My Road To Conversion

Hey all

well just finished a little bit ago leadership council and my interview with Pres. Agazzani. I love that man so much. this last weekend we had a historic occurrence here in C. Oviedo and ca´aguazu. we are now one district!!!!!! the conference was incredible. we had about 500 people in attendance and we had 5 investigators come it was so amazing!!!! an area authority came (Elder DiGiovanni) he told us about all of the changes that the church is doing due to the rapid growth. they have now opened up 58 new missions and the missionary force will be around 100,000!!! with that growth they are making a new mission here. Argentina Posadas. it will take 3 main cities of our currant mission and then part of Argentina. about 67 or so of our missionaries will be going over there in July.

well. for my interview i was asked by president to turn in a spiritual experience. honestly for about 3 or 4 days i had absolutely no idea what i was going to say. i was thinking about a powerful impression of the spirit when i testified of the Book of Mormon confirming its truthfulness. I then thought about one of the feelings i got after a baptism back in ka´aguy rory. none of them seemed to fit. then i remembered the zone conference i had with Pres. Arnold. he is the old area president. i came to that conference knowing that i had to be obedient, diligent, studious, following the spirit always, planning, and many other things of a missionary. i knew it but really i didn't GET IT. i didn't know the WHY of it all. During that conference as Pres. Arnold talked of many of those things one thing really just hit me. OBEDIENCE. it was during that conference that i committed myself to work harder everyday to be a more strictly obedient missionary. we all wrote down this on our notebooks "i promise to not offend Christ ever again. I am not perfect, but i will work everyday to not offend Him." we then signed it. there i started to recognize the importance of obedience and not being selfish and doing things how i would like to do them but as God would. he then talked about a staircase that brought us to consecration (sc). it started with obedience and doing it with love. then it was sacrifice. then following was the atonement. i honestly worked for the next 4 or 5 months to be obedient to everything. i had some issues with companions but i grew. once i learned the importance of obedience i started learning about sacrifice in Sajonia and how i needed so sacrifice myself to the work. i worked for the next 6 months to sacrifice myself more to the work. then for the next 8 months i worked on applying the atonement in my life. not just repenting for my sins but truly understanding the doctrine of Christ. Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End. as i got the WHY of missionary work and my testimony and desire grew to share the gospel i worked harder and harder to invite people to come unto Christ by having faith in Him, repenting of their sins, and being baptized in His true Church by someone holding the priesthood authority. as i did that i felt my testimony grow. I'm now on the path of Consecration and conversion and I'm going to be on it for the rest of my life, because really conversion is a long road that is going to have its ups and downs. i honestly think i have had the most down moments of my life on my mission but i have also had the most incredible moments of my life on my mission and by both i have grown. honestly there is so much to talk about and i cannot put it all into one thingamajig. (that's a word i haven't used in the while).

well for my last email sent from here in Paraguay being a set apart representative of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ i want to leave you all with the knowledge of a few things. I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is God's only true and living Church here on the earth. I know it because i have felt the Spirit burn in my heart and testify to me that it is true. when we go proselyting, i walk with a Book of Mormon at hand. Why? Because it is the evidence that God has restored His truth to the earth once more. I know that the Book of Mormon is true because i have felt it burn in my heart. I know that Joseph Smith is a Prophet of God and that God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ appeared to him and called him to be the prophet of the restoration and that those keys that were restored to the earth are here today and that Pres. Thomas S. Monson is Gods living prophet on the earth that holds all of those keys. I testify that through coming unto Christ by having faith in Him, repenting, and being baptized by someone holding His divine authority is the door which leads to the long, straight, and narrow path that leads to eternal life. families can be together forever. 

on my blog it says that this is "Parker's Paraguayan Adventure" i would like to change that title. Yes, it has been an adventure but it means way more to me than that and has been so much more. my mission has changed my life forever. It has truly been "My Road to Conversion".

Love you all and thank you for all that you have done for me

rohaihu

jajotopata (gotta guess what it means)

Elder Wilson

Elder Parker arrives home Thursday February 28th

A Great Week Ahead

HEY HEY HEY!!!!

