"Here's a book. You can see it and touch it. It's real, and it's testifying of Christ."

¡Hola! Estoy muy agradacida por sus correos y su apoyo! Les amo!

Translation: Hello! I am very grateful for your emails and your support! I love you!

Hermana Romeril, Caro, and Micaela

Monday was good. After P-day ended, we went to the bus station, but we there were no buses because it was a holiday. We kind of panicked. We needed to go so we could talk to Angel and Cristina. So, we started walking. We went to the house of our investigator Alicia to see if she might be willing to take us to Los Nogales. She did. What an angel! When we got there, we were only able to talk to Angel. We took a member with us, Rodrigo. Angel didn´t have much time and neither did we (It was getting quite late.), so we asked Angel if he could take us home. He did too. How amazing! On the way back, we talked to him about prayer. We asked him to pray before our next visit. Later, Rodrigo told us that Angel told him that he was afraid to pray. Which I understand. He´s just starting out this relationship with God, and he can´t see Him. It´s hard. But you never know until you try. He also told Rodrigo that perhaps the next time we come he´ll ask us not to pass again. I sure hope not! After Angel dropped us off, we went to go visit a recent convert, Caro (the mother of Jonothan who I sent pictures of last week), for her birthday. She is so awesome! She found out that we have no food or money so she took us out for dinner. We had hot dogs, but they were like three times as long and even more delicious.

On Tuesday morning, we had breakfast with Caro again because she insisted. We had mate and criollos which are now my favorite thing in the world. (Yes, I love mate. It´s amazing and you should all try it.) Then we walked to Los Nogales. We tried to contact all of our investigators there, but no one answered. Then we had lunch with the Delgado family and afterward the mom gave us 6 tortillas. Three for us and three for los elderes because they didn´t have food or money either. But their tortillas aren´t like what you´re thinking. They’re still round, but it´s like a round thing of bread and it´s amazing! On the walk back, we ran into a man selling string bracelets and metal rings on the sidewalk. He´s from Brazil! He was speaking in Portuguese and I could sort of understand him! At least as well as I can anyone else here. Some things I understood more than my companion (I think it´s because I´m familiar with the accent and some of the differences of the language.), but it was really amazing! He asked if we had any food and so we gave him a tortilla. His face was so grateful! He´s really poor, I mean, he doesn´t even have shoes. His name is Naxan and we´re going to go back when we have money to buy some of his things. Then we visited Jonothan. He told us that he´d just gotten fired that day and was kind of down. We shared some scriptures with him and he said he felt better. Then we had to walk back to Los Nogales to talk to Cristina because she said she´d be home. We took Hermana Diaz with us. Cristina won´t be able to be baptized on Saturday. She talked to her boss about having the weekends off and he told her that if she wanted a different schedule, she could get a different job. She´s having a bit of a hard time with that because she likes her work, but she really wants to have time with her family. The lesson was good, but Hermana Diaz kind of took over and we didn´t have time to really get into the lesson. It was a very good talk, though.

On Wednesday, it was pouring rain again (It had rained on Tuesday all day too). And when it rains here, it rains all day, really hard. We decided that it was time to visit Andrea again. We were a bit nervous that she would bite our heads off, but it ended up being really good. She didn´t have time to talk to us, but she called us amigas y amor, so that´s good. Then we visited with a recent convert, Dora. She´s a powerhouse and the sweetest little lady! After lunch, we tried contacting investigators, but none were home (This was the pattern of this week.). Then we decided to contact this old investigator named Elsa. She´s about 70 and doesn´t believe in God. She asked us why God allows so many bad things to happen. We told her we would study and come back on Friday.

Thursday we had a lot of studies. After our morning studies, we had weekly planning, then lunch, then a training session (The First 12 Weeks), and then correlación misional con the ward mission leader. But, our ward mission leader was an hour late. Then we went to visit Matías. He is part of a part member family, but the missionaries before us really pushed him. He only kept the commitments to get them off his back. That´s never good. We aren´t here to force people to do things. We are here to invite. That´s all we can do. That´s all we should do. We told him that we would never force him to do something that he didn´t want to do, but that he is always invited to talk with us and come to church. He was very appreciative of that. Afterward, we decided to do something for the elders because they had seemed down at correlación misional. We made them a poster filled with quotes, funny and inspirational, and bought them some facturas. They said later that they really enjoyed it.

