Looking For Those Who Dont Exist...

Hola A Todos!

I hope this email finds you all well and happy. We had a better week this week because health wise we are doing okay. Except that yesterday my companion was hit with a sinus infection which is stil really bad today.. we are going to go hunting for some thing for her to take after we finish talking with you guys....

I just have a couple of things that I wanted to share with you guys that happened this week. Yesterday we had interviews with President Carmack and he told me that Hna. Rios and I will probably stay together for another transfers which means I will definitely be ending my mission here in Volcan... it was nice to talk to him and he said that nothing is sure but he felt like he was not going to be splitting us up. We are good friends and we are working well together so thats okay...

We had our fair share of people that we met this week.. we contacted a house with a woman sitting on her porch and as we introduced ourselves she looked at us and said some thing like... no thanks bye.. and we just said bye and left.. it makes me laugh when the people act like that... they dont even give us a chance to say any thing and they just reject us because... I honestly dont know why...

On the flip side we found a lady named Yerenis.... she lives with her boyfriend and her two boys but she is super interested... we found her on Tuesday and went back and visited her on Friday and both times she listened and paid attention.. but just like almost everyone here in Panama she is not married which makes our lives a little difficult and impossible to invite her to be baptized until we have figured out if she is willing to get married.. it not... there is not much we can do for her. But we left her a Book of Mormon... we have been trying to make it the focal point of our teaching.... we have been trying to give them away in the first visit... because if people gain testimonies of the book of Mormon.. they get baptized... its basically that simple...

We also had an interesting experience this week when we were coming back from a family home evening.. it was about 8 at night and my companion and I were walking... we went to take the normal route home but we just felt really strongly that we shouldnt... and we just kept getting the same impression as we came up on every street and we made like this big loopt o get back to the house. So a walk that normally takes 20 minutes took us over an hour because we took a really long way home... we learned later that about the time that we would hav epassed by that area... a girl was assaulted and robbed... so we give thanks to the spirit for keeping an eye out for us....

We spend a considerable time this week looking for people that we just could not find... we contacted in a grocery store which was a new experience for my companion but we found a couple that has been marrie dfor five years... its always a plus when they are married... we are going to go visit them on Friday... wish us luck in finding their house...

I also had the interesting experience yesterday of teaching Primary in Spanish and English because there are two kids visiting from Texas that dont speak any Spanish and we wanted them to have an enjoyable time in Primary.. it was very interesting but I liked it.... I always love when I can use my Spanish for more than just teaching investigators and less actives.... it makes me feel like God has a bigger purpose for me learning Spanish than just my mission.

Anyway, know that i love you all so very much. Know that I think about you often and that I know that this work is the work of the Lord and that it goes on boldly, nobly and independently... next week I will let you guys know about transfers but I know that it all happens according to the will of the Lord.

All My Love,

Hna. Wilson

The Sun Will Come Out... Tomorrow!

Hola Todos!

This week was very very interesting... and very very long... I think the best way to explain it is to just give you guys a play by play. A cold virus has overtaken the people of Volcan, members and missionaries alike and so we were only able to work with members one day this week which was Wednesday.

On Tuesday I woke up with a sore throat and a fever and we went to our district meeting contacted poeople in the bus on the way down. When we came back we went to lunch and the member that was going to work with us called and said that she could not. We decided, as it started to rain, that it was better that we went to the house so that I did not get soaked and get more sick.... but at about 4 o clock I felt guilty and we went out.. in the pouring rain... to go visit our investigators.. only to find them not home... and we were soaked to the bone.... so we walked rather dejectedly to the familiy home evening we had planned with members.... 

Wednesday was a good day.... we went out and worked with a member by the name of Hna. Guerrero... she is awesome... she served a mission in the Dominican Republic almost twenty years ago and she still remembers a lot... she shared the first vision with an investigator and testified without us having to cue her which was great... she also suggested that we focus on helping our investigators gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon from the first visit.. or in other words.. we leave Books of Mormon... and we have started doing that and I like it.... its neat because we can really see if the people are going to progress or not...

On Thursday it was almost as bad as Tuesday... it rained like crazy... we got soaked and I was still sick... and the wo members that were going to work with us were also sick but that day we decided to work regardless and it was basically the same old story... no one was home and to top it off my companion wanted to buy a bottle of water and there was no place that was selling water. We ended going home at 730 instead of the planned 830 because it was pouring down rain and all the teaching appoitments had already fallen through.

On Friday I woke up worse and we went to do a service project. My companion also felt horrible and when it decided to rain this time we decided to stay in. On Saturday we got up super early in the morning to go to David for a Multi Zone Conference and while we were there I got a blessing from President Carmack. So on Sunday I woke up fit as a fiddle... finally.. thanks to the blessing... I can testify to that...

