LOVE YOUR CHILDREN

please, if you have a child, stop what youre doing and go give them a hug, maybe eat some ice cream together, and just make sure they know you LOVE THEM. a big majority of my prayers have been for children who deserve to be loved, and are NOT receiving what they deserve.

on a brighter note..
thank you FAMILY, for loving me through your emails and sending me REESES. and printed pictures!! oh, how i love you all so dearly. you were prayed for extra hard this week. :)

weekly notsoimportant things
kill a mosquito and recieve a prayer of gratitude from me. i dont know if ill ever have christlike love for those evil things.
weve been finding lots of ORO (investigators basically ready to enter the font on the word vamos) but theyre always in another area... oh well, the work is the work right? not important who gets to baptise them.
our front door faces directly el cristo in cochabamba (yes, were that high)
you have to DUMP sugar into hot chocolate for flavor
juice vendors hand you a bag of juice and a straw, you pinch and drink (dont worry, i dont drink from the calle)
vacuums arent a thing here.
always buy more fruit than neded, youll throw away half of it bc they arent always ..fresh
most people ask for salud in their blessings. how humbling is that?
big emphasis on famailes here
they can DANCE, even the little kids
super difficult to find baptism clothes
its pretty normal for a girl to get baptized in a white dress. therefore, the font is not see through window.
potosi is the highest city in the world
it also has the richest hill. the Incas worshipped it bc of all the gold and silver, then Spain took it.
i recycle every possible thing and use every possible square inch
its not rare to see a woman with a bow in her hair
they dont take the sacrament to the people waiting in the lobby. if youre not on time, you dont take the santa cena.
theres a CIRCUS three houses length from us! if only we could visit it.. it starts at 830 and lasts who knows how long, dancers and fireworks and the whole shebang
i dont think ill ever be used to being one of the tallest ones here. its weird.
dont expect to recieve exact cambio ever if you use a 10
found a flower without the middle part (forgot what thats called) there was just a whole. weird.
its impossible to smell and sing at the same time
transportation...
concordia(station wagon, sometimes mini van) is 1 boliviano (BS) and is neighborhood routes
taxi (usually corolla type car)-farther destinations (like the temple or stake center) and more expensive, usually 20BS
trufi (white van) is 1.5 BS, back and forth on blanco galindo (the one main street/highway). you have to wait for the right sign in the window if you want to pinch your BS and not pay for a taxi, be prepared to wait for half an hour if youre stubborn
bus -red and colorful, 1 or 2 BS. front 2 rows are for antiguos and enfermos only. we found one that leaves pretty close to our house every 10 minutes and passes marianely/close to the church. SCORE.

funny moments
"i havent had caffiene since the 80s! i didnt sleep until 2 am!" (a mom of a missionary. every house they visited with their son gave them coca cola and animal crackers. meanwhile, the familes had none for themselves. again. HUMNLING.)
"cody doesnt like it when you wear pants. he missed your legs!" -hna ipanaquè. i had been wearing pants on p day, and cody (the dog that lives in our apt complex) was going CRAZY parking at me. but when i came back down 15 minutes later in a skirt, he was back to licking and tail wagging and puppy eyes.


