April 27, 2015

So I would like you all to know that I would never be able to have a job where I am required to be in front of a computer screen for more than one hour.  Well, maybe that is not true because at school already I have had to do it to write papers and so forth, but it really makes my eyes and then my brain feel tired.  I don't think it is good for our health to be in front of screens for too long.  Anyways, I had another good week.  I say that but in reality I already can’t remember what happened and will have to look at my weekly planning to be able to share something uplifting or interesting;) 

Awwweee yes, it was a fun week because we had to figure out how to organize ourselves between two companionships of missionaries and one car. The thing that is difficult is that the majority of our lessons start after five p.m. because that is when people start getting home from work, but public transportation stops between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m.  Anyways, we switch who has the car every other day and the days without the car have been quite an adventure.  It is a trial and a blessing like most things in life;)  a trial because it is hard to get to all our lessons, but a blessing because we meet more people:)  Figuring out the public transportation has not been too hard, except that sometimes I am too lazy to figure out the buses and just want to walk and I have a tendency to think that things are a lot closer than they really are.  Last Thursday I think that we walked about a total of five hours.  I am not really sure if that is a lot compared to some people but for us it was a lot. 

As a companionship we are always trying our hardest to keep improving the manner in which we work. This past Sunday was very productive and we had a large collaborative effort with the branch auxiliary leaders to get the ward mission plan in place and to make sure that our goals (as missionaries) are in line with the wards so that we are really working side by side to accomplish this marvelous work:D  Auxiliary leaders just refer to the president of each group in the church.  So there is the Branch President who looks over the whole branch, and then there is a group for the men, a group for the ladies, classes for the teenagers and classes for the children and each organization has someone who runs it.  It is fun to get things organized and to really work towards a goal together and it is so much more effective when everyone is on the same page.

We are trying to meet a ton more people each week to get things moving even more and  things are going well and we hope to help the branch here grow and progress.

I was talking with a friend and just had one thought to share.  One secret to success in life is to forget ourselves and go to work.  I agree whole heartedly, but this does not mean neglect ourselves.  The more clear our own spirit the more easily we will be able to accomplish the other goals we have.  So, we need to take time for ourselves as well and step back and appreciate the beauty and the fun of life. What a great adventure!  I hope that everyone has a fun week.  Keep being positive!

Love,

Sister Wilson

April 20, 2015

Hmmm what can I share from this week?... I am not really sure.  I do not know why but I always have tons that I want to share during the week but when I get in front of the computer screen my mind feels blank.  It is a miracle that week after week I manage to share something;)

Already I can give you some updates.  Sister Isham got to Mauritius this last Wednesday; we picked her up at the airport Wednesday night.  It has been fun being four sisters in the apartment:)  Nice and lively.  What is even more fun is that we are all such good friends:)  I love the missionaries that I serve with and think that it is one of the biggest blessings that we all get along so well.  I think that that is one of my favorite lessons that I have learned being on a mission:  we really can love anyone, it is just a decision that we need to make. 

There are feelings of closeness or friendship that come more naturally for some than for others, but what really makes a strong relationship is when we just decide to love the person and we work at their side.  It is like our family.  We don’t remember choosing what earthly family we were born into, and there are definitely things about our siblings and our parents that bother us and even more things about ourselves that bother the other people in our families;)  and yet somehow we learn to love each other, to confide in each other, and to really appreciate each other for who we really are.  Its seems like the fact that we didn’t have a choice really that made it easier to overcome our differences.  Well on the mission we don’t really have the choice either of who we will be living with 24/7 and so again we learn to love and appreciate someone with whom we may not have chosen to be friends with otherwise.  And so I say why not just decide that we don’t have the choice anymore and that we just need to love everyone and that way we will be able to have so many more deep and meaningful relationships with our brothers and sisters, to share so many more moments of both joy and hardship together, and to help each other with what really matters: becoming perfect like our savior, older brother, and perfect example Jesus Christ so that we may return home safely one day to our loving Heavenly Father:) 

