This blog is kept by Elder Asher Wilson's family. It will include his general emails and various pictures. It will be updated each week after each new email is received. We hope you enjoy it!

Monday, February 29, 2016

Monday. February 29. 2016-Week 81


This is Elder Underwood. He is from Eagle Idaho and he played running back for Eagle High School when I was playing for Mt View!! I knew him before my mission and we know a bunch of each others buddies haha!! One of my bros here in the mission. He has like 7 months. 

Elder Wilson, Elder Mooring, and Elder Ayala ‏

A picture of Elder Merrell (from my group) and my companion.

A few guys from my group.

Elder Gandarillas just can't stay awake in the car hahahaha!! ‏

Driving to Tumbes.

New pull up bar......prison style!!!! ‏

Mi Familia

Hey guys!! How's the busiest family in the world doing?! Hahaha seriously it,s always something with you guys!! So is Tate just in soccer practices or is he already playing games? You've got to keep me updated on how his season goes. And Perry the dancer!! I guess you are proving all of the Peruanos wrong hahaha. They all think that they are the best dancers in the entire world and that north Americans can't dance at all (which is true in my situation) but now I can tell them that my little sister is some sort of sweet dancer haha. Just glad that you guys are all happy and enjoying life and everything that comes with it. 

Improved our office gym yesterday. We made a pull up bar!!!! 

To answer your questions. Our church starts at 9 but we are always out super early getting everyone ready haha love these people. 

We went to Tumbes this week to teach in some missionary conferences and it actually went super awesome!! So many amazing missionaries doing amazing things and we learned a ton together!! But it rained so freaking hard when we were there!! The streets were overflowing with water and the rain was seriously ripping roofs off of houses!! When it started we were out in the streets working with the zone leaders of Tumbes. Lets just say we got a little wet! So I went out with an Elder named Elder Truncos and luckily enough we got into a house to teach during the rain. Elder Gandarillas went out with his companion and he didn't get so lucky haha!! When he got back to the room it seriously looked like he had jumped into a river and he just let out the sweetest battle cry of all time and basically just said that I do it for the Lord!! Amen my friend. 

I just want to share with you guys an amazing story of something that happened this morning with a health blessing. So president talked to us this morning and told us that a branch president and his wife were super sick in the hospital with some horrible sickness called dengue. He told us that they had called him asking for blessings and that he wasn't going to have time to go over and give it to them so he sent us. It was terrible to see them in their beds dying of pain but it was cool because they were just so happy to see us there. We went in, asked them a few questions and they asked us to bless them. We placed our hands upon their heads and blessed them. I have had many opportunities to do this during my time as a missionary and I have seen many miracles but this time was different. After we blessed them there was just such peace and tranquility. Before the blessing the sister couldn't stop moving around because she was feeling so much pain but after we blessed her she seriously just fell into a peaceful sleep. It was insane. Really one of those moments when we felt the power of the Lord and understood just how perfectly He knows us. We must always be worthy because we never know when the Lord is going to need to use us to do His work. 

So as for Juan. We went and talked to him and he seemed totally fine and ready but when we were leaving we just saw his sister crying so obviously we went and asked her what had happened. She told us nothing and Juan took off to his room so we knew that something was up. Finally we got them to tell us and I guess that the family had got themselves into a little bit of trouble with a loan shark type of person. They aren't a poor family but I guess they had needed a little bit of help and the just went to the wrong source to do it and now they are in trouble. They told us that on Sunday these people were going to come by to get their money and if they didn't have it there would be some serious problems. We had no idea what to do and were actually scared for them because here in Peru those type of people are crazy so we talked to president and prayed with the family that all would turn out well. This is where I thank you guys for your prayers on Juan's part because he sure did feel the blessings. One of their friends was able to help them and they were able to pay off these people. We really did see the Lords hand on that one. Juan wasn't able to get baptized this weekend but we are planning on doing it this Saturday. Please keep praying for him. 

