Bolivia Time

We Believe

playlist


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

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!