11-24-2008 E-MAIL

AREA: LAS FLORES, PERU
COMPANION: ELDER TORREZ


hey everybody,
This week was pretty good. It was pretty uneventful though. We had a big
missionary night this past Saturday and we taught about the Plan of
Salvation. The people came into the gym, and we pretented we were on a plane
and the plane crashed so we all died. Then we took them around to each room
and taught about each step and where we can go after this lfie. We had 120
people show up, which is AMAZING! for our stake. THe best was we had to pass
out flyers all week for it. So me and my comp climbed all over the mountain
next to our area, the mountains are always the poorest parts of lima. I feel
the most like a missionary when I'm up there, I wouldn't call it a pretty
view, but it's cool.  Also Eduardo's dad came to the activity, and he said
he really enjoyed it. We showed a video at the end, and he told us he wants
to show it to his family, so we'll have to find a copy of it for him.
We had english class again, but this time… people actually came, which was
nice ha ha. We have to keep looking for new people, it's so tough, people
here have a tough time keeping appointments, and most people work 6 hours a
day and don’t want to talk to us on their only free day.
Ok there's some stuff I need in a package, if you sent it let me know so I
stop asking for it. I need denture cleaning tablets, more vitamins and
stamps.
I got TWO packages today, that was awesome, one from kim with the
Christmas ornaments, and one from kk with the pumkin kisses. Thanks a ton
guys for thinking about me, getting things from home helps sooo much.
Mom I sent that letter you wanted today, idk when it'll get to you. I'm
also gonna try and get another cd sent off today, I have no idea where a
post office is here though.
-Mom dad, sounds like all is goin well at home. Dad, is Kellen Moore QB
for Boise?
Valynn and Chris- haha… I don’t think I'm speaking exactly like an RM
yet, give me 19 months.
EE- who was the elder that came home?
Grandma- thanks for the update, that’s too bad about byu.
KK-3 packages… that'll do. I got one today, did you send me any pics?
Tell mom not to throw away too much of my stuff.
Crystal- ya I know we´re all busy it's ok. Spanish? I feel like it's
still pretty bad, but I'm waaaay farther along then I was when I got to this
area. I might be able to make it in Pasco. I've heard at Christmas, I only
have 45 minutes to talk , and the thing is I think people have to call me,
I'm not sure though. Chocoalte chip cookies would be awesome(home made por
favor).

Alright fam, I gotta go, love you all, hopefully the cd gets to you soon,
there's a video on there with a crane, it might be the best thing I've seen
on my misson.
                     Thanks for keeping me in your prayers, I'm doing
the same for you all.
                               Love you all so much,
                                 Elder Mike Wilson

11-17-2008 E-MAIL

AREA: LAS FLORES, PERU
COMPANION: ELDER TORREZ


ok first off... i got my first convert! His name is alejandro, he's buds
with eduardo. I forgot to bring my chip but I'm going to give the pics to
eduardo and he'll put them on his face book (elise you're all over that I'm
sure). it wAS funny cuz he's scared of water and can't swim so he was
freakin out and we had to do it twice cuz the first time didnt go...
smoothly. Today was a way better week cuz i knew i was building up`to this
on saturday, also i got a call from the office saying that i had to pay 33
soles for a pckg, so i knew that it was a big one. I got it today, it was
the really big one, haha i can't remember whats in it right now. We taught
our english classes today... no one showed up haha. But After like 45
minutes consuelo, one of our investegators walked in, she didn't even care
about learning ingles, she acutally can't read yet, but she just wanted to
talk with us. The crazy thing is she lives across town, and got lost but
kept trying till she found the church.

I heard a bit of good news about bolivia, that the ambasador is going back
in january, so thats pretty good.- still not gettin my hopes up.
haha i bought nun chucks last week. They're so cool, i gotta make sure i
dont hurt myself with them though.
what day is thanksgiving? im going to try and find a recipe for pum`pkin pie
in spanish and give it to my pensh, but idk.


OK this is very important, Crystal, one of the elders i live with is named
elder hale, his fam lives like 5 mintues from you. And his mom has a friend
who travels to lima EVERY Week, so you should really really call them and
try and figure a way to send me some stuff through them, elder hale is going
to email his parent and fill em in. their number is 225-8165. His mom sent
him peanut butter bars and they arrived in like 8 days. Thats a tad better
then 5 weeks. some good ol american cookies would be great. like hand made
cookies I mean. but ya if you could try and do that I'd very much appreciate
it.
ok question answeing time

dad- thanks for the news and the encouragment, things are geting better.
sorry for asking but whos in the heisman race?

mom- ill get those letters sent off this week for the missionary moms.

Vallyn, ya you can write dear elders that fine, they are slower but it is
nicer to have actualy paper, and i cant read it when ever i want. Thats good
that law passed. too bad people are upset.

ee thats awesome about the titans haha. Like it said there should be some
more pics of me on eduardos facebook in the next few days.

kk- ill be watign for the packages. im glad everyone is enjoyin my letters,
and be sure to let brennan know his is on his way, i sent his like a week
later.

kort- just stay away from 1030. I want my own room when i get back. Or
better yet my own bathroom, right now its 4 elders sharing one bathroom with
peruvian food, its a hoot.

alright yall i gotta go, love you guys so much. Talk to you guys in like 38
days!
Love, elder wilson

11-10-2008 E-MAIL

AREA: LAS FLORES, PERU
COMPANION: ELDER TORREZ


IN A RUSH!

