Al Sembrar Semillas

Hola Todos!

In English wewould say some thing like... to plant seeds.. because that is the work that my companion and I have been caled to do here in our area. I feel like that has been my purpose almost my whole mission.... to prepare the fields for the harvests and not necessarily to harvest.... which is okay.. because I know some day... I will see the fruits of my efforts. 

This has been a realy good week and my companion and I are getting along great... I wanted to start out with kind of a funny experience just to make you guys laugh. On Saturday my companion andI were walking to a teaching appoitment when a car pulled up behind us and an 18 year old girl from Wisconsin climbed out... she asked usif we spoke English... and my companion pointed to me and said that I do.

I realy tried to talk to thi sweet girl... who welearned was a Jehovahs Witness, in Panama as a missionary. She was super sweet andjust asked me questions but it was so hard for me to respond... notthat I did not understand but I had to wrack my brian for what to say. I could literally feeling myself first thinking of my answers in Spanish andthen doing my best to respond in English. My companion said I looked like a Latin whoknows nothingabout English...trying to understand.... my companion laughed at me for a good while and congratulated me.... I am finaly latina. 

With the announcement that I am forgetting my English I wanted to share with you guys a couple neat experiences that I had this week. I discovered another food that I would prefer to never eat again... on Friday a less active member gave us pig ears.... it was not good.... definitely some thing I hope I dont have to repeat...

We also had exchanges this week and I went and workedwith another hermana from Guatemal whose name at the moment I canot remember... but my favorite experience with her was when we were walking and she told me she felt like we should contact two hermanas sitting out on their porch so we wentandstarted to talkto themand we foundout that just two weeks ago one of them had lost their nine month old baby boy to a sudden and fatal illness... we talked about the plan of salvation and how she could see him again. There were tears in her eyes as she asked us to come back again. 

It strengthened my testiony about the importance of a testimony and a knowledge of the plan that God has for us. Walso shared the Plan of Salvation with an 18 year old girl who has lived alone with her dogs and there was some thing very sad. But we testitifed that God loves her and is mindful of her. We left the house with a sweet spirit and Ihope that when we goback this week Nanci can feel the love that the Lord has for her. 

We also were impressed to talk to a guy named Bolivar that we saw raking leaves. When we started to talkto him he told us how he felt like God did not care about him and was silent... that he had not prayed for a long time... we bore testomny we there to tell him that God loves him and that the message that we had to share with him was an answer to his prayes... without ansking for it he gave hisaddress andphone number and we are going to visit him thi week.

Hna. De Leon will be going home in a month but I am usingthi time to learn from her every thing I can.. I feel like a child who has been starving forsolong and now I am learning so me great new ways to work and to plan and feel like there is some empty space inside of me that is being filled and I am grateful that God has always seen fit not togive me what i want... but to give me what I need.. 

I love you all so much. I do not have much more time so I am going to end by saying that I know that the Church is true. i knowthat God loves us. I invite all of you to lok for a way to share the gospel this week and then email me about your experiences. Every member a missionary. 

Love, 

Hna. Wilson

The Road To Redemption

Hola Todos!

How are we this fine Monday morning. I hope everyone had a good Easter.. to be honest the only reason I know that its Easter is because everyone sent me emails wishing me a Happy Easter.... here everyone celebrates Easter by listening to loud music or going to the beach which makes an interesting week of trying to find our investigators in their homes to teach them. 

So I did have transfers.... I have told quiete a few of you in personal emails but I am still in the interior of Panama in a place called David. It is super hot and humid which does not help my ankle but its where God wants me so there is not much that I can do about that.... 

My companions name is Hna. De Leon... she is from Gautemala and she will be going home at the end of May which means this is her last transfers. She has been what we call a Z ella for almost her whole mission and this last change she is going to working like a normal missionary. I am grateful though because I have already learned a lot from her and I am excited to be someone who not only has the edesire to work but also knows how to work in a way that we will have baptisms and a lot of miracles.

She is 25 and I think it is a lot the age difference which makes it a little hard for us to find things to talk about but I am praying that we will find common ground. I do not forsee any major problems with her... but this is definteily going to take same getting used too.

So I just wanted to take a minute to share a little about what happened this week. 

On Friday my companion and I were walking and contacting as we went and there was literally no one... and the houses that we contacted the people either did not want to come out and talk to us or did not want us to come back so we were a little discouraged and I suggested that we say a prayer. After the prayer we kept contacting with almost no success and finally we contacted a lady named Lisbeth. We talked to her a little about the Restauration and my companion felt she should gift her a big hymnbook that she had with her. Suddenly she gave the hymnbook Lisbeth after we had sang to her I Need Thee Every Hour.... she was super surprised by the gesture and though she did not want to accept an actual teaching appoitment we are going to try and go back and visit her this week.

