La Obra

What's up everyone?!? This week was a pretty good week but man was it long. 

First things first the temple. We went to the Santo Domingo Temple this week and it was probably the best experience I have ever had in the temple. I have never felt so at peace in my life. After that experience I want to go to the temple weekly when I get home. I'll have just a few temples to choose from. ;) But now for why it was a long week. 

We left early Wednesday from Villa Vasquez to stay in a very ghetto hotel that had a warm shower so that was lit. Then we woke up at 5 A.M on Thursday to get on the busses and leave to Santo Domingo. Then we got back to the hotel at 8 that night and had to stay the night in the hotel which we weren't expecting, then woke up at 6:30 on Friday and got back to Villa Vasquez at about 12. It was a very draining couple of days but the temple made it all worth it. 

As far as teaching goes we have soooo many investigators with sooo much potential. It is so fun but wow it is so stressful. Sorry for saying so so much right there haha. But one of our investigators is named Yulisa and she is pretty dope. She hasn't come to church yet but we had a really cool experience with her this week. We have been trying to meet with her for like 2 weeks and she never has time. So we thought maybe she doesn't wanna talk with us. We figured we would try one more time and she said "Come over at 6!" So we went to her house at 6 that night and she explained to us how busy she has been and she started to cry cause she said she prayed about our message and every time she couldn't meet with us she just felt bad cause she knew we had such a special message and she felt so good when we were with her teaching her. So hopefully this goes somewhere. 

We are also teaching a dope kid named Alex. He is 17 and has a friend who has been a member of the church his whole life. We taught him the Restoration and it went pretty well. I think he is interested and he has been to church 2 times. So we are gonna try and invite him to be on date this week. Pray that he has a desire to be baptized cause he is so dope. 

This week I have been reflecting on a lot of stuff. Yesterday we had a lesson in Priesthood about Joesph Smith and the first vision and how when he started to pray Satan tempted him beyond belief. As I thought more about that I realized that having temptations is just part of this life. I have so many temptations everyday. Whether big or small I know that God has a work for me and that Satan knows I have a special part in it and doesn't want me to accomplish it. I wanna share my testimony that I know Satan works his hardest on the strongest people. I know that if we turn to the scriptures and to the Lord we can overcome all of Satans temptations. I love you all! Have a great week! 

-Elder Wilde  

Joseph Smith

What's up everyone?!? I named the title of this email Joseph Smith because this week was full of him lol. I will get more into why a little later. 

But first things first Villa Vasquez is slowly feeling like home and I love it here. The ward members were rough at first but they are getting better. Yesterday at church I got to say the opening prayer and I was able to bless the Sacrament. It was so fun. Blessing the Sacrament reminded me so much of home because I swear I blessed it weekly at a point in high school. We also found out last night that this week we are going to the Santo Domingo Temple! We are so hyped. We don't know what day but President told us he will let us know what day tonight. 

As far as the work goes... Wow it is going! I have never felt more overwhelmed in my life. For the first time in my mission we are teaching so many people it is hard to organize our days. It just freaks me out cause you don't wanna miss people. That being said we had 7 people come to church and all 7 are related to a ward member already which is fantastic! We hopefully should have many baptisms to come in this area. 

A highlight of last week was we traveled to MonteCristi to have our district council. Afterwards we ate at this pizza place. I don't know who owned it but wow it was so nice and they even played American music. Harry Styles had like 4 songs play and I was in heaven. Basically that pizza place is the GOAT. So is Harry Styles, but Harry with One Direction is better. I think we should start a petition to make them get back together! 

Now for Joseph Smith. We talked to this lady named Griselda 2 days ago. I wish I could say this story is spirit filled but it is not. She went on for 15 minutes how Joseph Smith appeared to her with his big white beard that was very nice and he asked her for coffee. He then proceeded to tell her that everyone in Villa Vasquez is a bad person except for her. After we listened she said "And guess what I even prayed to him and he answered my prayer." So moral of the story if you are trying to impress missionaries, make sure you study first before making a fool out of yourself. It was pretty comical. My comp and I had a good laugh after. 

