Cake, Cat, & Crazy

My dear people:

I am out of time...again. So you´re all getting bullet points.

-We made a cake with Jonatan and Rebeca. There was enough cream to fill a small astroid crater. Jonatan may have eaten his weight in sugar.

Crazy cake we made last Pday

-We had a Zone Conference. President talked about marriage. We learned that the principle difference between him and Hermana García is that she doesn´t eat tortillas.

-We did intercambios with Alameda. It started out great, Hna Cecilia gave us arroz con leche...and ended with Hna León and Hna Salazar feeling sick. #youcan´twinthemall

Intercambios with Alameda

-Flaviano keeps coming to church despite the fact that we could only teach him once this week and that lesson was sabatoged by a ninja cat that likes pan. 

-Sunday I learned (again) that Heavenly Father answers prayers. We found a lost credit card and got to church on time after leaving the house 40 minutes late. 

Basically, my life is a little crazy and a lot happy. What else could anyone want? 

Smallest scorpion I´ve ever seen...now we´re just looking for his mother....

Dinner Hna Rhondeau made me...

I love you all.

¡Vale la pena!

Hermana Wilson

Frio, Panuchos, & Hoy

Hi!

We had a worldwide conference. It was pretty awesome. Also after seeing state-side missionaries I realize why I was sent to Mexico.  #IloveMexico

It´s been bizarely cold here. I´M FREEZING! I´m sure it´s not much farther below like 60 at night but with the humidity it is literally so cold. We´ve gone to extreme measures to keep warm. Like: sleep in our little spare room instead of the big room where we normally sleep, putting on two or three pairs of socks on before bed, spending about an hour in the morning heating up water on the stove so we can shower...The struggle is real people. I am not made for the cold. 

Emergency Sleeping Arrangements

We met a guy named Luis Chan Dzul this week. (For those of you who don´t speak mayan that is Luis Little Gentleman). He can´t read. And he´s never been to any church before. And we actually were trying to find this other person. But we taught him on Saturday in a little fruit stand outside of the Baseball Stadium, and he said he wants to get baptized. And he came to church Sunday. 

And that is when I realize how beautiful the mission is. How all these little coincidence accidents happen, and it all comes together in this master plan

Saturday night the Bishop invited us over for panuchos. (He has a not-so-secret goal to send us back home fat.) And after sharing hilarious, moving, touching, motivating stories from his mission he gave us some advice. 

La única cosa importante es lo que usted hace hoy. The only important thing is what you do today.

It doesn´t matter what we´ve done in the past, that won´t save us. Serving a mission doesn´t do anyone any good if you go inactive or stop progressing after. You can´t live in the past. We must make every day better than the last and make what we do TODAY count. 

I love you all!! 

¡Vale la pena!

Hermana Wilson

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

Cositas, Detalles, & un Gran Plan

¡Hola mis queridos!

Lots of walking

We had a really good week...and a lot of things happened. 

-All of our appointments fell through so Hna Fatima took us around with her neighbors and now we have LOTS of appointments for next week.

-Our awesome investigator Lucio got a different job...and now can´t come to church... :(  We´re going to work on that.. 

-We´re teaching an investigator in the elders´ area and so they came to one of the lessons this week, and we totally watched our zone leader lose a power struggle with a 9 year old. 

-That same Zone Leader had a birthday...so we got chocolate cake. #thanksforbeingborn

-We had an awesome Zone Meeting with the asistentes and 2 sister training leaders from Mérida (Hna Rhondeau!)....and we´re going baptize every week. It´s a plan. 

-Nobody came to church....but then Sunday afternoon we found 2 new investigators who accepted baptismal dates right off the bat. (You should have seen my comp´s face... "¿Sí?...... ¡Sí!") 

-We got a new ward mission leader!! He just got back from the mission..like 2 weeks ago. And he should be good. I´ll keep you posted. 

-We got caught in the rain. I learned that my comp really loves the rain...she learned that her bag isn´t waterproof.

Campeche Restaurant.... I can´t remember its name...

