Parlez Vous Français?!?!?!?!

HEHE HOHO Hey family!!!

you may all be wondering "why is elder wilson writing things in french and spelling them perfectly and then doing funny french sounds?" well Elder Lamb from Utah has come to town. Growing up his dad would always speak to them in french so he is fluent. i now know how to say the shower, he, she, i, and you all in french. some fun stuff. plus my guarani is getting a lot better. i love the campo. it was sad to see elder gleason go - a great missionary and a great friend, but i am also super excited to be working with Elder Lamb he is an incredible missionary who has gone through some tough times on his mission but is persevering like a champ. a very clean and orderly person, which reminds me of evan, so he is giving me good cleaning habits and also we do a lot more hard core exercises. for example a few days ago we ran. he dominated me and was about 30 yards ahead (i could see him always) but i got destroyed. one of the greatest things though is that i have received a testimony from the Holy Ghost that Elder Lamb is who i should be with at this part of my mission. im learning how to be more bold and direct which is good because i needed to learn a bit more of that. what a blessing and how true it is that God knows your mission and has it all planned perfectly for you.

MIRACLE WEEKEND!!! so we have two families getting ready to be baptized the next two weeks. sergio y olga this week and then hector and florentina and fam next week!!!! both are going to be weddings and are going to be incredible!!!!!! the Lord is blessing us so much and we are finding so many more miracles everyday. obedience to the gospel and doing what the Lord calls you to do will open up so many wonderful doors. the great thing is right now we have a wonderful pool of amazing investigators all progressing at their own time but you can see how the Lord has prepared so many of them. for me im a lot skinnier at the moment in a good way though its nice and now working out better so yay. oh and i sang a solo in church. it went well.

friday we had an incredible experience. we had a special christmas conference with Pres. and Hna Agazzani, their family, the AP´s, and the zone. we read the story of Christs birth and shared our testimonies about it. we then listened to wonderful talks by Pres. and Hna Agazzani. then we watched a movie which honestly has changed my life. the movie is called "17 Miracles". you haven't watch it buy it and watch it. if you´ve seen it and haven't bought it buy it. it is a movie that depicts the travel of the Willi hand cart company from western europe to zion. is is depicted by a man who went on a mission and left his only son who was motherless and then on the way back helped this group of saints travel to zion. they tell multiple stories within it from multiple people. within it are 17 incredible miracles that occurred and truly looking at it all it was a miracle. the spirit was so strong. you just felt it the entire time. their faith is what just got to me. the faith that those saints had and the humility many of the people had to follow their leaders. the gospel is so incredible and simple at the same time. following the leaders that God has appointed to guide us and lead us and putting our personal pride aside is such a blessing. through our obedience we will be richly blessed. in the movie you saw that the saints who crossed were full of the fire of faith. many of them died of hunger, cold, fatigue, and sickness. the most amazing thing though is that they never lost the faith and they new that if they did not make it that the blessings for them above were so much greater then the small sufferings here on earth. it is a movie that honestly made me so much more grateful for my pioneer ancestors and what they sacrificed. makes me so grateful for Julie, because she is a pioneer in our family. the things people sacrifice to be obedient to God go over any type of obedience that comes from fear or desiring a reward. it is truly an obedience for love. by being obedient because we love our Father in Heaven is the way we see those amazing changes in our lives. my life has changed. my priorities and goals are not small petty things that can only be reached on earth. my goals are now for the eternities. the gospel shows us how. all we must do is follow the example Christ left and LIVE IT. those saints did. they did so so that we may have it today.

i love being a missionary for Christ true church and i testify with all of my heart that it is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Jesus Christ is the head of this church and it is the only church that has His authority to baptize and that a family can be forever. I know because i have felt it. I know it and I know that God knows it and i cant even fathom denying it. Thank you all for encouraging me to come on my mission. It means everything to me. today in a meeting that we had with the DL i said something that my companion said to me last night and it was completely true. Parker Wilson is dead. right now Elder Wilson lives, and in time Parker Maurice Wilson we live again but as someone changed through the atonement of Jesus Christ. right now im Elder Wilson because i am Gods servant and disciple.

thank you for all that you do

love

elder wilson  

Miracles and Buses

Hey family!!!

this last week we had a lot of miracles and a lot of traveling as well. monday through friday we traveled. once to asuncion and 4 times to caaguazu which is about an hour away. tuesday we had a huge miracle though. i was with elder cleverly the DL in caaguazu and we went to visit a family who was prepared to be baptized but just needed an extra push. so we went there, taught them and they had an amazing change of heart. we didnt do anything God just changed them. we told them that the Lord was preparing a baptismal service the next week and they said how they are going to argentina to visit family. so we then told them that they could do it this saturday they said ya, had a couple concerns about money, but it all got resolved. now they are preparing to enter into the temple as a family in 1 year!!!!

