October 27

district activity, we went to a museum

This week we had a great stake conference that was half by the stake presidency and half by Elder Nash and Elder Pino from the 1st quorum of the 70, sister Wixon, and Elder Holland. They talked a lot about tithing since the area really has a hard time paying their tithig. There were a few great stories told, like one by Elder Holland. He talked about a family in Mongolia who heard from the missionaries forever ago. They didn't know how to read English, and back then the Book of Mormon wasn't translated yet into Mongol. So The missionaries talked about Jesus Christ, adn since they had a different religion, they didn't have a testimony of our Savior. The missionaries translated by hand one verse form the Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 11:10, and the family read it and prayed and got their testimony. They were baptized a little after and spent years faithfully in the church even until the Book of Mormon was published in Mongol. I really liked that story because it talked about the power that prayer and the holy ghost have, combined with the Book of Mormon, to strengthen people´s faith in our savior and in the restored gospel.

Elder Nash also told a great story about one time when he went fishing and his dad told him that when the bobber moved, he had to yank on the pole to get the hook in the fish's mouth. He did so and yanked so hard that the fish flew out of the water and landed on the ground behind him. He talked about how sometimes, we may feel as out of context as that fish must have felt in that moment, and the importance of staying in places where we can be strengthened so that that won't happen to us spiritually.

In awesome news Yalissa Rodriguez finally decided to get baptized, and the date is this Saturday, November 1st, at 2PM. I would really be grateful for your prayers this week so that she can arrive fine to her baptism and her confirmation, to make that covenent with God.

In other news, I was finally able to run a 5K this week after a few weeks of working up to it, I'm proud of it because in the mission I can't really push myself that hard to run in case I get too tired to work well the rest of the day. So I did a 5K without pushing myself too hard. Before the mission I pushed myself harder to just run a half mile. I have a friend who wants me to run a half marathon when I'm back, we'll see about that...

Well I love you all and hope you enjoyed your trip to DISNEYLAND without me... no but really I'm not that bitter about it.

Love,

Elder Wilson

October 20

Well this week we couldn´t go to the beach because we were trying to go as a zone and president Searle didn´t give us permission to all go. I might try again for a couple weeks off because we can go, just the problem was trying to go as a zone.

This week we had interviews with president Searle, always an excellent experience. By some of the questions he was asking, I think I should be getting transferred in November but I´m not sure. Last night we had a fireside for the ward here and President came and spoke with his wife. It was really great. I lot of members went and President really motivated them to keep participating in missionary work. We are going to do a lot of follow-up with some of the things he said to make sure it brings fruits. 

Sometimes I don´t know what to say in my letters because each week is basically the same as the last. But I´ll share a couple great experiences and a couple funny ones. Funny first. On Sunday we went to pass by some guy who promised us that he would go to church with us. When we got there, we saw that he was super drunk. It wasn´t the first time we had seen him like that; in fact we made him promise that he wouldn´t drink that morning. So I just really quickly told him that he couldn´t go with us that day because it isn´t good to go to church drunk. He got super mad at me and started yelling at us about how Jesus came to save sinners and not just perfect people, including he told me that he liked my companion better than me, and a ton of stuff like that. Encounters with drunk people are always kind of funny, but also I felt really sad that he was so much a slave of his addiction that he coudln´t go one morning without drinking to go to church.

Yesterday we had two new people at church, Juan Montero and Edgardo Estrada. When we found Edgardo for the first time, he was just talking to us about how churches these days are all just a business, and that all they care about is making people pay "tithing", which for the people here means give the preacher money for him to keep himself, not use for the church like with real tithing. So anyways, yesterday was a bishopric "special sacrament meeting" and the whole bishopric talked about tithes and offerings, and the importance of always paying them. I was dying the whole time because I could see that Edgardo was just thinking once again a church begging for money haha. So we´ll have to fix that all up this week. The area here is really concerned because a lot of people don´t pay tithing and don´t fast or give offerings, so they added a requirement for baptism that we have to teach a special lesson about tithing and also to less-actives. It really is a special commandment that brings a lot of blessings, and I am glad for the opportunity that I have had to pay tithing.