bendiciones
hna ipanaquè is so extremely patient with me, always.
i didnt have to use the bathroom the last time we were in central (you have a 0.00000000000001% chance of finding a bathroom). aka, much less stress
president hansen told hna ipanaquè lots of good things about me. he also said that were doing VERY good work in our area. the missionaries before us... werent exactly the hardest working missioanries. we are basically opening a new area (the word for it in spanish means birthing. hah. its our baby!)
 i found granadillas! below the temple is a huge fruit vendor. yesss.
watching one of our investigators, hno luis valdez, help a little girl at his tienda. he is a sweet old grandpa with 10 kids (so rare here to have that many kids). he was honest with her and helped her figure out her change.
my personal studies are breaking the time barriers. with fe and prayers, im able to study my book of mormon AND other things (PME, por ejemplos) and still be in the time limit and finish at one hour every morning . so amazing!
our investigator had the fe and courage to talk to the bishop about her castidad problema. so proud of her and so excited for her to recieve the help she needs!
hna arletes parents took the key again (she cant leave without it, theyre locked in). we didnt let that stop us. we taught her standing up through the iron bar window.
hna janet saw us in the calle and was SO happy to see us. she thought we had left and werent here anymore. we have a cita with her and i have fe shell start prorgressing again (we had been working in another aprt of our area more)
i recieved personal revelation on how to specifically help three different investigators in the middle of our planificaciòn semenal. super random time to recieve it, (ex, we need to teach janet diezmo and promise her that her fincancial problems will go away if she keeps it while washing my hands. blessings for taking care of my health? who knows.) dont question the lords timing just be grateful for it and FOLLOW YOUR PROMPTINGS. please, FOLLOW them..
mexican food for elder cribbs birthday! enchilladas, tacos, and lasagna..... oh, how happy my stomache was.. i also wasnt hungry until dinner, blessing #2
we were able to track down conozca los mormones (meet the mormons) . it was a miracle and lots of prayers and lots of people were involved, but we found it and now we have a baptism!  got it from hna boyle and elder pachas burned me a copy. thankful for my zona!
WERE ORDERING FOOTIE PAJAMAS FOR OUR ZONE. were even going to have  a plaque stitched in with our names. im so excited :)
after our cita to get permiso for arletes baptism getting canceled in a very harsh way, and after being completely broken hearted, the zone leaders sent us a message saying theyd pray for her and elder cribbs encouraged me to not give up on her, to keep doing everything we can to help her get baptised (and i am doing EVERYTHING.) im not losing faith.
working with hna palma for a day! we got a call from the assistants and asked to do a favor, work with a new missionary for a day. we did. it was wonderful! i was able to show her around, explain about every investigator, help her, answer questions.. it felt like i was training. it was super spiritual but also super FUN. shes going to be an amazing missionary. she was our adopted daughter for a day!
sharing why im on a mission is always powerful. also powerful to hear others´stories
hna fidelia said every time she sees us she wants to be a part of our church so she can have the same happiness she sees in us. :)
oraciòn de hno eduardo. hna ipanaquè and i have never heard a prayer so sincere. and that is saying something. the first prayers of investigators are my favorite, bc theyre so trusting and pure and sincere, but his prayer..... wow. it was amazing.
other blessings with eduardo.. it was a quick spontaneous lesson, but he told us he wants to be baptised. he wants to have the holy ghost like damaris. he wants to feel gods love all the time. his life is hard. the gospel can and will help him. :) i made him laugh with the badadada big hero six after a fist pound. ive never heard him laugh before. after that lesson he changed. he now gives us BIG hugs and RUNS to say hello wheneer he sees us. he knows where to find the happiness missing from his life. :)
watching hno antoine with his little sister. he is usually quiet, and a little jumpy, and scared. his life is also very difficult. butwith his baby sister, he was tickling her and jumping and laughing around her stroller and she was LAUGHING so hard, it was the cutest thing and made me want to cry. his heart is so big.
ive been questioning if were forcing antoine to be baptized or if he wants to be baptized, but his prayer killed all dudas. he definitely has a testimony and he definitely knows what hes doing.
whenever an investigator runs to hug me. :)
hna maria nely bore her testimony at damaris´s baptism (her final hija). so tender.
hno franklin ended up coming to the baptism after all! he was supposed to come with us but culdnt and we were scared he wouldnt come but he came SOLO
walking with hno franklin after and teaching about the atonement while walking. his eyes changed. he has the hope of the atonement in his heart. hes ORO.
hna maria nely invited everyone back to her house after the baptism and bought us pepsi and cheese bread when the ward didnt come through with providing a refreshment. it was fun and good for our investigators to spend time with us in a non threatening environment, our friendships are stronger
hna maria nely is RESCATADO! she was inactive but now shes rescued! :)))
we were able to visit the hospital yesterday to visit our investigator hno javier choque with hno james, our mission leader (who is PERFECT). we decided not to go inside, (they werent going to let us be together and he didnt have any clothes) but hno james gave him a blessing. he felt prompted. very direct. "do you have faith in christ?" "yes" "do you believe he can heal you?" "yes". and then a blessing. i pray that javier has the faith to be healed! we met his mom and cousins. they were very grateful we went out of ourw ay to visit him.
it was our first time not asisting church with anyone, our fechas didnt come, BUTwe  3 asistencias and they were of ORO. (franklin, antonio, samantha).
we got a direct phone call from president hansen yesterday. hna ipanaquè was super shaken up, she even cried. she thought that we were getting transfered bc of an emergency. were not. it was touching how much she loves me.

highlights
people think that im hna ipanaquè on the phone! apparently i sound latina now. my grammar is still FEO, and i still have SO MUCH to learn... but literally 6 diff people didnt beleive it was me on the phone. my prayers are being answered. :)

i shared some of the chocolate that i got. hersheys kiss. it was a charlie and the chocoalte factory moment.. the person i shared with giggled at the fact it was called a kiss, and cherished that hersheys kiss like no other. it was small, but it was also powerful. so humbling. we all need to take a step back and realize how BLESSED WE ARE. cherish the little things. :)

baptism of damaris! she is such a gem! my favorite moments were right after taking pics and before entering the room. she grabbed my hand and threw her skinny arms around my neck and when she let go, said "im happy" with tears in her eyes. that little girl has a STRONG ability to be in tune with the spirit. and right after, same thing. except this time, she said "thank you.". its such an amazing thing to help people come to the truth and truly experience the JOY this gospel brings. and there were SO MANY investigators that came, and HALF of them expressed their desires to me to be baptised. needles to say, it was a powerful baptism.

another humbling week. another great week. another exhausting week, but another rewarding week. another week of learning more things than i can describe.

lots of people, especially hna ipanaquè, think im going to train after this cambio/my training is done. only the lord knows, but man would i feel inadequate. i have no idea whats going to happen, with training and with every other aspect in the mission, but i have the faith ill be able to do whatever i am called to do. after all, thats my mission scripture. alma 26 11-12. <3

i love you all!

3 nephi 3:12 no room for fear when you have FAITH.
dyc 68:25 .......let your children be baptised
3 nephi 4 30,33
hel 15 8 gospel is freedom

--
Hermana Wilson

photo bomb! isnt rider cute in his suit? 

