Wesley's first real letter:
I am doing awesome!!! I miss all you guys too. Especially Zach. So lets get started. The language is awesome. I flew in with two districts of norteamericanos. My district has 6 elders (including yo) and 5 hermanas. all but 2 sisters are going to lima este!!! Excuse my spanglish cuz thats all i speak in now. One other elder who lived in brazil for 4 years are doing really well with the language. Im doing really well i think...But i talk with the latinos all the time and sit next to them for meals and its the best. The funny thing is they all want to learn and speak english with us while we want to speak spanish to them. the conversation ends up just being super hilarious. All the food is peruvian. they drown us in rice and meat and bread. but mostly rice. my p-days are wednesday. i get to write in the early afternoon. i ignore grammar cuz spanish keyboards are insane. i went to the lima temple for the first time this morning. my session was obviously in spanish but they gave us headphones. i tried not to use them as much as i could but its a bit tough. i miss a couple words but its not worth it to miss words during a session so ill keep them on for now till i learn sufficient spanish. the temple is weekly yes, every wednesday morning. YES the stowaway wasabi almonds were fantastic. thanks! what else... my district is awesome. we are already best buds. I'll add some pics so u can meet them. I dont have many tho. Also another huge problem i have is crazy, crazy chapped lips. my face is in pain. its starting to go away tho. i can barely smile. so if i dont look happy in the pics its not true!! im the happiest ive ever been in my life. i also tore a ligament in my thumb playing basketball so im only playing soccer now. futbol is crazy here. the basketball court is awful. note the singular court. the rim and backborad must have been made of bouncy rubber cuz its so unforgiving. layups all day. the soccer field is a different story. its all turf, nearly full size, and is surrounded by massive golf course net things. the peruvian priorities are clearly evident here. i havent been sick yet!! so im still alive, yes. here its just classes all day inbetween meals. we get an hour of play time/recess/physical activity time. The traffic here is insane. Everyone drives like its normal but 4 cars drive next to eachother in 3 lanes. thye come within inches of eachother like its nothing. A couple little stories. On my flight down to salt lake brother Care (high council member serving in Eagle 3rd ward) showed up at the gate saying he was on our flight. He said he was glad because he then knew it would be a safe flight. I thought about that for a while and realized how cool it was. 3 of the Lords servants would be on a trip and for some reason people felt safe. Heavenly Father didnt want to let a flight be unsafe cuz he knew there were 3 boys about his work. I felt honored to be a part of that. A few days later we watched a small video from youtube. President eyering and elder holland spoke concerning missionary work. Elder Holland spoke to mission presidents around the world, telling them that missionaries would ask, why is this so hard, why am i not having any success? (I cant find the quotation marks on the darn keyboard) Elder Holland responded, Because missionary work was never easy, because salvation was never easy. The Savior's life and suffering and Atonement were never easy. We can not ask that. Even the Son of God, a half immortal man asked if there was any other way. Its not going to be easy. It hit me that Im a missionary now and i need to work my tail off and it might be tough, yes. but it will definitely be worth it. Elder holland said, when we have the door slammed in our face, when people yell at us, when we are cussed at, or hit, or spit upon, we are standing shoulder to shoulder with the Redeemer of the world. I lost it after that. I am so grateful to Him for what He has done for me. I am so happy to be here. Im ready to serve to people of Peru with all my heart, might, mind, and strength. I know this is the true gospel on the earth. Elder Oaks said that almost every church claims to be the true church. but ours is the only true church in which the Lord is well pleased. Nos Vemos. I love you all.
Elder Wilcox
I can only send 2 pics from down here in peru or it wont send. out of time. sorry if i didnt get to writing to u. Im doing my best!!!
#ElderWes
So excited to hear about his ups and downs and watch him grow as he narrates his mission through letters. Already he is "beginning" to recognize the gravity of his work...they're gonna get better and better.
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