an interesting thought that me and my companion have talked about. first about being happy. Why are people not happy? sad things happen all the time and disappointments occur from time to time. we just always have to have the hope and the faith that all will turn out well. my favorite quote is "circumstances dont determine a happiness" it is so very true. we just have to put on a smile. we read how alma and his people were being enslaved by the lamanites but the Lord helped them ease their burden and they were happy! plus its Christmas time in the city. doot doo doo doot doo doot ringaling hear them ring!!!! not sure if i got it a 100% right but i hope it was close. so if everyone can do me a favor today and SMILE!!!!
 BECAUSE YOUR SMILES ARE AMAZING

the other topic we talked about was how the world does seem to get more and more wicked but the saints are becoming more and more converted. if we are true to the commandments and do the small and simple things no matter where we are in the world we will be firm on the rock of christ (Helaman 5:12) we have to all be firm in our faith, firm in our covenants, and firm in our testimonies. i was reading a talk by Elder Oaks and it tells of how sharing the gospel is the best way to fortify our testimonies. also being true to our covenants. some of us have just done that first and super important covenant of baptism others have done more sacred covenants within the holy walls of the Lords temples. no matter what covenant we have made we must keep it and keep strictly to it.then strive to make more. in that way we will always progress and always come closer to our father in heaven.

the work here right now is on the verge of exploding. we have 9 people that we are planning to help them make that first and key covenant of baptism this month. some obstacles are in the way but as long as we fast and pray the Lord shall show the way.

I testify that Christ is the head of this church. He is the Master our Lord and Savior. He invites us all to come unto Him through doing sacred covenants with Him and the Father. may we all be true to our covenants in all times and all things and in all places. let us do the small and simple things. 

love you all so much

elder wilson

White Christmas Preparation

hey everyone!!!

so we are here on a normal summer day here in paraguay, its close to about 100 F outside and i am wearing a long sleeved shirt which is nice but i guess you get use to sweating all the time after a while. oh how the mission changes you.

we are all getting ready for a white christmas here in paraguay! sadly there is no snow and if there ever is some i think the entire country would got on a lock down; so its a blessing. we are getting ready to have an amazing month of december. we have been so blessed to have so many new investigators who are progressing and going to church. this last weekend we had 6 at church but sadly two had to leave for a thing that they had to do for their son, but it was still amazing. it is also really interesting where two of our investigators are located - from one of them to the other it will most likely take about 1hr or 1hr 15min to walk. they are worth it though. one is an amazing new family that are seaching for the truth and are reading the Book of Mormon a ton, and the other is a brother of a sisiter who is going to be sealed this saturday with her husband!!!!! i love eternal families.

the meeting we had today was incredible!  the theme was having a white christmas and baptizing more and more. the mission is really being so blessed and growing so much. a really sad but wonderful thing that happened also was we were able to hear the testimonies of three missionaries who are returning home with honor next week; elder ponce who i dont know very well but who is a wonderful missionary, elder clement who i have known since last june and been in the same area with for about 5 months and elder henriquez who i met my second day in paraguay. all wonderful finishers and incredibly focused and dedicated missionaries. oh and so you guys know right now i am looking at a guy who is wearing a brewers' hat and a brewers' shirt. fun stuff it is interesting the connections to the states. he's got a hunting bag he is a wisconsin man. (but back on topic). 

its so amazing how far i have come. today i was able to renew my temple recommend and it was incredible. it just helped me remember why i am here and what i am learning. i saved my other one. i think i will like to hold onto them all so i can show to my future generations how i always was worthy to have my temple recommend. pres at the end gave me a hug and said "elder wilson you got 2 transfers to work miracles out there." i told him that i will. it all comes down to our decision  what we choose to do will effect everything. it is sad to see how some missionaries die down towards the end but not this guy. we are going to be seeing white. this last week a miracle happened in the other area in our branch. a missionary in training had his first baptism. the guy had attendances before went and found the guy and two weeks later because of sincere pray he is a member of Gods true church.

have a happy and wonderful week. love you all dearly. go to the temple often it will always bring you peace. i testify that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. Joseph Smith was a Prophet called of God. This is Christs true church and He is at the head. The atonement is real. no matter what the challenge you can overcome.

love you all

elder wilson

Finding Joy Through Others

HEY!!!!

this last week we did a bit of traveling. our zone has a base of three cities and we went into the other two this last week for baptismal interviews and other meetings. makes ya a tad bit tired but thanks to all of the soccer traveling in the past im kinda used to it. traveling by bus is actually kinda nice and pretty cheap. 

