Respuestas a las preguntas

1.      Tell us about Hermana Criddle.
Hermana Criddle. Well, she´s from Idaho Oasis. It´s a little town close to Boise. She is really sweet. (She says Mountain Home. She says that nobody knows where Oasis is.) She likes musicals and books. She likes a lot of the same TV shows that I like, such as Once Upon a Time.

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2.      Tell us about the area? What is it like in Bell Ville? Is it very different from Jesus Maria? How far away is it from Cordoba?
Bell Ville is about three hours in bus from Córdoba. I´m not sure how many miles. It is very different, but there are similarities. It´s smaller here, but there are more stores. I dunno, it just feels very different. It´s not as cold here. :)

3.      How do you feel about being a senior companion now that you have experienced it for a week?
I feel very overwhelmed. I have to take the lead in lessons, contacts, everything. It´s really weird. But I have been so blessed by the Lord--especially with the language. I haven´t felt lost while talking to the people.

4.      What about the ward, the investigators, the other missionaries, etc?
The branch is very tiny and it doesn´t feel as friendly as Jesús María, but we´re going to work with that. We have three people who are preparing for baptism so that´s really exciting! We just have to start doing a lot more contacting to get others once the ones we have are baptized. The other missionaries in the ward are the zone leaders. It´s rather interesting. They´re nice, but we haven´t had a lot of interaction yet.

5.      What are your living conditions? Are you in an apartment?
We have an apartment. It´s really nice. Bigger than in Jesús María. We have a clothes washer! It´s really nice.

Leaning on the Lord

Hola familia y amigos! Espero que todo esté bien y que sepan cuanto les amo!

[Hello friends and family ! I hope all is well and they know how much I love them!]

Bueno, this week was an adventure. Filled with new people, a new area, just lots of new. :)

On Tuesday, we went to visit one of the investigators, Guadalupe. She is great! She is 16 years old and wants to be baptized. She just needs permission from her dad to come to church and to be baptized. He is rather strict and so it´s difficult. Then we had a lesson with Juan. He is an older gentleman. We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he understood really well. We committed him to baptism as well! It was great! Then we visited a few members. Pedro is an elderly man who is a convert of two years. He is so cute! So sweet! Sandra is a convert of one year and is hilarious! That night we had correlación misional. It was a great day!

Wednesday we had to go to the doctor. Hermana Criddle is sick. The doctor said that she has a virus and that she needed to rest. So, after getting all the tests and medicine, we took it easy in the pension. Hna Criddle felt bad about having to stay inside, but it´s important to take care of yourself. I always say that you have to take care of yourself before you can take care of other people. Because if you don´t take care of yourself, pretty soon you won´t be around to help the rest.

Thursday we had district meeting and then zone meeting. In our district we have two other hermanas and two elders. The hermanas are in Leones and the elders in Marco Juarez. It´s interesting to be in a district where we´re not in the same city. In the zone, there are only 12 of us. But, I´m really happy because we´re not the only hermanas!! Wooohoo! That afternoon, we visited Guadalupe to see how she´s doing and then we went to visit Antonela. Antonela is 16 years old too but more hesitant to be baptized. She told us that she knows this church is true, but she wants to wait to be baptized. She doesn´t want to make a mistake and she also doesn´t want to lose being Catholic. We don´t know how to help her realize that this is the way. That she won´t be messing up. Then we came home to let Hermana Criddle rest.

On Friday, we went to San Marcos. It´s a little town that we have as part of our area as well. We went and visited Romina. She is wonderful! She´s a mom of two little girls and very prepared! We invited her to be baptized and she accepted as well. It´s just a little harder in San Marcos because there isn´t a branch there. The members meet every other Sunday to partake of the Sacrament, but it´s just the one hour. But we are very excited for Romina!

