Monday 31 August 2015

Fwd: One more... Sorry :)



Here`s a little story that my old comp sent me this week :) Yay for Shrek!
Enjoy!!

Fwd: Happy 21st birthday to me



My parents threw me a 21st!


















photos

Oh and the photo of me at home is a carboard me that my parents got made ahha, thats me and my llittle brother! Happy Birthday to him!!

When did I get so old??

Hey everyone!!

We had a crazy week! Like we literally taught about 4 lessons the whole week because we were never in our area.
 We had zone conference with President and Hermana Thurgood and then they sent me to the hospital because I have a lump on my foot from where i hurt it a month ago, I had an xray and it is a mass of blood on the bone. The doctor wanted me to have altrsound treatment twice a week for 2 months but we spoke to specialists in the USA and they said its not necessary. 

We had 4 little angels called Family Senlle turn up on tuesday night with food! It was amazing, theyre our little family. Its the last week of the month so we were eating rice for breakfast and dinner hahaha

This week I had to do a few trainings on how to use FamilySearch which is a website for discovering our geneology. It is fun! we are going to be helping the council with a expo in 2 weeks.

On thursday I became and "Aunty" again to twin girls Kensi Eva Turner and Alysha Baylee Turner!! Best birthday present ever!! Congrats to Chelsea and Mckay!

Today I am 21 years old! I feel like I am actually old now, its the first time I have felt that way haha. We have our zone activity today so I sorta get a birthday party.
But I am nottoo disappointed really. I have many more birthdays to come, maybe I wont be 21 again but being here has made me really understand what is important. I can think of no better way to celebrate being born than making a difference in the lives of other people, serving others and in the process really growing up. 
"We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out" (1Tim 6:7) but we can leave our mark on the hearts and lives of families that will continue through the geenrations. I am pleased to have the oportunity to bring this gospel to the lives of these people, and I have seen the miracles that it causes in the lives of people who accept and imbrace it. 
Alma 29 is my favourite chapter in the Book of Mormon at the moment and this scripture is my fav at the moment:

 I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy.
There is no greater joy that to serve with all my heart, soul, strength. 

Thank you all for your love and support over these past 21 years! Especially to my parents who raised me well, who loved me and supported me. I am who I am because of them and I am eternally greatful!

I love you all,

Hermana Wilson





Monday 24 August 2015

A week in the offices!

Well I forgot my agenda today, which has written in it all the things  had to tell you all this week... I can remember lots of it but here goes!

It didnt rain this week! In fact it was really hot about 2 of the days, and really cold the rest of the days. Bienvenida a Argentina!

We had intercambios so I spent a day in Banfield which was nice, the members there fed us so much I thought I would explode! We did hard core exersize the next day coz we jsut felt really gluggy. 

On thursday we spend half the day in the mission offices because I had paperwork to do, it was really funny becaue the office staff are really funny and the missionaries that work there too are always cracking jokes. 
Plus the offices had to call my mum and couldnt understand a word she was saying with her kiwi accent haha.
The next day we were back there for visa things that my companion had to do. So we had two crazy days. 

Yesterday we had training for a family history expo we are going to be doing with the city council. 10,000 people are going to be there! 

We got new mattresses! That was cool! The "House Elders"/pensioneros showed up with them for us and we were super happy, my mattress had a huge hole in the middle haha. We wanted to ride the only mattresses down the stairs, but they were worried we´d get hurt and wouldnt let us unfortunately. 

Is my birthday in a week and it looks like we are all going to go eat as a zone and the ward are planning something too, that should be fun!

Well.... ya fue... I dont remember the funny/cool things I had to say this week. Youll have to wait until next week!

Here´s some photos of me sitting on the wall of our patio. -For all you mothers out there, on the other side of the wall is another patio, its only a 1.5m drop haha.

Shout out to Elder Levi Turner who will soon have 1 year in the mission field! 

Love you all,
Hermana Wilson

P.S in exactly one year I will be landing in Auckland Airport! But that on your callendar :P

Monday 17 August 2015

We almost had a normal week!! Shocking!

Hey all!

This week was the most normal that we have had in a while. I invested in some seriouly wicked red rainboots, because it had been raining for 3 weeks straight and then 2 days later it stopped raining....

Buenos Aires looks like a tsunami hit it, our area isnt so bad, but there have been ten thousand people evacuated due to flooding. If you google it i am sure youll see lots of photos of the floods. 
The drinking watre got contaminated too so there are a lot of sick people, but we never drink tap water so its not a concern for us really. 

Tuesday we got to move back into our apartment with all the repairs done and the water had gone down. We got to go shopping to replace the things we had lost which was so much fu, we went to a mall, for the first time in FOREVER! It was an amazing experience, even if all we did by was chilled foods and cleaning supplies haha. 

