Christmas, Ocho Principios, & SKYPE

Hi!

This was a really great really busy week full of great things.

Giant Nativity

We had Ocho Prinicipios (training meetings) almost all day Wedesday and ALL day Thursday. They were really long, but also really good days. We started off the meetings Wednesday morning watching an elder running down the street chasing a bus...We were very confused until another elder got off the bus and started running towards him- the bus took off with his companion! haha And we ended the meetings with Presidente taking us out to ice cream on Christmas eve. #Ilovethatman

Speaking of Christmas: I love Christmas. We had a glorious day. Presidente and Hermana García invited us over, so we spent the day in the mission home. (!!!) We ate American food, sang Christmas songs around the piano, gleaned all the advice we could out of Pres. & Hna García, and skyped our families.

Shout out to my family: I love you people. 

After we dropped the other sisters off in their pueblo (#firsttimeI´veseenapueblo), dropped the assistants off in their area, and then went home. 

It was a great Christmas. 

Also, after Christmas we found this really great family. And we´re sure there are more like them out there. And we´re going to go find them. Because that is what Christmas (and the gospel) is all about; bringing hope and joy and a new beginning. 

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas. Happy New Year!! I love you all!!

Nick Hartley´s Converts

¡Vale la pena!

Hermana Wilson

La Navidad, Gemelas, & Otra Oportunidad

Hi!

So it´s almost Christmas, and there´s a lot of things going on, so you´re all going to get a bullet point letter. 

-Everyone literally asks if we´re twins. I think we freak them out. It´s not often that you see two blue-eyed people walking down the street in Mérida.

-We got called angels by a street contact ("Pero...¿son terrenales?")

-We received our death letter.

The Death Letter....aka they told us we only have 2 changes left...

-We ate whole coconuts. 

Coco!

-We listened to a lot of Christmas music. 

-I got a lot of blisters #thisshouldn´tkeephappening 

-I fell down once (I stepped off a curb)

-We got shots. #vacunas

-A man stopped us in the street to ask how he can join the Church...but he lives just outside our area. :( 

It was a really good week actually. I´m learning to love Quintero, and I really love Hna Rhondeau. (We´re still waiting for them to tell us it was a lie and to go back to our real companions) I am incredibly happy and even more happy because it is Christmas. 

And Christmas means family. And it means Christ. And it means hope. And it means a new beginning. Because through Him, we have the opportunity to start over again. To become who we were always meant to be. 

#HaNacidoUnSalvador

I love you all! Merry Christmas!!

¡Vale la pena!

Hermana  Wilson

Transfer ?? Santa Lucía 3

Best Things...

-Training.

Worst Things...
-Leaving Santa Lucía

Things that are working for me...

-Depsite what everyone thinks, my crocs are still going strong. 

I wish I would have known...

Food...

Fun Facts about Mexico/This Mission...

Weather...

-Apparently it´s cold now...like 65 at night. 

Mayan...

I learned...

at the ADO 

Changes, Rosa Isela, & Malecón

Hola!

So it actually happened...I got changed!! I´ve been sent back to Mérida with Han Rhondeau (My comp from the MTC!!!). Leaving Santa Lucía and all of the people I love there was SUPER hard, but I´ve also been praying to go with Hna Rhondeau for like the whole mission. #prayersdogetanswered

This, my last week in Campeche, was beautiful. It wasn´t perfect by any means but it was beautiful. We started out Tuesday going to the forts, and ended Sunday with the dedication of the Tijuana´s temple. In between:

-We had a baptism! Rosa Isela, the daughter of a less active member, got baptized. She was kind of nervous before but after she told us that she had been scared but that when they put her under the water that she just felt so good (even though they had to do it twice hah). She´s a doll.

Rosa Isela

-I got sick!! Just a nice little respiratory infection. The funny part was that the Dr. told me it´s because my body´s not used to the cold anymore... (We dropped to like 65 degrees in the night this last week #that´scoldincampeche) On the plus side, after some cough syrup, a few injections, and a blessing I am feeling much better. On the downside, I don´t know how I´m ever supposed to go home if my body is rejecting 65 degree weather.

-We had a zone missionary activity on the malecón! We went out in front of the Novia del Mar, put up a screen, watched Christmas videos #HaNacidoUnSalvador, sang carols, and contacted everyone in sight. It was beautiful and glorious and something I´ll never ever forget.

I may have left a big part of my heart in Campeche but I am so excited to get to work here in Mérida with Hna Rhondeau. There is much to do. I love you all!

¡Vale la pena!

Hermana Wilson

(Sorry for the lack of photos...this computer is sllllooooowwww)

Miracles, 5, & HNUS

MTC!

Elder Relitz, Elder Wright, Elder Evan, Elder Calmes, Me, Hna Rhondeau

Hola!

