Monday. July 27. 2015-Week 51

Mi Familia!!!!!

 

Hey yall!! Well this was another serious week of work here in Mission Peru Piura,the best mission in the world, and it sounds like it was another busy week back at home too. Camps and activities and traveling and snow cones.....man I do miss a good snow cone!! You guys really do know how to keep busy!! Dad thanks for your email and all of your sports updates!! It's gonna kill me to miss another whole season of football and lacrosse but hey at least I know a little more about what's going on now. Your rafting trip looked pretty sweet!! That trip was easily one of the best weeks I've had. Rafting and playing that crazy capture the flag war game haha good times. Tate I see that you have officially taken everything that used to be mine and are now using it as your own........interesting tactic but don't worry I only have one year left and then I will be home to beat on you haha.

 

This week was great. To start off we contacted 140 new people in the streets this week and are ready to start visiting the majority of them in their homes!! So thank you for all of your prayers because this week they really helped me to meet some new people. We have been working a ton with Hermana Soledad and she now has a baptism date for 16 of August!! She is really excited but still a little scared so keep on praying for her and I will keep you updated on how she is progressing.

 

This week we had the first half of our interviews with Presidente Rasmussen. Our zone is the biggest one in the whole mission so when we have interviews with the president we have to break it into two parts. 7 companionships the first week and 6 the next week. I didn't have my interview but we had to interview all of the people in our zone after they talked to presidente about how their area is going and they had to show us evidence that they are really working and stuff like that. So ya it all went good but wow it was a long day!! 7 in the morning until 6:30 in the evening!!!! My butt hurt so bad after sitting for that long hahaha!!!! Also that same night we had a big activity in our ward and we watched meet the Mormons. Tons of people showed up including 15 new investigators from our area!!! So now we have even more people to visit!! Life is just going good here in Sullana!! 

Ok so big news...........in August we as a mission are going to be going on a trip to a nearby city called Chiclayo to hear Elder David A. Bednar talk!!!! We get to go listen to a member of the 12 speak!! I was so surprised and excited when we got the news!! So ya pretty much the best 1 year in the mission present ever haha!! 

Ya so with that in mind this week I will be completing my 1 year mark in my mission. I can't believe that I have already been out for so long!! I am already done with half of this journey and it really is a bittersweet moment. This mission has easily been the greatest time of my entire life. It has also been the hardest time in my entire life. I have learned so much in my time here from teaching and studying and living on my own it is just crazy but there is one thing that I have learned more than anything else. I love some of the words of Jesus Christ that He gave to the Nephite people during His time here in the Americas. In 3 Nephi 12:14-16 it says:

 

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, I give unto you to be the light of this people. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Behold, do men light a candle and put it under a bushel? Nay, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light to all that are in the house; Therefore let your light so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven."

 

This scripture has really made a huge difference for me during my time here in Peru as a missionary. I loved my life before my mission and trust me I am going to return to living life after my mission but it will just never be the same now that I know what is my true calling as a literal son of God. My calling is to be a light to this world. A light that can never be put out. A light that will shine forth in any situation and in front of any person without fear. There is nothing more perfect or sweeter than the gospel of Jesus Christ and I am so thankful for it and all that it has done to help me and guide me in my life but now is the time to help all of our brothers and sisters receive this great joy in their lives. I seriously love mission work so much. I love getting up at 6 in the morning every day. I love wearing dress clothes 24/7. I love walking all around the streets of Peru when it is hotter than heck. I just love it all because I know that what I am doing is helping the Lord complete with His plans for this area of the world. It is hard, it is long, but it is perfect.

Well that's all for this week. Love you guys so much and I really thank you for all of the support that you have given me over this last year of my mission. You guys are the best family that I could ever ask for (even though you steal all of my stuff when I leave.....Tate haha). I am always praying for you to keep going forward in the church. Praying, reading, fasting, going to church, helping others, keeping the commandments and really just doing whatever it takes to keep the Lord close in your lives and in our home. I know He loves us but we have to let Him in. Love you all and I'll talk to you soon!! 

