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

March 31, 2015

The picture is of me pretending like I am cool and know how to rock sunglasses but this is not the case;)  I am with a sister at St. Pierre named Lisa who is super cool.  She works a lot with us sister missionaries and is preparing herself to go on a mission before the end of this year.  The picture is in front of the volcano museum in Reunion that we went to for a young women’s' activity that turned into more of a branch activity because everyone wanted to come:)  It was a super fun time and it was good to get to talk with the members.

So, unfortunately we had computer problems so there will be no more pictures for this week:/  and also I don’t have much more time to write.  But I wanted to give a little update.  You will probably not believe me but I am once again in Mauritius!  What craziness!  We got a phone call last Wednesday night and found out that we were leaving Friday morning.  I am with Sister Liu and Sister Willardson (a new missionary who is from Utah).  It has been fun working with them and fun being back in Mauritius.  This makes the fifth time that I was told it was my last time and yet I still came back;)  it’s a bit embarrassing to say goodbye so many times, but I hope it was the last, and the members are super super happy to have us back:)

We tried to go hiking yesterday with the elders.  They promised us many times that they knew where we were going (lion mountain) but in the end we got lost in the sugar cane fields and never got to go on the real hike;) 

Oh, also Sister Berchel came back to Mauritius yesterday and went with us on a lesson this morning:D  It was super cool and great to see her again:)  We went and ate crepes together afterwards for lunch.

Well, I am happy and doing well.  I know that God loves us; we are literally his children and all we have to do is ask him if he is there and he will help us to feel his presence.  God is love, he is joy, peace, and charity.  Don't forget to love, forgive, appreciate and accept those around you, and have a great week!

Love,

Sister Wilson

March 24, 2015

So I had a fun week back in St. Pierre.  For this week I just wanted to share two stories with you.  The first is about the process of repentance. Repentance is one of the major teachings that Christ taught during his earthly mission and that every prophet that has ever been called by him has preached.  It is a process with five steps that helps us to recognize and regret mistakes that we have made (in religious terms I would say sins that we have committed or things that we have done contrary to the commandments of God), ask God for forgiveness in a prayer, repair any damage we may have done, and then to abandon or change the action that was not good in order to become better.  Often as members of the church we think about repentance as being for "big sins" like stealing, but it is for every little thing that we would like to change about ourselves and it is possible thanks to the infinite sacrifice that our Savior Jesus Christ made (Alma 34:9-10) in taking upon him our sins and weaknesses, dying on the cross, and being resurrected. 

      I got to put this to the test in sort of a funny way this past Thursday.  We had walked to an investigators house in Terre Sainte for a lesson, and as we were walking back up the hill I was eating an orange that I had cut before leaving the house (I like my mother never leave the house without preparing a little pick nick because I always get hungry;).  I normally toss my peels to the side in a bush because they are biodegradable and my conscience feels alright with this.  Then we passed by a trash can that was open and I threw my peel in and kept walking.  For some reason I looked back and realized that the can didn’t have a lid which meant that I couldn’t determine whether it was for recycling or garbage (the lids are color-coded here) .  I felt sort of guilty thinking that it may have been for recycling but I tried to justify myself in thinking that it may well have been for the garbage.  We kept walking and I thought "I’ll just do better next time." but then I thought "no!  If I did something wrong I need to fix it because that is one of the steps and I would be stupid to have that on my conscience when the way to repair what I had done was so simple.”  Just then Sister Woods and Sister Liu stopped to talk with a man waxing his car.  I set my bag down and made a sign to them to say "give me a minute" and ran back down the street to fish back out my orange peel.  I am sure that I looked crazy and my companions had a good laugh but I felt so much better afterwards and know that it is this same peace that we can feel each time we follow these five inspired steps that the savior taught, whether it be for a big mistake or a little. 

Anyways, I ran out of time again, but know that I am doing well, that I got my stiches out on Sunday at church by a brother who happens to be a doctor:)  have a great week!