So I don't have any more time to write but I just want yall to know is that I am out here working for the Lord because I love every one of you and I know the Lord blesses our family through my service. It's hard and sometimes the things don't always go our way but there is no force or object in the world that can stop the work of the Lord (D&C 1:4-5). That's why this week we went back to the rich area and we found an amazing family!! When we trust in Him, He gives us the success that we work for. I hope you all have a great week. Keep praying for me I need it and just know that you are always in my prayers. Love ya fam. 

If you are going to send something I want some freaking protein powder please!!!!! and besides that I don't know what else you would want to send. Just awesome stuff that I can give away to the people here. 

Much Love 

Elder Wilson

Monday, February 22, 2016

Monday. February 22. 2016-Week 80

Some of the kids that come on visits with us!

Rain!!


Elder Wilson and Gino.


Elder Gandarillas.........no need to say anything more hahahahahaha!!

Mi Familia

Hey family!! I was just showing all the guys here in the office all of the videos that you sent me and some of them were serious hits haha!! The best one was the one when Tate was long boarding and then out of no where he just screamed out "Dude......I'm Flying"!!!!!! Just how he said it was awesome because it was just a white guy accent and we don't hear white people accents any more hahahahahaha!! So good work on the videos. 

I was laughing when you were writing about Tate practicing on the other side of the planet and driving super long because it just made me remember driving him to flipping practice every day!! Leaving like an hour early to beat that nasty eagle traffic.....don't miss that at all!! Aren't you glad that the Tater can drive now?!

Hey ya keep me updated on BYU lax I haven't heard anything about them until now!! But glad that they kicked Boise States butt!!! Down with Mundy!!!!!!

There was a crazy rain storm last night!! The streets around where we live are completely full of water and people here basically just use motorcycles haha so all of these crazy peruanos are flying around on their motorcycles in huge rivers full of water hahahahaha it is super funny to see!! But ya I'll send pictures of it because the rain fell hard last night!!

I have officially turned the office into a gym!! We are getting up early every morning to just go hard and all of the Elders are loving it haha!! We all do T 25 together in the morning and I am 100% sure that we could make our own work out videos because we are awesome!! So ya every morning the office is seriously organized, choreographed, and full of sweaty men hahaha just like back at home hahahaha!!!!!   

So this week for us was really good. First off we have our next baptism ready. Hermano Juan Orosco is getting baptized this Sunday!! We are super excited for him and it has been super awesome to see all of the changes that he has done to get ready for his big day. I just remember when we started working with him and when he started reading the Book of Mormon. He started feeling the blessings in his life and from there on he hasn't missed a Sunday at church and is just completing all of our invitations that we have given him. He is dedicated and ready to do whatever it takes to keep getting these promised blessings. The coolest thing about him is that he was a reference from another area. They just sent us his name and address and now he is getting baptized!!! Just a lesson for us. If you ever hear about anyone who wants to hear more about the gospel don't hesitate to send the reference to the missionaries. So ya please pray a ton for him this week he needs your help. 

We found a lot of awesome new people to teach this week but about half way through the week we decided to try knocking doors in a different part of our area. We usually work on the poorer side of town because the people are a little more receptive but for like the last 3 days of this week we decided that we were going to go and knock all the doors of the richer side of town. So we took off to do it and wow they destroyed us!! In 3 days we knocked like 200 doors and we only got into one house!! We just knocked and knocked and they just didn't want anything and I cant' figure out why!! Everyone and I repeat EVERYONE needs the gospel in their lives but these people are just having the hardest time understanding it. So on the last day of the week we just refocused ourselves and went at it again but once again that neighborhood just kicked our trash!! I mean even the little old ladies that are usually super sweet were slamming doors in our faces!! We tried different tactics, we shared different messages, we did it all but they just wouldn't budge. So on Sunday at church we had a really interesting lesson. Our teacher of gospel principles is a returned missionary. She finished her mission about a year ago and helps us a ton in the work but she gave a super awesome lesson this week about prayer. But what got to me more than anything was a phrase that she used. She said, Ayuno y oracion quitan la maldiciĆ³n (prayer and fast get rid of the curse). Well at first I didn't think anything about it because I was like well I haven't done anything to be cursed or to have my area cursed but then I really started thinking. Maybe we haven't been cursed in our area but God is just really trying to help us realize that we aren't putting enough confidence in Him. We are working and studying and praying and lots of great and important stuff but there is always more that we could be doing!! I decided right then and there that some power fasting was going to take place this week so that God can feel even more of our confidence in Him and so that he can give us the blessings that we need to have success in this difficult area. So today we started our fast and we still haven't gone out and worked in that area yet, and I will give yall and update about it next week, but I am 100% sure that we will find people to teach over there this week. Sometimes when it feels like we are doing everything good and we are having success is when we need to check our lives more than ever because I tell you what there is and always will be something that every single one of us can do better to gain the confidence and blessings of the Lord in our lives. So pray for us so that we can find the chosen people in Santa Isabel!!!!

