October 28, 2013

Mom,

Thank you for your letter. I'm glad that everyone is doing well. I have been praying for you all individually and I'm not surprised to see that, yet again, the Lord has answered my prayers. 

I was thinking this week about a question that came into my mind: "Is there anyone in this world that isn't blessed?" Simply, is there anyone who missed the blessing train? Is there anyone with whom I talk that I can´t explain to them the ways that they've been blessed? I was thinking, and I decided that, no. There is no one that isn't blessed. The most persecuted and hated person in the world, the poorest and sickest, is blessed beyond imagination, because we have Christ. Christ is real, and because of that, His Atonement is real. If His Atonement is real, we can overcome all sickness and pain, all depression and heartache, all challenge and sin. We can, throughout the course of our lives, overcome these things, and as we consciously and actively work to do so, in the process we will come to know Christ. 

I've been thinking a lot about how we need our challenges to teach us things. That, even though some trails we face may seem unfair, and often times unbearable, they always pass, and we are always stronger afterward. For the last two months, I've been pretending in my letters that this is easy hahaha, I'm blowing my cover today to tell you that that is not the case. Every missionary goes into his mission knowing it will be hard, but before you arrive, you don't have the slightest idea. It's something you can really only understand if you have or are serving a mission. But it has to be hard! We, as missionaries will only learn superficial things if it were easy the whole two years. And we can't bear sincere, honest testimony of the Atonement of Christ, we cannot honestly tell people that we believe that He overcame everything for us, if we are not broken. We need to need the Atonement in order to preach of its reality. And if it´s hard, you know you´re doing something right. 

I'm learning so much! I wish I could explain every detail of it to you, but much of what I'm learning, you guys will have to hear about throughout the course of our lives together, after my mission. Dad, in three years, you need to be friends with my mission president. Nuff said. I learned the other day that the service I'm giving right now will bless millions. I am blessing millions of people. That is why they call being a part of the work of salvation a privilege. I am blessing you all, all the people I love, all the people I have left for this amount of time, I'm blessing the people I teach directly, but I'm also blessing their families, the people we baptize, we bless them, but we also bless their future spouses, because they will be so happy with that person thanks to the fact that they are a member of the Church. We are blessing other missionaries and many members here, we are blessing our future wives and our kids, because we are learning things that will be invaluable to them and their kids, and we are blessing ourselves. Our service here echoes in the eternities, that is why it is a blessing to be here. 

Okay, gotta finish up soon. Here are some things I thought of during the week:

- There is a drink here called Karpil, its a brand, its just fruit juice with milk, but it is in a little bag and you bite the corner and drink out of the hole you bit. Its fun, and its delicious. 

- I figured out that my haircut at home costs ten times as much as it does here. 

- I spent some time with my mission mom for like two hours this week, which will likely be the only time in my mission that I´m alone with a woman haha, and she told me that my Spanish is literally a miracle. Many many people tell me that I speak very well, and the fact that I've only been here two months is a miracle. The language is going very well, and when people tell me that, my confidence boosts and for some reason, I speak even better. I love Spanish, and I love to talk with people. I love people haha. I can talk about pretty much anything now. I'm not fluent, but define fluent. I can express myself and understand other people, aaaaaalmost fully. 

- The temple president, who is ending his mission this week, spoke at stake conference this weekend. His name is President Craig. I went up to him afterward to ask if he knows the Harrisons, and before I had time to finish my sentence, he said, "Very well!" They were in Cochabamba with him while he served there. Also, there is an elder in my district who´s ward they serve in. He knows them well.

- There are literally no driving rules here, and its insanely scary and thrilling at the same time. 

- I dream in Spanish now! My companion told me I even speak out loud in my sleep in spanish haha

- The President told me personally that I've connected the Spirit with the Spanish language, and that is why I can express myself well

That´s all for today. I love you all so much!

Elder Wilkinson