New Places, New Faces, Temple

Hey all!!!!

So as said in my short email last week I am in a new area with a new companion and everything new. My companion is Elder Fernelius he is from Utah and my new area is called San Antonio 1.2. It is about 25min from my last area so i didn't move too much. We are in a pension with another companionship. They are Elder Mairena (Honduras) and Elder Ayala (Mexico) Both are awesome guys work hard funny and a joy to be with. So as you can see my companion is a bit shorter than I but what he lacks in height he has in spirit, service, and attitude. He is a great funny guy we have many similar interests and we get a long really well.

The new area. Its really nice. Its a little bit more what we say campo which is country but its not country i don't know how to describe it in american terms. oh well. my area is smaller than the last one but its really nice. already found where the best empanadas are so it is great haha. the crazy thing is is that after just 2 weeks i can find my way around my area basically. compared to my last area where it took me around 6 or something like that. the ward is great there are young men and young women, rms, and GREAT people. already making some great friendships.

the thing that we are constantly working on while we are out here are inactive members. it is very common throughout Paraguay. With the Lords help we have been able to get some members to come back. what i find is that for anyone who is starting to inactivate is reminding them of the feelings they felt when they made their covenants with God. Help them remember the feelings, but the most important thing is to have love for them. If you don't have love it is all fruitless.

So I don't know if I wrote this before but i feel like writing it again if I did. I am proud to be a minnesotan. Viking/Twin/Wild/TWolves/cold/ hockey on the lake/ german food/ funky O accent and all of that good stuff are a part of me. Sadly I have become weak. Yes Elder Wilson is now always cold. It was around 55f yesterday and i was freezing. I walk around with a sweater and my two layer coat. It is a sad sight but it is true. The Lord is humbling me. For those within the family i am becoming more and more like mom and brig. I know it is sad but true.

We got to go to the temple this last thrusday and my goodness it felt so good to be back. The temple is truely god's house on this earth the spirit there is like no other. It is sad that we only get to go two times a year but it makes those times even more special. Most of the Elders only got to do one session and that was it but we got the special invite to attend a sealing of a family from brazil who became members a year ago. WOW!!!! There is nothing more special amazing and spiritual than seeing a family be sealed for all time and eternity. Everyone had tears in their eyes, and even though the communication could not be perfect with their portuguese and our spanish it was amazing. I am so grateful that there is a temple in chicago. I am even more grateful that i got to be there three times a week for two months before i left on my mission. There is nothing like it and i cannot wait to go back!

Well the best is for last. A big hooo raaa for my wonder father whose birthday was this last friday. Yes i sang happy birthday to myself and did a little happy birthday dance for my father. Truly i love him so much. If anyone wants to see someone who always is serving, full of love, teaching, smiling, and funny, please meet Timothy Maurice Wilson. I am so thankful to have him for a father. He does all of the small things. Always passing by at the end of the night to say good night and that he loves you, looking for any way to serve others, willing to do anything to help another person. He is my biggest example. I hope to be just like him when i grow up. Yes my hope is to have a bit more hair but how things are going i doubt that will happen hahaha. Happy Birthday Dad I love you dearly!!!

My best wishes, love, and prayers go to all of you,

the church is true. we are all here for a reason. life is full of blessing and the many gifts that the lord has blessed us with. let us always be grateful for everything that he does for us. our heavenly father wants us ALL to return to him so let us do everything we can to live with him with our families again because truly there is when we will obtain the highest amount of joy and happiness.