After LIsbeth we were walking in the street unsure of where to go but we decided to just keep walking and suddenly a guy came out of his house and called to us. Hermana Hermanas! So we decided to go see what he wanted.. my companion told me that she and her last companion had done a servcice for him but that he had not seemed that interested. We started to talk to him and ended up talking about the Restoration and when we invited him to pray and then be baptized if he recieved an answer that the church was true he said he would do it. 

I told my companion that I liked teaching with her and she also told me that she liked teaching with me so as far as working together we are in good shape. 

We also had another spiritual expereince with another sister named Yaneth... the challenge with her is oging to be her family but she accepted to be baptized the 10th of April and we could see that she felt the spirit.... 

In short every thing is goin gwell... my companion and i need to get used to one another and find things to talk about but I know that its going tobe okay because we both want to work and see baptisms this change.. I joke with her that we are going to see ten baptisms and her personal goal is five.... only time will tell...

Anyway, I love you all so much, I know that this is the Lords work and that He is in every aspect of it. I do not know if you guys remember almost five months ago when I had prolems with one of my companions and President separated us. .well her and I are in the same branch here in David and I can only hope that God is giving us the opportunity to fix things.. up until now things are not super great in that area but there is only time... and a long road to redemption. 

Love you Lots,

Hna. Wilson

No Work and All Play Makes Jack a Sad Boy

Hola Todos!

 

So this week was definitely one of the more interesting I have had in my mission. My companion did not feel well Tuesday, Friday and Saturday so we did not leave the house before five any of these days. On Wednesday we had a training with he APs which was great because the theme was: open your mouth. So we went to like a hospital and contacted there for three hours which was great because everyone is sitting around doing nothing and so I enjoyed takling to tons of different people even if practically none of them live in my area.

 

On Thursday we did a service project in Boquete. It involved cutting down trees and hauling them to a pile. It was cold there because its up in the moutains and I honesly felt like I was back home to some degree. It was fun and I liked it because it gave me a chance to really release a lot of the pent up stress that has been building up

 

Basically from there we were in the house all week. To be honest last Monday, after I talked to you guys I went home, laid down in bed and just put myself to thinking. My mission president had given me advice to set little goals for every day in the week so that I could have things to focus on. He told me that I should make a promse to myself to not be disoucragted but to b honest.. in that moment.. I felt like I could just lay in bed all day every day that week and not care. Then I got a phone call from a sister who left the area when I came.  She told me how she had felt the exact same way when she left Puerto. She gave me advice and encouragement and the phone call really was just an answer to my prayers.

 

The biggest spiritual experience was what happened on Friday. Friday was definitely my lower day and in the morning I prayed that God would send me someone that I could confide in... that would understand that I was dying to get out and work and be a missionary. I also prayed that because we were not going to go out and work that He would just help me sleep. I slept for awhile, woke up at 3 with the thought that I should share with one of my recent converts the talk that President Monson gave last October entitled: never wil I leave nor forsake you...

So I sat down and read it... and then I read the words of a blind, deaf man at the point of death who said... My Heavenly Father has been good to me... and I heard the words in my mind... Have I not been good to you? It struck me so hard that I started to cry... because the truth was that God has always been good to me. Before I came out on my mission I prayed ferverently that the biggest convert of my mission would not be anyone I met in Panama... but that it would be me. I could see in that moment that God was taking me up on my desire... that He was giving me these experiences not because they were easy or desirable but because they would help me to know better, and become more like, Him.

I continued reading the talk and I came across a part that says: Only the Master knows the profundidad of our trials, our pain, and our suffering. Only He offers us eternal peace in times of adversity. Only He can touch our tortured souls with words of comfort. Then it hit me. God had already sent me someone who understood what I felt. Over 2000 years ago He had sent His Son.

 

At the beginning of last week I had decided that I was going to give it my all. I have been in Puerto now for almost 4 and half months... thats like 18 weeks if we are talking specifics.. and every week I felt like I have just given every thing and I have not felt that I have seen much of the fruits. This last week I had planned to give my soul. What I did not know was that my all was more about patience and long suffering than finding new investigators and inviting people to be baptized. It has been one of the hardest weeks as far as the work is concerned. But for me it has been one of great growth and change. I know my Savior lives because I felt Him close to me many times this week. I do not know what is going to happen in transfers but I do know that every thing is going to be okay because my Heavenly Father has been good to me.

