Service, Baptisms and Pokemon!

Goodmorning for the last time from the promised land!

This week we had a lot to do! 

Last monday was district activity, the elders made a creamy chicken brasilian dish and i was seriously empressed! The first time in my mission that the ELDERS have cooked in the activty, normally they give the sisters that job haha. But.......

Tuesday at district meeting the elders had the asignment to bring the snack, they really went all out making a peach cobbler... but they put 1/4 cup of salt instead of 1/4 spoon of salt! haha, poor guys are Americans and read 1/4 C and thought it meant cup, but no.. it means cuchara (spoon) haha.

But they didnt let us down, they bought us cookies instead. Nice try Elders!

Other funny thing that happened this week: We contacted the Elders house! haha About 6 weeks ago before the previous elders were transfered they gave us a reference of a man called Juan. We have gone at least twice a week all transfer trying to find this man, but whenever we went there was no one home. This week we went and this time the door was answered! By the elders.... yes, the previous elders pulled a prank on us! It was quite funny haha. Obviously "Juan" was never home because when we are working the Elders are also working haha. It just so happened that they were doing weekly planning that day and were home. It was like:

 "ummmm hello Sisters.... is everything okay? Can we help you?"

"Ummmm we are looking for Juan?" hahaha

Well this new app Pokemon Go arrived here about 2 weeks ago and there is an increase of youth in the street and an increase in cell phone robbings since everyone has their phones in plain view these days haha.

Somehow our chapel is a PokeStop, I dont know what that means, but I do know that there are colections of youth outside the chapel. 

The Buenos Aires Temple is a PokeGym... so temple assistance has also increased haha.

Perhaps this is a new iniciative to draw people to church? haha

Wednesday was a pretty normal day, our little investigators had their baptsm interview and afterward we all pitched in to paint the sets for the youth activity this week.

Thursday we were painting the base coat on the walls in the house of a lovely lady Dora who has just one leg. And taugh english class.

Friday we made apple pies and  we sewed costumes for the young womens Porta Rica dance this coming thursday 

and Saturday! the most beautiful thing was the baptisms of Valentino Ripamonti and Agustin Prudente! They are so special, i feel honored that i got to finish my mission with the baptisms of two kids so pure. They were overjoyed and even got up and bore their testamonies, we hadnt even thought to ask them to do it coz theyre just kids, but they came and said: "Hermanas! We have been practising our testamonies and we want to bare say them in our baptism!". Hearing 8 year old Agustin  say so eloquently: "I have taken a great step! I am happy. I know that the church of jesus christ of latter day saints is the only true church." and to hear Valentino say: "I am ready to follow jesus christ and keep his comandments. This is the true church and where I want to be." was so powerful and left almost everyone there all teared up! Including their mum who is not a member and their big brother Gino who was baptised 2 months ago. 

We sung with the kids "When I am baptised" from the primary hymn book :

 I like to look for rainbows whenever there is rain

And ponder on the beauty of an earth made clean again.

I want my life to be as clean as earth right after rain.

I want to be the best I can and live with God again.

I know when I am baptized my wrongs are washed away,

And I can be forgiven and improve myself each day.

I want my life to be as clean as earth right after rain.

I want to be the best I can and live with God again.

I Love you all! 

Hermana Wilson

"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith" 1Timothy 4:7

Well, the time has arrived, Thursday 11th of August I completed 18 months here in the mission and next monday at this time I will be in my final devotional here, just a few hours short of heading to Buenos Aires International for my 14 hour long flight home to Auckland! It is a bitersweet feeling to be at this point.

I cannot express what my mission has meant to me, what these people mean to me, what this church means to me.

I came here hoping to be a tool in the hands of The Lord to build up His kingdom here on earth, but it is I who has been built up. This service has taught me to be diligent, patient, humble and more than anything else to love all people.

I have been through the refining fires and I feel stronger, more confident and more tha ever sure that I am on the right path, that the best decision I ever made was to be baptised into this Church. 

It was not a coincidence that  I was sent here to Argentina Buenos Aires South to serve. This mission is, was always, and will always be my mission. These are my people, my family, I didnt meet them, i was reunited with them, and they will always hold a special place in my heart. 

I hope that my service has helped in some way, that Argentina is just a little bit better because I gave my heart, might , mind and strength to these 18 months. 

Thank you all for your support and love durring these last 18 months.

 The Lord promised me:  "I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up." and in many ocations, although far away, you have been those angels baring me up. 

I dont know if i could have done this without that knowledge.

I Love you and I cant wait to see your faces!

For the Last time as: 

Hermana Wilson

 "Yea, and from that time even until now, I have labored without ceasing, that I might bring souls unto repentance; that I might bring them to taste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste; that they might also be born of God, and be filled with the Holy Ghost

 And I have been supported under trials and troubles of every kind, yea, and in all manner of afflictions; yea, God has delivered me from prison, and from bonds, and from death; yea, and I do put my trust in him, and he will still deliver me."

1 Month to go.......

Hey all!!

Not much to report this week. I survived my infection, im all done with the antibiotics and although im still coughing I can breathe well. Today i even did exersize for the first time in 2 weeks! Felt great! 

Today we are in Lomas de Zamora shopping! I am buying a few things to take home and my companion is buying a few things that she needs. 

