Bolivia Time

We Believe

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Jun 21, 2010

Hi everyone,
Thanks for being part of Mike’s support group these past two years. His arrival time was changed to 4:41 PM, on Saturday. See some of you there.
Claudia



Subject: Time to leave

Dear Family,
Well... this feels weird. I have very mixed emotions about going home. ''This is like going to Disney World on the day your dog died'' said Elder Jacobsen. The reality started to hit me yesterday and a lot more today. And once I get home Ill start to miss it even more. Ive made so many friends here. the members and investigators and the missionaries. Its been a wild ride.

I just want to thank you all once again for your prayers and support. You dont understand how much youve helped me these past two years. I honestly wouldve have been home a long time ago if it wasnt for all of you. Im kinda short on words right now. Im sad to leave, but excited to go home. Im nervous and at the same time excited about the future. I just still cant believe its over. Ive learned so much and made changes out here that I never thought were possible.

Now to answer some of your questions. Im kinda nervous about eating a lot when I get home, cuz Im probably going to get sick. But I would really love some cinnamon rolls haha. And just a normal Sunday dinner. whatever you guys want to eat (apart from rice) is fine with me.

Well I cant think of anything else to say haha. I love you guys and will see you soon.

Love, Elder Michael David Wilson

E-MAIL FROM EMILY FOX

* This is an e-mail we received from a girl in our home ward. The world sure seems small when things like this happen.

hi wilson family! as you probably know, coincidentally, i am in the same town as michael! i came here to do volunteer work with a micro finance org. i am staying at the house of one of his investigators. i have seen the missionaries a lot, as i´ve gone to ward activities, i had lunch with them and the investigator family, i also joined them in a lesson for the investigator family. he is a great teacher, and such a good obedient missionary! i just wanted to tell you and send you some pictures i took of him, in the act of being a missionary. :) i guess you´ll see him soon enough as he comes home shortly! anyways, i hope you are all doing well.
lots of love, emily fox

6-14-2010 E-MAIL

Subject: El Pinultimo

hey everybody, sounds like all is well in the states

OK, so maybe you alreay know, but I still want to tell the story: So we knock on these investigator´s door, and a white lady comes out of another room.. I look at here and say to myself ''maybe shes American'', then she says in English ''I thought it was you''... it was Emily Fox. She works with a Non Profit Organization from Seattle... and she just happened to be sent to my area, and shes living with a family Im teaching. It was so funny. She took a picture of me and my companion as evidence and said shed send it to you guys.

Anyways, well this week was way better. I got a mouthful of Elder Smiths elbow playing basketball to start off the week, but then it got better. We were a little worried cuz the World Cup has started(oh by the way I realy like soccer now) and everyone is watching it. But we were able to get a lot done even though the games were on. We found a lot of families this week, so the Elder that replaces me will have a lot to work with. Having such little time left is actually helping me to work harder. I want to end strong. I just keep saying ''I only have a few days more to be able to be a full time missionary''. My companion told me he was worried about me being trunky but a few days ago he said '' it didnt happen''.

we had ward conference and activities every day of this week.it was pretty cool, the members got to know the investigators, and everyone opened up a lot more. Now we are going to have a small activity every Tuesday to help everyone become closer.

Reynaldo came to church, he'll get baptized the day I get home. We really gained his confidence this week, we taught him about the law of chastity and the word of wisdom. He told us the problems he has been having with this and that he is going to change. Hes a cool kid.
so... funny...well wierd story: we met a guy named Julio Cesar, he had this dog and he called it as the ''practice dog''.turns out hes a vet and he has to operate on the dog for practice. We looked a little closer and he was missing and eye, an ear, and had scars all over the place. ''what happens if it dies?''... ''i get a bad grade''. do they do that in the states? I dont remember that place anymore.

Valynn-swimming, thats a good sport, my buddies Elder Gonzales and Elder Duncan play water polo. I dont think I start school till September.
EE-I thought Dani got married a long time ago.
dad/mom-Ill get to work on the talk. Thats good that Josh had a good time. We should go camping. Brian is looking more like Kaylene. They told us they were making changes in the teaching in the MTC, I think its the same thing that Elder Nash has taught it about questions.
Kim-the drama is worse here I think. Well at least here more people go inactive when they get upset.
Crystal-sometimes I feel like Im more mature... sometimes

Well... see ya soon... cuídense
con amor Elder Wilson

Jun 13, 2010

6-7-2010 E-MAIL

Subject: Time flies

hey everybody, Im glad to hear everybody is doing well at home. We had a pretty tough long week. The highlight was a new family we found coming to church yesterday. The dad has a pretty crazy work schedule, he rests for a month, then works for 4, so hopefully we can help him progress before he leaves. We have a lot of great people who can not be baptized because they have complications licenses or divorces. its really frustrating. It doesnt look like anyone will be able to be baptized while Im still here, which is a bummer, but the the important thing is that they will be baptized. The highlight of this week was meeting a man named Celso. He was sitting on the curb and we went up and started talking to him. He started to talking to us about just how sad and lonely he was, I just felt so sorry for the guy. But we were able to share some scriptures with him and invited him to church. He doesnt live anywhere close to our area, nor other missionaries so we couldnt visit him or send anybody else, but we'll give him a call later to see how hes doing.
We had the best service project ever this week. We thought we were going to help people move into a new house. But what we didnt know is that first we had to tear the old house down so they can build another one. So we just broke things for 2 hours. I really love the members here in this ward. Ive grown really close to them in just 2 months, Im going to miss them alot.

Valynn- Elder Maynes is my Mission Presidents big brother.
Dad- Im not a zone leader any more haha. the packages arrived this week.
Kim- training is just a different experience. my first one was just a stud, this time... its a process.
Grandma- youre so funny and sweet Grandma
Crystal-Thats a crazy pic you sent, that was a long time ago. I sent pics a long time ago, it might be those ones.
EE-Im trying to leave with a bang
KK- I might look different to Brian haha. My arms are tanned, if you compare them to my back and chest that havent seen the sun in 2 years.

ok gotta go, love you all,

see you soon-Elder Wilson

Jun 3, 2010

5-31-2010 E-MAIL

Subject: ''we arent talking about... Hucklebery Finn!''

hey everybody, Well this week we had zone conference... my last zone conference. I got to see Elder Ramirez there, he is now with an Elder who has had many problems with obedience in the mission... hope that doesnt rub off on him. Me, Elder Meredith, Elder Smith, Elder Cope, Elder Alder and Elder Jacobsen all gave our last testimonies. I actually was the one that had the hardest time giving it. I remember listening to Elder Melander give his, and just having the perception that I would never ever give mine, that'd this would never really end. Its crazy how fast this has all passed.

We are starting to see more results from our work with members. We have tons of people who have potential, few came to church yesterday, but theyll get baptized. We had two people accept fecha yesterday, Shirley and Faustino. Faustino will be getting baptized b4 I leave.

I had a good interview with Pres Maynes on Saturday. We talked a lot about how I need to keep up all the good habits Ive made on the mission, Ill think youll all be surprised with how different I am. And we also talked about how I need to make sure I dont just go back to being the same old Mike from b4 the mission. Then he said something that made me laugh really hard. He gets really intense when he talks, and we were talking about living what we study and he said : ''people dont understand, the Savior was an actual person, its not like we are studying about... Hucklebery Finn!''...you had to be there.

Mom-Dad: Tell Shayne hi for me, cant believe hes home already. Here in Bolivia there arent flood drains, so you can imagine how it is when it rains. Im excited to be able to see Beau when I get back... havent seen him for almost 3 years
.Crystal-Happy Birthday. I wonder how Ill react when I get home... cuz right now I live in a place very very different.
Grandma- Tell Cherie congratulations. Atleast this time around Sister Wright has an idea of how fast the two years fly by.
Elise-Happy Birthday, does Beau come down often now?

Ok everybody, you all take care, I love each and everyone of you
Elder Wilson

5-24-2010 E-MAIL

Round two

hey everybody,
Well Elder Ramirez left, and I’m training again. No one from my group is a zone leader, and almost all of us are training. My companion is from Antofagasta, Chile. His name is Elder Âlvarez. The word I would use to describe him is flamboyant. Hes a good guy, I need to help him a lot with his teaching. I knew that Elder Ramirez was a stud, but I took for granted how well prepared he was b4 he came. But we’ll just keep practicing and studying. It was pretty wierd getting the change news and realizing Im in my last area, with my last companion, it made things all the more real.And today they told us that tommorow we have zone conference. Its my last zone conference I have to give my last testimony... thats so crazy. but then I remembered, its probably the last time I am going to hear President Maynes for a long time... not too happy about that.
Funny story. Elder Jacobsen, Elder Cope, Elder Smith and I all stayed here together and all of us are training. But Elder Jacobsen's companion showed up a few days late, so he stayed with us. but we didn’t have another mattress... so he slept on our desks... poor guy.
We are making more of an effort to work with members, we've already seen results. we met a guy named Gary who lives with a member family, he acecepeted a date. I just realized I have very little time to end this letter haha.
Mom, there are a couple breakables in my bag, I’ll wrap them
Crystal-yes I remember Athena, were did she go?
EE-Tell Beau hi
Dad I need to get in shape
Kim-I remember I hated suits a ton b4 the mission
KK-hey its progrees.
Love you bye bye Eder Wilson

May 17, 2010

5-17-2010 E-MAIL

Subject: I thought you were going to be like Abû!

Hi everyone,
This was a pretty great week. it started out with me and Elder Smith doing an interchange. we are both training, so we thought we shouldnt leave our companions together, but President Maynes told us we should. It was so fun, we've both improved our teaching a ton while training, and we just laughed all day as we were walking... Then a monkey bit me. Ya, one of our investigatores has a niehbor with a monkey, and they really love sun flower seeds. But I got a little too close and he chomped down on my finger. I was not happy. but the monkey doesnt have rabies so we're good.
After that whole thing we had a conference with Elder Marcus Nash, the President of the area South America North West, and before that he was president of our area... you guys probably knew that, But I was oblivious to it back then. He's amazing. We all met him and shook his hand, I told him I was from Pasco and he says ''I remember you!''... I had a conversation with him about that 2 years in Lima, it was cool he remembered. He taught us about a new way to teach, with questions that really make people express themselves. We tried it this week and really had some great experiences. People have been sharing with us more about thier hopes and fears in this life. Its really helped me develop more love for the people. Now when I meet someone, I think more about the chalenges they face.
After the conference I talked a little more with Elder Nash. He started raving about the Tri Cities, and about President Montierth. Im supposed to give him a hug for Elder Nash when I get home.
The area is coming along slowly, we talked more with the Bishopric yesterday about how we can help them with their worries, so that they can help us too. With their help we'll see more progress.
So I only have 5 Sundays left, and today I start my last planner... it's still not real. I talked to my friend Elder Anderson, who leaves in a few days... he still doesnt believe that hes going home. Im probably going to be the same.

