The spirit is constantly just going boom

Hey all!!!!  Hope all is well.

Well this last week was a busy one and fun one. All week we were focusing on the four baptisms that we were having. They were for Sofia, Emanuel, and Jose Maria Jimenez who are the children of a member who has become active again. Along with Marta Ibarrola who is a daughter of a member. We did a baptism GUAZU!! Which is Guarani for big!!!! It was really awesome. I had the awesome opportunity and blessing to baptize both Sofia and Jose Maria. It was really funny. Jose Maria is a small kid and the waster was basically up to his mouth in the fount so he kinda had to swim back to the stairs after his baptism. Funny kid. The big thing here is cake cake cake. So they got to have not one but TWO cakes. Sadly I only got one piece but its ok get to keep my slender new figure hahaha. I never realized how much goes into a baptism. It is a lot. We were running around all day getting everything ready but it was all worth it and all awesome. They were all so happy and you can see the difference in their lives.

Funny story. So when we walk normally the same road to get to different parts of our area. Here in Paraguay whistling is the thing. I am quite sad that my whistling skills are kinda week and I can’t do any awesome ones like Ann Henstrom who is the queen of whistling. Normally they whistle to tell the bus driver to stop because someone is trying to get on or off the bus, to get the attention of a friend, but most of the time it is the little "oh hello there good lookin" whistle which is heard most of the time. Kinda glad that we don’t get that many of them because that would be really distracting but we do consistently get one everyday or so from the same house. At the starting I was like "who keeps on whistling to us everyday as we pass by?" One day I asked my companion who it was and he told me to look as we walked by. The next day when we left the house I gave a little peek and let me just say that I am very proud of myself because I have a nice little bird who whistles to us everyday as we walk by. Good little boost when having a down day.

A great thing that happened this last week is that we started teaching Renato. He is 20 a full time student who is working on the side for his education. We just talked to him on the streets and he told us to pass by his house. He lives in our city during the weekdays to travel to work and on the weekends he goes to his home on the other side of the city. It was sooooo awesome!!!!! I have never seen anyone more prepared to hear the gospel. We called him to do a visit and he didn’t answer so normally we wait for them to do a missed call which here means call me. Around 8 pm that night we got a call from a random number and it was he! He said, "Hey missionaries are you busy?" When an investigator says that to the missionaries we always say no and we were actually trying to find another persons house. So we told him no and he said "well then come on over and teach me ill be waiting outside my house" AWWWWWWwwwwwwwww YEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!! So we busted on over there and gave the lesson on the Restoration. He loved it!! He actually said, "I feel something different with you guys, I want to learn more. I think next weekend im gonna stay here and go to your church" How the Lord has blessed us with awesome people wanting to learn the truth!!!!!

Man this gospel is so awesome. The spirit is constantly just going boom "Elder Wilson I’m here now use me". Honestly without the spirit I would just be living and walking around Paraguay for two years, but with the spirit I am preaching the restored gospel of Jesus Christ here on the earth. I am so lucky and so blessed not to only be on a mission but to also be here in Paraguay. This is where I’m supposed to be and this is what I’m supposed to be doing. If I was doing anything else I would feel really weird and out of place. The gospel is true. Christ is our Lord, Savior, and Redeemer, he loves us and he is only asking us to come unto him. When we do our lives will be blessed like never before.

My best wishes, prayers, and love goes to you all

Elder Wilson

P.S. Letters take about a month or so to get back to the states also I have a limited money and its around 10.000 guaranis to send a letter so it may take time but they are being sent!!!!

Service project trimming Trees

ThinkingThin

do you love me more than these?

Hey everyone!!!!

so things are going pretty well in good ol paraguay. got a nice little heat wave and i actually enjoyed it. weird huh? a thing i was talking to my companion about he goes home in 3 more transfers which is flying for him and he doesnt like the idea of ending the mission. then he turned to me and said after the next transfer your gonna be close to the 6 month mark. i was like huh? no. but i realized that it is true. i then got really sad. i love the mission and i feel like ive just started but im getting close to being 1/4 of the way done. crazy and sad idea.

