Full of Miracles

Hola mis seres queridos! Cómo andan?

This was a really good week! Amazing and difficult at the same time. 

Bueno, we saw a lot of miracles this week. It was amazing! 

So, we saw Maxi and before he told us that he wanted to be baptized. He still wants to be baptized, but he wants his dad to do it in Utah (because that's where his dad got baptized and his dad is convinced that the church is much better in Utah. He doesn't like the church here, but it's because

he hasn't really tried. I've lived in Utah my whole life and I can tell you that the church is the same. It's just that there are so many members over there that it seems different). Up in your neck of the woods. But, we tried to explain that his dad could do it here and that it'd be good that his friends and family could be there. We're still waiting for his decision.

Damian and Eliana are doing well. Still progressing and planning their wedding. On Saturday Damian finally prayed with us!!!! Finally!!!!!

Bueno, the miracles!

On Tuesday, we went to find an investigator that the minis had been teaching. We got there and she let us in and gave us juice. Her name is Yesica (Jessica). We got talking and she started telling us everything about her life. Her struggles, her hopes. It was amazing! We gave her a Book of Mormon and we told her that Christ is the only one that understands her and that could make everything better. We invited her to be baptized and she accepted!!!!! She's great!

As we were leaving, we met her nephew, Lautaro. We went on Thursday to visit Yesica, but she wasn't there. So we visited Lautaro. He's 15 and is bullied in school. He's a sweet kid. We also invited him to be baptized and he accepted!!!

On Friday, we were going to an appointment that we had, but they weren't there. So, we decided to visit a recent convert that lives nearby. Her name is Rosa. We went and talked a bit about genealogy and I could tell she wasn't doing to well. I asked her how she was and she started crying. She said that she really missed her son, who is on a mission, and that things weren't all good with her husband. Being a recent convert, it's hard to understand everything. It's hard for anyone to have a child in the mission. We listened and assured her that she is not alone. We weren't planning on going, but we felt that we needed to. That wasn't us. That was God. We saw her on Sunday and she said that she was feeling a lot better and that she appreciated our visit. :)

On Thursday, we went to visit a less active girl named Marisol (18 years old). We got there and she wasn't very warm. She was very stony faced and inexpressive. She didn't want to hear anything about the church. We somehow changed the topic and she completely changed. We gained her confidence somehow. By the end she was laughing and making jokes with us. She wants me to teach her English, so we're going to start helping her with that.

On Saturday night, we took a member with us, Angel, and went contacting in an area that he knows well. It was amazing! He told us which house to contact and in every one of those houses, they listened to us. The last house we contacted lived a woman whose daughter had listened to the missionaries and had passed away soon thereafter. The woman is still quite distraught and it is very difficult for her. The spirit was so strong. We testified of the Plan of Salvation and by the end, we were all in tears. It was amazing! 

This week I felt so led by the Spirit! It's amazing to see how it guides us. I know that if we ask, the Lord will bless us. If we knock, it shall be opened unto us. 

I hope that you all have a great week this week! I love you all so much!!!!

Love from,

Hermana Micaela Wilson

-

Lots of Goodbyes

Hola todos! Cómo andan? Espero que estén bien!!!!!

This week was kind of crazy. The last week of Hermana Dennis and the minis. It was quite sad, actually. I´m going to miss them...

On Monday we had to work because on Tuesday we had Consejo de Líderes. On Monday, I stayed with Hermana Dennis and I helped her with her last letter to Presidente. 

Tuesday we had Consejo. I love Consejo so much!!! It´s so much fun!!! Hermana Dennis had to say goodbye to the missionaries. Lots of goodbyes this week.

Wednesday we went to the temple! I love the temple. What a blessing it is to have a temple here in Córdoba! Then Hermana Dennis had her last interview with Presidente.

Thursday we had zone meeting in Córdoba. Again, more goodbyes.

We went to see lots of members this week so that the other three could say goodbye. Macarena is doing a lot better, although she is still with this kid. She has a lot of hope that he´ll get baptized and stay firm. We´re worried though because it didn´t work out too well last time...

Antonella is back to her old self. Thank goodness!!! We were realived to see that. We were really worried about her. Damian was sad though. We weren´t able to visit them very much this week and he was slightly offended. He didn´t go to church yesterday. Antonella did. She even went in a skirt, even though she hates skirts. :)

We are also teaching a little boy named Maxi. He is the half brother of a recent convert. He has lots of family that are members, he´s just never wanted to get baptized. We had a lesson with him on Thursday. We were talking about baptism, why we get baptized and everything and we asked him if he had prayed about whether or not he should be baptized. He said he had. Here is how the conversation went:

"Did you pray about getting baptized?"

