We had transfers this week! I'm still in Carpina. My new comp is a "curto prazer", which means shes not really a missionary. Because we have an odd number of sisters right now and Pres detests doing trios, he asked a member girl to be my comp. Her name is Roziane and I like her so far... shes kinda quiet, but i'm sure thatll change soon =]
This week was fairly uneventful. Both Sis O and I were sick, like we've been almost all transfer. First I'm sick, then when i'm feeling better, she gets sick, then when she's feeling better, I get sick again. Bah! So last thursday we traveled way the freak out to Vicência to visit that one lady, Nininha, who keeps not going to church and being flaky. We marked an appointment with her FINALLY and I was determined to go, even though I wasnt feeling well. What ended up happening is that 1) she wasnt there and 2) I puked in the street. That was embarrassing, haha. But yeah, thankfully, there was a taxi guy driving by right then who was going to Carpina and he pulled over for us b/c he's seen up in Carpina a lot, so we got a nice ride back. That was definitely a prayer answered right there---I did NOT want to walk all the back to the town centre to get a car. I spent that whole day in bed and most the next one, then Sis O was sick Mon and Tuesday.
Yesterday was transfer/P-day and it was my buddy E. Whiting's birthday. B/c there were a ton of us in Recife for the transfer, we had a big group that went to lunch and played games in the chapel and got milkshakes--way fun!!!! But then we almost missed the last bus back to Carpina... Thankfully God loves us and once again answered our prayers. So we got home pretty late... And on the bus there were all these teenagers going to the Carnaval party here in Carpina. They were singing and drumming the overhead big and it was funny and extremely annoying at the same time.
Carnaval is officially next week, but it started last Sunday (with almost all the men in town dressing up like women and dancing in the street. I must say, i was impressed with a lot of the outfits). What's sad is Carnaval is HUGE here. The biggest Carnaval in the world, even bigger than Rio. But Christmas is like any other day. People act like... Oh, it's Christmas? I guess I'll put up some lights or something.... But Carnaval, holy cow. All the streets are decorated and there are parties every night (RIGHT outside our house... soooo loud and hard to sleep)
Also, MyLDSMail got switched over to a Google server and it's WAY better. It's basically Gmail. There might be a few kinks in the system. My address says it's ashley.wilkinson@myldsmail.net, but just keep sending emails to ashley.wilk@myldsmail.net until further notice (it just forwards it to this account)
And thats about it. I really want to work hard this transfer and really get some good work done. I want to step it up a notch and just really throw myself into the work. I decided that I'm done serving a mission. Now I'm just going to serve God.
Love you all. Stay strong. Jesus loves you.
Until Monday,
Monday, May 17, 2010
May 17, 2010: Note from Ashley's "ghost writer"
A certain someone had promised Ashley that she would keep the blog updated while Ashley was serving faithfully in Brazil, but unfortunately she fell behind and now the postings are not quite in proper order... so bear with me, the ghost writer, for a moment or two and we'll try to get everything updated. Thanks for your patience.
Ashley, AKA Sister Wilk, ROCKS, no?!
Ashley, AKA Sister Wilk, ROCKS, no?!
Monday, 2/22/2010
Hello family
Yes, we did survive carnaval.... It was kinda boring being in the house for like 2 days straight. And then this week seriously kicked my butt. We had NO help from the members, no references, nothing. And so we just knocked doors. And we did manage to mark the baptism of this girl, fernada, but when we went to get her sunday, she said her dad wouldnt let her go to church. And that was insane because we had to talk like a half hour bus ride to get out there, and it was the ONLY one that made the loop, so we asked the bus driver to wait two minutes, and basically when we got close to her house we jumped off and ran to her house, she said she couldnt go, and then we ran back up this hill to get to the bus where everyone was watching, haha. Then we got to the church, and no investigators were there, so we walked around for like another 45 minutes trying to find SOMEONE, ANYONE, and NOTHING. I'm trying really hard to stay upbeat and optimistic, but this area just kinda sucks. And I dunno what pres is gonna do for the next transfer, if he's gonna leave me here or close the area. Depends on how many baptisms we have, but more on how much the members are helping.
So thats about my week. On a slightly happier note, I went to a Churruscaria today for my ONE YEAR!!!!! Me and the Five elders I arrived with (and comps) went and it was SOOOOOOOOOOOO fun. Not to mention absolutely delicious. Omg. I have never had meat so good before. It was seriously the best steak ive ever eaten. And they had CAESER SALAD!!!!!!!!!!!! Do you know how LONG its been since I had a REAL salad!?!?!?!?! Oh man, I about died. And then we walked by the beach and looked at it, since we are forbidden to touch it. But oh man, it made me really miss Santa Cruz.