Sunday was also our day of miracles... the biggest miracle that we had was when we met an inactive named Jerry... he had left the church when he started doing things with his girlfriend that he should not... he told us that he had been ashamed and embaressed and that he just did not feel like he should go back to church. But the members in the city really supported him and his testimony is still super strong... he looked us in the eyes and told us that he knows the church is true... and that he wants to change and come back so we talked to him about coming to church this coming week and that we are going to come buy and pick him and his girlfriend up... we have high hopes for them... but we just have to help them get married first...

Anyway that was our week... and even though it was a hard long week we saw lots of little miracles and I can testify that the arm of the Lord is still extended here in Panama... I love you all so much and will talk to you next week!

All My love, 

Hna. Wilson

Always Worth the Wait...

Hola a Todos!

Alright so this was a really really great week and also a really packed one. I have never felt so exhausted but in a good way. My companion nd I always both fighting off colds and sore throats from getting rained on every day but we are happy to be working so hard. We taught 48 lessons this week and half of them were with members so that we really awesome. We finally had an investigator in church.... sadly it was not someone we are teaching but rather a youth who has come ot church before and he asked us if we could teach him. The sad thing is he left before we could write down his address and phone number but we are going to go hunting for him later this afternooon.

While it was on the best weeks I also had one of the saddest experiences of my mission. We went and visited a sister named Lina.... she was the sister that told us we only had one ooportunity to share a message with her to decide if she wanted to continue studying with us. So we watched the video: Together Forever and when it ended she started crying. She told us that years ago she had lost her husband. to cancer... the father of her daughter and that it had been so hard. She told us that she wanted to belive that it was true. My compnion shared how six years ago she had lost her dad and as she started to cry I also started to cry. The member that was with us also shared her testimony about how we will be with our loved ones again. And cveryone cried as we invited her to let us come back and let the Gospel change her life and her family for the better. But in the end she told us that she did not want us to come back because before she had been studying with the Jehovahs witnesses and every once in a while she went to activities and things like that. I lfet her my Book of Mormon and told her that we would always be passing to see how she ws doing and if ther ewas any thing we could do. I wanted so badly for her to change her mind and tell us that we could keep teaching her but we just shared our testimonies and left. We walked in silence with the member... no one said any thing.... but we have to believe that some day.. she will come ot know the truth.

On the flip side of the coin we found a family this week. The Chavez Family. it was neat because we had been walking for over an hour contacting and we had not found anyone. We were freezing and wet from the rain and honestly my companion and I both just wanted to go home. Our ward mission leader was with us and we were all commenting about how there were no houses... and the houses that we could see all had their doors closed and the lights off.. which meant that no one was home... we kept walking and we saw a guy come out and start playing with a fuse box so we went over and talked to him. He let us come and he called his family... his wife and three kids... the fourth was sleeping... and we talked to them about baptism and they accepted to be baptized the 19ths of July. The have a car which makes transportation easy and they seemed super positive. We are unable to go back and visit them until a week from tomorrow because they work and we have a zone training this Saturday which is the only day they could meet with us this week. But we are going to keep in touch with them and if you guys coud remember them in your prayers that would be wonderful.

I also heard this week that Aura got baptized. I dont know if you guys remember. She was one of my investigators when I was in Puerto Armuellas. I wanted to cry when I heard because I had only felt like I left the area worse than I found it and to know that somemone that I had taught got baptized.... it just helped me to remember that nothing that we do is in vain... 

We also met a Columbian guy yesterday that claims he is a nomad and never stays for more than one place more than a month... I felt that we should give him a book of Mormon and he accpeted like a starving man would accept free bread.... we gave him the phone numbers of missionaries in every part of Panama so that he could stay in touch... I know that he is going to get baptized and God only wanted us to give him this small part of the Gospel... I think he is one of the people that I will not see until after my work here is done but I know he is going to get baptized.. you could see it in his eyes.. that he was ready for the gospel.

Alright... so I guess the church is planning a question and answer thing with David Archuleta to motivate the youth to go on a mission. Its Tuesday the 24th at 530 Utah time.. you guys should watch it.. I do not think we will be able to but I wanted to let you guys know about it so you could watch.

Anyway thats all for now. I love you all so much and I love this work. I know that it is the work of the Lord and that it goes forward bodly, nobly and independently...

Con Amor, 

Hna. Wilson

Good Numbers, Good Work!

Hola Todos!

Today was a super good week. My comanion and I almost accomplished the standard o excellence of th misión and along with the ther sisters of Volcán we had some of the best numbers in our zone. We found 17 new people to teachand among thm are three famllies...one of which needs t get married.... things areood... the only hard thing is that no one... and I mean no one... wants to come to church or ge baptized... I think in part its because other religions have such a strong influence... esecially the Jehovas Witnesses and Adventistas (I cant remember the English name!)

