08/24/2014

Gathering rice.

An unorthodox way of traveling.

From left to right: My comp, the bishop's son (he might play basketball for BYU!), our ward mission leader holding my bag hostage, our investigator who should have been baptized ages ago but lacks parental permission, counselor in stake presidency, random ward member, random white girl. ;)

Beautiful dusk!

A family scheduled to be baptized next week. Aren't they cute??

Cute little girls. :)

Flooded rice paddy.

Mabuhay!

Hahah, no one says that. What a great week it's been here! The highlight of our week was definitely the baptism of Sister Carlota! YAY! She has the sweetest spirit, she literally lit up the room when she came out in her baptismal clothing. To our pleasant surprise, unexpected friends and co-workers came to support her and she burst into tears when she saw them. Miraculously, her autistic son was able to sit quietly through the whole baptismal program as well. At the end, all the missionaries present (6 of us) sang "When I am Baptized" to close the meeting. The spirit was so strong. It was such a wonderful experience and I hope she will never forget it because I will not. 

I also won't forget the family home evening we had this week with a family in our ward. They live out IN the rice fields in an area prone to flooding. We thought the elders were joking when they told us to wear shoes we could walk through in "high tide." Nope. The rice field had completely flooded up to our knees. It had been raining all day and it was dark. So we all girt up our loins (heheh), literally, with pretty fresh courage, and walked through it with flashlights. There were fish and frogs and unidentifiable creatures in the water, and little chasms that made it easy to trip. It was really slippery and a pretty long walk to their house. What an adventure.

We did a CSP with a different approach this week. We just street sweeped but this time with the intent of finding as many people as we could as a zone. Lucky for Sister Mabini and I, it was our area so we came out of this with 15 referrals. ;) And not just any referrals, friendly happy family referrals who are ready to learn. I'm so excited to visit them this week! Another cool thing happened. We tracted this one house last week and they were pretty rude to us so we just left a pamphlet in the gate. We passed by again during our project and they were excited to be taught. Mind blown!

Yesterday was a pretty tough day for me though, I'll admit. 5 minutes before church started, the speaker flaked so they made me speak. I had zero time to prepare and they didn't let me choose my topic. My hands were trembling. Somehow though my mind was flooded with memories of talks related to the subject so I managed to get through it... but it's definitely not gonna go down as a pleasant memory of the mission. I hate those moments.

Anyway, doing well over here. The only thing I ask is that someone send me some United States stamps. I can't get any here which means nobody is going to get letters from me unless I get stamps... that's it. :) Love you all.

Sister Wilson

Masarap ang buhay talaga! 08/17/2014

They were all trying to be the one to hold my arm and instead they just pulled me down. Pretty funny visual, drowning in a sea of children. XD

Me doing my laundry in a tiny bit of water trying to conserve it. I'm just a LITTLE tired. Yeah I wore a proselyting dress to bed because I was out of clothes. Used it as a nightgown.

Our ward thinks I look like Esther... ok...

Haha THIS... this is Sister Mabini and I at the mission office, having found a scale, terrified of knowing our weight. I was told not to look. XD She's so funny.

This was the hardest thing I've ever done... this old man insisted on giving us a ride in his cart. He really wanted to serve us so we let him.  He had to ride his bicycle up the hill and he was panting and it was raining so I put my umbrella above him as he pedaled along. Oh man, my heart ached. It was so sad. XD 

Masarap ang buhay talaga!

It's been a truly amazing week! The spiritual growth I've seen in people lately has been remarkable.

Tuesday: The district surprised me after our meeting and threw me a little birthday party since the elders couldn't be there last Saturday. They made lunch and everything. We also got to see a recent convert family be completed as their daughter was baptized on Wednesday.

