Happy Easter everyone!!! 

This week was really really crazy. First of all we just started a new change so everybody was just getting settled into their areas again. My new companion is named Elder Ramos. He is from Guatemala but a ways away from Elder Samayoa. Elder Ramos is from the capital of Guatemala. He has 6 months in the mission so we are both pretty new but everything is going well and we get along very well.

 Well this week was Easter for you and the Semana Santa for me. ha It's a national holiday for the catholics and it's pretty ridiculous. It's called the Holy Week but all that they do is not go to the beach and watch movies about Christ on the TV. Everyone said they were busy or going to leave so we weren't able to visit very many people, but it was a good experience to learn patience.

 This week we had our baptism!!!!! His name is Jheyson. He is a really shy kid that has listened to us for about a month. His baptism was really great and we were able to have the Stake President come and give his testimony which was awesome.

 Well I want to wish Kali a Happy Birthday this week and also my buddy Nick!!!!!! the big 12!!! and the big 20!!!!!! 

Well I'm not sure yet when I will be able to call you for the call or the pre call. I don't know if anyone has told you but we are able to use skype this time to talk to our families so if you guys want to set up a skype link let me know and we can talk through that. 

Thanks for sending all the letters and packages. The other elders are really jealous. haha I don't mind anyone sending me stuff at all, pictures or packages, I just don't want anyone to spend a lot of money because I don't really need anything. 

This week has been very difficult and very long but I have learned a lot of good lessons and what I need to do to be better. Whenever I wanted to lose my patience I just tried to remember how Christ feels with us when we sin. We do it over and over again but He is willing to forgive us. He spent his whole life with sinners and people that weren't perfect but the only thing He ever did was teach them and help them to improve and be better people. I know that patience is an attribute of Christ that we should always try to improve. If we get rid of our pride, always focus on the good attributes of people, and focus on serving others and bettering ourselves we can see a lot of miracles in our lives. 

Thanks for everyone that sent me a letter and I hope everything goes well this week for you guys.

 Don't forget to write and hasta luego,

 Elder Wilkinson 

“Why seek ye the living among the dead? 

He is not here, but is risen”

 (Luke 24:5–6)

Happy Easter 2011

Hey Everyone!!!

 Just here in my area again in good old Trujillo. This week we had a marriage for some of our investigators. Their names are Jose Zambrano and Karina Villegas. They haven't really been progressing that much lately but we went to their house about four days ago to tell them that we were going to have a massive marriage of ten couples, and we were able to help them make the decision to get married. We went to a chapel in the area Esperanza and it took about 4 hours. It was awesome to see all their family there to support them. The marriages, especially when there are 11 at one time, really make temple marriage seem a lot lot lot better. Well, enough about that.... we still haven't had the baptism for the one investigator that passed his interview but we now know that his dad is coming next Monday, so that's when we´re going to try and have his baptism. Grandma tells me that there's a lot of snow there in the mountains so the snow melt is going to be pretty rough. The weather here is actually really great and I'm enjoying it. It's hot but it's not miserable. It's like about May/June in Utah.

 Well I got the Easter packages and thank you so so so much for all of it, and I'm still gaining weight too so remember not to send too much candy. I also got letters from Grandma and Grandpa Wilk and it was good to hear from them as well. I'm sure they're really really busy and they're really really humble and obedient like they usually are. I try to remember every day in the mission their examples and to imagine how hard they're working and it helps me to stay more obedient and try to follow their example. 

Well we have changes today and the news is.........that I'm staying here!! However, Elder Del Aguila is leaving for the zone Las Laureles and my new companion is named Elder Ramos. I don't know where he´s from or how much time he has but, it's less than me because I'm going to be compañero mayor this change. I don't know what that is in english...señor companion I think.

 Well no more time but I want to say that this church is true and that Peru is awesome and that when we try to be like Christ we really are happier,

 chau.

Hey family!!!

This week was........well a bit rough. ha Everything seemed to fall through this week and we weren't able to have very many lessons. Our investigator is waiting for his father to come from Cajamarca so he can be at his baptism but he always works and he isn't a member so he isn't very motivated to come anyways.