EE- I have tons of people to meet when I get home haha
Valynn- it actually says in the manual that a missionary needs to be alone when in the bathroom... I dont want to know why the leaders had to put that in writing.

Mom and Dad- Im starting to realize that ending the mission doesnt mean I get to relax (well maybe a bit). But Im staying busy, but mondays are a bit hard to keep focused with four other Elders from my group. Oh and I tihnk if I stop working Pres Maynes would send me home without honor a day early.

Grandma- Im excited to see all the changes. But Im still not happy about the new high school.

Kim- my companion is doing really well. We find out on Wednesday if we stay together or not.

Crystal-Im still haning in there, i learned a ton from Elder Nash that i havent been doing for most of my mission, so Im trying to end well using the things he taught.

Ok fam, talk to you next week, love you, keep safe
Elder Wilson

May 11, 2010

5-10-2010 E-MAIL

Subject: 6 hours

sooo... I hope you guys got me email last week, its showing right now that its only saved.. but whatever, Ill be talking to you today. It was really wierd dropping under 50 days left.
This week went pretty well. We are teaching a lot of lessons, so thats nice not having to just knock doors all day. But we would like to see more progress with our investigators. Ana is so ready to get baptized... but she needs to get divorced first and marry Felipe. Her hubby lives 8 hours away and they aren’t exactly buds. But their son is on our side and said he’d talk the dad into coming down... if he doesn’t come down, I’ll probably be married before them (which is a LONG time away).
I got to play wedding counselor again this week with Guisela and Abraham. Its tough cuz we aren’t supposed to give advice about relationships to people, so we have to do it through gospel priciples, teaching about Attributes of Christ. But we helped them out. Guisela is starting to gain a testimony, she'll be baptized once things cool down between them.
I met a guy named Mauricio, he’s really cool. He told us ''ya, I use to listen to the 7th day adventists... in prison''. He had a really rough past, got shot a couple times, and use to use drugs. He's kinda a differnt guy, but seems sincere, I think he'll progress.
we are trying to work more with members, I’ve never been very good about that in my mission. But it’s our only hope here in Estacion.

Crystal- Yes they celebrate Mother day here, but its on the 27 of May.
Valynn-My comp is really great, he showed up really prepared (10000 times more than i was). His only problem is that he gets really nervous when he teaches, and that makes the people nervous. We’re working on that with him. ¿Are we going to Florida or California?
EE- A Store?
Kim-we'll give the cell phone a shot. I’m glad you guys had fun on your trip.
KK- Emily looks ummm.... gordita in the pic.
Dad- Cool, I’ll get to see Bretts wedding, and a ton of the cousins.
Ok- talk to you guys in 6 hours.
love, Elder Wilson

5-3-2010 E-MAIL

Subject: Shopping

hey everybody,
yeah so its May now. Reality is starting to set in a little bit. Deep down I really don’t believe I’m ever going home, but now that President Maynes even talks about it, its starting to sink in a bit. I’m starting to say I’m only going to do this one more time, for example fasting on the mission, going to zone conference. In the next confernce I’ll be giving my last testimony... thats so wierd.
I learned a lot about of lessons about my weaknesses and how much I still need to improve. We had zone conference and President Maynes talked to us about charity, and that part of it is looking at the potential people have, and not judgeing them. I realized I do that a lot, sometimes before we even teach them Im already doubting they will even be at the house, let alone progress. So I made an effort these past couple days after the conference to be more positive about people, it works out waybetter. We know that faith without works is dead, but I found out works without faith doesn’t work out either.
After the change in attitude things got a lot better, we've found a lot of people through references and have a lot more people listening to us. So things are looking up in Estacion. Ana is really excited and we are doing everything we can to get her divorce to go through.
My companion is doing really great. He came really prepared, his only problem is that he doesn’t teach simply, and so no one really follows his lessons. We've been practicing a lot one being clear, simple and direct, it works WAY better.
So Saturday I had my interview with President Maynes, we started talking about the things I learned from the conference, and I told him about charity. His answer was ''good elder, you work on that... for the next 55 days''
You'll all be happy to know that you all have presents now. What I bought for Kaylene and Josh is my personal favorite... I just hope none of it breaks on the way home. I also ran into one of my favorite people on the world Elder Meridith today... love that guy.
And I talked to Pres Maynes and I’ll be calling next Monday the 10th. But tommorow Ill do the precall I think, so well confirm everthing.

Valynn-Tell Jamen and Kateyln and Tyler good job
Grandma- are they spliting the stake?
Mom- Ill be home to help with chores in a bit. HAve you talked to Elder Puglisi's parents about houseing?
Matt- todavia no se jugar el futbol.
EE I cant believe I stil dont know Liam
Kim- Im still working hard, training keeps me motivated. Just on P-day I think about it. Jace is huge

KK tell cec Im proud of her.
bye bye
Elder Wilson

4-26-2010 E-MAIL

Subject: Perseverar hasta el fin

hey everybody,
Ya, well this week was... just a trial. We have a lot of investigators, but we had a really tough time finding time with them, so we spent a lot of time looking and knocking doors. I had a really cool experience one afternoon: It was about 4 pm and we hadn’t gotten into a house yet, we were walking down a road and I said a little prayer for guidance. I got a feeling we needed to cross the street and knock at a house. The man who answered was named Jenaro and he accepted a baptism date, it was super cool. But he didn’t come to church yesterday haha, so we need to find him again.
My companion had his first experience praying about the Book of Mormon with an investigator, it works everytime. He also participated in his first blessing of health. He blessed a girl while she was throwing up (wish I had a camera), and about 20 minutes later she was fine.
Its finally starting to cool down, it feels so nice. I went to Santa Cruz on Saturday to get my warts frozen off and on the drive there I let the autumn air blow on my face, it was nice. And contrary to what most people think, having cold air blow in my face didn’t make my lungs explode (I have so many stories about stuff like that when I get home).
But ya I went to Santa Cruz for that wart treatment... Liquid Nitrogen hurts A LOT! We'll see if I can get these bad boys taken off b4 June 26th at 1:32 pm...pacific standard time.
We are really going to be working more with our members this week. We’ve had some results with our own efforts, but we are going to be visiting more families this week and meeting with the leaders so they can give us a bit of guidance. I got pretty frustrated this week, so we need to change things up a bit this week.
Ok well.. I love you guys, pray for me.
-Elder Wilson

Apr 19, 2010

4-19-2010 E-MAIL

Subject: Prresident Maynes.... I LOST him.

Hi everyone,
So training is just... just funny. I wonder how Elder Dodds didnt ever laugh at me, actually I think he did. Im just trying to teach my companion to RELAX. He gets so nervous when he teaches. But he has made a lot of progress in just one week. Maybe Im trying to teach him too much at once, but he'll be such a better teacher once he gets a hang of teaching simply and sincerely, with good scriptures and good questions. But its a work in progress.
The area is really picking up in our area, its called Estacion for those who are keeping score. We have ten people that are showing a lot of potential. We've just been trying to stay positive and keep being obedient and diligent I just kept saying things will get better, and they did. We had some rough days of just walking up and down the streets trying to find members houses and people to listen to us. But we've found some neighborhoods on outside of the center of town, and people are just nicer there. We found a guy named Victor who told us that the Elders visited his family 15 years ago and that his family was so much happier than, hes super cool and want to get baptized. A new convirt named Felipe just got reunited with his wife(well, girlfriend) and his two kids. He use to be an alcholholic but she heard about how hes turned things around and came back... problem is now they are breaking the Law of Chastity... kinda an important detail. But they are making plans to get married.

So funny story para explain the title. So me and comp are in a hurry so we jump on moto taxis. My comp asks '' where are we going?'' and I just say ''just follow us''. Problem is he gets stuck at a red light, we pull over to wait for him, but they dont see us, and we dont see them pass. So then I realize whats going on, my companion is on a mototaxi, speeding down the road, cuz he thinks that we are way ahead of him, and we are speeding behind him, trying to catch him. And the whole time I’m just imagining the conversation con President Maynes '' I just flat out lost him!'' But we caught him, all is well.

Mason- We've had some great experiences already this week. We have to depend a lot more in the spirit.
EE-sounds like Liam is getting big.
Dad- The missionaries had my ward and the ward where Elder Smith is. But they worked more in Elder Smiths area, so we didnt have much to work with when we got here.
Crystal-what is Matt studying again?
Mom- haha, ya Idk what I’m going to do about work. Idk what the deal is with the package, the first one you sent hasn’t shown up yet.
Grandma- I almost felt bad for Bonderman, than I remember hes a millionare.
Valynn-I honestly think I was easy to train. And being trained by an American made things nice too, no language barrier. My companion is from Peru, a city called Trujillo (''True'' ''he'' ''yo''). I have to be extra obedient and diligent to show him a good example, and if not, I get to have a ''talk'' with Pres Maynes.
VAlynn-I dont even know if i can ride a bike anymore, cuz I was pretty bad before the mission.
kk-IDK what ever excuse you can give them.
mom-um... I dont really want to call on P-day. I might be able to do it on Tuesday.

Ok guys, thanks for your prayers, love ya, gotta go
-Elder Wilson

4-12-2010 E-MAIL

Subject: ''These guys think we are perfect''

OK, lots of stuff happened this week. First off, I’m not with Elder Gonzalez anymore. I’m still in Montero, but I’m opening an area across the street from La Pampa... and... I’m training. My new compañion is from Trujillo Peru, his name is Elder Ramirez. When we went to go pick up our new campanions President Maynes pulled me aside and said that I was getting the best one and that he expects big things this transfer. He told all of us who are training (there are 19 new missionaries, and most of the Elders from my group are training) that we WILL have 42 lessons a week and we WILL have 140 conversations in the street. I found something really cool too, Elder Allan from my group is training in Villamontes. Pres Maynes said that there are 8 people with baptism dates there, Pres Maynes looked at me and said '' you contacted all of them''.
My buddies Elder Jacobsen and Eld Smith and also training here with me, its pretty sweet, there are 6 companionships, and 5 of them have someone from my group. Me and Elder Smith stayed together one night as we were waiting for our comps, and Elder Smith said ''man... these guys are going to think we are perfect''. And now, I’m WAAY better than I use to be, but man, now I have to be perfect!!
Eld Ramirez really wants to learn and watches and copies EVERYTHING I do. But its a good time and I like introducing him to things, his first lesson, first contact first planning session(that one was rough). Our area is kinda tough( ''Tough is relative''-Pres Maynes) but we have a few people that the other Elders left. And we were able to find a really great kid named Daniel who showed a TON of interest. But we are going to need a lot of help from members.
I had some great experiences this week. First off, we had lots of prayers answered. First, when we went and got our comps, Elder Jacobsen lost his bag in a taxi, it had his journal, his camera, his money and his passport. Im sure all of were praying for him, and the next day the taxi driver turned it in with everything. I have also been praying that we don’t have to knock doors all day, and that my comp doesn’t have to start his mission with out having lessons. Each day we are increasing our lessons, even though we still dont really know anybody.
But my other experience was in the priesthood session, Elder Rashband spoke about picking mission calls. It really wasnt anything he said, but during the entire talk, I had this overwhelming feeling of surity(is that a word) That i was supposed to be here, with these people, these missionaries, and with Pres Maynes. We actually all felt it together, pretty awesome.
Mom I gave Pres Maynes the ecliastical endorsment hes going to fax it. Thats crazy about flight plans, I’ll talk the next day, just let me know the topic b4. Send me a couple 15 1/2 inch shirst for my comp, he has like 3.

