff like that! It'll be sweet!

So I Went to Migration. That was fun... I had the opportunity to see the first world part of Lima, the part with skyscrapers and other cool stuff! That was awesome!

Today for P-day we are going to lima center to do things and take photos and stuff. It'll be awesome! So .... my watch broke into 100000 parts, so im going to buy another one today. It'll be like 10 soles, or 3 dollars for a nice digital one.

Oh Mom and Dad, if you want to come here to pick me up from the mission, I would recommend that you learn a little Spanish because to get from the airport to a hotel in the Center of Lima is a little difficult if you don't have someone helping you translate from Inglés to Spanish.

Thanks for all your prayers and love! The mission is Maximo!
Love you all very much!
-Elder Wilson





11/24/14

11.25.2014

Here is Elder Wilson's translated letter:
 
Hello All and Family!
How is it going ?

I am happy and healthy. During the week we had many good lessons. We are preparing our investigators for their baptisms this week. We have 3 baptisms this week! At the moment they are working hard to be baptized. I'm very excited about that. During the week we had our zone conference with President Erickson! It was very good! I learned a lot over and he told us that we need to teach repentance for our investigators to change their lives and have the desire to be baptized! My Mission President is very smart about Missionary Work and the scriptures.

About me, my Spanish is progressing, my companion told me that since my fist days in Peru my Spanish has progressed a lot faster than other "greenies". I can teach people completely and can answer their questions and doubts. I'm becoming a lot more direct with people here. They need to be taught directly so they can learn and understand why it is important to do things, such as attending church, reading the scriptures and praying every night as a family and individually. We have many more successful lessons when we are direct.

Then there was an earthquake during the week! It was Loco. My first time feeling an earthquake in my life. Was so cool!

I hope google can translate this Email well, I do not have time today.

Thanks for all your prayers and love! Happy Thanksgiving!
With love,
-Elder Wilson
 


 

Hola Familia

11.17.2014

Here is Elder Wilson's translated letter from 11-17-14. I love how google translates his closing! 

Hello Family and all!

The Previous Week was excellent! We had 4 baptisms in our area and 8 in the neighborhood. The work is progressing fast! The baptismal service was great and the spirit was present during the meeting. I fulfilled my goal to have one baptism during my first two months here in Peru! I'm very happy for that. There are photos on Dropbox of the baptisms and more! This week if all is well, we will have 2 more baptisms in the area, but no promises!

At the moment we are teaching and finding new investigators for December! The Christmas Spirit is in the air! Many music, decorations, dancing, and as always, food. The people are ready to receive and listen to the gospel of Jesus Christ. But here, Christmas is in summer, so Christmas is very different here than in the states. (Lots of Fireworks and Canons)

I received the package! WOW, you guys are the best! my companion and I like the things and ties! They are very nice! Thank you for your kind words on the Christmas tree. Thanks to all!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LILY! You will have 9 Years, good!

I do not have a lot of time to write this week, but thanks for all your prayers and love!

With a strong embrace,
-Elder Wilson






11/10/2014

11.10.2014





Elder Wilson's most recent translated letter-

Whats Up?! So this last week was excellent! The baptismal service is going to be this week now, and the zone will have a huge baptismal service with all the families in the zone! We will have 4 people from our area and the zone will have about 15 people going to be baptized! How awesome! I am very happy, excited and grateful for that!
The work of the Lord is progressing!  This past Saturday we had a Marriage! I put photos in the Dropbox of the marriage! The marriage was great! The peruvian culture, about marriage, is very similar to the United States, but with some different things. Many food, drinks, dancing, and happy feelings! As always, we had many lessons and met many people in the past week. My companion and I are working very hard for our investigators to receive testimony that this gospel is true and that the Book of Mormon is true. The people of Peru are very sensitive to the Holy Spirit, and when a person feels that Message it brings feelings of peace and happiness during the lesson and they want to learn more! It is very awesome!

So about my week personally, only the usual things. I saw a dog with rabies. Crazy man! The food was excellent! I had the opportunity to try a dish called Causa. This dish is the best!  There are photos of La Causa in the Dropbox. Take a Look!

Oh no changes for me with this transfer, so at least 6 more weeks here! I'm in Independencia. In the area Magnolias 2. The Magnolias Ward!