Much love 

Elder Wilson

Monday. July 20. 2015-Week 50

Welcome to Sullana!!!

 

 

Mi Familia

What's up family!! Sounds like you guys had another great week as usual. Dad had a little High Adventure action (the white water rafting trip we did was one of the funnest times I've ever had), got to watch some sweet soccer and you 2 old farts have now been together for 20 flippin years!! Haha!! Mom and Dad, you are really a great example to me of what a good solid relationship should be so keep it up!! Tate I will only accept you joining swim team if you rock a sweet speedo for all of your races!! Don't worry Ill look for a sweet one here with the flag of Peru or something;) 

Ok to answer some of your questions. Elder Garay is better now but we had to go to the hospital and they had to shove a camera down his throat to see his stomach and they cut some stuff out and ya wow it wasn't too fun but he is fine now and he thanks you all for the prayers. We are both zone leaders. In this mission they always put the zone leaders together so we can share some of the responsibilities. We live on the third floor of this building and yes the room is quite big but you have to remember I am still living in Peru and heck no we don't have any air conditioning!!! Our pensionista is great and her cooking rocks!! She doesn't live in this building but pretty close. 

Ok, I don't have time to answer any more but this week went pretty awesome (except for going to the doctor with Elder Garay). We had almost the whole week to just work!! In all my time as ZL I haven't had any time to do that so it was amazing and a true answer to my prayers!! We worked our butts off and found a bunch of new people to teach including like 3 new families that want to learn more from us!! When we taught one of them the spirit was literally so strong that it brought tears to my eyes and I just said a little, silent prayer to my Father in Heaven thanking Him for giving me amazing opportunities like this. I just can't imagine how different my life would be right now if I had decided to not go on a mission. I know I would still be living right and doing my best to serve the Lord but this is easily the best thing that I have ever done. Some people don't like it here and don't want to work but I love this mission more than anything else. I am seriously just so happy like happier than I have ever been before and I know that is because I have finally found my true calling in this world. Ya I'm gonna lax it up hard, ya I'm gonna study and work but for the rest of my life the #1 thing is always going to be completing with the work of the Lord. Wow I'm seriously feeling the spirit today and I just feel like preaching to the world. So the new families that we are teaching are called the family Hierron, Zapata, and the family Nole. Please pray for them because they really need your help and I know it will make a big difference for them. The other thing that happened a lot this week is that when I was showing my book of pictures to people everyone was telling me that dad is famous because he looks exactly like one of the people that acts on one of their TV shows hahahaha!! I seriously laughed so dang hard!! So dad you  are officially famous here in Peru. So ya nothing too huge this week except for the doctors appointment with Elder Garay but it was just awesome to have a solid week to work. We also contacted more than 100 new people to teach this week. 

Ok well that's all I've got for this week. But I love you guys. I am so thankful for all of the hard work that you have done to help me get out here on my mission. I really couldn't ask for a better family. I hope that all is going well for you and just know that everything that I am doing here is for you guys. I'm always praying for you all and tell Aaron to get his butt in gear and to freaking email me!! Ok well got to go but love you guys and talk to you soon.

Much Love 

Elder Wilson

P.S Today we went to an awesome place and drank coconut milk!! Super good but now everyone in our zone has diarrhea hahaha!!

 

 

 

Monday. July 13. 2015 Email between Perry and Elder Wilson

Dear Nee Nee,
I'm sorry I haven't written  you for a while I hope you're having a great time! How is you're companion? is there anyone you're about to baptize?  I want to tell you about the family reunion it was pretty Fun. We did a lot of cool things So I have a couple of questions for you what's you're favorite food to eat there who is you're favorite companion so far? Ok I want to tell you about my art class. It's pretty fun I've learned a lot. My favorite class was one were we did zentangles. They're where you draw anything you draw anything you want and make a bunch of designs inside of it. I did one and it looks amazing! I'll have mommy take a pichure of it and send it to you.
Well Asher I love you so much I cant wait to see you when you come back home.
I love you!

