Hola Familia,

You guys have had quite a great, busy Easter week last week! I think it's awesome that you guys were able to do that cool Easter stuff! Here in Peru there are chocolate eggs and the Easter bunny, but the majority of people don't do that. Rather the people dance around crosses and get drunk. It's really different, but hey it's their culture, and in my opinion, some cultures are false traditions of their father and need to be stopped! Why? Because you can't go into the Kingdom of God drinking a Buena Chela. (Slang for Beer) Cry all you want, you just can't! God doesn't allow it. If our will is not in line with the will of the Lord, we need to be humble and change so that its in agreement with that of the Lord's. That's why some traditions need to be stopped or changed.

It's sad to hear about what happened to Brother Dearden. I'm glad to hear that he was able to get to the hospital in time to have the doctor treat him. He will be in my prayers. I hope the his home teachers go and visit him, if they haven't already.

I don't have changes! Looks like I'll be staying here in Independencia for another change! However my companion is leaving and I''m getting a new companion! It's an elder named Elder Lopez. He's from Guayaquil, Ecuador. He's got only a month and a half less than me so it should be super awesome!

Everything is going good! We found a whole bunch of new people to teach and I'm really excited for this week! We found a few more families and I hope everything goes super well.

I'm not sick and I'm happy! I only have 3 changes left in the mission, or 18 weeks. Time really flies- like what the heck!!! I feel like I just started yesterday. I'm just gonna work super hard anyway!

Love you guys a ton!
-Elder Wilson

3/21/2016

Hola Familia,
You guys are having a pretty good time up there in Alabama! That's awesome that the weather is great up there. Down here it's still pretty hot, but i think it's starting to cool down a little bit... we'll see. That's awesome that you guys went up and saw Broadway! I think the only broadway show that I've ever seen was with you guys. We saw Wicked with the Brown family.

It's really true, most of the Prophets and Apostles that have been called, have been called for their obedience to the Lord through times of difficulty and affliction. Th Prophet Job, and Joseph Smith are excellent examples of how the Lord calls and blesses people by obedience to the gospel in afflictions and tests. That's how we progress and that's how we keep going forward. I have seen the churches new Easter video, it's really good, I really enjoyed it a lot.

This past week was pretty good. My companion and I went to the temple! It was really awesome! I saw the the only new video that I hadn't seen before! I learned a lot and felt and heard the Lord through his Holy Spirit. It was an amazing visit. The temple is an amazing place. After the mission, I'm going to go to the temple every week. It's gonna be super awesome! I put pictures on Dropbox.

So everything's going well down here in Lima. There aren't changes this week because this change is the special 7 week change, so next week I might leave or stay. We'll see what the Lord has in store for me! So right now it's the "Semana Santa" or Holy Week. The majority of people get drunk and dance around a cross. Sometimes I really don't understand Peru. We, as the "gringachos" and "mormones" have to put up with them calling us over and talking to us, saying VERY inappropriate things. They say that they're sorry for drinking, and then we call them unto repentance, tell them we're going to come visit them, and leave. Its funny.... well kind of.

Well I'm not sick and I'm really happy!!
Love you guys a lot!

-Elder Wilson

3/14/2016

Hola Familia,

Well it seems like you guys have had a great week up there in Alabama. I saw the 2 videos of the band concert! The music sounded super great! It seems like you guys are all nice and busy up there.

I don't have very much time to write you guys, but I'll give you guys a brief description of what's going on. Last Monday we went to the only amusement park in our mission! It was really awesome! There was a little zoo there and a bunch of cool rides. It was really fun and really helped unify the zone! It was sweet! I put lots of photos of cool flowers that exist in the jungle here in Peru and a bunch of animals. There are pictures of llamas and monkeys and lots of really awesome looking parrots. You should check it out! 

During the week we worked like normal, and finally we were able to help the man we're teaching accept a date for baptism for the 26th of this month. We're gonna work hard with him so that he keeps progressing. He's just about stopped drinking alcohol. He says that sometimes on Sunday he drinks, but he's not getting drunk, so that's the good thing. He used to get drunk 4 to 5 times a week. Now he only drinks on Sunday and doesn't get drunk! That is some huge progress. All of this progress is made possible through and ONLY through the atonement of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Without him, we can't even get better, at anything. Thank you so much for your prayers, now pray harder, because Satan is going to attack extremely hard. Satan doesn't like when people start to follow Jesus Christ.