#foodpics...I´m pretty sure it was fish. 

Sometimes...okay, a lot of the time, the smallest things in life make the biggest difference. Like just asking someone how they are, and then listening when they answer. Or teaching a group of 10 year olds that they really are daughters of God. Or happening to bring a member to a lesson with someone who used to be their neighbor. All the little things remind me that Heavenly Father has a plan for every single one of us. He knows us perfectly, and He loves us infinitely. 

Nos conoce y nos ama. 

I love you all!

¡Vale la pena!

Hermana Wilson

Hna Romero & I 

Mija, Conferencia, & Bravery

Hola!!!

This week was a little slow as far as work goes, but it was a really really really good week. We didn´t teach a lot of people, but at the end of the day I felt that we had found the people that the Lord wanted us to find. Also Campeche had a birthday yesterday. 

My new hija, Hna Romero, and I are scarily similar but also almost opposites. What I mean by that:

-We are the same height

-We both have long hair

-We both have red glasses

-We both have a sheep thing (I love sheep, she has a sheep pillow)

-Our names start with M.

-She´s 20, I used to be 20.

-She was vegetarian. I love meat.

-She loves the dogs and wants to take them home. #Istillhatethedogs

-She says things like "que bonito". I do not. 

But she is really a doll and I am so excited to get to work with her and learn from her.

Me & Hna Romero at conference

And can we talk about conference?? I loved it. I loved it a lot. Because:

-I got some very clear, very direct answers. 

-I got to watch it in english. (A whole bunch of missionaries squeezed into the clerk´s office to watch it in english.)

-It´s just about as fun as Christmas when you´re a missionary.

#Ponderize 

(Why am I the only one who actually did it?? Also notice how many missionaries fit in the clerk´s office)

Here are some of my favorite parts (roughly quoted of course):

-We must hold on to what we know to be true and stop chasing shadows. -Pres Uchtdorf

-Our direction is more important than our speed. -Larry R Lawrence

-If you do your best it will all work out. God will not forsake you. -Neill F. Marriott

-Maternal love has to be divine. -Elder Holland (Shoutout to my mother. I love you Mom!)

-Sometime His powers heal, but sometimes He gives us the strength to endure. -Elder Oaks

-The truth that matters most can only be verfied by revelation from God. -Pres Eyring

And of course I loved President Monson´s talk. He said "Faith and doubt cannot exist in the same mind in the same time" And then he talked about the bravery it requires to be different, and I couldn´t help but think how brave he was. He looked so very old and frail by the end of his talk, but you couldn´t deny the power of his words. And the truth of his words. We are different, and that difference is increasing all the time.

We can´t help but be anything but brave.

Baluarte de San Carlos

Zona Campeche

¡Vale la pena!

Hermana Wilson

Walking, Hope, & Progress

Swings! 

Swing in Botanical Garden

Hola!

What I´ve decided is sometimes you just have to wander around enough and knock enough doors and talk to enough people....and then the blessings come. We had that kind of week.

Awkward photo with an address... 

It wasn´t a bad week, we went to Mérida for a Leadeship Conference (#wetravelalot) which was great, but meant we lost a day in our area. We had a ton of appointments the rest of the week but one by one...they fell through.

Not all of them....just like 80%. jaja

Memorizing scriptures by osmosis

So that meant contacting and visiting and looking and getting sunburnt #stillhothere.

Phone call from the District Leader at 2 am ....turns out he just fell asleep with the phone in his hammock.

And then, right when I was hitting the end of my rope, things just got better. For example:

-Meeting with a faithful couple who, in one shot, helped us hit our goal of 30 names to take to the temple...which means we´re going to the temple next week!! Yay!!!!!!

-Finding 7 new investigators in 2 days....after 5 days with only 2 new investigators. And they´re families!!! I love teaching families. 

-We gad a massive zone water balloon fight #Ididnotwin It was a little bit crazy and a lot of fun

. 

#ZoneWaterBalloonFight

We were not planning on getting wet...

