Templo, Techo, & Entertainment

Hola!

Hna Rhondeau & I & our Hijas

Hna Castro Hna Wilson Hna Rhondea Hna Huerta

First, I am soooo sorry for not writing yesterday. We changed P-days this week so we could go to the temple and I totes forgot to tell you guys in advance....woops. Nobody panic I´m still alive and well. :)

Hermana Elizabeth Estrella

It was a good week. Tuesday we had a conference with like three zones and Presidente, and it was the bomb.com. We practiced cool stuff and....we got to watch Meet the Mormons (in Spanish...but still). And it was so great! I don´t know if I´m entertainment deprived or if it was really good, but I loved it. Haha the missionary part pulled on the heartstrings a little, but I realized that I really am my father´s daughter when there was a part about a football coach and I realized just how much I miss my violent American sport. hahaha The only bad part about the conference is that I lost our cellphone in a taxi going home....

Hijas de Hna Ludlam

Hna Oaxaca Hna Wilson Hna Pitcher Hna Harper Hna Ludlam

Woops.

But we bought a new one. It´s all good. Stress is good.

We taught a lot of members to lessons this week, and Hermana Margarita (AKA one of my favorite people here - she makes panuchos ;) ) told us the funniest story.

So one night this guy was on her roof, and so like any normal older lady she went out, grabbed him, asked him what he was doing on her roof, and then made him sit and wait while her neighbor called the pólice. And then two days later she saw him in the Street and all he said was ´´Buenos días Señora Margarita´´ in this really ashamed way. hahahah I can´t explain to you how funny it was to listen to her tell this story, and see her act it out. haha I love her.

So last week I froze my buns off.... and yes is wasn´t even that cold, but I´m Yucateca....and all of sudden this week the heat has started! hah I think I´m going to be sweating for the next 6 months. And with the heat come....cockroaches. So fun!!!

No.

I can´t tell you how many I killed this week. You don´t even want to know.

Yup. Roaches

Also I went to the temple this morning to do names that I´ve found here in the misión, and it was so great. I saw Hermana Rhondeau (my comp from the MTC) and I got to do the baptisms...and I just love the temple.

Hna Rhondeau & I

This letter has kind of been all over the place, but know that I´m doing so good. I love being a missionary, and even though it can be incredibly hard, the good more than makes up for it. I know this góspel is true. I am a representative of Jesús Christ, and I get to help people find Him every day.

What more could I ask for???

Love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

¡Vale la pena!

Hermana Wilson

Supertortas!

My comp has a talent for capturing my best moments.

I´m incredibly attractive. I know.

Niños, Dulces, & una Americana Cerrada

¡Hola!

Well, this was a good week. We´ve been teaching more, and finding more people. And we had an investigator come to church Sunday! His name is Miguel and we might have kind of hauled him to church....but he stayed for all three hours and the ward has kind of taken him under their wing so it was awesome!

We´ve been working a lot with the members to try and get them more involved in missionary work. ***BEWARE PREACHING IS ABOUT TO START*** Because we can work in the calles all day long and find a few people, but if we´re to start finding people who really have potential we need references from the members...which we don´t get all the often because the majority of them only talk with their family and their friends from church...sigh... BUT we´re working on it. We´re going to change the culture here in Chuburná.

Moral of the story is: give the missionaries references. They really need them.

Like I said last week, we´ve been working with the menos activos a lot and since my family sent me like 15 POUNDS of candy...does that say something about me???... we´ve been using that as motivation. haha If the niños will sit and listen to a scripture story they get candy at the end.

Works every time. haha

Although, one time this week we should up at the home of a menos activo and this seven year old saw us and immediately said, ¨Hermanas, no tengo tiempo¨ (Sisters I don´t have time) in this really exaggerated drawn out way. But what was the funniest is that we hear that a lot in day...a lot...but it doesn´t usually come from a seven year old. hahah I literally burst out laughing. I love kids. haha

Hermana Castro and I get along really well - although she told me this week that I´m muy cerrada (closed)...woops... But we work really well together, and she keeps me laughing. Although I think she´s found every single slug bug in Chuburná in order to hit me.

And there are a LOT here.

As we´ve been working with families (investigators, menos activos, members) I´ve realized just how important families are, and how much the gospel helps us have families that are better and happier. The gospel really is the solucion to all the problems in the world. And so much heartache and sadness could be avoided if everyone just knew about the gospel.