we had a zone conference (meeting with the president of the mission his assistants and 20 other missionaries) it was amazing and so awesome. it started at 8 and ended around 430 or so. honestly it felt like 2hrs and i could have stayed there and listened to it all day. i learned so much and how i can improve as a missionary. the best part was that we got to watch a talk that Elder Holland gave in the MTC. he is awesome and one of my favorite apostles to listen to. he speaks with such passion the spirit is like. boom goes the dynamite there. he focused on a question that the Lord asked Peter after he came back to find them fishing instead of teaching the people. he asked Peter "do you love me more than these" he had to ask Peter three time and Peter responded each time "Yes Lord". After the third time though the Lord said i dont know if it is exactly like this but he said "then feed my sheep". when president Holland said that i was like wow. the spirit was like a firework just going off like crazy. it was like the fourth of july celebration in plymouth during the grand finale. it made me be more determined to show the Lord that i love him more than anything in my life. that i am willing to put everything on the line for him. I have come to notice that when im giving it all im not hungry, im not tired, im not sad, im complete.

sorry this is not gonna be a huge email. but i just wanted to tell that experience and challenge you all to ask the same question to yourself that the lord asked to paul. "do you love me more than these?"

we do have two baptisms coming up this saturday. Emanuel  and Sofia  i cant wait im so happy for them you can just see their faith bursting out of them. i am so grateful for the people here in paraguay. it is amazing.

the church is true everything about it.
Christ is our lord and savior and we MUST go to him.
He is everything in my life and i love him and our heavenly father more than anything.

my best wishes and love,

Elder Wilson

Happy 200 Paraguay

Why hello everyone!

So this week has been alot of fun. Not only was it mothers day here but also it was the starting of the celebration of the bicentennial of paraguay!!! yaaaaaaaaa! unfortunately where we are we don’t get to see any of the big things. in the big cities HUGE parades and BIG performances all just a lot of fun for a great country.

So this last week i had a missionary classic story for missionaries who ride busses. we were going to another area to have a baptismal interview for which we had to take a bus. the busses here are either deserted or packed. this one was packed. there were no two seats next to each other for me and my companion to sit down so he sat with a guy and i went a few more seats back to talk to a kid around 15 or 16. just started chatting like normal stuff then got into the restoration. eventually ended up giving him a little pamphlet that we have and getting an address. the classic part was that my companion got of the bus and i hadn’t finished talking to the kid so i hurried to get his info and then jumped off the bus when it was moving. can you say awesome. yes. glad i didnt get hurt but i have to say that i am very grateful for my chinese firedrill skills that i have developed over the years. kudos to church ball with the med lake boys.

we also had a fun little activity for mothers day this last saturday. mothers day was this last sunday here. there was a bunch of songs of paraguay and poems for mothers. a story about the 2000 strippling worriors and how important the mothers were. we got to have a little fun thing. a puppet show!!!!! yes Elder Wilson and his companion Elder Piriz were the stars of a puppet show. we did a little first discussion and had a few little laughs it was wonderful.

oh and how many ways can you eat avacado (here known as awakate in guarani) so far here i have had two. one just mashed with sugar pretty yummy and then in a drink which was milk, sugar, some other thing, and awakate.

since many of those reading this know me very well. you know how much i love food and how much i dont only love eating it but also all of the other things around it. i cant really name the other things right now but you know what i mean. here we eat alot of empanadas. soooooo good. its whatever you can put inside of a little bread thingy which is really good. the picture will show. then there are the fun avacado things. the tortillas. oh and we eat alot of noodles with meat and rice with meat. yes i am eating rice its hard to believe but i am. and a thing called asado which is the bbq here which is amazing. not alot of seasoning but awesome. all which have made me lose 20 pounds!!!!!! my clothes are starting to look kinda funny so i have to go get them fixed cuz it doesn’t look to good.

a great thing about being a missionary is the constant spiritual experiences. we have them all the time and it is a wonderful thing to have. to grow spiritually is one of the greatest blessings of the mission. i have been asked to give a talk in zone conference which is a meeting of 50 plus missionaries and the president of our mission. the topic is attributes of christ. i have chosen to do charity. charity is the pure love of christ he has done so much for us and is our lord and savior he suffered for us that we may live with our heavenly father again. i love my savior so much. everyday though we must follow his example and be charitable to others. small acts can do big things. and it opens not only doors but hearts as well.

the church is true and i'm soooo happy to be here in paraguay.

love and miss you all

Elder Parker Wilson

Where Did The Winter Go???

