Monday, June 27, 2016

Leila got baptized!


Hola a todos!!! 
This week was good. I don´t understand why time has to fly by so fast though... Está bien. 

We had to go to Córdoba on Wednesday. My poor companion. She got here Monday morning and Tuesday night we had to travel. We had to go to do some paperwork for my ID. Literally I just had to sign three papers. Then we came back. But the mission paid for lunch! We had McDonald´s! When we were walking down the stairs though, I totally tripped (as usual). We were in a mall so there were lots of people. I pulled it off pretty well though. :) jaja


Anyway. Good news! Leila got baptized yesterday!!!!! It was crazy! Saturday and Sunday it was raining so we were really worried about people going to church. Leila didn´t go. But we received permission and we went and got her and took her to the church so she could be baptized. I never met a person that wanted to get baptized so badly. We were worried she wouldn´t want to after what happened the last time, but she did. So this time, the elders were baptizing too. We thought it would be good for her to see other baptisms because of her fear. She was fine until she got in the water. Then her fear got a hold of her again. The elder said the prayer and she didn´t want to cover her nose. He could tell she was about to freak out again so he basically dunked her. Her arms were flailing a bit so he had to go under the water a bit too. It looked really...OK, I´m not sure how to describe it. If someone didn´t know that she really did want to get baptized would have questioned our motives. But afterward, Leila asked me ¨Am I baptized now?¨ Sweet thing. 


We tried time and again to find Maria, Adrian and Marcelo. They were never home. But we´re going to keep trying!!!!! We know that they can progress more!

We met with Cristina (the woman we contacted that thanked us for the peace she felt with us). We taught the Plan of Salvation. She really liked it. She really wants to be with her daughter again. We invited her to be baptized so that she can get there, but she said she needed time to think and pray. Which is fine! But the Spirit was so strong!!! I really believe that her daughter has already received the Gospel on the other side and now wants her mom to receive it too. It was beautiful!
  

It was a good week! My companion is teaching me Portuguese as well so we´re mixing the three languages. It´s rather fun! 

Anyway, I hope you have a great week!!! I love you!!!!

Love from,

Hermana Micaela Wilson 

Monday, June 20, 2016

"We found a miracle!"

Micaela with Presidente y Hermana Alliaud
Hola todos! Espero que hayan tenido una buena semana!!
 [Hello everyone! I hope you had a good week !!]

This week was good. Sad. But good. 

Ok. A ver. [Let's see.]

Bueno, we found a miracle!!!!! So, about a month ago, we were on our way to lunch when a man in a truck stopped us and asked for the direction of the church and he left. Bueno, this week we were contacting former investigators when a man came outside. It was him! We didn´t even know that he lived there! We started talking and he said that he wants to find the church that is closest to Christ. He wants to be there, and he wants his family to be there. He has lots of questions. He told us that he was going to go last Sunday, but he slept in by accident. He said that he was going to go yesterday, but he didn´t make it. He said that he wanted to be able to go for the whole time, and because it was Father´s Day, he wasn´t sure if he´d be able to. But, we invited him to be baptized and he accepted!!! We´re hoping that he can progress!!!

Micaela and Leila
Leila. Leila. Leila. 
Bueno, Leila was going to be baptized yesterday. She didn´t get baptized. It was a mess. Ok, so they went to church, everything´s good. We had to have the baptism in a different church because we didn´t have gas to heat the water. We asked the elders if they could fill the font and they said they couldn´t. So we got to the church after lunch at about 4. It takes about 4 hours to fill the font with hot water and the baptism was at 5. I was really stressed. Then we had to wait another 30 minutes for the elders to get the keys to us. When we got in there, the font was filled! I had misunderstood the elders and they had filled it. Bueno, the members were there and Leila got there. She changed and everything was ready. The service was really beautiful. But, when it came time to be baptized, she didn´t want to go in all the way. She´s afraid of the water and we didn´t know that. We tried everything to convince her, but she wouldn´t. She is also extremely shy. So yeah. That was sad. 
I know she´ll get baptized afterward. When we were in the car going home, she looked at me with these huge eyes. We couldn´t say anything, but I know that she wants to do it. She´s just scared. It was so sad. She was afraid of going all the way under, but she also didn´t want to leave the font. She wanted to get baptized. When she left, she was asking her mom if she got baptized or not. It was heartbreaking. 

the old district
Anyway, we also had transfers! Hermana Larsen went to San Francisco in Córdoba and Hermana Barbosa from Brazil is here with me now! She was in my district in Bell Ville. I saw her when she started the mission and now she´s gonna kill me. :)

the majority of the hermanas in the mission
Y bueno. It was an emotional roller coaster yesterday. I also got sick last night, so my new companion came and I was a mess. I´m feeling better now, but this morning was rough. :)

I hope you all know how much I love you!!! Have a great week!!!

Love from,
Hermana Micaela Wilson

Micaela and Teresita

Friday, June 17, 2016

Reflections

Romina's family at her daughter's baptism

Hola hola hola!!!!! Cómo están todos? 

This week was really good!!!!

Bueno, we went to visit María y Adrian. Adrian wasn´t there so we talked for a little bit with their kids and Maria. They are soooo busy. It's ridiculous. Their son leaves at 7 in the morning and doesn't get home till 10 and stays up till 1 or 2 in the morning doing homework. The parents both work and are hardly ever home. But Maria told us that they're both reading the Book of Mormon. They really like it! They want to meet with us, but they don't know how to find the time. Also, they keep getting sick, so every time there's time, they're sick. Ugh. They're awesome and we just want to be able to help them!

