Well Family...another general conference has come and gone. It was my third general conference in the mission. I think it was the best one yet. We listened to so many wonderful and inspiring talks. if you didn't learn something that you can try and do better in your life then you for sure need to read or watch the talks over again. I'm not sure why but to me it seems like they always talk about Peru in conference haha with the announcement of a new temple here in Arequipa, Peru everybody is super excited. Arequipa is only a few hours bus ride from Cuzco and it will make things a lot easier for the members to be able to visit more often. The sacrifice that they have to make to go to the temple is a great one. It takes a lot of planning, time and money. But that sacrifice has been greatly reduced by having a temple in Arequipa. I believe that is a blessing that followed the sacrifice that they were making before to go to the temple. The announcement for missionary ages was a big deal back home i'm sure. Here in Peru it wasn't because, they have already been one of those 48 countries that had permission to send 18 yr old missionaries. But i am sure that will help a lot for the future missionaries. I believe they did it because when the youth are sitting around waiting for a year after high school to leave on the mission they can lose a lot of the desires to go. I think these have big changes but they will keep the work going strong. below i would like to tell a little experience we had with this last conference.
Yesterday we had a couple of appointments that fell through. So we decided to check the ward list and find less actives. We walked all over the place, up the hills down the hills back up again it got pretty tiring and almost nobody was home. on one of the last ones we decided to look for we got kinda lost and kept looking at the map and the houses that have numbers (which are very few) and young girl that probably was 17 or 18 saw us lost and asked if we were looking for somebody. we were very quik to accept here help knowing she probably lived close by. she helped us find the house which still was empty. and then asked us if we were missionaries. we said covering our name tags "what gave us away haha" we then asked her how she knew the missionaries and she told us that she went a conference last weekend something like 182th conference she told us. she also said she really liked it and one of her friends from school invited her to attend. then she told us she would like to know more about how she could be a part of the stake and participate in the activities for youth. we got her information and her phone number to a hold of her.
well that is what happened but know i would like to explain what i learned from it.
First of all after walking all day up and down hills like foremaster in St. George (i think thats what its called, the one by the hospital haha) we were pretty tired and didnt have much luck looking for people. and then this angel, im serious comes from nowhere to help us. you probably dont understand what its like but for peru it is kinda wierd to have somebody out of nowhere say "hey you need a hand". and so we were pretty surprised at that lovely gesture. and then when the question leaves her mouth asking if we were missionaries was even a bigger miracle and i knew right after she said it that we didnt come to this street lost looking for a less active family that probably moved like 10 years ago but we came to find her. and it all started with her friend inviting her to conference. i am not sure how many of you guys have thought about inviting somebody to conference but maybe you should try it out. But i also dont want to limit it to just conference it could be any meeting of the church or activity as well. I probably will never have the opportunity to meet the friend that invited her but boy am i grateful for just that little invitation that he extended. And because she went to conference she got to know the missionaries and maybe that is the only reason why she said anything to US. Maybe she thought we were looking for her house!
I KNOW that the gospel is true. I KNOW that everything happens for a reason. I KNOW that there IS a plan for us here in this World. I KNOW that Thomas S Monson that just spoke to us recently is an inspired man of god. I KNOW that God Loves us. I KNOW that I am doing his work. I KNOW that nothing is more important than to pass the test in this life to able to live with god once again, and not alone, but with our families. I LOVE Jesus Christ, the son of the LIVING God. I KNOW he listens to our prayers and answers them.
Yesterday we had a couple of appointments that fell through. So we decided to check the ward list and find less actives. We walked all over the place, up the hills down the hills back up again it got pretty tiring and almost nobody was home. on one of the last ones we decided to look for we got kinda lost and kept looking at the map and the houses that have numbers (which are very few) and young girl that probably was 17 or 18 saw us lost and asked if we were looking for somebody. we were very quik to accept here help knowing she probably lived close by. she helped us find the house which still was empty. and then asked us if we were missionaries. we said covering our name tags "what gave us away haha" we then asked her how she knew the missionaries and she told us that she went a conference last weekend something like 182th conference she told us. she also said she really liked it and one of her friends from school invited her to attend. then she told us she would like to know more about how she could be a part of the stake and participate in the activities for youth. we got her information and her phone number to a hold of her.
well that is what happened but know i would like to explain what i learned from it.
