Listen With Love

Hola Todos!

Alright everyone, I hope my ridiculously long email finds you safe and happy this fine Monday morning. Im going to start off by sharing a heart changing revelation I had the other day. It goes along with the words that Christ said 

He that loseth His life shall find it...

Friday I had a lot... and I mean a lot... of extra time to reflect and think about how I was progressing as a missionary. I realized that often, I was so concerned with what I was going to say during a lesson that I all too often only half listened to what my investigator and coompanion were saying. I realized that I was so nervous before lessons because I was more worried with what I was going to say then what the Spirit was telling me my investigators needed to hear. 

Now I know you are all going to read this and say... duh Hermana Wilson.. of course your mission isnt about you. And I would tell you that I already knew that... but you guys... I really know now. The moment I started asking Heavenly Father to help me listen to my inveswtigators wiht love and hel me to focus on what they needed I felt the Spirit confirm to my heart that I was finally understanding what it means to be a missionary. Christ said... I have come here to minister... not to be ministered unto... I echo those words.. at the heart of this great work is one thing... love... above all else this week God taught me the importance of HIs pure and perfect love. 

The miracle of the week is the change in relationship between Hermana Morales and I. I dont just love her.. I can feel and see her love for me. After weeks of quiet, unnoticed acts of service we are finally a united companionship. I learned why she is the way she is... I learned to have patience... above all I learned to love without expectation or strings attached. Even though she works a lot differently then I do I have learned to yield in a lot of situations. I learned that the way I want to do some thing is not the only way. Finally, I learned how to pick out the miracles in every day.

So those are just a few lessons of the week... now to tell you exactly how God taught them to me... 

We did divisiones this week... Hermana Bonilla and I worked together in her area. We decided to work up in Villa Lomar... an area that I had never been in. We started by visiting Hermana Virta and her mother who has a problem with her knee and cannot walk. We taught them about the Atonement and the power of Christs love for us to transform our lives. We extendeda  baptisimal commitment and they said they wanted mor etime... I tried to push it a little bit... I explained to them what it meant to prepare for baptism and they both said if they learned that the Lord wanted them to do it... they would do it.. time will tell si... 

We passed by another Hermano... Hermano Altagracia... he is bound to a wheelchair so we sat an dvisited with him and read him some encouraging scriptures. As I bore my testimony to him that some times we have to do it the Lords way and not our way I could see the tears in his eyes. I just pray that we left him encouraged and uplifted... he is a recent convert to the Church and his faith is obvious. 

So after we visited him we had a lot of time on our hands because two of our appointments had not been home. We decided to try and contact an Hermano that Hermana Bonilla and her former companion had contact previously. It was done off the road in a little ravine. .there were four houses all together.. we were invited to come down and talk with one of the Hermanas..Michelle... as we were walking down the steps another Hermana called out to us.. are you missionaries for Jose Smith... Hermana Bonilla and I looked at each other and then we said that we were missionaries for Jesus Christ and asked her how she had heard of Joseph Smith... she said that she had been a member once... we asked her if we could come up and visit her when we were done with her sister... 

So we started teaching Michelle and her brother Roberto when the woman that had called out to us earliar came to sit and listen also. Hermana Karina is her name... anyway.. we taught them a good lessons about how we can be together forever with our families through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We wrapped up th elesson... left pamphlets with everyone and set up return visits... we had ended with a prayer and were just chatting for a few minutes.. .getting to know them better when an older woman walked in... their mother... all of the sudden she starts sayin gall these things... just these untrue things about the Church and the contention could be felt in the air. Suddenly.. it was chaotic... Hno Roberto told her to stop talking because she did not know every thing... while Hna Bonilla tried to bear her testimony I went around and got phone numbers for the three siblings and then we apologized, excused ourselve by sayin gwe were late for an appointment and left. As we climbed the stairs we could still hear them all argueing... oh man you guys... next time we ar egoing to teach Hno Roberto in his own house.. 

I also asked for my first reference with Hermana Bonilla... they did not give us one but she agreed to go with us to a teaching appointment when her husband was home to watch their kids. 

I think the highlight of the entire week was teaching Hna Velquiz. She is in her mid 20s... she lives with her husband who she has not married and has three children. When we got there we chatted for a little while.. Hna Bonilla had told me that she loved to learn and was interested in learning more about temples so we planned a lesson around her interest in temples. When we got there we asked her if she had read from The Book of Mormon and if she had questions... she said yes she had read and she had a question about Lehis vision... we were thinking... oh 1 Nefi 1... alright... we can talk about it.. but then she says... I just did not understand the significence of the tree... and then we realized that in three days she had read eight chapters in the Book of Mormon... oh man you guys it was so awesome... she said she did not understand it so we sat and read it verse by verse.. explaining the symbols and meanings... and then we even tied it into our lessons by telling her that temples for us are like our own tree of life... 

We encouraged her to pray with her family and to share with her husband what she was learning... she said that if we came by the following day at ten thirty in the morning.. we made plans to do it and then left to try and hit our last few appointments for the evening. That division together we had decided to focus on teaching instead of contacting and together we taught 10 lessons with 3 new investigators... 

The next day we followed up with Hermana Velquiz and unfortunately her husband had unexpectedly had to leave for work. We talked with her for a while.... as we were talking the words entered my mind... teach her how to help herself... I started to wrack my brain... what could we teach her that would help her every day... then I heard Hno Solanos voice in my head saying... Teach your investigators how to recieve revelation through the Book of Mormon... so excitedly I told her that we can recieve our answers through scripture study... I shared with her a personal experience and we talked about how to recognize the Spirit when we pray and read... we ended the lesson and I left feeling like God had really used me to help someone... Hna Bonilla and I talked and I suggested to her that maybe I was not meant to baptize a ton of people... maybe I am just planting seeds and some day missionaries are going to come to this area and they are going to harvest those seeds... I have decieed you guys that if that is the case I am going to do every thing in my powre to be a good planter. I am going to talk to everyone and just try to share the Gospel with everyone that I can. I am nerver going to stop trying to commit people to be baptized and to accept dates but I have decided that I am going to be happy with all the miracles th eLord gives me.. not just the baptisms... 

Anyway.... I am almost out of time but know that I love you guys... also know that I am getting a new companion in two days... I think President Ward is goin gto have me train which scares me a little bit... normally people train after twelves weeks... anyway.. we will see... I will let you know! The Church is true... I know it with all my heart.. as a representative of jesus Christ I can testify to it... I love you all so much... I pray that God watches over you always... Moroni 8,3. 
Until Next Week.

All My Love, 
Hna Wilson

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