 FRONT ROW WITH ELDER BEDNAR! hna boyle, hna casique

from conf with obispo pres. arlete, marleni (mom), rider, abraham, gaby. 

(abraham isnt part of the sanchez family.)

 templo cochabamba!

con hna palma! our adopted daughter :) 

 GRANADILLAAAAAAAAS

when your family loves you and sends you  chocolate <3333

 happy birthday elder cribbs ps our pension is the best 

oh you fancy huh

 damaris´s baptism. britanie mariana maria nely 

yo damaris fidelia samantha janet antoine fabio eduardo

the gem damaris herself <3

 other picture from maria nelys after the baptism. ignore the candidness, but franklin wasnt smiling in the other ones so heres one of his real smile. hes ORO. wouldnt take of his beanie bc he shaved off his hair. its the style for guys to have longer hair here.

ft elder peet (new district leader) and elder quispe

 look how proud her mama is :) 

shes official! c hno james our mission leader! hes literally amazing.

 maria nely &  janet

 con hna dama

How strange I am

shoutouts:
TRACI! T-KILLA! my wonderful cousin is home from her mission!!!! oh how i love you and oh how i need time to write you a long heartfelt mushy letter! youre pictures were so great and thank you for your email!!! <3
JACK! father of brad dredge! i got your message via my mom via email and i have one thing to say to you... SHRIIIIIIIIIMP!!

weekly nonimportants
they really love their mayonaise here. they put it on about anything.
tito almohada (chocoalte) el mismo cereal de perù. go to your local winco and find it. :)
jello is a favorite dessert of lots here.
theyre building cement streets in some of our area! which is HUGE, i found out.
how they tar the streets here: they have a garbage can, they prop it over a fire on the side of the street, stir it, the hand drizzle it over the cracks in this containter thing. talk about hard work.
CANCHA. the biggest open market in south america, and its HERE IN BOLIVIA(continued, accidentally sent it). adriana joyner, you would LOVE it. :)
we were going to go today but didnt have time bc i had to track down a package......

*****WORD TO WHOEVER READS MY EMAILS, i will gladly take a package if you want to send me one but PLEASE make sure its LESS THAN 4.4 pounds and les than $100 (dont worry, reeses never cost $100). after what it took to get the package today, i just might donate your package to the bolivian correos.

funny moments
my hair was soaked last week from the jungle so i just let it dry as we walked to noche de hogar.. the girls were literally climbing on my searching through my hair. "where are your braids?" they were literally confused. i always have braids haha
"do you have to have permission to bathe too?" -hno david "uhm, actually, yes.. we do"-hna ipanaquè (he was asking if we bathed in the river at the jungle, its a thing here. obviously the answer was no, mission rules.)
"at home, we are constantly changing the temperature in our homes to the temperature it is here. bolivia is perfect!" -bishop gary e stevenson
"elder." ...."i guess that doesnt really help, does it?" -elder david a bednar.