Valynn- sounds like I’ll have lots of activities to watch when i get home. we have been playing B-ball and soccer a lot latey. But Im still terrible

Crystal-thanks for your email. IDK how I made it 2 years haha.
Kim- 8 years... wow

Ok love you guys, talk to you later, pray for me and my comp
Elder Wilson



****Just to let everyone know, Mike arrives June 26th at 1:32PM!!!!!****

Apr 6, 2010

4-5-2010 E-MAIL

Subject: highs and lows

Hey everybody, Well to be honest, this was a pretty tough week, our investigators have had a lot of problems this week. A few have even told us that they are just not ready to keep progressing. Its sad because they recognize that this is the truth, but still find excuses for why they cant do it. But we will visit them from time to time to see how they are doing.

This whole week has been La Semana Santa ( Holy Week), I dont really know if Catholics do that in the states. But it was pretty hard to find people in their houses, all day they had activities and at night they were in the cathedral. So ya, a pretty slow frustrating week. We are looking really hard for new investigators, cuz our other ones are now baptized, or are not progressing. We had some luck last night with the time we had to work and found one couple and an older man that seem promising. Yesterday we were locked in the house all day for elections. Some times things get a little heated, and being a big gringo doesnt help, so all the Elders just stay in the house. Speaking of politics, Evo Morales had a rally half a block from our house a few days ago. There was a crowd of about 500 people, so we went and saw him for a second. But I felt like everyone was staring at me so we left pretty fast. But ya FAMOUS PERSON.
We werent allowed to have church this week, so they taped conference and we'll
watch it next week. We have changes again next week, I really hope me and Elder Gonzalez stay together, but we'll find out ina little while. Its been a really fun change with him, and we have worked really hard too. Today we are going to start souvenir shopping, that should be fun. Mom sister Maynes is helping me find that Nativity set, we'll see what we can do.

Thanks for the BYU info. I need that eclesiastical endorsment. Mom it would be 100 times easier if some how you could do it for me. But Im going to print off a copy and do it with pres Maynes, its just going to take a really long time to get it to the States.

I dont really know what classes I wanna take. I kinda wanna start off slow. I want to get a chem degree, so science classes would be good, bio, physics and chem. Also math classes, and religion. But talk to the counselor and you can just suprise me.

Valynn- ya time is really starting to fly now, now that its April the reality is setting in a bit more.
Grandma- thnak you for the news, I be waiting to hear what happens.
Kim- they dont to a ton for Easter here, they go fishing cuz they dont believe in eating meat.
Kk- We dont get to watch conference till next week.

ok gotta go, love you guys.

3-29-2010 E-MAIL

Subject: Tres

well another week has gone bye, and March is basically gone. I think you all can notice that my English has improved...a lot... I couldnt think of a bigger fancier word. But ya, that happens with an American comp, and never having time to study Spansih.
Well we started off this week with a zone conference. I got to see my buddy Elder Meridith... I just love that guy. The conference was great. President Maynes taught us about virtue and how it relates to the after life, but it turned into a Question and Answer session where we just picked President Mayne's brain. Hes a smart guy. I am really going to miss not seeing him. We also got to have interviews with him. We talked about a lot of interseting things... mostly about my plans after the mission haha. We talked a bit about what I want to do for a living, now Im not as dead set on being a dentist, but I need to weigh out a ton of stuff before I make that decision. We had a really cool little moment together, we were talking about how being a zone leader and being a trainer, Its like how a ward needs a good bishop, but also a great Scout Master. he told me ''if you really want to make a huge impact in the life of a person, be a scout Master''. And after he said that I felf the spirit in a way I normally dont feel, and Pres Maynes then said '' And the spirit is testifying to both of us that its true''.
We also ended the week with Elsa, Victor and Ronald being baptized, that was great. We've been working with the Family Torrez for about 15 or 16 weeks... man, totally worth it. We had some unfortunate things happen to us, and two of our investigators who were also going to be baptized arent looking so great right now... but we'll be helping them out. But we still have a TON of people here that are ready for baptism... there are 7 people who could do it in April... thatd be so great.
Me and Elder Gonzalez had a moment when we both said '' WHERE IS A CAMERA?''. So we get caught in a rainstorm, soaking wet, with an apointment to go to across town. But people here are afraid of rain, so theres almost no taxis. But out of nowhere our misson leader shows up on his motor taxi. So we jump on, elder gonzalez, and me hanging on tight behind him. Problem is there are huge puddles, so I need to lift my legs way up so the water doesnt splash all over me. It looked like on Dumb and Dumber when Harry is frozen to Loyds back... just trust me, it was funny.
We went to Santa Cruz today to have a little Language training thing. All the latin elders are going to study english and earn a certificate from BYU, so thats pretty cool. We also got permision to go eat in the center of the city... I went to ..... SUBWAY, I havent eaten that in 21 months.... it was just... just .. SOOO GOOD.

Chris- Thanks for the news.
Dad- The members do a pretty good job of befreinding people. It still feels hot here, the sun is just super strong. The wart war... eh... its going still, Im going to get liquid nitrogen treatment next month.
Mom- No package yet. Tell Quintin congratulations and to read nothing but the Preach My Gospel and the Book of Mormon while hes preparing. Im just figuring out how amazing those two books are.
Crystal- Thats actually something Ive been thinking about lately, how different Im going to seem for you guys... even like taste wise. For example... I LOVE spicy food now, I eat tomatoes, onions, even celery... even celery, still not that great. Ha, and beats, I love beats haha.
Grandma-Thats going to be wierd to see Elders after the mission in my house. There are RMs here that just try and burn us all the time and tell us what we are doing wrong, I hope I dont do that.
Kim- Ya, time is really flying by. The reality is starting to set in... Im not going to be doing this that much longer.
KK- Its still so weird to think there are 4 more members of the family I dont even really know.

Ok people, I love you all, happy Easter, not sure when it is really. Hasta la próxima semana
-Elder Wilson

3-22-2010 E-MAIL

Subject: Buckle Up

hey everybody,
So we had another awesome week. I really need to keep this up to end my mission. All of the work we've been doing the past few weeks is going to pay off this Saturday. Five of our investigators are going to be baptized... thats going to be really really cool. The Torrez family and a man named José Luis are getting baptized in one ward, and Nelson and Ronald in the other. We also have the other Torrez family that are putting in their marriage papers... hopefully this very second and are getting married on Saturday also.
We had some really interesting experiences this week, three sad ones and one really nice one. We taught a young couple named Mario and Felicia, they called us into their yard one night to bless their daughter, which was really cool. But this week we actually went into their house. All they have is a hay mattress and some clothes, not much else. We came out both asking ourselves why we have so much and this family so little. Later we visited an inactive man named Claudio, they live in similar circumstances, but he has 5 kids 4 under 8 years old, and his wife abandonded him... what a terrible woman. And then yesterday we were sent to visit a sealed couple who is having marriage issues. The wife is amazing, and the husband works in the city gonvernment and has turned into just a dirty politician. We tried to talk to him about his problems and he tried to twist everything around so nothing was his fault... thing is, he did it really badly and just looked like an idiot. but there are things going on there that we shouldnt be giving cousel on as Elders, its a job for the Stake President.
But we did have a really nice experience in the little town we're in charge of, Yapacaní. we found two youth that have been going to church for 2 years. One is named Daniel, we met him and his mom. The mom started crying as she talked about how proud she was of here 14 year old son who goes to church everyday by himself.
So ya this should be a pretty great week. Tomorrow we have zone conference. Elder Gonzalez and I have a class to teach tomorrow about asking good questions... should probably get on that.
Dad- We dont ever recieve references from the church offices. I think that is put to more use in the States.
Chase- I cant wait to have my own troll some day.
Crystal- Thats good the boys like dinosaurs, cuz Im buying them little crocodile wallets... but it looks like dinosaur skin too... but lets keep that on the down low.
mom- Thanks for the ideas, I'm going to start buying presents this week. We arent going to be able to watch Gen Confer till the tenth cuz of the gonvernment stuff going Easter Weekend. If someone emails my old address it is forwarded to my new one.
Valynn- Tell Jamen to stick with leaders, that’s what I had to do sometimes. Who did Chris get to see play?
Grandma- Thats a bummer for BYU
KK- There are no possums here. Cokes all the rage here. Its basically legal here. EVERYBODY chews coke leaves like tobaco here.
We dont have hay anymore? ... well... I was planning on farming that again... oh well...
Ok everybody. please pray that my investigators can get baptized this week. Talk to you later.
Love Elder Wilson

Mar 16, 2010

3-15-2010 E-MAIL

Subject: Good Week

hey everyone,
Well, ya, good week. Me and Elder Gonzalez got a lot done. We are asked to be examples of the zone, and we really feel like we did that this week. We had an all Bolivian Conference last week. We listend to Elder Ballard and Pres Eyring through satelite, it was really cool. Elder Ballard talked about some miracles he had seen in Bolivia over the years, and Pres Eyring talked about how we need to just be obedient and follow Gods will. We had Elsa and Victor Torrez come yesterday, they are so pumped to be baptized, they are so great. Theres also a pair of cousins, Ronal and Nelson that are going to be baptized on the 27th. Its going to be a good month, Raul and Miliana are saying they are nervous about getting married, so this week we have to help them out with that. We got to play family counselor yesterday with an part active family. We showed up cuz we were going to go out and work with the 19 year old son, but we got there right after the dad had beaten the son with a cable. We found out later the whole thing was because the son didnt want to give his TAPE to his little sister. Ridiculous... but ya we are helping them out. It makes me appreciate mom and dad more having experiences like that.
We went to an activity in the chapel and saw this white kid playing basketball. We assumed he was from Argentina, or maybe Spain... nope he was from... MICHIGAN. Had a nice little chat with him.
We also almost saw a drunk man quick draw one night out in the boonies. The guy pulled his gun out and was threatening to kill the other guy if he stepped onto his property... its such a neat place here sometimes.
OK I need some help... I’m starting to buy presents for people, I need to know if people would use wallets, or scripture cases made out of aligator skin... to me they look awesome, but IDK if you guys would want to use them up there in Sunday school or Relief society, or in a high councel meeting. So PLEASE let my know if you really want it or not, if not I’ll find something else.
Grandma- thanks you for the news.
Dad- so you still understand Spanish? Do you speak it? It is coolin down a bit here, today its nice and hazy, perfect for soccer and BBQ. I dont have much contact with the other missionaries either, so I dont get much news about my investigators.
Crystal- ya I’ll try to avoid throwing up on the stand.
Mom- Tell Quintin good luck, hopefully I’ll get to see him b4 he leaves. You can get a good start on Spanish is 3 months. I really like beef jerky and trail mix, you could send me that.
KK- I see little kids peeing like that all the time. we speak english as much as we can.
EE- what kind of photo job do you have?