                       Love,
                                Perry


Perry girl!!!

Hey you. What the heck I thought that you forgot about me because you haven't wrote me for soooo long!! Looks like everything is going super great for you back at home and just so you know everything is going great for me here in the mission. My companion is great and we should be baptising a few people here pretty soon!! Thats cool that you got to do an art class. I always knew you were super good at art. My favorite food here in called aji de gallina.  Well Perry I love you girl. You are so special and so sweet and will always have a place in my heart. Hope you have a great week and never forget to read the Book of Mormon and say your prayers. Love you sooooo much!! 

Elder Asher Dean Wilson

Monday. July 13. 2015-Week 49

Riding the bread bike.

Mi Familia,

Que tal familia!! Estoy bien y tan feliz estar aquí en esta área. Sullana es lo maximo y vamos a bautizar bastante personas en estas próximas semanas!! 

So it sounds like you guys all had a great week back at home. Maybe a little tired from your crazy week of vacationing in Meridian but still good. Well I was talking english today with a big group of North Americans because we were playing basketball and they told me that my english actually sucks hahaha!! I was quite offended because I consider myself to be a full on, true MERICAN but I guess I have forgot my language natural haha!! So I guess every day I am now going to start studying my english and not my español.

 

Also looks like Tater had a great time at AFY. I don't think I've ever heard of AFY before, and my time to do cool things like that are now gone haha I'm old, but it looks like you were having a blast!!

 

I am currently going super hard on my exercises but it is a lot harder to do it now because we have millions of things to do every day to help our zone and presidente Rasmussen but don't worry I'm gonna come home ready for lacrosse!!

This week was good and bad at the same time. Let's just start with the bad. Elder Garay got super sick for like 2 days and we couldn't leave. I read so dang much!! But eventually we gave him a blessing and everything cleared up really fast but wow it was a long 2 days of getting him back to normal. We also bought some weird herbs from like some sort of witch doctor because a ton of people told us to buy them to help Elder Garay and they didn't work at all and they tasted like butt!!!! So now I know to never listen to the advice of the people in our ward for when we are sick haha.

 

After Elder Garay got better we had a big reunion with a few of the zones here in the mission to know Presidente Rasmussen and his wife (something funny about them is that he always calls his wife la señora and here in Peru that basically means like my chick so we always die laughing when he introduces his wife haha but he's getting better about not saying it anymore). So we had to buy all the tickets and get our 30 missionaries all organized and get them all on a bus to travel like 1.5 hours to Talara. Then Elder Garay and I had to direct the meeting but it was super cool to see all the pictures of their kids and grandkids. They actually have a daughter that is serving in mission Chiclayo Peru and she is going to finish in 6 months and then she is going to live in the mission house with her parents!! Haha sorta crazy right. But he is such an inspired man, Presidente Rasmussen. I have only had a little bit of time to work with him but I have felt his spirit and the power of his testimony and I would already follow that man into battle any day of the week, and if that is a battle to share the gospel with all the crazy drunks in Sullana then let me at it because I am ready!! We are going to see changes but this mission is only going to get better. 

As for the people that we are teaching right now its sorta rough. I showed up to this area and there wasn't a single person listening to the lessons that wasn't a member. I don't know why they weren't teaching the people but it doesn't matter because now we are working like crazy people to find these new people and to baptise them!! We are already teaching like 5 new people and they are all really receptive!! So please pray for hermano victor, hermana dorris and hermana aide. I will let you know how they progress but nothing much for right now except that we are preaching the gospel with all that we got. I am only here for 1 more year!! And for that reason I am going to work until I can't anymore. Serve until I can't serve anymore. And I will bring to pass the work of my Father in this area of the world because I know that He needs me. I love this work and I will not let my Lord and Savior down. 