 During my study this week I read chapter 28 of 2 Nephi. It made me really think of the verses that are found in Moses were it talks about how Lucifer wanted to destroy the agency of man. When you read in chapter 28, you find out how he was going to destroy it. He wasn't going to FORCE us to obey, nor were we going to be robots programmed to follow the commandments, What Satan really was going to do is take away the consequences for sinning. Or in other words, you can sin and live a horrible life, and think you will be saved anyway. Look at the scripture mastery that's in that chapter.( It's at the bottom, I highlighted the parts where it talks about lucifer's plan to destroy the agency of man).

Well I'm out of time!

Love you guys a lot!

-Elder Wilson 

7 Yea, and there shall be many which shall say: Eat, drink,and be merry, for tomorrow we die; and it shall be well with us.

 8 And there shall also be many which shall say: Eat, drink,and be merry; nevertheless, fear God—he will justify in committing a little sin; yea, lie a little, take the advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbor; there is no harm in this; and do all these things, for tomorrow we die; and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God.

3/7/2016

Hola Familia,

Well it seems like you guys have had quite a great week up there in Alabama. I think it's great that you guys are finally recovering from all the colds you've been having!

Down here in Lima Peru the work is progressing and things are looking good. This week was full of teaching, contacting and getting to know the investigators that the other members of the zone are teaching. It's really cool to be able to teach all the people here in the zone and get to know them and see how they progress and stuff. You do have to sacrifice a lot of your own personal time in your own area, but you get to see the work progress in all the others. It's amazing.

So, I have some amazing news! 1 year and 2 months ago, Elder Pastenes and I baptized an 19 year old girl named Ruby. This last Sunday I went back to my first ward to do some interviews with investigators that the elders have up there and I saw her and asked her how she is doing. She tells me, "Well, this Tuesday I'm leaving to go on my mission to Arequipa, Peru!" I was just overcome with joy and happiness to see one of my converts progress and then go on a mission! She received her call about 2 months ago, and she's leaving tomorrow. I think that's so awesome. I think experiences like these help me to understand how our Heavenly Father feels when we progress and achieve important things in our lives- like baptism, the mission, temple, and temple marriage. It just makes you feel happy, and it doesn't go away! That was definitely the highlight of my week!

Well we're still working with our investigator. He's progressing, but still needs a lot of help. Losing an addiction can be tough, but it's definitely worth it. So keep praying and I know he'll get baptized this month.

Love you guys a lot!
-Elder Wilson

2/29/2016

Hola Familia,

Happy Leap day! It seems like you guys have had quite a great week. I saw the pictures that you guys put up on dropbox. It seems like Lily and Clara had quite a fun time at the winter festival. Here in Peru it's summer and it's really hot and humid outside. That's so awesome that Maddie is gonna come out with me to BYU-I! It's gonna be super awesome! Meeting new people and making new friends is a great experience as well, helps you grow a lot as a person. It's awesome!! Mom Please don't put me for early morning classes. If they could start at 9 in the morning that would be wonderful. I've already tried doing it before, and well it didn't work to well. So.... I already know what's going to happen if I do it again! hahahaha!

Down here in Lima Peru, the work of the Lord is progressing. This past week we had 3 baptisms in the zone. So we're going to end this month with 16 baptisms! We're extremely grateful for what the Lord has helped us to achieve and were extremely excited to work even harder to baptize even more people in March. In March we already have 4 people that are going to get baptized, and we have a lot of potential for this coming month. Elder Brown and I are going to work extremely hard to set a good goal and achieve it. It's going to be super cool. Being a Zone leader is a ton of work! We never have nothing to do, EVER. If there's nothing going on in our area, there's always something to do in another area. It's really cool because you get to meet all the people that the other missionaries are teaching. I've met lots of cool people and interviewed lots of cool people. I'm really enjoying it.