First of all after walking all day up and down hills like foremaster in St. George (i think thats what its called, the one by the hospital haha) we were pretty tired and didnt have much luck looking for people. and then this angel, im serious comes from nowhere to help us. you probably dont understand what its like but for peru it is kinda wierd to have somebody out of nowhere say "hey you need a hand". and so we were pretty surprised at that lovely gesture. and then when the question leaves her mouth asking if we were missionaries was even a bigger miracle and i knew right after she said it that we didnt come to this street lost looking for a less active family that probably moved like 10 years ago but we came to find her. and it all started with her friend inviting her to conference. i am not sure how many of you guys have thought about inviting somebody to conference but maybe you should try it out. But i also dont want to limit it to just conference it could be any meeting of the church or activity as well. I probably will never have the opportunity to meet the friend that invited her but boy am i grateful for just that little invitation that he extended. And because she went to conference she got to know the missionaries and maybe that is the only reason why she said anything to US. Maybe she thought we were looking for her house!
I KNOW that the gospel is true. I KNOW that everything happens for a reason. I KNOW that there IS a plan for us here in this World. I KNOW that Thomas S Monson that just spoke to us recently is an inspired man of god. I KNOW that God Loves us. I KNOW that I am doing his work. I KNOW that nothing is more important than to pass the test in this life to able to live with god once again, and not alone, but with our families. I LOVE Jesus Christ, the son of the LIVING God. I KNOW he listens to our prayers and answers them.
LOVE,
Elder Wilkinson
Day 423
Hey Everyone!! Sorry i didn't write yesterday :( got pretty busy getting ready for zone leader conference today. This Zone Leader Conference i had the opportunity to give a training to the zone leaders about how they run their zone funds. As i was thinking about what to share with them i turned to the scriptures and found a scripture that went perfect with what i wanted to share. Here it is
2 Nephi 9:51 - "Wherefore do not spend money for that which is of no worth, nor your labor for that which cannot satisfy. Hearken diligently unto me, and remember the words which i have spoken;...."
I just love how everything is in the scriptures. You probably never thought you would find financial advice in the scriptures but there is your proof that there is :) I talked with them about the importance of keeping good records of all our finances especially with the lords money. And me being the financial secretary, feel that responsibility to make sure that everything is done in order (D&C 88:119).
The other thing i would share is about a visit that we had to a part member family that has an autistic son (Jefferson) that is 6 yrs old but still can't speak. Emma (mother) was born into the church, Reyner (Father) is a non-member that works as a mechanic. I would say they both are in their early thirties. Last night we passed by their house to visit them and invite them to come watch conference this weekend. I started by introducing my companion that is somewhat new to the area and the asked a couple of questions like where he is from and all that good stuff when their wonderful little autistic son sits in his little chair and folds his arms and says something along the lines of "aahh" meaning hey guys when are we gonna start with a prayer haha i love how little children being normal or a little special are always so close to god. So we of course started with a prayer and then shared a little message. After we asked if there was and questions or comments and the wife Emma said she had a comment. She then shared a wonderful experience which was something along the lines of this.
"you know when my child was born and i knew he was going to be different i thought that God was punishing me. I thought that for all my past mistakes he was making me pay the price. but through time i have realized that it has been a
blessing, a huge blessing. He (Jefferson) has taught me so much, like patience, humility, love, and charity. When he was born i also realized how much my husband really loved me because even knowing that his first son wasn't going to be
normal he didn't leave me. He has always been there to take care of us both and to pay for Jefferson's therapy sessions."
That family is huge example for me. they taught me a lot about faithfulness, charity, enduring to the end, and trusting in God. i hope you all can learn something from their example. I challenge you to follow their Christlike example. And if you do you will receive the blessings just like the Figueroa Family have received the blessings.
Well Family that's all for this week and i cant wait to hear from ALL of you next week!!!
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