Mon, 23 Nov 2009 : Então.

Familia

My new area is great!!! Its still in Recife, actually still pretty close to the temple. Its all these little winding alleys and SOOO many stairs going all over the place on this one hill. Its TINY. And the members are SO excited to have sisters after having some slacker Elders. Theyre just giving a tons of references and the bishop is way excited, and even when we knock on doors, I'll be like "hi, we're missionaries and we have a message we want to share with you. Can we?" and theyre like "alright" and just let us in.

My comp is... difficult. It hasnt even been a week, and she has had a couple hissy fits, she doesnt want to keep the rules, and she says its none of my buisness if she doesnt, and then she turns around and calls me a hypocrite if I try and tell her otherwise. Shes yelled at me, stamped her feet, called me names--and in front of other elders and our neighbors. Everyone is like "Sister, just go, youre being ridiculous"... Presidente knows allll about her problems, and that shes very disobedent. Ive been learning a lot this week about choosing your battles to win the war, ya know? There have been a few things when shes had her little fits that ive just let slide or made a compromise while still being firm. I just have to remember that I AM in the right, that I AM doing the right thing, and that im her companion for a reason. Im definitely going to have a long talk with President too.

I love my president, he is a WONDERFUL man. I know he really trusts me (he said that to E Whiting back at the beginning of the last transfer). Hes letting me spend Thanksgiving at the house of a member in Madalena, because he trusts me that much. I just dont want to let him down.

But please, everyone... Pray for me. Pray for me a lot. Pray for me and pray for her too.

Tomorrow I get to go to the temple. Its the first time in 7 months. I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED. SO EXCITED!!!!!!! I love the temple. I'll probably cry when I go in and cry during the session and cry in the celestial because ill be so happy.

Thats about it... Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Think of me as your eating turkey and stuffing and watching american football. I miss you all SOOOOO much!!!!!!!!

Lots of Love,

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 : I got transferred....

Just when things were starting to pick up in Madalena, Sis Oliveira and I got a call last night saying BOTH of us were transfered. We were pretty much in shock, since neither of us were expecting me to leave. I really didnt want to, I was really starting to love the area and the people and we have a LOT of things planned and three marked baptisms. But I guess the Lord knows better than I do where he needs me.

I spent all of yesterday in bed with a fever--at the highest 102 degrees. I woke the night before, threw up, and didnt sleep for the next 3 hours. At 6:30 am I called my District Leader, Elder Whiting, and he and his comp came and gave me a blessing, and then I stayed in bed. We thought maybe it is Dengue, which is kinda like Malaria, but a little worse, because I had all the symptoms with an achy body and pressure on my eyes and a fever and throwing up and chills and hot flashes. I learned the Tylonal does nothing for me--I took it twice and my fever kept rising, and the third time I took ibuprofen, and my fever dropped within the hour. But I still feel sooo weak today. I was a little mad I had to get up and pack last night because 1) i hate packing and 2) I didnt want to leave and 3) I had to stop and rest every five minutes. I still have a slight fever today and just feel totally exhausted, plus I'm still a little miffed about being uprooted so suddenly.

So now I'm in Casa Amarela with Sister Abrantes... This is going to be quite the transfer........ She has the custom of breaking quite a few rules... almost all of them. I guess Presidente is trusting me to help her be more obedient........ I need to learn how to be firm and confrontatial while still being tactful.

I dont have much else to report. Our three marked baptisms in Madalena are amazing and I am going to miss them, especially Daniele and Daisy. But we'll see what people I meet here. Like I said, the Lord knows where He needs me, and its my job to do it!

Aunt Angela, I met Elder Bateman, he says hi, and said he knew about me before anything else about the mission, hahaha.

James and Erin, congrats on the new baby!!!!!!! She's beautiful.

I would send pictures, but this internet place is kinda crappy. So next week maybe.... I dont really have pictures of anything super exciting anyway.

Your Sick Amiga

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 : It was a week.

It was a long week, gente. We walked a lo in the hot sun and had most of our appointments fall through along with our baptism (which was moved to the next week). But we did mark the baptism of Daisy and Danielle for the 21!!!! And we have a battle plan to get into the apartment buildings in Madalena, the richer and much harder part. It involves making cookies and inviting all their neighbors to family home evening, which we will be implementing this week.

we also had zone conference, which was seriously sooo uplifting. I also saw a lot of my good Elder friends that I arrived with and havent seen in awhile.

We went to downtown Recife today and saw some of the historic parts and the big touristy market area. Way fun =] I didnt take any pictures because my camera got a virus on it. But luckily Elder Whiting is a computer genius and fixed everything, so now i'm sending some photos.

Unfortunately, we got back late so i dont have much time to write.

pics:

1) me and E Whiting with our pumpkins.

