From Independencia, Peru

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