The Hood

Quiero Que everyone!! I can't believe that I have been in the DR for one week. This place is straight bonkers. First things first my trainer is Elder Fuhriman and he is so dope. He has been here for 5 months and on the mission for 11 months. He was assigned to Missouri before coming here but he is dope. My area is called Pueblo Nuevo and it is in Santiago Sur (south) and yeah it is pretty sketchy.

To describe how sketchy it is my Companion told me he was shocked to see that President would put white kids here let alone put a new white kid here haha. My comp was robbed here like a week before I got here so we have to be really careful about where we are and what not. Honestly the first few days here were pretty scary and I was feeling a little like I can't do this. But then Elder Fuhriman showed me a video about faith and having no fear. It was exactly what I needed and now I walk through these streets like I own the place. Even though that would be impossible because I don't even speak the language haha.

Besides the fact that we are serving in the hood this place is awesome. I have become real humble after this first week here. We live in an apartment with 2 rooms and a super small kitchen. We don't have a shower that works so we get the amazing opportunity to shower out of a bucket with Ice cold water. Honestly isn't that bad. The water also turns off when it rains and it rains a lot. So when we have water we have to fill up these massive buckets with water and then pump it through a filter if we want to drink it. We don't have AC but we do have fans and they are amazing, unless the power goes out which happened yesterday and it was so hot lol.

As far as the work goes it is going! We have 3-4 people we are seriously teaching right now and making progress.Yesterday was a little disappointing because only 1 of them came to church. One of the girls we are teaching is 14 and she is named Sharlin. She is so cool! She has been to church 2 times so she has met all the requirements for baptism but has told us there is something inside her that is scary about being baptized. I had a really cool conversation with her the other night while my companion was doing baptismal interviews with others because he is the DL. She used google translate a lot because I don't understand a lick of Spanish haha. She asked me about leaving my family and said how hard that probably was. I explained that leaving my family was so hard and that I miss them so much but I am here because I know this gospel is true and that it will make other families happier. She was shocked to hear that all of my siblings have served and that we all do it for 2 years.

We are like celebrities here to the kids. They all want to touch us and be our friend because we are white haha. Last week was super hard because it is hard for me to connect with the kids because I don't understand them at all and so I can't really connect.

One cool thing last week was playing baseball with a stick and bottle caps with the kids. They were shocked that I could hit to bottle cap haha. Low key was hitting bombs and they just wanted to keep pitching to me but we had to go work.

The Email rule. It is a rule in our mission that the only way we can talk to friends is through email and it has to be in a group chat. So if you want to talk to me shoot me a email but make sure to include someone else in the email as well.

I wanna end this email with a spiritual thought. Last week was really really hard. I don't understand the language. I miss my Best friends and family like crazy, and this place is sketchy. But I know I can do this because the Lord is watching over me and all missionaries. My comp shared a really cool scripture last night with me as I was expressing my fears and doubts to him. It is in D&C 121:7 "My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;" This hit me hard. Even though this is the hardest thing I have ever done I know it will get better. I love you guys so much and miss you all dearly. The Lord is on our side and will bless us if we follow him with our whole hearts. This church is so true and I know that as we read to Book of Mormon sincerely and pray about it it will be made known to us the truth. I can't wait for another week of growth in the DR.

Love,

Elder Wilde

Elder Wilde Has Arrived!

Dear Parents and Leaders of Elder Wilde,

Yesterday, September 19^th, we were happy to receive Elder Wilde here in Santiago! He was interviewed by President Bretón upon arrival to the mission house.

 

Today, he enjoyed a classic Dominican breakfast at the mission home with the other missionaries he arrived with before heading to the mission office to receive a brief training. After the training, he enjoyed an authentic Dominican lunch with the other missionaries in his group. He then met his new companion, Elder Fuhriman, and headed to his new area in Pueblo Nuevo!

 

Thank you for your love, efforts, and care as he comes here!

 

Attached are pictures of your son with President and Sister Bretón and the other missionaries he arrived with, as well as a picture of him with his new companion!

Elder Wilde & Elder Fuhriman

Elder Wilde with President and Sister Breton

The newest missionaries in the Dominican Republic, Santiago Mission!

