February 23, 2015

Today we went to the crocodile park in the south with the elders and Jessica and her friend (Jessica is the senior couples-the Conrad’s-daughter who just got back from her mission in Ukraine and is here with her parents until the end of their mission the middle of March).  It was super cool!!!!!!!!!!!  

There was a building with a super cool insect collection and with tons of butterflies from all over the world-they were so beautiful!!!!!

The second picture is a picture of pure joy.  That is me sitting on the back of a giant turtle:DDDD how cool is that?  I look like such a little kid:)  There was a huge open park with over 500 giant turtles and you could pet them and sit on them and love them:)  

Again a manifestation of joy and love, he was such a friendly turtle:)

This is of a family home evening with the family Larauce:)  We played a game called "si j'etais" which is a type of guessing game and then talked about how our Heavenly Father knows each and every one of us personally and perfectly.  One of the scriptures that we shared was in Job 34:21 that says in French;) "Dieu voit la conduite de tous, Il a les regards sur les pas de chacun."  Which means  He sees all of us and even notices each and every one of our steps.  Also in the book of Moses 1:35 it talks about how vast the creations of God are and yet how everything to him is accounted for because we are his.  He truly knows us and loves each and every one of us:) 

Me at the zoo (again;) because Sr Thomas had not been yet) on a little safari bus ride:D  I got to touch the zebra when he came closer:DDDD  Being at zoos and animal parks makes me super nostalgic for animals to be working with/studying/and or cuddling with them;)

This is from contacting this past Saturday.  It was return of the sidewalk chalk!!! thank you again papa:)  It was a fun moment with two of the youth from our branch--Kevin and Anastasia.  They had a blast and it was their first time talking with people like that about their beliefs.  They liked it so much they asked if we can do it this coming Saturday and we said of course and will invite the other youth as well:)

This is a picture of the four missionaries on the island (Elder Estrade from Canada, Elder Clousse from Utah, Sister Thomas from Belgium and Sister Wilson from Washington;) with a giant turtle:D  At this point you are probably wondering why so many pictures of the turtles especially because the name of the park is crocodile park but unfortunately that was not the last picture of a turtle that you will get to see:D  

There you have it, another picture of a turtle!  Two turtles even:D  With Sister Thomas and I on them:) 

And, just for the name's sake, a picture of the crocodiles:)  There were also monkeys at the zoo which made me happy:) 

This was a good week.  There were a lot of intense moments, and lots of sad stories that we learned about, but sometimes all you can do is cry with those who cry and comfort those who stand in need of comfort.

A funny story from the week was during a lesson with a newer investigator named Shela. We had decided  just to share the Book of Mormon with her--which is an incredible volume of scriptures with the writings of ancient prophets living in the Americas-- and her friend who was there.  We thought that we had brought two copies, but no....  As we were teaching I grabbed the book and held it up to show it as I was talking about it and Sr Thomas and I accidentally burst out laughing because it was a more serious moment and what was in my hands was the journal of one of the missionaries who wanted us to write a little note in it for him.  It just so happened to be the same size and the same navy blue with gold writing... we recovered quickly and had a good lesson but it was pretty funny at least for us:)

I hope that everyone has a good week!

Love,

Sister Wilson

February 16, 2015

So this week I would like to share sort of a funny little story from which I learned a good lesson;)  On Saturday we went to Port Louis (which is the capitol and biggest city in Mauritius) to find a friend of one of the members while she was at work so that we could meet her and set up a lesson.  It went super well, she is very nice and seems quite interested.  Then we decided to eat in a little restaurant that sells pizzas and fried chicken.  We were waiting in line and a bus boy asked us if it was out first time and if we needed help.  I gave him sort of an incredulous look because he wasn’t in uniform so at first I didn’t even know that he worked there and I felt like fast food restaurants are pretty obvious things all you have to do is walk up and order so I wondered what his intentions were in offering help.  It was the 14 (Valentine’s Day) and so there was a promotion on the menu items.  I wanted a sesame chicken thing and Sister Thomas wanted a little pizza.  As we were ordering the boy at the cash register said that we could have a free pizza in buying a pizza and a free sesame chicken in buying the sesame chicken.  They were both the same price so we asked if we could buy the pizza and have the chicken free.  He said "No it doesn’t work like that" and at that point (I’m not exactly sure why at that moment sometimes it just happens) I became a bit sassy and told him that that was ridiculous.  If they are the same price there should be no problem, but he insisted that it didn’t work like that so I told him fine, we didn’t care and would take one chicken and a pizza and that they could keep their free food.  It is a funny feeling when I become uppity because it really wasn’t that big of a deal but I felt like they were being unreasonable and became unreasonable myself.  Sr. Thomas reflected more wisely and asked if we could take the free things home as take away and they said no problem and we went and sat down to wait.  It was at that moment that I felt a bit of shame creep into my heart for the way I’d reacted. 

Sr  Thomas laughed pretty hard at the little scene I’d created and I laughed a bit as well at how ridiculous we can be as humans.  The workers had all rested calm and super nice and so I wanted to apologize.  I did and they laughed and said it was fine.  The food was super tasty and they brought out the free pizza/chicken in boxes.  We sat next to a lady who had been to the hospital and was clearly very poor but who was full of smiles and laughter and were able to share our meal with her.  Then before she left we saw the bus boy come out with a little bag of food and give it to her quietly and my heart just felt full of emotion.  What a kind and humble person he is and how quickly I had judged him.  We have so much that we can learn from those around us and there are so many beautiful people in the world.  I am happy that that boy is my brother and that day he was a better representative of the Savior Jesus Christ than I was.  We humbled ourselves and asked him if he was croyant (believing) and if he would like to learn more another time about our message of the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and he said he would love to and normally we will see him again this week. 

