First Fruits

Hola! 

So here we are... another week come and gone in beautiful Panama. Almost another month really... I cant believe that we are already finishing January of 2014....  the time goes so fast and I am working to enjoy every minute of it.

So I have a new companion. Her name is Hna. Silvera. She is also from Peru like Hna. Caldas.. she actually came in the group that Hna. Caldas in and has the same time here in the mission... almost five months... she is a good missionary and I think it will be a good change together... she just has to adjust a great deal because she has spent the last five months in the city where the church attendance is up close to 200 and here its about 50.... so yeah... I think once she gets adjusted and learns to see all the little ways in which the branch is improving she will be happier here.

Another happy note is that Hna. Chavez and I are in the same zone. While we are still praying with all our hearts to be together again we have to count our blessings that we are closer and see each other once a week....

Okay now for the huge blessings that we saw this week. Apart from the fact that the branch is now holding ward councils once a week Hno Ocatvio is going to get baptized this week. We went and visted him twice in the last three or four days and he thanked us profusely both times for brinigng him to a knowledge of the truth. I wanted to cry.. it was one of the most special moments of the mission and I know I am going to cry when he gets baptized.... another rather humorous miracle that we saw with him this week was when we went we visted him on Saturday. He told us that the night before he could not sleep so he got up and turend the tv on and and found himself watching a movie about a missionary in Samoa or some thing....the more he talked the mor I thought... wow this sound s a lot like The Other Side of Heaven.... then my comp confirmed that it was and we had to laugh.. het alked to us for a good fifteen minutes about the movie and how excited he was to go to church and ask the class about the Book of Mormon and stuff... 

He is about as excited to be baptized as we are to see him get baptized.. he is a dream come ture.. I know he is one of the people I promised so long ago I would find here in Panama...

The other miracle that we had was with the Familia ATencio.. the mom came to church yesterday.. it is the first time in years and if my comp and I have any to say about it we are going to see the whole family in church this coming week... she left happy and so I am praying that when we go to visit her this week she will want to come back... the members noticed too which is good for us because they can see that we are working... 

Things are improving here in Puerto ARmuellas.... I am content... I feel like I had a great change with Hna. Caldas and that I am in for another great change with Hna. Silvera... thats all I have for you guys this week.... I hope all is well... the church is true and the works is moving forward quickly. Until next week.. with photos from the baptism... 

Love,

Hna. Wilson

Transfers and a Trip to Panama

Hola Todos!

I hope my email finds you all excellente this fine Monday morning here in sunny Puerto Armuelles.. its is so hot that I got sunburned the other day... hows that for January weather... anyway I guess I should jump right into it because I had an excellent week....

For the first time in a long time I do not have transfers... we recieved the phone call yesterday and my companion is leaving.. she is excited and I am excited. We had a really good six weeks together with a lot of miracles and I can already see the beginnings of the fruits that are going to come as a result of our work together. On a side note, I forgot to mention last week that I ate cow intenstines for lunch... it was... not that good... it was just like eating a fatty piece of meat and I would not choose to eat it again but we will see what they feed us.. 

Just wante dto send a shout out to my cousin Trevor... Happy Birthday Trev! I cannot blieve how old you are getting! 

Okay so I wanted to start by talking about my pride and joy here in Puerto... his name is Octavio..  we went and visited on Tuesday and he was really sick so we offered the elders to come and give him a blessing he accpeted and... bless the elders hearts... tehy came within a half an hour. When the elders gave him a blessing he told us that he felt some thing very similar to what he felt when he read the Bible for the first time.. some thing that he cannot explain... we testified that it was the spirit telling him that all of this was true... that al came from God. 

He came to the baptisimal service of an hermano named Margarito.. I talked to him after the service and he accepted to be baptized the first of February... he came to church yesterday also and when a member had a question about the Book of Mormon he basically bore a testimony... wihtout realizing it... about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.. Elder Willis was teaching the class and when Hno. Octavio stopped talking Elder Willis was all chocked up as he testified to Hno. Octavio that he already knew it was true... pray for him please.. that he can overcome whatever obstacle Satan is going to put in his path to keep him from getting baptized. He is so ready... the only thing he lacks now is time until the baptisimal date.. we will finish teahing him all the lessons this week... I am so excited... I definitely feel that he is one of the people that I came her eto Panama to find...

We also went with Familia Atencio this week and learned that they do not hav ea testimoy of the Book of Mormon... so we are going to work it out with members so that they can go with us to read with them and if we can find someone willing... that they can go and read with them also... 

We also visted a less active member that served a mission like 10 years ago... we shared a lesson with her about setting goals for the New Year and crying she told us that she wanted to go to the temple because its been almost ten years since shes gone... the branch is going to the temple on the 14th of February so our goal is to get her there...

