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

September 1

This week was obviously awesome with the visit from Elder Christofferson. His visit was super spiritual. He came with Elder Waddell from the 1st quorum of the seventy and Elder Soares, from the presidency of the seventy. All three of them are wonderful, wise, loving men and great examples. I was super attent on Elder Christofferson the whole time though, because obviously it´s no that often you see an apostle that close. It was kind of funny though, Elder Christofferson said something like "everyone gets super excited when the apostles visit because there are only 12 of us, so I guess it´s rare. But imagine that there are only 7 men in the presidency of the 70, so Elder Soares is less likely to visit than we are." It was super funny.

Elder and Sister Waddell spoke first, and he always compares the atonement to the mission. It was hard for Christ. He even didn´t want to do it. But he did it for love. That´s how we should be. An angel appeared to strengthen Him, and they strengthen us too. The best part was a question he asked "If there are so few people in the world who can hear an apostle, why does the Lord want me to be here right now?" Really made me think.

Sister Soares said a ton of awesome things but my favorite part was a line she said "Missionary work isn´t a sacrifice, but a privilege." I loved it because she put into words what I have been feeling for a long time now about my missionary calling. She talked about how sometimes we are like the man in 2 Chronicles 25:2, in that we don´t give all our heart to the work. I decided to give all my heart to the work by improvimg my ability to treasure up the words of the scriptures. Those who served missions, what did you do to have meaningful studies when you stuy the same doctrine every day? I study for the people I will teach that day but sometimes I feel like the study is super repetitive and not too meaningful. What can you suggest?

Elder Soares gave an awesome talk about how we are called to represent Christ, so we have to live that way. He told us to study/know/treasure the doctrine in our hearts, and be obedient. D&C 11:6,18,20,21.

Sister Christofferson shared a great story I hadn´t heard before, from 2 Kings 4:1-7.

Then came Elder Christofferson, who gave like a 5 minute talk and then opened up to questions. Really that was my best learning because while he was talking I learned from the Spirit. He talked a bit about when he was called to be an apostle. I learned that the only really important element in having success is charity, which we only get when we ask God for it. He described true conversion in a great phrase, something like the tempations that were once very strong to us become so weak that they don´t even appeal to us anymore. I have seen that with a lot of things in my life and I hope to see it with a lot more. He gave us a couple apostolic blessings too. He blessed us to be able to receive according to our desires. He blessed us that if we ask God if He is happy with our missionary service, He will answer and we will recognize His response. He said that if we don´t feel the answer, we can remind God that His apostle made a promise and expect an answer. I tried it once this week but I didn´t get far because when I knelt down to ask, my heart filled with joy, tears filled my eyes, and instead of asking I just thanked God for sending me here. I love the Saviour and I love serving Him. Sister Soares said that if we want to know the Lord, we should serve Him. If we want to know Him better, we should serve Him better. Through my mission, I have known the Saviour so much better than before because I have served Him better than before.

Well I´m out of time to write a lot about my week, but yesterday we did a great fast wth Jesus and Stephany to get their parents´ permission for baptism. I expect to see some great miracles this week. An investigator we have named María went to church too, she wants to get baptized and we think she can easily be ready by the 20th. She just feels that the only thing that was missing to be ready was to have more constancy in going to church, and then she went to church yesterday and she should be getting ready.

I love you all and hope you are doing great in school. I´m on perpetual summer break, even though the rainy season rolled around again (just about time too, the drought was getting pretty bad).

Love,

Elder Wilson

Elder Wilson

August 25

we went to the huge local soccer stadium with the zone leader and two members

Well the first thing that I should probably say is a huge piece of news that I have been forgetting to tell you all. Elder Christofferson is coming to the mission this week for a mission conference. I am super excited to hear from an apostle of the Lord. I´ll make sure to send a lot of great detail about what he said in my letter next week. I pray to be spiritually prepared and to be able to put in practice everything that he says.

To answer your question Dad yes I am still a district leader and my district is almost identical to the old one. There are 8 missionaries, 2 of which are sisters and 2 of which are the zone leaders. It´s been a lot easier here because really the work doesn´t have as many problems to work out in the wards as it did in the branches where I was district leader before. It´s kind of funny because the sisters in the district are super great and super hard workers. They always have by far the best numbers in the district so I always say I can´t tell them things to get better on since they do better than I in almost everything haha. But really it´s awesome to see their example. One of them is 29 years old and she´s great.

Today was kind of cool because I went back to Ciudadela for a couple hours to buy a new bag, and it was super strange for me to walk around my old area a bit. Since the stadium is right there, we went in for free for a couple minutes and took a couple pictures. I don´t know why I never went while it was in my area for 5 months.

As far as the two youth that I mentioned in the last letter, Jesus and Stefani, they really really want to get baptized but can´t get their parents to agree. We read with them 1 Nephi 3 and 4 to help them see how persistent they have to be, and how they can´t get discouraged while they fight to do what the Lord commands. But we told them that they can´t solution the problem in the same way that Nephi did :). On Saturday we are going to do a fast with them. Please pray for the a lot this week.

Other than that we are working with a few other people. I think we should be having a few baptisms soon, I´ll keep you all posted as the dates get closer. I love you all and am super happy to be here representing the Lord in Colombia.

