9-29-2008 E-MAIL

so I'd just written a big long email but when i sent it if freaked out and erased it. So dont have any more time to write what i wrote, but I'll write a HUGE email next week. I'm doing fine though, everythings good. Mom got your package today with the twix... sooooo good. haha sorry about this. YAI'll write a bunch next week.

Mike

9-22-2008 E-MAIL

DATE: SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

AREA: LAS FLORES, PERU

COMPANION: ELDER MELANDER

About 2 hours after I sent my letter my zone leaders figured out they hadn't read the spread sheet of the transfers right. All of the santa cruz elders got transferred. And all the santa cruz elders they pulled out got put into missions around lima. My new area is called Las Flores, it's the safest area in the zone they tell me. I'm with elder Melander. He is from......Michigan, but he doesn't like college football, so that was disappointing,we are pretty different but we get along fine. We also have 2 Santa Cruz elders with us, so it's 4 Americans in one apartment, which doesn't help my spanish but it's so fun. elder Delgado is from Vegas and Elder Lopez is from Boston, they've been telling me more about Santa Cruz. And the best thing is that they were told by the area presidency that they'd only be out for 2 changes which are 3 months. But ive gotten use to lima and i can live here till Bolivia opens up .

I have to tell you about this new convert in my ward. His name is Dylen, he looks like he's about tylers age but he's actually 11. His mother beats him so he lives with his Aunt now, who is not a member. But she recommended him to the elders cuz she wanted him in the church so he would stay out of gangs. He comes to church every day by himself, he's just so amazing. He's just this quiet little kid. But when we sit there with him i can just feel this power and this spirit he has. Ive never felt this from anybody, I justlove him so much, and I want to help him so much and im so worried about him now staying in the church. Ive only spent about and hour with Dylen, and i barely say anything cuz all i know how to say in spanish is gospel things.But tonight we are going back to have FHE with him. We told him we are goingto help him with his homework tonight too. When ever i see him I just picture how retarded i was at 11 years old, it just blows my mind how Dylen acts, and i just know Heavenly father has huge plans for him. So im glad im in Lima right now so i can watch out for him and try to show him what he needs to do to make his life better.

On a lighter note, I had a pretty funny experience last night with our neighbors. I knew they were from Santa Cruz and they started talking about an Elder MacLean. Idk if id said this in any other letters but one of the teachers in Provo went to Santa Cruz and me and elder mitchell talked to him like everyday about it. So i was like i might know him, so they showed me a picture of him, and it was him. But the best part was i looked on the back at his address... he's from Richland. Idk how but we never bothered to ask each other where we were from. He's at BYU right now but you guys should get a hold of his family for me. His name is Kyle MacLean and his fam lives on 1113 Foxtrot Lane is Richland. And the name of the people that know him are Micaela (like Mikayla) Cou´Mauya and Marcelo Villa Suerte (or it might beFuerte, i cant really read thier writing). Lets see what else is there... Oh i figured out how to sew. I didn't want to say anything till it got better but i cut my leg pretty deep on some glass in the street so i sewed my pants back together. But my leg is totally fine now.

Today i have to go to the office, and i think i might actually have some of my mail from Santa Cruz there. I hope some of my old district is there, those guys are soooo funny, we are all so close now, i love all those guys so much. Lima isn't really that humid actually, its just like Seattle pretty much, and Las Flores in even drier that my last area.

Tell Ashley and Dallin congrats for me that's so awesome .And since i moved areas i wont see Jenifer any more, but ya shell get baptized eventually. It was tough gettin her to church cuz it starts at 8, now we start at 10 so that'll be better. Well i gotta head out, but sounds like things are good at home, im doing fine here. Im basically an 8th done with my mission already, which isn't that much but its gone super fast. Spanish is getting a little better. I haven't been able to study a lot since ive been here (actually i haven't been able to study that much since ive been in the field) cuz our mission has to figure out what to do with all these santa cruz elders. But this week they are more settled in so it might be my first normal week here. OK Igotta go,

loves you guys a ton,Elder Wilson

Here are some pictures that we received from Mike. Sorry that I do not have any details on the pictures, but have fun looking!

