Hola Familia!

So this week has been awesome! We found 3 families to help get married and then baptized! Were going to try to marry them this month, but it might push into March a little bit, but thats okay! What I have seen is that the Lord really prepares people to change their lives and come unto Christ! Its so awesome! 

 This area is really big! Much bigger than my last area! I think I'm familiar with about half of it.... hahaha! The ward here is really awesome! Yesterday I had to give a talk in Sacrament meeting, and they didn't tell us we had talks until about 30min before the meeting! So I taught the Restoration to the Congregation and why it's important that they read the Book of Mormon and share it with their friends! I talked for 15min! In Spanish! Ha! Cool right? So a lot of people are saying that I'm starting to become fluent! I don't think so! I need to learn more vocabulary!

We also baptized a Girl named Brittany! Shes 10 years old and she got baptized by our ward mission leader! We have been working with her for the last 2 weeks, she has been going to church by herself for 4 months and everyone thought she had been baptized!  So we helped her with that! She's a really awesome girl that wants to serve a mission when she turns 19.

So thats the cool stuff that happened this week! I'm healthy! So dont worry about that! The food in this area is really good! We eat a lot of fish and carne! I haven't eaten much chicken! Im sure that is going to change! Ha! Okay, so im going to answer your questions mom!

1. Yes, I do play piano for this ward! So piano lessons were not in vain! Ha! Carter and Samuel you have to learn hymns! My ability to read music has been improving!

2. Elder Pastenes is the District leader there! Wanna know something cool- my companion is this district leader here, he is going to leave with the next transfer and he has been telling me that I'm going to move up as a district leader when he leaves! That will be cool!

,if it happens.

3. I'm in the Wiesse zone. That's cool that he is in my mission. I've probably seen him but never talked to him! If I ever see an Elder Speed I'll go say hi!

4. More Reeses! I have found Hersheys products here but they are SUPER expensive. So send lots of those. Send me another pair of black pants- 32 x 34. The pants I have now still fit perfectly. Another white shirt- Short sleeve. Send me Oreos, triple stuff if they exist. Oh, and mac and cheese! I'll think of more things during the coming week!

I heard that gay marriage has moved into Alabama and that there are race wars in the states??? How crazy!! Here it's just calm. Sometimes at night, bad things happen, but only at night.

Oh, the computers at this internet cafe use windows xp, and my SD Card needs windows 7 or 8 to work, so no photos for awhile! Maybe I can find a computer somewhere else and upload them there! So sorry about that!

Love you guys a lot!

-Elder Wilson

2/2/2015

Hola Familia!

So guess what! I'm in another area with a new companion now! I am in the north most part of the mission now and this place is pure desert. There are scorpions and everything! It's awesome! My companions name is Elder Benavides he is from the Capital of Ecuador- Quito. He is really chill and we get along perfectly!

So my last night in the Magnolias 2 ward was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Saying goodbye to people that you have helped for almost 5 months is difficult. I didn't cry but I definitely got choked up when I was telling them goodbye. I told them that they need to be reading, praying and attending church and preparing to enter the temple, so that they can be an eternal family. It's hard to say goodbye but I'll see them again at the end of my mission.

So, I'm in a new area called Las Galeras! I its awesome here. The ward here helps the missionaries more than I have every seen in my life. It was an awesome experience to see the members of the ward actually helping us with the work. Because of this, we have almost 8 baptismal dates! We are going to be working hard to help the people change their lives!

So about me... I'm okay, healthy and normal. So don't worry about that mom! Our house is just like the other one, perfect for missionaries. I hope everything is going great in Alabama!

With lots of love!
-Elder Wilson

1/26/2015

Hello Everyone!

So this last week was awesome! Elder Pastenes and I really focused on teaching our new converts so that they could go to the temple with us on Saturday to do baptisms and confirmations. We had about 20 lessons with them. It was really great and the highlight of this week is: we got permission from President Erickson to go to the temple with our investigators!!! There are lots of pictures on dropbox, I hope... The internet is really slow today, so you might have to wait till next Saturday.  The temple was amazing! It's really beautiful outside and inside. Our converts told us that they had an amazing time at the temple and that they want to come back and do more! This makes me really happy!  I realized that it's extremely important that we take our converts to the temple before they get sealed to do baptisms and confirmations. When they go to the temple they're going to feel the spirit and they're going to gain a stronger testimony of the gospel. So  I'm going to work with my converts a different way now. Im going to work with them so that they're going to the temple before they get sealed. So they become familiar with it.

We also had a baptism this week. I hope pictures get put on the dropbox but the internet is really slow today. Soooooo maybe. But the baptim service was great and she told us that she felt amazing afterwards. So I now have 11 baptisms in this area. We can really see that the lord gives us ways to move the work a long. God gives us the greatest oportunities, but we have to take the responsibility to actually do it. Thats our job as misionaries. To work our hardest with the oportunities that the Lord gives us. 

