Hello everyone! All of the libraries were closed for memorial day, hence I'm writing today. Right now I'm in Douglas, a border town right next to Aguaprieta, Mexico. I'm with a brand new Elder, Elder Jenne. He's a really good new Elder with a lot of energy so it's been a fun day. Douglas is a fun little town. Anyways, since we are on exchanges and it's not pday I'm trying to waste as little time emailing as possible. I wrote a hand-written letter to the parents yesterday, to all of the rest of you: Sorry! You're getting another really short email this week.
But it sufficeth me to say that the Lord's work continues to go forward.
I have a really cool story about a miracle that happened yesterday with an investigator saying a prayer. Make sure to email me and remind me not to forget to tell you all about it next week.
Love you all!
- Elder Wilson
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
Not Much Today
Explanation: This non-letter came the day after Mother's Day, so we were all talked out. Ben sounded great on the phone. Revealed that he is not trunky but aware that things are winding down. Staying focused. He "owns the Mt. Franklin zone." Has been there 6 months. We'll see what tomorrow's transfers bring. We will let his fans know if there is a new address as soon as we get word. This note from him is mainly notable for its creative spelling of the common English word "hello."
Helloe everyone! I'm not quite sure what to say. I talked to the family last night, and I'm not sure that I have much else to add. It's still really hot out here, the zone had a pretty good week. We're getting transfer calls tonight and I'll write you tomorrow to let you know if I'm getting transfered and, if so, where to.
I love you all!
Elder Wilson
Helloe everyone! I'm not quite sure what to say. I talked to the family last night, and I'm not sure that I have much else to add. It's still really hot out here, the zone had a pretty good week. We're getting transfer calls tonight and I'll write you tomorrow to let you know if I'm getting transfered and, if so, where to.
I love you all!
Elder Wilson
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
"I didn't kill my wife." "I don't care."
Note from Ben's mom. This letter came while we were in Israel and so it didn't get posted to the website. It actually was written April 27th.
Hello everyone! It's been a good week this week. Veronica Varela got married on Saturday and she's getting baptized next Saturday. She invited my companion and I go to to the wedding and we did, along with the two missionaries in Chaparral. It was a Catholic wedding, held in the local Catholic church in Chaparral. The Priest was very kind and said hello to us. We got stared at, A LOT! Most people think we can't speak Spanish because we're white so a lot of people were making comments about us right next to us.
"What are the Mormons doing here? Are those Mormons? Aren't those the guys that knock doors? Can they be here?"
Anyways it was a good wedding despite all of the stares. We got a little worried when they were passing the bread and wine around to all of the married couples. Veronica politely said "No thanks" to the wine. She and the priest exchanged a few words afterwards but I couldn't tell what they said. Some people noticed and there were some whispers but it wasn't too big of a deal.
It was definitely a different experience, but I enjoyed it. Everyone was very polite to us. Catholic people are, for the most part, good people, and their religion is, I feel, mostly a good one. I get so frustrated with missionaries who are always going on about "How FALSE" other churches are and how horribly wrong their doctrines are. Granted, many of their doctrines aren't true, and sometimes they are WAY off, but I'm impressed, mostly, with how TRUE they are. It all depends on our perspective, I suppose. The first thing one missionary commented about upon leaving the wedding was how gross the life-sized statue of the crucified Jesus was, and another's first comment was about how beautiful the priest's words were when he personally adressed the couples (Five couples got married in the same service)
We ought not look for the falts in a religion any more than we ought to look for the falts in one another.
We met with the Bishop of our Spanish ward yesterday. For the first time in 6 months I feel like we're really on the same page as him so we're excited to see how the work in the Rio Grande ward will progress,and we got a new WML in 5th ward, Brother Bowden, who just got released from the Bishopric as well! So we're really excited about that. It's not every day that you get a member of the bishopric as your new ward mission leader.
So things are going well. It's hot. And it's going to get hotter. A lot hotter. Even so, everything is well here in sunny El Paso/ST/SP. I appreciate the love and support. Even though I didn't get any letters, I can feel the prayers. But letters would still be nice (hint hint).
Love,
Elder Ben Wilson
Hello everyone! It's been a good week this week. Veronica Varela got married on Saturday and she's getting baptized next Saturday. She invited my companion and I go to to the wedding and we did, along with the two missionaries in Chaparral. It was a Catholic wedding, held in the local Catholic church in Chaparral. The Priest was very kind and said hello to us. We got stared at, A LOT! Most people think we can't speak Spanish because we're white so a lot of people were making comments about us right next to us.
"What are the Mormons doing here? Are those Mormons? Aren't those the guys that knock doors? Can they be here?"