Some of the Elders from the MTC

On their day trip out to see sites in Lima

Lima Peru Temple

I think this is his apartment....nice. :)

9-15-2008 E-MAIL

Hi family and friends. As you will read in Mike's letter, he is in the Lima Peru, East Mission because of the unrest in Bolivia. Please make note that his address has changed. His new address is posted on the side of the blog.

Thanks, Wilson Family

AREA: SANTA ANITA, PERU
COMPANION: ELDER ALLEN

"YOU ARE OFFICIALLY....TEMPORARILY HERE."

hi everybody. so we met the prez of Lima Este, and as of this moment we are now missionaries in the Lima Este Mission. the first presidency is waiting for an answer on what to do with us, whether to just have us wait it out here, or get officially reassigned to another mission. so....i guess you should stop sending stuff to bolivia. they are trying to get all of our mail to us from santa cruz. mom, i got your dear elder letter today, you guys have no idea how it feels to get a letter after like a month in a half of not getting anything. but, hopefully here in a few weeks ill get like 20 from santa cruz. i sent a CD home with some pics, idk when it'll get there or in what shape the cd will be in, they don't really have good protection for fragile objects. Prez Leyva told us a few days ago we'd be getting new areas but we didn't get them in our email today, so im staying in Santa Anita it looks like, but thats cool cuz we haven't6 baptized Jennifer yet and we have three other people getting baptized next Sunday.
Mom i cant really think of much i need rigth now, everything here is really cheap and they have a ton the US products here, we had pap johns a few days ago and i think we are going to some place to eat after this. Actually one thing i can't find is the pills for my knee, i really need to start taking them cuz me knee is starting to hurt a little bit. One thing thats really awesome about not getting reassigned is that almost my whole district is in my zone. i love these guys sooo much, we are so much closer cuz we've been together for more than 2 months. and we have another 6 weeks together.
How is every9one liking school now? I heard about jamen being left a long time at school, that's too bad. We are building a three story chapel across the street from our apartment, and its open this Sunday so we should get a lot of new investigators from the open house. that should be exciting.
My Spanish is getting sooo much better. there's no training better than just talking with people, its scary and hard, but great. Sorry my ideas are so jumbled up, but im just writing what comes to me. Is Vince close the the hurricane? I don't really now w3hat part of Texas Houston is in.
Ahh i cant think of any good stories to tell...i have them in my journal though. Ohh, a few days ago me and elder allen (another santa cruzer) had to go out and teach by ourselves, hahahha that was just classic, we talked to this old guy about the church, and elder allen started arguing with him...but about a totally different thing than what the old man was talking about. The old man was talking about how he think its awesome that we come out for 2 years and elder allen is like "we are the only church that prophets and apostles like the church Christ established."
i started reading some of the conference talks and there was one called "Today", cant remember who gave it. but the message was that you have no idea what is going to happen to you today, or tomorrow, so you have to make everyday count, I know thats such a cliche but its so true. Lots of days we sit there and go, we still have 21 months this is nuts, but we need to start thinking, we ONLY have 21 months left. There's a scripture in Jacob that i read a few days ago and its quoted in "Today". but it says that our lives pass away like dreams. so b4 i know ti this mission will be over, so i better not waste any time cuz i'll regret it later.
well i dont have much more to say, looks like im staying here for a while, start sending stuff here. But sent it to the Peru Lima East Mission, it some how goes through pouch, so its just one US stamp to get here.
Well...I gotta get off soon, Love you guys. Keep me updated on Bolivia.