Wednesday: Our area presidency had a change and Elder Bowen of the quorum of the 70 is now in the presidency. So he did a mission tour and came with his wife to talk to every zone in the mission. President Bertin requested that we do a mission wide fast to ensure it would be a truly meaningful experience for each of us. Elder Bowen also gave us study topics to prepare ourselves. We were given as study topics the Abrahamic covenant, the oath and covenant of the priesthood, and the house of Israel. It was an incredible meeting that probably changed my whole mission. I could tell our leaders had really prepared spiritually for this because I felt like the spirit was speaking right into my ear. The things that were said were like the answer to a prayer I didn't know I had. Elder Bowen first talked about the 3 things we need to do that will change our missions and then tied it in with our study topics, helping us realize the significance of them being all tied together and how we are involved in those 3 things by covenants. His purpose was to help us realize who we truly are so that we can act accordingly. Each of us is the esed of Abraham, son our daughter of a king entitled to ALL the father has if we are obedient. He emphasized the importance of marriage and becoming rulers together in the eternities and how if we peeked behind the veil, would we be doing the things we are doing right now? Amazing. His wife gave us an assignment. She asked us to write a book -- a historical book around 531 pages long. It has to be a record of a people - their culture, religion, money system, battles - but this group of people has not yet been discovered. And when they are discovered, our record has to match up with the facts. We have to write 9 pages per da with no mistakes, with an education level of grade 3. It must coincide with the bible as well. Haha, the Book of Mormon is TRUE! It has the power to help people spiritually overcome physical addictions and weaknesses. President Hinckley urged a young man to read the BOM to help him stop smoking. As he read, the man didn't understand how it was related to his addiction but President Hinckley told him to keep reading. When he finally finished, his testimony of Jesus Christ was so strong that he had no more desire to smoke. Amazing. I came out of this meeting with the most intense desire to do missionary work.

Thursday: Our ward mission leader worked with us, a freshly returned missionary as of a month ago. We had a beautiful lesson with our investigator, Sushmita, about the BOM. After Elder Bowen's committing us to do the 3 things he talked about and to be obedient, the quality of our lessons skyrocketed! Sushmita gave the most beautiful prayer I've ever heard, basically bearing her testimony directly to Heavenly Father and truly thanked him for what she has learned. I feel like we truly taught a person and not a lesson. Right after that we taught Danielle, our investigator, who brought a friend and bore testimony to her friend that this church is true in our lesson. We also taught Janice, who went from having earphones in and her cell phone out in the first lesson to taking notes and eagerly accepting every invitation we extended. The change in her from 2 weeks of church attendance and scripture reading is unreal. Carlotta's baptism is Saturday and we are thrilled for her. She is golden! Yesterday we were sitting in church with her and she started smiling and kicking her feet and we asked her why. She just turned to us and said, "I'm just so happy and excited I'm getting baptized."

Anyway, I continue to be amazed and humbled by the Filipino people. Their diligence and faith floors me. There's a member family who lives very far from the church but every Sunday, flood or dry, the old 70 year old tatay pedals his family to church on a bicycle with a side cart attached. Let me tell you, it is a LONG way. I will never find excuses to not go to church ever again.

Now for the funny story: Two days ago we lost our power because the fuse blew so we had to go buy a new one and ask the old man next door to help us replace it. He chased around the other sisters trying to kiss their hands  instead... he's so lonely! Then yesterday we lost our water. The control panel for the water control of the whole neighborhood broke so we're dry for 3 days. Soooo we had to take buckets, swimming pools and a wheel barrow and pump water from a well 5 blocks away in order to do our laundry, shower, do dishes and use the toilet. Pretty much the worst morning ever but it's pretty funny how it's one thing after another. I woke up with a cockroach bite on my leg this morning - a 2 inch welt. Yaaay! ;)

I wish I could just write everything but words fall short of explanation and this is REALLY long. I love you all and hope you'll take some time to think about who you are and adjust your life accordingly. This life really is the time to prepare to meet God and we have to be ready every day, right now even. Mahal na mahal kita. 

Sister Wilson

Recent Photos from Malolos :)

Welcome sa Malolos. This is pretty much what it looks like... open fields. Hello, Mr. Cow. :)

Parade of Huts

Gross pic of the zone after sports at the stake center.

