January 12, 2015

Yeah. I lost track of my expenses because of the emergency transfer in December. I don’t think I was given the money that I needed for transportation to the area. We have to pay for moto taxis any time we travel and they can be expensive. But, this month I have a nice budget plan that I’ve made. I’m sticking to it. I am also keeping track of every cent that leaves my possession. So far I’m doing pretty good with it. We’ll see how I end the month.

This week was kinda crazy. We had to go to Lima on Wednesday. A spur of the moment thing because my companion had to go to immigrations. It’s a 4 hour trip by bus, so it took all day. I was able to sleep a bit on the bus. They play movies in the bus and although I gave it my best shot, I regrettably did see a good portion of RoboCop on the two bus rides. Oops! I really did try but the screen is right in front of me! We slept in the room of the Assistants to the Mission President once in Lima. It’s like a hotel room. It was the nicest place I’ve seen as a missionary! 

My experience of Joseph Smith.. It’s kinda hard saying Joseph Smith since in Spanish it’s changed to Jose Smith. So, we were teaching a less active man and his two friends. The two guys have both had lots of experiences with other churches. The one man is a Jehovah’s Witness, the other an Evangelical. We were teaching the message of the restoration and they didn’t really accept the fact of a prophet, a restored church, or of Joseph Smith. Here in Latin America there’s a ton of trash talking about Joseph Smith. Lots of videos and stories on TV and the internet. They were asking questions about all the weird stuff they had seen and heard. I got a little sick of it and I just said, with all the energy of heart, “I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I know that he restored this church, the true church of Jesus Christ back to the earth today. Because of Joseph Smith, we have a convincing evidence of the Gospel, the Book of Mormon, that was translated and given to us.” I felt so full of the Spirit when I testified so boldly of Joseph Smith to these two men. I know that the Spirit was with me and testified to them of the truthfulness of what we were teaching. It was a great experience for me! I loved it and it fulfilled a part of my patriarchal blessing as well!

Anyway, thanks for everything mom. Thanks for helping me to be out here on my mission, and for supporting me and always being so kind and patient with me. I love you mom. Tell dad that I love him so much as well. I miss you guys, but I’m very glad to be serving the Lord in His vineyard!

Have an awesome week and be sure to give my love to the family and to the grandparents!

Love,

Elder Wilson