OK everybody, thanks for your support and your prayers and your emails. I love you all, talk to you next week.

oh ps, I had to change my email address, the church has made a new email service with google. Its be better to send your emails to mdwilson@myldsmail.net ... bye

3-8-2010 E-MAIL

Subject: ''Everyone is going home on the normal day...cept for you guys''

Hey everybody, Well we had a pretty good week. On Tuesday we had Concilio with all the Zone Leaders and President Maynes. My buddy Elder Meredith is a zone leader now too so I was able to see him. Concilio is always a great time, President Maynes talked to us a bit about Chile and said that the first thing the church does after a natural disaster is make sure all the Elders are accounted for, I don’t know why but that really touched me. Later on he started talking about how the transfers are going to change. Before , the Elder who were ending went home a week early. He said that doesn’t happen anymore. But then he asked all of us that are going home in June to raise our hands. Then he said, ‘’all of you will be going home the week before the transfers’’. And about half a second later Elder Jacobsen shot his hand upand asked ‘’WHAT DAY IS THAT EXACTLY?’’ ‘’June 25th’’. So ya… I know what day Im coming home, that’s pretty crazy. And today I got an email asking for your email, and the closest airport to my house. Times flying by. Me and Elder Gonzalez worked really well this week, we had to make up for lost time being losing one day for concilio. Its nice though because we try and work in the most efficient way possible. We were able to find a ton of people through the member´s references, and we ended up finding just random people in the street who were really interested. We received a reference for a family named Torrez. They are amazing, they accepted a baptism date after two days. Along with them we have another Torrez family that are going to be baptized at the end of the month, and two cousins, Nelson and Ronald that should be baptized too in March. And even though it rained, we had 5 people come to church. Things are going well. Me and Elder Gonzalez are realizing that we don’t have much time left, so we are trying to find the sincere people faster. Lots of time we talk to people about baptism in the street. If they say no, we normally just move on, it seems kinda harsh, but we know that there are people who are prepared, so we need to spend way less time with people that aren’t interested. I almost got attacked by a pitbull this week. Basically the most terrifying moment of my mission. But I used my Book of Mormon as a shield until the owner could get the dog away.

EE-Having an American comp is just super. He looks latin though so they don’t really treat us differently.
Kim- the two Elder the trained me were American, so I haven’t been with one since then, like 19 months ago.
Dad- I don’t really hear from my convirts right now. After the mission Ill try and get in contact with them.
Mom-Ill be waiting for the earthquake story.
Valynn- the weather WAS cold, now its super hot and humid again. I was getting excited for a while, thinking that summer was over… but now they are saying itll be cold in … JUNE
Crystal- haha, my Spanish is already getting a little rusty. One cuz I speak more English, and two, being zone leader means I NEVER have time to study Spanish anymore.

Ok, love you guys, get well soon all the sickies.
Love Elder Wilson

Mar 1, 2010

3-1-2010 E-MAIL

Well... we see ya later Spanish

Hey there everybody,So ya things are going pretty great here right now, cuz I have my new companion. He name is Elder Gonzalez… and he's from California. It's not that I'm racist, but it's nice to live with someone from your home. It's areally good time. We are from the same group too, he goes home with me in June. We were already buddies so I was so happy when they called me and told me he was coming. He's a lot like Martin, not just the fact that he's Latin.He's super calm all the time. It's going to be a really great transfer! I've already learned just a ton from him. He teaches in a really different way,and its all rubbed off a bit on me. None of our lessons are repetative, we prepare a lot more for each situation and each lesson is geared more towards the investigator. The spirit is really strong when we teach now, which is good cuz our spanish is worse cuz we speak english ALL DAY. Our area is doing well. After 8 weeks of waiting the Torrez family FINALLY came to church. It was so frustrating, something always happened each Sundayand they couldn't come. But now they made it, and loved it. They are getting baptized on the 20th. We have quite a few people we are teach right now. We are making an effort to work more with our members. Yesterday we went to our other ward Villa Verde and made appointments with our bishop and mission leader, they are really excited to work with us to help the ward, its really struggling. And in just 15 minutes of talking with members we found two people whos family are members and want to get baptized. Our zone is also improving a ton. Last week was just terrible, but the missionaries have already found 7 more people and placed them with baptism dates, they are working hard. I got 3 more packages, thank you very much. I keep forgeting to tell you guys, but I really don't need any pens. I don't know why but I go through them really slowly. I've used like 15 in my whole mission… but I have like 50 to hold me over for these next four months. Also I'm thinking about doing a study abroad program in Spain, cuz I need to learn real Spanish before I take that Spanish exam at BYU. Cuz you just look into that a bit? How expensive it is any everything.
EE- All of the sudden the rain just stopped here. Its starting to become winter already here, the southern winds are coming from Argentina. So now my area has turned from a nasty mud hole to a dust bowl, which is better. Thanks for taking care of my FACE book, does anybody still talk to me onthere?
Valynn-haha, oh Tyler. One day you'll just be able to laugh when its his turn to have kids.
Kim-Actually we wouldn't have known about the earthquakes if it wasn't for a family in Villa Verde, they are worried cuz there son is in the mission where the quake was. Don't worry about keeping the email short, I have time.
Grandma There's a Prison Branch?
Crystal-Don't feel bad about the pictures, I don't send them to Pasco either. One year already?Mom/Dad Its tough knocking doors here. In other places the people let you know RIGHT AWAY if they dont want to listen. But here in their minds they can be saying ´´I´m never ever going to do the things you're telling me´´But then all they tell us is ´´Yes, Yes, Yes´´ and have no intentions to do it. Lots of time lost. Theres always a learning curve, even at 20 months. I've changed the way I teach about 5 time in the mission.

OK gotta go, love you guys. You should look for Elder Gonzalez´s family mom. They are from Clover City CA, I think its in LA county. OK

bye-Elder Wilson

2-22-2010 E-MAIL

Subject: ...I wanna be jr comp hahah

Hey everybody... well its been a really interesting week. I thought I was only going to be with Elder Castillo, who has 2 months, but I am with another Elder too. So we are three missionaries working in three areas all at once...yaaaa. A tad bit stressful. Silvia and Juan Carlos were confirmed, that was a huge relief for us. Turns out Silvia came having only slept 2 hours, thats some great faith for a 16 year old, who met us 2 months ago. We also had a really great experience with a man named Alejandro. He went to church with his wife whos a member, so we went to visit them about a week ago. Only the wife was home, but she was really upset, she told us that in a few hours she was going to take the kids and abandon her husband. So we talked to her for a little bit, and the husband happened to show up. We gave a short lesson, but it wasn't anything special and he really didn't feel anything, but said he'd listen to us again. The next time we came, we knelt down with him and he prayed about the Book of Mormon and got his answer, now he wants to be baptized. This family was about to destroy itself a few weeks ago, but with a simple prayer everythings all better. We had a fun time for Elder Vasquez´s last day, but not on purpose. We spent about an hour trying to find a way to make it to a lady´s house in a part of our area that was full of water. Some little kids helped us out and brought this shipping crate thing and let us use it as a boat. It was great, I attached a pic of it. Now Im just waiting for my comp to get here, haha.


Mom- You should put this picture up in chapel, way better. Im trying to be a better leader. I dont really act like myself out here, Im waaayyy to serious.
Crystal-I actually saw like 2 seconds of the Olympics, some dude was bobsledding.
Valynn- This week was actually terrible haha. We only worked for a few days,and we are 3 Elders short. My actual comp will be here on Thursday... I think. I will be waiting for cinamon rolls when I get home. Are you sure Jamen is in high school?
Kim-I actually have two comps right now, Elder Castillo and Elder Lopez...with their time in the mission combined I almost double them. They look at me sometime as if to say ´´what do we do?´´... sometimes all I do is look right back at em cuz I dont have a clue either haha.
EE I am so jelous you got to see Colbert and Michael Buble.
Grandma- Yes I sing the hymns now, problem is I hardly remember them in English. And Im going to be really out of rythm in church back home, cuzhere they like singing the hymns at different beats.
KK-ya three days in the house with nothing to do but read... not that great.

OK, love you guys, next week I let ya know who my comp is.

Elder Wilson

Feb 20, 2010

2-17-2010 E-MAIL

Its gonna be a interseting week.

Hey everybody, so ya sorry Im writing late, the 14th 15th and 16th we were stuck in our house during Carnival. Carnival is basically a nation wide water fight. Kinda cool but the people start playing a little rough so we dont work for those days. But it was kinda nice being able to relax a little bit. I cooked the mashed potatoes that you sent me, thank you very much. So we've had pretty intersting week. The rain has been giving us a lot of problems. On Saturday a girl named Siliva was baptized, but she didnt come to church on Sunday cuz of the rain. Right now we have two people that haven't been confirmed, so today we need to find them and make sure they understand how important the confirmation is. We got burned by the assitstants over all this, and I know I shouldn't make excuses... but come on! I cant control the weather. We've had a ton of rain here, one day I forgot my poncho in my pensions house, not a good thing. We had the baptismal interview with Silvia too, so we had to book it through the rain and lightening, it was scary but funny too. But it doesnt really flood here, the first day I was here in Montero it flooded but after that, nothing. Last week I did divisions with my buddy Elder Thompson, that was a great time. Him, my comp and another Elder in our zone are going home tommorow, and last night they told us that Im not gettiing another comp for a week. Whats going to happen is Elder Castillo (who Elder Thompson was training) is going to be my comp for a week. So I'm going to be the lone zone leader for a while. we'll see how that goes. We had an interesting experience this week: We saw this little old lady hitting this guy with a whip thing (they make little whips out of rope to beat their kids, its lovely), and we just assumed that the kid had disobeyed his mom. But later that night he showed up at a members house, so we started talking to him. The lady was his mother in law, and she didnt want him to come visit his new born baby. We ended up haveing a really good visit with him and sent the missionaries to his house in Santa Cruz.
EE-It doesnt really ''flood'', but some streets are tough to get through.But its alright now cuz Elder Thompson is going to leave me his boots when he leaves, thats going to help a ton.
Crystal- whats going on at your work?
Mom- I imagine the heavy flooding is in a place called Beni. Its more towards the north of Bolivia.Tell Vince and Cyd hi. Are they dating anyone? That's good the Olsens are in our ward, hows Parker doing? I think I got all your packages, thanks a lot. I can't think of anything I really need right now.
Valynn- They dont really celebrate St. Valentines here, instead they have Carnival. Tell Jamen and Tyler good job.
Dad- ya. Im need to work on being a better leader.