HEY ALL!!!

so first to address the title of this email. ever since i got here to wonderful Paraguay the people have been promising me a winter. (summer time in states is winter time in paraguay) it was supposed to start this month. how joyful i was when for two days it was in the 60s for the day and dropped down to 40s at night! it was so amazing. for the first time in months i was not sweating all day, but as all good things they must come to an end. it ended in TWO DAYS! after that it was back up to high 80s and low 90s during the day. so elder sweat is back on the streets. but its ok they say that the winter should be coming in the next month or so and it lasts for 2 or 3 months. all i can do is wait and hope.

fun thing we did for a family home evening last week. (a family time where we teach a lesson and eat some food) we cooked a pizza!!!! it was soooooo good. the mom of our recent convert was showing me how to do it and it was alot of fun. one of the best parts was that i was able to live out a dream of mine. acting like i had my own cooking show. lets just say that bobby flay better watch out cuz i did pretty well and that was alot of fun.

a bonus to all of this heat and walking is that elder wilson is now skinnier. yes people of the united states of america elder wilson has been losing weight. last cinch thing on the belt ohhhhhhhhhh yaaaaaaaaaa. and it has only been 2 or so months. wowzers. a fun thing though is walking 10 or so miles a day all the missionaries here have thunder thighs its quite fun. i would love to show you all pictures but i forgot my camera at home so I’ll send some next week.

so here is the official declaration of mailing addresses


PACKAGES AND LETTERS

Elder Parker Wilson
Casilla de Correo 818
Paraguay, Asuncion 1209

LETTERS

Elder Parker Wilson
2881 Del Maestro c/ Caballero
Barrio Herrera
Asuncion, Paraguay

The one for just letters i think letters get to me faster so send letters to the just letters. Letters can go to either one but DEARELDER.com IS THE BEST WAY AND FASTEST!!!!  if you don’t know how to use dearelder.com ask my family or send something to me on facebook my dad will tell you how. all packages should go to the first address.

Yesterday was a great day. While mothers day here is next sunday we got to call our families and i got to chat with the fam for a good 40min or so. so grateful for my family they are truly one of the biggest blessings in my life. i love them dearly.

i have come to really love the people here. they are so welcoming and so open and so loving. yesterday was the first time that someone straight up didnt want to talk to us and went right into their house. though the mission is a tough thing i love preaching the restored gospel of Jesus Christ to the people. while we have our fun every now and then i love all of the wonderful spiritual experiences that we have. the warmth that is brought into the room  when we are teaching a lesson and bearing our testimonies of the truthfulness of the gospel.

i am so happy and grateful that i have grown up in the gospel. it has brought, is bringing and will continue to bring so many blessing into my life. while here some things are hard like one of our best investigators keeps on pushing back and back his baptism which is sad. i know that he has a testimony and i know that he wants to be baptized. our job now is to help him push through and remember all of the wonderful feelings of the spirit that he has felt before.

our focus this week is to find new people to teach. our teaching pool has gotten a little smaller. while we have alot of inactive people we need to visit the most important thing is finding people to share the gospel who are ready to receive it.

i know this church is true. Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and restored the true church of Jesus Christ back on the earth. Christ is the Savior and the Redeemer of the world. through him everything is possible. if we have faith in him not only will he reveal his secrets to us so we can better know him and the gospel but he will help us return to live with our heavenly father again. the Atonement is REAL. we can be forgiven of our sins, we can erase the feelings of guilt that we get when we sin, we can find the pure love of Christ in our daily lives. Christ is there. He is knocking at our doors. the only way that he can come in is if we let him in, and when we do that the doors of heaven will open and blessing will be pouring out to us. Christ suffered for us so we can be forgiven of our sins and repent. he has done his part. now the ball is in our court. the key now is to do ours.

i love and miss you all dearly
continue to have faith and be strong the Lord is there and he will guide you

my best wishes.