About Your questions, Baptisms will be this Saturday! A typical day for me is usually, I get up, I exercise, I shower, I have breakfast, and study the gospel and the 5 lessons, after my studies is lunch and after then this is proselytizing, we return to the house and we plan for the next day. This is my day usually. My Spanish is progressing, and I am teaching him English. The weather here is very hot right now. We live with members of the church, and we were told that the weather in the summer is terrible. Very hot. Oh well.....

I hope your week is going to be very good! Remember to say your prayers and read the scriptures every night!

With love and a big hug,
-Elder Wilson


11.3.2014

11.03.2014

Here is Elder Wilson's translated letter:

Hello Family!

So this last week was superb! Like usual, we had a lot of lessons and we invited many people to be baptized. We had a family commit to be married which is fantastic! This family is a family of four. I put photos on Dropbox of this. So, it is possible that we will have a baptism this Saturday.  Next week we have many baptisms planned in the Ward. Possibly seven in 2 Families! The people of Peru are ready to receive the gospel in their lives!
 During the week we taught a lot about faith, and how can we get a witness that the Church is true.  I want to share a little about that. Often we do not receive a quick testimony but we receive a testimony little by little.  We just need to do our part for us to receive this testimony. We can do things like read the scriptures and pray every night that we get answers to our questions through the Holy Spirit. If we attend church every Sunday so we can learn more about the Gospel and then we can make friends with the members of the Ward. This is the way we can get a testimony that the Church is true!

So about me, I'm a little sick now and also during the last week. I have congestion in my nose and sometimes heachaches, but I have medicine for that, so I'm good! Some crazy things happened this week! On Tuesday, I was almost tackled by Two GIANT Dogs. It scared the heck out of me! My companion told me, RUN! RUN! It was freakin crazy man! But, I am OK and there are no bruises or bites, so all is well! No weird or Different food, only delicious food. Oh Im going to help with the marriage of one of my investigators because they have to pay for their wedding papers. They have no money. This is why i took out $ 22. So transfers are coming up! After we finish our emails we are going to have a meeting for us to know if we will leave our areas. I probably will not, but maybe, you can never know.

Thanks for your prayers and love,
with love and a giant hug!
-Elder Wilson



Elder Wilson's letter 10/27/14

10.28.2014



Again, this letter was in all Spanish- so the translation may be off a bit and of course because his vocab is limited it reads funny!

Hello Family!

So last week was excellent! We had many lessons and our investigators are making progress. We had 8 investigators attend church yesterday! That's fantastic!  The rule in the mission is that investigators need to attend church 3 times for them to be baptized. I am very happy because of that. This week we have one baptismal service. I am excited for that! In November we have, like 5 or 6 baptisms! This is the best! The work is progressing very well.  I have learned  that the Gospel of Jesus Christ changes people's lives. During the week we had an investigator who experienced this change. He has made the decision to be baptized with his family. Wow. This church is the church of happiness and it is true! I am happy !!!!!!!!!!!!!

So my health is fine and everything in my life is good. I'm understanding the accent and the language of Peru a lot better! For example, I taught an entire lesson with an investigator! I love the work and mission. The people of Peru is tops and my trainer is tops! He and I are friends. I am grateful for him and his example to me.

 My companion and I went to eat out one day this past week. Oh! I was eating a giant burger! As pretty huge! WOW!

For you, the last week was good! The videos of Clara and Lily are the best! Lily's exactly right! A commandment from God is to follow the prophet.  The words of the prophet are the same as Heavenly Father and Heavenly Father commands us to attend church! Every Sunday! This is very important because when we attend, we learn, we progress. We do this so that our testimony may receive strength.  Clara is right too! The Will is a gift of God, we can choose our own decisions, but we need to choose the right decision for us to return to God's presence as a family!

I hope your week is fantastic! I know my week will be! If you have not sent my Christmas box, please put candy and other things like that, because the sweets here are a bit bleh.

Thank you for your prayers and kind words!
With much love,

-Elder Wilson

October 20, 2014

10.20.2014

This letter was originally ALL in Spanish. I had to google translate it for the blog and correct just a few things.  I left alot of it, as is. So if it sounds a little funny that is why. Overall, I could understand everything! SO proud of how far his language is progressing and how hard he is working. 


Hi! So my week was great! We taught many lessons and had good feelings. Then, during the week we had a baptismal service in the neighborhood with a family that  I taught 4 or 5 times on companionship splits this month and in September. I have a photo of this in the dropbox. I'm very happy! for that, This is the work of salvation and baptism is the door to salvation. Terrific! So my companion and I have many investigators with alcohol and tobacco problems. We are working with them. Many times the problem is with who their friends are. We  have many dates for baptisms in November! The first date is November 8th! I'm very excited about that. Oh I can not remember how to pray in Inglés. Oh well.....