this last week the main thing that i learned was finding the joy in watching others succeed. i have had it frequently in my life but this last week i fully felt it. one was during sacrament meeting. the other elders have this incredible guy who they are working with who is ready to be baptized. when i saw him all by himself walk into the chapel i got super excited for the kid and also for the other missionaries. also because the zone  at the start of the month wasn't  having a prosperous month by helping others enter into the waters of baptism; 14 people in our zone were baptized this month and the mission got over 100 which is incredible. we are going for 1000 total by the end of the year. i think that is something that is really good for me to acquire. finding joy in the success of others. me being a wilson and all of you know i am a somewhat competitive person. i find it really great that i am eliminating that type of pride within me and finding the joy in the progress and miracles in the lives of other missionaries and other people.

a fun little things we did this week was a bit of service. it feels good to serve have charity. we went on over to a recent converts house and built them a chicken coop. it was saaaaaweet! basically how they do it is getting whatever wood is around and nailing it all together. an amazing thing about the people here is that they are like mcgiver (i dont know how to spell his name) but when it comes to building things or fixing things or anything. they make anything out of everything. aaaaaaaahhhhh paraguay i love it. 

an interesting thing that i have come to realize during my mission is all of the different types of pride there are and how many different ways there are to be prideful. kinda scary but really interesting. example. if one is not willing to forgive themselves they are not letting the atonement come into their lives. in other words their pride is getting in the way of their own forgiveness. me and my companion talked about multiple small and different ways one can be prideful without even realizing it and then we worked on eliminating that. how you may ask? CHARITY CHARITY CHARITY OHHHH CHARITY. having a smile, being nice, turning the other cheek and doing all of those small things to be happy. i started a study today in the book of mormon on christ and the atonement. its so incredible how it works. anything you can change, anything you can get rid of, anything you can fix. the love of the Lord is so incredible and it just makes you want to do better and to be a better person. on my mission i have come to understand the atonement so much more and the importance of the atonement and of the savior. i have an christmas gift for all of the family. i would like to invite you all to take a Book of Mormon and mark and study everything that talks about Christ and the Atonement. i did it for half of one chapter and it was incredible it will bring so many blessings.

i know that this church is true. i know that christ lives and how joyful it is to be apart of this work.

love you all 

elder wilson


Pictures: 
1. This is the legendary golder alfajorpe. it is like the jackalope of the missionaries. you hear about it all the time, and every once in a while see a wrapper, but this last week we had the opportunity TO EAT ONE!!!! it was incredible!!! (Alfajores are the quintessential street food in South America. )2. Yaaaaaaaaaaa............. thats elder gleason. he got a hold of my camera
3. gotta love the campo bunch of great pictures

Its the most wonderful time!

first of all just got off the phone with Elder Schone who is coming here this week to do divisions in our zone and he sends his love to you all. a great missionary and a great friend.

SOOOOOO this  week on monday we had a wonderful experience. we found a golden family. they are Sergio and Olga; they have a little boy whose 5-years old and has epilepsy. a special kid but a wonderful experience to  share my testimony with them. we did a big service project with them. went with a member on over to their house to trim a tree. trimming here is cutting off most of the branches. it was about a 60 feet tall tree and we climbed up with a machete and chopped it on down. my companion went to the higher parts because we couldn't fit two so i got to chop on down below and he took down a big one that almost fell on him but he was saved and it is a great journal entry. the best part though happened at 8:20am on sunday...... they went to church all by themselves and absolutely loved it!   they felt the spirit so much and even though there are some communication boundaries at the moment because they speak more guarani than spanish they are progressing wonderfully! 

later on that night we had a very interesting thing happen, not to go into detail, but some guys started to chastise us, the church, and the Book of Mormon. the spirit was not there at all so respectfully we got out, the man did invite me to pray and ask God if what he said was true. with that invitation i invited him to read the Book of Mormon and to ask God if it was true. i accepted he declined. that night both me and my companion were on our knees for some time and i prayed for so long searching for an answer and i received one. a still small peace and love came to me when i asked God if the Book of Mormon is true and if this is Gods true church. doesn't matter how many times you ask God will always answer. 

throughout the week we saw many more things maybe not as large but things that were attacking our testimonies. it was very interesting that with every attack i have become more and more determined 

to strengthen my testimony and testify of the restoration of Gods true and living church on the earth 

today. I feel more and more inclined to talk to people about the restoration, to present and testify of the Book of Mormon to all. at the end of the race you gotta be strong ya. its like bending your knees and doing the full follow through when your shooting free throws and you got only one minute left. you gotta focus, and give it all. its so interesting because there are times that me and my companion feel physically beat, but we can keep on going. our bodies are feeling tired but our minds and souls are invigorated (super spell check) to keep on sharing the gospel. honestly it is so amazing to me how true the church is in its simpleness. God called prophets since the beginning of time (adam). man would always reject them. he continued calling prophets until He sent His only begotten Son to save us from sin. Jesus Christ established His church with apostles and His authority. again through the wickedness of man it was lost. in its simpleness. now God has restored His church through a modern day prophet joseph smith. I testify that the boy joseph saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. through him the keys to the salvation of man were restored. now the big question HOW CAN WE KNOW? well that is where the Book of Mormon comes to play. Moroni 10:3-5 read, ponder, pray, and you will know through the Holy Ghost. we just need to be humble and we can know. I LOVE the Book of Mormon. I testify that it is the word of God. the Lord has blessed me with these 2 years to testify of its truth and especially for me to come to know its truth. I love this church. more importantly i love my God and I love Him for sending His Only Begotten Son to save me from my faults.