Suday I was asked to teach the Young Womens class and I loved it! I love being with the youth,theyre so great and i love seeing faithful young people. 

Our recent convert Gino brought his 8 year old brother Agustin (who is to be baptised in 2 weeks!) and 4 year old sister Guadalupe to church on sunday, poor little Guada felt totally asleep on my arm in sacrement meeting haha, but they both enjoyed the primary class!

Im short on time today, but ive attached a photo of me making waffles with the Petito family yesterday! It was great fun and really delish! I want a waffle machine!

See you all in 1 month!

Hermana Wilson

Daughter number 2 on the way! Hehe

This week has been AMAZING! One of the best of my whole mission.

Let me start off my explaining the caption haha, I am about to be a Mum for the second time, aka, i am going to be training a new missionary who arrives tomorrow from the Misisonary Training Center. I dont know where she is from yet.

Hermana Rodriguez, my first daughter has just completed 1 year in the mission, i am literally recieving my 2nd daughter exactly one year after the first. It is going to be hard to beat the relationship that Hermana Rodriguez and I have because we are super close, but i know I am going to have a great 6 weeks together, because yes.... as of today I officially have 6 weeks left of my mission! Today is also my 17th birthday month here in Argentina!

I am with the amazing Hermana Shepard until we recieve our daughters tomorrow.

I had to go into the hospital on Thursday for a lump on my wrist which after a few tests turns out to be a ganglion cyst, nothing serious at all. We got to stay with Hermana Rodriguez and her companion and obviously Rodri and I spent a good many hours catching up! She is not at all happy to be recieving a sister, poor jealous big sister haha.

Other things that happened this week:

1. Kid was being naughty in sacrement and the mum goes to take him out and he screams: "Bishop! Help me! Help me!" haha

2. Our district leader made up his own little crazy aerobics dance and we did that in district meeting to some EFY music, was really funny!

3. We ate ice cream as a district to say goodbye to each other, all in scarfs and hats and gloves because it was reall cold haha.

4. Its sweet week here in Argentina! "Candy for a kiss", i got a few candies from people and obviously i gave the famales a kiss ON THE CHEEK, dont bew getting too scandalized anyone.

5. saw a halarious marquee set up on the side of the road which had written above: Marquee of Miracles! haha, its where you go to buy blessings from God! Amazing right? If i had known that blessings could be bought i would have stayed home working instead of coming on the mission, shame i found that one out 6 weeks before the end! :P haha

6. My Dog Torti is on vacation, the block all pitched in to get her spayed and the neighbour is taking care of her until she recovers from her operation.

7: The BEST day of my mission happened..... I got a call on Wednesday from Hermana Rodriguez saying that on saturday we would be companions again for the day since president had giving us special permission to go to Selene´s baptism in Lanus! Missionaries here NEVER recieve permission to go to baptisms in previous areas, but since Selene had that traumatic experience of being burnt before her baptism last year President Calquin thought it would be a great surprise for her if we went. So my daughter and i left our companions working in Adrogue and returned to Lanus for the first time in nearly a year and I cannot even explain what an amazing experience it was! I saw all my converts from there and gave the talk on baptism and we both sung a childrens hymn. There were a lot of tears! Selene cried when she saw us as did Lorena and Agustina, we cried hugging members and converts and great friends. I cannot explain the emense joy i felt seeing how well all the people are there, people that i really poured my soul into helping while i was there!

There´s a photo attached with Selene just after she came out of the water, im gonna try to send more but my camera is being a little lame connecting to this computer.

Love you all!

P.S

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY YANKEES!!

The 4th of july is my sisters birthday, shes 23 now, old huh? ;)

Shout out to Britt for her birthday and for graduating as a qualified kindergarten teacher! 

Photos Marta´s baptism

Photos Marta´s baptism

True Miracles!

Hey All!!

This week has been stormy and very wet, but no floods this year!

This week I met the new President and Hermana Calquin form Chile. Theyre fntastic! It was ahalarious meeting, got really trunky as they told us how the met and President Calquin acted out his huge challenge of wining his wifes heart haha. They then started giving marriage adice which was halarious since we are a bunch of missionaries that cant even date haha. 

President Calquin told us that when he had his interview to be mission president he didnt feel prepared and the apostle said: "President, do you love your wife? If you do, then you are preapred." I things thats the truth because all the leaders in the church seem to have such love and care for their wives!

This week i really go to see the fruits of my laybors, in many different ways. 

I got a call this week from the Elders in Lanus, my area this time last year, saying: "Hermana, there´s someone who would like to talk to you here", then a womens voice said really emotionally, "Hermana Wilson! Its Lorena Vaca!" 

My eyes instantly filled with tears. This lovely women was baptised a year ago, i taught her all the lessons and a few weeks later her daughter was baptised as well. I was very close to them and then they both went inactive just as i left that area because of some great trials they had. I left that area with a heavy heart wondering if there was anything i could have done better, and the last i heard about them over 6 months ago was that they were both still inactive. 

Lorena told me on the phone that she has just recieved her patriarachal blessing, she has a calling at church and this coming saturday we are going to meet with her in the temple! Agustina is also a active and happy 17 year old! 