Well that's all for this week. I am so so so busy like way busier than I have ever been but I know it's the Lords plan for me. I am happy and I am healthy and I know it is because the Lord is watching over me and over you guys. I love you all so much and I hope you have a great week!! Scripture to think about 2 Nephi 31:10.

Much love 

Elder Wilson

 

 

Family Home Evening with some of the members in the ward Buenos Aires.

Playing a game called habla chancho.

Hermano Marco Felix (his family cooks for us). ‏

Pizza Party.

Apartment in Sullana.

 

 

He always sends a picture of the bathroom. I guess it's the most important room to him. I must say this a much nicer bathroom than the one in Tumbes.

Elder Wilson and Elder Garay.

 

 

 

 

 

Monday. July 6. 2015-Week 48



Missionary Leadership Training with President Rasmussen.

  

Mi Familia!!!   Hey guys!! Loved seeing all of the pics of the family get together this week and I hope you told everyone hi for me!! I miss those big get togethers and seeing everyone. Looks like you guys did a bunch of stuff including celebrating the best holiday on earth......The 4th of July!!!!!! Man I miss that holiday so dang much!! Nothing like blowing things up and showing some good ol patriotism!! But here in Peru we don't do anything for the 4th and it was sad haha. There are a few other north americans here so we got together and celebrated a little but hey it just wasn't the same. But glad to see that all went well this week and you guys enjoyed yourselves.  Ok so you sent me about 5794757840276 questions so I am just going to answer those all today.  1. I am great. Happy, healthy and loving this mission. I really couldn't be happier than I am right now because like the scriptures say when you are in the service of your fellow man you are only in the service of your God.....and trust me all I am doing is serving these people and it's awesome!!  2. My new area is amazing. I got here by bus and it was about a 45 minute ride from Piura. 3. My apartment is awesome!! By far the best apartment I have had in my mission. We are on the 3rd floor of a building and it is just big and open and has a bunch of huge windows, pretty cool!! I'll send pictures.   4. I still don't know the area too much but from what I have seen it is awesome!! The people are very kind!! I don't know exactly what happened with the last missionaries in this area but it looks like to me that they really didn't work at all because we don't have any investigators that are progressing. So what I have to do is basically start from scratch with Elder Garay to find new people and to help them get on the correct path and to be baptised. It's not going to be the easiest job in the world but I am pumped to have the opportunity to do it!! I love this work so much and I have finally figured out how to master it with the help of the Savior and trust me, when we are working together, the Savior and I, we are unstoppable when it comes to baptising people and helping people return to church!! Give me a few weeks and we will see some big changes in this area!!   5. Yes it is so freaking hot here!!! And we are in the middle of winter!! Ohhhh how I want to feel an Idaho winter once again!! But I was thinking.....I am prolly gonna be a big cold wimp when I get home haha 730 days in the heat!!   6. There are also a ton of other missionaries here in our area. Like 30!!   7. Also we aren't allowed to carry our cameras here to go on visits because it is so dangerous haha!!!!   8. My ward.....well lets just say that it's ok. My companion doesn't know barely any of them because in his last transfer they literally didn't offer him any help and in my opinion the bishop is terrible. He is a RM that doesn't want to do anything because he said he already served his time to the Lord for 2 years in the mission but what that son of a gun doesn't realize is that the calling to be a missionary is eternal and the last time I checked eternity doesn't end!! So yes I have a few goals to help this ward and it is another thing that I will change before leaving this area!! 9. Elder Garay is awesome!! You guys already have like 25 pictures of him from all of my other areas because we started in Tumbes together, then we both went to Castilla and now we are companions here in Sullana!! He is 20 years old and from Paraguay. He has 4 siblings (3 boys and 1 girl) and his parents. They are all active in the church and Elder Garay was born in the church. He has been serving for 17 months so really he only has 6 months more than me. He is awesome and super active. He likes to play sports because he played rugby and fought MMA before his mission so we are always working out and fighting haha but he is also very spiritual and focused and I already have a feeling that we are going to do great things together!!  10. So my new calling as zone leader is a little more crazy than district leader. I am currently in charge of about 30 missionaries and 5 different areas here in Sullana. Basically what we do is we direct everything that the district leaders do and what President Rasmussen asks us to do. Sullana is the biggest zone in the mission and is also outside of Piura so people are always traveling to go to Piura so we have to pick them up, go to the bus station, pay for everything and organize everything, then go and pick them up at night when they get home haha just an example of one of the things we do. We basically are in charge of this area of the mission and everything that goes on here. We also talk on the phone like non stop!! Seriously like 50 people call us every day with something to do haha. So ya it's a lot to do but hey it's a calling of the Lord for me and I will complete it in every way!! But we are still missionaries and have a ton of time to teach. Got to remember what is the most important thing.  11. Finally Presidente Rasmussen is amazing!! I got to go to the reunion of leaders in the mission and he was there and also his wife and they are just crazy and full of energy and ready to work. He is a giant and she is so so so tiny haha. They both really don't speak very good in Spanish, well actually Hermana Rasmussen doesn't speak at all haha but they are trying so hard to learn and to help us. They've got a lot to learn but we are here to help them and I know that they are going to be such a blessing to this mission and for every one of us!! Already love those people!! So those are the answers to all of your questions. I hope that I answered everything but if not I guess you'll just never know until I come home haha. Everything is going great. It's a little hard to get to know a new area but everyone here is really helping me out and I can feel their love. I can also feel my Saviors love. I want to end with a scripture that we read with Presidente Rasmussen this week. 2 Corinthians 3:2-3 says: "You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts." So, this scripture is very interesting for me. You are a letter from Christ . . . we are letters from Christ and we have testimonies that aren't written in stone but upon our hearts and we must open up our heart to all the world so that we can help them to see these testimonies!! We must love everyone and we must love God by truly being His cards sent into this world to share a message of Salvation with all of His children!! Ohhh how I love the scriptures!! We can always learn something new but the thing that is most important to remember is that we must apply everything that we learn to ourselves!! We can be a light for the world but it all starts with this change of heart. I love you guys so much and hope you have a great week!! I am always praying for you and I hope you can feel it!! Love you all!! Much Love, Elder Wilson Elder Wilson