Anyways it was a good wedding despite all of the stares. We got a little worried when they were passing the bread and wine around to all of the married couples. Veronica politely said "No thanks" to the wine. She and the priest exchanged a few words afterwards but I couldn't tell what they said. Some people noticed and there were some whispers but it wasn't too big of a deal.
It was definitely a different experience, but I enjoyed it. Everyone was very polite to us. Catholic people are, for the most part, good people, and their religion is, I feel, mostly a good one. I get so frustrated with missionaries who are always going on about "How FALSE" other churches are and how horribly wrong their doctrines are. Granted, many of their doctrines aren't true, and sometimes they are WAY off, but I'm impressed, mostly, with how TRUE they are. It all depends on our perspective, I suppose. The first thing one missionary commented about upon leaving the wedding was how gross the life-sized statue of the crucified Jesus was, and another's first comment was about how beautiful the priest's words were when he personally adressed the couples (Five couples got married in the same service)
We ought not look for the falts in a religion any more than we ought to look for the falts in one another.
We met with the Bishop of our Spanish ward yesterday. For the first time in 6 months I feel like we're really on the same page as him so we're excited to see how the work in the Rio Grande ward will progress,and we got a new WML in 5th ward, Brother Bowden, who just got released from the Bishopric as well! So we're really excited about that. It's not every day that you get a member of the bishopric as your new ward mission leader.
So things are going well. It's hot. And it's going to get hotter. A lot hotter. Even so, everything is well here in sunny El Paso/ST/SP. I appreciate the love and support. Even though I didn't get any letters, I can feel the prayers. But letters would still be nice (hint hint).
Love,
Elder Ben Wilson
Puma! Not in front of the kids!
Hello everyone! It's been another good week here in sunny El Paso. We found quite a few new investigators and set some baptismal dates. We found a family of four on friday, and we set baptismal dates with them and they're coming to church this Sunday. The Rios family. Fernie, the Dad, is really popular with all of the kids in that part of Sunland park because he's really good at fixing bikes so they're always bringing their bikes over. So usually when we teach lessons over there, we teach them in their front yard and there's at least 3-4 random kids who listen who wandered in off the street. Yesterday there were more and we played a game of touch football in the street after the lesson. We got a lot of weird looks from passer-bys. I guess most of them find it weird to see Mormon missionaries in shirts and ties playing football with little Mexican kids in Sunland park. Upside: Every single one of the kids gave us their address and want us to teach their family.
We had a really cool experience last Monday evening. Tuesday we had a zone conference and we were assigned to train about church tours. Well we were going to give our zone a church tour and show them an example of how to do it, so we wanted to check out the Stake Center first to see what we were working with. Well we pull up Monday night at 8:30 and there's a random lady walking through the parking lot. We asked her if she wanted to see the inside of the church and she said "sure!". So we gave her a church tour on the spot. (We were kinda making it up as we went since we haven't spent much time in that building but it worked out.) It went really really well and she left there with a Book of Mormon, and a commitment to pray about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. She also wanted to refer us to all of her friends but didn't have their addresses. It was amazing to see how the Lord put her right in our path so that we could have that experience and be prepared for our training the next day.
Well that's about it for this week. I did get the letter sent from JFK. Thank you! And I got the emails from Israel as well. Not to fear. Kate: Thanks for the SwFlu advice although a real letter/email would be nice sometime.
The work of the Lord continues to move along. I know that this is His gospel and I am so fortunate to see the hand of the Lord guiding me every single day as I strive to serve him.
Much love,
Elder Benjamin Wilson
We had a really cool experience last Monday evening. Tuesday we had a zone conference and we were assigned to train about church tours. Well we were going to give our zone a church tour and show them an example of how to do it, so we wanted to check out the Stake Center first to see what we were working with. Well we pull up Monday night at 8:30 and there's a random lady walking through the parking lot. We asked her if she wanted to see the inside of the church and she said "sure!". So we gave her a church tour on the spot. (We were kinda making it up as we went since we haven't spent much time in that building but it worked out.) It went really really well and she left there with a Book of Mormon, and a commitment to pray about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. She also wanted to refer us to all of her friends but didn't have their addresses. It was amazing to see how the Lord put her right in our path so that we could have that experience and be prepared for our training the next day.
Well that's about it for this week. I did get the letter sent from JFK. Thank you! And I got the emails from Israel as well. Not to fear. Kate: Thanks for the SwFlu advice although a real letter/email would be nice sometime.
The work of the Lord continues to move along. I know that this is His gospel and I am so fortunate to see the hand of the Lord guiding me every single day as I strive to serve him.
Much love,
Elder Benjamin Wilson
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