Dora and Micaela

On Friday we went to visit Dora, the recent convert. She is so cute! We went in and she had us sit down at a table. She then served us mate and crackers with butter y dulce. She barely has enough food for herself, but she wanted to give us something. She told us, "You give me scriptures, you give me songs, and what do I give you? Nothing. So here is something that I could give you." She´s amazing. Later that day, we were trying to find an investigator, but he wasn´t there. As we were walking away, Hermana Romeril turned around and started talking to a lady outside of her house. Her name is Alejandra. She said that she´d love to go to a church because she wants to. She said that she only goes to the Catholic Church because her family does. We have an appointment with her this week! Then we visited Elsa again. We gave her a copy of The Book of Mormon with 2 Nephi 2 all marked up with her answer. We were reading with her when she stopped us and told us she wasn´t convinced. We told her that we´re not here to convince her. We tried to help her realize that she needs to pray to know for herself but she told us that she only believes in the things that she can see and touch. We told her, here´s a book. You can see and touch it. It´s real, and it´s testifying of Christ. But she wouldn´t believe. She wants a sign. We told her that if she is going to wait for a sign, she´s going to wait a long time. I have never been so sad in all my life. Coming out of that lesson, she doesn´t want us to come back to talk about the Gospel. We can chat, but no gospel. I was so sad. I know that God wants Elsa to come unto Him, but she won´t. She is so closed. Her time to accept the Gospel will come. Perhaps not in this life, but it´ll come.

On Saturday we took a bus to Malabrigo (un barrio de los elderes) so that we could make it to our lunch appointment with the bishop and his wife. We were there early so we went contacting. We ran into the brother of a family in the ward. He said that he´d like to come to church so that he could know whether or not he likes it. He´s a good reference for the elders. Then we had lunch with the bishop and his wife. They are so funny! That afternoon, we did our studies (training and language) and then tried contacting some recent converts, but none were home.

Sunday was good. None of our investigators came to church, though. It´s really sad. They need to come to church! We don´t know how to help them. Angel, Cristina, Alicia, Alejandra, even the brother from the day before, none of them came. (Also, we tried contacting Laura multiple times. She never answers the door, even when we know that she is there. She doesn´t want to talk to us. It´s really sad.) Church was really good, though. Then we went to lunch with a family and they gave us so much meat! I have never had so much in my life! It was really good, though. And I was starving since all we had for breakfast was mate because we had no food. (We have food now, though. Never fear.) Then we had district meeting and then my training session. It was good!

 I´m loving it here in Jesus María and I do feel that my Spanish is improving day by day. Perhaps just a little slower than I´d like, but it´s coming. I´m also understanding more and more. It´s really amazing. People find out that I´ve only been here for 3 weeks and they can´t believe that I can understand them and that I can speak as much as I can. Really, it is a miracle.

I hope you all are doing well! I love you all and wish you the best for this upcoming week!

Love from,

Hermana Micaela Wilson

Thy Guiding Hand

¡Hola todos! I hope you are all doing well!

Okay, so last Monday after P-day ended, we had some great experiences. We went to Los Nogales (un barrio en Jesus María), to talk to Cristina Lucero who had a baptismal date of the 28 of March. But she hadn´t come to church, so we needed to reset the date. We talked to her and she reset her own baptismal date for the 4 of April. She didn´t come to church yesterday, though, so she absolutely has to next week. (You have to attend twice before you can be baptized.) Then, on the way to another investigator’s house, we stopped and talked to an older (about 70’s) man working on his car outside. His name is Angel and he said that he would be baptized. In the contact! His baptismal date is the 18 of April. Then we went to the other investigator’s house and she accepted baptism too! Her name is Laura and she´ll be baptized on the 11 of April! One every week of April so far!!! Three fechas in and hour and a half! It was amazing!

The next day wasn´t so hot.