Ok, well wish me luck, thank you so much for your prayers and your support. I'll let you know who my new comp is once I know.

Love, Elder Wilson

Feb 16, 2010

2-8-2010 E-MAIL

two is good, three, way better

Hey everybody…well, we had another crazy week. Two people were baptized this week, Juan Carlos and Alejandra... which normally is good, but not when three were supposed to be baptized and only ONE person was confirmed the next day. Another investigator Celso didnt show up Saturday morning for his baptism and told us yesterday he still has doubts. And Juan Carlos had a family emergency and couldnt come to church yesterday for his confrimation. But its all good, theyll be baptisms and confirmations galor(is this a word)this week. We also had our zone leader conference on Tuesday, always a good time... if your zone is doing well. And ours is... well doing better, so we didnt get burned too much. I love listening to President Maynes. Everyone always talks about how missionaries are like the 2000 Stripling Warriors, so that makes each Mission President a Helaman. We all have such a love for President Maynes, and he has an even greater love for us, even though we are a bit special. We also watched part of the video for the youth, A Brand New Year, really awesome. I always learn a lot about how I can be a better leader after these conferences. And I need to step it up, cuz my comp goes home in a week... so Im in charge. We saw something crazy this week, Elder Curo, our District Leader, came for an interview. After the interview we all walked to the main avenue so they could go back home. He said goodbye, and as he turned around a motorcycle was comeing, he turned right into the path of the motorcycle, and it was going to hit him right in thigh, all that was going to my mind is ´´well,hes going home´´. Idk how it worked but some how he was able to spin back around and the bike went speeding by. We are really protected out here. We are going to work really hard this week, cuz next week we are going to be shut up in our house for 3 days during Carnival. And plus this is my comps last chance to be a missionary. And with conferences and traveling we didnt get much work done this week, and are not showing a very good example, so we need to fix that too this week.I got my two B Day packages this week. The photos of Washington were a nice touch.

Valynn- My comp is a really good missionary. But we arent very close, Im not really sure why. But we dont have any problems either.
Mom- Way to go with serving people. I think what you described is a sleeper hold. Im glad to hear Cyd will be home this summer. What are Vince and Beau going to be doing? Tell Brett congratulations. I wont be driving while Im here, so i dont need the papers.
Kim- Dont worry about sending me things. Im really trying to end well,trying to lose myself in the work. Its changed me a lot, Ive been able to step up and face a lot of my fears.
Crystal-I dont know if Ill be living in Utah, but probably in Idaho.
Grandma- Thanks for the news Grandma
EE-Yes it is really really really green here, the only place in the states that looks anything like this is Florida.
KK-where I live there arent any pythons... but there are places in the mission with them.

OK guys, thanks a ton for you emails and for your prayers. Take care

Love, Elder Wilson

Feb 2, 2010

2-1-2010 E-MAIL

Subject: Nos vemos enero

Hey everybody,We had a pretty good week, my birthday was pretty quiet, we baked some cookies at my pensions house. Yesterday one of our investigators Ana Karen was confirmed, my comp had to baptize her 3 times on Saturday cuz she flipped out each time she went under the water. Tommorow we have zone leader conference again. I havent heard anything from the office so I dont think I have to give the class. The month of Janurary was way better than December for our Zone, we finished with 8 convirts. In December it was just 3, so I think President Maynes is happy with all of us. We have a lot of people progressing right now. We are in charge of a little branch an hour outside of the city, and we just found out there are 4 youth out there that have been attending for months and want to be baptized. February should be a pretty great month. We need to help out that branch and the other ward we are in charge of. They both have a lot of problems. I bought a Book of Mormon in Portugues, I try to read it every now and then,it is prety much the same as spanish when you read it. It'd be cool to learn a bit, but I think I'll study it more after the mish. I barely have time to study Spanish let alone another language.So I sent a package about a month ago with some letters... did that ever show up? I sent a other one yesterday too. So yesterday a couselor from the Stake Presidency came in and lit us up cuz no one in our ward is supporting a regional encampent that Pres Nash (the Area President) set up. He talked about how the parents need to make the sacrifice to support this and that their children would recieve blessing from it. Mom, Dad, thank you for making the sacrifice, I was very blessed for going to all those activities.
KK-I miss snow... I miss nieces and nephews haha.
Elise-Ya the bugs are actually 100 times worse here, I have to wear bug spray litteraly 24/7.
Crystal haha, my buddy elder Thompson completes 2 years in like 20 days...And he still doesn't know what day he's going home. But my last transfer should end the 28 of June. I should be going home around then.
G-Ma- Thanks for the jokes and the news... when is the Super Bowl?
Valynn-My branch is pretty great, it looks like a ward, but not everyone is on board with tithing yet. But ya they help out a ton, they help with making the convirts and investigators feel at home.
Mom- The package hasn't arrived yet, probably this week. Do I need to do something with the license extension paper? If not you should just keep it.I dont need it and theres a risk of it being lost or stolen. Im glad Juan was able to write you guys, hes awesome, he helps us out a ton. Well everybody, Elder Cockram just told me we have 20 weeks left, thats nuts. I'm really trying to up my work ethic so I can end well.Talk to you guys next week.

Love Elder Wilson

1-25-2010 E-MAIL

Subject: ´´Just be perfect´´...oh man

Hey everybody. Well I had a pretty good week. We had Zone Conference last week. My buddy Elder Meridith, who is doing what I was doing in Villamontes, was there too so I got to see him again. And I saw my buddy Elder Smith for the first time since we came to Bolivia. Whenever we get together we start to realize how close we are to ending and going home... just one hand left (5 months...5fingers). Me and my comp gave a class, I was really nervous, so I just said a prayer and it went really well. Plus we followed Pres Maynes so I was all pumped and inspired. We also had interviews this week. Pres Maynes talked to me about I need to be a leader, not a boss. He talked about showing an example for the zone.´´Just be perfect Elder´´ is what he said. Basically I just need to be more dedicated. Something I have found that really helps is setting personal goals at night when I pray and asking for help in achieving them. This week me and comp are going to do our 140 contacts... I have never done them all in my misson, so thats what I'm going to be praying for each night. We were hit pretty hard this week with vacations. 6 of our investigators traveled to Cochabamba. But we still have one girl who will be baptized this week. I also had my first experience of being kicked out of a house this week. I started talking about the Restoration and sometihng told me I should wait to say ´´Joseph Smith´´. I finished the first vision and the guy asked me what the prophets name was ´´se llama José Smith´´... ´´enough! Get out now!´´.We tried to reason with him and explain that if he had doubts he could just pray but he flipped out. So we just left. It didnt depress me, more amazed me how prideful he was. We are teaching an older couple, the Torrez family. They didnt go to church last week and we asked them what happened. The dad said ´´what's the name of your church?...oh...we went to ´´Padre de Sufrir´´ They went to some crazy evangelical church down the street from the Stake Center. They said everyone was screaming and they got scared and left.

Ok b4 I forget, Mom, Dad... you guys have Facebook?
Chris-Thanks for the tips on listening
Kim-I really do feel older... this morning I was studying and I stood up...but then didnt move. My comp asked me what I was doing ´´úmmmm...I dont remember´´My area is way wetter and muddier than Villamontes.
KK-I'll be baking those cookies you guys sent me a while ago. I can picture that being funny haha.
EE-I'm looking forward to meeting Liam too. I still cant believe you have akid.
G-Ma Wow, the Saints vs the Colts. Now I know to ask the people here ´´who won? The blue or the black?
Mom- the mission covers all my medical cept for vision and dental
Valynn- This B-Day has already been better. Some people showed up at six am to sing me happy B day. I dont miss Villamontes too much. Haha, my buddy Elder Blackburn(I wanna know how his family got that name) replaced me downthere... GOOD LUCK MAN!Being zone leader is just more time consuming. We have to do inspections and have meeting with stake leaders. The heat here is not as bad, but its humid.
Crystal-Today I'll be making cookies... and then I'll be washing clothes.

Ok so my area is the east part of the town. Theres an avenue (avenida)called Pampa. It runs north south, but then turns off towards the east. I live like 200 yards south of where the avenue bends. My area is all country.I need more baby wipes! Well guys, thanks for the photos and the B-Day songs. This mission is going by fast. See you before we know it.

Love Elder Wilson

Jan 18, 2010

1-18-2010 E-MAIL

Subject: Where am I?!?!... Venice?!?! ….

