March is on the way!

I don't know about you guys but I feel like it is crazy that February is already over. That month absolutely hauled by. But I am super duper excited for March. It means we are closer to adding nephew number 2 to the family and I will be able to tell people I'm 19 instead of 18 haha. 

This week was a fun week. It was a little long if I'm being completely honest but I have learned to just love it. We had an exchange on Wednesday and I went to Samana which was beautiful. We taught a guy who is 20 and is dating a 30 year old woman. Pretty weird stuff if we are being honest. 

This week I realized that there are so many miracles around us. We just need to be willing to open our eyes and see them. On Saturday we were walking around some streets and I was just dying. It was hot and I was sweaty. We had a lunch appt. at 12 but it was only 11 and we didn't want to be an hour early. I looked at my comp and said "I wish that there was a member who lived close to here" All we had been doing was contacting and we had 0 success. We walked down this ally way and I saw an older lady and talked to her. She invited us in and said "let me go grab something." She walked out with 2 photos from her baptism with the missionaries in 2016. Right after that I looked at my comp and just said "The Lord is so aware of us." I had previously complained about no members and then 10 minutes later we came across this precious inactive older lady. The Lord is always looking out for us. 

Another highlight of the week is we put 5 people on date for baptism. We have a little bit til the dates come so we are gonna work very hard. I hope they can keep feeling the spirit and know that this is the true church on the earth today. 

Shoutout to my cousin Carson who got home from his 2 year service in England on Thursday. I would be lying if I said it was easy to see all the pics of him with his family and my extended family. But I am grateful for the time I have to be out here and serve. My mom sent me a little bit of his homecoming talk and one thing he said that I loved was that his piece of advice for people preparing for missions is to grow your personal relationship with Jesus Christ. My first thought was dang I have over 6 months on the mission and I still am working on that. I hope you can all start working on strengthening that relationship with our Savior Jesus Christ. 

Well that is all for me this week. Still livin’ life and just trying to grind. I know the Book of Mormon is true because every single time I read it I feel peace and happiness. Love you all! 

-Elder Wilde  

Crazies

What is up everyone?!? Hope you all had a great week. This week was actually super good and very interesting. 

This area here in Nagua has like 6 crazy people that we see everyday and wow they are truly insane out of their mind. But one of them scared the crap out of this week and also clutched big time. We were walking on the street contacting when we saw her. We turned and started to walk the other way very fast. My comp saw a little ally and said "Go right" so we went right and ran into this random lady who is probably like 23 and we said "Hey we are the missionaries for the Church .. (you know the drill) we would love to share a message with you." She was like okay so we shared the restoration and at the end I was going to give her a pamphlet but the restoration pamphlets are like gold right now because our mission is running out and the church doesn't have more rn, but anyways I was like here is a card with our number on it but then the spirit was like "Elder Wilde give her the pamphlet." So I did and when we returned she had read the WHOLE thing and even asked us "Who is Joseph Smith?" She is GOLD. She is so genuine and like my comp and I literally love her. She is like the best ever haha. But don't worry the story isn't over. When we left after our first contact the crazy lady was WAITING for us. she demanded we give her a pamphlet and I wasn't trying to get chased any longer so we gave her one of the pamphlets we have a lot of and ran. But basically moral of the story is god works in very many ways. Even if that means getting chased by a crazy to find a person waiting for the gospel. 

I don't know how many of you guys actually care to read the emails so I try to make them shorter then most haha. But other than that we have 3 baptismal dates with people but all of them are gonna be after this transfer. I really want to stay in Nagua so I think I might be doing some asking to President in my interview lol. 

Also last night was awesome. We got a huge compliment from one of my favorite members. Her name is Hermana Cuevas and she is gold. She always makes us dinner if we didn't eat it already, and she has a super strong testimony. Last night at her house she told us that she has worked with missionaries since she was a youth (she is in her 60's) and that she feels something different with my comp and I. She said that she can tell we work together and we serve with love. She also said to not change  after we get transferred. It was such nice compliment and made me feel like what I am doing is actually helping the ward here. 

Overall a great week. Lots of ups and downs but so fun. My Spanish is the goat some days and then the other days I don't understand a thing lol. But we just keep going. Love you all! This gospel is so true and if you think otherwise, you're wrong. Sorry but wow I love this church. Read the Book of Mormon and pray about it with sincerity and you'll know it is true. Have a great week!

Elder Wilde

P.S. I don't have a lot of pics this week sorry :( 

Desafios en la vida

What's up everyone! 

This week was a kinda long and not very successful week. First off, Go Chiefs. Glad Andy Reid got another win. Also one day I hope Tom Brady is taken off the GOAT throne by Patrick Mahomes. 

This week we did a lot of travel. My comp had to go to Santo Domingo and I went to our Zone Conference in La Vega. It was a super good Zone Conference and I learned a lot. We did a role play in front of like 70 missionaries I think and I got picked on to do it. That was scary but I lived. In the conference we learned a lot about the importance of working with members and also the importance of finding people in the street with a purpose rather than just making them a number. It was good. 

As far as the baptism we were supposed to have, it didn't happen. We went over to his house Saturday night and he went off on a bunch of reasons why he isn't ready. So we are gonna keep working with him for a later baptismal date. The mission has a lot of ups and downs. Moments like these are tough but we just keep trying cause that's all God asks. 

This week we had a really cool member lesson. We were talking about the Book of Mormon and a video that I have seen a million times popped into my head so I shared it. It is the one on Gospel Library with the chick with bright pink hair and she knows Dwayne wade. haha don't know if that helps but I can't remember the title name. Anyway it was a very powerful lesson and we all felt the spirit so strong. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. 

Love you all! Have the best week ever! 

-Elder Wilde 

6 Months!

Que lo que my people! Honestly this week flew by. My comp and I get along extremely well so the work just seems fun. We are always laughing and having a good time so low key thriving on the mission right now. Also Jan. is over so that's like low key an accomplishment in itself. 

As far as the work goes this week has been great. We have been hitting our goals on Area Book which is exciting and have 2 baptismal dates!! One of them is for this coming Saturday. Pray for us that we can get all the stuff prepared and that Jose Juaquin can feel ready for his baptism. We've been working with him a little bit but this week we are gonna work hard with him to be ready. 

Last night we were at a members house named Verenice. She is the chick that is in a lot of my pics I think lol. She is a returned missionary and helps us A LOT. Last night she was reminding us of ways we can make our lessons fun. We spilled tons of ideas and it was just a good night. Reminded me that God called me out here to teach the gospel with my personality so I really need to be better at using it. 

I hit 6 months on Wednesday. Crazy honestly. A wise man by the name of Jefferson Clark told me that once you hit 6 months on the mission you start to feel pretty good about what you're gonna do for 2 years. He wasn't wrong. He also suggested that to make the time feel shorter just look ahead to every 3 months. It has worked so far. Thanks for the advice Jeffy. In all honesty I have grown way more than I thought possible these last 6 months. Also speak heck of a lot more Spanish than I ever knew was possible. 

Sorry Mom and everyone who loves my pictures. I really sucked at taking them this week. I don't even think twice about it when we are out doing stuff. 

I love and miss you all. Don't forget to STUDY the book of mormon. I can tell a difference when I just read it instead of study it and I promise studying is the move. Have the best week ever!! 

-Elder Wilde