Elder Wilkinson is helping Elder Uribe with his English Lesson.

 President Turk set apart a new missionary that got his call to Bolivia.

 This new missionary has never been out of his small farming community.

What great missionaries!!

Well everyone this was another crazy week in the Mission Peru Trujillo. We are doing pretty good here in Viru Puente. We are working very hard. President Turk has given us the standard of excellence in the mission to baptize every single week. He tells us it's possible and always invites us to do it. In this mission it really is possible, but it requires a lot of faith, hard work, and actually knowing the things that you need to do to find the people that are willing to be baptized. We always try to find a lot of new people every week and get the members involved a lot. Last week we had a baptism but unfortunately I wasn't able to attend. I'm in charge of all the sicknesses in the zone and someone had a problem with their eyes (different missionary from the one last week) and we had to travel to Trujillo and go to the doctor's office just a few hours before the baptism. I was really bummed, but glad that the person was baptized. His name is Oscar. He is a little kid that always attends church. He attends with his grandma that is a really active and a great member. His parents aren't members but the mom wants to be baptized. We just need to coordinate a massive wedding so they can get married for really cheap.

We also found two really great guys last week. Their names are Reiner and Andres. They are both from the jungle but are here working in fields and farm grounds. They don't really attend any churches but they believe in God. They both attended church and they both felt really great about it and want to be baptized. We're coordinating with them to be baptized this week or the next. The people here are really great and they are very humble. When we teach them the truth they accept it and realize that they need to change. Sometimes I wish the people in the states were this humble and willing to receive help from other people.

I've learned from the Peruvian people that every person is important and have important opinions and that when we know something is true we need to do it. The only downfall of the Peruvian people is that they don't read hardly at all. They listen and go to church and all but never really take the time to read. I'm really striving right now to help the people understand the importance of the scriptures. For that same reason. a lot of people go inactive after the missionaries leave or change because no one visits them and they don't read.

Anyways, I received my Valentines Day package from my parents and from grandparents. Thank you very much it was delicious. I only got one letter, from my sister. haha I'm glad I don't have to worry about the leaving a girlfriend during the mission deal.

Well this last week we also had our Zone Conference. It went really well. I taught my zone and President Turk taught us also. He taught us about what it means to be born again in the scriptures. The lesson was great and he brought in a mother and her baby to give us an example. The only bad part is the mother is Peruvian which means she started breast feeding in public like it wasn't even a big deal even though there were about 50 missionaries there. It was terrible! haha

Well I hope the weather stays warm and nice there and I sure hope it cools down here really fast.

Until next week,

Elder Wilkinson 

Multi-Zone Conference

February 21, 2012

 Elder Wilkinson and Elder Uribe doing some training!

Hey everyone. I don't have much time to write but I'm doing really good. I'm here in Trujillo right now because a missionary has problems with his eyesight and I had to go with him to his doctors appointment.

 It's really hot where I live right now, almost like my first area Guadalupe. Don't worry I'm sure I'm suffering a lot more than you guys in the cold weather there!

 My pensionista is a good lady, but she gives us typical peruvian food, rice, eggs, bread, and nothing else!!!!!! ugh haha but yesterday was good because it was my companion's birthday and she made us spaghetti and cuy!!!!! haha gotta love eating guinea pig. It's actually pretty good and costs a lot of money here.

 Well the branch doesn't help much in the work here like they did in La Noria but that's only because it's a branch, not many people. They are great and I hope to motivate them and include them a lot in what we do.

 Anyways, we had a baptism on Saturday her name is Shantal. Her parents were baptized last month and now she completes the family!!!!!

 I love you all.

Until next week, 

Elder Wilkinson.

Please tell Chase happy birthday... his birthday is tomorrow!! 

Tyler's new companion...