Ok new rule, instead of 45 minutes for writing we now have 30, I'm trying
not to complain at that rule so my emails are gonna be pretty rushed. also,
if anyone ever comes to lima, NEVER eat at the chicken restaurants, I got
pretty sick this week from that.  I was up all night in the bathroom, and
thats where I'll stop describing. We also switched pensions to a lady that
use to own her own resutaunt, sooooo good. I finally started getting Beaus'
email, but now I don't have enough time to read any of my buddies letters.
Bad news, Ermongenis told us he isn't getting baptized anymore, but he
accepted another appointment for Wednesday so we'll see what happens. His
fam is putting pressure on him to not switch churches. Alejandro is doing
pretty good, he said yes but he doesn't really have much of a testamony.
Consuelo is willing to get baptized but she has a pretty big problem with
the word of wisdom, so we'll have to fix that first. I'm just hoping
somebody will get baptized this month. Im feeling pretty frustrated, I'm
working, but we aren't getting much of a result, and I feel like my spanish
hasn't really been improving that much either. But whatever it's a new week.
Ok there's a few things I need that I can't find here. I need those denture
cleaning tablets for my retainer, and also one of those little cleaning rags
for my glasses, they dont have anytihng with fine enough material here.  One
thing that did cheer me up this morning is that I figured out I've lost
enough weight to fit into my spandex garments again haha, that was pretty
nice.
Mom, i got your package today with the 3 twix and cliff bars, bueno. I
don't really know how the call is going to work , but the week b4 christmas
I'll tell you whats going down. I guess its cheaper for you guys to call me,
so you'll probably be calling my apartment.YA its totally fine to send
multiple emails,  I'm just not supposed to be recieveing or sending emails
to different addreses. I guess that's not a rule in santa cruz. Lima Esta
has waaaaaaaay more rules than Santa cruz, thats not exactly making me love
this place. And I don't think we use skype, but honestly I'm not sure of
what skype is, heard of it though.
EE- we go to the temple once every 6 weeks.

Grandma- thanks for the updates on sports.
kk- ha thanks kk, I figured out that I wasn't missing anything.

Ok so I still have 10 minutes to write, I guess I don't have to fly through
this too too fast. This week we are going to start teaching english classes
in the capilla, hopefully we'll have a good crowd, our ward is a little iffy
on attending things, we had a mission night this week. 4 people came. And
three were the mission leader and his wife and kid.
Don't worry about me being sick by the way, I just drank a bunch of yogurt
and I got better after about a day. But I feel like I lost some weight cuz
of it haha.
Idk what to think of my comp, he doesn't really talk. ever. And he seems
like he's ready to go home too, he's not really a fan of getting up on time.

Ok sorry I gotta go, love you guys.

11-3-2208 E-MAIL

AREA: LAS FLORES, PERU
COMPANION: ELDER TORREZ

Dear fam,

wow you all sent me a ton of stuff this week, which is good, but i
gotta write this fast. After my last email I found out my comp was a
MEXICAN, I was so excited, I miss mexicanos so much… sadly when he arrived I
realized he was born with out a personality. He said about 3 sentences in
the first three days. But no, he´s starting to talk a bit more, so that’s
really nice. I have so much I can learn from him though, hes an amazing
teacher. He always uses stories and examples that keep the peops interested.
He came from a place called Bayovar, which is hands down the most successful
zone in lima. (las flores… well, were not.) And he’s totally changing the
way we do things. He focuses on soley on working through members and finding
people they know who might be willing to listen to us. I think its going to
work better than just contacting a large  portion of the day. We figured out
that in my 6 weeks here I did around 1200 contacts… and found 3 people to
teach. In 2 days of looking for friends of members we found 5. So November
should be a pretty good month.
I found out I am not ready at all to be senior comp. I basically was for
this week, cuz elder torres doesn’t know the area at all or any of the
investigators, so ive been doing all the plans at night, and when ever we
have our plan A and B fall through hes just like ´´ alright where are we
going´´… man Idk!
We went to dylans house this week, hes acting strange now idk what the
deal is, he missed church 2 out of the last 3 days. But while we were
teaching him his g-ma came in and starting talking to us. We had finished
and had to leave but she wouldn’t stop talking when ever she took a breath I
would say that ill say a prayer and start, but in the middle shed just start
going again. Dylan went to sleep after a while on the couch. Then I looked
over and say my comp had passed out too, so it was just me and Grandma
Haumani kicking it in the living room.
We also had a really great lesson with Alejandro. We came in he had 3 of
his friends there and they were all dressed kinda like gangsters. But they
all spoke English, so they wanted to talk to me, so I explained about my
mission and everything, then we started and they asked if they needed to go
and we said no. So all three of decided to stay. I felt like I gave the best
lesson ive given so far on the mission, I just testified the whole time, and
I could tell they could really feel something.
Ok I don’t have much more time, but theres some stuff I need. More
vitamins. And I need denture cleaner….. for my retainer, I hate that thing
but when I don’t wear it my teeth kill. I also need to find out how to send
Austin his letter, I don’t think I can send it through pouch, could someone
find out for me?
Got the Halloween package, ha mom thanks for the beans. Just to let
everybody know TWIX are NOT frowned apon at all.
Sounds like everyone had a good time with Halloween, they kinda have it
here, kids just run around saying ´´Quiero alowín´´

Crystal, my Spanish isn’t anything great but its getting better. I didn’t
get your jerkey package, mail here just sucks. And idk for sure the date for
Bolivia.