That's awesome that Elder Perry was able to visit you guys this week. haha He was a really good companion and told me he would visit you guys. If you see him again tell him that he has to write me a recuerdo, that's the book of letters and memories that he has. I had a book of recuerdos but I gave it to one member in Guadalupe and he lost all of them so I'm kinda bummed and don't know if I want to start one again.

 I'm about to pass the 1000 picture mark on the camera for the mission so I hope I'm taking enough pictures but this zone is really really boring on p days. haha

 We had a cleaning day as a zone this week like grandma heard from Sister Turk, but the room of Elder Del Aguila and I was already completely clean, but we weren't allowed to leave the room so we've spent the last 30 hours in our little room, ugh.....

 I finished the History of Joseph Smith though like president asked us to do and it was really great. The sincerity of his prayer and his actions before the first vision were a great example of how we should pray to our Father In Heaven and how we should have the same desires to pray in our lives. Also his example of testifying and never giving up or denying what he saw is a great example for missionaries. I know a lot better now that Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus and that this church has been restored to exactly the way it was when Christ formed this church. 

I haven't gotten the Easter package yet or the March dinner package from Grandma and Papa but I'm sure they will come. I don't know if I've told you yet but the Virgin Mary stickers don't really work. Most the people are either not catholic or they're catholic just for tradition and they don't really go to the church.

 I hope it warms up for you guys and that there aren't too many problems with flooding.It has cooled down quite a bit here and we don't really sweat that much now from the heat just on our backs because of our backpacks.

 Tell dad muchas gracias for putting me in for all of the bonus points for hunting and tell him that I had a nightmare the other day that I came back from my mission and I realized that I didn't clean my guns before I left and they werte all rusted and broken. So if he could make sure to check all of my guns and clean them that would be really nice. haha

This week everyone was talking about the elections for president in Peru. It's kinda scary right now though because when we heard the results they are going to have to revote. The bad news is that one of the 3 people that are neck and neck, I think he's named Oyantes, is very discriminate and will export all of the North Americans from Peru if he wins so I'm hoping that the revote turns out well and that I can finish my mission in Peru. If not, I want to go to Ecuador, Guatemala, or the Dominican Republic haha because thats where all of my mission friends are from. 

We've eaten at Papa Johns once this change and it was really delicious. The only thing is that my companion is a bit of a moocher at times so I don't really like to use my personal money a lot. My goal really is to not use any money from home because I don't need it and I want to learn how to manage my money.

 Thanks mom and grandma for the card games Skip bo, Uno and Ratuki. they are all very fun and my companions always want to play card games. 

Well I hope all goes well with you guys this week and something really awesome and exciting will happen for you guys. We will have changes the 19th of April but I don't know what will happen since we are both new in this area.

 Anyways cuidense y que les vayan bien,

 Elder Wilkinson.

Elder Del Aguila                Elder Wilkinson

Hey everyone we got here late for internet so I have 10 minutes to write sorry.

 Happy Birthday Dad!!!!!!!

 I hope dad was able to relax and do something fun for his birthday.

 Conference went really well. Like normal in Priesthood Session the leaders of the church told us to beat our wives and keep them in check (haha that's a family joke if you're wondering what that means) and the other sessions were really amazing as well. Ha my expectation to get married when I was 26-27 was shot down as well so I guess I'll have to do the normal returned missioary routine and get married.........ugh. 

There were a lot of great talks about missionary work and a lot of good talks for my investigators. 

We didn't have our baptism yet because his brothers had to work but he is going to get baptized this week. I've learned that every little detail of missionary work is on the Lord's time. You don't know when a baptism is or who you need to visit or what to do, you just need faith.    I think that can apply to everybody's lives too. My room is a lot better this change and about twice as big. Also we are able to choose a little bit what we want to eat because it is a little restaurant, but our pensionista is like a mom to us.

 Also this Sunday and Saturday are the elections for president in Peru so nobody can be in large groups or meetings during this time, including church. We will be staying in our rooms reading the Joseph Smith Story and the Pearl Of Great Price. That seems crappy but I'm actually really excited. 

It's a lot more difficult this change than the others because of my companion but I'm learning a lot of patience and learning how I need to improve. 

Well I gotta go but hope you are all safe and happy!

 Elder Wilkinson.

Rise and shine Elder...there's lots of work to do!!

(Does this mean...Wake up and pee the world's on fire??)