That was enough to fill my soul with joy, but then i was told that Celeste is about to get her mission call. In Lanus we worked constantly with this 18 year old girl, the only member in her family who was going through a lot of trails. We prayed and fasted for her, we consoled her, we told her off for not being true to the Lord, we spoke to her on the phone when she called late at night. We managed to get her well and active for about a month and a half and then the trials became too much and she became completely inactive. It broke my heart and once again i wondered if i was somehow failing her. To hear that she will soon be in the mission was overjoying!

But thats not all! I was then told that Selene is to be baptised this coming saturday! Selene is the 11 year old niece of Lorena Vaca, we taught her a lot and she is so spiritual and so special, but a week before her baptism a pot of boiling oil fell on her legs and she couldnt be baptised. Now 10 months later and fully recovered, Selene is about to be baptised and the Elders are teaching her family! 

But thats not all!!!.....

This Saturday Marta Gonzalez form here in Ciudad Evita was also baptised! We have been teaching her all my time here and have seen how the gospel has healed her broken heart after the death of her 2 sons. It was a beautiful service and i do not doubt that there were angels in the water with her. We were very concerned about how to baptised her being that she is 70 and quite big, we had the elders in white just in case help was needed. But it went so prefectly that it seemed angels lifted her form the water. I was praying with all my heart that it would be okay and my prayer was answered. Martas family ws there too! It was stressfull because the hot water was really slow and so we hd to fill the baptism font with buckets of hot water! Hence why my hair is kinda wet in the photos, it was also boring with rain and really humid!

But thats not all the miracles!

The Elders from Monte Grande called and told me that saturday afternoon Liber Alonso was baptised. Liber is a 23 year old that I taught in my previous area. He was a miracle find! We were passing by a house and i felt very strongly that we needed to knock on the door and ask them if they knew the person that we were looking for because we couldnt find the hosue. In the end the older man that answered didnt know, but said he´s ask his son, his son didnt know either, but was very interested in our message and we began to teach him. He was just baptised!

This week has shown me that no effort is waisted, that no act of kindness, no good word spoken is ever in vain. Sometimes we cant see the fruits of our laybours, but theyre there. I am so, so grateful to have been able to recieve these great news this week and know that God worked through me for the salvation of the human soul!

I love you all!

Hermana Wilson

Last weeks email!

Last weeks email!

Sorry I didnt send an email last week, was a hectic day because we had ward activity for national flag day (they have public holidays for EVERYTHING here!)

First things first: Thanks to my Argentine companion I now drink Mate Cocido, which is a type of herbal tea that is super common here. Ive been here 16 months and didnt really have much interest, its kinda like green tea, but now i like it. Just in time to go home where there is no Mate Cocido... 

This week we went to the temple as a zone and had lunch there and a conference to say goodbye to our beloved President Thurgood and Sister Thurgood who finish their time here on the 28th :( 

Was a really special time to be with them in the house of the Lord.

In exciting news... I have a dog again! Her name is Tortilla, we call her Torti, she owns the to blocks in front of our house, and is rather cute haha. Those who know me know I dont like dogs except the ones i like... If that makes sense! And i like Torti, I even let her jump on me: Photo attached and I gave her my left over lentils on the way home-big step for me since i like lentils! 

We recieved a few tasty blessings this week! Starting with one day that we didnt have lunch and went to the temple to pick some stuff up and a member from my previous ward bought us lunch in the hostal! Was a miracle! Then a member gifted us cheesy bread! Then on friday we were in our area and walked past the ice cream store and saw the MTC President buying ice cream! We said hi and he said: "Hermanas! Do you want an ice cream? Of course you do! Come here!" and he bought us ice cream! Then that same day our investigator bought us Empanadas which were yummy! And today was the ward activity and they had pastries! The Lord blessed us since we had no food at home except lentils haha. 

I am truly loving my time here, its coming to an end, but thats okay, I know that there are exciting things in the future too!

I love you all and pray for you all!

Hermana Wilson

Photos: Torti our dog. District activity. Me and Alma, one of the young women here. 

Last weeks email!

Sorry I didnt send an email last week, was a hectic day because we had ward activity for national flag day (they have public holidays for EVERYTHING here!)

First things first: Thanks to my Argentine companion I now drink Mate Cocido, which is a type of herbal tea that is super common here. Ive been here 16 months and didnt really have much interest, its kinda like green tea, but now i like it. Just in time to go home where there is no Mate Cocido... 

This week we went to the temple as a zone and had lunch there and a conference to say goodbye to our beloved President Thurgood and Sister Thurgood who finish their time here on the 28th :( 

Was a really special time to be with them in the house of the Lord.

In exciting news... I have a dog again! Her name is Tortilla, we call her Torti, she owns the to blocks in front of our house, and is rather cute haha. Those who know me know I dont like dogs except the ones i like... If that makes sense! And i like Torti, I even let her jump on me: Photo attached and I gave her my left over lentils on the way home-big step for me since i like lentils! 

We recieved a few tasty blessings this week! Starting with one day that we didnt have lunch and went to the temple to pick some stuff up and a member from my previous ward bought us lunch in the hostal! Was a miracle! Then a member gifted us cheesy bread! Then on friday we were in our area and walked past the ice cream store and saw the MTC President buying ice cream! We said hi and he said: "Hermanas! Do you want an ice cream? Of course you do! Come here!" and he bought us ice cream! Then that same day our investigator bought us Empanadas which were yummy! And today was the ward activity and they had pastries! The Lord blessed us since we had no food at home except lentils haha. 

