Changes

Change is good for you. It is hard but, it’s the hard things that change us. Make us better. 

I've been a missionary for over 22 months. Change is still hard on the mission, but it always has a positive effect. This time the change for me is in  my area, and companions. I am now in a trio. Elder Hernandez and Elder Willden are my comps. They are two big boys and make me look like I’m small  lol. 

To be 100% honest it's been a hard few days. Being so close to finishing my mission I have felt the want to just throw in the towel and quit. But I haven't, and I won't. 

My dad sent me a verse from the Bible yesterday that says "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith" I know that for me to be able to say these words I need to keep on going. 

My new area is called Licey. It is in a pretty rough place right now. I mean we have almost nobody that's progressing and the members don't love missionary work as much as other wards have. But we are positive and working hard. With the attitude of "we do this for the Lord" we have found success. 

Our most progressing friends right now are Daniela and Vladimiro. They need to get married and for that reason they haven't been baptized yet. They need to save up money! Please pray for them so that they can save money and be able to make their first Covenant with God. 

I hope you are all doing well at home. I hope you're keeping the faith. I have come to realize the the thing that gives me the most joy in life is reading the Book of Mormon. It's a peaceful activity and blesses our lives. I invite you all to read it. 

A few emails left after this one! See ya’ll soon! Love ya!

Elder Wilde

Trio Time!

We are now a companionship of 3! I was trying to think of cool ways to say that. Like "you know how things always come is 3's? Well now we do too!" Or "the 3rd times a charm" But decided to just put it out there. Trio time it is! But here's the catch, it’s only for a week. 

I come home to Utah in about 5 weeks. Therefore our mission President is putting a new missionary in our area as ZL and taking me out as ZL to finish my mission in a new area. I don't know what area yet. It will be exciting to find out on Wednesday. 

As for our new comp, he's awesome! From American Fork. Named Elder Orton. Played baseball for AF. He's got 18 months on the mission. He's super cool. 

Anyways the work is going. We had 3 people come to church yesterday. Like I said, everything comes in 3's lol. Francy was one of our friends who came. 

Francy is cool. He's in his 40's and is a good man. Has problems with sleeping. I think he struggles with depression as well. The good news is that Francy enjoys coming to church. He's been 2 times now. He has a lot of potential. I hope he gets baptized so he can have the comforting companionship of the Holy Ghost. 

We also sang in the choir yesterday at church. That was exciting. The Ward choir here is not good at singing. We will leave it at that. Sometimes the truth hurts. My mom and dad say I am too honest sometimes. Sorry:) 

I love the mission. Its actually super super not easy. Especially the last little bit, but it is worth it. Challenges help us improve. 

I've been studying some cool talks about Prayer this week. Here's a spiritual poem to end this weeks email. 

"I know not by what methods rare, But this I know, God answers prayer. I know that He has given His Word, Which tells me prayer is always heard, And will be answered, soon or late. And so I pray and calmly wait. I know not if the blessing sought Will come in just the way I thought; But leave my prayers with Him alone, Whose will is wiser than my own, Assured that He will grant my quest, Or send some answer far more blest"

Love you all! 

Elder Wilde 

Summertime

Kenny Chesney has a song called Summertime. It's fantastic. I think ya’ll should go listen to it since we are now officially in the month of June! 

Anyway, I hope you are all doing well! The grind out here just keeps on moving along. It was another decent week, but we had yet again 0 friends that we are teaching come to church. 

It's hard when nobody comes to church. My comp and I are working hard visiting lots of people. Having 7-12 lessons a day, and still our friends just don't come. But we gotta look for the positives.

For example, this week we had the opportunity to fast. Before the mission I was not great at fasting. In fact I don't think I ever accomplished a 24 hour fast. But while on the mission it is somewhat required of us, and it has been a blessing. It's crazy the strength God can give us while we fast. I invite you all to do a fast the next time you get the chance. 

As far as our friends in teaching go... we are having a hard time. This week we are gonna stop teaching most of them. They just aren't putting God in first place. Never let God lose his spot as the most important thing in your life. 

I'm trying to think of some cool things to tell you guys but it's hard cause this week was pretty average. I am however starting to get good at Dominos. Wish I started to play earlier in my mission but I didn't. If ya’ll didn't know, the Dominicans LOVE to play dominos, and shocking enough you don't play by just standing them in a line and knocking them over ;). It's been fun learning how to actually play! Anyways. 

Love you all! Hope you aren't getting bored of my emails. Only 5 more ;)) Have a good week! 

Elder Wilde. 

El día de las madres

Another week has come and gone! In case anyone was wondering I'll only send out 6 more emails!

This week was good! We are working hard and seeing little miracles here and there. Only problem is that our friends we are teaching have been awful at keeping their promise of coming to church. It’s rough. But we keep on working. The Lord continues to bless us and them in their lives so we just keep on going. 

This week we had some fun lessons and found some cool new friends. One of them being Andres! He is a good dude and has family members that go to our church but a different ward here in Navarrette. He loves to talk to us and is always joking around so it's a good time. Pray for him so he can actually act with faith and come to church!