 

 

 

 

 

Mi Familia!!!
 

Hey guys!! Loved seeing all of the pics of the family get together this week and I hope you told everyone hi for me!! I miss those big get togethers and seeing everyone. Looks like you guys did a bunch of stuff including celebrating the best holiday on earth......The 4th of July!!!!!! Man I miss that holiday so dang much!! Nothing like blowing things up and showing some good ol patriotism!! But here in Peru we don't do anything for the 4th and it was sad haha. There are a few other north americans here so we got together and celebrated a little but hey it just wasn't the same. But glad to see that all went well this week and you guys enjoyed yourselves. 

Ok so you sent me about 5794757840276 questions so I am just going to answer those all today. 

1. I am great. Happy, healthy and loving this mission. I really couldn't be happier than I am right now because like the scriptures say when you are in the service of your fellow man you are only in the service of your God.....and trust me all I am doing is serving these people and it's awesome!! 

2. My new area is amazing. I got here by bus and it was about a 45 minute ride from Piura.

3. My apartment is awesome!! By far the best apartment I have had in my mission. We are on the 3rd floor of a building and it is just big and open and has a bunch of huge windows, pretty cool!! I'll send pictures.  

4. I still don't know the area too much but from what I have seen it is awesome!! The people are very kind!! I don't know exactly what happened with the last missionaries in this area but it looks like to me that they really didn't work at all because we don't have any investigators that are progressing. So what I have to do is basically start from scratch with Elder Garay to find new people and to help them get on the correct path and to be baptised. It's not going to be the easiest job in the world but I am pumped to have the opportunity to do it!! I love this work so much and I have finally figured out how to master it with the help of the Savior and trust me, when we are working together, the Savior and I, we are unstoppable when it comes to baptising people and helping people return to church!! Give me a few weeks and we will see some big changes in this area!!  