But last night my comp and I watched a video about Joseph Smith in the Gospel Library app. Made me realize how grateful I am for him. I also know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ and that Joseph Smith is the Prophet of the Restoration. It was insane how much I felt the Spirit in the video. If I didn't know this church was true and Joseph Smith was a prophet, I know now. 

Love you all! Have a great week! 

-Elder Wilde 

Villa Vasquez

Hey everyone hope you all had a great week! My week was so good but so slow too. First week of the new transfer is always the tough one. But man am I glad it's Pday. So basically in the nicest way possible my parents told me my emails are getting boring. So today will be better I promise. 

First things first, my companion! His name is Elder Zevallos and he is from Canada but his parents are from Peru so he is actually fluent in English and Spanish. It is awesome. It is funny cause if you know me I laugh at a lot of things. I feel like I have a pretty fun personality. This dude does not laugh, but he is still so funny. He just says all the funny things in the most serious way and it kills me. But so far so good with him. We teach pretty well together and I can for sure feel the spirit in all of our lessons. Hopefully we keep this up! 

So basically my new area is Utah in the DR. It is so dry here and so hot and also just reminds me of home way more then other areas. Yes, the houses are still shacks, the language is Spanish most of the time (There are millions of Haitians here cause I live like a 1 hour drive away from Haiti and they all speak Creole.) The food isn't Taco Amigo, but the mountains/hills are like dry and look like some random mountain and hills in Utah so that was fun. Yesterday we drove to a conference in Monte Cristi and we drove by soo many hayfields and it just felt like I was driving through Spanish Fork or Payson it was pretty fun. I enjoyed it to say the least. 

As far as teaching goes we are actually teaching quite a few people. We have this one girl named Yulisa who we found cleaning out our area book. She was talking to the missionaries a while ago but went to Santo Domingo so they lost contact with her. We picked her back up and I honestly have a great feeling about her. She is so interested and we are gonna work hard with her. So other than her we are teaching a butt load of Haitians. They all live in this crazy part of town with a dirt road and no lights and at nighttime the stars SHINE! It is so cool and super sketchy lol. My comp and I can't decide if a flashlight is good for us because without one we can't see a thing but with one people can see us. haha tough debate. But the Haitians are so cool. Problem is they really need the law of chastity in their lives. I would dare say 9/10 women are pregnant. But it is okay that is why we are here, to help them accept and live the gospel!

Now for my apartment. This place is SOOOO nice!! By far the nicest house I have had on the mission. It is so big on the 3rd level and has 2 bathrooms that function. Only problem is when we wash clothes it floods the whole house basically so that kinda sucks. But hey life goes on. 

Hope this email was good! I love and miss you all. Play some golf for me...Wait I heard it is basically the Ice Age over there in Utah.. Sorrry ;) 

-Elder Wilde  

Pres. Called?

Que lo que my pepople?! This week went by SO fast. But here we are again with another Pday. I will get straight into this email by explainingg the title. Pres called a last night. It was about 9:30 and I was showering then I got out and my comp yelled "Elder Wilde get in here pres is calling" hahaha I was freaking out. But we answered and he called to tell us our transfer news. I will be going to a place called Villa Vasquez with a companion named Elder Zevallos to finish up his training.I am not gonna lie I am a little sad to be leaving Nagua. This place has a special spot in my heart. 

But now for my week. Wow missionary work is so fun. Even though we do the exact same thing every single day there is still so much fun in it. We are teaching so many people here in Nagua the work is so good. One of them being Gonzalo. He is the guy who has a wife that is a member. We have been working hard with him to honestly help him just feel welcomed in the church. He came yesterday and was there for the whole 2 hours!! Elder Udy will keep working with him! 

Another is Neydo and his family. Yesterday was a miracle. They haven't been to church for over 6 weeks but this Sunday they showed up randomly! We are horrible missionaries cause we forgot to text them to invite them to church but when they showed up me and Udy looked at each other and we were so shocked! Blessings of the fast.

I had the opportunity to bear my Testimony in Sacrament meeting yesterday. It was such a good experience and honestly was so fun. It was a little scary having 50 Dominicans staring at me but It was a good experience to share my testimony and the reason why I am serving. 

Hope you all had a great week! Love you all! 

-Elder Wilde