-Sending Hna Montse off to Chile and singing for her farewell. I´m kind of sad she´s leaving me because she´s been my only companion that´s stayed constant here in Campeche, but I know they need her in Chile. She´s one of the most prepared (future) missionaries I´ve ever seen. 

Hna Monste se va a Chile!

-Spending most of our Zone Conference writing down Christ-like Attributes of the other missionaries, and then taking pictures. 

Zona Campeche! 

-Talking to one of our favorite members about her family. She´s gone through some crazy hard trials but she is one of the most faithful, hopeful people I have ever met. It just goes to proof that it doesn´t matter what happens TO us as much as what we DO with it.

So all in all, it was a good week.Things are looking up here in Santa Lucia and I really really really love Campeche.  I know that this church is true and that this is where I am supposed to be. I love you all!!

¡Vale la pena!

Hermana Wilson

My favorite place....

Frozen hot chocolate

Meetings, Changes, & Santa Lucia

Zona Campeche With Elder Valenzuela

Okay sorry family but there were changes this week so this is going to be suuuppper short.

But I love ya!

This week we went to Mérida for a leadership conference. We left Monday night, and because Hna Torres had to go to immigration, we didn´t get back home until Wednesday afternoon.

Presidente & Hermana Garcia

BTWs...it KILLLSS me to not be able to work in my area..

Also this was the week of meetings...a lot of them. But I learned a lot, and I really loved my Zone here.

Changes were today....and I´m staying in Santa Lucia! I´m actually really excited because I love the ward here. Hna Torres is no longer my companion though. I am with Hna Mejía, she is also from Guatemala and she finishes up her mission this transfer.

Santa Lucia

And.....that´s about all I have time for. Just know that I love you all and I KNOW I am where I´m supposed to be. 

There is no greater work than this. :) 

¡Vale la pena!

Hermana Wilson

Hna Lupita

Divisions, Interviews, & Hna Ellgen

Queridos Todos,

This was a week of divisions, interviews, stake conference...and rain. haha.

Hno Manuelito Hna Armida ME Hna Torres at Stake Conference 

I spent the majority of the week in San Roman with Hna Ellgen. We went on three day divisions and I think we both enjoyed them more than is humanly possible. I seriously love her and we work really well together.... I think it´s because we both played basketball back in our youth... ;) Or it could be because she is one of the most humble, teachable people I have ever met and I want to be her when I grow up. Also, her area is in the middle of Centro and it is literally the most beautiful place I have ever seen. All the houses are old colonial style and there are still forts and walls that were built to keep the pirates out back in the day. #butreallythough....pirates It was kind of interesting walking down the streets of Campeche with another gringa...we got some looks...also somebody called us whiteys... #pointsfororiginality 

Hna Ellgen & I #temporarycomps

There was one point this week when Hna Ellgen and I were walking down the street in the pouring rain, soaked to the bone and laughing hysterically and I just realized something....I am happy. The gospel is happy thing. 

And this is a joyous work. There is nowhere else I´d rather be. :) 

¡Vale la pena!

Hermana Wilson

All of the food a member brought us this week....hahaha Do you see the Choco Krispis??? 

Buses, Campeche, & My Purpose

Hola!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh my goodness what a week. After traveling all day Monday (.....and cleaning the apartment with what was left of the day....Why do I always inherit houses from Elders???They´re great and all, but their cleaning skills... #subpar) we then proceeded to spend most of Tuesday getting lost in our area. 

Fun fact, in Merida the streets are by number, in Campeche they all have names....like Mango or Baja California or names of presidents and stuff...you can imagine how that´s working out for us.

Then Wednesday we had a meeting with Elder Valenzuela of the 70. And he was just awesome. He talked about being missionaries of "integro proposito" (I think that translates to like fulness of purpose but...quien sabe); that we can´t just focus on baptisms but let less active members fall through the cracks, and we can´t just focus and members and not find new investigators. We have to have a balance in everything. 