Me & Sister Mabini!

Enjoying the HAUL!

08/10/2014

Ang aking pinakamamahal na kaibigan,

Yay, what a great week. :)

Tuesday:

We had zone training and found out that mail run will only occur twice a transfer now... so sad. This means I can only send and receive mail every 3 weeks. Then we worked with a returned missionary and a missionary leaving on Friday and taught a referral which went really well. We taught a less active as well and his situation is really difficult. He goes around collecting junk on his bicycle and then sells it for a living. We testified in the name of Christ that if he gave up one day of work and came to church that he would have enough money to feed his family. The spirit was so strong that he stopped making excuses and his whole family was at church on Sunday.

Wednesday:

Sister Mabini and I embarked on an epic journey to Manila because she has to have an x-ray before she goes home at the end of the transfer. On the way to the bus stop we noticed this little old nanay walking a little ahead of us, very slowly with a hunched back, and she had nothing but a coin purse. I felt bad for her but I didn't think to act on it until Sister Mabini walks up and grabs her hand and asks her where she's going. She said she was going to visit her son somewhere really far away from where we were. After 45 minutes of waiting the bus finally showed up and I walked faster, and then came to realize I was alone. I looked behind and Sister Mabini was helping nanay to get to the bus even if it meant we didn't catch it and had to be late. I was very touched. I'm learning a lot from her. When we got there, we helped her onto another bus and the man who was helping us help her was a great potential investigator! OYM points! We almost had a taxi driver kidnap us. We told him to take us to the temple and he drove in circles hiking up the price and didn't even know where the temple was. We called the APs which freaked him out and he finally let us out. He dropped us off at a place where I saw the coolest jeepney's I've ever seen. My favorite was probably the one with every character from Frozen. After we finally got to the MTC where they did her xray, we went to the mission office and picked up my packages (THANK YOU MOM! :))

Friday:  

We had a reallllly long, thorough weekly planning because there are so many new investigators. We didn't finish until 5:30and then we had a dinner pointment with... an American family! The only one in the ward! And probably the only one in this whole area... Haha it was great. They made us roasted chicken and mashed potatoes, YUM. They told us the story of how they met each other serving here in the Philippines in the same mission and then they met up again and got married. It was a cooler story than it sounds. ;) Their kids reminded me of my own little brother.

Saturday:

The sisters thought it would be funny to pretend like they forgot my birthday and then throw me a surprise party at the end of the day, so that happened. ;P For my birthday, Heavenly Father gave us 10 new investigators in one day. Talk about miracles! 7/10 of them came to church the next day. I was so pleased.

That's about it. :) Loving the mission, loving the area, loving everything! And I love all of you. That's all!

Sister Wilson

Edited to add from a later email:

How blessed we should feel... my house mates don't know what a dishwasher is. Also, the other day I saw a bunch of little kids being forced to sort through garbage so their parents could sell it for money. At 10 PM on the streets. We are not poor. Don't complain, k? ;)

By the way, if you wanna look up where I live again:

Regatta North Subdivision

Sumapang Matanda B6L9

Malolos City

The CR, or comfort room.  There's nothing comforting about it.  Hideous and smells like a dead skunk.  Editor's Note:  The bucket and spigot comprise the shower.

The front of our house.  It looks cute, but looks can be deceiving.  

After my surprise birthday party.

A whole new world! 08/03/2014

Things are sure different in Malolos!

It's like a miniature of SJDM except cleaner and more trees... literally, mini jeeps, mini stores, mini malls, everything is smaller but it's really cute. People drive better in this area which is weird. I had to giggle when we pulled up to a curb and the first thing I see is "OBAMA NOT WELCOME HERE" sprayed on the walls. There's rice fields everywhere, and cows. Lots of cows. Tons of Catholic and Iglesia churches, including the oldest church in the Philippines with a gigantic bell tower that plays their hymns on Sunday morning. People flock there.
 