In our area we're still teaching the older man and his son. It's going well. He has a small problem with drinking and were trying to help him fully repent of that sin. He has really stopped drinking a lot. Basically he's gone from being a drunk in the street everyday to a guy who drinks just a bottle on Sunday... I know Sunday. In Peru Sunday is basically the day where EVERYONE gets drunk. We're really starting to see the Lord work within him. Please pray for him! He's getting close to being baptized. He just needs to stop drinking so much and he'll be good to go!

I love you guys!
-Elder Wilson

2/22/2016

Hola Familia!

Well it seems like you guys have had a pretty normal week up there in the United States! It's about the same down here in Peru. Nothing different really has changed. Just the normal mission stuff is happening- lots of teaching, contacting, baptizing, and reactivation down here in Lima.

I will say this, it's extremely hot outside! There's a tradition that during the month of February everyone plays with water, and of course, gets drunk while doing it. I don't really know if I've ever been able to explain the amount of drinking there is on Sunday! Just about EVERYONE is in the street drinking on Sunday- every single week during the year. It's really sad, but anyway, what's so special about february is that they play with water.

They fill up water balloons, buckets, pools, and water guns- full of water. Then what do they do? Every single person they see, they try to get them soaking wet. Especially the ¨Gringashos and Mormones¨!!! So yesterday I had a few water balloons thrown at me and water thrown at me from a bunch of drunk people. It was really funny and refreshing because it's really hot!! But at the same time you get wet in nice clothes, so it's kind of one of those win-lose situations.

Well the work is going really well in the zone of Independencia! This last weekend we had 8 baptismes in the zone! So as of now we have 13 baptisms! Thats already 1 more than we had last month and we still have baptisms for this week! So were going to work super hard so that we can get even more than 13! But yeah the mission is really awesome.

Right now we're teaching a really cool guy and his son. The guy was a drunk that contacted us on the street and the next day we went to his house. He's really cool. He has stopped drinking and has gone to church twice. We're really working with him to help him strengthen his faith in Christ and repent of ALL of his sins. He's basically confessed everything he had done in his life to us and with that information were really able to help him set goals and understand the blessings and consequences of keeping or disobeying the commandments. He should get baptized next month. Please pray for him, he really needs help.

ALWAYS remember that there ARE consequences for committing sins! You can't trick, escape, or run away from them! Have Faith, Repent of your sins, Keep your covenants. If you do it, you will have joy! It's a promise.

Well I love you guys a lot!
-Elder Wilson

2/15/2016

Hola Familia,

Well it seems like you guys have had quite a busy and great week up there in Alabama! That's awesome that you guys were able to see the pictures that I put up! I put up even more this week and they're actually pretty cool pictures! You guys should go look at them, I think you'll like them a lot. (There's a cool sneak peek of where we live and what we eat and drink for breakfast and dinner everyday down here in Lima Peru and a cool Star Wars exhibit here in a very popular mall called Plaza Norte) I will say, this new camera has actually sparked a small interest in taking more pictures. But if I'm going to take more pictures, I'm also hoping to see more pictures from you guys as well.

That is so awesome that Clara is going to be getting baptized here pretty soon. Time really flies by quickly... That's sp nice that Mama Lynne is going to make her a dress for her baptism. It should be really special and I'm sure it'll make her super happy.

So down here in Lima Peru, the work of the lord is progressing greatly! As of right now we have 5 baptisms in the Zona. We have 12 more people to be baptized and a few more people to help get ready to get baptized this month. We're gonna work really hard to help these people to understand the importance of the Savior in their lives so that they will make the decision to follow him and try there best to be more like him everyday. I really like being a Zone leader(even though you don't sleep at all for example, last night I went to bed at 12:30 after getting everyone's numbers and I still have to wake up at 6:30). You get to go around your zone and meet the people that your missionaries are teaching. It's really great! You see how they progressing and the changes that they make to put their lives in line with our Heavenly Father. Its SUPER awesome!

Well that's about it. I'm not sick and I'm doing just fine!
I love you guys a lot!
-Elder Wilson