"Yes"

"And how did you feel?"

"Weird"

"What kind of weird? Can you explain it?"

"It's like a pressure in my chest."

"A good pressure or a bad one?"

"Good."

"Do you feel it when you go to church?"

"Yes."

"And do you like going to church?"

"Yes."

"Why do you like going to church?"

"Because when I started going, I felt good and like I should keep going."

"So what do you think God is trying to tell you when you get that feeling after praying?"

"That I should get baptized."

We were so excited!!! He's listened to a lot of missionaries but he never wanted to get baptized. Our goal is that he gets baptized this weekend. He said that he probably would. He just wanted to talk to some people first. He is such a good kid! Really sweet and very well behaved! We are so excited for him! But in that lesson, I just felt so led by the Spirit. There was one moment where I was going to ask one question and I changed in the middle and asked a completely different question. After asking the question I thought where did that come from? That wasn't me. :) We are really excited!

Yesterday, Hermana Dennis' parents came to pick her up from her mission. It was hard to see her parents. They all started crying. It was beautiful to see their reaction. After a year and a half, reunited again. They stayed with us all day and there was a party for her in the afternoon. It was really amazing. Really sad to have to say goodbye. I was really sad to see her go. She was a good friend. 

Today we went to the terminal and the minis left and so did Hermana Dennis. I got my new companion. Her name is Hermana Medina and she is from Colombia. She is 20 years old and has 10 months in the mission. She is a sweetheart. I'm excited for this new adventure! It's gonna be great!

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

Love from,

Hermana Micaela Wilson

last exchange in Merlo

exchange in Merlo

Hola todos! Espero que hayan tenido una buena semana!
[Hello everybody! I hope you had a good week!]

This week was good. A little crazy, but good. Monday night, we got all ready to travel to Merlo to do our last exchange, but the bus was full. So we had to change everything and go on Tuesday night. All day Tuesday, we were writing reports on the hermanas and how they are doing. It takes quite a while. So we left on Tuesday night and got to Merlo the next morning. We had our last exchange of the transfer. It was really good. I like being a Sister Training Leader and being able to help the sisters out.

Thursday was pretty amazing. Okay, at first it was a bit crazy. Our bus to Carlos Paz was supposed to leave at 2 in the morning. But when we got to the terminal, they told us that the bus broke down and that we were going to have another one at 6:30. So, we got there at 6:40 freaking out thinking that we had missed it. But thank goodness it was late. We got back to Carlos Paz at 11 a.m. finally. We finished our reports on the hermanas (that we have to send to Presidente) when we got back.

At the Bishop's house

At night, we got a text from the elders telling us that Macarena (a recent convert we hadn't seen for a few weeks) was not doing so hot. We went immediately and found her at her house. She let us in and started to cry. She told us that she was smoking again. We got talking and she told us about her new boyfriend. She'd told me about him before telling me that she wanted to share the Gospel with him. She told us that now they were together and she was smoking and doing other things that she knew she shouldn't be doing. She also told us that he had looked up stuff about Joseph Smith on the Internet and that now she had doubts about the Gospel. We asked her if she was praying and reading the Book of Mormon and she said no. We talked a lot and finally she decided to start praying and reading again. It was amazing. We acted on that message and if we had gone one day later, it might have been too late. It was amazing. In the lesson, we all were crying. There came a point where I literally felt that what I was saying to Macarena weren't my words, but God's. I couldn't even tell you what I said. I do remember at one point begging her to stop doing the things that she knew she didn't have to do and to start reading and praying again. The Spirit was so strong. It reminded me of a talk by Brad Wilcox called His Grace is Sufficient. If you haven't read it, do it. Anyway, it was a beautiful experience. On Sunday she went to church and said that she was doing a lot better. :)

Pellegri Family

Tomi

Okay. So this part was hard. Antonella, Damian y Eliana. We went to go visit them and they weren't doing too great. We started talking to Antonella and she didn't want anything to do with us. She didn't even want to look us in the eyes. She told us that she didn't want to go to church ever again and that she was going to give us back her Book of Mormon. We talked to her for a while and she just didn't want it. We were talking with Damián and he also said he never wanted to go back. We asked him why and he told us that he didn't like that we were pressuring him so much to get married and baptized. He said that he was trying to do it, he just couldn't make ends meet fast enough. We felt horrible. He didn't want to because of us. Because we pushed him too far. We talked for a while and he said that it's not that he doesn't want to see us again, it's just that he wanted us to back off a bit. I understand. I wouldn't have liked that either. Eliana was just dandy. While all this was going down Antonella wrote a note to Hermana Obregón saying that she wanted to talk to her. They went off to the side to talk. After they talked, Antonella was doing better. She just has some problems that we'll just have to work through. It was kind of an emotional wreck, though.

