For Such Is The Kingdom of God

Hola A Todos!

I hope everyone has been great! I am just great this Monday morning... my ears are better.. magically on Thursday I could hear again.. it was a hellelujah moment for me... and I have not fallen recently which puts me in a pretty good mood.

So I have been reflecting a lot lately... there are times when I just dont want to go home and it almost brings me to tears to think that there will come a day when I am not going to be wearing my name tag..  despite those depressing thoughts I am trying to enjoy every moment and talk to everyone! We had another great week this week. We taught tons of lessons and found a bunch of new investigators... the hard part is getting them to come to the church but our golden girls are still golden. Alejandra and Alison came to church BY THEMSELVES this week... and the leaders of the young women told us that they act like they members.... the way they answer questions and participate. Alejandra read five chapters from the Book of Mormon in two days and Alison read two... it just feels so great to have people progressing and when we went and visited the mom told us that Elders had come before but that we were different and I just know its because all this time God has been preparing them and I am just praying that they get baptized with us but if not I know that they will get baptized very very soon.

It was also neat to have a little boy that we are teaching in sacrament meeting. He is seven. So he doesnt quiet make the cut to get baptized but its okay because he loved Church. LOVED it. When we asked him what his favorite part was he told us that he loved it when we sang and prayed. It was just super super cute and we are hoping that he will get his family excited. It reminds me of all the times that Christ talked about how we are to become like little children if we want to enter the kingdom of God. For such is the kingdom of God....

Also this week, we almost got attacked by a dog. It was like a big St. Bernard type dog and it was chained up but it got so rabid when we came by that it brokes it chain and started to run after us.... but there is one small detail... I cant run!  The dirt roads and bummed ankle make it difficult... all I could do was throw rocks and hope that it scared the dog off. The member that was with us... along with one of our golden girls.. they decided to come show us that part of our area because they know people.... went running off which only called the dogs attention more... my poor companion was frozen in place and the other girl was helping me throw rocks... thankfully... just before it got close enough to bite us the owner called it and it went home.. but it has been along time since my adrenaline has been pumping like that... its definitely a story for my children!

Another funny story was when we ate lunch sitting in front of a bar. Two missionaries sitting in front of a bar.. it sounds like the beginning of a bad joke... anyway... it happened because on Thursday we were going to go work with a less active youth... our efforts to try and help get active again right... she was going to come do visits with us and we were hoping that it would help her remember the testimony that she has obviously forgotten or buried somewhere in her soul... but when we got there she told us she couldn't because she had to watch her brothers and sisters or some thing like that... my companion was so mad... I have never seen her so mad as we walked away... so we sat down... on a bench.. in front of a bar and ate the lunch that we had packed for ourselves and for her... and then... not five minutes later.. we saw a guy walked and my companion told me it was the boyfriend of Martiza (the less aactive). Anyway we watch him walk to her house and she comes out and my companion says some thing like... lets go.. how embaressing that we are still here.. and I said... I am not embarrassed... its embarrassing for her because now we know why she didnt want to work with us today....

So it was a pretty great week... my companion was sick on Tuesday so we lost that day of work but as far as number of lessons taught we killed it... over 7'0 lessons and four investigators in church. Its neat.. I can feel the area changing and there are just so many good things happening. This week we had 15 people at our English class and word is spreading that we are teaching an English class so we are hoping to see more and more very week... I will take some good pictures this week and get them sen tout to you guys!

Anyway thats all for now! I love you all so much and now that this work is Gods work!

Until next week!

Hna. Wilson

I Believe There Are Angels Among Us...

sent down to us from somewhere up above...

Hola Todos!

So this week was a great great week. We taught over 60 lessons and contacted over 150 people... we dropped 5 people with baptisimal dates but picked up 4 and 3 of them came to church. Please if you could remember Alejandra, Alison, Lina and Daniel in your prayers that would be great... they are the investigators we have right now that we are preparing for baptisms at the end of August... they are young so we put the date out a little further and we may move it if we feel we can but we are giving them a little time to really decide for themselves if this is a choice they want to make.

So I will kind of give you a little play by play with what time I have left to talk. We only had a member work with us on Thursday Friday and Saturday.. but it was okay because we had a lot of miracles.

For example, on Tuesday I told my companion I just reallyl wanted to meet someone who was oging to give us a lot of references and the next house we contacted we met two little girls that told us that wanted to show us where their friends lived... for three hours they showed us where their family members and their friends lived so we got tons of references that day which was realy really an answer to a prayer.

Then on Saturday, we prayed that we would be able to find investigators that would come to church on Sunday... and in the last teaching appoitment of the day we found three girls who accepted baptisimal dates and two of them came to church yesterday. Sunday morning we were just begging that God would provide one more person with a baptisimal date to be in church.. just one more... and halfway through Sacrament meeting a guy walked in and sat down and everyone could tell he wasnt a member.. when we talked to him after we found out that a member had met him on a bus and invited him to church and so he had come and he stayed for all three meetings! When we talked to him afterwards he accepted a baptisimal date. His name is Daniel Chavez. Her is 21 and he told us he is looking for the true church. Lets hope that he knows that he comes to know that he has found it.

Apart from that we spent a lot of time talking to different people. I think one of the saddest experiences this week that we had was when we talked to two women that were int hes treet and when we started talking about how the families can be together foever she started to cry. She later told us that her son had been murdered when he came home from work a few weeks ago... by the lover of her daughter in law.... we tried to talk to her about the plan of Salvation and when we sang her... Families Can Be Together Forever... she stopped crying and thanked us... but did not accept another teaching appoitment.. I only hope that some day the missionaries find her and she rmeember that it is only through the Gospel that families can be togehter forever..