Anyways, they have been doing a great job of being positive in trying to find their way around a whole new area and getting lost tons;)  They are incredible missionaries and everyone is going to love them:)  Things have been going well for sister Liu and I.  We got to watch general conference this last weekend:DDDDD  This is a moment when the living, modern day prophet speaks to us with his twelve apostles to share new revelation, talk about Gospel principles, and fortify the faith of the saints.  I loved listening to the talks and everyone can listen to them on the church website:  www.lds.org 

and/or 

General Conference

We have been meeting/teaching lots of new people, many of which are families which are so fun to teach:)  I hope you all have a great week!  Love you:DDD 

Love,

Sister Wilson

April 13, 2015

I am not sure if I already sent this first picture (if I did you will just have to forgive me;)  It is of our District (all of the missionaries) here in Mauritius.  Well, it is out of date now because it was when sister Thomas and I were here together.  But anyways, we have a meeting once a week to discuss the missionary work that is going on, to work on teaching techniques, and whatnot.  Afterwards, we usually eat lunch together, and just before heading off we decided to take a picture and I wanted to be a monkey:)

The second picture is of one of the families in the Branch here in Rose Hill.  It is the Family Whittle and they are super fun to be around.  Their daughter served a mission in Congo back in the days and has the most incredible stories. 

The third is another family in the branch named the Family Jules.  The son on the right hand side of the photo is named Leroy and he actually left this past Tuesday to serve his own two year mission and was called to serve in England English speaking.  He was super excited and is going to be an incredible missionary!

So back to where I left off the last week with the picture of myself in sunglasses;)  When I was in St. Pierre we had the trip to the volcano museum.  This is a map of Reunion and we are all pointing to where we serve.  In the picture you can see my companions Soeur Woods (she is very tall:)  from Oklahoma, and Soeur Liu (from Tahiti).

The next one is a picture from the anniversary of the Relief Society.  The Relief Society is an organization for the women of the church that was organized in the early 1800's by the prophet Joseph Smith. It is (if I heard correctly) the largest women’s organization in the world today and has for its theme/purpose:  

“For the relief of the poor, the destitute, the widow and the orphan, and for the exercise of all benevolent purposes,” and "The purpose of Relief Society is to help prepare women for the blessings of eternal life by helping them increase faith and personal righteousness, strengthen families and homes, and seek out and help those in need."

What was crazy for me to think was that I was in that same chapel for the same celebration just one year before as a new missionary.  So many things have happened since.  We (the sister missionaries) were asked once again to prepare a musical number.  Sister Thomas and I played our flutes and the rest of the sisters sang.  The sisters are (in order from left to right):  Sister Thomas, Sister Isham, Sister Olivarius, Sister Madsen, Sister Willardson, Sister Woods, Sister Liu, and myself:)

This one is just for silliness. It was after a lesson with the son of one of the less active members in saint Pierre.  His name is Teddy and he is adorable and amazing.  He is only twelve years old and it is sad how grown up he is because of the harsh circumstances of his life.  marriage is a sacred engagement and should be honored, especially when there are children involved.  There are too many broken families in this world.  Selfishness and pride are such powerful tools of the adversary.  I hope and pray that every child who has had to suffer a difficult childhood will be able to feel their Heavenly Father's love for them, know that he is there for them, and confide in him through prayer in order to find the peace that does not come from this world ( John 14:27)

This is from a district activity in St. Pierre.  We went up hiking in a region called Longevin where there are lots of pretty waterfalls:)  There is Elder Sanchez and Elder Thia (who--crazy side story--has a brother that is one of Mark's good friends in France-the world is so small!) and Lisa Van Loon one of the youth in the branch of St. Pierre.

