Day 364

Mitch(Mich),

Hey bro, 

i feel like you have kinda forgotten about me :P but i know you are just to busy with your manfriends.  dont worry you will have plenty of time with man friends during your mission haha you live with one, eat with one, teach with one, learn from one, and of course play pranks on him.  haha but i also just hope that you are keeping up on the things you should be doing that are really the most important things.  make sure that you have the right kind of friends that will help you get ready to leave on the mission.  you probably have also realized that i have been out for a year now and it has flown by.  literally like i dont even know what happened to the tiem or where it went.  you get focused on the people you are teaching and you forget about everything else.  i believe i heard that you are going to play for dixie state for a year and then leave on the mish.  is that right? and if so does that mean i am going to have a full year with you when i get back before you leave?  i sure hope so because i gotta start training with you after the mish so i can play keep at dixie as well.  that would be pretty legit. anywasy well i leave this little note for you and maybe this time i can hear from you back. i love you bro y sigue haaciendo lo que sabes es lo correcto y ora con fe y verdadera intención y escucha tus sentimientos para que puedas oir tu respuesta.  te quiero mucho compadre

 

Tanner(Taner),

Hey T,

How are you doing? is school getting ready to start again? are you excited? you know i only have a year left? it has flown by and i am sure this second year will go by just as fast if not faster.  i dont know how things are coming a long with your experiments but im sure you got them going.  keep doing what you love doing just make sure that you do it in a way that will help to learn to be a good example and better son to mom and dad.  how was your summer? how are the scout camp things going? do you like helping out there? me encantaría escucharte muy pronto y cuando estás en casa la proxima vez puedes escribirme.  te amo mucho y te extraño mucho

 

Jesse(Yesi),

Hey what is up bro? i havent seen one you letters for awhile where have you been? you are alright right? well i am doing good and i miss you guys and crew back home but we will see each other again soon. the time is going to fly and before you know it we will traing together for soccer season so i can start up playing keeper again after the mish.  que tal danny santos? él es tu entrenador de fútbol todavía? dile que le extraño y va ser chevere a jugar juntos con él otra vez despúes la misión.  te extraño a ti tambien y te quiero mucho.

 

Noah(Noé),

Hey, the mini kaden haha well the one that at least loves biking as much as i do. how was summer? do you go skim boarding with your friends a lot? are you taking care of my bike and skimboard there at home? only a year left and i will be there with you skimboarding again and racing BMX.  maybe i can be your coach and you can become professional and race in the olympics in 8 yrs!  well you are going to have a b-day pretty soon and i think that is crazy.  life comes at you fast, and sometimes we dont realize how fast.  before you know it you will be leaving on the mission and you probably will nieces and nephews haha  you got to start getting ready now so can be a missionary just like your older brother well im sure a better missionary than i am.  te amo y te extraño y quiero que sepas que tu eres lo máximo y siempre vas a estar en mi mente y mis oraciones

 

Boston(Bósten),

Hey, oh my goodness! i am sure you are getting huge little guy! you are already 4 and a half years old!  i bet you are running all over the place on the scooter and bike and everybody is struggling to catch you haha i have seen a few of those kinds of kids here in peru haha they reall like to play soccer with little tiny soccer balls inside their house and in the street.  when i get back maybe i can teach you some spanish and you can come back with me later to peru and play with the other kids. i love you Boss and i hope you are growing up to be a good kid and the spoiled youngest haha

Day 339

DEAR FAMILY,

Wow....i feel bad i didn't write yesterday.  but here in the office is a new kind of experience and we sometimes don't have time to write on Mon because that is p-day and all the missionaries that are here in Cuzco come to get reimbursements and we get super busy.  i tried to write during a little free time that i had but i just had time to get the fotos in the email.  it feels wierd being in the office everyday, having cell phone, working with a lot of money, and being in a 3 companionship (this is just till the transfers come when one elder finishes the mission), seeing president almost everyday, but im sure ill get used to it haha

Fotos

-we had the opportunity to go visit a place called moray which was pretty cool so here are a bunch of fotos from there with everybody in the office

-we had a FHE night with a member family and we made tacos they were awesome!

