Can I Have This Dance?

For those of you who know me personally know that High School Musical is my favorite. Also that the 3rd movie is the best of them all. Well the song "Can I have this dance" has been stuck in my head all week and I'm not sad about it. It's the scene when Troy and Gabriella are dancing on the school roof then it starts to rain. Dreams am I right? Well now I'll talk about missionary work. 

This week was pretty good. I have been sick since Friday which is no fun but the grind doesn't stop. Maria came to church yesterday and received the gift of the Holy Ghost! She was so hyped to say the least. After the meeting she thanked me and my comp a million times for being her "Teachers" and it was so precious. Mom I forgot to take a pic with her I'm sorry. 

Some other fun things that happened were interviews with President Breton. We had those Wed. and they were so fun. We had to travel an hour and a half to get there but obviously it was worth it. They also had a Burger King where we went so obviously we went and ate it and it was fantastic. Probably a lot better than the states. I say probably cause who would ever eat out at Burger King in the states? lol.

But interviews were a party. He complimented my Spanish which always gives me a huge boost of confidence and he thanked me for being obedient which also was a huge compliment. 

There's a guy named Jose Miguel who we are teaching and he is probably 6 foot 4 and makes me look like a oompa loompa. He is also very strong. But he is lit and I got him laughing a few times at our last lesson so that made me feel good. I told him I wanna take a selfie with him and he was like so you can make me famous in the states and I told him obviously so he was excited. Cause if you wanna be famous in the states I'm the guy who can make it happen..

Hope this email wasn't too lame. Love you all so much. Miss you guys everyday. Remember to get on the BOM reading. Also pray every morning and night. I had this really cool experience last week that made me realize I can literally talk to God whenever I want. Love you all! 

-Elder Wilde (Bolton) 

Baptism

What's up everyone?!?! This week was a pretty good one and honestly went by pretty quick. Can't believe we are already 1 week into 2023. Not too many crazy things happened this week other than we had the Baptism of our dear friend Maria. 

Maria is somewhere in her 80's and LOVES the Book of Mormon. We have been teaching her the last 4 weeks and she loves everything about the church. Well Saturday was her Baptism and wow it was amazing. She showed up 30 minutes early just beyond happy to be there. A few ward members came and she was so happy. I had the opportunity to baptize her and it is always so cool to me that we have the authority of God to perform these ordinances. 

Now the kinda sad part. We normally do the confirmation the next day in sacrament meeting. Well sadly she didn’t make it to sacrament meeting cause her 6 year old grandkids wouldn't get out of bed. She came to all of 2nd hour though and after she paid her tithing and then asked when the men are gonna put their hands on her head for that gift. We told her it will have to be next Sunday and she was very sad about that. We went and visited her later in the day and reminded her why it was important that she is there on time and she said "Ohhh I will be there very early next Sunday" So hopefully it all works out. 

We are teaching a lot of people right now. The only problem is that most of them are more interested in learning english from us or just us ourselves. So we have had to tell a few people why we are actually here and then they understand haha. 

My Spanish is finally starting to feel pretty decent. My goal was to feel comfortable by 6 months and I'm awfully close to that so I was reflecting on where my Spanish has come from and wow it has made a huge improvement. I know it is all from the Lord and that I need to keep doing my part to continue being blessed. 

Speaking of doing my part, we had a few lessons with inactives this week. We talked about how enduring to the end is SO important. We basically said there is no excuse to not come to church. So yesterday one of the inactives came with her kid and her son bore his testimony about the church and how he knows Christ lives. It was so awesome and we are gonna continue to work with the inactives to make this ward breathe again. They have 20-30 active members and a little over 400 inactives.

I hope this week was full of so much good! Not gonna lie, I'm super ready for transfers but still got two more weeks to grind. I love you all and miss everyone so much. I miss golfing a lot so hit the links if you get the chance. Also wouldn’t mind if y'all ate some taco bingo and thought of me ;) 

I know Christ lives. I know He died for us. I know He is our brother and friend. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and with the power of God he translated the Book of Mormon. I know that book is true. I know it will help you in your life and will bring answers to all of your questions if you have faith. 

-Elder Wilde 

This is Rio Mar which means sea river. It is pretty lit, but smells horrible.

This is John and he is Haitian. He doesn't know Spanish, but he is teaching us Creole and we are teaching him Spanish and English. 

This is Verenice and she is the goat! She is a returned missionary and helps us a lot.

