Hey family!!! This keyboard is terrible but I'll write my best.

Glad to hear that all is well. All is well here.

Finally we have another fecha here in Puente, Virú. Her name is Maribel. She is a single mother who is about 45. She is great. We found her only a week ago and she already has a strong desire to be baptized. She has relatives in another town that are members and because of the changes they have made in their lives and the examples that they have set has made her know that this church helps people change their lives and that's really what she wants. She has already started to read the Book of Mormon but as she was reading her glasses broke. What an obstacle that is, but she already believes that what she read is true. We are planning on baptizing her Sunday after church. Well we had District Conference yesterday. It is pretty much Stake Conference but as a district. All of the talks were really good. It was really funny this week because we found a family from the mountains during the week and committed them to go to church. The mother went to church wearing a big sombrero. It was funny and awesome. Everyone looked at us as we walked in but after seeing everyone else without a hat she took it off.

Please pray for Eduardo. He is soooo close to being baptized and if he decides he could do it this Saturday.
 I just got great news. My son, Elder Cook, just got called to serve in the office as financial secretary. He is doing great and he will be calling me every week to talk about financial issues.

Well tell Chase I said hi and congratulations for sticking with the mission until the end. I just got my trunky letter in the which I have to fill out all the information about my address, what airport I will arrive in, my phone number and what day I will be leaving. It is the 23rd of July my friends... a very sad day indeed. But the 24th will be a great one. I hope everyone is okay and stays okay.

Until next week,

Elder Wilkinson

District Meeting

Puente, Viru

April 22, 2012

Well everyone, everything is great! I'm really, really excited to hear

the news about the family Changa and that the parents are getting

baptized. I remember when we first started teaching them. They are a

really great family and I miss them. Mom make sure to write them and

tell them that I'm proud of them. Mirope, the mom, always listened to us

and when I saw her on Christmas I told her she had to get baptized

before I ended my mission..........and she did!!!!! It's really great

to see that the work you did a long time ago still brings fruits and

results for the Lord.

This week here in Puente was good. Today was

actually a little cooler in the morning so there is a little bit of

difference in the weather.

I got my package from Grandma Tuttle. It

took a while to get here because the post office was on strike for a

little while because apparently they had problems getting paid.

Well

not much happened this week. Just here in Puente Virú. It's called

Puente because in spanish puente is bridge and there is a big bridge

crossing a river in front of this town. Our recent convert, Reyner, from

The Selva received the aaronic priesthood yesterday. That made us

really happy. He bought a white shirt to go to church because he

wanted to fit in with everyone else. I gave him one of my ties. Reyner

has been a member for a short period of time but is really close to

finishing the Book of Mormon. He is already in 3 Nephi chapter

21!!!!!! It's amazing how fast he is progressing. He also attends

institute. I didn't even go to institute yet!!! haha

Well family

thanks for all your prayers and for all that you do. Mom, thanks for

sharing that story with me. I love you all and pray for you every day.

This church is true. It's blessed my life every single day and it keeps

me on the path to eternal life. To serve the church of Christ is what

makes us happy because we are only serving Him.

Until next week.

Elder Wilkinson



Hey everyone!!! Sounds like all is well. I hope you had a Happy Easter. Easter was alright here. This week was the famous Semana Santa, or in other words the Semana Borracha!!(the Drunk Week) Everyone here this week doesn't work from Thursday to Sunday and they all drink in the night, sleep in, and watch movies about Jesus during the day. They also go to the beach and get drunk there too. It's not a week that's very santa, holy, but that's what they call it. 

Well nothing pleases me more than to know that all went well with the sealing of Nick and Jordynne. That's great that they did that. Anyways it's weird knowing that this is the last change of Chase and that he'll be home really soon.

 Things are going really good here in Viru. I went on a work visit this week with Elder Fackrell. He is a new missionary from Bountiful, Utah. He is a really cool kid and we worked in his area thats called El Niño. His area is a lot cooler than mine. It's a little village about an hour away from Viru. It's just straight up fields of corn and other fruits and vegetables. It's beautiful. We worked there all day Friday. 

This week I also had the zone leader activity. We played soccer and frisbee dodgeball. It was awesome. Another cool experience I had this week was that we didn't have any baptism clothing so I had to go to Trujillo to pick it up. I went to The Noria!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was great I got to see the pensionista Hermana Miriam and the family Asto. They are all doing really great. I didn't have a lot of time to visit but it was really great to see my old area. It was a strange experience finding out who of my converts were still going to church and the others that weren't. It was exciting knowing that some are progressing and becoming strong members and really sad that others are having lots of troubles.