We had two appointments in the morning. One with Ilario, but he was working, so we went to our other appointment with Maurcelio. But, he was sleeping. When we came back, his cousin said that he´d left on his moto. He hadn´t left. We could see his house the whole time we were waiting. He just didn´t want to talk to us. Then we went to La Colonia (another section of Jesus María) trying to find the house of the member that was going to feed us lunch. We could not find it for the life of us. We were walking around La Colonia for two hours trying to find her house. We did learn something, though. That morning, we were both so tired that we didn´t exercise. We learned that no matter what, we need to exercise, we need to be as 100 percent obedient as we can be. Otherwise, the Lord´s going to have us exercise during the day. :)

On Wednesday, we had to go to Córdoba for our zone meeting. It was good, we just presented ourselves, talked about some goals and then the other districts had their district meeting. (We have ours on Sunday, so we sat in on a different one.) When we got back, we went to Los Nogales to talk to Laura, but she wasn´t there. It´s hard when your investigators don´t show up to their citas (appointments).

On Thursday we had to go to Córdoba again for interviews with Presidente Alliaud (which, by the way, is pronounced All-ee-ood). My interview was really good. I´ve been feeling frustrated because I can´t understand everything and because I can´t speak. There are times in a lesson when I have an idea of what I could say, but I don´t know if we´re actually talking about what I think we are, and I don´t know if I know all the words to express my idea or experience. It´s frustrating to not be able to communicate. I´ve only been here two weeks, and I can´t expect myself to be able to do everything yet, but it´s hard. Presidente Alliaud said that the first couple months of a mission are probably the hardest because it is an adjustment. He compared it to riding a bike. He said that in the MTC, they show you the bike, tell you all of the different parts, tell you what you´re going to have to do and they give you instructions (scriptures) to help you. But, when you get in the field, you actually have to ride the bike and you never have before. It´s hard, and you fall sometimes, but you just have to get back up and keep trying. That was really helpful. He also told me that my accent was pretty good and that I already sounded like a Córdobesa.

When we got back, we had lunch at a member’s house. We helped her prepare and cook it. It was really good, but I really need to learn how to eat slower! She gave me seconds (Seconds are always bigger than your first helping.) and I could not finish it. Neither could Hermana Romeril. We were eating at a snail’s pace. Finally, Hermana Aguirre said that she was stuffed. We were sooo relieved! We waddled out of that house. That night I had a break down with my companion telling her all of the things that are hard. She was great and listened to me. Then we took a paper and on one side wrote all of the things that were hard. On the other side, we wrote all of the blessings that come because of a mission. She asked me if I was willing to give up the blessings for the things that were hard. I said no. So, we burned our papers as a sort of burnt offering to the Lord. It really helped me. Even though every day is hard, and I can´t understand everything, I know that I can keep going.

On Friday, we borrowed the elder’s bikes and rode to Los Nogales. (These other barrios aren´t close. Jesus María is big. Like two Provos big.) We had a quick lesson with Angel, because he had to go. He had his little card in his shirt pocket. It was so cute! But, he smokes, so we´re going to have to work with that. Then we went to lunch in La Colonia. That day we rode about 12 miles and I haven´t ridden 12 miles by bike before. Let´s just say I´m a little sore. :) Then we had a lesson with Ilario. On the way to his house, a woman stopped us. She said that she and her friend had seen us walking by many times and she wanted to talk with us. We, of course, were thrilled. We set up an appointment! I love it when people wave us over. Ilario wasn´t there at his house again, but it was good we went by his house!

On Saturday, we walked to Los Nogales for an appointment, but she wasn´t there. We found out later that someone had died, so it makes sense. We don´t know the whole story there yet. Then we went to a member´s house to see if he could accompany us to a lesson. We went to a reference´s house and he, Miguel, said that he had been searching for the truth! It´s strange how sometimes we go to a place for one reason and that doesn´t work out, but there is another reason we went there, we just didn´t know it beforehand. That night we decided to go contact the woman who waved us over in the market last Monday. Her name is Alicia. She opened the door and we were able to talk to her a bit about her family history (since that´s what she´s interested in). We had a little lesson on how to begin teaching (from PMG) and the whole thing was in English!!! She was an English teacher and loves English! I was so happy!!! It was so refreshing to me to be able to share the Gospel in my own language. After the lesson, Hermana Romeril was so frustrated because she couldn´t speak. She´s forgotten a lot of English, especially about the Gospel. It was kind of funny to see that in that instance, our roles had switched.