yes, that is right. you read it correctly. ELDER DAVID A BEDNAR.
saturday EVERY MISSIONARY in the cochabamba mission was flown in for the conference, that NEVER happens. but then again, neither does having a member of the pres of the 70 (elder ulisses soares) AND the pres of the area (elder juan a uceda) AND the bishop of the church (obispo gary e stevenson) AND an apostle (elder david a bednar) AND the mission president, AND their wives, all in one place for a private conference!! ive decided i really am the luckiest missionary in the world. i sat front row. i was five feet from all of them. it was amazing.
elder bednar talked about how DUMB it is to take notes on everything that is said, bc we never use the notes again. he challenged us to take notes on "small plates", and to record the things we heard that arent said (promptings of the spirit). none of the people listed above gave talks or speeches. the couples gave testimonies, and elder bednar led a discussion and answered questions at the end (along with the others). we had three talks we had studied before hand. one, ask in faith, was my favorite, look it up. that was the theme of the conference, asking and learning and praying in faith. meaning the intention to act. he said to not pray for "please bless those who arent here to be here next week" but to GO GET THEM. dont pray to "give me the goods", pray expecting to act. some quotes i liked from the conference..
"atonement is a big word, and hard to give a definition fof what it is. but the atonement is everything and maybe thats why its hard" sister stevenson
"the atonement isnt just the bad and hard things. it brings happiness to our lives and we need to REJOICE in it." sister stevenson
"atonement is the strengthening power that helps us do things we dont think we can do." sis bednar
"the younger we are the more we focus on the cleansing power of the atonement. it would be a good thing to study learn and understand the strengthening power" -elder bednar
*he then invited us, and i invite all of you, to mark in a paperback book of mormon everytime it mentions "in the strength of the lord" and write a one page paper on what we learned. then to repeat it. he promises the spirit will teach us in PERSONAL ways as we ask, seek, and knock (A.S.K.)
"we have agency for one reason: to CHOOSE GOD". -elder bednar
"sacrifice = consecration.. dont "give stuff". dont only be willing to "die for" the gospel. LIVE FOR IT. give all i am and try to become better." -elder bednar
"be a light in the darkness. cant do it alone. in strength of the lord, we can & we will." -elder bednar
"youll live them, not just know them" -elder bednar (things weve learned from seeking and asking for ourselves, not just getting an answer from someone else.)
one of the couples spoke about their disabled child and linked it with the atonement. it was beautiful, and so is what elder bednar said afterwards (ill give you one guess which 13year old boy was on my mind)
"they learned the strengthening power of the atonement. and submissiveness.. lessons learned with this child to prepare them and their family for eternity that they couldnt have learned in any other way... theyve done things they didnt think they could... the gospel doesnt make lives perfect and7or remove difficulties, it strengthens us to press forward with faith". <3
the conference was simple, strong, and powerful. some of the things i heard that werent said (minus the details that cant be shared)
Gods wants are more important than my wants.
hugs. theyre powerful, and through them is one way i can share my love with others.
im grateful for english as my native language, for more reasons than one.
elder bednar is an apostle, and should be respected, but he is also a real man. hes FUNNY! hes down to earth! hes a father, and a friend! it reminded me of president uchtdorf at the trujillo temple dedication. it also strengthened my testimony about jesus christ and heavenly father, and how REAL they are. <3
i need to keep the faith, keep acting, and ill find His will.
i was sitting 5 feet from elder bednar. he was asking if anyone had anything they wanted to share. i had something. and i was going to ask him something as well. he looked right at me, 3 different times, held my gaze, then called on other people. the spirit testified to me that i wasnt called on not because he didnt see me or what i had to say wasnt important, but that i needed to do more searching on my own to find out my answer. later in the conference some of my question was answered, but not all of it. this is a huge experience squished into three sentences, but i was not forgotten in that moment.
second most powerful experience was when elder bednar was leaving. i got choked up and tears came into my eyes and my heart felt broken. i was surprised how much it hurt for him to leave, and how much i wanted him to stay! my thoughts were led to the savior, and how hard it must have been for his disciples to watch him leave. my desire to live worthy to return to Him and my Father grew so much in that moment. the spirit whispered other things to my heart, but those are for my journal only. :)
the next day (sunday) we had a stake conference with obispo gary e stevenson. it was so wonderful. so simple and precious. his words were simple and powerful. i felt, again, the realness of heavenly father and of His love for me individually . one moment i felt this the most was when sister missionaries were mentioned, and president hansen looked right at me and smiled SO BIG, and the spirit hit me like a tidal wave that what im doing is exactly what heavenly father wants me to be doing, that Hes proud of me, and that He loves me. i got chills.
the bishop explained what the bishop of the church does. one of the things is help translate for the world. pom pei now has the BOM in their language. but:
"the people of pom pei micronesia (shoutout david T) had a testimony of the BOM before they even read it, just from hearing testimonies of it and the stories in it." how incredible is that?
"we (mormons) dont want to be different, but we are and its a blessing" sis stevenson
"this gospel can change lives and this is why we have it." -pres hansens daughter (possibly one of my favorite quotes)
"the lord may not take away all of our burdens but Hell listen and make them light (matt 11:28-30). go to the Lord. Pour out your heart. Even in the midst of your adversity, he´ll givve you peace." -bishop stevenson.

and how true is that?
another one of my promptings was to pray for my mission to be harder. yesterday... the hardness started. :) once upon a time my family and i had the 24 hour flu and i lost 18 pounds in 24 hours, thats how sick i was. yesterday i got sick out of nowhere. so sick that i, the workaholic, was forced to return to our casa and rest. my heart was broken. i cried for an hour. i wanted to work. i didnt want to be sick and unable to move. my heart hurt knowing there are people here who need my help and my love and i was unable to give it. BUT, the story gets better! stop worrying!
i woke up because my bed was shaking. it jerked me out of bed and i screamed. it wasnt a earthquake, it was THUNDER. tender mercies: there was a HUGE storm, with lightning & thunder that folowed exactly 3 seconds later for 10 seconds at a minimum. all of the missionaries had to return to their casas. there was acid rain. our citas, one who had a fecha and one who we were going t give a fecha, werent home. when i woke up, my sickness was pretty much gone i just felt empty. my prayers (and the prayers of others, i found out) were answered. i was shown so much LOVE. by my companion, by my pensionista and her family, the zone leaders, and the missionaries we eat with (hna cruz and silvano). and last but CERTAINLY not least, heavenly father. it ended up being a very strong spiritual experience and i definitely learned once again that the lord works in mysterious ways. (dont worry .the sun is back out and the sickness is gone.)

