Ryan has asked that I share his letters to our parents on the blog, which is why it's addressed to Mom. But it's for everyone to read! If you'd like to send Elder Wilkinson a letter or email, you can find his contact info here.
Hey mom,
Thanks for mailing me! I did not expect to see so many messages in my mail today, but I think you sent me two! I may be wrong but that is what I thought I saw haha, that is so good to hear about the Heslops! What wonderful news. [They had a baby] My P Day is Tuesday, just so you know, so that is when i will write to you for the next six weeks.
Things are so crazy here. I had no idea it would be so busy! I will take a picture of my horario (schedule) and send it to you sometime, there is literally not a free minute in the day haha, every hour for my next five weeks or so are planned out. Because its been so busy, i feel like I've been here for weeks. Everyone is a friend here, which i love. me and Elder Bradshaw are rooming with four other missionaries, all from Peru, who don't speak English. well, one of them does, but we try not to use English haha, and its crazy because we are all such good friends despite the language. We have a great time and spend a ton of time laughing which is so cool because we can at least speak enough to make jokes and make fun of each other haha, but there are so many rules. Holy cooooooow there are so many rules, but me and elder Bradshaw have set some awesome goals, and one of them is to be 100 percent obedient always, with exactness, even if we don't understand why some rules exist. that is what faith is all about and we feel like God is just seeing if we will obey, He is seeing if He can trust us, and He absolutely can.
I love futbol (soccer) already, we play it during physical activity every day. we have been learning a lot of Spanish and talking to a lot of people in Spanish, but we have also been learning how to be effective missionaries, and how to approach people, and how to help them feel the spirit. yesterday we taught a mock investigator, who was actually our teacher, Hermano Bejar. he was playing the part of a guy named Lester and we had to knock on his fake door, talk to him, set up an appointment for later, then later he let us into his house, so to speak, and we got to talk to him for a little bit and them teach him some stuff. i wish i could say it went well, but it absolutely did not haha. it was so hard, and there were moments where me and my companion both were just silent because we didn't know what to do and we don't know Spanish haha.
I gained a testimony of prayer shortly before leaving for my mission, and im glad i did, because that is how i can ask from help from God, and I know that it works, because I pray like 20 times a day, almost always on my knees asking for His help (in Spanish, its awesome). I am lucky that I had the language training prior to coming out here, or I would really be in deep water. Mom, I am gonna need you to send me some stuff, but I forgot what it was and i left the list of things in my dorm, so i will be sure to ask you next week. i hope everything is going great there.
I don't have a ton of time to write, but if you wanna ask specific questions in your responses to my letter, or if you are wondering specific things, feel free to ask, because I don't know what to blab about. the food is really good most of the time. and its really different, but I eat a ton. two of our Latino roommates are named Elder Diaz and Elder Muñoz, and we love them so much haha, they are seriously hilarious, and Elder Muñoz is the one who speaks English. When we come to Peru and Bolivia, we will have to meet up with them. Elder Diaz is a recent convert who decided to serve a mission. Today was our first time leaving the campus, and we went to the temple for a session. It was soooo special, and there were parts of the session where I had to speak in Spanish which was fun. After that session, which was with my whole district, we went shopping at a big Walmartish store called Metro, in La Molina. We are in the rich part of Lima, which is weird because its still pretty ghetto compared to where I am from. All the Latinos call us Gringos and before I came I thought that was supposed to be offensive but I guess its not haha, I actually love it, we always end up calling Latinos gringos and they call us Latinos haha.
There is a fruit here called granadilla, which may or may not be passion fruit, that is so dang weird. it looks like the offspring of an alien, imagine putting that in your mouth haha. but it tastes really good, i just cant handle the texture. its time for me to go! Thanks for mailing me mom! I love you everyone!
Elder Ryan Wilkinson
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