I am truly loving my time here, its coming to an end, but thats okay, I know that there are exciting things in the future too!

I love you all and pray for you all!

Hermana Wilson

Photos: Torti our dog. District activity. Me and Alma, one of the young women here. 

My Dog Torti!

Farewell President and Sister Thurgood :(

Well tomorrow we will oficially have a new President here in the Buenos Aires South mission.... President and Hermana Calquin from Chile.

We had a farewell this tuesday with President and Hermana Thurgood and the Mitchells who are also leaving and obviously I cried :( They have been so good to me these last 16 months! They have been with me in the hospital and we have laughed together and had many lovely moments in interviews, chatting on the telefone and in meetings. They really love us all so much and showed special interest in making sure that i was happy and healthy here. 

President Thurgoods final remarks were: "Elders, listen to your mothers and to your future wives. You will find that they are almost ALWAYS right." "Elders and Sisters, if i ever hear that any of you are not attending church, I will find you, and I will punish you! With a visit form me!" 

In big news! Our dog Torti now has a shirt, poor guy lives in the street and need a little swag! Im so in love with that dog haha.

We had an improptu farewell this morning for Elder Lowe :( He broke his hand about 5 weeks ago and they put the cast on badly and well his bones are setting incorrectly so he was told yesterday that he is going home so they can break the bones and re-set them, not nice! Good thing his mum is a doctor. He was supposed to finish with me, so he´s just a couple of months early, but sad all the same.

I am looking forward to seeing everyone in 2 months, but really happy to still have a bit more time here!

Love you all!!

Hermana Wilson

Re: Farewell President and Sister Thurgood :(

Ooops, attached the wrong photo, that one is with Elder and Sister Mitchel, not the thurgoods haha. 

On Mon, Jun 27, 2016 at 4:13 PM, Micaella Wilson <micaella.wilson@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Well tomorrow we will oficially have a new President here in the Buenos Aires South mission.... President and Hermana Calquin from Chile.

We had a farewell this tuesday with President and Hermana Thurgood and the Mitchells who are also leaving and obviously I cried :( They have been so good to me these last 16 months! They have been with me in the hospital and we have laughed together and had many lovely moments in interviews, chatting on the telefone and in meetings. They really love us all so much and showed special interest in making sure that i was happy and healthy here. 

President Thurgoods final remarks were: "Elders, listen to your mothers and to your future wives. You will find that they are almost ALWAYS right." "Elders and Sisters, if i ever hear that any of you are not attending church, I will find you, and I will punish you! With a visit form me!" 

In big news! Our dog Torti now has a shirt, poor guy lives in the street and need a little swag! Im so in love with that dog haha.

We had an improptu farewell this morning for Elder Lowe :( He broke his hand about 5 weeks ago and they put the cast on badly and well his bones are setting incorrectly so he was told yesterday that he is going home so they can break the bones and re-set them, not nice! Good thing his mum is a doctor. He was supposed to finish with me, so he´s just a couple of months early, but sad all the same.

I am looking forward to seeing everyone in 2 months, but really happy to still have a bit more time here!

Love you all!!

Hermana Wilson

Gino got baptised!

Photos

Gino got baptised!

Hey all!

This week was great! Cold but great. They say it is the  coldest it has been at this time of the year in a looong time, it is even thought that it might snow here in Buenos Aires this winter because it has been such a cold autumn. That will be crazy! 

Saturday our investigator Gino was baptised, he is such a great kid! He has been recieving the missionaries for a while and wasnt really sure if he wanted to take that step, but monday we had a really great lesson with him and he just stands up and says "Im going to be baptised!" haha, we asked if he would prepare to be baptised on the 2nd of august and he said, "No! This saturday, im going to be baptsied this saturday, the 11th!" And so it was! We sung a great song at his baptism, all his family came and they are all preparing to be baptised too. Gianluca baptised Gino which was really special because Gianluca was only baptised himself a month ago, although his family were baptsied about a year and a half ago, and just 2 weeks ago Gianluca was sealed for time and all eternity to his parents and sister in the Buenos Aires temple! THIS is missionary work! It was so joyful to see how they have helped each other and love each other. When Gino came out of the water they just stood there in the water hugging, it was so sweet! 

Things here in Ciudad evita are good, I have made great friends with all the amazing families here and we have some lovely people we are teaching. 

We have this lovely old lady called Marta that we are teaching, and she says some of the funniest things! The she calls us: Las Mormonitas, which means "the little mormons" or "Palomitas" which means little doves haha and she will pray and be like "God, please look after the little mormons, the beautiful doves....... a big kiss God, see you later, amen" haha its really funny haha. President went to a lesson with her and he has to be only a few years younger than her and she calls him "dear" she was like "Do you know what its like dear, do you understand dear, how it is to have these angels in my home?" 

I am quite confused about my feelings towards dogs... on one hand sometimes i feel so overcome with compassion for them because there are s many in the streets and then i also feel really annoyed and kinda grossed out coz they bark at us and follow us round. We have a multitude of about 6 dogs that follow us everywhere stirring up all the neighbourhood dogs and annoying the people and we dont feed them or anything! We are just like "Sorry everyone there are NOT our dogs!"