Goodbye El Comedor

I can't believe another week has come and gone. The title of this email is a very happy goodbye. I only have to eat the amazing chilly food at El Comedor for 4 more days. Wahoo! In 4 days I leave the MTC and go to the real world. Kinda nervous but I know that the Lord will help me! 

I wanna start this email by giving a shout out to my brother Carter. Last week I expressed to him that Spanish sucks and is so hard. His one piece of advice was to LOVE the language. My first thought was dawg, that is the dumbest thing ever, but this last week as I prayed for help to love the language I found myself actually wanting to learn Spanish and appreciating the language. Along with praying for love of the language I have been praying for a greater desire to want to study. This is huge. Rather than praying to study better or study more I have asked for the help to want to study. It has changed my outlook and studying has become fun. 

So the way sacrament meeting works here is every missionary writes a talk and then the morning of sacrament meeting they randomly select people to speak. This last Sunday was my lucky day and I had the opportunity to speak in Spanish for 5 minutes about the Gift of the Holy Ghost. It was honestly a very good experience and I am grateful for the chance to stretch myself and speak. 

One last thing that I have tried to do is align my will with the will of God. As I have tried to do this I have found that I am a lot happier with the outcomes of my day. One thing that they have drilled into our heads here at the MTC is that this is not our time we are on, it is the Lords time. I have found that when I try my hardest to do what the Lord wants and not what I want I have been much happier. 

Sorry for the lack of pictures in the MTC. Everything is just the same so I don’t know what to take pictures of lol. I promise I will be better in the DR. 

Speaking of the DR, next time I email I will be there!!! I am so excited for this opportunity to grow. I love and miss you all so much. Especially golf. Also GO COUGS! Remember to pray always and read the Book of Mormon. It is the instruction manual to happiness! 

-Elder Wilde

Devotional City

Hello everyone! 

I can't believe it has been another week in the CCM. From the title of this email you may guess we have a lot of devotionals. I think this week we had 4 and tonight we are having 2 General Authorities come and speak to us. No they are not apostles but still very high up in the church so we are excited. 

So for those of you who know me know that I am super positive. Like never once has a negative thought crossed my mind. Everything I do I make it positive... ya if only this was true. For those of you who truly know me know that it is very very easy for me to see the bad. This is a huge setback in learning Spanish. So, in the middle of the week we were learning a new Spanish rule and it was so hard. The whole time I just kept thinking how amazing it would be to go play 18 holes and then go eat at Taco Amigo. I was very discouraged to say the least. But, a few moments later Hermano Rios asked me a question. Without hesitation I answered the question correctly. BOOM a small win. That is something I have tried my hardest to focus on while learning Spanish. The small wins. Even though I have a lot of big losses in the language, when I have even 1 small win my confidence grows. So I want to invite you all to focus on those ¨small wins¨ in whatever you may be doing and know when you do that you will have a more confident mindset. 

Now for one of my favorite devotionals of the week. It was by Elder David A. Bednar and wow it was amazing. He talked about conversion and becoming like the Lord. He mentioned that the natural man in us always turns in, and how when the natural man turns in the lord would turn OUT. This means when we are having a hard time we focus on ourselves and only ourselves. But even when the lord was suffering for our sins he was helping and healing others. I want to invite you all to try your hardest to turn out when the natural man in us would turn in. 

Now for the conversion part. He simply said ¨having a testimony of the gospel is not enough for you to stay a member of the church for the rest of your life. But, when you have a testimony and consistently live by what you know then you are converted and will stay a member your whole life and not fall away.¨ I loved this because it makes you take a step back and wonder, am I really converted to the Lord? Do I really live consistent with what I know? Guess what, I invite you all again to try and live consistent with what you know so you can be converted to the Lord. 

Another amazing thing from a devotional this week was from Elder Uchtdorf. He said ¨Be grateful, not hateful.¨ So try that. I promise it will bless your life. 

Finally, I got my flight plans!! Elder Wells and I will leave Mexico City on Monday the 19th at 1 A.M. and then we will fly to Miami Florida. Then from Miami, to the DR. We will arrive in the DR around 1 in the afternoon on the 19th. So what that means is only 12 more days of eating at el comedor wahooooo!! 

I love you all! I pray for you guys daily. Read the Book of Mormon. It is true. Pray often. The lord is listening and cares about each one of you. 

-Elder Wilde