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Saturday I ate my first noquis! [gnocchi] They were delicious!!! Anyway, in the afternoon, we visited Guadalupe again. (We go every so often to keep her spirits up.) We did a game with the commandments. Memory. She loved it! She is so prepared for baptism! She said that she just wants to be baptized! She´s so cute. Then we went to mutual in the church and I met the youth. Then we visited a member, Elena. She is amazing! She has an incredible story. Her husband wasn´t good to her and after years of putting up with it, she finally left. She didn´t have anything. She made her own business selling clothing and worked her way from ground zero. After years of doing this, she met the missionaries and was baptized. She is such a special lady!

On Sunday, we went to go pick up Guadalupe and Juan. Guadalupe didn´t come. Her father didn´t give her permission. We´re not giving up, though. Juan came and really enjoyed the meeting! Church was crazy. I didn´t know many of the people or how things work, but it was great! It´s a little branch here, not a ward. The members are really nice as well! At night, we did a bunch of preparing for the week, making lists and working out routes. It was good.

Anyway, it´s been a great week! Bell Ville is wonderful! It´s a little weird to be in a new area, but I´m loving it here! I hope you all have a wonderful week! Love you all!

Love from,

Hermana Micaela Wilson

P.S. So there is a park in San Marcos with minions!!!

Transfers!!!!!!!!!!

¡Hola hola!

¿Cómo están todos? Espero que todo esté bien. :)

Bueno, so we had transfers today. I am no longer in Jesús María. I got transfered to Bell Ville. My companion is Hermana Criddle from Idaho.

She has one transfer less than me and I am senior companion... yep... :)

Bueno, I´ll tell you about my last week in Jesús María.

On Tuesday, we had to run some errands in the morning, but in the afternoon, we went with a member to contact Brandon y Maylen. Maylen told us that she wasn´t interested at the moment, but Brandon came down and talked to us. We invited him to an activity at the church on Thursday and he said he would go.

On Wednesday we had zone meeting in Córdoba. When we got back, we went to visit Karen´s sister. We talked about how she was and about Karen. It was a good visit. Then we visited Jorge and he is really excited for his baptism! That evening, we had correlación misional.

Thursday we had an activity in the church. It was a holiday here and we had games planned and people were going to bring food. It was a ward activity, but not very many members showed up. But Brandon came and so did Braian (investigators!!!! Woohoo!!!). After the activity we had the baptism of un niño de la iglesia. Brandon and Braian stayed! It was great!

Friday we went to visit Braian and he and his dad, Miguel, agreed to being baptized! It was terrific! In the afternoon, we went with members to visite Brandon. At the end of the lesson, Brandon offered the prayer. In his prayer, he was very sincere. He talked about his difficult life and asked for help from Heavenly Father. He is only 13 years old, but he was very real. At the end, we were all crying. That night, we also visited an old contact and they started to cry as well. The Spirit was so strong that day. It was incredible!

Saturday we visited Jorge in the morning. We were getting him ready for his baptismal interview. He´s very excited! The rest of the day we spent in contacts that were unfruitful. But at the very end of the day, we found a family of 5! It was great!

That night we got the transfer call. Hermana Linares is still in Jesús María and she received a mini missionary. I was told that I was going to Bell Ville with Hermana Criddle. I just pray that between the two of us, we understand people and can teach them. We both are going to grow a lot this transfer. It´s gonna be good! :)

Sunday was full of tears. I cried and so did some people in Jesús María. It´s really hard to leave an area. Really hard. I love them so much! They will forever be with me. Forever. A part of my heart is in Jesús María.

Anyway, here I am, now, in Bell Ville! I´m out on an adventure! Wish me luck!

Have a great week and remember God´s love for every single one of you!

Love from,

Hermana Micaela Wilson

Libro de mormón completado en español

¡Hola Queridos!

¿Cómo fue su semana? Espero que tuvieran una muy buena semana y que todo esté bien. ¡Les amo tanto!

 [Google translate: How was your week ? I hope you had a great week and all is well. I love them both!]

Bueno, this week was a little hard for us. We felt a bit discouraged...

