November 24, 2014

What a week, what craziness, what sorrow, what happiness, and what a wonderful experience these last two months have been.  I have worked nonstop and I am tired but I am also so happy:)  We have seen so many miracles and have so many beautiful and spiritual experiences.  We have also had lots of hardships but I have grown so much from them and it feels good:)

This past Saturday we had our three baptisms and wow what a day.  Our emotions have been running high for some time, I think with all of the changes going on, especially because Soeur Berchel is headed home for France tomorrow (she is finished with her mission) and that is a crazy transition to make.   We had good lessons in the morning but we were far away from Rose Hill and hit unexpected traffic coming back. The roads here are craziness and we had a very scary moment on the way and were a little shaken.  When we got to the church (with no time to spare) we figured out there was a problem with Clency's baptismal record and luckily we got that worked out last minute.  Kevin's Mom who had promised to come cancelled at the last minute and I could have died when I saw the look on Kevin's face.  Nathanielle's family didn’t come.  Our investigator Steve who has been such a joy to teach and who has been so happy and grateful to learn called us to say that he can't come anymore because his companion told him to choose between her and the church, and in the midst of all of this it is not surprising that there were some tears shed.  But that is okay, the baptismal service started and there was a wonderful spirit there.  As each of them entered the water I felt tears of pride and gratitude come into my eyes, they were so beautiful.  When they bore their testimonies afterwards I don't think there was a person in that chapel who was not touched.  The members have been coming up to us ever since to say that it has been sooooo long since they felt the spirit like that. 

This is not surprising to me because these three incredible people (Nathanielle, Kevin, and Clency) made a lot of changes and a lot of sacrifices to get to where they are today and they have solid testimonies of the restored Gospel.  I love them and I love this work. 

I am sad to say goodbye to Soeur Berchel.  As I already said it has not always been easy but it has been so worth it and there is not another missionary like her.  Also, I am sad because I will also be leaving Maurice tomorrow as it turns out.  There is not another Sister who has gotten a visa yet so it is back to la Reunion.  I will be in St. Denis for a while which should be fun to have a new adventure, but I am worried by the possibility that I won’t come back to Maurice.  Well, who knows, what is important is that it is the Lord's work and he is guiding it so I don't need to worry--he will send me where I need to be.

I hope that you all have a wonderful week:) 

Lots of love,

Soeur Wilson

Sr Berchel and I with Kevin Nathanielle and Clency the day of their baptism

Just Nathanielle and I

Kevin with Sr Berchel and Myself

November 17, 2014

Mmk what can I say about this week.  It was another great one.  I still feel grateful every day when the sun is shining because I am warm and happy.  I think that the sunshine is one of the best and quickest cures when one is feeling down (and I know that my mom agrees with me, maybe I get it from her;). 

Kevin has been changing so much and it’s been sooooooo cool!  He got off to a rough start because he has some trouble with self-confidence, but he has made friends with all of the other young adults now, and every time we see him he is happier and we can just see his light growing brighter and brighter and it is so awesome:D  He had dreads and this week he cut his hair and it wasn’t even us who asked him to:)  He looks good with his new haircut.  Also he passed his baptismal interview, has stopped smoking, and is just doing great! 

Nathanielle also passed her baptismal interview.  When she came to church this past Sunday she wasn’t doing very well.  We left sacrament meeting early to go talk with her under the trees.  It was the first time I’ve seen her cry and it was heartbreaking.  It is a sad thing how often humans/things in life in general fall into cycles.  Well it is not inherently sad, but there are lots of sad cycles that occur.  Her mother had a terrible childhood, having to change homes many times, and never really having her mother there, and now she is making the same choices.  Nathanielle asked "how can she inflict on her own children what she already lived and suffered through?"  This is a very good question and what it comes down to is weakness.  We (as humans) are weak but we can overcome those weaknesses (Ether 12:27) if we have faith and come unto Christ.  Weakness isn’t sin but it can lead us to sin if we do not take control.

Clency also passed his baptismal interview HURRAY:D !!!!!!!!!!!  So there will be three baptisms this Saturday:)  He is super excited and doing great. 

