Faith, Hope, and Charity

Hey fam!!!!

first, i hope this finds you all well. things are going splendid here in Paraguay. the temp is starting to cool down a bit. we are in the 80´s most of the day which is really nice. it is raining a lot more lately which makes it fresh and nice not as much humidity in the air. being so close to the river there is normally a nice fresh wind that comes through every once and while.

this last week has been a week full of miracles. well isnt everyday and every week full of miracles. yes true, true. a thing that i got big on studying this last week was faith, hope, and charity. i dont remember if i talked about it in my last email, but i like the topic so i´ll talk about it anyways. whenever those words come into a flow together. i think of section 4 of Doctrine and Covenants that says "with faith, hope, charity, and love with an eye single to the glory of God qualify him for the work". a common question that missionaries throw around every now and again is, how is my faith in the Lords work at this moment? when your faith is up, your excitement for the work is up, and that just pushes you through all of the tough trials. you also just gotta be happy. a common thing that i like saying is the classic "dont worry, be happy" of course with a little tune with it. also one of my favorite quotes that says "circumstances don't determine happiness." you just always gotta be happy and have that big ol smile on your face!!!

one of the coolest miracles that happend this week was with this man named Quintin. about a month ago a little kid about 6 years old came up to me and my companion at night and asked us a question. i didnt really hear him so i just said "i'm broke" in guarani because in those circumstances some kids ask us for money. i then heard him a second time and he said "do you have anything about God" i told him ya and gave him a little card. a week or so later he came up to us again and asked for more. i asked him what he did with the card that i gave him, he told me that he gave it to his dad. with that answer we gave him a pamphlet on the restoration. he then came up to us a third time a week or so later and asked for more. we gave him a plan of salvation and asked if his dad liked what we gave him. he said yes. after we chatted we saw that we had a couple of minutes before heading in so we decided to follow him. we followed him around the corner till we saw him turn to a man and give him the pamphlet. i recognized the house and we marked it down as a place to go. one night we felt that we should go by and say hello. we clapped the house talked to the man. his name is Quintin and he told us how his wife had just passed away a few years ago and he is looking for spiritual guidance. we set a cita. we went by and chatted with him and come to know that he is friends with a member and has a big desire to go to church.

moral of the story: The Lord prepares people always. How the situations present to us can be in many different ways. This is an example of one of them. We should never take one small question of the Gospel or of the church frankly (i dont know if that is the right word for this sentence, but my English vocabulary is dwindling hahaha). There are so many times that the Lord prepares someone to recieve the Gospel during so many different times of their lives. In the words of Elder Holland, "They need what we have" and in the words of Pres. Callan "if not us, who? If not now, when? If not here, where?" The time is so short its crazy. The people are ready, and looking, they just dont know where to find it.

well this last week i did take pictures but due to the rain i was thinking more about my coatthese my camara sooooooooo daipori (no hay ((there isnt)) ) pictures today sorry. ill send some nice ones next week.

I finished the Book of Mormon this last week. It is the word of God. I know it. I love the Book of Mormon with all of my heart. It is a waterfall of personal revelation. coming into two of the best consecutive weeks of the year. General conference and Easter week! Even though i do normally say this for Christmas, but this is definitly "the most wonderful time of the year!"

I love you all so much and am so grateful for you. my prayers and best wishes go out to you all.

Love

Elder Wilson

Toribio !!!

HEY! HEY!! HEY!!!


hope everything is going very well with all of you; things here are going well. this last week Toribio Gonzalez Lausekerz was baptized!!! It was so amazing, a wonderful service. we had it on Wednesday night so that most of the ward could be there to support him. the bishop baptized him and it went swimmingly well, a wonderful service, and a wonderful time. it was so great because we didn't have to worry about much: the sociedad de soccorro did the refreshments, the bishop the baptism, the ward mission leader conducted, we did have to do a last minute change for the talks but other than that it was amazing. the spirit was so strong it was incredible. the biggest thing has been the change in Toribio. He is so smiley. Honestly that is the best way to put it. he is just so happy the change is incredible. he told us before his confirmation on Sunday that he walks better, feels better, sees better, and just over all is a much happier person. its so incredible how the gospel changes lives. he is a true testimony of this. two months ago he was completely different, he has applied the atonement in his life and has that change of heart. that new person being born and i am so blessed to have been apart of it.

overall this last week was honestly a bit tough. for me it was a bit confusing the week of the baptism and going to the temple ready to go out and just work your heart out more and more and things just don't go as planned. the thing that i learned in result is that i need to have a bit more faith. more faith in the gospel and more faith that the Lord will touch them. we just gotta keep on working and pushing forward with happiness and a drive to share this amazing gospel.

short on time so a short letter but i love you all and am so grateful for all that you do! i am so happy to be here it is such a blessing.

love you so much

Elder Wilson

Pictures:
1. The District
2. The Temple (thank you i know awesome picture skills)
3. Me, Obispo Garcia, Toribio, and Elder Horton
4. Picture of abandoned boats and buildings looks cool
5. random house that we found at an end of a path next to the river

Great Grand Glorious Week

Yello!!!!!!!