So yes, life is full of funny moments and if we are willing we can learn so much even from little things:)

This past Sunday a less active member that we have visited a couple of times now came back to church for the first time in over ten years and brought his wife:)  I cannot tell you how that filled my heart with joy.  The best part was how excited he was to be there and the light in his face as he participated in Sunday school and wanted to know more:)

I love you all and hope that you have a great week!!!!!

Love,

Soeur Wilson

February 10, 2015

Okay what could I say about this past week?  The first half was in Reunion in St. Denis and the second half in Mauritius.  Life is a crazy adventure but I like it that way :)  It was sad for me to leave St. Denis.  At this point you are probably all shaking your heads and thinking "I am tired of hearing this, she is always sad to leave," but it is true.  I think my problem is that I get attached too easily.  The second week a St. Denis was such a good week and it was sad for me to leave the people that I had already started to love.  Luckily, getting back into the swing of things here was seamless and a great blessing and miracle from above.  All the same, I feel a little bit like a yo-yo.  I say this not to complain but just to explain my feeling.  But that is okay, there is so much to learn from every situation that we live through. 

It was lots of fun working with sister Olivarius and sister Thomas and it felt like we were together a lot longer than two weeks.  We took a plane to Mauritius Thursday afternoon and Friday morning we hit the ground running:)  We were able to get back in touch with all of the people we have been teaching and had lots of wonderful lessons.  It felt so natural to be back here.  I even prefer driving on the left side now (I was always flinching in reunion because my brain felt like we were on the wrong side of the road and were going to get hit).  It was funny to watch sister Thomas' reaction to our heinous apartment.  It really is like a palace for princesses. 

Everyone was so happy to have sisters back in the branch and there is just so much love, love love^-^  I love the people here so much and it is such a joy to work.  I found out that one of the people we teach (her name is Patricia) was at church last Sunday and got up to bear her testimony, she is so cute!  The first Sunday of every month is a moment where we as members of the church fast-abstain from food and drink- for twenty four hours and concentrate on praying at the same time for something specific.  That could be a question that we have and we are looking for an answer, maybe we are praying for a miracle to happen, or even just a fast of gratitude to our heavenly Father.  Then during the church service Sunday morning everyone who wants to has the chance to share a little testimony (say what they believe in or share a little spiritual experience) to help strengthen their own faith and the faith of everyone there:)

I think that we are going to have an awesome week this week and will be good and tired:)  Hope that everyone is doing well and that you have a good week.

Love,

Soeur Wilson

February 3, 2015

I had a good week this week:) I was able to get myself into the swing of things here in St. Denis and was back to my motivated self which made me happy:)  It has been super fun working with Sister Olivarius and Sister Thomas; are personalities are super different but we are all quite silly and we spend most of the day smiling and laughing:)

We decided to go treasure hunting for former investigators this week (that means looking up addresses of people who took the missionary lessons in past years but stopped taking them for one reason or another) and had a lot of success:)  We found about ten of the people we were looking for and were able to either have a lesson or set up a lesson with them:)  One of my favorite of these experiences is with a young woman (in her 20's) named Sandra.  She welcomed us in warmly when we knocked on her door and as we were talking/introducing ourselves we learned that she had sort of lost her faith but in this past year a number of experiences led her to believe in God again and it is only really in the last two weeks that she has become active again in her faith and she could not believe our timing in showing up on her doorstep again.  Well I can promise you that we had no idea what had been happening to her in the last year and a half but that God did and he has such an incredible way of guiding our lives. She cried as she told us this and the spirit was very strong.  We had beautiful lesson on the plan of happiness that God has prepared for each of us and she wants to be baptized:D

Another of my favorite stories happened with a lady named Stella (44).  We met her one morning while looking for a former investigator. We found her apartment door but she wasn’t home. I decided to knock on her neighbor’s door to ask if the person even still lived there.  Stella opened the door and the first thing she saw was our nametags.  She said "Oh my goodness!  You are wearing the name of my savior! Come in come in come in!!!!!!!!"  She ushered us in and said that she did not speak French and I said "all the better me neither;)"  She is from Nigeria, lives in Italy and comes to reunion one month every winter to escape the cold and she had just gotten in the day before:D  Some may said "what luck!" but I say what incredible planning and maneuvering skills God has when we are willing to follow the spirit:D  We had an incredible lesson and she had already met the missionaries in Italy but never had the time to have them over.  She was at church this past Sunday and I was able to translate for her:)  We took the bus with her to church and were at the bus stop pretty early and passed the time singing gospel hymns (I love Africans! :)  she loves God so much and has such a good spirit:)  She has been reading the Book of Mormon and just wants to learn!  It is such a pleasure to teach people who want to learn:)  She wants to be baptized as well so hopefully we will be able to help her meet up with the missionaries in Italy!

Life is cool and life is beautiful:)  I am headed back to Mauritius this Thursday and am excited:)  I hope that you all have a great week! 

Love,

Soeur Wilson