2) E. Goodwin, Wagoner, me, Harris, and Sis Ortolani at Zone conference.

love you all!!!!!!!!! Transfers next weeks, so ill be writing wednesday! Im pretty sure i1ll be staying here in Madalena =] But I think I may be getting a new comp. i1ll let you know!!!!!!!!

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 : I have never sweat so much in my life.

Dear Familia.

It. Is. HOT. And it's not even summer yet!! Gah! I'm drinking about 4 liters of water every day and then sweating most of it out. I sweat more than I ever have, even playing field hockey in August or digging in Jordan. Every time I remove my bag, there is a LOVELY sweat mark right across the front of my chest, and my back always has sweat dripping down it as we walk.

And I know i'll miss it when i'm home =]

This week went by SO fast! No one here celebrates Halloween... Sad day, becasue its basically my favorite holiday (and Christmas). But, we helped a lady in our ward decorate her house for Halloween, because every year she has this big party for all the kids in the area and gets references for us from the parents, woo! So we painted the walls of her yard and Elder Whiting and I carved pumpkins, true American style. And I have a totally cute picture of us with our pumpkins, but of course, technology hates me and my camera died. Again. The moment I decided to use it. Such is life. This internet cafe is really slow anyway, so next week, when i'm back at the usual, faster one, I will send lots of fun pictures =]

We have a baptism this Saturday, Poliany, the wife of a less active member, but he's coming back to church now too. They´re a cute little family =] I don't think i've ever taught a more beautiful person--shes gorgeous. We call her barbie becasue she has very bleach blonde hair (not natural, but it works for her). We also have two sisters we're teaching, Daniele e Daisy, who remind me a lot of me and Linny. Way fun to teach them, becasue theyre our age and hilarious. We're going to teeach them again tomorrow. But they watchd The Testaments without us and LOVED it, and then Daisy ready like half of Third Nephi and they lovd church, woohoo! I love it when people are prepared by the Lord, makes my job a lot easier Alexandre is still a work in progress. Sometimes I cant believe how trapped in the world some people are, and how, even when they KNOW what they want, and they KNOW that the gospel is whats right, they dont want to change. Alexandre's problem/excuse is that hes afraid if he's baptised he'll mess up after...but thats exactly why we have REPENTENCE.

Gente... Never let the fear of doing something wrong stop you from doing something right.

I'm sorry this email isnt very exciting. It was a rushed week, we taught, we contacted, we knocked doors, we did that service project, é isso. I arrive home exhausted every night! But it's good to be working hard.

Moral of the story: GIVE REFERENCES TO MISSIONARIES. I have now repented and will be a much better member when I get home daqui 9 meses.

I'm sorry I dont have much to say, more next week! With pictures!

I love you all. Thank you for your prayers and I love hearing news form all you. I always read your emails, even if I dont always respond (and those of you that have sent packages, theyre in the missin office waiting for me to get them Thursday, woohoo!)

tchau!

Mon, 26 Oct 2009: Another week...

It was good. The work is picking up. We've got some good people we're teaching, even though a lot of our afternoons are spent walking around knocking doors. I guess thats how a majority of the missions in the world are, ne? But with a few million people in the city, its hard to find the few people that are prepared. But we have and heck, if i only help one person, its worth it, ne?

I think the most exciting thing this week was when i recieved a phone call from Elder whiting "Hey, sister... Do you know how to cut hair? Because Elder Levesque tried cutting mine... And it didnt turn out too well" Oh, THINK of something that causes laughter. It was this haircut. Ok, it really wasnt too bad, but it was very uneven. Luckily, with my little pair of hair-cut scissors and the very limited experience that I have, all was fixed. I was pretty proud of myself.

Our investigator Alexandre is great. Its truly amazing to see the change in his life. He went from "eh, what is faith?" to truly having it. I dont think he's ever had anyone tell him that he's smart, that he has divine potential and infinite worth, and that he has the right to dream big and reach goals. Last night we were just talking to him about that, doing more with his life than just sitting around, and I was telling him how really, im not just saying it because im a missionary or whatever, but because really, he's our friend, and i really do care about him, and he got all quiet and teary eyed. I can tell he's felt something real and wants to change. I love being here and helping people.

From now on, all of my photos will be at this address:

www.picasaweb.google.com/ashley.wilk

it will be updated every week-ish with a lot mroe photos.

no one celebrates halloween here =[ makes me sad because I LOVE halloween.. send a snickers to me in the package!

i love you all and am always praying for you.

~sister wilk

Mon, 19 Oct 2009: 8 months!

Yesterday was my eight month mark. WHAT?! How does time go by SOOOOO fast! I'm almost at my halfway mark! I'm almost an entire pregnancy! I'm almost over the hill! Oh man, so weird. It seems like i've been here two months.