Then, the other day, I ate chicken feet! There is a photo in the dropbox of that! Ha! They taste like chicken, but are very rubbery. Ha! My health is the same, and medicine for my acne is great! So I'm grateful for that. My companion and I are such good friends. He's the best! The language is progressing, I can understand a lot more now. I'm very grateful for that. Every thing is fine, then it's only going to be another fantastic week!

Okay about your questions!
1 No, we have everything we need and the temple has a Distribution Center, like the one in Salt Lake.
2 Cards- send them to the mission home. My partner told me you can send me boxes, but send them to the CCM in Lima Peru. Write my name and Peru Lima North on the box and  I will get the box with the new missionaries that come in.
3 everything is cheap in peru. Like, I have 200 sols left for this month, and i usually spend 10-15 each day.
4 Send me Reese's, a huge thing of jiff peanut butter and nutella.  My companion is from Santiago Chili.  His family is very similar to ours. So, he is just fine.

I can not believe that October is almost done! Where is the time? I think there are birthdays  this week! Carter and Dad? Happy Birthday!

With love,
-Elder Wilson




Hola Familia!

10.13.2014






Entonces, la ultima semana fue bueno! Muchos lecciones, invitaciones, y mas. Durante la ultimo semana tuve muchos deferente tipos de experiencias. Uno, con a drunk guy, y muchos otros. Alcohol es una problema aqui. Hay muchos personas que toman alcohol cada noche. Entonces, mi companero y yo hemos les llamando personas a arrepentirse de este. En Octubre 31 tenemos una fecha para un bautismo. El tiene 54 anos y es progresando. Yo  espero sera bautizado. Pero tenemos 7 fechas para noviembre! Buenísimo! Otro que eso, la gente son buenísimo y la comida es fantastica.

Ooooo entonces yo come estomago de baca. Estaba no mal, pero un saber diferente.

Conferencia fue fantástica. WOW.me gusta la mensaje por Elder Uchtdorf sobre luz. Absolutamente muy fantástica. Yo cree es muy importante estudiamos las escrituras. Porque necesitamos buscar por luz para recibirlo. mi companero y yo hemos enseñando personas que necesiten hacer 4 puntos para sus testimonio a progresar. Y yo cree que esos punto son muy cerca a la mensaje de Elder Uchtdorf.

1. Leer las Escrituras- Cuando leemos las escrituras nuestros conocimiento progresa y podemos encontrar mas luz.
2. Meditar- Meditar es muy importante, porque mediante meditando, podemos recibir revelación personalmente. Este revelación es una clave a recibir luz y fortificar nuestros testimonios.
3. Orar- Orando es la clave. Cuando nosotros preguntar dios sobre una pregunta o un problema, podemos recibir respuestas. Mediante la espíritu Santo.
4. Asistir la Iglesia- Durante la reunión sacramental podemos recibir revelación personalmente y aprendemos muchos sobre El Evangelio de Jesucristo.

Okay enough Spanish! My health is fine, its honestly been a great blessing that I've been this healthy. I thank the Lord everyday for this. The soccer game was fantastic. We got sick jerseys! They match the US national team jersey, but we have different things on them. I put pictures up so go take a look. I bought a pair of futsal cleats for like 17 dollars or 50 sol. They're normally about 80 dollars in the US, so why not, right? Soccer jerseys here are really cheap, so if you want like 1 or 5, let me know....

I'm really loving my mission. Yes, there are hard times, but how can I  expect it to be easy, if it wasn't easy for the Savior. The feelings that you get when you see someone progressing and learning are indescribable. It's awesome. Today marks 2 months in the mission. See ya in 22.

I miss and love you all!
-Elder Wilson

Hola Familia!

10.04.2014








Hola!

Entonces, estoy les escribiendo hoy porque en el lunes nosotros somos teniendo The Entire Mission Football Match. So yo necesito escribirles hoy! Oh Feliz Cumpleaños Maddie! Yo recuerdo teniendo 17 años. Que fue mi ultimo año en escuela.

So during the last week a lot has happened! My third companion moved to the offices of the mission so it's just me and Elder Pastenes. On P-day we went to the mall and it's really nice. I think it is nicer than madison square. I can buy ANYTHING there. So, if you will put money on my card I can buy clothes and other stuff. In the mall its the same price, more or less, than the prices in the US. However, in the Grand Terminal shopping area they sell EVERYTHING for pretty cheap, it's just not as good quality. So, for pants if you'll just put money on the Card I can buy them here.