I love you all so much... I know that this work is the work of the Lord and it goes on boldly, nobley and independently. I know that God answers our prayers and that He molds us into better people through our afflictions and trials. May we be open to the hard, the difficult and the challenging. May we embrace the lessons that God desires to teach us. May we look for the rainbow in the rain but may we enjoy the rain also.

 

Until next week when I will let you know where I go and with who!

 

All My Love,

Hna. Wilson

The Power of Family

Hola Todos!

 

If you are reading this it is coming from Puerto. Yep I had to go back. From the cold of Volcan to the heat of PUerto Armuellas... it is just a little bit frustrating but here we are and we are moving forward. It is as hot as ever with reports that it should be even hotter this month. My ankle is definitely feeling it and unfortunately there is not much anyone can do about it. I just have to hang in there until the 16th and from there we will see where God sends me because I am 99.9999999% sure that I will have transfers. But until then I must still have work to do here and I feel that its more with my companion then with any aspect o the work here in my area.

 

On a happier note I loved conference. I think my favorites were President Uchtdorf who talked about the importance of having an attitude of gratitude and Elder Zwick who talked about speaking with words of compassion. They were things that I already know but they spoke to my soul and I had gone to the conference with questions of how I could be a better disicples of jesus Chrsit and a better person and these two messages really struck me. Along with many others but we would be here all day if I talked about which messages touched me and why. I just want you all know that God answers prayers. Espeically through General Conference

 

So I am going to try to be grateful this week and also speak with words of compassion... I hope that will help me be happier this week and enjoy what is probably my last week in what of the hottest parts of Panama.

 

On a more spiritual side this past week ended my divisions in Volcan and I wanted to share an expereince that I had with Hna. Rios that is one of the most spiritual I have had in a long time.  It was with the reference of a member who lost her husband almost 18 months ago. She had given us two references and she told us to come by in the afternoon on Tuesday and we would go visit both of them. When we got there on Tuesday and she told us to wait while she brought the first family over. We taught the Concepcion family which is a big family and the only thing lacking is that the couple is not married but that can be changed. Especially because Miguel came to the conference this weekend... according to reports from Hna. Rios. The next reference of the Hna. was a guy named Jose. He stays at home and watches his kids while his wife goes and works. He entred the room and I felt some thing really strong... like.. he is someone really important... and when we started to talk to him he said that he had talked with missionaries before but that he was Catholic and all he had ever done was fight with them. After the prayer and hymn I felt inspired to ask the hermana if she could share with us the experience of her conversion. She talked about eternal families and how that was what got her to want to know more. She talked about the temple and how through the temple she could be with her husband and her children forever. That really touched Jose and almost in tears he told us he had never heard any thing like that before. He asked us if we coudl share what we had shared with him with his wife. He then told us that five years ago he had been diagnosed with skin cancer and it was a really taking its toll on him and he was still fighting it. He said it was difficult for his wife to accept but he wanted us to share this with her so that she could have peace. He accepted a date to be baptized and in his prayer he thanked God for sending us a an answer to his own prayers. The spirit was just so strong and it was one of the more special moments I have had in my entire mission.

 

Anyway with that experince I just wante dto end my letter.... it was a beautiful weekend be able to listen to conference... I am honestly sad that is so very short but that is okay because now we have timt to go back and study and ponder on the the things that we learned and heard. I just want you all to know that I know my Savior lives and that He loves each and every one of us. The He is a loving, compassionate Redeemer who is always ready to help us in any way that He can. Some times He shows us love by allowing us to pass for difficulties so that we can be made stronger and better. May we become stronger and better through our trials, looking fo opportunities to thank and praise Him. May we always look to Him as our source of light and life.... for thus He is. I love Him. I have come to love Him more than I ever have in the yeaer that I have spent here in Panama. I have come to know a lot of people here. But the relationship I have come to treasure most if the one that I have with a laden with sorrow and acquinted with grief... because I know that its is through His stripes... that I am healed.

 

I love you all so much. I will talk to you next with hopefully an update on what is happening with transfers. Pray for good things. Maybe I wll go to Volcan with Hna. Rios.

 

All My Love,

Hna. Wilson

Hot As Fire To Cold As Ice

Hola Todos! 