President Thurgood called us out in the New Missionaries and their Trainers Meeting on friday saying, "Two of the sisters in this room, ahem Hermana Wilson and Hermana Rodriguez, completely disregarded the rules this week and went swimming in the river outside their house." haha then he called us out again when he was talking about getting along with our companions and said "Yes, Hermana Wilson and Hermana Rodriguez have to talk to me afterwads because they just dont get along at all!" haha, that shows that Pres. understands how great friends we are or he would never have said that haha. 

I hope that President Thurgood leaves Hermana Rodri and I together for another transfer. I was chatting to Sister Thurgood on tuesday and word had spread quickly of the prank that was pulled on us last week saying we were going to be split up haha.

I dont have any photos this week because it was a really normal week... I do have a photo of the cutest little earthquake of a child Diana who really gives meaning to terrible twos. She emptied a bottle of oil over the sofa when we were there the other day, last time she put a pot of sugar in the fish tank and then came running to me when hre mum told her off haha. She calls me Hemama Wiwsom, shes very cute, but I am glad she is not my child. 

It hard to see how the people live here, especially after a storm like we had. A little 6 or 7 year old girl in the station came up to me the other day and gave me a little card that says "Te Amo" which means I love you. She was giving little cards and asking for money. It truly broke my heart, who knows what kind of situation she was in that her parent would send her begging in the station. I gave her some money which she put in her little purse with the other cards and then I gave her a picture of Jesus Christ with children and she looked at it for a while, looked around and then shoved it in her pocket. She probablñy tried to sell it later, but I like to think that she kept that one. In that same station was a little dog squashed into a tiny box shivering and I seriously just felt really heart broken. 
 I realise how lucky I am to have grown up in the country that I did and to have the family that I have. 

Count your blessings!!

Love you all!

Hermana Wilson

Monday 10 August 2015

Barely Survived My First 6 Months In Argentina!!! Woop Woop!

Hey Everyone!

Yay I am still in Lanus with Hermana Rodriguez! This will be the first time in all my mission that I will have the same transfer for 2 tranfers! 

So tomorrow I will have completed my first 6 months as a missionary! One third of my time here is already over! It really doesnt feel like 6 months ago that I said goodbye to everyone in Auckland Airport! 

Shout out to my bestest buddy Sister D. Craig who now has a year in the mission! 

This week started out normal, as in we had a normal monday and a normal tuesday and then it all went wrong after that. It rained all week!

Our recent convert gave us a delicious cake the other day, we took one bite and realised that it was soaked in a really strong alcohol, I think theyre gonna send me home for this haha. 

Wednesday morning the electrical sockets stopped working so we rang the Elders Moro and Navarette and they said they would send someone. The repairman arrived on thursday just as it began to rain really hard and the power cut. By the time the repairman left we were in the middle of a huge storm and the streets were flooded again! Our flat is a disaster! They are looking for a new one for us. We are the first people to live there and have come to the conclusion that they built it with all the cheepest materials, everything is brocken. The electrician said that the wiring in the walls is not sufficiently strong enough for the amount of electricity that it uses, even with just one heater going it burns the wiring! So our buddies Elder Navarette and Elder Moro sent us a car to take us to live with the other sisters in Banfield since they were too far away to come and get us this time. We are there indefinately, but sometime stay the night in Lanus just coz its easier. It is really fun staying with the girls though, its like a sleepover every night haha. Last night there were 8 of us in the apartment because it is transfers today so some of the west and east sisters were staying with us for the night.

Our little investigator Selene is recovering really well! In the end they didnt have to operate on her burns and she is excited to be baptised in a couple of months. I love teaching children, they are so pure and good. Her 6 year old brother Mateo is with us in the lessons now and is a delight! He came running down the street when he saw us the other day and gave us a huge hug, he covered me in mud but I dont even care! 
We made a new friend the other day, her name is Paola and she is 23, she was trapped out in the storm so we offered to walk her to the main street with our umbrellas and she is really lovely. 

Saturday we had an amazing sctivity at the chapel that we have been planning for ages called Trip To Hawaii. We made the stage into a plane and invited two really funny Elders to be the piolots and we were the air hostesses. We made flower necklaces and everything. Then after the flight had been going for about 10 minutes (10 halarious minutes as the captain is basically a comedian) we started to have some turbulence and all went wrong. We flickered the lights and burst ballons and had explodign sound effects and banged pots together and showered everyone with water. Then the piliots appeared dressed as angels and told everyone that they had died and would be taken for a tour through the spirit world and the three kingdowms of heaven, it was such a success!! Everyone loved it! We had publicised really well making tickets and hanging posters and 50 people came! Normally bout 15 people come to the activities, we were really pleased and everyone had a great time. 