Ya, so I'm a zone leader…. I got moved from Villa Montes to the zone Montero. Its like an hour outside of Santa Cruz. I'm in an area called Pampala Madre, in English it means Field the Mother. But ya I'm just trying to get used to everthing. Being zone leader isn't too hard, just more time consuming. The only thing is that we have to give a lot of classes and training...which...well... I'm just terrible at right now. But basically I just have to give a good example. My comp is helping me out a ton. This is his last change and he wants to end well, so we are working super hard. The area is great, we had 13 people in church yesterday and 9 people with dates. The reason for the success is because our branch looks like a ward from the states, its awesome. I just have to keep the ball rolling after Elder Vasquez leaves.I had a pretty great first day. I was in a trio with another zone leader named Elder Anderson from AZ. The first night it rained harder than I've ever seen in my life. We woke up to flooded streets the next day in most places the water was past my knees. We would spend like 15 minutes at each intersection trying to figure out a way cross. But then me and Elder Anderson said ´´forget it´´ and just trugged (I actually spelled that right)through the water. My zone is pretty cool. Elder Cockram from my group is in my zone. My amigo Elder Thompson, who's ending this transfer is opening an area here too. And another Elder named Elder Manrique is here too. It's so weird being in charge. I need to be a little more vocal I don't really say much. The people here are awesome. There's a convert here that reminds me so much of Eduardo from my first area in Lima. He name is Juan, I wanna bring him to the states too haha. But he' awesome, he's always helping us out with visits. We are teaching a little grandma named Mercedez. She doesn't see or hear too well, so we teach with a lot of pictures. We wanted to teach her about baptism but she couldnt see the picture in the pamphlet we had. So we took a 2 foot by 3 foot painting off the wall and stuck it in her lap... it was just so funny looking. ´´OH, now I see´´. She's such a sweet little lady. She's getting baptized the 30th. So ya, I'm just trying to get use to this whole thing. I have less than a week doing this. And tommorow we have zone conference, so I get to teach a class in front of President Maynes, that'll be interesting.I might end my mission here in Montero... thats crazy. Before I forget... I dont know if this exists, but is there some kind of sunblock that's also a bug spray? Cuz... that'd be awesome
Crystal- What are you going to study?
Mom-Dad- Thats good to hear about Kay's septic flowing again.
Grandma- Thanks for the news.
EE- ya I saw a couple of my buddies. Elder Jacobsen is now a Zone leader outin the Amazon, Elder Evans, Elder Ward and Elder Allen are all Zone Leadersin Santa cruz. With each trasnfer more and more from my group will be ZoneLeaders, so we´ll be seeing each other a lot.
Kim- Brennen is a funny kid.
Well... this is just funny. I'll get a hang of this more hopefully thisweek. Love you guys, talk to you when I'm 21.

Love Elder Wilson

Jan 13, 2010

1-11-2010 E-MAIL

Subject: What do you mean ''Im invited''?

Hey everybody, Well I really have no idea why but Im in Santa cruz again. But I'll explain that a bit later. Evelyn FINALLY was baptized this week. It was the most stressful interview and baptism of my mission. Since the zone leaders have to travel almost 2 hours to get to us we had to call them with a for sure time of the interview. Problem was we called their pension.(cook) a broken cell phone. So we just prayed and waited. We had said that 4 would be a good time to do it, so we just hoped they'd get some inspiration and show up. Everything worked out well and she got interviewed. Then came the baptism: Everything was perfect,we found her and then brought her to the chapel at 5. A ton of the young women and their leaders were there to support her. But oh. Woops. NO PRIESTHOOD. There has to be at least one more holder of the priesthood there. We called, the president, in the country, mission leader and his dad, in the country. Our penshes husband, phone is dead, secretary, phone doesnt work.''ARE WE THE ONLY TWO HOLDERS IN THE WHOLE CITY?!?!?'' we said. But after everything we decided to call the secretary again and this time we got a hold of him and he was able to save our rears. We were expecting somthing to happen on Sunday, but everthing worked out great. Evelyn was there 40 minutes early, she even beat us to the chapel. Stressful, but good time, I learned a lesson about faith and hope... Pres Hinckley always said ''don't worry, it'll work out'', I'm trying to say that more. Pres Maynes came down for a late Christmas Conference. I don't do his talks justice when I explain, but this one was just amazing. He talked about the trials we have in the mission, and picked me as an example. He got really close to me and started talking about how all the trials that come with Villamontes make me feel as if I were taking one or two steps towards Calgary. That it makes me realize and appreciate the Atonement. We were looking eye to eye the whole time he explained this. I felt like I was on fire (in a good way). Oh. he's just the man. I hope one day you all get to meet him and listen to him speak. Ok so after the conference we are all leaving and I say goodbye to the assistant and he says '' hey Elder Wilson, we'll see you on Tuesday''.''what?''. ''ya, youre invited to ZONE LEADER CONFERENCE''. ''WHAT?!?!'' So ya I dont know what is going on. All I know is I'm done in Villamontes, and now I might be a zone leader. but I tihnk I'm District Leader, but this time with and actual district. But tomorrow I get to be with President Maynes again, so that'll be neat. Next week I'll be able to tell you guys more, I am clueless right now.
KK-sounds like you guys are having fun!
Mom-Adrian was my boating buddy before the mission haha.
Crystal-ya, I definatly dont have to worry about ice here.
Valynn- Thank you for the story about Kyle. I do my own laundry, and our pensh gives us lunch. I really dont ever eat dinner haha. No one does.
G-ma, thanks for the news.
EE-photography, solid hobby.
Ok, well, love you guys. There should be more news next week.
Love, Elder Wilson

1-4-2010 E-MAIL

Subject: They've gone A-wall on us!

Hey everybody, Well New Years was, well less exciting than usual. We had to be in the house at 9pm sharp, so we left our Branch Activity after the first 10 minutes. But the week went really well. Evelin and Yanete came to church, AND WEDIDN'T EVEN HAVE TO GO GET EM. amazing. Evelin didn't get baptized last week, but this Saturday fosho. And Yanete (Im still not sure how to spell her name) is being baptized the 16th. We found a lot of new people this week. We are working with two new families Ariel y Claudia and the Cardona family. And a lady brought a family to the New Years activity, but we only talked to them for about 20 seconds then left. But the member knows them so we'll visit them this week.I sent a package of letters last Monday, and they told me that it'll be there in two weeks.a guarantee but in Bolivia. So the package might get to Pasco b4 I do.Our zone leader came to visit us for two days, not horrible, but really not that much fun, haha. But ya funny story about that. First of all, mom you can testify that I'm good at getting up on time. And in the mission honestly I'm really really good at getting up at 630, I've slept past 630 MAYBE ten times in 18 months. Well one of those times was Wednesday, when my ZL called to say he was coming. I'd forgotten to set my alarm, and he called at 635.So the phone wakes me up, I look at the clock and read 6 15, not 35. Then I answer the phone like a zombie, and he asks me if I was sleeping. And I answer (rather irritated) ''Of course I was sleeping''. I'm not sure if I explained the story that well but I made an idiot of myself, and my leaders think I'm a lazy bum. its neat.I actually have a few funny stories from this week. After email we went and took some pictures of Villamontes. and I took a bit of a spill. I was taking a picture of a statue called El Soldado Desconocido. And I didn't see a little white fence circling the statue. So I trip over the fence, and it wouldn't have been a problem, except for the fact that I was holding my camera so I couldn't use my hands to brace me. So as I'm falling I'm saying to myself ''Well. I don't want to land on my camera.. SPIN MOVE!''. So I some how twist myself around, landing my ribs square on the corner of the sidewalk. Ya did not feel good. I was walking kinda funny for a few days cuz I sprained my ankle too. But I'm all good now. Funny story number two. Every Sunday night I report my numbers to my Zone leader, normally at 10pm. I called him 3 times and he never answered. So I assumed he'd just call me. We waited till like 10:35 for his call, then we went to bed. 10 minutes later we hear a knock on our door. It's a member with her cell phone. ''Your zone leader wants to talk to you''. So I answer the phone ''ELDER WILSON WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? Me, the assistanst and PRESIDENT MAYNES have been trying to call you for THREE days.'' Turns out our phone is messed up and doesn't accept calls. So everyone thought we had gone a-wall or something cuz they were calling in the morning when we were supposed to be studying.nothing. And at night when we were supposed to be sleeping. nothing. I'm pretty sure President Maynes was getting ready to come hunt us down. Anyways. everything is good now haha.
Mom- These were questions I had. I just wanna know if we are following the rules here or not.
Valynn- Happy Birthday Kaitlyn! The weather here is hot and humid. Its normal for this region. But the humidity bugs me still. If you think its crazy that I was 9 when Kaitlyn born, think how old I was when Jamen was born.
EE- Its hot and really sticky here. Thank you very much for the pictures. All the grand kids look the same.
Kim- New Years was actually pretty quiet. There weren't even many fireworks.Ya, we were in the house at 9pm. and Im pretty sure our leaders were calling, and thinking we were clubbing or something. EE says Liam looks like Kyle? What about Jace?
KK-Everyone is growing up so fast and making me feel old.
ok, love you guys. Talk to you later
Elder Wilson

12-28-2009 E-MAIL

Subject: EL AÑO NUEVO 2010

Hey everybody,It was great to here everybody this week. I had you guys call too early though, the kids were all half asleep. I swear we were usually all up by like 6 for Christmas. And I’m pretty proud that I talked for less than an hour, way better than the other two times. Ha, I heard a voice I didn’t recognize ask me about what words I'd forgotten in English, and I thought it was Matt, so I started saying words in Spanish that I don’t always remember well in English. The only response I got was ‘’I don’t speak Spanish, this is Chris’’…whoops. Christmas was pretty quite. The town was dead until about 4 in the afternoon. Here Christmas Eve is the big deal, and Christmas day is recovery time, so we didn’t do anything. I wanted to bake the cookies but I'm not sure how much a cup of butter is in grams. Can someone look that up for me.I'll give them away or something for new years. After Christmas day our week ended really, really well. We had three investigators in church yesterday, and all three have baptism dates, two for this week. But we are worried because two of them might be moving to Santa Cruz. Last week we lost two families who moved to Santa Cruz too, nuts. Today they are going to give us the final word. Two other people, Rolando and his step son Lisandro accepted dates last night, but haven’t been to church yet. But things are looking better here. We are really trying to focus more in the people that are showing progress. It's tough but if there is someone that just doesn’t comply with the invitations we give, we have to focus in teaching or finding people more prepared. I lost so much time here trying to get people to do the simplest things, like praying for 10 seconds.I totally forgot the point I was going to make.I'm in a different internet right now and the connection is WAY faster, so I finally opened those photos from Dad. Beau! Hahaha. Where is his girlfriend from? So funny story, Yanete our investigator was talking about how her brother got stepped on by a horse and got the tip of his finger cut off. Then she says ‘’we still have the finger’’ and pulls a little plastic off a display shelf in her store, takes off the top and… BAM… severed finger. Interesting conversation piece. Oh and I finally found the post office so today I am going to send all those letters for my friends(for realzies), and this week I'll write some for all you guys.
Crystal- Don’t worry about the chocolate, we just refroze it and ate it. The chocolate orange was sooooo good. Emily is leaving in March? Wow.
Mom- Thanks for taking care of all my schooling and license stuff. Let me know what classes I'm going to be taking. Ill be sure to write both Grandmas. How is Grandma Wilson? I cant think of anything I need right now,just more pictures/cards.
EE- I'll be waiting for pictures!
Valynn- Ya things are tough here, lots of problems, but we’ve already been seeing progress. That’s crazy/scary about the breakins.
Grandma Gulliver- So it took me 21 years and two continents to do it, but last night I finally met someone else named Melba. I’m pretty sure you’re the only two in the world.
Well… I can’t think of anything else to say. Actually I have two random
questions that I need answered.1- Does it say anywhere that a woman HAS to wear a skirt to church?2- Does it say anywhere what should be done with the sacrament bread after the sacrament?
Ok, well if someone could answer those questions for me that’d be super.Love you guys, be safe during New Years. Chris, happy b-day. Talk to you all next week.