So yeah, this week is transfers, Im pretty sure Elder Pastenes is going to leave and that I'm going to show the area around to a new District leader and then I'll leave to go to other important things. But it's possible that I could leave and he could stay. Well find out soon enough. The next week I might be in another part of Peru, but I've had some great experiences here in the Magnolias Ward and have had some times that I will never forget. I don't regret at all coming on this mission. I've learned so much about so many different things. If you have the oportunity to serve. Do it. You will not regret it at all. 

Well I'm healthy and everythings normal.

I hope everythings great in the states!

Love you guys a lot!

-Elder Wilson 

1/19/2015

Hello Family and all,

I do not have much time to write you, but everything is fine here in Peru. During the week we taught many new lessons and taught many of our recent converts. Also, we baptized one of our investigators. I am very happy that he made the decision to be baptized. There are pictures on Dropbox. During this coming week we may have a baptism, but not sure yet, we will know next week.

This week it is possible that president will give us permission to go to the temple with our converts this Saturday. I hope that we can get permission. I want to go to the Lima temple because I have not seen this temple yet.

I hope you can improve your health and everything will be fine in Alabama. Always remember to say your prayers and read the Book of Mormon. It is SUPER important that you do that! Check out all the pictures to know what happened this week!

Thanks for all your prayers and love,
-Elder Wilson

1/12/15

Hello family!

 I only have 10 minutes to write you, so this letter will be a bit small.

During the week we taught a lot of people and found a family of 15 less actives and five investigators.  We have found a golden home! Yeah! We will work with them so they can repent and draw closer to God through our message. They have the desire to change their lives, but it is important that they put their part at it.

We will have a baptism this week! Sister Jean-Franko! She is the child of one of our converts, Sister Daysi! I am grateful for the opportunity to baptize in the gospel of Jesus Christ! The baptismal service will happen this Saturday at 7 in the evening! I am very happy for that!

So I ate something different during week  ... We were helping an investigator clean their house and they this gave us Duck Soup! Yum!  but this soup was not normal soup. It was super different because it had EVERY part of the duck! Head, heart, stomach, and everything, EVERYTHING, kinda gross, but I ate all that they gave me.

I hope everything is well in the US. I've heard things and I hope you are well! Transfers are close! They will happen in like 2 weeks! That fast! Probably, I will go to another area of the mission, but I may  spend another change here in the Magnolias area! During this week we will have interviews with President Erickson! I am excited to talk to him!

I love you a lot!
-Elder Wilson

1/5/2015

Hola Familia!

What's up! Well, I do not have much time to write this letter, so I'll write in English! Lucky for you guys! My English isn't very good anymore, so I don't like to write in it! Thank you so much for your prayers! We were able to baptize one of our investigators. Hermana Jazmine! Im really happy that she was able to be baptized! There are pictures on dropbox. During the week we taught lots of people and found some new investigators.

This week in the mission we are working with one of our investigators so they can be baptized in 2 weeks. We don't have anyone for this week, but thats okay! We are going to work really hard in the Barrio Magnolias! I have 9 baptisms right now, my goal before I leave this area is to have 10.

We started going to a gym every morning, so hopefully I can gain back a little more muscle, I was still able to push more than my body weight on the bench press so thats nice!

It looks like you guys had quite a week! A new cat, that's so awesome! Tell Carter not to worry about his talk on Sunday, tell him to just call the people to repentance and he'll be fine.

The pictures you guys posted look awesome! I definitely miss the woods, here theres just dirt. Haha! I think those photos are from Stone Door?

So new year's eve here was awesome! Literally, every person in Lima shot off fireworks.... it was crazy!!! I will show you guys the videos when i come home!

Remember to say your prayers, read the Book of Mormon, and to do your family home evenings!

I hope that you guys have a wonderful week I'm always praying for you guys!

Love you guys a lot

-Elder Wilson

12/29/14

Hello Family!

Hope all is well!  We had a baptism on Saturday! It was really great and bit a different! My companion and I had to be in the font because she is too large for one person to lift out of the water.  It was kind of hard to bring her up out of the water, but all is okay!  I hope everything is great! Christmas here was awesome! At night they shot off tons of fireworks. It was crazy, Lima exploded!! Yeah, so that's really all there is to say! Remember to say your prayers, read your scriptures, do family home evening, and go to church!  My email will be longer next week because this week you guys already know everything that has happened.

During this week we are going to try to have a baptism, I'm not 100% sure that will happen, but were going to try our best! We are teaching many people so that they may be baptized in the month of January! I want my companion and I to be able to reach the mission goal again this month! I am excited, and I'm ready to teach people!

I had the opportunity to watch the new Bible videos, or at least some of them! They’re fantastic!

I love you guys!
-Elder Wilson