Sunday it began to rain harder than usual so we went running to the flat in Lanus because we knew it would flood and we soon wouldnt be able to get home. At about 8pm Elder Moro and Navarette were going to come and pick us up to take us to the sisters flat in Banfield but they had to go rescue some Sisters who were locked out of their flat in the west. So they sent a car to come and get us again, Leo is our driver, he is really swag, wears legging and has his ear pierced, likes to listen to Bruno Mars in the car haha. Leo called us at 8:30 to say he couldnt get to us because of the flood. We go down stairs and the water is at the door!! We rangElder Moro and Navarette and told them we were chilling with Nemo in Lanus and said we would try get to the car. We went a few blocks and eventually realised that to get to the car we were going to have to get wet more than just our feet... So we found a spot that we knew had a spead bump and went swimming up to our knees! It was freezing cold! But Leo was faithfully waiting on the otherside to help us out haha. It was a true adventure! So we are obviously still living in Banfield!

Today we said goodbye to Elder Navarette who has saved my life a few times in the past 6 months, he has finished his time as a Pensionero and is now back in the field as a normal missionary, we have the same birthday and he asked me what I wanted and I said a washing Machine, so Elder Moro and Elder Navarette bought me a washing machine... photos are attached haha. 

These past 6 months have been life changing! I have learnt more than I ever imagined. It has truly been an honour to serve the Lord here and be His hands to help the people of Argentina. I wouldnt ever change this decision. I have seen the amazing influence that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has on the lives of people, the happiness and purpose that they find or rediscover when we enter into their homes and bring with us the love of Christ. 
The people I have met, other missionaries, members and non-members will be forever written across my soul because they have all given me something anf taugh me something that I would not have otherwise been able to learn. 


Its a long one this weeek!! Hope you are all well!! Love you all!!

Hermana Wilson

Monday 3 August 2015

This is how we do it!


Hungry, Cold, Wet, Tired and Poor! But loving it!

This week was somewhat of a disaster! Litterally! 

Sunday last week our water in the bathroom stopped working, it only drizzled out so that was annoying. But we were managing okay with buckets of water from the kitchen. 
Tuesday was a normal day.
Wednesday we went to the chapel to help our friend Ana make her wedding centre pieces and Hermana Rodrigues got hot glue on her finger and burnt it pretty bad, she is really delicate haha, everyone was laughing at her because twice she almost fainted haha. I love her! hahahaha
We got home on Wednesday and we had no electricity and only 2 candles, so that was interesting, we couldnt really study so we went to bed at 9pm. For some strange reason there was electricity in the apartment halways so we took the microwave out there to make some food haha.
Thursday we still didnt have electricity... or water... or food because everything we had needed to be cooked and obviusly the oven didnt work- and also because Friday was th day we got our monthly money so we were really poor haha. 
So we left to work without a shower and having eaten a bit or cereal and then at 11am it started to rain, we werent prepared so we got really wet! We had lunch with  family and when we left the streets were flooded! Like completely, you couldnt see the road or footpaths at all, we waded through water that was about up to mid.thigh until we reached our apartment where it was only about knee deep. We went and got our cameras and took some photos. Then we rang the Elders incharge of making sure our flats are all good and the only missionaries that have a car and  told them we were in a river, without electricity, food or running water and so they came to get up. They have a truck/ute so they managed to get to Lanus with all the water. They took us to the mission home and we stayed with the Sister Training Leaders in Banfield that night. 

Friday it was still raining but we headed back to Lanus to see if we could help some of the people whose houses had flooded. The streets werent as bad friday. Friday was also Ana´s wedding! Poor girl! so many things went wrong, as well as the weather. In the morning she had her civil wedding with all her family and got really wet. Then they were married in the temple in the afternoon and the cars didnt arrive to take them from the wedding to the reception. They arrived at the reception at 9:20pm so we watched them enter and then left. It was the "trunkiest" moment of my mission.... Seriously! To all you missionaries out there: Do not go to a wedding! Hermana Rodrigues and I got home and were sitting there like "awww so cute!""Theyre sealed for all eternity" "In my wedding im gonna have......" It was bad. The next day we were like "Hmmm year we were pretty trunky" haha
Saturday we had lunch with Ana´s Sister and Ana turned up to pick up some of her stuff so she showed us all the photos and videos and told us about the temple sealing and we were just like "hmmmmm please stop" haha. 

Yesterday we had a completely normal day! It was amazing! We visited lots of people, had a really spiritual time in church as it was Fast and Testimony. Lots of people got up and bore their testimonies and it is always lovely to hear people expressing their faith.
 Last night we went to bed after a warm shower and we turned out the lights, we didnt blow it out. It was magical!!

Next week is transfers and for the first time in my mission both my companion and I are staying! I will get to have the same companion for two transfers in a row! YAY! Hermana Rodriguez and I get along super well thank goodness! haha

I hope that you are all well!
I love you all so much 

Hermana Wilson