Macarena's dad's baptism

So yeah. Also, this is Hermana Dennis' last week in the mission and the minis are leaving too. So basically I'm left alone with a new companion to try and figure life out again. I'm kind of stressed.

Anyway, I hope you all have a great week! Make every day count! I love you all!!!

Love from,

Hermana Micaela Wilson

This is His work.

sunset from the pension

Hola a todos!

Espero que hayan tenido una muy buena semana!

[Hi all! I hope you had a great week !]

This week was really good. :) We were able to work a lot even though we didn´t get the results we wanted. It was still good. 

Damian and Eliana did not get married or baptized this week. We´ve been working really hard with them. We went to the registro civil [civil registry] with them (sorry, I don´t know what it´s called in English) but they can´t afford it right now. They also want it to be a special occasion so they want to buy clothes and rings and all that jazz. I understand why it´s hard for the other hermanas because they may not be here. They´re still going, though, and they want to get married. They´re going to see what they can do so that they can do it by the end of the transfer.

Antonella is doing really well. We went on Tuesday to teach her and Damian and Eliana about the Restoration. We brought our little DVD player to show the movie. It was crazy! We first couldn´t plug it in (because it can´t hold a charge) and then you couldn´t hear, and there was one problem after another. So we put on the subtitles and called it good. We watched until right after the First Vision and turned it off. We asked what they were able to understand and Damian and Eliana didn´t get hardly anything, but Antonella understood. She even quoted James 1:5 almost word for word. It was amazing to see how much she can learn and understand now that she has the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was really cool. Even though the lesson didn´t go too well, it did for her.

Also it was Antonella´s birthday on Thursday. So on Saturday she invited us and the elders and some members over to celebrate. It was really sweet of her. While we were there, her little sister, Fernanda asked me for a Book of Mormon. She said she wanted to read it and that she wants to be baptized. It was a really special moment. In the midst of all the commotion of the party, she wanted a Book of Mormon. She´s a sweetheart.

We are also teaching María (the mother of a recent convert). She wants to get baptized but more because she believes that it will heal her. We´ve talked a lot about the real meaning and she´s beginning to understand. She also thought that all the churches were the same, but once we taught her the Restoration she began to understand that they can´t all be the same. We couldn´t find her this week and she didn´t come to church. It´s a bit hard because she´s older and depends on other people to get around.

We went on an exchange in Saldán and I got to go with Hermana Lopez. I was in her district when I was in Bell Ville so it was good to see her again and work with her. She´s a good friend. I was able to talk to her and help her with some of the problems she was having. I really like being a Sister Training Leader. I feel like not only can I help my investigators, but the sisters as well. Everyone needs to be invited to ¨come unto Christ.¨

Anyway, I´ve been thinking a lot this last week as I approach my year mark in this time I´ve had in Argentina. It´s been hard. I´ve had some hard times. I´ve had my breakdowns and reached my breaking points, but it has been the most beautiful and rewarding thing I have ever done in my life. I, personally, have grown. I have come closer to my Father in Heaven. I have been able to meet people and touch lives. I have seen the eternities change for the better. I have seen what the Gospel does in one´s life. I have seen the light be turned on in one´s eyes. I have worked side by side with the Spirit and have been an instrument in God´s hands. What a marvelous and miraculous time this has been. I am sad that the time has gone by so fast. I thank God every day for this wonderful opportunity.

Thank you all so much for your love and support. I love you all so much and I hope that you have a great week! As one of my brothers always said, Keep on keepin on!

Love from,

Hermana Micaela Wilson

I got burned the other day in the sun. These are my tan lines now.

P.S.