Feliz año nuevo 2023

A new year is always a fun thing. Especially in this country. We were told to be in the house at 8pm on Saturday night and last night for safety reasons. So we did as we were told and got home around 8. The night was pretty normal and I went off to bed around 9:30 which was nice. I drink a lot of water so I often wake up in the middle of the night having to pee like a race horse. (which by the way if you've seen it..WOW) The time I woke was 5:21 AM, and there were still people outside blasting their music and drinking. They must have had a great day yesterday lol. 

As for the work this week, it was pretty slow. We were asked to do service on Saturday and after waiting for 2 hours she told us that she didn't need us anymore. So that was super not awesome. We found some people this week that seem like they have potential. One of them is named Milagros which means Miracle in Spanish which is kinda lit, but she didn't come to church cause she told us she already has one. We are gonna work on that with her. 

Maria is still a golden investigator. Her baptism is this Saturday so we are praying everything goes smoothly. One funny thing from her this week was we asked her what the "Word of Wisdom" is, her response "That's easy, reading the scriptures" I can see why she was confused. But don't worry she now knows what it actually is. 

We had a member meal last night and it was pretty fun. The member asked us "What more do you guys know about the pre earth life cause I'm very curious." I don't think she liked my response but what I told her was a lot of people are inactive in the church because they want answers to questions that we just don't need to know. She later said how she watched a movie about it and thought it was weird. I then asked if the movie was made by the church. She said no. So then I said something that my Dad taught me. If we have a question to something we are gonna find it through 3 things. The Scriptures, Prayer, and the Prophet and Apostles. Kinda a fun convo haha. 

I hope you all had a great holiday season! I love you and miss you all every single day. Remember to read the Book of Mormon. 

-Elder Wilde

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas! Not gonna lie, it felt like a perfectly normal day out here in the 90 degree heat haha. We didn't do much of anything yesterday but today we have a zone activity to make it feel like Christmas actually happened lol. 

Overall pretty good week and super duper long. We traveled to Santiago last Tuesday for a huge mission activity and it was so fun. Santiago is a 4 hour drive from where I am at and we have to take these things called guaguas. Hottest drive of my life! The AC didn't work and there were close to 20 of us crammed into this van/bus. It was an adventure. 

When we got to the mission office we had a big activity with a big dinner. That was super nice and fun. Every zone had to sing a song or do an act or some sort of thing so we sang a few songs. It was a good time and we for sure felt the spirit. I love Christmas so much especially when we focus on the Savior and not ourselves. 

Other than that this week was super slow with the work cause the holidays. People here celebrate the 24th way more than Christmas day itself. So Saturday and Friday we basically had no success working at all and Tuesday and Wednesday we were gone to Santiago so really a hard week of work. 

The good news is Maria came to church again for the 3rd time in a row and she is preparing for her baptism the 7th of January! We are so excited for her. We are also teaching this guy named John who is starting to gain some interest. Sadly no show at church so that was sad. 

Overall I am still chilllin' out here in the DR. Time is slow then sometimes super fast. I just can't wait to get to 2023!! Next time I email we will be there wahoo! Love you all! The church is true. Read the Book of Mormon. Sorry this email wasn't very good I just didn't have a very eventful week. 

Elder Wilde

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It Ain't Easy

Change is hard. Everyone knows it but wow it seems to always be harder than I hope. Leaving Pueblo Nuevo was one of the hardest things ever. The ward members and Investigators were some of the best people I have ever met and I miss them so much. But with change comes new and exciting things!

Out here in Nagua is A LOT different than in the city. A lot more quiet at times, the beach, and a 4 elder apartment. It is for sure a place I'm still adjusting to. Speaking of my apartment it is Elder Spangler (My comp), Elder Yee, and Elder Villanueva. My comp and I are very very different people but still here for the same purpose to serve others. Elder Yee and I are a little more alike so that is nice, and Elder Villanueva is from Mexico so he only speaks Spanish which is fun. 

Now for the area. The beach is beautiful. Not gonna lie if there wasn't the beach in this area it would kinda suck. I remember my first day walking through the area and I was like oh boy but then we walked down the street for 5 mins and there was the ocean and it just made it all better. Scenery here is beautiful, work is hard. 

We are teaching a solid like 5 people. 3 of them have baptism dates. One of them is named Maria and she is a legend. She LOVES the Book of Mormon and coming to church. The first time she met me she was so excited and yesterday she told us she wants me to baptize her but we will see what happens haha. When I was having personal study on Friday I read about the feelings of the spirit. One of them was Joy. Later in the day we went to Marias house and read from Alma with her. The amount of Joy she was feeling and I felt was amazing. I knew for a fact it was the Spirit there confirming the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. 