Elder Wilson

9-8-2008 E-MAIL

AREA: LIMA, PERU

COMPANION: ELDER

Hi everybody, I cant remember what day i told you i email but it is for sure every monday, our schedule was really messed up last week. Im doing better this week. Pretty healthy, starting to lose some weight cuz all we eat is rice and chicken, but its all good. We sleep on matresses on the floor so i get kinda stuffy, but nothing too bad. P days are sooooo much fun, i get tos ee a lot of my district, i love these guys so much. Elder meridith was talking about it and said, "you know, this has been one of the toughest times of my life, but also i dont think ive laughed as hard as i have with you all". We are so excited to meet again that last day of our mission and talk about our experiences. Most of the time theres way less that 18 white elders that come in at one time, so we are gonna have a good time on at the end. IDK whats going on with Bolivia, Im not dieing here like i was last week, but i would still leave in half a second for santa Cruz. Can somebody get on the news and let me know whats going on with the government, i guess theres some type of uprising there.

But ya p day was really great, we went to this old catholic cathedral, and then went to the catacombs under it. it was really pretty and cool, but its funny, cuz you dont feel any type of spirit in there. Then we went to the Spanish Inquisition museum, that was pretty nuts, i got some pics ill send home eventually, im gonna try and burna cd and send it home, thats way safer than sending my card.

So one of our baptisms backed out, Monica. She was supposed to marry her boyfriend so she could get baptized, but his sister got really sick then ight b4 so we had to cancel the wedding, then when elder ruiz and allen went to talk to her she said she didnt want to anymore, we havent visited her anymore. Im getting along really well with my comp. But i can tell he is ready to go home, im not helping cuz im still talking a lot about home cuz i havent let go quite yet. And dont get me wrong we work hard, but its just when he teaches, his spanish is perfect, but i just... dont really feel anything, hes just kinda going through the motions. Idk i feel bad writing that but thats the impresion i keep getting. But Jeniffer is doing great we commited to baptism on the second visit,but we didnt catch her at the next apoitment on saturday and then she didnt get up for church on sunday. But i really think shes still wanting to do this.

Hows Martin and Jarred doing? Any news on either of them? Also mom can you make sure beau, austin, vince, shayne, brett and matt are getting my emails? and can you send me their ldsmail addresses? one more favor... I was thinking about music yesterday, and can youj ust make sure my I Pod is safe? haha sorry, but i just really dont want that thing to be broken when i get home, i dont care about any of my other things, but can you make sure my ipod is out of the reach of the little ones. Also I dont think you need to send my anything here, theres a ton of stuff here, and its sooooo cheap, really nice ties here are like 2 dollars, so im gonna end up coming home with like 40 haha. One thing i need is duct tape, i think i asked for it when i talked about my packages, but ya that works really well for warts, i started doing it but i kept borrowing duct tape from hermana Groberg so that was kinda a hassle so i didnt finish, but ya can make sure and send some to bolivia. Sooo ya i think thatsits,

IDK what my address is down here, sorry, but im betting ill be gone b4 anything you guys send get here. Elder Jacobson has a buddy in Santa Cruz, and he emailed him and said no one is doing transfers till we get there, so thats a good indicator we´ll be getting in soon. So ya just keep sending stuff to Santa Cruz. Itll be nice to have a lil party when i get there and find all these letters and goodies for me. Thanks everybody for your prayers and encouragment, they really worked. Im praying really hard for you all. I love you all so so much.Talk to you later...

Elder Michael David Wilson

9-2-2008 E-MAIL

AREA: LIMA, PERU
COMPANION: ELDER ALLEN


Hey everybody, so they moved us out of the CCM and I've been pretty bummed
about that, but most of us are in the same zone so we are all together right
now and we get to have p day together as well, but elder puglisi is in
another zone by himself wich really sucks. I'm comps with elder allen, and
we are combined with two lima este elders, elder dodds from cedar city and
elder ruiz from.... Santa Cruz, so he's telling us all this amazing stuff
about bolivia. We are in Santa Anita... i really have no idea where that is
haha. This place is going to take some getting use to. It is a dirty dirty
place, and i keep getting over charged on the buses cuz im a gringo and
don't know any better. The busses are pretty hilarious though, they drive
them like they are mustangs. Also im having some problems with peruvian
food... i dont really think i should go into detail on that one.