Yesterday was great. I love Sundays! It´s just full of meetings. But, our investigator Hugo attended church!!! He wants to be baptized, he just has to get married first! It was great to see him come!!!

I´m doing well. The language is coming even though I get frustrated at times. I know that the Lord is with me and He is helping me. Honestly, I couldn´t do this alone. I´m not doing it alone. Thank you for your prayers and your love. I love you all and hope that you have a magnificent week!!!

Love from,

Hermana Micaela Wilson

Hermana Romeril

Micaela with recent convert, Jonathan, daughter Sasha and Hermana Romeril

Jesus María

Hola all!!!
Wow! This has been so crazy, and I don´t have much time, but I´ll do my best.

So, in the MTC. On Thursday, we had In field orientation all day. It
was really good, and I learned a lot. It was all about contacting, how
to work with the ward, things we hadn´t really learned in class,
because we were learning the language. We also went and saw Mercedes
for the last time. She didn´t have much time becuase she had a class
to go to, but we got a quick picture and then she told us that she was
a member (which I´m really glad we never knew while teaching her. It
made it easier for us to teach her thinking she wasn´t a member), but
that she had been going through a hard time and that we helped her a
lot. She said that, even though she´s a memeber, it´s easy to forget
that God loves us. She said that in every lesson with us, she could
feel God´s love. That made me so happy!!!

Micaela and her companion with Mercedes

On Friday, we had our last service, and then we had class. We learned
that how we had been speaking the whole time in the MTC was wrong
because we didn´t know a certain form of conjugation. So the whole
time we were in the MTC we sounded really stupid. We didn´t learn this
form until now because it´s really confusing. Hopefully I´ll get it
one day. :) Hermana Savage also shared some experiences from her
mission. She´s great! She also gave us an invitation. She asked us to
examine our hearts and find what we were holding back from the Lord.
There is always more that we can give. Once we had found what we were
holding back, she invited us to give it to the Lord. Even if it´s
hard. This is the Lord´s time. Not mine. And once I give Him my all,
miracles will happen.

Saturday was really sad. I had to say goodbye to my teachers. I love
them so much and they really made a huge impact on my life. I am SO
grateful for them and their examples and friendship.

Micaela with Sister Boyce

Micaela with Sister Savage

 Sunday, was our last day in the MTC. We went to all our normal
meetings and had our last District Meeting. Then, at night after the
devotional, we had our own meeting as a district. We were able to
recieve blessings from our elders. Blessings of comfort. We were all
scared. Leaving the MTC is a bit scary. You don´t know what´s out
there, where your going, who your trainer is or really anything. But
the blessing I received was perfect. Absolutely perfect. I felt so
calm and ready to go. Even though I didn´t know what was going to
happen. I was ready.

Micaela's district with Sister Boyce

Micaela's district with Sister Savage

That night we packed and then had to wake up at 3:30 to take Hermana
Shelley to the travel office. It was sad to see her go, but I know
that she´ll be amazing! Then Hermana Nordfelt and I had to go at 6. We
left Hermana Pula alone until she left at 1:30 that afternoon.

We got to the airport and I was able to talk to my parents for a bit.
It was great to hear their voices again after 6 weeks! While talking
to them, who walked by me? Elder Holland! I got to talk to him briefly
and shake his hand. Then we took a picture and he had to go. But, we
were on the same plane! I was like, there is no way this plane is
going down, we have a member of the Quorum of the Twelve on board!
Once we touched down in Georgia, I called my mom again. We found 5
very kind strangers that loaned us their cell phones. Then we flew for
10 hours to Argentina!!! Once in Argentina, we didn´t know how we were
going to get to Córdoba because we were in Buenos Aires. We found the
mission president of Buenos Aires there waiting for their
missionaries. They directed us onto a bus that drove us to the in
country airport. From there we flew to Córdoba. When we got there, our
mission president and his wife were there to meet us. They are so
kind! And they speak English! I was so relieved!!! They took us to the
Mission Home and we had an orientation, did document work and had
dinner. We had empanadas!!! The best!! That night we stayed in a
hotel.