So I had to go to the city this week... which means eight hours in a bus one way... a 16 hour trip in the space of like 48 hours but we took the opportunity to go the temple and I recievedx an answer to a prayer in D y C 109:44. 

Anyway thats pretty much ll for now.. I am anxious to find out who my new companion is.... I feel so blessed to be hear... the branch is getting stronger every day I hope to see miracles this next change with my new companion. I love you all so much. I love this work and I love our Heavenly Father and our Savior. I know that every thing that we go through we go through for a reason... even the hard things.. and if we just keep our chin up and keep moving forward... it will all work together for our good. Never lose faith... never look back. The future can always be better than the past. 

Love, 

Hna. Wilson

The Distance Between Your Problems and the Solutions

Is the same distance between your knees and the floor...

Hola a Todos!

Como estan? Como le va? Que tal alla pues?

Okay sorry... for some reason I have developed the habit of attaching pues to the end of a lot of my sentences which has no significance whatsoever... I cannot even think of an English equivelent.... I think its more popular in Guatemala and places like that.... but suddenly I have been saying it and I dont know why...

Anyway, focusing on the week... it was a hard one in the sense that we dropped all of our fechas.... all six of them... for different reasons and we only had one person in church and thats because he came with his girlfriend.... and happens to live in our area.... we are going to visit him this week on Saturday... 

The elders in our branch hav ea baptism and we are singing a musical number... for some reason they think I sing well so I am stuck singing a duet with an elder... pray for me okay... that I dont like mess up the words or some thing haha....

I tihnk our most posotive investigator right now is Hno. Octavio... he still is not coming to church but accepts every thing we teach him... quit drinking coffee... is reading the Book of Mormon.... he basically has all the lessons and I am confident I will see his baptism this next change...

Speaking of changes... my companion has changes... we had interviews with President Carmack this past week and she will be leaving Puerto... I dont think I will be training but only God knows what is going to happen... lets just pray for someone who is ready to work because I am ready to hit the ground running... maybe not literally but you get what I mean.... there is a lot of potential and a lot of people waiting for the gospel here in the area... President Carmack did say some thing interesting though... there are two places in Panama where Satan has the strongest hold... here in Puerto Armuelles and in Colon... the area that I spent six months in... so thats an interesting observation... 

President Carmack also gave us the challenge to read the Book of Mormon from end to beginning... like starting with the Book of Moroni  chapters one to 10... then Ether 1 to whatever.... and reading like to finish with 1 Nephi before the end of March so everyone is occupied with that... its interesting... he wants us to start with the blessings and end with the invitation... some thing like that.... 

Anyway.... thats pretty much the update for now... I just want you all to know that I love you so much and that this Church is true.... that God lives and He loves us... there is nothing greater than to be His servant and an instrument in His hands to bring souls unto Him. Some times we dont think we make a difference but we never know.. it by the small and simple things that great things are brought to pass. Pray always. Be strong. And keep on keepin on. 

All My Love, 

Hna. Wilson

Feliz Año Nuevo!

Okay its late but Happy New Years every body! I passed it here in Panama sleeping and really it did not feel like New Years at all... without snow or any thing I feel like I wont feel like its the new year for a little while.. apart from writing 2014 whenever I write the date.. its weird to think about but its also been a good time of reflection and looking for ways to improve and change. Plus with only two weeks until transfer and high possibility of getting a new companion I am thinking a lot in how I am going to end this change on a high note. 

We had a really good week here in Puerto Armuellas... six of our fechas fell through but we were albe to put five more and yesterday... two of them came to church which means we actually have progressing investigators! Finally.... things definitely happen in the Lords time thats for sure... Ocatavio Herera... the investigator thats reading the Book of Mormon faster then anyone I have ever seen did not come to church this week but he did accept a baptisimal date... I could have cried when he accepted.... it was such a special moment... the trial is just getting him to church because he has really bad knees so its really painful for him to walk a lot and he lives really far from church. But Hna. Elefia... a sister who is evangelical and believes that every church has authority.. we re taught her the Restuaration and she accepted to be baptized on the 18th and came to church yesterday... she already has attended enough to be baptized this week but she lacks the lessons and the testimony.. pray hard that we see her baptism before my companion leaves!

So I got packages from 1st WArd and the west stake... the cards from the ward made me cry so thanks to everyone who participated in that... 

Anyway thats all for this week... sorry its so short.... I dont have a lot of time left but I love you all so much and will talk to you all next week... the church is true and God is at the head of this work!

Todo mi Amor, 

Hna. Wilson

A Lesson in Humility

Hola Hola Hola!