This is my last week with Soeur Berchel because next Tuesday morning she will be heading home to France:O  What CRAZINESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Her mission will be over.  Time (as always) is such a strange thing.  Wish us luck;)  I hope that everyone back at home is doing well, have a great week, and never take for granted what is most important in life: the people:D

Love,

Sister Wilson

Ether 12:27: 

"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

November 10, 2014

Mmk this week for my email I am going to cheat because I ran out of time and I am going to share what I already shared with certain people so if you are one of those people you will just have to read the same thing twice;)

Mark and I decided to start doing a weekly study together and the first topic we chose was Gratitude because it will be thanksgiving soon.  It was nice to study gratitude along with everything else I studied during the week because it kept me thinking about how important it is to be grateful for everything (the good times and the hard times;) and it made my days easier.  The scripture that stood out to me the most was D&C 59:7,15, 21 because I was trying to look up the doctrine of gratitude.  It is a commandment to be grateful in all things which I find cool.  We know that every commandment is for our own good (God doesn't need our gratitude though it does make him happy) and for gratitude it is easy to see why.  It is because being grateful changes our perspective on everything in life.  It is our attitude, and if we can teach ourselves to always "look on the bright side" as they say then we will become more and more free (which is the goal in life -freedom).  It is a way to self-mastery:) 

Then my sweet sister took the time to write me a little spiritual thought even though she has a ton on her plate being a new mother.  She talked about how growing sometimes hurts but that it is necessary to pass by the pain and that by placing our confidence in Christ he can lighten our burdens.  I have definitely had some growing pains on my mission but I try to be grateful for them and to not wish.  If we want the hard moments to pass quickly we end up missing some of the most precious moments in life and that is a shame.

This week we had less lessons with members which is too bad, but it was a kind of a funny situation.  Every time we called a member to see if they could join us they said they were already engaged to help the Rosalie family move into their new home.  This persisted the whole week, literally that is the only thing we heard from the members this week "oops sorry but I already said I’d help the Rosalie’s" "Sorry, we will be at the family Rosalie’s tomorrow"  "no that won’t be possible this week sorry, we are helping the family Rosalie."  We asked ourselves how all of these people were going to be able to fit into the Rosalie's house to help but at least the members were motivated for the service and showed great unity;)  Nathanielle (21) had her interview this past week and passed and will be baptized the 22 Nov.  Kevin and Clency will have their interviews this week and will also be baptized normally on the 22 so that will be an awesome day:)  We have lots of great investigators and it is a pleasure to teach and learn with them.

It is starting to be summer here again and boy is it hot.  Hopefully I will survive;)  Lots of fruit trees are turning ripe which is exciting:D  I am excited to eat letchi for the first time, it’s a funny little red fruit found on islands:)

Hope that you all have a great week!

Love,

Sister Wilson

November 3, 2014

Jose got confirmed yesterday and sustained in church so it’s official now;)  He is doing super well and also received the Aaronic priesthood yesterday.  This coming Sunday we are super excited because we have another baptism of our friend Clency.  He has a cool story.  The Elders gave us some numbers to contact one week and that very day we had a lesson cancelled and decided to call all of the numbers to try and find a replacement.  Clency was one of these numbers and he answered, was home, and said "sure, come on over."  We called Sister Avrilene to see if she could go with us and she said yes.  When we got there it turns out that she knew Clency because she had lived with him and his cousin for several years while inactive in the church.  The very first lesson Clency bore his testimony of the miraculous change he had seen in Sr Avrilene as she became active in the church and that he knew that the Gospel was true.  He had also worked for years on boats transporting goods back and forth between islands, and one of his shipmates was Frere Charles (a member of our branch) and so he already had a Book of Mormon.  He is very sick now and has been humbled by the years and has such a sincere desire to learn and to repent and come unto Christ.  He has gotten his whole life in order and has such a powerful testimony and I just love teaching him.  Also, he misheard Sr Berchel and I's names the first time and still calls us "Sr Brechmetel and Sr Forest."  He makes me smile:)

The Sunday afterwards is the baptism of our friend Nathanielle.  She is 21, a student, and we met her because we said hi to her mother while walking down the street and she invited us in.  She came to General Conference, she was at church again yesterday, she reads the Book of Mormon, prays, and already has her testimony and knows that the church is true.  I am sooooo excited for her, but also it makes me a little sad because she is afraid that her family will not support her in the decision.  I told her a little bit about my own mom's story and how she had to make the choice as well and had many long years where her family did not support the decision but how her faith and courage had changed her life, the lives of her children and many others for the better and that I know she can be that person for her family as well.