So we've taught a lot during the past 5 days. Marriage really is a problem here. No one is married here. They just live together. So we've been stressing why marriage is important and inviting people to get married. We've been successful with one family. It's really hard for the people to get married here because you need documents to get married, no one has them, and it's hard to get them. We've invited more people to be baptized as well. We have 4 more people with dates for the 25 of octubre. I'm excited to help these people to be ready for that date. I can see now why a mission is hard work. I get frustrated with myself sometimes when I can't understand what's going on or what's being said. Then I just remember- It's my second week here! I know with time I will learn the language.
'
So.... I got a little sick this last week. I'm over it now. It was pretty much a small cold. Runny nose and a head ache. The food isn't agreeing with my stomach so we all know what that leads to! However the food, for the most part, is fantastic! Also the drinks! So good. Peru is really dry and dusty! Nothing stays clean for long, So I finally had my first anti-mormon confrontation. We were walking from the bank after getting money for the month and a guy from the United States said. "Oooo we got a guy from Salt Lake City baby, you're going to h#//!!!! " I simply said, "No, I'm from Alabama!" and kept walking. It made me laugh.

I'm really excited to get to watch conference and hear from living apostoles y el profeta, Thomas S. Monson.... IN SPANISH. So I hope I understand what they're saying. I can always read their talks next month, but I'd like to understand them now.

I hope everything is going well for you and everyone at home! I pray for you all everyday. I definitely am missing home a bit. However I know it's more important that I help other people. I'm starting to get used to the freezing cold showers! ha!ha!

I miss and love you all,
Elder Wilson

From Independencia, Peru

9.29.2014





Hola Famila!

¿Que tal? Entonces, mi primero semana aqui fue excellente y dificil. No puedo entender nada, pero yo puedo hablar sobre el evangelio, entonces, yo digo mi testimonio muchos y yo enseño acerca el evangelio de jesucristo.

So i am definitely in a 2nd world country. The people here all have running water, refrigerators, and beds, but the overall area is very poor.  The people are extremely nice and I hear them yell Greengo all the time. They love white people! So I am serving in a trio with two Natives, Elder Pastenes de Chili, y Elder Huamani de Peru. We are serving in the city of Independencia. Its in the hills so TONS of stairs. My legs have been sore, but that's a good thing. I put pictures up so go and take a look! My companions have been very nice and have been helping me with my Spanish and preaching the gospel. I get to hear them talk to each other so my understanding should increase faster because of that.

So, in the last 6 days. We've met 36 people, and had 27 lessons, 10 Baptismal invitations, and 5 confirmed dates for baptism. The people here are ready to receive the gospel. Its amazing how well they recognize the spirit when we teach. Yesterday we needed a bigger room we had so many investigators and menos activos in the room!  Almost 25 people! Its crazy! We've been teaching 3 familias that are very close to their baptism dates and I think they're ready! Its so exciting. Since I've been here we've had 3 people be baptized into the ward. Fantastico! So apparently the norm during a mission here is about 30 baptisms. Yeah, wow!

So the culture here is fantastic! Lots of music, kind words, and handshakes. But, there's a lot of dog poop on the ground and having baggy pants around the calves of my legs doesn't help. SO, at Christmas send me some pants that are NOT baggy around the calves. That would be FANTASTIC!  So I forgot to take pictures of our casa, but its really nice! Lots of room and the bed is comfy, just no hot water, so showers are not enjoyable. Saturday night there was a wedding ceremony and party. It started at about 9:00pm and didn't end till 7:00am the next morning. They blasted music all night with a lot of bass. I did not sleep well.

SO, the field is wonderful. I just need to get used to the culture and the daily life of the field. So hopefully by the end of Octubre I will be great! I'm excited to serve, but I have definitely been humbled by the people. They do our laundry for us and feed us huge lunches and they have nothing, but are so willing to give. It's extremely humbling and fills my heart with joy. So I challenge you to look for ways to give and help others. Make a meal or go out of your way to help someone. Because if people who live with cement floors and metal roofs, with barely anything to ease their lives can do it, I know you can too! :) Oh and I mean HUGE lunches- its hard to finish them sometimes. I ate chicken stomach this week. It doesn't taste like Chicken. :)

I miss and love you all,
-Elder Wilson

first letter from Peru!