This week we found an inactive member named Karina! She is super cool. Mid 20's and has a 4 year old kid. We taught her 2 times this week and she hadn't been to church in over 10 years but yesterday she came to church! These are the little miracles that truly keep us going. 

One highlight of my week has been my personal study. I've been studying in the later chapters of 3rd Nephi when Jesus Christ is ministering to the Nephites. Truly amazing scripture and has brought me closer to Jesus Christ. I invite all of you to go and read the Book of Mormon! It changes lives. 

My comp and I have been having a blast out here. We both have the same amount of time on the mission and we just keep on working! If you guys have seen the viral @pointerbrothers you know they make hilarious videos. We are currently recreating some and it has been a blast lol. 

Almost forgot to include on here a list of friends ya’ll could pray for! By name! It would help a lot! Ready? Amauri, Raquel, Ines, Andres, Guillermo, Jose, Luis, Carlito, Karina, and the ward of Hermanas Mirabal! Better get busy praying! 

I love and miss all of you! Hope you have a good week! 

Elder Wilde 

Been a While

Hey Everybody! 

Last week I didn't write an email due to a temple trip which took meant we didn’t have our usual P-day, but boy was it worth it! 

We went to the Santo Domingo temple this past week and it was one of the best experiences that I have had in the temple. I felt the spirit so strongly and felt like I received many answers to some questions I had. Makes me beyond excited go get home and go to the temple frequently! 

Apart from the temple trip we have been working hard! We are teaching so many people and everyday we are so busy! One of the people we are teaching is Ines. She is a mom of 4 boys and is a single parent, but she is so so cool! We are trying to help her to get baptized and she is down and has been reading the Book of Mormon. The only problem is that she can't get herself to come to church. Idk what it is but she does not want to come or something. It’s weird. She reads and understands the lessons just as well as anyone. Pray for Ines so she can be baptized and come to church. :)

Some of the funny highlights this week come from Elder Kirkham. One night we were teaching this lady and she had a shirt of Benjamin Franklin. Elder Kirkham starts explaining to her that this so called man "Benjamin Franklin" did something super important. She asks well what and he says that Benjamin Franklin created the light bulb. I was lost cause I was like no he didn't but I can't remember who it was and so Elder Kirkham keeps going and I am like wasn't it Albert Einstein or something and he's like no it's Benjamin Franklin. Then 2 mins later it clicked and I go "bruh it was Thomas Edison" and he dies laughing and goes "don't tell them I was wrong" hahahaha. Anyways that was a good moment. 

Anyway fun fact is that the lady who had the Benjamin Franklin shirt is the friend of the friend we are teaching Raquel. Raquel lost her husband 2 months ago and so we are taking it slow, but we think she has so much potential in the church. She is a kind women and we hope to help her continue progressing. 

Yesterday we had a rough day at church. Only 25 people came. We normally have around 80. It was voting day here in the country for President and everyone uses that as an excuse to not go to church. It was frustrating, but we got to look at the positives. One of them is a man named Felix. We call him Francy. He came to church unexpectedly. It was awesome seeing him walk in. He has one problem and it's that he has a really controlling girlfriend who we are like 80% positive that she is cheating on him. Due to his gf he hasn't accepted a baptismal date. Pray for him to receive guidance to make a choice. 

Anyway I wrote a lot this week. I don't like sending novels cause I'm sure they aren't too entertaining to ya’ll haha. I love you guys. Miss ya’ll lots. Crazy how the last 2 months are the hardest haha. 

Hope ya’ll have a good week! 

Elder Wilde 

Hermanas Mirabal

This week was one for the books. I spent from Monday-Thursday in Samaná and got transfer news on Wednesday. President called me and told me I was going to a new area in Navarrette and he asked me to be the Zone Leader. So that was exciting. 

I got to my new area Friday and we hit the ground running. My comp is Elder Kirkham and he is a good dude. He's from Salt Lake and went to Skyline High school. We both have the same time on the mission which makes for a super fun companionship and lessons. 

We have so many friends we are teaching and are super busy all day long. Yesterday we had a great lesson with two men named Pedro and Carlos. We taught then about the gospel and about baptism. It was such a good lesson. When we brought up baptism the first thing they asked was "ya’ll do baptism after 3 months of learning right?" And we were like wellll could be 3 months but also could be 3 weeks lol. So we put them on date for 3 weeks from now. 

There is a family that's less active in our ward. The mom is named Yajaira and the dad is Gustavo. They are truly amazing people and are so humble and kind to us. Yesterday they face-timed a missionary who served here a while ago. He is from Idaho and he served here 10 years ago. He's a super cool guy and was super inspiring. It's cool to see someone who had a huge impact on someone's life still be in contact with them. He gave us advice for finishing up the mission and I won't lie it made me kind of sad to go home. 

Overall was a solid week. I'm super excited for the last 2 months and all the miracles we are about to see. The mission is truly a blessing and has changed me forever. 

Love and miss you all. 

Elder Wilde