Anyway as far as specific miracles are concerned we met a family,Lina and Alejando... they need to get married and at the momento are afraid to because they are afraid that their marriage will just fall apart from what other eople have said so they feel its just better not to make the commitment. She also did not want us to come back but.. not remembering all that I said... we asked for another appoitment... just one more chance to show them that the Gospel will elp their family.. not ruin it. Our chancewill come in the evening on Thursday so if you can pray for us and them that all will go well.

We also taught lesson witha guy namd Mario and a fried that was horibly confued... no his name was no Luigi.... my companion affectionately called him Satan because he would say the strangest, mst negatives things as we taught... like... only bad people to church and... here are better peope out o the church then it...and we cut t lesson short because Mario and I started to laugh... I just couldnt help it... it was so absurd! anyway Mario and his family are on our list of peopl to visit this week and we just pray that his friend is not there...

The last interesting experience of the week was when we went up into the mountains and found ourselves teaching an Adventista couple... we were talking to them for almost three hours... because he had questions about eery ting... and not in an argumentative kind of way... but in a... this is what I know and I want understand what you guys believe so maybe I can kpt to accept kind of way... its hard because he knows a lot about the Bible ad he pulls out scripture after scripture and we did our be to follow the spirit and we we were so exhauted afterwards that we both slept in the bus on the way home.

Anyway... we had a lot moreexperiences but I dont have a lot more time and I want to send you guys some pctures so I am going to wrap this up but know that  love you all and that I have such strong love and teimoy of this work. Its true and God is leading it!

Con Amor,

Hna. Wilson

​Hna. Rios and I! (My companion now!)

​Hna. De Leon and I.. I am grateful for all she taught me!

Surprise!

Hola A Todos!

I hope everyone is doing great.... I just wanted to let you guys know that this was a little bit of a surprising week. So my mission president decided to close my area in David and sent me back up to Volcan. I dont know if you guys remember when I was here for a week about two months ago to see if the cold would help my ankle. Well President and the Lord, in all their infiinite mercy... sent me here... the Celestial Kingdom of the mission.... with Hna. Rios... who was the sister I worked with before... when we found out and communicated we both almost cried from happiness... so we are together and we are working hard... 

We found a lot of new people to teach but I am not sure who is going to progress and who we are going to end up having to drop... in total we found 20 new people and three of them accepted baptisimal dates. One of them was a door contact named Maria... when we contacted her she said that she wanted to have God in her life more and that she was looking for spiritual things in her life.... she did not come to church.. that is like the biggest problem I think in any mission is getting the investigators to come to church.

We also went up into the mountains on Saturday and as we were walking we saw a young couple walking in the street.... named Omar and Walkidia... we started talking to them and we ended up talking for a good twenty minutes.. when we gave the pamphlet of the Restuaration to Omar y looked it over and asked when we were going to give him a Book of Mormon. It was a surprise and so I pulled mine out and said I would be willing to leave mine with him and when we come back next week we would bring him a different copy. He said that was fine and said some thing like... all my life I have believe the my religion is true... but I feel like I need to read this book...  we are hoping and praying that he does read it.. and that the spirit touches his heart.. we will see... 

I also followed the prompting of the spirit this week to do some thing that I have not done in a long time... and that was get up in a bus and talk about the church. I have not done that since the beginning of my mission but when we were headed to our district meeting on Thursday... which is forty minutes away by bus... I felt the really strong impression that I should do it and I was so frustrated because I didnt want to... the bus was going so so so slow... that the should have been a fory minutes bus ride turned into a 90 minute bus ride and I felt it was only because God wanted me to contact these people... so I finally gave in... got up an spoke for like two minutes about the Restauration and sat down... it was not any thing spectacular.. and no jumped out of their seat saying they wanted to be baptized... but I felt good knowing that I had followed a prompting...

There is an American family here.. the Young Family... that feeds un Sundays... they dont speak Spanish so when I am in their home I feel like I am back in teh states already... we were talking about how we should not drink the water and I admitted that since March I had been having a lot of stomach problems... they asked me what my symptoms were and every thing and I told thema nd they basically todl me that I have a parasite... so today I am going to go buy the medication to treat it.... here you can get it over the counter... and I am hoping it helps me feel better because this week I was super sick from Monday until Thursday.... and I also cant drink milk... it makes me sick.... so yeah.. thats whats happening health wise with me....

To end we are working on marrying a couple. They want to get married and baptized... their names are Orjelio and Aidy.... they are expecting their second baby this week and we are hoping to get the paperwork started the following week... it will be the first couple that I have helped to marry in my mission so I am hoping that every thing goes wel... please pray for them... that the process goes quickly...

I love you all so much.. I know that this church is true and that this is Gods work... may you always do what is right and remember that God loves you!

Love,

Hna. Wilson