Overall pretty good week. Long long week for sure but all is well just gotta keep grinding. My Pday is cut short today because we have a mission activity tomorrow so sorry if I don't get to respond to everyone today. 

Love you all! Read the Book of Mormon so you too can feel the joy it has to offer. I have about 80 pages left so I need to grind it this week to finish for the new year. I know that Book is true. have a great week! 

 

-Elder Wilde 

Peace out Pueblo Nuevo

Growing up I always thought that being the youngest sucked. People always told me that I get whatever i want or that my parents were harder on my siblings then they were me and what not. Those were things I hated hearing but turns out they are 100% true haha. One other thing that I got to benefit from is having 3 siblings and now 2 In-laws that have served missions before me. Without them my mission would be looking a lot different. 

One way that my siblings have helped me is by giving me weekly advice on how to adapt or better my missionary service. My brother Carter last week helped explain to me why it is important to extend baptismal dates and that it is something you can do as early as the first lesson with someone. With the help of his advice we put 2 of our friends on date! Renaldo being one of them! We made sure to make it clear that this date was a goal for them to prepare for and they loved the idea of it. 

But now the sad/good news. I won't be here for either of the baptisms because I'm getting transferred! These last 3 months in Pueblo Nuevo have changed my life and the way I look at missionary work more than I ever thought it could. The members in this ward helped me to feel welcomed even when I didn't understand anything that was going on. The investigators and the comps I had helped me to find a real love for this country that I honestly didn't think was there at first. I am so grateful for the time I had in Pueblo Nuevo. 

Hope. This is a topic I chose to study a lot his week in my personal study. One quote from Preach My Gospel that really stuck out to me is "When you have hope, you work through trials and difficulties with the confidence and assurance that all things will work together for your good." My new area is called Soldado A or better known as Nagua. I'm beyond excited for a new chance to meet and teach people in a new area of the DR. I truly have hope that God has children prepared in this area of the DR for me to go and meet and teach.

If there is one thing that I have learned throughout my first 2 transfers in the field, it is that Jesus Christ lives. He loves each and everyone of us. He died for me and for you. Because of him we can change for the better and we can live forever. I love him and I know that he loves me. 

i took a lot more pictures this week. I hope you all enjoy them! Love you all! Have a great week and... read the Book of Mormon! 

-Elder Wilde 

Angelica's siblings

Pedro is GOATED! He speaks English and we love him!

This is Enoc and he is such a good kid. He has his mission call to Guatemala.

The priests from our ward

Me and Jasiel

My comp and I had to travel to Bellavista to do an interview and these kids that we met were killing me with how they were riding and playing on this horse. No joke they had a cord/cable tied in its mouth and the boy basically owned the place on his horse. He would just run up and jump on the horse bare back and ride so fast everywhere! He would chase the other kids and they all just loved it! It was so much fun watching these kids all run around and ride this horse. I am telling you they just know how to have fun and play. They don't need ipads and electronics to have fun, they get outside and make their fun. It was awesome to watch!

There are geckos everywhere! 

Another One

What's up everyone!? To be honest this week was pretty normal and just not that eventful. We worked hard but still had a hard time having much success in the streets. I remember hearing all those talks about how much you get rejected and wow it isn't a joke. Almost everyone we talk to says they don't have time for our lessons or that they just aren't interested right now. Makes it hard but the work a lot more interesting. 

But the good news is we still have a few people we are teaching and slowly progressing. One of them is a guy with the last name Cevelino. It is so hard to remember first names let alone know how to spell them haha. But, he is so cool and really interested in our message. He has a hard time understanding and having time for us but he makes an effort to let us come over which is a good sign. Pray for him to be able to get a week off of work so he can make it to church. 

Now for Yudi. This girl is awesome! She is probably mid 30's and has 2 kids and a "husband" but she is so cool. We found her when we were calling a bunch of random people in our area book trying to clean it. She said we could come over so we did. Turns out she has a Book of Mormon from when she last met with the missionaries in 2019!! CRAZY! Testament that there are always people searching for the truth. We went over the restoration with her cause she didn't remember much but she seems like she has a lot of potential. 

Good week overall. Nothing really funny happened other then the fact that everyone in the street thinks we are the CIA and my comp tells them we are and they all freak out, but like why would the CIA be in this part of the DR lol. 

Love you all! Hope you are reading the good book (Book of Mormon) and remembering the real reason for Christmas. Also happy early birthday to my brother Carter. Love ya dawg! 

Love, 

Elder Wilde

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