In the morning, we did some more document work in the City Central and
contacted people in the streets. We were a trio at this point because
we had a native too, Hermana Garriga. She´s from Spain. At lunch, we
met our trainers. But we didn´t know who was with who. We went into
the front yard and he announced our trainers. I was really afraid. Two
of the trainers for us were native and one was gringa. I really wanted
a gringa. When he announced my companion, she came running toward me
to give me a big hug. I got the gringa!!! God knows that I needed her.
Her name is Hermana Romeril. She´s from southern California. She is
pretty awesome! She is really funny and very supportive. It´s hard
because I don´t understand everything and I often don´t feel that I
can speak, but she´s always there cheering me on.

My area is Jesus María. It´s about an hour and twenty minutes north of
Córdoba. It is really hot here. And there are lots of mosquitos. I
have about 20 bites on one leg.  One leg. It´s also humid. But I don´t
notice that much. It´s very pretty here. There are lots of trees and
it´s very tranquil.

I´ve met the ward, and they are great! Very strong ward. I haven´t met
many investigators yet though. I don´t have enough time to go through
every day here, but I want to tell you about some of the miracles I´ve
already seen here. The first night, we had about 30 minutes before we
had to return to the appartment and Hermana Romeril was like, ok,
we´re going to go contacting. I´ll go first. She walked up to a woman,
and she is interested. Her name is Soledad and we are going to try and
get her at her house this week. Then it was my turn. I didn´t know
what to do, so we walked. Then I had us go left, then right. Then I
saw this boy sitting on the curb and I said, ¨him.¨ We walked up and I
said hello. He looked up and Hermana Romeril was like, ¨hey, I know
you¨. Apparently she had met him on the streets twice before, but he´d
always said he had to run. This time, he gave us his address, his
phone number and we have an appointment with him tomorrow! I didn´t
even know what I was doing!

Yesterday, we took a bus to a part of the town that´s far away, for an
appointment. But all of our plans fell through. We were waiting at the
bus stop when we started talking to a man who was waiting too.
Goodness is he ready for the Gospel! He asked us, ¨Why are there so
many churches in the world?" We were like, good question, let´s talk
about it. We talked for an hour becuase the bus was late. It was
amazing!

Ok, one investigator we have is Andrea. She is really struggling right
now with stress and other things in her life that she won´t tell us.
We visited her my second day here and she listened. She also told us
that if it were her choice, she would kill herself. That´s how down
she is. We testified that God loves her and that she can do the things
she has to do. I also bore my testimony to her. It was the first time
I´d really talked in a lesson, and hopefully something I said touched
her, although, I don´t know if she understood it all. She was softened
and said we could come back the next day. So we did. When we walked up
to her house, she came out and told us that she was really mad. But
mostly at God and my companion. (Because my companion talks, and I
don´t much...) We talked for a bit and she softened, but she asked us
to not come by for a while while she cools off.

Yesterday was really hard. We had church and then meetings and
studying fo the whole day. But I felt so sick. I´m pretty sure it was
the stomach flu. I had a fever and I felt like I was going to throw
up. But, I was able to get through all my meetings and today, I feel
all better. The Lord is really here for me and is helping me every
minute.

I don´t understand everything that is said to me, and every time I´m
asked a question, my heart pounds. But I understand more than I
thought I would. And I can say more than I thought I could too. I know
what´s going on and I can get along. And my companion is such a help
for me. My district is just me, my companion and a companionship of
elders. We´re like a little family and they´re all great!

I love you all so much!!! I wish all the best! Thank you for your
prayers and support!

Love from,
Hermana Micaela Wilson

¡buen viaje!

Our telephone conversation with Micaela at the airport was short because there were so many missionaries flying out to Argentina and it was hard for her to get a phone. It was so wonderful to hear her voice! She sounded excited and calm at the same time. She told us that the elders had given the sisters a blessing the night before and all of their anxieties had melted away. She spoke lovingly of everyone in her district. She told us that Elder Holland was coming over to talk to the missionaries so we said a quick goodbye.

During her layover in Atlanta, she was again having a hard time with the phones and a man offered his cell phone to her. She told us that half her plane had been filled up with missionaries going to Argentina and Elder Holland was on that flight too! He spoke warmly to the missionaries and they had their photo taken with him. (Micaela said that one of the elders promised to send her the photo.) We only had a few minutes to talk before the man needed his phone back. Another quick goodbye.