This week we had a funny moment because we tried out the sidewalk chalk contacting for the first time in Mauritius.  We tried first on a sidewalk in downtown Rosehill where lots of people walk by, but a security officer for the bank just beside us came out to tell us we couldn’t draw there.  As we were walking away a little mammy came up and cursed us with her umbrella which was kind of funny.  Then we met a Jewish man who stopped to talk with us, who ended up not being very open but who told me that my headband was Jewish and walked away.  Finally we found a good spot and got to talk with lots of people who stopped to look at the Plan of Salvation, so in the end it was a success:)

Things are going well and I am happy and healthy (so mom don’t worry;).  I hope that everyone has a great week!

Love,

Soeur Wilson

The first picture is Sr Berchel and I doing a princess pose in one of our many balconies.  I really cannot express to you the heinousness of our apartment, it is nicknamed the 'palace' and aptly so.

This is from a day when we went to a museum with the young adults on P-day and then headed down to the sea.

This one is when we went to a huge market and bought something I have never eaten before and I forgot what it’s called because most of the food here has an Indian name. It was cool.

At the Branch presidents house to share a message, and there two little boys decided to play with us >) 

I keep taking flexibility pictures for my papa.

From the top of the highest point in Mauritius, it was a gorgeous view.

This is a picture of all of us at the top >)  

Sister Berchel, Jose and I the day of his baptism >)

This is a family home evening we had at Sister Avrilene's with her daughter Gaelle, her son Yoan, Veronique from the branche, and our investigators Kevin and Nathanielle who had brought her little brother Ryan.  It was a blast, and this Sunday they were all at church and get along great together >D

October 28, 2014

Okay, next week I really will try to send pictures, these past two weeks I forgot to charge my camera and it was dead on Monday.... yep bad planning.  This week was another great week.  Jose got baptized yesterday after church and he was super content and Fr Whittle (his good friend and the one who baptized him) was super happy as well:)  It was cool because Jose's family came to church for the first time to support him and they had a great time:)

I don’t have a ton of time to write today because we headed into the capitol today (Port Louis) to get Soeur Berchel's hair done (in braids-she's been wanting to for weeks because it is almost summer here are its getting really hot).  Unfortunately all of the hair salons here are super sketch.  We finally found one and it took them three hours, and then we need to take the bus back get our groceries and then drive an hour in the different direction to meet up with the elders for an activity because elder Choi is heading back to la reunion next week.  We went to a beach in the south called Flic on Flac and played around (we didn’t go swimming don’t worry;) but now we have only a tiny time slot and need to leave soon for a lesson.  It will be our first lesson with a man named Michel who we met last week while walking down the street.  With lots of tact I asked him how the cleaning was going because he was hosing down his wall and he said fine.  Then Sr Berchel saw one of his fruit trees and got excited because it was a fruit that she ate all the time in Guadeloupe when she was young.  He got a stick with a water bottle tied on the end and fetched us some fruit (very kind of him) and then we asked if we could stop by next week and give him the gospel in return.  He wasn’t super sold but we'll see how it goes;)

I am doing well and staying happy.  I hope that everyone at home is doing well.  Thanks for your love and support,

Love,

Sister Wilson

ALSO Remembering a story from Reunion

Cute Mammies

One other tiny little blurb which is cute, we had two amies (friends) come to a ward pique-nique on 14 of July---- Marie Elise (who has been Miss Mammy many times J) and Isabelle (40, loves to sing) and they ended up hitting it off very well. Both of them live alone and are lonely sometimes, and they live in the same apartment complex, and we overheard them making little plans to take walks sometimes together. Well, just the other day we found out that they actually had been on a walk together :D So cute J <3 