Love Elder Wilson

12-21-2009 E-MAIL

Subject: Merry Christmas

Hey everybody, Well its Monday again. Things are going pretty well here in Villamontes. We had a way better week as far as work goes. Last Monday I finally sat for a few hours and mapped out each family in the branch, so now we were are planning we always have someone to look for. Its nice cuz now we can knock doors and ask people for help in finding a member, and normally the people dont blow us off. Then after we can talk with them a bit and take out an appointment. Its neat. We also taught a man named Rodolfo this week. His wife is a member and he has been going to church for a long time. We prayed with him and said he already knows its true but he's not ready to be baptized. We are pretty excited to keep working with him. But he didnt come to church yesterday, we have a family home evening with him tonight so we'll see what happened. Mom, we made the stars in primary yesterday. It was nuts but it worked out fine. One kid wouldnt stop eating the glue. he's 11. Speaking of church. none of our investigators came. It's so hard to get them to come to church here. We need to think of more we can do to bring them to church. We've been calling to remind them and when we can we send a member to get them. We are normally in the chapel doing having some kind of meeting, but I think Im going to stop going because we basically just sit there and waste time talking about problems without looking for a solution. And plus if I stop going and start passing by the houses of investigators,we'll start having more success. There is so much drama here in this place. I have a talk this Sunday, i think Im going to talk about building up Zion and talk about in Alma when the members were a . Stumbling block? Cuz wow, I am getting tired of hearing from less actives and just people in the street that they dont want to go to church because of something a member did. So ya we are going to review some scriptures about the consequences of all that junk. But ya anyways, Im really looking forward to talking with everbody. President Maynes has a way of making us want to follow the rules. So this call I really want to try and talk for the time it says in the manual:40(ish) minutes. Last time you guys made a list of questions for me, you could do that again if you want.
Valynn- I got a ton packages this week, but I dont think I got yours yet. Ill be waiting to hear about what happened to Kyle.
G-Ma-thanks for the news, talk to you this Friday.
Dad- We are really going to work hard on Christmas day. Im trying to upload your photos but they arent working. If each photo is under 1mb it works, but over that, the computer falls apart.
EE-got your photos, thank you much.
KK- Christmas really isnt big here, its pretty depressing. I've only seen a handful of houses decorated here.
Kim-We'll be visiting lots of members on Christmas, IDK if they'll give us anything to eat haha. Yes your pictures came this week, thank you very much.Jace is huge.
Mom- Tell Parker to just email me through you guys, it'll be way easier. I read Matt's letter, Im glad Im not a zone leader. Im just district leader.well, pretend district leader. Let me know what happens with my classes and housing. And please don't forget about my license haha, that's got to be renewed too. And. umm. I started thinking about the newspaper thing, and read in the manual about things we should read. And I could definitely use the time to read something that helps me as a missionary. So ya, you guys don't need to send me it anymore.
Well everybody, I love you, talk to you in a few days.
Elder Wilson

PS This week we visited a guy with a pet monkey. I want one. And I got bit by a parrot.

12-14-2009 E-MAIL

Subject: BAPTISM

Hey everybody,We had a great week here in the really dirty south. It has been raining and the water has turned brown. So it looked like we filled the baptismal font with beer on this week. Pastor was baptized on Saturday and confirmed yesterday. He asked me after his baptism how he should dress for church and I told him just to come in the best clothes he had. He showed up in a shirt and brought us his tie to tie for him, it was pretty great. Its so much easier to stay excited and positive when people are being baptized. We had a great conference down in Santa Cruz. I got to see Elder Puglisi,Elder Duncan, Elder Allan and Elder Evans. Elder Gavarrett was awesome. He's really calm. which is not what we are use to with President Maynes. But wow,he just taught everything so simply. And at the end he told us about how he has received special testimony of the Book of Mormon and then he gave it to us. sorry Im not explaining that really well, but he actually asked us not to tell other people much about it. We had some travel problems coming back from Santa Cruz. No one bought our tickets so we bought them at the lsat second. Normally we spend about 120 Bolivians on out tickets. these ones were 25 B's. need I say more. The song Ridin Dirty comes to mind. There was actually a fight that broke out in the middle of the ride. it was just neat .After the trip I had divisions with my buddy Elder Hanks. he'll be sitting in his house on Friday. He can't believe it and neither can I. When I met him he had one month more than I do right now.So IDK when I'm doing my precall. I already know it'll be Christmas morning,I think I wanna call at like 9ish your time. Mom Ill call the house first and if not be sure to have your cell ready. Try and figure out how expensive it is to call Bolivia, and Ill see how bad it is to call you guys from here.I think its cheaper if you call me.
Mom- Ummmm.. sorry I don't remember who Wayne Monson is. Who is Karalee getting married to? There aren't nativity sets where I am. I should have thought about that when I was in Santa Cruz. But Ill see what I can do.
Crystal-No news is good news right.
Valynn-If the kids are upset about the tree, tell them I haven't seen a pine tree in a long time. Last year I saw the Christmas broadcast, but not this year.
EE-my comp. is watching Japanese cartoons on the internet right now.
KK- I don't know how they celebrate Christmas here but I am sure it will involve beer.
Chris,Valynn- Thank you very much for the pictures. All the kids are HUGE!
Grandma-Thank you for the update!

Well everyone I gotta go, I love you so much. Talk to you in 11 days. but for only like 40 minutes, sorry.
Elder Wilson

12-7-2009 E-MAIL

Subject: House Arrest

Hey everyone. We had a pretty great week, it started out last Monday with Pastor and Yael getting married. Pastor is going to be baptized this Saturday, so we are pretty pumped about that. We also have three other people that have accepted baptism dates. Evelin is going to be baptized the next Saturday, the 19th. And Mario has finally accepted a date for the 26th. We are also working with a family of 8, and one of the daughters has already accepted a date. The rest of the family is praying for their answer.We had an awesome experience with Mario. When we met him almost a month ago he was so excited to be baptized, and slowly he lost his excitment. When we went to his house this week he didnt want to talk about his baptism. But we asked him to kneel down with us and pray about it. After the prayer we all felt the spirit and invited him again to be baptized and he accepted, soo cool! We didnt have a lot of time to work this week. On Wednesday my comp got sick and we stayed in the house for all but 2 hours of the day. And yesterday they had elections here (Evo won boo) and we were shut up in our house again. Being in the house all day seems nice, for the first hour, then its just super boring. But on Sunday we had two other missionaries here with us.So we were able to talk to them all day. One of the Elders is named Elder Ocampo from Argentina. He just finished being assistant, he's one of the best Elders I've met on the mission. I started talking to him about his family and he said his family has never written him on his mission... he has 20 months. I felt so spoiled to hear this. Thank you guys for always writing me, cuz I'm not as strong as some missionaries. This week we are taking another trip to Santa Cruz. Elder Eduardo Gavarrettof the 70 is going to have a conference with us. It should be pretty great to listen to someone who, like President Maynes taught us, has the power of an apostle. Also there should be about 5 or 6 zones with us, so I get to see some of my boys, which'll be nice too. I'm having a bit of seperation anxiety, I haven't seen most of them in 5 months.
Crystal-I'll try and remember to ask about the Christmas story... if there's time.
Mom-Ya I was going to talk to you about my license and my classes. Yes I deferred, and the people in the office told me that cuz I'm an RM I basically do whatever I want, they told me I can return in the Fall of 2010. IDK what classes you should sign me up for, I'm going for a Chem degree, so IDK... surprise me! And we need to renew my license cuz Idk if I can pass the tests anymore. All I have heard about the Christmas call is that they are very short... 30 minutes. IDK if you guys should call me or if I should call you, In peru it was cheaper for you to call me, but Idk bout here. I'll ask Sister Maynes this week. Villa montes has more trees that Pasco, but no grass. Its a ton of sand.
Dad-I share the stuff I get with my comp, but the Elders in my zone get pretty jealous, cuz no one else gets mail. You guys dont need to send my so much... I just want PICTURES. Its way easier to stay in touch with people with internet.
Kim- My comp is doing a bit better this week. Slowly we'll be progressing.
EE-Well no one went to church this week, not even us. Its illegal to have any sort of meeting here during elections. Christmas here is way different. Everyone eats some lamb. In Lima EVERYONE eats fruit cake...and they LOVE IT. Im really hoping thats not the case here.
KK- Hey you have artic winds too? Cool. In Santa Cruz they still get wind from the South Pole that drops the temp by like 20 degrees. Its a wierd place.
Well I love you guys, I'll let you know how the conference goes with Elder Gaverrett and how the baptism of Pastor went.

