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 

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

LANY

For those of you who know me know that I love listening to LANY. Really my whole family does cause we are cool and they are too. But this week I got my new companion. His name is Elder Udy and he is from Richfield Utah. He is a LEGEND! First thing I asked him was what music do you like and he responds with, "There’s this group that not many people know, that I like, they're called LANY." LIKE LET’S GOOO!! haha not gonna lie been one of the funnest weeks on the mission so far. 

As far as the work goes it is moving along little by little. We were teaching this girl named Carolin like 4 weeks ago but stopped teaching her cause she wasn't progressing. We decided this past week to maybe try and teach her again with a member present. We did so and wow it was such a good lesson. We read 1st Nephi 3:7 and talked about the Lord always providing a way for us to accomplish His commandments. We then talked about prayer. How we need to ask the Lord for His help and then have faith and act on the promptings we receive. I don't know who learned more, her or me. 

The family we are teaching went blank this week. They haven't responded to much of our texts and they are super hard to meet with cause they are almost never in their house. We aren't giving up just yet. Pray for us this week that we can figure out what is happening. I love them so much and know this gospel will change their lives forever. 

Although my Comp is lit and this week was so good, I have spent a lot of time on my knees. There are so many challenges that come in the mission. Whether that's just the work itself, things at home, language, etc. But I realized this week that God can do everything He wants. One of those things is help us. We just need to ask. I love prayer and have a strong testimony that God will answer our prayers as long as we just ask for the help. 

Love and miss everyone. Be safe in the Utah snow and keep trying. That's all God asks. Love you! 

-Elder Wilde. 

Transfer News

Hey everyone I hope you all had a great week! My week was filled to the top with stuff which made it go by pretty quick. I'll start with the fun stuff first. I am getting a new comp Elder Udy. I don't know him but he has less time on the mission than me so I will be the Senior Companion. Excited for another chance to grow my Spanish and work hard. 

This last week was honestly a pretty good week. It all started out with Tuesday when I went to Santo Domingo to become a resident of the DR!! wahoo. Only temporary but hey still kinda cool. Santo Domingo is beautiful and full of anything you can think of. Far more developed than the city of Santiago. But it was fun to go down there with some of my buddies in the mission. We had a good time and it was a nice little break from the work. 

As far as the missionary work goes it is going pretty good. We are teaching this family right now which is pretty rare to teach a whole family and they all came to church yesterday we were sooo happy. The dad is named Neydo and he is a legend. He has a lot of questions about the church and I just pray that me and my broken Spanish answers them good enough. In all reality it doesn't matter cause I know the Spirit is doing the talking. But we plan to visit them a lot this week and hopefully teach them with our Bishop and his wife. I know that gospel blesses families in incredible ways and I really want Neydo and his family to experience these blessings. 

We are also teaching a guy named Jose Juaquin. He is pretty cool but for sure a little different. His dad is a member so that is how he got in contact with us. He is trying to turn his life around and what better way to do so than by talking with the missionaries. He likes to sing us songs that he calls hymns but I haven't ever heard them in the Hymn book ;) It is rather awkward but we just sit there and let it happen. We are hoping to get him a baptismal date this week. 

As far as Spanish goes everyday it improves. I have been getting a lot of compliments on it which is nice and all, but low key the worst cause then I feel pressure to be good haha. I feel like I speak a lot better than I understand. Hopefully this next transfer I will make a big leap in the language part of the mission. One of our investigators kinda roasted my comp and I felt bad lol She said that I speak a lot more clear and I have less time and it was just awkward. But other than that Spanish is just Spanish. 

I don't really think there is much more from me this week. It is my Dads birthday this week on the 25th. Make sure you reach out and say Happy Birthday he loves attention. Gonna make this birthday the best one yet. Love you dad you are the GOAT. 

-Elder Wilde