9.26.2014





Attached is a scanned letter from Elder Wilson after he arrived at the mission home in Lima, Peru. Also attached are 2 pictures. One with his mission president and wife, President and Hermana Erickson and one with the new missionaries he arrived with.

Elder Wilson and Hermana Dearden at Mexico CCM

This picture of Elder Wilson with his friend Hermana Dearden was taken right before he left for Peru. It is pretty unique that two friends from Alabama, who went to high school together and also live 5 doors apart, would get to be together in Mexico!

Week 6- Elder Wilson's last letter from the Mexico CCM!

9.20.2014






Hola Madre! Are you surprised to hear from me today? Since I leave for Peru Monday, I wont get my usual P-day(preparation day) so I am sending this today. Thanks for the info! Ill try my best to get it to 50lbs each!  I bought some nicer Spanish scriptures and an amazing case for them.  I'm so excited to get to Peru. I've been talking to a lot of the natives here, some are from Peru, and they have only said it's awesome! I can't wait. I put a few more pictures up, they're of 2 of my teachers. Ill have more maybe when I arrive in Peru. This last week has been very amazing and kinda sad. It will be hard to leave my district that I have been with for 6 weeks.

 We gave our investigators one last lesson this week. My companion and I taught a REAL investigator on Wednesday. The lesson went extremely well. I know the spirit was using me to tell her what she needed to hear. It was excellent, and she said our Spanish was great! She will be attending church with one of our Teachers this Sunday. So awesome! I hope only good things follow.

Okay so Hermana Dearden is here! She's doing great! She's been teaching her First investigator and she did really well today! At dinner she told me all about it. She's gonna do wonderful. Her companion seems nice, so that's great! We'll take a picture before I leave this great place! I've been trying to help the new district in our zone as much as possible. Which is always fun.  I asked my teacher for some pass along cards and some Libro de Mormons so I hope to teach a lesson on the plane! Through small and simple things, great things are brought to pass! I hope you guys have a wonderful Sunday! Some words of advice. The Gospel is for Everyone. Give referals to the missionaries! The Prophet has said that now is the time for members and missionaries to work together! Anyone you can think of, give the missionaries a referal! You never know what the Lord has done to prepare people to hear the Gospel! One of my goals is to have a Baptism within 2 months of being in the Mission! So get yourselves ready for that awesome moment!

So our new district has about 6 Missionaries going to the Birmingham, Alabama mission. I'm trying to help them with how the culture is and how everything will be. Maybe you'll meet them! Oh a few of my friends from BYUI showed up this last Wednesday which is great! Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, I hope everything is still stable in the world. I have no idea at the moment. Other than I've heard a few things about the ISIS. We should teach them the gospel. Oh, and Ebola is getting worse???

I've been reading in Matthew and I'll finish tonight in my scripture study before bed. The life of Christ is fantastic. His parables are great, and the miracles he performed are amazing. I hope I get to experience something like this during my mission. I thought it might be worth mentioning that in these 6 weeks I have learned more Spanish than a lot of people do in 4 classes of High School. Crazy right? Nope it's the spirit. Ha! Anyway I hope everything is good!

Love and miss you all!

Elder Wilson

Week 5

9.15.2014


Hola Familia!

Este es mi ultimo semana aqui en El CMM. No puedo entender, como el tiempo es no mas. Mi español es bueno en el evangelio, pero no en normal conversation. Oh well, that's all the Spanish you're gonna get for a while.

The Temple was fantastic. I got a sweet backpack there! I put lots of pictures on dropbox from Dia de Independencia de Mexico and the Temple. The Spirit was definitely at the temple. The Hermanas there were native and only spoke in Spanish, I could understand about 60% of what they are saying. So there's that. The temple is absolutely beautiful. I wish I could of had the opportunity to go inside, but since it is closed for renovations, we couldn't.

 So this past week I've had tons of Wonderful experiences in the gospel. First of all, When I got here I began reading the Book of Mormon and made a goal that I would finish before I left the CCM. Well I finished this morning! I know with out a shadow of a doubt that this book is Un otro testamento de Jesu Cristo. I'm gonna start reading The New Testament. I can't wait to begin studying the life of the Savior. It will be fantastic. Me and my companion made goals last week to commit all our investigators to baptism and to keep our less active member going to church. We accomplished all our goals. All our investigators have a baptismal date, and our less active is going to Church. It's absolutely fantastic. Sunday was wonderful. My heart could barely hold all the feelings in. Fantastic day..... overall it was a fantastic week, and this week is going to be great too.