I can´t believe I totally forgot the best thing about the week! We had a world-wide mission broadcast. All of the missionaries in all the world watched this. It was great! The last time they did it is when Preach My Gospel came out so we were all on tenterhooks but nothing like that came out. :) It was still amazing though! We got to hear the general authorities talk about principles in Preach My Gospel. My favorite part was about following the Spirit. Elder Bednar was talking and one part that really hit me was this: He said that the Holy Ghost is not a tool that we have, but rather that we are the tool or the instrument in the hands of the Holy Ghost. I really liked this because I had been feeling really stressed and overwhelmed with the work feeling like I had to do everything. That Monday my mom had written me telling me that this isn´t my work. It is the Lord´s work. It hit me really hard when Elder Bednar was speaking because it´s just that. I am not the one who has to make people convert to the Gospel. I have to be worthy to have the Spirit but it is the Spirit who testifies and teaches. And the investigators have to let the Spirit into their hearts. It changed how I think about the work. I needn´t be so stressed. As long as I am doing my part and doing the best I can, that´s good enough. I realized, this is God´s work. And because it´s His work, it´ll work out the way He wants it to.

I also read His Grace is Sufficient this week by Brad Wilcox and I would invite all of you to read it. It´s pretty amazing!

Anyway, have a great week!!!

Love from,

Hermana Micaela Wilson

Bautismo de Antonella

Hola todos!

This week was really good! Sorry, today I don´t have a lot of time. We have a P-day as a zone so we have to travel. :)

This week was really good! We were here in Carlos Paz on Tuesday and Wednesday and then we had to leave for an exchange for two days. In the days we were in Carlos Paz, we had to do some major planning and it was crazy! But we were able to talk to Antonella before leaving. We went with a member to help us help her feel comfortable in the ward and when we got there Antonella wasn't doing so hot. She started crying and didn't want to talk. So Hermana Obregón went and talked to her (Antonella trusts her the most) and while they were talking Damian came out and we could tell he was struggling too. He started talking about just leaving his family instead of getting married. He said it would be easier. He too started to cry. Hermana Dennis and I started whipping out scriptures and experiences to share. It was incredible. I know that that was not me in that moment. I can't even remember what we shared or said. It was amazing. I felt guided so closely by the Lord. Afterward, Damian said he was feeling much better. He was still crying, but we could tell that he was better. Antonella and Hermana Obregón joined us shortly and we talked about her baptism and our member (we bring a member and the investigators fall apart. Oh well, it's the work 😉) shared a very powerful testimony about her baptism. So, at the end, it all went well.

Hermana Dennis and I then had to travel to Santa Rosa to do an exchange. We were there in Santa Rosa for two days because there are now four hermanas there. The exchanges went really well and we were able to find a lot of people! I really like doing exchanges! It's fun to be with the hermanas and be able to help them. I'm really grateful for this opportunity.

Then on Saturday, we got back and had to get the baptism all ready. We cleaned and filled the font and got everything all ready. The Young Women had an activity that morning and had invited Antonella. She went! So when she got back, she got baptized! Damian, Eliana, Antonella's mom, Fernanda, and Abel were all there too! It was a beautiful service! Antonella said that when she got baptized, she had her eyes closed, but she felt as though there was a light that turned on. It made me think of the 'light in their eyes' that many non-members have mencioned. She has it now. On Sunday, she was confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It was beautiful!

Anyway, I'm doing really well here. We have been extremely blessed!

I hope you all have a great week!!!! I love you all so much!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love from,

Hermana Micaela Wilson

Consejo de Lideres

Hola hola hola!

This week was good. I can't believe that another week as passed. It's going by so quickly.

On Tuesday, we went to La Falda to work with Hermana Linares and Hermana Jaramillo. Two of my old companions. Go figure. It was great to work with them, although I felt bad because they weren't getting along too well. Because I know both of them, I tried to help the best I could. But it was a great day and it was fun to be with them again.

Hermanas Dennis, Linares. Jaramillo, and Wilson in La Falda

We've been working really hard with Antonella, Damian and Eliana. They are doing great! Antonella is preparing for her baptism this weekend and is really excited! We got permission from her mom too!!! She's doing well with her goals to stop smoking and so we are really excited.

Damien, Eliana & Bianca

Antonella also invited us to have a merienda (mid-day meal/snack thing) and she made a bunch of food. It was so sweet of her! We talked about families that day and invited, again, to all of them to pray to know if this is the true church. (Because Eliana still hasn't prayed.) It was a really good lesson!