-a couple pix of the office from the outside and we chilling with elder buckner

-my plate of ceviche which is plate of raw fish and has a lot of lemon and other stuff but it was super good.  normally we cant eat ceviche in the mission but president says that we go with him then its fine haha

-some pix from the 4th of july when we went as the office to eat and celebrate in an american restaurant

Day 331

Querido Famlilia,

well for real this is going to be a wierd letter.  i guess ill just start with the surprising part.

     president called me last week on wed.  and asked how things were going here in talavera and how is my companion.  and when i thought he was gonna say thanks and keep up the good work or something,  he says
     "elder wilkinson the lord has an assignment for you.  and that assignment is to serve in the office in cusco as the personal finance secretary for the mission. do you accept this assignment?"
      startled i didnt say anything for a few sec and he asked
      "are you surprised or are you content?"
     i then said "i think the two, but yes i accept president"
he then told me i had to be in cusco today in the morning but due to the circumstances i am going to travel tonight and will arrive in cusco tomorrow morning.

alright so with that in mind you kind of know the stuation and now i can tell you about the fotos of the running of bulls haha when the branch president heard i was leaving he was super sad.  they told him that when the new missionary got there he would have some computer knowledge to help with the finances and records because he doent know a lot about that kind of stuff. as well this last week he told me his printer wasnt working and so i took a look at it during dinner and in like an hour i had it runnng for him. there is a picture that has a big huge stain on floor that is when i was working on the printer and ink went everywhere haha i really cant wait to come back n the future and see that stain still there on the floor and i can remmber thats when i fixed the branch presidents printer hahaha he said what am i going to do when my computer knowledge leaves to cusco? i told him i dont know but it looks like the mission has need for the computer knowledge as well haha

anyways so he knew i was going to leave and wanted to invites to do something with his family before i left and just in time the happened to be a running of bulls so i called up president to ask if we coulkd go and he gave us the ok before i leave talavera so that is where the fotos come from i am sending

Fotos

the other fotos are

-no bake cookies we made with an investigator family and the little kid steve
-some soccer fotos
-a face of jesus that an investigator carved out of a tree trunk
-a foto of the plaza from our room window
-a toilet that you just stand to pee or squat to do number 2 hahaha frist time  had seen one
-and then a dude climbing a ladder to trim the tree with a machete that  thought was pretty cool haha
- and turkey that wanted to attack us ahaha 

Day 324

Fotos

hey everybody!  i finally got the pix you have probably been waiting for.  my comp has some more pix but ill have to wait till next week to send them.  but the fotos that are there mainly fotos of my last day in uros with the members.  i really do miss those guys.  then those pix of food are from a restraunt in cusco where we ate for transfer day called fuego (fire) the owner is from the states but his wife is from cusco.  i had to get a picture of that really awesome burger to show you all haha then there is a picture of elder green and i. the elder from my district in the mtc that played basketball for utah state.  that was the frist time i had seen him since the mtc and what treat it was to see him at the transfer meeting.  there are some pretty turf soccer fields they have here in talavera i think there are like 3.  the are basicly a futsal field but made of turf and the have a net that covers the  whole field so the ball doesnt go flying to the moon. today for p-day i think we re going to head toe a field and play for an hour or two as a zone and ill have to grab some pix for next week.

The Work

 i am coming up on making a year and i still cant believe that i am actually white gringo from the states i really just feel like a peruvian haha the only thing that remionds me i am white is the way some people stare when we walk down the street haha  no but really i love peru and all of the people i have come to meet and who i will come to meet.  it really is such awesome news to hear about everybody that is heading out to join our army in the work and those that are allready serving.  i just KNOW that what we are doing is not our work but the work of him who created us.  and we wouldnt be able to do it without his help.  i loved reading that summary of dallins talk and i know that is completley true.  some people ask themselves if god exist and he created good then he had to create bad as well and everything bad that happens to us is gods fault.  but really it doesnt work that way.   in science cold doesnt exist cold is just the absence of heat.  the bad and evil in  the world today doesnt come from god but it comes from the absence of god in our lives.  we need to share that heat (good) we have with others but not just temporarilly but give them their own spark to share with others. sorry but time to go, im looking forward to hearing from everybody next week!!