I saw a homeless dog the other day that someone had made a house out of cardboard and dog food bags, i quickly sunk my camera out and snapped a pic!

This week i am getting my hair trimmed.... pray for me haha! I dont trust people with my hair, but its pretty damaged, gotta cut the tips.

Love you all!!

Hermana Wilson

P.S Saturday was my 16th month in the mission .....

Selfie

Fierrita Ferrosa sent me this photo form transfers. Its Hermaan Dias, Hermana Fierro and I

I love to see the TEMPLE!

This week went really well, it was a little disorganised because we discovered on Tuesday that they were going to do a "Whitewash", in our area, which means they took me AND my companion out and put Elders in, since there arent enough Hermanas in the mission. so we had to organise everything for them to arrive and fill in detailed reports so that no one we are teaching gets forgotten, sicne theyre going to arrive and not know anyone. 

Was really sad to say goodbye to everyone, especially the people we are teaching. In the next few weeks theyre going to be baptised and so we will miss the baptisms :(

Sometimes i am just blown away at how much kindness the people here show me. Everyone was really sad i was leaving, some even cried, i got a few gifts from people and a recent convert Adela is making me a dress that I designed with her! I chose the fabric and she is a profesional, so its going to be lovely! 

Yesterday we had dinner with a Brazilian family and ate Arroz Feijoada, which is a tipical dish from brazil... it is actually really nice but it is a pigs foot stew with black beans... I ate it ! Everyone just laughed at me while i ate it haha. Its my companions favourite food!

My new area is the area beside the temple! Ciudad Evita 2, Aldo Bonzi. Its a really nice area and my companion is great, she has 3 months in the mission and is from Chaco Argentina! Shes lovely!

But im back to handwashing my clothes....

As of today i am officially the oldest sister in the mission, in time in the mission! I even got my flight plan... ill be arriving home at 4.30am Wednesday 24th of August 2016..... 

Well, o cant send photos today, my SD card has a virus and the photos wont open on the computer:( Gonna take it to see it someone can take the virus off. 

I hope you are all well, love you all!!

Hermana Wilson

Re: Sister Missionaries in PANTS?!

P.S PHOTOS:

 A member who works in the airport got me some Air New Zealand stuff!!

My comp let me share the rosca with my teddies haha

Rebeka Retamales and I with the empanadas.

My companion playing with my toys while I took a shower

THE ROSCA

EMPANADAS!!

On Mon, May 23, 2016 at 4:59 PM, Micaella Wilson <micaella.wilson@myldsmail.net> wrote:

This week I feel I laughed a lot, which is always a good thing! 

The laughter started with our district meeting on Tuesday when the nervous yanki Elder accidently said "Jesus Smith" instead of "Jesus Christ" or "Joseph Smith", im not sure which one he wanted to say but we all died of laughter and someone asked: "Dont you mean Joseph Christ?" haha, no one is ever going to let him forget that one!

The we had a lesson that night with our completely enthusiastic investigator called Liber who asked us if he could join the choir, we told him he most deffinately could and he just stood up and auditioned right there, sung us the strangest song I have ever heard haha, he´s a bit hippie. I dont know how I was able to keep a straight face to be honest haha.

Thursday we arrived at the chapel with our bikes and asked a brother there to tighten the chains coz they keep coming off and my companion has to fit it all the time (Im too delicate to get my hands all greesy! haha). 

As he fixed it he exclaimed: "But Sister Wilson! The wheel is about to come off your bike! Its hanging on by one almost falling out screw! Didn´t you notice it moving around!?" 

ME: "Oh! I just thought I had really bad balance on the bike!" hahaha

So we went without bikes for a day to get the wheel all fixed haha. The funny thing is that 2 weeks ago we went to a bike safety course and watched an animation of what happens when the wheel comes off while riding and giggled at the animation nose diving into the pavement.... that was almost me! Guess I should have applied what I learnt... but how should I know how many screws a bike needs! Looked great to me haha.

The yesterday we went to pick up a pot we had lent to a member and she gace us a Roska (photo attached). Its a type of sweet bread with a custard on top. A lot of the time this family give us bread, sandwhiches, cakes, cookies ect because they own some bakeries. They always give us a lot so I always go around giving it out to the neighbours, members and obviously the Elders who are always hungry. I jsut do that without even thinking about it. So when we got the rosca this is the conversation that went down with my companion:

Me: We have a rosca.

Hna C: Yes, we have a rosca!

Me: (In serious thought, almost concerned) Who are we going to share the rosca with?

Hna C: You are going to share it with me, and I am going to share it with you!

Me: (Thinking it was a joke) What families live around here, we could visit someone and eat the rosca with them? Or maybe we could save it until tomorrow and visit the Tau family? Or the Retamales? Isnt it Sandra Lopez´ birthday soon? 

Hna C: (Changing to speak in a really bad english incase I didnt understand in spanish) "WE eat rosca. OUR rosca!"

Me: (Dying of laughter!) You dont wanna share the rosca Hermana?

Hna C: (also laughing) What kinda of poor missionary are you? People give us food and you give the majority of it away! I am still traumatized from my seccond day here when they gave us about 3kgs of cookies and you made little cookie packs for everyone in the zone and only left one cookie pack for us! A normal missionary would eat all the cookies but Saint Sister Wilson goes gifting them to everyone!

Me: Sorry about that Hermana, dont worry we will eat the rosca ourselves haha.