Love,

Elder Wilson

August 18

Well this week was transfers and they made me leave Baranoa. Even though it was really hard there, I loved the work there more than any other area in my mission and I was super sad to go. I made really good friends with the branch president while I was there, and the morning of transfers he came to our house, gave me a picture mirage (I think that`s how you say it) of me and him and his family, and then went with us to Barranquilla. It was a super sad moment for me. 

The good news is that I have already seen 2 people from Baranoa in my new area, because I`m now in the area where Sundays we meet in the stake center of the stake El Carmen. The ward is called Alfonso Lopez and we are the only missionaries in the ward, my companion and I. My companion is named Elder Richardson and he`s great. He`s from Washington. He just got out of training, but his trainer was also from the USA and they always spoke English, so he really doesn`t know Spanish yet, poor guy. So we are working on his Spanish. I always speak to him in Spanish.

It`s super weird and cool for me to be here, since it`s my third area in this stake. Ciudadela was also here. In fact, on Sunday there was a stake choir meeting and I saw 9 people from Ciudadela and 2 from Baranoa. In October I will have passed 1 year in this stake. It`s funny because if you look at my mission it`s big and there are lots of areas, but I have just been in a super tiny part of it all this time.

There are a lot of great people here in Alfonso Lopez. There is a 19 year old person named Yalissa who has been listening to the missionaries for about 3 months now. She always goes to Institute and goes to church every week. But she hasn`t accepted a baptismal date yet because she just isn`t sure yet that it`s the right thing to do. But when I met her a really felt that with just a tiny bit of patience she can develop the faith to get baptized.

There are also a couple youth (siblings) named Jesus and Stefani. They are also great, they have been going to church for a long time, but their parents won`t let them get baptized yet. Plus they sometimes tell them things that make them doubt their testimony. The other day Jesus said "once I prayed and I knew without doubt it was the right thing to do but then they talked to me about it and now I`m confused." So we are going to help them develop their testimony again. We talked to their mom yesterday and she`s a great person, just that in her church she has to go through a huge process of more than a year to get baptized, so she doesn`t see how they can do it after just a couple months. But we are going to work hard with the ward youth leaders to help their parents.

Wow I feel weird in a ward with a chapel, in Barranquilla again where all the streets are paved, and there`s a bishop and the missionaries don`t have to do everything anymore. My last sunday in Baranoa the president asked me like 2 minutes before the meeting to give a talk about tithing, and it went great. That will never happen here.

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

Elder Wilson

August 11

This week has been a lot better than the last few weeks. First off, we found a lot of new investigators who really seem excited about getting ready for a baptism. I remember one person we met is named José Redondo. He is 22 years old and he went to church once because his friend brought him. We finally talked to him this week, and we taught a little about the Doctrine of Christ. While we were talking about baptism, the spirit came super strong so we left off what we were teaching and invited him to get baptized the 13th of September. He accepted and including asked God in his prayer to help him be ready for baptism by that day. Few times in my mission have I seen such sincerity and desire when they accept a baptismal date. 

Another time when we were walking we heard a ton of kids calling us,. I usually just ignore it because they just yell "monkey" at me (here they call white people monkeys, I have no idea why) but my companion paid attention. THey said that a lady wanted to talk to us. Her name is María Esperanza, and she told us that she has been looking for the true church for a long time. she has been going often to a couple different churches, but she doesn´t know how to decide between the two so she prays all the time to know the truth. Then when she saw us she felt really curious and called us over. So this week has really been full of feeling the spirit. 

The best part happened yesterday in church. I was feeling a little sad because transfers are this week, and I think I´ll probably leave Baranoa. I was a little sad because sometimes I get down because I haven´t had much success with baptisms here. But then, during the actual sacrament, I was able to look around and see a lot of people there who didn´t go to church when i got here. The Spirit filled my heart and I knew that God was really happy with my efforts, because I have never worked so hard in my mission. I have seen a lot of success with less active families, and it is awesome to see them feel the joy of the gospel again in their lives. Especially in the families where just a couple were less active and the rest of the family was firm in the gospel. They get so happy when everyone´s back again.

I love you all and hope you have/had a great week.

Elder Wilson

August 4

Well first off family I want to apologize because today I don´t have much time to write since we are going to do an activity as a district. I´ll give more details next week and pictures but we are going to like a wildlife park with a tour guide and all, it will be awesome.

This week we have been starting to find some more investigators to work with, so that has bveen awesome. We really need help to find people with a strong interest. Wek found a young man named José Palacio who is 19 years old. He is super excited and went to church after we taught him just one time (plus he went alone). He even presented us to his friends. But the problem is that he always travels between here and another part of Colombia, and sometimes passes months at a time over there. He leaves again tomorrow so we will see what we can do there. 

The branch is in a pretty serious condition. There are some families who were super active when I got here but are distancing themselves a little. The branch mission leader doesn´t like to meet with us right now, so we are trying to work that out. Covey siad once that his specialty was working with church leaders, do you have any ideas? The challenge is that he doesn´t have a job so is always super busy looking for something to give to his family to eat.

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

Elder Wilson