News from the CCM!

I hope class is going well.  I got a letter from you guys and a letter from Daren this week, and I am not sure that I said I got one from Grandma and Grandpa Wilk.  Tell Sadie that if she studies really hard for her first tests then she will have a lot less stress the rest of the semester.  How big was dad's deer?  I hope everything got home okay.  Tell Zack that it's okay.  Everyone that has girlfriends here are the ones that struggle, so he needs to forget about it to stay focused.  That's cool that you got to see Gabe.  He emails me all the time so I'm able to hear from him. It's really hard for me to write and type in spansh now cuz my words are slurring together.  I can't believe that Judd is already home. Have someone tell him hi for me and that I would like advice for studying and learning stuff, and what I need to focus on because I never have enough time for everything. 

I told you I drank a lot of milk.  I was like the human garbage disposal when I was home, but I don't eat that much here.  Too much rice and I'm just sitting all day so I'm not that hungry. I'm starting to get really fat now though, haha. I'm starting a new workout plan to see if I can try and save myself before it's too late. 

I'm glad you started to read the Book of Mormon all the way through. Make sure to not read it as a story though. That's what usually happens the first time through.  Those are real people and when you think of it like that you learn a lot more. You learn new things from the scriptures depending upon what's happening in your life at the time.  The Book of Mormon is definitely the most interesting book you will every read.  D&C is good, but I think it will be a lot harder for you to read all the way through. It's amazing how many scriptures can be related to missionary work.  You never notice them until you are actually a missionary. You really need a lot of motivation as a missionary and the Book of Mormon and families are how you get that.  This place is still really awesome.  The time here is going even faster than Provo.  All the days slurrr together and it feels like I never have enough time to do anything. Spanish is still hard haha, but I'm still progressing.  Starting tomorrow I'm not going to speak any english until nighttime so I can force myself to improve.  It's easy to memorize sentences but hard to conjugate and form your own.  I had a lot of cool experiences this week.  Our district had to sing prelude before our fireside this week and I'm pretty sure I have the worst voice out of the americans, about 90% of the locals are tone deaf though. It's pretty funny! Our native companions are very patient but they do a lot of stuff you need to be patient with.  My companion always throws his wet towel on my bed and it's pretty nasty.  They always ask me for my keys, my candy and my lint roller, and they are always 20 minutes late in the morning even though they get up 20 minutes before us, haha. They never use scriptures in the lessons too, and they get really off topic in their lessons and it's funny. Their testimonies are really powerful. A lot of them are converts and they have gone through a lot in their lives.  We proselyted last Saturday from about 3 to 6.  We were suppose to visit inactives, but none were home and the rest had moved.  We were able to talk to a few others and place a few folletos.  It was hilarious, we saw a 25 year oldish couple kissing on a bench so we went up to them and bore our testimonies and talked about the church and then gave them a law of chastity pamphlet and walked off.  But we were able to talk to some other people.  I was so nervous I was too afraid to talk to other people I could have talked to so many more. My goal for next week is to not be afraid. As long as what I'm saying is true then I'm okay.  My companion can say stuff I can't.  We went proselyting with a kid that's been out for 14 months.  He's from Utah.  I used my Dog Dazzer like crazy. There are stray dogs everywhere. The missionary from Utah thought it was the coolest invention ever.  He told me to use it on every animal we saw and it worked perfectly.  I couldn't understand what anyone was saying though. They all have really thick accents and talk fast.  The culture is so different here.  The people really do have almost nothing but they are so happy.  It really shows here how important it is to live the teachings of the chuch.  The church really does have all the answers we need in this life and all the commandments are for our benefit.  I was reading in 3 Nephi the other day in ch 18 vrs 21, it said pray with your families so they will be blessed.  The more I'm here the more I realize how much you need help in your life and that scriptures and prayer really are important things to do.  If you're reading this email I would like you to try to pray with your families. It will strengthen your lives.  I look forward to talking to you again next week and good luck with whatever you are doing. 

Con amor,

Elder Tyler haha

Tyler is loving the CCM!