Okay so maybe its not as cold as ice here in Volcan but it is cold. I came here on Wednesday by order of my mission president to see if the colder climate would help my ankle and the good news is that yes. My range of motion is a lot better and it does not swell during the day when we are out working... so that is good. Also Hna. Rios wnats to work and so we basically worked ourselves into the ground these past few days which is some thing I have been wanting to do since Hna. Caldas was with me in Puerto. 

Now to tell you some of our experiences this week...

So I am here in Volcan and I think I got a small taste of what it will be like to come home because I showered with hot water for the first time in a year... we also ate lunch with a gringo family that does not speak Spanish and we had tuna fish cassarole... I really felt like I was at home and I did my best to share a spiritual thought but I have discovered that I am not a very good missionary in English. I also had the opportunity and the privilege of translating the Sunday school class becaus ethe first counselor in the Bishopric does not speak Spanish and it was his turn to teach so the whole class I translated for everyone and it was a neat experience... it helped me understand that God has us learn things like our mission language for moe treasons then just to serve in the mission. I was really happy to be able to help and there was only one word that I did not know how to translate.. Hna. Chavez told me that she is proud of me because my Spanish has come a long way from how it was when I with her almost nine months ago... 

Now to let you guys know about some awesome experiences that we had this week... I am not sure where to start so i will start at the beginning. Wednesday night we went with a contact that Hna. Rios and her companion had contacted.... we did not have a lot of time because it was already late and every thing but we turned the conversation to baptism and the spirit was super strong as we testified to him that if he wanted to be happy in this life he needed to be baptism in the right way. He looked at us and said... well I have already been baptized but if God wants me to be baptized again I want to... just like that... it was probably one of the easiest fechas I have put in my entire mission and though he was not able to come to church this week because of problems wiht family we are hoping to have come to some of the sessions of General Convference... 

Another awesome experience that we had was with an older woman named Maria Louisa... she lives alone and is attending an Evangelical church but she is super sweet and gave  us hot chocolate when we showed up Thursday night. We shared with her about the Apostasy and the REstoration and she said some thing like... I have never heard this before... I think it could be true... and she accepted to be baptism if she recieved an answer that it was indeed true. The hard with her is that every time we have gone to visit here there has been some kind of opposition... we are praying that todya when we go she will be there and we will be able to share more the Gospel with her so that she can recieve an answer to her prayers. 

Finally, yesterday when we were walking we were looking for a reference from some members and we were passing a house I felt really strongly that we should contact it.... we started to talk with an older guy that was outside with his two grand daughters and only then did we learn that it was the family we had been looking for. It was a neat experience to recognize that the spirit had prompted me  to do it and because I did we found a family about ten people that we are going to go back and teach this week... 

Now for a funny experience to end. So yesterday Hna. Rios and I had the goal to talk to 11 people because it was what we lacked to reach our goal of contacts this week and I told her that we were not going to enter the house until we reached our goal. So we were heading to our teaching appoitment with Hna. Maria Louisa and we only lacked four people for the 11... and I said some thing like... Ohala that there are other peole there with her so we can meet our goal and so when we got there we started to sing a hymn and all of the sudden two women knock on the door and we çstop. They come in and look at us like... when are you going to leave.. and the spirit was gone so we shared some thing quick about Jesus Christ and left... and Hna. Rios joked with me that it was all my fault that these people showed up because I had wanted to meet our goal of contacts. We kept trying to contact people in the street also but every time we would get close they would go the other direction so finally I just got tired of it and called out to a lady in the street to get her attention and we acted like we were lost, looking for a specific street and she told us and we invited her to church and every thing but I think it was one of the worst contacts ever because I was trying not to laugh. 

Anyway thats all for now. I love you all so much. I know that this work is the work of the Lord and that He is at the head. No unhallowed hand can stop it from progressing. I love my Savior and I love all of you. Praying for you always. 

All My Love, 

Hna. Wilson

Be Careful What You Pray For

Hola Todos!

This week was weird... we lost a lot of working days... first because we had a training about family history which took up the whole day because it was a four hour round trip plus three hours of training and so yeah we lost that day. Also I got really sick and the mission nurse thougth I had a parasite so we went to the hospital on Saturday but they dont want to do the test because they dont think its a parasite and they told me to come back at like 6am today but I was feeling better yerstday so my companion and I decided to watch it and see. I will keep you opsted on that but the goods news is... I am pretty sure I will live. 

Aura did not come to church yesterday but we had a nice family home evening with her and she is excited to read the Book of Mormon. We tried to call her to find out why she did not come and we could not get ahold of her so we are going to go see her tomorrow to see whats up. 