It was so funny haha, because I hadnt even realised that I was always gifting the treats that people give us. I just see a load of food and think; How are we even gonna eat all that haha. Didnt realise how traumatized my companion was haha.

Today we made Empanadas with the Retamales family, love them so much, we had a great time. I am all prepared to make them when I get home. Its a savoury pastry with cheese and ham inside, or chicken or meat, whatevery you want really. 

This week there was a lot going on here, first aid courses, self-reliance courses, talk about disaster preparation. 

It was great to see people participating in all that and the theme was: (If my translation is correct) "When the time to act arrives, the time to prepare is over". Weve been talking a lot about being prepared in the area. We need to decide NOW what we are going to do when a trial, challenge or disaster arrives. There´s no use saying that "we´ll cross that bridge when we get there", HOW are you going to cross if you dont know how to walk accross?

When someone apostate tries to convince us that we are in the wrong church, how are we going to react?

When someone offers us drugs, how are we going to react? 

When your child has a siezure or is choking, what are you going to do?

When you find your husband unconscious what are you going to do?

When there is an earthquake what are you going to do? 

When the fridge breaks, how are you going to buy a new one? 

When your child needs reading glasses, how are you going to pay? 

The most shocking for me was the first aid course, seeing that there are so many people who really dont know how to do basic things that can save a life. When someone is choking, especially a child if we dont help them in the correct way we could kill or badly hurt the person and what we see in movies a lot of the times is exactly what we shouldnt do.

I encourage everyone to take a first aid course, make an emergency finance plan, have food and water storage and to choose now to stand up for certain values and beliefs. Often we think that we will never be in certain situations, but when we suddenly find ourselves there how are we going to know what to do, how to react if we have never prepared for that. 

The mission also takes these things very seriously. At the moment there are a lot of people sick and some dying from Mosquito Borne Diseases such as Dengue Fever. So we have to spray all our clothes with a special chemical, the windows with another Chemical and have mosquito nets on the windows, wear repelent and just this week the area has annouced that the Sister Missionaries in missions with mosquito diseases may now wear PANTS to cover our skin from the mosquitos. Our mission is on the list of missions that have been approved to wear pants, but we are waiting to see what our President says about that. Dont know how I feel about it..... kinda weird.... 

Things are good here! Yesterday was officially 3 months until I finish my mission.... also dont know how I feel about that. I am excited to see everyone and for the next step in my life, but the mission has been such an uplifting and fun and huge experience. Its going to be VERY strange to finish!

Hope youre all well!!

Love you

Hermana Wilson

Cumpleaños y Bautismo!

Bela and Antos Birthday and the bapstism

All over the place kinda week!

This week was CRAZY! 

I have litterally been all over the mission, Monte Grande, Ezeiza, Burzaco, San Miguel de Monte, Adrogue, Temperley..... I think thats all! 

We had intercambios with the Sisters from Los Flores, I was here most of the week with Hermana Shepard, but she had to do some visa stuff so we had to go around a bit for that and had to travel to meet up with our companions in Monte.

Funny thing happened on tuesday, Hermana Shepard was cooking eggs and the whole hosue was filling with smoke! I was like "hermana what are you burning!" and shes like "Nothing! I dont know where the smoke is coming from!". The eggs litterally were not burning and so we were really confused. Then about 10 minutes later when the whle house is filled with smoke i remember that I put two slices of bread in the oven when I got up and hd forgotten. They were totally burnt! That what happens when you dont have a toaster..... also happens when I do have a toaster haha. I can cook a meal, a cake, cookies but I really cant do toast haha. It took about 3days to get the burnt smell out of our flat haha.

My comp super glued her fingers together this week, another story for another time. Took ages to un stick them! We were wondering if wed have to go to the hospital! We really didnt want to have to call the zone leaders and tell them shed stuck her fingers together, that would be embarrassing!

Saturday was the baptism and 8th birthday of Isabela Franco and the 1st birthday of her little sister Antonela. We helped out with food and obviously with the baptism, it was great! Theyre a lovely family!

We have a few new people who we are teaching. Liber came to church on Sunday and is just a great guy, we only met him on friday and he´s just so enthusiastic to learn! Its great!

I got sassed by our senior misionary Elder Mitchell who works in the offices this week! I called about some finance stuff and he said "Elder Colman says hi", Elder Colman arrived with me in the mission and it was the 11th, the day we arrived so i said "Tell Elder Colman happy 15 months!" and Elder Mitchell says, "Elder Colman, Hermana Wilson says Happy Birthday Honey!" apparently Elder Colman nearly fell off his chair and im just yelling "Thats not what I said!" And elder and Sister Mitchell just thought they were too funny! We went into the ofices later that day to pic some stuff up and they had costumes and decorations for the "quinciñera" which is a party they have here when someone turns 15. Love the office staff haha

BABY TALK: 

Cute stuff always happen with babies here haha. 

