Ramon Lopez

Hey what's up?!? So the title of this email is the name of one of our members in this branch Ramon Lopez. He is one of the funniest people I have ever met and truly the goat! He likes to go out with us and help us teach so we are often in lessons with him. This last week was a pretty funny week so I thought I would share a few things that he said in the lessons. 

So our first lesson was earlier in the week where we went to a ladies house to teach her. So we are all sitting there and her husband is yelling her name for like 3 minutes before he walks out and realizes we are there. It was a little awkward but he tells us that he thought she had gone to the bathroom. No big deal but when we left Ramon looked at me with a bright red face and said I don’t think they were expecting us. I asked why he thought that and he just said you have to be intelligent to know those types of things lol. Later we had a lesson with a lady named Luna. When we invited Ramon to share his testimony he simply said “No”. It was so funny haha. Isn’t that why he comes with us to teach? I love this dude so much, he always keeps us laughing!

The work here is moving along great! We had 10 investigators come to church yesterday, which was really good! We are still teaching our boy Vladimir. He is a very interesting person lol but we love it! He has come to church 2 times now and has a baptismal date for the 12th of August. He is 27 and just a goober. He loves to sing and has shown us some of his singing vids and they are pretty entertaining. Another friend of ours that is progressing is Wilson. He is a good friend of Ramon and we found him cause Ramon took us to his house one day. He came to church yesterday and has a lot of potential. He does not care for the Catholic church, which is a huge step in the conversion process of a Dominican haha. 

Overall I am doing great. I love this country. Never thought I would say that when I first got here, but it is amazing! The people make me so happy! Read the Book of Mormon everyday it will bless your life forever! Love you all! 

-Elder Wilde  

Mission Tour

What up? This week we had a mission tour, which is basically Zone Conference, but we had a General Authority 70 come. It was cool. I was picked to do a role play in front of a ton of missionaries and kinda muffed it up, which was kinda embarrassing. But you live and you learn. We talked a lot about establishing the church with families and focusing our invitations and our teachings on Jesus Christ. It was a good learning experience. 

Other than the conference, this week has been pretty chill. We found a guy named Vladimir and he is a little odd but has a lot of interest in the church. He came to church yesterday and liked it. He lives with his dad who is a member and has been inactive for like 30 years. They live in a wooden shack in the middle of a forest basically and it is so cool. 

Another cool thing from this week is our friend Wilfry. Wilfry was baptized 4 years ago and has been inactive for about 6 months. He has been depressed and just does nothing. We started to meet with him to teach lessons and it has helped him so much. We had a lesson with him and his mom last week and we talked about repentance. I shared my personal testimony with them and the Spirit was incredibly strong. At the end of the lesson Wilfry told us that he wants to repent and prepare for a mission. We were so happy. He came to church yesterday and you could see the difference it made by the smile on his face. Although our missionary purpose is to prepare people for baptism, I love helping inactive members come back to church. 

We are truly teaching a lot of people but they are all having a super hard time coming to church. They live like 40 mins away and none have motorcycles or cars so they have to walk and that is a huge sacrifice. Pray for the people in Bonao to find a way to get to church. Would be much appreciated. 

My fam went to Lake Powell this week and it looked like a party. Hope you are all livin’ summer up out there. Love you all! 

-Elder Wilde 

Howdy

What's up everyone!? This week was a pretty eventful week and it went by rather fast. We are already in the middle of July which shocks me but it's a good thing lol. 

First things first we got transfer news this week and I will be staying in my area with my same comp. It will be fun because we have a lot of people who are getting ready for Baptism. Speaking of Baptism our friend Rachel was baptized this last Saturday. She is the daughter of the Relief Society President and I don't know why she hadn't been baptized lol. She is 15 and decided that now she wanted to be baptized so we taught her all the lessons and got it done. She was extremely nervous but now she is chilling and super happy! After the baptism the ward members threw a party with cake and soda so that was lit. Also fun fact our District Presidents wife served her mission in Texas! Like crazy I had never heard of a Dominican getting called to the states. That is like all of their dreams lol. 