I am also going to Volcan this week on exchanges to see if the cold will help my ankle. The heat is killing even the peole who live her in Puerto and a lot of people are getting sick and going to the hospital. Lets pray that the missionaries are immune to that. 

This week I prayed to know my Savior better. I always want to laugh because it was a week full of trials in almost every sense... but we know that what doesnt kill us makes us stronger... I am sorry this is such a short email.. its just that we lost a lot of time because I was sick but yesterday when we were walking itn ehs treet we found a lady that knows the Bible forward and backward. I had the wonderful experience of beeing able to cite the scipture she was quoting and then respond with another scripture.. but we have to study really hard to teach her because she wants to have an educated discussion about what we teach so we are going to stay home today, study and relax.

Anyway, I love you all so much. I want you all to know that I know this work is the Lords work. That its true and that is the only way that we will ever be truly happy. Before I left on my mission I asked God to change me so that the people that I love most will not recognize me when I come home. I like to think that with all these trials who is doing just that. I still have a lot to learn. But its the process of life and I am grateful for all my experiences. The good and the bad. 

Love You All, 

Hna. Wilson

Inviting a Member to Get Baptized

Hola Todos!

How are we this week? I hope every thing is just excellent and that this email finds you all well and happy and enjoying the cold there in the states... here in panama... more specifially in Puerto.. it is so hot that within five minutes of being outside I am so wet I feel like I have just stepped out of the shower... so here we are... cooking in Puerto but the work is picking up again so that is a good thing. 

We actually had two investigators in church this week so I will go ahead and tel you about them. The first is Aura Concepcion... she is 15 years old and has a 1 year old baby. Her sister is a member and so she kind of already has that support system. She lives with her grandma and she is super receptive to the Gospel. We are hoping to se eher baptism the 29th of March. 

The other investigator that came to church is Susana. Her mom is a member in Arrijan in Panama and her mom asked us to talk wit her. She had gone to church once in Arrijan last year and came to church with us this Sunday. I felt bad because it was a broadcast and she got kind of bored but there is not much we can do about that. We tried introducing her to a girl her same age but neithe rof them we that interstied so we will pray that she comes the next week and likes it more. She also is preparing to be baptized the 29ths so we will pray that it goes well... 

Another investigator that we have that cannot come to church because of work is Midaline. She is 18 years old and has an 8 month old beby. Fortunately for us and her baptisimal date she is separated from the dad and wants nothing to do with him. We went and taught her on Saturday and found her with the lady that watches her baby, Ana is her name. I sat and talked with Ana and her daughter. She taold me that she was Catholic and that they went to church every Sunday. I asked if we could visit and she said no because she works and her kids are in school. So we invited her to stay for the Joseph Smith movie... and Satan works his magic... frist the cable borke for the DVD so Hna. Silver and i decided to run to a members house to ask to use their DVD player. When we got back Midaline told us that the volume on her TV always goes in and out and when we turned on the movie we could not hear any thing so we decided to teach the end of the Plan of Salvation. We had good participation from both of them and then I decided to ask Ana if she would get baptized. She looked at us for a minute and then said... Hermanas I need to say some thing... and we thought... okay... she already got baptized in the Catholic and doesnt think she needs to get baptized again.. then she says... I got baptized in your church over 15 years ago.... and we were both in shock. She told us she was not going to tell us but that she felt she needed to and so we talked for a long time about why she did not go to church and she told us she was going to help Midaline change her turns in her work so that she could go to church. I told Hna. Silvera that I felt like life was a lie.. but at the very least she accepted that we come to visit her and her family because she is the only member. We will see how that goes. 

Finally, to end... we met a family this week that basically told us to leae and never come back. It was because we sat down with her and talked about authority to baptized. Explained the Apostasy and the Restoration and she asked... so you are saying that the Pastor of my church does not have authority... and I tried to explain it nicely with an example but she was not getting it... so my comanion just out of now where says... we know that Christ only established one church when he was on the earth... thus only one church has the authority... while every one else means well there is only one baptism... like it says in the Bible... that has value to God... because it has to be done in His way... not in the way of men... and she was like... I need to pray... and prayed that we would be protected as we left... basically very nicely through us out... but we both left feeling we had said exactly what she needed at the moment and we will probably never gho back but at the very least she knows the truth... so there are no regrets there.

Things are progressing in the work her ein puerto. I am hoping that things will continue to progress... thank you for all your prayers and encouragement... this is all I have fo ryou guys this week... I love you all so much... I know the church is true.... keep on keein on...

Love, 

Hna. Wilson