i love you all and I'm so grateful for all that you do. the church is true and i will declare it to all that can hear. that the spirit may guide me during that time so that its now me who is speaking but it is Him. i am nothing. through God and the atonement of Christ i can be perfected.

love you!!!

Elder Wilson

Mmmmmmmba´etekopio

Hello dear family and friends!!! 
how art thou?! 
(gotta love the wilson vocabulary)

to start off - let you all know I got the package along with all of the dearelders and blair and Julie's letter. thank you all very much!!! the ties are saweet! the sox i am sporting a pair right now and my feet approve. the gum my companion approves very much. thank you thank you thank you!

so a fun thing that we are doing  now is a bunch of divisions which means that i am out of our area about 2 times a week or so. right now i have been to every branch here in our city, and this following week we get to take an hour bus ride and i get to go do divisions in Villa Rica which is about 1 hour south and the next week we are going out to ca´aguazu which is about 1 hour west. our zone takes up 3 cities which is pretty cool got to go out to the campo campo´ite!!! which was great! the fun thing is that this week i get to see 2 of my old companions (elder norton and elder horton!!!) they are both in my zone and actually there are 4 or 5 missionaries that were in my district when i was a DL in sajonia about a year ago which is really cool get to see them again and work with them again.

so this week we had a great thing . we had a great "endure to the end talk". we are seeing how some missionaries are slowing up and not working as hard and are getting trunky (wanting to go home and not working) well we are on the anti-trunky train and we are going full steam ahead. we felt a strong impression on how we end our missions will be a huge factor on our futures. are we going to be finishers or no? that is the question. for me it is a solid YES!!! right now we are having difficulties when it comes to some ward things and people coming to church on sunday. we have an amazing family, the familia gayoso, who are so ready and so amazing!!! they are going to be  baptized in the beginning of december, we also are working with this great kid named junior who is changing his life around. the branch is struggling a bit but you know what you gotta put on a smile and keep on working giving your all and just loving the people always and testifying of the truth. due to the pictures i don't have a ton to write but let us all endure to the end always (love the finishers wanted talk)

love you all and pray for you daily

elder wilson


Pictures
 So the computer isn't letting me look at the others so i think your just gonna have to guess for these ones. 

Bday feast (mexican food)

cool bday gift they god me

yes - living in the country

not quite sure

easing down the road ( notice pavement)

if only we had wheels

my companion elder gleason

Coronel Oviedo

so i have five minutes. ill tell ya why.

so we are out here in beautiful coronel oviedo me with elder gleason from utah. he is awesome!!! we got up at 3 this morning to catch a bus for asunción. its about a 3 hour ride for our ZL meeting. got there to find that all of the good buses had left and the seats on the ok ones were full. there was only standing room. well we took it!!! it was a once in a lifetime experience. a girl got sick on the bus and threw up, but its just another great journal write. fell asleep standing up which i've never done before. all in all it was awesome. all of the elders at the meeting asked me how my first trip was and they all loved the answer especially elder pastul. 

so out here there are 24 elders and they are in 3 cities all 1 hour apart. our area is much more humble but amazing. i love it! it is really different and we are making some changes in the zone but with the Book of Mormon, faith, and prayer. things are going to be changing and its going to be amazing!!!!

thank you for all that you do and love you all gotta head out!!!!

love

elder wilson

Week of Growth

HEY FAMILY!!!

hey guess what im 21! wooo hoooo!!!! fun stuff! (its his birthday today)

this week i was able to receive three different presents from 3 different people for the last three days. 

Saturday.
we woke up at 4am to get to the stake center to get in line to listen to an apostle of the Lord. Elder David A. Bednar came to visit us and to give us council. The biggest thing that he taught us was that he didn't teach us anything. He always said "el Espíritu Santo es el maestro" the Holy Ghost is the teacher. by getting there super early because it was to begin at 830 and we got there at 530 we were able to get the best seats. the second row right in front. now i can say that he doesn't look as young as he used to but he still has it. both missions were there together. about 400 at one time. i was also able to see my last three companions there which was really fun. first we listened to sister bednar. she talked about us being the good boys and girls and being the great missionaries that our mothers say we are. she also said a wonderful quote on how to live our lives for the gospel. being 100% consecrated to the work and to following the Lord. just a great short talk.

we then listened to Elder Bednar. he didn't have any notes. just his scriptures and told us how that day we were not to write anything down we were to write down the impressions of the spirit. it was a question and answer. for the first part he asked questions and we answered then we asked questions and he answered.