 

I hop everyone had a good Christmas and that you got evry thing you asked Santa Clause for. Here in Puerto it was hot, humid and one of the most intersting Christmas I have ever had. We started it out by taking a family food because they live in really porr circumstances and a member put together like a Christmas dinner for them but realy it was enough food to last them like two weeks I thought. While we were there talking with the family we got a phone call from the elders... we share the branch ith them.. that we needed to go immediately to the house of one of our investigators that is the neighbor of the elders. So we got there as quickly as possible and while I will not go into to much detail she basically told tht her friendt hat was there was possessed with a devil... told some crazy story about how it hapened and asked if we could take her to the hospital. As nicely as we could we told her that we could not.... but we offerend to say a prayer on the house.. she and her friend had already recieved blessings from the elders so there was not much more that could be done... we encouraged them both to talk and think about hapy things but our investigator just would not stop talking about it so I told her we were going to sing a hymn and then we had to go but that they should not keep talking about what had hapened because they were inviting back the bad feelings and bad spirit.... basically our Christmas day ended up revolving aroudn this investigator and her friend... but it is is definitely a Christmas I will not soon forget...

 

An update on Ocatvio... we went and visited him on Christmas day also... we had left the Book of Mormon to start reading on Staruday and when we went and visited him on Wednesday he was already 2 Nephi 4... which is huge... its like 5 chapters every day and he told us that he was taking his time... when I caled him on Saturday night to invite him to Church he told me that he was in Moroni 5.. or about that... I dont know if he meant Mormon but that is a still huge and even though he has not come to church yet or accepted a baptisimal date in my book he is progressing.... and quickly...

 

 As for my lesson in humility... at the beginning of the week I have to give a little lesson on humilit in my district meeting and then later in the week Hna. Caldas told me I had to be more humble. To top it off I got a call Saturday night from one of the members of the Bishopric asking if I could give a talk in sacrmaent on being humble... which I ended up not having t give because we ran out of time... so my goal this week is to try really hard to be more humble... any advice from you guys... any things.. good quotes maybe... anyway I am almost out of time... I am sorry this is short but my mind is kind of frazzled so I will email you all next week. Love you all so much. The Church is true. Keep on Keepin on.

 

All My Love,

Hna. Wilson

fotos con el mono

Feliz Navidad!

Hola Hola Hola!

So I have to admit first that it does not feel like Christmas at all here. At least not for me. While you guys are playing in the snow, drinking hot chocolate, and watching Christmas movies I had a week that was a little bit different... I got a sunburn.. held a monkey... and ate an ice cream that melted faster than I could eat it... I will attach a few photos of the monkey... it is the pet of one of our investigators... 

Also, I have a new best friend here.. she is six.. her name is Staci and every time she sees me she just runs up to me and gives me a huge hug.... it makes me happy and I promised her a chocolate next Sunday so I am obligated to that....

We had a really good week... and a really hot one too... like I said.. I got sunburned one day.. it is the first time my whole mission that I have gotten sunburned... I could not believe it... its the first time in all of my mission that I have gotten sunburned... the sun is a lot stronger in this are and I am not sure why....

Anyway, on to the more spiritual things of the week. So on Thursday I think it was... we went and taught an older gentleman named Octavio... we chatted with him for an hour before we could get things under control to teach a lesson... a little frustrated the thought passed my mind that he was just an old guy who lives a lone and only wants to listen to us so that he can have someone to talk to... he was an evangelical preacher and missionary for a good portion of his life.. he knows the Bible inside and out... honestly... at the beginning of the lesson I did not feel like he would accept what we were offering....

But then we started talking about the Book of Mormon... another testament of Jesus Christ... as we read the introduction he was almost in tears.. he explained to us that when he had found the Evangelical Church in 1966... he still felt like he needed to find some thing more.... we testified to him that this was what he was looking for... he only nodded and told us he would read it... we are going to visit him on Christmas to talk to him about what he has read.... I am confident that if he does not get baptized with Hna. Caldas and I he will get baptized the next transfer.... he really is golden and I feel blessed to be teaching him...

The other miracle that we had was when we walked an hour to find a house... they told us it was in the entrance but an hour later we learned that there were two entrances and that we had chosen the entrance on the other end... when we got there they fed us dinner... which would have been nice if people had not been feeding us in every appotiment that day.... we taught them about the Restoration and tried to commit them to baptism... they did not say no but they did not say yes... they cordially invited us back and promised that they would be in Church this next week... Andi and Mirla and their two kids Josephine and Andi Jr.... they are special.. I could feel it as we taught them... they were also an answer to a prayer because Hna. Caldas and I were praying that we could find a family for Christmas and we found them... 

To end this email I wanted to attach a picture of the monkey that one of our investigators has. its kind of crazy so it really did not want me to hold it but I at least managed to get a couple good pictures.. I hope it makes you all laugh...

Anyway, thats all I have for you guys... I just want to leave you with my testimony that I know that this work is the work of the Lord... that He loves us... that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that He is always working perfectly in our lives for our Good... I love you all so much and I hope you all hava a very Merry Christmas....

Love, 

Hna. Wilson