Hey everyone! I'm doing great. The CCM is awesome.  We have so much food every meal I have a hard time finishing it.  We have class so much more here.  My companion's name is Elder Rojas, he is from Lima!!! Lima is huge!!! The other day we went to Interpol which is like the FBI of Peru.  The same guy that was checking my teeth did the fingerprinting, it was funny.  The drivers here are crazy. Everytime we go into the city something funny happens. We've seen homeless people, people urinating on trees, stray dogs, crazy driving and funny people.  We teach a lot of lessons here and my companion is really patient with me.  My spanish is getting better, but it just needs time.  Whatever you do don't worry about me.  This place is awesome.  I share a room with my old companion, Elder Hannemann and a guy named Elder Walker from Emmitt Idaho. Our native companions always joke around with us and we teach them funny words in english.  The other day some guy came to the CCM and had like some crazy boot camp thing for gym.  It was the hardest workout ever!!! Today I was able to go to the Lima Peru Temple and be an escort for my companion.  He was really excited.  The bus ride over was awesome.  We all crammed into this bus and it was so full I swear we almost tipped over. haha The people here are so much nicer than in America.  The temple was really small but I loved it. I was able to take a few pictures and then we went to Torrus, Peru Walmart. I got 8 Inca Kolas, some cookies and soap.  Peru is nothing like I imagined it so far, it's just a huge city, but I'm sure that will change when I get to my area.  I hope dad gets a big deer and had fun at his concert, and everyone else is doing good.  Please don't worry about me at all, this place is so fun. I'll try to take pictures of the CCM and of funny things I see.  We had a devotional the other day that was really good. The president of South America West came. The spirit was really strong and it made me want to be a better missionary.  I can't belive it has already been a month! I got to email Chase last week and it was good to hear from him.  Mom, tell Nick to send a letter cuz I don't have enough time to email people back.  This Saturday we are going to be going into the city and doing a real contact.   We are suppose to go to an inactive member's house and talk to them so I hope I can help our member start coming back to church.  There are a lot of new foods here that are really interesting. I'm going to have to bring a lot of stuff home for everyone to try.  Can't wait to hear from you again.  Don't forget to write and I'll talke to you next week. 

First letter from the CCM!!

Hi everyone! It's just my first day here in Peru. We got in at 2:30 in the morning so we have had all day to just nap and relax. The plane ride was really long. Sorry mom for not being able to call again in Georgia. We only had like 30 minutes and I ran into an egyptian lady in the airport and I talked to her for like 20 minutes, and we gave her a Book of Mormon. Lima scared the crap out of me.  I think I was in shock when we came out of the airport. All the buildings look like the abandoned ones in Ogden except for the casinos and McDonalds on every corner. The Peru MTC is amazing though, so much nicer than the Provo MTC.  They have ping pong, basketball and a turf soccer field with a net around it, and the showers are amazing.  I do miss ice cubes already though. It was really hard to leave my old district but I'll be fine now. It's really hard not being able to talk to anyone though, I hope spanish gets easier. They assigned us to native companions, but I don't ever see mine. They have different classes than us and no one really has to stick with their companion.  The MTC is really like the nicest building in Lima. We are surrounded by a 15 foot fence so it almost feels like prison. haha Everyone just puts their garbage out on the curb and we already saw some homeless people and stray dogs on our way over to the CCM. It was really great to hear from my family on the phone. It seems like nothing has changed.  I hope they know how much I love them and wish I could be with them. Everyone here is really nice though. Today we had to fill out all these passport and immigration things and they shaved all of our heads before the interview with the president. It's not that much shorter than it was before. Maybe it's just because it is winter down here, but it's not as humid as I thought it would be. It's more humid than San Diego, but it is still pretty comfortable weather. The first meal I had here was really good.  It tasted just like the lady cooked it at the peruvian restaurant. I got a bunch of emails from my friends and it was good to hear from them. Zach mdt is missionary directed time. It's your personal study time you get for the day and you can choose what to do. It's good to hear from you Tori and good luck with dance and school this year. I heard that Gabe got called to France, and that is so awesome! Since he already knows the language pretty well he should be totally fine. I don't have time to write to all of you personally, but I love you guys and I hope that you are doing well. Keep making good decisions and don't forget about me. I think my new address is:

Elder Tyler Wilkinson

Trujillo Mission

Av. Melgarejo 159

urb. campo verde

La Molina - Lima 12

Apartado postal 12-167

Peru

Good luck everyone and don't forget to write. I need to still talk to some english people so I don't feel as stupid.  haha

 Love you guys!!