The Holy Ghost is the teacher:
               - we need to be obedient to be worthy to have the spirit
               - Listen. Observe. Discern. Act
               - If you feel the spirit then you are worthy of it
               - If you feel impressed to do something just do it. don t worry if its the spirit or not. some times you will have no idea for a long time maybe even years just do it anyways
               - Being consecrated is the way of being a worthy conduit (spell check i have no idea)

How to Teach
               - Don't play guess whats in my head, ask them a question to let the spirit work with them
               - DONT TREAT PEOPLE AS OBJECTS YOU MUST TREAT THEM AS AGENTS OR THEY WONT BUILD THERE OWN TESTIMONY
               - we need to have eyes to see and ears to hear

Faith
               - how through teaching the right way we are able to help other people grow in there faith
               - by helping them exercise their faith by looking for their own answers they can obtain there own testimonies

i had the opportunity to answer a question on what i learned from the talk. honestly i dont remember much of what was said what i do recall though was the feeling that i had. i had been looking for a strong feeling a big impression to have a stronger testimony and as I answered my question and later on listened to Pres. Arnold of the 70 i realize what my testimony is like. I have rarely had a huge spiritual experience. I honestly cannot tell you an experience where i had a huge fiery burn in my heart that the Book of Mormon is true. if i did i would be lying. I know it is true because through time i have obtain tiny pieces of the puzzle. line upon line and precept upon precept. that is my testimony. it has taken 21 years but i got it 100% down now. what a blessing it is.

How elder bednar just talked was amazing. you saw the spirit within him and you felt it. he is converted and i want to be as converted as he is. one of my favorite quotes was "do you guys think that someone would join the church because of what a 19 year old kids say to them? you have got to be kidding me! there is no way! are you kidding me! people are only converted because of the spirit"

Sunday 

we were able to listen to Elder Arnold and i just want to take what he has taught me and build upon it. i am changing my life and am starting a new one. great talk!!!!

Monday

gifts from other elders and one from pres. agazzani. I'm going to Coronel Oviedo! leaving asuncion!!!! sad but true. going to the boonies yaaaaaaaa!!!!!


love you all and thanks for all that you do!!!!


elder wilson

Much Thought

Hey family!!!!


elder pastul says hi. he's great. i love the guy, very funny and a hard working elder. has a fun laugh and is teaching me a lot. very much the same person which is good because it helps me grow personally. well there is a nice little snippet of elder pastul. sorry that my details aren't so amazing. 

well this last week has been a busy week full of divisions, evaluations, decision making, and think; think; thinkin. had the opportunity to host two different missionaries in our area this week. Elder Holgate (in training) and Elder Dominguez (got here with me). two different days both filled with miracles and wonderful things. its very interesting the range of missionaries on the mission. both of these elders are incredible, but both as everyone of us have, had the things that they are personally working on. one thing that i realized is how huge of a blessing it was to be at RSI (robbinsdale spanish immersion). i have never gone through the complete uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh "i have no idea what this person is saying" phase. i am very grateful for that because it helped me focus on working myself out in my personal conversion, and helping people come to know Christ's gospel. its super fun too because with the time that most of the missionaries that i am with have, we can talk about many experiences that we have had on the mission. its so crazy and so interesting how the outside world kind of just washes away. not saying that i have forgotten you guys no no no, but more of like what my life is now. its different. i have different priorities, different goals, and i am just different. much of that comes through having much thought. example is working with all different types of people. 

right now we are teaching a man who has a really big problem with alcohol and drugs. we need to apply all that we are teaching to HIS need and to help him with HIS problems. taking what we know and letting the spirit guide us so that we can help him see the love that our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ have for him and how they are both calling for him to repent and be baptized to change his life around. then we go to the miracle woman from last week who just felt a pull to go to church. she comes from a church that i don't know if it exists in the states its called pentecostal. (they have strong faith in Christ and know the bible, dress very conservative, have a way of taking, and all wonderful people). we have to follow the spirit to shape how we teach her. we meet with her in the church and have at least one member with us because we cannot be alone with her. the last lesson we had a very spiritual experience and we both felt that she is prepared enough to be baptized on saturday. she said yes. it was so amazing how it all was just shaping. me and my companion worked in union and by following the spirit and him being the teacher the sister has gained a strong testimony of Joseph Smith being a prophet of God, the Book of Mormon and that this is Christ true and living church on the earth today.

also with the separate responsibilities that we have we work with other missionaries. some are having troubles in their companionship which leads us to much prayer, conversation, and thought. we receive the revelation to help them and then we talk to their DL get it all set up and let the spirit work.