I saw two miracles this week:

1. Yuri a less active member who we have been visiting had cancer...and now she doesn´t. We´re not sure how it happened, but it is amazing and was the result of a lot of prayers and fasting.

2. Armando. He´s a less active member we found in like July. He got REALLY sick this last week and I honestly thought he was dying. But the whole ward got moving and started helping and now´s he´s doing so much better. And one of the families is going to take him to live with them! 

Armando. My miracle.

Okay three miracles, this week after not finding more than 1 new investigator last week, we found 5...in one day. I´m not entirely sure how it happened but I know that it wasn´t us who did it. This is the Lord´s work, and He prepares a way for it to happen. 

Also we had our Christmas party yesterday (hence I´m writing on Tuesday) and even though that meant we got up at 1amand got home at 11:30pm it was really awesome. Highlights:

-Presidente & Hna Garcia spoke

-Our Zone Leaders fell asleep while we sang silent night.

-Seeing the WHOLE mission. And knowing a lot more people than last year.

Love these guys.

Hna Hoggan & Hna Velasquez

My kids! (& Hna Hoggan!)

-Getting our generation together after almost 15 months

Our generation

-Christmas.

And what I´ve thought about is that during Christmas we celebrate the birth of Christ. Because without Him there would be no way to ever go back ot the presence of our Heavenly Father. Every mistake and every error would move us farther away from Him forever.

But Christ was born in Bethlehem more than 2000 years ago. 

And He lives today.

And through Him we can start over. We can repent. Ane we can return to our Father in Heaven.

#HaNacidoUnSalvador

I love you all!

¡Vale la pena!

Hermana Wilson

I´m told I make this face a lot...

Thanksgiving, Diligence, & Moving Forward

Hola!

Happy Thanksgiving! I did nothing special except tell my comp ¨Happy Thanskgiving´´...and then she looked at me all confused and stuff.. #MexicoProbs But I am grateful for so many things. I´m a missionary. I´m in Campeche in an area I love. It´s not cold. The people give me chile with every meal. 

I´m pretty much set. :)

This week, I practiced my diligence. We´re working hard, but we haven´t had a lot of success. And when that happens, there´s nothing to do but be diligent.

Diligence is little things:

-like getting up at 6:20 every day when all you want to do is stay in the hammock

-visiting every single one of your recent converts just to make sure they´re doing okay

-going from the plan to the back-up plan, to the back-up plan of the back-up plan...

-diligence is moving forward with faith even when you´re not sure what to do next

You can kind of see my machete callous here...

Diligence is the things no one notices, but it makes all the difference. 

I love you all! And I love this work. I think it´s the hardest thing I´ve ever done, but it´s also the best. 

¡Vale la pena!

Hermana Wilson

We´re pirates...haha

Toad, Pyscology, & el Momento Preciso

First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOAD! I can´t believe my baby brother is turning 10. Who gave him permission to hit double digits??? 

Hola, 

This week started with a very dramatic, traumatic zone meeting:

The zone leaders threw away all of our former investigators´ records....Which was some kind of pyscological cleanse that was supposed to help us work better....quien sabe por que...

Anyway, after getting rid of like 5 pounds of paper, we got to work. And we actually had a really good week. We found some really great, prepared people who needed us in the exact moment that we should up. I love to see Heavenly Father´s hand in our work. He makes things happen that I wouldn´t even have known to hope for. Like finding a part member family from Tabasco who just moved to the area, and then ALL of them going to church Sunday. Or connecting your depressed less active sister who needs work with your sick less active member who needs help in the house.

This is the second time she´s broke that mirror... #49yearsofbadluck

And Armida is leaving this week!! She´s headed out to her mission...in Pachuca (I think that´s the name...I always mess it up), and I lose another great companion here in Santa Lucía. #she´sgoingtoabetterplace. I´m so proud of all these missionaries that are heading out of this ward. 

Also we went machete-weeding again. I´m getting better, I´m never weeding by hand again. Also I killed like 50 million spiders because they were living in the weeds and apparently my compi doesn´t like to see them running around by her feet. #whoknew

I love you all!! 

¡Vale la pena!

Hermana Wilson

This is going on our Christmas card.

Caesar salad!

Rescue, Plan Z, & Week 1

Hi!

This first week of transfers was full of adventures ranging from cockroaches to fowl play to rain storms...

We found a baby duck (or baby goose...no one is quite sure) in the parking lot of the stake center. And my comp being the tree-hugging, animal-lover that she is insisted that we catch it, and so, with some help from the elders (and the poor thing running in fear from Elder Flores) we caught it, named it Patricio Martín Wilson Romero, and then gave it to a young woman that was there for an interview.

My compi with Patricio Martín Wilson Romero

Her mother is going to love us. 

But we saved it from certain death....or that´s what Hna Romero says at least.