Merienda with Antonella and everyone

This Sunday we had Antonella, Damian, Eliana, Abel (Damian's dad), Fernanda (Antonella's little sister) and the little kids of Damian and Eliana in the church! It was amazing!!!!!!!!!!! We are so excited for them! What a miracle and blessing they have been!!!

whole caption on Sunday

We told Jorge and Johana that we couldn't keep visiting them if they weren't willing to progress. We told them that they had to come to church this last Sunday and if they didn't, we weren't going to be able to visit them anymore. That is always a hard talk. And they didn't come. So, we have to leave them. But it's only for a time. I am sure that in the future, the missionaries will see their record in the Area Book and look for them again. They are great people!

We are really struggling with finding more people. It's really hard with all the tourists. Carlos Paz is swarming with tourists. Everywhere you look, they are all tourists. Those that live here are working almost 24/7 with about 2-3 jobs. It's crazy! 

Consejo di Lideras

Yesterday, we had Consejo de Líderes where all the zone leaders and STLs go to have a training session from Presidente and the assistants. I love los consejos de líderes! Also, this time Hermana Mikolajcik and Hermana Nordfelt were there. Two of my really good friends here on the mission! It was a great day!!!

Anyway, all is going well here. I hope you all have a great week!!! I love you all so much!!!

Love from,

Hermana Micaela Wilson

Happy New Year!

Here´s a picture of the four of us. Me with Hermana Montenegro. In back Hermana Dennis with Hermana Obregón.

Hola mis seres queridos! Espero que disfrutaran su Año Nuevo y que tuvieran una muy buena semana!

 [Hello my loved ones ! I hope you enjoyed your New Year and had a very good week !]

This week felt like three wrapped in one. 

My mini´s name is Hermana Montenegro. She´s from Saldán and is 18 years old. 

It was interesting this week trying to get everything worked out with four of us. We had lots of planning sessions and weren´t able to work as much because of it. I´m hoping that as time goes by, things calm down and become easier. 

As for investigators...

Jorge and Johana. We went to visit them and Johana really wants to progress, but she´s not going to do anything until her husband does something. They also needed to get married. The other hermanas went and they found Jorge alone. They talked very frankly with him and laid everything straight. They told him that he needed to make a commitment to progress, or we were going to stop visiting them. They invited him to church and said that he had to go or we weren´t going back. They didn´t go to church.

It´s always really sad to have to drop investigators. You grow to love them and want the best for them and you know that what´s best is the Gospel. They just refuse to accept the only thing in the world that could truly make them happy. 

We couldn´t get an appointment with Helena this week so we don´t know how she´s doing. She also didn´t go to church, though. We are thinking seriously about dropping her too...

Antonella, Damian y Eliana are doing great! (Eliana is Damian´s wife but they´re not married.) We told Damian that in order to be baptized, he had to get married. We encouraged him to propose on New Year´s at midnight. And he did it! They all came to church yesterday too, in spite of the fact that it rained and we all got wet! Their baptismal date is the 16 of January. But, Damian has to stop smoking and drinking. Also, on the way to church, we found out that Antonella smokes and does drugs. We were so sad. She explained a bit of her past and it is so tragic. She really want to quit, though, and she said she´ll do whatever it takes. She said she wants to be baptized to be able to start over again. She´s a sweetheart.

Special experience: On Friday, we were all together and we were going to an appointment. But, the person wasn´t there. So we decided to do some contacts. The people we´d contacted before weren´t home and I was kind of frustrated. I turned around and saw a woman sitting on the side of the road. She made eye contact with me so I walked over and gave her a pass-along card. We started talking and she said towards the end that we´d gotten there at the perfect moment. She said that she was feeling horrible and that she was thinking about packing up her stuff and leaving tomorrow. She said that no one would notice. She was going to leave her 13-year-old daughter. But us going and talking to her was a sign that God loved her and that someone was thinking of her. I love it when we have experiences like that. It was a testimony to me that we are God´s hands here. We are doing His work. All we have to do is open our mouths and do it. 

Things have been interesting with the minis. My mini is pretty chill and I´m really grateful. She´s the youngest in her family, too, and she always tells me stories about her nieces and nephews. It´s great because we have that in common. She´s pretty great! 

I think I´m just overly stressed. I went from one transfer being equally matched with my companion to having to do everything again. More than everything because she didn´t go to the MTC. I just want it to be a good experience but at the same time, I have to show her what it´s really like. So I hope it goes well.

We spent New Year´s Eve at a member´s house. We ate tacos and we got to stay up till 12:30. When we got home, the city had a big firework display for 15 minutes! We went up onto the roof to watch. It was really fun!

Anyway, I hope you all are doing well! I love you all so much!!!!!!! Have a great week!!!!

Love from,

Hermana Micaela Wilson