Ahhh... I just want everyone to have what I have. A loving Heavenly Father, a loving family, and the way to keep that family for forever.

The church is true. I love the gospel, I love the people here, and I love you all too.

¡Vale la pena!

Hermana Wilson

Happy Birthday Dad! (I didn´t forget, I just forgot to write you about it last week!)

Hermana Castro likes to take videos

Churros, Volleyball, & Eternal Families

¡Buenas!

This week was a little better. We found more investigators and are working with a LOT of menos activos. In this ward there are like 80 people that go to church regurlarly and.... like 300 on the ward list. So we have a bit of work to do. :) We have a couple who are progressing and we have plans to get them ALL to the temple eventually.

Eternal families. We talk about them all day every day. I realized this week (again) how big of a blessing eternal families are. Heavenly Father loves us enough to prepare a way for us (His children) to return and live with Him again. AND if we keep our covenants we get to keep our families, the people most important in our lies, for forever too. How incredible is that?

Familia Olvera

It rained a lot this week, at one point we got caught in the rain and we just HAD to duck under cover of a churro stand and while we were there we just HAD to buy churros..... hehehe. We suffer a lot as you can tell. ;)

Also, we had a ward volleyball tournament. It was the bomb, even though we lost right off the bat. hah I really love this ward. One of the hermanos got a hold of a microphone and announced every person that showed up to the tournament...hah every. single. person. Also we lost the only ball for like half and hour (someone hit it over the fence) and so I taught the niños how to shoot a basketball. :)

I am loving life here. Sometimes it´s hard, but I know this is where I´m supposed to be and I can´t imagine being anywhere else. I know this is the church of Christ and that He is working with us here, and that if we just have hope we will see miracles. I love this gospel. I love sharing it with the people here. I love you all!!

¡Vale la pena!

Hermana Wilson

Temples, Éxito, & the Ultimate Self-Help

¡Hola!

So Tuesday...I GOT TO GO TO THE TEMPLE!! We had a challenge in the mission if we could memorize all the scripture masteries of Book  of Mormon and New Testament (in Spanish) we could go to a session. And even though it was a session at 5:30 in the morning (which means we woke up at 3 and then worked until 9 at night) it was literally the best thing ever. I LOVE THE TEMPLE!! It was like balm for my soul. I know that it is the house of God because I can´t imagine that kind of peace existing any where else.

The work here has been a little slow. We´re in what I like to call a  ¨Finding Stage¨. We contact a lot in the calle and visit a lot of people. Our biggest problem is that we meet people make an appointement to come back and teach them....and then they´re not there. :( 

Which makes me very sad. Agency is hard concept. Ahhh....

But that´s what I´m learning, that everyone has this ability to chose. And that if people choose not to accept the gospel, it´s not my fault. If I´m doing my part, the Lord is pleased with me and I can be happy with my efforts. We had interviews with Presidente this week, and that´s most of what we talked about. How to really measure success in the mission.

AKA Hermana Wilson stop beating yourself up. I love Presidente Garcia.

We had some really good lessons this week. We found a new investigator and we were teaching here about the Restoration, and I totally thought she wasn´t getting it until she said, ¨So that means the other baptisms don´t count?¨ And I was like YES! (In my head of course) hah because it can be really difficult for people to capture apostasy and authority and all that jazz. We´ve also had some really great lessons with menos activos this week. One told us that we´re like daughters to her and when we show up late (.....woops....) she worries, but knows we always come, and she always looks forward to our visits. She´s a sweetheart, and has a lot of challenges in her life right now, and I just love being able to bring her some joy.

Have I mentioned that I love the people here?? :)

Hermana Castro is a peach. She´s helped me realize that I say ¨okay¨ like 35,000 times every day, and she always knows when I´m hungry. She´s a good hija. :) 

I´ve been studying conference talks over again, I really love...well...I really love ALL of them because they help me realize just how much the gospel APPLIES to real life. It´s not just something ancient or a list of shoulds and should nots. It´s how to live with the most happiness possible and how to live with Heavenly Father again. The gospel is something living, it applies to every person and in every situation. We don´t need a billion and five self-help books and quick-fixes, we need Christ, because through Him we can become so much more than we can on our own.

I love you all, I love my Savior, and I love helping other people find Him. 

¡Vale la pena!

Hermana Wilson

No pictures this week. The computer doesn´t like my USB. Sorry!!