Kim, my bet is girl. I cant remember who elder Anderson is.

Mom- mayans didn’t bring our mail but they said they’ll send it, idk when
though.
My city is called Las Flores, but the county I live in is called san juan
lurigancho. Today was hot, its starting to get warmer each day. Dogs aren’t
a problem, they just bark, we always have a book of mormon in our hands so
we just smack them with it if they come up to us, or kicking work s too.

K gotta go bye bye.

10-27-2008 E-MAIL

AREA: LAS FLORES, PERU
COMPANION:ELDER MELANDER



Hey everybody,
So this was a pretty up and down week. First I'll talk about the
missionary work. The two people we had with baptismal dates are having
second thoughts. Ermogenis backed his till December, and Alejandro just
tells us now he doesn’t know. But we found this lady named Consuela who has
problems with drinking and wants us to help her. She went to church
yesterday and we commited here to baptism. We also found a man named Miercol
who seems very interested. And we have references for 3 baptism age kids
whos parents are inactive. But they want us to teach their children. It is
not out of the question for 8 people getting baptized this month.
 Well Elder Melander is basically done. He's at the missiuon office right
now. He'll come back and sleep tonight and then leave for the temple at like
5 and from there he'll go to the airport. We were pretty different, but we
got along ok, he's a good guy. I'm gonna find out who my new comp is today.
I want a latino but I really won't be surprised if they send an American to
my area. My Spanish would be so much better if I had to speak it all day. We
are also going to move houses, which is just neato. It's not a good idea to
have 4 gringos in one house, especially when one is going home. And also the
food was…. Questionable. Like it's not really exotic food like monkey brain
or something, but its just bad haha. Like yesterday for breakfast we had
bread, with a slice of fried yam, (not ham). HAHA. And a couple times we've
had to dump our soup back into the pot when the lady walks out. I'm not
exactly broken hearted about moving. And I'll get hot water again, but I'm
actually use to the cold water now.
 So ya the conference. It was sooo amazing. Elder Christopherson was so
powerful. He told us that our main goal is to baptize, to get people going
on the path to change their lives. And he really focused on using the book
of Mormon for everything, cuz that’s the physical evidence that the church
is true. And then at the end he asked if we could all come up and shake his
hand. He said he just wanted to shake our hands and look us in the eye, and
say our name, so he could feel like more of a companion with us. He was
awesome. Ha but when I shook his hand I totally froze and said nothing, just
walked away.
 But I had another surprise b4 Elder Christopherson arrived and while we
were all waiting. I was sitting with elder Jacobson, and I just look to the
back of the conference room and see this tall bald man. I thought to myself,
´´that man looks really familiar…wait.. THAT’S PRESIDENT MAYANS!!!!´´ I
finally met my mission president. I just went up and gave him a hug and
talked to him for about 10 seconds. All I said was that I was one of his
elders that never left for Santa Cruz, and he just said ´´ Don’t worry we'll
get you there´´. I had such an amazing feeling seeing him, it was way
different from the feeling I get when I talk to Pres Leyva, who is amazing
too. But after I talked to Pres Mayans I just said to myself ´´He was meant
to be my president´´. Some day I'll get there ha ha.
 I also got to spend a good 3 hours with Elder Puglisi, Meridith,
Jacobsen and Smith on the bus ride to and from the conference, that was sooo
much fun, I love those guys so much.
  I sent a bunch of pìcs from one of my disposable cameras home today, or
well the film from the camera, that pics are pretty heavy, so I just sent
the film through pouch. I think today I'm going to Eduardos house and
burning another cd of my pictures, so I'll send that next week. Also we went
and painted some of Eduardos house this week, and he put some pics of me on
his facebook, so Elise you can get on there and get those.
 Well I now have 4 months under my belt, it went too fast, b4 I know it
it’ll be Christmas. My Spanish is really improving now, because I'm starting
to read the giant grammar book they gave me, its like 700 pages or
something.

Dad- Thanks for the story that’s really funny.
Mom- I didn’t get the Halloween pckg yet. The only package I've received
since I've been out of the CCM (mtc) was the one with the twix and
glucosamine in it.
Thanks for the addresses I asked for, I'm gonna start writing people a
lot more. I'm gonna look for some pics to send Brian and Brennen today too.
And Kortney, I'm working on finding that llama picture for you.

Well I gotta split, we are going back to el hueco (the hole), which is the
giant market place. I bought some amazing ties last time, haha.

Love you guys