5. Yes it is so freaking hot here!!! And we are in the middle of winter!! Ohhhh how I want to feel an Idaho winter once again!! But I was thinking.....I am prolly gonna be a big cold wimp when I get home haha 730 days in the heat!!  

6. There are also a ton of other missionaries here in our area. Like 30!!  

7. Also we aren't allowed to carry our cameras here to go on visits because it is so dangerous haha!!!!  

8. My ward.....well lets just say that it's ok. My companion doesn't know barely any of them because in his last transfer they literally didn't offer him any help and in my opinion the bishop is terrible. He is a RM that doesn't want to do anything because he said he already served his time to the Lord for 2 years in the mission but what that son of a gun doesn't realize is that the calling to be a missionary is eternal and the last time I checked eternity doesn't end!! So yes I have a few goals to help this ward and it is another thing that I will change before leaving this area!!

9. Elder Garay is awesome!! You guys already have like 25 pictures of him from all of my other areas because we started in Tumbes together, then we both went to Castilla and now we are companions here in Sullana!! He is 20 years old and from Paraguay. He has 4 siblings (3 boys and 1 girl) and his parents. They are all active in the church and Elder Garay was born in the church. He has been serving for 17 months so really he only has 6 months more than me. He is awesome and super active. He likes to play sports because he played rugby and fought MMA before his mission so we are always working out and fighting haha but he is also very spiritual and focused and I already have a feeling that we are going to do great things together!! 

10. So my new calling as zone leader is a little more crazy than district leader. I am currently in charge of about 30 missionaries and 5 different areas here in Sullana. Basically what we do is we direct everything that the district leaders do and what President Rasmussen asks us to do. Sullana is the biggest zone in the mission and is also outside of Piura so people are always traveling to go to Piura so we have to pick them up, go to the bus station, pay for everything and organize everything, then go and pick them up at night when they get home haha just an example of one of the things we do. We basically are in charge of this area of the mission and everything that goes on here. We also talk on the phone like non stop!! Seriously like 50 people call us every day with something to do haha. So ya it's a lot to do but hey it's a calling of the Lord for me and I will complete it in every way!! But we are still missionaries and have a ton of time to teach. Got to remember what is the most important thing. 

11. Finally Presidente Rasmussen is amazing!! I got to go to the reunion of leaders in the mission and he was there and also his wife and they are just crazy and full of energy and ready to work. He is a giant and she is so so so tiny haha. They both really don't speak very good in Spanish, well actually Hermana Rasmussen doesn't speak at all haha but they are trying so hard to learn and to help us. They've got a lot to learn but we are here to help them and I know that they are going to be such a blessing to this mission and for every one of us!! Already love those people!!

So those are the answers to all of your questions. I hope that I answered everything but if not I guess you'll just never know until I come home haha. Everything is going great. It's a little hard to get to know a new area but everyone here is really helping me out and I can feel their love. I can also feel my Saviors love.

I want to end with a scripture that we read with Presidente Rasmussen this week.

2 Corinthians 3:2-3 says: "You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts."

So, this scripture is very interesting for me. You are a letter from Christ . . . we are letters from Christ and we have testimonies that aren't written in stone but upon our hearts and we must open up our heart to all the world so that we can help them to see these testimonies!! We must love everyone and we must love God by truly being His cards sent into this world to share a message of Salvation with all of His children!! Ohhh how I love the scriptures!! We can always learn something new but the thing that is most important to remember is that we must apply everything that we learn to ourselves!! We can be a light for the world but it all starts with this change of heart.

I love you guys so much and hope you have a great week!! I am always praying for you and I hope you can feel it!! Love you all!!

Much Love,

Elder Wilson

Elder Wilson