Love, Elder Wilson....18 days

11-30-2009 E-MAIL

Subject: Going to the chapel and we're gonna get married

Hey everybody. So ya sounds like this week was pretty nuts with Liam arriving the night b4 Thanksgiving. I cant believe Thanksgiving has already past. I remember just reading the emails about Halloween. crazy. Well Im back in Villamontes, I was only in Yacuiba for a day then my comp showed up. His name is Elder Monsalve from Colombia. He is really hard to understand sometimes. He's a good guy. We've got some obedience things to talk about though, cuz he listens to music every night and he put ''Buy movie'' on his to do list today. But ''poco a poco'' we'll get things ironed out.We had a pretty good week, we talked to a lot more people in the street. But also didn't teach as many lessons as normal. We are really excited because we are teaching four families right now. We ate lunch yesterday with the Ardutuaga family, they're a family of 8, and they're awesome. I tried calling them on Saturday night with the only cell number I had, but their speaker was broken, so they couldn't hear me. The daughter picked up the phone and spoke really fast and I only understood a part about calling on a different phone, but they never explained that THEY couldn't hear ME. So I ended up calling like 4 times and yelling into the phone and I could tell they were getting more irritated each time. It was a mess, but they ended up calling us back so things worked out. I tell a lot of ''you had to be there'' stories. 81 people came to church yesterday, that's really good for our branch. But Mario, Evelin and Pastor didn't come to church again. We asked the members to help us out with them, cuz we don't have time to pass by all their houses. So the next time we have church (in two weeks) they'll be there. So we have a wedding to go to today, that's pretty awesome. Pastor is getting married to his Girlfriend Yael. I just got off the phone to confirm everything. We need to go buy the cake for them, we'll see how much they charge the Gringuito.I got a little sick this week. I had the same symptoms as last time when I was sick for about a week, so I called Sister Maynes right away and got all drugged up. Its really tough here, cuz we visit really humble families, who get really offened if we say no to food or drinks. But normally Ill be sitting there drinking and saying to myself, ''yup. defiantly river water''.But now Im all better. And hey, I finally got bit by a dog, my mission is complete. It wasn't much of a bite, last night I was talking to a lady and when I turned around I stepped on her dogs tail, so he just bit my leg to say ''GET OFF''. But he didn't even break through my pants, let alone break the skin, so its not a big deal. So, I didn't send that package of letters I talked about last week, sorry. Maybe this week haha.Im pretty excited cuz I just found out one of my favorite people in the whole world lives in an area like mine. Elder Meridith is in a place called Camiri about 2 hours north of me. Hes out there just with his comp. So we are going to see if we can't organize some kind of activity with him.I heard of a really interesting dessert yesterday ''gelatina de pata devaca'' (cow foot jello). Someone should look that up and investigate a bit more.So this week we don't have church. The 6th is election day and its illegalto hold any type of meeting. We aren't even going to leave the house cuz sometimes it's a bit dangerous with demonstrations and sore losers.
Mom-The only bug story I have is the fleas. Im good with Gatorade, I still have a lot. But I do need gum, I promised Pastor I'd get gum from the states for him, can you send me a pretty good amount to give him. He chews it instead of coke leaves now.
Dad- Im really trying to develop more charity for people out here.
Crystal-What are the in laws like?
EE- Elise and Chase first of all congratulations. And second I live in a town with nothing to do for recreation, Ill take any story/news I can get.
Valynn, I ate BBQ and ice cream cake the day after Thanksgiving, so im going to count that as my feast.
Kim- I kinda celebrated, I drew a turkey next to every date I wrote. I was in a place called Yacuiba for just a few days cuz me and my buddy Elder Hanks did have comps. But Tuesday morning they showed up so Im now back in Villamontes.
kk- They don't know what Pie is here. Ill have to eat some when I get home, hopefully it wont, lets use the word, ''shock'' my system.
Well, I gotta go. I love you guys Ill talk to you guys in a few weeks.

Elder Wilson

11-23-2009 E-MAIL

Subject: Asistant to the zone leader

Hey everybody,Well we got a phone call Saturday night saying that my comp had an emergency change, so last night he hopped on a bus for Santa Cruz. And since my zone leader Elder Hanks in companionless and so am I, I get to play zone leader for a few days till my comp gets here. So Im not in my area right now Im down in Yacuiba, so now Im only in 100 degree weather instead of 120. It looks like Ill be here for a few days, cuz we called the office this morning and they havent decided who our comps are going to be. So I might be heading back to my area on Wednesday, but honestly I wouldnt be suprised If Im here for a week. Im really anxious to get back to my area, its a really critical time for my investigators. There are three people that are SO close to being baptized,but all these stupid things keep happening. First we have Evelin, she only has to come to church one more time and she can be baptized. A young woman passed by to pick her up, but she didnt want to come, so we ran up to her house b4 the meetings starting. She told us her mom was sick and so she couldnt come. We also have Mario, we didnt have enough time to pass by his house b4 or after church, so we arent sure why he didnt come. And then Pastor… oh Pastor. We had a really great visit Saturday night, their son has a broken arm, but he’s crazy and broke the cast, then kept running around and fell and fractured his arm more. So we gave him a blessing and he calmed down right away and went to sleep. The spirit was really strong and Pastorand his girlfriend Yael said they are putting their papers in tommorow to get married. But they didnt come to church either, so we passed by so Elder Hurtado could say goodbye and Pastor was working outside… and chewing coke leaves. Everybody here chews coke leaves, its such a huge problem. So now Im not sure when he can get baptized. Its just so tough here, Im having problems getting people motivated to come to church, everyone we talk to feels its true. But when it comes down to it they dont want to make much effort to apply it. So now we are realling looking at the people we have,and the ones that dont want to progress, we’re going to have to stop teaching. We can only bring people to a certain point, then they have to make the choice. AAAAAAAAAAAnyways, I have all that to do when I get back to my area. The weather is starting to change. Its raining a lot now, so the humidity is just insane. I’ve never sweated as much as I did yesterday, the humidity just sucked all the energy out of us, but Ill get use to it in a week or two…. Or three.I sent a big package of letters for my friends I cant write through internet. Ill try to get another sent off with letters for the fam… IDK when though.So, I need to really really strong super glue. I’ve heard that Gorilla glue is pretty good, but if somebody could find one that is water proof, that’dj ust be neato.
Crystal- Thats what life is about, making an impact in the lives of others.I get sooo frustrated sometimes out here, but now looking back and reading my journal, I see that I’ve been able to help some people.
Valynn-I was planning on going out to eat on Thursday in Villamontes, but now that I’m living with a American for few days, looks like we’ll be celebrating it a tad early. So its snowing again, it seems like just last week the snow melted up there.
Mom, Dad- Being in Santa Cruz has taught me that numbers arent important. But honestly, in South America, the best way to help people is to bring them to Christ through baptism. So…. Numbers are kinda important, but its more important to just love people.
EE-haha, now theres less than 2 missionaries in my area ¡ zero !.
KK-well… at least Ill be able to help a lil bit on the house.
Kim-I havent recieved your pictures yet. Theres a blockade between us and Santa Cruz, so IDK when anything will show up.

Well everybody, Im really going to need your prayers this week. I love you guys so much. Thank you for everything.

Elder Wilson

11-16-2009 E-MAIL

Subject: Flying first class...er...maybe not

Hey everybody, Santa Cruz was so great, we didn’t have any general authorities come… but we had President Maynes. He basically retaught us how we should be teaching. He wants us to teach with questions that make the people think hard, or express their feelings. And I'm reallllly bad at it haha. But we really tried to ask more questions this week and the spirit was way stronger in our lessons and testified to the investigators, it was awesome.But ya the conference was great, on Monday we went and ate Mexican food at a restaurant called... MEXICAN FOOD haha. My buddy Elder Evans showed up with his zone, so I got to talk to him. Then after we were able to go to a grocery store that sells a ton of American products, so I picked up some Listerine and some ´Degree deodorant. Then on Tuesday we had our conference and I saw two of my favorite people in the world, Elder Meredith and Elder Jacobsen, they’ve both been in the same zone since we showed up in Bolivia. The conference was so amazing, President Maynes teaches like a mad man. Then after the conference he said that we are probably going to be coming back to Santa Cruz for Christmas. We ended up staying in Santa Cruz an extra night and flying home because there was a blockade in a town in between us and Villamontes. Pres Manyes told us we were flying home and one of the missionaries got all excited, then President Maynes said ‘’you haven’t seen the plane’’. We flew from Santa cruz to Tarija (outside of the mission,don’t tell anybody) and that flight took about and hour and a half, and everything was great. We flew in a 20 passenger plane, so it was little rougher than normal. BUT THEN… we had just a 20 minute flight from Tarija to yacuiba (next to Villamontes), and we hit a bunch of turbulence. Now I pride myself on never throwing up in planes, or boat, or roller coasters. ButOHHHHH MANN, those were some of the longest minutes of my life.’ JUST LAND THE PLANE, JUST LAND THE PLANE’’ was all I was thinking. One Elder got sick,that wasn’t too cute. It was a rough time. But ya after all that we finally went back to work in our area. The weather has been crazy here, it rained last week from Saturday to Tuesday, then we came back and it was back at 115 for a few days. But last night it rained like crazy and right now its cloudy and cool. We had five people come to church yesterday so we are pretty excited about that. But at the same time we are frustrated because the two people that have dates for this month didn’t come. But I know they’ll get baptized,they just need to strengthen their faith a bit more. We taught the young men their class yesterday, without notice again. I really like being with the young men, I hope I get the chance to work with them after the mission. We talked about faith and about every 5 minutes we said ‘’ you can show your faith by going on a mission’’.We also have been deacon hunting this week because we just figured out that I am in charge of the deacons quorum. There are 9 in the ward but I only know 2, so we are going to help those little guys start to come with their families.I'm kinda bummed right now cuz my buddy Elder Allred is going home this week, he is such a goofy kid, and probably the best zone leader I've had. Then 3 weeks later my other zone leader Elder Hanks is finishing too. Crazy. Two funny stories. So last night we are walking down a dark street after a rainstorm and we can’t see anything. And normally theres huge puddles in the street, and we both say, ‘’oh no, we can’t see if there’s water or not’’BOOOOM a huge lighting strike lights up the sky and the road and we see that everything is clear…. It would be funnier if you were there. Another thing we are trying to do is ask the people to kneel down with us and pray about the Book of Mormon. We’ve had some really good expericene with it. After the pray we ask them how they feel, and almost always they say something like ‘’ peace, or love, or joy’’. We prayed with a man named Ronaldo and I asked him how he felt and he said ‘’nervous’’. But it kinda caught me off guard, and I had no idea what to say, so we just sat there on our knees staring at each other for a bit. A tad awkward. But ya everything is going well here. Thanksgiving is almost here, and I get to call you guys in 41 days.
Valynn-Suit coat? Never. I’ve warn it two times since August. Kyle makes me laugh.
Mom-Elder Holland? So jealous. Tell Vince hi and that I love him and tell him not to get married till I get home. I got the 4 packages. My zone leader called me and told me he hated me cuz of the mail I get. And don’t worry I read the news only when I have spare time.
Mason- We didn’t have a GA come this week, but I think next month we will. Not sure though.
Crystal- Anthony is our cousin right? If I were you I'd send the package a little over a month b4 the day you want it here.
EE-good luck having a baby!

Mike

MISSION HOME ADDRESS

Elder Michael David Wilson
Mision Peru Lima Este
Calle Los Agrologos 368
Urbinizacion Las Acacias de Monterrico
La Molina, Lima 12, Peru

POUCH ADDRESS

Only a single sheet of paper folded and taped can be sent via this address.

Elder Michael D. Wilson
Peru Lima East Mission
P.O. Box 30150
SLC, UT 84130-0150

ELDER MICHAEL WILSON

MISSION: Bolivia Santa Cruz ENTERED MTC ON: June 25, 2008 RELEASE DATE: June 25, 2010

COUNTDOWN

FAVORITE SCRIPTURE

2nd Nephi 15: 26-30
26 And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth; and behold, they shall come with speed swiftly; none shall be weary nor stumble among them.

27 None shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken;

28 Whose arrows shall be sharp, and all their bows bent, and their horses’ hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind, their roaring like a lion.

29 They shall roar like young lions; yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry away safe, and none shall deliver.

30 And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea; and if they look unto the land, behold, darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof

Mike receiving his call!

Mike receiving his call!