This Sunday was a little different, since it was ward conference and we were in the stake center and we started at 12 (they´re remodeling our chapel)...Conference was good, this year I got the memo about the choir dress requirements and wasn´t the black sheep, so that was a step up. They also made me sing a solo. With only a day´s notice.

Ward Conference! 

Hna Romero & I #matchingskirts

I was not amused. -_- 

All in all, this week a lot of our plans didn´t work out...we got caught in the rain (again), people weren´t there for their appointments, thinks came up that we didn´t plan on...but in that moment that I hit the end of my rope. When we´ve gone from plan A to B to L, and we just don´t have anything left, that is when Heavenly Father steps in. He lets us work, He lets us come up with our own plans, He even lets us fail momentarily.But when our own isn´t enough, He makes up the difference. Miracles happen.

And everything works out in the end.

I love you all! I love Campeche. I love these Campechanos. I love my Heavenly Father.

Mission feet #hammocklife

¡Vale la pena!

Hermana Wilson

Transfer 10: Santa Lucia 4

Best Things...

-Krispy Kreme dougnuts. #´nuffsaid

Worst Things...

-Your companion thinking there are Aluxas (ah-loo-shas) in your house. Aluxas are elves from the Yucatan Peninsula. 

Things that are working for me...

-Sunscreen. I ran out this change....

I wish I would have known...

-

Food...

-Pan de Muertos! 

Fun Facts about Mexico/This Mission...

-They don´t really do Halloween. They have El Día de Los Muertos. But there´s still candy. :) 

Weather...

-supposedly it´s fall now...it´s still hot but it´s cooling off at night

-it´s still raining

Mayan...

-holchoch: mezcla: mix

I learned...

-How to baptize every week...We´re going to do it!

-How to spin a hand towel on my finger like a pizza.

Change, Time, & Five

Sunday in Santa Lucía

Hola!

We had a sisters´ conference this week. It was the first one we´ve had here and it was pretty awesome. They gave us roses and pep-talks and then Presidente gave us some advice:

1. Go home

2. Get married....fast

3. Have children...also fast, none of this waiting to have children thing, that´s flse doctrine.

4. Let your body recover 

5. Have more children

**Bonus: Those children should speak 3 or 4 languages

Conferencia de las hermanas - Misión México Mérida 03/11/2015

That is literally what he told us...no pressure or anything. haha. You have to love Presidente García. 

Also, I had to go to Immigration...hooray for being a foreigner...But that meant that we went to Mérida twice week.

Immigration Part 2

It also means that we ate Krispy Kremes. It was good day. 

Krispy Kreme!

In between all of that madness we actually got to work in our area too. And we had some really cool things happen like:

1. Contacting a golden investigator in the street

2. Finding a taxista who was interested in baptisms for the dead in an area where there aren´t even taxis normally.

3. Having an investigator read the Plan of Salvation pamphlet and understand it 

It was a good week.

We also got Zone t-shirts. They make us look like smurfs. #we´resocool

Zona Campeche....aka Smurf Zone

Last night were changes and the only thing worse than waiting for transfers is waiting until midnight for transfers....#thankyouelders. I was terrified (slight exageration) that they were going to take my daughter away, or send me away, or worse- close my area...But we´re both staying here one more change!! Woo!

For those of you who are counting that makes 5 changes here...

It´s a good thing I love Santa Lucía.

Hna Fatima 

Saraí! 

But really though, part of why I was so nervous before transfers was cause I felt like I hadn´t finished my work here. And I am so so excited to keep working here. I love this area. I love Campeche. And I LOVE these people. 

I love this work and I love being a missionary. I see the Heavenly Father´s hand in everything that we do and I know He is helping this work along.

I love you all!! 

¡Vale la pena!

Hermana Wilson

Our cellphone is Yucateco....

Flash, Dash, & Machete

Hola! 

So today is going to be a fly by email because we had four hours of family history training in the morning (I´m offically certified now though...it´s only taken like a 9 months)...and we´re going to Mérida for a surprise meeting with President tomorrow! And I also have to go take pictures for immigration; because I´ve been in Mexico for a whole year! (When I told my comp that she asked how I survived...)

So basically I have no time. 

This week: 

-It was Halloween. Almost no one celebrates it here. I did pass out the spider rings you sent me Mom. #gringoholidays

-Carolina, our not-investigator-investigator (we taught her but she technically belongs to the elders), got baptized! It was one of the most interesting and memorable baptisms ever, and I have no pictures because she didn´t want to take any. 

-We did service! Which means I got to use a machete! Not to brag or anything but I totally have a machete blister now.

I´m pretty sure other things happened but I´m just about out of time. And this computer is not my friend so there will not be any pictures this week... :( Sorry! Just know I´m happy and healthy and loving life here in Mexico. 

¡Vale la pena!

Hermana Wilson