Elder Parker Wilson

Mom's day coming up

HEY,

so i didnt get to write yall on monday because it was a transfer week and on transfer weeks our pdays are moved to thursdays so that is why i am writing you now and there are no exclamation points on this computer so kinda stinks cant exclaim my enjoyment of certain things.

well the last transfer flew by. im still here in San Isidro which is in Lambare just south of the city. still with my dear ol trainer elder piriz and things are going swimmingly.

 
for our baptism though was have 5 planned for this month yay (exclamation points) we have victor single guy who is amazingly funny and great. loves the oldies of the US he always sings to me. hahaha. then sofia and emanuel kids of a inactive who we have activated? i think thats how you would say it and they are sooooo funny. and we are pushing dates for maria who is this kind women whose family has 5 generations living right now wow. and she is just wonderful. so funny and she has her mom living with her who is pushing 90 who is the funniest grandma in the world (other than my grandmas of course).

this month i have my first zone conference which should be alot of fun i have no idea what is going to happen. i know that that is when i could possible get my package.all of the big ones we have to pick up and the small ones they ship. i dont know the sizes right now but i can figure that out later.

our district is one fun one. we play ping pong every other pday or so and lets just say that elder wilson has not lost yet. soooo thank you very much. hahaha but i need to lose so i can be humbled of course. but we have a comp of sisters who have miracles happen everyday and just shows how awesome sister missionaries are cuz they always out do the elders. like how mom is always right. then we have the zone leaders who are wonderful and great missionaries who i strive to become and look up to. then another pair who are elder vaca and elder henriquez. elder henriquez is tall and skinny from chile and loves to draw and does so very well. elder vaca is soooooooo funny i think he is the latino version of me but way funnier he sadly left today for home though cuz we got two new people. havn't met them yet. i have come to realize how me being always happy is such a HUGE gift from the spirit it is insane how awesome it is and how i've come to notice not everyone is like that

the language here is really fun. im perfecting my spanish and getting rid of some bad habits that i have gotten over the years but speaking english is kinda weird now but i like it every now and then. but im learning guarani!!!!!! i found the exclamation point yes!!!!!! i can ask who do you want to say the prayer and other short phrases, but everything else is sooo much harder. i need to learn how to pray and how to say my testimony in guarani. i have also learned two different languages from elder piriz they are called heringoso. (Wikipedia defines aas a Spanish kind of pig Latin, in which each syllable is followed by the letter 'p', followed by the same vowel as contained by that syllable )(mara dargay if you read this i know how you talk now hahahaha) its with a kind of code and me and my companion speak it when we dont want other people to know what we are saying. there are some sketch moments out here that we need to do that but its normally all good.

so for all of you that know me you know that me and reading are not the best of friends. we have been fighting each other for some time now. i would only give in to harry potter, the enders game, and the amazing vince flynns novels. but i have found myself reading more and more everyday. not only from reading the scriptures which is one of my favorite parts of the day but also reading the liahona. we dont have much reading material so i often find myself in the time between getting ready and studying or before i go to bed reading a liahona or the wonderful letters that have been sent me. but reading the words of the prophets of old and modern day prophets are truely wonderful and i love them so much. there is a knowledge and a spirit that you get from them that you cant get anywhere else. i truely have a growing testimony that the Book of Mormon IS the word of God and is for us to help us through these tough times.

oh and not only a happy anniversary to my parents rockin the 30 but also happy 5 de mayo for all of my mexican friends and happy bicentario for paraguay!!!!! it is in the next few weeks. also welcome Tyler Wilson Jaynes to the fam. good lookin kid. love the name. very studly. also i love the letters i get from dearelder i am truely blessed with so many people who care for me. i am greatful for you all.

oh and most important of all happy mothers day. my mother (sorry to others) is the best of all. not only is she one of my best friends but she has made me the person i am today. without her my life would be different and i would be different. she brings such a beautiful and sweet spirit. i think i am a minni male version of her. if you see us interact you would really catch on. but i love her so much and she is such a blessing in my life. she always has the spirit with her and always follows the lords guidance. if you all know the Taylor swift song when she talks about her dad really that is my song about my mom and how wonderful she is. i love her dearly and she is one of the best blessings in my life.

i know that this gospel is true and we are here on earth to go through trials. but not only through these trials do we grow but also through Christ we can overcome these trials. i not only see it in my life but the lives of the people here everyday. it is so wonderful to see the light of Christ touch others lives and that is my purpose to bring the light of Christ unto others and declare his words. i love my savior and redeemer and am so greatful for him. he lifts me everyday and i learn more of him everyday. he lives and i know this is his church.



my love and best wishes go to you all

love

elder parker wilson 


ps all is well. us here it can go from crazy hot to crazy rainy in like 2 seconds. when it rains it pours. we had to go do baptismal interview cuz elder piriz is district leader and it was pouring the whole way so everything was soaked and it was windy so it was kinda cold. i have a feeling im going to turn into brig after my mission.