Elder Parker Wilson

Picture:
Me and my companion infront of the temple mini waterfall (don't know why but i can only upload one sad and yes my hair may be a bit short but its ok with the president and when i sweat it gets all nasty and doesn't look nice)

First Transfer

Elder Parker is on the move. We didn't get a full letter but a few notes today, found below.

hey so we are going to the temple and i'm gonna write a big letter after we get back with pictures!!!! i'm in a new area called San Antonio 1.1 we are 4 in the pension my comp is Elder Fernelius from Utah

 

 i am basically 20 min away by bus from my old area so i didn't move much. its a bit more campo'i only a few paved roads and a lot of empedradas which are big rocks that they hammer in individually to make the roads. very pretty but they kill your feet. good thing though is that my feet aren't blistering as much anymore. Its getting kinda cold and i'm becoming more and more like brig its around 64 and its kinda cold. kinda sad on my part

 

gotta go to the temple i'll talk to y'all after

 

love

 

elder wilson

vocabulary

Hey everyone!!!!

so this last week has been the last week of the transfer. we figure out tomorrow morning if we are staying, going new comp all the new shin dig. My companion says that I'm gonna stay and im going to train.we will see what he knows shortly kinda crazy. we get a total of 40 new elders in the next two transfers so its gonna be a crazy flock of new faces but that just means more fun and more new people!!!
so a fun first story. as many of you know my vocabulary is kinda unique and different. from using words that are completely out of context that i put into a sentence to my natural awesome vocabulary that i got from my mother. in the last district meeting i used a word that i thought to be normal but everyone else found to be kinda out of the blue. this wonderful and bubbly word is "okie dokie smokie bokie". for me this is just another word that can truly explain the situation. it has been a tim and rindy wilson family word since i can remember. truly one for the books and an awesome word. thank you family for my awesome vocabulary!
(don't worry I'm working on using that same kind of thing with spanish as well)

to explain two of the pictures i did cut open my finger. i eat an apple a day to keep the doctor away as we all should do. one morning i was eating my apple to discover that a worm had entered and eaten half of my apple. really nasty but being an elder who is hungry instead of seeing a ruined apple i saw a half bad apple so i decided to cut in half. who knew that cutting through the part of the apple where the worm had eaten would be softer. i ended up cutting straight through and about a quarter inch into my finger. as normal i was like whoa I'm bleeding that isnt good. second i started freaking out cuz i cut open my finger but with anti bacterial cream good ol medical tape and cotton its all comin together nicely.

second story we were at a members house who truly i am very close to the ibanez they are awesome and amazing. the grandma and granddaughter are members and the rest of the fam is both friendly to us but at times no. it was the youngest of the fam (eugenia) birthday yesterday and we had set a time to come and teach one of the grandsons and came into the party. while i was singing be still my soul to the birthday girl. (yes and i sang in church this week and have been asked to do a special number this sat) one of the uncles who is normally not really talkative with us and doesnt like mormons all that much. came over sat on the chair i was on. the arm rest and said "hermano lets take a picture!!" he was a bit drunk and it was kinda interesting but he was more friendly to us then than ever before.

prayer is amazing this last week our recent investigator who is getting baptized on sat. Rosa gave the most sincere and awesome prayer in the world. it wasnt the words that she said that made it amazing it was the spirit that it brought. she asked for very simple things but at the end both me and my companion had bits of tears and i was just a beaming ball of happiness!!!!! it was amazing. she went from smoking 20 cigarettes a day to 1 in one day and she is gonna quit today in ptrparationfor her baptism.

this gospel is so true i love the missionary moments that we have and i love what i am doing. this is the best place in the world. the people here are awesome and they are ready to learn. i encourage all to read the Book of Mormon over and over again it is the word of god and is amazing!!

ill give ya word if there is any change next week!!

best wishes and love to you all

elder parker wilson
Pictures:

Cut finger with knife
Cut after 4 days of healing
Tapas front
Tapas back

  4 Attached Images

shorrt and brief

soooo alot of complications with internet today. slow internet and a bus ran into an electric pole so we lost most of it.

 

all is well I'm doing great loving the work got some new investigators that we are pushing for baptism. Transfers are next week so ill be tellin you if I'm in a new area or new companion in two weeks. this email is going to be really short I'm sorry but i need to fly

 

the church is true

god has prophets on the earth again

i love this gospel with all of my heart

it changes lives i have seen it with my own eyes (rhymed)

 

i love you all and wish you all the best

 

long email next week

 

love

Elder Parker Wilson