 we got some news about bolivia, its not looking like a conspiracy to keep
us out and the church has a bunch of people talking with the prez this week
in la paz, so they said we could move out any day, the max is probably 6
more weeks in lima. but please just keep sending everything to peru.(I think
he means Bolivia)

 the really nice thing about lima is it has tons of US products... i
bought some new soap and mouthwash yesterday. and we went to Pizza Hut, wow
is all i have to say about that, im gonna lose a bunch of weight out here
but gain it right back cuz im gonna eat for like 4 straight weeks haha.

 I've figured out that the only way not to get homesick is not to stop
working. just being here is really messing up the lima este mission and we
have a lot of dead time to just sit around. Yesterday i was feeling really
sick and laying on the couch thinking, how am i going to be able to do this
for 2 years. and i was going to write today that i am very close to coming
home. But then that night we started working, all of our contacts fell
through, but it's 100 times better to be out trying. But then Heavenly
Father always rewards us for trying... Elder dodds told me, he and i are
going to find a new ingestagator and baptize them b4 i leave. Well we found
her last night. Her name is Jenifer, her friend is a member and gave
referals (btw, EVERYDAY! be thinking of people for elders to teach, they
work so much better than when we make contacts in the streets.) But anyways
Jenifer is golden, we taught the first lesson and she was all over it. We go
back wednesday.

we went to church on sunday, church here is so loud, on men. but its awesome
to see all the little kids and have wards that are yours. The people here
are so great they help us out soo much, we ususally get about 10 referrals
per sacrament meeting (we have 3 wards).

Ok so thats all i really have to say... i dont really know when im leaving
they aren't really telling us much cept that they are trying hard to solve
it, but they said it doesn't look too bad. But please pray for it always. I
can last in lima for a while.... but this city is ridiculous, i gotta get
out where theres isn't smog everyday.

 Crystal, congrats on the job and the beau... is he an RM? Kim... that is
so awesome! How far along are you? Valynn.. I cant believe the kids are
going back to school already. thats nuts.

ok well i have more time so ill just try to think of some stories till my
time is up. Yesterday me and elder dodds were walking around and i saw like
three kids running and laughing... then i see one kid behind them chasing
them with... a piece of broken glass the size of his head.. then he just
chucks it at the kids but it totally missed, i just had to start laughing
and say this place is so nuts. I had a crazy homeless guy on the bus one
day, he was rapping/singing/ beat boxing in the front of the bus. Normally
I'd feel bad, but he was also really mean and he spit on somebody b4 he got
off.
I've only been out in the field for like 6 full days but i already feel
like i understand spanish soooooo much more, i really like studying it on my
own out of the manuals.

 So the best way to get pics home is just on a burnt cd, we can burn them
at any of the internet cafes for like one sol(33 cents). So I'll try and
send a cd home b4 i leave. Also im really glad you sent me those disposable cameras mom, cuz they
tell us not to bring out cameras everyday cuz they'll probably get stolen,
so i take the other one which has like 30 pics on it, so next time something
really ridiculous happens i can take a pic of it.

Oh and about that whole robbing thing, i haven't met any elders who've
been robbed, but everyone says u just have to keep a low profile, not have a
flashy watch stuff ,or pull out a bunch of money and run.But it also does
help that I'm waaaaay bigger than most people here,so that probably deters
some people too. The good thing is they don't know I'd just start crying..
drop all my stuff and run. Ha Ha

 Oh crystal i forgot to ask... do you have a friend named Tyson Wall?
Elder ruiz was talking about him, he's from west Jordon..I looked at a
picture of him and he kinda looked familiar, and the name is familiar
too.idk,just let me know, cuz that would be really funny. 

ok gotta go love you all, I'll email again next monday