And Friday night....we went back to Merida!! haha We had a special leadership council in Merida Saturday morning with Elder Valenzuela again so it was back on the bus Friday night. We stayed with two sisters in their teeny tiny house and ended up having to put our hammocks bunk bed style and out the door in order to make it all work. Saturday was the leadership council and then we didn´t get back to Campeche until like 6. 

Hammock Adventures

Hammock  Adventures Pt. 2

Seriously I´ve done more traveling this week than I´ve done my whole mission combined.

So Campeche...it is like a whole other mission really. First of all, we´re close the the ocean here. If we go up on the hills (yes there are hills here) we can see it from our area. So it´s not as hot here...but it is more humid here. #youcan´twinthemall Also I kind of feel like I´m on vacation because it smells like the beach here. hah The houses are REALLY close together. They have these things called andadors (walkways) and instead of streets in a lot of our area the andadores are what seperate the houses. (I´ll send pictures next week). The ward is amazing, there are EIGHT missionaries, 6 elders and us. And we´re the first sisters they´ve had in the ward in more than 20 or 30 years. 

Basically we´ve been adopted by the majority of the sisters here. hah. 

I´m just incredibly happy. I´ve thought a lot this week about my purpose and why I´m here, and basically I´ve come to one conclusion.

There is nowhere else that I´m supposed to be right now. 

I´m not supposed to be at school or at home or married or watching TV or whatever... I´m supposed to be here in Mexico sharing the gospel and loving these people. I love this gospel, I love my Savior, and I love these people here in Campeche...What else is there?? 

¡Vale la pena!

Hermana Wilson

Zona Campeche!

Canas, Semana Santa, & Conferencia

Buenas Tardes,

So it was Semana Santa, or Holy Week here in Merida. Fun fact, the members here don´t really celebrate Easter because the catholics REALLY celebrate Easter. Which led to all kinds of adventures this week, the highlights:

-Hermana Castro has found like 3 gray hairs. I told her it´s from the stress of having a daughter. Hah. But really, her training ends this week and I´m kinda sad about it. Also I´m kind of sad about having gray hairs. 

-Tracking down a reference in the more sketchy part of our area Friday afternoon, we passed some drunks in the street, didn´t feel comfortable and turned down a side street to get away from the them...and ran into another group of drunks who proceeded to call after us and started to follow us. So we turned down another street to get away (Hna Castro saying "Corra, corra" every five seconds), and ran into the Via cruces, which is where they reenact the processional to Calvary, so we turned down another street to avoid that, and ended up all the way at the limit of our area.

Lesson learned: don´t go to Felipe Carrillo Puerto on a holiday. 

-Friday was interesting because all of our investigators were either drunk or in Church. hah. It makes life difficult for a missionary. 

-But can we talk about CONFERENCE! And how much I loved it?! And how excited I am about the gospel. How amazing it is that we have prophets in our day to lead us in this troubled world. I hope you all had the chance to listen because it was the BOMB. Of course, that may have been because all the talks were written for me, but I´m sure you can learn something too. 

-Sunday in between sessions we ate with the Araujo Family (who we baptized in January), and it made me incredibly happy to sit at their table outside their house and just enjoy this family on its way to eternity. It was incredible to see the traces of their former life in their home, but here them talk about Priesthood and prophets and conference and how much the gospel has changed their lives. It doesn´t get much better than that. 

Hna Chamorro y Yo

Also they fed us fish that was amazing, Oh, and I totes ate its eyeball.

Hermano Dionisio frying us some fish. :) 

Me with my fish. It was like the best thing ever.

Fish. It was delicious. I ate that whole thing.

Because that´s what they do in the Yucatan. :) 

Happy Easter everyone. I am so very very grateful for the sacrifice of my Savior so that I can live with my Heavenly Father in an eternal family someday. And never, ever forget that He lives. Even now. And that if we look for Him, He can be PRESENT and ACTIVE in our lives.

I love you all. I love my Savior. And I love the children of God I get to serve here in Chuburná. 

¡Vale la pena!

Hermana Wilson

Familia Araujo & Las Misioneras