Hola!

So I was not able to get to the internet in time today... I just want to share my testimony with you all that I know the Church is true... this is His work and He guides it... love you all... remember to pray always and give gratitude to God always.

Love, 

Hermana Wilson

The Best Numbers, The Hardest Week

Hola Todos,

I am not quiet sure how to express how I feel right now. I am going to keep it short and not spill every thing that is happening to the whole world but this is the hardest companionship I have ever had. Hoever its the best numbers I have seen my entire mission but it does not make me happy because I know that we are not really working at a uited team. I am pretty sure my companion would be happy if I went somewhere and jumped off a cliff. I have tried making her breakfast and doing little things before her but it does not make a difference.... I am out of ideas and quiet frankly my desire to do these things for her is dying also.

Okay... so that was the negative thing I had to say this week... this week was not all bad... it was full of beauitful little miracles... I never cease to see the hand of the Lord.

I think the best day that I had this week was when i had the privilege of working with a member here in the area named Nubia. She is 19 years old and is thinking about serving a mission. When we started the day together she told me she was not sure if she wants to serve a mission and so i had the personal goal to show her how fun it could be to be a missionary. That day all of our appotiments fell for various reasons andthen it started to rain Panama style... which means hard enough to turn the roads into rivers.... I told her we could go inside and wiat it out or we could use it to our advantage and go looking for new investigators. We decided together to keep working. I told her that I had faith that if we keep working God would make the rain stop. We walked for about fifteen minutes looking for a house to contact and all of the sudden it just stopped raining. We went to contact a woman who was sitting outside with her two daughters and as I talked to her I realized that she was not responding to my questions at all but was actually talking on the phone. Embaressed I excused myself and we kept walking. When we reached the end of the row of houses we decided to turn around and go back. I said a little prayer telling the Lord that if we needed to talk with the woman I had tried to talk with earliar that she would say some thing to us as we passed. At that mmoment we came up on the house and as we passed she called to us... telling us that she was sorry and and asking us what we had wanted.

Exciteldly we told her who we were and talked to her about the English class I would be teaching on Saturday. She let us in and we sang a hymn with her and talked to her a little bit about the Plan of Salvation. She told us openly that she was Evangelica but that she was in awe of the sacrifice that w eas missionaries do... she said that we would always be welcome in her home... we will be going back to visit her on Wednesday. Prayers please!

The other miracle that we had together is honestly the joy of my life. Her name is Ailyn... she is 17 years old and is as golden as they come.... apart from the fact that she has to finish school this week so we cannot visit her as often as we would like. I went and visited her with Hna. Nubia and she had already started to read the Book of Mormon I had left with her the day before. She had tons of questions and ate up every thing we said like she was starving. We talked about Nephi and she told us that she could not wait to read the story. She came to church this Sunday and loved it. The young women were excellent with her and they are taking her under their wing like one of their own. She is going to participate in the drama th eyoung women are going to do this Saturday for the activity we are planning and also is planning to go with the other young women to  a dance this Friday at the stake center. I do not know if she will be prepared to be baptized on the 30th which is her baptisimal date but I know that she will be prepared to be baptized very soon and I wait anxiously for that day. She asked me yesterday if she could serve a mission and I told her that she could.... she just has to get baptized first... her little sister allso loves church too and her mom has decided that she wants to come this week to see what her daughters are learning and doing. Ailyn is really a light for me here... I know she is one of the people that I have come to Panama to find...

Later in the week I had the privilege of working with Nubias sister who recently came back from a mission in El Salvador. Again all of our appotiments feel through so we did my favorite thing.... contacting. We were walking towards the end of our day together when i saw a woman laying in a hammack and I said... hermana we are going to contact this person. When we started talking to her she told us that she had been a member of our church once.. its not abnormal here in Utah, Panama... We sat down and talk with her and what I thought would be like a twenty minutes appotiment turned into an hour... I was a little more forward with her then I normally am.. I asked her how she felt because she was not... how do you say... keeping her covenant with God... she laughed every time we told her she needed to go back to church and at one point I looked at her and said... hermana i am here in this area as a respresantive of Jesus Christ and we did not come here to talk with you today by accident... God prompted us to come here because He wants you to come back.. its time to come back Hermana... because thorugh the Gospel and the Church is the only way that you achieve salvation for yourself and for you family.... He loves you so much... and for that... we are here with you now... She told us that she is going to do her best to go to church this week... she has been inactive for 30 years... she said that she did not want to say were were angels sent by God but she told us that she felt that she can talk openly with us and she did... it was one of the most spiritual experiences I have had in a long time because I know I said the things that God wanted me to say and that this hermana is on her way to coming back to curch.

The other miracle I had with Saria was when we were looking for a nother inactive member and I found her grandduaghtrer instead. We talked with her and shared the message of the Restoration... she responded relaly positively when we shared the First Vision with her and accepte a baptisimal date for the 7th of December.. then we discovered that she lives in Pilon when it a good ways away. I happily passed the reference on though and am hoping that the other hermanas will enjoy having such a wonderful investigator.

So as far as number go it was a really geat week. We taught 58 lessons and worked with members every day... despite the difficulties with my companion I am finding joy in working closely with the members here... they are wonderful.. I wish I could bring them with me my entire mission...

I love my area and I love this work. I love all of you and mor ethen that I love my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. i can testify that He supports us in our trials and through our afflicions he prepares us for blessings that we never even imagined. I know that He lives. That He is always there, helping us. We just have to trust Him. I am almost out of time so i am going to send this off. i look forward to hearing from all of you very soon. Until next week.

All My Love,

Hna. Wilson

Utah in Panama

Hola Todos!