1. We had lunch with the relief society president and her two year old son is just being toilet trained and so he just comes running out and throwing his brand new undies at us. He was so excited to show us and his mum is just like "Alen! The sisters dont want to see your underwear! "haha

2. Even though it is pday we had lunch with some members today coz theyre great. The dad doesnt want his 1.5 year old to go on a mission when she grows up and when I arrived in the area he had her trained, he would say: "Catalina, are you gonna go on a mission?" and she would say "no!" and then he would ask "Are you gonna get married Catalina?" and she would say "Yes!". Well today, because I am a great example to her, i said "Cata, are you gonna go on a mission?" and she said "Yes!" and I asked "Cata, are you gonna get married?" and she said "no!". It was halarious, her dad was trying to get her to say she wasnt going on a mission and she wasnt having any of that! Her mum took a video, it was so funny. She is only 18 months but speaks A LOT. She sings full songs. She cant quite say Hermana so she calls me "Mana". 

Well thats my week! Heres some photos. The cake thing is an Alfajor, theyre the most common thing ever here but so delish! Theyre the reason that missionaries get fat haha. We had one to celebrate my 15 months. Excuse my morning look with the burnt toast, but yeah, it was the morning!

Love you all!!

Hermana Wilson

Happy Mothers Day!

This week flew by, we were litterally so busy that I didnt even have time to think about the fact I was going to skype my family until the night before! 

This week we had intercambios with the Hermanas from Ezeiza, I was with Hermana Walker who has just a mere 3 weeks in the mission, feels like yesterday that I was there! But this wednesday I will have been here 15 months! Shes so sweet and learning spanish and the lessons really quickly. As they would say here ella es una capa! 

Thursday we had interviews with President Thurgood, it was the last interview i will have with him since they leave in about 6 weeks and a new President will be arriving. 

We had a training about bike saftely which included a really halarious video and we also had a training on how to protect ourselves from Dingue Fever, since theres an outbreak of that right now. We have mosquito gaurds on the windows and replent and we have been given a chemical that we have to spray all our clothes with and let them dry and it is a permenant replelent for about 6 weeks. 

Friday we had a Tormenta Blanca (White Storm)! I dont know why its called that, maybe because of the Elders white shirts? Well anyway, its when all the missionaries in the zone come to a particular area and work for the day. It was a lot of planning on our part, we had to organise where each companionship was going to go and mark it on the map and put little crosses where they had to stop and then number each cross and write who the person is and if theyre a member, non-member, contact, or investigator. It took us about 4 hours or more to sort it all out. 

But the event was a real sucess! We found loads of new people to teach :D 

The next day it took about 3 hours to sort out all the paperwork we got back from everone and write everything in the area book ect. 

Saturday I skyped my family!! It was great to see everyone! The weirdest thought is that the next time I see them will be in 3 months in the airport! :O

Saturday night we had the sisters form Los Flores arrive to stay because there was stake conference yesterday and the zone activity is today. Tuesday afternoon we are going to have exchanges with them and my companion is going to be taking the looooog trip to Los Flores until thursday and im going to be here with Hermana Shepard. 

Its gonna be another crazy week because tuesday morning the zone leaders and my companion and I have to do a 2 hour zone council with the district leaders, to let them know what president wants them to be teaching and doing with their districts. 

Hope youre all well!! Love you all!! 

Photos:

A month ago when we went to San Miguel de Monte

Hermana Shepard and I

Our stairs= anti-robber system haha (we cleaned that up!)

My comp and I taking a selfie in the mirror, our house is a mess coz we have guests and their stuff and mattresses are everywhere haha

Panic!!

There were 2 reasons to panic this week....

1. Because I am almost out of Vegemite!

2. Because we accidentally set off the panic alarm in our house hahaa.. 

All of the missionaries houses here have an alarm and also 2 panic buttons, somehow the panic button ended up on my companions bed and she pressed it without realising and the really loud  alarm starts going off at about 10:30 at night. I didnt know that it was the panic alarm, i thought it was the house alarm and so here I am in my pijamas thinking "No! Someone has entered into the house! What do I even do?!" Then my companion yells "I pushed the panic alarm!" so I run downstairs to disactivate it before the neighbours call the police and I cant remember the code! I yell to Hermana Conceiçao and she just yells it from upstairs and I cant hear her because theres basically a tsunami alarm going off hahahaha. Eventually I heard the numbers and put them in but couldnt remember which button was the ok button..... It took a few minutes but I got it all sorted and we almost died of laughter! Scared the poor neighbours though haha. 

Wednesday we had intercambios with the Hermanas from Luis Guillon, I was with Hermana Holt who is GREAT! Love that girl so much, its really sad we never got to be companions! We had a great time, but we ate something and got food poisoning. Hermana Holt started vomiting when she got back to Luis Guillon and I spent the night crawled into a ball by the heater with the worst abdominal pains ever! Wasnt cool! 

Thursday we had Mission Leadership Council and so we headed to the mission home. Hermana Thurgood gave me some medicine and it made me feel much better. I just love being in the mission home! Hermana Thurgood gave us loads of candy too haha. 

Today we are gonna watch a movie as a district and eat ice cream, even though its freezing cold haha.

This week I get to talk to my family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love you all! 

P.S Sorry no photos, still have to fix my SD card, and Hermana Holt has the other photos. 

Fwd: Time is Flyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyying!!

Last weeks email that didnt post on my blog

Well I am officially an old person, there are only 3 sisters in the mission that have more time than me now :( In 3 trasfers i will be home ( A Transfer is 6 weeks) 

This tuesday our district said goodbye, we were pretty sad coz we are all really close, but time to make some new friends. My new companion is Hermana Conceiçao from Brazil Sao Paolo, she is an absolute darling and so i am really excited to have her. Shes going to teach be Portuguez and we are learning italian together! Ive been soooo blessed with the companions i have had. 