Week 1 in the new area was a great success. Sister Mabini and I are pratically opening this area. She's fantastic. She's diligent but she has fun doing it. She's the perfect balance. In our area, there are no recent converts, no progressing investigators, nothing. It was hard at first to leave everything I helped build up in La Mesa right before I got to see its fruits, but that just means it's time to do the same thing here. *Rolls up sleeves* Our investigator pool is very different from my last area. We're right next to Bulacan State University so most of them are 19-22. Basta, my house mates are Sister Flora and her trainee from Pakistan, Sister Kaifi. It's actually a house, not an apartment. My Tagalog and rice useage has increased exponentially, needless to say. I'm already improving because of it. No Americans around anymore. It's interesting that even though I'm in the Philippines, I've gotten to experience Korea, Australia, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Japan.

So as it turns out, the ward I'm in is the same ward that Sister Surio's (my trainer) family is in! I was really excited to find out that I already knew lots of people through her. The ward is absolutely fantastic. The ward mission leader is probably the best you could ever imagine. The first time I met him, he hands us a calendar and says, "Sisters, this is the list of dinner appointments you have this week. If you give me your schedule after your weekly planning session, I will consult with members and get a schedule of workers for you." So the very next day after we give it to him he gives us a schedule of at least one worker for every day of the week! He just gets things done and it's so exciting!

Our WML gave us a talk last week that has completely changed my mission life. It's from Elder Gene R. Cook called "The 40-Day Fast." There was a missionary who was teaching a lesson and testified of Joseph Smith and the restoration. He kind of went through the motions as he taught, and then at the end when the member present bore his testimony, the investigator cried from how strong the spirit was. The missionary wondered what the difference was and why he was feeling spiritually dulled. He asked a church leader what he could do to be a more effective missionary. He said, "Elder, when these pretty ladies pass you by on the street, what do you think about? Do you ever speak sarcastically to your companion? Do you get up at 6:30 every morning? Do you keep every mission rule? These are the things that keep the holy ghost from being your companion. You must purify yourself... Go home and fast. Make a list of everything that pokes at your spirit. Covenant with the Lord that you will fast from the things on your list for 40 days." I've done the same thing and it has changed my desires and my way of thinking.

I had a cool experience in a lesson the other day that I think came because of this 40-day fast. We were starting a lesson and singing the opening hymn when the rain starts pounding on the house and I can't hear a thing. I get really apprehensive when I can't hear investigators during a lesson and this lesson was so important. So I prayed in my heart as we sang that the rain would stop so we would be able to communicate clearly and the very instant, the rain came to a dead stop. The lesson was beautiful and they accepted the invitation to be baptized. Talk about tender mercies.

Fun fact: yesterday while waiting for a jeepney, we were standing at a street corner, and across the street, a man with long hair and a beard started walking towards me with open arms like he was gonna come hug me. Then he stopped in the middle of the street staring straight into my eyes and starts dancing like a crazy person, gyrating hips and everything. Sister Mabini and I linked arms and ran for the nearest jeep. And that's only ONE of the crazy people I've seen this week...

But I'm staying safe nonetheless. Thanks for the birthday wishes, I really appreciate it. I love you all dearly!

Sister Wilson

Edited to add from a later email:

Wanna see what the most popular song in the Philippines is right now? XD It's called "Chinito" by Yeng Constantino. Go listen to it. It's so Filipino. It's about a Filipina's crush on a Chinese guy, that's what they call cute Chinese guy is "Chinito." Lauren I think you'll like it the most. Oh, and if you wanna see more Filipino, watch a movie called "Maybe This Time." It's a chick flick. It's brand new, actually pretty cute. They played it on the bus to Malolos so I got to watch it. It's mostly in English.

Bye-bye SJDM. 07/28/2014

It's transfer week!