other blessings, really quick, bc im out of time
im able to be an example to other missionaries by following the rules. its hard not eating the bacon but its worth the health.
went to dinner with hno david and his wife hna ne linda, they paid, we had my favorite bolivian food (piquè), and found out he has a LDM! qwhat??! we talked about pretty much everything you can talk about relating to the church, they had lots of questions, we had lots of answers, were bringing them meet the mormons this week to watch as a family, and theyre coming t church next week. GOLD.
elder salas bought us a HUGE pizza for our last district meeting. look at the pictures, when i say huge i mean huge.
studying hope, atrribute of christ, for my 5 minute lesson. if youre having a hard day, study this. itll defintiely lift your spirit.
had a perfect study session of personal, companion, idioma, 12 semanas, all temprano and all super powerful!
after a really hard lesson , we went to visit a menos activo.. she wasnt home but her sister opened the door and literally launched herself into my arms, oh how i love them (same little girls who i sent pictures of braiding my hair a couple weeks back)
three diff investigators opened up to us about serious problems theyre having with the ley de castidad and family. so grateful they can trust us enought to tell us and believe that we can help them. and we can. and we will. <3
hermana ipanaquè and i fasted on thursday. let me just say, that if a missionary fasts for you, you better believe they love you and believe that their fast will bring the blessings theyre praying for bc it is not the easiest thing to go without food and water for 24 hours while walking miles a day. im not complaining, not at all, just painting the picture. hna arlete has a baptism date for saturday aug 29 but we dont have her parents permission and we need that to baptize her. my fast was specifically for her. well, sunday her mom came to the conference with the obispo de la iglesia (as well as her sister whos an antiguo investigador) and she met with pres hansen after and we have her permission!!!!!!!! ah. my heart literally couldnt have been happier! we still need the fathers permission, the days are coutning down, but i have the faith well recieve it. arlete literally has such a strong testimony and its my hearts desire for heavenly father to soften her fathers heart so that her desire to be baptized can become a reality.

i love it here!
i love all of you!
i love this work!

DyC 64:33-34
hermana wilson

--
Hermana Wilson

ps elder david a bednar talked about how strange it is to see so many 18 19 and 20 year olds in skirts and blouses and ties at this time of our lives. he then gave us His love, and the Prophets love, and the Lords love, for our service. <3

 me and hna cruz! :) 

ill let you guess how happy i was

 some of my group after saturday's conference! 

hno rider, the doppleganger of luke and the future member of la iglesia

 our little group at watching meet the mormons

compañera bonding, we drank hot chocolate and watched the lightning. 

so grateful for her love and tender care

Into the Jungle

so the titles of this week have changed pretty much daily. it was going to be...
"you are my sunshine" (because it was rainy and freezing and stormy and a little extra sad at the beginning of the week, but i sang that song-which has a TON of meaning to me- to hermana ipanaquè, translating of course, and we made it through)
"americans are spoiled" (because i had intercambios again, and man oh man are the missionaries in america (an area in central) spoiled! lots of food, HOT SHOWERS, food, and HOT SHOWERS... just like all of you reading this.)
"where´s wilson" (as a wheres waldo reference, bc i went missing for a day at intercambios and everyone was wondering where i went)
but ive decided on into the jungle, bc today we went into the jungle and i have decided every person in the world needs to add it to their bucket list because it was incredible. sorry dad, but a hike into the thick of the jungle in south america beats our 50 milers. :) i was in heaven. im a little less jealous of all of your camping adventures now bc i have experienced the jungle. :)

random weekly things (i lost my list, so only a couple sorry)
we (hna cruz and I) have decided that we never remember our dreams bc we end up being in other peoples dreams (true story). so, the question is, whos dreaming about me this week?
i have decided on bucket showers. i can boil the water and pour in more (cold) water and its decently warm, (the water not the air) and it is doable. the water hurt it was so cold this week, so, no more regular showers for me. (and you can all stop being worried about me getting shocked)
parking on the right side of the streeet isnt a thing here. they just parkk.
theres lots of snow on the mountains! which is RARE. hna ipanaquè thinks its the most beautiful thing ever.
i may or may not be cutting off all of my hair. which really, is okay, bc apparently the water is horrible here and people lose a ton of hair anyways.

funny moments
only two, but quite possibly the funniest of my mission thus far..
#2: hna gilbonio asked what i liked to do before the mission, i said one of my favorite things was having a fire with friends and listening to someone play the guitar/sing, also finding waterfalls, etc.. she said "oh, so basically, you were a hippie?" but she was dead serious. oh, it made me laugh..
FUNNNIEST MOMENT OF THE MISSION: so secret, we havent actually taken out our trash since being here bc we didnt know when the garbage truck came. we just had them in bags in the back corner of our patio. well, we figured it out. were on the 4th story. we yelled to the garbage truck (it was an open bed and there were two people sitting on top of it) if we could just throw down our trash, they said yes.... well, long story short, hna ipanaquè NAILED the lady straight in the back of her head, with the trash from our bathroom, and her face.... i can count on one hand the times ive seen someone more angry hahahaha. "¡NO MAS!"