The good experience for this week was yesterday after church we went out with a recent convert to bring the sacrament to a few people. One was a lady in the ward who is really awesome. When we contact in her block everyone says that they have been to the church before since she has brought them. Now she has problems with her nerves and has a lot of panic attacks. We gave her a blessing. The convert is just a priest and put his hands on her head to give the blessing too and I had to explain that he couldn´t yet haha. But then we went to the hospital where the convert´s mom is sick and we blessed her there. I loved that experience to serve and I felt gratitude for the priesthood.

Well I hope you all enjoyed Disneyland, I´m just a little jealous about it.

Love,

Elder Wilson

October 6

This week was obviously awesome because of general conference. I loved to hear the words of the apostles and prophet, as well as the other general authorities who spoke. What I want to share about the conference isn't so much what I learned, because I know you all watched it too, but what I felt. First off, I felt very strongly the Spirit which testified to me that Thomas S Monson is God's chosen prophet and that the church is true. Second, I felt gratitude for the atonement and for the opportunity that I heave to be a missionary in His name. I felt love for the people and a huge desire to become better as a missionary. I felt that I need to be a little more diligent and always strive to keep strengthening my testimony, because a testimony isn´t something you have or don't have but something you always strengthen, like charity or virtue or whatever christlike attrubute. And I felt rejuvenated to keep working again in this work.

I saw just about everyone from Ciudadela in the conference, since it's in this same stake. It was great to see Eva Ruiz and Pedro Ascencio, 2 converts from there. Eva is awesome. She told me about how she is the second counselor in the relief society, and sometimes she gives classes. She feels glad for the opportunity to serve and learn, but also humbled because she doesn't know much about the church and she can hardly read. She is getting ready to go to the temple to do her own work and work for her ancestors this december. She has since shared the gospel with a few youth who work in her pizzeria, who also got baptized and were with her at conference.

Pedro is also doing great. He was there with his wife, who he has plans to get sealed to soon, and his brother, his brother's wife, and his brother's daughter, all of whom I taught too and who have since gotten baptized. Pedro is the Elder's quorum president there and is of course super happy in the church. I was almost crying when I saw them all there. I didn't see Pedro at first but he came up to me and gave me a huge hug and dragged me over to his family and told me how they're doing. It was great. Plus of course all the converts and less active members I taught a lot while I was there. Now I just have to plead with President Searle to be able to go eat lunch with them on P-day sometime.

Well I love you all and hope you are doing great. I keep you in my prayers.

Elder Wilson

Sept 29

part of my zone after a zone activity

peeling a zapote (a fruit we have here)

bowling!

This week was pretty awesome, God blessed us for all our excessive efforts to find new investigators and we were able to find a new investigator who went to church after just a single lesson. That´s always good to see. Also a ton of less-active recent converts from the ward who went to church again. Also general conference this week, I can't wait.

This area is a lot different than my other areas because the people here have had the missionaries here for a super long time. Like everyone knows who we are and what the message says. And it is really hard to get someone to listen. In Baranoa, my last area, just about anyone would listen to the message, but here no. They say they're busy so we decide on another time to come by. Then when we go by they hide from us or they aren't there and stuff like that. So it has been super hard for us to find new investigators. For example, while we walk we talk to people in the street. This week we made about 40 street contacts and about 10 accepted to listen, and of those 10 about 4 turned into investigators. We felt super blessed this week to get 6 new investigators in the week. We do everything - contact, look for the old investigators (the ones who used to listen to the message before), work with members to find, and try to complete part-member families. But I know that we will keep getting more investigators. The new bishop already gave us like 3 part-member family referrals.

The good things in this area are the less-active members. There are a few of them who are really progressing in the gospel. My whole mission has been like that and I've loved it. Really few things make me more happy than seeing a family come back to church and become excited about the gospel again.

