Hola Familia!

Well it seems like you guys have had a great week up there in the states! I forgot that Thanksgiving was this past Thursday! Hahahaha! We were busy teaching and enjoying ourselves in the work of the Lord! I can definitely say that I wish I could have eaten Pawpaw's famous breakfast! I guess that will just have to wait for another time! That day we ate normal peruvian food! Chicken, Rice, and Potatoes!  Here in Peru, Christmas day the people eat Turkey, so I'll eat that this Christmas! I think its crazy that Christmas is already here, time goes by really, really fast....! 

 We've been working with an inactive family for about 4 months now. Finally they're starting to go back to church. They've all had interviews with the Bishop and the Bishop authorized that the Dad could baptize his daughter! She didn't get baptized when she was 8 years old, so we were in charge of her baptism. It was super awesome! The baptism really helped the family to want to continue to go to church! The Lord has really poured out his spirit on this family! They're starting to feel the Lord in their lives again and are keeping the commandment of the Lord. I took photos and the internet today is really slow, so you guys are just gonna have it wait to see the family! They're awesome!

So I would like to share some scriptures and how they can apply to us in our lives, They're found in the Book of John 15: 9-14. Here the Lord teaches us many things that can really help us to be more like Him. 

9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. (Here the Lord Commands us to stay in his love)

 10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. (Here the Lord teaches us how we can stay in his love, How? By Keeping his Commandments.)

 11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. (The Lord has said these things so we know how we can have Joy in this mortal life, He teaches that if we stay in his love, by keeping his commandments, we will have Joy in this life.)

 12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. (The Lord commands us to Love one another)

 13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

 14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. ( In verses 13 and 14 the Lord teaches that he had such perfect love for his friends, that he gave his life for his friends, We can be his friends is we do whatever he commands us. So then, What did he tell us to do in the verses that we have already read? He told us to Stay in his love, Which we do by keeping his commandments, and to love one another. If we do these things, we will be his friends and will feel the love of Christ in our lives)

I have pondered these scriptures while here on the mission. They really teach that unless we keep the commandments of God, we can not be saved in his Kingdom, and that if we don't keep them, the Lord has commanded us to repent! (Alma 9:12) I invite all of you to repent of the wrong things that you have done in your life and to give it your all to be more like Christ. I promise that if you do so, you will feel the pure love of the Savior in your life, and a feeling of peace that only the Savior can give us! I testify that these things are true, for I have experienced it here on the mission, the pure love of the Savior, and desire that all might experience it.

Love you guys a lot!

-Elder Wilson

Alma 9:12

"Behold, now I say unto you that he commandeth you to repent; and except ye repent, ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God. But behold, this is not all—he has commanded you to repent, or he will utterly destroy you from off the face of the earth; yea, he will visit you in his anger, and in his fierce anger he will not turn away"

11/23/2015

Hola Familia,

We've had a pretty great week here in Lima, Peru and it seems like you guys have had a pretty great week up there in Alabama! That's awesome that you guys got to go to the temple! Here in Lima I've had the chance to go 2 times to the temple! On the mission I've had the chance to really see the importance of the temple in our lives. It really is the House of the Lord.

Haha! I completely forgot that Thanksgiving was this week! There are tons of reasons that all of us can be grateful. Just knowing English is one of the TONS of blessing that we all have. I promise you that the best way to be grateful is by helping other people and blessing them with the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. That is the best gift you can give to any person that lives on this earth. So go give it!

So this past week we worked and worked and worked and saw the spirit work in us and the many people that we teach. Without the spirit I can't do anything. I can feel It's presence within me and I can tell whenever it gets farther away from me and when that happens, well obviously I need to repent, and I do. We also had a baptism last week! It was amazing! The spirit was felt strongly and almost all of the ward was there! It was awesome!

Well this week we're going to work even harder than last week and find more people to teach and baptize! The mission is amazing!

I love you guys,
-Elder Wilson

11/16/2015

Hola Familia!