Love, Sister Wilson

March 17, 2015

Okay, so I debated for a good moment about whether or not I would share this story...  I don’t want anyone to be afraid for me or my health but it really was such a crazy happening that I wanted to tell it.  Friday was Sister Thomas' and I's last day in Mauritius and everything was going well.  We had a lesson in Port Louis with one of the coworkers of Brother Bastien that went super well, but we were a bit late in finishing and were speed walking all the way back through the market to get to the buses.  It was about 5:30 and the market was closing down so there were lots of vans packing up boxes and out of nowhere as we were passing by one van the man let the trunk door go and it fell rather heavily on my head.  I was stunned and let out a loud scream as it hit me and the man quickly lifted it back up.  I touched my head and felt a deep cut and knew what was coming next.  Luckily Sister Thomas is a licensed nurse;)  She got a cloth instantly and pressed it against my head as the blood started to run.  Someone called an ambulance, but another lady said that they take too long and the man whose van it was decided to pay a taxi to take us so off we were.  One of the sisters was in Valiee (the down just over) and was waiting for us for a lesson.  We called her to say sorry that we had to cancel and she decided to come to the hospital with us.  She was a ton of help and so nice, it was like having a mom with us.  I ended up getting stiches and they gave me some medicine and it was all over in about an hour and we went back out to work to finish the evening.  We called our zone leaders that night to tell them the story and it took them a long time to believe us-they thought we were joking.  It is a pretty heinous story but I am fine now.  I will get the stiches out this Saturday (thank heavens because the doctor did a weird thing and sewed a bandage to my head as well which I have been trying to cover with headbands, but that is testing my pride;).

Anyways I am back in St. Pierre with Sr Liu and Sr woods.  They are both super easy going and nice so the transition has been easy.  Also all the members were super nice and happy to see me on Sunday:)  I hope that you all have a good week!!!

Love,

Sister Wilson

March 9, 2015

The first is a picture of Patricia and her two daughters whom we have been teaching for about five months now.  Patricia's sister (Soeur Avrilene) has been a member for years and Patricia knows that the Church is true and has started making huge changes in her life this past month.  It’s incredible to witness and the spirit is so strong in her home especially when she prayers.

The second is a picture of our investigator Jean. I am not sure if I already sent the picture... but it is of us at lunch last week and he had brought us strange fruits that you eat with salt and chili.  Fun fun.  Don't be fooled by the picture, he never smiles in pictures, but he is super nice and happy and one of the kindest people I’ve ever met.  He is also the person that I talked about in the email last week who got his testimony about the living prophet:)

The third is a beautiful family that we recently started teaching.  We met the dad while standing in a line at lunch time to get dalpouri (an Indian thing).  They are super friendly.  The dad believes in God but does not practice a religion (he was raised Indian) and the mom is Catholic but both are very open and there two boys are SO adorable:D   

This is another family that we are teaching which is super fun:) the main person we are teaching is Nathalie who is the mother of Richard one of the recent converts in the branche.  In the photo there is a sister who accompanied us and then all of Nathalie’s granddaughters and grandson:) 

This is a little boy named Adriano who is super precious and always runs up the street when he sees are car coming yelling "bann missionaires pou arrive!!!!" or in other words "the missionaries are coming!!!!" so so cute:)

The last is a picture of the members who stayed late after church last week for a lunch together.  This is something that often happens in LDS culture because the first Sunday of every month is a Sunday where the majority of the members fast (do not eat or drink) for 24 hours to consecrate ourselves more fully in prayer often for a specific reason (a question that we have or a need) and then we can offer the money we did not use to eat to help the poor or another such cause.  It was also the senior couples' last Sunday visiting our branche.  They go home this next Monday which is craziness!

Sister Thomas and I are headed back to reunion this Saturday and I believed that it was for good but our mission President was here this past weekend for a conference with us (the missionaries) and we found out that he and one of the general authorities (the member of the 70 for South Africa) and one other brother are coming back next week to have a meeting with the prime minister of Mauritius about missionary visas and hope to be sending sisters back very soon (from one week to three months they are sure).  So who knows how these next few months will work out or where I will be sent?  Only the Lord, and thank heavens that he knows because it is his work and everything is in his hands.  I have no more preference now of where I would like to be which is good because that means less disappointment and I can just appreciate each step as it comes.

I love teaching people and trying to help people and love them.  I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ and I hope that everyone will open up their hearts to it to be able to find the same peace that I have found.  Have a great week and love,

Soeur Wilson