bendiciones
the sky was pitch black one night but we could see the clouds bright white for some reason. so odd but so beautiful.
my mom sent me the recipe for banana bread and other misc things!!!
i got an email from bryce that helped me tremendously. shoutout to the worlds best older brother.
recieving direct blessings when were obedient
FECHA POR BAUTISMO c/ hno antoine (9)! 5 de agosto. he is a little like hno rider. super cute kid. super dedicated. he wakes up at 6 am everyday to do his homework. hell be a great member. :)
hno silvano said my español is much clearer/better. which is a huge compliment for me bc she hasnt exactly been super supportive of it.
hno alejandra (11?) and hno yamil (8?) accepted a FECHA POR BAUTISMO in the first visit! super great kids, super great faith, super great examples!
i recognized hno humberto´s face (hna ipanaquè didnt) and we were able to talk with him, figure out confusion, (we had the wrong number), and set him up with discussions (hes not in our area after all, sad. )
saw baby rabbits the size of my palm and a leopard skin
DUCHAR CALIENTE IN AMERICA. seriously, SUCH A BLESSING.....
sharing 2 nefi 22:2 (riley affonso´s scripture) with hna bertha. such a sweet, OLD, lady.
hna routsong put a note on my bed to find once i returned, saying i had definitely earned my pillow... back when i had my first intercambio i had left a note on her bed, and she remembered, a month later... it meant a lot. shes great, i love her.
did my idea for planifacion semanal and did a investigator wall / organization thing. its a visual, and will help us see who we havent visited in a while, and be more oragnized int he work, and it feels SO GOOD to have a detailed plan for this week. my goals are pretty high but i have fe that we can achieve them. im determined and motivated to QWORK.
hno david invited us to dinner tomorrow night, near the temple! hopefully we get permission (we find out tonight). theyre our neighbors, also the owners of entire barrio fabril i found out (the neighborhood), and the ones we showed the baptismal font & are going to baptize, they just dont knoww it yet. :) slowly but surely, theyre growing in their faith. after the catolico holiday is over, theyre coming to church with us and were going to start teaching them officially as well. theyre so great!!! and theyre MARRIED. yes. :)
muchos fuegos articificiales (fireworks)!!! theres a big fiesta going on (WHEN IS THERE NOT IN BOLIVIA) , fiesta de la urkupiña. look it up, theyre super dedicated to it. its pretty cool, but theres been a LOT of drunks in the streets at night.
found a guy with a golden liòn. :)
we had a FAMILIA attend churhc for 3 HOURS on sunday, theyre so great and the dad especially is great, hes super open to the gospel and learning more. he has a true desire to find the truth, and we have what hes looking for!
hna ne linda said i have a beautiful singing voice. ive never been told that before. my shower singing must be paying off.
bringing hna ne linda and hno jhon R to the baptism for hno andres ( my first baptism! not an investigator but still way great! he shared his testimony with everyone at the end, it was so adorable and powerful at once!)

highlights
going to the jungle, obviously. oh it was so beautiful. and any movie youve seen with the sounds of the jungle are all accurate. kind of eery, not seeing past the cliffs, and tons of green everywhere, and secret waterfalls everywhere, and the roar in your ears. definitely worth getting soaked and the muddy shoes. :) i took about 100 pictures i think , ill try to attach my favorites. I LOVE THE JUNGLE.
hna arlete, is an angel. she isnt even batpized yet but she had an increible missionary expereience. she had a test in her religion class. they had to draw certain images. lucky for her she brought her libro de mormon and her folletos and drew the picture from the LDM of christ in the americas and the foto on folleto uno, christ holding a lamb, and got the best grade in the class! the BEST part of the story is that all of her friends asked her what the book/folletos were and she shared with them / her testimony! and now were teaching 3 of her friends! SHES AMAZING. also, it was her birthday saturday . we gave her flowers and chocolate and the liahona from conference in may, and man oh man she and her brother and sister (who is coming back! yay!) were mesmorized by it. second highlight with arlete was teaching her we have a living prophet today. her eyes about popped out of her head. she was so excited! it hit me that we as members sometimes take for granted what a blessing it is to have a prophet! my testimony was strengthed a ton by that lesson, so strong & great!
BEST LESSON OF THE MISSION. we had a lesson with jhon rodriguez, the one that i mentioned last week (i think). basically, i have never felt the spirit stronger in a lesson than in this lesson. also, i was able to teach and testify boldy with ALL THE WORDS i wanted to say WITHOUT HAVING TO THINK ABOUT IT. the spirit was definitely with me as was the don de lenguas. i KNOW that my words pierced straight to his heart (because they werent my words, after all) and it was incredible to see and feel and do. also, as i bore and taught about the evangelio de jesucristo, i realized just how strong my testimony is and just how much this gospel means to me. it means EVERYTHING, and i know without a single doubt its true. there was NO denying the spirit in that room.

scriptures1
helaman 5:12 foundation of christ gives strength to withstand satan. such a strong scripture, and also helped me remember things from my patriarchal blessing, which as some of you know is one of the things in life i hold MOST precious. direct council and blessings from the lord? how can you not hold that sacred..
hel 5:41 darkness of sin CAN BE LIFTED by fe and repentance
hel 44-47 unexplainable JOY comes from the healing power of the atonement and ability to have the spirit again in your life. it is NEVER TOO LATE to repent and return to christ

its hard fitting everything into one week. i dont even know if anyone reads these letters, but i write them for myself as well. its hard having time to write in my journal every night and every DAY i have incredible experiences and i dont want to forget them! or these people! they mean the world to me. im definitely not here just for my testimony to grow (although it is), im here for them.

love you all! have a great week!
IM GOING TO SEE BEDNAR THIS WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(as well as three other general authorities).
be jealous. :) in a righteous way, of course. dont worry, ill share with you.
until next week.