You guys have had a great week! It sure has been a great busy one here in Lima, Peru! That's so awesome that Lily and Carter have won awards and that Maddie is starting to apply for college! Keep yourselves busy, doing nothing is boring! hahaha!

Well here in Lima we're looking for new people for the month of December. At the moment we have an investigator that is progressing towards a baptismal date for the 21st of November. It's the Grandma of the family that was baptized 2 weeks ago. We're working with her so that she'll be able to be baptized this day! Please pray for her!

Right now i can definitely say that I have had the wonderful opportunity to review everything that I learned from my trainer, again! We have to study a book called The First Twelve Weeks. In this book we learn all of the things we have to do to help an investigator become converted to the gospel. Right now I'm teaching these things to my son and at the same time I'm learning and reviewing a lot of things that I've already learned, and learning a lot more about those things. It's really awesome!

I'm okay and I feel really happy! I'm definitely the happiest I've ever been in my life. It's really great! The Lord can really change people. I've seen it in tons of people here and I've seen it in my life as well!

Love you guys!
-Elder Wilson

11/9/2015

Hola Familia!

Well it seems that you guys have had a great week! That's awesome that Samuel, David, and Justin Caires have made the school's soccer team! They need to practice hard to get better and better and better! Thats great that maddie has received a calling in the church! Now, If she magnifies it, the Lord will bless her a ton!

Here in Lima, Peru it's starting to get hotter and hotter, as we get closer to Summer, in the south part of the world! That means a lot more sweat, deodorant, and a lot more fun! Ha! Well, I hope that you guys are having a great time up there in the cold!

This past week we had a great time working in the field and learning more and more from our studies. My "son" is progressing really well and is starting to understand more and more of his purpose here in the mission. I'ts awesome! Today a lot of my friends are going home! It's starting to get really sad! hahaha! All the people I know are leaving! Well I guess it's just a part of the mission! There's always new people, so it will be cool to see who comes and who goes!

This week we have a baptism!!!! It's the grandmother of the family that we just baptized! Shes 69 years old and is awesome! She always invites us to eat food in her house and it's always really good! Peruvians always give us food, but I don't get fat.... I don't know, it's really weird!

I heard the world is a little more unstable again. Just trust in the Lord and keep his commandments, always repent of the bad things that happen in life and the Lord will bless you a ton!

I love you guys a lot and hope that you have a great week! This week is transfers but I don't have one! So I'm going to stay here for Christmas! Whoo!!!!! It's gonna be AWESOME!!!

Love ya!
-Elder Wilson

11/2/2015

Hola Familia!

 This week has been quite busy and it sounds like you guys have had quite a fun and busy week up there in Alabama! Here in Peru, some families celebrate halloween, but most of the people think that halloween is Evil and of Satan. For example, the night before halloween an entire church went through the streets chanting, "Si a Cristo, no a Halloween" Yes to Jesus and No to Halloween. It was pretty funny and I'll probably never forget it.

So yesterday we had 3 baptisms! It was great! I took photos and I'll upload them next Monday because the computer I'm using is Windows XP. It was great and everyone was smiling and the spirit was extremely strong in the baptismal service. The family invited us over to eat lunch and Dinner. Peruvian food is really good! I'm just about convinced that it's better than American food.... hahaha!

 As of right now, we have 3 people who are progressing towards a baptismal date. Two are going to be baptized this month and the other needs to get married. So we might have a wedding around Christmas time! How cool would that be!  It's definitely starting to get close to Christmas here. At Christmas time people like to eat a special kind of bread called Panettone. Its really sweet and each one has about 3400 calories. So I might gain a little bit of weight again. When I got here i weighed 90 kilos now im 82.... hahahahaha! I don't weigh anything anymore.

Well I hope that you guys have a great week! Please know that I love you guys! The mission is awesome and it makes me sad that it's starting to end. I don't like that very much. People tell me sometimes that I don't have very much longer. I don't look at it that way, but i guess that's just how the mission is.


Love,
Elder Wilson