HaPpY HaLLoWeEn!!

Happy Halloween!!!

 Hey everyone I hope Halloween is going great there. Here in Trujillo they don't celebrate Halloween. They know it's today but nobody dresses up and nobody gives out candy! haha Here there are a lot of real witches and card readers and sorcerers so the people see it more as something bad and always ask us why we believe in Halloween. I just tell them for the candy.

 Anyways we have a lot of great people that are progressing now in our area and we are praying for them like crazy. Elder cook and I are doing good and we always are joking about the little funny and weird things that the Peruvians do. There are a lot of things now that seem normal to me that he still thinks are weird so it's really funny sometimes. The other day he asked me if i remembered how clean the U.S. is because we were in an area that had a lot of garbage and it seemed really normal to me but he was laughing at how I've forgotten what the streets are like there. Here everyone just throws their garbage out on the curb and some men come around at some time during the day to grab it. However, sometimes the garbage blows away or the dogs get into it or poor people come look through it to take things so it gets a little messy. Also, everyone litters here so I'm sure that you can imagine how it would be. haha 

Anyways, from what I've heard it sounds like someone needs to go hunting with my dad so he can have fun this year. Somebody please go with him because I can't do it!!!!! ha 

Well my mom asked me what my favorite type of p day is. Well it's just to sleep all day long haha. Today we are going to watch Astro Boy in spanish and then go to our rooms and prepare for the next week and I will prepare for the district meeting that we have tomorrow and revise our area book and also teach Elder Cook how to use it so he can help me out a lot. 

Really this week I learned a lot about including the Lord in the important decisions that we have to make. We have an investigator that needs to make a lot of important decisions and she agreed to fast with us. From the mission I know that fasting is a powerful tool. To invoke the blessings from the Lord that are waiting for us. I plan on doing it a lot after the mission to make all of the important decsions that are waiting for me. 

Anyways, I know this church is true and that the gospel blesses my life in every moment. I know I have the best family in the world and friends that love me and I pray for you always. 

Elder Wilkinson.

Meeting for trainers and their new companions...

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Tyler and Elder Cook

Hey everyone how's it going!? Everything is great here except for the fact that I'm about to pee my pants!!!!!! ha There are no public bathrooms and we are all here writing our families and I'm just dying. oh well haha This week has been great. my new companion Elder Cook, Grandma asked for his name which is Kris, we are doing good and still seeing a lot of miracles here in The Noria. Well I gotta write later because I'm going to go to the bathroom right here. haha Talk to ya later....

Alright I'm back... woooo that was close. haha Well this last week our baptism date got moved back. His name is Christian and is part of the Asto family. He is going to be married this Saturday and then the next Saturday he will be baptized. We also have 5 other people that are planning on being baptized before the 12th of November so we are trying to do everything we can to help them. n

Nothing really special happened this week but I'm very glad to be in the mission right now and help these people change their lives. It's helping me change mine by helping them. The gospel really is so simple but there is so much to learn and so many scriptures and stories that help us to follow Christ's example. What we've learned a lot about recently in this mission is that we first have to convert ourselves to the gospel to help convert others. If any of you have missionaries in your wards please help them or at least go with them to a lesson and be the friend of whoever they're going to teach, it really means a lot to them. The members here are not the most motivated people but there are a few people that help a ton with the work and you can tell that they are the happiest members as well. We really are happy when we serve others and when we serve the Lord. 

Ask my friends to write to me and I'll try to write them for Christmas as well. 

Anyways, I love you guys and hope you're all good. 

Elder Wilkinson

CHOOSE THE RIGHT!

Hey everyone sounds like you are all doing really well. Here we are doing alright just a lot of little stresses that we're going through. Our pensionista doesn't have a lot of time to cook for us anymore so we have spent the last week trying to find a new one and we finally found one but it is for next month. haha Well we also are looking for a new room to live in because the one we live in right now is the house of non- members and they are really angry people that shout and scream all day at each other and we can hear everything. It really takes away the spirit. Also haha I got a cold friday night and I still have it. haha Other than that everything else is going good. 

We had our baptism on Friday night and Sarita got baptized. She was really happy and excited and before she didn't want to give her testimony, but after the baptism she changed her mind and did it. She likes to joke around a lot so after I baptized her, when we were getting out of the water, she started to throw and splash freezing cold water all over me and my face. I'm pretty sure that's what got me sick!!! haha Also we are really glad because we have the family Asto that is progressing so much in this ward and also their son- in-law Christian will get married and baptized this week or the next.  Another great couple has accepted to get married and they should be baptized the week after their marriage as well. All of the people that we baptized now have other family members listening which is a really great thing. 