So I am absolutely in love with my area. It is so small but so amazing... the members are working with us every day and we are seeing a lot of less actives coming back to church. Things are a little bit more complicated with investigators but we now have five investigators with baptisimal dates so we have some thing... believe it or not the challenge is still getting them to come to church.... and they only have to walk five minutes... but the work is like that here so what can you do except keeping trying different ways to motivate them to come to church...

I did exchanges with Hna. Navas this week... she is from Honduras... she is one fot he hermana leaders that we have here in Colon and it was one fo the best days I have had since separating from Hna. Chavez. We worked so hard that we got back tot he house at 8:30 and that was with canceling two appoitments and our dinner... the work is crazy here. Hna. Navas and I spent a good portion of time talking and she told me that she cannot think of any thing that would keep me from training... so I think it might be possible that I could train here in Barriada Kuna... I have always wanted the opportunity but I know it will happen in the Lords time. I learned so much from Hna Navas that I am trying to apply to my teaching this week.... 

So we had 49 lessons this week because we did divisions with members almost every day... its awesome that there is so much work... I have never been so busy my entire mission.... 

The miracles of this week were first that we had the entire Porras Family in church this Sunday for the first time in a long time... they were recently sealed in the temple and went inactive so my companion and I have been working really hard to motivate them to come back to church. I am hoping this is the beginning of them remembering the covennats they made in the temple so that they can have they can be together forever.

The other miracle that I had when I was working with a member yesterday was when I went to visit Hna. Rita Quintera. She has years and years of not coming to church. When we went to visit her she told us that was busy and that she did not have time for us. The member talked her into letting us in... the plus of having a member who knows your investigator or less active... we had asked her before why she was inactive and she simply said just because... she really did not hav ea reason...

When we started the lessons we would ask her a question and she would answer it very briefly and say like... so why are you.here and when ar eyou going to leave. I said a prayer in my heart that God will help me reach her... somehow.... we asked if we could sing a hymn but when we pulled out  our hymnbooks I felt impressed to ask her again why she was inactive and she told me because none of the members said hello when they were walking int he street... just all these excuses... then an idea came to my head... thanks to the Spirit... and I asked her how she thought her relationship with God was right now... she said good... I asked her if she thought God was happy that was not going to church... she told me that she was not going with her sons who are Evangelica either so that we should n ot feel bad that she is not going to church... so I said... hermana... we are going to use an example... if you ask your son to do some thing for you every week... and every week he says like.... yeah mom I will... I promise i will... but he does not do it... and then the next week he says he will do it and he does not do it... how woud you feel.... and she said she would feel bad... obviously... and so then I said... when we get baptized we promise God that we are going to go to Church every Sunday and keep our covenants... how do you think He feels that you have not been keeping the promise you made to Him.... and she paused for a long time and then said..  you hav ea good point Hermana... okay... I will go this week... and when we ended with a prayer she asked God to forgive her for all the years that she had not gone to church.... she told Heavenly Father in her prayer that she was going to come this next Sunday... and when she ended her prayer she thanked us for the visit... it was like a complete 360 and one of the most intimate moments I have had with the Spirit my entire mission... I left knowing that in that moment I had been an instruments in the hand of God to find  one of  his sheep that were lost...

In the words of Hna. Navas.. . the area is like Utah... only Panamanian... because its like its own little slice of Zion in the middle of Colon where almost everyone are members or less actives and the only thing to do is just to motivate everyone to keep there covenants... I love it so much... I love this work and I know that it is His work and He is the only one that knows how to do it. I hope that you will all do the little things that will bring you closer to the Lord every day... I love you all so much... until next week.

Hna. Wilson

Back to Where It All Began

Hola Todos!

So maybe you guys are not going to believe it but I am back in Colon. Its both happy and sad. Happy because I am doing what I always wanted to do... opening an area... they took the elders out of the area that my companion and I are now in and so we are both completely new here... it has it challenges but the members are the best members I have yet to meet in my mission. Since coming here we have worked with members every day.

The area is small... like five streets... President sent me here so that my foot could have a chance to get better but I feel like my time here will be short so I am trying to enjoy. The ward has a personal goal of 170 people in church and right now we are seeing about 120 every week... I am hoping with all my heart that wee can see that number reached in the next six weeks.

So my companion is from Guatemala... again... its my third companion from Guatemala... it makes me laugh... maybe God is trying to tell me some thing about my future haha.. anyway her name is Hna. Romero... she is from San Raymundo.... a municiple of the captial of Guatemala... she is very sweet and I am working hard to love her and adjust to being with someone new. I think that is the hardest thing for me at the moment... getting used to the change. 

So I have to share with you guys that miracles I had yesterday while I was in divisions with a member. We went to visit a less active member named Evelyna who has not been to church for three years. We were talking to her and she told us about a year ago she had a dream that a white sister and her companion came to tell her that she needed to go back to church.  she said that maybe we were an answer to her dream and that it was time fo rher to go back to church. Its hard for her because her husband is not a member but we are going to be doing familiy home evenings with her every Friday to help strengthen her family. 

The other miracle that I saw was the with the same member and we went to visit a less active named Ana Maria... she offered the closing prayer and in the prayer she told God that she knew He had sent us to her to reactivate her and help her return to Church and she asked for the strength to do the things she she needs to do to come back. She also has a lot of opposition from her husband who is not a member but we will visit her this week and see what we can do to help her. 

Alright.... attached is a picture of my new companion first and second a picture of Hna. Chavez and I... I miss her so much but know that at some point in our missios we will be together again. 

Until next week. I love you all so much. I know this work is the work of the Lord. 

Hna. Wilson