Im going to miss my Fierrita Ferrosa a lot (Hermana Fierro) but since we finish the mission together ill get to see her when we go to Capital together, have our final interviews and when we go to the temple here. 

Wednesday and thursday i was in San Miguel de Monte with Hermana Muñoz from Spain in exchanges and we had a great time although i was a bit sick. 

Ive had a fever this week, really weird because I had no other symptoms, but apparently its a virus going around. We met so many people every day, i bless them with the god news of the Restored Gospel and they bless my with their virusus haha. Down side of the culture of kissing to greet people i suppose. 

This transfer is going to be crazy because a lot of the Sisters in our zone are training so we are going to be all over Buenos Aires in exchanges, and I am training my companion as Sister Training Leader. So its just going to fly by! 

My SD card has a virus.... so thats awkward... im going to have to just leave it until I get home and can get my daddy to fix it, the photos dont load on the computer anymore. I may get a new card or I may just rely on my compañions cameras for the next while. Here is some from the Fierritas camera. 

Some with our old district "The Best District" my "Old New District", the Zone, The Retamales family and the ones outside are the coolest people in the mission: Known as the August 22nd 2016 group. We will all be leaving the mission together and got to catch up today at transfers. You can tell we are old because 3 of us a sister training leaders, one is the secretary to president, one is zone leader, one is the Assistent to the president and the other sister is going to be training a newby this transfer! We are a dinamite team!!

Love you all, hope youre doing well! Shout out to the Elders Quorum in Redhill Ward! I got your letters today and was super happy!! 

Hermana Wilson

Its getting COLD

Argentina is so extreme haha, just 6 weeks ago i was getting fried outside and now im freezing to death! 

My companion and i have been working hard, we are compleltely exhaused because we did a lot of walking this week, there was a day where we tried to visit more than 15 people and NO ONE was home. We just about died haha. But we are always of good cheer, I always go singing through the streets and she loves to sing too! We sound like a really gospel radio station hahaha. 

Today we are throwing a birthday party in our flat for Hermana Holt and Hermana Dias who are companions and have their birthdays on the same day-tomorrow! Its going to be fun. Ive mad bana bread, brownies, popcorn and we are gonna eat it all with hot chocolates while watching a movie. Its gonna be a great girls day!

Love you all!!

P.S Today I got my "Trunky Email", or in other words the offices emailed asking in what airport I need to arrive in 4 months and for my parents email to send them my flight itinary...................... WHAT!!!!!

Photos: Hermana Conceiçao and I and another photo of my group. 

A week all over Buenos Aires South!

This week went fast and next monday I will be recieving a new companion now that my companion has been here for 6 months and its time for her to leave :( Im really sad about that because we have such a great time together, but ive never had a problem with any of my companions so im sure ill love my new one just as much. Plus, hermana Fierro and I finish the mission together so we will be reunited in 3 transfers. 

Last monday we went as a zone to watch movies in the chapel, we watched Minions! After we went and got ice cream, which was really funny! Missionaries+sugar+music= crazy haha.

Then we went to a park that has flags from all over the world, the NZ flag wasnt there so I took a photo with the one from Chile as a shout out to all my Chileans and also with the USA Flagt- shout out to all my yankees!  

Tuesday I had to give a stress management class to the zone which was really funny haha. I had them all do breathing exersizes haha. But seriously, some of them really needed it, the zone was weirdly tense on tuesday until the class had them all laughing. 

Tuesday night I spent the night in Aldo Bonzi in a mass sleepover party with 14 other sister missionaries! Yes, we did go to bed at 10:30! My daughter Hermana Rodriguez and I may have talked for a litttttttle but after that though... We have matching cups! Mine sayds in spanish: I love my daughter and hers says: I love my mummy! haha

Wednesday we had the amazing priveledge of going to the Buenos Aires Temple to help with the deep cleaning they do every 6 months. The temple is closed for a few weeks while they do maintenence and we got to help. A group of 20 of us were assigned to clean the huge cristal chandelier in the celetial room and it was a real job. A machine lowered it and we had to take each cristal off and clean it with alcohol, dry it, change the lighbulbs and then in the end we put the chadelier back together. It has over 5000 cristals and weights 150kg and has 111 lightbulbs! It took 20 people and 3 hours and it didnt seem dirty at all haha. Obviously being the awkward person I am I dropped and broke a cristal and then cut open my foot on the broken cristal. The celestial room is pure white and here I a bleeding standing on a piece of cardboard so I dont stain the carpet. They have replacement cristals thankfully. 

The temple engeneer in my my ward and he told us yesterday he is going to give us each a cristal! Ive attached a image of the chandelier. 

Thursday and Friday we were in Los Flores in exchanges with Hermana Shepard and Hermana Molinero. It was pretty fun, but we have to travel three hours there and back and sleep on the floor so we always arrive home pretty shattered.

Funny moment of the week: My companion heard a lady saying "Hello" and she thought it was a parrot and so started saying "Listen its a parrot!!" Dont think the lady was really impressed!

Its getting cold here now, but i prefer to work in the cold than in the heat any day!

Hope you are all well,

Love Hermana Wilson