Remembering Reunion :D

Sandra and Brunella

Okay, so I wanted to write about a cool moment with two of our investigators who are sisters. Their names are Sandra and Brunella. First, this is how we met them. We had been visiting every Saturday for about a month and a half with our friends Abel and Marguerite (whom we’d met contacting and who have been teaching us to weave baskets out of vacoa). They live in St. Joseph, and one day Sr. Thomas and I had decided to go knock on some doors to find people to teach and the very first door we knocked on a lady opened the door. We said, like usual “Bonjour, nous sommes les missionaires pour l’Eglise de Jésus-Christ des Saints des Derniers Jours, comment ça va?” (Hi, we’re missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, How’s it going?)  And she said “Oh! I already know you! You are Soeur Wilson and Soeur Thomas, come on in.” I promise that we had never seen this lady in our life, and it is not very often that we are invited directly into someone’s home, and never that they already knew our names. Well, Marguerite has a daughter named Sandra whom we had met and it turns out she’d spoken about us with her half-sister Brunella, and there we were in her house :D She thought Sandra had sent us over, but we explained how we had no idea that she lived there but that God knows everything and I don’t believe in chance J. We had a great first lesson with her, and she loves reading the Book of Mormon and finds it very interesting! Since then we have taught her and Sandra together about once a week and the little story I’d like to share comes from one of those moments.

                We had decided to talk about the Holy Ghost and how to recognize the Spirit in our lives and when/how he communicates with us. We brought a CD player and put on a long piece of very beautiful music (“I Feel My Savior’s Love”) and everyone closed their eyes and paid attention to their feelings. When it was over we asked them to talk with us about what they had felt. They both told us, and Sandra in particular talked about how her chest had felt filled with warmth or a heat. We hen shared some scriptures we had prepared and I shared one of my favorites in Doctrine and Covenants 9: 8-9 that talks about how “your bosom shall burn within you.” And as I read that Sandra was really struck and said “Oh my goodness, that describes exactly what I felt.” J Woohoo for the spirit!!! He is what testifies of/helps us to recognize truth J We are still teaching these two sisters and now many of their friends J. 

   Recording of "I Feel My Savior's Love" 

October 20, 2014

So this was another good week:)  I feel like things are steadily going uphill here:)  This past week we were able to teach fifteen lessons to investigators with a member from the branch here with us, seven others, and seven lessons with recent converts (and for my mom and nana, those numbers weren’t even influenced in the slightest by my Irish side;).  Craziness:D  We have five people who are getting baptized in the next two months, one of whom is Jose who is getting baptized this Sunday after church:)  He is so ready and I'm super excited!  He makes me think of a pirate and that makes me smile (I am not sure why I added that detail but there you have it).  Also, we had three different lessons this week were members introduced us to a family member who is not in the church and all of those lessons went super well!  Less active members are started to come back, and it is beautiful to see whole families sitting together in a row:) 

We got to watch general conference this weekend HURRAY:D  It was awesome!  Our investigator Kevin was at all five sessions and is starting to make some friends:)  Pascal was there Saturday morning and just loved it.  He had called us earlier that week after our lesson with him and said he had found the answer to his prayer while reading in the Book of Mormon and shared it with us like an excited child:)  We had six investigators at church Sunday morning!  A young girl named Nathanielle (21) came for the first time and loved it:D 

We were invited to dinner too many times this week and I am lucky to still be alive.  I know that that makes us sound ungrateful, but one night we went from one dinner to another with no way to escape (our own fault for the bad planning) and were stuffed beyond reason.  Luckily I love the food here.  My favorite thing to eat is faratas (it is sort of like the bread used for panini's or a bit like naan) that you eat with curry:) 

I was thinking about trials this week and about how it is in our nature to want to run away from them.  I asked myself, why do we try to pray away our trials?  After all that is the whole reason why we came to earth, to have trials, because without them we will never be stretched to grow.  Yes, what a somewhat unfortunate truth, we need to hurt to change.  Trials are painful sometimes because changing our spirits, our very nature, hurts, but it is worth it.  It’s like working out or training for a sport.  The harder you work the more satisfying and incredible the outcome.  So I need to learn how to better live through my trials and not just wish them away, because they are some of the greatest blessings from God.  Just like we can learn to like exercise I believe we can learn to like difficult situations in life and enjoy working with them and through them.  We might as well, because like it or not they keep on coming;)

Hope that everyone has a great week.  Appreciate every moment that you have, life is beautiful:)

Love,

Soeur Wilson