Hey everyone glad to hear that everything has gone well that everyone had a good time for Thanksgiving. I hope Grandma Selma is feeling okay and that she made it back alright. To answer your question mom, yes I got 1 letter from Elder Samayoa about 3 months ago and it was a really great letter. Tell him thank you and that I still remember him and that he was a great example to me and I still have his awesome tie that everyone is jealous about.

Well......I have about a thousand things to say this week. It's starting to get a lot hotter here and pretty soon we´ll be in full time summer hot ughhhh. Also we are probably going to change rooms to live closer to the pensionista this week because we need a room where there is less noise.

 We had our interviews with President Turk this week and like usual he made us all feel like the best missionaries in the world and he taught us the importance of making goals and completing them. We played a scripture search game after, that is on the blog of Sister Turk. I won 2 times and got like 15 pieces of candy!!!! yaaaaaaa! We also had pizza after the interviews that was delicious.

 Afterwards we had a district meeting the next day, that I taught about the revelation we can receive through prayer. It went pretty well and I'm starting to get the hang of this district leader stuff. There's only 6 missionaries in my district so it's pretty easy to help them and visit them when they need assistance.

Well Thanksgiving actually passed very well. We took the money for our dinner and had her by a turkey leg to eat for lunch. We had mashed potatoes, turkey leg and vegetables, que rico!!!! We also had Sister Claudia go and pick up some pizzas from Papa Johns. We pretty much hog the pizza so we always buy 4 so we can have a whole pizza to ourselves.

We found a great family this week who have already accepted the invitation to be baptized. their names are Carlos, Yohan, and Brayan. They are very shy and reserved but are a great family that really needs the gospel because some of the things that have happened to them. Please pray for them. Their goal is to be baptized on Christmas Eve.

 I also had a very funny experience this week. we found a new lady and started to teach her and her cousin. After the lesson she asked me if I could be the godfather of her 1 year old daughter named Ana Lucia. haha I thought it would be funny to be a godfather to a peruvian girl, but it has to do with the catholic baptism. We didn't really know what to tell her, so we told her we would think about it, but it turns out that I can't anyway because to be a godfather the catholic church requires a peruvian i.d. card. Anyways, we went back and started teaching her about baptism by immersion but she didn't quite get it because she was still all interested in me being part of her baby's baptism. haha It's a funny story but very sad that she`s baptizing her baby like that. Most of the people baptize their baby catholic even when they don't go to church or believe sometimes all about the church. It's a very strong cultural thing here.

 Anyways, we were able to share a beautiful baptism by immersion of a girl named Katty. She is 15 and the first person in her family to become a member. Her sister has a baptism date for the 17 of December and we are trying to help her come to church and feel the spirit there.

Anyways, I have no more time but I know the church is true and that the Book of Mormon is evidence of that and also an evidence that Joseph Smith is a prophet and that Jesus Christ lives and has made it possible to return and live with our Heavenly Father.

Sincerely,
Elder Wilkinson

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Elder Wilkinson will be enjoying pizza!!

Thanks Claudia!!

Love and miss him!!

 La Noria ...... Trujillo

 Elder Wilkinson

Elder Cook

 What a cutie!!

BAPTISMS!!

 (Elder Bulmini)

(Elder Shaw)

Laureles Zone Training

November 22, 2011

 "Hands Up"

speed search in Preach My Gospel

Missionaries of the Laureles Zone

Aguilar, Armstrong, Bell, Cermeno, Cook, Dickerson, Eddings, Galleguillos,

Gudiel, Huaman, Hurley, Iler, Jimenez, Llatance, Meza, Montes,

Oliveros, Retamal, Sanchez, Sandstrom, Wilkinson, and Yat

Wedding and Baptism of Jose and Karin

Fun times in La Noria

Hi everyone how's life? We`re just here in the Noria working our work and preaching the gospel. We found a few new investigators this week and I know that they should progress in the next few weeks. Nothing really changed this week except for the fact that my companion is learning a lot more spanish now and can help me a ton in the lessons. He knows more than I did when I started I think he should be pretty fluent after the mission. haha the only thing is we don't speak much spanish to each other because it's easier and more fun to talk in english. 

 To answer your questions yes we changed pensionistas now and we are eating with the bishop´s wife. She is a really nice lady and lives closer to our room. The only bad thing is that she is also peruvian and likes eating beans and rice and rolls and chicken,EVERY DAY!!!!!! haha oh well I know one day I can choose my own diet again. Well I also wanted to tell you that every package that is sent here needs to be less than 100 dollars or it won't get through customs. So I hope what you already sent me gets through. This week we´re going to have interviews with President Turk on Tuesday and we will go to the office and hopefully eat something really good for lunch. Oh how I hate you Americans this week with all your turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, pie, steamed vegetables, ice cream and ice cubes!!!!! I hate you!!!!! haha That's all I think about every meal starting now until after New Years. Whatever you do don't send me pictures of the food okay! ha 

Well right now we´re expecting to have 5 or 6 people baptized before the end of the year. There are a lot of really great people that are all part of half member families. If you could pray for them that would be great. There names are Katty, Joana, Juanita, Elías, and Abraham. They are all very young, less than 20 years old. Please pray that they can all receive permission from their parents to be baptized and that they can have the faith to come to church. 