ALEXIS AND GLORIA WERE BAPTIZED AND CONFIRMED THIS LAST WEEKEND!
i had the opportunity to do the interview for Gloria. she started sharing with the missionaries about 9 years ago. when it got to a point her mom cut her off and told her that she could never talk to the missionaries again. about a month ago she flagged down the missionaries and explained how she shared with the missionaries before and would like to share again. a big challenge for her has been social. her family is completely against her decision and she has a lot of opposition at home. i asked her how she knew Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet of God. She told me how she wanted to have a spiritual witness for a very long time, but she was never committed to being baptized due to the family situation. then came a moment when she knelt and prayed to ask God if Joseph Smith was a prophet and if The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is His true church on the earth, but she added on another part she said that she was willing to follow the answer and be baptized no matter what the situation. Well, she got the answer. Yes. She said to me "I knew that i had received an answer and i can never go back. God answered me and i know now." Its just like what it says in Moroni´s promise (Moroni 10:3-5), you need to ask with "real intent". What does that mean? It means that you are willing to follow the answer that you receive. We have an example that we share about going to someone to ask for work and they have a perfect job just for you and you say OK thanks for telling me but I'm not going to do it. If we are not willing to follow the council and answers that God gives us; why would He answer us? It is when we go in determined to follow Him, is when He gives us those powerful answers that we cannot deny. I love what it says in The Restoration movie. (I'm gonna translate it) Joseph Smith asks his mom how he can know which church is God true church and she say "We must receive from God answers that man cannot give, nor take away." IT IS SO TRUE!!!! When I testify to people how i know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saint is Gods only true and living church on earth, i don't tell them its because i was told that it was true or because i read it in a history book but because I HAVE RECEIVED AN ANSWER FROM GOD THAT IT IS: that is the only way that you can. the peace and joy that you feel is incredible. Because through the Holy Ghost one can come to know the truthfulness of all things.

Well this week we have some great things going on. Tuesday Zone Conference!!! Divisions with elder norton! The combining of Districts Ca´aguazu and Coronel Oviedo!!!!! then Leadership council next Monday!!!!!! its going to be a wonderful week the best part though is that we are helping Segio and Olga get married and be baptized on Saturday!!! they came to the baptism and felt the spirit testify to them.

I LOVE THE ATONEMENT!!!! Repenting is the best thing in the whole wide world. it just makes you feel all good and bubbly and happy and perky and every fun word you can think of.

Its my last full week as a representative of Jesus Christ here in Paraguay. 
Its going to be the best week ever. 
0 fear 100% love. 
Inviting all to come unto Him through repentance and baptism.

Love you all!!!

Elder Wilson

MILAGROS MILAGROS MIRACLES

(sorry to be late had a posting error)

Hey fam,

wowza did we have a great week.

 so first off Alexis. he is 16 and was basically in the worst situation ever. he was in drugs, smoking 2 packs a day, and getting drunk all of the time. we have taught him everyday this week and he is getting ready for his baptism on saturday. now he is working 2 jobs instead of rolling on the streets. HE WENT OUT AND BOUGHT HIS OWN CHURCH CLOTHES!!!!! he has not smoked for the last 5 days and is just flying. honestly you sit here and listen to him and you can see the change that is happening in his life. there is just a different happiness and a different brightness about him as he is applying the gospel of Jesus Christ in his life. on sunday he was there right at 8:30 tie and all, bore his testimony during sacrament meeting and started asking us for help to fill out his form for institute!!!! i love the kid so much. 

that is why us as missionaries work all day everyday sharing the gospel with everyone it is because the Lord knows who is ready to receive the message of how He has restored His true church on earth in these later days. its incredible because he lives in, the you could say,  most shady part of our area. he is a rock and everyone around him is telling him he can't do it. well i testify that they are wrong. if someone can't change or says that it is impossible to change that means that the atonement of Jesus Christ doesn't work and i KNOW that it does I've seen it in my life and I've seen it in his.

now Tomás. my companion felt that on our way to another cita we should go say hi to an old contact as we pass by this man who is with about 5 other people calls us over to share sadly at the moment we were really late so we set up another appointment. as we walked about 100 yards i felt that we needed to go back and he did too so we said a prayer to know if we should. the answer was YES! (little did we know that the man said to the others "if they are real representatives of God they will come back") how grateful i am for the Spirit because that was the only way that we went back. we then taught them a quick lesson on the restoration and they all accepted a baptismal date for the 2 of march and we gave out about 4 Books of Mormon and 5 the Restoration pamphlets. it was incredible. we set up a visit with one of the guys Tomás who was just feeling the spirit  and listening with everything of his soul. he told us that you go to the new soccer stadium and go on the dirt road about 500 meters and you will find a red house. so we started on down there. we ended up finding out that it was 3.5 kilometers away. about 1hr and 30min of walking. soooooooooo we put up the thumb and a nice truck hauling terere (google it) brought us there. we taught him and his entire family. he went to church on sunday even though he worked till 6 in the morning and he is just amazing. he is preparing to be baptized next week and his family the week after. the nice thing is to go back to our main part of the area we pay the day 10mil guaranies and he takes us its really nice.