On Tuesday, our Sister Training Leaders came to do splits with us. I went with Hermana Regalado and Hermana Linares was with Hermana Wade. Hermana Regalado and I spent the day contacting menos activos [less actives]. We did that all day. All day we were walking. All day on our feet. But, it was really good. Hermana Regalado is a great missionary and I learned a lot from her.

On Wednesday, I finished the Book of Mormon in Spanish for the first time!!!!!!! It was great! In the MTC, my teachers gave me a promise. They said that if I read the Book of Mormon in Spanish, I would be blessed to learn the language--to understand and to speak. I would say it´s true! I still don´t understand everything, but I´m not always completely lost. :) Bueno, in the morning, we had district meeting and the zone leaders came. We talked about following the Spirit. It was really good! I love district meetings! After lunch, we were walking to a cita when we stopped to ask an older gentleman if he needed help. He ended up talking to us for two hours. He did need help, but he kept telling stories. One story turned into six and six stories into two hours. But I think he just feels alone.

Hopefully, we can help him. One of my brothers told me before I left that there is something that I can learn from every person. I just have to be humble enough to listen. I love that. I try to learn from every person that I meet. Everyone has something to share.

Thursday we went to help the older gentleman with his laundry. We had given him a Book of Mormon the day before and he read. A lot! We explained some things that he didn´t understand. It was great! That afternoon, we went to citas and contacts, but nobody let us in. We felt pretty low. In the evening, we went to a cita and the woman who we went to see wasn´t there, but her mom was. So we talked to her mom and we told her that we can help her quit smoking. She said she would love that and she would love to hear our message! She then told us about her cousin that lives around the corner that would also like to listen. So we went. It turns out that her cousin is a less active member of the church. She is blind now, but the problem is she doesn´t remember that she´s a member. I don´t know how that is, but that´s what she tells us. But we may not have visited her without her cousin!

Friday, we had a cita with the family Canzian. It was good. We gained a lot of confidence, but we didn´t have time to teach very much. After lunch, Jorge received a priesthood blessing and we talked about some of the baptismal questions. It was good. He still needs a lot of the lessons, though. Then we visited Karen and her sister Daiana. They´re great! Karen was really excited for her confirmación. (I don´t know how to write that in English.) In the evening, we had some unsuccessful contacting until eight at night. The last house we contacted was a family. They were interested in listening to us! Finally! Tender mercies.

On Saturday, we visited the M--------- family. They´re great. I don´t know how the mom does it. Her husband isn´t a member and she has six kids. Two of which are twins. She takes all six of her kids to church. Alone. It´s amazing! We had lunch with the family L---------- and afterward had a lesson in their house with a joven, Agustín. His family are less actives, but are coming back to the church. But, his mom doesn´t want us in her house. We don´t really know why. But Agustín does. The lesson went really well and we watched some Mormon Messages. After that, a soccer game between Argentina and Chile started and nobody let us in. So, we did weekly planning.

Sunday was the confirmación of Karen. She was so excited! It was great! The only sad note from Sunday was that Jorge didn´t come to the church. After his surgery he´s been a bit tender. He got sick and couldn´t come. We found two jovenes as well yesterday. They were a reference and we´re hoping that they can progress! They´re great kids. Great kids. Also, Hermana Romeril called me. She was really sad. She told me that she has to go home. Early. She has gotten arthritis in her foot and can barely walk. So, they´re sending her home to get it sorted out. She doesn´t want to go. It´s really hard when a missionary has to go home early. She worked really hard while she was here. Every day she gave her best. But, for some reason, she got this disease. Sometimes we don´t know why things happen. We just know that we´re in God´s hands.

Today was P-day and we went to Córdoba to play bowling. It was fun! But guess what? We were in Hermana Romeril´s area, so she met us there. I saw her before she left!! It was good to see her again. She was such an amazing trainer and influence in my life. I am forever grateful for her.

Anyway, I hope that you all have a fantasmagorical week and remember who is by your side--who is fighting with you. As one of my brothers said in his weekly letters home from his mission: Keep on keepin´ on!

I love you!!!