We also had a Family Home Evening with a recent convert, Ramiro, and his family. His dad is less-active and the dad participated the whole time. He even made us pizza. Amazing pizza, I might add. :) It was a little miracle for us!!

On Friday, the hermana lideres came for our intercambio. It's funny because I was their hermana lider for both of them. And now they're mine. :) I went with Hermana Linares. It was a really good day! It was good to work with her again. She helped me remember a lot of things and she also cleared up some doubts I'd had. It was great!!

Bueno, next Sunday, WE HAVE A BAPTISM!!!! Her name is Leila Nasrallah and is 8 years old. Her grandma and brother are members (less-actives) and the first time we went, they said that we needed to baptize Leila. We were like, Ok, perfect! They went to church this Sunday and Leila is really excited for her baptism! 

Also, on Saturday, the stake had asked us to have a meeting with the leaders of the ward and that we would be teaching. Yeah, that was a big load. But it ended well. We talked about what the ward needed and we're going to have another meeting about what we can do to help. We also had to teach on Sunday during Sunday School. It was really good, though. We just hope it helps!

Anyway, the best thing was yesterday. We got together as a whole mission to say goodbye to Presidente y Hermana Alliaud. It was really sad, actually. I was sitting on the stand (because I was part of the musical numbers), and was looking out at the faces of the missionaries thinking about every one of them. I knew the majority of them. It's amazing to think back and reflect on what has happened. I've talked a lot with my companion, too, about how things have changed. In me. How I've grown. What I've learned. It was really hard to say goodbye to Presidente y Hermana Alliaud. Really, they're like our parents here. I love them SO much! I was really worried that I would come here to La Rioja and never see some people again (because it's 6 hours away from Cordoba). It was my chance to say goodbye to everyone, too. I remember sitting down and wanting to just bawl. I love this life. I love the mission. It has been the best thing I have ever done. I don't want it to end. Everything that has happened. It's been amazing. Extremely hard, and extraordinarily amazing! I know it can't go on forever. But I don't want this dream to end. What an amazing privilege to be here. 

I hope you know how much I love you all. Take advantage of every day. Because you'll never get it back. Aprovechen cada momento. Amen cada día. No dejen algo por mañana que podrían hacer hoy. Hoy es el día. Ahora es el tiempo. Keep on keepin on!

[Seize every moment. Amen every day. Do not leave anything for tomorrow they could do today. Today is the day. Now is the time.]

Love from,

Hermana Micaela Wilson

From Micaela's letter to her mom:

Bueno, I don't think I've ever told you about the people in my old areas who have gotten baptized. On Sunday, Jennifer and Milagros (from Carlos Paz) got baptized!!!! I am so happy!!!!! We knew they were going to get baptized!!!!! Also from my other areas, in Bell Ville, Guadalupe, Ludmila and Juan got baptized! From Jesus Maria, Miguel Gil got baptized! It's been amazing to be able to hear about all of them! Also, Romina (from Bell Ville, my convert) called me to tell me that her youngest daughter got baptized a couple weeks ago. Her husband, Alejandro, baptized her. It's amazing to hear about these things. Even though I wasn't there, it's amazing to see the impact. 






Monday, June 6, 2016

"If you give everything you can every day, you will never have regrets."


Hola mis queridos!!!!!
[Hello my dears]

Esta semana fue buena. El tiempo se va tan rápido!!!!!!!!!!!!
[This week was good. Times goes so fast.]

Ok, so everything is now a jumble in my head because time passes way too fast now. It´s crazy!

María and Adrian. Ah. Yep. We got to talk with Adrian briefly and he said that he believes that what we´ve taught him is true. Their problem is time. They are so stretched for time. So on Sunday, we left at 7a.m. to go get them. We got there at 7:45 (we walked quite quickly) and Adrian told us that their daughter was sick and that they weren´t going to be able to go. :( So then we walked to the church (in the other direction) and got there just on time at 9 a.m. Rather discouraging.

Milagros, Ezequiel and Agustina. They really like what we teach. We tried to talk to their parents, but they were never there. 

But we had an awesome lesson with a recent convert, Pablo. He had had the lessons 6 years ago and was about to get baptized, but he decided last minute not to do it. Then, about a month ago, he showed up one Saturday at the church and told the elders he wanted to be baptized. So they did an interview and he got baptized the next day. (The elders were sad because Pablo belongs to our area/ward and not theirs.) He is great! He just had lots of really good questions and is excited to keep progressing! He also shared his testimony yesterday at church! 

Also, we had a neat experience. We were walking back to the pension and I was telling my comp a story when all of a sudden, she stops and starts talking to a woman outside her house who was cleaning her patio. I had to back track and we talked for a bit. When we left, the woman thanked us for the peace that she had been able to feel as we talked. We were there maybe 3 minutes, but she could feel the difference. We left there and my comp had tears in her eyes. She looked at me and we both said, Esto fue un milagro. It was beautiful!

Anyway, I hope you have a wonderful week!! I love you all so much!!!

Love from,
Hermana Micaela Wilson

P.S. Quotes of the week: Si tú lees las escrituras cada día de tu vida, jamás te apartarás de la Iglesia. (If you reed your scriptures every day, you shall never apart from the Church.)

Si tú das todo lo que puedas cada día, jamás te arrepentirás. (If you give everything you can every day, you will never have regrets.)