I was also thinking a lot about the temple this week and how much I miss it!! It's a big change from going to the temple 1 time a week to not going for the last 19 months. I just hope that you are all taking advantage of the huge blessings of the temple. Tate are you still going with your friends in the morning? Don't take the temple for granted and just go!!!!

This week I have been ponderizing Alma 29:9. Check it out. 

That all for now. Thanks for all you guys are doing to help me in the mission. I really do feel your prayers. Keep being awesome and kicking butt back at home. Always look for missionary opportunities!! I love you all so much and I'm always praying for you. 

Much Love 

Elder Wilson


Monday, February 15, 2016

Monday. February 15. 2016-Week 79

The bros . . . . and Hermana Rasmussen


Happy Birthday Elder Gandarillas......22 years old!!!!!! ‏

Our district.

Our Zone!!!!! Algarrobos



Mi Familia!!!!!!!!!


Well I almost died seeing those pictures of Tater and his date (because he was holding her hand . . . who would have ever thought that would happen!) and Perry’s note hahahahahahaha!!!!!! Sounds like they were the hot items on Valentine’s day!! Here in Peru we really didn’t do anything. Just avoided the parks because them Peruvians get a little out of hand on Feburary 14th..........hahaha. But I sure was thinking a lot about you guys back at home and I really did feel your love. Hope you felt mine. 


Glad you finally got that package from Gino!!!! He has been freaking out about it hahaha!! He seriously called me like a few times a week asking if I had heard anything about it so I’ll for sure let him know that you guys got it and loved it!!


Mom hearing that everything turned out good with the doctor was a huge relief for me. Elder Gandarillas and I have been praying like crazy for you in these last few weeks and we are both very happy to hear that you are better and recovering. Now just take care of yourself and get ready because I am 110% sure that when I get home I am going to have like 400 viruses in my stomach hahahhahaha!!!!!


 This week was sweet!!! Highlights:





·   We had more multi zone meetings this week and Elder Gandarillas & I had an hour in each one to present to the mission and we straight up nailed it!! Our focus was a method that Elder Godoy taught us so that we can help our investigators to overcome their problems and be baptised. We presented it by reading a few parts of 1 Nephi 8 about el arbol de la vida. We talked about the 3 groups of people that tried to make it to the tree and why some of them fell away. Every single one of them had the same resources. A path, an iron rod, and a goal to make it to the tree of life but they also all had to pass through the same obstacles: Darkness, confusion, a huge river and the large building located on the other side of the river full of people pulling at them to fall away from the truth. Well we have to learn that every person is going to have to pass through tests, trials and temptations in their lives (drugs, alcohol, pornography, friends, family, etc.) and it is our job to help them to make it to the tree of life. We need to help them to recognize their resources and how they can use them to make it back to their celestial home. Ya there are a few other details but that is the main part of it. It’s really helped me to think about how much more I need to help the people to have their true conversions. 


·   We played soccer today and then had a super huge water balloon fight!! We destroyed everyone haha! Elder Gandarillas even pegged me right in the neck with a huge water balloon hahahahaha I think it was the first time in my entire mission that I have felt cool!!!!