He's on his way to Peru!!

Tyler called this morning!  It was so fun to talk to him.  He loved his time at the MTC and is very excited to get to the CCM in Peru.  He left at 9:45 from the SLC airport and flew to Atlanta before heading to Lima. 

This is a picture he drew for his cousins

Aubrey and Ally!!

Last letter from the MTC!

Hi everyone. I'm still doing great! I got my Visa so I will be leaving on August 11 at 9 a.m. There will be about 6-8 missionaries going with me. No one from my district though. They are all going to Washington or California. My flight is around 12 hours total. 6 to Georgia and then from Georgia to Peru is about 6 as well. Time keeps going by faster and faster in here. I'm loving every secong though, my companion and I are the only ones that get along all the time with each other. My testimony still grows everyday and I'm teaching better than I thought I ever would. Also I'm remembering more spanish than I thought I would. I know its because I'm learning it with the Lord and for his work. I got 2 packages this week 1 from my grandma and one from my mom. They got here on Saturday but I couldn't pick them up until Monday because the office was closed. I have enough food in my room now that I wouldn't have to eat in the cafeteria until my flight and I'd be fine. I had to say a prayer in sacrament last week all in spanish and it went pretty good. We've started learning preterite and imperfect tenses in spanish and we are getting pretty good at contacting in spanish now. We just finished our last trc for the first lesson and are now learning to teach the second lesson. On Tuesday when we were still doing lesson 1 we had to contact in spanish and teach the full 1st lesson in english. We contacted a man and he was really hard on us. We couldnt understand him. When we came in however there were three 20 year olds. A sister, brother and his girlfriend. we taught them the lesson and it was amazing. We could really feel the spirit and they even said that they could too. After the pracitce lesson the brother came up to us and said he was a RM. He said at first he was acting but at the end he really felt the spirit and said he would have been baptized. However, we think his girlfriend was an actual investigator. He brought her in so she could learn about the church without getting put on the spot. So we might have already taught our first investigator but were not 100% sure. We have had really good devotionals here so far and I am sleeping a lot better and everyone is getting along with each other this week. However we have had a few bad things happen this week. I pulled my left quad playing soccer last week and I still can't run on it so I'm kind of bummed. Hopefully I can when I get to Peru. Our sister teacher is quitting and getting a new job so we will have to get a new one. Sister Carnahan was transferred to a new district so she could learn more spanish because she is already ahead of us. Also 2 nights ago sister Greenwood started having stomach pains, the shakes and a fast heartbeat. She went to the doctor and they decided that they needed to remove her gallbladder next week. She hould be able to come back to class after 2 or 3 days. But worst of all Elder Christensen was suffering so bad from panic attacks that he wasn't able to do the work and he was honorably dicharged last night . We were  all sad and are going to miss him. He had an amazing testimony and would have baptized so many people . But everything is still looking up here and we are awesome. This is my last P day here so the next time I write everyone I will probably be in Peru. I apreciate all the letters and support I have recieved and all the prayers you have said for me. I know Heavenly Father has heard them because he has comforted me and helped me achieve more than I thought I could have. I know this church is true and that if you have faith in your Father in Heaven he can help you with anything in your life. He loves us so much and has given us so much in our lives and has created a perfect plan with which if we follow we will be cleansed of our sins and have eternal life with our families. I know there are people out there searching for that plan and I gain a stronger desire to help them every day I'm here. Thank you all for thinking about me and I'll talk to you again hopefully next week.
Sincerely, Elder Wilkinson