My companion Elder Cook and I are doing great. He knows the language pretty well and is learning it fast. We just have been so busy he hasn't had a lot of time to study the language. Also, he lives in Spanish Fork now but he is from Fountain Green, which is by Ephraim, Utah where we go hunting so he knows a little about that and he is also a really good golfer everyone tells me. He has a golf scholarship, I'm not sure where to, but he likes a lot of the same things as me. 

Anyways I hope everything is going good. Make sure to invite everyone to write me for Christmas, that's what I really want, and if they want also they can email me through your account. 

Really truly I know that this church is true and that it gives us peace in our lives and gives us hope when others have fear and doubt. I know that priesthood power is real and I have seen lots of miracles through priesthood blessings and that fasting is very powerful and important as well.

 Until next week, Elder Wilkinson!!!!!!!!!!

Multi-Zone Conference

Tuesdays October 11, 2011

Hey everyone! How's life?

Everything is going well here in La Noria.  The Lord still blesses us like crazy here and I'm not sure what we are doing but we had another baptism this week. It was the daughter of our recent convert Santos. Her name is Vanesa and she is 19 years old. She is really shy but likes to go to church with us. Now everyone that lives in that house that is over 8 years old is baptized!!!!!! haha I hope that we can help keep this family active because they are really great and really humble. 

Other good news is that this next week we are going to have a lot of cool stuff happening. Tomorrow we have the multi-zone conference and Elder Waddell is coming to talk to us. I'm sure that it will be great and that he will teach us a lot of really great stuff.  

Thanks Grandma for telling me all that stuff about him now maybe if I get to talk to him I can say something. haha 

Also, this Friday we are going to have a baptism!!!! wooo hoooo!! Our investigators have a ton of faith and they really trust us a lot. What I was able to do with Elder Bulmini and also with Elder Cook is just love the people with all my heart, become their friends, gain their trust, and then let them know what you have and what they're missing in their lives. haha  I'm a lot more spiritual of a person now being on the mission but the people that know me know that I'm a really chill person and not too expressive with my words. I do try to be the perfect friend with everybody here.  

Anyways, the baptism that we are going to have is of a 23 year of girl names Sarita.  She is really funny and has 2 little girls.  When Elder Bulmini left she promised us that she would get baptized and that I would send the pictures to him. The other member of the Asto family that wasn't married is going to be married and baptized on the 22nd of October. ha Wow!! I also promised the Asto family that when they finish the Trujillo Temple that I'm going to fly down and go to their sealing as an eternal family. They are so great and every time that we talk to them they tell us of all the blessings they have received since becoming members.  

Anyways, the names of the parents of my companion are Cristine and Scott Cook. I think they lived somewhere else before by Ephraim, Utah but ya.

 Well gotta go but I love ya lots...family and friends.

Also, I don't know if I put it in the letter a week ago but Happy Birthday Chris Sorrentio!!! haha I didn't forget ya buddy!

Well gotta go but here's a scripture that you could read family....Moroni 8:3. It made me think of you!

Tyler's new companion

Elder Cook from Spanish Fork, Utah



Hey everyone!!! Good news and bad news in The Noria. The bad news is that my good friend and companion Elder Bulmini is leaving to go to a small pueblo called Chao. It is where my MTC companion Elder Hannemann started. I know he will be good there and continue to learn a lot and have success.  I have learned more from him then probably all of my other companions. The changes will be tomorrow.

The good news is a lot of things. First, is that we had our baptism. Hermana Madeley was baptized on Thursday and was really, really happy and excited for the opportunity to become a new member. I've never had an investigator have such a desire so fast to be baptized. She really is a person with a strong testimony and was waiting for the gospel to be put into her life.  We also have a baptism date for this next Saturday. Her name is Vanesa and she is the daughter of our convert Santos.  She is 19 years old and is really, really shy, but she wants to follow the example of her mom and be baptized.

 Other good news is that I will be staying in The Noria next change and I will be training yet another missionary!!!!! haha but this time will be different because he is a gringo. haha I don't know who it is or where he is from I just know that he is american and that I have more time in The Noria.

General Conference was amazing this week and I learned a lot of cool stuff. One of the speakers Elder Wadell is now my new area president and is coming to talk to us on the 11th of October.  

Anyways, I don't have much time, but I'm glad the funerals went well and that we have living prophets to guide us in these days. They really are inspired to speak because their talks are for missionaries, members, recent converts and investigators. Probably because we are all children of God and that we all struggle with  very similar things in life, but some things are a little different.  

To answer Sadie's question...yes I use my suit a lot. Every Sunday I wear it and also when we have baptisms or meetings with President Turk. It is a little ruined because it is really wrinkled, but don't worry because suits are super, super cheap here.

I love you guys and hope you are happy, safe and obedient to God.

Elder Wilkinson