all in all everything takes much thought ,much thought, much thought. controlling ones mind is key and that is something that has taken over a year to do and am still working on but God has helped me so much and by praying constantly, and especially reading the scriptures i can control my mind and leave them open for much though much though good and uplifting thought. which is a huge blessing that is helping me see how God is shaping me for the things that are happening right now and for the things of my future.

the church is true. God calls living prophets and apostles today. i love you all and pray for you dearly have a most wonderful week an jajotopata (guarani for see you soon but in this case it will be talk to ya soon)

love

elder wilson

Another week of miracles

Hey guys!!!!

how are you all doing?!?!?!?! my wish is that all is going amazingly! things are going great out here we had a bunch of miracles this last weekend. in the zone there were 5 baptisms and 6 confirmations!!!! it was amazing!!! everybody is getting the spirit of baptism. not only the missionaries but we are starting to see it in the wards aswell. we are all sharing the importance of sharing the gospel with everyone.

we had a bunch of things go on this last week. well due to time and my capacity to move my fingers rapidly im going to tell a few. weds we had the opportunity to have interview with pres. agazzani. i love interviews! get to have one on one time with pres. and talk about the zone and how things are going in my life. that morning we got a call from elder schone telling us that there is going to be a white wash in our zone (two missionaries in and two missionaries out). this was going to be the second one in this transfer. zone 5 is getting all shifted around. we now have the great opportunity and blessing to have two sisters now in the zone working in the area of monte lindo. both great and hard working sisters. one hna hubbard is from the states i dont know where and the other hna rojas is from paraguay. so when we got to the office for interview we got to go on field trip to bring them to there new pension. elder schone drove us and we got a little bit lost so it took a bit of time. we then got back to the office and had interview. me and pres. mainly talked about the zone and what is going on in the zone and how we can all work together to see more progress in the stake. it was a great interview.

we also had a great miracle on sunday. we got to church around 8:40 after going to find an investigator who didnt answer the door and we left our stuff and went searching for other investigators. we went with members to some and just us to most. we ended up searching for people until the starting of sacrament meeting around 10:20. we got there and kept on looking to the door to see a miracle. we looked far and wide. talked with all that we could to invite them to church with us and nothing happened. then after fast and testimony meeting while we were writing down a reference from a sister, elder stewart came up to me and said "elder! you have an investigator outside who wants a Book of Mormon!" we were shocked and went to go talk to her. her name is norma and she came to church by herself at 830 and stayed for everything and loved it. at the end she went up to elder stewart and said "can i have you book?" he thought that she was a member from our side and i thought she was a member from their side so as soon as she said that to him he realized that she wasnt a member. we now have a visit set up for tuesday at the chapel with a friend of hers who has talked to her about the church before. i know that that miracle was a gift from God, and i know that since we showed our faith in inviting everyone and running all over the place to find people we were able to have a miracle.

during fast and testimony meeting i had the opportunity to bear my testimony. i was sitting there and i wanted to say something and i had no idea what to say then while meditating on it the words of one of my favorite efy songs came into my head "i am just one voice, just one voice can change the world. i have made my choice and sealed my witness with my word" i then felt the spirit and high tailed on up there. i testified about the power of one voice. how we are all saved through one voice, the Lords voice, and how His one voice changed the world. i then talked about how we can all use our voices to testify and to invite people to come unto Him and come to know His true gospel. think about it if every family brought just ONE PERSON to church the ward wherever we find ourselves will grow. so my question to all who read this today is; who are you going to bring to church on sunday? for those who are not members; come on over! it will be an amazing experience  that you will never forget and that will change your life as it has changed mine.

i testify that this is Gods true church on earth that holds His priesthood power. the Book of Mormon is true all you gotta do to know is to read and then ask God. simple. one small step of faith can change the world. Joseph Smith saw God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. 

I love you all and pray for you daily!!!

best wishes

Elder Wilson

General Conference

Hey fam I'd like to start off with a question:

Who am I?

Personally i would like to quote a talk by Ann Dibb which i very much loved. I am Elder Parker Maurice Wilson. I am a Mormon. I know it. I live it. I love it! I am also a representative of Jesus Christ. I have been called by Him to serve my wonderful brothers and sisters down to the south of Paraguay. I am from a wonderful family. Full of love laughter and joy. Now I have a sister who will also be able to serve the Lord at age 19 which has been revelation received from the most high from a living Prophet of God. I am a man who believes and knows that the true Church of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth once more. I am a representative of that true church which holds the holy priesthood. This priesthood power that i am blessed to hold has more power than any king, president or ruler because it is the power of God that He has entrusted to man once more. 

I am a man who loves to learn and to grow. I am someone who before this last weekend had multiple questions. Through listening to the living prophets and apostles of God i have received multiple answers. I am a man of faith. A faith that before i came on the mission was borrowed. before i came on the mission i was bright because i borrowed pieces of lights around me. Now i can rise and shine forth. I am a representative of Jesus Christ. I am a member of the Fellowship of the Unashamed. My calling is as it is stated in the scriptures to declare repentance and baptism to all so that they may find the real joy, the only eternal joy that can be found through the true gospel of Jesus Christ.