--
Hermana Wilson

 hna ipanaquè said i looked just like it

my favorite place in la floresta! not the best picture bc it was self timed but seriously it is SO BEAUTIFUL. ignore our ugly attempt at a heart haha

 hna bertha and i. shes the greatest. :) you should hear her sing love one another, its beautiful

braids and bread. i think yes

 did i mention after hno andres (gray suit)s baptism, we had a full blown birthday party?
and did i also mention i DO NOT LIKE CLOWNS?

hna davinia and i (daughter of hno david/ne linda) cutest future missionary! 

 hna ne linda and hno jhon rodriguez after the baptism. :)

 bridge selfie, find the waterfall! :) 

did i mention some planks were missing and it was hundreds of feet of a drop?

  find the path! i wasnt joking when i said the jugnle was THICK

I LOVE MI COMPAÑERA

 a prize for whoever finds whats missing from this foto first

a really super (non)attractive picture of me in the prime of my tarzan swinging action

 waterfall with hna ipanaquè!

i have lots of great fotos with this arrow, well leave it at that. :) heres a waterfall!

 one of the hidden waterfalls i found :) 

gorilla in the jungle! gorilla strong, you should all save up and take a trip out here again. :) its only 5 bs (less than a dollar) to enter the jungle! although i must say, enter at your own risk. we didnt have a guide. :) 

Pizza My Heart

what. a. week.
it was hard in the beginning. every day we had something and it felt like we werent getting much done. monday p day. tuesday temple and zone conf. wed hospital. thurs ward activity. fri and sat morning hospital. BUT. there were definitely blessings scattered through every day the week ended on such a good note. my heart is full!!!!

my heart is also happy bc yes, we had homemade pizza this week (including oreo pizza for dessert). if you want to win my heart..... pizza. and maybe pick some flowers. :)

speaking of LOVE, shoutout to KATERIN RIVERA for being a MARRIED WOMAN, you looked absolutely GORGEOUS (as always). someone send me her email?

weekly nonimportant things
bolivians dont like smiling in pictures they think a serious face is more guapo. its sad bc you all miss out on a lot of my investigadores personalities, they have the HAPPIEST and BIGGEST smiles ever. im always begging and bribing them to smile haha
i use a coca coca glass bottle for my flower vase on my bedside. its perfect.
hna ipanaquè doesnt like sleeping with a  pillow
i get super excited whenever someone has a bandera. hna ipanaquè gets angry when they dont. :p
i discovered my heals (the back of them) are dried with blood bc theyre so cracked and dry. ive added them to my areas-that-need-lotion list :)
my compañera bought hot chocolate powder. i knew i loved her.
we pass a gym everyday on the way to our pensiòn. shoutout to gorillastrong, i miss you.
the streets were FLOODED earlier bc of the fields being watered for harvest. mudddddy.
lock purses in a locker at the grocery store. not sure if its for safety or  customer service or both
knives here are a LOT sharper than in the states. i sliced my finger open cutting some pan
speaking of knives. i passed a man walking with a machete (how do you spell that, wow im no good at english) .
if you buy a glassbottled soda, and bring back the bottle after you drink it, they give you some money back. jill lavine your theory was right, and i am going to continue to buy only plastic.

funny moments
"paper towels? AND SOAP? its going to be a GREAT day, that never happens!" -presidente hansen
in the temple, i got asked if i knew curtis wigginton. someone tell him elder thompson says hi
the doctor we see looks exactly like the lady int he nail salon from legally blonde only in doctor form. she even has pink lipstick.
"hello, its na.. hermana wilson. weird, i forgot i had a first name until now." "yeah, it comes with the english." -hermana hansen
oranges have a LOT of juice (may or may not have gotten them thrown at us.)
hermana lindsay got a handful of red fire ants crawl up her skirt, and.. yeah. funny to watch, well say that. :)


bendiciones
(its literally the hardest thing to pick these, i have way too many...)
lady touched my hand before getting off the bus and said "chao hermanita". so simple but when she touched me i felt so much love, and i knew that she knew me... it was an amazing experience and the veil was so thin. i didnt even realize i needed an angel of love but He sent me one anyways
i understood EVERYTHING at zone conference, yay for the don de lenguas, its REAL. <3
peanut butter cookie at zone conference made me drool
miracle in finding the temple, i knew which street to turn on and we were on time. big experience in a one liner, welcome to the mission
able to buy my emergency food (weve been asked to have fooda nd water for 48 hours). feels good to be prepared and obedient. i have top romen, peaches, and canned vegetables with a side of oreos and crackers ready to go. :)
riding in the trunk bed of hno davids truck, reminded me of riding in my dads. super fun, lots of giggles with the little girls.
recieved a full reimbursado from the luggage fees. whoo!
when we showed hno david y su esposa the baptismal font, the spirit was INCREDIBLY strong. they felt it to. he said "this is a very sacred place." so simple but so pure, i love the beginning lines of tesimonies :)
pizza. delicious.
hna rosaurio talked to us! she is slightly handicapped and i dont think has any friends. it was a special moment helping her be happy in those small ten minutes, i saw a light in her eyes grow, i love her shes the sweetest and deserves a better life. were helping her get it.
it rained! that never happens (it actually poured). it wasnt hot, and the dust storm left!
hno franklin, is GOLD. pure oro. we had our first lesson, it was super short bc we didnt ahve  a lot of time but his three questions were 1 who is joseph smith 2 what is the gospel of jesus christ and 3 why am i here on earth? please, explain to me how you could have any possible better questions. he wants to know everything and were going to help him find his answers :)
hna ipanaquè said iw as the sister she never had. :) we had a lot of bonding experiences this week. ive been blessed to have patience and positivity bc her supply is slightly low. i love her so much and shes such a wonderful missionary. shes an answer to my prayers.