This one is also just for silliness.  Sister Liu and Sister Woods found the pictures that papa had sent me of our family and they found this picture (from a youth activity in Yakima when I was only 13 years old;) and thought it was hilarious.  The took it and taped it above our goals which made me laugh so voila;)  And yes I know that my name tag is crooked, don’t worry I check to make sure it is on straight before leaving the house;)

From a hike here in Mauritius with our new companionship, Sister Willardson, Sister Liu and I.  Well, I say hike but that is not really true.  The elders promised us they knew how to find this place (we were hesitant to go without a Mauritian because nothing--roads, streets, etc.--is marked here), but we could not in the end find the trail head and hiked around in the cane fields;)  I may have already shared that story as well.

Does anyone recognize who is on my back?  Soeur Berchel:DDD She got back this last Monday and it has been super fun seeing her and working with her again:) 

Mauritius is beautiful:) <3

I have to go now but I hope that everyone feels pleased and spoiled with all of the pictures I got to send:)  I hope that everyone has a great week!  I am doing well and working hard.

Love,

Sister Wilson

April 7, 2015

Bonjour tout le monde! 

I hope that you had a great week.  I sure did here!  It has been super fun being back yet again.  I really feel like I have lived here for so much longer than 6 months.  We saw and taught a ton of people this week which was fun; I am a bit worried about my companions’ heads exploding from taking in so much new information but they are doing great and loving it here!  One cool thing that we did this week was go on an adventure to find people that used to take lessons but stopped for one reason or another (often because they get too busy with work, or get scared of changing).  The past missionaries will write down there address hoping that maybe later they will be ready to accept the message.  So we went address hunting and Wednesday afternoon we had a super cool miracle.  We started looking for the address of a family named Akumbeeha and knew that it was somewhere in Rose Hill.  What you need to know is that in Mauritius the roads very rarely have a street name, there are tons of tiny impasses, side roads, roads that curve, and whatnot.  Also, almost none of the houses have a number on them and when they do they are not in order (13, next to 64, next to 2B, etc…).  Lastly, the Mauritians, while very friendly and helpful, for the most part do not even know the name of their own street that they live on (probably because it is almost worthless to know street names as there are no street signs).  Anyways, we stopped every few yards to ask another person if they knew where the street was.  Everyone pointed us in a different direction, and finally we stopped at a little boutique.  They told us encore a different direction and we decided that we didn’t believe them anymore.  We walked around the corner and lo and behold they had not lied:D  The street was right there!  And so we rejoiced!  What was even better was that the first house we saw had a number and it was the number of the family we were looking for!!!! What luck!  Then we started to shout.  The neighbor heard us and said that there was no family living there... no!  But we did not believe her because she did not seem too sure.  So we kept walking down the street and asked a different person if they knew the family.  They said yes and pointed us farther down the road.  We went but it was not the right number, so we decided that the first lady didn’t know what she was talking about.  I remembered a lady across the street who had been watching us and we went back and decided to talk with her.  She was very friendly and her husband (Nicolas) had just gotten back from work.  As if by magic, he knew the family and remembered that 15 years ago the family had lived there and there were often missionaries who came over (white shirts and ties;).  They had moved a while back but he said that he thought he knew where they had moved too and was willing to show us the way.  So off we were following our new friend :D  We got to the house and found out that the family we were looking for had lived there but had moved again some years back.  But the sister was still living there and was very friendly as well.  She gave us juice and gave the phone number of her sister to Nicolas who called for us and found out her new address and set up a lesson for us.  He then showed us the way again to the meeting point with the family we were looking for and headed off.  We got out of the car and starting asking people if they knew the family.  We were at a little fruit stand and asking the man who worked there if he knew the family and you will not believe it but the father (of the family akumbeeah) showed up behind us and said "hey that’s me!"  And walked with us to his home where we met his wife and had a lesson:)  They were super happy to see us and motivated to start learning again about God and how to come closer to him:)  It was a crazy fun adventure and a big miracle.  I know that God knows his children and that when we are ready and willing to take part in his marvelous work (sharing the Gospel and the love:) that he will guide us by his spirit:)  I wish you all another great week! 

Love,

Sister Wilson