I am someone full of defects and errors. I work everyday to polish them off. I am someone who can testify to all as a representative of Jesus Christ testified to the King of Tonga to follow Christ because only through Him i have been able to fix my defects. I am a man who has fallen, but more importantly i am a man who has lifted himself up again. I am a man grateful for all of those who have lifted me up. From the guys (TP, Al, Matt, and J), to ward leaders from deacons quorum advisor Ethan Klimes of Minnesota through till Bishop Quinn, and Pres. Peterson of Naperville. I have been blessed with wonderful influences and friends. from the cold lakes of MN and bustling city of Chicago, to the strong pillar of support at BYU and the builders of my faith in the heat of Paraguay. Most of all i am a man who recognizes the start of it all. It all started with the Tim and LaRinda Wilson family. from 3 older brothers to show me how and to throw me around, to a little sister to push me farther up and to show me whats up. To wonderful grandparents who were my taxi (gpa wilson) and the only person who can beat me in quiddler without seeing completely her cards (gma wilson) to the best basketball analyst in the world (gma bond) to the calm and quiet example of how to raise a family (gpa bond). I am of a large extended family from the Wilson brigade to the Christensen towers, and to the wonderful warm Bonds who always have a home for me. 

Basically as you can see all of who I am has come from mainly four people or groups, my Father in Heaven, Jesus Christ, You All and a little bit of me. 

Again i ask Who am I? The best answer is, I am a son of the living God.

General conference was wonderful. My favorite talks were The first by Elder Cook, Sister Dibb, D. Todd Christofferson, Elder Holland, and all of the first presidency. This was honestly the best one that i have been apart of. i honestly would love to sit and chat with you all about all that i learned from conference and what i have learned on my mission but my fingers don't type fast enough and it will take days. 

one thing is sure though. as the Prophet said. We gotta see people for who they can be. basically we gotta see them all in white as the Lord sees them. This is the true church of God I KNOW IT: The Book of Mormon is the word of God and it is the only perfect book on the face of the earth. let us all listen to the prophets and be strictly obedient to the word. that is the only true happiness.

ELDER BEDNAR IS COMING HERE FOR MY BIRTHDAY!!!!! well 2 days earlier but igual no mas!!!!

I love you all and I'm so grateful for all that you do.

love

Elder Wilson

Families Can Be Together Forever

Hey fam!!!

WOW! i don't even know where to start. this last week we had the greatest blessing in the world. we were able to witness not just one but two weddings and two baptisms it was incredible! Blanca and Arnaldo got married and she was baptized. we found them on a contact and found that they are a part-member family. We started teaching them and felt the Spirit so strongly, many times and were able to teach them at the chapel many times. (they live right in front of it, which was the best part) they are so happy and have the goal of going to the temple one year from now.

i don't have much time but here i go on this one.

Thursday we went to talk to another part-family where the dad was the only one who was not a member. the family as a whole have been talking to the missionaries for about 3 years. we go there on Saturday teach a powerful lesson about the atonement of Jesus Christ and at the end invite them to come to the wedding. they say "ya we would love to come and while we are there we will be able to talk to the judge" we say "talk to the judge? do you still want to get married?"  they say "ya, our plans were to get married....... this Saturday right?" we respond "true would you like to get married this Saturday?" they SAID YES!!!!! so we got things all ready for two weddings. let me tell you there is a lot to do:food, decorations, judge, money, people, baptismal stuff. we were all over the place. then the next day Friday we invite the dad Emilio to be baptized. he gets kind of shocked because it would be the next day. we ask him if anything would impede him. he said 'no' and so we invited him again and he said 'yes'! a good thing we were on divisions with the district leader and he interviewed him right there.

this last week i had some attacks on my testimony on eternal families. we testified and testified and its sad how some people don't believe that we can be together forever. the best moment and testimony builder was on Sunday for me. All in one glance i saw: Nestor and Mirna, Roberto and Mirta, Blanca and Arnaldo, and Emilio and Petrona. 4 families with the goal and on the path to become together forever, sealed in the temple for all time and all eternity. the spirit just hit me; and there is not a lick of a doubt in my being that a family can be together forever. through being sealed in the temple of God by one holding His authority it is possible. of this i testify with all of my heart. i am going to have my eternal family because that is where i will find so much happiness and that is what God wants for me.

i love you all and am so grateful for you and i pray for you daily!
love

Elder Wilson

Big Shift

Hey family!!!!

hope all is going well with you guys. changes were this last week as i said in my last letter. we had no transfer so I'm going to be having 4 changes here in ka´aguy rory and we are going to keep on baptizing and helping the Lord's work move forward!  there were a bunch of changes in our zone and mission. not just changes in companionships but also in districts and adding more missionaries to certain areas. in our zone there have been mainly just a few companionships or areas that have been baptizing. (in ka´aguy rory the ward has baptized more than 50 people in the last year) so the mission moved them around. now our district is with the office. the APs no longer live with us they got swapped with another area and now we have a brand new missionary Elder Holgate (draper, UT) and Elder Stewart (rigby, ID) who are with us here. its a bit different, but its nice we got to move our study stuff into the room that has AC so that was nice. there are also two new APs one being Elder Schone my old companion. he is amazing and is going to be a lot of help to the mission.