 I'm glad to know that all my family members are active in this church and that they strive to live the commandments and have an eternal family. I don't have to worry about things like that. Though other people do have to.

 But please everyone pray for my family and their health. It would mean a lot to me. I sure do pray for you guys... a lot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Well today we're in Trujillo and we're going to the mall which obviously means I'll be getting fatter and happier all at the same time while I eat my delicious Big Mac with fries and an Inca Cola. I love you all, I love Big Macs and Inca Cola, I love the mission, and I love my Savior and my Heavenly Father, just not in that order. hahaha

Until next week,

Elder Wilkinson. 

Zone Leader Concilio

April 4, 2012

 Lots of training from 9-2....

  lunch....frisbee dodgeball....soccer!!

Hey everyone everything is going great here in Virú. General Conference was great. We were allowed to go if we brought investigators and we were able to bring investigators to all of them!!!!!! I liked a lot of talks. I'm really bad at remembering who said what but I did take notes to read in my free time. 

Well this week seems really exciting for everyone. I hope everything went really well for Nick and Jordynne this week. That's great that they've progressed so fast. I just baptized Nick a little while back and he's already beat me to the highest spot in the Celestial Kingdom haha. Way to go guys!!!!!!!!!!!

 Well this week we didn't have the baptism we were waiting for but the people that we are working with went to Conference so I know that will help them make their decisions a lot faster now. Viru is changing little by little and I'm glad the Lord sent me here. I know I would've had more success in The Noria but the people we have found here and taught the gospel to them has definitely been worth it. Not many people came to Conference on Saturday, about 12 in the morning, 20 in the afternoon, and 30 in the night, but Sunday there were a lot.

 My companion is doing good and we teach really well together. He is new, only has 9 months, but is really good at teaching and having the responsabilities of a zone leader because he served in the office for 5 months, made phone calls, ordered things, and went to all of the leadership trainings of the mission.

 Well it's still the same temperature here. They say it cools down in the middle of April. I hope so. This Wednesday should be the Zone Leader Council so watch for pictures of us!!!

 I received Easter packages from Mom and Grandma Wilk, and Grandma Tuttle's is still on the way I think. but thank you all so much for the packages. I have the only family that sends packages and letters for not as common holidays. I was the only missionary to receive things on Valentines Day as well as Easter, at least before the holiday I'm sure some came after a little later but that made me happy.

 Anyways I hope Dad has a happy birthday and that you guys can do something special. 

Let everyone know that I love them and always remember them and pray for them. 

Until next week,

Elder Wilkinson. 

Tyler's new companion

Elder Escobar

from Guatemala

Hey everyone how are you??? Everything is going really well here. We're working really, really hard here and we really are trying to strengthen this rama.

 My new companion is Elder Escobar. He is the missionary that just finished his time in the office. He had 5 months in the office and is really excited to start working in the field again full time. My companion is from Guatemala. That's my third companion from Guatemala. I've had more companions from Guatemala than I have from Peru. I've also had as many companions from Chile as I have from Peru, that's 2 chilenos and 2 peruanos. 

Well all went well last week. We did get the marriage arranged and we were able to marry 3 couples in our zone, including our couple from Puente, Sara and Eduardo. The marriage was really cool and was really special because a couple that was 80 years old was married. They have known the missionaries about 2 months and ever since the first visit they wanted to be baptized and to get married. The old man was also in a wheel chair and I had the opportunity of helping him with his baptism last week. It took two of us and about 35 minutes but we got him standing up and then walked him up the 4 stairs, down 4 other stairs, and into the cold water. Then we had to put a chair in the water so he could sit on it. After Elder Guerrero said the baptism prayer, I took the chair out from under the grandpa, Elder Guerrero took him in his arms and I slid the chair away and we both submerged him in the water. It was a little rough on the old grandpa but he was really brave. His wife was so happy and she went right down into the water and was baptized without a single problem. Also, after that Hermana Sara was baptized in our area. Now all that is left is her husband Eduardo. He is an awesome guy and is really close to baptism. Please pray for him. 

Yes mom we will be seeing General Conference here in our capilla and it's going to be awesome. I'm very proud of you mom for giving your 5 minute talk on................me haha it's not that hard though to say talks when you study scriptures everyday like we do as missionaries. The news that Nick's getting sealed in the temple is really amazing and special. I can't believe how much everything is changing there. You should tell them to get married on the 3rd for dad's birthday haha. That's also the day that the sealing power was restored to the earth through the Prophet Joseph Smith. haha Just tell them to think about it.

Until next week.

I love you all,

Elder Wilkinson