scriptures
alma 58:10(ask for help and strength in trials) & 11(meanwhile, count and recognize youre blessings "assurances"
helaman 3:26(im uniting SOULS, this work is so much more important than we realize) & 27 (the lords merciful to ALL, just need a sincere heart) & 28 (gates of heaven are open to ALL. just picture that for a second. its beautiful.)

highlights
TEMPLO. oh, how i love to see the temple. <3 and going inside is so, so much better! as soon as i walked int he doors the spirit hit me so strongly. its hard not going every week but im not complaining bc theres lots of missionaries who cant go at all. it was super special and even though it was in spanish i learned a lot. the theme that stuck out most to me was families. the spirit also testified to me the importance of my work & that im blessing more than just my family now, but other families and my future family as well. families are such blessings and the ability to be together FOREVER (c/ el templo) is the ultimate blessing <3
ACTIVIDAD DEL BARRIO. ward activities are such blessings to missionary work, were able to have investigadores come and mingle with members and gain trust/friends/good experiences. we had 19 investigadores come!!!!! and it was super fun. hna ipanaquè and i babysat the children the whole time and played games. it was a tad bit exhausting but theyre so adorable it was worth it. not to mention while we entertained, their parents were able to mingle and play futbol or vollibol or get tours of the church, etc. members and missionaries in the same work, thats what i likeeee.
CONFERENCIA DEL ESTACO. presidente hansen y su esposa came! the spirit was especially strong, especially sunday´s session. i loved it! we sat front row with our "kids" (arlete, jovanna, rider, y estafani.). presidente hansen came down and shook their hands and talked to each of them. he was excited to find out theyre all investigators and all over the age of 8 (rider is 8). he asked them if they were preparing to be baptized and they all said YES, i was happiest to hear riders response bc we havent actually started teaching him yet, hes only sat in on hs sisters lessons, but you better believe thats going to change this week!
WORKING. secret to a happy missionary is working, and it felt so good to get some solid hours of work in this weekend. the spirit was with me so much stronger and i was so much happier. theres nothing better than working and pure service, which is pretty much all i do. that, and sharing the best possible message there is. :)
CADA INVESTIGADOR. ive mentioned before i keep a little (i mean little) gratitude journal with me in my bag. i noticed saturday that each little bullet blessing had an investigadores name next to it. it made me smile. :) and the spirit hit me super strong in that moment, that literally i consider each of my investigadores a blessing and ive developed a love for all of them. i dont just CALL them hermana y hermano, they ARE my brothers and sisters. <3


i love you all! have a great week. :)
hermana wilson

ps next week for pday were going to the jungle, IM SO EXCITED.

--
Hermana Wilson

pic from the temple, mi y my compañera y presidente hansen y su esposa <3

 hno Hugo (equivalent of Michael Hingano, someone tell him to email me) bombing our foto

hes the assistant ward mission leader

hna arlete, yo, y hna jesenia at almuerzo at the ward actividad

 hno abraham, yo, hna sonia, hna eveline, hna ipanaquè, hna lindsay (member who comes with us on lessons, shes only 14 but i swear shes older. her testimony is a rock and i love her so much!)

cody (white dog) y devin (black dog, pronounced deBEEEn) y babies! i was happy in the picture but not afterwards, they got muddy paw prints on my shirt. 

 our neighbors, hna david y Ne Linda. :) 

HNO RIDER. cutest kid ever, gives me happiness every time i see him. luke, this is the bolivian version of you. 

gave flowers to hermana ancalle, our pensiòn. c hermana silvano, hna cruz in the mirror 

hna cruz in our bolivian colored outfits for dia de bolivia

 maracuya! my favoriteeee juice from peru, its here too! :) sadly they dont have granadillas..

hno jhon rodriguez, hno abraham, y hna lindsay after stake conf on sunday morning. 

little blurb about jhon.. he CAME! super unexpected, but his heart has done some serious changing and humbling the past 24 hours. im super excited to teach him. his cousins/friends were the one chucking oranges, so the fact that he showed up & dressed up & told us that he LOVED conference, is a huge blessing. :) 

hna lindsay brought him and hno saul, a convert who went inactive right after baptism, oh the blessings... :) 

 last night we were blessed to have a lesson with hno james. we tried to teach hna liliana y su familia but they left a note saying they were gone. long story short our lesson turned into a lesson with antonio, but then fredy and emilee (also amazing story with emilee, shes gained respect for us and has a softened heart now, super excited for her), y jheison. they just kept flocking to us and we fed them with the gospel. :) hno james is our mission leader and he is a perfect leader, were so blessed to have him. also a perfect example of how little miracles just happen, and the lord directs his work. :)
(the others didnt want to be in the picture, but pictured here are antonio and fredy).

bone in my soup. :) peekaboo

 the day arlete accepted her fetcha! :) (hno saul, hno rider, hna arlete) 

the lights we found <3 

elder pachas, one of our zone leaders. 

hes the equivalent of elder cleverly from the ccm and a huge blessing to the zone 

heres some of my zone at our bbq my first week