My comp is good, I like her. Shes quiet, but she works with me and its good. Shes leaving in a week and I'll be getting a new one... so i'll be like the CTM and a trainer at the same time, hahaha
Keep reading the Book of Mormon, keep praying. Things will always work out if we just do our part. Thats what I've been telling myself all week when I really just feel like throwing in the towel. Things will get better, things will get better. And for you too!!!
So thats about my week. On a slightly happier note, I went to a Churruscaria today for my ONE YEAR!!!!! Me and the Five elders I arrived with (and comps) went and it was SOOOOOOOOOOOO fun. Not to mention absolutely delicious. Omg. I have never had meat so good before. It was seriously the best steak ive ever eaten. And they had CAESER SALAD!!!!!!!!!!!! Do you know how LONG its been since I had a REAL salad!?!?!?!?! Oh man, I about died. And then we walked by the beach and looked at it, since we are forbidden to touch it. But oh man, it made me really miss Santa Cruz.
My comp is good, I like her. Shes quiet, but she works with me and its good. Shes leaving in a week and I'll be getting a new one... so i'll be like the CTM and a trainer at the same time, hahaha
Keep reading the Book of Mormon, keep praying. Things will always work out if we just do our part. Thats what I've been telling myself all week when I really just feel like throwing in the towel. Things will get better, things will get better. And for you too!!!
Love you all
17 Maio 2010
(Happy Birthday Daddy!!!!) Hey family!
Well, this has been a great week! I'll tell you about some of the awesome things that we've been doing.
First off, on Tuesday we had Junior and Jairo come with us to teach again, and we visited a lot of our awesome investigators and they actually taught a lesson! And we FINALLY went up to the top of the Lighthouse! Unfortunately, I didnt have my camera =[ But it was beautiful and we could see for miles and miles!
Thursday we got creative. The leaders of the church have asked us to work more in apartment buildings/richer areas and not just in the favelas. We had lunch with a member, Lizi, who served a mission 4 years ago and who is AWESOME, and she said we could knock doors in her building. But we didnt just knock on the door, ohhhhhh no! The Sisters of Olinda are better than that. We brought along my guitar, and when the person answered the door, we told them we had a musical message from a friend. After they let us in, we sang a couple hymns with me plucking out a few chords on the guitar. After they had wiped their tears and finished praising and complimenting us, we told them that the friend is Jesus Christ, and we have a message about His gospel we want to share.
Incredibily, it WORKED. We taught 4 lessons in 3 hours, and the first two ladies CRIED and said it was an answer to their prayers and the Spirit was SOOO strong. And it was much mroe fun than just knocking on a door and saying "Hi, we're missionaries..." and having them close the door in our face. We plan on doing this in other apartment buildings too =D
We also fasted this week to be able to find some elects and to help our marked baptisms. That very day we taught a friend of Jairo (recent convert) named Patricia and she accepted baptism RIGHT away and said she had been looking for a church to be baptised.
And then SUNDAY (yesterday) was crazy because we were running around with the help of a member and his huge van picking up a TON of investigators and then running to another persons house and getting them too, and Patricia brought her friend to church and some of our other investigators also brought friends (we had 7 total in sacrament meeting) and it's just going great =] We've got 4 baptisms this Sunday, so expect some fun pictures the next email!
But its truly amazing how the Lord really does hear our prayers and recognizes our efforts and the blessings He gives us instantly! I am sooo greatful to have a part in this work, even if it's a very small one.
I love you all sooo much! It's crazy how quickly the time is going! I only have a little over two months left! Ahh! I cant think about it...
Love you!
~Sister Wilkinson
Monday, May 10, 2010
Explicação
So this hasnt been updated in about 2 months.... and i dont have the time or patience to update the missing links.
I was transferred out of Carpina in the middle of March, and I've been in Olinda with my favorite Comp, Sis Lemos, ever since. we've had a lot of fun and a lot of success and its just getting better! I'll post more from now on, i promise!!!
~Sis Wilkinson
I was transferred out of Carpina in the middle of March, and I've been in Olinda with my favorite Comp, Sis Lemos, ever since. we've had a lot of fun and a lot of success and its just getting better! I'll post more from now on, i promise!!!
~Sis Wilkinson
10 Maio 2010
Happy Mothers day (a day late) to all you mothers out there!!!
Well, hold on tight folks, because I have a LOT to write about! This week was AWESOME.
First off, we got some new investigators! Like I said before, we were lacking investigators because we baptised all of our old ones (haha, yay!) this week the Lord truly guided us. We looked up some references that we had, and apperantly the Elders 6 months ago had contacted them, but then the Elders were transfered and these investigators were just forgotten. But we found them and they are still very interested and we are teaching them! We already marked the baptism of one of them, a 16 year old girl named Rayane. ALSO! We are teaching Luiza, the 8 year old neice of an inactive member. She already goes to church by herself for 3 years. Pretty amazing for an 8 year old, ne? She is SOOO cute and I already LOVE her to death. She is always so excited to see us and we always play a little after the lessons. Last time we were practicing our Top Model walk and poses with her scarf. So cute!!!