Later on I got another phone call from another borrowed cell phone (There was no time to find out the story behind this. Did someone else offer it or did she ask?) Micaela said, "I forgot to bear my testimony to you in Spanish," which she quickly did and then she said goodbye again.

It was wonderful to talk to her and feel how much she has grown in six short weeks.

I wasn't sure if I would hear from the mission when Micaela arrived because communication had been so poor when Ben was in Mexico, but I was very grateful to get two letters from the mission and
pictures as well!

The newly arrived missionaries with President & Sister Alliaud

Dear Parents,

          We are pleased to inform you that your son/daughter has arrived to the Argentina Córdoba Mission perfectly well.  We received him/her in the airport and we came directly to the mission home where we had a welcome meeting and a traditional dinner for this area.  They will spend this night in a nice hotel and that is close to our home.  Tomorrow he will meet his/her companion and they will go to their area together. 

         We are extremely grateful to receive a noble spirit like your son/daughter who is so consecrated to the Lord.  Thank you very much for all that you have done to prepare him/her.  We will take care of your son/daughter as if he/she were our own child.

Love,

            President & Sister Alliaud

Dear parents, 

Here are some pictures of your missionaries with their trainers and the President and his wife (and their youngest child). Your children are now travelling with their companions to their new areas with their new companions.

Enjoy and have a great day.

The Cordoba Temple is right next to the mission home.

The End of the MTC

Q & A
How did you get the violin that you used for the special musical numbers?

The MTC has two violins that you can rent. They have a really old one and a newer one. Neither is very good, but it's been great to be able to play.

Are you ready to go to Argentina?

I am really excited to go to Argentina. I'm really glad that I'm only here for 6 weeks because I'm getting to the point where I'm ready to move on. 

About goals:

Here at the MTC I am understanding better why we have goals and the importance they have in our lives. I think an important thing to remember, too, is what Don said. That we have to try, but be ok with not making our goal. (Don shared a lot of insight into goals when we had lunch at the Argentine bakery in Orem right before Micaela left for the MTC.)

Questionnaire

As Micaela's time at the MTC was coming to an end we sent a questionnaire to everyone in Micaela's district, an idea we got from my sister-in-law, Debbie. We asked the missionaries about themselves, their families, and their experience in the MTC.

Here are the responses to the question "What was your first impression of Hermana Wilson:
"Hey, I know you! We met on FB!"
"This hermana can sing! And her laugh. She loves to laugh mucho."
"She laughs a lot."
"I knew she would love theatre."
"Outgoing"
"How happy she was, the smile she had, how calm she looked"

Our final question was, "What is your favorite treat?" The next day we filled up a package with everything they listed and sent it to them.

We decided to all climb into Hermana Shelley's bed to scare her when she came back into the room... but it didn't work out... It was great!

I Go to Bring Them Heaven

Micaela with the new hermanas in her branch.

¡Hola! I hope you are all doing well, and I hope that you know how much I love you all! 

I have four days left here at the MTC and I'm really excited!!! And really nervous... Lots of emotions are rolling around, but it's good. I've had such a great experience here at the MTC and I love what I'm doing. I know that this is the Lord's work. I know that this is what I am supposed to be doing. 

This week has just flown by. Let's see if I can get my thoughts in order. 

Last Wednesday, after emailing, we tried to find Mercedes to teach her for the last time, but she wasn't there. So we set up a time to teach her on Thursday (meaning tomorrow). I really hope that we get to see her again, because I absolutely love her!!! That night, we met the new district. There are five hermanas and six elders. They are great! We had a get to know you meeting and then took them on a quick tour of campus and then shared our testimonies in Spanish. The first day is extremely overwhelming, so we tried to be really understanding and comforting to the new sisters. They were a bit quiet at first, but they've become more comfortable. They still don't understand how much contact you have with the zone (i.e. you go to meals together, gym together, the temple together, and you wait for one another), but they'll get it. 