Which actually means something to me this time because I'm finally leaving my first area! Tomorrow I'm leaving to Malolos, which is one of the only provinces in our mission and I'm so excited! It's very far away from anything here, so sadly I won't get temple day anymore. Malolos is the province my trainer (Sister Surio) was born in and she has family that lives there in the ward I'm going to! There's lots of beautiful rice terraces and it's away from the city. Everyone says that the work over there is fantastic. My new companion will be Sister Mabini - YAY! My first truly Filipino companion! She goes home after this transfer so I'm gonna have to get to know the area really quickly. 

I'm gonna miss La Mesa so much. Last night, Sister Kalama and I went around and I said my goodbyes to the investigators and members I've come to love so much. We took lots of pictures together and I may have cried a little... All the people we are teaching are people that Heavenly Father allowed me to find and teach almost all the way to lesson 5 and the growth and change in their countenances I have seen has grown my testimony more than anything in my life. Unfortunately, their baptismal dates are scheduled for next week, so I barely miss it. But I'm so thankful that I was able to accomplish what the Lord wanted me to in this area. I feel that with his help I was able to leave it better than I found it. 

The bishop asked me to give a "farewell talk" in church last Sunday and so I based it off of the new mission president's theme, becoming a disciple of Christ. It went so much better than the last talk I gave my first transfer... I'm glad I got a chance to redeem myself!

With all the craziness of transfers I did my laundry by hand for the first time this morning... may you all take a minute and thank our father in heaven for washers and dryers. No joke. It was awful. 

That's all the news I have for you! Have a great week. 

Sister Wilson

P.S. This picture is of Joyce and Nadel, the ones being baptized next week. Love them!

Attachments area

Preview attachment unnamed.jpg

unnamed.jpg

07/23/2014, Typhoon Glenda

It was a little windy this week.

That's all I have to say about typhoon Glenda. Heheh, just kidding. But I'll tell you about the other  stuff first.

We finally met our new mission president this week. He received a warm welcome to the Philippines with a typhoon that took a tree down in their backyard almost going through the roof. He and his wife are so great. I already love them. His wife is the peppy stylish socialite who can talk to anyone about anything, and he is the spitting image of what you'd picture a doctor as -- which, I guess is fitting, he's an orthopedic surgeon. He'll be putting that skill to good use in this mission! He's at least 6 foot 5 and ready to get things done. Very knowledgeable with a fresh perspective on everything - he's not afraid to change things and I love it. He and his wife complement each other perfectly. Their "theme" for the mission is becoming disciples of Christ. 

So I'll be honest, we've hardly worked at all this week. As our zone called it, we had "P-week" again due to the typhoon that hit Manila last Wednesday. They announced it in our district meeting and told us we were not allowed to leave the house that day so we went out and bought lots of food that night. The day of the storm, our power went out first thing in the morning and then our apartment flooded in the basement where me and my companion sleep. It wasn't severe but it was bad enough. Luckily none of my things got ruined. The storm stopped around 6 PM and we were given permission to tell our families that we were ok. We also got to go out to eat since there was no electricity to cook. Neither did anyone else in the area so everywhere was packed. That night was pretty creepy because our neighborhood is already pretty dimly lit, so walking home was like being in a scary movie. We had to use candles around the house and all 6 of us sisters got scared and slept in the same room with no fan. (I wouldn't recommend it.) The next day, we still had no power but we had a meeting with the president. As we were going home, we got a call saying the AP's were gonna pick us up to sleep at the mission home because it's dangerous for sisters when there is no power because there is more crime. So President Bertin ordered American pizza for us and we had dinner with them and all of the office elders. All of us sisters got to take hot showers and sleep in the air conditioning. We even had real milk and cereal in the morning. (It's been a long time, ok?) They were happy to have us back the next night but unfortunately the power came back right as we were leaving. 

Anyway, we didn't get to work in our area because there was still no power over there. There was quite a bit of damage but nobody was hurt. We were not allowed to participate in community service cleaning because it can be dangerous with electrical wiring and water. We finally got back to work on Monday which was great. I had exchanges with Sister Porter and we got to visit all of our most progressing. My testimony has grown so much watching these people change in their countenance as we have continued to teach them. I'm really hoping I don't transfer this Wednesday because I desperately want to see them be baptized, especially Nadel. 