Like I've said before, its truly amazing the LOVE i feel for these people. I jsut want what is best for them sooo much. And I love seeing them grow in the understanding of who they are and why they're here and the role the Saviour plays in their life.
So my birthday was good! The day before we went to an AWESOME churruscaria (mmm, Brasilian meat!) and I got a free peice of cake =] The actual b-day was good too. As far as missionary work days go, it wasnt super exciting. Our Golden Family said they dont want to hear the messages anymore, and Sis Lemos got a hair cut. But we had an FHE/birthday party that night with a girl in the ward and her two friends who we're currently teaching. it was SO fun, and the cake was gorgeous (see attached fotos). I love this ward. I feel so much love from the members and have truly made some great friendships with the members and our investigators.
Friday we had our Tour da Missão with Elder Araújo of the 70. WOWWWWWWWWWWWWW. He spoke from 10am-2pm and I didnt want it to end! He is an AMAZING speaker--hilarious, but at the same time really driving home some important doctrine and principles and other things about missionary work. I took SO many notes and just had so much personal revelation and it was just amazing. What I really realized is how what I do here will reflect in the rest of my life. that the mission is the "MTC" for life! I have to keep asking myself if what i'm doing here is who I want to be for the rest of my life! If I dont like something, I need to change and be better. By far the best conference I've had yet.
Saturday was an awesome day. We had our two recent converts, Junior and Jairo (ages 17 and 18) come with us for a taste of the missionary life. Theyve been members 1-2 months, but they're both SO excited to serve missions already. And they picked a great day to come with us too. We started at 1:30 and didnt get stop until 9 pm and we visted a TON of people. They were like "how do you WALK SO MUCH?!?!?!" and it also POURED for like an hour as we all tried to huddle under my huge umbrella, hahahahaha. But they loved it and even helped teach! Theyre excited to go with us again. We were excited because its always good to have members with you at the lessons because they help integrate the investigator more in the ward. they were already making friends with the people we teach. Just awesome =]
Yesterday was good. Followed up some investigators, and church was great. I taught the Gospel Principles class. it was basically teaching the first discussion, but in more detail. I really like teaching. After, we were talking to some members, and they were liek "hey, we have a reference of a family for you!" so we were really excited. Then they were like "do you want some cake? we have a bunch of left over chocolate cake at home" so we got even more excited. Then they offered us a ride, and as we were at their house eating this delicious cake, they offered us dinner, and then they were talking about their chain of jewelery stores and how they wanted to open some in Sao Paulo and they basically offered Sis Lemos a job when she gets home. Then they invited us to an FHE tonight with some neighbors!!!! Walking home we were like "We did SOMETHING right this week, because the Lord sure blessed us today!" hahahaha. It was just really funny.
Moral of the story! Feed Missionaries and give references!
Ok, enough talk. FOTOS!
1) Me and Sis Lemos being goofy in the Brasilian verson of Walmart
2) Drinking Fanta Uva (grape soda)
3) My birthday party! Me, Mari, Bethe, Gabi, Lemos, Polly
4) Blowing out the candle of the gorgeous cake Gabi made
5) Sis Lemos, Gabi (investigator) and Me!!!!
LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!
~Sister Wilkinson
Well, hold on tight folks, because I have a LOT to write about! This week was AWESOME.
First off, we got some new investigators! Like I said before, we were lacking investigators because we baptised all of our old ones (haha, yay!) this week the Lord truly guided us. We looked up some references that we had, and apperantly the Elders 6 months ago had contacted them, but then the Elders were transfered and these investigators were just forgotten. But we found them and they are still very interested and we are teaching them! We already marked the baptism of one of them, a 16 year old girl named Rayane. ALSO! We are teaching Luiza, the 8 year old neice of an inactive member. She already goes to church by herself for 3 years. Pretty amazing for an 8 year old, ne? She is SOOO cute and I already LOVE her to death. She is always so excited to see us and we always play a little after the lessons. Last time we were practicing our Top Model walk and poses with her scarf. So cute!!!
Like I've said before, its truly amazing the LOVE i feel for these people. I jsut want what is best for them sooo much. And I love seeing them grow in the understanding of who they are and why they're here and the role the Saviour plays in their life.
So my birthday was good! The day before we went to an AWESOME churruscaria (mmm, Brasilian meat!) and I got a free peice of cake =] The actual b-day was good too. As far as missionary work days go, it wasnt super exciting. Our Golden Family said they dont want to hear the messages anymore, and Sis Lemos got a hair cut. But we had an FHE/birthday party that night with a girl in the ward and her two friends who we're currently teaching. it was SO fun, and the cake was gorgeous (see attached fotos). I love this ward. I feel so much love from the members and have truly made some great friendships with the members and our investigators.