Well right now we just got back from the temple which honestly is one of the biggest highlights of the week. Its so amazing the happiness that just comes to you. as soon as i saw the angel moroni as we were walking down the street i felt like i was at home. it was only our zone which was nice so things weren't too crazy hectic, a full session though. got to go to the distribution center and buy some nice things. the best part of all of it, honestly was just the peace that was there. the temple is on two of the busiest streets in down town and when you are in there you hear absolutely nothing. I've been studying revelation this last week and i love personal revelation. I've had a couple of things on my mind and what better reason to go to the temple. when i was in the celestial room i had the goal to be in there as long as possible and to just think and feel. after a solid 15 min or so i turned to a section in DyC and it was perfect for me at that time. the joy, peace, comfort, and love that i felt in that moment was indescribable. with that I'm so grateful that in my mission there is a temple and that we had the opportunity to go there. it also makes me  grateful to be so close to the Chicago and Nauvoo temples so that i can go as frequently as i want when I'm at home and then living in Provo enough said hahaha. when your in there you can just feel that its the Lord's house. i love it. more and more grateful that i got to work at the Chicago temple before my mission

so this last week we saw a ton of miracles and we worked uber caduber hard. (sorry had to put in some me vocabulary) the best part is how animated toribio is for his baptism on Saturday. the ward is all excited too. everyone is getting involved. when you get to know toribio he is normally a serious man. doesn't smile a whole ton. but my goodness this last sunday and the last few visits he has been nothing but smiles. it is so amazing and such a blessing to see the gospel grow within someone. THE MISSION IS SO AWESOME!!!! 

also this last week i was able to go on divisions with Elder Rios my good friend from Jujui Argentina. the day honestly was slow and not what I wanted. which made me learn more. that even though maybe what i want is a good thing. i need to focus on what God wants me to do and who He wants me to be. I also learned about making good plans and reachable goals. instead of just putting high numbers. its honestly been a really great week for me a lot of growth a lot of great things. I'm so grateful to have elder horton with me here. he helps me out a ton. we get along really well always laugh which you all know i love, and when we work we work. God has blessed me with a wonderful companion.

well this week doesn't have a ton of picture and stuff like that but i will send some next week. I know more and more every week that this is the Lords work. I am His servant. I have been called of God to serve here in Paraguay for two years and to work with all of my heart, might, mind, and strength. The church is true. its the best way to say it. Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and Thomas S. Monson is the prophet today. I love the Book of Mormon I'm becoming an addict which i love. I love feeling the spirit and working with it having it be my companion.

i love you all very much and am so grateful for all that you do and who you are

prayers flying your way!!!

love

Elder Wilson

March Madness Redefined

Hey fam!!!

well as you all know that i am a big fan for march madness. this year though its not around college basketball. It is around the Lords work here in our area, district, and zone. This last saturday Rosa in Obrero (other area in our district) was baptized and in the zone, 2 others were baptized as well!!! In our area we are planning to have two baptisms on the 14th. They are Toribo and Enzo. I belive that i have talked to you guys about Toribio. We asked him how he knows that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. His exact words were "Through the Book of Mormon." it was so amazing. It just shows how truly reading and praying we come to know the truthfulness of all things. Enzo is just a straight up miracle. We were teaching him before, but unfortunately he went to Ciudad del Este for a little bit to be with his mom during summer break. He came back and we went by to visit him again. We verified things to see how he is doing and such and he said to us "by chance do you guys have an extra Book of Mormon. My mom really liked it so i gave it to her and i would really love to have one." of course we gave him one. we then were talking about his interest and we read a scripture in 3 Nephi 11 on baptism. After we read it we asked him what he felt and what he thought about the scripture. His response was "Are you guys having any baptisms in the next few weeks?" we told him on the 24th, his response "i would really like to be baptized on that day." WHAT A MIRACLE!!!! just shows how the sheep know the Shepard's (sc) voice and how he prepares them to receive the gospel. They both came to church this sunday and have baptismal dates for the 14th.

so I'm sorry that this is going to be a short email next week I'm writing you on tuesday because were going to the temple so our pday got switched. 

Last friday was march 2nd when i completed one year on the mission. the celebration was ordering a pizza and eating it after planning and it was delightful. It is really amazing how fast things have past. Just looking back on the last year i have grown so much and i have seen the Lords hand more and more in my life. I believe the greatest thing that i have obtained in the last year on my mission has been my love for the gospel, for the Book of Mormon, my understanding of the gospel, and most importantly the relationship that i have gained with my Father in Heaven and the love that i have grown in for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and his eternal gospel. This next year I'm going to give more do more and give all that i can to help the Lords work move forward. I love this work. It is His work and Glory. The scriptures are so amazing I love them.

Thanks for all that you do i love you all and pray for you daily

Elder Wilson

Pictures :


1. Me modeling hahahahaha
2. Hna Garcia wanting to make sure that mom knows that i do eat food 
3. Elder Rios saying happy one year
4. The happy one year pizza

HNA Garcia feeds them well

Elder Rios

Anniversary pizza