now yanina. we were walking on the main road and felt hey lets go say hi to the less active brother jose who lives right over here. so we did. he has his own little spices packaging business (ill explain how it all works later). he is working with a girl named Yanina. she is 16 and is there 6 days a week from like 8 in the morning till 7 at night. so we teach them about the restoration. it was incredible how she just had a firm curiosity (SC) to learn more about the Book of Mormon and to ask God if this is His true Church on the earth that has His authority. we then stopped by two days later for our return appointment and it was amazing. she read. she prayed. she then told us that she asked for a sign but didn't really get anything that jumped out at her. we then talked about the Holy Ghost and how one will receive their answers through a still small voice. through reading the scriptures the Spirit was there. we then asked her how she felt during her prayer. she told us that after she prayed she felt this warm, tranquilo feeling in her heart. the spirit testified to me and elder Lamb that she had felt the spirit when she prayed. we then testified that to her and how that "still small voice" that just penetrates to your heart was God answering her prayer that the Book of Mormon is true and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day Saints is His only true and living church on earth today. you could see as we testified to her the spirit just fill her. it was in her eyes and in her countenance. it was amazing!!!! she connected with the Heavens and the Heavens connected back to her. she went to church loved it and is preparing to be baptized on the 2 of march!!!

there is no reason to be sad on the mission. there is always something incredible and something miraculous occurring. the work is the Lord's work and what a blessing and a joy that it is to share this fruit with others (1 Nephi 8). All of the people that i am hearing who are receiving calls to serve missions and who are waiting on them get ready for the best 2 year life changing experiences of your life!!!! i LOVE my mission and it means everything to me. we have our problems. we have some elders who don't want to baptize, sadly, but it doesn't change the message we bring and it doesn't change the calling that we have.

Jesus is the Christ and the Lamb of God. He is our advocate to the Father. only through Him and by Him can we return to live with our father again. i know the Book of Mormon is true. i have read it and i have asked my Father in Heaven if it was true and He responded and I KNOW and testify that it is true. Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and Pres. Monson is Gods living prophet today. I love Paraguay with all of my heart. che paraguayo vei mandioi (im more paraguayan then the mandioca or yuca in other countries) this is all knowledge that cannot be given from man neither can man take away. it can only be given from God which i know it has.

wow writing in your journal more makes your weekly letter better. plus its getting cold in the 70´s nice rain!!!

love

elder wilson

Pictures/Video

1. not the best quality but one of the reasons why i love paraguay

2. everyone is cleaning up to kill all of the mosquitos so what we did was dress up like traditional paraguayan field workers and went to work chopping away at weeds and tall grass and dead plants. it was awesome

3. we are 3.5 kilometer from the main part of our area. we get members to haul us out here or we do throw out "al pelo" (its guarani it doesnt mean to the hair) its far away but worth it Tomás is out here

Fear Departs When Faith Endures

HEY FAMILY!!!!

I love it how even though you have a lot of time on the mission, God still gives you the opportunities to grow. 

Fear is an interesting thing. To be honest i don't know the definition of fear so each of you can look it up in the dictionary if you would like to. Fear on,  in life, and on the mission can come in very different ways. sometimes one has fear to do what is right, to repent, to invite to repent, to speak out, to pray to find the truth from God, and many other things. What i have found in my studies has been that fear is the complete opposite of faith. For me before it was hard to say things as they are. It was hard for me to say "This is the only true and living church on the face of the earth. Jesus Christ presides it and has given the authority once more to living prophets so that we can follow Him by having faith, repenting, and being baptized by someone holding that same authority. If we are not baptized by someone who holds that authority given by the laying on of hands by one who already has it, it is not valid in the eyes of God." 

Now I'm working with a different fear. It is a fear that has a bit of pride with it. Following the Spirit every time i feel it and doing it right away. Not waiting for the next time around or just pushing it off. In life it is so interesting because having faith in God and that He will guide us is such a huge key. Like it says in the scriptures (i don't know exactly where at the moment) "Fear not and know that I am God". 

