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