We also met a lady this week that told us she did not want us to come back because she said her pastor would not let her participate in her church and I wanted to look at her and say... so you are going to throw away the truth because you are afraid of men... but I didnt.. it was just really sad and we had a lot of experiences like that this week... its so sad that the people just cant understand that what we bring is the truth... a message that will give them true happiness and peace... maybe some day...

Anyway, thats alll I have got for you guys... this week was jam packed wiht experiences but I just dont have time ot share them all. I hope all is well with each and everyone of you. I love you all so much and thinkof you often. I want you guys to know that I know that this church is true... that God loves us and that is why He has give us this Gospel. Keep on keepin on!

All My Love,
Hna. Wilson

God Just Wanted A Good Laugh

Hola Todos!

I think God just really likes to laugh because my companion... who has been here in Voclan for six months already.... stayed yet another transfer and I was the one who has been transferred to the other side of Volcan.. it was not so much a change one place to another... more a change from living upstairs to living downstairs... my companions name is Hna. Hanson... she is from Arizona... what makes me laugh is that she lived in Bothell when she was younger. just after I left.... and she was in the same ward that I was in and knows all those same people... it really is a small small world.

It has been a good first week together... we had a lot of success and foudna  lot of people... its interesting.... working with a north american companion.. I feel like in some ways I am finding my English speaking self again... but at the same time I become a little worried that I am going to lose my Spanish so I still try to talk with Hna. Rios and her companion as much as humanly possible... and I guess being a Spanish speaking country still will help me keep it up.

Anyway, a couple neats experiences that we had this week include finding Ruben, Juan Carlos and Sepha. They are a family and when we contacted them... they were a reference of a street contact... we shared the First Vision with them. The sprit was so strong and they accepted to be baptized on the 2nd of August but we might have to change the date because they did not come to church yesterday.. if you could remember them in your prayers that would be great. Also Raiza... pronounced like Rice... with an A... she also is on schedule to be baptized but she did not come to church yersterday.. anyway it was a neat experience and it was o ur first day working together.

I also felt a profound sense of gratitude when Sacrament meeting ended and my companion went immediately to ask members when they could work with us this week... it was like.. I dont have to do every thing... or I dont have to be the one that pulls the weight alone.. it was just a deep sense of thanks for my comnpanion... I think its going to be a good change.... 

We also had a neat experience and a neat lessons with the power of members in a lesson... we were walking and I saw this guy doing flips.. which reminded me of Jordan so I asked him if I could take a video of him flipping and so he let us in. Then we started talking to his mom and at the end she said she was Catholic and didnt want us to come back but then we asked the member that was with us to share his testimony about how he come to know that the Church is true.

When he finished and we asked her again if we could come back and teach her she said yes... so we are going to see her tomorrow and we are just hoping that she feels the spirit and wants to keep learning about the Restoried Gospel... 

Anyway, this is going to be kind of a short email because we are going to visit an archaelogical site as a zone and I am out of time to write... but I want yu guys to know how much I love you. that I know that this church is true... that it is Christs Church and he leads this work. I love my Savior and I would not trade my mission and my experiences for any thing in the world... until next week!

All My Love, 

Hna. Wilson

Forever Strong

Hola A Todos! 

First of alll, Happy 4th of July.... even though it really didnt feel like Independence Day here in Panama... it makes me laugh how fats the time goes and how we just really dont feel it passing here in Panama... aside from the fact that it is already July of 2014... thats crazy.... I really dont know where the year has gone and as I picked up my second to last agenda that I will use for my mission it struck me that a lot of things are going to be coming to end very soon and often it makes me sad... so I am trying to enjoy what time I have left.... 

Anyway, now tos hare with you the adventures of the week. We had a good week working with members... most of the members understand now that when we approach them after church to talk to them it means that we would like them to go out and work with us this week... this week is  a little special because its transfer week so we have a few members scheduled to work with us but not many.... because my companion might be leaving which means exchanges and all that stuff but we will see what happens... 

This week we had a lot of experiences.... from meeting a Buddist woman who tried to argue with us about weather we are going to be reincarnated or not.. to a woman named Grace who recently lost her two year old baby and wants to learn more about the Plan of Salvation.... among all that excited I twisted my ankle twice, scraped up my knees really bad the first time and used that as excuse to contact a lday that wants to listen to us but doesnt want to marry the guy that she lives with we will see what happens with that. But she gave a really strong disinfecting cream that stung like crazy but helped me clean up the scrapes and gashes in my hands and knees from fallling....

Tuesday my companion was sick with a really bad sinus infection and a high fever so we stayed in the house and talked about a lot of things.... we also studied a lot which is nice... I am trying to mark every page of Preach My Gospel before I go home... I think I am at the halfway point.... 

We met a lot of people this week that told us they did not want any thing because they go to other churches... .thats always frustrating but we found a lot of people this week including yesterday when I fell for the second time and we decided to keep working and we went and visited a single dad named Damian with a member.... when we wanted to watch a video of the Restoration my companion said that we should just explain it and watch it another time... so we did and when we invited him to be baptized he accepted.... if all goes well he will get baptized on the 2nd of August... the challenge is getting him to come to church...

Anyway that was a our week I will shoot you all a quick email when we know about transfers.... I love you all so much and know that this is the work of the Lord... 

Love, 

Hna. Wilson