This week was long and tiring. We walked a lot, and had a lot of appointments fall through. People here are really flaky/lie to our faces. Slightly annoying. But that just means I need to try harder and find newer and better ways to do the work. There's always some way that I could improve.

Well, we still have our marked baptism, Xavier, and he's great. We have one other progressing investigator, Alexandre, who was a street contact. He's our age and quite the character. He keeps asking us if we want to go to the beach with him, and he also basically said he wants to marry me, and then he can move to the US and get better work. And out of the five things with the Word of Wisdom (coffee, tea, cigarettes, drugs and drinking) he has problems with 4 of them. But Sunday he went to church all by himself, and when we asked him if he read the part we left in the Book of Mormon, he summerized the chapter perfectly. Me and Sis Oliveira were like: !!!!! hahaha. He'll be our miracle baptism.

Cool thing of the week!!!!! Grandpa Maxwell, this is for you! We had lunch with a woman in the ward, Carlota, and she's from Sao Paulo. She said her mom and grandma and aunt were baptised 50 years ago in Piracucaba, SP, and that her mom always talked about an "Elder Maxwell" and his brother who helped start the branch there (which is now a stake with 7 wards). Is that you Grandpa?! Do you remember a Luzia Patten, Adelaide Patten and Carlota Joas Patten? She also had photos of a few elders, named Jessie L. McCulley and James H. Barwick, who were there while you were (1947-1950, right?) Vovo, estou animada pra saber se elas realmente te conheciam! Eu acho que seria bem legal!!!

Anyway, familia, thats about it this week. I forgot to charge my camera unforunately, so expect a whole bunch of pictures next week!

Love you all. Remember I pray daily for each of you.

Mon, 12 Oct 2009: First Week in Madalena

Oi familia,

So my area is SMALL. We can walk from one end to the other in about a half hour. Its actually one of the larger sister areas, but after Caruaru, where it was walking 15 minutes to get the bus, its pretty darn small. It covers a wide range of social classes, from the favalas and the Blocks (Brasilian equivilent of the projects) to REALLY ritzy high-rise apartments with amazing views. We're also within walking distance of the temple!!!!!!!!!!! It's so beautiful =]

The members are really friendly. I was a little intimidated because the last sister here, sis solesbee, is really good and fun and everyone loves her and i was nervous about taking her place. But we've visited with a few members already and they're all super friendly and like me =] So thats good.

They also make really good food. I'll be glad to get back to things like hamburgers and pizza and mexican, even though i didnt eat very much of those in the US anyway. But i think i'll still have to have rice and beans at least every other day. If we pass a day without, i sense a fault of them (? that sentence was strange, but im not sure how to say it in english..)

We also have an awesome District Leader, Elder Whiting, who is always looking for ways to serve us. Oh! He lent me a book that his grandpa wrote, called "Leverage", and it's waaaay good. It's about creating leverage and tipping points in your life to set good goals and achieve them and really get what you want out of life. Its pretty easy to read but has a lot of good things. I would recommend it. Leverage by Darby Checketts.

As for the work... its going. We spent a lot of time this week chuting (dropping) investigators and finding new ones. We did mark a baptism!!! That was way cool. its the brother-in-law of a recent convert. He went to church on sunday and we taught him the first lesson that night, and marked his baptism for the 24! How cool is that?

Today me and Sis Oliveira and Elders Whiting and Levesque went to the zoo!!!!! Today is also a holiday, "Children's day" kinda the same and mothers day or fathers day. So the Zoo was PACKED. It was a small zoo and kinda lame, but it was still way fun to get out and do something like that. And we saw monkeys, camels, lions and tigers and bears (oh my!) and everyone stared at us also more than the animals. i dont blame them, 3 americans and 2 in business attire at the zoo, haha.

One thing I want to say. If there's one thing i've really seen on the mission, especially these last two transfers, its that if you do your part, and you do the best you can with the most you can, you CAN NOT FAIL. Even when everything is going wrong and looks like its about to fall apart, just keep working and doing everything you can, and have faith that the Lord will do the rest. I know this because i've seen it. The last transfer with sis lemos everything was going wrong, but all of our baptisms still happened and inactive people started going back to church. Yesterday we had an investigator walk out of church and we every appointment we had fell through and no one else was home so sis oliveira felt like we wasted the day, but we contacted one reference and we marked the baptism of the other. So all was not in vain. In fact, everything turned out perfect.

Also, remember to laugh and to not stress. Life is meant to be happy and to have fun. Enjoy the things you do. Work hard, play hard. At the end of each day, ask yourself if you really did the thing that mattered most. If the answer is yes, you'll have a much more satisfying life.

I'll send fotos next week. I didnt bring my cable with me, sooooo já era!

I love you all! keep doing whats right!

~Ashley