·   President Rowley wrote me this week!!!!!!!!!!! Made my day!!


·   The two families couldn’t get married because the weddings aren’t until the end of the month so they are still waiting but thanks for the prayers and please keep praying for them!!


·   We have a few other people that are getting ready for baptism!!!! Juan, Samir, Lucia, Naomi, Algren, Pricila, and a few others and I just ask you guys to keep them in your prayers!! 


·   I have been working as the translator for hermana Rasmussen in these last few months and it is awesome!! She is doing a great job of learning espaƱol but sometimes when she gives talks or discussions I have to help her out a little and it’s pretty cool to do. Just thought I would say something about that because I hadn’t told you guys about it before. Spanish is the best!!


·   We have been working on being more direct as missionaries and really just explaining to the people that we have been sent by Christ to help them to repent and get baptised and it is working so well!! We just try to help them to feel the love that the Lord has for them and explain the way that they can return to Him and they really do listen. I’m gonna paste in something that I wrote to Pres. Rasmussen this week that talks a little more about this. 


“I have been thinking a lot lately. I have really been pondering what our callings as missionaries mean. We have been called to bring God’s children back to him. I can’t think of any other calling more important than that. In these last few weeks our area and really the whole mission have been taking off at an upwards angle and we are beginning to see more and more miracles. We are accomplishing things that many other missionaries had told me would never be possible and it just makes me feel blessed. The work of the Lord is rolling forward and I am just so happy to be a part of it! There is nothing (not sports or fishing or anything else) that I love more than being a missionary and serving my God. Maybe I don’t have a ton of time left to be here but President I promise you one thing . . . I will never stop working and giving it my all every single day that I can. I am going to finish this mission in a way that would make our Lord and Savior proud.
Just want to share an awesome scripture that I read this week that inspired me to write this. Moroni 9:6:
And now, my beloved son, notwithstanding their hardness, let us labor diligently; for if we should cease to labor, we should be brought under condemnation; for we have a labor to perform, whilst in this tabernacle of clay, that we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness, and rest our souls in the kingdom of God.”


So yep, that’s what’s on my mind right now. I love the Lord and I will work for him until the end of my life. I also invite every one of you to start praying to have missionary opportunities in your lives. If we ask the Lord, He will present ways for us to participate in his work!! I love you guys and thanks for always writing me. I love hearing about what’s going on and all of that good stuff. Hope you have a great week! I’ll be praying for y’all!! I love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The church is true!!


Much love,

Elder Wilson


Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Monday. February 8. 2016-Week 78

Mancora!!








Raul's BIG day!!






Mi Familia

Hey it seems like forever since I last wrote you guys!! Sorry about last week haha we went on an adventure. So here in the mission there is a beach in Tumbes that is called Mancora and we as missionaries don't have permission to go there because it is basically like the Las Vegas of Peru haha! Well we got a call from another mission saying that they needed a birth certificate from someone who lived in Mancora so we had to go and pick it up for them. So president gave us permission and we took off. The first missionaries to go to Mancora hahaha!! It was a sweet little beach town but it had many characteristics just like Las Vegas so we didn't want to stay there that long so we got the papers, checked out the beach and tried to find a bus to head back to Piura but there wasn't any!!! I guess only 2 buses pass by Mancora every day so we had to wait until super late to get on the bus and get back to Piura!! So we adventured around Mancora and contacted and handed out a few pass along cards and stuff. The seed has been planted in Mancora Peru!!

Peyton Manning with another dang super bowl........I was going for the panthers haha but ohh well I don't even have an idea of what's going on in the football world right now. 

