7 December 2015 Letter

Wow. So much to tell. So this new area is called Santa Clara. It is the furthest part east in the Vitarte Stake. It is super cool. We have all the southern part of the area which includes La 5, Campiñas, Priale, Manylsa, Los Jardines de Santa Clara, El Bosque, Remanso, Granja Azul, and a golf course. We live in the other Elders' area, which is more city, but we all have hills filled with little houses.

The ward is cool too. Our bishop reminds me so much of a Mexican comedian named Gabriel Iglesias, but obviously the Peruvian version.

Our pensionista is named Erika Chavez and she lives in a fancy condominium, like apartment buildings on the fifth floor. It is cool 'cause we get to take an elevator up every day. She cooks super well and healthy too which is a first.

This past week we had a baptism. his name is Alex. He is a convert's son who was completely atheist about a year ago, but little by little saw things in his life to help him realize that there is a God, and that he loves us and blesses us every day. This last cambio [transfer] the Elder and my comp that were here helped him a lot. For a year he has always accompanied the missionaries, not even being a member, just helping them ingress [be able to get] into homes where there wasn't a man present. Well, about three days before I got here, they taught him and put a baptismal date as a goal. We taught him everything super fast and the Elder who was here last transfer was able to come back to perform the ordinance.

The cool thing was that Alex wanted it to be a surprise for his mom, so she didn't know until he literally walked into the baptismal room all dressed in white at the baptism. The mom is the first counselor in the Relief Society and we just told her a woman who belonged to her organization would be baptized. It was so cool to see her cry and hug/slap/punch her son to death 'cause she was so irritated and happy at the same time. She bore her testimony about how she had always taught her kids the principles of the gospel, hoping that one day Alex would soften up a bit. Then his 9 year old sister Kassandra sang "When I am Baptized" holding back tears. When she came to the second verse she just lost it and the music kept going so we all started to sing it together and finished the song. The Spirit was so strong and I loved it. I just loved it so much. I was so happy. It was like something from a movie, just better, 'cause it is real and I was there, witnessing that God still performs miracles.

We have a baptism here in two weeks for a young woman named Keysi. She is 15 and the young women and the president are doing a great job fellowshipping her and helping her to feel loved in the church. It is so important that the members fellowship because the converts would just go inactive after the missionaries get transferred.

See you all next week.

Elder Wilcox

One of the converts here is a DJ

Teaching primary in Ñaña

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