Friday we had our Tour da Missão with Elder Araújo of the 70. WOWWWWWWWWWWWWW. He spoke from 10am-2pm and I didnt want it to end! He is an AMAZING speaker--hilarious, but at the same time really driving home some important doctrine and principles and other things about missionary work. I took SO many notes and just had so much personal revelation and it was just amazing. What I really realized is how what I do here will reflect in the rest of my life. that the mission is the "MTC" for life! I have to keep asking myself if what i'm doing here is who I want to be for the rest of my life! If I dont like something, I need to change and be better. By far the best conference I've had yet.
Saturday was an awesome day. We had our two recent converts, Junior and Jairo (ages 17 and 18) come with us for a taste of the missionary life. Theyve been members 1-2 months, but they're both SO excited to serve missions already. And they picked a great day to come with us too. We started at 1:30 and didnt get stop until 9 pm and we visted a TON of people. They were like "how do you WALK SO MUCH?!?!?!" and it also POURED for like an hour as we all tried to huddle under my huge umbrella, hahahahaha. But they loved it and even helped teach! Theyre excited to go with us again. We were excited because its always good to have members with you at the lessons because they help integrate the investigator more in the ward. they were already making friends with the people we teach. Just awesome =]
Yesterday was good. Followed up some investigators, and church was great. I taught the Gospel Principles class. it was basically teaching the first discussion, but in more detail. I really like teaching. After, we were talking to some members, and they were liek "hey, we have a reference of a family for you!" so we were really excited. Then they were like "do you want some cake? we have a bunch of left over chocolate cake at home" so we got even more excited. Then they offered us a ride, and as we were at their house eating this delicious cake, they offered us dinner, and then they were talking about their chain of jewelery stores and how they wanted to open some in Sao Paulo and they basically offered Sis Lemos a job when she gets home. Then they invited us to an FHE tonight with some neighbors!!!! Walking home we were like "We did SOMETHING right this week, because the Lord sure blessed us today!" hahahaha. It was just really funny.
Moral of the story! Feed Missionaries and give references!
Ok, enough talk. FOTOS!
1) Me and Sis Lemos being goofy in the Brasilian verson of Walmart
2) Drinking Fanta Uva (grape soda)
3) My birthday party! Me, Mari, Bethe, Gabi, Lemos, Polly
4) Blowing out the candle of the gorgeous cake Gabi made
5) Sis Lemos, Gabi (investigator) and Me!!!!
LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!
~Sister Wilkinson
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
17 Fev 2010: ONE YEAR
First off.... Tomorrow is......... ONE YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I cant believe it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How has one year gone by SOOOOOOOOOO quickly?! Its just surreal. I was packing my suitcases this time a year ago and getting set apart. Its been weird because i always think "what was i doing last year at this time?" And now its the mission! Holy cow! I'll be coming home soon!
So I totally didnt remember it was Valentines day until I looked at my planner. I told my district leader Happy Valentines Day! And he was like "... Is that really today?!" Its not a holiday here, and its not like i have a significant other to remind me, haha.
Also, thanks Trent for reminding me about the Olympics--TOTALLY forgot about that. And I had no idea it was in Vancouver.
This week was CARNAVALLLLLLLLLL Wow. You know Christmas is like super big in the US? Here Christmas is whatever, but Carnaval is like Christmas, Halloween and New Years combined. MINHA nossa. The whole town gets decked out and its a party for basically the whole month, but especially the four days leading up to Carnaval. Then last night there was a huge parade and everyone dancing in the street and lots of loud music. We watched a tiny part of the parade from behind our gate to our apartment. Here in Carpina wasnt tooo wild.... The dancers we saw at least had kinda "shirts" on... A lot of time, the samba dancers only have a skimpy thong and paint the rest on....... Eita! Recife and Olinda have the biggest Carnaval in the world. I always thought it was Rio, but apperantly I was wrong. We saw footage of the parties on TV at a members house and HOLY COW. SOOOO many people! Man. O Babylon O Babylon... haha.
So because of Carnaval, we've been going home early every night. And also EVERYTHING was close Monday and Tuesday, hence why I didnt send an email. Its been raining a bit too, which just makes it hotter and muggy, ugh. But we've managed to work! I feel like we're really making some progress. We've found a few people who seem really interested--they just need to go to church!!!!!!!! But I think this is going to be a great transfer of miracles. I hope so at least.
And thats about it... I finished the Book of Mormon for the second time in a year!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I challenge you all to read it with me before I get home (July 22--Happy birthday trent! You get me!) My testimony has grown and been fortified by the Book of Mormon so much this year. I love the book and the principles it contains. If you havent been reading it--start now!
Fotos:Of some of the killer costumes from the Carnaval parade
Love you all!
~Sis Wilkinson
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