Thank you to the Brown family and also Elder Hammond for the sweet postcards! The wall is getting bigger! :)

Thank you also for the prayers. I feel very reassured knowing that people back home are remembering me in them. I love you all very much! Take care!

Sister Wilson

Three emails from Kenna after the typhoon. She's okay. :)

Hi family!

Yes, we just had a big typhoon and it hit us pretty hard but we are all fine. We heard about it at district meeting yesterday and they told us that today we would not be allowed to leave the apartment. So we stayed in the entire day; the storm is finally over so President gave us permission to go and email. The damage is pretty severe to the area. Lots of uprooted trees and ripped up road. There is absolutely no power anywhere; it's pitch black where we live and it's pretty eerie but also kind of cool how all the street markets are lit with candles. When we woke up this morning, our room started flooding. The water came up pretty high and then the power went out so we haven't been able to cook or eat. Our fridge defrosted itself and our food is going bad... so we just wrote letters and ate snack foods today. It was actually really fun to sleep in and stay in pajamas and watch the storm! I'm here for half an hour if you would like to talk. :) I love you all!

Kenna

Any takers...? I'm literally sitting here waiting for somebody to reply. XD Hello, your daughter has just been through a tropical storm and you don't want to talk to her?! I'm trying to think of what else I could say... umm... well, my bedroom is still flooded and I had to take a cold bucket shower in the DARK. Haha, try THAT sometime. Also, the Philippines is pretty cold today. The sky looks weird. The malls are absolutely packed with people who have no electricity to cook food but the streets are completely deserted. It's way weird. Our fans don't work, our fridge is out, no street lights or anything. I'm scared to go home. :P Us and the elders were going to have Shakey's pizza delivered to our apartment but they're closed gosh dangit. We're gonna go home and do facials. No work tomorrow because we have our Meet the President meeting. I wish someone would talk to me... mom, how did you already know about the storm?

Kenna.

Dangit... I just realized it's like 5 AM in the US right now. I suppose you're justified in not answering me. ;) Mom, how did you know it was gonna happen? I had a feeling you would. I'm so tired of not going out to work! We had to come home early to buy food last night because the one night we needed the money to come into our accounts, it didn't until 6 PM. I recorded the typhoon from my bedroom window so you could see how bad it was but I left my camera at home. It's kind of scary because if you walk through flood water you could get electrocuted and die so we're not allowed to walk through those areas, and we're not allowed to do any service because it's dangerous. Anyways... there's your update. Sorry it came in 3 different emails. Wish I could have talked to you, hope you're sleeping well. ;P

07/13/2014

Grabe, ang init!

It's so hot. I can't even focus to write this email so I apologize in advance if this one doesn't make sense.

It's been one of the best weeks of my mission thus far. At church yesterday we had almost every single one of our investigators at church. In fact, we had 3 investigators there an hour before church even started and were able to teach them. Member fellowshippers are the KEY! Each one of them had their own friend with them at church and looking at them all together from the front of the chapel nearly made me tear up.

One of the senior missionaries organized a CSP this week in the other sisters' ward. We planted a community vegetable garden with their bishopric as a means of helping the members learn to become more self-sufficient. It was really cool except that the crazy person who tried to follow us home a few months ago found me and followed me again... I think I have a stalker! Kinda freaky but don't tell... he's harmless. Lol. On the way out to work after the project, we were approached by a lady we didn't recognize. She said she was a member and had a daughter who was baptized in 2012 but they hadn't been to church in a year because they didn't know where the chapel was or when church started. So she took us to her house to teach them and it her daughter was super sweet. After the lesson they said they had a referral for us so we taught the daughter's friend. They both came to church the next day and had a wonderful experience!

We have 7 people lined up for baptism right now, but the First Presidency just made changes to missionary work and now we are required to teach lesson 5 before baptism so we have to push it back a little bit. Ayos lang! I'm so excited for them all.

