8-10-2009 E-MAIL

Subject: Ok, I know this is kinda cliche but.... WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE!!!

Hey everyody, so Im finally here in Santa Cruz. This place is awesome. This email is going to be really random cuz Im trying to explain a lot of new things. We met Pres Maynes in the airport when we arrived and then we spent a lot of time that night at his house. He is amazing. He runs the mission a lot differently than Pres Leyva did. Here we are not micromanaged so much, he just tells us to get it done and follow the rules. I get to cook now,that is pretty great. Today we need to go shopping for some better food to cook though. The rooms here arent as nice as the ones in Lima, but I dont care. So everyone said that Santa Cruz was really hot and that we should just leave all our warm clothes in Peru… I am really glad I didnt listen. I heardalot about the artic winds from Argentina. ARTIC is definatly a good way to describe them. It is really really cold here right now. But it only lasts about a month. The first day we were here it was 80 degrees, right now its about 50, pretty big change.I am in a place called La Pampa, and my ward is called La Cañada. Im in between the 4th and 6th rings of Santa Cruz. I am pretty pumped cuz me and Elder Puglisi are in the same district. We got to spend 2 days together with our group, but now we are all spread out. Ha ha, Eld Duncan went to the zone that is in Brasil. We are probably not going to all be together again till we go home, that was pretty depressing to think about. Me and Eld Puglisi were talking about that, that being in Peru and always having to do papers together and going to Chile together gave us the chance to become closer than most groups normally do. But ya so im in La Cañada. The climate here is normally like Florida, it looks a bit like it too. Santa Cruz has more of a small town feel, I love it. The people here are way more easy going too. My ward is really cool , the members help us a bunch, and for that the work is super strong here. Two people were baptized this week, and two more should be baptized this week, and at least one more the week after. My compis Eld Milián from, I just cant let this place go, Perú. Hes from way up north, next to Ecuador. Hes really cool, he has one change more than me. He has trained a few times during the mission, and sometimes forgets that he only has 42 days more than me in the mission. But he is helping me adjust to a new mission, cuz things are a lot different here. But ya I am doing awesome right now. Oh and funny story, on Tuesday when we were leaving we went on three buses to the Church Offices, and on the way we were filling out paper work, so I thought we just had to do more paper work in the offices… Nope. We walk in and find 3 members of the seventy standing there. And my first thought was ‘’Oh no, I should have shaved this morning.’’ But Pres Nash, Eld Gavarret and Eld Pino wanted to have a little meeting with us b4 we took off. Oh, RULE CHANGE, I can recieve emails from siblings and parents from their own addresses, so now you guys dont have to write through mom. They didnt say anything about Grandparents, but I asked the Pres today, so we´ll what he says next week.
Dad- Changing countries hasnt affected me too much, cuz I think this country is better than the other. Living conditions are a little less than in the Peru. A lot of times were are branch Presidentes in the jungle, in the city no. Are you guys having the fam reunion this year?
Mom-the people are nicer here, so that makes them a lot easier to love and get along with. Be careful with what you send to here, relations are the greatest, so the packages will probably be opened.
Crystal- ya, Santa Cruz is way better than Lima, it is one million times fresher and cleaner. Spanish here is little confusing, they dont pronounce their s, or thier z. And they conjugate differently, the use ‘’Voz’’. I dont think Matt heard it in Mexico, but he’ll probably know what it is. Like they dont say ‘’ven’’ they say ‘’vení ’’, its wierd but I like it.
kk- sorry, i couldnt get the photos to go through. Well my email is longer today because I have DOUBLE the time to write here.Its gonna be a good 11 months.

I love you guys a ton, take care -Elder Wilson