 So I'm ready to get out of here, go to Peru and try my best to teach the gospel! Its gonna be great! Time is really going by fast for me. I can't believe it has been 5 weeks. It feels like I just got here and I'm already more than a month done with my mission. General Conference is coming up and I'm looking forward to that. It will be amazing to hear from the prophets who give us so much knowledge and wisdom coming from the Man himself, our Heavenly Father. My testimony of this church has grown so much since being here. 

When I got here I just decided to have Faith. I decided that I would be obedient to all the rules and I would be blessed for it. And I have. My questions have been answered and I've gained a testimony of how The Book of Mormon can bless anyone who reads it.. and everyone should.

So for the other stuff. I haven't received my flight information yet, however, they have posted our leaving time. I leave next Monday, at 11:00 from the CCM which means my flight is probably at 1 or 2 in the afternoon. I will get my flight itinerary after Dinner today and I'll send a quick email either tonight or tomorrow with that info because I'm not getting another P-day before I leave. It sounds like everyone is having a fantastic time at home! I saw the picture of Clara! That is too awesome! Tell her that I hope the Tooth Fairy gave her something! I'm excited to see Heather tomorrow! I'm going to be helping all the new missionaries arrive so i'll definitely see her when she gets here! I can't wait! Tell her to not worry. 

It is Mexican Independence Day! It is CRAZY! Holy Cow! All night, it literally sounded like a War zone. Guns all night. People just take rifles, shotguns, and pistols and shoot them in the air over and over and over. Tons of loud music and fireworks too. It was crazy, but super awesome. The CCM had a Mormon Mexican dance group come and put a show on for us. It was fantastic! So awesome. The culture here is amazing. I have lots of pictures and videos from it on Drop Box! I'm still not sick, the food hasn't done anything to me so everything's good!

Thanks for all the Advice and Love, it means a lot! Put more picture on Dropbox!!!!!! Pictures are always better than words.
I love and miss you guys,
-Elder Wilson.




Week 4!

9.09.2014




Hello Family and Friends,

So this past week has been quite a good one! I didn't go to the temple today, however, I will next week for sure. I have received the package, some dear elder letters, and Clara's letter! Tell her I said thank you! So during the Past week we gained a new investigator, his name is Alejandro. He is a menos activo, or less active member, who has problems with the Word of Wisdom, but he wants to change.  My companion and I have really done good work with teaching our investigators. One is committed to baptism and our less active is going to try to obey the Word of Wisdom, pray, read the scriptures, and attend Church on Sunday. I'm able to speak the language pretty well now, so I'm able to better express the feelings I want them to feel during our lessons.  I talked in Spanish for 5 minutes straight this last lesson because our investigator didn't believe that God loved him and I bore testimony in Spanish that he did. After that I asked him to be baptized and he said yes.  Last Wednesday we have something called TRC. This is where we teach REAL investigators and not "fake"(our teachers pretending) ones.(However the fake ones do a very good job at acting like real investigators) So this last TRC I taught a guy who  is 24 years old and his brother just joined the church and he wants to learn more about it. We taught him the first lesson and it went pretty well. I understood about 60-70% of what he said.  He said that he definitely wants to know more about families and the Book of Mormon. I will probably never meet him again but it was an AMAZING experience! It made me want to get to Peru so badly!On Sunday I bore my testimony in Spanish for about 3-4 min. My branch president complemented me on my Spanish and testimony. So hey, maybe I actually am decent at speaking in the language. Overall this week has been great, and I can't wait to get to Peru!

Now for all the other stuff I need to tell you. I need a few more things for you to send with Heather! I need shoe laces! Brown and black! My shoe laces on my Brown dress shoes broke, and my tennis shoes shoelaces are falling apart so send a bunch! If it's possible another pair of shoes, (My Vans) would be great. Oh a nice pen would be good too. Other than that everything's good. I'm not sick, I'm loosing weight not gaining. I weighed 195 when I got here and I weigh around 184 or 185 now. It sounds like everything was okay this past week in Alabama. I forgot my camera cable so pictures will be up later today, or next week! Give referrals to the sisters. The Gospel is for everyone and I know they want to teach someone that will listen. Tell everyone that I miss them and that I hope everything is going well! Only two more weeks and then Peru Comes. Its been a month tomorrow. I can't believe it. Its really flown by. I'm always busy so that's probably why. I miss and love you all. 

-Elder Wilson