Other than the baptism this week was chill with a lot of lessons. We haven't had any real food to eat in the house since Friday but luckily members have clutched and fed us and also miracles have happened. On Friday night we were walking to a lesson at 8:15 and I was so hungry and tired and I had 15 pesos which is basically 30 cents. I went to a colmado and asked for a small juice. The lady ended up giving us juice and a muffin for free. She told us thanks for all the work we do. I knew that was an answer to a prayer I had said a few minutes previously because I was dying of hunger with no food lol. 

This week I have refocused on my studies in the Book of Mormon. I love that book so much. It is so true when Russell M. Nelson says when we study in the Book of Mormon we will be able to overcome temptations more easy. Truly have seen this come to life in the mission. I love the Book of Mormon and I know that is has power to change your life!

Elder Wilde  

Santo Domingo Temple

What's up everyone!?! This week was a pretty solid week filled of lots of joy! I hit 11 months on the mish and we took a trip to the temple! 

First things first the temple! I truly haven't had a better experience in the temple than this past Thursday. I felt so much peace and it was so nice being able to be in the Temple. Made me sad we can't go more often. It is such a peaceful experience! Also cool little miracle, after we did the session and baptism we went to the big building next door to eat lunch and when I walked in I saw a bunch of members from my last area there! We all were like ¨´HEYYY¨ and they were hugging me and we were catching up it was so fun made me so happy! I got a few pics with them! Also got to see a lot of my missionary buddies, so that was a good time. Crazy all the friends you make on the mission. 

As far as our area and the work goes, it is still moving along. Sadly Yesterday we only had one girl come to church but she is gonna be baptized this Saturday so I guess that is a dub. We are teaching a ton of people who just need to get married and then they can be baptized. The problem in this country is the Law of Chastity. Basically nobody is living it unless you are a baptized member of the church lol. Like if you aren't a member nobody even bothers thinking about marriage. 

I had the chance to speak in sacrament meeting yesterday! I spoke about the priesthood and it was a fun time. I used a part of Jeffrey R. Hollands talk called ¨Sanctify Yourselves¨ and it is a good reminder to always stay worthy cause you never know when you will need to use your priesthood. Last night I also had the chance to give a lady in our ward a blessing. The priesthood is truly a remarkable thing. 

I love you all and miss you all like crazy! Keep hitting the links in honor of me! Remember to read the Book of Mormon daily! 

-Elder Wilde 

Invitations

What's up everyone?! This week was a super successful week for us here in Bonao. The work here is moving along super well so we are hoping to see some baptisms in the next few weeks! 

First things first, on Wednesday we had a zoom meeting in the morning and it actually was amazing. Literally changed my life forever in the work! President talked about 2 things that I loved. First off was prayer. We need to help the people here pray in the correct way to our Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus Christ. It is pretty incredible how many people pray the wrong way. President was explaining that if we pray in the wrong way we aren't going to receive answers to our prayers. So, I have been focusing on teaching prayer in a better way this week and it has been so fun. The other thing that he talked about was inviting people to be baptized. He said that a lot of the time people aren't baptized because the missionaries don't invite them to be baptized. So this week we have been inviting so many people and right now we have 6 baptismal dates! We are gonna try to work so hard so these people can truly be baptized. 

Cool little story. Yesterday I was searching through family search for the fun of it. Turns out that app is truly amazing. I went to my Great Grandpa Johnson’s profile. In it I found a bunch of cool news articles and stories about him. He loved missionary work more than anything. It was so fun to read that and feel the spirit so strongly confirming how important the mission really is. I also found some really cool things about my Aunt Ann and it made me feel that I truly have angels around me helping me! 

This Thursday we are going to the Santo Domingo Temple again! We are all super excited and I am hyped to see all of my mission buddies. It will be a party! Sorry if my emails are super short or long to you haha. Monday always comes and I just have no clue what to put in here. But I know the church is true and that missionary work is so important. I hope that everyone who reads this can share the gospel with a friend. Think of all the blessings you have received and all the blessings your friends can too! 

Love ya’ll

-Elder Wilde