If we really trust in our Father in Heaven and are willing to do His will, He will trust us and guide us. If we trust in the atonement of Jesus Christ we can repent of our sins and follow Him more and more in our daily lives. If we have faith that the Father truly loves us and cares for us we can ask Him anything and know that He will answer. That is how I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the Lord's true church that has his Divine authority.

that is what i learned this week

alexis came to church practiced getting baptized during priesthood because we were talking about ordinances and practicing them. then sent him with the jovenes. he could have gone with us but the youth class had about 10 girls and one guy so we sent him in there with all of them hahaha he loved it and is preparing for the 16th to be baptized.

love you all

elder wilson

House Hunting and Atonement

HEY- HEY- HEY- FAMILIA!

well I'm looking for the words because I'm honestly trying to figure out what i can write to you all. i'll do a fun thing of this week and then a spiritual. 

first fun thing. i was able to apply my house searching skills! the area president (Pres. Arnold) has his brother and sister in law coming in either this week or next week to help us organize a stake here in Coronel Oviedo and Ca´aguazu. so for the last little bit we were on a special assignment to find a house for them. Tuesday we got permission to borrow  bikes from members and roll around all of Coronel Oviedo looking for a house. It was a bit harder then it sounds. It was really fun to watch the people looking at us because they are used to us walking and then they saw us on the bikes and all that came to my head was that they were thinking "hey look the hermanos have bikes now. that's cheating they should walk" it was fun. 

transfers came and gone. nothing changed in our companionship. I'm here with Elder Lamb so we still got a lot of work to do and this transfer is going to be amazing!!!!! On Wednesday two of the missionaries from the office Elder Moffet and Elder Garcia came to do pension inspections and to look for a house with us. the entire zone was looking for a house and because i know the area best, me and elder moffet spent all of Friday rolling around looking for a house in all of oviedo and then took the 30 min drive to ca´aguazu to look for one there. they are both wonderful missionaries lots of fun. they have the vision and the discipline to become more and more molded in the Lords hands and just a great time to have them stay with us for 3 or 4 days. oh and last week a bird pooped on my head fun fun fun.

so while traveling home from ca´aguazu me and elder moffet were having a great chat. it all focused on the atonement and our purpose as missionaries. its so amazing that the atonement is the path and the way for us to live with our Father in heaven again. Christ through the atonement showed us the how to. the atonement is so much more profound then Christ suffering for our sins. that being the most important part because without a savior as the say in guarani "opa" done. The atonement is also having faith in Christ, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the holy ghost and enduring to the end. because of Christ eternal sacrifice we can have faith in him, through his suffering of our sins we can repent, baptism is that key to open up the door to receive the gift of the holy ghost and to open the long and narrow path to endure to the end. the atonement is something that we all must study and come to know. i had the opportunity to study the importance of baptism. i know and testify that all must be baptized in Christ's true church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. if not they cannot participate fully in the atoning sacrifice of the savior. 

For those who need to be baptized and don't know yet. Talk to the missionaries they can help you!! :) read the Book of Mormon and ask God with a sincere heart and real intent meaning that you are willing to follow the answer God gives you whatever the cost. the blessings of heaven and the mansions above are being prepared. The atonement is real. i know it is. I've experienced it and  i will give my all to fulfill my calling  so that all may have the opportunity to participate of the atoning sacrifice of the savior.  (mom, dad please do spell check)

thanks for all that you do LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!

Elder Wilson

Temp cooling Work not

HEY FAMILY

i hope all is going wonderful. things are cooling down here in paraguay its not as hot in the 90´s normally so when you get to the nightime it is really quite nice. this last week was a  great week. we are coming to find the small miracles, blessings, and answers to prayers that we are finding in our daily lives. i read the talk by Pres. Monson this morning that he gave during the morning session this last general conference which was fantastic! it talked about looking at all of the blessings large and small. taking that step back. or in the lesson given by dad the small point on the big piece of paper. we are so blessed to be members of the true church of Jesus Christ. what a joy it is to have that testimony burn within your soul and having the knowledge that it is our Father in Heaven who revealed the knowledge to us.