I know that this church is true. There have been so many times in my life where I have felt exausted and worn-down, but through prayer I have felt the Lord's love and strength. I know that when we take the sacrament as administered by priesthood authority we can be forgiven our sins and have the spirit with us. I have a very strong testimony of temples. I haven't been able to go to one for more than a year and I really miss it. I plan on going the day after I'm back with you all because I know that it is truly the house of the Lord and that there you can love Him and worship Him without the distractions of the world. I know that the Savior died for us and that He took upon Him all our trials and sorrows, to be able to succor us. I know that the scriptures can answer every question.

Well family I hope you are all doing well and that you have a great week.

Elder Wilson

September 22

This week we had a ward conference and they changed the Bishop here in alfonso Lopez. The new bishop was the Elders' quorum president and he is going to be an excellent bishop. We already had a meeting with him and with the ward missionaries, and he put them all to work. It was great to see that the bishop has a desire to help the work along, and that he has already received the mantle of bishop. It was evident that he was already receiving revelation from God.

Other than that, the week was good. We are a little sad because Yalissa decided not to get baptized this Saturday after all. She is just really scared of failing in her baptismal covenant. I have seen this so many times now in mny mission that I am really looking for revelation to know how to prevent this. Sometimes the people we teach have a super strong testimony and are super excited, and then they delay their baptism and delay and delay and then they start to miss church and then they aren't interested anymore. It seems to be a common problem in the ward, since when we talk with people in the street they often say oh yeah I used to go to that church but I never got baptized. When I ask why they stopped going they say because they got bored. The people in my area are a little hard against missionaries but that just makes the work even more satisfactory.

It has rained a ton here this week. When it rains in Barranquilla, the streets fill with water and turn into huge, running rivers. They can even carry cars down the street that's how big the rivers get. It rains really hard and there isn't an underground sewage system or anything. It's crazy, and king of annoying because I'm always having to change my shoes in the day. I came with 3 pairs of shoes and I still have 2 left. One that should break soon and the other in pretty good condition. I think I might have to take some money out soon to buy new shoes and send my shirts to a seamstress to make them smaller again. My companion likes to run in the morning so I've been doing a great excercise lately. This week I hit the 2 miles running mark, but the goal is a 5K (3.1 miles). I should get there pretty quickly. I just have a horrible mile time for now haha.

As of now I'm still eating lunches with the members but that'll change next week when the mission sends us money to pay for the lunches too. I'm pretty sad about the change of rule but I guess it's for the best if it's from my leaders. In fact, it's fom the area presidency I heard. 

As for the pictures I promised, I have a lot but I can`t access them in the computer I'm at so I'll have to send them next week. Sorry. But I will send a picture my companion sent me of a part of my zone after an activity we played today. We played a more missionary-appropriate version of truth or dare that was pretty fun. The worst I had to do was run the length of the gym with my eyes closed, but I did it successfully without hitting anything.

Well I love you all and I hope you have a great week.

Elder Wilson

September 15

This week has been a great week, but quite a lot like all the other weeks of my mission. I love being here and I'm super glad that I still have a long time left, but really I am starting to feel a little bit like I am the same yesterday, today, and forever. The good news is that I got permission to go do some visits with the branch president from Baranoa here in my area, since he'll be here in Barranquilla and we can meet up to work together for a couple hours. That will be a great experience.

I suppose I'll just talk a little about the work. But more in general. I feel like it's a super amazing time for me to be here on my mission. When I was in the CCM the first presidency for the first time came out with the hastening the work theme. So I have had the huge privilege of seeing how missionary work has changed during my time. Our mission president showed us a few awesome statistics. Last year we were baptizing about 100 or more people each month, but lately we have been baptizing about 40 or so. Last year, the attendance at sacrament meeting was about the same all year long, but this year it has been climbing by more than 100 each month. We have been retaining almost all the converts and rescuing a ton of less active members. We focus a ton on family history work as well - an investigator can't get baptized until he has begun to work on his family history and fill out the booklet My Family. Which reminds me I would still love it if you could send me once in a while a story about my great grandparents to fill out my book. I already filled out a great story that grandpa sent me about Melvin J Taylor and I want to keep working to be an example for the members and investigators. I just can't get on family search for now, where I know that all the data is.