This last week we saw many miracles. we were able to find a bunch of new people who we are helping prepare for baptism and we are going to be apart of the wedding of Arnaldo and Blanca; and Blanca is going to be baptized afterward !!!!! you gotta love eternal families. our friend Jorge who was getting ready to be baptized last week got back from the hospital after getting part of his finger cut off. he is super happy though and is getting ready to be baptized as soon as he physically can! in the zone we are also seeing a whole bunch of miracles. there are more areas that are starting to baptize that didn't baptize  much before and are getting animated and excited and having that be all that they want to do is baptize baptize baptize. 

we also had a different and fun thing that we did this last week. we went to serve! all of the missionaries have been in coordination with the group Project Smile that goes around the world and helps people who are born with cleft palate (i think that's what its called). we took a bus in normal clothes, which was really weird, at 6 in the morning to get there by 7. we  mostly helped with filing, moving boxes, packing things up, and taking out garbage. it was their last day so we were helping them out with that. most of the people there spoke english so it was interesting, felt kind of weird, but it was a great day of service got to head on out around 1 or so. a fun thing is that we were there with the north mission and i met chase quinn's cousin who is serving there. i saw the name tag elder quinn and asked him if he was related to a chase quinn and he said yes. so its great how you can make fun connections everywhere. 

its interesting with the experience that i have had on the mission i find myself just saying to people. "hey, God loves you and wants you to be baptized in His restored church can we come by and teach you how you can prepare yourself to do so?" i read a quote from a talk by Elder Adrian Ochoa and he said "utilize the priesthood power to invite other to repent and be baptized. you have been given the mandate and power to do so from our Heavenly Father." its really interesting how that is our calling to do just that and i am so grateful for it and the opportunity that i have to share it and to grow.

i love you all and am so grateful for all that you do keep on doing those little things to endure!!!

love

elder wilson

The Heat is BACK

Hey fam!!!

as you can see by the title our beautiful Paraguayan heat has returned. today and yesterday we have been in the low 100s and its not death, its not horrible at all. you gotta be super grateful for AC though. 

this last week we had a bunch of great experiences. on Tuesday we were able to have a conference with all of our zone again. it was great, more interaction from the elders and we were able to find 71 people that can be baptized this month!!!! now we just gotta do our part. listen to the spirit ask inspired questions and teach the doctrine and invite them to be baptized and put a baptismal date with them. miracles are going to rain! its going to be amazing!!!

we also had a wonderful opportunity to be able to have a regional conference with SLC this last sunday. all of the stakes and districts in Paraguay and Uruguay listened to a conference where we heard Elder Walter F. Gonzalez of the 70, Sister Reeves of the Relief Society presidency, Elder Niel A. Andersen, and our beloved prophet Thomas S. Monson. it was so incredible how everything that they talk about was exactly what we need here in our beautiful paraguay - for the gospel and church to grow. the things that i got big out of it, that i want to apply is first: searching for the guidance of the Spirit to know what the people need at that place and time, connect with them. Elder Andersen talked about the biggest soccer rivalries in paraguay and uruguay it was pretty funny, also a wonderful quote that he said was "if we don't try it we won't do it. if we don't do it, then why are we here?" referring to going to church, home and visiting teaching, and other responsibilities. it was wonderful and just a huge blessing to be able to listen to the living prophet of God. he talked about going and saving lost souls and bringing them back to the fold. he mentioned two parts, one showing them their eternal potential and the other knowing that people can change. I'm a witness to that. how i have  changed, it is incredible. thinking about how i was, what i would do, say, and what were my priorities before having completely changed and it is a huge blessing that i have received from that change.

a nice little reminder that came to my mind during my studies in the last couple of days and teaching a man named Santiago who we are helping drop drinking, is the effect of small choices. either doing them or not doing them. both having a negative effect. he drank a little bit and burnt his food with hot oil. now though he is determined and is feeling the spirit so much, has a ton of ward support and is really changing. it is a testimony that man can change. thinking about it, it is how we must do those small things. are we all doing our daily scripture study personally and as a fam., are we praying together and individually, are we going to the temple as much as possible. those are the great questions.

well time is up on my computer love you all an