this last week i was doing an interesting activity in PMG. i was reading chapter 4 that talks about the Holy Ghost and His purpose, how we can come to be more worthy to receive and follow the impressions that He reveals to us. all of the great stuff. there is one part that talks about recognizing the impressions of the Holy Ghost and the fruits of it (Galatians 5:20-21) they have multiple scriptures from all of the standard works. as i read them i would look at the fruit of the spirit in that situation of the scriptures and then i would meditate and figure out where i have felt that same spirit in my own life. IT WAS AWESOME!!!! it really helped me come to find out how much the spirit has revealed to me and how much i have come to gain a testimony of through the spirit and how i can connect to individual moments in my life. I also asked to be receptive to the impressions of the spirit and we had a very interesting one. we asked for a reference from a women who directed us to a house. as we clapped it and they let us come it as we sat down and just did the little chat i felt this bad just kinda feeling sick feeling hit my stomach and i had the desire to fight. later on talking about it my companion had felt it too. we knew from the get go that the man we sat with only wanted to fight. we testified and then invited and then passed along. it was great how clear it was and it was super interesting to me how much of a difference there was in what i felt.

I am so glad to hear that so many people are going on missions. what a blessing it will be to have them out in the mission field sharing this everlasting gospel with everyone. it is the biggest and best thing that has happened to me in my life. i have become who God wants me to become and all because i chose to come and serve a mission. i now have a true testimony of the restoration of Christ true church on earth.i no longer depend on borrowed light. all those capable and that have the desire to serve, serve and the Lord will change your life.

thank you for all that you do

love you all

elder wilson

hey family!!!!

hope you all have just had an amazing week full of great things and miracles all about. we had a great week. work wise we were beat. we had to cover a lot of ground this last week which gave my companion some bad blisters but still he is a capo (champ) and worked it all through. we thought a lot about why we are here in Coronel Oviedo at this time. its a very crucial time here. next month two of the districts (c. oviedo and ca´aguazu) will be combined and 4 of the branches will then become two here in oviedo. 6 missionaries in every branch. so we are part of making it a smooth transition. we honestly really really want to baptize. have been working hard to help people take the steps so that they can be baptized into Christs true church. after working all week long we went out sunday still working. just another testimony about finishing. our last two lessons were great. one was with a guy and his girlfriend. he has gone to church 4 or 5 times and moved right before his baptism. we commited him and his future wife for the 26th. we are going to be working with them all week to help them prepare. one of the biggest miracles was our last visit sunday night. earlier on in the week we talked to some yard workers and one of them is a cuban who is married to a paraguayan and living here. we went over and had an incredible lesson with him. cubans are awesome!!!!! it was so incredible to watch the spirit work within him. we talked about baptism and one of his comments was incredible he said "so when we are born from our mothers we are born physically, and we are baptized that is when we can be cleaned and be born again spiritually." me and elder lamb just looked at one another and said "yep, thats pretty much it." in his prayer he asked God to help him prepare himself for his baptism on the 2 of feb. just a huge miracle and a tender mercy of the Lord.

i learned a ton this week about conversion and the need of not just reading the scriptures but actually studying the scriptures. the last two days i have focused on studying specific topics like faith and covenants and i have learned so much more about those two topics in the last couple of days than i have learned in the last couple of months. having faith in Christ is so incredible how it goes with action. if we truly have faith in Christ we will repent. it was really cool to see the connection of those two topics and also how when Christ came how the covenants were renewed and how we the new and higher law and covenant were established like how before the focus on the sabbath day was sanctifying that day and now it is more focused around the sacrament, and how before you would do sacrifices and how now you sacrifice your own will through repentance and giving yourself to him through repentance. all a new and higher law. soooooooo incredible but so little time to write.

i finished the Book of Mormon again this last week and i asked God if it was true. He DID answer me and i know and testify of its truthfulness. it was nothing wowzy or big just a still peaceful yet firm feeling. i know this is Christ true church and im so blessed to be apart of this work.

love you all and thank you for what you do.

Elder Wilson

Pictures:

1. Campo i´te!!! There was nothing

2. Me in the campo i´te

3. Elder Pastuls last consejo de lideres gona miss mi chiquitito a great missionary and a eternal friend

4. So guess what you may take the Wilson Lawn Care from the man, but you can NEVER take the man from Wilson Lawn Care

5. Big bug with Juan (recent convert) and Manuel

6. The family except Manu. Hector and Florentina. super active in the gospel just flying and waiting for their divorce in 5 months to be baptised