I am learning a lot about how to make my teaching even better. This week I plan to buy a small whiteboard to use to teach certain principles. I love teaching the gospel so I am anxious to use whatever resource I can to get people to really understand. I am learning a lot about how to work with the ward leaders. It has been hard for me to adjust to being in an experienced ward after having been in a branch for so long. I have had to learn a lot about how to take full advantage of the ward mission leader and ward missionaries, instead of just having to do it all myself. And I know that there is a lot left for me to learn. For example, this week we had a zone conference and the stake president from this stake talked. He talked a lot about how to really strengthen the wards, and he told us that for a ward in this stake to grow, it has to be divided into 4 sectors, and all the visits within the sector have to be independent. Or in other words, no one from sector one can go visit in sector 3 for example. Then each sector is strengthened and can grow to be a ward. It's a cool technique that he is going to try, and he says it has worked before. I am excited to see how it goes. They really are making huge strides to help the missionaries work hand in hand with the members.

Well I love you all and hope you are having a great time and that your studies are going well.

Love,

Elder Wilson

PS I'm about to go bowling with my district, I get you pics next week.

September 8

This week was a week where we worked a lot and received a lot of blessings. It has been a little hard because we had three days in a row where no one listened to us. We arrived at houses where we had an appointment scheduled and they would say, no I can`t right now, or someone else would say that they weren`t home, stuff like that. So then we would talk to people in the street but they weren`t interested, stuff like that. We really felt that we have to work better with the members to find new investigators, since the people here are not as willing to listen as they were in Baranoa.

But the blesings have been great. We have 4 people who should get baptized this month. One is named Maria Carolina. She has a baptismal date for the 20th of this month and is progressing a lot. She told us yesterday that she heard about baptisms for the dead in church and wanted us to explain it to her, so she should get towork on the My Family bookle this week. Do they use that booklet there in Utah? Have you all filled it out?

Jesus and Stephany Martinez have a date for the 27th. They still haven`t got their parents`permission but we think that they can do it before then. we made up I game called "How strong is your desire to get baptized?" It was my idea, so that explains a lot. The game is that they try to get baptizsed the 27th. They have to read the Book of Mormon every day, go to church every week, ask God to help them get permission, and talk to their parents about their desire. If they do it, we'll have like a party after their baptism. After the fast they did, we feel like this game will help them receive a miracle from the Lord for their baptism (D&C 123:17). But we would really appreciate your prayers to help their parents give them permission. They have no problem with us teaching them or with their kids going to church, but they just don't like the idea of them getting baptized, because the mom goes to a church where the members have to go through a huge program that can last over a year to qualify for baptism. She`s not even baptized yet. We shared with her Acts 8:26-39 to help her see the truth, and she really had to think about that one a lot.

Also for the 27th is Yalissa Rodriguez. Y is like J here. Jalissa. She has listened forever and always goes to Institute, but she finally accepted a date this week. She's kind of funny because she always tells us that she's not sure she'll get baptized that day, etc. but she tells members about her baptism the 27th and even signed up to be a cousellor for EFY in January. Her friends told her she has to be baptized to do it, and she said oh dont worry I'll get baptized this month. So it's kind of confusing but she`s great.

This week the mission made a change in a few rules that are sad. That added more rules about what we can and cannot eat that are so hard to follow that we aren't allowed to eat lunch with the members anymore. We have to make like a contract with one person who can meet all the rules and make us lunch every day. Also they require breakfast and dinner contracts as well, so we aren't even allowed to make our own breakfast. I'm just sad about not eating anymore with the members because all the members got upset when we told them. They like us to be in their homes and they know that they get blessed when they sacrifice to make us luinch. But I know that it's for a reason that they changed it so I was happy to look for a contract already.

Things are great with Elder Richardson, he's learning a lot of Spanish and the members always comment on his progress. He's helping me a lot too; he likes to run so we go jogging 3 times a week. I'm currently going aobut 1.5 miles each time, but I have the goal to be able to do a 5k. I think it's a ton easier to run on sea level than in Utah, so we'll see where I'm at when I'm back.

I love you all,

Elder Wilson