Elder Uribe

He is from Santiago, Chile

Hey everyone. Yes, sadly I have left The Noria and everyone that I met there. It was really hard to leave and I had to say goodbye to a lot of people, but I'm glad that I have the chance to write them through internet the rest of my life. Well I'm now here in Viru.This area is really hot and dusty, similar to my first area Guadalupe. The people here are really nice and I'm sure that I will enjoy my time here. It's nothing like The Noria and the food is definitely not the same, but there are lots of great members. This area is actually a branch, not a ward so it is very little. There are 4 missionaries in the same branch so we are working really hard to make this a stake. 
Anyways, my companion is Elder Uribe. He is from Santiago Chile. He has the same time as me so we will be finishing our missions at the same time, same as Elder Arena my last companion. Elder Uribe speaks english and is 27 years old. He is a computer programmer and software engineer so he is really good with computers.
 The  area right now is a little slow. We have a lot of work to do to make it like The Noria but it's very possible. We have one baptism date for this Saturday. Her name is Shantal and she is 9 years old. She is the last member of her direct family to be baptized so we will be completing the family and preparing them to go to the temple in a year from now. 
Well Valentine's Day is probably the worst holiday for a missionary and the most annoying and distracting as wel,l so I hope you all have a good Valentine's Day but, I hope I don't haha They don't celebrate it a ton like we do in our country but what they do is bad for missionaries. Everyone here hugs their friends and family and neighbors on "Dia de Amistad" so we have to tell a lot of people and investigators that they can't hug us.
 Well I'm still a zone leader and it's going really well. Last week was a pretty rough week for the mission so its our responsibility as zone leaders to motivate the missionaries and help them improve, doing practices and being an example and setting goals with them. Well I sure hope that everyone is doing good and that everything is going well.
 I don't have much to say this week but I do know that the mission has changed my life and helped me learn the purpose of my life as well and be motivated to accomplish lots of things in my life that I want. I know that Christ lives and that He is our Savior and that as long as we have faith to follow Him and trust in Him we can do miracles and accomplish anything and receive His mercy and grace. I know that He has a plan for us and everything that happens in our lives happens because it's the will of our Heavenly Father.

Until next week, Elder Wilkinson.

By the way my son Elder Bulmini, the missionary I trained, is in my zone and I'm now his zone leader and he is training. It's really cool!! 

 Saying goodbye to his penisionista and her family...

  

...also saying goodbye and Family Home Evening
with the Asto Family!!



He's now headed to new adventures and new people to teach!!

Hey everyone not much to say this week sorry but everything is going pretty good. HA HA HA I knew the Giants would win. Hombres de poca fe!!!!!!! Tienen que confiar en los misioneros!!!!!!

Well this week was a little slow for us we had a lot to do. Monday was P Day, Tuesday was our district meeting, Wednesday was our zone leader counsel, Thursday we moved, Friday we had a work visit with other missionaries, Saturday we had weekly planning, and Sunday we attended the leadership meetings of the sister missionaries to help them out. It was a lot of work and with only a little time.

We didn't have a baptism but there are 3 people that will be baptized in the next three weeks or so. I don't think I'll be here though but were not sure. We'll know the changes tonight at 9:30. Their names are Gian Pol, Vanesa and Candy. Yes, Candy is her name haha. Gian Pol isthe grandson of a member in our ward. His parents aren't members and weren't too into him getting baptized but have now changed their minds and let him get baptized. His grandma is really active and is going to support him a lot. Also, Vanesa is an 18 year old girl that we have been teaching. She is going to be married next week to her boyfriend who is a less active member. They have 1 little daughter named Nicole. Candy is a 22 year old girl that is really catholic but has attended church now like 3 times and has started to change a lot. She is really cool and has a ton of questions always.

Well I read a scripture yesterday that I really liked. I think it's in 2 Nephi 2:34 it says that we should trust in the Lord and not in the strength of our own arms. That applies to everyone I feel. We as missionaries can't depend on our own abilities but just do what the Lord commands us and what the Holy Ghost tells us. Also, as members and people we have to do things like pay tithing or attend church instead of working which also requires this trust. When we sacrifice money or worldly things for the Lord we put our trust in Him and He always blesses us.

I love you all. You always inspire me and motivate me. Thanks for always trusting in me and having faith that I can do this work. I hope this week is great for everyone and that everyone can achieve what they need to and that they can trust in the Lord.

Sincerely,

Elder Wilkinson.

171 days left....not that we're counting....

just sayin'!!

Zone Leader Council

February 1, 2012

 Soccer makes them happy!!

This is taken from Sister Turk's blog...

Today in our Zone Leader Council

President Turk took a moment to teach all the Zone Leaders

how to strengthen their backs and how to stretch and 

release tension that can tighten up those muscles in the low back.

It really looked funny but...

President does 5 or 6 exercises every morning and...

he swears by them.

He doesn't have back pain any more since he started these stretches.

The Zone Leaders will be able to teach them to their District Leaders

and they in turn can teach them to any of the missionaries 

in their Districts that complain of back pain.

No time for pain here....  Goodbye Backache.

Thank you President Turk!