I challenge everyone this week to look for the Lord's hand in their lives just a little bit more. If you look closely, you'll see that more miracles are happening than you think. I know that's been the case for me. I love you all.

Sister Wilson

06/29/2014

Goooood morning, America!

Happy Independence Day this week. We Americans will be celebrating with American pizza and ice cream here. 'MERICA.

It's been a pretty good week as far as the work goes! We have a good handful of new investigators and two of them speak perfect English. I love teaching them. ;) We've been doing a lot of finding because hardly any of our investigators have been progressing. Sister Kalama is really great at OYMing. We're also working a lot on our stubborn less-actives. The other night we were in a lesson with one of them and decided to go over the first lesson with her. At the end, I asked her if she knew any of her neighbors who could benefit from our message. She said there was and she had wanted to talk to them but didn't know what to say about the Book of Mormon. She teaches at a private school and people ask her a lot of questions about our church. Then the light just flipped on in my mind. So we did a practice teaching where she taught us about the Book of Mormon. We gave her a BOM to give away, told her to write her testimony in it and to report back to us. She came to church that Sunday for the first time in months, saying she gave it to someone whose father had just died. It was the best feeling in the world. Missionary work really stirs up your testimony.

Our most progressing investigators, Nadel and Joyce, are on date for the 26th and I REALLY hope they can keep all the commandments until then because I might get transferred and I really want to see someone of my own finding be baptized. They're so ready. My only concern is from last week... when Nadel asked a question that only endowed temple members know about. Sister Kalama and I looked at each other and asked how she knew about it and she brings out her laptop and pulls up videos of the  temple ceremonies she had been watching. We were speechless for an awkwardly long time. But it ended up turning into a cool experience to share about the sacredness of the temple. Disaster averted... I would imagine missionaries in America get that a lot. So glad wifi is only for rich people here!

In other news, my old companion Sister Surio almost got kidnapped by a tricycle driver. They told him to stop driving because he was taking them down sketchy dark roads into a dangerous area and he wouldn't stop so they jumped out and he ran over the other companion's foot. President Sperry spent his last night in the country trying to get them released from the hospital. It just so happens that the new president is an orthopedic surgeon, haha! We won't meet him until the 16th but luckily he said it's just a sprain.

Aside from that I don't really have any news. I'm doing great and I hope people will write more. I love hearing about what's going on in everyone's lives. Please don't hesitate to write me! Nothing you could say will bore me, promise. :) I love you all very much and I know without a doubt this church is true. Ingat talaga! Mahal ko kayo.

First Transfer 06/22/2014

I'm back!

Again. Time goes by so quickly I can hardly believe it. My first transfer to have a new companion. I'm so happy with how the transfer turned out! My new comp is Sister Kalama from Oahu, Hawaii! I continue to get ethnic beauties for my companions and I'm just that white girl next to her with no culture. ;) She's great! We have 6 sisters in our apartment so it's a little cramped but it's so much fun. 5/6 of us are Americans which is practically unheard of. The elders next door are from Sandy and West Jordan. Which means that 3/4 missionaries in our ward are within a 10 minute drive of each other. It's unreal.

I'm leading La Mesa now and it's been seriously challenging (I have so much more respect for the senior comps now), but I've gained so much confidence in myself. The work is a little bit slow at the present time. We're trying to find investigators who will actually progress because the pool we have right now isn't really progressing at all. In fact, we got a text last night from one saying that now that Sister Surio is gone, he no longer wants to "join with us." People just don't get it. It's really hard to see people reject the truth when you know it's exactly what they're looking for and how much it can change their lives. But it doesn't matter how well you explain it if they aren't prepared. So for now, we're planting seeds until they're ready to be harvested. Please pray for us. Our ward is suffering in attendance and we're doing everything we can. One of our focuses this transfer will be strengthening less actives and the ward itself so they can help us in turn. 

That's basically it. It's raining a lot and we're exhausted but couldn't be happier. :) I love you! 

Sister Wilson