Anyways, right now in the mission I feel very happy with my decision to serve a mission. I know the things I´ve done so far have blessed the lives of many people but I've learned a lot of things that I needed in my own life as well. I know the Savior lives because I've seen his work and I've seen his blessings and his miracles hundreds of times. I know I need him to be a good person and to overcome trials and to achieve every important goal that I have in my life. 

Anyways, I hope you are all pleasantly plump and full of carbs and sugar this week and remember all the blessings you have in your life, from God and from the beautiful country we live in. I hope you don't forget God, don't forget me, and don't forget to take care of my family. If you can you should write me about how to learn patience this week because I still quite haven´t learned that on the mission and I want to so that would be nice if you could. 

Anyways, thanks everyone. 

Until next week, 

Elder Wilkinson.

Hey gringos! cómo están? Que dice la vida? haha its easier to write in spanish. One of these weeks I'm going to write you in spanish and make you translate to make you know how a missionary feels. Anyways, it's kinda hard to write a spiritual letter right now because the guy that runs the internet cafe is blasting techno music and rap. haha 

We saw a lot of miracles last week in the Noria and José and Karin were finally married and baptized. It was one of the coolest baptisms ever because we didn't know if it was going to happen or not. They are really converted to the gospel and have received a lot of blessings in their lives from the gospel and will definitely become an eternal family. The father already is trying to coordinate when I can come back and wants to buy a ticket for me to come back and visit after 1 year. I'm really hoping that the 2 families we baptized progress at the same rate so I can come back and see them both. Maybe it will motivate me to get married, but for now I'm going to have to pass on that for a little while haha. 

Well the good news is that I'll be spending Christmas here in my beloved Noria with all of the members that love me and also love to make me fat. I'll definitely be gaining some more weight, but for now I'm at 72 kilos, up from 70 kilos where I was at last change. Rice has become a gross cardboard-like substance to my tastebuds now that never seems to get down my throat and there is always a large supply. It's also always accompanied by a wonderfully disgusting fruit called papaya that tastes better than it smells but that's not saying much. haha If you can't tell from this I like American food better.

 The good news is I spent the day with President Turk today in the mission home listening to some missionaries prepare for the Christmas pageant. It should be on the 20th and the 22nd of December. Today we had pizza and cinnamon rolls with President and it was delicious. For Christmas here they also have a bunch of fruit cake called Panetón and it's delicious.

 Anyways, I want all of you to know that someone that you know is not a member or not an active member because they don't understand the importance of Christ and his atonement in their lives and they may have never heard the truth in their lives before. Explain it to them and invite them to learn about it and be more happy. It's the only way to have true happiness.

 I'm still with Elder Cook and he's great. He's progressing a lot.

 Anyways until next week Elder Wilkinson!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Leadership Training

November 8, 2011

Hey everyone! Well I'm here finishing up 6 months in The Noria. It's been quite a while since I first got here and it has gone really fast, but I'm not sure if I'll be here next change or if I'll be sent to another area. I'd really like to see more areas and get to know a little more of the mission outside of Trujillo but The Noria has been really great for me. The Lord really has worked a lot of miracles here and is preparing this ward a lot so it can grow and progress. There are tons of people that I will remember from this area and all of the progress I've seen them achieve. 

The people here in Peru are very different and sometimes seem really lazy, but it's just a different way of living and they really are very receptive to the gospel. They are willing to exercise a lot of faith and to do good things to become closer to their Savior. One good attribute that all Peruvians have is love and they are also very humble. My companion and I fasted two times this week for a lot of reasons and a lot of blessings that we needed as well as our investigators and my testimony continues to grow about the power of fasting. It really seems like everything we ask comes true or we are able to work on it and improve on something a lot easier after fasting. The Lord really does have a lot of blessings waiting for us and wants to help with our problems, but it's through sacrifice and obedience that we recieve these things, if not there´s no purpose of being here on the earth because we need to progress and overcome things to be stronger. 

Well we had a baptism Saturday for Ana Ybañez. She is 15 and her mom is a less active member. She is really excited and maybe it would be cool if you could send her a little letter of support and I can translate it and read it to her. We are praying and doing everything we can also for 1 family that will be baptized this week. The parents are named José and Karin and they are great. They will be interviewed, married, baptized and confirmed all in these next six days and it sure will take a lot of plans. 

I'm also really glad because weve recieved a lot of help from some members lately and one member has helped us with almost everything this week. She helped us look for a room, took us to a tourist spot today for p day, arranges our appointments, buys pizza with us from Papa Johns and teaches us all the stuff she learned on her mission. She's awesome!!!!! haha I hope I get to teach someone about how to be a missionary when I get back because I want to help like she's helped us. 

Anyways until next week, 

Elder Wilkinson.