RAUL GOT BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After all of our hard work, all of our fasting and all of the many miracles that we have seen with him we have finally brought Raul to the truth. He is so amazing and I am sure that he will be a friend for the rest of my life. He has passed through so many hard things in his life with his dad and drugs and alcohol and he has just overcome everything because of the testimony that he has received that the gospel has been restored here on the earth. I got to baptize him because he asked me to and it was a huge honor. So many people went to the baptism also!! He is very loved here in the ward. Out of all the people there were 2 that we the happiest out of anyone. His mother (Yolanda) and his brother (Kevin). We completed the family!!!!!! They are all members of the true and restored church of Christ and are now getting themselves ready to complete with their goal of being sealed as a family and then heading out on the mission. This work is just a huge chain. I was baptized by dad. I baptized Perry and all of the people that I have baptized here in the mission. Now there are some of my converts that have goals to go on missions and to continue baptizing to make sure that this chain keeps growing until every person has had the opportunity to accept this gospel in their lives. It is all just so perfect and I am just so happy that Raul had the chance to take this first step. I still ask you guys to keep praying and fasting for this family because they are super important and they are still going to need lots of help to keep moving along in the gospel. 

Also this week just want to ask you guys to pray for 2 families that we are teaching that are going to get married this week!! Familia Llacsa and also la familia Saavedra. They are awesome and super prepared and just need the extra little push from you guys to get it all done. Also pray a lot for Hermana Juan Orosco so that he can receive answers in his life about the Book of Mormon!! Love you guys!! 

So right now in the mission we are working with a program that is called How to Start Baptizing. It is just a way that we have created to enter into the homes of more people and to share our message in a simpler way. It was been working great but it just felt a little weird to me. So I decided to study with this in mind the other day. By the way that is how I always study, with a question in mind so that the scriptures and the spirit can give me the answer. I asked how I could be a better teacher and also complete with this new system that we are using. I was reading in the bible in John 8 when they were talking about the lady that was caught in the act of adultery. When I started reading it I just thought of all the people who I have met that are struggling with weaknesses in their lives and how hard these things can be. I kept reading until I came to the famous line of Christ. He said, ´´Let any of you that is without sin cast the first stone.´´ I guess I had never really thought much about this example. This woman had broken a rule that was established by our Father in Heaven and many people condemned her for it but our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ did not. What right have we as imperfect people to condemn the actions of others. Well I hadn't been condemning the actions of other people or anything like that but in this moment the spirit just testified to my heart that I needed to love the people that I am serving and teaching even more. I need to see every young kid that I am teaching as Tate or Perry. I need to see every adult that I am teaching as Mom or Dad because when I do I will know that I am teaching in the way that the Lord wants me to. He loves us so much we have no idea and if we really want to feel this huge love he expects us to share it with others. So go out of your way to love others. Even if you feel like you are doing this already there is just so much more that you can do. So take the oath and love like Christ loves us!!

So I know I didn't answer all of your questions or anything like that but I've gotta wrap it up for today. I love you all so much and I just thank you for everything that you do for me. I didn't arrive to where I am today by myself. I have a loving Heavenly Father that has helped me and I have an amazing family that I can always count on and that has helped me to truly center my life in Christ. I am serving for you guys  too and I hope you feel the blessings. I was reading in the book of Joshua this week and something just made me think of you guys. In Joshua 24:15 he is asking the people if they want to serve other Gods or the Amorites but then he goes on to say ´´But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.´´ I can truly say that we as a family are here to serve the Lord. I love you all. I am always praying for you. Talk soon!!

Much Love 

Elder Wilson

Saturday, February 6, 2016

Monday, February 1 and Friday, February 5. 2016-Week 77

Monday, February 1:

Wow today was freaking crazy!!!! We went to some beach in Tumbes and couldn't find any buses to bring us home hahaha so we're just getting back and right now we have to go to teach some lessons so I'll be writing you guys tomorrow or something like that. I love you all so much!! The church is true!!

Much Love 

Elder Wilson


Friday, February 5:

Hey I'm super sorry guys I feel really bad but this week I just don't have time to write. This Monday I'll write you guys a good letter and send pictures and everything. I love you all and pray for you daily. Were baptizing Raul tomorrow!!!!!! Baptizing like fools!!!!!!!!

Much Love 

Elder Wilson