April 6, 2015

This week was pretty good. We were able to place more baptismal dates and find a sister of a member that we recently rescued/activated. The member is Brenda and she is awesome! She’s married to a Chilean who’s 65 years old (she’s 29). It’s a little peculiar, but there’s love there. They have a daughter together. Anyway, she gave us two pollos a la brasa one night for free! It’s like grilled or rotisserie chicken served with fries and sauces. It was awesome. Also, I’m sending pics of last night. Brenda offered us a huge fish that she had. We brought it home and my comp cleaned and cut it all up with a sharp bread knife. The fish was delicious but there was blood everywhere. The worst part is that we had to clean up our bloody kitchen and get rid of all the fish guts the next day. It was sitting there all night because we don’t have water at night. It all had to wait until the morning. Now I have a fish story, something that everyone here in Pisco seems to have.

In more spiritual news, conference was amazing this past weekend. I especially loved the talks by Uchtdorf and Holland from Sunday morning’s session. They were amazing and opened my eyes even more to the wonderful news of the Atonement. I loved the part from another talk of helping others to hear the music of the gospel and not just teach them the dance steps. That really applies to Peru because there’s a lot of churches here and they all teach similar things.  What we have to do is have others hear the music of the restored gospel. That’s a hard thing to do if they don’t have open hearts. We’re trying. I also received a renewed testimony this weekend of the truthfulness of these men as prophets and apostles of God. Just about every day I testify of the truthfulness of the prophet and of Joseph Smith. Now I feel I can sincerely testify of Thomas S Monson as a true prophet of God. It was amazing as I felt the spirit so strongly while watching them. It’s something that I was praying for a stronger testimony of, and I received my answer for sure.

I have been thinking a ton this week of the Sabbath day. It’s something that I have studied a lot and something we teach a ton. With all of my study, I've come to the conclusion and I believe that what you do is OK in the sight of God. I know that God isn't upset with what you do. I know that you are doing a service and a sacrifice for others. I feel peace with your situation, Mom. I know that God loves you. I know that it is not ideal to work on Sunday but there are some things that require someone to work. I thought of the MTC how they employ people on Sundays as well (especially the cafeteria). There’s a lot of people that must work on Sundays, for good and righteous purposes. Anyway, it’s a realization that I came to this week. I love you so very much for your sacrifice, Mom. Thank you.

I received a package from Janeen and Todd. It was awesome and the socks were much needed. Please give them my thanks! The Spanish is really good now and I’m loving being out here. I love looking at the family pictures that you have sent. It helps me to remember my love for all of you, and reminds me of how important it is for everyone to have an eternal family. I love you all so much. I just barely got a letter you sent on March 4 so this week I found out that Thomas is going to Japan on his mission. Wow! What about Eric? I've been praying for you all even more this week.

Give my love to all!!!!

Elder Wilson