On Friday, for gym, Hermana Pula and I did yoga, meaning we did the corpse pose, and talked. We were making up all sorts of silly stories, it was fantastic! We laughed for almost all of gym time. So we had a good ab workout. :) During class, I was really struggling and so after class, Hermana Savage pulled me out to talk. Once outside the door, I started to bawl. I had been feeling like I couldn't be myself. Like being me wasn't good enough. Wouldn't be acceptable. I tried to remember what a friend told me, "God called you. If you weren't ready, He wouldn't have called you. He also didn't call you to be someone else. He called you as you. As Micaela Wilson. And Micaela Wilson is good enough." But it was hard to always keep that focus. Hermana Savage was so sweet and listened. Which is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give. That's all I really needed. I just needed to talk it out. Get it out into the open so I could work through it. She also helped me look at the situation from a new perspective. I love her!

That evening, we had class with Hermana Boyce. She gets so animated when she talks about her mission (to Bolivia) that it makes me so excited to go myself! She shared some mission experiences with us and it was fantastic!

On Saturday, we were on our way to lunch when we ran into a gold tag (they're investigators that come to the MTC to be taught). We asked if he was lost and he said that he was fine. We started talking to him (his name was Bobby, by the way) and then he asked us a spiritual question. I can't remember exactly what the question was or exactly what we said. But the Spirit was there and it was so amazing! We were able to teach him, and in English for the first time, and hopefully what we said helped him in some way. He said that he liked what we said and would think about it and try to apply it into his life. It was amazing!

So, my district was kind of struggling with each other this past week. You could feel the tension building in the classroom. We, the hermanas, had no idea why or what had caused it. On Saturday, Hermana Nordfelt and I had left for the residence when the elders held the other two hermanas back and talked to them. They told the hermanas that they'd been struggling with how we, Hermana Nordfelt and I, were too happy about teaching. They said that not every lesson is going to go well. But then they said that while we were teaching, we aren't happy enough. They said, "This is a happy gospel! You need to be happy about what you're teaching about." Also, they said that they hated it when I cry. Like when I share my testimony, I get emotional at times. So basically, they told the hermanas that they are uncomfortable with my personality. Great, right? So, on Monday, we had a district inventory where we, all together this time, talked about what we were struggling with. We started out with our strengths as a district and then we went into the things that we were struggling with. It was really good, actually. The elders said that they had prayed and the whole too emotional thing was really fine. They understand that we're girls and tend to be more emotional. We also addressed them being a little too rowdy at times. Like we understand that they're elders and they enjoy being rowdy, but there is a time and a place. It was done in a really good way, and I feel much better now. The tension is gone and we are able to focus on our last week here at the MTC. 

Ok, investigators. We are no longer teaching Daniela so that's pretty sad. We're not teaching Mercedes either. We have been teaching each other more, but it's different. Today we start teaching each other as ourselves. That'll be nice. No one is pretending. No one is faking. We are just teaching and being taught as ourselves.

Jimena though, she is doing really well. We had a lesson on the Fall and why it was necessary. She had a hard time understanding that the Fall was part of the Plan, but we were able to explain it to her and she's doing well with it now. We also taught her about the Word of Wisdom. She says that she, personally, doesn't have a problem, but her family likes to drink alcohol at parties and it's extremely offensive not to drink too. She wants to be obedient, but she doesn't want to offend. We told her that we understood that this is really hard, but that with God's help, she can do it. She committed to living the Word of Wisdom. She is amazing!

Today, we had to host the new missionaries. It's our P-day and would normally  be spent packing. So we're a bit stressed today. But hosting was great! I hosted three sisters! They looked a little shell shocked, but they'll be fine. :) 

My mom asked be to clarify what I do as a Sister Training Leader since it is such a new position for missionaries. Basically, we are to look after the sisters in our zone. We conduct interviews every Saturday with the senior companions. These interviews are about their companionship inventory. So we ask them about their goals, struggles, health issues, any questions they have, companion hardships, or really anything they need. We then tell the Branch Presidency. We also are there for all of the meetings like Leadership Counsel. It's really great! I remember that it was really great to have Sister Training Leaders when I was first here, because there was no way that I was going to go to the Zone Leaders and ask for help with some things. It was nice to have sisters that you knew were there to help you. 

I want you all to know how much I love you! I know that the Lord loves you and is with you! I know that this is a great work! I love you, and I hope you have a fantastic week!

Love from,

Hermana Micaela Wilson